Christmas with Family

Saturday, I went to Louisiana to celebrate Christmas with some of my mom's family. Here is Jacey, a recent addition to the family. She was born in September - isn't she cute? Her cousin, Kellie, is holding her. We had a fun, quick visit in Elizabeth, LA!

16 Weeks and a Short Trip

Today is 16 weeks and the baby is now about 4.5 inches long and weighs about 2.25 ounces. Everything is still moving along fine. We have heard the heartbeat a couple of times at the doctor. In January, we will be having our big ultrasound to find out the sex.

My friend, Angela, who lives in London, is back in Texas for a bit and was here to see me this week. She & I decided to make a little trip to Lubbock, TX, to see our other friend, Brandy. Here we are:

Brandy is pregnant with her 2nd and due a few weeks after me. And we also enjoyed seeing her 1st, Jared. Here he is dancing to one of his videos.

We had a lovely, but short visit!! My baby made its first plane ride just fine and had no problems. I made sure to drink plenty of water and keep the circulation going. :)

Baby Nathan is HOME!

My baby cousin, Nathan, finally got to come home today after several days in the hospital to make sure his little one month premature lungs were working ok. I was so happy that I was in town to see him!! Isn't he sweet??

His Daddy is giving him his supper here... he seems to be enjoying it...And it looks like he already loves his cousin Sarah... isn't that a big smile I see on his face?

Babies Babies!

Yesterday, I got to see my friend Kim's new baby, Rachel. She is so sweet!! She was born Tuesday, Nov 20th! I even got in some practice holding little Rachel!!

Nearly Done Decorating!

The Christmas tree is all done and even has a cute new skirt. Below is the topper...

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Last night, I had Mark bring down the tree and finally it was able to come out and play! We bought this poor tree in Dec 03 or Jan 04 and it had yet to come out of its box, since we'd been in Australia or not our own house all the Christmases after that! I am so excited to finally get to decorate! It was pretty late when I started last night, so I only got up the star and a few ornaments. It still has a bit of work to be done.

I've Done a Little Shopping

I have done a little shopping on ebay for a few things for the nursery. :) I found this hand painted lamp shade with the Beatrix Potter characters and this cute little mobile below with Peter, Jemima Puddleduck & Jeremy Fisher. I thought they were cute :)

And it's 11 weeks!

Today, the baby is 11 weeks old! Last Monday, we went to the doctor and got to hear the heartbeat. It was good and strong! Here's what's going on with Baby:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

10 Weeks - Baby Update !

Today the baby is 10 weeks old.

And the info from babycenter.com:
Your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

Finishing the Job!

Mom and Dad both worked hard yesterday and the day before to get the room painted. It had to have two coats of primer to cover up the dark maroon color. Here you can see the nearly finished product. The two colors did not contrast as much as they appeared to on the sample card, but it looks nice. :) I really like the Lettuce Alone color (and it's name).

Saying Goodbye...

For those of you who know me, you know that I am a bit of a planner... so, I decided that since my parents volunteered to be my cheap labor, I would go ahead and paint the nursery... so, that meant saying goodbye to dear ol' Stevie Ray Vaughan... Mom has her paintbrush at the ready! Then Mark decides he is a bit sad about saying goodbye and isn't sure he is ready to part with Stevie Ray... but... Mom wouldn't be stopped and Stevie Ray is no more....

New Clothes - $50

Picture Developing - $13

Postage - $25

Letting you know that there are three people in this picture: Priceless.

The Allen Fire Department, Etc.

Unfortunately, my broken camera was going to cost as much to fix as a new camera, so we broke down and got a new one. Maybe I will take some pictures to post on here now!

For the last few days our fire alarms/carbon monoxide detectors have been beeping and one started going off louder today, so Mark decided to call the fire department. They responded very quickly and helped figure out what the problem was. Apparently the flue on the water heater was helter skelter... I have no idea how that was effecting the detectors, but ok! They have been quiet since then. Also, our water heater seemed really loud before, so maybe that is fixed!

A Cute Pic to Post!!

