Thursday, December 29, 2011

Another little thing to peruse on one of your vacation days. :)

http://www.oprah.com/packages/your-happiness-plan.html

Is it 2012 yet?!

The Christmas decorations are down, the house looks "normal" and "decluttered"- obviously, I was quickly over all the holiday stuff.  I always love when a new year comes.  It's like a fresh start.  Nothing will really change immediately for us in 2012 but I like the idea of it.  It makes me want to put fresh yellow flowers in the house and pretend that it's springtime.  Yeah, good luck with that, huh?  haha  We have a good four months of this cold weather left before we get anything that resembles a spring day.

But, luckily for us, we have something coming smack in the middle of those four months to bring some brightness to our lives!  Less than two months and baby Max will be here!  I'm so excited, I can't stand it.  I have two friends giving birth to their babies this week and I am j-e-a-l-o-u-s!  haha  Laura and Stan are having their twins, Lilah & Colin, this Friday and I'm SOOOO excited for them!  And, Christina and Chad went into the hospital this morning to have their baby boy, Hudson, today!  Plus, great for the 2011 tax returns!  haha

I'm pretty much ready for this pregnancy thing to come to a happy ending.  I'm uncomfortable now, I'm not very fond of the extra junk in my trunk anymore, I now like staying behind the camera instead of in front of it, and I can't sleep through the night, or more than about an hour for that matter, without waking up for any  of the following reasons: my back hurts, my hip hurts, I catch myself laying on my back and then I can't breathe, Christian nudging me because apparently I'm a champion snorer now, or because, of course, I have to pee.  Plus, I'm tired of not being able to hug or kiss my husband without practically bending over.  haha  It's all very awkward.  But, I know he needs to stay in there a little while longer.  Plus, Christian made a good point the other day: he's easier to keep track of while he's in my tummy.  haha

So anyway, on to other things.  We had a great Christmas as I hope all of you did!  We went to Western Maryland to visit Christian's family for the weekend.  The warm winter has hit over there this year too so we didn't have a white Christmas.  That's pretty odd for the mountains but I'm not complaining.  As many of you know, Christian and I don't really exchange gifts for Christmas so there's nothing to report there but we are planning a beach vacation at the end of April that will count as somewhat of a late Christmas present.  We planned on a ski trip this year between Christmas and New Years but that fizzled out due to not being able to get everything coordinated with a larger group.  But, anyway, for those of you who did exchange gifts, I hope you got what you wanted/needed!

Anyone have any New Year's resolutions??  I don't really have one this year.  I definitely want to get back in shape ASAP after Max is here but I already work out so that really can't be a resolution.... I'd like to read more but I know with baby here, that will be close to impossible to keep up with.... So, I think I'll just stick to the good ol' "maintain a happy life by choice" motto as my resolution.  It's been working pretty dang well for the past two years!  I hope all of you have a fabulously happy 2012!  Make it a priority and a choice!

Oh, I have an idea.... some of your resolutions should be to visit Chrissi & Christian more often!  That would be fabulous!  ;-)  We love having company and any of our friends and family are more than welcome anytime!

Now, I just want to touch on a few things in the news lately.  First off, the funeral of North Korean leader Kim Jung Il.  Have any of you seen the footage of the people "crying" and going into convulsions?  It's a bit much.  The news is saying that it's mostly fake because people don't want to seem unsupportive of the regime but WOW!  Christian and I watched some of Anderson Cooper 360 last night and he showed the footage and we were blown away and were kind of laughing at how dramatic it was.  Yes, it's sad that someone (anyone) passed away but there were no tears and the people who didn't think the camera was capturing them weren't even grimacing.  Craziness.  So, I guess we'll see how his son does.

Secondly, have any of you heard of breastfeeding "nurse-ins" going on around the country?  Let me first make something clear:  I am all about breastfeeding and I think it's 100% natural and beautiful and all that jazz.  But, is it really necessary for a Texas woman to sit ON THE FLOOR in the women's clothing department of a Target store and breastfeed her child?  I've provided a link to this story about the TX woman.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2011/12/breastfeeding-at-target-moms-stage-national-demonstration/
She was on GMA yesterday talking about how offended she was that people kept giving her bad looks and shaking their heads.  She was even offered a dressing room by one of the Target employees but refused it and that's when she says she kept getting bad looks.  I'm a woman about to have a child who I will hopefully breastfeed but even I get a smidge uncomfortable when I see women doing this in a wide open public place.  Is it so hard to find a place a little more private than the floor of Target?  I'm not a fan of this...

Third news story... the awful, awful Christmas Eve fire in Connecticut.  The mother lost her parents and her three children.  The fire was caused by embers from the fireplace being discarded outside the home but still close enough to the home to catch fire.  They were trying to be safe by getting the embers outside but I guess they weren't safe enough.  There were no smoke detectors in the home as it was being renovated.  This is such a sad story.  If any of you are thinking you're having a bad day, bad year, bad anything, just think, it could be WAY worse.  Also, please take time in the next day or two to check your smoke detectors!  After hearing this story, I replaced batteries in all of ours.

Ok, so anyway, I hope all of you are having a great week!  Tomorrow is Friday!  Enjoy the long weekend and have a SUPER happy New Year!!!!!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Ok, ok... so it's been (almost) a month since I've blogged. Sorry folks.

