Exhausted

Yesterday was Gabe's birthday (Happy Birthday Hubby!)-I picked up DiBella's subs on the way home for our dinner-that's what the birthday boy wanted. Then I made us some molten lava cakes for dessert-they were so yummy!! Gabe opened his gifts from me and we just relaxed the rest of the night. I skipped my usual gym routine to spend time with him and we had a nice evening. Today---well, I was in surgery today and it ended up being a very looooong day. I got there at 730am and left work at 6pm-on my feet the entire time, except for my half hour lunch. Let me tell ya, being on your feet that long makes you feel like an old person. By the time I got home, I felt like a Mack truck had run over me. My back is still killing me just sitting here. I can imagine it'll only get worse the larger my belly gets too. Not fun! So I skipped the gym again tonight-I know, naughty girl! But I took tomorrow off so I plan on going in the morning. Then it'll be another busy day getting ready for our new years gathering!

Weekend Rest

Luckily Gabe and I both had off on Friday and the weekend so we had some time to regroup from the chaotic holidays. Friday we did a whole lot of nothing-just did stuff around the house and relaxed.

Saturday we did a little running around-old navy, target, lowe's, and mattress shopping! We have known we wanted to get a king sized bed eventually, we just didn't think it would happen already. Gabe's friend's girlfriend is a manager at a local mattress place so just for the heck of it we stopped by to check things out. Let me tell ya, we got a heck of a deal! We probably wouldn't have bought something already, but we couldn't pass it up-its a pretty high end mattress and they have it in stock and are trying to get rid of it (its a 2008 model and the 2009's are coming out). So we got a great discount and it's getting delivered on Wednesday! We can't wait!

Today we did some more running around-barnes and noble, BB&B, and to Simon's to look at baby furniture. Holy overwhelming! I never saw so many cribs that look alike! I swear we had no clue where to start. After being there 2 hours we found a few sets we like. Of course some of them were out of our price range, but we did find one that was decently priced. We didn't buy anything, but we have some good ideas and the one we liked is on sale until the end of Jan so we have a few weeks to think about it. But man, I didn't expect that to be so difficult! I'm actually dreading baby registering....our wedding registry took FOREVER to do so I'm dreading going through all that again-and baby stuff is so foreign to me I have no clue what to look for, etc. I ended up buying a "baby bargain" book that will hopefully help out with things. We also stopped at Coldstone Creamery today too-tomorrow is Gabe's birthday so he gets his free ice cream for that. YUM! Unfortunately it's back to work tomorrow-I have Wed and Thurs off which will be nice, but then that's it for a loooong time. Ugh!

Christmas Cont'd

Ok so we got home from my Dad's around 3 (we were supposed to be at Gabe's parents at 3)-we literally unloaded our car, reloaded the car and headed to his parents. We got together with his sister and her family. Her husband's parents and brother also came which was nice.
Bianca opening our gift-a cabbage patch doll!:Mark with Bianca and Owen:Bianca with Uncle Gabe:We were there until around 10pm then we came home and opened up our gifts. Of course Jerri got some new toys which she enjoyed as well! All in all, the holiday was very nice-just very busy as always which makes it really fly by. We got a lot of nice gifts (and so did the baby!) and it was great to see everyone.
Jerri playing with her new mouse:

Buffalo Whirlwind

Our Christmas visit to Buffalo this year was a 24 hour whirlwind...we were pretty much on the go the entire time we were there. We left Rochester around 12:30 on Christmas Eve and went to my Mom's house. Around 4 we went to my cousin Rachel's house like we do every year-it was very nice-we watched the kids open gifts, had some yummy food, and ended the evening reading the kids a Christmas story like we do every year.
Taylor and Eddie opening gifts:

The self-portraitGabe and I reading to the kids:From there, we went to Gabe's friend's parents' house (got all that?). His friend, Rob and his wife live in Cleveland-Rob's parents live in Buffalo. His parents invite us for a party every year but we never end up making it. This year we really wanted to get there because we knew Rob would be there. They just had a baby about a month ago, so we wanted to try and see her too!
Beth, Rob, Gabe and I (can this count as my belly pic of the week?):

After that, we went to my friend Katie's parents' house. She and her husband and son are in from Nebraska. We usually try to see her at the holidays too since they only come twice a year or so. We stayed there until after midnight, then went back to my Mom's and crashed.

Christmas day we were up bright and early to do gifts, then a few of my cousins came over for breakfast. We left my Mom's around noon to go and visit my Dad, then left there around 1:30 to head home for more chaos....
My cousin Jessica's daughter, Madyson (2yrs old):Jessica's son Cayden (5 mos old):

Finally-a few days off!

