Christmas, Kzoo Baby Shower, and a whirlwind trip through OH

We had the opportunity to spend a ton of time with my parents this holiday.  It was really nice since this is the last Christmas that it will be just Ben and I traveling for the holidays.  My parents came down for my graduation and then we drove up together to KY for a few days for family get togethers.  Then we spent the Wednesday before Christmas until the Wednesday after Christmas up in MI hanging out with my parents and my little brother  and his wife.  We had a great time hanging out and played tons of cards.  We played our fair share of Monopoly Deal as well as a new game we found called Five Crowns.  It was great to spend time with all of them and we got a chance to get in a lot of great conversations and quality time.  Plus we ate a ton of yummy food which the doctor is going to be happy to hear because I already gained my 3 lbs. that the doctor has required of me. :-)

Family Photo 

The 'rents (soon to be Mamaw and Papaw) 

Cody and Justine

On the Tuesday before we left my mom had a baby shower for me too.  It was a nice small group of ladies due to the busy-ness of the holidays.  Plus I was able to see a good friend who was in town all the way from Cambodia.  We had a great time talking about babies, eating yummy carrot cake, and I was blessed to receive a ton of wise baby advise.  God has truly blessed us through all the family and friend showers we have had.  Though they may have been small, they have meant a ton and truly been meaningful experiences in preparation for our little bundle of joy's arrival.  After this shower we are at a poll from the showers of 27 predictions for boy and 24 predictions of girl with birth dates ranging from January 28th to February 28th.  It will be interesting to see who is closest. :-)

All the lovely ladies!

On Thursday morning we left early to head down to Ohio and visit a bunch of people in a short 2 day stint.  Thursday we went over to Amy, Max, and Elliana's place for some yummy soup.  It was great to get a chance to catch up with Amy and have a chance to really get to know Max a bit.  Plus we got to meet their cutie Elliana.  We thoroughly enjoyed out time and we were blessed with a ton of great baby advise along the way too. Then we met up with our old pastor and his wife for the afternoon.  It was wonderful to catch up with them and hear all the exciting things going on in the church.  God is truly working amazing wonders in Xenia, OH!  After that, for dinner, we met up with my former co-worker Holly and her husband Curtis.  Wow that was some much needed catch up time.  After spending every day with her for about a year, we really got used to chatting it up.  So even though it has been over a year since we have worked together, we picked right back up where we left off and realized just how much we have missed working together.  Then finally we ended up over at Ryan and Michelle's house for the evening. We had a blast catching up, playing Monopoly Deal, and simply enjoying some quality time with good friends.  All that in less than 24 hours, but all worth the time.

Then on Friday we got up and headed down to Cincy to meet up with several more friends.  We spend the morning with Michelle, Ben, Naomi, and Josiah.  It was great to catch up with Michelle and hear all about how life has been for them.  They have two cuties and it was crazy to see how much they have grown up.  We got to chatting and realized that the last time we had seen each other was about a month before Josiah was born and he is now 17months old...craziness!  For lunch, we met up with Sarah at Chipotle.  It was great to see her, even if just for a short time.  I love how easy it is to pick right back up where you left off with good friends!  After dropping off our things at Brad and Ashley's and visiting for a bit we headed up to visit with James, Sara, and Jeremiah for bit.  We got some yummy pizza and spent some quality time catching up on life.  Plus we got to meet their little one; such a cutie!  Then we finished off the night hanging out with Brad and Ashley to ring in the New Year.  I just barely made it to the new year, but we had a fun time catching up and hanging out with them, just like old times.

Unfortunately I failed to take any pictures throughout of escapades in Ohio, but we definitely enjoyed our time.  We tried to visit with as many people as we could work out to see, though not everyone, and it was a busy but wonderful two days.  It was really cute too because after seeing babies, and toddlers of many ages Ben was going on and on about how excited he is for our little one to arrive. He is going to make one amazing daddy and I am super excited for that time to come very soon. :-)

Hick's Family Baby Shower and Christmas

We have had the joy of spending the past two days with my mom's side of the family.  Lot's of good times to be had.  We were able to have everyone in town with the exception of Bryant's fiancée Jenny and Scott's girlfriend Amanda.  It was so much fun to have a  chance to see everyone and catch up a little bit.

The whole gang!

