23 weeks

The final week leading up to viability yay!! I have grown a bit this year and have been able to feel her so much, she is most active at night after 10pm and will continue until I fall asleep, she also loves to move around and kick after I eat. Feeling her move is such an awesome thing and Shauna has even been able to feel her more this week than she ever has before. The other night we were laying in bed and she was able to feel her for about 30 minutes straight it was so awesome! I have had some slight swelling in my ankles and I have also had some gnarly acid reflux which seems to be worse at night right before bed no matter what I eat or drink. I also feel some tight stretching on my sides like my skin is being pulled apart its a different kind of feeling. I cant wait until Ethan actual feels her move but in the mean time Ill enjoy it all hehe There has also been a few bouts of nausea that hit me out of no where and then they go its weird.  I did a comparison picture from then I was 23 weeks 3 days with the boys and 23 weeks 6 days with McKenzie to compare them and its so crazy to see how different my belly looks from one pregnancy to the next. We still have a week before the next Dr appt and I'm dying to see her not to much longer. This week has been pretty good to me, shes been out of my back alittle more and I'm not in as much pain as I was last week. :)

 23 weeks-

Merry Christmas-

 

Comparison pic-





End of the year

In approximately one hour it will be New Years eve and even thou it will be 24 hours before the new year, Id like to take a moment to reflect on this past year and what I am looking forward to the next year coming up. This year has definitely provided its blessings to us and the number one blessing being this little miracle girl in my belly. She was for sure something that we weren't planning any certain time but feel so beyond blessed that we will be new mommies next year to our pretty little princess. Ethan has grown this past year and has been closer to me than he probably ever has more so because Ive been home with him majority of the year but we now have a much closer bond than before. I have enjoyed spending 9-10 months with him at home this year and will be very sad when I do have to return back to work. We have also had our small challenges with work and what to do with a few stressful things that have come up along the way but I know next year will be better. I am looking forward to meeting my princess and watching Ethan develop into the big brother that I know he will be. I am also looking forward to trying out new job adventures that may come along and I am going to allow them to come to me instead of depending on them which should be interesting and fun at the same time. 2012 has bee a GREAT year for us and I know 2013 will be even better. I'm nervous to be a mommy again, I'm nervous for my little man to start school but I know we will provide for our kids with all the love that we have and will continue to give them :) Happy New Year all!!! Here are a few final pictures of 2012.....

Ethan & Taylors Photoshoot

There are several more pictures than the ones I will post here but Shauna and I had a blast shooting these two kiddos, Taylor 12 and Ethan 5 in November of this past year and it was one of our first actual photo shoots other than just playing with the camera from time to time. :) Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve-
Christmas Eve and Christmas have always had really big traditions for us so his year was no different. Ethan and I made gingerbread cookies for Santa because apparently gingerbread cookies are what Santa wants to eat lol, so we cut them out, baked them, and then decorated then, Ethan had a great time making them and even ate a couple in the making process lol

 

Star had to go to the groomer before we went over to Auntie and Uncle house so she could be all pretty and smell good so we took her to the groomer and while she was gone I made banana bread as well as a veggie pizza for our snacks for later that day and then it was time to pack the car. Once we got to Mike & Angela's we were ready to start eating and relaxing. We had so much food it looked like we were feeding an army but omgosh was it so good. There was everything from hot wings, veggies, egg rolls, tortilla soup, banana bread, chocolates and so much more. Once Taylor got back from her dads house we let the kids open one present and we all just sat around hanging out and telling old stories that made us crack up like always, around 1030 the kids went to lay down and Santa visited the house around 1100ish, after a little longer Shauna and I went to bed however we had no idea how uncomfortable an air mattress was actually going to be lol so she slept about an hour that night and myself about two and a half hours the rest of the time we just laid there listening to Pandora and having a little party on our mattress lol Then it was wake up time.......

