Christmas Events

You don't have to read all this.. It is more for me to remember what we did! :)

Well our Christmas came and went VERY fast!!!!!

Christmas Eve I went home to the birthday party of Jesus at Kelly's house. You can check out pictures here! It was so much fun! You have never experienced Christmas until you experience it through a child's eyes. Caroline and Eli were so excited about the party and making the cake! We even had party hats.

After that Patrick got home in time to go to his families church Christmas Eve Service. It was a very nice service and it was nice to be with family. After the service we went to communion at my dad's church. Usually we are the last people there but this time we were early. My dad had a prayer with us and it was so sweet. Of course everyone cried!

After communion we went over to Patrick's Grandad's house for dinner and to spend time with the family. While we were there we decided to sort the presents under the tree. HOLY MOLY There were TONS!!! Not to mention Mary Alice had so many.

After that we went home to sleep and get ready for SANTA!!!!

On Christmas day Patrick and I had about 30 minutes by ourselves at my parents house to do presents. I had already opened up my presents, a computer and a cross necklace. Patrick was very surprised by his big gift, a GPS. He was in Heaven!

When then headed to the Graham's house to do presents. To say that they spoiled Mary Alice and us was an understatement. I was very surprised to get a digital picture frame! Mary Alice also got the most beautiful dress!

For lunch we headed to Grandad's and we all go spoiled AGAIN!

Next it was on to my parents house. Caroline and Eli were so excited! Caroline really enjoyed opening all presents and really enjoyed her baby alive that actually poops and peed! Eli loved all his toys as well. The best part of opening the gifts was when Eli was opening a big bag of just clothes, he threw all of them on Granddad and kept looking for candy or a toy. It was hilarious! Of course Mary Alice and we were spoiled again! I finally got a pair of DANSKOS! :)

My aunt and cousin came over dinner. It was sad without my Poppa and Grandma but we enjoyed each other company.

After dinner we went to Patrick's aunt house for the last event of the day. We had a great time and found out great news! We are going to have a new cousin in August! :) Patrick's aunt and uncle are expecting their 5 baby!

So our Christmas was very hectic but we had a great time! Thank you everyone for the gifts. It was so hard to get everything in our cars to come home (I can only imagine what next year will be like).

Today is time to get to take down the decorations and put away all presents! :)

The Calm Before The Storm!!!!!

This is the title that I always give Christmas Eve!! Our Christmas Day is always so crazy, but we are also so thankful to have such a wonderful family!

So what did we do during the calm......

Nana and Granddad came down yesterday to paint the nursery! It is so beautiful. We chose a light green color to match the bedding! It looks perfect!

We also put the crib together. Lexy was alittle confused about this, but I am hoping she will be ok with the whole baby thing!

Thank you Nana and Granddad for painting.. Thank you Kelly and Andy for saving us TONS of money with a crib.. Thank you Alice and John for buying our bedding for us! Patrick and I are really blessed with great families!

Today Patrick is working, but Nana stayed last night so she could drive me home. (I don't really do well in the car anymore).

We are going to a Birthday party for Jesus at my sister's house for lunch and then tonight I will go to the Christmas Eve service with Patrick's family and then my dad's church for communion.

Hopefully Patrick will be home when I get home from church!

Then we go to sleep to get ready for the storm! :)

This Christmas will be alittle different because it is the last one that we will spend the night on Christmas Eve at my parent's house. Next year we have decided to spend Christmas morning at our house for Mary Alice to open her presents!

Our Christmas Day consists of seeing Patrick's family, seeing Patrick's mom family, seeing my family, seeing my Dad's family, and seeing Patrick's dad family. We usually do my mom's family after Christmas. So as you can see we go many places in one day. Although by the end of the day we are exhausted we really do enjoy seeing all of the family! Patrick and I have been very blessed with great families that love to spoil us and now they are going way overboard with Mary Alice.

So even though this is the calm before the storm, we wouldn't change it for the world! :)

I hope everyone has a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)

Christmas Procrastination

Well I have officially procrastinated this year. I also say I AM GOING TO BE DONE WITH EVERYTHING BY THE END OF SCHOOL, but that never happens!

There is not one present under the Christmas Tree.

I still have to buy about 5 presents.

I need to finish laundry.

I need to pack for the weekend.

I also still need to buy stocking stuffers.

So today my goal is to complete almost all of these! :) Unfortunately it is 10:30 and I am still sitting on the couch enjoying my day off! Let's hope I get some motivation to get everything done!

Did anyone else procrastinate?

Weekend of Movies and Fun!!

This weekend has been so relaxing for us! :) Friday night we went to dinner and we were going to go see a movie, but my back started hurting and we didn't want to pay all the money and then have to leave the movie.
We decided to rent the movie Hancock. It was very good and I would recommend it to anyone! :)

Saturday we went to Emma's first birthday party! It was great to celebrate her birthday with family! :) Check out JuJu's blog for pictures. After the party, Alice, Sally, Ben, Patrick and I went to buy Mary Alice's bedding. It is actually a shower gift for us, but Nana and Grandad are coming to paint on Tuesday so we have to go pick out the color! Thank you Alice and John! :)
After that we came back and went to dinner! :)

Saturday night Patrick and I watched the annual Christmas movie, Christmas Vacation! We both LOVE this movie! :)

Today we have been very lazy and ordered a pizza for dinner. We knew we wanted to watch a movie but could not decide which one to watch, so I gave Patrick a early Christmas present and we watched The Dark Knight. THIS IS THE LONGEST MOVIE! I am so glad I did not go to see it in the theater because we had to stop it about 5 times so I could go to the bathroom. Even though it was long it was VERY GOOD!!! :)

So we had a great weekend of fun and especially enjoyed watching good movies! :) This week we are going to be very busy with great Christmas fun! :) Hope everyone has a great week!

