It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Christmas has to be my favorite holiday. I know what you're all thinking, "She just likes Christmas because she gets presents."

FALSE

I love Christmas for pretty much every reason other than that. The trees, the lights, the colors, the ornaments, the magic. But most of all, I love the snow. For anyone who wasn't in Utah last winter, the snowfall was less than satisfactory. I think it only snowed twice and the deepest the snow ever got (in Salt Lake, anyway) was about two inches. I was ecstatic when I woke up this morning to see this:

The view from my bedroom window

Lyle, my green Honda Accord, was covered in about twenty minutes.

There was one lonely duck out by the pool that Chloe saw and she got all sorts of riled up when she noticed her.

Chloe getting upset that the duck was there. The funniest part about that was the fact that there have been ducks out there for weeks now and she didn't notice them until today.

I do have a few things to pamper myself this Christmas season. 

My candy striped socks from Bath and Body Works. 

They're infused with Shea butter to moisturize my feet while I wear them!

Winter Candy Apple and Pink Sugar Plum lotions I bought last Christmas season when I worked at Bath and Body Works. Also, I have my Holly Berry Wreath and Iced Gingerbread hand soaps for my bathroom.

In other news, I cannot get enough of these sausages! They're SO good! I don't know if its just my pregnancy talking but I can't stop eating them!

Also, I got Chloe a normal collar. She has worn a chain collar for most of her life since she has a bad habit of chewing her collars off. I found this one at Target for $2.99 so I thought, 

why not try it out and see if she's changed?

I can't stop admiring my wedding ring lately! I just love it so much! To be honest with you, if I had gone with Josh to pick it out I probably would have chosen something more intricate but for some reason, this one just screams ME and I couldn't imagine having a different ring.

(As you can see, my fingers have swollen a little since my pregnancy started but I can still get it on and off)

Lincoln's car seat! I love it!

The pattern on the umbrella. I love the brown and white polka dots on the green background. 

The pattern on the inside. The trees are pretty (in my personal opinion) and I just love it!

Lincoln's stroller. I usually don't like stuff with a well known brand on it (for some strange reason, I'm not entirely sure why) but I found this stroller at Ross for about $50 so I thought, why not?

It's very compact which means it can be set out of the way really easily.

I love the Winnie the Pooh print!

Our bookshelves! I mentioned that we set these up in my last post so I thought you might like to see the finished product. (Thanks to my Mom for donating them!) For anyone who doesn't know my husband, he LOVES books! He was super excited to get these bookshelves!

A cute owl I found at Tai Pan Trading Co. for $4.99. I'm pretty sure its an ornament but I'm going to use it as a display piece. Josh and I have affectionately named him Harvey.

Our updated mantel frame with the Willow Tree figurine Josh bought me when I was 7 weeks pregnant. :)

My mantel! I love the picture of George Washington. Its so pretty!

And now, finally, the update from my appointment yesterday. So I had my appointment two weeks ago. They said I had gained 12 pounds in one month. I was shocked! I couldn't believe that I had gained that much since my pants still fit just the same and I couldn't notice a visual difference. Yesterday, he said I lost 6 pounds so he said the nurse probably wrote down 180 instead of 170. Talk about a sigh of relief!

Dr. Twede said that my blood pressure is good, Lincoln's heart rate is strong and healthy and he's at a healthy weight (from what he can tell). Also, Lincoln is in the head down position already which is a great sign! Its a lot less likely he'll be breech or sideways or something else by the time I give birth. 

I know I talked about this in my Comments, Questions, Concerns post from July but I wanted to give you all an update on how I'm doing with it and what our plan for it is during labor. 

My doctor said he needs to give me antibiotics during labor for my Group B Strep. It's vitally important to have the antibiotics at least 4 hours before I deliver since GBS can be deadly to newborns. So the goal is to get the penicillin to Lincoln's bloodstream before he passes through the birth canal so he'll be better protected. However, there's a catch. 

I'm allergic to Amoxcillin, a form of penicillin. 

Luckily, when I was given Amoxicillin for strep throat about 5 years ago, the symptoms weren't too bad. My doc said he'll give me Benadryl for a potential itchy rash. 

He said he could give me the alternate antibiotic so I wouldn't have any potential problems with the penicillin but it doesn't work as well. To be totally honest, I'm willing to have an itchy rash or some other minor problems for a few days if it means my baby will be more protected.

I'm so grateful for my health, my baby's health, and the snow!

To finish, I wanted to share my favorite song right now! I'm kind of, sort of obsessing over it. :)

Thanks for reading and good job for making it to the end of this post ;)

P.S. By now, the snow is already about two and a half inches and there isn't a sign of stoppin' ;) I'm so happy.

Mackenzie