Who Needs Blue Bell?

We finally had our last Christmas get together last night. It was the Teague/White/DenHartog family gift exchange. This was the first weekend that worked for everyone.

We met at B's Aunt Karen and Uncle Roger's house in Pearland. We had dinner, did lots of visiting and catching up and then the kiddos opened all of their gifts. Chloe got a beautiful Princess Barbie and another Barbie with a horse. She also got a new pair of pjs, chocolate!, little pull back cars that she has been playing with for the last hour :) and also a Little Tikes Ice Cream maker.

I have to admit that I was hesitant about the ice cream maker but I went ahead and put it together at Chloe's insistence. I had gone to Walmart earlier and made sure to get whatever we needed to make it, which was only heavy whipping cream.

Chloe talked about how she was going to make Mommy some first, then make some for Daddy and herself....so sweet!

We got it all set up for her and she was determined to do it BY HERSELF. The instructions called for 10 minutes of hand cranking the gyro. I set a timer and she was off! She turned it, and turned it and turned it some more. She did it for the entire 10 minutes!

B opened the ball up and low and behold......ice cream!! And it tastes so yummy. I am so impressed. I see lots of ice cream making sessions in the near future. :)

Just Need Baby!!

3 weeks and 5 days until my due date! Not that I am counting.

I have been home for the past 4 weeks. I have to say it has been very nice! The first week B was on vacation as well. The second week I started to get ready for baby. Thankfully I saved all of the clothes from when Chloe was a baby. I got the box out of the guest room closet and started sorting. WOW---I knew I had a lot but I didn't know really how much. Of all the items I took out maybe 5 or 6 outfits that had stains that didn't wash out.

All of these clothes are newborn to 6 months. I am not sure if there are enough days in 6 months to wear all of these clothes. The closet and all of the drawers are full!

Next---finish the nursery. Since I decided to use the same bedding as I used with Chloe I really did not have much to do. I did buy a cute little hanger thingy and wood letters from Hobby Lobby. I had fun painting those to match the room. I also cut some letters from pretty paper to say "Thank Heaven for Little Girls". I got the idea online. I bought some simple curtains to finish the room.

It is official.....our newest addition will be Danielle Paige. I think we will call her Dani, but I guess we will have to wait and see if the nickname suits her! I really do love Paige. Chloe has finally gotten over naming her Rapunzel and she is so excited to tell EVERYONE what the baby's name will be. Even people at Walmart :/

34 weeks 35 weeks

36 weeks

When I look at these pictures I don't see much difference! Not sure if that's good or bad. I did weigh 2 less pounds at my last visit. I'm not sure how that is even possible!!??

I went today and bought diapers, wipes and baby wash. I guess all I need is a sweet baby girl in my arms!!! I can't wait!

Christmas

We had a nice, very laid back Christmas this year.

Christmas Eve we took Chloe to church to the candlelight service. This was always my favorite growing up. We went to the church that I grew up in and it is large so when all of the candles are lit it is so beautiful! B was very concerned letting a 4 year old hold fire but she did an excellent job. I was a little concerned about the lady in front of us because she had a lot of product in her hair.

This was the last Christmas Eve service held in this sanctuary after 20+ years. The church has built a newer and larger one. That was kind of neat. I would have to say though that the way of the church has drastically changed from when I was a kid. I was not too crazy about all of the dancing that went on. It reminded me of Cirque de Soleil. Just sayin. I am very glad that B wanted to go despite the nasty weather. It was pouring! He dropped Chloe and I at the door so we could go find seats. He had to park across the street from the church. We were 15 minutes early and I swear we got the last 3 seats available in the balcony!!

After that we headed to B's Aunt and Uncle's house in Friendswood. We had a yummy dinner of chicken and dumplings and got to visit with B's cousins that we haven't seen in years! They are all grown up! Funny how that happens! They were like 9-14 years old when we started dating. Dang, guess I am getting old too. Nah.

MiMi and PawPaw came over to our house to spend the night. We wrote a note to Santa and left him cookies and milk. We also put some reindeer food on the back porch.

The next morning we all woke up at a reasonable time.......except Chloe. She just kept sleeping and sleeping. Obviously she doesn't have this whole Christmas thing down! She finally woke up and was so excited! She got tons of awesome gifts! Here's a Rapunzel wig that she got from MiMi---it's hilarious, she hates it!

I also got some fabulous gifts. My absolute favorite is a Red Carpet Manicure Kit. It is all the steps needed to do a "Shellac" manicure at home. It is a little technique sensitive but I have pretty steady hands so I think I am going to love it, plus it saved me $25-30 at the nail salon. Here is a picture of my manicure. It is supposed to last 2 weeks with no chips--I'll update to let you know how long it lasted.

Pay no attention to my cuticles. They are horrendous, always have been. I have problems with picking at them. I am hoping this manicure will help my cuticles heal.

Ok, back to Christmas. On Christmas day evening- we went to Holli's house. She was on call so she needed to stay close to the hospital. We opened more presents and MiMi made an excellent dinner. I took my camera but it never made it out of my purse. :( I did a horrible job documenting the Holidays with pictures!

Then.........it was over. I hate when Christmas is over. There is so much hype and within hours it's over. So sad :(

The week following Christmas both B and I were on vacation. We got lots of stuff done around the house and got all of the Christmas stuff down and put away.

New Year's Eve was a quiet one for me. The neighbors had a party out in the cul-de-sac. B and Chloe went outside around 8. Chloe did sparklers for the first time. I did not feel up to being outside. It was warm and muggy and the amount of fireworks being lit did not sound like fun to me. Plus I convinced myself it was not good for baby. Even if she is well protected inside of me :) B and Chloe came home about once an hour to use the bathroom and then they would be off again. I watched tv. They finally came home at 11:55 to ring in the new year with me. Chloe had SO much fun. I made her take a bath because she smelled like sulfur. She finally went to sleep at 12:30am. She is still talking about the fireworks.....weeks later :)

Chloe's Birthday

December is such a hectic month. Getting ready for Christmas and trying to plan something for Chloe's birthday is stressful.

On December 10th we went to Waco to celebrate Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. We usually do this at a restaurant. Chloe got some birthday presents at this gathering. New DVDs (thank goodness!!), HUGE princess paper dolls, new pjs and some Aurora Princess stuff. It was a lot of fun!

Chloe wanted "curly" hair. She sat very still while I curled it.

Don't mind her bangs--they really are cut straight!

Working on her Princess paper dolls. She was so determined to color all of it!

Her actual birthday was on a Thursday. B and I sang Happy Birthday that morning while she ate her pancakes. She had a cupcake party at school with her friends!
That evening we let her open her gifts from us. She got a Rapunzel dress (dress-up) and some Ugg-like boots. She was so excited. We then took her to her favorite restaurant......McDonalds!

We had her birthday party at our house this year. Mostly family and a few friends + pizza + cupcakes = a fun time!

She wore her Rapunzel dress to her party!

She can not get enough of Rapunzel!

Chloe got SO many amazing gifts!! She is very fortunate to have such wonderful family that loves her so much :)

The best part about having the party at our house?? My OCD husband insists on doing all of the vacuuming and then likes to steam mop the wood floors and bleach the tile floors! One time his OCD comes handy!