Preggo Pics

I wanted to take a few preggo pictures so that J could see what I looked like when he was in my belly! This afternoon, R took a few of me by myself and with Tink, and I thought I would share (mostly for my Mom). Tink wasn't being cooperative (what 21 month old is?), so we didn't get many of the poses that I was hoping for, but I love what we got because they're more her personality than anything I could have posed. Enjoy - hopefully, I won't look like this for long!

Celebrating with family

We were a little worried that the Christmas Blizzard would keep our families away, but they managed to make it here safely! We celebrated Christmas weekend with R's family, and had a great time. Tink LOVES her cousins, and was very excited to have them around to play with! R made another great dinner, complete with turkey for dessert. Our cooking directions were incorrect and the turkey took a little longer than expected, but was definitely worth the wait. :) We were really thankful to have our families here to celebrate with us, and our Christmas wouldn't have been complete without them.

cousins

Abby sweater from Grandma

A ball set to help Tink get ready for her brother!

Learning how to use the Sit and Spin

Cute new clothes from Aunt L (check out the shoes!)

We spent New Year's weekend with my family. The girls are starting to get excited about opening presents, and the boys-to-be got a few presents of their own. Can you believe that my sister and I are both having boys??? :)

Happy New Year!

baby blankets made by my uncle

matching Christmas PJs

An Elmo phone that says Tink's name!

Baby Abby Cadabby

Trying out baby cradles made by Papa (do you notice a theme here?)

Christmas

We had an unusual Christmas this year, but a wonderful one to say the least. We originally planned to be at home instead of in Oklahoma, but didn't imagine that I would be on bed rest and we would have such crazy weather! We hoped to attend Christmas Eve service, but after sliding around the block and almost hitting a parked car, R decided that our evening would be better spent at home! We celebrated Christmas Eve watching the snow, setting out cookies for Santa, and reading the Christmas story. On Christmas morning, R did an amazing job following through with all of my special plans! We were able to spend the entire day in our PJs and let Tink open and play with each of her gifts before moving on to the next. We also had amazing food - baked french toast for brunch and the perfect Christmas dinner - baked ham with pineapple glaze, scalloped potatoes (from scratch!), and an arugula, pear, and pecan salad. So much for making me think that he can't cook! :) While travel and spending time with extended family are always an important part of Christmas for us, this year was made special by the time that we got to spend together as a family of three.

cookies for Santa

eating a cookie of her own and getting ready for the Christmas story

talking about Jesus' birthday (yes, baby Jesus is on top of the stable)

trying out her new baby stroller

getting settled in her tent with some good books (my kind of afternoon, I must say!)

Say cheese!

More Christmas Fun

Being out of commission leading up to Christmas presented quite the challenge to all the things I had planned, but R took over and did a fantastic job making sure that Tink's second Christmas was full of fun memories.

The Wednesday after Thanksgiving, we had our first snow! We were really excited to take the girls outside to take pictures. They humored us, but weren't as thrilled as we hoped :)

The night before the fun began, our church hosted a Christmas petting zoo called Journey to the Manger. Tink got to pet and brush farm animals and say hello to Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherds, and an angel! She was a lot less timid than her first petting zoo experience, and cried when it was time to go home!

Christmas cookies are one of R's favorite traditions, and he was even more excited this year now that I have so many decorating supplies :) Tink had a blast "helping", and I even pitched in just a little when it was time to decorate. It was a HUGE mess, but they were pretty cute!

