It's here, it's here!!

My fabulous new camera arrived this afternoon, and I couldn't be more excited!! 

I obviously don't really know what I'm doing with this thing, but, I've been practicing a little today.  I can't wait to learn everything that this baby can do, and start taking some awesome pictures.  Hopefully it won't be too difficult to learn...we'll see! 

Does anyone know of any online photo/camera tutorials I can read up on??  I could definitely use all the help I can get.  ;-)

Here are a few of my random practice pics I took today....and, like I said, I don't know what I'm doing (ha!):

Why hello there, Mr. Fozzie Bear  ;-)

And, I had to throw in Baby B's closet...which is getting SO full already, and I haven't even had my baby shower yet!  I think I'm in trouble...

Oh, and, we're in the process of painting the nursery right now (literally as I type, Hubs is in the other room painting), so I'll have some pics up this weekend...hopefully with the crib all set up, too!  Yay...finally!!  :D

Merry Belated Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family/friends yesterday!  I can't believe it's all over and done with already.  It always goes by SO quickly...it makes me a little sad.  I don't want to take down the decorations yet, or see all the Christmas lights go away.  I'm one of those crazies that wishes we could keep everything up all year round.  :P

Sooo, what did Santa bring everyone this year?!  I hope you all got everything you wished for.  I'm SO excited to say that I definitely did!!  Hubs and I didn't do a big Christmas this year...but, my family was very generous and gave me $$ and giftcards to put towards my 'really nice camera' fund.  And, I was so excited last night (around 12:30am) that I got enough to be able to buy my camera, that I bought this baby at Walmart.com:

I paid for 2-3 day shipping, too, so I should be receiving it in the mail by the end of this week!!  I cannot wait!  :D

So, other than that excitement, our Christmas was pretty low-key and relaxing.  It was perfect, and  we couldn't have asked for a better last Christmas as a family of 2.  I honestly cannot believe that next Christmas we will have a 10 month old!  It just seems so surreal to me. 

Oh yeah, and another little thing that happened yesterday....it was the first anniversary of my 29th birthday.  Yep...*whispers* I'm 30.  *sigh*  I feel so old now.  I took down my 'member of 20-something blogger' link on the side of my page and everything.  It was a sad, sad moment.  ;)

Anyways, enough of this age talk!  You're only as old as you feel, right??  (well, I guess I shouldn't base this on how I feel now, since I'm almost 8 months pregnant...but, you know what I mean  ;) )  Here's my latest belly pic, taken on Christmas Eve, exactly 32 weeks:

I officially have cankles...and, a little TMI

For the first time in my life, I have me some cankles...and also, some seriously swollen tootsies.  They look really purty.  *can you sense my sarcasm here?*  Thankfully it's not summertime, though...so, I've been hiding my feets in boots and slippers.  If I can't see them, there's nothing wrong...right??  :P

Oh, and guess what else I have?!  My very first 'roid.  Nope, not a steroid, my friends....a hemorrhoid.  Waaaaah!! 

Ohhhh, the joys of pregnancy!  ;-)

But, it could be SO much worse, right?!  If a little cankle and some 'roids are all I have to deal with, then I'll take it!  Only 2 more months to go!

Speaking of that....tomorrow it will be exactly 9 weeks until my due date.  9 weeks!!  I'm in the single digit countdown now!  I can't believe it.

That is all.  Tomorrow is Friday...yaaay!

30 weeks!

Officially, I'm 30 weeks 3 days today....and that's when I took this picture.  Sorry, I was in sweats/ponytail literally all weekend.  Not a pretty picture.  ;-)  Anyways, on to the survey...

•  How far along?  30 weeks 3 days

• Total weight gain:  Still 19 lbs as of my appointment last week!  Let's hope we slow it down from now on.

