O Christmas Tree.....

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Ever since I can remember, it has been a tradition in my family to cut down a Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I'm sure many other families have a similar tradition. We don't just go to a nearby lot and pick out a 6-or 7 foot tree, though. No way! We drive to the Santa Cruz mountains and cut down the best looking 12-foot tree we can find. See, my parents have cathedral ceilings in the living room, which allows us to bring home such a large tree.

I've been doing this for so many years now that the thought of bringing home a fake tree or even a fresh one from a local lot just seems wrong. (Although we will unfortunately have a tiny fake tree this year at our condo, due to lack of space) But for my parents' house, it must be a genuine tree freshly cut from the mountains. So yesterday, with my sister and her kids along for the ride, we drove down to Santa Cruz to find the perfect tree......

My sister and I in our vests. Have to look cute for the mountains!

There were so many of us we had to take 2 cars. Adam and I somehow ended up with 3 munchkins in our backseat.

It was cold in the mountains! We all bundled up.

My Dad was in charge of the saw......

After searching high and low, we found the perfect tree!

Adam and Josh broke a sweat cutting down the tree.

While the women supervised! (Took pictures)

Do you think it will fit? Adam doesn't.

Peek-a-Boo!

Samantha posed for yet another picture for her Aunt Stephanie.

We made it home without getting pulled over!

What a fun morning! The only problem is that the tree is actually 14 feet. And my parents' ceiling is 15 feet. Yikes!

On Tuesday Adam and I go to the Dr. for my "big" 20-week ultrasound where we will hopefully know the gender 100%. Can't wait! I will be back with a recap, and hopefully an ultrasound picture.

Thanksgiving 2009

Words can't really describe my Thanksgiving this year. Instead, I will post a few pictures from the day.

Ava, sort of trying to maybe smile for me.

Adam, playing catch with the boys.

My Dad, trying to figure out the Christmas lights.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! What is your favorite food to eat on this yearly feast? Mine is Stuffing, hands-down.

Exercise

Hello readers! Today is just a lazy Saturday, full of laundry and errands. Nothing too special going on this weekend, except we are getting our brand new KING mattress delivered tomorrow! Can't wait to sleep on a comfortable mattres!

So I've been thinking a lot lately about exercise. I've never been the athletic type, and therefore exercise has never been something I really looked forward to or enjoyed. But before getting pregnant, I was training for a half-marathon. Although it was hard, it made me really proud of myself, and I felt good getting out there (most days) and being active.

But since becoming pregnant? Well, let's just say the word "exercise" is no longer in my vocabulary. And I feel guilty about this. During my first trimester I did have a valid medical reason to not exercise. But now that my complications have cleared up, I am more than capable of getting out there and being active. There's just always something more pressing to do. Such as making dinner, doing the laundry, doing something on my laptop for work, SLEEP. I don't want to use being tired as an excuse, but I'm tired!

I need to do something, though. Right now the only activity I do is walk my dog most evenings. But I only last about 20 minutes before I'm done. I've heard that exercising during pregnancy can be a big help during labor and recovery afterwards. So what should I do? Any suggestions for how to get started?

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! My wonderful mom turns 68 years young today. =) Love you!

Quick Update

So I'm 17.5 weeks now. I can't decide if this pregnancy is going by quickly or not. Sometimes it feels like it is taking forever, but in reality, I'm almost half way there!

I'm really anxious to feel the baby kick. So far, absolutely nothing! I've read online that many women start to feel the baby "flutter" around 16 weeks. So what's wrong with me? Any moms out there remember when they first felt their baby kick?

We haven't done any shopping, registering, or decorating yet. I think we will register once I have my 20-week ultrasound and we know the gender 100%. So far I have resisted the urge to buy any baby things. This is mostly because we have absolutely no space! Our 625-sq foot condo feel smaller every day. Maybe because I'm getting larger every day? =)

Decorating will have to wait until we move, since we only have 1 bedroom right now. We've been looking for a house for the past year, but so far nothing has worked out. But that's a story for another day.
I have a slight cold right now....sore throat and headache. Adam commented tonight that it seems like I haven't felt well since day one of this pregnancy. But honestly, I think things have gone really well!

