Christmas Fun!

Thought I'd give a little recap of our Christmas festivities!

Nicholas and I before the Christmas Eve service at church

We stayed up late watching movies and for the first time (and probably the last, haha), slept in on Christmas morning - until after 11:00...and it was GLORIOUS! :)  Nicholas cooked breakfast for us and we listened to Christmas music while we ate and then opened a few little presents...it was just perfect.

I got him Monopoly City (b/c we love playing games, he's been talking about the commercials for this one, and I thought it may bring him some luck since I always beat him at Monopoly, seriously, and it drives him crazy). :)  And he got me the infant adapter for the BOB stroller that my in-laws got us, which  I just LOVE! Nicholas putting it together:

Presents by the tree (and no, the tree's not crooked, but the picture is!)

"I've been good all year long!"

"Oooh, I smell something yummy in this stocking!"

We just took it easy for a few hours and enjoyed being together and celebrating Christmas. While we were standing in the kitchen Nicholas teared up while he was hugging me and told me he was so glad that he got to spend all his Christmases with me...it was pretty sweet and I'm blogging about it b/c 10 years from now when I look back I want to remember that moment. :) It was pretty special.

We were excited that my mom and grandmother came down later in the day, and we got to have more Christmas fun and a yummy dinner!

Baby Mills has presents to open and he's not even here yet! :)

big girl.

Our "flamily"...and no, i promise i'm not breaking Harley's neck!

"Thanks, Gammy Pammy, for still bringing me gifts, too!"

The video game Nicholas has been playing for upwards of 8 hrs a day since Christmas...

MaMa and her new mugs

Mom with her other baby and doggy vino!

sweet picture mom took of our little girl's feet

We got some great gifts that will come in handy especially with the baby boy around here (whenever he decides to come!)...as a matter of fact I'm blogging from this new guy right now:

I'm still getting used to all of the "Apple-isms" of it, but so far I'm really loving how stinkin' cool it is and how well it works with photos and videos...especially considering we also got this

(which already takes AMAZING pictures, but I've really gotta read the manual so I can figure out all of its bells and whistles), AND this

The flip HD videocamera...so believe me, you (aka the grandparents) will never miss a moment of Mills' action...hmm, wait a minute...maybe that was the idea behind these gifts!?! :)

We also got lots of baby items, and a changing table, which Nicholas I have deemed as gifts to each other (throughout December).  And, mom, MaMa and I went shopping on Saturday to get the last of the goodies to pack up my hospital bag and get ready for the BABY!

Overall, it was just a perfect Christmas and I'm very, very thankful for Jesus' birth, my family, and our everyday little wonderful life! :)

Hope you had a Merry Christmas, too!

Deja Vu...

Three years ago at this time we were in Nashville, TN at the Music City Bowl Game cheering on the TIGERS against the Kentucky Wildcats...
On our way to the game:

Out the night before listening to awesome bands:

And celebrating mom's 50th birthday (Dec 29th) at the Gaylord Hotel:

My "boyfriend" and I (haha):

And here I am today, as we're watching Clemson play Kentucky in the Music City Bowl yet again... let's  just hope the outcome of the game is more favorable for the Tigers.  Right now it's tied 7-7 in the 2nd quarter.

GO TIGERS!!!

Here's my update: NO NEWS!!! Not one single little bit of change!
Gotta finish up some work and Christmas fun! SO much to do!!! xoxo!

38 WEEKS!!!

Wow! Only 14 days to go!!! Here are some pics from today!

(sorry about the "mix-matchedness"... I changed right out of my cute pants when I came in the door and put on these old navy cargo pants, which I pretty much live in around the house these days!)

Holy big belly!

But in other news... today was my last day of work so I promise to be easier to get in touch with now! I do have about 3-4 hours of admin work to do tomorrow (and lots of Christmas errands, yowsers, only two days left) AND another doctor's appointment. My appt last week was pretty uneventful...I was just over 1.5cms but nothing else new to report. I'll be sure to hop back on here tomorrow and give you an update (even if it's to say, "no news").  The nursery is coming along...hopefully next week I'll have it complete and be ready to post some pics!

Monday, monday...

And it's my LAST one for a while!!!!!!!! Tomorrow is my last day of work before our company closes for Christmas/New Year's, then my maternity leave begins on January 4th, so I'm almost DONE!! That's something to jump up and down about!
This is going to be a random little post...so we celebrated Christmas in Dillon this past weekend and received some wonderful and thoughtful gifts and got a little time to spend with family (although too short!)! Oh, while I'm at it this was Wallace (and Easterling) family pic that was on their Christmas card (we took it back at Thanksgiving but I just thought about it):

It's fun to look on their fridge at Christmas cards over the past few years and see how things have changed so much each year (weddings, pregnancies, next year - babies!) Oh and this was just another funny little pic of Peyton and Madison that I took at Thanksgiving! (haha, Madison is all about the posed face right now!)

We also got to celebrate Baby Gray on Sunday at Jennifer's shower in Hartsville (where I overdosed on sonic punch...oh my goodness soooo good), and she got lots of goodies for the little guy! Nicholas had to get back early to work, but Kelley came and stayed with me and we watched movies and stayed up late and it was so nice to have her here!  She took this pic and sent it to Nicholas of Harley and I sleeping...

Ahh, i love this stinkin' little furry one! She's just so cozy and sweet! The other night I had just put clean sheets on the bed and washed the comforter and as Nicholas and I laid down I said, "Doesn't it feel so good to have a nice, clean bed with no dog hair???" (which by the way, happens 2.2 seconds after she jumps in bed) His response? "No, because it means our little girl hasn't been sleeping with us."

oh.my.goodness.

