It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

This past weekend we started decorating for Christmas.  I am on travel for a week this month and want to get everything started so I can just enjoy this time with my guys.  We got our tree up and decorated! Colin was so very helpful with telling us EXACTLY where each ornament should go, which was usually on the tippy top where mommy could not reach!  He has been pretty good at not touching the ornaments that are on the tree. Pretty good. We took a risk and put more ornaments towards the bottom of the tree (last year we only put a few non-breakable ones).  Sunday was so nice.  We woke up early, ate a big breakfast while a Christmas Jazz station was playing (later we ventured to the traditional Christmas songs, but I am finding as I get older the more I prefer instrumental music), then started decorating.  I wrapped most of the gifts that we have already and put them under the tree, as I explained to Colin over and over that they were gifts that we are giving to other people.  It is a little confusing since he just had his birthday where he got to open everything that came through our doorway wrapped.  I think this year Will and I are going to be better about combining our Christmas traditions.  So, we have one gift that Colin will open on Christmas Eve (my side) and then we will save all of this other gifts for Christmas morning (Will's), plus he will get his stockings and gifts from Santa (wrapped in different packaging and that will remain hidden until Christmas morning).  I am getting so excited for Christmas!  Colin's age is so perfect for it! This will be our first year leaving cookies for Santa -  Colin is going to love it!




Colin helping organize the ornaments





And playing with all the ones that were considered kid proof



Our Scottish Santa





And our German Santa!

What a wonderful time of year!!!

A Time to Be Thankful

This was our first Thanksgiving in our new home!  Not everyone we would have wanted to share it with was able to come, but it was made extra special by a visit from my dad and his wife, Michele.  We had a wonderful time this past week.  Colin loved to get bad guys with P-pa and even made Mi-ma join in the hero action.  It has been almost a year since I have seen both of them so it meant a lot that they could fly out to see us.  It is hard being away from family, especially around the holidays.

Will had to work most of the week but Colin, P-pa, Mi-ma and I were able to explore the beautiful and exciting D.C. area.  We spent the day at the Mall on Monday.  We went to the American Museum and saw some of the monuments (from afar)!  The American was pretty interesting.  I really enjoyed seeing the First Ladies' evening gowns.  Gorgeous!  I was surprised that they had so many and some of them were very old! 

On Tuesday, we headed to the Air and Space Museum.  Colin loved the big planes and jets!

On Wednesday, we went to Mt. Vernon (what Colin is calling George's house) and explored the 1st President's house. 



Colin had it easy!



We had a relaxing Thanksgiving where all of us, even Colin helped out with the dinner! Michele and I even did some early Black Friday shopping online!  I love stores that did that so I did not have to go out.  People get crazy!



P-pa doing something with the turkey



Some of the final spread with some delicious Mt. Vernon wine - yes, I enjoyed half a glass...everything in moderation!



On Friday, we took Colin down to Grandma's and enjoyed a nice lunch.  Then the four adults went to a Capitals hockey game!  It was awesome!  Will was the only one who had been to a hockey game before.  I loved it!!  Will and I may have a new sport to watch together :) 

This was such a busy week but a lot of fun.  I am so glad some of my family was able to spend a holiday with me and my Virginia family.

Baby B Diary: Week 16

This is a couple days early, but since everyone at my household is in a food coma I thought I would post it quick.  Plus, I wore fall colors today so I wanted Will to take a belly picture!

Overall,  I am feeling good.  Exhausted most of the time but learning to push through it...since when you have a 3 year old you cannot really take naps whenever you want to!  We have had visitors since Saturday.  P-pa and Mi-ma are here visiting from Oregon, so it has been a busy week.  We have been exploring all over D.C. which has worn me out but I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  Colin was a really good boy too...but more about that in a different blog entry.  So on to the belly pictures.

I still have not gained any weight this week but continue to eat, eat, and eat!  Still eating steak (more often than I would like) and I want ice cream a lot (which I am OK with).  We have our next appointment next week and in a couple of weeks we get to go in for our big ultra sound!  Fingers-crossed that this baby lets us find out the sex on the first try.




My sweater hides the belly a bit





After our Thanksgiving dinner and pie!



Three...Really?!?

Our little boy is three years old now!  He had some special guests that flew out from Oregon to celebrate his birthday with him.  He was so excited to see P-ma and Mi-ma.  This year he had a Toy Story 3 party.  He is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear right now.  He made out like a bandit as far as gifts go!  He got a cool Iron Man, a big Buzz Lightyear, a drumset, a play doctor bag, an art easel and a few other things!  This is the first year where he was really into opening all his gifts.  It was so cute to watch him rip open the gifts.
I cannot believe that he is three!  It has gone by so fast. 

