Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! So far we have celebrated Christmas with my Grandma and her husband Tim last weekend and we celebrated on Christmas day with the Benjamin family. We played games, decorated cookies, ate lots of goodies and just enjoyed spending time together with the family. Josh and I exchanged our gifts on Christmas Eve morning... and even though my mom accidentally told Josh what I got him the day I bought it from him, he was still surprised. And much to my surprise, Josh had gotten me a gift as well. I had told him not to worry about getting me a gift because I had just bought a new Chi flat iron because my first one had sadly died after 3 years! He bought me a beautiful necklace and I bought him a new coat.

Molly and Izzy enjoyed their Christmas as well... Who knew a dog could actually open her stocking and find her presents!

We came back home on Saturday to find that we had been snowed out of our drive way so we went right to Home Depot to purchase a snow shovel. We came back to the house and realized there was nowhere to park the car in the meantime so I went to check out some post holiday sales while poor Josh shoveled the driveway. After he finished shoveling the snow we both took an afternoon nap on our respective couches, ate tacos for dinner and watched a couple movies. Today we had breakfast and went to look at a new bed set at Kohl's that we decided against and came home to put the house back in order and get ready for the busy week ahead. We are planning to go to Maryville for a New Year's Eve wedding and then to Grant City to celebrate Christmas with the Downing's.

Well I know it is a little post dated but I wanted to share some photos of the baby shower my mom and Nana threw for me at the beginning of December. We had it here in Belton and I so much appreciated everyone who traveled long distances to spend this special day with me. We had a great time and received so many wonderful gifts! Thank you to everyone!

Thanksgiving/Update on Baby D

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We decided to host Thanksgiving this year and my family came over to feast. Traveling is getting a bit difficult and uncomfortable for me so this was nice to have it here and relax a little over the weekend. My mom and sister came over Wednesday night and we baked ALL of the desserts.... which we still have whole pies left! Then Thursday morning we woke up and Josh started the smoker for his first smoked Turkey which was a big hit. After dinner we played a card game which may have went quicker had we had 3 full decks of cards and not 3 decks of random cards! So funny... especially because we didn't realize it until the game was over. And finally Friday morning my mom, sister and I hit the stores to do some shopping. We found some great deals but had to cut the trip short a little after lunch because... well... I was tired and that is a lot of walking.

An update on Baby Downing.. About 3 weeks ago my doctor released me from bed rest and I have been back to work! Now that is all I am supposed to do so don't tell her about all my Thanksgiving activities! Everything is going well and she even pushed out my appointments to every two weeks until it is time to go every week again. My Glucose screening went well and the only thing that changed was my Iron. I'm running a little low but nothing some Iron supplements can't fix.

Horoscopes!!!

So I was looking at a baby website and their was a "Family Horoscope" link. So I clicked on it to see what it was about. Basically it took the two parents horoscopes and predicted what their parenting skills were going to be. So I thought this would be fun to do so our result was..."Some Adjustment Required"...and this is what it said about us, for the record I found this to be spot on!!! Now keep in mind Josh is Aries and Nicolle is Capricorn...

"As a parenting team, you two may have a hard row to hoe. Your personal styles conflict and neither of you is particularly willing to compromise your principles. The Aries parent is often youthful, even childlike, and likes an active, open relationship with the kids, initiating fun and exciting activities. Your short fuse may cause problems as you erupt at your kids, but at least once you've spoken your mind, you calm down immediately.

The Capricorn parent is more reserved and thoughtful, preferring to plan out the future and instilling values of hard work and responsibility. You'll strive to provide for your family. Discipline can be a problem here, with the Capricorn mom or dad having the unenviable role of "bad guy." It will take maturity and patience to come to an agreement about how you want to raise your children, but it is possible and desirable. "

More Family Time!

This weekend Josh's dad came down to visit and my parents came over as well. We had a nice relaxing visit and ate chicken wings with Dennis's new recipe! My mom decided it was time for me to buy actual maternity shirts so we went to Target and picked out a couple shirts. I haven't bought any because I have been sitting/laying at home and didn't see the need but she assured me I did need them and I would soon out-grow my current wardrobe. My measurements have been getting better slowly but surely and we have our next appointment tomorrow. Last week the Doc said in a couple weeks I may get more activity back into my life and I'm looking forward to that! We are also taking a car seat safety class at Babies R Us tomorrow evening. I like to take full advantage of my Tuesday outing every week. I'm still working on my blankets and need to continue looking into daycares and pediatricians... how exciting I know! Hope everyone had a great weekend... More updates to come!

Family Time

We had the pleasure of visiting with some of Josh's family on Saturday. His Mom, Grandma Caroline, Aunt Gina and Taylor and his sisters Vanessa and Hilary all came down and brought a delicious lunch from KFC! My mother in-law also brought me a new project to work on while I lay here in the house. I'm not sure the correct term but I call it a cross stitch baby blanket! It will definitely take quite some time to finish and should keep me occupied for a while. It was nice to visit with everyone and we enjoyed the company and watching Taylor torment Molly with her own toys! Unfortunately, nobody thought to get out the camera but I will post a picture of the blanket when it's finished! Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

Over the past month or so...

Well, we have had some events happening besides the bed rest over the past month or so. Nana (my grandmother) got married and Josh made pumpkin cheesecake from scratch! My cousin Kendra and Steve welcomed their new baby boy Cameron to the family. He weighed almost 10 pounds! We also went to the renaissance festival with the Searles, which was my first time and possibly the last... It was definitely an experience!

Here are a few pics from the wedding...

Nana and Tim

The Benjamin Family

And Josh's Pumpkin cheesecake adventure... He actually made his own pumpkin filling because apparently a shortage on pumpkin filling! The cheesecake turned out great and we ended up with five of them!