Random. Decorating. and Santa!!

In case you've been dying to know, we had a great Thanksgiving.  Ate fried turkey for the first time and it was YUMMY!!

And yes, I'm "one of those" that decorates for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving.  Much to Michael's dismay. The more time I get to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells the BETTER!  The good man he is he obliged my request (demand?) of getting the decor down, likely because I threatened I'd do it myself when he was gone anyway and did he really want a 8 month prego lady climbing up and down a ladder with boxes in tow? didn't think so.  I keep telling him the sooner he accepts Thanksgiving as a part of Christmas the better. . . . . its the entire holiday season and its fantastic. Furthermore, I like shopping and relaxing the weekend of Thanksgiving - with all the work and decorating done.

Its possibly the hormones but I was a bit more emotional than usual as I set up the decor this year.  There's quite a bit of sentiment in the few Christmas decorations I have.  Many from my Grandmothers (who both passed away this year).  I can admit a few tears were shed.

I was about 3/4 the way through decorating and the thought came to mind "hmm, I wonder how long this will all be up? . . . . . maybe I should have called and asked my Mom if she minded packing the Christmas stuff up BEFORE I put it all out"  you know, since I'll be busy not sleeping after the first of the year.

I got tired and decided it was ok if we waited a few days to put the ornaments on the tree.  Rylee was the perfect helper and handed me the "special ornaments" to place on the trees.  So far she's been pretty good and leaving it enough alone.  There are a couple bells within her reach, which is a good thing because I always know when she's fiddling. One day we'll get a real tree, and by 'real' I mean a normal size, the decor trees have worked well enough and it seems I've always rather the money be spent elsewhere.

 Rylee is the sweetest.  She loves giving the baby hugs and kisses. She has quite the eye for babies in public too.  I seriously can't wait to see her become a sister.  She's learning to say "boy" and "girl" we often ask her which she thinks the baby is. . . . this morning she had her shoulders shrugged and chattered her gibberish for a full minute without stopping.  Oh how I wish I understood what she was saying.

 I can't even tell you how excited I am to be home for Christmas.  Its the best part about being pregnant right now. I have to stay put. Dr orders. :)  This will be our 6th Christmas together but still a first for our family.  Let me tell you I will try my hardest to make it the best Christmas ever!!

Because this is the first we'll be home, Michael put lights on the house.  Simple, but I love it.  Rylee does too.  We've gone on a couple walks to look at other lights in the neighborhood (I think its a little easier for her to see from the stroller vs carseat) and she gasps, oohs and ahhs its so fun.  We also adopted a book reading tradition.  We wrapped a bunch of christmas books (most of which we checked out from the library) and she gets to open and read one each night.  The first night she went straight for the next present - quick learner. Its been really fun!

 I do think the little people nativity may just save the life of my ceramic/glass ones.  She's only reached for the ceramic sheep once and was easily directed to her own nativity and sheep that she could play with.  Worth every penny.  I didn't expect the ocd's to come out this early.  She has quite the routine (especially when it comes to getting OUT of bed. . . . sometimes I get really annoyed) and loves lining things up.
exhibit A:

 We got to see Santa twice last weekend, and didn't have to wait in line either time.  It was great.  The first we went to an "Old-Fashioned Christmas" in a neighboring town - they had a bunch of booths and a tree and santa was hanging out.  It was dark and I forgot the camera, but we did snap a few phone pics, but the next day our HOA hosted Santa in the office.  Again, no line.  It was awesome.  Rylee says "SSS-nnnTA" (though not to him) and she's being trained to answer "what do you want for Christmas?" with "books" and "shoes".  She loved pointing to Santa but was a little hesitant when it came to touching him or letting him hold her so I stayed close.   When you think about it, it really is quite creepy - I can't blame her hesitance.

Merry Christmas!!

Friday Favorite: A Healthy Pregnancy

I'll be honest, I complain about pregnancy a lot.

