Weekending

We are in the single digits of weekend before Little Man joins us, so I'm caught between having a trillion things to do and wanting to veg out on the couch.  Saturday, Jackson left at about 4AM to go to the duck blind for one last round of duck hunting.  Since he had made those plans a week or so ago, it gave me time to make an extensive cleaning checklist.  I knew I would have to take breaks and rest during my cleaning spurts, so I did things like make the curtain to go on the window in Remington's room, watched The Visit (complete letdown), and spent time searching and scrolling through the topic "Baby Boy" on Pinterest. All laundry is done, there are a million boxes for the yard sale this summer, and a lot of bags of clothes to take to Goodwill. I'm a happy mama.   Sunday, we had our maternity pictures taken. It was so so cold. We spent about an hour and got a handful of adorable shots.  More of those to come later ;)

Sunday night was spent on the sofa in our comfiest clothes, napping and watching TV.  
Life. Is. Good.

Friday!

1.  We are having maternity pictures done Sunday.  I'm going for the simple kinds of pictures. I can't wait to share them! I bought the cutest sweater to wear, and it's so warm and comfy. You know, since it'll be 48 degrees. 

2. 

Feeny is learning to deal with Remington's stuff.  We have the pack and play set up in our room, and it has been the bane of Feeny's existence. He has been clawing the mesh, digging his way into the middle section, and wedging himself underneath it. We started closing our bedroom door at night, but he wakes us up off and on all night crying and clawing at the door. For the last two nights, he has been well behaved and hasn't gone near it! 

3. 

Diabetes will be the bane of my existence. "You can eat whole wheat pasta, just pair it with protein! we don't want your blood sugar above 120." really means "Don't touch pasta or bread because it'll make it way too high". It's been a week of trial and error, for sure.  Raisin bran is a no go, but chicken avocado salad is a winner.  There's never any telling. 

4.

Jackson is doing his last duck hunt of the season this Saturday, and I have never been more excited to have a morning to do nothing but clean! I spent 45 minutes at work yesterday making out my cleaning checklist full of things I want to get done!! It's a couple of pages long, so I'm going to have to be sure and rest here and there. Our home is a wreck. 

5.

How to Get away with Murder is back. My blood pressure. That is all.

Our Second Baby Shower: Harry Potter!!

I am a geek. There, I said it. I'm sorry, son, that you will have to deal with Harry Potter weekends and family costumes. All of Mommy's friends know it, which is why you got a Harry Potter baby shower! 

It was so great to have so many different groups of friends under one roof! We had friends from high school, friends from college, friends from church, and family! It was hosted by my best gals (my college roommates). 

(on the left, Hamlin felt Remington move for the first time)

We got some of the cutest clothes, books, and toys! 

 

Two of my best friends from high school were able to come, which was so special! 

One of the gifts we received brought me to tears. Ugly tears. So ugly I'm not posting that picture.  One of my best friends took two of dad's shirts, had a teddy bear and a poem shadowbox made from them.  The bear has my daddy's name embroidered into a heart on its belly. I still can't put into words how much it will be cherished. 

The second shower is in the books! Everyone is waiting for you, sweet boy!! 

January's Read: A Dog's Purpose

This year, one of my goals is to read one book per month. 

(via)

For January, I read A Dog's Purpose.  It was a book my dad ordered a few years ago and read not long after we adopted Boomer, so I knew the book existed, but it wasn't until after seeing that they have made it into a movie that I knew I had to read it. Let's be real - this home girl does not miss a Dennis Quaid movie.  I could have really done without the first four chapters, but I guess it helps set up the underlying theme in the story, which is that a dog doesn't die, it just comes back as another dog. No spoilers, right? You get that from the preview.  I am so happy with where Toby/Bailey/Ellie/Buddy's story ended.  If you love dogs, it is a great read.  It made me look at dogs differently for sure, especially my sweet Boomer bear.  He was there when I left for college, when I moved back home, when I got married, and has been there for every Friday visit since. He used to sleep in my bed when I lived at home, so Bailey's life with Ethan really hit home. Boomer is an old boy now, and is looking so rough, so I'm finding myself looking at him as if I'm trying to read his mind now.  *Spoiler alert* Boomer and Buddy shared an event this year - they comforted their boys as they took their last breath. I've never thought about Boomer in that way. I've watched him adjust, but I never thought about how he felt as he comforted Dad. 
I enjoyed it. Who else has read it? What were your thoughts?

Things I'm Too Pregnant For....

I will never be too anything for this sweet face. It's irrelevant, just thought you'd enjoy. ;)

1.  driving I have grown to loathe driving, and it doesn't help that I have a 45 minute drive one way to work.  I also hate anything that comes with driving: getting into the car, not having a potty in my car, all of the sappy songs that pull on my pregnant hormones, getting out of the car, getting all of my crap together when I'm going into work or the gym or home.  
2. staying up late It used to be nothing for me to stay out late and wake up the next day for work or church, but this gal just can't hang anymore. Even when we have shindigs at home with friends, I usually fall asleep close to 8:30
3.  Stairs Seriously, these aren't fun without the heavy bump protruding from your midsection, but with... kill me. 
4. Pants See number 3
5. Grown up things Taxes (this will be the first year we owe. ouch), filling up my car with gas, dishes, remembering to renew car tags, etc. 

What did you get too pregnant for? 

Our First Baby Shower

Our first baby shower was hosted by the amazing ladies at church. They had the cutest duck theme, which matches Remington's nursery.  

