A Magnolia Christmas

Shawn and I spent Christmas here at home in Magnolia. On Christmas Eve, we went to see Yes Man and then came home to open presents. We couldn't wait until Christmas morning! After we opened presents, we had dinner at Buca di Beppo-our favorite! Given that I managed to pick up a cold somewhere, I slept the first half of Christmas day then got up and we are having enchiladas for our Christmas feast. While we miss being with our families for the holidays, it has been a very nice break for both of us so far. It has been a great time for us to rest and get to spend some time together. Shawn actually has only had one practice so far since he has been off so this is the most time we have had together since the summer. It has been great timing because both of us were pretty worn out and it is nice to have some time for just the two of us before two becomes three!

The candle warmer was a perfect gift given that I am likely to burn the house down one of these days leaving candles burning!

Shawn was pumped about his Pro V1 golf balls-just in time to play on Friday!

Maggie didn't get the call again this year to join Santa's team...so sad!

Babymoon

This Saturday Shawn and I went on a "babymoon" instead of a honeymoon. Since it is a little late for me to be flying anywhere we went to the Houstonian here in Houston. The hotel was beautiful with all of the Christmas decorations up. On Saturday, we both went to the spa and I got a pre-natal massage and he got a deep tissue massage. The funny thing about the pre-natal massage is that one of the best parts was actually being able to lay on my stomach thanks to some special pillows they had! I don't know how relaxing it was for Shawn since his therapist embraced the concept of "deep tissue"-he actually woke up sore this morning! In our room, they had sparkling cider and a gift box of bath products and baby goodies. On Friday, I had driven down and left a present for Shawn for them to have in the room when we got there. I got him a "daddy diaper bag" complete with Florida State baby gear. Even if it is a girl, she will have that tomahawk chop going during football season! For dinner, we went to downtown and ate at Shula's Steakhouse. It was so funny that just by staying at a hotel made us feel like we were not in Houston anymore and truly on vacation.

It is hard to see in the picture, but they had a village complete with a train surrounding the huge fireplace in the lobby.

At Shula's Steakhouse

Maternity Clothes Dilemmas

The further along I get into this pregnancy I continue to discover more and more problems with maternity clothes. The first one I ran across is that drawstring pants are a big risk. When the bow does not untie right and gets in a knot it is impossible to see the knot to get it out! Unfortunately, this discovery was made when I had already waited way too long to find a bathroom! The other discovery is that the bigger I get the harder it is to keep pants up and shirts down-I assure you no one wants to see what is revealed when this happens! Tonya, whenever you are ready to start our business of designing maternity suspenders I am all in! The only solution that I have found to many of the issues that I have run across...WEAR A DRESS(even if it does somewhat look like a tent)!!!!

Thank You!!!

What a fun day! Today I was scheduled to have a ride along with my manager, Robin. We were supposed to make calls to some of my offices this morning and then go down by the Galleria to conduct interviews of the potential temporary reps to fill my territory during my maternity leave. We finished up making calls and then headed toward the Galleria area to get some lunch. When we got down there she told me that there was a problem-she hadn't received the resume of the candidate that was scheduled for 1:30 and HR had been unable to get in touch with him to confirm. She said that we would have to hang out and wait to hear as HR tried to reschedule the other candidates for us. We finally gave up waiting to hear from them and went on to the Grand Luxe for lunch. When the host took us back to our table, there were all the other reps from my district for a surprise baby shower!! They had balloons on my chair, presents everywhere, and a cake! I had absolutely no idea-I LOVE SURPRISES!!!! Thank you so much Houston District!

Rock-a-Bye-Baby

The rocking chair we are using in the nursery has been in the family for a long time-my mom remembers rocking Jaf to sleep when he was a baby in the same rocker! I remember sitting in it in Jerry and Janet's living room when I was growing up and since then it has spent some time in Jaf and Shelly's nursery to rock the girls to sleep. Jerry and Janet were so sweet to let us use it and agreed to it getting a face lift to match our nursery. We can't wait to be able to rock our little one in it!

I put my mom to work while she was here for Thanksgiving!

I still need to find a cushion, but it looks so cute in the nursery!

Shawn helped me make one of the dishes that his mom makes for Thanksgiving.

Just think, the next time we decorate a tree will be for baby's first Christmas!

We've Started the Nursery!

I am so excited that the nursery is finally under construction!!! My mom and Janet drove down on Saturday to bring us the crib, dresser, and rocker and as soon as they drove up we unloaded and Shawn started putting the crib together. It is absolutely beautiful. Since we don't know if we are having a boy or girl, a lot of the decorating is going to have to wait until after but I am starting out with navy and white. If it is a boy, I will probably leave it navy and white and if it is a girl I will add some pink in. So far the crib and dresser are about all that is done. I still have to paint the rocker and decide on curtains and other decorations. I will keep updating as I add to. Thanks GranSan for the furniture!!

Shawn had no help and had the crib together in no time! Way to go Dad!


Are we really going to be parents?!


I love the white against the dark wood.

