Snow Day in the Rock

Like I mentioned in this post about how we spent Christmas, it started snowing in Little Rock on Christmas night.  When I was posting about it, it was coming down pretty hard and the National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings.  Tons of my family and friends were powerless Christmas night, but the Holloway house is rarely without power, so we spent the evening by the fire watching The Preacher's Wife and playing with our gadgets.  I got a little stressed about how on earth we were going to get back up the hill to Fayetteville the next day, but Ryan kept telling me not to worry, we'd figure it out tomorrow (his life's motto, he's like Scarlett O'Hara or something).

The next morning we got up, peeked outside, and decided we'd better go ahead and let our bosses know we weren't going to make it home for work on Thursday.  I told my boss it was around six inches.  I went downstairs, and my parents informed me that it was actually ten inches.  The only time I've ever seen snow like that is when we got eighteen inches two years ago in Fayetteville.  We definitely made the right call to stay in!

My brother hiked to Wal-Mart that morning, only to find that it wasn't even open.  Wal-Mart not open the day after Christmas?  Cue apocalypse.  Alli sprang out of bed ready to play in the snow, and our whole family was actually pretty eager to sled down the massive hill my parents live on.  Seriously, I get out of breath walking up this thing, and that was in high school!  So we got out my great uncle's sled (which makes it 62 years old...wowza!) and trudged to the hill.  Fortunately, some neighbors had already been out that morning and offered us their sleds while they went in to warm up, so everyone had one to use.  I was so excited to use my new camera, since I'm not allowed to sled (boooo).  I am pleased to show you some awesome shots.

Domination

No sledding for this preggo!

Daddy riding Jed the Sled 

Afterwards, we warmed up and played a ton of card games, including Spoons and I Doubt It (our kid-friendly version of Bullsh**).  We taught Alli I Doubt It and it took her a few rounds to pick up the concept.  At one point, we said "Tell a story when you lay down the cards."  For her next hand, she laid down three cards and said "I went to the beach..." Hilarious.  And from then on, instead of yelling "I doubt it!" when people were bluffing, we started saying "You're going to the beach!"

So much fun, and a spot-on perfect way to end our holiday week with the family.

Emmett snoozing

Pregnancy Update - 17 Weeks

I'm sort of anti-baby bump pictures right now, probably because I mostly just look fat instead of pregnant, but I keep getting told I will regret not having some pictures to go along with these posts.  So as soon as I get up and get showered, I'll have Ryan take a picture.  Maybe.

Update:  Picture below.  If I look tired, it's from 5 hours of maternity clothes shopping.  There must be a blog post on that adventure at some point.  Not today.

How far along: 17 weeks

Size of baby: According to The Bump, baby Lowe is the size of an onion, weighing 5.9 ounces and measuring 5.1 inches long.

Maternity clothes: It's getting more desperate by the hour.  I am hoping we get to go today.

Gender: The doctor checked out on the ultrasound this Thursday and gave us his "I'm pretty sure it's a..." but told us to wait to buy clothes and decorate the nursery until the ultrasound tech looks at it on January 24th.  So we know, our family knows, but we are keeping it hush hush until it's 100% (or as accurate as it can be).

Movement:  Movement REALLY took off this past week while I was home for Christmas.  I don't know if I was just able to be still and quiet a lot, or if the baby is getting stronger.  Ryan still can't feel it  on the outside of my belly, but I definitely can tell on the inside!

Sleep: Sleep is okay.  I still wake up a few times a night needing to go get a drink of water or go to the restroom, and then I lay in bed and my brain starts racing.  I am not sure I've had a straight night of sleep since I found out this little punkin was coming.

Symptoms: Last week I had a lot of lower back pain.  I also get really tired for no reason at weird times.  And the heartburn really kicked up this week too - I don't know if it was all of the delicious food that I couldn't walk away from or what.  I'm popping Tums like candy.  And I can smell everything.

What I miss: Wine.  Wine.  Wine.  A full night of sleep.  Fitting into my clothes.  Lots of coffee.

Cravings: Those come and go.  Mostly, I don't like food which is so weird for me.

Food aversions: None, thank goodness.  Sometimes something I've never liked smells especially bad.

