Easter Celebrations

Easter this year was done a little bit differently than we've done it in years past.  First off, we weren't even sure we were going to visit my family until we were actually in the car headed to Indiana on Thursday night.  And the other big difference is that Steve had to work at the plant on Easter Sunday, meaning we had to cut out of Indiana and miss out on my family's actual Easter celebration.  I was bummed to miss out on dressing Bean up fancy for church, miss out on family dinner and big Easter egg hunt; but we made the best of it and had little celebrations of Easter through the weekend while we could.

We had hesitated on going in for the weekend because some of my family member's were sick.  Some had been on medicine for awhile, some just starting.  We weren't sure if we wanted to risk sickness.  But we decided that it should be safe and we'd make sure to keep our distance and wash our hands a lot.  Our plan apparently worked because Easter has come and gone and we are all still healthy - whew!

Friday was pretty low-key. Bean helped me make resurrection buns for Steve (a tradition started by his mom that we enjoy passing on to Bean.  She didn't like eating them, but did enjoy the making part!).  Bean got lots of attention from grandparents and got to do whatever she wanted.  I welcomed the spoiling because it gave me a break to just relax and hold adult conversations.  Bean got a little stir crazy, so Ahm (my mom) put her to work helping to make cookies -- Bean LOVES to help baking! Later in the afternoon, my sister Amber and her girls came over. We set the girls all up to dye some Easter eggs together.  Bean loved it and would drop her eggs into the colors, which inevitably broke every egg she put in the jars.  My mom was involved in their church's Good Friday service, so we tagged along to listen to her sing.  Bean got to hang out with the other toddlers in the nursery and of course had a blast - she knows no strangers.

(Helping to make the resurrection buns.  I had already made them up the night before, but they needed rolled in butter and cinnamon sugar.  She loved to, "roll, roll, roll"). 

(Egg dying is always an intense process.  The girls had an assigned number of eggs, but somehow Bean ended up with a lot extra - thanks Emily!)

(She tried to mimic the other girls by using the spoon to put the eggs into the color, but it was used more as a dropping device which aided in the egg cracking.)

Saturday was a pretty packed day.  We started the morning off with putting new Jamberries on Bean (I'm getting pretty good at it and can do it in around 30 min when I'm focused) - per her request.  We finished up just in time to head to my aunt's house to crash their family Easter.  My mom wasn't feeling the best, so it was just my dad, Steve, Bean and I who crashed their lunch.  We didn't plan on staying long, but they roped Bean into hunting eggs with them.  One of my aunt's grandchildren couldn't come and they let Bean have her eggs. Bean had a blast (it was her first real hunt where she understood what was going on).  Thanks Nana for letting her participate!

(Waiting for the egg hunt at Nana's house.  She was a little lost at this point on what an egg hunt involved or the purpose of the bucket everyone kept telling her to hold onto.)

(Counting eggs with daddy to see how many more she needed to find.)

(I finally got to meet my cousin's baby Jessie!  Hannah and I were super close when we were younger and would spend the summer's at each other's houses.  It was a little surreal for me to see our kids sitting and playing together.)

After the hunt, we had to say goodbye and Steve/dad dropped Bean and I off at a baby shower.  There, we met up with my sister, her girls, and my mom.  It was getting late in the afternoon and Bean didn't get a nap in.  It was starting to show and she was melting down (could also have done with the fact that she didn't eat much at lunch and was now on a sugar high from candy).  We finally called the shower down when Bean was losing it.  My sister and her family stopped by my parents' house very briefly so that Bean could have a little egg hunt with her cousins (they did a bigger hunt with the other cousins and my brother on Sunday).

After they all left, we just spent the evening entertaining Bean and trying to keep her happy (she only napped like 5 min in the car).  She did extremely well and earned herself a movie.  Once the movie was over, it was bedtime.  Woohoo!  She had had a rough couple nights at my mom's on Thursday/Friday. Both nights, she ended up in bed with me.  Saturday must have really worn her (and us) out, because we all slept in later than usual.  I woke up in a panic because I knew we needed to hit the road for Steve to make it into work (and I still had to pack).  We pulled together quickly, said bye to my family, and headed eastward towards home.  We made it to our house in time to eat a quick lunch, before Steve had to go to work.

