Christmas 2013

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! I'm a little late for a blog post, but I guess better late than never! I can't believe how fast the holidays flew by! It happens every year and it's so depressing when it's over. But apart from all of those depressing post holiday blues, we partied hard when it time to celebrate and we made every second count!

 

This year we had to buy a smaller tree because I got a piano! I bought my uncle and aunt's old one and I couldn't be happier! A keyboard simply just isn't the same but I thank my grandparents for letting me borrow theirs for so long. I've really enjoyed playing the piano since we got it and even got some piano books for Christmas. I didn't think it would be this soon that we got a piano so I'm super grateful. We got a great deal from my relatives. I don't play the best, but I sure enjoy playing!

 

So because we had to put the piano in the living room, there was no room for our tree! And since the big tree couldn't fit downstairs, we had to buy a smaller one. And can I just say, for $39.99 at Walmart, it is one of the best trees I've had. This is the first pre-lit tree we've owned and boy was it easy to put up and take down. And it turned out so cute!

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Christmas Eve we headed to my parents house to PAAARTAY! We had a lot of fun playing with the kids, eating lot's of yummy food, and even opening some presents! All the boys go to open up jammies from Grandma and Grandpa! By the way the pictures below are not the boys in their NEW jammies. I totally forgot to snag a group picture of them all. I'm such a slacker! Guess I was having too much fun!

 

I'm in love with Tay's PJ's. I bought these back in October and couldn't wait to put them on him.

Tyson the photo bomber

OH Yeah

What's better than fried shrimp? More fried shrimp that didn't fit in this container.

Not a big fan of Santa. He didn't cry...

...he just covered his eye

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Christmas Morning was not what I expected. I was so excited for Tayen to see his Christmas this year because being older I assumed he would show more enthusiasm when seeing some new toys. Well he slept terrible the night before so therefore so did Che and I. Christmas morning came and Tayen was so cranky when he got up that when he saw his gifts he just whined the whole time. We were a little disappointed but knew he'd like them later. Tay got some fun things for Christmas this year. His biggest gift was this new farm. Isn't it super cute? He also got some wooden cars, little magnetic trains, Toy Story, a mini Woody, treats, and a big truck. He loved all of them once he wasn't cranky anymore. It was fun to watch him when he finally wanted to play.

 

After we saw our stockings, we headed back over to Grandma and Grandpa O'Connor's with our wrapped gifts. Tayen immediately found a new toy that Carter got for Christmas and he loved it. Played with it all day long and the rest of the week ha ha. Maybe we should have got him one of those!

We all took the morning and opened presents and slowly tried to take in every moment. I goes by so fast! After presents my parents made an amazing breakfast that had me stuffed all day long. Tayen got spoiled again and even Jaxson got a present from his grandparents! We all really enjoyed our Christmas morning. Here is a puzzle that Tayen really loved from Grandma and Grandpa O'Connor

 

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That afternoon, we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Miles' house and once again, Tayen got spoiled. In fact, we ALL got spoiled rotten. We snacked and opened presents and just put are feet up and relaxed.

 

This was Tayen's Christmas bag full of many many treasures!

 

Che was pretty excited about what he got too. We had a lot of fun in Blackfoot with Grandma and Grandpa Miles. I would have taken so many more pictures from Christmas but when Christmas Eve hit, I started feeling what felt like contractions. To the point where I had to time them. I knew that I had overdone it in the weeks leading up to Christmas so I was a little freaked out. I stopped taking pictures after awhile and only got a few in here and there. Eventually after I downed a ton of water and sat on the couch for long periods they started getting farther apart thankfully. Apart from all of that craziness, we had such a wonderful Christmas and I'm so happy that my sister and her family could stay for a whole week! That meant more time with me and more time for all the cousins to play together! Here is a picture from the week of Christmas that I thought was so cute! I'm so upset that Boston wasn't in this picture though! It would have been perfect with the four chairs. Anyway, they loved playing on this table (which wasn't theirs) but they had fun while it lasted. Oh and we didn't do anything fun on New Year's. Boring us. But we did stay up 'til midnight! Che came out of the office (that's right, we were in different rooms) and he kissed me after the ball dropped, then I went back to watching a show and he went back to playing his game. We are awesome. Merry Christmas!

 

 

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After Christmas I could only think of one thing...baby Jaxson. And I have been majorly nesting ever since. Here is a picture of me at 35 weeks. I am now almost 37 weeks and scheduled for a C-Section on January 29th! Only 20 more days left, can you believe it? I'm kind of freaking out a bit. But we're getting ready and we only have a few more things on our "To-Do" list.

 

 

I want to add for journal purposes: This pregnancy is so different than the last. The first was so miserable that I could barely walk. I started swelling super early into pregnancy and it stayed that way until after. I had the worst "log legs" and this was POST pregnancy! It was so bad. Everything leading up to the labor was bad and even after the labor was bad. The 22.5 hour labor was hard and the recovery was super hard as well. Sure took a toll on my body!

 

This pregnancy, however, has been quite different. Now I'm not saying that it was sunshine and roses, but it almost felt that way compared to the last pregnancy. I had a lot of energy all the way up to about a few days ago. Don't get me wrong,I had my nights when I was really feeling the fatigue and wanted to die, but that was just once and awhile. I also got sick a couple times and that wasn't fun. My feet and ankles just barely started swelling badly about a week ago. And I'm having this baby in 2.5 weeks! I'd say that's pretty awesome compared to last time. No wonder I started feeling contractions during Christmas. I felt the energy to do a lot so I did...but I shouldn't have. That was dumb. I even got through my choir concert (1 hr and 20 min) standing the entire time. That was a miracle in itself. Anyway, I'm hoping and praying that the birth will all go well and recovery will be a little better. Seems like it could be since my pregnancy has been better this time. Nothing is guaranteed, but I sure hope for the best!

 

Tayen was super excited when we pulled out all the baby stuff. He's not going to know what hit him!

Clean as a whistle! Just have to shampoo carpets and it's all done!

I couldn't resist putting this picture on here. He looks so cute bundled up!

 

Now with the cold weather, warm house, baby stuff all out, and feeling ready to pop, we are ready to welcome our new addition! And we can't wait! 20 more days and we'll have a family of 4! So excited!

 

Here's to 2014!