Just checking in...

Well, the holidays are fast-approaching! I think we're almost done with Christmas shopping, only a few more people to shop for, and then I have to hit the post office and get things mailed. I should probably do that pronto, huh? :)

Good thing I have the holidaze to distract me from being just over 2 weeks from my due date... I'm kind of at the point where I'm chomping at the bit! I don't dislike being pregnant, so much as I just want to meet this little man... what do you look like? What is your temperament? How big will you be?... and then of course I'm scared out of my brains about labor & delivery... how much will it hurt? how long will it last? When will it happen? AHH! I'm a planner, there are too many unknowns! And people wonder why I'm not sleeping...

I really would like to go sans epidural... we'll see. I have a flexible birth plan and will do whatever needs to be done. My mom had all 3 of us kids without one, and I feel that God blessed me with these hips for a reason, so I have to imagine that that reason is bearing children... right? HA! Anyways, we watched all our videos on labor & delivery and on the drugs available and we have a good understanding of which drugs are used when and for what and so we feel comfortable with our flexible birth plan. I would like to be up and moving around through most of the laboring, using gravity to my advantage, so I would prefer to not numb my midsection and not be able to get up and move around... among other reasons... we all have our reasons for all the decisions we make, especially during something as personal as child labor, so to each their own! And by being flexible, I hope that I'm able to enjoy the miracle.

Wow. I'm rambling. Today we had our 38 week OB appointment... all my stats are posted to the family blog. All is well in belly-land. :)
*alliwilli

Christmas Fun Q & A!

My friend Carmine did this on her blog and I loved it, so I had to follow suit...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Um, why not both? I'm not one to leave somebody out... I say both, and if you can, why not MIX them... egg noggy hot cocoa? Sure!!!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Most definitely wraps them. Most definitely. Unwrapped gifts just do not cut it. ;)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored lights on the tree, and just white candles in the windows of the house

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
We don't have any! I need to get some. My mum and dad always had some (fake) hanging in our house growing up... gotta get me some to hang!

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving, but sometimes the tree doesn't go up for another week or so... this week, no tree for us because it's just too much work with the impending arrival of Baby Willi! We'll plug in our little 3-foot tree instead.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
I love Christmas cookies, mulled (ie, spiked, okay maybe not this year) warm apple cider, and soft peppermint candies. Mmm.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
We had a lot of tradition in our Christmas growing up... all of them are fond memories... from the Kelley Family Christmas (fondly referred to as KFC) the weekend before Christmas, to Christmas Eve at the Boyd's and Tracy's homes followed by midnight mass, to the obligatory pajama pictures as we came down the stairs Christmas morning to discover the loot that Santa left... then we would all choose one or two items to take with us down to Pearl River to Nana's Christmas day, one particularly funny memory was the year I got the ever-desireable Strawberry Shortcake doll and of course I chose to take her with me to Nana's... but OMG, what a mistake... her hair was strawberry shortcake scented, and we all felt SO nauseous by about halfway into the 2 1/2 hour drive, so we drove the rest of the way with her head wedged out the window of the car. We'd rather freeze than die of strawberry shortcake smell. Whewee.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
What truth about Santa? That he's awesome? Or that sometimes he has to come in the front or back door because he doesn't fit down the chimney?... ;)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
The real question is "do any gifts make it to Christmas morning?"... doh! Ryan and I are major cheaters... we love opening gifts early... sometimes it's hard to even wait till Christmas Eve!!!! Perhaps now that we have a munchkin on the way we can do all our gifts to one another on Christmas Eve and then do his gifts and family gifts on Christmas day or something. ;)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Are we looking for a strategy here? Cuz it ain't pretty. Last year I had a moment of super-strength and became SheRa and somehow moved the tree from the roof of the Acura to our living room without any help from anyone... it was standing in the stand by the time Ryan got home from work. He was stumped. How did you get that IN there?! Anyways... from there, we work the lights on... no real strategy... top down, usually. Then we have a ton of ornaments from my childhoold and some from Ryan's as well that we hang on the tree, and then some that we've collected together over the years. That's about it! Voila! Tree! This year I was planning to hit up the Container Store and get some of those plastic bins that have separate slots for each ornament because right now we have lots of little boxes and lots of tissue paper that we wrap each ornament in and then pack them in bigger boxes from there... quite a mess.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Are you kidding me? I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!!!! Love it! I'm a skier! Bring on the powder days! (Hello, we live in Colorado... if I hated snow I might want to rethink my residence...)

