24 Weeks!

How far along? 24 weeks

Total weight gain: Still not sure, but I do know that I weigh more now than I have ever weighed in my life! 

Maternity clothes? Oh yeah! My wonderful sister-in-law is letting me use a bunch of her maternity clothes- she told me she didn't have that many and then we went through them together and she had a bunch! It was like Christmas all over again :) 

Stretch marks? I thought I found a couple yesterday but wasn't totally sure. The marks were actually fabric prints on my skin from my shirt that just took a really long time to go away. So no stretch marks and I'm still lotion-ing a ton to try to keep them away (even though I heard that doesn't really help haha). 

Sleep: It's been good since I've been on winter break! I can go to bed when I want and sleep as long as I want, which helps when I have nights where I wake up every couple hours from rolling onto my belly or having to pee. 

Best moment this week: I still have a little Christmas energy buzz :) Other than that, I painted the nursery grey, had a doctor appointment, and had a skype Christmas party with Dan's side of the family. I saw a nurse practitioner this time, and she wants to check with my doctor just to be sure, but she thinks my placenta has moved enough (or that it will) so it won't be considered a low-lying placenta anymore! It's been a good week so far! 

Miss Anything? My belly is starting to slow me down just a little bit- I can't get up as quickly and can't be on the go for as long. I do a lot of changing positions/moving around while I teach, so it will be interesting to see how that goes once school starts again! 
Movement: I could lay in bed with my hands on my tummy or watching my belly move around for hours! She's not even that big yet and she's making my belly do weird things :) 

Food cravings: Donuts and custard :) 

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Still cigarette smoke smell- yuck! And bacon sounds little more appealing, but I'm not ready to test making it quite yet. 

Gender: She's a girl! 

Labor Signs: I hope I have no signs anytime before I'm supposed to.  

Belly Button in or out? Mostly in. It gets more flat depending on where the baby is hanging out. The top half of it is pretty much always flat. It's kind of weird haha!

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy for the most part! 

Looking forward to: New Years Eve with friends tonight! I have to go get ready now :) 

Happy New Year! 

Christmas!

Christmas Eve:

My mom, siblings, Aunty Kathy and Uncle Pete, and I went to visit my Grandpa. He's looking good! My sibs and I went on a tarantula run (more on that later) and then I stopped back home to pick up Dan before heading back to my parents' house. We had dinner, opened gifts (each year, instead of getting gifts for everyone we swap names) and watched a Muppet Christmas Carol. 

Everyone was back! All five of us haven't been together since August! 

We got my dad a Kindle Fire :) 

Meagan, Molly, and I noticed we were all wearing the same color, so of course we had to take a sister picture.

We surprise-visited Grandpa in his new assisted living center.
He was super excited to see us! He read us a poem about a mouse that drank some guinness, jokingly named my baby Melvina, and told us about how he has "sugar-diabeetus" (which of course we joked about for the rest of the day). 

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We got my  mom a tarantula for Christmas!
She loves it and named her Daisy. 

I'm not totally sure why, but we got sister nightgowns from my mom :)
We wore them while we watched a Muppet Christmas Carol and ate cookies. It was perfect. 

Christmas Day:

We went back over to my mom and dad's for a good breakfast that included black pudding (the sausage, not chocolate pudding), dipping eggs, bacon, and corned beef hash- so lots of meat haha. We have a tradition of seeing a movie as a family on Christmas. This year, the guys and girls split up- I don't remember what the boys saw, but they got to sit in a newly remodeled theater with fancy chairs. The girls saw Annie- and it was so good! After the movie, Dan and I went to his mom's house for Mass, dinner, and family time!

My mom also made all of us new 'weasley sweaters". I haven't read Harry Potter and I've only watch a few of the movies, but I'm glad we got these sweaters! Everyone can use a good monogrammed sweater :)  

Check out my handsome man in his new sweater :) 

The next few days:

Meagan and my mom came over to help me clean out our second bedroom/soon-to-be-nursery! They did most of the work, which was wonderful! Aside from a crib and some random baby supplies, it's all cleaned out and ready to be painted!

Molly and Meagan came over for dinner and a movie. Molly is Nella's new best friend- Nella knows she's not allowed on the couch, so if she keeps two feet on the floor it doesn't count :) She half curled up on Molly's lap and fell asleep for the movie!  It was super cute.

