24 Weeks!

Christmas is less than a week away!! Joseph and I are both officially off of work through the New Year so we couldn't be happier to relax and spend time with one another and family!

I think we're ready!!



The past week:

Friday: Joseph had his wisdom teeth out :( All went well overall but recovery is still in process. He did wake up in the middle of the surgery but they were able to put him back under immediately. I think he's just glad to have it all behind him!

Sunday: Joseph's extended family Christmas party! The annual tradition is a chinese gift exchange which is always a fun time :) This year, Joseph ended up with a food scale (his own purchase) and being the sweet wife I am, I stole the Bobber cooler for him! Here are some pics from the fun chaos:

 

I worked Monday and Tuesday, and we had our 24 week appointment on Wednesday. Appointments are always reassuring and exciting when you hear the heartbeat. The heartbeat was fast and strong!

Thursday: I hit the road for Columbia to celebrate Christmas with my best college friends! On the way, I made a pit stop in Pinewood to visit Morgan and little Liza Barwick. Liza is absolutely precious and it was so nice to catch up with Morgan. She is due with #2 only one month after me so we had lots of baby talk and she is full of mommy advice, which I always love to hear!!

In Columbia, we all met at Macky's and ate apps and enjoyed our annual ornament exchange. We also celebrate birthdays that were missed/in December. Baby girl even made out in the gift exchange!!
Baby Toms, beach wear, and a passy clip:

Lyndsay and I had a fun slumber party at her parents' house and then I headed to Sumter for the day to babysit my 3 favorite babies!! Caroline needed to get some last minute Christmas shopping done so she went to Columbia while I played with the kids all day (Mom and Kenzie came over after naptime and helped/played with us!) Wells and Sarah Sloan did so well playing together/destroying the house and Benjamin just crawled around and took it all in. He is quite the calm baby!!

Wells and Sarah Sloan love singing Holy, Holy, Holy:) 

 This weekend Joseph and I will probably celebrate his bday with a few friends and we're heading to Florence Sunday for Powell Christmas before we go to Sumter on Christmas Eve! Excited about the next few days and next week when we go to NYC!!

23 Weeks!

I can't believe we're almost 6 months along in this pregnancy! Only 17 weeks left (if baby decides to stay for the full 40 weeks). She's kicking away as I type right now! She is about the size of a grapefruit this week. She weighs a little over a pound now and is beginning to fill out with some fat deposits around her body...Translation: her weight gain = weight gain for me too! Here goes ;) She can hear and sense all of my movements too! What a little miracle :)

Christmas really is my favorite time of year! I love Christmas decorations, Christmas music, Christmas activities, spending time with family, and anything else that has to do with Christmas! Our calendar has filled up with Christmas activities:

This past weekend I had my work Christmas party and then went with Jo, Kim, and Zach to Mellow Mushroom and to see the drive-thru light show at the Pelicans Stadium. It was really neat. We set our radio to the Christmas station and the lights danced accordingly!

Saturday we headed to Charleston for Phil and Kristin Richardson's big day! The ceremony was at the Citadel Chapel, which was all decorated for Christmas. The reception was at the Creek Club at I'on and it was beautiful! We had a great time catching up with old friends and then went and stayed with Murph and Laura for the night. It's always fun to visit with such sweet friends :)

Sunday we hurried home to our furry girl (who stayed at home by herself for the night and couldn't go outside to go potty bc we left the wrong key for friends to let her out...whoops)! We had a pretty lazy day until supper club group arrived around 6:30, dressed for Christmas of course! We had salad, shrimp and grits, bread, and apple pie with ice cream for dessert! We also had fun doing our annual ornament exchange. That's another Christmas favorite of mine...ornaments!!

 

Tuesday night, we concluded our Bible study on Esther. It was such a blessing to study this book with all of these sweet girls. I think everyone enjoyed the study but also enjoyed meeting other girls who live in the MI area. We celebrated the final night with a pot-luck dinner and another ornament exchange!!

This week Joseph and I plan on finishing our Christmas shopping because Joseph will be resting all weekend after he gets his wisdom teeth out on Friday :/ Pray that it all goes smoothly and for a quicky recovery because we have his extended family's Christmas party on Sunday.

Christmas countdown= 13 days, Baby countdown= 17 weeks!

22 Weeks

22 weeks = 5 1/2 months! Wow- it's going by quickly...and I'm growing quickly!

Over Thanksgiving break, I definitely popped out! Mckenize and Joseph agreed that I didn't look pregnant and then two days later, it was quite obvious that there was a growing baby in there :)

Things have been pretty uneventful over the past couple of weeks. Joseph was in training in Charlotte for the entire week last week and then traveled to "the swamp" near Sumter for a boys only camping trip. They had a lot of fun but I think he was excited to come home and sleep in a real bed on Sunday! Since he was out of town, I went to Sumter for the weekend. Mckenzie also went home so it was a nice and relaxing weekend at home with the parents! I love these weekends spending time with family having no agenda. We didn't do much except eat and decorate for Christmas:

I'm excited about Christmas this year! Besides the camera Joseph and I are giving each other (yay!!), there isn't much I want but I'm looking forward to seeing all the kids this year. Macy will be walking around and is apparently loving Christmas trees! Wells and Sarah Sloan are both at fun ages and have really enjoyed birthday parties this year so Christmas should be interesting! Benjamin will probably just sit back and take in all the craziness, as usual. Sweet boy graduated from his "helmet" this past week!!



 

We're looking forward to another busy weekend this weekend. Friday- my school Christmas party, Saturday- Phil and Kristin get married in Charleston, and Sunday- supper club at our house!