PS: Thanks to Danielle, I just placed an order on www.uddercovers.com. If you enter in the code "country", you get $32 off, which means you only pay for shipping! I guess this means I have made my first baby purchase!

Family Day

Today I went with my parents to visit my sister and her family, who live up about 30 minutes north of Sacramento. Just in case you don't know, my sister and her husband have 5 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 cats. So yes, visiting with them is always noisy and tiring but incredibly fun. I wish my nieces and nephews lived closer! Here are a few pictures from the day:

Me with my 14-year old niece, Samantha. Pretty in purple!

Joshua, my 11 year old nephew.

Emma, my 7 year old niece. Missing her 3 front teeth!

Jacob, my 6 year old nephew.

Ava, my 2 year old niece.

Aren't they cute?? I love those kids.

16 Weeks!

Here is my official 4-month belly shot. WOW am I really that far along? This photo really doesn't do the belly justice. It is much larger in life! (I just showed the photo to Adam and he agrees with me. In his words, my belly went BOOM since this picture was taken. Nice, isn't he?)
Still no more weight gain since week 9, although I'm beginning to feel like a beached whale. I'm sure I will start to look like one in a few more weeks.

So Sunday was an exhausting day of cooking. I was actually a bit disappointed with how some of the recipes turned out. Probably no fault of the recipes, but rather the chef preparing them. =/

I started out with Pioneer Woman's Asian Noodle Salad. It sounded like something I would love, but sadly, the flavor was just "off".
Next up was Baked Beans and Bacon Onion Cheddar Biscuits for dinner. The beans were pretty good, but I was expecting a sweeter, more BBQ flavor. The biscuits, on the other hand, were absolutely delicious! Perfectly buttery and bacony. (Is that a word?).
In between lunch and dinner I managed to find time to make Oatmeal Crispies. Really good! Again, very buttery. Are you sensing a theme here?
I would have included my blurry pictures, but Pioneer Woman's pictures are 10x more appetizing. So click on the links and just imagine that's what my food looked like.

Whew! I was a very tired pregnant lady by the end of the day....

Next up on the dinner menu for tomorrow is Crispy Yogurt Chicken, minus the Tablespoon of butter on each piece of chicken. Don't believe me? Click on the link!

That's all I've got for tonight. I feel like I should be updating more about the baby, since this is the "Nully Baby Blog". But I honestly don't have much to update. I haven't felt him move yet, but I'm hoping it happens sometime in the next couple of weeks!

Sneezy Sunday

I woke up this morning and decided against going to church because I am sneezing my head off. No, I'm not sick. Just cursed with allergies. We went to our good friends Jon and Danielle's house last night to watch the MMA Strikeforce fight. Unfortunately, they have 3 cats and 1 dog, and I am allergic to all of them. We had a good time, eating turkey burgers and watching the Sharks game in between fighting rounds. (5-0 Sharks!)

So today I am just taking it easy and cooking/baking! One of my favorite things to do. =)

I recently stumbled upon the Pioneer Woman, thanks to reading Tara's Blog. Oh. My. Goodness. You have to go to PW's website and check out her "cooking" tab. The most amazing looking food ever! Now just to warn you, many of her recipes include butter. Big hunks of butter. But everything looks absolutely delicious, so I've decided to try out a few recipes today. Stay tuned for the results!

This is what Riley is doing today. Just chillin'.

15-Week Appointment

I had a routine check-up today and everything seems good! No ultrasound today, but my BIG ultrasound was scheduled for early December! That is when we'll know 100% that we're having a boy, instead of just 90%.

As of 15 weeks, I have gained a total of 5 pounds. Wow, I can't believe I just gave out that information on the internet.....My doctor is pleased with that number and said that I'm right on target. It's still hard to see the numbers creeping up, though.

I finally broke down and got the H1N1 flu shot today. I've been very conflicted about the shot, but after getting that horrible migraine last week, I've been reminded of how miserable is it to be sick. I absolutely hate being sick. For some reason it really scares me and causes me to have a lot of anxiety. So I think the best choice for me was to get the shot and ease my fears of getting the flu.

I have added a poll to my blog, asking for your opinion on some potential baby names. Please vote honestly! And I would love to hear your reasoning for your votes!