(Best way to distract Bean from how tired she is is to strip her naked and let her paint.)

(And painting quickly turned into playing in the colored water.)

(And then mayhem broke out and she colored herself, which secured her a trip to the shower.)

(She wasn't happy about the shower part, but I bribed her with being able to watch a movie once she was out.  She really didn't want the shower, but the thought of a movie finally won out.)

Steve only had to go in for a few hours, so he got home just around the time that Bean woke up from her nap.  Once she was up, we took her outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and let her find some Easter eggs and enjoy the contents of her Easter basket.  We then feasted on a pizza for our Easter dinner :-) and introduced Bean to "The Magic School Bus" which is currently on her favorite shows list.

("Bubbles!" "Chalk!" "Eggs!")

("There's anudder one!")

Even though our Easter was all done differently this year, we are still thankful that we get to experience the joy in the true meaning of Easter - Christ died for our sins so that we no longer have to live as slaves to sin.  We are thankful for his sacrifice and look forward to teaching Bean all about what her Savior has done for her.

Christmas Vacation

It's hard to believe that our Christmas was a month ago.  We spent over 2 weeks travelling between CO, OH & IN to visit both of our families for Christmas.  We spent the first week leading up to Christmas day in Colorado with Steve's family and the week after Christmas with my family in Indiana.  It made for a long and tiring couple of weeks, but it was worth it to be able to spend special time with our families.

(The calm before the storm! We tried to do some family Christmas activities with Bean before we left town. She did a great job decorating with the candy and not eating it all like her Daddy. . .  Next year, we'll have to be even more intentional about making sure Bean gets "Christmas" with just us before we visit all our family.)

Colorado Christmas:

We left on the Thursday (before Christmas) and headed to the airport in Detroit.  Ohio was having weird weather and it was in the 50s.  Boy was it a shock to get to Colorado and it to be in the 30s and below! Our flight came in close to Steve's brother Ian's flight.  Steve's dad came and helped us get all our luggage and load up the car to head to their house.

The first part of our Colorado adventure included a visit to a museum to see a neat Sherlock exhibit (you got a case book and went to different stations and tested different aspects of the crime to figure it out), lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (Steve had been dreaming about that lunch for years), and a "kids only" trip to Casa Bonita (a not very good -food wise- restaurant that has several themed rooms with entertainment like cliff divers, puppet shows, games, etc).

(A station in the Sherlock exhibit.  There wasn't much for Bean to do, so she was entertained by each of us at some point.  There were some stamps she could do in the case book, but not enough to keep her entertained the whole time.)

(After the Sherlock exhibit, we took her to a kids discovery area.  She loved it and cried when we had to leave.)

(She was afraid of falling off the dinosaur, but still humored me for a picture.)

(Still in the discovery area - she played in the water with Daddy's supervision.)

(Back at the house, Bean got to open an early present to help entertain her for the week -- a Mr. Potato Head.  Thanks Ash!  Uncle Ian was trying to help her with it.)

(Dinner at Casa Bonita.  We got a table in perfect proximity to the cliff divers.  Close enough to watch the little shows, but far enough away to not get splashed.  And no, the face I'm making is not in reference to the food, although it was pretty depressing.)

(The saddest puppet show I've ever experienced, hahahaha.  It was all about an animal with the hiccups.  The puppeteer kept asking the audience - which was comprised of me, Steve, Bean, Ashley, another lady and her son - who did not want to be there - for help with getting rid of the hiccups.  Steve and I dominated the suggestions department.)

(Playing with Uncle Ian and his panda bear Johnny! Trisha had saved some of their old toys and pulled them out for Bean.  Big hits were the wooden train set and marble works tower.)

