Valentines Day

This year marked our third Valentines Day together! It makes me laugh when I remember that first V-day because I was trying so hard to avoid dating him. It was a time in my life when I hated boys and wanted nothing to do with them...haha. So that V-day Joe had invited me over to his place to watch a movie and I didn't want him to think that it was a date (or end up with him alone) so I invited a friend to come along. When we got to his apartment his roommates were watching a movie already so he took us to the movie theatre and was a good sport and paid for both of us. He never let on how bummed he was about the whole situation (even when my friend sat between us) but all of his persistence paid off eventually! :) We started dating shortly afterward, were engaged two months later, and now we have been married for over a year and have a baby on the way. It amazes me that he still wanted to be with me after all the times that I avoided him or did what I did to him on that first "date". It's stories like these that we just laugh about now, and let me tell you there are at least a dozen stories exactly like this one. But like I said he's always been there for me and always wanted to make me happy even when we were just friends. He never gave up on me and that's why I fell in love with him in the first place! :)

So this year since we didn't have a lot of money I decided that we would just spend a quiet evening together at home. I made a delicious dinner of chicken roll ups with mashed potatoes which is Joe's favorite dinner. And for dessert I made jello salad which is my favorite! We had some sparkling cider and cuddled on the couch while watching Catch Me If You Can because it came in the mail for Netflix. Joe surprised me with a clean car and I surprised him with a clean house! :) It was simple and perfect! My mom got us each a Valeninte too. She's the best mom ever!
I got a cute jar full of my favorite candies...

...sweetart gummies!

And Joe got a can of Cashew Roca. That is his absolute FAVORITE! She knows us pretty good!

We had an amazing Valentines Day and enjoyed getting to celebrate our love for each other! I love my husband and think that he is the BEST Valentine I could ever ask for! Hope that you all had a great Valentines Day as well!
XOXO

Baby Belly

So I finally broke down and took a picture of me pregnant. I've been avoiding the camera like the plague but I know that I would regret having zero pictures of my pregnancy.

So here I am in all my glory at 23 weeks and 1 day pregnant

I'm trying really hard to not be too critical of how I look. But it's really hard to do when every other pregnant girl out there looks just as thin as they did before just with a basketball under their shirt. I definitely feel fat and after seeing this picture I definitely feel that I look fat. I know that it's all the baby and that after she's born the puffy face and bloating will eventually go away. And I feel good knowing that I've lost 20 pounds and haven't gained any back. So I am determined to stay positive about this pregnancy and will just focus on the amazing miracle coming in June!

Samuel's Nursery Pictures

I finally finished the pictures for my nephew's nursery and if I do say so myself, they look pretty darn good! :)

This was the first picture that I did...

This was the second one that I did. It took me two tries to finish it because of my darling daughter...I had completely finished the picture except for the black nose and that is the exact time that she decides to kick my painting board and a big black streak ends up across the entire thing. It was kinda sad but I think that this one ended up better than the first! :)

And this is the last one...

It's a relief to have them done and to have them look so cute in his nursery. Now I can focus on doing Claire's pictures (I'm doing Angelina Ballerina and I am so excited!). But here are a few pictures of his nursery...

We also got Claire's crib and changing table finally! I love the beautiful color and style and can't wait for her to finally be here so she can use them! I've been working on her nursery the past few days and it's looking pretty good already. I have everything all organized and clean. I'm feeling pretty prepared for her because we already have her crib, changing table, car seat, stroller, and bassinet. We just need the little things like clothes, blankets, and toys but that all comes with the baby shower! :)

Her beautiful crib

Changing table

And the adorable little night light Joe bought for her. He already spoils her rotten! :)

I'll have to post pictures of my belly soon but I've been avoiding the camera as much as I can. :)

I'm an Aunt again!!!

Now we have a total of two grand children (with one on the way) on my side of the family! My sister Savannah just had a little boy on Saturday and he is so beautiful! His name is Samuel John Jagielski and he is 7 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long! He is so cute and tiny and has this cry that just breaks your heart. But he's so mellow and such a good baby! Love him to death already!

Drumroll please....

IT"S A GIRL!!!!

