Christmas 2013

 

Happy Monday everyone! And if you are like me, you are back to work after the Christmas holidays yet before the New Years!

This was definitely one amazing Christmas! I kept sitting back and soaking up all the memories that I could as this is the last Christmas Ryan and I will have as a family of 2!

It’s kind of become a tradition around here that our Christmas break starts out at the farm with a little party. The gang gets together to play some tunes and have some drinks (pop for me). This year was no different. A broken truck made the party a little later then usual but I really enjoyed the hour of music before heading home!

Christmas Eve night my family agreed that we would get together for snack foods and let the kids open their gifts before heading to Christmas Eve service. We had WAY too much yummy snack food to munch on as we tried to keep the kiddo’s away from the tree!

Watching the kids open their gifts was one of the biggest highlights of my Christmas. There is something so magical about Christmas through a youngsters eyes!

I can’t help but laugh at this picture! I love Clark’s expression!

We all rushed out the door to get to church for the special Christmas Eve service! Ryan and I got into costume as we were asked to play Mary and Joseph this year in the Christmas pageant.

It was a busy but beautiful service. As always the highlight for me is when we all listen to Silent Night being played on guitar with just the glow of candles.

After church we stopped in at my parents house again to grab a couple last minute items and then headed home before Santa saw that we were awake!  

It was past 8 AM before Ryan and I were awake! I giggled to him that we should really enjoy and remember this as we will probably have some very early morning Christmas’ in the near future!

My parents arrived at 9 with stockings as we pull names for stocking stuffers! We sipped on hot chocolate as we slowly opened each stocking gift.

We made our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of Bacon Bunnies before heading to the basement to see if Santa had made it to Beechgrove that night!

As always, we are all so fortunate and took our time while opening the gifts to one another! One gift that brought me to tears was the “Baby’s First Year” book Ryan bought me! We relaxed for a few hours in front of the T.V (and tree!) before getting ready for Christmas dinner at Ryan’s parents house.

We arrived at Bev and Eugene’s to begin the festivities there. This was the first Christmas for our (step) niece, Sophie! She looked absolutely adorable in her little Santa sweater! We all took turns holding the precious babe.

Cousin Katelynn holding Sophie! 

After an amazing meal we all headed down stairs to open gifts! As usual we were spoiled with amazingly thoughtful gifts! I especially love the warmth (and look) of my new infinity scarf that Bev knitted me!

Ryan was pretty proud because after gifts he took a crying Sophie and walked her to sleep! I took her later for a snuggle and we both laughed at all the “baby practice” we were getting in!

Boxing Day was super relaxing! After all the excitement from Christmas, we were able to sleep in till almost 9! We puttered around the house and relaxed before heading to my parents that afternoon for Christmas Dinner #2!

Being that the kids had opened their gifts on Christmas Eve they enjoyed their new stuff while we adults enjoyed a nice quiet dinner!

After supper we exchanged gifts with my brother and sister-in-law! We were shocked and thankful to open a gift certificate for a family photo shoot once Baby W arrives! We had gifted this same certificate to them when Everett arrived! Their pictures turned out beautifully and I had hoped one day when we had our own baby that we could get pictures done to remember that time. Thankfully, we will!

Photo by Lena B Photography

Unfortunately, I had to go into work on Friday before the weekend! It was such a quiet day and it really dragged on! The weekend was super quiet as Ryan was away for a bachelor party! I am sad to say that I began taking down all the Christmas decorations! It was such a low key weekend and the perfect opportunity!

I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas that was full of memories! I really took my time this Christmas to soak up all the memories rather then rush through the motions. I couldn’t help but think of how different our lives will look next year. I keep wondering who this little human will be. What gender….what name….what looks…

I hope that you had a magical and wonderful Christmas!

xo

Merry Christmas!

 

I just wanted to pop by today to wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! From my family to all of you!

xoxoxox

Baby W–23 Weeks

 

Posting this a little early today as tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!  

*Each bumpdate is from the week before I am currently 24 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

23 weeks as of December 13, 2013

This Week:

I am feeling the Christmas spirit this week! Plans are under way for all the Christmas activities next week! This week I finished my wrapping, baking and now all I have to do is sit back and enjoy!