Today was my last day of work before Christmas-it feels SO good to be done! They are open tomorrow and the schedule is insane so I'm so glad I won't be there for it! I'm outta there until Monday! The next 48 hours will be a whirlwind....Gabe works in the morning tomorrow-while he's there, I'll be getting the car packed up for Buffalo. We'll leave around noon for Buffalo, go to my cousin's for our party around 4, then stop at my girlfriend's parents house to visit since she's in from NE. If we get a chance, we'll also stop and see one of Gabe's friends whose parents also live in Buffalo-they'll be in from OH so it would be nice if we could see them as well. Christmas morning, my Mom has a few other cousins over for breakfast, then we're off to see my Dad, then back to Rochester for dinner with my in-laws. Yep, a complete whirlwind as always! It'll be fun though and I can't wait to see everyone so I don't mind-as long as the weather cooperates for driving. Plus we have Friday off and the weekend to recover so that'll be nice. This is my first few days off since the wedding in July so it's much needed! Then it's a long haul until our next "real" day off at memorial day. But I have a feeling I'll be taking a vacation week in there somewhere. I'll need it for my sanity :) Anyways, I probably won't get to write until after Christmas, so I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe holiday!

Christmas Cutouts

Ah yes, good ol' holiday cookies! I have to say I'm quite picky when it comes to cutout cookies. Maybe it's because you're used to eating certain kinds while growing up. Let me tell you-I've had some pretty bad cutout cookies in my lifetime. I've always loved my Mom's recipe, ever since I can remember! It's the one Christmas cookie I have to make every year. Some years I have more time and have made several different types of cookies. Last year and this year? I didn't seem to have enough time to make a bunch. So I stuck with my favorite-Mom's cutouts. Here's the recipe:

X-mas Cutouts

Cream together: 1 cup softened butter or margarine (I used butter)

1 1/2 cup confectionary sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Add (then beat well): 2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt

Divide dough in half and refrigerate until cool. (This is my dough fresh out of the fridge):One half at a time, roll out on a well floured surface to no less than 1/8" thick (I don't measure-I have no clue how thick mine was!). Use more flour as necessary to prevent sticking. Cutout with cookie cutters. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 6-8mins. Cookies should be very light when done. Cool on rack. Frost/decorate as desired.

Fresh out of the oven:

(Notes: Usually when I do this I chill the dough overnight. This time, I chilled it almost a week-my first half of the dough was really hard to work with-I had to let it get to room temp for quite some time and it had dried out a little bit. It still worked out ok though. The second half of the dough, I tried wetting my hand with water and kneading that into the dough and it seemed to help get rid of the dryness. My other note-I only baked mine for 5min. My bottom rack cookies were done. The top rack baked between 5-6mins.)

As for frosting, my Mom likes to make her own (2 cups confectionary sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, milk/light cream added until desired consistency). I'm not a big fan of this frosting-it's kind of like a thicker glaze. I prefer using good ol' jar frosting-I used Pillsbury Vanilla frosting and just added food coloring to it. And I don't spend forever decorating-as you can see from the pics. Frosting and sprinkles and I'm happy with that-I don't get into all the detailed artsy work since I'm not very artsy! I do have to say, I was just proud that I actually had the trees green, the stars yellow, and the stockings red! Usually I'm not that anal about the colors-anything is fair game!

I'm not sure what the yield is for this recipe, but this batch made me 70 cookies, so almost 6 dozen. I'm sure it depends how fat you make them and how big your cutters are. This can all be done in one day of course-mine was a 3 day project-made dough last Sunday, baked Friday, frosted/decorated Saturday. I let them sit out a few hours to let the frosting harden a bit before packing them away. I usually store mine in a clothing box (good use of leftover empty clothing boxes from last year's xmas!) with saran wrap/waxed paper in between the layers and they do last a long time-several weeks and they still taste good!

5 months

13 Weeks

So today I'm 13 weeks along. I'm slooooowly starting to feel better-I still have some rough days, but have had a few good days in there as well. I had a doctor's appt on Tuesday and got to hear the heartbeat again. I've only gained 3lbs so far which isn't too bad. After the appt I had another ultrasound-again it was very cool! The baby had its hand by its face which was cute! We could also see the heart beating this time which was neat. We got to hear the heartbeat again there. Everything looks good so far so I'm all set until next month.

This is the first week I'm starting to feel big. Yeah I know, just wait right?! I wore a pair of pants last week and they fit fine. This week I put them on and there was no way I was going to get them buttoned. For only gaining 3lbs over the past 3 months, how does that happen? I swear your weight just shifts down to your stomach! I'm definitely at that in-between stage where I'm not showing, but am feeling fat and pudgy-I'm waiting for the day a patient asks if I've put on weight! Haha! They're going to think I ate too many Christmas cookies! This pic was taken on the 16th so a few days before I hit 13 weeks:

Great Idea!