On Sunday morning, we loaded up the SUVs and headed up into the mountains for a few days.  Steve's parents rented a cabin in a very remote location that was at 11,000 feet elevation!  They live near Denver at 5,000 (which was already an adjustment for us)! Everyone experienced altitude issues in one way or another, even with constant reminders of "Drink water!"  It made for an interesting couple of days (especially throwing pregnancy sickness on top of it!).  There were several plans of skiing, hiking, ice skating, sledding/tubing, and snow shoeing while we were up there.  However, a lot of the activities got axed due to a snow storm moving through and people not feeling up to activities.  Instead, we enjoyed playing lots of games, watching movies, and even got a nice dinner out in Breckenridge.  The roads were a little scary at times and I think most of us were thankful to make it back to Steve's parents (and leaving the snow behind!).

(Lucie was so excited to go play out in the snow and pretty much had to bribe adults to take her out.  She became best friends with Ian when he offered to take her out without her prodding.)

(Playing outside with Ian & Ashley!)

(Working on a puzzle with Poppop.)

We were supposed to stay in the cabin until Wednesday, but left a day early due to a snow storm coming in.  We got to hit up our favorite Colorado pizza joint - Beau Jo's on our way out of the mountains.  The rest of our time in Colorado was spent visiting a zoo up in the mountains, eating at a legit BBQ place, and sneaking in a brunch with Steve's best friend Steve and family! We figured it up that we hadn't seen Steve and his wife for four years.  It was fun to get to meet their two kids and chat about life.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures :(.

(Bean was unsure of the giraffe.  She tried to feed the giraffe some lettuce, but she quickly retracted her hand when the giraffe took the lettuce with its tongue.  Not gonna lie, it freaked me out a little, too.)

(Don't be fooled by that innocent looking giraffe.  It's tongue was super long and black and would wrap around the lettuce as it took it from your hand.)

(Checking out the Elephants.  I couldn't handle standing in the elephant building.  Little too smelly for this nauseous preggo. We did get to see the elephants exit the building and go out into their outdoor area. Who knew that elephants would walk up a hill for some bagels?!)

("Coloring" at Mommom & Poppop's! The easel and markers were a big hit.)

(A trip with Mommom wouldn't be complete without some art projects! Bean loved the water colors!)

And of course, we celebrated Christmas together with Steve's family! We opened up presents, enjoyed Christmas cookies, had a fabulous Christmas ham (thanks Trisha!), and even got to see Trisha sing at their Christmas Eve service.   We had packed a lot in on Christmas Eve, including packing up all our stuff and figuring out how to get it all back to Ohio (thanks Scott and Ash for taking some items!).  Steve, Bean, and I had an early flight on Christmas morning.  Everyone woke up early to see us off (even uncle Ian, much to Bean's delight) and Steve's dad took us to the airport (thanks Doug for chauffeuring us!).

(Making a gingerbread train.  I think she consumed more candy on this go around.  Apparently it had better candy than the kit we had!)

(Opening up presents! Bean made out with a ton of great gifts this year -- Potato Head, puzzle, clothes, shower basketball, Thomas RC train, and much more!)

It was odd flying home on Christmas day.  We've flown on Christmas day in the past, but it's always to leave town and go visit family.  I think knowing we were heading back to our empty home was a little bit of a downer.  We ate our "Christmas" dinner at Taco Bell and got home around 6.  We shared some Little Debbie Christmas treats and had Bean open up a few presents that "Santa" left for her.  Once we got her settled down from being back home, she went to bed and I frantically worked at unpacking, doing laundry, and repacking.  We had a 9am departure for my family the next morning. . .

(The perk of having to buy a seat for Bean is that she has some space to lay.  However, this nap didn't last nearly long enough.  Crossing time zones is a tough adjustment for toddlers!)

Indiana Christmas:

We got up, ate breakfast, quickly loaded up the car and hit the road to Indiana.  We were the last to arrive at my parents for their Christmas festivities.  My family's Christmas traditions are really laid back.  Lunch consisted of deli sandwiches and lots of finger foods (nachos, meatballs, deviled eggs, etc).  The guys all played different computer games in one room while the women and children all played and hung out in the living room.  The afternoon gets a little tricky with two toddlers who need to nap, but we have a system and made it work! Once the kiddos were up, we opened up presents and continued to enjoy being together.

