Happy Birthday Chad!!

Yesterday we celebrated Chad's 31st birthday! Unfortunately he had to work while James and I were at home. I am working from home this week due to James day care being closed for the holidays. So James and I had a lot fun making a German chocolate cake for his birthday (his favorite). Now you will notice from the pics below I did use a box cake mix for the cake but that icing IS homemade :) James was such a big help especially with cleaning the mixing bowl and the mixer things. I know they say it is not safe to eat raw cake batter because of the eggs but I always did it as a kid and never got sick so I figured just a little taste or 2 wouldn't hurt! 

We met Chad for a great dinner at Stix where the man makes the fire according to James. It really was so much fun. When we got home we sang Happy Birthday as seen above and opened presents. However we did not eat the cake. Chad has been a little under the weather and James started running a fever yesterday afternoon so neither one wanted a piece of cake. It is still sitting in our fridge untouched :) However it may be our dinner tonight as the egg cooker is feeling worse today and hasn't made it out of the bed. My other child is still running a fever. This New Year's Eve night will be much different than last year for sure! I really hope they both get to feeling better soon. We finally have a weekend at home to ourselves and an extra day off work. I want Chad to be able to enjoy it and I am dying for adult conversation...being a stay at home mom with a sick husband to boot is tough! 

Sidenote: It has been nice to be at home this week and play with our new tech gifts from Christmas. We have really moved up in the world as far as technology goes...we got a flip video (thus the reason for the video added above), we got an iPad and a new MacBook Pro! Now if I could only figure out how to properly use all 3 :) 

Pregnancy Brain is Real

Pregnancy brain or momnesia is what some people relate to the many bouts of forgetfulness women may have while pregnant. Some people will argue that the pregnancy brain is a myth. Well I am here to testify that it is in fact real. I usually for the most part have it together. Here lately a few incidents are evidence that I in fact do not and I am starting to wonder if I should be left alone to care for my child. I have a list of a few examples below:

- One morning found a full sippy cup of milk in the cabinet under neath the kitchen sink right next to the Clorox clean up.
- Arrived at work and went to put my sandwich I had made at home in the refrigerator only to find that I had taken 2 slices of bread, spread mayo and mustard on each side, added a piece of cheese, and some how forgot to add the turkey.
- The same day I forgot the turkey, I went to instant message a friend at work to discuss another co-worker's inappropriate actions and actually typed the message to the co-worker I was writing about and hit enter. I went into panic mode. The co-worker was actually talking with someone else outside of my office so I quickly walked to her desk clicked on the message I had written and immediately closed it out so she  could not see it. I didn't really think through this response as she could have walked up as I was clicking on her computer and wonder what the heck I was doing. Fortunately that did not happen and I passed her on my way back to my office. She said a friendly hello and I said hi luckily she could not tell my heart was about to beat out of my chest.
- Reset my password to my work computer prior to leaving for the holidays and tried to log in this morning and I was totally at a loss as to what I had changed it too. I tried several combinations and nothing worked. This resulted in me calling our IT group to reset and then had to actually make a trip to the office in order for the password to reset.
- Over the holidays I completely left my cell phone in Birmingham and didn't realize it until we were in Montgomery. For 24+ hours I felt so out of touch with the world. Thank goodness for overnight mail and for my mom for using it. It arrived today still in tact...whew!

Is Christmas Really in 6 days??

It has been awhile I know. This post may be all over the place because you see I have been feeling a little like this lately...

It is the holidays and we have been busy I guess just like everyone else. During this holiday season we attended the SEC Championship game (WAR EAGLE!!), had Christmas with the Baldesare's, we have shopped, we have wrapped, we have decorated, we have been to a Christmas party, we have been to the doctor (reminder that we are having a baby in a few short months)...and the one thing I have not done is create a Christmas card. I feel like such a slacker when I open the Christmas cards we receive in the mail. They are all so great and I love receiving them. And every time I open one it makes me regret not sending one so I am making it a goal to work on a New Years card this year. So hopefully I can focus on that once Christmas is over.

So a little update on baby #2. I am now officially in the 3rd trimester. I can't believe it honestly. This pregnancy has gone by so fast and I cannot believe we only have 11 weeks left until we get to meet this precious little miracle growing inside of me. At my 28 week appointment we had an ultrasound and the baby weighs approx 2lbs 9 oz if it continues to grow at the same pace he or she will be approx 8 1/2 lbs at full term. James was 8 lb 7 oz so this one will probably be almost the same size even though it feels so much bigger than James did. I am measuring 30 weeks which doesn't necessarily mean we will have the baby earlier just that my baby bump is bigger :) And I definitely can tell. Sleeping at night is becoming more challenging and my energy level continues to decrease but other than that I cannot complain. Chad and I continue to think it is another boy and James insists he will have a little sister, not knowing really is so much fun and exciting despite the planner inside me dying to know so we can prepare accordingly. I do hope this baby doesn't decide to join us until my actual due date because I really need all of January and February to get things ready. I still have not purchased one thing for this little one and the nursery is not even close to being ready. Currently we call it our "wrapping room". Baby bump update at 29 weeks:

And Christmas. I am not going to lie I have been a completely stressed lately and at times a bit hormonal but I am finally starting to enjoy the holidays. We still have a couple of gifts to purchase and a few more to wrap but we have accomplished so much the last few days. James is really loving Christmas this year and has been so much fun to watch. He loves Christmas lights, Frosty the Snowman is his favorite Christmas show and song, and he loves Christmas trees. This year we even put a little tree in his room that he decorated himself. The ornaments are mainly concentrated in spots but he is so proud of it so I haven't touched it. He also insisted his tree have a star on top so of course we got one.

Yesterday we took him to see Santa. It went ok. He was all excited about it and couldn't wait to tell him that he wants a big blue dinosaur for Christmas but when we got close to him he became really shy and wouldn't let go of my arm. We convinced him it was ok enough for us to get a picture atleast there were not any tears. Here is the series of pics below.

And today we had breakfast at the Grand in Point Clear with Meme and Papop (they came in town this past weekend which was a huge help) and it was beautifully decorated for Christmas. Inside the dining area they had a Gingerbread house that is a replica of the hotel and property. It was so neat!

They also had a 20 foot tree that was stunning.

 

I wish I could decorate well. I try but our decorations our minimal. We do purchase a real tree every year and fortunately the past 2 years that experience did not turn into an argument. The first year we went together to pick one out was quite comical and I don't think Chad and I spoke to each other for several hours afterward. I just realized I do not have a picture of our entire tree. Next year we are going to need to lights on the outside of our house we decided.

It may be after Christmas before I have more updates so until then we wish all of our friends and family a very Merry Christmas!