So much has happened since my last post, several holidays and lots of traveling. We'll begin with Thanksgiving and go in chronological order. This Thanksgiving my parents and sister came to visit Garrett and me in Ohio. We had such a wonderful time. Their coming was a nice break from the reality of living in Ohio and being away from our families the past several months. My mom cooked a smattering of holiday favorites in my tiny kitchen while the guys enjoyed whatever football game was on TV.
Aside from the Thanksgiving festivities, we also found out the sex of baby Rea and decided on a name. After much wiggling and poking, we finally got our little peanut (as Brittney calls him) to reveal to us that he is a boy. His name is Benjamin James Rea (James after my dad and Garrett's maternal grandfather). We are super excited to welcome little Ben when he arrives in April (or whenever he gets here; Garrett thinks he's coming earlier). After finding out his gender, we set out on a shopping extravaganza. I had to register for my upcoming shower and my parents wanted to help set us up with some nursery items. What a successful day! We got some great items at some amazing prices (it happened to be Black Friday, so we lucked out on the cost of things).
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| Our Ben at almost 21 weeks. We think he looks like Garrett. |
Here's a link to my sister's blog post about Thanksgiving and our nursery (as of November--don't worry the finished nursery photos will be posted eventually). She has the essential pictures and light-hearted captions that are needed to fully understand our Thanksgiving holiday experience.
After my family left, I went into a bit of a funk. I missed them so much; Garrett and I didn't realize how much we would miss our family when we were prepping for our Ohio move. At times, I wished they hadn't come because I had gotten used to everyday life without seeing and hanging out with them. Needless to say, this made us long for Christmas break even more.
We had only three weeks of school left once we got back from Thanksgiving break. As usual, it went by fast. Before we knew it, we were in our Subaru headed to Branson, MO to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary (Dec 17) with our great friends, Jake and Lacee. The 11 hour drive wasn't too bad, but we were definitely ready for some relaxation once we got to Branson. We spent almost three days and two great nights with our friends. It was wonderful to sit face-to-face and catch each other up on what's been going on in our lives. There's something about staying up late, by a fire, chatting that is much more fulfilling than talking on the phone.
The morning of December 18, we all packed up and headed to Rogers. That evening I was graced with a wonderful baby shower that Brittney, Lacee (and family), and my mom planned for me. What a wonderful treat it was to see a lot of my friends and family right when I got home from being gone for what has felt like years. The ladies worked so hard to plan a shower, at a not so ideal time of the year, so that I would be able to have one at all. The shower was a hit! Although I'm not one who likes being the center of attention, I enjoyed seeing everyone and getting to catch up. Here are a few photos for you to drool over.
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| The gift and goodies table. Notice the scrabble name on the wall. The ladies made that! They're so talented. |
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| Another scrabble shot as well as the wall hangings that Brittney painted for Ben's room. They are super cute! |
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| Super cute cupcakes and yummy double doozies for dessert. |
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| One of the beautiful center pieces on the guest tables. Lacee's mom put these together. Each table was gorgeous. Notice also the little chocolate scrabble pieces (Garrett loves scrabble). What a sweet, personal touch. |
LOVE! Finally a new post! Ok, now I need to update my blog. Keep it up! This shall be your new challenge for your time at home jobless. :-)
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