(Gabbie reading bedtime stories to Bean.  How are these kids this big?!)

(My parents with their grandkids (sans Savannah).  This picture took way too long to get a good one and the kids weren't the problem in most of the photos, haha!)

The rest of our time in Indiana was a blur.  On Monday, Steve graciously watched Bean and my niece Gabbie to let me go with the rest of the family to see Star Wars again (thanks to Ashley, Steve and I were able to see it with his family while in Colorado while she watched Bean).  My mom had foot surgery on Tuesday and was an absolute trooper. She was up more than I thought she would be and was able to help with Bean. We made plans and met up with some college friends on Wednesday.  They live about an hour from my parents and it worked for us to swing by and visit with them for a few hours.  Aaaaand in true Ackerman fashion, we didn't take a single picture with them and their 4 kids.

We didn't do anything crazy for New Year's Eve.  I convinced my sister that we should make galushta (Romanian dish passed on from my grandma.  It's always tradition to have it around Christmas/New Year's.  My mom wasn't able to do it this year because of travel and her foot, so we jumped in to carry on the tradition.).  I spent a lot of time in the kitchen between making the galushta and snacks for New Year's Eve non-party.  My sister and her family came over, along with our friend April.  The guys played computer games, girls chatted and watched tv.  Typical Willis shindig!

We had to head back to Ohio on Friday afternoon because Steve had to work on Saturday.  There's nothing like a kick to reality by husband having to go to work on a Saturday leaving you with a Christmas-crazy toddler who was hopped up on too much attention for two weeks.  Okay, really, it wasn't that bad.  But there was definitely a few days of all of us trying to ease back into routines.  Thanks to all our family and friends who made this Christmas so great!

Kids' Christmas Family Day

A couple weekends ago, we had a family fun Christmas day.  Originally, we were just supposed to go to a P&G kids Christmas shindig.  However, Steve discovered that a nearby town was having a big kids festival with a parade, free activities and food.  Even though it was a little cold and going to be a lot crammed into in the morning, we decided we could make both work. 

So we pulled out our winter gear, loaded the car and headed to the Christmas parade.  We found a great parking spot and didn't see many people around.  We parked right along the parade route and could have stayed in the car, but since no one else was around, we were slightly concerned that maybe the parade wasn't really going to be that exciting.  We committed to the plan and decided to walk down a couple blocks to the main area where Santa was supposed to be (he would be riding in on a fire truck in the parade).  There was already a huge line (like a block long) of parents and kids waiting to see Santa! We got some hot chocolate, a cookie, and cotton candy and waited for the parade. 

(Trying to keep warm as we waited for the parade to start!  We were told it started at 9:45 at one location.  It was after 10 before we heard it coming down the street we were on.)

The parade ended up being sort of sad and sketchy, haha.  It was a bunch of golf carts with people dressed up as characters - Mickey, Minnie, Dora, Spongebob, Bart Simpson, etc.  They got off the carts at the end of the line (which is where we were standing).  Some of the characters had candy to pass out and you could get your picture taken with them (for free, not like in Europe and big cities where they want your money).  There were also different beauty pageant winners from around the area and of course, Santa! 

(Some of the characters being carted in - Olaf, Spongebob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Goofy, Bart & Homer Simpson.)

(Mickey & Minnie arrive.  Their ears were a little on the droopy side. . . )

(More characters! Buzz & Woody!)

(You can see Spongebob walking around greeting the kids as the rest of the parade came in.  There was a little band playing Christmas songs on the train.)

(Hard to see, but Santa was riding shotgun in the firetruck!) 

Once the parade was over, we walked around downtown and scoped out some of the activities.  Bean got to make a little ornament (it was just a little card on twine that she got to put different stamps on), and even decorate her own cookie.  There were gift bags and different treats at some of the stops, too.  It was cold out and we hit pretty much what we thought she'd enjoy.  We got to stop and pet some goats and see camels on our way out.  There was also a miniature pony ride, but the line was long and didn't know if she'd enjoy it.  

