Our Christmas

Our Christmas:

Our little home decked out:

(I did not allow the Grinch and leg lamp from a Christmas Story to be placed in the center window of our home, but it somehow ended up there! I wonder, hmmm)

Our mantel with stockings galore:

(all the stockings include the animals, roommate and Baby Colton)

Our dining room:


(notice the pretty girly colors)

Our DUKE tree:

(told you we were serious about Duke basketball in this house)

Our main tree:

(next year we will have a bigger tree and this one will probably go in our bedroom. Yah, bedroom! We LOVE Christmas that much).

This Christmas was good to us. It was weird being our first Christmas not traveling to see family however we made the best of it. Santa was super nice to my hubby and got him an IPOD Touch, Blue Ray movies, video games, drum accessories, Duke shirt and Redskins hat. I was blessed with new pearl earrings and necklace, gift cards for clothes when I can wear normal sizes again, new CDs, the new Harry Potter movie, the new Mario Bros for the Wii (yah I'm a video game girl), new lamps for master bedroom, pjs, and perfume.

We had a lovely meal Christmas Eve and then went to church service at the Duke Chapel. It was gorgeous. Stunning!

Christmas Day we opened presents and had a delicious meal!

It was a great holiday but it would have been better if Colton was here. Fingers crossed; any day now!

FOOD!!!!!

This is the first year Jason and I have spent the holidays just the two of us (well really we have our dog, two cats and roomate with us). No family this year. With the baby due any day our families will come and visit us upon his arrival. Jason's family came last weekend and we had a great time with them.

I wanted to make this year special since it is the last year of just the two of us. I am making Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day dinner for all of us. Tonight's dinner will become our "family" tradition for Christmas Eve. We will be having steak, twice baked potatoes and salad. This is a fav meal in our house so it is neat that we are going to have it every Christmas Eve we are home. For Christmas day I could not decide between a turkey and a ham so I am making both. YUMO! My ham is a recipe I have developed over the years that involves coca-cola and burbon. It is delicious! I will also be making corn casorole, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce (the can kind because that is my fav and I do not care how childish it is; it is delicious), prosciutto wrapped asparagus, veggie tray, shrimp and cocktail sauce, rolls, peach cobbler and pumpkin pie. I am so excited for this food (you think I was nine months pregnant or something, geez!). I will be sure to try and take pics of tomorrows meal since it will be the first time we will actually eat in our formal dining room. I also will be using the wedding china which has not been used since we moved to our new home.

Recipe for corn dish (I do not know where I got this and honestly do not use the recipe anymore because I have pretty much made it a million times that it has become my own dish; but this is the jist of the dish)

8 bacon slices, chopped
4 cups fresh sweet corn kernels (about 8 ears)
1 medium-size white onion, chopped
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Directions
Cook chopped bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings in skillet.
Set bacon aside.
Sauté corn, onion, and bell peppers in hot drippings in skillet over medium-high heat 6 minutes or until tender.
Add cream cheese and half-and-half, stirring until cream cheese melts.
Stir in salt, and pepper.
Top with bacon.

Prosciutto wrapped asparagus (allrecipes.com)

1 tablespoon olive oil 16 spears fresh asparagus, trimmed 16 slices prosciutto

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and coat with olive oil.
Wrap one slice of prosciutto around each asparagus spear, starting at the bottom, and spiraling up to the tip. Place the wrapped spears on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 5 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove, and shake the pan back and forth to roll the spears over. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes, or until asparagus is tender, and prosciutto is crisp. Serve immediately


Now I need to get to cooking!!!!

The room that my son will come home to

He may not remember...

(This is his crib and yes, that is a Duke Blue Devil mobile. We take Duke Basketball serious in this house)

He may not understand...

(These are just onsies, over 75 to be exact! More clothes than me.)

He might not pay attention...

He won't know how many clothes he has...


He might not care when he is older...

But this is the room that my son will come home from the hospital to.

Any day now I will become a mom. WOW!

My Early Christmas Present

I wish I could say it was a baby, but sadly not yet :( Soon enough he will be here.

My hubby did get me an early present though. The new Droid cell phone.

I am in love with this phone. It is basically a mini laptop. So cool! I have always been the one with the dorky, cheap, freebie phone so this is definitely a step up. I like it a lot better than the Iphone. I highly recommend it.

I am now officially on maternity leave and super excited. I am almost done with getting the house ready and will post pics soon of all things baby.

