I'M AN AUNTIE!!!

This is super exciting news... my younger sister just delivered her healthy baby boy yesterday morning, so now I'm an aunt!! The only sad part is that she lives in Boston, and being almost 7 months preggo myself I'm not allowed to travel so I don't get to go and see them. She texted me a picture but for some reason when I try to e-mail it to myself so that I can upload it and add it to my post it doesn't work , so unfortunately I have no picture to show you yet.

But praise God that her delivery went went well and Jonathan Lull Wood is a very healthy boy, weighing at 7lbs. 13oz. He was named after our dad so I think that's pretty cool. And cooler still, she and her hubby decided not to find out what they were having so it wasn't until yesterday when I got the text message saying, "Hi Aunt Jekika (what my sis called me when she was really little), my name is Jonathan" did we know that she had a boy! Very exciting stuff!!

He is the first grandchild on our side of the family, with my girls to follow in a few months, so needless to say my parents and are beside themselves with joy. :)

My sis and family are hoping to visit next summer when Jonathan's a little older and my girls will be about 3 or 4 months old themselves. I can't wait!

Christmas Card Photo

Every year my husband and I do a photo Christmas card. I used to do the regular cards but not only it it more expensive to buy those nice ones, it takes a lot of time to fill out and sign each one, plus I also love getting the photo cards from my friends, so one year I figured, why not? we had a great picture that was taken of us outside a restaurant so we used that pictures, got tons of compliments, and we've been doing the photo card thing ever since.

So each year we have to choose a photo, and sometimes we stage it on purpose just so we can get it done in time. This year was one of those times. Here it is Sunday and only FIVE days till Christmas, and we don't even have a picture we can use, let alone ordered the cards. So we decided to do it outside in front of some of our Christmas decorations so we could get the pretty white lights in the background. I set up my camera on the tripod, set the timer, and viola! There you have it!

I think it turned it pretty well, especially for doing it totally last minute. And the best part was that I uploaded the photos and ordered the cards within 10 minutes of doing it and the cards were ready at 12noon the next day, so I was still able to get them out in the mail on the 21st, arriving to almost everyone before Christmas. Whew! Glad we made that work!

By the way, notice in the pic that my nails are a lovely shade of autumn berry red? I had taken my old nail polish off earlier that day with the plan of doing a complete manicure later, but once we rushed outside to get the picture done before it got too dark and I realized that my nails weren't done and it would show in the photo (I know, I'm SUCH a girl!), I ran inside and did a quick coat on just my right hand because I knew that would be visible in the picture - ha! So yes, for that Sunday evening I only had one hand painted red.

My husband didn't even notice but when I pointed it out to him and told him what I'd done and why, he totally laughed and said, "Funny, but I'm not surprised." :)

COACH COACH COACH!

I'm a girl who likes nice things. Designer sunglasses, purses, you name it. So I have quite a collection of Coach handbags but lately, really for the past 3 years, I've been "over it" and haven't even set foot in a Coach store, let alone bought one. There are just so many other great desginers out there to be explored! Why settle for only one brand??

So explore I did and have added numerous other designers to my handbag collection - which I love! But then my two sisters in Boston decided they both wanted Coach purses for Christmas this year so my local sis and I went to their store to pick out new bags for them. And we did find a great bag for each of them that I'm sure they will love, BUT, while there I also found, not one, but TWO bags that I really liked for myself!

Sis: "Mom and Dad haven't gotten you anything for Christmas yet, have they?"

Me: "No, not yet."

Sis: "It's only 6 days until Christmas! Have you asked for anything?"

Me: "Not specifically. I was thinking of asking for baby stuff since we're going to need so much with having twins."

Sis: "But you're having THREE baby showers! You're going to get everything you need from your showers and this is Christmas. You should ask for things just for you for Christmas."

Me: (Silent)

Sis: "I think you should get them both! Mom will reimburse you like she always does, plus she'll be glad that some of your shopping is out of the way. And it's not like you'll be buying stuff for yourself once the babies arrive."

Me: "Good point. Okay, I'm getting in line."

So... I bought them! And they're from my parents for Christmas! (And Mom was pleased she had less shopping to do). ;)

The first is this one, except instead of being the gray with black signature it's the dark black with black signature and the leather is a fun shiny patent. I love the slip pocket on the front and it fits so comfortably under my shoulder. I was actually inspired to get this bag because it so reminds me of a cheap one that I had many years ago that was this same shape, style, etc. It was such a comfortable purse but I got rid of it because the "leather" on it wasn't even real, was poorly constructed, and it just needed to go. So now I have a much better version of it!

The second one is not this bag exactly (couldn't find a pic of it) but it is this exact color and is also in patent leather. It's a bit smaller, but has a slip pocket on the front and the signature "C" pattern is embossed all over the leather. Very bold and not for everyone but I love it!

