Merry Christmas from The Erickson Family!

20 weeks

We had our ultrasound today and everything is progressing wonderfully! The little bean is just the right size, and has all it's fingers and toes :) What other parts it may or may not have remains to be seen...

The "results" are sealed in this envelope...begging to be opened!

Hopefully we can hold out til Christmas morning, but we'll see ;)

In the meantime, these pics of our little one will have to do!
The profile

The face, from the front.

Check out that chin...defintiely the same as mine and Caroline's :)

Other notes about the pregnancy...can't believe we are halfway there!!!

-I am feeling great now. My appetite is back in full force :) Which is good because they would like me to gain a little more weight by my next appt. I am still under my pre-pregnancy weight, but I have no doubt that I will be packing on the pounds over the holidays!!!

-This baby moves and kicks ALL the time. I love feeling the baby move!!

-The heart rate today was 155.

-Baby weighs 12 ounces, and measuring exactly 20 weeks 0 days, which is exactly what I am.

-I am still having crazy weird dreams, and craving desserts.

-I am VERY irritable and edgy, which is no fun at all...especially for poor Jon. I am hoping these hormones calm down soon! I was nowhere near this moody with Caroline...

I will be sure to post again when we open our little gift :)

Trail of Lights

Saturday night, we took Caroline down to Zilker Park for The Trail of Lights. Actually, this year they changed the name and scaled it back because of budget cuts, BUT since we had never been before...we didn't know the difference ;) It was so much fun!

The Zilker Tree...It's huge!

Caroline looking up at the inside of the tree...She LOVED it!

The view under the tree, looking up...Kinda makes you dizzy :)

12 Days of Christmas

The Nativity Scene

Posing with Mommy

Checking out all the people...not quite sure what to think

The view is way better from up here!

Where the Wild Things Are

Look Mommy! I see lights!

We will definitely go back next year!

On a side note...Tomorrow is the big day...Our ultrasound!

I can't wait to see this little bambino kicking around in there. We are having the results (whether it's a boy or a girl) put in an envelope that we will open Christmas morning...The anticipation is already making me crazy!?!?!?!?!

Baby Libby!

Happy Birthday, Libby!

Elizabeth Camille Clements arrived December 9th at 4:47 pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful and perfect...OF COURSE!

I wasn't there at the moment she was born, but luckily Ginny was there giving me the play by play of all the action. I managed a quick trip to Waco to visit as soon as I could get there on Wednesday night! Of course, I forgot my camera, so thank you, Ginny, for sharing your pics ;)

Sweet Libby

Me cuddling with Libby on her birthday

Ginny's turn to snuggle

Pretty in Pink

The ladies...Kristin with Libby and her mom (aka Libby's "Millie")

I am so thrilled for the Johnson/Clements Family!!! Such a blessing indeed!

In other baby news, Jon's cousin, Jen, and her husband, Grant, Welcomed their first child today...Baby Jax! No pictures yet, but hopefully I will have some soon :)

Santa Baby!

Santa Baby is right...Someone was a big BABY when it came to seeing Santa ;)

We waited in line watching Santa, smiling and waving to him, saying "Ho, Ho, Ho", etc. She was loving it! Talking to the other kids, watching the train go around, it was awesome! I thought for sure we were good as gold.

How quickly things change...She got really quiet when we got to the very front of the line. And very clingy when I got her out of the stroller. I talked it up, but the minute I tried to sit her in his lap, it was OVER. She screamed and gripped my sweater so tight, I could hardly pry it out of her hand. I mean hysterical.

Soooo, upon Santa's suggestion, we opted for this...
She sat in my lap instead of Santa's :)
Good thing she was totally unaware of Santa's presence behind us!

(I was obviously not planing on having my photo taken as you can see by the lack of effort put in the hair, make up, and wardrobe ;))

Its beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS!

Christmas music is playing in our house and in my car at all times!

Our tree is decorated...Jon says it's an anorexic tree, but I think its a super model tree...tall and slender :) It's actually 9 feet tall, but I feel like the pic doesn't really do it justice. I happen to like the "slimness" of it.

It's mostly decorated with red, green, and gold. Here are a few of my favorite ornaments...

