December flurries

Well, I was obviously wrong in my last post regarding snow accumulation in DFW over Christmas!! It continued snowing throughout the day (between 2-3inches) and the evening temperatures got into the 20's and we did indeed have a WHITE CHRISTMAS the next morning! The news team said this is DFW's 1st white Christmas in 84 years. Needless to say, it was beautiful and cold, but unfortunately provided pretty treacherous ice conditions on the roads. Mike and I did travel to and from Fort Worth and Grand Prairie twice on the icy roads and thankfully arrived at our destinations safely. Christmas Eve driving around 9:30pm was definitely worse than 9am the next morning, but bridges remained icy until the afternoon of the 25th when the sun helped to melt and evaporate a lot of the ice. We hope that you all had safe and wonderful Christmas celebrations with your family. We really enjoyed the time with our families as well. Mike and I gave each other a brand new Cannon camera this year in preparation for the coming arrival of Ryan as well as an iPod speakers docking station where you can place your iPod on the speaker stand and it charges your iPod while also playing the music through the speakers like a stereo system. We took a few pictures of the snow and us opening our gifts on Christmas morning so I will try to post those soon. We are back to work for 3 days this week, although we may work from home Tuesday afternoon due to more inclement icy/snow weather expected in the afternoon. I would hate to get stuck driving on the Dallas highways in ice during rush hour. No Thanks!! We are planning to celebrate the New Year just the two of us this week with steaks, roasted potatoes, steamed green beans w/ almond slivers, salad, & rolls. We have bought our champagne (sparkling grape juice for me!) and even some individual pints of ice cream to enjoy for dessert. We are planning to have a relaxing evening and maybe even enjoy a "Redbox" rental. In case I don't post again before the end of the year; we wish you and your family a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! We hope 2010 brings many blessings and wonderful times for you and your family.

~Emily

Merry Christmas to all.... and to all a good night!

It's Christmas Eve and REALLY COLD and SNOWING in Grand Prairie, TX- the second time this season! This kind of weather is certainly not what we are accustomed to. Too bad it isn't cool enough to actually accumulate and make the ground look pretty for Christmas. Well, it's been a nice and relaxing week off of work for Mike and me. We have spent a lot of time catching up on sleep, getting things done around the nursery, watching Christmas movies and football games, visiting family & friends among other things. It is hard for me to believe that Christmas is already tomorrow. Toby has enjoyed our time at home as well since it means more cuddling and play time for him. We also realized this week that this is the most time we have spent together at home since we moved here in June. Pretty crazy how time has flown. So far this month we have celebrated my work Christmas party in Addison, TX the 4th, the Smith cousins Christmas brunch at our house on the 12th, our friends' Christmas dinner at Simply Fondue the 16th, and the Swan family Christmas in Comanche, TX on the 19th. Tonight we are celebrating the Roberts' side immediate family Christmas at my parents house in Fort Worth. We plan to exchange gifts, go to a Candlelight Service, & enjoy a tasty meal together. Tonight Mike and I will spend our first Christmas at our own home without traveling or staying in someone else's home and wake up and share gifts with one another first thing on Christmas morning just the two of us. We are excited that this is a new tradition that we will have especially for Ryan's first Christmas next year. Later in the morning we will be going back to Fort Worth to Mimi's house for the extended Roberts' Christmas and lunch. Around 3pm Christmas day, we will drive out to Plano to spend the rest of Christmas with the Campbell side of the family. My mother in law has a large dinner planned for Christmas which will be delicious and probably enough to feed an army (not just the 6 of us!). Haha. We will stay with them Christmas night and part of the next day so that we aren't having to drive back and forth. On the 26th I hope to do a little shopping with some of the crazies and buy us a large pre-lit Christmas tree for next year. We will also be spending some time with the extended Campbell side on the 26th. Then, it's home to unpack everything and relax and enjoy the rest of our vacation time from work. Well, now that I've laid out our crazy schedule for you all, we would like to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas! Remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season! We are so thankful that our Lord and Savior sent his Son into the world to pay the price for all of our sins because without Him we would never be able to experience life with our Heavenly Father. Thank you, Jesus, Emmanuel.

~Blessings, Mike & Emily

Swan family group photo- Dec. 19th

Annual Swan cousins picture- Dec. 19th

The original Smith ladies- Mimi with her sisters-in-law

Next generation Smith Cousins Christmas Party- Dec. 12th

Youngest generation- Smith Cousins Christmas party- Dec. 12th

Belated Thanksgiving pictures

It is your lucky day- two blogs in one day! This year for Thanksgiving we traveled to Ruidoso, NM for a relaxing vacation with the Roberts' side of the family. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to have some time away from work to spend with family, do some shopping, and to catch up on some much needed sleep! For Thanksgiving lunch, we went to the Country Club and joined some of our extended Smith side of the family for a fabulous buffet Thanksgiving meal. Mike enjoyed getting to go back for numerous seconds. I think he might have missed his mother's sweet potato casserole though, and looks forward to her making it in a few weeks for Christmas. We both thought the turkey was so tender and some of the best we'd had. Overall, a successful Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures for you!
~Emily

Emily & Mike outside the club with the lovely mountains

The siblings on Thanksgiving day

The whole family- Don't we look big? Can't wait to see next year's picture!

