a food poisoning christmas.

J and I were so excited to get down to Austin to spend Christmas with my family and, especially, see our niece and nephew's excitement on Christmas day.

On the drive down, we made the decision to stop at a Dairy Queen in Denton for a late lunch. Ultimately, this would be the decision that did us in.

Feeling fine, we got in to my parent's around 7 on Wednesday night, had a nice dinner and a nice night's sleep. J woke up early on Thursday morning with an upset stomach, etc. Poor guy spent the whole day in bed while my mom and I ran some errands and attempted to get him some medicine from Walgreens. (The Walgreen's debacle is a post of its own, really...) Luckily the meds seemed to work and Thursday night he was able to join the land of the living.

On Christmas Eve we thought we were out of the woods. J felt great and was able to hang out with everyone all day. We went to dinner and enjoyed everyone's company. After dinner is when it hit me. I didn't feel so great. We'd had Mexican and I thought I'd just overdone it on the cheese (queso and cheese enchiladas covered in queso ...). Around 3 am, I got to see it all again. And then around 6, and then maybe 20 minutes later and so on, until about 7:45 that morning.

With a 5 year old and a 2 year old in the house, opening presents started pretty early, but I had to miss the kiddos checking out the stockings and ripping in to all their gifts. I made it out of bed for about 45 minutes around 10 to open my presents with the rest of the adults. But, then it was back to bed for me until around noon.

I was up and down all day, just depending on how I felt. I couldn't even keep water down. And, I haven't even mentioned that J had a bit of a relapse on Christmas day also. He was in bed most of the day, too. Around 7:30 that night (after dinner of course), we both started to feel better, after watching How to Train Your Dragon. (Have you seen it? So cute!)

Needless to say, Christmas day was miserable.

But, since J was feeling pretty good in the morning he was able to take a few pics of the kids opening presents. Maybe I'll post them with my 21 weeks post (which is now 3 days overdue...).

belly business -- 20 weeks

How far along: 20 weeks as of Sunday (halfway ... crazy!)

Size of the baby: banana

Total weight gain/loss: as of my last appointment I've gained about 4 pounds

Maternity clothes: still no maternity clothes, but the time to get them is really creeping up on me, but I've put it off as long as possible.

Cravings: all the bad things -- salty fried food and sweets and caffeine-free Dr. Pepper -

Symptoms: not much indigestion lately (thank goodness)

Movement: I'd say the movement has really increased in the last week. On Friday night I was laying on the couch and the baby was really active. I had my hand on my belly and I felt a really big kick and J said he saw my hand move. He hasn't actually felt it yet, but it'll happen soon

Gender predictions: I've had people tell me they are convinced I'm having a girl and people convinced I'm having a boy. J's great grandmother (who turned 100 right before Thanksgiving) is certain it's a girl and apparently she called all 3 of one of her granddaughter's kids.

We had a doctor's appointment last week and everything was as it should be. The one disappointment was that somehow the doc forgot to get me scheduled for an ultrasound! I'm going back for it tomorrow afternoon (at least I can still take pics home when we go for Christmas!).

My belly is getting bigger by the day (so I think...). One of our friends is due just 3 days before me, and her belly is so much bigger than mine! I'm kinda jealous... haha! I'm sure mine will pop when it's supposed to. At least the doctor wasn't concerned that it was too small or anything.

Oh, J and I spent a couple of hours at Babies R Us last week and finally got our registry going! It was definitely exhausting but I'm so glad we finally got the big items picked out. We'll probably have to go back to finish up what we missed, but having the initial bulk of it done is such a relief!

Unfortunately, we haven't been as productive with the baby's room, but I'm working on it. I finally brought the shredder home from the office and I'm working my way through years of things that need to be shredded (boooooooring). Next on the list is getting some kind of filing system going for important documents and stored in a "safe" place. Sounds so fun, huh? Yeah, it's not.

I cannot believe that we're only days away from Christmas! J and I did Christmas with his family on Sunday night since we'll be in Austin with my fam this year. Not only is it crazy that we're so close to Christmas, but it's also weird to think that this is the last Christmas for me and J as a family of 4 (I have to count the dogs). 

Enjoy Christmas week!

i may just have the smartest brother ever.

This morning my brother DMed me on Twitter telling me to go to some link.

Let me give you a little background on my brother. He's extremely savvy when it comes to technology. And, he's always on the lookout for something that might tickle someone he knows' fancy. I get emails from him fairly often about things he's read that he knows/thinks I might be interested in. He's pretty thoughtful.

When I got the link, I saw Etsy in the address. My curiosity was immediately piqued. My brother knows about Etsy? And, he's shopped on Etsy? No way.

What I found when I followed the link was a little quiz of sorts. Six items were shown and I had to pick the one that was most like me (or hit the little button at the top that said none were like me, move on). I went through the quiz and what did I see? A long listing of things that Etsy figured I'd like. And, well ... they figured right!

I've spent many an hour on there looking for things that I love. I've seen so many other blogs posting about the great things they find on there, and I just have never known how they find the great things. Do they do specific searches? Do they already know of certain sellers that have the goods? I had no idea.

This little quiz really opened my eyes.

If you want to take the quiz, go here.

Below you'll find a smattering (good word, huh) of items that Etsy just knew I'd love (and it's super tiny...whoops!). And you can see the entire list of recommendations here.

Go take the quiz and find out just how well Etsy knows you! 

Oh, and PS -- J and I braved Babies R Us yesterday and finally started a registry (sans argument)!!

christmas card.