He is such a mess over her. Not that I really have any room to talk. :)  We've got her prescription of Zoloft ready for when the baby arrives. We're gonna try our best to give her as much attention as possible amidst all of the sweet baby chaos. Eventually, she'll be the BEST big sister. But in the meantime, how can you resist this sweet face???

Dresser decisions...

So this is not a very exciting post...it's more for me to put my options in one place and have you tell me what you think. :)  The last bit of baby room to-do from a furnishing standpoint, is to pick out a dresser/changing table, and since I want to be able to use it later in the room, I want one that I can just pop a changing pad/converter on top of and go. I would post pictures of the room (i know, i know jennifer) :) but it's a big pain right now to have to put my camera data card into my fax machine/printer, then plug that into my work laptop and and wait on all 1148+ (seriously.) pictures to upload then get the few that I need off and post them. However, we do happen to be getting a pretty FABULOUS camera for Christmas from Santa (and Mom) so I'll have no excuses from then on out, and some pretty amazing pictures, too, hopefully! :) So back to the task at hand... the crib is a dark espresso (almost looks black without sunlight) and two of these shelves are hanging above where the dresser/changing table will go (in the middle color, espresso, from Land of Nod):

All of the wood doesn't have to be "matchy matchy," I just want something that has good lines and doesn't clash...oh, and the biggest criteria, it's gotta be less than 40 inches wide, b/c that's all the space we have in this little nook! SO, without further ado, which one do you like best?  I'm not putting prices or where they're from, because I don't want that to skew your thoughts, however, none of them are too ridiculous (after everything else in this little guy's room, i can tell you that)! :)

(sorry that pic can't be any bigger! You can go here to see it, and i might as well tell you since you'll see it that it's the most expensive in the group)
Option 2 - and okay, i might as well tell you the scoop on them all...this one's by Bassett Baby, and it's $169 at overstock.com, w/ free shipping, might i add:

The next one is from amazon.com and is $246.40 (and free shipping). We couldn't use the hutch part now, b/c it would cover our light switches and be too cumbersome, but it is removable and could be used later.

Option #4, $319

#5, from World Market and at their store, $269 and drawer handles could always be changed to something a little daintier

Remember, this would be going in the nursery, then transition to a "big boy" room hopefully later on with two twin beds...something along those lines. I looked like crazy on craigslist for an antique dresser that could be fixed up/painted and work, but no such luck...Oh, and remember the crib is the color of the middle shelf in the top pic...just keep it in mind - oh heck, i'll just post a pic of the crib (of course our bedding is WAY cuter)! :)

whatcha thinkin???

Baby buzz and prayers for friends!

So I thought I'd update you on baby progress...I had my last appointment this past Monday and the doctor said I was 1 cm dialated and 50% effaced...of course this doesn't really mean too much, I know, because you can walk around for a month like that (which I very well may do!), but at least it's progress in the right direction, right??? I weighed in at 151lbs (what the heck, just throwin' the pride out the window!), and although I was officially at 35 weeks and 6 days, my fundal height measurement was at 37 weeks - again, moving right along! Wahoo!  My next appt is this Wednesday so we shall see what's goin' on! I just got back from a baby shower for Kristen and Baby Thurman, and it was fun to catch up with the high school gals again. Sara and Adam stayed here last night (which was great, too, because Nicholas was on call!) and Kathy and Stephen are staying tonight since they're in town for a wedding - yay! Nicholas and I are headed out to my Christmas party for work here in a little while, so it's a busy weekend around here!

Also, our sweet friends, the Yoes, left for a medical mission trip to Uganda yesterday. They'll be there for 10 days and wow, what a blessing they are going to be to so many children and families!  So if you get a chance, lift them up as they serve so many needy hearts and bodies! (you can find Calee's blog HERE)

...and the 4 of us in NYC back in the summer:

Oh, and totally unrelated, I mean to post these pics of my SIL, Jennifer, and I from a little over a month ago! ..but I just saw them and it reminded me! This was on Halloween, so I was about 30.5 wks and Jennifer was 25.5 wks - a little backtracking...but CUTE! :)

Me and Baby Mills, Jennifer and Baby Gray!!! :)

Have a great weekend!

Picture update ~ Seneca shower!

Here are some pics from our sweet shower in Seneca!
Cute invitation!

And adorable decorations (LOVE LOVE LOVE this):

Hostesses!

My friend from high school, Kristen, who is due in March with another baby BOY!

High school girlfriends!!!

And a close-up of miss cutie pants

Visiting with everyone and opening wonderful gifts galore!

And I could go on and on!!

With my mom, grandmother, and Peyton

Even though it was a rainy afternoon, I had such a good time getting to see everyone and catch up! And the little guy got some amazing gifts and he definitely has no excuse to go naked once he makes his debut...I think he has (almost) as many clothes as his mom (okay, so maybe that's a stretch but he has A LOT)! :) And we also got his carseat as a gift from Leah, Sara, and my aunt and grandmother, so he's ready to ride around in style! Such a sweet shower!

Next up...pictures from the Columbia shower, but that's another day, another time...

OH, and I have some baby progress news, too!  To be continued... ;)

35 is the magic number!

That's right - I'm 35 weeks today, and if you take a peek at that nifty little tracker above, we have 35 days LEFT (give or take a few, of course)!!!  Can you believe it????
I owe you an update, a baby belly pic, photos from the last two FABULOUS showers our sweet friends/family have thrown us...not to mention pictures of the nursery (which has had a LOT of progress made recently)!  BUT, unfortunately that's not gonna be tonight. :(  I'm pretty stinkin' tired, my manager is riding with me again tomorrow, and I have tons of catch up work to do!
Sooooo, I will be back later this week for some fun!
Have a great night!