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family in VA Beach. My family rented a large beach house so we all could enjoy the holiday together. The group included: Me, Jason, my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousin and his wife with their two children, other cousin, little sister, other sister, fiance and nephew, grandmother, other grandmother, grandfather and uncle. Woo, there was a lot of us. We spent the holidays eating, enjoying time together, eating, getting facials, manicures, pedicures from my sister in beauty school, shopping, eating and more eating. I seriously don't think I could have held down anymore food even if I was pregnant with triplets. It was a great long weekend.

My sisters

Sister Meghan, Charles and Jackson

Jason and I

Jackson

The boys

Family

Randomness

1. Thanksgiving is next week. A weekend spent with my family at a beach house; yipee. I am drooling now thinking of all the food. Watch out peeps because this pregnant girl will knock some people down for my mom and grandma's cooking.

2. I am watching the Pie Cook-Off on the Food Network and thinking of the chocolate pie I have in my freezer. I might be eating that tonight for dinner. Yah I said it, dinner. The other morning I had a piece of chocolate cake for breakfast. I seriously was afraid I was going to be caught by the pregnancy police.

3. I have to work all weekend and Monday and Tuesday. Hello swollen feet.

4. Is it bad that I am using my Pure Romance Heart Heat Massager (you know you have all been to one of those parties!) to rub out my pregnancy pains?

5. Baby Colton is measuring a week ahead of schedule and is head down. Hopefully he makes an appearance before New Years. Jason would love that since it would be a tax write off. :)

6. I have to work on a hat for Thanksgiving. A family tradition is everyone makes a hat to wear for the day. They are suppose to be funny and do not have to be Thanksgiving theme. My mom awards everyone prizes. It really is just an excuse to be drunk and wear hats at dinner.

7. I seriously need to go eat some pie.

Holiday Party Season

I love the holidays. Absolutely. LOVE!

The party invites are starting to roll in. Normally I get super excited because this means I get to go shopping for new dresses, shoes, accessories, etc. This year I was not that excited when I started seeing the party invites arrive in the mail. I was a little upset because I am so fat! I normally try on the cute dresses I have in my closet and decide which ones to wear again and search the mall for a few new cute ones, but I figure this year will be different because of the pregnancy. I do not want to spend money on dresses that I can not wear again; plus I am just not feeling that attractive right now with my 8 month belly.

I am changing my mind slightly because I have found some cute maternity dresses that won't break the bank.


This one is from the Gap. I did not know they sold maternity clothes, however I am not really a Gap shopper. Price: $60 which is not too bad

This one is from Motherhood and only cost $35. Basic but cute.

This cute red one is pricey at $138 from a online site called Blossom, but I actually think its my fav. Shhh, don't tell Jason the price in case I buy it.

This green little number is not necessarily maternity but I could make it work. I just buy a larger size so my watermelon can fit. It is from Newport News catalog and is only $70.


Of course I could just throw a black trash bag on with some diamonds and call it a day because I might not feel like dressing up come December. My waddle is getting worse and my feet are the size of Bozo the Clown. :(

Random Things

I have a cold. I tested myself twice for the flu (thankfully I have the ability to do this for free) and both times it was negative. So I diagnosed myself with a cold. Boo. I'm miserable.

I am now so fat that I have to sleep more in a sitting position just so I can breathe. Top that off with the fact I have so much gunk in my nose that I am now sleeping with my mouth wide open. Woke up today from a nap and could not feel the back of my throat because it was so dry.

Took the dog to the vet. She pooped on the floor and the tech stepped in it. That's my princess. Needless to say I was embarrassed but she was not.

My husband and I are hosting a Halloween get together for a bunch of friends. He deemed it "Beer Olympics" with events and all. I can not participate in the festivities but I get to referee. I am all about the power :)

The other night went shopping for new maternity jeans. I ended up buying new boots instead. Yah, the boots beat out the "fat" girl jeans. OF COURSE!

I am getting really excited about Christmas. One: I love the holiday and decorating. Two: Colton will be coming around that time (fingers crossed). Best Christmas present ever!

Walking fail

7:00am: Dressed and ready to head down to the kitchen to grab a granola bar before I head out to class (no I am not in college anymore but as a nurse you have to take class to keep license updated; this month's: Facial Trauma, exciting).

I start my walk down the stairs and notice the "Fat One" aka Eli the cat laying on one of the middle steps. However, I do not notice his fat paw on the step above where he is laying.

I step on his paw and proceed to fall onto my big butt. Instead of stopping there I then slide down 6 steps. The brunt of the fall was taken by my butt and right leg. Unfortunately, for the past few weeks I have had horrible nerve pain in that leg. The fall did not help cure that.