 

Christmas Day-

Christmas day started about 7am with the whole family waking up and gathering in the living room, Ethan was very excited that he got all of his Transformer Rescue Bots from Santa and he loved the rest of his gifts from everyone, mommies, auntie & uncle, grandma & papa he was very very stoked with what he got. He started playing with some of it and kept playing all morning with it. We put Star in her Christmas dress but apparently she is no longer a L and she was busting out of her seams lol The gifts that we all got from each other were perfect and was so nice to see that everyone loved what they got especially mom and dad.....We had been keeping a secret from them since Nov where we had a photo shoot with the kids and put their pictures in a frame that said Grandkids it made them both tear up and was perfect ;) After all the clean up and hanging out we had Christmas breakfast which was amazing and then it was time to relax a bit and then it was time to head home, we loaded up the car came home and started putting together all of Ethan's gifts and organizing his room however about 4pm we were ready to take a nap lol We didn't have a Christmas dinner which kinda sucked but we still had each other. :) It was a great Christmas, oh and McKenzie got her first gift......a piggy bank with her name on it yay!!!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!! ♥







Christmas Dinner & Christmas Lights

Saturday, December 22nd we all went to Grandma Connie's house and celebrated Christmas early that was one of the things we promised her when she was in the hospital and in the convalescent home so the whole family got together and we had the traditional meal with a ham, potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls as well as a pumpkin pie for dessert. Grandma Connie got us all gifts and we got her a gift, it was nice spending family time together and getting to see Grandma Connie so happy to see us all together. :) I didn't take any pictures because I was busy visiting instead hehe

After Grandma Connie's house we decided to take Ethan to see the Christmas lights in Alta Loma, every year we always go see the lights and this year we had our good friend, Chris, come along with us which was a nice treat to be able to spend friend/family time together. :) The Christmas lights were extremely busy which is what we expected because it was the Saturday before Christmas but we still had a really good time. It wasn't to cold and we brought Ethan his wagon so he didn't have to walk the whole time. The lights were amazing, I always love to see them all and they even had a port-a-potty for this mommy to relieve herself lol We had hot chocolate and kettle corn, as well as Ethan and I shared a chocolate covered pretzel yummmmmm After the lights we were ready for dinner so because we were already half way to Anaheim we decided to make a trip to Bubba Gumps! The food was amazing and even though we didn't get home til after midnight from our whole day of adventure it was super duper fun......oh yea I also had my first experience with swollen ankles at 22 weeks 5 days....swollen boy were they swollen lol but they didn't hurt and by the morning I was all better.

Elf on the Shelf

 

This year we started a new family tradition and introduced Elf on the Shelf to Ethan which was delivered to Babe at work by we think Santa, we read the little book and it is beyond cute. Basically if you haven't heard of him he's a magical elf that Ethan can not touch and he leaves every night to report to Santa if Ethan has been good or bad for that particular day and when he comes back he is in a new place every day. Ethan had to name him and choose the name, Spike, we registered him online and Santa sent Ethan a letter to tell him Thank you for inviting Spike into our family, so so cute! The book is super cute and I cant wait to continue this tradition each Christmas with Ethan and when he outgrows it with McKenzie. :) I just love the spirit of magic hehe. I'm going to keep this post going until I have all the days from Dec 5- Dec 24th which is when he reports back to Santa and doesn't return until the holidays next year.

 

Day 1: Dec 5th

Day 2: Dec 6th

Day 3: Dec 7th

Day 4: Dec 8th

Day 5: Dec 9th

Day 6: Dec 10th

Day 7: Dec 11th

Day 8: Dec 12th

Day 9: Dec 13th

Day 10: Dec 14th

Day 11: Dec 15th

Day 12: Dec 16th

Day 13: Dec 17th

Day 14: Dec 18th

Day 15: Dec 19th Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Day 16: Dec 20th

Day 17: Dec 21st

Day 18: Dec 22nd

Day 19: Dec 23rd

Day 20: Dec 24th Merry Christmas Eve

Spike has now left for the year and will return next year when we start to get out the holiday decorations. When we came home on Christmas day Ethan was sad to see that Spike was no longer here and had me read his book, then the next morning he even went out and looked for him. He now knows that Spike will be back next Christmas :)