We are so excited! At first she didn't want us to see anything except her cute little face but after a few minutes she let us know for sure she was a girl! We are naming her Claire Marie and are so excited to meet her in June!

Here are her little feet

She was showing off her muscles for daddy

This was the only picture we got of her face. If you look closely you can see her little nose and mouth!

Keepin' Busy

I just reached the 20th week in my pregnancy and I can honestly say that I feel GOOD! It is amazing what a throw up free day can do for you! I have so much energy and I can occasionally enjoy my meals. :) But with no work and no school and all this pent up energy I was going insane staying at home all day. So my friend Lindsay signed both of us up for a sewing class on campus and I LOVE it! I really didn't think that I would enjoy it as much as I do but there is something liberating about learning something new. I love picking out the cute fabrics, hanging out with the girls, and thinking of new projects to do. It keeps me busy and out of the house and that makes me feel productive and happy. Joe is completely supportive (mostly because I've been happier lately) but he thinks this will be a great skill for me to have and it keeps me from counting down the days til our little peanut is here! :) He's pretty much amazing!

I found that keeping me busy was the only way to keep my sanity, so that's what I've been doing... staying busy! I have been working on my sister Savannah's nursery pictures and they are turning out pretty cute if you ask me! I'll have to post pictures of them when they are finished. I've also made a goal of keeping up on laundry every week and keeping the house picked up, something I've neglected the past couple of months but I'm trying to be better about it. And couple all that with doctor appointments and my birthing class that starts soon, I have been pretty busy! It's nice to feel productive and tired at the end of the day!

And as I mentioned earlier, I am 20 weeks pregnant and tomorrow we will have our second sonogram! Yay! I am so excited to find out if we are having a boy or a girl!! Hopefully the little stinker will show us what it is...I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I'll be sure and post pictures tomorrow of my belly and our peanut. Can't wait to see how much it has grown from the first sonogram. Every week I get these e-mails from baby center that tell you where you are at in your pregnancy and I was excited to find out that our baby is about the length of a banana (10 inches) and that it is about 6.5 ounces. That's amazing considering at four weeks it was the size of a poppy seed! Ha it's amazing how fast they grow!

Christmas!

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday! I love all the decorations, the lights, the smells, the food, and most of all being with family. I also love my amazing mother and the little traditions that she carries on for us kids. Ever since we were little my mom has always gotten us each one new ornament. This year she got all three of us one.

This one is Joe's, it's Dale hitting an ornament that Chip is holding

This fairy is the sixth in a collection all of us girls have been getting

And little dumbo is for our little peanut :)

This year was so great, we celebrated Christmas Eve with all the siblings and had a progressive dinner starting at Savannah's house with homemade bread and hot cocoa (we were supposed to go sledding too but it was too slushy) and then we moved on over to our house where we had cheese balls and a relish tray. We played the candy bar game we play every year and them moved on over to my mom's house. We had the amazing seven layer dip there and watched a little bit of the movie White Christmas until it was time to go to Kayleen's house. She was the last stop for that night and we watched the Nativity Story and had cookies and milk. When we got home we opened our Christmas pajama's.

Santa also had a little work to do after that and left the tree looking pretty full. I guess we were good this year. :)

Christmas day was just as enjoyable as Christmas Eve. As I expected Joe woke me up WAY too early, he was so excited about opening presents. :)

Joe and his stocking

Opening the present I got him, his favorite statue of Christ. On his mission he got to move the original and meet the artist

Joe had a lot of surprises for me this year. He had me open this little one first to see if I could guess what the rest of it was (please ignore how tired and fat I look)

and it was a little sleeping bag...

I knew exactly what it was and hurried to tear off the blanket laying on the biggest package in the room

It was the Phil and Ted's stroller I wanted! Let's just say it's the most amazing stroller ever invented! And it included the chicco car seat I really wanted(the inside of the stroller will be red, they just sent the wrong insert)

The sleeping bag is specially made to fit into the stroller for the colder months and so of course I had to try it out...

Allie loved riding in the stroller and didn't get cold at all!

Here's the box the stroller came in, it says baby not included! haha

We spent the rest of the day with family at my mom's house. It was an amazing Cristmas and I was way too spoiled!