Baby This Week:

Baby is now the size of a large grapefruit (yum again!) and has blood vessels in the lungs to help prepare for breathing outside my belly! Baby is easily over 1 lb (closer to 1.5 lbs according to Doctor this week) now and has a fully formed face! Baby can feel swaying and movement so I am suppose to dance away!

Maternity Clothes:

I love maternity clothes! The other day I put on an old non-maternity t-shirt and it was so tight and so uncomfortable! Just made me even more thankful for my maternity wardrobe! I have been collecting and setting aside summer items that fit (and maternity summer clothes my sister in law let me borrow, thank you!) in preparation of our trip to Jamaica! I am looking forward to practically living in a bathing suit, sundresses and flip flops!

In the outfit above I am wearing my maternity skinny jeans but the rest is not maternity. I actually wore that shirt in week 8! It is a non-maternity shirt that is loose enough to fit me till the end, we will see!

 

Stretch Marks/Weight:

Nothing new for stretch marks but I have been religious about applying the lotion as my skin is so dry and itchy from this winter weather! At night I feel like my stomach feels super tight and sometimes I wonder how long I will last without stretch marks.

My weight is up 2 pounds this week. I guess that Christmas baking did catch up with me! ha ha! I am currently at –2 from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Movement:

Oh yes! Baby is a mover and a shaker! On Monday night at my last yoga class my teacher did a bit of Reiki on all of us. When she had her hands on me the baby was completely still. When she was done the baby went crazy! I actually put my hands on my stomach at one point because my whole belly was doing the wave.

Food Cravings/Aversions:

No huge cravings this week! Just enjoying food in general again…if it doesn’t contain tomatoes! I really enjoyed a pot luck dinner with friends on the Friday! I love to just snack on food and our potluck meal was mostly appetizers! Yum!

Symptoms:

I have heart burn every day now! Usually it’s worse at night but I am never too far from my bottle of Tums!

Some evenings after getting a bunch of chores around the house done, I sit down exhausted! My body has been really great to tell me when to chill out. Most nights I am not up past 8 PM.

What I Miss:

I am not missing anything all that important. When I was wrapping Christmas gifts on the floor in front of the T.V it got very uncomfortable and was difficult to get up and down. So, I guess I miss the ease of moving as freely.

Labour Signs:

Hopefully not for a quite some time! Although, my mind has started to think about the “labour” process! Eek!

Gender:

Still team green!

The baby’s heart beat is suppose to be an indicator of the gender. At almost every appointment it has been above 140 beats per minute which wives tales would say means it’s a girl!

Belly Button In or Out:

It’s an innie but getting shallow!

Wedding Rings On or Off:

On

What I’m Looking Forward To This  Week:

I am looking forward to all the Christmas activities that are to come!

Daddy This Week:

Snow hasn’t been too bad this week so Daddy has been home almost every night! It’s been nice to have supper together every night! Daddy and I have been practicing for Christmas’ to come with you little one! Every night we have been taking turns hiding out Elf! It’s been fun to see every morning where she will be! Here were some of my favourites!

Spider-elf!

Making my hot chocolate for me in the morning!

Taking a bath with all the necessities…including a shower cap!

Wisdom:

Heartburn sucks but it’s better then “morning” sickness!

Best Moment Of The Week:

At 23 weeks and 6 days I had my last doctors appointment before 2014! My Mom and bestie Jilly got to come with me for the outing (our Christmas outing that includes lunch!) and got to listen to the heartbeat!

Sending out our 2013 Christmas cards was fun this year as we got to add Baby W to the signature portion!

xo

Linking up with Mama & Mou today!

The 2013 Inductee’s Onto Lindsay and Ryan’s Christmas Tree!

 

Happy Friday everyone! Less than a week till Christmas! I can hardly wait! I have so much excitement for Christmas this year! I was just telling Ryan the other day how prepared I feel too. There is no last minute shopping to be done, food that I am responsible for is prepared and wrapping is 99% done! I feel like all I have to do is sit back and enjoy! It’s a very nice feeling!

