Joan Ellen Cornell

20 week appointment TOMORROW! Which meanssss.....we find out the sex of our baby!! WOOHOOO!!!

We cut down our Christmas tree today. Living in a town called Evergreen most def. has it's advantages! We went to Jeremy's brother's house and cut one from his yard. Now, it's not the most amazing tree you've all seen, but the fact that we picked it out and cut it down, and with a little trimming and some decorations, it's going to be the most perfect tree everrr! Pictures to come as soon as it's up and lovely.

i'm going to bed right now so the morning comes faster! :) :) :)

I got this great idea from Jamie over at her blog, With Love, and i've been sewing away for the past 2 days, and probably will do more :) Such a cute idea! My entire Christmas tree will be covered in these!

So my first thought when I got the itch to ice skate was "Is that going to be safe??"...so I did some research and came to the conclusion that with my skating past and how confident I felt that I wouldn't fall, I was ok to go :) I haven't skated in a few years (but it's like riding a bike I guess...you just don't forget), and watching Skating with the Stars the other night made me wanna go so bad, haha. And it's that time of year!

I spent every weekend for a good 2-3 winters skating at the Polar Dome Ice Arena in Santa's Village in Dundee, IL...back in high school, as well as plenty of other times since then. Hockey is a pretty big deal where i'm from, so skating rinks were a huge hit. We would all go there to hang out and flirt with each other and meet kids from other schools. On Friday and Saturday nights for open skate, they would turn the lights down and turn on disco balls and spotlights with different colors and play "cool" music. The rink happened to have a bar/restaurant at it, kind of like a lodge with a fireplace, and big windows to look out onto the skating rink. So parents would go hangout in the lodge, drink and watch their kids ice-skate. The daughter of the Rink Manager (or something along those lines) was a friend of ours, and one time- not sure how- we ended up with the big key ring filled with keys to every locker room, the zamboni, pretty much to everything. So we would go in places we weren't supposed to...eventually we got caught and yelled at, haha, but good times were had at that ice rink, that's for sure! Sadly, the rink closed in 2006 so there's no going back to reminisce, but I will never forget that place :) Or the mini tacos or the red icees at the concession stand that I got every time I was there. SOOO GOOOOD.

I ended up going tonight to a rink here in Littleton (Edge Ice Arena) and it was so much fun! Nothing like the Polar Dome, but still worthy :) I brought my headphones and listened to some good tunes and skated around. Nothing crazy, just skated in circles around the rink, skated backwards a little bit...and that's all. But I didn't fall even once (which I knew I wouldn't or I wouldn't have gone). I lasted for about an hour and was DONE. Haha. I forgot how much skates hurt your feet when you're not used to them, and my legs are going to KILL tomorrow. And i'm exhausted, but a good exhausted. Maybe i'll actually sleep in tomorrow for once! :)

Thanksgiving was great. We went to Jeremy's parent's house in Kansas Wednesday night. Only 1 of his 3 brothers were home this year, so it was pretty quiet. Good food though :) And it's always fun with his family during holidays because they play fun games...

Jeremy and Lola, playing Phase 10

We left Kansas last night and got home around 11:00pm or so. Pretty much went to bed when I got home, I was exhaustedddd!

It's soooo nice out today, almost 50 degrees! So I took advantage and went and got a carwash :)

Tonight I actually looked through my pics from the beginning of the summer to find one of my belly button to compare it to what it looks like now, haha.

Oh shooooot.

The joy's of being pregnant...

Good:

Last night I think I felt the baby move. I can't really explain what it felt like, but it felt like something. And then it felt exactly the same again a little while ago. So I think I felt the baby, I think :)

My hair is feeling pretty thick lately, something it NEVER feels like, haha. So PLUS for good hair (except it needs some highlights STAT).

Bad:

I've never ever had dry skin, even after moving to dry Colorado from humid Michigan and Illinois 3 years ago. But now that i'm pregnant, my skin is so dry. My right hand stings on top and worse when I put lotion on :( It's probably from washing my hands so much now to keep germs off of me, but it SUCKS. Grrrr.

And my freaking face is breaking out worse than ever. Eww.

