Happy Birthday Daddy!

We went to Joe's Crab Shack tonight to celebrate my dad's birthday and then went back to Grandma's house for presents, cake, and ice cream.  We had a great time celebrating, and I'm so glad that I followed my dad's lead on the dungeness crab because it was delicious!

Needless to say, these pictures are definitely not the most flattering of me {Ben says it's the angle, and I'm really hoping so}, but since they're the only ones that I got, they'll have to do.  

Happy 56th Birthday Daddy!  I love you, and I hope that this year is the best one yet! :)

32 weeks down, 8 weeks to go!

As of this past Sunday, I am now 32 weeks pregnant.

According to Baby Center, our baby now weighs 3.75 pounds and is about 16.7 inches long -- the size of a large jicama.

Overall, things are still going great, but I definitely feel like I'm running out of room.  The baby is constantly pushing his little feet into my ribs on my right side, and towards the end of the day, I can almost feel my rib cage expanding -- talk about painful!  I also have a lot less energy these days and have a hard time standing for long periods of time.  By the time I crawl into bed at night, my feet are throbbing.  It's amazing the difference carrying around a few extra pounds has on your body!  My heartburn is also a lot worse these days, and unfortunately, if I eat too late, I have trouble sleeping at night.  Needless to say, this whole pregnancy thing is definitely not as easy as it used to be {haha}, but despite all of my complaining, I still feel really blessed to be carrying this baby.  There are definitely parts about it that I love, and I just know that one day I will miss being pregnant, his little kicks and hiccups, and the fact that he is always with me.  Our 32 week appointment was today, and although we didn't do much {basically just measured my stomach and listened to the baby's heartbeat}, thankfully, everything looked/sounded great.

I can't believe that he'll be outside of my tummy and in my arms in just {about} 8 short weeks.  This pregnancy really is going so fast!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Tonight, we went over to Allen's mom's house for a surprise birthday party for Abby.  Unfortunately, she ended up finding out about it, so it wasn't much of a surprise, but we still had a great time -- eating chili and cake, celebrating with Abby, and laughing all evening with Allen's family.

Happy 29th Birthday Abby!  Last year in your 20's -- I hope it's a great one! :)

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year {our last one just the two of us!} and spent the past couple of days bouncing around from house to house.  Our schedule is definitely a busy one, but I love getting to see and spend time with everyone, so it works for us.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to Valerie and Ronnie's house to be with them, Grandma, and my dad.  We ate a delicious ham dinner with Roadside BBQ sides and a cherry cobbler for dessert, and then we spent the rest of the evening opening gifts.

Grandma & Isabella

Ronnie & Rylee

Dad & his girls

Grandma & her girls {& Isabella}

Ronnie & Valerie

Note: I'm not sure how Ben ended up not being in a single one of the Christmas Eve pictures, but you better believe that he never once pointed it out.  Such a sneaky guy.

On Christmas morning, we went over to my mom's house for breakfast.  She made both breakfast casserole and monkey bread, and everything was so delicious that I had TWO plate fulls -- one for me and one for baby. ;)  Afterwards, we opened gifts.

Holly had already started to open it, but my mom is definitely the most talented present wrapper that I know.

The broom and dust pan that Holly asked for.  The baby in the family is definitely growing up!

She also asked for two nice toilet brushes and stands, so we got those for both her and Nelson.  "His" and "hers" -- how cute. ;)

And the best part is that they double as a toothbrushes!

We made my mom a 2013 calendar and filled it with pictures from this past year.  This is the 5th year that I've made one for her, and it is seriously one of her very favorite gifts.

My mom spends so much time wrapping all of her gifts, and it definitely shows.

A porcelain train night light to match the baby's nursery -- love, love, LOVE! :)

That afternoon, we headed over to Uncle Jack & Aunt Lisa's house for Christmas lunch.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a single picture, but there were about 30 people there, and we had a great time.  The food was delicious, and the white elephant gift exchange was a lot of fun.  I ended up with a perfume set that smells awesome, and Ben got a bottle of some of his favorite wine.  On our way home, a group of a us stopped by the hospital to see Uncle Pat.  Last Wednesday, he fell down some stairs and fractured his skull and broke some ribs.  Thankfully, the bleeding/swelling has stabilized, and he didn't have to have surgery, but unfortunately, he is still pretty confused.  Please keep him in your prayers for a quick and complete recovery.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  I hope your Christmas was a great one, too.

Playing Catch-Up... Holly's Wedding & More

In case you were wondering, I am not still 28 weeks pregnant {like my most recent blog post has suggested these past 3 weeks}, and I did not fall off the face of the earth.  The month of December has been super busy though, which is why the blog has been at a complete standstill.

To catch all of you up...the biggest thing that happened this past month was on the 1st of December when Holly and Nelson got married.  Everything about the wedding was perfect -- Holly looked beautiful, everything went exactly as planned, the reception was a lot of fun, and I made it through my matron of honor speech without breaking down in tears.  It really was just about perfect!  The girls started the day off with a trip to Jackson Ruiz to get our hair done, and after walking over to Whole Foods for lunch, we headed up to the church to get ready.