I don't particularly love this condition.  Sure it has its fantastic moments but for the most part it pretty much sucks.  I'm actually quite jealous of those crazies out there that love pregnancy and 'never felt better'.  I actually thought (you know, the first time around) that it might be the same for me. Its not, and I feel a little betrayed.

I try to sort of stay positive and keep my complaints to Michael as much as possible because, well, its his fault.  But don't be surprised when you ask me 'how I'm feeling' if I tell you the truth.  No verbal filter is part of "pregnancy-brain".

That being said I am very grateful.

Grateful to have come this far.

Grateful to conceive drug-free.

Grateful to feel the baby move. (though I'm more grateful for this during the day)

Grateful for Michael's excitement.

Grateful for everyone elses excitement.

I am so excited to see Rylee as a sister. . . . .

There are so many that have it much, much worse, and I am grateful.

I'm grateful Michael goes along (and even enjoys) the 'surprise' of it all.

From day one Michael said "girl". It took me about 7+ months to even be able to verbalize what I 'thought' the gender is - it lasted about a week and I was right back to flip-floppping. I want a girl *slightly* (like 2.4 %) more just because they'd be close in age and I cried as I boxed up all of Rylee's favorite clothes (and shoes) that no longer fit her. But having one of each right off the bat would be pretty great too.

Still my favorite thing when people ask "what I'm having" is to say "a baby" or "a human".  I get some great looks.

And another thing - coming up with names is a million times harder this time around.  I sortof feel more pressure, and we (michael and I) don't really care for each others #1 choices.  It'll come, it may be a good thing we have 2 extra days in the hospital to finalize it though!

While on the subject of gratitude remember how when I was pregnant with Rylee we took a picture every week of that pregnancy?  And remember how I posted the last half-ish of the pictures on our blog sidebar (not within posts so I could view them forever)?  Then remember how our computer crashed just after she was born and the last 4 months of 'new' data aka the maternity pictures were lost (as our external cyber hard drive subscription had lapsed)?  Remember how I was devastated?  And how since all that hard work was 'useless' I didn't even atempt to take that many pictures with this pregnancy?  WELL. . . . low and behold Michael's gmail account had those pictures saved all along!  He found them first on his phone a while back (of all places) then figured out how to get them via the computer.  I was overjoyed.  Then felt a smidge of guilt as maybe I would have taken more pictures this pregnancy had I known. Ah well, I have a tentative photo-shoot set up and some fun things in mind so not all is lost.  

Anyway, after we went through the photos the other day Michael was comparing my baby bump to bump.  Thought I'd share.  I think I look the same.  Michael doesn't . . . . what do you think? boy/girl? high/low?

Grow baby, Grow!  I'll love up on you soon enough -just not before New Year's mmm-kay??

Friday Favorite: Ketchup

Ketchup isn't exactly MY favorite . . . . . but it is Rylee's, making the things she does for ketchup my favorite.

yes, she is liking ketchup off a plate. . . .

 and her arm.

 mmm. delicious.

yea, she gets if from her Father.

Brennan Bears

Last weekend we went to our first Texas HS football game.  Michael has several kids in his class that play and it being the play-offs we thought now is as good a time as any to attend and cheer on the team.  Good thing too because they lost. :(  It was still a pretty good game.

Rylee was hilarious.  I was surprised how well she did as she was up late and it was kindof cold.  I guess popcorn makes everything better.  (she was eating it by the fist-fulls)

At the begining of the game she would drop everything to when anybody clapped so she could join them, but by the 4th quarter she only cheered for the opposing team.  It was a little embarassing but I guess she has no loyalty and only cheers for 'winners'.

  

 I will say the cheerleaders were a little annoying.  They had speakers and one girl with a microphone "speaking" the cheers.  seriously, zero enthusiasm.

