Presents!

People have been so generous to us for Christmas. Our families are amazing. Andy and I have been big slackers about presents this year, and although we have several of them, they are looking like New Year's presents at this point. Fortunately, we are Catholic and we have a Christmas season! So to our families out there, cards and Christmas goodies are coming, and we really do love you!

However, we did manage to get each other presents in time. Andy got me a gift certificate for a pre-natal massage, they are supposed to be amazing, and I'm very excited to see what it's like. I've been sore lately and feeling pretty hefty and stressed, so it will be great to have all of that worked out. He also surprised me by giving me my wedding band! We were planning on getting it anyway, but he wanted me to see it on Christmas, and I get to wear it for one day-today! Then it's back in the ring box until May (our wedding is less then 5 months away for anyone else who is counting down). I bought Andy a sweet Tolkien collection-it has a nice hardbound copy of the Hobbit, and two books by a Tolkien expert. He showed it to me in a bookstore a few weeks ago, and his eyes were all bright. He liked it. However, now I get a moment to be super mushy, Andy is the best part of this Christmas.

Merry Christmas

This is one of our official Christmas pictures. We wanted to get the baby bump in there also, but Andy and I both looked creepy in the baby one. We'll have to take some more pictures when we finally get out of our pajamas (probably tomorrow).

This is our first Christmas together sort of. Technically we were together last Christmas, but it feels different this year. This time we are actually planning out lives together. In this past year we graduated from college, decided to have a baby, moved in together, and got engaged. That was a darn big year, and I'm so grateful for all of the amazing things we've gone through and all the awesome people who have supported us. Although we miss our families today, we truly feel that we are each others' family now. The baby is healthy, and we are looking forward to welcoming her into the world.

Sorry for the absense!

I know, I know, I have been a very bad blogger lately. But I get off of work in three days and then I promise there will be updates, and pictures of the baby bump and wedding stuff...
All is well here. We got snowed in this weekend which was actually pretty fun, and Andy and I have a marriage prep meeting with the good father tonight. We have big plans for Christmas time-seeing a play, going through baby stuff, and getting our delivery bag ready.

More to come I promise!

Sick day

Well, today I stayed home sick. I don't feel sick enough to stay home sick, but I'm going on over a week of this nasty cold that makes my face feel stuffed up and my throat super sore. Andy told me to stay home today and try and recover. I feel pretty good after a day of sleeping reading, a bath, and some ugly betty, and I think I'm up for going to work tomorrow. I still feel pretty sniffly, but at least I got lots of rest today.

By the way, tomorrow Andy and I will have been engaged for three months! I don't know if you celebrate engagement days (maybe annually) but it's kind of cool, and I can't believe our wedding is still so far away. I guess the whole having a baby between now and then makes it feel longer. I'm looking forward to that to, but in a different way, and I am really ready to be married to Andy.

Pictures

You know what I realize about myself pretty much every few weeks? I am a bad picture person. I actually tend to look ok in pictures (I have a good fake smile, Andy and I are working on his), so it's not that I'm bad in them. I'm just bad at every other aspect of the picture taking process. I don't take them. It takes a serious amount of effort and thought for me to pull out my camera and take a picture. The only time I have ever been good about taking pictures was for my semester in Austria. Somehow walking for hours in strange, beautiful places gave me the kick I needed. But back here in the US I suck at it. Plus even when I do manage to hunker down and take a few they just sit on my camera forever. When I finally download them to the computer I stick them in a file and forget about them.
Over thanksgiving lots of people were taking pictures and I'm sure it will be great to see them and bring back all of our thanksgiving memories. I had a camera in my purse the entire trip, and I did not take one picture! But at the time good memories are being made I feel like I ruin them for myself if I whip out a camera. I like to just appreciate it. Selfish I know.
Hopefully, having a baby will jump start me into picture taking mode since those baby years are ones I do not want to forget. If anything I'm sure Andy will be good at it.
All of this makes me doubly glad that we are hiring a photographer for the wedding, since I don't know if I would actually demand anyone take pictures for fear of robbing them of their moments. But if we're paying someone than that is there job, and I don't have to worry about it!

Thankful…

So maybe it’s cliché, but I have to do a thankful post. I have so much to be thankful for this year, so much more than I ever expected.

I am so grateful for Andy. I am grateful for his love, determination, loyalty, and willingness to embrace life with me. I am grateful that we take such appreciation in small things together. We have such a delight in our simple life and in each other.

I am thankful for our healthy little daughter and that we will get to meet her so soon.

I am thankful that Andy and I share the same faith and strive to live it together despite our imperfections.

I am grateful for our upcoming wedding, that we will be able to proclaim to the world how our dedication and joy together.

I am thankful for our families. They have provided so much love and support especially in the last few months.

I am thankful for our jobs. Despite the frustrations and long days we are so blessed to have decent jobs that allow us to live a comfortable life. In the current economy we are so lucky to have so much.

There are so many other things I am thankful for…good music, my co-workers, Andy’s singing, our silliness together, my amazing bridal shower, that the car is working well, the birth center and all of their help, our priest, and for all the love, joy, and pain I experience with Andy everyday.

Football

Just a quick observation. On football day (which I have learned is Sunday, Monday, and Thursday!) Andy tries to give me lots of attention while he watches hours and hours of football. It is very sweet to see him try to give me extra love even when he is preoccupied with fantasy football. But, even when he comes and cuddles me he always strategically navigates so that he can see the TV out of the corner of his eye, just in case, something happens while he is chilling with me. He tries to hide it from me, but I am totally on to him. It's actually rather endearing.

And he just ate five kosher dill pickles.