We got Holly ready early for her and Nelson's "first look" and then went outside to take some pictures. Holly hasn't received all of the photos back from her photographer yet, but thankfully, I was able to steal a few sneak-peeks off of her blog.

After taking a few pictures, we had some time to kill in the bridal suite before the ceremony was supposed to start, so we took some more pictures and played a very thrilling animal guessing game with two of the flower girls -- Olivia and Sophia.

My bouquet and my bump.

What better way to kill time than to play on your phone???

Have you ever seen a more beautiful and relaxed bride?

Both the church and the ceremony were beautiful...

...and before we knew it, they were pronounced husband and wife and sealed the deal with a kiss.

After the ceremony, we took a lot of family photos and then headed over to Creekside.  The reception was perfect, too -- the barbeque was delicious, everyone had a great time dancing, and at the end of the night, we sent Holly and Nelson off with sparklers.

It's hard to believe that after a year of planning that the wedding is over, but thankfully, the best is still yet to come -- Holly and Nelson make a wonderful couple, and I just know that they are going to have a great life together.

This past month, we also spent a lot of time getting ready for the holidays, and even though I got started on my Christmas shopping just as soon as the wedding was over, considering the fact that I usually have most of it done before December even rolls around, I immediately felt very behind.  To make things even more difficult, I also found out that everyone was telling the truth when they warned me just how exhausting the third trimester really is.  Thankfully, Ben was on board to keep things as low-key as possible this year.  We decided to set up our "Charlie Brown" tree as opposed to getting a real one this year, and at the very last minute, I decided to not send out Christmas cards this year.  

We did put up a few decorations around the house, and Ben put lights up on the house and Frosty on the front porch.  Personally, I wish we could leave the lights up year-round because I just love the way that they make our house look.

We also got "elf-ed" by a neighbor this year, which was really fun.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the game {this is actually the first time that we had heard of it, too}, basically someone starts the game by dropping off treats, a rhyme, and a picture of an elf at two houses without being caught. Those two neighbors then continue the fun by doing the same to two more neighbors. Everyone that gets "elf-ed" is supposed to post the elf on their door or in their window so they don’t get "elf-ed" twice, and the idea is to pass the holiday cheer along to as many people as possible by Christmas.  Pretty cute idea, huh?

Around mid-December, we also received a beautiful fresh wreath from one of Ben's subcontractors.  It smelled just as beautiful as it looked, but unfortunately, it's a little on the brown side now.

One night this past month, we also picked up pizza and went over to the Egbert house to hang out with Scott and Amanda and to practice loving on and helping out with these 3 cuties -- Carly, Amie Kate, and Bradley.  After eating dinner, we helped out with bath time and bedtime, which is very similar to an assembly line -- undress, bathe, dress, feed, bed....repeat....and repeat. ;)

We also registered at both Buy Buy Baby and Pottery Barn Kids, and it was actually a lot of fun.  We both enjoyed doing the baby registry WAY more than doing our wedding registry back in the day, and Ben definitely had more of an opinion this time around, so that made it a lot more fun, too.  We also have spent quite a few evenings in class -- an infant/child CPR class, 2 childbirth classes, a feeding class, and in January, we're signed up to take a newborn care class.  One of these days, we're actually going to be ready for this sweet baby boy to join our family, which is both scary and SO exciting! :)

On the 8th, we celebrated Kyle's birthday, but because she is more than practical and doesn't like being the center of attention, she didn't want to do anything that would interfere with what she wanted to get done that weekend, so we spent the afternoon helping her lay sod.  Yes, really. :)  Uncle Pat and Aunt Kim came over to help, too, and I've never seen a more efficient group.  I often wonder -- do the Wheelers work harder or play harder?  Both, I guess.  I wasn't allowed to help, so I was the lazy one that just sat/stood around.  Being pregnant is rough sometimes. ;)

In other news, I've also eaten quite a few Tums over the past month.  I was hoping that the heartburn was just more of a phase that would go away just as quickly as it had come on, but unfortunately, I have it multiple times a day.  It doesn't matter what I eat {or even if I eat at all}, but thankfully, the Tums get rid of it almost instantly.  I keep them in my purse, on my bedside table, and on my desk at work -- and when I bought this twin pack at Walmart, I texted a picture to Ben and said, "What is my life becoming?"

This past month, we've also done a little bit of relaxing.

Some of us more than others. ;)

I should mention that the dogs aren't allowed on the furniture, but apparently these 2 boys are not very good about following the rules when they think I'm not looking.

Well, that about sums up the last 3 weeks.  As you can see, we've been busy -- busy preparing for the holidays, busy getting ready to have this sweet baby boy join our family, and busy having fun.  Our life is so full these days, and we really are so blessed.  Now if I could only find a way to keep the blog up-to-date, life would be perfect.  Maybe when I have a newborn, I'll have more time.  Probably not, but a girl can dream, right? ;)