Dan, Meagan, and I went to my favorite Hmong market and finally braved the hot food line! Usually we just stick to spring rolls, but this time we got some chicken curry soup, sticky rice, and some egg rolls. I couldn't leave without getting some spring rolls too. Meg and I both stocked up on those and tried a bean bun. . . it was interesting.

On Saturday, Dan and I went to a 50th anniversary party for his aunt and uncle. At dinner, they projected their wedding video and it was so cool to see! There were also lots of toasts and songs and it was a good evening :)

Sunday was a soup day. Dan made a delish turkey and wild rice soup while I worked on painting the nursery. We went to my mom and dad's house for the packer game and then my mom, dad, brother, and I went to a graduation party for a friend.

I made french toast with a dulce de leche type sauce and banana slices for breakfast. It was very sweet and very delicious. 

I though pomegranate season was closer to Thanksgiving time, but the pomegranates I've had in the past few days have been very, very tasty! 

Bean bun. Mine was red in the middle, Meagan's was green. 

I started painting the baby's room! 

Poor Nella broke a nail :( It looked really sore and she started limping a little after a play session.  After some googling to see what I could do to help her feel better, I soaked her little paw in epsom salt, put a little neosporin on the nail, and covered it with a sock. Hopefully her nail gets better soon! 

Tonight Dan, one of his sisters, and I are going over to another sister and brother-in-law's house to do his side of the family's gift exchange. The rest of Dan's siblings, their significant others :), and his mom are in cincinnati visiting Elizabeth and Greg since they couldn't come home for Christmas. We'll have a skype party as we open presents!


It was another good Christmas! Now onto the new year :)

23 Weeks!

Just a little mirror selfie in a soon-to-be-organized baby room! 

How far along? 23 weeks and 2 days today

Total weight gain: Not really sure. . . it's pretty much all in the area so far! 

Maternity clothes? So comfortable! I think everyone should invest in maternity pants for the holiday season- The stretch is great for excessive amounts of Christmas cookies :) 

Stretch marks? Not yet! 

Sleep: Dan was talking about "Sesame" in his sleep a couple nights ago. . . I think he meant Sesame Street- maybe he's been having weird baby dreams like I have too! Other than weird dreams, sleep is just a little uncomfortable sometimes- I wake up in twisted in weird positions that hurt my back. It's good while I'm actually sleeping though! 

Best moment this week: Christmas! I'll update on that once all of the Christmas celebrations are over :) 

Miss Anything? Tummy sleeping and having all of my energy! I can't be totally on the go anymore! 
Movement: I feel her more and more all the time and I love it! When I lay still, I can see my belly moving around  and it's really cool to me :) 

Food cravings: Still donuts and custard! I can't get enough!   

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Same here too. . . 

Gender: She's a girl! 

Labor Signs: I hope I have no signs anytime before I'm supposed to.  

Belly Button in or out? Mostly in. The top half of my belly button is starting to look a little more flat these days though. 

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Generally happy still! 

Looking forward to: Having another week off! This week was busy, relaxing, and productive and I'm ready for another week like that! 

Weekend Goodness

Dan and Nella went hunting this weekend. Maggie and I had a nice, calm weekend without them. We watched Christmas movies on Netflix and ate snacks together :) 

I met Sarah, Steph, and Alli for drinks on Friday night. The four of us haven't been together in way too long! Although I didn't get a picture of us, I did get a picture of the bag of cookies I snuck into the bar for little snack. 

I took my mom to my new favorite Hmong market.
She loves spring rolls now too :) 

I think George put on a few pounds. He is HUGE!
He comes when I call him. . . I haven't seen him in a while and when he ran over by me, I couldn't help but laugh! He looks like an orange raccoon now! 

Dan and Nella came home a couple of hours ago. Maggie and Nella were so happy to be back together! (And I was happy to have Dan home too!) 

I was out and about finishing up some Christmas shopping and then wrapping presents today. I can't believe that Christmas is in a few days!

Things Kids Said on a Friday

I had a class holiday party for a family event on Friday. The kids were so cute! They normally have to wear uniforms, but since they don't have school on Fridays and this was an optional event, they could wear whatever they wanted. . . which meant festive Christmas dresses, santa outfits, and adorable sweaters. 

