Baby Cubes

...that's what Billy jokingly said I should call this blog :)

After spending the entire day (8-3) at the doc's office yesterday, we decided to reward ourselves with a 4D Sonogram package! It was the final week we could do it, and we had plenty of time in between my "poking sessions" with the lab lady. The baby was so funny, we couldn't get him to move his hands out of his face for the ENTIRE TIME! We tried two different attempts a few hours apart, and they nudged and rolled me around begging him to move. So for now, we have a right profile view along with his hands, and feet, and umbulical cord, all of which he has grown very fond of :) In the bottom pic, he looks like he's praying with his hands folded, and we watched him pull that foot up into view as she took the pic. So cute, really acting like a baby.

Wash on-Wash off

Billy and I were fortunate to be given a Maytag washer and dryer when we first moved in/got married....needless to say, after 28 YEARS they had their fair share of use and I think we just pooped them out! They died on us this past weekend...and just in time....because today Billy got his bonus so we got to buy new ones!!! Check them out! (*Ours are in white)


I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Ours was so much fun being our very first together! Christmas Eve at Mom's is always fun, we got to see family and friends and eat great food togeether! We have this family tradition of opening 1 gift that night....it's almost always been pajamas! This year, she kept the tradition alive, and added Billy and Rachel to the list....just as we were all opening our pj's, Brian and Lin called from Africa! The timing was perfect! It was like they were with us sharing the family moment :) We figured since none of us would be staying with mom this year, we would go ahead and let her "feel" like we were...so we all put our p.j.s on! It was hilarious! I wish I had a picture to show you! After a few minutes, Rachel and I looked at each other and realized we still had guests over, lol.....I asked, "do you feel kind of weird in pajamas?" and she said "yeah, I just realized....what were we thinking?!".

Christmas morning was so much fun to wake up in our own place, with our own tree and our own presents! I told my co-workers that Santa, I mean, Billy was a good listener for Christmas :) He gave me some very fun (and comfy) maternity lounge wear, sweaters/shirts, pajamas, some GREAT shoes, and a BEAUTIFUL diaper bag that all the girls wanted to buy 'cause it was the only one the store had recieved in stock :) He had it hanging on the stroller Christmas morning for my surprise!

He said I spoiled him, but I just had such a great time getting him things he will never buy for himself! I think every single item he wore Christmas day was new! Lol! He had fun with his "toys' (a.k.a a Milwaukee Sawzall and huge hellicopter) and then we headed over to mom's place to eat a late Christmas lunch with the family. The baby was given a few gifts....some sports onesies and socks from Uncle Aaron & Aunt Rachel and a DIAPER GENIE from mom and dad (they don't have their grandparent names picked out yet)! We pretty much spent the rest of the weekend chilling out and enjoying our time off. I was actually fighting a cold most of the week...so it was great to get some rest and try and feel better again. This weather is freaking my body out!
Baby B has been SO ACTIVE and now we can see him move from the outside! It's WILD! Last night I laid a bottle of baby oil flat on my tummy, and it was rocking back and forth! I guess that's a good sign....he's growing! Tomorrow, I have to take the 3 hour glucose tolerance test to make sure I'm not going to be dealing with gestational diabetes (this is round 2 of tests). We're praying they rule it out this time-for good! Please say a prayer if you think of us.

Oh, and regarding my last post, thank you ladies for all the sciatica advice! I had a sneaky suspicion that's what the problem was..as I had experienced similar pains in my "younger days" during a couple of all-nighter video-editing sessions. Thankfully, my cousin (a licensed chiropractor) showed up at my parents Christmas Eve bash this past week, and gave me a full out adjustment! It was WONDERFUL and I haven't had any of the major sharp zings since!

On my Nerves

This poor innocent son of mine is getting on my nerves.....literally! I yelled out many times when I got up to walk around at work today, and would get caught mid-stride just trying to make myself breathe through this awful "zinging" pain. It's in my lower left back....and boy it's a doozie! Does anyone have any remedies? Poor baby needs his room to grow but I'm just a little person!

Christmas Time is Here!

Billy and I finally got ourselves a first tree! After we made our selection, a really sweet man helped us tie the tree up, and showed great dedication to the task. Ole' Blanca (our car) got to prove how strong she was carrying that tree on her back :)

Then tough Billy got to prove how strong HE was by carrying it on HIS back! See how tough he is?! LOL, just smile and nod :)

It happened to be a really cold night too, so we had our very first real fire in the fireplace. While he worked long and hard on beating the wood to "kindling" pieces, I pretty much got-to-it decorating that sucker with all kinds of fun new picks and sticks and ornaments and lights and bows.

SEEEEEEEE!

It was so fun and smelled up the whole room to have a REAL tree in our living room!

Here's Billy's pretty fire in our first home together:)

We hung our new stockings on our "NOEL" and "PEACE" hooks, and we bought our "JOY" baby one for next year...hard to believe he'll be 9 months old by then!!!

