Anyway, we have had a really fun and full week, with just a couple bumps in the road (I'll get there in a minute)
On Thursday night, JC came over before band practice, and we exchanged gifts. Luke and I got him a Ron Swanson bobble head, and he got us a Joann Fabrics gift card (for me) and some athletic shorts (for Luke) and this amazingness for the baby:
Now the baby can be witty and hilarious like his/her father before he/she can even talk.
Friday evening while Luke was at basketball, I baked some cookies that I used as gifts for some people. It was hard, because I was still pretty nauseous, but I pushed through.
Peanut blossoms and chocolate cookies with Reese's Pieces.
Sunday night was no fun in our house. Luke had been trying to get rid of a cough for awhile already, but apparently something else hit him too because he was up all night Friday night with some kind of stomach bug. It was really annoying when I woke up and had my couple of morning vomits that happen everyday (sorry, that's disgusting, but I have gotten desensitized after dealing with it for 5 weeks I guess) and we were practically fighting over the bathroom! Luckily, Luke was able to get over the worst of it by Monday morning. Although he still had a headache and was feeling feverish all day on Christmas Eve. I felt so bad, because he really NEVER gets sick. That was the sickest I've ever seen him.
We made the most of our Christmas Eve anyway, starting at the candlelight church service where Luke had to play in the band. It was a beautiful service.
There were no seats left in the sanctuary when the band was done playing, so Luke got to watch from the sound booth. I hope he doesn't mind that I stole this picture from his Facebook page!
After that it was time to party! Dinner at my grandparents was first on the agenda. We had lasagna,salad, and this amazing spaghetti squash and kale dish that I need the recipe for! Also, lots of good desserts.
Following tradition, we had a white elephant gift exchange, and then we spoiled the babies with gifts as well (can I still call them babies if they're almost 2??)
We couldn't resist buying gifts for the babies either, so we bought Elin a little teddy bear (which is lame compared to Hudson's gift, but I had such a hard time finding a cute little girl gift!) Hudson's gift requires a bit of a back-story. He has always associated Luke with drums, and often follows Luke's name with "boom boom!" When he is talking about him. He has occasionally been found after a worship service trying his hand at Luke's drums. So Luke couldn't resist buying him a little drum set. Hudson loved it! At first he really enjoyed sticking the drumsticks in his ears...
But then when they got all set up and he realized what they were, he got really
excited! We were happy the gift went over well...mommy was a very good sport! (what mom would love this gift? ha!) But we said they could seek revenge by regifting it in a few years if they get sick of it. 
Before we left, we opened our Christmas Poppers and got the obligatory crown picture after that (each popper contains a paper crown, a joke, and a little toy).
Luke was still a little under the weather...you can kind of tell in this picture
Next on Christmas Eve we exchanged gifts with Luke's family. Even the baby got a few gifts! 10 weeks old (on the inside) and he or she is already spoiled!
Speaking of spoiled, Luke and I are also still spoiled! We got so many amazing gifts from Luke's family. My favorite is my new Magic Bullet! Hello, homemade baby food! And I plan on using it a lot in the meantime for salsa, guacamole, smoothies, and milkshakes!
Christmas morning Luke and I woke up and exchanged gifts. I got him some blu-rays, a Star Wars trivia book, and a gift card to a restaurant (that one's a bit of a boomerang gift, I admit). He got me the Finding Nemo blu-ray, an Ohio State scarf, and new dishes and glasses!
Somehow on Christmas I decided to just put my camera (err,iPhone) down and just enjoy the day. I figured I'll probably get at least 1000 pictures next Christmas, it being baby's first and all, so why not take a little break this year?
Anyway, we spent Christmas day with family. We had breakfast and a gift exchange with my parents to start out, then Christmas with Luke's mom's side of the family, then Christmas with my dad's side of the family.
Highlights of the day were seeing my sister, getting a new fireplace screen (and lots of other gifts!) from my parents, starting out the baby's library with the 6 or 7 books he or she already received, catching up with family, having my appetite partially back and not feeling nauseous so I could eat tons of good food, trying to solve the metal brain-teaser puzzles from Luke's grandparents (I failed), and this amazing tutu that Luke's cousin's baby was wearing:
#1 reason to be excited if our baby is a girl? Tutus. (I kid)
Luke and I got home Christmas night exhausted as usual. Him more than me, because he was still fighting off sickness. So he fell asleep in the recliner, and I secretly cheered, because that meant that I could watch my new Hunger Games blu-ray from Luke's parents with no complaints! Ha! And watch it I did, crying no less than 3 times thanks to pregnancy hormones.
The Christmas celebrations weren't quite over yet. Yesterday, the day after Christmas, I ventured out in a snowstorm with the women of Luke's family to go see Les Miserables.
Speaking of crying during movies...umm...don't forget your tissues if you go see this! It was amazing! I want to go see it again ASAP! And it was fun to be out in the blizzard and have a pretty empty theater on a day when it would have normally been full to the brim.
I guess I didn't get enough of being out in the blizzard that afternoon,because later we had tickets to the TSO show in Cleveland. We went with our friends Sarah and Doug, and despite the scary weather, we had a great time! We ate dinner at Steak and Shake on the way, and then enjoyed the show.
I hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours! I know I'm looking forward to having a few days to relax before New Year's celebrations begin! However, I have a lot of cleaning and organizing to do after the tornadoes of Christmas and morning sickness. I have had a really hard time getting things done in the past 5 weeks, because I was basically in survival mode! Luckily the worst of it seems to be over! I'm only 10.5 weeks, so I know I still have couple more weeks until I'm completely out of the water, but I'm hopeful, and enjoying the past few days of feeling human!
Merry week after Christmas!
Wow, look at all that snow! I cannot even imagine it!! It was 77 degrees on Christmas eve (but now it's in the 40's which is basically freezing to me!).
ReplyDeleteThe bazinga onesie! SO CUTE!