The main event of the party was cookie decorating. I planned on making sugar cookies in a variety of shapes for the kids to decorate. Due to an oven malfunction, that did not happen. I now have a large batch of sugar cookie dough in my fridge (not a terrible problem to have. . .).  I made a grocery store run early in the morning before school started hoping to find some plain sugar cookies.  They didn't have any :/ Luckily, the bakery had a couple boxes of yet-to-be-decorated gingerbread cookies! These worked out perfectly and the kids had lots of fun (and spent lots of time) decorating them :) 

So much playdough! 

I made little gift bags for each of my students. Each bag had some homemade peppermint scented playdough, a packet of hot chocolate mix, a bag of microwave popcorn, and a little card game. They were excited to get them :) 

Onto the things said and overheard at the party. . .



"Mrs. McElwee! Do you know that Santa is always watching you? He sees you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake."
"He knows if you've been good or bad."
"So be good be goodness sake!"


A couple kids were looking at a book and I asked if they knew what animal was on the page. One of them shouted "It's a beast-er!"  (It was a picture of a beaver)


"Ms. McElwee- this present is for you! It's a coffee gift card and some candy. But it's a surprise, so don't open it until Christmas."



"Do you have a cat and a dog? Do they fight a lot? Cuz my brother and sister do."



"Guess what? I get to go to the mall tonight and see Santa!"



"Sometimes Christmas parties scare me. I don't like when Santa comes into the room."



One of the parents asked her kids what she wanted for Christmas and the kid said she wanted a pink striped fan. . . the mom has no idea what she means. Haha!



"My dad's a pain in the butt!"  Why?  "Cuz he's a pain in the butt! That's just what my mom says sometimes!"



"Miss McElwee? Why are you eating that cookie? Is it cuz your baby wants a cookie? Does your baby like carrots too? You need to be healthy!"



And hearing little kids who can't pronounce the "R" sound very well yet say, "Merry Christmas!" is always adorable :)


Happy winter break!

22 Weeks!

How far along? 22 weeks

Total weight gain: I still don't really know!  

Maternity clothes? They are a staple these days. A bunch of my shirts at too short to wear due to my belly and I can zip/button one pair of pants, but they are uncomfortable if I do. . . so I don't :) I can wear most of my dresses if I belt them, which is good! 

Stretch marks? None to be seen so far! 

Sleep: I rolled onto my belly last night and woke up as soon as I did it- definitely not a comfortable way for me to sleep any more! Other than waking up about once a night for a water and bathroom break, it's not too bad! 

Best moment this week: Overall, it was a pretty mellow week- which I know is not really a moment, but mellow is so good sometimes. 

Miss Anything? Sleeping on my tummy. 
Movement: Lots of random kicks, punches, and wiggles. Little baby McElwee also likes to curl up into a hard (slightly uncomfortable) ball near one side of my uterus. 

Food cravings: Custard. Donuts. Still the same!   

Anything making you queasy or sick: Also still the same things- cooking bacon and cigarette smoke 

Gender: She's a girl! 

Labor Signs: I hope I have no signs anytime before I'm supposed to.  

Belly Button in or out? In. . . but not as in as it used to be!  

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or Moody most of the time: I'm happy most of the time- an occasional touching commercial or someone driving slowly in the fast lane can cause a few tears :) 

Looking forward to: Break. . . only two more days with kids, one work day, and I'm off for two weeks! Woohoo!! 

Weekend Goodness

My phone has been acting weird lately and I need to get new batteries for my camera, so I didn't take very many pictures on it this weekend. This weekend had a nice balance to it- a little bit relaxing and a little bit busy. 

On Saturday, Dan and I went to a bookstore in our neighborhood to get gifts for our nieces' baptism. Dan's mom happened to be there doing the exact same thing when we got there :) The owner is also a family friend, so we chatted with all of them and looked at books- definitely a good way to spend a morning. And when we left, we were sent on our way with a giant donut. Perfect. 

I didn't get any pictures at the baptism or baptismal party except for this. There was a giant mirror near the bathroom in the church and I decided to get a picture of my bump :) Here it is at 21 weeks and 3 days.

The baptism went well- the babies only cried for a second when the holy water was poured on their heads but were happy and smiley pretty much the entire evening after that. They are getting so big and still just as adorable! 

I know this is blurry. This is also how Dan watched the Packer game (luckily, you can't hear the yelling that was happening! Haha)!

Only 5 more days of school and then it's winter break! Hopefully the kids aren't too wild this week :) Now I have to get some freshly made bread out the the bread maker (mmmm) and get ready for tomorrow.