Half way there!!

How far along? 20 weeks- half way there!!

Heartbeat? I'll have to ask at our next appointment

Total weight gain/loss: Since I haven't been to the doctor in about a month, I'm not really sure about this one, but we'll go with 4 or 5 pounds. :) I'm SURE I didn't gain any weight over Christmas!!

Maternity clothes? Still fitting into my jeans, but maternity pants are WAY more comfortable. I'm in the awkward in between stages where regular pants are tight, but maternity pants are too loose.

Stretch marks? negative (be nice to me, baby girl!)

Sleep? I am sleeping a little better thanks to the Benadryl I've been taking for my allergies. I'm hoping to be feeling 100% by the time I head back to work on Monday!!

Movement: YES! Baby girl is finally making her presence known. Travis even felt her kick from outside of my tummy. Her favorite times to kick are when I'm very still and quiet (rare occasion) or when Colby is sitting on her. She either wants him to get away from her or she wants to play. :)

Food cravings: salty french fries!!!

Gender: Tickled PINK

Labor Signs: no way

Belly Button in or out? in!

What I miss: sleeping comfortably on my tummy

What I am looking forward to: Decorating Camryn's nursery with PINK and ruffles

Milestones: Lots of milestones in the past week. Camryn Elizabeth has an official name- yay!, she is the length of a banana (hope that doesn't make you sick to think about, Kim!!), and her daddy got to feel her squirming around. She is still REALLY low, but I think she's making her way up a little bit. It will be nice to have a REASON for the baby bump. So far she has been so low that she's not even in the bump part.....odd...

LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!!!!! I wish May wasn't so far away!!!!

SEA WORLD!

On our way home from the ranch yesterday, we made our 3rd and final trip to Seaworld for the year. I'm so glad we did! We only stayed for the afternoon, but the weather was perfect, the entire park was decorated for the Christmas season, and the look on Colby's face every time Shamu jumped out of the water and splashed was just priceless!! I didn't get many pictures because I only had my phone camera, but here are a few. They definitely don't do the trip justice. We had a blast together, and I can't wait to go back again!!

The first thing we did was the Polar Express 4D experience. It was just a little 20 minute version of the movie, but you get to watch it with 3D glasses, and there are several 4D effects like lights, rumbling seats, water sprays (definitely not Colby's favorite thing) and sounds. It was pretty cool. (Colby has still not forgiven the train for "accidentally" getting him wet)

Since we had about 45 minutes to kill before the next show, we stopped at the Bay of Play for some playtime. Colby and Travis had a blast crawling through tubes and running around on the suspended nets. (in the summertime, this is a water park, but it was pretty cool in the winter, too!)

Colby really wanted to eat this candy cane.... I guess after licking it he changed his mind....

You would think that this sleepy little boy would sleep all the way home, but that would be wrong. He closed his eyes for a few seconds on our way out of the parking lot, but then he was wide awake for the rest of the trip! I guess the days of traveling during naptime are over. :)

Christmas at the Ranch

I love traditions!! Christmas at the Ranch is one of my favorites. We have pictures from Christmases all the way back to my very first Christmas at the ranch in 1984. (I'll have to dig them up...I think they need a blog appearance) It's so fun to see everyone and catch up with what is going on with all of my mom's cousins and their families. I hope that we will get to continue this fun tradition for many years to come. This year there were about 46 adults and 22 kiddos....definitely a FULL HOUSE. We have 7 babies on the way (so far) in 2012, so next year we will be busting at the seams! (but we wouldn't have it any other way :))

One of the ranch Christmas traditions is for all of the kiddos to take pictures in front of their stockings. You get a stocking until you graduate from high school, and then you're officially an "adult" I guess. All of the families bring goodies to put in the stockings, and we take pictures for like 5 minutes. :) We also make them sing Christmas carols, which Colby actually really enjoyed!!

Doesn't he look like he's dancing?!?? I was so glad he was a happy boy for stocking time.

After everyone has finished emptying their stockings, the adults start their own Christmas gift exchange....complete with gift opening, gift stealing, hollering, scheming, and laughing. Our family is pretty funny.

It's hard to squeeze almost 50 adults in the main room, but we manage to make it happen. Above is a picture of my grandmother and grandfather, and my 2 great-aunts, Vivian and Jeanice. :)

Colby was a little easier to entertain this year than he was last year. He liked watching all of his crazy relatives and playing with his cousins. (Thank you Michael for taking him outside to jump on the trampoline!!!)

Colby loved Mamaw's locket necklace :) (she should have never showed him how to open and close it)

Bess and precious baby Macey

After the Ranch festivities, we headed back to my grandparents' house in D'Hanis (about 15 minutes from "The Ranch") for naptime while the guys hunted.

ummm.....what is she doing? Can she play trucks?

Later that night, we had Christmas with my mom's immediate family. I was sad that it was our last big Christmas celebration of the year, but it was so fun to be with family and make Christmas last a little longer.

CUTE pillow! (yes, I brought it and I was determined to go home with it...sorry Deb!!)

This is Colby's "I'm 2 and I don't want to smile for a picture" face. Right after I took the picture, he said "Did I smile, mom?"

Colby got the COOLEST race ramp, remote control car, and Toy Story garbage truck. He LOVED it all!!!