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes, and I love it! But the hubs does not... and it's UGLY. So maybe someday I can take the kiddo out. :) I mean, I'm no Nancy Kerrigan or anything... no flips or spins or anything... just speeding around the rink.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Ryan is the gift-master... he is very creative with gifting... I receive lots of jewerly, but always in a neat way (be it in a blender or worn by a stuffed animal), and one year he got us dancing lessons! THAT was pretty freakin' cool! But my best Christmas gift so far was my dad's successful open-heart surgery back in 1997 over Christmas... and then, after this year, I hope to be able to say that my best was the birth of a healthy baby over the 2009/2010 holiday season :)

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Family and being thankful for all we have and can give to others

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Favorite? Jesus' birthday cake. Mmm. So deliciously green and red. (It's a layer cake made from white cake that you poke holes in while the cake is still in the pans and pour hot green (lime) jello over one cake and hot red (cherry or raspberry) jello over the other and let them set in the fridge... then when you take them out, you simply ice with cool whip or whatever your favorite white frosting is and when you cut into it you get one layer of red and the other of green!)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love that we are now creating our own holiday traditions... and I cannot wait to create some special ones for our growing family. I love the Christmas Elf that comes and leaves little gifts (candy, generally) each day in December for Ryan, though that rite will probably be passed to the kiddo :)

17. What tops your tree?
Well, last year it was a star that was made of wood and fake cranberries that is super-cute, but it was kind of heavy so it was all crooked... so we may need to re-evaluate next year and get something new. But still a star, I would imagine!

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving?
I love both, I won't lie. I love love love giving gifts, especially when I feel like I've done well in coming up with thoughtful gifts for people... but hey, I won't deny the love of receiving a thoughtful gift either! I love baking Christmas goodies for friends and neighbors as well.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
I don't know that I have a favorite?! I love a lot of them, I am listening to XM Radio's Holiday Classics on my DirecTV right now... I love the classical music of the Moscow Orchestra and the soundtrack of the Nutcracker... I also love caroling, particularly I love singing "Hark the Harold Angels Sing" with a british accent like in one of the 'Christmas Carol' musical movies... :) Get me and my brothers together with my dad and we really belt that one out... it's hilarious.

20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?
People don't like Candy Canes? For real? (says the dentist's daughter whose favorite candy is Candy Corn, the world's least favorite candy) Yum. Yum and Yum. And why don't we put one in our egg nog hot cocoa from question number 1 while we're at it?... :)

21. Favorite Christmas Show?
I have 2... I love love love 'A Christmas Carol', especially musical versions... my dad has ALL of them. And then Ryan has taught me to adore 'Christmas Vacation'... priceless. Hilarious.

22. Saddest Christmas Song?
Hmm, not sure? Perhaps 'What Child is This?'... maybe because of the key it's in?

(Can you tell I'm bored at work?)
Happy December! Be good for goodness sake!
*alliwilli

Vegas, Baby!

Yes, it's true, at 36 weeks pregnant, I climbed onto a plane and flew to Vegas for the weekend... some may call me irresponsible, but I had an appointment with my OB 2 days prior to leaving and got the go-ahead and even a note from her saying that I was okay to travel. So I went! I found it interesting that the same weekend I flew out, another woman due in January, gave birth on a flight from Chicago to Salt Lake and they had to be diverted into Denver. Some of the folks making comments to the article on 9news.com really felt strongly that the mother was a jerk for flying so late in her pregnancy... personally, I think that if you get the okay from your doctor, and are not prone to pre-termn labor, then why not?! Ya know? Some people are just way too outspoken and opinionated. It's kind of none of your business, people!!! Ha!