One of my most favourite things about Christmas is decorating! I love how warm and festive the house feels draped in tinsel and garland! I’ve blogged before (here and here) about our memory Christmas tree. It’s not a fancy tree with perfectly color co-ordinated balls but one that is so full of special memories for us! It’s where we put our trip souvenir ornaments and ones given to us.

This year is no different and I want to take the opportunity today to talk about the new ones that we were blessed to hang this year.

The idea for the “memory” tree was kind of stolen from my parents. We only had one Christmas tree growing up and all of our ornaments we made at school would be proudly hung on it year after year. My parents still use the same tree and pretty much the same ornaments. When Ryan joined the family, Mom got him a couple of his own ornaments to have on their tree. This year, we packaged up a few that she thought we might like to keep.

First, Ryan’s Santa on a snowmobile. Anyways who knows my husband, knows that he loves anything with a motor ESPECIALLY his sled!

Here is another one with Santa riding a four wheeler!

One ornament that was always “mine” to hang was this one my mom made with my 1 year old picture in it! For 25 years it has been my job to hang this ornament and this year I got to hang it on my own tree.

Here is one of my first school ornaments that I made. It was from grade 1!

Last year at a post Christmas pot luck, I participated in a gift exchange! In my present was this beautiful Christmas ornament made out of stain glass!

Last Christmas I also received a beautiful glass tree ornament from my Mother-in-law Bev! Every year she has always gotten me an ornament at Christmas time and I love hanging it up on our tree the next year!

This next ornament was given to us by my parents last Christmas! It was exciting to put up another wedding ornament!

I also got this amazing little token of our wedding from friends Evan and Josee (and Landyn too of course!). Inside the little glass ball is our wedding invitation cut up and curled! Love it!

Our winter vacation was one that we had planned for a long time! Since Ryan and I were dating, we knew we wanted to go to Disney in Florida sometime! We saved for years and dreamed of a day where we could go! I wanted Ryan to experience Disney before we had children of our own! Honestly, we had a BLAST on this trip! One of the best yet! At every theme park we were at, we would look in the souvenir shops for a perfect Christmas ornament. I had an idea in my head what I wanted to get but could never find it. Finally, on one of our last days, I found it! At first, we almost didn’t buy it because it was $50! I have never spent so much on such a small souvenir. But, our Christmas ornament for our memory tree was the only souvenir we wanted! I am SO glad we ended up buying it because it has easily become one of my favourites!

We had a great time placing it on the tree too and remembering all of the fun we had while at Disney! We talked about our favourite rides, the fireworks and beautiful weather! Disney recap here and here.

We had a great time placing it on the tree too and remembering all of the fun we had while at Disney! We talked about our favourite rides, the fireworks and beautiful weather! Disney recap here and here!

Another amazing trip we went on in 2013 was out east to Nova Scotia. My mom was born in Nova Scotia and we still have a lot of family that reside out there. I knew I wanted to return one day to visit with family and it worked out perfectly that we could surprise Mom on her birthday (and anniversary!). I love the east coast, it feels like home away from home to me. I was glad to be able to show it off to Ryan! We had a great time touring around in our rental car before meeting up with family.

As amazing as the trip was, it was also a great opportunity to talk baby! Just days prior to leaving for our trip we found out we were pregnant. We knew we wanted to keep it a secret so it was nice to have all the alone time to talk all things baby! Things got a little harder to hide from my parents when we met up with them but we were successful!

It was in Digby that we took our announcement picture that we would later share with family and friends!

I was not sure how easy it would be to find a Christmas ornament in August but when we were checking out of our cottage after our first night (OMG I was SO sick that night! First day of “morning” sickness!) Ryan spotted this ornament in their souvenir section! It was the only one there! So, we snatched it up! It was a good thing too because we never saw another Christmas ornament our whole trip!

Now, I know I “should” have included this ornament when I was talking about our trip to Disney because we got it in Epcot when we were in “Germany”.

We were walking around the store in “Germany” and found this ornament. After reading the description of the tradition of the “Christmas Pickle” Ryan and I decided to buy the ornament and start it with our own family to represent Ryan’s German heritage.