Hi all! Sorry my blog has been lacking - just haven't had much excitement to report. But I did get this cute picture from my friend today, so thought I would post it! This is me a few weeks ago visiting with Baby Drew - son of my friends Jen & Blaine. He was just a few days old! Isn't he sweet?? Oh - and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Weekend in Waskom

This weekend, Mark & I went to good ol' Waskom to visit and so I could go to a baby shower for my cousin Gary's wife, Jessie. It was fun! But the most interesting picture of the weekend is below... this is my dad... we thought he looked like he was doing skateboarding tricks... minus the skateboard. ha!

Merry Christmas!

Work is going fine - today I got to help decorate our 3 Christmas trees that are up front. It was fun and got me in to the Christmas spirit... yeah, it's a little early, but it's fun, right?? :D

Good idea?

Right about now, Mark is wondering if it was a good idea for me to get a job or not. I bought this cute piece of furniture at work with my employee discount. I did get his approval first. :D This is at the foot of our bed and the color goes nicely with everything. I am enjoying the job so far - I am having to work more hours and my feet hurt a bit, but I am managing. :)

Vacuum Haircuts & Back to Work!

Not much excitement since we have been back from South America, but thought I'd share these two tidbits. Today, I had the experience of giving my poor vacuum a haircut. Any of you with long hair may feel my pain!

Also, tomorrow I am going back to work! Just part time, but thought I'd try to make a little money. I am going back to work for the same company I worked for in Longview... they just happen to have a new Outlet store in the Outlet mall that is a mile and a half from my house. Whoo hoo!

Sugar Loaf, a Church & a Marathon

After we saw the Christ the Redeemer statue, we went ahead to Sugar Loaf Mountain, where we took a cable car up to the top and then walked around a bit to enjoy the view. This is an odd little steep walkway to get down to a lower level.

We saw the closest marmoset we have seen, yet. And I think this little guy was sticking his tongue out at Mark!! :O
The cable car system, has two stops. One on a shorter mountain in between and then one on Sugar Loaf Mountain. This is from the shorter mountain looking back up at Sugar Loaf.

This was also taken from the shorter mountain in between. This is a nice view of a lot of city and Christ the Redeemer is on that pointy mountain in the middle. You may can see him if you click the picture.

Yesterday, we just went in to the downtown area and looked at some old buildings and the 'Old Rio' section of town. St. Benedict's Monastery is there and was very pretty on the inside. Here you can see the oldest organ in Brazil, which dates from like 1730, I think.

This baptistry actually dates older than the church, so I believe it must have come over from Portugal. The church was started in about 1671 (or at least that's when the oldest door was dated) so the baptistry is a bit older than that.
Then we stopped at Copacobana Beach and wandered around a bit. This sand art was fun - you can see the Christ the Redeemer statue on the right and in the back, he also had made the cable car system between Sugar Loaf and the smaller mountain.

This morning we had to slightly delay our plans, because a marathon was going on in front of our hotel. :) Now we are headed to the Sunday market and this may be our last blog before we get home.

Shrouded in Mistery

Yesterday, as it was scheduled to change from 'Mostly Cloudy' to 'Partly Cloudy' by 9am, we decided to attempt to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. We had a really nice driver that took us first to a nice lookout area to see Sugar Loaf Mountain - here it is in the background behind Mark. We wasted a little time here waiting for the fog to clear.When we got to the base of the statue, it was still quite foggy. So we waited there and every so often it would clear enough to get a picture, and then he would disappear in the fog again. We decided he was 'shrouded in mistery' ... and yes, I mean mist! After about an hour, when our driver was scheduled to pick us up, the sky really started to clear! So, we finally got a few better pictures.And here's one looking up from the base of the statue. It is 130 feet tall and weighs 700 tons.Then we went back to the overlook after it had cleared up and we could actually see the statue there on top of Corcovado Mountain behind me. We couldn't see it at all when we stopped there before. You may have to click on the picture to see it...
Here is a zoomed in picture so you can see him atop the mountain. There beside the lookout, one of the drivers had a banana he was feeding to the little marmosets. They seemed to be enjoying it. We thought this one looked a little drunk on banana.

Monkeys & Marmosets!