My sister was able to come in from Chattanooga, too! It was great to have her there. 

(pardon the terrible lighting)

My best friend, LouEllen, wrote who gave us what so I could be organized and write Thank You notes to the correct people for the correct gifts. Not pictured is our other best friend, Siobhan, who was running gifts that had been opened to the table for display.

We got most of the things we needed and 100% of the things we wanted, and then some! We were beyond blessed and so thankful to the sweet hostesses! There aren't pictures, (I promise to get some soon) of the two handmade quilts that were made for him to match his nursery perfectly! There is also the cutest hand-smocked outfit with little ducks on it. I can't wait to dress this little boy in all things duck, dump truck, and dinosaur!! 

Getting rid of "memories"

One of my new year's resolutions is to Declutter and get rid of my "memories".  Obviously there is no way to dump my actual memories, so that's not exactly what I'm aiming for.   I am a hoarder; nothing extreme, but I can't let go of things. Specifically, I can't get rid of things that hold memories.  
For example, I have the dress I wore to our rehearsal dinner and shower, and there's no way it's ever going to fit again.  But, I have held onto it for the memory. I have stuffed animals that were given to me by people who are gone, or have a fun story, and I just can't part with them (sorry, Remington). I have things Dad has given me that I don't want to throw away because I feel like I'm throwing out his memory. 
Ridiculous, I know. 
In talking to one of the girls I work with, she challenged me to start with my clothes.  Then move up to books, magazines, journals, etc.  Then move to bigger things.  
I can't explain how freeing it is to throw out things that have been held onto because they bring back memories.  My closet has more space, my cabinets have more space, and my sweet baby boy won't have to deal with stuffed animals that smell like they're 900 years old because they've been in storage.  I have given away books I'll never read, movies we will never watch, and a massive bean bag chair that used to be in the Man Cave.  

Five on Friday

1.  This stuff wasn't terrible, and didn't make me as sick as I read it would. Not going to lie, I kind of enjoyed it.  At my 24 week appointment, Remington was measuring ahead, so she only scheduled appointments until 36 weeks and said we would watch him from there. I got super excited thinking how close we were to seeing our boy. We went Thursday for our 28 week appointment, and he's leveled out, measuring right on time, and so she scheduled our appointments to 41 weeks just in case. JUST IN CASE?! Please tell me it's normal to just want to meet my baby.  

2.  Remington's nursery is close to done! I ordered this fabric this week to make a window curtain and a curtain to cover the ugly built in desk and the junk under it we just don't have space to move. 

3. I ordered my first three books for the year to fulfill my resolution to read one per month.  The first was A Dog's Purpose, the second was My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry, and the third was Wishful Drinking. I'm really excited to get back into reading.  4, There are so many scary movies coming out this year and I'm so excited. Who's a scary movie junkie and wants to take me? 5. We should always have two days off of work during the week. Always. Monday, I did zero things (see below), and it was wonderful.  Thursday (because why take half a day for a doctor's appointment when you have vacation time expiring in a week?!) I nested cleaned to my heart's content. It was lovely. 

Rest of Winter Checklist

Here's how we did on our Christmas checklist:

Get all of our Christmas Shopping done under budget

Make my way to the cemetery to put some poinsettias on Dad's marker

Have our 2nd annual Gingerbread House night

Make an ornament for 2016

(2014)(2015)

Mail out Christmas Cards

Buy stockings

I still can't quite manage to make myself get out to the cemetery, so no flowers were placed.  We were so busy, that Gingerbread house didn't happen, either. I also cheated a little in making our ornament for this year. I made it on Shutterfly instead of making a cute globe one like years past; it says "Joy! It's a Boy!" and has his name on the back of it:

It's so easy for us to forget about the rest of Winter after Christmas, but we have much to be done before Remington gets here!! 

Finish the nursery

Start purging clothes we don't wear or don't fit

Hang a bird feeder

Throw/attend a superbowl party

Make plans for a super fun (non-traveling) 3rd anniversary

Get all Thank You notes done no more than 2 weeks following each baby shower!

Spend lots of time snuggling

New Year's Resolutions 2017

2016 was a roller coaster of a year for us. I started a new job in January, lost my dad in May, found out we were pregnant in July, found out we're having a Boy in November, and got a promotion later in November. Now we're here, at the end of the roller coaster, and I just want off. haha. 
Here's the skeleton I laid out for our year, and here's how we did:
Work through our Love Languages Bible - we didn't even open it this year. We did our own reading, by ourselves, but I'm hoping to work through it this year. 
Build up our savings; pay off our debts - We paid off over $12,000 in debt this year, built a savings that will give me my full leave time off with Remington without worries.  This one, we killed.
Spend one day per month with my Nana - This was impossible with my new job.  I moved from getting off at 4 to getting off at 5 and driving across town in rush hour traffic.  Grief also has changed my Nana into someone completely different, and that's a story for another day.  But it didn't make visits anything other than unbearable. 
Visit someplace we've never been - for our anniversary, we went to Evansville to go to Tropicana. We had a blast
  Find a job that makes me happy - Funny story, it wasn't my first step into the company, it was my promotion that checked this one off. I was miserable in my first position with the company, but this has always been my dream company, and I knew that if I treated it like a stepping stone, I would be fine. I'm now managing leaves of absence and having so much fun.  I enjoy going to work everyday.  
Here's our 2017 skeleton. Well, my skeleton.