Christmas

By: Shelsy

This was Amber's first Christmas! So exciting. This was also the first Christmas we spent together and not with my family. It was really nice! The three of us exchanged our presents first thing in the morning. It was a small Christmas, but we all really enjoyed it. Amber had fun tearing the paper on her presents. She got a set of big lego-style blocks and two train sets that Ryan got for her while we were in PA. As you can see, she really enjoyed chewing on the track. :-) This is a good picture of the cast on her leg, also. It went all the way up to her hip.

Catching Up

By: Shelsy

Well, Amber's 8 months old now. Unbelievable. She is growing right up and her little personality is starting to come out. She's also more aware of what's going on around her, which means she's wanting to play more, she wants more attention, and she especially wants mommy. It's been increasingly difficult to find time to get online--which is why I completely missed her 7 month update. :-) She gained almost a pound this month. She's up to 19 pounds, 12 ounces. Here's a picture of her at 7 months for a comparison.

Home For the Holidays

By: Shelsy

Well, it's been a busy few weeks. We got back from Thanksgiving in PA and then it seemed like we turned right around again and headed back! This time we spent a day with the Josephs and celebrated Sam's birthday and exchanged our Christmas gifts. Then we headed up to visit my parents for the rest of the week. We had a really nice time. We got to see a lot of family, a few friends, and just relax and enjoy the holiday.

We did a lot of things differently from our "normal traditions," like having a big Christmas dinner at mom and dad's house. And Mindy and Von hosted a brunch at their house the following Saturday which was really fun (and yummy!). I don't really know what else to say except that we had a great time, ate way too much, got a lot of awesome and really useful stuff--including some adorable stuff for the baby!!

And it's only going to be a few more weeks until I'm headed back up again for my baby shower. I'm glad that the 19 hour drive hasn't been too much of a problem for me--I've been making that trip a lot!

We didn't end up really taking any pictures over Christmas, but here are a few video clips of me with Carter, who was pretty much the center of attention the whole time anyway, this being his first Christmas and all. :-)

UPDATE: Video below updated to HD. If you already watched it, be sure to check it out again in high quality.

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20 Weeks And Counting!

By: Shelsy

I'm officially halfway through the pregnancy. Yay! Although, that's completely technical since the second half is probably going to feel way longer than the first half. First of all, I'll be way bigger than I even already am, which will come with all kinds of joys of its own, I'm sure. Plus, I didn't even find out I was pregnant until the first 4 weeks were already past. Still, only 20-ish weeks to go, which we're really excited about. We can't wait to meet her! 

I've been feeling great. I have heartburn sometimes, which is a somewhat new experience for me. I also get tired a lot more easily, but that's easily remedied. :-) I can feel the baby moving now, which is very interesting. Ryan thinks it's really cool, but he's a little frustrated that he can't feel it, too. I think he feels a little left out of things, understandably. But hopefully he'll be able to feel her too before long! 

In other news, the weather's been great down here. It was 87 on Thursday so we took advantage of it and went to the water park, Sea World, and City Walk. It was a really fun day. Sea World is already decorated and playing Christmas music. They have some kind of Polar Express thing that we wanted to check out, but it didn't start until Friday, so we'll have to go back. 

Also, we watched the space shuttle launch last night. It was the last night launch scheduled for the shuttle, apparently ever, so I'm really glad I got to see one. It was really cool! The whole thing is pretty amazing to me. Ryan took a video of it from our terrace, but you can't really make anything out, unfortunately. 

I hope everything's going well back up north. We think about you guys all the time. I hope you're enjoying the cooler weather too. It probably feels a lot more Christmas-y up there, but we're enjoying the new experience of November in Florida. It's certainly different. We are hoping to come up for the holidays but, as always, it all hinges on the job situation. Right now it's looking like we'll be up for Thanksgiving, but we'll have to see about Christmas. :-) Miss you all!

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