Santa Take 4

Emery doesn't love Santa. Ha! We tried FOUR times this season to get a picture... My friend Liz had a great kids cookie/Christmas party complete with an awesome Santa! Perfect for pictures, Emery still wasn't having it. Oh well there is always next year.

She did LOVE the cookies though! She probably had about 15 different kinds. You can tell she enjoyed them by all the icing on her face in the pictures.

We had a blast at our LAST Christmas party of the year. I've had such fun this season but I'm not going to be sad when it's all over. I love the fresh start of the New Year. I also know that the end of this month gets me one month closer to having Jesse outside of my body, which will be a such a glorious day.

Speaking of New Year, my cards went out today, Hooray for me! Seriously, they were such a pain in my side this year. I really shouldn't have done them and I told myself I wasn't, but I ordered them at the last minute and then HAD to send them.

Enjoy the pictures. The last one is of Emery and her cousins, Luke and Lydia, they belong to Benji's brother. Emery loves all her cousins so much!

Red Bowl Tacky Sweater Invasion

I saved my last Phenergan for Tuesday night and I'm sure glad I did!

My friends and I had our annual Christmas GNO. This year instead of a pajama party we headed out for sushi in our tackiest sweaters.....Well, THEY all had sweaters but me. I could not find one that, 1. would fit, 2. wasn't 15 bucks (even at thrift stores) and 3. I have a pregnancy induced fear of being too hot. I think it must come with the nausea.

Any way, so I was the party pooper this time and wore a t-shirt...BUT I put on my festive Santa hat.

There's no pictures of our time at dinner because we inhaled our food.

Red Bowl Asian Bistro is sooo good. It was PACKED on a Tuesday night. Not everyone in our group eats sushi so this place was great because they have a ton of menu items. I think my sushi was gone in five minutes. I totally would have ordered more but I was splitting my check with another girl and we were heading to one friends house to indulge in desserts and gift exchange next!

You should have seen the looks we got as 15 girls in THESE sweaters headed into the chic Asian bistro! Hilarious.



Waiting in anticipation as the gift exchange begins. There's me in the background in my party pooper T-shirt still dreaming of more sushi.



Amy had the BEST sweater! It was like Easter and Christmas all in one. Individual snow flakes covered the neck, the sleeves and the back. Amazing!

My Journey Thru New Sickness Each Morning

Okay. So second pregnancy and I've gotten a ton of tips on what can help with morning sickness/all day sickness and nausea.

Frankly, the BEST thing for it is sleep! Lots of sleep.

Second best thing for it is Phenergan! Lots of Phenergan.

But, sleep is hard to come by, especially if you work or if you are like me and running after a two year old all day.

At the beginning of this pregnancy I had the foresight to sign Emery up for Mother's Morning Out at our church two days a week. She goes from 9-1 and that is the perfect time for me to catch up on sleep (or Gossip Girl if I'm feeling good).

Phenergan can also be hard to take if you can't find a pillow...It tends to make alot of people VERY sleepy. It is an antihistamine, like Benadryl, so if Benadryl knocks you out it probably will too. It is safe to take though, just like Benadryl so if you're really sick, it's a life saver.

After that I've got a few remedies that have helped me. None include Saltines, I mean really who came up with that one? And who does it really help?

First, REED's Ginger Ale

You HAVE to get this kind. All the other "soda" like kind doesn't count. It aint got real ginger, even if it says it is made with "real ginger", it's just ginger flavoring....

I've seen REED's at Walmart once, In Kentucky, But usually I get it at Whole Foods or Earth Fare. Probably some good Publix's might carry it too. It has like 20 grams of ginger per bottle, really really helps.




Second is Triple Leaf Ginger tea.
Along the same lines as the ginger ale, but it's not bubbly and it's not sweet. Sometimes it helped me more at night if I was wanting something warm. I've bought it at Walmart, Publix, Whole Foods and Earth Fare. I drank this the most because it's alot cheaper than the ginger ale. Reed's is a little pricey and you can get this tea for 3 bucks a box.

Third, water with lemon is one I've heard a bunch and it actually does help. The sour of the lemon really calms my stomach sometimes.

Sometimes a little bottle of coke (really cold!) or a glass of sweet tea with lemon helps me as well. I really try and listen to my body and see what it wants.

As you can tell I'm big on the liquids. Honestly I found no food that really helped me. Salty foods definitely set better with me, like waffle fries from Chick-fil-a. :)

If you've never been through the baby sickies, God bless you! It's like no other misery I've known. It's relentless and never ending some days. BUT! Like everyone says, "once you hold that little one in your arms you forget it all".......Right?? Right!!??

Ya'll It's COLD!

Real quick like, these pictures of Emery crack me up. We took them to have a picture of my TOMS because I want another pair, anyway she wanted in the picture and she had to take it in front of the tree. She is such a ham! I mean what kid takes pictures that good??? haha. Hilarious.