(We would pop into some of the shops and stops to warm up.  There was supposed to be a magician at this stop, but he wasn't there yet.  So instead, Bean just enjoyed hanging out with the giant nutcracker.)

So we headed back to the car and drove 30 minutes to the other side of the county for the P&G kids party.  Once we checked in, we immediately went over to see Santa.  Bean was excited to see him and walked straight up to him and got on his lap.  She acted so grown up about it! 

(Meeting Santa again!)

After Santa, we went to the first room where "Bean" got to stuff her own animal.  Okay, Steve and I had to do the stuffing, but she did pick out the animal.  She has really gotten into Rudolph, so she picked the reindeer.  We got to stuff one animal for her to keep and another animal to give to kids in need! Bean pretty much ran around in circles while we did it. 

After making the reindeer, we headed over to eat lunch (everything was free!) - chicken strips and mac'n'cheese.  Bean actually ate her lunch! Okay, maybe not much of the chicken strip, but she did eat all the mac'n'cheese.  She even somehow pilfered a cookie off of one of Steve's co-workers, ha! 

The last thing on our to do list was head to the craft room.  There were lots of tables set up with different crafts on them.  We just found a spot and did the craft at that table - make a little stocking ornament.  Once that was done, I went around and picked up a couple more things I thought Bean would enjoy.  She got to put some stickers on a paper Christmas tree and make a little foam Gingerbread girl.  She ended up naming the Gingerbread girl Sally (I think Steve came up with that) and Bean got super attached to her.  Sally slept in bed with Bean for the next week and got to color and play with her during the day, too.  

After the crafts, we decided it was time to head home (there was also a play room for toddlers and a room full of bounce castles and such, but Bean was too small).  We kept Bean awake in the car (30 min) so that she could take a longer nap when we got home.  Steve wasn't feeling the greatest by the afternoon.  He woke up with a running nose and I just thought it was allergies.  By bedtime, he had a fever and was achy.  I guess since I was sick (puking) the weekend before, he was allowed a sick pass, too.  It took him a few days to get over it, but he did. Hopefully we are all through the sicknesses for awhile!

Thanksgiving Celebrations

I LOVE Thanksgiving!  I love how it kicks off the holiday season, brings family together, and all the food!  With family spread over different states, we have to be strategic about celebrating holidays.  Lucky for us, we get to have TWO celebrations for holidays!

Thanksgiving Round 1:

We had our first Thanksgiving with my family the weekend before the actual holiday.  We headed to IN after Steve got off work on Friday.  We stopped for dinner halfway and got to my parents' house around 8 o'clock.  At home, Bean is in bed by then, but on a travel day, bedtime routine goes out the window. She was all wound up - especially since two cousins were spending the night! So after lots of giggles and running around, we finally forced her to go to sleep!

On Saturday, my brother and his family along with my sister and the rest of her family came over.  We all chipped in with different responsibilities for the meal so that it wasn't all dumped on my mom.  The meal was wonderful, but the time with family was the best!  Bean had a little meltdown in the morning, and earned herself some alone time (I thought she'd nap, but she wouldn't). After some snuggles and reading a few books alone, she seemed to snap out of it and allowed to partake in the family festivities.

(The only picture I took all weekend -- We were watching White Christmas, much to my brother-in-law's dismay.  So my dad tried to make him like the movie by singing along with the music to my brother-in-law.  Willises be crazy!)

Bean was a little wound up from all the fun and decided to be up all night.  We sleep in the same room with her at my parents, and she has that figured out.  She ended up in bed with me.  I dozed off and on, but not really sure how much she slept.  I'd roll over and see her sitting, or she'd be playing with her legs in the air.  Whatever.  I was able to somewhat sleep, and that's all I cared about :).  We had a lazy morning and packed up our stuff.  My sister and her family came back over for lunch and we headed out after we ate.