Mamaw and Papaw were pretty pumped about their new coffee maker.

FUN TIMES! We had a blast hanging out with the fam. We are so lucky to get to celebrate with them each year!! Thank you for all of our Christmas goodies!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas! This season, thanks to a Young Lives devotional shared by Michelle, I have been thinking a lot about the miracle of God's son being sent to Earth as a helpless, tiny baby, born to a frightened teenage girl who was chosen by the Lord. I've also thought a lot about Joseph and how easy it would have been for him to call off their wedding plans. The incredible amount of faith they must have had to trust the Lord and know that he was taking care of them, and that he was performing a miracle through them. WOW! The story of Christ's birth is truly incredible...I am blown away by this gift. As I look at the blessings in my life, I am so thankful that God loves us THAT much. I can't think of a better reason to CELEBRATE!!!! (Thank you White family for the yummy cake batter bark and beautiful verse to remind our family of the mighty king who was born thousands of years ago to save us!!)

This was our last Christmas morning as a family of 3....crazy to think of how different it will be next year. :) We checked out our stocking goodies first and then let Colby open up all of his "cars, trucks, and presents" as he would say.

Santa went all the way to Loves truck stop to get this gift!!

Our little buddies

Merry Christmas, Colby!!! Glad you were a good boy this year. :)

Next up on our Christmas Day agenda was Nona and Pappy's house!

Check out these awesome shoes from Uncle DJ!

Playing trucks with Pappy

Helping Aunt Zia open her present

I love how Colby lays down to play with his trucks. :) We had a fabulous Christmas Day!!!! The best part was that there was no stress and no rushing from one place to the next. After a delicious lunch with the Anthonys, Travis headed down to the ranch to get a hunting head start, and Colby and I played with trucks and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together all day. It was GREAT!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!!

Baby Girl has a name!!!

Camryn Elizabeth Anthony

Can't wait to meet you, baby girl!!!!

Christmas Eve

As a Christmas gift to me, Colby has been sleeping past his usual 5:45 wake up time, and he has been sleeping in until 7:30 or 8:00 every day this week. Praise the Lord! (I think it's probably because he's been sick and on 3 different antibiotics, cough syrup, Benadryl and Tylenol.....but I'd like to think he's just being sweet to his mommy)

On Christmas Eve morning, we let daddy sleep in, and we had caramel drizzle coffee and chocolate milk with a special whipped cream treat on top- YUM!!!

Is this not the best face ever?!??

For the past 23 days, the first thing Colby has asked in the morning is, "What are we going to open next, mommy??" meaning, which day to we get to open on the Advent calendar??? :) I was pretty excited that today was our last day to open a window, because that meant that it was almost Christmas day!

After a few meltdowns (it's been a rough, terrible-twos kind of weekend to say the least) and a few errands, we were ready to head to Mimsy and Pops' house for some Christmas celebrating with the Streater family. The first thing we did when we got there was set up Colby's new train tracks. Travis is a train track rockstar!

Then we ate lunch and opened some presents. A few years back, we started doing a charity Christmas with my dad's side of the family. We draw names and do something charitable in honor of the person that we drew. It's always refreshing to hear all of the ways we can give back to others at Christmas time. This year included Angel Tree gifts for kiddos in Chicago, donations to the Scott and White Children's Hospital, Ronald McDonald House and Wounded Warriors, and mentoring young women who desperately need to hear about the Love of Christ.

Of course we can't resist giving Gram and Colby gifts though. :) And Colby was convinced that Gram needed his help opening all of her gifts.

Mike and Mary Jane got Colby the coolest learning desk. It shines letters, numbers and pictures onto your paper so that you can trace them- so neat!! It also plays music and has an alphabet that you can press and it will tell you what the letter is.

By the time we got to dessert, Colby was about 3 hours overdue for a nap, so we needed to get out of there (quickly), but not without singing Happy Birthday to Jesus first. :)

It didn't take long for this boy to tucker out. (my parents' house is only about 10 minutes away)

After a quick, but much needed nap, we had just enough time to get dressed and head to TBC for the 6:30 Christmas Eve service. This was a problem for our little man who needs TIME to wake up after a nap. He did not appreciate the rush, but there wasn't much we could do about it. Luckily, we were able to calm him down in the car after a few stern words and a spanking. (Have I mentioned that we are in the terrible twos??) After the tears finally stopped flowing, Colby was really excited that he was going to get to sit with us at church and hear about and sing about baby Jesus. He almost lasted through the service, but Travis had to take him out in the foyer at the very end.

When we got home, it was just about time for bed (mommy and daddy needed some QUIET time). We left out cookies and milk for Santa, said goodbye to Choo-Choo, read the story of Jesus' birth out of the bible, read the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and kissed our little boy goodnight.

Isn't it amazing how babies can push us to our limits and melt our hearts at the same time? We love this little boy so much!

After doodle-bug went to bed, Travis and I had a few more things to check off our list. (You can see what Trav checked off first.) I hadn't wrapped any of Colby's gifts, Trav needed to put together a car ramp thing, and we HAD to have a fire in the fireplace and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation together. :)

SUCCESS! It's amazing how matchbox cars and clothes can add up and look like a lot of gifts! haha....we couldn't wait to wake up with Colby the next morning. :)