Christmas craziness

It seems there is never enough time this time of year. I've been spending every extra moment working on a stocking for our family. My mom made the same stockings for us and now for her grandkids, and it's an important part of Christmas for me. I just couldn't possibly hang any other type of stocking! I hope to have it done by Christmas... but I will need something to stuff into it! I also hope to have 3 more done next year so that we each have our own - me, Derek, Lola and baby! Here's a preview of the stocking. I'm on step 49 out of 103.

And because there just isn't enough time, I haven't had time to blog! Since my last post, my brother and sister hosted a fabulous Thankgiving dinner. I didn't get any shots with people in them - but here's the lovely setup. Yes, they had the Christmas tree up and presents wrapped underneath it. And when I stopped by later in the weekend, they said they were done Christmas shopping.

My lovely husband tried to get a shot of me BPK. Ever since then, I've been walking around in slippers.

And speaking of pregnancy, here's a shot of my belly at 17 weeks. By some miracle, I was able to button my pre-pregnancy pants for this shot.

Santa came a little early to our house and brought me that sink I'd been promised for my birthday. I still get excited when I see it in the kitchen!

And we managed to get the whole family together in between our parents' birthdays to celebrate their birthdays. Well... almost the whole family. Jacob had to miss because he didn't listen to instructions and hit his mommy. Carrie said the whole way to his grandmother's house he was saying "I'm gonna sing happy birthday to Papa and Grandma Rose" over and over again... until he realized that he would be at grandmother's house instead... then he just cried.

It was a great night (even though the Cowboys lost to the Giants that night). I have such a great family!

Camping

This past weekend, we headed out to Purtis Creek with our "extended" family for some fun times camping. The brave ones (Derek, me, Jeff & Jill) headed out Friday night despite the forecast for rain. Sure enough, we were luck enough to set up all of our gear in the rain.

Lane & Lolly joined us early on Monday, and the boys went fishing. Cat & Josh showed up later with brats & hot dogs ready to go. Cat has deemed herself the "baby gender psychic" and predicted that I would have a boy. It was a relaxing weekend, and we ate well thanks to everyone pitching in. The best camper, by far, was Lola.




I've gained a little less than 3 pounds so far. Thankfully, I feel great, and can still do and eat everything I love. I get a little nauseous in the mornings if I try to get ready before I eat - and generally throughout the day if my stomach gets empty. I have some "fat pants" that I got a while back when I thought my office job would make me gain a size - WRONG - an expanding uterus made me gain a size. I'm wearing my fat pants, maternity pants, or regular pants that I safety pin closed. I can pretty much still wear my regular tops.

I discovered today, though, that there must be a defining point for every pregnant woman - the point when it is easier to pooch your belly out and try to look obviously pregnant vs. holding your stomach in and trying to not look pregnant. I'm at that point. I was in Target (after lunch) and that's when I decided I would stop trying to hold it in, and instead would try to pooch it out. It's only a matter of time before strangers start asking me if I'm pregnant.

5 Fingers

On Thursday, November 12, I had my second sonogram. Our baby looked more like a baby and less like a blob! The heart rate was 174 and our baby is 5 cm now from head to rump. Baby Hicks had the hiccups while I was there, and they made its whole body move - it looked like a jumping bean! At one point, Baby Hicks waved at me, so I know at least one of the hands has 5 fingers. There is a faint line coming from the rump of the baby - I asked if that was a tail, but the tech assured me it was a leg.

Catching up - Part 5 - Baby news

We've been making some progress in babyland. Last weekend, Coppell Concierge came over to help me get organized and clean out the closet in the soon-to-be nursery. We got sooo much done!

On Friday, November 6, I wore maternity clothes for the first time. It was a top only - but it was noticed immediately by my boss. I guess you can spot maternity tops from a mile away. Some clothes that I had ordered came in, too, but I think the pants are too big. I'm going to return the pants for a smaller size so that I can wear them right away.

This morning, just for fun, I took a Gender Prediction Test. It's called Intelligender. It's essentially a pee test that claims to tell you the sex of your baby. The default is "boy", so there are more false "boy" determinations than false "girl" determinations. My result:
The test says it has 86% reliability, so not enough to paint a room or anything yet. We won't be able to confirm until January.

I've been weighing myself every Sunday morning. So far, the Wii puts me at +1 pound. It certainly seems like I've gained more than that - but I guess there is plenty of "redistributing" going on.

Catching up - Part 4 - Halloween

Our friends are pretty dedicated to Halloween. Last year, Derek and I went to the Halloween party as Homer and Marge Simpson... we actually even went to the neighborhood party as Homer and Marge.... apparently the dressing up part in the neighborhood is reserved for kids. oops.

This year, after many "debates", we decided to go as Mickey Mouse and Mousketeers. It took some work to round up the costumes, but I think we pulled it off. My shirt says Preggers instead of my name.

We had a great evening with friends, but I was too cold and unfocused to take many pictures, so I've stolen all of these from facebook! There were some great costumes. Our hosts, Salt and Pepper:

Pee Wee Herman gave us all a "Word of the Day." I have no idea why he brought along this clown!

Meet the Jetsons... George and Jane -->

The hottest Star Trekies I've ever seen:

And what Derek and I thought were the best costumes of the year, Billy Mays and Octomom:

Catching up - Part 3 - Chase?! Married?!