Best moment this week: There are so many given that it was Christmas week - spending time with my family for 6 days and then coming back up here to find out (sort of) what we're having.  It really gave us an identity for the baby, which makes the whole thing seem more real.

What I am looking forward to: Maternity clothes shopping (I'm serious), getting that 100% confirmation, and still decorating that nursery.

The Last Christmas Post (I think)

After the wonder that was Christmas Eve with our family, we got up at 6:30AM on Christmas morning for presents.  Alli got an iPad Mini, a Ninja Turtle backpack, and nunchucks from Santa.  In her backpack were masks for all four turtles - you know we had to try them on...

Then we sat around the tree and had our traditional one-present-at-a-time opening.  I am completely spoiled!  From Santa Claus, I got Bath and Body Works lotion, a monogrammed towel, and an apron.  How cute is this??  I'm a domestic engineer after all!

My mom got me the most gorgeous antique mirror and a great old coat rack/plate holder.  In.  Love. I cannot wait to get them back up to Fayetteville and in the house!

Ryan also set me up for the impending snowstorm with a puffy North Face, a new hat and gloves.  I've already worn them out a few times and they are perfect!

Best of all, I got the mom camera I've been begging for!  Ryan got me a Nikon D3100, and I am so anxious to read up on how to get great pictures with a DSLR!  I can already tell the difference in the pictures from my old point and shoot Nikon.  Plus with baby Lowe on the way, I cannot wait to have gorgeous pictures!!  After we all exchanged gifts, the rest of the family came over for Christmas breakfast.  I made homemade drop biscuits, and Mom and Dad cooked bacon, sausage, and eggs.

Lego Heaven!

Handsome boy

We've all spent the day playing with our toys, and the freezing rain started early this afternoon.  In the past few hours, it's switched over to snow and it is really coming down!  Alli, Lindsey, and John had a snowball fight, and I've been blogging by the fire.  It's actually lightening some during the snowstorm, which always causes someone in the room to yell out "THUNDERSNOW!!"  I think we're working on four inches of snow over here, so we all got that white Christmas afterall.  I hope you all had wonderful holidays with the people who mean the most to you!

The Eve of Christmas

I promise, I'm almost done talking about Christmas for the year.  But the discussion would not be complete without the Lowe Down on how we spent Christmas Eve.  We got up and had french toast (my mama's french toast is hands down my favorite breakfast, and that's saying something from a girl who likes donuts as much as I do).  Then we showered and headed over to the Lowes' for our Christmas Eve there.  Ryan's sister Jessica, her husband Dawson, and her son Rafe were all there.  We don't get to see them often, so it was really great to have everyone together.  Uncle Ryan loved getting to hang out with a boy for a little bit.

We also got to give Alli a little taste of siblinghood.  She opened her presents (Cake Pop maker & Ninja Turtle jammies from her aunt & uncle and 11" Ninja Turtles & a Pillow Pet Dream Lite from her Granny and Grandpa) and Rafe immediately was interested in the Turtles.  In typical boy fashion, he smashed them together repeatedly, and in typical Alli fashion, she was very anxious about sharing and about him damaging them.  In fact, after the fourth or fifth smashing, she brought them up to me and asked me to put them in the car!  She might have a rough few years ahead of her with a little one getting into her precious stuff!

Afterwards, we went to the Ferndale Community Center to have Christmas Eve dinner with the bigger group - Ryan's dad is the oldest of eight, and around six of them, plus their kids and their kids' kids get together for dinner, presents, and fellowship.  I was having some lower back pain so we didn't stay as long as we otherwise would have, but we did stay long enough for a visit from Santa.

Then we headed over to my Nini's house for what we like to call Jingle Holloway, our annual Christmas Eve dinner and singalong.  My aunt, uncle, and three cousins came up for Christmas this year, so there were more people than usual.  We had delicious food, the awarding of the Johnson Family Fantasy Football Champion (none other than Mr. Lowe Down himself!) followed by gathering around the piano to sing our favorite Christmas carols.  My cousins and uncle are fantastic singers, so the level of harmony was definitely brought up several notches.  It was a wonderful celebration, and it was so special to be around our whole family this year.