The tradition says, a decoration in the shape of a pickle is hidden on a Christmas tree (usually on Christmas Eve after children are in bed). On Christmas morning, the first child to find the pickle on the tree would receive an extra present from St.Nick or a year of good fortune.

Of course we would won’t be starting this tradition yet but it was still fun to hang our pickle with thoughts of the Christmas’ to come!   

Some very special ornaments to add to our tree this year! It takes us a long time to hang all of our ornaments because we always end up talking about the stories associated with the ornament! Our ornaments don’t match, they probably even clash and we even have a pickle hanging from our tree, but I love this tree of memories! It’s a tree where every ornament has a story to tell. A story of mine and Ryan’s life.

Our 2013 tree!

Happy Friday!

xo

Baby W–22 Weeks

 

* Each bumpdate is from the week before. I am currently 23 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

22 Weeks as of December 6, 2013

This Week:

Nesting has officially begun! Although, it had already begun in my preggers brain! I can’t get over the sense of relief I feel now that I know something is beginning to get done on the big to-do list of things to accomplish before baby arrives!

Baby This Week:

Baby this week is the size of a spaghetti squash! Baby can hear noises now from the outside so I keep telling Daddy to talk to baby! Baby’s eyes has formed but they are still lacking pigment. I wonder, will Baby W have Daddy’s blue eyes or Mommy’s brown ones?

Maternity Clothes:

Yes! I think I have finally worn all of the pregnancy clothes that Ryan bought me for my birthday at least once! My maternity skinny jeans and leggings are especially getting a lot of use as I love to wear boots when being outside! No soggy jean bottoms!

My mom keeps asking me if I am finding a hard time finding something to wear. Truthfully, I’m not. I wear a uniform Monday-Friday and lounge clothes at night. So really the only the outfits I need to assemble are on the weekends! With the maternity clothes I do have, I have lots of options to rotate outfits for 2 days a week!

Stretch Marks/Weight:

Nothing new in either of these categories! No new stretch marks besides a couple on one of breasts. My skin is very itchy though and I am lathering lotion on twice a day so that I can stop scratching!

I was having a particularly nauseous few days at the end of last week and the beginning of this week so food has been tough. Weight is still holding strong at –4 since the beginning of the pregnancy.  

Movement:

Yes for me and now YES for Ryan!! At 22 Weeks and 5 days we decorated our memory Christmas tree together after supper. We were sitting on the couch admiring our tree, listening to the rest of the Wayne Rodstad C.D. I was snuggled up against Ryan and he was resting his hand on the side of my belly. All of the sudden the baby kicked hard! Ryan said, “Is that what I think it was?”

I said “Yup! Pretty neat, eh?”

He said, “Ya! That was cool! I expected it to feel stronger though!”

I said, “Well try feeling it from the inside like I can!”

We both had a pretty good laugh at that and we just laid there for 5 more minutes so Ryan could feel more kicking! Baby was performing that night at kicked Ryan a few times!

Food Cravings/Aversions:

I think baby was having a growth spurt this week or something. I was quite nauseous a few days this week. Food in general wasn’t very appealing until mid week!

The one food that has been consistently good to eat (as in easy to digest) since the beginning is cereal. I know that if I am feeling sick I can at least eat a bowl of cereal.  

Symptoms:

Like I said above, I think baby might be having a growth spurt this week! Acne returned a bit this week, feeling nauseous, extreme fatigue and general yuckiness at the beginning of this week. Towards the end of this week I felt much better!

The belly to boobs ratio is almost surpassed! Meaning that for the most part, my belly now sticks out further then my boobs! It’s the little accomplishments, right?

What I Miss:

I did not like feeling like I did in the first trimester at the beginning of this week but I am glad it didn’t last long. I found this great and yummy non-alcoholic sparking wine this week that I intend on using at Christmas! So, I guess I miss nothing.

Labour Signs:

Nope!

Gender:

From the beginning of the pregnancy my dad always said the baby was a boy. Now, he has changed his tune. He is 100% on the girl train.