13 Weeks

WOW.. I cannot believe there are only 13 more weeks left until we will have a little girl with us. This morning Patrick and I were laying in bed talking about how things are going to change. It is hard to believe that in March we will be holding a precious little girl.
All morning Patrick kept saying how he can't wait to wake up with his little baby and spoil her. It makes me feel so good inside that he is SO excited. I mean don't get my wrong I am very excited as well, but I love hearing Patrick talk about how he can't wait!

This morning I began thinking about what I thought she would look like. Will she have really black hair like I did, or no hair at all? (Although I am pretty sure she has some hair because my heartburn has been TERRIBLE). Will she have bunions on her toes like me or good feet like her daddy? Will her fingers be long or short? I honestly cannot wait to just hold her in my arms!

Is this normal to think this much about this? I honestly think about how our life is going to change and be different everyday! I just really hope these 13 weeks go by fast because I am so ready to have a little girl!!!! :)

Graduation Weekend

This past weekend I graduated from my Masters program! It was a very nice service. I attended a Christian college and the ceremony was amazing! It was so neat to attend a graduation where they prayed and read scripture. They also had the university singers sing great praise songs!

I cannot believe that I finally completed the program. The 15 months really did go by fast! It was also very nice to get the great pay increase! :)

I want to thank Alice and Sally for coming to the ceremony! Also I want to thank my parents without them I would have never been able to get my degree!!! :) Also to Patrick for putting up with me for 15 months and being behind me every step of the way!

Now I need to start working for my +30! :)

Here are some pictures!

Here is a picture of my belly! It is really getting bigger:)

Update

Well there is good and bad news...

The good news I do not have a kidney infection and Mary Alice is fine. She is so fine that she kept kicking the doppler and moving around!

The bad news is that my muscles in my back are contracting on my nerves causing terrible pain in my back. The doctor gave me muscle relaxers but I can only take them at night because I have to be able to teach. She also said that if it gets worse and I can't work because of the pain then they can give me a shot of steriods in that one spot. Since I hate needles, lets pray it gets better!!!

Today also did not turn out to bad. I went back to sleep at 10:00 and did not wake up until 12:30. I did not know how tired I was! Also after my appointment I did more Christmas shopping and I am almost finished with Patrick! :)

Thanks for the prayers!

Gotta Love Doctors! :):):)

Well last night I decided I would just take a half day off work and hopefully be able to go to the doctor by 12:00. This morning I called and the doctor on call was in the OR until 11:30 so my appointment is not until 11:40. UPDATE: THE DOCTOR JUST CALLED AND CHANGED MY APPOINTMENT TO 2:30 WHICH MEANS I COULD HAVE GONE IN FOR THE WHOLE DAY AND THEN LEFT AT 2:00 WITHOUT HAVING TO TAKE TIME OFF!!!! This means that I have to take a whole day! This would not be a big problem if I had TONS of days saved up for maternity leave, but I don't so I feel like I am wasting a day.

Patrick is off as well because of the rain and he is enjoying his day because he knows he can't work in the rain, while I am feeling guilty for not being at work. All I want to do is go to work! :) I am also very bored. I guess I am going to stay home and rest and get things done. After lunch if I feel like it I will venture out to finish Christmas shopping.


So I hope everyone has a great day!

Help Update

So I decided to call the doctor about the pain in my back...

She wants me to come in first thing in the morning to check things out but she thinks it is just my pelvic bone moving.

I will update when I get a chance.. Say alittle prayer tonight please that everything is ok!

Help Please!!!!

I need some advice.....

Every time I sleep I wake up with TERRIBLE back pain. It doesn't matter if I sleep on my left or right side, I still wake up with the WORST pain. Anyone have any suggestions on how to help relieve this?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Thanks! :)

It's Beginning to Feel Alot Like Christmas

This weekend Patrick and I are now in the full Christmas swing! Last night we went to my department Christmas party. It was really nice to be able to talk to people I work with outside of school. We both had a good time and enjoyed talking to everyone.

Every year I try to get all my Christmas shopping done in one day, except for Patrick's gift. Well today was the day! I left at 10:00 this morning and was home by lunch! I am also proud to say that I have bought all gift but our dad's and Patrick's. Why are guys so hard to buy for?!?!?!?

Tonight we are having some friends over for dinner to use our Christmas china! Thanks to my mom and Alice for buying me our china!

We are also going to get our friends to take our Christmas picture tonight, so we are finally getting in the Christmas spirit at the Graham house! :)

24 Week Update

Today I went for my 24 week update. The doctor's decided to do another ultrasound today. Patrick couldn't get off work so my mom came down for the afternoon to go with me. Mary Alice was very active and stubborn!

They did a 3D ultrasound and it was so neat! She was laying on her arm and was as cute as could be. We have decided that her nose looks like Patrick's! There is also one picture that looks just like Patrick. I am going to scan the pictures next weekend and put them in a post.

Everything was fine and she weighs 1lb. 5 oz. I have gained weight, which I guess is good, but hard for me to accept!

I go back at the end of December for my diabetes test and then after that I will start the every two week visits. It is hard to believe that March is getting closer and closer!