Yesterday on our walk near Sugar Loaf Mountain, we saw all these cute little marmosets in the trees along the trail. They are less than 8 inches in length (their body... their tails are quite long). Aren't they adorable?!?Then last night we went to a soccer game between two rival Rio de Janeiro teams. It was wild - in the background you can see the flares and flags waving after a goal by the Flamengo (red & black) team.

Today, it was still a bit cloudy and misty, so we went to the Botanical Gardens. They were very pretty - we saw more monkeys in the trees! Here is one in action.When I saw this bit of bamboo across the trail, of course I had to do the limbo to get past it. hahaThe guide book said this was a popular place to do wedding photos. As it was a bit muddy and rainy today, we didn't see any brides wandering around. Tonight we had dinner at Porcao - an all you can eat meat & buffet place. I did as Mark told me and got my money in meat before eating any side dishes. It was super good!! And then to top it off, for dessert, we each had a fantastic chocolate covered strawberry... it was like a strawberry that was encased in some yummy creamy stuff and then dipped in the hard shell chocolate. It was the best chocolate strawberry I've every had and the perfect small bit of dessert to end the meal.

Wild Soccer!

Today we took the free shopping shuttle out to this mall but then walked on to a pretty walk by Sugar Loaf mountain, where there were all of these cute, tiny marmoset monkeys along the way! This evening, we went to a wild soccer match between the two rival Rio de Janeiro teams. There was a LOT of energy in that stadium. I'm on the free lobby internet right now, so will post pictures later!!

Brazilian Side of the Falls & Birds!

Yesterday as we left Argentina, we went to see the falls from the Brazilian side. They were just as gorgeous there! Here's me & Mark and part of the view. :)This is close to the Devil's Throat, but you couldn't see it as good as looking right over it from the Argentina side. There was a spot on the path where you took an elevator up for a better view and I believe this was at the top of the elevator.After seeing the Brazilian side, we stopped at the Parque das Aves (Bird Park) for a little while. There were lots of pretty colored birds there! And these toucans were so pretty, we thought they looked fake... but I promise he was real! I don't think his name was Sam, though. In the last aviary, there were some very aggressive birds... this blue macaw really seemed to like Mark and his jacket. I think he was trying to eat the zipper. We had been warned to enter at our own risk!! Then we went to the airport and got there a little early for our flight. Our flight was about 2 hrs from Foz do Iguazu to Rio de Janeiro. Then we had a bit of a taxi drive out to our hotel and it was dark by the time we got here. Today has been a bit rainy, so it was good we had planned our lazy day. :) Here is the view from our balcony!

In Rio de Janeiro!

Yesterday we went to the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls - it was another gorgeous view!! Then we went to a bird park with lots of pretty birds and toucans up close and even a macaw that tried to eat Mark's jacket. Then we made our flight to Rio de Janeiro and got all checked in. Unfortunately, the internet in our room is fairly pricey, but we get 30 mins free / day in the lobby. I'm currently using that! You may not get as frequent updates this week, but know that we are fine (just cheap)! Today it is raining, but we had already planned to make it a down time day and not do much but sleep late and lounge around! We have 6 more nights here, so plenty of time to see the sights! Our hotel is right on the beach and has a really nice pool. More later!

Devil's Throat & Churrascarria

Yesterday we woke to a bit of rain and a cold day, but it didn't stop us! We got up and rode the little train in the park over closer to the Devil's Throat... and then had a bit of a walk over bridges out to this area called the Devil's Throat of Iguazu Falls. It was crazy! See my video below. This is the part of the falls where about half (the left half) is in Brazil and the right half is in Argentina.Then instead of the train, we took a little fun boat ride back from Devil's Throat. Along the way, we saw a toucan in a tree. We scheduled for a driver from the hotel to drive us to Paraguay so that we could pick up another country on our map. We stayed in Ciudad del Este for about 30 minutes, and ended up heading back to Brazil. As we drove around Brazil, we decided it would be good to stop and get lunch. We chose a churrascarria called Rafain. For those of you that do not know what a Churrascarria is... its a place that serves all you can eat meat which is being grilled right before your eyes. Needless to say, Mark loved this place, as you can tell by the meal below!