For realz. It is C.O.L.D!

I like to stay home on Mondays and do low key things. Usually as the week progresses we get busier and busier. Good thing I had no need to run around town today because it's like 10 degrees out there!

The next two weeks are going to fly by so today I'm trying to get all the gifts wrapped and Christmas cards addressed and stamped. I do New Years cards every year just in case I need more time to get them out, haha but I think I'm gonna make it this year in time.

Jesse is kicking me like crazy today! I think he needed a day at home to rest as well. It's crazy how different the second baby is. Yesterday about 9pm, (of course after Emery was in bed) I realized I hadn't noticed him kicking much all day. But Sundays are usually so full that I didn't have time to sit and wait for him to get active.

Once I got in bed I noticed him squirming around so I was reassured and this morning he hasn't stopped pounding around in there.

10 more weeks to go! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. I look back and it's crazy to think that I was pregnant in June! Can't wait to meet the little guy.

Day By Day

Okay folks, I'm fully into my 3rd trimester now and all the 1st trimester fun has come back in full force.

I'm basically taking it day by day. Hoping that the nausea says goodbye soon! I've had two friends call me this week and I haven't even called back because I can't muster up the energy to talk on the phone...

Thank the Lord I put Emery in MMO this year. I seriously don't know how I would have made it without those two days she is in school. It seems the more sleep I get the better my stomach is.

I had two Christmas functions to attend this week, both of which I almost back out of....BUT I just took my Phenergan like a big girl and headed out to share some cheer. I'm glad I did because I had a great time, the first was Joceylyn's annual recipe swap and the second was our church's Ladies Christmas banquet.

I love, LOVE the time between halloween and new years! So much fun and friends and family time. :)


Benji has been my life saver. I know that's what he is for, but I also realize that their are many mama's out there who can't rely on their man for dinners, baths (for Emery of course! I can still bathe myself ha!) and for just being an understanding, considerate husband. I love him so much and am so blessed to be his wife.

I've done ZERO Christmas shopping! I do know most of what I'm buying, which is usually what keeps me procrastinating. Hopfully next week I'll get it all done.

Sorry for all the whiny posting lately. It's just where I am. I need to document all this so I can look back when I'm wanting a third. :)

My Year In Facebook Status Updates

right click on the photo to see a larger image. :) cool!

Happy Saturday!

I got the stomach bug again last week. I mean seriously? This time it was bad enough to call my doctor. I "got sick" about 12 times in 3 hours. Straight misery. The Doc called in some Phenergan, told me to take it every 4 hours until I was better.

So I slept for 20 hours and woke up feeling somewhat normal again. Luckily Emery had school that morning and Benji had a lot of errands to run for work. He picked her up and took her with him on all his errands. He is really the best father and husband ever. I was so thankful for him that day. He even stopped by Sonic and bought a bag of their crushed ice for me. (If ya didn't know it's only a dollar fitty for like a 5lb bag!)

Thursday I was much better but still didn't' feel much like eating. Benji and I served at our church's widows banquet that night and it was so fun. I was glad I decided to go and felt good enough to be there.

Benji had a packed weekend planned so we let Emery spend the weekend with Grammy and Granddaddy. Friday and Saturday he went to two powder puff football games, a basketball game and a wrestling tournament. He also really wanted to get some hunting in because poor thing has only killed 3 deer this year.

Sunday we start a new session in Small group and Sunday night we are having all his small group leaders over for our Christmas party.

If you saw my house right now you would think it was hysterical that in less than 24 hours there will be 25 people showing up for a party, but hey, if Benji gets time to hunt, then I get time to watch two movies! So I'm waiting for him to get home to start cleaning. :)

Jesse is moving like crazy! I am getting so anxious to meet him, I can't wait to see if he looks like Emery. She was such an adorable baby I can't imagine having one that didn't look like her.

I've lost 5lbs this week because of this stomach thing, and I got a little dehydrated. I've been chugging water and trying to get my appetite back. I've just realized that I'm not going to feel great again until he is out of my gut. Honestly I've been pretty miserable this pregnancy. I did pass my glucose test, so no gestational diabetes for me! (But I wasn't really worried about that much.)

I'm heading into the 3rd trimester this week and today I started feeling that "ugghhh, I'm so gross" feeling.

Funny though, as much as I sound like I'll never do this again, I have been thinking that I may be able to do this JUST one more time. This time as flown by much faster than the first. BUT! we will see.....I'm old and that thought is a long way off. :)

The only thing that makes me think that 3 may be a possibility is how much I adore Emery. Who wouldn't want more of her!!???

We do have a time slot set as well as a date for the C- section. February 23rd at 2:00pm.

Now we just have to get this house cleaned for a party tomorrow. First things first right?