Baby Shower Fun

This past weekend Janet, Dondi and Shelly hosted a baby shower and brunch for me in Shreveport. It was such a perfect day spent with special people. So many of the people that I grew up around were there to help us celebrate this special time in our lives. They all played such a big part in my life growing up and I just pray that this little one will be as blessed as I was to be surrounded by such amazing Christian examples. Thank you Janet, Shelly, and Dondi for the special day and thank you to everyone who was there for all the gifts and special memories!

Dondi, Shelly, and Janet were so sweet to do this for me!

Whoa! Look at that profile!!!

I was so glad Robin was there(even if she didn't bring Nora :) !)

We obviously had a great time!

Look at what we got!! Wow, babies sure do need a lot of stuff!

Date Night

Shawn is such a sweetheart! He completely surprised me last night with tickets to Carrie Underwood!!!! He told me on Friday that I needed to be ready on Saturday by 5:30 but didn't tell me where we were going. On Saturday, he made it sound like plans had fallen through but that we would still go get something to eat. He kept saying that he definitely wanted to be home by 7:30 for the Texas/Texas Tech game. I was clueless. As we started driving down into Houston he said that we should do something else and started heading for Reliant. We saw signs on the way saying that the Home and Garden Show was there and he said that we might as well go look around-still clueless. As we pulled up to pay for parking, he handed me the tickets and my camera! I was blown away. He said that we needed to get as many date nights in as possible because come February it could be a little while before just the two of us get a night out again! Our seats were awesome-we were on the floor about 12 rows back from the stage and not very far from the runway. Little Big Town opened and Carrie was awesome! We had so much fun!

What did I do to deserve such an amazing husband?!

Little Big Town

Her voice is just as amazing in person

I didn't think it was possible, but I like her even more now!

SURPRISE!!

Larry and Bonnie flew in on Wednesday night to surprise Shawn for the weekend. The surprise did not quite go as planned. Their flight was supposed to get in at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, which was going to be just in time for me to pick them up and have them at the house when Shawn got home from practice. As I was sitting at baggage claim, Larry called to say that they had been rerouted and were sitting on the plane at the Austin airport because of the storm that was moving through Houston! He was able to call back between 9:30 and 10 to give an update and talked to Shawn then to tell him they were on their way. He was still very surprised! We were finally able to pick them up at 11-they were never allowed to get off the plane from the time they boarded in Albuquerque until they landed in Houston! Gotta love flying! They were able to see Shawn's freshmen play on Thursday night...they tied 6-6 and then on Friday we cheered on the varsity...unfortunately all our cheering did not seem to help-Coldspring beat us 42-0(ouch!!!). We were able to get in a lot of shopping too-baby shopping is so much fun!!! Thanks to this set of grandparents Baby Brooks will be allowed to come home from the hospital, go for a walk, and have a place to sleep close to mom and dad! Thanks for the travel system and pack-n-play!!!

Shawn still managed to smile after a rough loss!

I can't wait to use all of this!!!

Baby Brooks(and Mom) are Definitely Growing!

Well, I have had several complaints that there have been no pics of Mom (wow I am not quite used to hearing that yet!) on the blog so here goes. If my size is any indication, Baby Brooks is very healthy and growing quickly! While I definitely realize that I have gotten bigger, since I see myself every day I guess I don't realize how dramatic the change has been. Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words-looking at this picture compared to the picture in New York from the week I found out I was pregnant makes it all very clear! I am feeling great. I have been one of the very lucky ones who has not been sick at all. Everyone had told me all along that I would eventually get a sudden burst of energy-well, I think it has happened. I have finally gotten back to exercising and even cleaned carpets rather than coming in from work and crashing on the couch! Good thing the burst of energy came now because we are very busy with football-tonight is Homecoming....GO CATS!!!

Almost 23 Weeks!

Already a Sports Fan?!

Well, given the fact that Dad is a coach and Mom loves to cheer Dad's Wildcats on, not to mention that more times than not our TV is tuned to ESPN, somewhere along the way it was bound to happen...our little one is already a sports fan! I have been feeling the baby move but typically it has been at night when I am lying down. The one exception to this is under those Friday Night Lights! The last two Friday nights at the games the little one has been in full gear, already starting to cheer Dad on! I don't know if it is the music from the band or the fact that Mom is jumping up and down and yelling like crazy as if to bring back the days of cheering on the sidelines but something has the baby excited about game time!

Dad coaching his defensive backs on to victory against Liberty

I love the games when Shawn gets to be on the sidelines rather than in the pressbox

Our Little Miracle

As many of you already know, Shawn and I are expecting our first little one in February. It is all going by so fast...I am already 20 weeks!! Halfway there! As I am sure most first time parents do, we have been experiencing a wide range of emotions-excited, overjoyed, thankful, nervous, not to mention somewhat clueless! It is such an amazing miracle-it is so amazing to see the dramatic changes from week 7 to week 19. During the ultrasound in week 19, it was so incredible to see the little one moving around so much-arms flailing everwhere! While incredible to us it was somewhat frustrating to the tech trying to get measurements! We managed to overcome the temptation to find out if it is a little boy or girl-what a fun surprise it is going to be in February!!!


Baby Brooks, 7 weeks


Baby Brooks, 19 weeks