Caroline's 1st Christmas from last year
(it says 1st Christmas 2008 on the back...Thanks Mimi ;))

I put our Christmas card pic in a dated frame each year. This one is from 2006...Our 1st Christmas after we were married :)

Our friends gave us this set several years ago (thanks McMahan's :)). It's a 12 days of Christmas set (from Crate and Barrel, I think), and I just LOVE them! Here are the 9 ladies dancing...

Our stockings are hung...We have had a fire almost every night. LOVE it!
Don't know why this is blurry :(

The lights are up outside...Of course, we happen live across the street from a real live Clark Griswold. Seriously. Their house and yard are covered in lights and decorations, and it's coordinated to music. They even have a radio station for you to tune to in your car...crazy! It's actually really awesome, but we can't compete with that...so we didn't even try :) Our lights are very simple!

My shopping is ALMOST done. Nothing wrapped yet, but hopefully that will change soon.

There is a little elf hanging around our house, too. In fact, she is the cutest little elf I have ever seen...C: "Ball, Ball, Ball." Me: "Yes, sweetie, there are lots of balls on the tree!"
We have this conversation multiple times a day. Who knew I would ever spend so much time discussing balls with my toddler? Ha!
Her newest expression...The Scowl...Watch out, she gives this look to everyone!

She loves the fire! She blows on it...I mean it is HOT after all :)

Christmas tree boxes sure are fun, aren't they?

Jon and I have both found pieces of her nativity scene inside our boots. Hmmm...wonder how they got there???

She has even learned a thing or two about this Santa guy...

Too bad she didn't enjoy her visit with him today...More on that later ;)

What she doesn't know, is that Santa is bringing her this...

Santa LOVES to find great deals on craigslist ;)

Hope yall are enjoying the Christmas season so far!!!

Sneak Peek...

We had a our Christmas card session with Carly last week. As usual, she rocks!
The weather was COLD and WINDY that day, so we had to scrap our plans of doing them outside. We opted to do them in the lobby of Jon's office building! Random, but it worked out well...except for Jon's coworkers being able to hear Caroline's shrieking ;)

Here is a sneak peek...

best. smile. ever.

sweet girl...tip toeing by the tree


weeeeeeeeee!

I've been good, Santa...I promise.

I have been good, right Mommy???


As Carly said, Caroline was feeling "reverent" in front of the tree...HA!

I'll take that one with me...

I got our cards ordered today, so stay tuned and I will post a pic of them soon...

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a great time in Dallas celebrating Thanksgiving this year! We alternate holidays so this year was Thanksgiving with my fam (then we'll have Christmas with the Erickson's).

First, We had a quick visit with Auntie Erin and the Erickson clan...Caroline enjoyed helping Erin hold her beer ;)

Then we spent the week at Mimi and Pap Al's. There was lots of shopping and eating of course...which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Helping Mimi cook on Thanksgiving Day

And Miss C made at least one trip to the park almost every day!

Walking home with Mimi and Papa Al

She is quite the accomplished rock climber ;)

We had game night with my mom's friends which was a blast...of course I rocked it out at Catch Phrase, Buzz Word, and Outburst. I love games!

We also went and saw The Blind Side, which I highly recommend...such an incredible story, it almost doesn't seem possible that it really happened.

Next up, we headed to my dad and Sherri's lake house at Lake Kiowa. It was great! Once again, Caroline made several trips to the park :) My brother, Justin, built a fire pit, so we sat by the fire all night drinking hot chocolate. So nice to kick back and relax!

Playing at the park with Minnie

I have no idea what she is looking at, but I love her expression!

Who me?

Peek a Boo! I see you!

Caroline and Papa on the porch

Between all of our family time, we were privileged enough to attend Eric and Samantha's engagement/housewarming party, which was a blast! Jon also got to go to Jason and Shannon's engagement party, but I was home after my day of "reversals" (see earlier posts). I was sad to miss it :( We are so excited for both sweet couples!

We also squeezed in the Baylor/Tech game at Jerry World. That place is out of control! We tailgated for several hours before, then enjoyed the game itself in a suite! Jon's dad hooked us up with the suite passes, which was WONDERFUL!

Not sure why Jon has crazy eyes in this pic, but it's the only one of the 3 of us I have from the whole week. We were on our way to the game (hence the BU colors)

Happy Thanksgiving!