Thanksgiving Round 2:

We had a couple of days at home before we headed out for Thanksgiving round 2! I was able to get us unpacked, laundry done, repacked, AND put up all the rest of our Christmas decorations.  Steve was able to get off work on Wednesday just a little bit early.  I had the car packed up and we were ready to go.  We hit the road, headed south, and met up with Steve's family in Cincinnati for dinner! Nanny & Poppy (Steve's grandparents), Mommom, Poppop, Scott and Ashley were all there.  Bean was a little grouchy at the start of dinner.  I've learned she gets very "Hangry" when she needs to eat.  With her picky eating, it tends to happen a lot more frequently since she won't eat what I prepare for her to snack on.  Mommom brought her some markers and a coloring book and won her over.

We headed Scott and Ashley's after dinner.  We set up our room - we got the basement.  We were able to put Bean back in the corner so she was shielded from us.  We had the option to put her in her own room, but I didn't want to have to walk up 2 flights of stairs if she got up at night! Steve and I slept on an air mattress.  I was worried about how that would go since I toss and turn a lot more at night now trying to get comfortable.  It ended up being fine, though.

On Thursday morning, Bean and I got up and were ready to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade together, only I was an hour ahead! Ha, oops! Ashley had got stickers for Bean to play with and Bean quickly got involved in that activity.  The stickers are reusable ones that you put on scenes in the provided book. However, Bean liked putting them on the big windows more.  So she'd point out on the sheet to Poppop or Ashley which sticker she wanted, they'd take it off, and she'd go place it in her collection on the window.  Bean was too focused on stickers to watch the parade, maybe next year she'll share in my affinity for it.

(Coloring with Aunt Ashley! Bean remembered where the crayons were located and went straight there asking Ashley to color with her.)

(Pointing out which sticker she wanted Poppop to get for her.)

(She then would put it onto the window and excitedly run back for another sticker! She ended up running out of space and we had to open the shade on the next window.  It took help from everyone to get all the stickers off the windows and back onto their appropriate pages.)

There was a lot of activity in the kitchen trying to get the lunch meal ready.  Ashley had everything organized and assigned jobs for everyone (mine was the mashed potatoes).  We planned to eat at 1, but the turkey took a little longer.  Bean was starting to get hangry (plus again, being a picky eater, there was nothing in the meal that she would eat.  We gotta work on this food thing!).  So she ate spaghetti while we waited for the food.  She joined us for the blessing of the meal, then she bid every night-night and I took her down and put her to bed! It made our meal just a little bit easier not trying to convince her to eat and entertain her while we leisurely ate.

(Eating her spaghetti before we had our Thanksgiving lunch!)

(Happy Thanksgiving from Cincinnati!  We missed Ian and look forward to seeing him at Christmas!)

The rest of the afternoon was just spent relaxing and enjoying time with the family.  There were 2 main rooms to hang out in.  1 room was a "devices free zone" and the other had the tv (devices allowed!).  There were a few good football games on in the afternoon, so you can guess where Steve and I spent most of our time ;).  Bean happily ran back and forth between the rooms doing stickers or playing with the toys that I had brought from home.

On Friday, there were several options of activities to be done.  I decided that Bean and I would only be partaking in 1 activity and that it needed to be the morning one.  So we headed with the family to the Krohn Conservatory.  They had decorated some of the rooms with different Christmas scenes and trains.  Bean enjoyed walking through the plants and looking for trains.  She especially liked going through the cave behind the waterfall (we even went twice!).  There was a little kids coloring room that was probably her favorite.  She got upset when it was time to go.  We headed back to Scott and Ashley's for lunch and naptime.  Naptime wasn't coordinated well for everyone, so people were all asleep at different times, haha.  The afternoon activity ended up being missed.  Poppop brought up the idea of getting some Grater's ice cream.  He got Bean on his team for ice cream and some of us headed out!

(Coloring with Mommom at the conservatory. Although, I think coloring quickly turned into take all the crayons out of the bucket and put them all over the table.)

Poppop made his famous spaghetti for dinner and we had another quiet evening with the family on Friday.  After Bean went to bed, we watched a new Amazon Prime show (The Man in the High Castle) with Poppop & Ashley while Mommom used a dehydrator to make turkey jerkey.