I lay on the stairs and whine to see if my husband will come to get me. In all reality I am fine but I just want him to come and console me (also, I needed his help to get my fat self up off the stairs). He is in the shower and can not hear my pleas for help.

I pull my self up and limp up to bedroom.

I tell him that I just fell down the stairs. Luckily, for his sake, his first response was "Are you ok? Is the baby ok?"
I inform him I am fine just sore and that it was not a bad fall.
He then proceeds to tell me, "Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. You did it weekly before you were pregnant!"

Thanks sweetie!

The other bad part I tell some of my coworkers about it in class and their response was "Don't you do that all the time?" Gosh my clutziness is out!

Dear Body

Dear Body,

I am truly grateful how well you are doing during this pregnancy. I never knew you would take it so well. The weight I have gained has really only been in our stomach area (sure there is a little extra in the hips but not much). Jason thanks you for the new top portion (chest area) and asks if my new "friends" can stay after Colton is born. I told him I would try to convince you but no pressure; I am good either way. The swelling in our feet has begun but you are dealing with it well. As long as I keep comfortable shoes on it is no problem. My face is filling in a little too but I am confident that you will make sure it returns to normal afterwards.

As happy as I am with your abilities to carry a child I would like to remind you what should happen after your job is done.

You see these cute shoes:

Our feet shall handle these after baby is born and tolerate it like we use to. I mean before we were pregnant I lived in heels outside of work to compensate for my lack of height. We are vertically challenged and will still be after Colton arrives.

This lovely sweater would look great on us, don't you think?


How about this bathing suit? Remember what those are? I know we did not sport them this summer but a new season will be upon us soon.


How about this adorable dress. It's BCBG, one of our favs. We deserve to be able to wear something like this!


And wouldn't the "girls" look great in this top? Come on, you know they would.


I understand that I have to do my part after giving birth but I would appreciate your cooperation too. We have never been tiny but definitely can handle our own in the stylish petites department. Please don't make me wear "Mom Jeans". I.beg.you.

Always,

Your faithful friend and biggest fan Pam

P.S. After Colton is born I can not guarantee that I will be able to buy us the designer duds that are in this letter; I will try my best but we might be sporting the Target style for many years.

New Ride

So we have now added an addition to our "ride" collection. We now proudly support not only a Jeep and a Toyota but this pretty lady too:



That's right, our new ride is the Graco Quattro Tour Travel System!

It.is.pimp.

And it only cost about the same amount as my car payment. Sweet! (why does everything baby related have to be so costly?) Thank you Grandma and Grandpa P. for the nice gift. Colton will definitely being cruising in style!

October 13th

2 years ago today I married my best friend. I walked down the aisle with my dad who then proceeded to bear hug and kiss my future husband (I think he was excited about getting rid of 1 of 3 daughters, haha) and sealed my future with a kiss. Two years later we now live in a different city, own a house and are expecting our first child. Wow!

For our anniversary we went away for a night and had a lovely time. We shopped, ate, and watch my Panthers defeat his Redskins. Overall it was a great way to celebrate and relax before baby comes.

Colton has been super active lately. He loves to hiccup in my belly. Jason got to feel that for the first time last night. He is also a fan of dancing. I think he holds dance parties in my belly. I had my glucose test yesterday and let me just say, YUM. That stuff is disgusting. I hope it goes well because I do not want to drink it again. I am measuring a few days ahead of 28 weeks and his heart beat sounded great.

Only 12 more weeks till I am due. CRAZY.

Glimpses of Colton's Room

We are still working on baby boy's room and hopefully will finish by November. I took some pictures of what we have done so far.

This is the wall opposite of where the crib will be. The chair was steal from Babies R Us and is super soft. The bookshelf is still a work in progress; there WILL be books on there eventually.
Superman wall decal with shelves of action figures

His name above where the crib will be. I know the "L" is crooked; I did not notice it till after I took the picture. It is fixed now thanks to my OCD.

We still need to:

-Purchase and hang curtains

-Get crib (gift from my parents and put together

-Complete the bedding for the crib (we are just doing basic white and blue bedding since room is so busy)
-Complete the changing table/dresser (not pictured b/c it was covered with a bunch of baby stuff that I have yet to put away)

-Purchase white rug for room

I just hope he "bakes" till his due date so I can finish everything.

On a side note, I got crafty these last few days and stole an idea from another blogger. Lis Loves made this ribbon topiary and I had to make one myself. I made a fall one that is complete and am now working on a Christmas one. I think it is super cute!


I heart fall!

)