Last year, I chose to design my own Christmas card. And, although it was cute, I think the printing left something to be desired (something I plan on working on in the future). So, fast forward to this year and I searched around for something I could just plug a picture into and send out. Sometimes sending Christmas cards is more work than it's worth, but I love getting them in the mail, so the least I can do is keep up correspondences on my end!

There were plenty of cute designs to choose from, but ultimately I chose one from Shutterfly. Of course, I chose and ordered before I knew about the 50 free cards they were doing for bloggers. Annoying! But, I got the cards this week and I'm very happy with them!

Since most of them have been sent out, I'm sharing our card with you guys.

Did you guys send out Christmas cards?

belly business -- 19 weeks

How far along: 19 weeks

Size of the baby: mango

Total weight gain/loss: I'm fairly certain I've gained weight, but I'm not so sure how much

Maternity clothes: I've been using my bellaband everyday but I'm definitely on the verge of needing some maternity jeans. 

Cravings: all the bad things -- salty fried food and sweets and caffeine-free Dr. Pepper -

Symptoms: not much indigestion lately (thank goodness), except last Thursday when I had sushi for the first time in a long time (all cooked though).

Movement: I think I felt him/her last week and I might have felt the baby a few other times this week. I can't wait to be sure I'm feeling the baby and for J to be able to feel it, too.

Gender predictions: I've had people tell me they are convinced I'm having a girl and people convinced I'm having a girl. J's great grandmother (who turned 100 right before Thanksgiving) is certain it's a girl and apparently she called all 3 of one of her granddaughter's kids. 

Our next doctor's appointment is this Thursday and I'm so excited to see the baby again and hear the heart beat! If we wanted to know what we're having, we'd find out on Thursday, so if we change our minds and decide to find out, I'll let you all know! 

Have a great week!

(once again, the picture is on its way ... as you can tell I'm kinda lazy on the picture front)

another terrible belly pic.

I've really got to get someone (ahem, J) to take a decent picture of my burgeoning belly. But I think you get the idea that it's definitely growing!

big 12 champs.

Considering this year was the last for an actual conference championship game, we had to be in attendance. J convinced his parents to order tickets months ago and, thank goodness, the cards fell just right and the Sooners were playing in their eighth game under Bob Stoops.

Even though our fans were outnumbered at least 3:1 (and the Nebraska fans were a bit overconfident), we were loud and proud and cheered our team on to it's 7th Big 12 Championship! (I forgot my camera, so these are all iPhone pics)

gorgeous sunset hitting the side of Jerry's World

we got inside the stadium super early, but I enjoyed watching the teams warm up and just soaking in the atmosphere of our first championship game

the Prrrrrrrride of Oklahoma

the Prrrrrrrride of Oklahoma on the jumbo screen

I didn't take many pictures during the game (I was too busy having mini heart attacks hoping our guys could pull out the win). Here are post-game pics of the Sooners celebrating another Big 12 Championship!

And finally, apparently one Sooner fan thought the theme of the night was New Year's Eve and chose to wear a sparkly jacket and the shortest, tightest dress I've ever seen at a football game. I bet she was wishing for a champagne toast to celebrate the win!

belly business -- 18 weeks

How far along: 18 weeks

Size of the baby: sweet potato

Total weight gain/loss: I think I've gained about a pound ... but we had a pretty great time this weekend and I think I might have gained some more weight as a result. We'll see ...

Maternity clothes: I have finally gotten the Bellaband equivalent from Target and I really love it! I got one in black and I'm pretty much settled that I need the white one too. 

Cravings: all the bad things -- salty fried food and sweets and caffeine-free Dr. Pepper -

Symptoms: Still rockin' the indigestion. Thank goodness I have Zantac!

Movement: Not yet, but I'm hoping to feel the little booger soon!

Gender predictions: I've had people tell me they are convinced I'm having a girl and people convinced I'm having a girl. J's great grandmother (who turned 100 right before Thanksgiving) is certain it's a girl and apparently she called all 3 of one of her granddaughter's kids. 

Baby M went to its first and final Big 12 championship game this weekend (more on that later) and I think he/she did great! I really was hoping that the boog would get so excited during the game I might finally feel a little kick, but no such luck! 

We're less than 2 weeks away from our next DRs appointment and I'm anxious to go back and either see our little boog or hear it's heartbeat! 

I'm sorry but I'm a bit tired and J is down with a tweaked back, so an 18 week belly pic is forthcoming. Hope you all had a fab weekend!!

fame by association.

So, two of my pledge sisters are pretty big deals, working in ad agencies in NYC. In recent weeks their stars have really risen on the ole fame-o-meter. And, since I'm directly friends with them, then you could say that I'm almost famous, too! What? You don't think it works like that?

Anywho...

L. Mongrain schlepping Tempur-Pedic. I haven't had a chance to ask her why she loves her Tempur-Pedic pillow. Rest assured, as soon as I know the answer, I'll share it. 

And Maria had her tv debut in a Verizon commercial -- one of her clients. If you look closely at the name and pic on the phone around the 5 second mark, you'll see her handy work. (Let me know if the link works. I got it from another friend's fb profile, so I'm not sure just anyone can see it.)

Anyway, I'm sure there are more of them out there, but these two are my most recent famous friends. Kudos to them and me, right?

overdue.

Here's the picture I promised you two days ago. I think I've popped a little more than I think I have... And, please excuse the chaos behind me.

Still no movement (and, honestly, it's kinda starting to freak me out that I haven't felt anything). Maybe the little booger will move this weekend with all the excitement of attending it's very first Big XII championship game?? We'll see.

Have a fab Wednesday!