Half time was pretty entertaining. The Brennan HS band played LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem.  At the "everyday I'm shufflin' " part they all yelled it together, put their instruments down and started dancing - even the dudes with the box heads were there (if you're familiar with the video).

Rylee danced the whole time. Not sure if those we were sitting next to enjoyed it or were annoyed.  Possibly some of both.  She had a blast running up and down the bleachers and eating popcorn off the bench.  I gave up trying to stop her . . . .  besides a little dirt is good for her immune system, right?

Til next year Brennan, til next year. . . . . .

Friday Favorite: Veterans

I am very thankful to all the military veterans, past, present and future that serve our country.

When I think of the sacrifices from those serving and their families for our freedom I'm overwhelmed.  I often take my freedom for granted, but I am truly grateful.

(Slightly more so due to more recent exposure - as San Antonio has 5 military bases)

  

(photo via VeteransToday.com)

and, Happy 11-11-11

trick or treat

As stated previously Rylee and I got off the airplane and headed straight to the church for our ward's trunk-or-treat.  Any reason to not cook (especially on a travel day) is worth the trouble.  So needless to say, we didn't get pictures taken that day, but Rylee enjoyed going car to car for treats.  We taught her to sign "candy" and she would sometimes mumble a similar sound. Maybe next year we'll work on the appropriate "trick-or-treat"

We just thought our little gnome was darling - even more so with her fairy buddy.

On Halloween we met up with friends for dinner and the non-traditional - traditional trick or treating.  Apparently, in Texas its not standard for every house to pass out candy, so most obliging homes just wait in their driveway/porch on a lawn chair to pass candy to costumed kids (this may be why I felt we didn't get many trick-or-treaters last year - I didn't know the 'rules'). Kindof funny, but hey, that way you don't have to wait for the home-owner to answer their door and can hit up more houses.

Michael came up with the idea to dress my emerging belly as a snow globe.  Though a fair amount of people didn't get it.  I'll be honest, it was made in a rush and I didn't care to put more effort into it.  But its an "Arizona"/ desert theme.  Rylee liked to touch the vinyl and shake my belly.

Apparently I didn't get a picture of Michael :( He dressed as an 80's red-neck rocker  (metallica/concert cut-off t-shirt and a mullet wig).  Though its likely in Rylee's best interest to not have record of the attire.  Seeing him with hair REALLY freaked her out.  It was quite comical. Maybe she's developed an early onset fashion sense.

It will be a sad day when the candy runs out.  Rylee begs for it all day and as long as she eats her meals she usually gets what she wants - what can I say, I'm a sugar junkie too.  Suckers were her favorite but chocolate is getting up there.  Smarties and sweet tarts get spit out immediately (or don't touch her tounge to begin with).

We had a very Happy Halloween!

Utah (part 2)

I really couldn't get enough of the fall leaves while in Utah.  Its not so much that Texas doesn't have 'fall' but we don't really have 'fall'.  There are SOME trees that change, but due to the drought this year they are even fewer and farther between.  So we played in the church parking lot a little bit.

we were soon joined by some cousins for more fun.  Her giggle makes me smile.

 who likes candy?

 who wants to go for a four-wheeler ride?

 who has turned into the cutest chunkiest little thing in just 3 short months?

 We did take a mini trip up to BridalVeil Falls one afternoon.

 and got a photo of almost all the counsins.  One had a better offer :)

 and the other was asleep on the opposite side of the bridge.  for real.

This little girl tried her best to keep up with the older cousins.

 We were able to sneak in a quick visit with the Allsop Grandparents on our way back to the airport.

It was a whirl wind of a 3-day trip but I'm so glad we were able to make it! There was quite a bit of airport drama I hope I never have to repeat (3 of my 4 flights were delayed . . . . one 4 hours.  Let me tell you, flying while pregnant with a toddler is EXHAUSTING!! I'm still trying to recover)

Because of my late flight we went straight from the airport to our ward's trunk-or-treat party.  Fun, but again, not recommended.