The weekend of October 16-18, Kyle, Ashley, Derek and I headed down to Houston for Chase's wedding. That's right... Chase got married.

We headed down to Houston of Friday. While the guys got ready for the rehearsal, Ashley and I headed over to Macy's to get girl stuff like panty hose and mascara. It turns out, the Macy's downtown sucks and closes at 6pm. Who woulda thought?!

Saturday we hung out at Chase's to watch the TX/OU game. Longhorns won, so that was great! Oh, and we gave Chase his wedding gift. Six years ago, when Derek and I got married, Chase blessed us with an excellent gift wrapping job - he wrapped our gift in Duck Tape. It sucked. We unwrapped it, but couldn't tell what it was since the Duck Tape removed everything from the packaging. Chase said he was young and foolish then... turns out, I'm young and foolish now. I spent FOREVER wrapping that Crate and Barrell box in Duck Tape, but when I was done, it was actually a REALLY good gift-wrapping job.

The wedding, church, reception were all gorgeous. The waiters were great - kept serving me water and ginger ale! We had a running joke that Kyle is the babydaddy. Apparently we were too convincing. I managed to work in a dance with Glenn, the groom's father. However, the star of the evening was Kyle. You see, they had plenty of appetizers at the reception, but no meal. And none of us had planned appropriately (even though the invitation said "Drinks and Dancing to follow"). By the time Kyle realized there was no dinner, he was at the point of no return. It was great fun for the rest of us! He was a MANIAC, maniac on the floor.... the worm, some other floor-humping moves I'd never seen done in public, the splits, and the classic "Russian" dancing with arms folded on top of each other & legs kicking out. He was a little green and a little sore the next day...




On Sunday, we met up with Derek's friend Jason from college for brunch at La Madeline in the Woodlands. We drove back to Dallas, took the Rogerses home, then headed up to Allen to pick up Lola from her grandparents. We were exhausted when we returned, but it was such a fun weekend!

Catching up - Part 2 - First doctor's visit

Thursday, October 15, Derek and I took our baby to its first doctor's visit. The visit was nothing short of magical. Besides Derek trying awkwardly to position himself in each room so that his opinion of me doesn't change (yet), everything was pretty smooth. At 8 weeks, 5 days, I measured at 8 weeks. The best part (for me) was not hearing the heartbeat, but SEEING it! The baby looks a bit like a blob, but then there's a bright white spot in the center that gets bigger and smaller with the heartbeat. It's an amazing experience. The baby was 1.5 cm. In the sonogram pics below, the head is on the right. Our next pictures will be on November 12 - I can't wait to see it again!

Catching up - Part 1 - U2

On Monday, October 12 (that's right... almost 1 month ago), we headed out to Jerry World with Steve & Gloria for the U2 360 show. The massive screen at Cowboys Stadium was raised to accommodate the "spaceship" set, but even then, the set had to be pushed over to the side. In other words, in Dallas, the 360 show was more like 180, but it was still greatness!

It was our first time out to the Death Star (for all except Steve), so just taking in the size and features of the stadium took us awhile!

Muse opened for U2. The teenagers in front of us were only there for Muse. In case you're wondering, "Who's Muse?" here's the one song they play on the radio:

Living in Dallas would be nice...

... when you drive there as often as we did this week. This week has been filled with trips to Dallas. We HAD to go to Mia's for brisket tacos for Derek's birthday. We had a great time with Meadow, Lane and Lolly. We finished up the evening with some Pokey O's and visiting with Rach & Jesse.

Then Friday, we met up with the Prudes for some yummy Ginger Thai. This was Derek's first curry experience.

On Saturday, we met up with Lane and Lolly to take on the State Fair. Derek could not have had a better partner in crime. Lane and Derek are both bottomless pits, so they had fried macaroons, fried cheesecake, fried broccoli bites, fried peaches and cream, Fletcher's corny dogs (I had one too), chicken fried bacon, and probably some other things that I can't even remember.

The highlight for me was riding the Ferris Wheel, which I have never done. It was great fun!



On Sunday, after the Cowboys had another heart-attack inducing win, we braved the rain and went to a pre-season Mavs game against the Grizzlies. The Sheps came with us. It was a great week with great friends.



Tonight, we are heading out to Cowboys Stadium a/k/a Jerry World a/k/a The Death Star to watch U2 with the Motos. I just heard on the news that the big screen had to be raised to accommodate the stage, so we may not get to experience one of the staples of the new stadium. I can't wait!!

8 weeks

I'm entering the 8th week of my pregnancy. It's still 11 days until we see the doctor. I had several friends tell me the time between Clear Blue Easy and the first doctor's exam seems like an eternity - they were correct.

I had my first "battle" with nausea yesterday. It was probably worse on Derek than it was me. I kept telling him things he couldn't do - clearly blowing your nose while I'm brushing my teeth is just wrong, right? So, I'd say there is no change in my moodiness - hormones are not affecting me. ;)

In other baby news, Baby Hicks is the size of a kidney bean now. Also, the Chinese Gender calendar says I'm having a girl. http://www.thebump.com/calculators/ChineseGenderChart.aspx?MsdVisit=1