Gosh- so much to catch up on!  I haven't blogged since before Thanksgiving and I feel I should catch everyone up on this life of mine.

So, last time I blogged, we were getting ready for a LONG drive down to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday.  And, boy was it a long drive.... especially since we started it off with two flat tires just 40 minutes into our trip.  We must have run over something on our way out of town.  The "low tire pressure" alert went off for the rear right tire and then immediately "dinged" for the front right tire.  Christian watched the tire pressure gage in the truck slowly creep down as we hurried to get off the freeway.  We were able to make it off the freeway and were only ONE MILE away from the Midas garage when we weren't able to drive anymore.  So, we had to wait about 30 minutes on roadside assistance to come pump the tires and plug them well enough for us to make it to the tire place.  We made it to Midas and about an hour and half later, we were patched and ready to hit the road.  We only got about four hours of driving in that day but made it safely to Florida the next evening.  Sixteen hours was our total time.  Blahhhh.

We got to Pensacola the weekend before Thanksgiving and just spent time with family and friends the first few days.  Then, we went to New Orleans for Thanksgiving day and night with my mom and step-dad.  That was a fun thing to do and it was different.... kind of a change of scenery from the typical Thanksgiving hooplah that usually takes place.  :)  So, it was nice.  Then, the day after Turkey Day, we headed back to Florida where I hosted my best friend's (Alison) bridal shower with some of our closest friends.  It was a fun time and it was great to see everyone.  The Sunday that followed was my first baby shower and it was so fantastic!  It was hosted by Karyn, Alison and Ali and I couldn't have been happier with the turnout!  We got some GREAT gifts for Max and the food was delicious!  Christian had to leave that day to head to Dallas for a class for work.  So, he was gone for the rest of my time in Florida.  He flew back into Pensacola on Thursday, I picked him up from the airport and we got about six hours of driving in before we stopped for the night on our way back to NJ.

There really is nothing quite like being back at home when you've been gone for about two weeks.  Our bed never feels better than that first night back!  Plus, I was anxious to get all of our nursery stuff put away and organized!  Speaking of- the next day, my friends Vicki and Paige hosted another baby shower up here for me!  It was also fantastic!  They put so much work into it and it was beautiful and so thoughtful!  Most of my NJ/PA friends were able to make it so it was a lot of fun!  And, we got even more great gifts!!

The same day as my shower, we had Christian's squadron's Christmas party that night.  It was fun and it was good to see all the folks he works with.  I never realized how many people were in his squadron!  It takes an Army (err... Navy), I guess!

Maybe all that going, going, going is what put me down for the count this past Monday.  I felt like I was hit with a ton of bricks that afternoon.  My whole body hurt, I was coughing and had a horrible headache.  Then, to top it all off, I pulled a muscle or something in my right side that made it painful to breathe!  I felt awful.  But, I'm slowly getting over the remnants of whatever it was.  I still have a little bit of a cough, sore through when I wake up and some congestion but I'm pushing through!

In the middle of all that junk, I had a MUCH needed hair appointment!  I ended up having about six inches cut off of my hair and I really couldn't be happier with that decision!!!  My hair was looking raggedy and definitely needed a fresh look.  So, I lightened it up some and chopped it into a long bob.  It's resting on my shoulders now and looks SO much healthier!

So, then we come to this past weekend.  Dad and Rhonda flew in Friday around lunchtime and we had a great weekend with them.  Friday was spent just shopping around town and taking them to Ikea for the first time.  haha  Then, we all got up early Saturday morning and hopped on the train to NYC.  We had great chilly weather the whole day and the city was jammed packed with other Christmas tourist.  We spent most of the morning walking around and seeing all of the decorations for the holidays.  In the early afternoon, we got to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular show featuring the Rockettes! It was a GREAT show!  It was so pretty and kind of magical!  Then, we walked up to Central Park and got a horse and carriage ride through the park before we headed off to dinner at the Time Warner Center.  We had a great day!  Thanks to Dad for the show and dinner!

It was a quick trip for them as they flew out on Sunday.  But, we had a great time.  Sunday was spent shopping for baby stuff that we still need.  We got our monitor and made some other decisions on items that we still need to get now that I've price shopped all of them.  I'll probably be making another trip to Babies R Us this afternoon to scratch off a few more items on our "we need" list.  Our crib arrived today and I can't wait for Christian to get home from work so we can put it together!!!

I had my last ultrasound today!  Everything went really well and Max is measuring great!  He's already moved into the head down position, which is great and he weighs three pounds and eight ounces and is around the 50th percentile for most of his measurements.  I can't wait for his arrival!  I know I should really slow down and cherish these last weeks of pregnancy (and sleep and quietness) but I'm just so excited to see what he looks like and actually hold him.

That pretty much sums up everything that has been going on in our lives.  This weekend, we're heading down to Annapolis, MD for a wedding.  I have an interview appointment with a pediatrician this week too to see if she's one I'd like Max to see.  I need to schedule these with a few more docs but I'll start with this one first.

Then, can you believe that Christmas is less that two weeks away?!?!?!!  CRAAAAZY!  I hope all of you are having fun Christmas shopping and getting into the holiday spirit!  Have a great week!!!

xoxo,

Chrissi