Merry Christmas!

We've had such a wonderful Christmas! This is the first Christmas we've spent here in our home since we got married, since Eli was born, etc. It's been so special to start new family traditions, and most importantly, to spend this Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ with Danny's parents and grandparents. My husband has always gone out of his way to help me in whatever way possible, but he has truly given me some of the greatest gifts that money can't buy this Christmas. He has worked like crazy helping me clean, cook, assemble toys, set tables, and everything in between to help make this Christmas so special for us. We hosted Christmas morning breakfast at our house, and we had so much fun preparing for it together. We set the table with our fine china (that we've never even used before!), and cooked up a delicious feast! I know without a doubt, that we will never forget this first Christmas in our house.
Me and my two babies on Christmas Eve! It's hard to believe that Layla will be turning 1 on her first Christmas next year! We had a wonderful service at church last night, followed by my mother-in-law's famous Italian Christmas Eve meal.
Our table set for Christmas morning.
We had so much fun playing Santa last night! This is really the first year that Eli's understood the whole concept of Santa, and he told us as he was coming down the stairs this morning that he heard Santa's sleigh last night. His big Santa present was a train table. He really never saw another thing in the room until we made him take a look around. He was so excited that he had a 'Thomas' table to call his own! His other big gift was a power wheels truck that my grandparents got for him. My grandfather has been absolutely itching to get him this truck since the day he was born! It took him a while to open his other gifts because he was busy playing trains and driving his truck in between :).


Pop Pop played LOTS of trains this morning!

A new bulldozer!
He and Goomba were in construction heaven together.
By the end of the morning, we were joking that we should have gotten a bulldozer for Goomba too!
He LOVED these wooden rescue vehicles that fit his new train set. Thanks Aunt Katie!
Nana and GG were so excited to get their new calendar and photo books! A tradition that I know they absolutely look forward to every year.


Layla's quilt made with lots of love and hours of labor by her Nana! I've been anxiously waiting to see the final product, and I love love love it!
Very full bellies after a Pioneer Woman's French Toast breakfast!
We were able to get a quick group shot before church, and I'm so glad we did!

Eli also got to try out his new ride before we left for church. The look on his face was PRICELESS when he figured out that he could actually drive it! For the first few hours we didn't have the battery plugged in because it was in the house. The secret is out now, and he's sold!
It's going to take some time before he really figures out how to work it. Like the whole 'take your foot off the pedal to avoid running into trees, and people, and parked cars' deal. Yeah, we need to work on that.
He was so proud of his truck just like daddy's!
We all spent the afternoon resting, and then had a wonderful Christmas dinner at Nana & Pop Pop's house. Pop Pop even had a fire going for us! I'm so thankful for the amazing memories made this Christmas. I'm thankful for the greatest gift of all, and we've loved sharing the true meaning of Christmas with Eli. Aside from all of the fun decorations and presents, we made sure to keep our focus on the birth of Christ. It was a wonderful 'Happy Birthday, Jesus' day!

The Nursery

Layla's nursery is as close to being finished as it's going to get for now! I still have a few things that I want to do on the walls, but some of those ideas require pictures of the sweet girl, so those will obviously have to wait. I've always dreamed of having a pink & green nursery for a little girl, and have always loved paisley prints. I absolutely LOVE her bedding, and couldn't be happier with how it all came together.



We have plans to frame this wooden monogram with white decorative trim down the road.
It's girly that's for sure!
Nana came over one day with her sewing machine, and we made a blanket out of the extra fabric I had ordered. My grandma's making a pillow to match, and Nana is even using some of the fabric in the quilt she's making. I love that Layla will have plenty of precious things made with lots of love by her grand & great-grandma's!

As far as the pregnancy goes...we now have a full term baby in the oven! The pressure is on to get things done, and my list making obsession has gotten a bit out of control. It's been hard trying to prepare for Christmas and a new baby at the same time, but thankfully I started really early this year. Unless baby girl decides to throw a wrench in the plans, she's scheduled to arrive early in the morning on January 3. That's less than 2 weeks away! Eli was 10 days early, so we're anxious to see if she'll stay put until 39 weeks. This baby is much lower than Eli ever was. I'm getting looks & comments everywhere I go now. It's like people think you're going to just drop the baby out right then & there!

Her clothes are washed, the bassinet is ready, and the carseat is even installed. Now all we need is for a Mimi to arrive, and we'll be ready to go! I'm so thankful that my mom will be spending an extended amount of time here with us. She'll get here the end of next week, and won't leave until January 20th. There's just something about a new baby and recovering from major surgery that requires a mom's help! Even more so this time around. A certain 2 year old is sure to keep his Mimi busy for the full 3 weeks :). I told her that she'll need a vacation when she leaves this place!

And just for fun...here's the latest belly pic I have. This was at almost 36 weeks.
We appreciate all of the prayers for a healthy baby and delivery.