My Birthday Wish

...was that I would be repeating my 25th birthday this year, but sadly, my wish did not come true and I celebrated my 28th.  Oh well, what can you do!  My hubby says that I cannot really complain since he is now in his 30's and when I do that I am rubbing his age in!  I will admit that did make me feel better!  No, the last few years have been amazing so I cannot complain about getting older!

As usual my hubby made sure I had a wonderful birthday!  He has been taking care of dinners for my birthday week and making sure I get ice cream whenever this baby is making mommy want it!  He also brought my recent BBQ favorite home (I have been eating more meat these past few months than I have my whole life).  I told Will that I need to adopt a cow after this baby is born to make penance.  Will surprised me with a lunch date my last work day of the week.  Not surprisingly, I chose a steak place.  I complain about craving meat but at least I have an appetite this time...

I took a "Me" day on my actual birthday.  I started my morning at the spa (thank you mom)...got a facial, mani, pedi, etc and then went and got my hair done!  A wonderful time! Will took me to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, The Melting Pot.  It was delicious! 

I was spoiled with gifts - thank you everyone!  My wonderful mother-in-law sent me the cutest flowers (I love fall so they were perfect for me).  My girlfriends showered me with gifts at work on Thursday which who does not enjoy receiving gifts!  It was very sweet.  Colin got me some candy that I have been asking for :) and my sweetie got me the prettiest necklace from Tiffany's.  Spoiled!  This was an amazing birthday!  Relaxing and quiet - which is exactly what this pregnant lady wants!

Today, we took Colin to see his first movie in the theatre.  Our real estate lady and her company rents out a theatre once a year for their clients.  A very nice gesture.  We watched Megamind.  It was cute.  Colin did very good and really loved the show.  Amazingly, all three of us took a nap afterwards.  Now Will is making me a lasagna dinner!  For tomorrow he picked a soup recipe from one of my cookbooks, which I am very excited about.  For you who do not know, Will is not that fond of cooking, so this is a very sweet thing and he is venturing away from pasta!  Love you, honey :) He is also making me my fave, cherry cheesecake - which according to Colin is now my favorite, Daddy's favorite, and Colin's favorite.  He also decided tonight that Will is Wolvie (aka Wolverine), Colin is Spiderman, and I am Hulkie (not sure how I feel about that)!

And a little baby bump action:

Colin and I making a game plan.

Thank you all for a wonderful birthday!!!

A Big Thank You

Today, I want to pay tribute to all of those who have served in the military and even those who may not be in the military but are involved in the effort to keep our country safe. 

Starting with my two favorites; my hubby and my little brother (USAF and USMC).  I am so proud of their accomplishments throughout their time in the military and since they have departed (well my brother is still somewhat in).  I should also add my father-in-law to this list.  He is a favorite of mine and also served.  Thank you, Grandfather B!

So, thank you to all of the people that I know that have served in the military.

Of course I extend this thank you to all of the service members that I do not know or have had the pleasure to meet in my recent travels.  I have noticed since I have started to travel to different bases around the world that there are all sorts of people who join the military and even though several of the people in the military do not necessarily get deployed to a war zone, they all work together to support each other.  Will is hesitant when receiving a thank you for his service since he did not get deployed during his time in the military, but I think he still deserves it.  He was a firefighter which is definitely putting your life in harms way and if things had been different and he stayed in longer he would have definitely been deployed.  There are many people who have desk jobs that will not be going to the Middle East but they still choose to walk a path that makes sacrificing their life a strong possibility.  I have worked with a lot of SVM lately that now have a desk job but had been deployed several times with their prior duties.  It just kind of falls the way it is suppose to fall. Having gone to the Middle East myself and seeing where the SVM sleep, eat, and entertain themselves on the weekend; I definitely have a new found respect for those that are deployed.  I was there during the summer and it is HOT, dry and plain miserable.  Especially if you are near a tarmac...crazy hot!  These people are taking themselves away from their loved ones to fight for the country they love and believe in.  It is a beautiful thing.  Heartbreaking but beautiful. 

So, thank you to all of you I do not know.

I know that this is Veteran's Day, but there are also people that are non-military that support our country and our troops that deserve recognition.  Being in the military is not the only way to be patriotic or to do your part.  On the plane going to the Middle East I met several people who were civilians but going to different war zones for welding and other such things.  They may not be carrying a gun for our country but they are still putting their lives at risk to help support our troops. 

I recently cut out an article in the Washington Post that a Officer wrote after returning from Afghanistan (I believe) about a local boy that joined their cause.  This boy (who they believe lied about his age) joined them as a translator after seeing his two best buddies beheaded after refusing to join the Al Qaeda that came to their school.  I cannot even imagine.  He was not able to see his family afraid of repercussions that could occur but he still chose to join the fight.  He sadly was killed, probably not even 18. 

So, thank you to the non-military folks doing their part.

Happy Veteran's Day!

