I know it's a little late but here is our Christmas re-cap. If I had exciting any plans for New Year's Eve I would be posting about that but let's be real... I'm pregnant. And that doesn't lend itself to an epic New Year's Eve.

lovin' my fresh face/hair and the fact that my robe is tied right under my bust :)

Christmas at my parents

their first Christmas

here comes trouble...

we never have Christmas without guns

...or hot sauce

surfin' USA

baby prezies!

So who has big New Year's plans? I'll probably go out to dinner and see a movie with Matt and be in bed before midnight. Ask me if I care? I don't. In fact, I am totally content with my plans! 

P.S. We put an offer down on another house but I'm not getting attached to it and certainly not posting a picture of it until it's a go. Just thought I would update you on that tidbit... :)

Blair had a very merry Christmas even though she doesn't realize it yet! She got the most precious outfits/shoes/etc. that I have to share with you. She also got some precious ornaments and an adorable cookie plate for Santa that I will have to share with you later since I forgot to take pictures of those yesterday. Oops.

Strangely enough my mom was right when she said, "once you have kids it is not going to be about you anymore." And man, it is all about Blair! Here are the clothes to prove it...

scalloped edges and gold buttons..presh

ruffle bum

thanks grandma pope!

chambray for bebe

thanks grandma bushman

I just so happen to own a Juicy robe as well. Twins!

tell me this isn't adorable! thanks page and ryan!

Oh man, I just can't wait to put a real live baby into all of these things! She'll be here sooner than I know it. :)

Well I haven't worked at all over Christmas break but here is something that I wore before we went on vacation. M keeps telling me my shoes are untied and one of my brothers said they were elf shoes. Sigh.

sweater: flying tomato

T: banana republic

leggins: Hue 

shoes: steve madden

necklace: i forget : /

For the most part I have been enjoying being home while wearing sweatpants and a cozy fleece. I'm sexy and I know it. ;) 

I hope you had a Merry Christmas! I didn't post yesterday because M had the day off. That means it's a holiday, right? :) M and I did the usual run-around from family to family. It was good to see everyone and we enjoyed some delicious meals. I am on a sugar overload though so it feels good to be back on my routine of healthy eating. This week I will be showing you some of my favorite gifts and some of Baby Blair's adorable gifts. Yay for presents!

I am still feeling awesome and am loving this big belly of mine. I'm definitely past the "fat or pregnant?" stares while out in public. Now it's just people staring at my pregnant self, and I don't mind it at all.

AWKWARD: Waking up on Christmas morning with the left side of my shirt wet in the shape of a perfect circle. Ew. I freaked. M laughed. Welcome to pregnancy...
-noticing that "line" beginning to develop from my belly button downward. Not a fan.
-can't see my feet anymore unless I push my bum back


AWESOME: Having two people tell me that I don't look prego at all from behind. One of the people being a male. Score!
-still rockin' an innie button
-having Blair's Auntie Tiffany feel her move for the first time. Her hands were cold so I think B got stage fright but finally she gave a hefty kick. So fun!
-making huge progress on my maternity scrapbook. blogging has been a lifesaver since I just copy and paste what I typed each week into my book.

I'm so over house hunting already. I have the patience of a two year old. Why do sellers insist on sitting on overpriced homes? Needless to say the home I showed you yesterday fell through because the seller is not willing to budge on price. Sigh. I know God has the perfect home waiting for us but it's hard not to be disappointed when three homes in a row haven't worked out. Patience is a virtue and I do not have it! 

So, it's Christmas (and Matt's birthday as well) and time to be happy and thankful for what I do have (which is a lot!). A sweet baby girl on the way and lots of family to share in our joy. 

On Christmas Eve we go to M's parent's house and participate in a family gift exchange and then go to church that evening with my family. Then on Christmas morning M and I open presents at home and then go over to my parents house to eat breakfast and open gifts. In the afternoon we head over to his parents house to do the same and then have dinner with his dad's extended family. Then we hang out with my mom's extended family and do a gift exchange there as well. It is two days of craziness but family is important to us so we make it work. I imagine when our family gets larger the amount of things that we schedule will dwindle. And when we get a bigger house everyone can come to us! Now that's what I'm talking about! :) Here are a few pictures of last year's Christmas shenanigans.  

M's gifts

my gifts

our gift (until Baby B comes!)

brother 1

brother 2

sister (ps I can still get this bad boy buttoned) :)

demolition at my parents

love Christmas in PJ's!

It's so funny how God works. While I was writing this post the mailman came by and I opened some Christmas cards. My Uncle's card said this, "It's always good to remember what you have versus what you don't. The Lord provides in His own time, not ours." A very good and timely reminder from the Lord. I love that He had me read that card right when I was about to throw another pity party. :) God is good.

Well let's see. Today's post is a mish mash of all the craziness going on in my life! First of all the house we were looking at from this post had an offer an hour before we put an offer down. Boo. So then we revisited a house that I was smitten on in the beginning (M was unsure of the small yard) and we are now waiting to hear back from the seller's realtor. We realized there is so much that we love about this place that the yard size is forgivable. The waiting is killing me! I'm totally gaga over this house but trying hard not to get my hopes up. Here she is:

front

back

we own red Adirondacks too so we can keep this look if we want but i'm thinking white or black would be pretty?

secret garden

love the gravel with brick...it's different! 