Me with my sisters- Maggie (21) & Lauren (27)

First Baby Shower

On December 5th I had my very first baby shower! It was hosted by four of my "besties" Lauren, Mara, Mariann & Melissa. The shower was so pretty and I know all the hostesses worked so hard to plan everything and put it all together. Thank you so much ladies for such a wonderful celebration for our upcoming little guy, Ryan. Everything was so cute and "boyish" which was a lot of fun. They had streamers, clothes lines with little baby onesies hanging from them, an adorable diaper cake, a picture frame with a baby picture of Mike and me, and of course yummy food! We played Bingo for present opening time and a pacifier game where you had to refrain from saying the word "baby" or your plastic pacifier necklace would be taken from you. I had as many as 5 or 6 at one time, but wound up with only 3 in the end and I believe my sister, Lauren won the prize. Thank you so much to everyone who came to the shower, I was so glad to get to see each and everyone of you! We are also very thankful for all the lovely gifts that we received that will help us to welcome little Ryan into this world. Now for a few pictures that I have collected from my camera and Mariann's. Enjoy!
~Emily

Two of my hostesses- Lauren/Twin, Emily, Mara

Beautiful table layout with our baby pictures

Two more lovely hostesses- Mariann, Melissa, and Emily

Such a cute ducky pajama outfit

Ryan's new bouncer- Mike already put it together!

Ryan's new boppy chair- I love these! Can't wait to see him in it!

Some of our wonderful guests- Sonja, Kaitlin, Karen, Maggie, Angela & Elizabeth

Gift opening time

Some more beautiful shower guests

Me getting to hold precious Logan (Mariann's almost 3 month old)

3D/4D sono picture post

Many of you may have already seen these photos from facebook, but I wanted to make them available to my blog readers as well. Yesterday Mike and I went to El Centro College to get a 3D ultrasound done. They are a teaching institution that allow expectant mothers to schedule appointments and give their students an opportunity for experience and to add pictures to their portfolios for future job placement. Our technician was named Lenor and she is graduating on Friday and hoping to find a sono tech job in OB. General stats for Ryan (approximate of course since via sonogram) a little over 4lbs weight, measuring right at 32 weeks, EDD- Jan. 28th, heartbeat 158bpm. Overall, it was a really neat appointment and we were so glad to get to see him again since it has been so long since our last sono. The cost is only $30 so if any other expectant mothers in the DFW area are interested I would suggest looking them up. They recommend weeks 28-32 for the best 3D pictures from what I have read. Enjoy the pictures!! :)
~Emily

Sweet little Ryan's face

Cute little hand in front of his face


Precious Ryan

Another face shot

Side profile face shot

Umbilical cord colored for veins and arteries

Ryan sticking his tongue out

Leg bone

Heartbeat 158bpm

Last day of November...

I had my 30 week Dr's appointment today and wanted to provide you with the stats. I lost 1 lb. since my last appointment, which was surprising to me seeing as how I just got back from Thanksgiving vacation. I was aiming to either maintain or only gain 1 lb, but I'll take the 1 loss also. My doctor was pretty impressed. Haha! My bp was 116/66 and I got the results from my glucose and anemia test and both were normal. Glucose was 107, she didn't tell me the number on the other test. Today Ryan's heartbeat was 153bpm. I thought it was funny that while I had to lay on my back he was making funny bumps and waves across my tummy as the Doctor did the doppler and then measured my tummy. He really looks like he's trying to break out of my tummy when he does that and I find it rather amusing and typically talk to him while he's moving around a lot. Dr. said I was measuring right about at 29.5 cm which correlates to about 30 weeks and right on track. Everything else seems to be going just fine and I'll have another appointment again in two weeks.

This weekend I have my first baby shower and I am SOOOO excited!! My friends Mara, Melissa, Mariann & Lauren are throwing it for me on Saturday. I can't wait to see some good friends that I haven't seen in awhile and celebrate the upcoming arrival of our precious son. Also, we ordered the nursery furniture before Thanksgiving and got a call on Saturday to let us know that it has arrived. Now we just have to find someone with a truck willing to let us borrow it to haul the two large pieces home from the store. I can't wait to get everything set up in the room and feel more organized and prepared for his arrival.