I am a quote freak so here you go:

"The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem." -Rev. Aaron Kilbourn


"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy



...And one that I truly wish would come true...


"I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, 'Mother, what was war?'" -Eve Merriam

Lil Baby B's First Photos

Here are are pictures from our first appointment!!!

I did a quick scan job and edit so they look a little funky, but I'll fix them later...

We're Pregnant!!!

Yay!!! We are so excited to announce that we are expecting another little bundle of joy!  I am already at 13 weeks!  It went by very fast!  Probably because I was not sick like I was with Colin.  When I was pregnant with Colin I was constantly feeling nauseous for a whole four months and had no appetite.  With this little one I have barely felt sick at all!  Amazing.  I had a couple of weeks of feeling nauseous but cannot complain about that.  We had our first appointment last week.  Our doctor (who delivered Colin) was very excited to see us!  I just love her!  She has this west coast attitude - just very relaxed which I appreciate.  Our due date is May 14th.  Celebrating a birthday in a different season will be nice!

Here is a a picture of me at 11 weeks hiking in Puerto Rico.  That was not an easy task when pregnant!

It was at the highest peak of our hike.  I was soaked, tired, hungry and a little nauseous, but I was proud of myself!




Here are a few picture of me at 13 weeks.

We told Colin the other day that he was going to be a big brother.  So far he is really excited!  He is a little confused with the concept of a baby being in mommy's belly though!  The next day at daycare he lifted his shirt and announced to everyone that there is nothing in his belly!

Colin's Halloween Adventure

Halloween was so much fun this year.  Colin really enjoyed learning about Halloween.  Well, learning enough for the level of a almost 3 year old.  He learned the words bat, ghost, pumpkins, witch, costume, etc. We have done a little something each year for Colin, but nothing to big (besides going to the patch).  This year was his first year trick-or-treating.  He has been so excited! To get in the Halloween spirit we did a few crafts, decorated, continued our tradition of going to a pumpkin patch, carved our pumpkins, handed out candy and went trick-or-treating.  We also watched Garfield's Halloween Adventure and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (both another tradition).  Thankfully, Colin likes them both!  I think Will and I would have our hearts broken if he didn't.  I was on travel for two weeks this month, so we had tried to get a lot of our stuff done before I left.  We carved one pumpkin before I left and then did one this morning. 

Here are some pictures of us carving.

He had so much fun trick-or-treating!  He did such a good job at saying "trick-or-treat" to everyone and thanking them for the candy.  He also loved wishing people a "happy halloween"! He was also telling everyone that he had a costume.  Such a cutie.  His costume was very successful.  Everyone loved Spiderman.  It probably helped that he was one of the smaller kids in our rush of kids and is so adorable :)  We let him pick out one candy.  He does not get to eat much candy at all so his pumpkin bucket is going to last a long time!  It got to the point that I had to carry it for him! 

Looking Back: Pregnancy

About 7 months



Around 3 months

 Recently I have been thinking about my pregnancy with Colin.  I figured that I should probably get it written down in this blog before I forget too much. 

I will never forget Will's face when I told him we were having a baby.  It was priceless!  It was an expression that made any worries I may have had disappear.  I knew that this was going to be an amazing journey for both of us to experience together.  We were pretty good at keeping it a secret (except for immediate family)...It is so hard to not blab it to everyone when you are so excited!



A week or so before



We found out towards the end March and were given a due date of November 30/December 1.  I was exhausted the first few months.  I probably have never slept so well.  I also was very nauseous.  So many different smells would make me want to vomit (like meat, wine, beer) and several others.  I tried to eat as much as I could but I just did not have an appetite.  I actually lost quite a few pounds those first few months.  Something that I found very disappointing was my lack of appetite.  I was hoping for that craving, that feeling that you must eat now, pregnant appetite.  I started to get that around 7 months. Unfortunately, instead of dealing with the morning sickness for just 3 months, I had it for 4.  Not cool.  It was also pretty constant. 

I had the normal heartburn and backache but most women go through that, so cannot complain too much.  One great thing was that my stomach issues that I have dealt with practically my whole life did not seem to bother me much throughout the pregnancy.  That was a very nice break.  I had no trouble with dairy and eventually quit my lifestyle of being a vegetarian, well pescatarian - I ate fish.  My baby was telling me that he and I needed more protein! 



3 months to go



The rest of the pregnancy was pretty uneventful.  It was interesting experiencing my first Virginia summer (hot and humid) with a big belly.  When I was about 5 months along I traveled to Boston, which is now one of my favorite cities.  I really enjoyed exploring the city.  The next month I was able to travel to Oregon.  I was so glad to get a chance to see my family while I was pregnant.  My mom was able to throw a baby shower while I was there.  I was lucky to have a baby shower on both coast!

Overall, my pregnancy was a very enjoyable experience, minus the first few months!