On another note- when I was home I heard my nephew sing along to Train's "Hey Soul Sister" a bunch of times (he loves it) and I swear since i've been back in CO i've heard it so many times and it makes me so happy and so sad at the same time :) :( Makes me think of him, but then I miss him so much.

Back to the grind...nannying today. One of the twins is home from school with strep throat...awesome. NOT. If I get it i'm gonna be soooo pissed.

I got my blood drawn yesterday for the liver test, i'll get the results back in a week or so.

Nothing else exciting. I've been reading a lot of parenting magazines and finding a lot of good tips in them...as well as yummy looking recipes I can't wait to try out :)

I'm so exhausted I can't even put into words how exhausted I am.

Lily had school all day yesterday, so I just ran errands and got bills paid. Last night we went to Amy and Brian's engagement party (downtown Denver), where we only stayed for 2 hours or so cause we had Lily with us.

Lily is an excellent photographer :)

Today, I took her to this place called "Fantastic Fun." It's an indoor amusement park with a mini ferris wheel (which she kept calling "fairy tale" haha) and teacups that spin around and a couple jumpy castle things, some slides and video games and other random stuff. She even made a new friend there who she ran around with the whole time :) Afterwards, we went to Panera for lunch (my FAV!) and now we're home watching James and the Giant Peach.

Another long day. 11 hours of nannying.

Now Lily's here for the weekend :) She has school all day tomorrow, then we have dinner in Denver, and Saturday I think i'll take her to the children's museum downtown.

I miss my boyfriend :( I didn't see him until I got home, and then he left right away for Vail to see Yamn tonight and go snowboarding tomorrow (it's opening day tomorrow there). He'll be back tomorrow for the dinner we are going to though.

So, a lot of you know already about the dang hives I've been getting since I got pregnant. Lately, my feet and palms have been itching like CRAZY (like, I itch them and itch them and itch them and it still doesn't feel relieved) and I've noticed there are no hives in either place when they itch, so I did a little research online to see what I could find out about it. This is what I've stumbled upon. It's called Cholestasis of Pregnancy. If you click on the link, you can read all about it, but here's what it is in a nutshell-

So a symptom of this is itching palms and feet...which according to the mom I nanny for (who just so happens to be an obstetrician), this is about the only thing that is known to cause those symptoms. To test for it, they take blood to test the amount of bile or something, and they do an ultrasound on the liver to see if it is functioning normally. If it turns out that this is the problem I'm having, there are medicines they put you on to help the liver function normally...because while it's not a risk to me as the mother- just an itching annoyance- it poses harmful risks to the fetus. Which usually means being induced about 3 weeks early (apparently most of the risks are at the very end of the pregnancy, so they induce early to make sure that nothing happens in the last few weeks). UGH. I also read that usually most doctors just write these symptoms off as common hormonal issues, but i'm going to get the bloodwork done to make sure. They do say that this problem is rare this early in the pregnancy, but rare doesn't mean it doesn't happen this early ever. So hopefully this is NOT what my problem is, but if it is, I am glad I did my research and will be able to control this and most likely prevent anything bad from happening to my baby :(

Loong day today. Nannied from 7am til 6:30pm. Now i'm exhausted and ready for bed and it's only 7:45pm.

I only had the littlest all day, and the twins before and after school for a couple of hours. After they got home, we stuffed the robots and I sewed them up, and VIOLA, they're done :)

On the way to work this morning at 6:30am

The wind was blowing and the snow was falling...

Thanks to IROCKSOWHAT giving me the idea, I made Banana Ice Cream tonight :)

2 Frozen, Ripe Bananas

Milk

Peanut Butter

M&M's

Cut the frozen banana's into slices.

Blend banana, peanut butter, and milk in blender until smooth.

Top with M&M's.

DELICIOUS :)

I've also been working on Christmas card ideas. This is what i've come up with so far...

(will eventually add pics...and the one pic is just an example...I plan on taking x-mas pics especially for the cards!)

Click to Enlarge

#1

#2

The rest of the trip went well. Friday, Justine, Alex and I went to breakfast at the Swedish Pancake House by my mom's, and then hung out at my mom's house all day. Friday night, Joe took us to Red Lobster for dinner, mmmmmm.