Getting all dressed up for Christmas Sunday has always been so much fun for me! I had Tink's dress before Thanksgiving, but it was a little tricky getting the rest of it. Thanks to a little outing to the consignment store, she was all set :)

A Little More Than We Bargained For

If you've been staying in touch or keeping up on Facebook, this is old news to you by now (feel free to skip it). But, just in case you missed it, and for the sake of having it recorded somewhere, here's the story:
The week after Thanksgiving was pretty normal - we made plans for parties and shopping was well under way. I was really excited about all of the things I had planned for Tink - cookies, mailing her letter to Santa, Angel Tree, and shopping for our friends and family. Unfortunately, Baby J had something completely different in mind!
I woke up at about 1am on the morning of the 7th having contractions. I was sure it was a false alarm, and tried walking it off and getting some water. At about 2:30, I decided I should wake R up and call the doctor. By 3:30, my sister was here to stay with Tink, and we were headed to the hospital. K asked if she should take Tink home with her when she woke up, and I assured her that we would be back by then (yeah right).
By the time I was checked in at the hospital and hooked up to a monitor, my contractions were 8 minutes apart. They started with a steriod shot for J's lungs, and found that I had dialated to a 1. Things slowed down a bit after a shot of Terbutaline, but they started up about 3 hours later. Then, the real fun began. They hooked me to an IV and started Magnesium, which slowed my contractions, but made me feel like I was just waking up from fainting. I also had to have my vitals checked every hour and my blood drawn every six hours, which makes rest pretty difficult! After a pretty uneventful day, we decided that R should go home and get some rest and let Tink sleep in her own bed as I settled in to an antepartum room.
I did well throughout the night, and the doctor decided to try an oral medication - things remained calm, and a sonogram showed that my labor hadn't progressed! We were all excited, and the doctor talked about sending me home on Thursday.
Unfortunately, I woke up contracting about about 1am the next morning. They tried Terbutaline again, but for some reason, this round sent me straight for a close encounter with the porcelain god - if you know me at all, you know that this is my LEAST favorite thing! Getting sick bought me another round of Magnesium, this time without any food. Luckily, all of the excitement didn't phase J in the least. His heart rate was steady, he continued to move and kick as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on, and I still had no labor progression.
Because things continued to look good through all of the excitement, they decided that I would probably rest better at home. On Thursday morning, the doctor took me off of the IV and checked me over one more time before releasing me to go home. I never imagined that I would leave the hospital so quickly (and still pregnant)!
The next month brought a LOT of time on the couch, movies and magazines, and help from wonderful family and friends. I was bummed to be missing out on all of the Christmas fun, but SO thankful for the extra weeks for J to grow and that Tink is too little to remember this entire ordeal. I am officially 36 weeks today, the doctor expects J to be in great health whenever he decides to come, and I'm slowly re-entering the world. Don't expect anything too exciting, though - contrary to what you would expect from spending four weeks on the couch, I'm exhausted! We know we couldn't have made it without all of your prayers and help, and we are truly greatful - we promise to keep everyone updated, especially when J decides to make his grand appearance!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

We have a family tradition of putting up the tree before we leave for Thanksgiving. It's really fun to come home to the house all decorated! This year brought a new level of excitement because Tink was all about helping with the ornaments. We also met some friends for the tree lighting in Southlake Town Square, which just might become another tradition!

Getting out the ornaments

Choosing just the right spot

Let's put this one here

The final touch

Lighted Southlake fountain

Oh, Christmas tree!

It wouldn't be Christmas without a cookie!

Playing Catch-up - Thanksgiving

So, in case you've been out of touch lately, I've been a little preoccupied to post to the blog (more about that later). For now, here are the posts that you would have seen if all had been "normal":

We had a wonderful week-long Thanksgiving with our families! Because travel isn't an option for Christmas this year, Ryan took a few extra days and we headed to Oklahoma. We spent the first half of the week with my family, and the second half with Ryan's. Tink is starting to warm up a little more quickly than before with our families -especially her cousins! She couldn't wait to get in on all of the action. It was a great week away, and we came home feeling overwhelmed with thankfulness for our family and friends, Ryan's job, my time at home, and our growing family.

I found these shirts online, and Papa took care of the rest :)

Chowing down with Daddy

Giggly girls :)

My Mom's family

Linders cousins

Drum lessons with Pa Pa

Football with the boys

Playing a new game

Always ready to dress up!