Blog Giveaway Alert!

Head on over to Mada's Place Blog to enter a giveaway. My friend Steph has an adorable gift shop with all sorts of fabulous goodies!

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The last Christmas as we know it

Christmas 2009. I can only wonder what Christmas 2010 will be like. For over 30 years, our family has been used to me, Temple and Amanda being the babies. And of course the Brannons have been used to Ann-Margaret, Adam, and their cousins being the babies! For 30 years!!! Yes, it took THAT long for us to decide to add on to our family and relinquish our titles as the babies of the family. As each month/week/day passes we get closer and closer to meeting three very special new additions. Adam's cousin Hannah is the first to add to the family with the arrival of her son Henry - due any day now!! Temple and Jonathan will be next to welcome their new baby boy - Reese. He is due February 1 and we can't wait to meet him. Soon after, our little Sarah Beth will come into the world sometime around April 20.

That brings me back to my original thought - Christmas will NEVER be the same again! Our family has traditions just like any other family. We spend Christmas morning with Adam's parents, sister, and brother-in-law. Christmas afternoon and evening are spent with my family - MaMa Miriam, my parents, Aunt Ann & Uncle Ricky, Temple, Amanda and their significant others. Next year there will be two little crawlers bringing much excitement and joy to our Christmas day. Sarah Beth will be around 8 months old and Reese will be around 10 months old! As I look into the future, I try to picture a scene in my mind as if I'm looking in from the outside. I see lots of giggles, tons of smiles, even more love than ever possible, and an all around renewed sense of joy and family.

So yes, this Christmas 2009 may be the last one "as we know it", but I can't say I'm sad. I simply can not wait to see what the future holds. Years and years to come we will have new babies and new traditions. Everyone in our families is so excited and ready to meet the new little ones. So Merry Christmas 2009 and HELLO 2010!!!

Nursery Inspiration

Of course the nursery is something I've been planning since before I was even pregnant. I wanted to share a few ideas I've found while searching the Internet. I've already shared a picture of the bedding we're using. It's Bananafish Lily Bedding from Target. Of course it is back ordered which makes me nervous. Many reviews say they've been waiting for months and it still hasn't come. I'm giving it until February. If it's not here by then, I'm going to make my own. God help us all. Here's a picture of it:



The "theme" if you want to call it that, will be pink and green damask. I went over to one of my favorite overpriced baby sites, Rosenberry Rooms for some inspiration. If you have $900 to drop on a crib set, this is your place. I just go there to drool and find things that I love that I can recreate. Thankfully I have a very artsy friend named Beth (Beth of Unskinny Boppy blog) who has offered to recreate these two precious paintings for the nursery. I want to hang these over the crib, I think. I'll also do a pink or white distressed frame since the walls will be green.



I also love this little piece of art from Etsy to hang over the rocking chair area:



The last two little gems I found this morning on Rosenberry Rooms. They are each over $30 which is absolutely insane. If you have a glue gun and a little patience, you can do these yourself so easily!! I may not use the exact same fabrics because I don't want to go overboard on damask, but you get the idea. First is a night light and second is a little hair bow holder! Now the hair bow holder may be useless if we have a bald child, like both of us were, so maybe I'll wait til she's here to do that one!





OH and I almost forgot, I bought a couple of things at Hobby Lobby last night. They were 50% off so how could I resist? First is a switch plate cover and next is a decorative door knob thingy to hang on the wall. I will probably hang a cute dress or tu-tu from it on one of those cute little satin covered hangers.

She's on the move!

Finally I have started to feel movement! I was beginning to worry, but the doctors kept saying it may be 25 weeks before I felt her. Still, I worried. Just a few days ago I started feeling her! I was sitting at my desk at work, and I got three strong little kicks in a row! She is way down low and I think she has taken up residence on top of my bladder. It's ok though, as long as she is happy in there I'm ok with more frequent potty breaks! Each day I feel her more and more and it's just the coolest thing ever! I can't wait for Adam to be able to feel her from the outside, but it'll probably be a few more weeks until that. Grow baby, grow!

Constant craving

People keep asking me if I've had any weird cravings. The only thing that I really just can't get enough of is soup! LOVE me some soup. Adam and I went to the Rexall Drug Store Grill in historic Duluth, GA on Saturday. They have the best homemade vegetable beef soup and cornbread, along with other yummy treats. It's an old fashioned, literally like really old, drug store and you see lots of little old men "townies" in there hanging out along with people young and old of all backgrounds. If you live in the area, you need to check it out!

Anyway, back to my cravings. I have decided to try a soup each week. This week I am making a big pot of vegetable beef soup. Next week will be chicken stew. The following week will be baked potato soup. Then after that I'll do my favorite chicken tortilla soup (that picture on the recipe is mine!).

If you have a favorite soup recipe, please feel free to share!

Please vote for a good cause - takes just a second

Please vote for my friend Erin's blog, Rare and Beautiful Treasures. She is a phenomenal writer and very inspirational lady. I really admire her faith in God. She got a guest spot on Divine Caroline (how cool!) and if she wins, she is going to donate the money to her friends who are missionaries in Ethiopia helping orphan children who are burn victims.

Click HERE to vote:

I really am turning into a scrooge

I just received a comment on a post last December. I had forgotten about it, but apparently last year I decided not to decorate for Christmas. I can't remember what I did last week, so I surely didn't remember if I decorated last year or not. Well this year I've also decided to not decorate. Usually people are like "OMG WHY?!?!" as if I have done some horrible crime like scalping kittens. Well, why not? We don't have children (yet) and we travel for the holidays, so what's more depressing than being away for Christmas and coming home and having to undecorate everything? Next year I promise I'll decorate - I'll do it big. I may even do some inflatable lawn ornaments (ok I'm joking on that part). Should I feel so guilty? Why do I feel guilty about this? Grr, someone justify my actions please!

PS - I did decorate my cubicle at work so that helps, right?