So after coming home and seeing my great purchases my hubby decides we should get a Coach bag for his mom for Christmas. Great idea! She doesn't have one and would LOVE it if we got her one! So yesterday, back to the store we go. After searching and searching and finally finding one that we know she's going to love, I get in line and the hubby says he'll wait for me at the entrance.

I finish paying and am on my way out when my husband says, "Hey Babe, look at this one!" I look at what's he's pointing to. Ohh, very cute... I actually really like it. I sit down on the bench next to the shelf it's on and start carefully looking it over.

Me: "I really like this bag. The vintage horse and carriage pattern is so cute. And I love the detachable long strap and the pocket on the front" (Can you tell I like exterior pockets on my purses?) ;)

Hubs: "You should get it."

Me: "What? No, it's too expensive, plus I'm already getting some new ones."

Hubs: "Don't worry about it, you deserve it. We're getting this one, so Merry Christmas!"

Girl browsing nearby: "Where I can get one of him?" pointing at my husband. I know, he's so sweet, right?

I smile, give him a kiss, and agree, so back to the register we go to pay for my third Coach bag this Christmas! Here it is:

Not bold and flashy, but cute and functional. The best part about this is I can totally see myself pushing a double pink stroller with this bag on my shoulder, and when I'm trying to pick the babies up and don't want the bag falling off I can wear it cross-body. That will definitely come in handy!

*Sigh* So much for my avoidance of Coach. And while I will always continue to explore other designers, it does feel good to be back. :)

(Any other Coach fans out there??) :)

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so it's been many many MANY months since I last did a post, and many things have happened since then. I have to mention that the biggest reason I stopped writing for a while is that I was very sick and in the hospital and then it took about 3 months for me to really recover. That being said, I have FANTASTIC news....

I'M PREGNANT!! And even better... I'm expecting TWIN GIRLS!!!!!! I'm already 6 1/2 months along now (26 weeks) and doing great! The whole reason I was hospitalized was a rare and awful early pregnancy complication - I actually found out I was pregant while in the hospital! (And I was hospitalized just a few days after that last post that I wrote). But after that awful thing resolved I've been having a great pregnancy ever since. Praise God!!!

Both of the girls are growing right on schedule, I'm feeling really good, not having any weird pains, cramping, bleeding, heartburn, headaches, bloating, swelling, chest hair, nausea, or anything else! My doctor even said that I have a "model twin pregnancy". Doesn't get much better than that, does it?? Besides, I figure that if my little girls can survive what I went through in the beginning then they must be little fighters that can survive anything. :)

My husband and I are more excited, thrilled, thankful, blessed, and overjoyed than words can say. What an amazing miracle for us!

It definitely feels good to be writing again and I will keep you all posted of my progress. Lots more to come!

God is Good!

I am SOOO relieved! Everything went as perfect as it could have yesaterday. I'm still pretty sore and my doctor said it should take about a week for me to fully recover but everything went just beautifully as I was hoping. :) Yay!

I hope to write a real post soon!

BIG DAY!!!!

Sorry I've been a bit MIA lately... I have to have another surgery tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous. I've spent a lot of time at the doctor's office the past week and been too preoccupied to write, so here I am. :) I just want everything to go exactly as we want it to. I'm sure it will be fine but I'm still nervous. I've been praying every time I think about it, which is about every 15 minutes.

Inhale......... Exhale........... Inhale............ Exhale.............

I just need to keep breathing and everything will be fine. Right?

Peanut Butter S'mores

Lately I've been addicted to peanut butter s'mores.... Here's how I make them:

Spread a layer of creamy peanut butter on half of a graham cracker.

Place Hershey's chocolate squares on top.

Toast 2 marshmallows, lay on top of chocolate, then use other half of graham cracker as the top of the s'more to pull the marshmallows off the forks.

Pretty much your basic s'mores except I add peanut butter and use 2 marshmallows, otherwise the peanut butter can be a little overpowering. It's absoutely delicious and I've been eating one of these every night for the past 4 nights. I just can't help it!

New Curlers: Attempt 1

So I tried my new curlers this morning. Let me start by saying that I have naturally wavy hair and usually when I curl it with the curling iron I have to use a flat iron first on the top half of my head to get all of that hair smooth, then I can curl the lower half (my hair is at the middle of my back).

This morning I skipped that first step and when straight to the rollers, just to see what it would do.

I didn't take any photos but when I took the rollers out it had made the lower half of my hair very smooth and wave free, with some soft curls at the ends. Unfortunately the top half was still very wavy so I had to go back with the flat iron and do what I normally do. But even so, my hair was still softer and smoother than it normally is. Score 1 point for that!

BUT, I think I used sections of hair that were way too thick (oh yeah, my hair is also quite thick) so it didn't curl it as much as I wanted it to so I ended up having to go back over it with the curling iron.

I'm going to try it again but this time will try smaller sections of hair. This might take a few times to practice but if I can get this down and it works then I will keep the set. Otherwise... it's going back to the store!