Have a Merry (And SAFE) Christmas!!

Don't be a statistic, don't drink & drive! But if you have to tolerate insufferable in-laws, by all means drink.. but make someone sober drive.. hey you're nice to them 364 days of the year, they can drive you this one time!!

Thanks for reading my blog, and making feel all special. I just found out today I have 'followers'. How empowering does that sound?? Now if I could figure out how to follow people back. I am pretty computer savvy, and old-school internet savvy but all these automated programs that do everything for you confuse me very much. I can do html, but figuring out how to click buttons? Derrrr.
Anyways, hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!
The next few days are going to WOOSH past me quickly.. My dad made me promise to make him my (SECRET RECIPE--not) copy cat recipe for Olive Garden's Chocolate Lasagna, since they stopped making it at OG (I protested this, and was not alone).. so I have to go buy ingredients for that, finish wrapping gifts, then Wednesday night I celebrate with my parents & siblings.. Thursday morning will be Dirty Santa with my mom's side of the family if people get over there in time, otherwise off to Russell's parents house in Tennesse.. then we come back that night, and leave for Florida in the morning.. for 5 days. My grandparents on my dad's side have a condo in Florida they stay at every winter, and this year we decided to have a huge family reunion down there. My uncle who I haven't seen in 10 years, my cousin that I rarely see (and has not seen her dad--uncle mentioned above-- in some 15 years), and possibly my aunt in Canada that we never see.. all going down there. Should be fun, I get so exhausted from excitement lately (I feel like an old fuddy duddy) so I am glad to know Russell & I will have our own room in one of the rented condos for me to retreat to.
Plus that's a long time to be away!! Luckily, Russell's parents agreed to babysit our dog.
My g'ma promised to make her Kru Ka Ka!! OM NOM NOM NOM. It's a swedish dish (they are swedish), and it takes a lot of work so she hasn't made it in 5 or so years. My brother and I begged her to make it this year for Christmas--promised her if she would make it, we would come down for the holidays hah hah. So she hauled her grinder all the way down there to make it. I'm probably spelling it wrong, but it's hand made sausage, and then you boil & grind up potatoes and form a ball around the sausage.. then you boil them. It's so amazingly yummy, and it's a 'different' tasting sausage, couldn't really explain it.. very potent.

If you watched "Worst Week" this week, that's how I am with being pregnant. I sneak all kinds of food and when I get a disapproving look (from my mom or Russell mostly) I say "The baby needs ___". Heh heh. Russell heard how babies develop taste buds now when I eat, so he said I needed to stop eating sugar. HAHA. Funny man.

Baby Carson

Ok, well I guess I should explain how it all came about!
Russell was there for the ultrasound, and when it came to finding out the sex the tech told him to cover his eyes--which he did. I stared intently at the screen waiting for her to type it out. She did-- It's a boy!
I couldn't stop grinning after that, I did want a girl but only because of the cute stuff.. Healthy is what I'm really after, and healthy he is!
We were leaving and Russell said "The tech said "It's a boy" when she was typing it". What?!? I didn't even notice. I kept trying to confuse him, which I think worked. To this day I make a comment daily that makes it seem like a girl.. and then another where it seems like a boy. My parents wanted to get us a car seat/stroller/swing for Christmas. Since he didn't want to know the sex, it meant gender neutral or he doesn't see what we get for Christmas. I told him he's really putting a damper in things, people want to know the sex and family wants to be able to buy stuff.. Heck, I don't want a bunch of unisex stuff at the baby shower!! So I convinced him to let me tell him.
So I bought a footed set (onesie, jumper? Still learning terminology) that looks like a blue baseball uniform, complete with what looks like cleats on the feet! It says "Daddy's All Star" (and then a small stamp that says "Property of mom" hehe)..So I wrapped that and it's under the Christmas tree from Nattie-Carson, I told him he will open that first on Christmas morning and find out. Glad he let me talk him into it. I know he's a little disappointed, but I want to shop!!!
I bought the nursery set, and fell in love with a discontinued line (of course I did!) Kidsline's Silver Lining, but I was able to find most accessories on E-bay.. only things I couldn't find are wall-hangings & the mobile. But, I found a mobile that will match, and I made my own wall-hangings with an extra curtain from the set. You can see the set & hangings I made on the baby's website!

If anyone is interested, I think Lane Bryant has the best bras, despite not being able to wear their clothes anymore.. and my bra size is going up so last night I went to order some online.. they are having a Buy 2 Get 2 Free sale.. and then on top of that I found online codes for $50 off $150, etc.. I ended up paying $120 for 8 bras! Woot.

I know, I know..

I've been slacking with my blog.
Quick run down.. gaining weight, baby is a boy--but Russell isn't going to find out till Christmas, and I made the baby his very first website!

http://www.babyhomepages.net/babybarlow/

I will post more sometime this week with more details, I promise ;)

Gobble, Gobble!

How was everyone's Turkey day?
Mine was pretty good! The in-laws came early to our house from Tennessee, then we went to my granny's. I was picking at food while we waited, and a deviled egg caught my eye. I took 1/3 bite of it and didn't chew at all (old habit, I never use to chew food when I got hungry), so I swallowed it whole and immediately felt it clog me up. Ran and spit it up. Yum!
But then, somehow, I was able to eat a LOT of food. I take a sampling of everything and taste it, but I was able to eat all my samples, plus 2 whole pickled eggs my MIL brought(man they are sooo weird, and good). Eggs pickled in beet juice. Plus some dark meat turkey & ham. I blame the gravy, I put gravy on 3/4 of everything. I knew my band was letting me eat it, so I tried to be conscious of being 'full' (not satisfied, because it's Thanksgiving and I like food!). Well I missed it. Shame on me, that's what I get. I got this HORRIBLE pain in my left shoulder, like I dislocated it. I vaguely remember people on the forum talking about this pain. I googled it, and it said your diaphragm nerves are in your left shoulder (how interesting is that?) so, I assume that's what it was. I felt it after lunch a few days prior at work and it went away after an hour or so. This bad boy wouldn't stop. I laid in my granny's bed for about 30 minutes, then became a party pooper. Russell & I went home, and his parents left straight from there back to TN.

I'm still waiting for my dad to e-mail me the pics from Thanksgiving, I'm sure they won't be flattering, he took every one of them while we were eating.
Ever since Thanksgiving I feel heavy and uncomfortable, and one morning while rubbing my aching belly I realized.. it's very firm and there's a baby in there, and it's becoming known. Maybe it packed on some weight from my Turkey binge hah hah. I slept a lot on the 4 day weekend, 2 days I slept all day long, then slept during the night too. I would wake up with my belly uncomfortable, so I'm trying to figure out how to sleep to accomodate the baby violet.

I guess that's it.. well I could probably think of more, but it's 5pm which means I'm going home!