Christmas

 Updated Fireplace

Cute changing pad cover!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that Santa brought them everything they wanted this year. Jeremy and I had a great Christmas! All we wanted were baby things off of our gift registry since that is what we really need. At my parents house we always open presents from my Grandma Kirby on Christmas eve and this year we opened my Aunt and Uncles presents, then we go hang out at the Marks till late. On Christmas morning we get up and go over EARLY to my parents because all of my nephews and nieces are excited to open presents. We got so many wonderful things for this baby boy at my parents house including many VT outfits (yup, he will be ready for those tailgates)! We also got the bedding for the crib which Jeremy and I love! Later in the day we go to the Jeremy's parents house and eat food and spend time with them. They also got us many nice things for the baby, like a precious Steelers outfit and a baby monitor. My favorite gift of all from them though has to be the prenatal massage I get to go get (I am super excited)!!!!! We even got a white Christmas as it snowed here all day! We got so many more nice things from both families but there are too many to list. We are very blessed to have such wonderful families!

The fireplace is coming along and is looking close to finish. Jeremy hopes he can get the fireplace finished by the end of this week. After we get the fireplace finished he still has to stone the bar, paint the kitchen, put all the trim back up, and hang the lights over the bar. Nothing to be stressed over right? He works so hard! My big project for this week is hopefully finish cleaning downstairs. When I say I am cleaning downstairs I mean I am scrubbing the baseboards, the walls, the carpets, and everything in between. It is no light task in itself, but it already looks like a completely different room down there!

There have not been many changes this week with the baby other than me continuing to get larger and larger. The baby continues to have no schedule (that I can tell). My ribs have been hurting the past couple weeks and I have found that putting a pillow behind my back seems to help. We do have a doctors appointment this week so I will update you after that. It should be a regular check this week. Next week we start our Prepared Childbirth Classes, which Jeremy and I think should be interesting and fun.

For New Years we are going to a party at Dusty and Danielle's house which we are excited! I hope everyone gets to spend the New Years with the ones they love! Just think next year I will have two cute boys to kiss at midnight!

The Best Time of Year

Basically, our lives continue to center around working on the house! We finally have stone going on the fireplace (YAY!). It is looking great but is a very slow process, Jeremy keeps telling me it is like working a jigsaw puzzle. I am completely amazed at the wonderful work he has done and continues to do. Thanks to Mike and Papa Joe who have helped him this week! We also put in new lights in the dining room and kitchen and they look great! Shew, I feel like things are starting to come together, which is important since we only have 10 more weeks until little man is here!

This week I was supposed to work five days, however, with the upcoming holiday one teacher canceled and then we had two snow days. What an easy unexpected week for me. On Monday I was with a really cute first grade class (that I have been with several times this year), they finally realized I was going to have a baby. The students were so cute because they were really excited and would rub my belly and talk to the baby. One student even begged to rub my feet (I would not allow him to do so!). They even told their teacher the next day about me having a baby! This next week is going to be light as well since the kids only go to school a day and a half before getting out on Christmas break. However, I do get to go in on Monday to be in a Kindergarten room (the kids are going to be WILD).  I have to say these days have been very helpful in getting things done for Christmas and around the house. I am determined to have this house clean and looking nice by the time the baby gets here!

This week the baby has been fairly active. It is really neat to feel elbows and arms just kinda roll across the stomach. I have found it is really neat to feel the baby move at night when I am laying on my side. Jeremy gets excited when he feels the baby move and talks to it telling him to "give him a high five".  For me these days sleep is something I dread. Everyone tells you to get as much sleep as you can before the baby comes. That is easier said than done. I get up some mornings after have only slept for 3 to 4 hours. I sometimes have to make potty breaks in the middle of the night up to 5 times! The hips continue to be the only ouchy part of the pregnancy. They hurt so badly by morning that I wake up in tears. I will be very happy to sleep (even for an hour) on my stomach! This week I also learned that I need to start slowing down. I typically walk on the treadmill for about 20-30 mins. each day. I am also cleaning and scrubbing the house, going to the grocery store, trying to find Christmas presents, cooking dinner, and of course spending time with the dogs. By the end of the day I am exhausted and things are achy, like my back and feet! I am trying to still do everything but with a lot more breaks and not as much at one time! We will see how this next week goes.

We are really looking forward to Christmas with our families and hope that everyone has a Very Merry Christmas!