Last night we did lots of hanging out and then ended the night with a family baby shower.  Justine was in charge and set up some great games.  First we played a nursery rhyme fill in the blank game and then we had a "diapering the bear" tournament.  The nursery rhyme game was entertaining, but the diapering game was absolutely hilarious.  Everyone had to be blindfolded and it was fun to see how everyone tried to diaper the bears. :-)  We got lots of wonderful gifts that we are excited to use for our upcoming baby.  To name a few, we got a stroller/carseat, homemade blankets/blocks, nursery decor, a scrapbook, etc.  We had everyone guess the gender and they were split 8 for boy and 8 for girl and the birth dates ranged from February 8th to February 21st.

Ben and I "diapering the bear" and unfortunately he won. :-(

Cute whale bath time goodies all the way from Ben's mommy in NY

Then today we had our family Christmas.  We do it name drawing style, so the cousins exchange names and the adults exchange names.  It was fun to see what everyone got and we simply enjoyed spending time with one another in the first place.  Ben got a Best Buy gift card and I got a super cute Christmas dish set that unfortunately I probably won't be able to use until next year. :-(  Then after presents we played a marathon of monopoly deal that was only briefly interrupted by a wonderful meal.  Good times with the family.  If only it could happen more than once a year.

The Ginter crew and spouses 

The family of origin :-) 

Silly pic per Ben's request

Master of Arts in Special Education

The end is finally here!  Today I graduated from the College of Charleston with my Master of Arts in Special Education with a focus in emotional disabilities.  It has been a busy 1.5 years getting this degree.  And as been likes to joke, I went through 3 cycles of stress because I always stress out at the end of the semester because it seems like so much and then usually get it all done early.  I guess that's just me, but it all worked out in the end.

We are going to be the first and only class to finish the degree in 1.5 years because they will no longer be offering that option.  Personally I count it a blessing to have been able to finish it so quick because, with a baby coming in February, I am not sure what I would have done if I still had a semester left to go.  God's timing was definitely perfect and now I have a degree that I gained a lot of valuable experience through and will hopefully someday use.  However, at least for the next few years, I will simply be applying what I have learned toward being a mommy for a while.  We shall see where things go from there! :-)

Me and my love

Me and the 'rents

We went out to Mellow Mushroom, my favorite pizza place, to celebrate afterwards.

32 weeks down, 8 to go!

Wow, it’s hard to believe that I only have 8 weeks left until my estimated due date!  Time is definitely flying by.  We had our regular appointment and this time it was with the midwife.  There are 5 doctors in the practice, any of which could potentially deliver our baby, and this was the last one that we had yet to meet.  To be quite honest I was a little concerned about meeting her because I had heard she was a little tougher, but she actually turned out to be my favorite of all of them.  She was really super nice and even though we were her last appointment of the day she was very interested in all of my questions and was super talkative.  That is definitely not typically the case when I go in for appointments.

The appointment went well.  We found out for sure that my glucose test went well, which we had figured since didn’t hear anything.  From that test though they discovered that my iron levels are borderline being a concern.  So it looks like I am going to have to start eating more iron rich foods. 

I also got in a bit of trouble too because according to their calculations I hadn’t gained anything, but had actually lost a ½ a lb. since the last appointment.  However, according to my weigh ins, since the last appointment 6 weeks ago I had gained 2 lbs. which makes me at least feel better that I am going up in weight.  Either way, the doctor said that by my next appointment in 4 weeks I need to have gained at least 3 1lbs.  My parents were at the appointment too and she turned to them and said that they needed to make sure to fatten me up over the holidays. J  So hopefully, as long as I don’t have a Thanksgiving repeat, I can continue to gain about a lb. a week like I have been over the past several weeks.

As far as baby, everything is looking good.  The heartbeat slowed a little bit so now it is in the mid 140s.  My uterus was measuring a little small though, only 30cm, which she said if I can pick up my weight gain that should help with that too.  But overall she said everything looks great and baby is moving around healthy.

In general everything has been going well with the pregnancy.  The tiredness has seemed to return so around 3ish every day I pretty much hit a wall that I have to push through until bedtime.  Then I have also had some pretty bad hip pain of late to the point where many days I have a bit of a limp.  None of these are ideal symptoms, but really if they are the least of my worries, I am good to go!  Only 8ish more weeks!

32 week belly!

Locks of Love

So after about 2 years of growing it out again, I cut my hair today for Locks of Love.  This is the third time I have done it and it is definitely the most hair I have even given...13 inches!  I am definitely glad to be done with the hair and have passed it on for such a good cause.  I am sure I will torture myself again and grow it out, but for now I am satisfied with less up top. :-)

Here is the before:

Now 13 inches less:

This is just all natural, but I am excited to be back to simple styling for a while!