A old wives tale says that a girl will steal your beauty. For the most part, my skin has been better then it has every been. I am usually prone to acne and I have had very little during the pregnancy. So that tale says Boy!

Belly Button In or Out:

In but I am noticing it getting less deep!

Wedding Rings On or Off:

On

What I’m Looking Forward To This Week:

The end of the week? Ha ha! I am looking forward to all of the changes that happen daily at the house! I love getting things done off of the to-do list!

Daddy This Week:

Daddy this week worked really hard on getting your room ready little one! He scrubbed and painted all weekend long! It’s rare that Daddy will have a whole weekend off in the winter time and the fact that he spent his whole free weekend doing something for you says a lot!

Daddy felt you move! We were both pretty excited about that! I think it makes it seem more real that there’s a baby in there now that he can feel the occasional kick!

Wisdom:

Take it week by week. Some weeks will be better then others! Hang in there!

Best Moment Of The Week:

By far the best moment this week is having the nursery emptied out and painted! Every chance I have, I open the door and step inside just to look around. I keep trying to figure out where the crib will go and what the final product will look like!

Linking up with Mama and Mou today for Baby talk!

xo

9 Days Till Christmas..EEEE!!!!

 

Happy Monday everyone! Are you all feeling as festive as I am? It’s kind of hard not to this time of year. Everywhere you turn and everything you do seems to revolve around Christmas! Or maybe that’s just what it seems like to me! ha ha!

Even work things centre around Christmas activities! This past Thursday I participated in the Ottawa Valley Turfgrass Association’s annual Christmas Cheer which involves a curling game! With the O.k from my doc, I was out on the ice sweeping with my team who just happened to be curling against my Dad’s team!

We had SO many laughs and later gathered for drinks and snacks with the rest of the Association (and curlers) to celebrate the upcoming holiday! Did I ever mention I LOVE what I do for a living? I think I work in the best industry! 

Friday night was another annual Christmas party with my besties, hubbies and kiddos! The group has certainly changed over the years but it’s always great to get together with the ladies to chat and enjoy some yummy food! It’s so fun now to see all of the kids interact with one another!

We did our annual gift exchange as well. I absolutely love my gift! In particular, I LOVE the kid friendly nativity scene! It will be perfect for Baby W in the Christmas’ to come!

Saturday morning Ryan and I headed to Shawville to get a few groceries before heading home so that Ryan could go back to bed! We were expecting a lot of snow over the next 36 hours which meant that he would be gone to work!

While he was sleeping I got to work on some Christmas wrapping! We had a quick supper together and then he was off to the city!

Saturday was SO cold and just continued to get colder as night time came! That night it was the Christmas parade in our little town! I knew I wanted to still go despite the cold and the snow that was now falling down! So, I dug in the back of my closet for all of my warmest winter gear! Snow pants, heavy jacket, boots, mitts and fur lined tuque (don’t worry PETA, the animal died of natural causes).

I was snuggled up nice and warm but it was –28 degrees Celsius (that’s –18 degrees Fahrenheit for my American friends) and my eyes still watered from the cold wind the minute I stepped outside!

I have to give credit to all of the people involved in the 11 beautiful floats that braved the cold! Even the big man, Saint Nick came out to Quyon!

Once I got home I was still chilled so I made a hot chocolate and started watching a Christmas movie! Tucker joined me and of course got comfy right where my belly is! This Pup knows there is someone in there! He didn’t even mind the occasional kick in the head!

Saturday morning I got a call that Church was cancelled. When I looked out my window I could see why! We had a huge dumping of snow! So, I continued with wrapping all morning and actually got most of it done!

I took a quick nap and then got ready because Dad and I were going to go get my grandmother and take her on our annual date to a Christmas concert! On of my very talented Aunt’s is the pianist for the Ottawa Valley Men’s Choir and their final show before Christmas was Sunday night.

After a quick supper we headed to the church to get our seats! As always, the OVMC did an amazing job! This is the third Christmas that I have seen them and every year the show is different! 

Christmas parties, wrapping, parades and carols…you don’t get a weekend more full of festive activities then that!

9 days and counting!  

How was your weekend?

xo