Playing Ketchup

When I was a little girl, if someone said they had to “play catch up”, I always pictured a red ketchup packet in my mind. It wasn’t until I was in junior high that I realized that I was playing volleyball, not “volleyVALL”. Funny how kids perceptions can be so far off from reality…

Anywho….for many weeks now, I have intended to update you folks on life. Every time I had a good idea for a posting, I’d wait for a break in my work day and realize, the only thing I honestly wanted to do in that moment was PUT MY FEET UP! Which meant….no typing, cause I can hardly breathe enough as it is, much less with my feet up and a keyboard in my lap :)

So, here are some snippets from the recent exciting times in the B house. ~XOXO~

Thanksgiving Part#1
Since the big bro and wifey were here in time for Thanksgiving, we held our festivities on the Sunday before the actual holiday. The little bro and his new wifey had returned from their honeymoon just the day before! They were all tanned up from the Mexico rays, and had many fun stories to tell. The food was GREAT as ALWAYS and the cleanup was a breeze (we used paper goods and plastic cups this year- and served most of the dishes in the handy aluminum pans you see all over the stores during this time of year-talk about easy peasy)! As we sat around the table after dinner, mom asked, “okay so to all three of you new family members, what is missing from this table that you would normally have?”…Rachel responded timidly, “um…broccoli and cheese casserole”…. So we should be enjoying that dish from you next year Mrs. T! After dinner, we enjoyed Kung FU Panda with all the cousins, and David was hilarious beating his legs for drums in beat with the Asian drummers….so cute. Brian and Lin raised the funds to return to Uganda, so we will see them again in August! Our prayers are with them for a great time of ministry and learning while they are there.

Thanksgiving Part #2- GOT OXYGEN?
Since flights were so expensive this year for Christmas/New Years in California, the B fam decided to rent a cozy home in Silverthorne Colorado for Thanksgiving week! We all flew out from Boston, Cali and Texas to celebrate together … I’m usually really comfortable on planes, and since I’ve flown so much, domestic and internationally, it doesn’t ever really cross my mind that we’re stuck in the air….unable to open the doors to get out if needed. But for some reason, this time the flight really weirded me out! Just as we were getting ready to pull away from the gate, I had this enormous heaviness on my chest and I had to remind myself to breathe. All I wanted to do was jump from my seat and run full force to the door and get out! I leaned over to Billy and said “I need you to pray with me”….he asked why and I told him “I need to pray for peace, because all I can think about right now is the doors closing and how I can go into labor right here in the aisle and I’m completely freaking out about it!” So we prayed :) and lived :) and we ended up having so much fun!

It snowed EVERY DAY!














We made a full-out meal on Thanksgiving day, thanks to a local grocery store that carried Kroger products :)

We hiked one day, where Billy was showing off standing on a frozen pond!

A few of us were able to ski in Keystone and others of us had our fun “pretend skiing”! On our way home one night, we saw a red fox just casually lying on a pile of wood outside a gas station. We got out and Billy called him over to him. He was so tame! But we didn’t get too close to touch him…who knows what germies he was carrying…but it was so cool! He had a bum back leg, so maybe he was hiding out from predators in the woods. We looked for him every night after that, but never saw him again.

It was such a great trip, but I think I was moving a little bit in slow motion because I had NO OXYGEN it seemed! I know the altitude had something to do with it, but pregnancy probably didn’t help! We stayed on the third story of the house, and we sure did enjoy our room up there whether we could breathe or not!

It had a great view and it was decked out in cute little brown bears.

MC Party in San Fran/Christmas Celebration
Billy’s company flew us out for their annual company Christmas party! It was in San Francisco this year, and we had a wonderful trip! The party was held in a hotel downtown, in an open loft-like area that overlooked an outdoor ice rink

! The lobby was decorated for Christmas and it was absolutely gorgeous!!

We played the company’s usual swap game, and we all had a good laugh when they used Aaron and Rachel’s wedding pics in a gag gift this time (we were one of the big jokes last year when they tried to give away blown-up and framed photo-shopped pictures of us!). It was good to see everyone, and do some catching up.
Billy’s parents drove up and picked us up the next day. We took the trip back to their home through Napa Valley (it was my first time to see it). I was in awe of the beauty! We stopped for a stroll around the Mondave mansion and Billy snapped some scenic pictures (of course) of the grapes and then his dad grabbed a few of us too.
After Napa, we had a short but sweet visit with Grandma and Grandpa B. They gave us a beautfiul handmade blanket for the baby! We can't wait to see how handsome he looks all wrapped up in it :)

When we got back to the B house, we helped them pick out a Christmas tree!

And then we exchanged our gifs with them...here's Billy sportin' his new ski coat :) Crazy dude.

It was so fun, and I’m so thankful we had the chance to spend an “early Christmas” together.

We also had a fun present waiting for us when we got home….in the form of…..

new Maclaren baby wheels!

We found our stroller on ebay for much less than any store or site was carrying it for, so Billy’s parents bought it for us and shipped it to our home while we were in Cali with them!

Probably the next time we see them will be in 11 weeks OR LESS when we have a BABY!!! Time is flying! We got started on our registry at Baby’s R Us this past weekend, because we knew we might just keep putting it off and it’d be too late!

I can’t believe Christmas is only 10 days away!!! Our mantel is done, with a wreath and stockings, the table has some fun and festive décor and we have ornaments, lights, poinsettas, a skirt and a star….but no tree yet! So maybe tonight we’ll get one!!! You are all welcome to come and visit us anytime, we’d love to have you!

Stay sane during this crazy time of year, and try to remember why we are celebrating in the first place. God gave a son to us! I can’t imagine, with a son on the way, what it must have felt like to give such a HUMONGOUS sacrifice. May we remember with all our hearts what this means for us and eternity, and share the LOVE of our savior with those around us.