I got this email today and thought it was so neat! Xerox is doing this thing where if you go to this website they will print out a postcard and mail it to a soldier serving overseas. The postcards were all made by children and they narrowed them down to several selections. You pick your postcard, choose a greeting and that's it! It takes only a few minutes to do but will make a soldier's day I'm sure! You don't get to pick who it goes to-they just pick one for you, but the idea is so neat. And I found out they are printed locally here in Rochester so it's even better-supporting a local company! So take a few minutes if you haven't already (and if you have, do it again!) and send a soldier a nice thank you!

Finally I can post about it....

It's been weeks of waiting, but I can finally say it on here-I'm pregnant!!

Gabe and I found out Nov. 2nd (our 5 year dating anniversary) and were totally surprised. I took a test just for the hell of it and we never thought it would be positive....well, 3 tests later and 3 were positive! It's amazing-we never thought it would happen so fast. Like I said, we didn't expect it, but we are thankful-there are so many people out there who try for years with no luck so we aren't complaining that's for sure!

We both went to my first OB appointment together-it was a lot of health history questions then they weighed me, took my blood pressure, etc. They gave me a due date of June 26th but decided to send me for an ultrasound to verify since my cycles weren't that regular. We decided to wait to tell our family until they could all be together and to wait to tell everyone else until I was 12 weeks along....that was the hardest part-waiting about 4 weeks to tell ANYONE our news!

The first ultrasound was awesome-I think that really hit home that this was happening. We got to see the baby and hear the heartbeat which was really cool. And I was as far along as they thought so my due date hasn't changed at all which is good.

So how are things going so far? Well, Gabe has already started on the nursery-the room started out all white so we're obviously painting it. We're not finding out what sex the baby is so we chose a pale yellow color for the room. He's also ripping down our baseboard molding which is about 7" tall and getting that stripped down to the natural wood and staining it. I think it'll look nice. We'll get the floors in there refinished as well-there's no carpet so that shouldn't be too bad. As for me-I'll tell you two things: 1) "morning sickness" sucks-for me it lasts all day everyday. No throwing up (thank God) but feeling nauseous all.the.time. It's awful. 2) I'm sick of eating and food. I never thought I'd say it, but it's true. I'm starving all of the time. Starving like I haven't eaten in days (not minutes). After grazing all day, you start to run out of things to eat and day after day of eating the same things gets old real fast. So yep, I'm sick of food. For example-I just ate carrots with dip and 2 pieces of pizza for dinner 20mins ago and I'm already hungry. I hate it! My other thing is that I've been anti-meat for the past few weeks. If it's mixed up in something, I'm ok (hamburger helper, chicken in salad, etc), but the thought of eating a slab of chicken just grosses me out. Other than that, things are well-I'm still wearing normal clothes, although they're not as comfortable as they once were. I'm still working out like normal, just trying to take it easy. So overall I'm doing well, just hoping this morning sickness goes away soon.

Our families were excited about the news-we told my Mom and his parents on Thanksgiving since they were all there and we told my Dad that weekend in Buffalo. We bought them all baby related gifts-"grandma's brag book" photo albums for the Moms and "I love Grandpa" frames for the Dads-they were all very surprised and are very excited about the new arrival.

I'm going to try to post pictures of my progress-I already took a few photos, but nothing really looks that different yet, but I'm sure that'll change soon! I have my second appointment and an ultrasound tomorrow so I'll update about that later this week as well!

The day after we found out-I was about 6 weeks along: (a lovely self-portrait, I know!)

7 weeks:9 Weeks:11 Weeks:

Family Holiday Party

Today was our family holiday party. For Gabe's family, we don't get together with extended family on Christmas eve or day-its too hard with them all having kids and grandkids of their own so we typically have a get together a few weeks before the holiday. Today we had the party at Northampton Park near Brockport-they rented a shelter there. It was pretty nice. It was our first time there and the shelter had a nice fire place which kept it nice and toasty. There was a TON of food as always-lots of appetizers, and our main meal was Italian this year-lasagna, ravioli, meatballs, sausage, bread, salad, and a few other pasta dishes. Then birthday cake, peanut butter pie and cookies for dessert...how can you go wrong? Gabe's Mom brings gingerbread house kits for the kids to do while there-its a cute idea and the kids love it! We had a really good time and it was good to see everyone before the holidays-hard to believe it's right around the corner!

The good news? I'm done Christmas shopping :) The bad news? I still have to wrap everything and bake cookies!

Xmas Cards....Check!