This week I also plan to put out my Christmas decorations and set up our Christmas tree, which I am so excited about!! It is the first year to decorate our new house so I've been trying to think about how and where I will put up all the decorations I already have and what else I might need to buy. ;) I'm also hoping that Mike and I can decorate the outside of the house this year since we never did lights in San Antonio since we always traveled home to be with family for the holidays. Now that we are all here in town I think it's time for LIGHTS! :) I am nearly finished with my Christmas shopping, but still have a handful of things to pick up. I will hopefully start wrapping gifts this week as well (depending on how busy the week is).

Last, but definitely not least, the Frogs celebrated their final victory of the regular football season with an perfect season. We will anxiously be awaiting the BCS bowl announcements on December 6th to find out where we are going. I am personally hoping for the Sugar Bowl vs. Alabama which would be awesome. Other projections from news-people says the Orange Bowl vs. Georgia Tech or Boise State. It wouldn't make much sense for us to play Boise since we played them in a bowl last year and haven't lost since we beat them. I think my Dad was hoping for Tostitos Fiesta bowl, but looks like that may not happen due to order of picking or something... there's so many things to consider with these BCS predictions. Another great game would be us versus Texas this year, but obviously at this point it looks like they will be going to the National Championship game probably vs. Florida (even after a pretty poor performance against the Aggies this past week.) Well, I guess that's all from me for now. Have a great week everyone! :)

~Emily

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

It is hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is now just a few days away! I am so excited for a nice relaxing break from work as well as some very yummy food!! This year we will be spending Thanksgiving with the Roberts' side of the family in Ruidoso, NM. Mike and I both have to work on Monday, but then we will be off for the rest of the week. Yippee!!

Also, this past week we finished up our baby care and CPR classes at the hospital. They were pretty thorough and I think we both took some new information from them. I think by taking the classes it will help us both have more confidence when Ryan arrives. Obviously once he is here will be the greatest learning experience since every baby is different, but at least we have ideas and tools to use to care for him properly.

Last night we went and ordered our nursery furniture. We purchased the crib, toddler railings, and converter kit (since it is a lifetime crib) and Mom and Dad bought the dresser/changer combo as a gift to us. The crib was actually in stock, but was so big we had no way of getting it home so we will wait until the other stuff comes in the week after Thanksgiving and find some one's truck to borrow and haul it all home. :) I had been impatiently waiting for some great deal to come along so that we could purchase our furniture before the holidays and was getting very worried that they might not have a deal as good as the one that we missed in September. However, Wednesday I discovered that Babies R Us was having a Member Rewards weekend Fri-Sun and had some great 20% off coupons for furniture as well as many of the larger (more expensive items). We decided to wait on that stuff since we still have two or three showers ahead of us. I'm sure each month there will be new deals and coupons. The key is to make sure you never buy anything there at full price because they always seem to have SOMETHING on sale (and I like to get the best deal possible). We have just started week 29 and really no changes for me other than the growing, moving, squirming baby. He is particularly active these days which has allowed more people to get to feel him during the day, which is fun.

On the football front- You might notice that the majority of my posts from November seem to have purple pictures... hmmm... shows what our weekends currently consist of. :) TCU Frogs had another amazing win last weekend and I have uploaded a few photos from the longest day EVER. It began by waking up at 6am on a Saturday to get ready and head to ESPN College Gameday. We got there about 7:45am and stayed on campus until 11:30am. We then went to Fuzzy's tacos to grab a bite for lunch, followed by hanging out at Matt and Vivian's home to watch the DVR'd replay of College Gameday. I had a hair appointment at 2pm that afternoon and got 4 inches cut off my hair and re-layered all around. I felt my hair was simply getting too long and was in my way pretty often. I think it needed the nice new "do". It came out a little shorter than I had anticipated, but I know it grows fast and this was the last time I was probably going to get to cut it before Ryan's arrival. It is hopefully just out of reach for his cute little fingers to grab. At 4pm we headed over to the tailgates and then we were in the stadium a little before 5pm for a 6:30pm game time. The game ended around 10:30pm and we visited with a few friends then started the drive home and stopped at Whataburger in Arlington around midnight for a late dinner. Therefore, we didn't actually get to bed until around 1:30am Sunday morning- thus making it the LONGEST DAY EVER! (especially for me!) Today TCU plays at Wyoming at 1pm and we anticipate another big win. GO FROGS! :)

Well, I suppose I should wrap it up. We hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving week. We are thankful for many blessings that God has provided, but especially our family and friends who we love so very much. Until next week...

~Emily

Mike and Emily at the end of the Victory!

Maggie, Phil, Emily & Mike enjoying the game

Mike, James, Paul, & John at Gameday

Vivian and Emily at Gameday (pre-haircut)
Mike & Emily with some of the signs (the one I'm holding got confiscated)

James and Mike with their signs (James' sign also got taken up by ESPN)