Thanksgiving Week and a few pics.

Thanksgiving came and went in a blur. Jamie was off the entire week, so we stayed pretty busy running around. Much against my wishes, we did it… we bought a minivan. I had been fighting against it because I don’t want to be "that mom". But alas, Jamie won and now we have a 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan. Its not a bad vehicle at all. I just don’t like minivans lol. I like something more sporty like an SUV with 3rd row seating. Unfortunately 90% of SUV’s do not work if you have small children in car seats, as you have to fold down the 2nd row seats to access the third and you would have to move the car seats each time to do it. The mini van does have A LOT of features that I love. I love how the doors slide open with the touch of a button on the key (and can also be closed at the touch of a button). Same goes for the trunk door. I love that we can haul so many people even in addition to our kids. It is so much easier to buckle Ethan in because the seats are at my level instead of having to lift him up high (I am short). Owen knows how to buckle himself in, and prefers to sit in the back. I love how much storage that thing has. Seriously! Its crazy how much stuff you can fit. We have the stow and go seats, so we can fold them down into the floor if we ever need haul a larger item. The only thing that bugs me is that we no longer have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Our subdivision is on a hill, that never gets scraped or treated when the roads get bad. It doesn’t have a back up camera like I wanted, but it does have rear park assist, which is 4 sensors that beep if you are close to something.

Wednesday, I cooked a small Thanksgiving meal for Jamie’s parents. I made a glazed ham (we don’t care for turkey), mashed potatoes with gravy, crescent rolls, baked mac n cheese, and homemade chocolate pie. They behaved themselves and were pretty tolerable. They actually thanked me for cooking this time. I’m not fond of spending time with Jamie’s parents (for those who aren’t regular readers, his mom has a drug problem and they are always asking us for money), but I know that it is important for Jamie to spend time with his family, so I try to make an effort to see that he does. We actually took them a small Christmas tree yesterday, and let the kids help decorate it. They wouldn’t have spent the money on one, and Jamie was trying to be in the spirit of Christmas. I think he does it more for his dad.

Thursday we went to my parents house for Thanksgiving. I made a homemade pecan pie and deviled eggs to take. We live an hour away, so it is hard to find foods that will travel well. We wound up dropping the kids off later that night again around 7, and Jamie and I went out into the black Friday madness. We didn’t really buy anything (Jamie was hoping to find a PS4 in stock, as his was delayed in delivery and should be here today), but no luck. We did spot some items we wanted for the kids, so we just ordered them online and skipped waiting for hours in line and actually paid less because of cash back offers.

Saturday we went to Beckley to do some shopping. I wound up buying the boys some clothes from The Children’s Place. They need more clothes still, but I know my mom has bought some for Christmas.

I forgot that one of our local stores were doing free photos with Santa yesterday. We just happened to be there when they started, and were the first in line. Ethan wasn’t too interested, but we got a cute pic of Owen. I’m surprised at how eager Owen was to sit on his lap and talk to him. Owen is/was fairly shy. He told him he wants a red car for Christmas. I’m hoping that a red truck will do, as we bought him a huge remote controlled red truck.

I forgot to mention, Monday was Owen’s last basketball game of the season. He got a trophy and carried it around the house for days. I’ve never seen him so proud of something 🙂

I finally ordered a Christmas gift for Jamie. I ordered him a Calvin Klein leather jacket. I really hope he likes it, as it was a little pricey. He has quite a few items on his list this year that are a bit pricey, so he will only be getting a few gifts. I have no idea what to do for stocking stuffers for him or they boys.

The morning sickness/nausea has started to ease up! I still feel random bouts of nausea, but nothing too bad. I’m still really tired all of the time, but I am hoping that it too will ease up in the next few weeks. My stomach is already popping out. My breasts have gotten even bigger :(, and swell really bad. By night time, I feel like I am nursing again, they are so swollen and tender. Oh and TMI, but the constipation has finally gotten better too. Haha. Isn’t pregnancy FUN! I go back in 2 weeks for the Nuchal Translucency scan. We actually are going on Jamie’s birthday. I’m going to schedule a private ultrasound the first week of January to find out the gender! It is killing me not knowing what this baby is. I just want to start shopping already! I ordered a couple of maternity pants and 2 shirts this morning from Old Navy. I will need them very soon, and I wanted to buy them while they were having the Cyber Monday Sale.

I tried to get a decent pic of our tree, but my phone kept blurring the pic, so this is the best that you get.

Ethan at Jamie’s desk at work.

Owen with Santa yesterday.