Christmas Day

Christmas morning started really early at our house. "Santa" had filled the stockings and the pets got theirs right away. They all got toys and treats, but the cats really enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper. As usual, Joe's stocking was filled with little games and mine had jewelry, baby bows, a game, and some other little things.







After stockings, we opened presents. I gave Joe the first season of Game of Thrones, a book about being a dad, and a baby blanket. He gave me a stuffed "smug pig" from Angry Birds, beautiful pearl earrings, and a baby sling.

Then we headed to my mom's house. She was upset because she thought the breakfast casserole got ruined. It turned out to be the yummiest ever and everyone ate a lot, along with fruit and pastries. Stockings came next and were full of tons of candy. The girls got pretty necklaces and the guys got fancy salts.

Presents were wonderful as always and I got a ton of surprises this year. My mom knows that I love foxes and found a super soft fox for me. I got the Kitchenaid ice cream maker that I had wanted and a very generous and unexpected gift certificate to Blue Nile jewelry. Joe got another guitar- a really nice electric one that he had been wanting.

Ethan, Jessica, James, and Juliet came over for more presents and ham dinner.

It was a perfect day!


Mom's tree

Pre Christmas 2012

December is a pretty busy month for us. We have St. Nicholas Day tea, cookie day, Christmas Eve dinner, and two family Christmases.
One of my favorite things about December is picking out our Christmas tree. They don't have any lots where we live now so we drove 30 minutes to a tree lot in a bigger city. The Christmas tree has to be a real tree. Our cats also love the Christmas tree. They love to drink the water, sleep under the branches, and bat at the ornaments.


Mogget loves the ornaments


Bo with the stockings

For the last couple of years, Joe's family has come to Utah for an early Christmas. This year, we hosted it at our house and it was really fun. We had eggnog french toast for breakfast, opened presents, relaxed, had a turkey dinner, and played a fun game.


Orange glazed turkey




S family (minus Joe's mom who was taking the picture and his sister who couldn't make it this year)

Pregnancy Quiz 20 weeks

How far along: 20 weeks and 2 days

Sleep: Pretty darn terrible. Honestly, my sleep has been terrible since about 16 weeks. My hips hurt and I toss and turn all night. 

Weight Gain/Loss: Up 7 pounds. I had lost about 5 in the first trimester so not much net gain yet.

Belly button in or out: In, but noticeably more shallow. 

Movement: I felt the first movements around 18 weeks, but I wasn't convinced that they were the baby. Now I know for sure. Some days I get kicked a lot all day and some days she is quieter and only kicks now and then.

Size of Baby: About 6.5 inches and 10.6 oz. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: I'm still pretty tired all the time. I pee a lot. 

Maternity clothes: Yes, tops and bottoms.

Gender: Baby girl!

Labor Signs: None! Stay that way for a long time!

Food Cravings: I don't have a lot of particular cravings, but I am hungry all the time which is nice because I hardly ate anything during the first trimester. Last week I was craving cucumbers. Baby girl, on the other hand, loves nothing more than fry sauce. 

What I miss: Not much. I do miss my weekend glasses of wine with dinner. 

What I am looking forward to: Christmas and viability day (which is January 3rd).

Weekly Wisdom: One day at a time. 

Best moment this week: Seeing baby girl at my anatomy scan on Friday.

Milestones: I'm half baked!

Girl

The old wive's tales and the poll were correct. Two ultrasounds have shown us our baby girl!

Boy or Girl?

I haven't posted anything about my pregnancy on here yet, but here is the first of hopefully many baby related posts! 

Am I a boy or a girl?



We will be finding out soon, but before we do I wanted to play around with some old wive's tales.

1. Chinese gender chart (adjusted for lunar age) = Girl
2. Wedding ring test = Girl
3. Heart rate = Girl
4. Baking soda test = Girl
5. Carrying low = Boy
6. Face breakouts = Girl
7. Less morning sickness = Boy

Dreams are tricky. I have had more dreams about a boy, but the old wive's tale says that you will dream the opposite sex.

A small poll I did came out with:
7 for girl
3 for boy

We'll see!

Kitten profiles

All of the kittens are growing up and developing their own looks and personalities. There are three orange/white and three brown/white. We had thought there were three girls and three boys, but have since discovered there are four boys and two girls.

Here is Blaze. Blaze is a boy and he loves to wrestle with his siblings:



Here is Mogget. Mogget is the name of a cat in a book series that I love. The book Mogget is all white with green eyes, but this little guy is close. He is the noisiest of the bunch:



Here is Freckle. She is one of the girls. She likes catnip!



Here is Ostara. She is the other girl and the smallest of the bunch. Even though she is small, she is the most adventurous. She is always the first one out to play.



Here is Hershey. He was the first one to get a name because his little nose looks just like a Hershey kiss. He is very sweet and likes to curl up by your feet.



Here is Sucrose. We thought he was a girl and named him Sugar. When it turned out he was a boy, David joked that his name was Sucrose...and it has stuck so far. This guy is so sweet. He is by far the biggest of the bunch and he is the happiest cat I have ever seen. He loves his siblings, especially Hershey.

Easter egg challenge

A few weeks ago, I thought of a fun Easter tradition that Joe and I could have. It's called the Easter egg challenge. We've never done baskets or gifts for each other, but I really like having a few husband/wife holiday traditions and I'm excited to start this one. Here are the rules:

Each year, each of us gives the other an Easter gift.

Whatever it is must fit into an egg (like the plastic ones they sell this time of year). It doesn't matter what size the egg is.

The egg can contain candy only if it is candy that wouldn't be purchased at the grocery store on any regular day.

The egg must be hidden to be found on Easter. It is up to the hider to decide how complicated the hunt will be. (Examples, hot/cold will work, one easy clue will work, a complicated series of clues will work).

It was fun, and kind of challenging to find something that Joe would like that would fit into a little plastic egg. I can't wait to find my egg tomorrow!