I finished my last batch of Christmas cards today so they'll be in the mail tomorrow. We decided to do a photo card this year and didn't get a good photo until Thanksgiving. So I scrambled to order them and prayed they'd arrive on time (I did the slow 3 week shipping-with past experience with the company they come a lot sooner than that). So I ordered them around Dec 1st and within 2 days they were shipped-it took a little over a week for me to get them-I just got them Tuesday this week. So yesterday and today I was addressing and putting them in envelopes to get in the mail ASAP. I'm glad they're done-another thing off of my never ending list. Still to do? Finish shopping, assemble a few gifts, wrap gifts, bake cookies....more than enough. But the cards are done so yay!

The Tree Stands!

After I posted last night, we got the tree in its stand-another slight fiasco since we didn't have the needed saw to chop off the bottom 1" of the trunk. Thank God for neighbors! Tonight we decorated the tree after it sat for a day. I think it looks great. It's not the best looking tree out there, but once decorated it looks really nice. Jerri (our cat) likes it too-especially putting her paws in the water. She's been good though-the tree hasn't come down yet so that's a good sign! I love the smell of it too-it's awesome and definitely makes it feel like holiday time!

Tree Shopping

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

Our tree the past few years? Charlie Brown style. Gabe never got his own tree and when I moved into my apartment out here, I didn't have one either. I wasn't going to get one and then it was about 2 weeks before Christmas and it just didn't feel like it to me. So I went to Target and got a $20 fake tree that was about 6' tall and looked like a Charlie Brown tree. Anyways, that's the tree we've been using the past few years. This year, my Mom offered to buy us a nice artificial tree for our Christmas gift. We did some thinking about it and decided we wanted to get a real tree instead. So my Mom gave us part of our gift on Thanksgiving-a tree stand and tree skirt for our real tree.

I grew up with real trees and love them. Gabe has never had a real one....ever. So, I decided to ease him into the real tree thing by getting one that was pre-cut. Maybe in a few years we'll go cut our own down. Good thing that's what we chose because we picked the coldest possible day to go tree shopping!

So yesterday was the big day to go tree hunting. We went to garden factory and most of the trees were $50-$60 which we didn't want to spend. They had one tree that was $30 but I didn't like the fact that there was only 1 to choose from. So we went to Home Depot across the street. The problem? The trees were outside and it was about 10 degrees out! Most of their trees were wrapped up so you couldn't see them. They had maybe 10 unwrapped and most were too tall for our house. After about 10mins and our hands being numb, Gabe grabbed a tree and said "this is the one, I don't care what it looks like" and ran towards the car with the tree. It was hysterical! And for $30 it was fine by me. So, since the tree was outside, it has to sit and thaw-it'll be put up tonight.

Holiday Party!

Last night was Gabe's work holiday party. The past 2 years it was held at Oak Hill Country Club. This year, they moved it to the Bausch & Lomb building in their wintergarden. We were a little disappointed that it got moved, but sometimes a change is good! The B&L building was very nice. It sort of reminded me of our wedding reception site-very high ceilings with trees all over inside. It was decorated very nicely for the holidays. They had open bar (beer/wine) and appetizers for an hour. For dinner, they had grazing stations. The food was ok-nothing to write home about. LOTS of seafood-which I hate-so needless to say, I didn't eat a wide variety of food that night. They had an Italian station, a Parisian station, New Orleans station and a carving station. Then cookies for dessert. After dinner they had a casino night with blackjack, roulette, poker and craps which they also did last year. They give you 20K in fake money and you win as much as you can. Then you turn in the money for tickets which you put in for prize raffles. We won a lot more than last year, but still didn't win any prizes. They had some good ones too-a TV, blue ray player, GPS system, digital camera, video camera, gift cards galore, etc. It's a pretty nice party they throw, that's for sure! Not many places do something that nice for their employees. Heck, our holiday party is a pot luck lunch on our lunch break-woo hoo! So this is a very nice touch that they do. The question is....where will it be held next year?

Christmas Crunch Time....

Today is December 4th-that means Christmas is 3 weeks from today! Oy! For some reason this year, I'm just not in the spirit of the season yet. I'm trying-I have my holiday music playing in my car, have a few gifts bought....but overall I'm just not that into it this year. It doesn't seem like it's time for the holidays yet. Even though turkey day is here and gone, it just hasn't phased me yet that the holiday season is upon us. And not to mention I have a zillion things to do with only 3 weeks left....let's see....decorate the house, put up the tree, send out cards, finish shopping, wrap presents, bake cookies. When the heck will I have time to get this all done? Oh, did I mention that we have plans pretty much every weekend except the one right before Christmas?! So my weekend time is pretty limited too which doesn't help. Who wants to do all this junk when you get home from work and eat dinner?! Not me! We have to get our butts in gear this weekend-at least get the decorating done and the tree bought and put up. Maybe do some shopping if there's time. I'm definitely feeling the crunch time, that's for sure.