Let's play catch up.

So mom came down, December 8-11. Lots of shopping, eating out and pure exhaustion. We went to Katy Mills and walked, literally, until we dropped. My feet haven't been so sore in a long time. But, sure enough, we got up and went for more shopping the next day. We were up early for the JCPenney sale, so it wasn't too crowded yet. I finally found a pair of comfortable black dress shoes. Yay! Mom finished up most of her shopping too. We met Kim and family on Sunday for church and brunch at Rio Ranch. A little more shopping and back to the airport.

On the 12th, Bryan and I went to see A Very Merry Pops at the Houston Symphony. What a great show. They upgraded our seats when we got there and we had a fantastic view of the stage. All the christmas songs - it was so neat. And the baby had a great time - especially when they asked us to sing along.

We had COM volleyball playoffs, but lost in the first round to the first place team. We did manage to win a game, so not too bad. Bryan and I did a little bit more shopping last weekend and are finally finished (I think.)

The baby is constantly awake - at least that's what it feels like. Bryan was feeling him last night and I guess pushed a little too hard because the baby kicked him right back. You can now see him moving through my clothes. Weird, but neat.

We head out to Florida tomorrow night. We're spending Christmas there this year. It's supposed to be nice and warm for Christmas Eve, and then maybe a little bit of rain on Christmas Day. It's been a while since we've seen every one, so it'll be fun. Grace and Grayden have gotten so big.

When we get back, I'm flying out to West Texas - Bryan has to work next week, so he's driving out later to meet us for New Years. Hopefully we'll be able to haul the cradle back in the car. So, Merry Christmas, in case I don't write 'til the New Year.

Baby loves Daddy

Last night, Bryan rested his head on my belly and starting singing and talking to the baby. Of course, the baby started going crazy...twisting and turning, kicking. Very neat. Bryan's voice is so deep, it probably sounded like thunder going through all the amniotic fluid.

I measured my waist yesterday too. At 22 weeks, its 38 inches at the thickest spot. Crazy. But its nice to look down, see my belly sticking out, and not have to worry about trying to suck it in.

Volleyball
We won playoffs. Good thing, since we may be out of the league for a while - at least I will be. We played very well, probably the best we've played all season.

Weekend
Mom's coming in tonight. A huge cold front has stormed across Texas. I checked the weather earlier in Muleshoe and it was 1 degree, with a wind chill of -11. Hopefully Mom's plane will be able to get off on time and through Dallas - which was also hit hard yesterday by the cold. It was about 34 this morning when I came in to work. Not sure what all the plans are for this weekend, we may head out to Katy Mills. Then probably just shop around here.

The House is Glowing

After coming home to three more neighbors putting up lights, Bryan and I went on the hunt. No lights at Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Garden Ridge...finally at our Target we found 4 boxes of white C-7s. We snatched those up and headed to the other target, where we found another two boxes. And we got miniature red and white for the bushes. We spent Saturday night and Sunday afternoon putting them all up. It didn't take long at all and the house looks so cute.

We also spent some time cutting back one of our Tallow trees. Bryan roped the top and then sawed...I had to pull the tree away from the houses. A little dangerous I'm sure, but turned out fine. We then had to saw/cut the limbs into smaller pieces for the dump.

Baby
The Baby had hiccups today. At least that's what I assume they were. About five minutes of rythmic 'bumps' - very neat. He usually kicks and moves around 3 in the afternoon, which helps meetings go by a little faster.

Bryan had his ring sized this weekend. Yay. It now fits nicely. And we had my cleaned - huge difference. Its crazy how much soap and gunk collects in those tiny spaces.

Yawn...

Finally Friday and I couldn't be sleepier. I'm not sure I'll make it to 4:30.

We played volleyball down at College of the Mainland last night. Nothing exciting, except unfortuantely, we made playoffs - which means we have to play again in two weeks.

We took pictures - are you prepared for the belly?



Yep - getting bigger by the hour. In fact, three co-workers commented today that I'm really showing now. Um, thanks? At least I have a reason to gain during the holidays.

Bryan got approved to work 20 hours overtime in the next week. Which will be nice $$, but that's a lot of working. He's staying late, starting today. Some Friday for him.

Dickens on the Strand is this weekend - and its supposed to be 85 degrees tomorrow. Yeah, 85 degrees in December. Really puts you in the Christmas mood. Oh, and Sandy and I went by Nicole's at lunch - her back yard looks great. She had flagstone and new sod laid this week.

Volleyball

We had a late game last night - 9:30...and guess what Jodie thought she should do? Yep - dive for a ball. Mid-dive I realized how stupid it was and managed to land mostly on my chest and elbow - which has a nice court burn in the shape of a quarter now. We ended up winning two, losing one. One more week (playoffs) and I'm done with volleyball for a while.

Baby Rhodes kicked all through yesterday's meeting (3 hours.) Guess, just like mama, he didn't want to be there.

Bryan made breakfast this morning - eggs, over medium, turkey bacon and biscuits. Which was delicious - and I've had heartburn ever since. (Oh, and Baby Rhodes has decided its time to start kicking again.)

We also stopped by the bank today at lunch, and yippee, no more $8 a month checking fees. Let's see, I've had the account for 6 years, that 72 months of $8 fees - a grand total of $576 dollars for the bank to hold my money. Nice.