Anyways, be it irresponsible or not, we had a wonderful time on our little Babymoon to Vegas this weekend. I didn't take many pictures because we didn't to much that was "picture worthy", and I was too lazy to just snap shots along the way, I guess.

We flew out Friday and Ryan had a softball practice that afternoon, and then we went out to dinner and enjoyed an evening at the Stratasphere with some of his teammates (including a trip up the tower to check out the views... see, I was responsible, I didn't go on the rides up there at least, ha!). Then Saturday their first game was at 12:40pm and I was the score-keeper... they ended up making a valient come-back after being down by 8 runs in the 3rd inning, but still couldn't pull out the win, they lost 18-17 in 7 innings. Then they played again at 4:10pm in a must-win since it was a double-elimination tournament, and again, they played great, they were up most of the game, but the other team had a big scoring inning in the 5th and we just couldn't come back enough, so we ended up losing that game 13-12 in the 7th as well. Bummer. So by around 6pm on Saturday, the tournament was over for the Outlaws. Oh well! We enjoyed the hot-tub (well, I put my feet in, the rest of the gang enjoyed it) and then went back to the strip to walk around and have a late night dinner. Sunday we slept in a bit and then went and watched the Broncos game at Hooters (gotta love it!) and then rested a bit... then Ryan tossed around the football with the guys and I went and hit the stairmaster in the fitness center for a bit and then we all got cleaned and dressed up and hit up the Mandalay Bay Buffet... mmm, I out-did myself, I really did. Did someone say crab legs? Yes please. Mm, so good. After the 3-hour buffet experience, Ryan and I went to collect his football bet winnings at the Stratasphere and then went back to the hotel.

Monday was our last day and we had until 2pm at the hotel and then our flight was scheduled for 8:10pm, so we slept in and packed up and got lunch and relaxed a bit and then eventually we took off for the Hoover Dam... unfortunately it was a cold rainy day, so the amount of time we spent on the observation deck overlooking the dam was limited to how much we could stand of the lovely "desert" weather! But here's a picture of Ryan peering over the edge of the observation deck and saying "can we go back inside now?" and then a picture of me saying "sure as soon as you take a picture of me!!"... :)


I promise to be a better photographer when I'm a mommy... I know I'm bad about capturing moments now... I used to be better and need to be in the future, that's for sure!

Anyways, so that was our Babymoon! We made it! No mid-air baby emergencies or complications, just a wonderful busy but relaxing trip to Vegas a mere 4 weeks before our little bundle is due to arrive :)
*alliwilli

The Family Jewels

Hello, and welcome to December... brr, it is COLD here in Colorado so far this December! Good thing we're getting out of Dodge and are heading for the desert! Las Vegas, baby! Yeppers, yesterday we had our 36 week OB appt and Dr. Gibson gave us the go-ahead to enjoy the weekend in Vegas (assuming I relax and stay off my feet as much as possible, and stay hydrated while flying and all that jazz). I'm planning to bring my camping chair and just park myself by the softball fields and watch, read, relax, enjoy the warm sun. Can't WAIT.

So anyways, while we were at the doctor, she did an ultrasound to check the baby's position (head down, yay!) and fluids (all good), and also asked us if we wanted her to try to find out the gender since our first ultrasound was a bust in that regard, and we were like "YES PLEASE!"... and that's when she found them... the family jewels... tucked there between HIS legs. Yep! It's a boy! Ryan is very excited. All that knuckleball practice this summer will come in handy after all... hahaha!

So hooray for knowing the gender! It seems surreal at this point because we'd come so close to the end without knowing, but now we can get some cute boy clothes, so that is very fun. I feel like it can't possibly be true because we haven't known for so long. But it's so cool! I posted pictures to our family blog if you're interested.

Anyways, I will report in next week after our Vegas Adventures!
Happy December!
*alliwilli