oh the merriment of the holiday season!

I'm finally back writing another blog. It feels like forever since my last one! Well, this Christmas has definitely been a different one than any other I've ever had. I guess that goes for our entire family. Don't get me wrong, it's not different in a bad way, just different, which I knew would be the case since this is our first married Christmas together. This year, my parents drove up to Massachussettes to be with my sister and her family, which was great for them. They are still up there this week. I know my sister really enjoys having them there and my parents love going up and spending time with their oldest daughter and grandaughters. Waylon and I drove over to Cross Plains, which is a really small town, to be with his parents and grandparents. It was a really good time. We drove down Wednesday afternoon after Waylon got off work and came back Friday afternoon. Since there isn't much in that town to do, we got to relax and spend lots of time with his family with no distractions of the big city. I did feel nauseous a lot and had to lay down a lot but I still enjoyed it. We got to see Waylon's dad for the first time since October when he was in the motorcycle wreck. He's recovering very well and looks so much better than he did in the hospital. He has had a little bit of memory loss and has a difficult time remembering short term stuff but the doctors say this is normal when serious head traumas and that he will recover in 18-24 months. It sounds like a long time but at least there is hope that this will not be a permanent problem. He was in great spirits though for someone recovering from such a serious wreck.

On the pregnancy front things have been chuggin' along. I'd love to say that I haven't had a lot of nausea but that would be a lie. Lately (the past 3 weeks or so), I've started getting severe nausea in the evenings accompanied by bad headaches. I've had to cancel plans with friends and stay in bed due to this which is not cool at all. I'm ready for this symptom to go away, I'll admit. I also got really dizzy the other night and started blacking out. This was due to my hunger at midnight and I think I got out of the bed too fast to go to the kitchen. I've never had to eat so much in my life! I feel like that's all I do!! Normally I would love this, I love to eat. However, there hasn't been a lot of food that has sounded good so I've had to eat constantly but without having the desire for anything in particular. That's super frustrating. Also, I can't eat a lot at once so I'm having a lot of left overs when I order food or fix myself stuff. I hope the eating levels out and I get some sort of plan figured out and find some foods that are always appealing to me. I'm almost out of my first trimester which is a relief because there's a lot less danger of losing the baby after that. I'm also looking forward to the feeling better part. We have a trip to Orlando coming up in three weeks through my school with the cheerleaders and I really want to be feeling good during that trip. I don't want to be having nausea and headaches all week, that's for sure. I won't be able to ride very many rides, but it will still be fun. Waylon gets to go too and he is going to have a blast at all the parks, getting to ride all the rides there. I'm just excited to get to see him have a lot of fun!

This coming Friday my friend Renay is going to be induced into labor. Renay and I have been friends for several years and she's having her first baby and it's a girl! I love the name she picked: Claire Jordyn. I think it's perfect. I can't wait to see her baby and am looking forward to going over there this coming Friday and being there for all the excitement. This will definitely give me a jolt of excitement for my coming baby!

One thing I've had a lot of lately is apathy towards cleaning my house. It's a complete mess and I just can't muster up enough care to do anything about it! I have done a few loads of dishes in the kitchen but I can't seem to get anything else done! It's really frustrating because I know I'm going to want to be coming home to a clean apartment next week when I'm back in school, but that just doesn't seem to register in the motivational part of my brain. ugh...

Tonight I'm going to try to go to my Monday night Mary Kay meeting. I haven't been to one in weeks, pretty much since right before I found out I was pregnant. I hadn't been feeling good so I missed a couple, then I found out I was pregnant and continued to feel sick in the evenings and super tired so I just haven't made it back. I feel really bad and I do miss all the ladies there. Tonight is casual night and we're having a guy come speak about how to file your taxes so I really need to be there to learn all this. I'm just worried I'm going to get sick and have to leave or not get to go at all. Let's hope for the best!

Well, I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and that the New Years greets everyone with happiness! I'm going to a party Wednesday night at my friend's Stef and Jared's house. Looking forward to it and hoping for a night of feeling good! (read: no nausea or headaches!!) Don't worry, there will be no alcohol at this party, we are among Christian friends and it will be a games and hanging out type of party.

I'm going to sign off now and probably make a trip to the library to return a book and get a new one. Have a great week and thanks for reading!

love,
Steph + 1