• Maternity clothes?  Of course

• Stretch marks?  Just those same 2 on my right boob.  lol

• Sleep:  Still not so great.  The sleeping part is good, but, falling asleep is getting harder and harder, and when I wake up, my entire body is SO sore...especially my back.

• Best moment this week?  Well, not really baby-related, but...we finally had our hardwood floors re-finished!!  That means we can finally start working on the nursery.  Painting is next!  Now we just have to decide what color pink(s) go best with our bedding.  Decisions, decisions!

• Movement?  All the time!  She literally makes me jump half the time.  I feel like she's going to roll/kick right out of my belly!

• Food cravings?  Nothing too crazy.  I've cut back on the candy bars/sweets...go me!  :P  But, I have been a big fan of applesauce lately.  I just ate a whole mug-full of cinnamon apple sauce...Mmmm.

• Labor signs?  Just some BH here and there.  Not too bad, though!  *knock on wood*

• Belly button:  I'm pretty sure it's going to pop out any day now.

• What I miss?  Lately it's been wine/beer.  My 30th birthday is coming up (*gasp!*), and I'd really love to celebrate with a little wine or some bubbly. 

• What I'm looking forward to:  Christmas!  And, having almost 2 weeks off from work starting next Wednesday.  OMG, I cannot wait!!!  I need a vacation...BAD.

• Milestones?  Hmm, not sure of any big milestones lately.  How about that I have less than 10 weeks to go?!  Craziness!

 

Silent Sunday

Finally, our Christmas tree is up...and, we have newly re-finished hardwood floors!  I love it.  :-)  (Bailey likes it, too!)

Playing catch-up...

I'm alive!  I'm so sorry I've been MIA this past week. 

I don't have much of an excuse, other than the fact I think the 3rd trimester tired-ness has hit me HARD lately.  By about 2-3pm every day, my eyes are burning because they're so tired.  And, by the time I actually get home between 5-6pm, all I want to do is lay on the couch and not move until I have to get up to go to bed.  Basically, I'm a big lump.

Oh, and...I've been living in our basement since last Friday night, since we had our hardwood floors re-finished this past week.  (They look awesome, by the way!  I'll take pics this weekend and show you all soon.)  So yeah, it's been me, Hubs, Bailey, Roxy, and Fozzie Bear...all crammed into our basement for the past week.  Good times!  ;-) 

So, I'm definitely looking forward to moving back upstairs this weekend and getting back into our normal lives/routine.  It's tough only having one TV to watch, let me tell ya!  There may have been just a few arguments about who gets to watch what show.  And, since I usually go to bed earlier than Hubs, I may have gone all tired-cranky-preggo-mama on him a few times because the TV was too loud and too bright.  Oopsie...whatcha gonna do?  He still loves me.  :-)

Now, to play a little catch-up today...I want to finish up the last few days of Aly's 12 Days of Christmas. 

Day 11 - New Year's Resolutions

Unfortunately, I'm not very good at making/keeping New Year's resolutions...but, I definitely like to try each year!  So, here are a few that I'd love to keep up with:

• Have a BABY!  (This one I'm pretty sure I'll definitely stick with!  ;-) )

• Be on time....whether it's for work, appointments, parties.  I'm usually always late, and I hate it.  I definitely need to work on that.

• Stop procrastinating - This kind of goes along with being late.  I am the queen of saying "Oh, I'll just do that tomorrow, or the next day"....and then it ends up turning into days/weeks/months later, and I still haven't done what I was supposed to do.  Another trait of mine that I hate.

• Decorate our home!  I know I've mentioned this a time or two on here, but, I definitely need to work on painting/decorating our house (our living room especially), so that I'm not completely embarrased to have company over and can actually enjoy spending time in my own home.  Anyone know a good interior designer??  Aly, you know I'm dying for you to help me in this department!  ;-)

Day 12 - Show Us Your Decorations

Well, unfortunately, because of the re-finishing of the floors project, we have not been able to put up our Christmas tree or decorate anything inside yet.  :-(  We did put lights and fun blow-up characters outside, though...I just don't have a picture of those yet.  I'll definitely take pictures as soon as everything's all set and decorated, though, and make a whole post dedicated to it!  (I know you're all SO excited for that, right??)