While I was home, my aunt gave me some baby stuff she used that she no longer needs...a boppy and a couple covers for it, a sac the baby goes in in the car seat (lined with wool like material, soooo soft), a thing that holds the baby's head in place in the car seat, an all natural teether, and a baby name book! I still have been putting off the whole name thing, I'm waiting until we know whether it's a girl or boy to start seriously I think...I don't wanna research into something that will end up being a waste of time! I think I've finally decided on some nursery colors. Originally I was going to go with more earthy natural colors, but it keeps changing, haha. So now i've decided that if it's a girl, it'll be dark grey and bright yellow, and probably still gonna go with chocolate brown and sage green if it's a boy. We'll see, it could still change...but I really like the grey and yellow, so that'll stay if it's a girl :)

Time to catch up on the blogs that I usually read that I've been neglecting for the past week and a half. Going to take me foreverrrr, haha.

Well here's a recap of the last week:

Thursday:

I got all of the results for the down syndrome and spina bifida testing I had done and all came back normal :)

Friday:

I flew back to Illinois. My mom and sister picked me up at the airport and we headed back to my mom's house.

Saturday:

I went to my sister's and met her new dog! Then my mom, my nephew and I drove an hour and a half to my Grandma's house. My Aunt Colleen and her 2 kids, Grace and Reed were there, as well as my Aunt Ada and Uncle Pat from Florida. It was great to see everyone I hadn't seen in a while!

Alex :)

Chloe

Sunday:

We drove back to the town my Grandma lives in for my Grandpa's wake. What a looong day. The wake was from 3-8pm. We arrived at 2 to have a private viewing with just the family. Such a sad sad day :( I saw a ton of family and friends whom I haven't seen in years and years though. Lots of people asked questions about the baby on the way.

After everything for the day was over, my mom and I went to my Aunt's house in Chicago and stayed there for the night so that we had a shorter drive back to the funeral the next morning.

Monday:

We had to be back at the funeral home at 8:30am for a short service. My Grandparent's were very involved in their Catholic church so the entire thing was very Catholic oriented. After that, my mom, sister, both aunt's, my mom's brother, Grandma and I took a limo to their church. There was an hour mass there. While walking in and out, there was a bagpipe player, dressed in kilt and all, playing. My Grandpa was Irish and this was one of his wishes to have at his funeral. I think the tears flowed for all after hearing the first notes being played...but it was beautiful. After the service, we got back into the limo and drove to the cemetery, where there was another short service inside of the chapel there. After most everyone left the cemetery, we stayed to witness the burial :(

After that was done, a bunch of people met at a restaurant for a luncheon.

When we were done there, I went with my Aunt and Uncle back to their house in Chicago to stay with them for a couple of days. We were all exhausted when we arrived so we didn't do much...ordered dinner to be delivered and hung out with the kids for a few hours.

Tuesday:

My Aunt took my cousin Grace to school in the morning and her and I and my cousin Reed went shopping for maternity clothes on Michigan Ave. We picked up Grace around noon and all went home to nap for a while. After that, we went shopping again, and to the park with the kids. Uncle Eric got home and we had dinner, hung out for a while, and crashed early...again, haha. What an exhausting few days!

Michigan Ave.

Wednesday:

We left my Aunt's house around 9am and headed to my Grandma's house. We met my mom and nephew there. The kids played while we helped my Grandma clean out all of the planters my Grandpa didn't have a chance to himself. Andddd, we ate Portillo's (my FAVORITE italian beef EVERRR)!! We also got the crab that Grandpa used to scare us with :)

After a few hours, we headed home back to Rockford to my mom's house.

The crab!

Nephew and cousin Grace in the leaves :)

Today:

My mom and stepdad Joe went to work, I slept in and then relaxed all morning and part of the afternoon. I worked on the felt robots for the kids I nannied for so I can get them done by next Tuesday when I nanny for them again. Speaking of, that family just asked me if I want to take over for their current nanny whom apparently they are firing because she is unreliable. I agreed...so I will be working for them 2-3 days a week until the end of March, right before the baby comes :)