Swallowed a watermelon seed...

Which is growing faster- my hair or my belly? (don't answer that...!)

Home(s) for the Holidays

There really is "no place like home"! (Jamie and I have been traveling so much this week trying to fit all the family and friends into a short time, that it feels good to finally be home again.) We spent a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with each of our families. It's amazing how many people can fit into one house!

Jamie's family introduced us to a new card game, Quiddler, that is a lot of fun. And of course we had the traditional New PJ's, Eggnog and Cookies with many of my brothers and sisters (and nieces and nephews) at my parent's house.

Then later this week we got invited to spend a few days with the whole Burrow family in Searcy, AR. We figured that soon we wouldn't have many more opportunities to make random road trips, so we hopped in the car and drove down to spend time with Jason & Sam, Jim & Emily, Juli, and Dan & Cindy Burrow.

And of course, there was some serious late night Guitar Hero sessions...! (It was the first time Jason had played the game but he was insanely good at it.)

The whole week of family and friends really was so wonderful! Now we're back home and it's that sad sad time... to start putting away the Christmas decorations...

"My Hero..."

Like most of the population right now, Jamie has a sad little addiction to Guitar Hero. His friend, Jim, got him hooked and that's all Jamie wanted for Christmas this year! He's been playing every chance he gets and the guys in his office are all hooked as well, so they get together and play, too.

I've been avoiding playing it myself, because I was scared of getting addicted- but I finally broke down this weekend and gave it a shot. (Lately Jamie and I haven't had much downtime for just the two of us, but Sunday afternoon we actually had some time to chill together.) My scores were pretty bad, but I blamed it on my belly getting in the way of my true rock n roll skills.

Jamie tried to coach me and tell me that if I had my "game face" on I could score more points...

I tried...

It didn't help. (I guess I'll have to stick to being a groupie in the JC Fan Club for now...!)

Done!

I had my big December concert with my choir students at school this week and they did a wonderful job- I was so proud of them! It's a strange feeling to be so close to being done for the year (as I will only have to go back in January for about 4 weeks- til the baby arrives).

Audrie is helping me conduct here...(she kicked through the enitre concert).
To help celebrate the wonderful feeling of being "done" with school I got a much needed massage after school and then went out with a great group of friends Friday night for a ladies night of dinner and movie. We saw the most adorable heartwarming love story, August Rush, and there was a pretty large pool of tears under our seats when we left!

Blush & Bashful

The teachers at my school threw Jamie and I a baby shower on Wednesday and it was overwhelmingly adorable! So much pink and gifts and food and baby excitement everywhere.

We were blessed with so many wonderful gifts for Audrie again and the teachers had also given money for a money tree (which actually they put on a cute clothesline)! I told Jamie I'm going straight to Nine West with that cash, because Audrie needs her momma to have cute shoes, right?

Jamie has been so great at saying "ooh and aah" at the gifts- I think he might be running out of adjectives to say each time we open an adorable pink gift, but he's been so sweet and gracious!

Oh my goodness, my belly is getting bigger by the minute- and all the great food at this shower didn't help me see my feet any better!

Melanie got us this awesome onesie! We died laughing when we opened it...

I've had trouble sleeping at night, so my favorite thing to do is to go into the nursery and open all the drawers (and stand in the closet) and just look at all the adorable stuff we have waiting for Audrie!




And we're getting a great collection of books to read her, too!

We're getting so nervous and excited to have her here! My heart is telling her to hurry, but I know I really want her to take her time and grow strong & healthy in there. And as my mom keeps reminding me- she's much easier to take care of where she is now...!

Christmas Cheer

Jamie takes putting the Christmas lights on the house pretty serious. (A few years ago when we lived in our first house in Fayetteville he even won a light display contest in our neighborhood!) Since we've moved to a house with a much steeper roof he has had to cut back a little, but the lights always look so great. A few weeks ago he put these lights up on the house and I love coming home to them every night!

Preggo in a Bikini

I've been trying to keep my exercise routine going strong throughout my pregnancy, but lately it has been increasingly more difficult to work out with this big belly in the way. Walking on the treadmill gets pretty boring, so my friend Melanie and I decided we would try a water aerobics class this weekend. The class was actually cancelled so we decided to swim laps in the pool. A bikini was the only bathing suit I could fit my tummy into, but I wore a tshirt over it so I wouldn't scare anyone! Mel and I swam what seemed like a million laps up and down the pool and it was hard work, but I had no problem treading water with my own personal "buoy" keeping me afloat. I'm so sorry I don't have a photograph to post of me in my bikini but here are some photographs that the amazing Kim took of my belly at 26 weeks.

Eat, Drink and be Merry

I think laughter must really be the best medicine because I've been feeling the aches and pains of my growing belly alot more lately (and the stress of choir concerts and music programs), but after spending the evening with a great group of friends laughing all night I feel a million times better. Jamie grilled some tasty food and we watched a hilarious movie in the "Manloft" (Jamie's room upstairs for all his movie and video game equipment). We all ate too much and laughed too much, but my huge belly is happier now!

Tick Tock, Tick Tock...

They say time flies when you're having fun and that has definitley been true lately... I can't believe we only have 9 more weeks until my due date! (Or from Jamie's point of view- only 9 weekends left until our lives are changed forever.) So we've been trying to make each moment count and this weekend was no exception. We spent Friday and Saturday night with friends and then Sunday we drove back to our hometown of Green Forest for a beautiful baby shower thrown by Jamie's family and my best friend from high school. We were once again blessed by all the people who are so excited for us and we could barely fit all the wonderful gifts into the car!

Dawnica's mom made this precious cake and it tasted amazing, too!

There were beautiful fresh flowers and "bubbly" centerpieces on all the tables.

We had fun opening all the adorable gifts!

Dawnica's mom made me this beautiful bag!

Jamie's mom cross-stitched us a beautiful baby quilt! (She's pretty excited to meet her first grandbaby.)

Dawnica and I have been inseparable friends since 6th grade. (She has an adorable little boy, Will, who is turning one on my due date- Feb. 5th!)

Jamie even got a little early practice changing a diaper! (From the look on Erin's face here- I think she was even impressed...!)

Thank you everyone for the amazing shower! Keep us in your prayers as we get closer to Audrie's arrival.