P.S. Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is a couple of good nights of sleep before the baby comes! Oh and maybe all the construction projects finished and the house clean! Please!

A Busy Life

This is by far my favorite time of year. There are so many wonderful things going on around this time. I went to our towns Christmas parade the other night to see my nephew and niece in the parade. We also were able to go to my nephews band concert this week and I was very impressed to see how fast he was able to play the drums. In the upcoming week we will get to go see my other nephew and niece sing in a Christmas play at their church. These activities really put me in the Christmas spirit.

This past week I was able to have the entire week off from work, partly because I had taken that long term job and some principles were not aware I was available again. This was truly a blessing because I was able to accomplish so much during the week. I am also a little concerned with going into classrooms right now where teachers are sick because I would hate to get sick (I have avoided it this far)! I got the house cleaned and washed my first load of baby clothes, steam cleaned the stairs, work on Christmas cards and Christmas presents, and finally return some wedding supplies I bought and never used (like candles and ribbon) to get almost $200 dollars back! I even managed to order contacts and earn $2 using a rebate. 

Jeremy has been taken some days off work to work on our fireplace and go to doctors appointments with me. This week he took Wednesday off to go to the doctors appointment with me but decided instead that he would work on the fireplace. We actually have something that looks like a fireplace! Unfortunately, I still don't think that we will finish until almost time for the baby. Jeremy has been working so hard and I am so proud of him, he has done better than I could have ever imagine!

Baby- We went to the doctor this week to check on baby and do the fun glucose test. The glucose test came back normal so we are all good there. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat which is always nice to hear. The doctor measured my belly and said that I am measuring at 29 weeks instead of 28 weeks which means we may have a baby sooner than we thought! I continue to feel the baby move a lot, sometimes the baby feels like it is kicking my ribs or jumping on my bladder. Jeremy and I did invest in a new bed as I was having trouble get out of the water bed. I continue to be feeling well and hope that I have a good next week because I am working every day (which tends to be a lot harder on my body).

Below are pictures of where we are at with the fireplace right now and new baby bump picture!

Happy Holidays

It has been a while since my last post. Things have been extremely busy around here, plus my computer got a virus and is no longer working (lucky for me Jeremy has lots of computers in the house). We are continuing to work on the house to get it ready for baby. The fireplace has been moving along. We now have gas running to it and Jeremy is framing it in and getting ready to put the stone around it. We are very lucky to have some wonderful friends and family that are willing to come over and help Jeremy get this project finished. It makes us feel very loved knowing that they are willing to work on their days off in order to help us out. While Jeremy has been working on the fireplace I have been working on rearranging the house. We now have a nursery and a office downstairs. My mom helped me put together the crib and dresser (better yet I helped my mom, since she did most of the work). Some days I feel like the house is finally coming together, other days I feel like we have a million things still left to do.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. Jeremy and I watched the parade while cooking a turkey for my family. My aunt and uncle typically cook the turkey but my aunt had recently had knee surgery so Jeremy and I offered to do it.  We go to my aunt and uncles for lunch with my family. One of my favorite family traditions is my mom and aunt put together out first "Christmas present" of the year which consist of lots of things to decorate the house with or holiday clothing. Next, we go to Jeremy's parents house for Thanksgiving dinner. We really enjoy the quiet time just chatting with family over at his parents house. It is always so calm and relaxing there (this might be the last year though because next year we will have babies at dinner). I get so excited for Thanksgiving because it kicks off my favorite time of year. I really enjoy Christmas time and I have decided that it is because of the children in my life. I really love all the cute Christmas plays and activities children do in the schools and I enjoy seeing them be excited about the big day! If you don't know what I am talking about you should spend a day in a kindergarten or first grade classroom near Christmas time.

The baby has changed so much recently. I have gotten much larger recently (even though I have actually lost a little weight, the belly continues to grow). I now have trouble getting out of the water bed, so Jeremy and I are looking at buying a regular mattress for the bed instead. It is starting to get uncomfortable when I don't move for a long time or if I am on my feet a lot. The baby's movements have changed. It is not so much kicking anymore as stretching and I feel it on both sides of my body at the same time. The baby has also found my ribs and thought that they would be fun to kick. I actually enjoy being able to feel the baby more and he has been a lot more active recently. Having the nursery set up has made the baby's upcoming arrival more exciting. We are actually making a home for the little guy!

We hope that everyone has a happy and safe holidays and enjoy being around loved ones!