I could show you the inside but I'm going to wait until things are more set in stone. If this house ends up working out I will have blogging material for days! I can only imagine all the "befores" and "afters." Fun!

The next part of my blog mish mash is from my doctor's appointment yesterday. Baby Blair is healthy and happy! I'm measuring right on target but I just about died when I saw my weight gain. 13 pounds! I'm officially 2 pounds away from my "pre-weight watcher" weight (a whole other story that I should post someday). Yikes! I only wanted to gain 25 pounds total but I'm thinking that may be unrealistic. That means I'm allowed to gain 12 more pounds from now until delivery. Is that too much to ask? Sigh. 

Moving on...I think I am officially done Christmas shopping! Yippee! Every year I get M and myself a Christmas ornament to put on our tree. This year I chose one called "The Nest" by Hallmark. It has three eggs in the nest...one for me and hubby and one for Blair! Perfect!

this picture does not do it justice! it's precious.

Today I am meeting with a friend in the morning to go for a walk to Starbucks and catch up on life. I can't wait to relax and "nest" mentally. Every potential home we look at I "move-in" in my mind. It's dangerous because then I get hooked on a house that I may never own but I can't help it. I love daydreaming about decorating! Dear Santa, please bring me a house for Christmas. Love, Natalie ;)

How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa? I still remember the Christmas that I found out he was my parents. I was in the sixth grade! (Matt says I should be embarrassed by this) One of my not-so-nice aunts decided to pull me aside and share the bad news. I swear I would have believed until high school if she hadn't spoiled my fun. I was so crushed!

Bella believes!

That is one of my favorite pictures of Bella! It cracks me up. She was TERRIFIED of Santa! And yes I actually paid to have this taken... It was her first Christmas! Is that too ridiculous? I think not.

Last Friday night M and I went to his work's Christmas party at the Mission Inn. The hotel was beautiful as it always is this time of year. We dressed up, ate delicious food, and boogied on the dance floor. I wore a bridesmaid dress from my friend's wedding over a year ago. The forgiving stretchy fabric made it easy to zip up which is great because I did not want to buy a fancy maternity dress for one occasion!

M, Blair, and me

M's coworker dancing with Blair :)

bumpin' on the dance floor

dress: Calvin Klein

sequin shrug: Flounce

We look forward to this party every year and it's extra special because the company gets everyone a room at the Mission Inn for the night! Have you been to many Christmas parties this year?

So now that I'm on vacation I'm a total slacker apparently! I couldn't get my act together this weekend to take a picture of week 24 so M is coming home at lunch today to snap one.

trying to find my belly button. it's just a slit! but still an innie! yippee!

woah mama

M's quote during this week's photo shoot was, "Dang your tummy sticks out for a mile." Newsflash: it's gonna get worse! 

While pregnancy in general has been so kind to me, last week I experienced some new sporadic symptoms. Some weird pain in the ligaments behind my knees (they say all ligaments stretch) and GASP! are you ready for this?... a stretch mark! UGH! Although I didn't cry I did freak out. There it was right there on my left hip. Glorious. I've been applying stretch mark cream like a fiend since day one but my hopes for it actually working are slim to none. Sigh. I just keep reminding myself, "Blair will be worth it. You're a mom now, not a swim suit model." But how come Victoria's Secret models can be both? Boo, not fair.

On to more exciting, not depressing, news is the fact that we're house hunting! If you remember from this post I had a total melt down because I thought we would be in our two bedroom one bath forever. Turns out that will not be the case! I realize now that God wanted me to be content with what I had before he was going to bless me with a bigger home. It has been a little stressful searching for a home, but good stress. You can imagine that it does cause a little anxiety with baby on the way though! There is a little fire lit under my bum to move faster rather than slower. Much to the chagrin of my mom. :) Below is a picture of the house we are currently mulling over...

It's technically a four bedroom with an office and 3 baths. It's move in ready except for a few minor things and I really love it! We will see though. It's up to the big man upstairs! Although I do love falling asleep at night daydreaming about how I would decorate it...

Today is my last day of work for two weeks! I am a happy happy teacher! Hasta la vista, kiddies! :) I really wanted to get some good pictures yesterday afternoon but with my lack of planning and lack of sunlight I failed. So I had to resort to showing off some of my favorite things I had laying around the house. AKA Blair's stocking that I picked up and some precious little outfits that came in the mail! I also chose some of my favorite ornaments hanging on our tree. I love giving and getting Hallmark ornaments every year. It's a tradition that for me to get Matt and ornament and I've been doing it since we started dating in middle school. :)

baby girl's sweet stocking. it used to have our cat's name on it but she's more important :)

 

 

no explanation needed to as why i heart this one

go mustangs! i personalized this one myself. :)

i'm a sucker for photo ornaments. this one has a personalized message too!

gray and yellow?! and a chic print?! sold! M says it looks like a kimono with a bib...

i can't wait to put this on her in the summa time! again M says it looks like a watermelon. he kills me.

Funny story about the stocking... so when I dropped it off to have the name changed the lady behind the counter says, "Old boyfriend?" I was like, "uh, no... just having a baby." Definitely falls under the "awkward" category for the week! 

Tonight M and I are staying at the Mission Inn compliments of his work for their annual Christmas party. I'm looking forward to good food and a lux hotel. Then tomorrow I have a pre-natal massage awaiting me that I have been holding out for. Hello Christmas vacation! I have been waiting for you!