Day 13 - Favorite Cookie

I don't have any good recipes for this, since I'm not the best cook/baker in the house...so, I'll just show you some pictures of my favorite cookies.  Those are always fun, right?! 

Snickerdoodles...Mmmm!

Sugar cookies...omg, I'm drooling

Day 14 - Oprah's Favorite Things...what I would want

Oooh, this one's pretty easy:

link

And maybe a nice vacation to a place like this:

link

Phew!!  I think I'm all caught up now!  I promise I'll make another post either today or tomorrow with my 30 week bump/quiz!  (30 weeks!!  Eeeek!)  I hope you all have a great weekend!  :-)

12 Day of Christmas - Day 10

Make sure you go link up at Aly's blog to play along!

Day 10 - Favorite Christmas Songs

Oh boy, this might be a long list, seeing as how Christmas music is my absolute FAVORITE!  :-)

For these first few, I love the whole cd!  I can't just pick one song.

{1}  Josh Groban - Noel

{2}  *NSYNC - Home for Christmas

{3}  Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas

{4}  Now That's What I Call Christmas

(Disc 1 has all the old classics that I LOVE...Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Burl Ives, Nat 'King' Cole...love them all!)

{5}  Michael Buble - White Christmas/I'll Be Home For Christmas

{6}  Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige - What Child Is This

{7}  Alvin & The Chipmunks - Christmas Don't Be Late (Hehe, love this one!)

{8}  Frosty The Snowman

{9}  A Charlie Brown Christmas - Christmas Time Is Here

And that's all I can think of off the top of my head right now.  I'm sure there's a ton more that I forgot about! 

12 Days of Christmas - Days 7, 8 & 9

 

Day 7 - Holiday Craft/DIY

Unfortunately, Martha Stewart I am not, when it comes to cooking AND crafts.  I don't really have a creative bone in my body....but, I wish I did!!  I've always been so jealous/envious of those people that can just slap together something fabulous with some glue and a piece of string...if that even makes any sense.  lol  So, here are my holiday crafts that I wish I was able to do on my own.

How fun are these?!  I've always wanted to make my own wreath.

So pretty!

Day 8 - Least Favorite Thing About the Holidays

This one was pretty easy:

• Traffic
• Crowds
• Traffic
• Crowds

Done!  ;-)

Day 9 - Favorite Holiday Recipe

Oooh, this is actually one recipe I can make myself!!  :-)  That's an accomplishment right there...for me, at least.  Easy peasy!!

Chocolate Covered Oreo Balls  (Truffles, if you want to sound fancy)

Ingredients:

• One package of Oreo cookies
• One brick of cream cheese
• 2/3 containers of Bakers melting chocolate (or whatever melting chocolate you prefer)
• One large (thick) Ziploc baggie

Pour entire package of Oreos in Ziploc baggie and crush into teeny tiny pieces.  (This is why you need a thicker bag.  I put a few little holes in my bag the last time I made these b/c I crushed them so hard.  Whoops!)  After Oreos are smooshed, add in brick of cream cheese and smoosh all that together. (Don't you love my technical terminology??  ;-)  )   After the cookies and cream cheese are mashed together, open the bag, stick your hands in (prepare to get all ooey gooey!) and start making them into little balls.  I ended up with about 25 balls total with my last batch.  After all your balls are rolled, microwave your chocolate and start dipping!  I usually just line a cookie sheet with wax paper and line up all the ball on there.  After all the balls are dipped, throw them in the fridge until they're all hardened, and VOILA!  Chocolate covered oreo balls...

Mmm, mmm, mmmmmmm.....deeeeelish!!  :D

Here are pics of some 'fancy' balls out there: