30 Weeks and an Ugly Leg

Here I am 30 weeks pregnant....

Here is my leg at 30 weeks...

For those of you who saw me when I was pregnant with Hannah in my last trimester, you'll remember that my right leg below the knee would swell and turn purple and that vein would stick out.  I had multiple ultrasounds on my leg to rule out that it wasn't a blood clot, it never was.  They (my doctors) decided that my uterus tilts to the right, which puts more pressure on my right leg. 

With this pregnancy, my leg started changing colors about mid-way through my 2nd trimester.  With this pregnancy, I have more vericose and spider veins popping out all over (just look at the pic with both of my legs in it...you can really tell the difference). Every time I go to the doctor I ask if this is ok...they continue to tell me that it is normal.  Being a teacher and constantly on my feet doesn't help much with the vein problem- the more I'm on it, the worse they look.  I did get some maternity compression hose to help with this problem, and if you know me, you know I'm NOT a hose person- I can't stand them.  But, I've been dutifully wearing them whenever I work, just so my leg doesn't totally look destroyed.

This has really been the only problem during my pregnancy.  As the doctor told me this past week at my 30 week appointment, I have "uneventful pregnancies", and I'd really like to keep it that way!! Everything at the doctors office checked out great! We are now counting down until Baby Girl 2 arrives on March 30th!

It's so funny...when I was pregnant with Hannah, I had everything done by about the 30th week of my pregnancy- the room was painted and deocrated, the furniture had been bought and put together, I had bought and washed clothes, the baby book was filled out with every detail I could think of, etc.  With this pregnancy, we've been a lot more relaxed.  We do have the room painted, but that is it!  We are currently waiting on carpet to be installed (probably not for at least another 3 weeks), so we haven't put any furniture in the room, I haven't washed a single item (or have even gotten out any of Hannah's old stuff from the attic), the baby book has 1 picture in it currently, and we don't even have a name....

Everyone said I'd be more relaxed with this baby...boy were they right!! I know that it will all come together in the end and so I'm not really worrying about it.  Meanwhile, I'm enjoying spending time with my family of 3...for a couple more weeks :)

Merry Christmas!

I know I'm totally late in writing about Christmas...but access to the computer is limited since our computer room is now being converted into baby girl #2's room...that's right, the last room in the house is going to be occupied, and I keep reminding Tony that our house is getting smaller by the day. Hopefully in a year or so we can talk about moving (a girl can dream, can't she?)

Anyways....back to Christmas:

We had a wonderful Christmas week- extremely busy, but wonderful!

It really all started on Christmas Eve when we went to my mom and dad's for dinner. My mom made a fabulous dinner of beef tenderloin and completed the meal with a dessert of Red Velvet Bread Pudding (the dessert was made thanks to my dad for watching the Food Network Channel and watching Paula Deen make it)!! We then sat around and chit chatted for a while before opening our Christmas Eve presents of pajamas to wear that night. Then we all (Me, Tony, Hannah, Jeremy, Angela, Jacob, Mom and Dad) headed off to St. Gabriel's for Christmas Eve Mass! When we got home, Hannah got a quick bath and then it was bedtime...Tony and I put the presents under the tree and watched A Christmas Story together! The perfect ending to a perfect evening!

Did I mention that we do a photo shoot in front of my mom and dad's tree every year....

Christmas Eve night into Christmas morning was very restless. Tony is 29 going on 7 during this time of year...he LOVES Christmas, LOVES it. He doesn't sleep much because he is soooo excited about all the presents (I think he actually slept for 2 hours that night). Thankfully he waited to wake me up at 6:30am and then we powered up the video camera and woke Hannah up. This year was so fun watching her open presents, because she actually understood what she was doing and she was actually interested in the toys she opened, not just the boxes and bows!! After every present she opened, she would either say, "I want another one" or she would want us to open the toy and play with it right then and there!! So fun :) After opening presents, we showered and got dressed and headed to my mom and dad's.

We had a great Christmas breakfast of fruit salad, egg casserole and french toast casserole (always our favorite) with mom, dad, Jeremy, Angela and Jacob....and then it was present time!!

After opening presents with my family and hanging out for a while, it was time for us to load up and head home. As soon as we got home, we unloaded everything into our living room and reloaded the car with all the presents for Tony's family as well as everything we would need for the weekend. That started our 4 hour drive to Columbia City, IN!! We arrived at about 5:30pm Christmas evening and after unloading the car and quickly settling in, we did presents with Tony's mom, Ali, Bo and Emily. Once again, we got a TON of gifts :)

That night we were all pretty exhausted...after eating some shepherd's pie and talking for a while, we headed to bed...at least my family did- Maggie ended up cooking for several hours more since her family was coming for food the next day!

So Saturday morning starting at 8:30am till about 7:30pm, there were people in and out all day. The Hill Family came to eat Maggie's yummy turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. and then later in the day, the Waterson side came to visit. There were also various friends of the family in all day as well....it was great seeing everyone, and we were exhausted by the time everyone left. (My camera batteries were almost dead so I wasn't able to take that many pictures).

The cutest part of our trip up north was watching Hannah interact with baby Emily who is now 4 months old! She actually did very well with her- she read her books and showed her some toys (with a few rough touches and pushes thrown in)! Hannah was more than eager to help with the bottle feedings, kiss her and pet her....so sweet :)

Sunday afternoon, we loaded up the car once again and headed back to Louisville for our 4 hour drive home. It ended up taking us about 6 hours to actually get home though because of the snow and traffic on the interstates in northern Indiana. By the time we got home and unloaded (for the last time), our living room was a disaster- I wish I would've taken a picture of it!!

Monday we didn't do anything all day...unpack and get Christmas presents organized!! Monday evening we went to my Aunt Jan's and Uncle Steve's house for the Gruebbel Christmas- we don't see that side of the family very often, so it was great to see everyone!! (No pictures...no batteries still).

Tuesday was our last Christmas function- we went to my mom and dad's house and had "another" Christmas with the Beam side- The Virginia Beams were there as well as the Tennessee Beams! We ate Mexican and talked for several hours!!

That's about it in a nutshell. I was lucky enough to have 2 weeks off around Christmas (one of the perks of being a teacher) and Tony ended up taking several days off so we could spend them together as a family! Overall we had an awesome Christmas, it just went by way too fast! I'm already looking forward to next year...especially with another little baby girl to share it with :)