Bean had been sleeping good the first 2 nights we were there.  I'm not sure what changed, but the last night was not a good night.  She was tossing and turning a lot when we went to bed, and then she caught me going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  She started crying and wouldn't lay back down.  She kept saying, "lay down with momma."  So I put her on the air mattress with us.  It was like reliving the bad night at my parents.  I'm not sure how much sleeping she did. I would doze off and on between the jabs of her feet in my back and her head on my pillow.  I knew we would be in for a loooong Saturday.

I didn't feel the best on Saturday.  I was pretty nauseous, which wasn't anything unusual.  I hit 11 weeks pregnant while in Cincinnati.  Typically, I'd have a few good days and then a few bad days.  So I wasn't surprised by the bad day (I had had a couple of good days prior!).  I stuck to chewing my gum and drinking water and pushed through.  It was great having all the help with Bean while we were there.  I was able to rest a lot and not have to be on my feet a lot.  Some of the family went out for a mid morning activity.  It wasn't going to be very kid friendly, so Steve and I just stayed home with Poppop & Bean.  She played with Play-doh  (Mommom brought it) and stickers.

After nap, we said bye to Nanny & Poppy (well, Bean wasn't up in time to say goodbye).  Ashley and Mommom took them to the airport.  I got us all packed up and Steve loaded up the car. When they got back, we went to Bass Prop Shop so that Bean could meet Santa.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but she ended up sitting on his lap with no problem! We even got a little smile out of her!  From there, we headed over to Dewey's for some pizza!  We had to wait a half hour, but it is always worth the wait.  I was starting to feel more sick by the time food came.  I just chalked it up to being hungry.  I ate a slice and had to quickly swallow a couple of bites because my gag reflex was kicking in.  I thought maybe it had to do with the flavor (bbq chicken) and tried a smaller piece with plain sauce.  I was able to eat that small slice, but called it quits on the pizza.

(Picture with Santa! They had little coloring stations set up as you waited in line.  She was very adamant that she wanted to hold her picture as she sat on Santa's lap.  It drove the photographer crazy, but I said let her have it.  She's still holding it in this photo.)

We said bye to everyone after we ate and headed back to our house.  Steve's parents stuck around Ashley & Scott's for another day, but we had some church responsibilities and Steve had to get some stuff done on Sunday before work on Monday.  I felt miserable in the car.  Bean just sat and watched Dora all the way home while I just wallowed in self pity.  I couldn't entertain myself with my phone because it made me car sick.  And I was already fighting a lot of nausea. We got home a little after 9:30.  I went straight to work getting Bean to bed.  Once she was down, I crashed on our bed continuing to wallow in self pity.

Steve came in and tried to comfort me and get me whatever I needed.  I was tired, and felt super sick, and was tired of feeling sick and tired.  He calmed down and he went to shower to get ready for bed.  As I laid there, I felt worse and worse, and finally realized I couldn't fight it anymore.  I went to the other bathroom and lost my dinner.  I felt so much better after throwing up.  I got ready for bed and quickly fell asleep.  But that didn't last long, I woke up a few hours later feeling super sick again.  I knew the fight wasn't going to end well and went to the bathroom.  Steve heard me and came into the bathroom.  It took our relationship to a whole new level.  He rubbed my back and held my hair as I continued to throw up (only time he has ever seen me puke was at the beginning of labor, but my mom and nurse was there to help!).  We went back to bed and I again fell asleep.  I repeated the process a few hours later, only I told Steve to just stay in bed.  Finally around 4am, the puking stop and I just slept.

I felt awful the next day.  I was achy, I was tired, and still nauseous.  I nibbled on bland foods all day.  I'm super thankful it was a Sunday and that Steve was able to take on full Bean duty.  Bean didn't fully understand and wanted me to play with her.  We told her that "Momma's sick" and it stuck with her.  To this day, if I'm laying and tell her I need a minute before doing something, she'll respond with, "Momma's sick" and go about her play.  By Monday morning, I was back to my old self. I even ran a mile for the first time in a few months! As quickly as puke fest came on, it went away.  No one else got sick, so it somehow had to be some weird pregnancy thing!