Crib and Changing Table: Babies R Us.
Custom Bedding and Drapes: Carousel Designs - babybedding.com
Armoire and Lamp: Home Goods
Rug: Target
Wooden Monogram: Southernpropermonograms.com

Our Weekend

We've had a weekend full of Christmas fun! We started off with an incredibly fun 'Polar Express' party on Friday night. Some of our good friends hosted this for the second year in a row, and Eli just thought it was the greatest thing ever! The kids wore their Christmas pj's, and watched the Polar Express outside on the lawn while eating popcorn, endless amounts of candy, and sipping on hot chocolate. What's not to love?!
Eli had never seen the Polar Express movie before, so he stayed glued to his seat for the entire 2 hours! I'd say he's got a new favorite to add to his list :).

Saturday morning he went off with his Nana & Pop Pop for a special day of fun. They took him to a local shopping center that has a Christmas village and a really neat Christmas train exhibit. I think they had to bribe Eli out of there! He's still talking about the trains that he saw there. They took him to the job so he could see the house that daddy & pop pop are building right now, and then finished up with lunch at his favorite place-Chick Fil A! Eli loved his special time with them, and Dan & I didn't know what to do with ourselves on a kid-free Saturday! We did a little Christmas shopping, a little more baby prepping, and that's about it. We're so thankful to live close to family!

After church today we spent the afternoon resting, and then decided to make a family trip to Savannah. We knew that we'd have to make the trip if we wanted Eli to be able to see Santa this year. There was absolutely no fear this year, and he couldn't wait to jump up on Santa's lap! He was so talkative, and you would have thought the two had been friends for years. He told him that he would like a BIG truck and some cars for Christmas, and then told him all about our Christmas tree at home.


We've got another very busy week ahead. We'll be hopping from one party to the next, and eating way too many sweets I'm sure!

Dr. Eli

Eli has been very into playing Doctor recently. After going with me to a few appointments, he's taken to listening to baby sister's heartbeat. We don't have one of those kid Doctor play kits, so he just uses whatever he can come up with. Yesterday he was especially interested in her well being. We were both rubbing my belly and talking to her, telling her that we can't wait to meet her. Eli then moves in front of me, puts both of his hands under my belly and says, 'I gonna catch her, mommy.' Just as serious as ever, he was ready to take action! Great to know that if we can't get to the hospital in time, Eli is more than willing to 'catch her' for me. ha! We're still laughing about it, and it's definitely something I always want to remember.

I love this sweet boy! I'm trying to take full advantage of our last few weeks together as just the two of us.

Today it really hit me. We are having a baby VERY soon! We spent the weekend checking things off of my mile long list of things to do around the house. Not to mention we've got Christmas to prepare for. It's going to be a busy month, and it's already flying by. My husband is very fervently praying for a December baby, but I'm not so secretly hoping she makes it to our scheduled January 3rd delivery day. I'm just praying for a healthy baby girl, and at least a few good nights of solid sleep before we meet her :). I'm trying not to put things off, as I'm growing ever more uncomfortable each day. Today I could barely make it through Target due to horrible hip & sciatic pain. Oh the joys! However, I've never been more thankful for those aches & pains. It's a constant reminder of the growing blessing that we'll soon be meeting.

Christmas Traditions

We are enjoying every minute of this Christmas season. This year marks a first for our family. This will be the first year that we'll spend Christmas here at our house, and not in Virginia with my family. I will really miss spending Christmas morning at my Grandma's house as I've done for the last 25 years, but I'm SO excited to start making some new traditions here at home with our family. It's crazy to not have to think about traveling anywhere this time of year, as that's just all we've ever known in the 4 years that we've been married. We've got something extra special coming our way this Christmas, and something tells me she'll be wrapped in a big pink bow (but not too big, right dan?!)!

We've wasted no time on jumping into the Christmas spirit. We put our decorations up a few days before Thanksgiving, Christmas music has been on all day long for weeks, and our DVR is starting to fill of classic Christmas movies. I always had a chocolate advent calendar growing up, and my mom sent one for Eli this year. He looks forward to opening his special treat every night, and then we do the Jesse tree as a family. We're so thankful that Nana made (with lots of love!) Jesse tree's for all of us to do with our kids each December. Eli's especially loved getting to hang a new ornament on the tree each night. It's nice for him to have constant visual reminders of the stories and verses that we've read each night.

We don't dare try to 'help' him with this hanging task...he takes this job very seriously!
We started off the month of December with a family movie night. We had plenty of popcorn, and watched the original Rudolph movie.
New christmas pj's and a freshly decorated tree...just a few of my favorite things :).
This morning we went to the annual Bluffton Christmas parade. It's something I always look forward to, and knew that Eli would love it even more this year.
This is Eli at the parade last year. He still looked like such a baby!

This year we went with Molly and Amelia again.
We both have baby girls on the way due about 8 weeks apart, so we had fun talking about what we'll look like next year at the parade ;).


Eli was in absolute heaven with all of the big trucks, tractors, rescue vehicles and animals! And let's not forget the endless amounts of candy being thrown his way...I don't think he minded that at all.

It's only December 3rd, so I'm excited about all of the fun Christmas parties, cookie exchanges, and traditions that we'll take part in as we wait in anticipation for Christmas day. And to make it that much sweeter, we are just 4 weeks or less away from meeting Layla Grace!