I think we've decided to decorate the house/yard for Christmas. We'll have to run by Hobby Lobby or Lowes after work today to get the lights. Not sure what exactly we'll do, I kind of like the red and white yards...but we'll see. I'm guessing it will turn out to be more trouble than pleasure - but if all 99 of our neighbor's are going to do it, we might as well join in.

20 Week Check Up

Ahh...never schedule a doctor's appointment the day you return from vacation. Still full from our Thanksgiving feast, Dr. Johnson has asked me to take a step back from the table. =-) I was a little upset about it yesterday, but I'd lost five pounds (water weight) this morning, so Dippity-do. And, guess what, my next appointment is right after Christmas!

Baby is measuring 20 weeks, which is exactly what we thought. April 13th is still his doctor's due date, but the ultrasound tech mentioned the 15th.

We went through the baby things my sisters sent with us this weekend. Lots and Lots of girly stuff that we save for next time. I wiped down most of the other stuff (i.e. baby swing, bouncy chair, bassinet, etc.) The baby's room is already full and we don't even have the big stuff yet! I definitely need to run by the store and get some little hangers.

Morning Sickness

Ahh, yes, "morning" sickness has arrived...that is, of course, if you define morning as 7:30am to 9:00pm. But I think I manage to keep about half of what I eat down, so that's a good thing, right? I did keep down some rice yesterday evening and was able to run almost two miles, then had some chicken noodle soup. Which is oh, so delicious.

Bryan and I found some maternity clothes on sale at Motherhood. Even cheaper (and way cuter) than Target's line. There's an Old Navy about 40 minutes from here that carries maternity instore - maybe I'll get a chance to run by there sometime in the next few weeks.

If I hadn't said before, I have packed up all of my size 8's...boo hoo hoo. The tens won't be far behind. You'd think with all this barfing, I'd be about size 6 by now. Yeah, no. But my abs are super sore.

Oh, we did get our first present yesterday from Lisa. A green blanket with a duck, a sun, and a teddy bear on it...and a gift card to Babies R Us. And we saw the nusery bedding we wanted on EBay, but lost the bid. Oh well...no biggy. Talked to the boss today to get a deviated work schedule. I can now come in at 8:30 if I need to (mainly if I'm spending the morning at the Loo.) Speaking of...I think they should sell those garden pads - for working on your knees - to pregnant women who have to continually kneel in front of the john. You could decorate it with cute baby stuff...or have it say something like "This will all be worth it" Something catchy like that.

Well, back to my ginger ale and crackers. =-)

Easy Quesy

Yesterday went well. No throwing up. And I told the Sandy, Nicole and Lisa. They were so excited and I'm much relieved not to have to keep it all a secret. So I lasted, what, two days? Who cares. After not being able to sleep Tuesday night (the need to urinate starting at around 2am) I came in to work at 5:30 - yes, I'm crazy. I also realized that the Kroger down the road isn't open 24 hours as I always assumed. I managed to make it to about 3:30, then went home and crashed until 6:30, when Bryan woke me up to play sand volleyball.

Sand Volleyball

I will never play sand again (or at least not for the next year.) The first match stunk. I was nervous and stunk it pretty bad. The last match, I worked much harder, several full body dives (that I truly regret now.) But I'm not too sore today, which is a good thing. I didn't eat before we played last night, and about three hours into the games, I was sick. Luckily a friend has some "Tang" and let me have a few sips.

As for today - we started last night trying to keep the dogs out of the bed. So about every hour, we had to tell one of them to get back off. But other than that, I slept well...at least better than the previous two nights. Had bar-b-que for lunch, which I'm now regretting as I sit here and feel it waiting in my throat. But what I probably need the most is just more water. I'm exhausted and would love a nap - but I think I may rather go shopping and look for a new bra and maybe some shirts that fit my ever expanding chest. =-)

Two lines?

Yep - two lines. Decided I better test this morning (being a total of 11 days late) and what do you know? Two lines. Ran straight to the bedroom, woke Bryan up and made him come check it out.

So I called the doctor, and I have an appt for next Thursday. That seems like forever from now! At least my GP gave me a prescription for vitamins. But whoa - now I seriously need to start eating right. Of course, I want to test again, cause there's always a chance that it could have been a false positive.

Now I'm not sure what I should do about the GRE. I think I'll keep studying for now. If I took it, I'd have five years to decide if I have time to go back. Its probably a good idea either way. But I definitely have to put my marathon training schedule up. =-) Oh well, who really has time to run 18 miles on the weekend? At least now I may have an excuse for my clothes getting tighter and its not the new gas dryer, or Fiesta Azteca (well, it probably is Fiesta, but...) Which reminds me, no more McDonalds, or Whataburger, or junk like that. I've got to start cooking chicken, and sweet potatoes and all that stuff that's good for me. Which I need to do, positive hpt or not.

Weekend

We spent the weekend shopping for a dining table - didn't really find anything we liked. Also watched Kill Bill, Vol. 2 which stunk. Yesterday, Nicole came over with the dogs and we worked on the yard for the afternoon (nice sunburn on my shoulders and some very sore hamstrings.) Bryan's parents offered to come down for Thanksgiving and help us build out the room. I was hoping all my family could come too...of course, we'd need more beds and a table. Yes, a table would definitely help.