Addi Pics!

Addison Pamela Byron arrived on December 8th. She was 8 lbs. 5 oz. She is so adorable!

For pics go to:

www.chadandbekah.smugmug.com

Thanksgiving 2010

**Three posts in an hour? What has gotten into me?***



These two pictures are the only pictures I took of Thanksgiving. We hosted the Porcaro family at our house this year (as I am restricted from traveling too far in my current condition). We had a delicious feast, complete with a Williams Sonoma brined turkey, stuffing, mashed red potatoes, raspberry pomegranate salad, green bean casserole, oven roasted rosemary vegetables, homemade rolls and pumpkin, pecan, and banana cream pies.

Here is the table with the fine china. And by fine, I mean plastic because who wants/needs to do more dishes than necessary on this day of feasting.

This was Chad's first experience carving a turkey. I didn't realize it was such a big deal to do so, but apparently it marks some sort of milestone of manhood. Jim blessed Chad with a ceremonial electric carving knife. Thank you Jim!

We had a great day! My 8 1/2 month pregnant self was exhausted and swollen at the end of the day, but it was well worth it. Thank goodness my sister is such a great cook and was willing to share her talents with us once again.

The Nursery

Our daughter has a room. It's been several months in the making, but we are thrilled with how it turned out.

Big, comfy chair. We purchased all the wooden ladybugs, flowers, butterflies, and letters from Michaels and painted them.

I made the hair accessory holder, but she has so many that one of the drawers of her dresser is full of them as well.


Her closet





Now for the last essential part...the baby.

38 Weeks

Only 2 weeks left, and we are getting sooooo excited to meet this little girl!

Maternity Pictures

My beautiful and talented friend from grad school, Julie Rosier, took some maternity pictures for us. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, because I generally don't really like my pictures to be taken (especially with those extra pounds). However, I am so glad that we decided to do this because these pictures have captured my feelings about being pregnant beautifully. I know one day I will look back on these and be so grateful that we decided to get them taken! As for Julie--you're seriously talented, my friend. Thank you, thank you, thank you for these incredible shots! Here's the link for the pictures:

http://itsarosielife.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post.html ...

...and here's a sneak peek of some of our favorites:

Tagged

I hate these things, but I was tagged by my cousin, Nicolle, and I like her.


The rules are to answer all 8 of my questions, then add 8 of your own and tag 8 people.


1. What was your most favorite toy as a kid?



Littlest Pet Shop, hands down. I also loved Polly Pockets.



2. Have you ever had a black eye? How did you get it?



Nope!



3. What is your biggest fear?



Birthing a 12 pound baby. That really freaks me out.



4. What is the biggest lesson you have learned from the past?



Generic brand peanut butter cannot compare to Jif. Ever.



5. Post your most favorite picture that you have on your computer and tell why it is your favorite. (Posts are always better with pictures).


This was formal night on our cruise. We had such a blast, celebrating the end of our first years of graduate school. It was a fun vacation.



6. What is your favorite fast food restaurant and why?


McDonald's for breakfast. Can you really beat McD's for breakfast?


7. Favorite tradition?


I enjoy all of our traditions, but I will always love opening pj's on Christmas Eve.


8. What is your favorite song to sing in the shower?


I rarely sing in the shower, but when I do it is usually just something that has been stuck in my head. Paramore's newest song is my latest...


My questions:

1. Favorite meal of the day?
2. If you could drive any car, which one would you choose?
3. Coke or Pepsi?
4. If you could only live in one season all year long, which one would you choose?
5. What is your dream job?
6. Who do you text/call the most?
7. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
8. What chef on the Food Network would you most like to be friends with?

I'm taking the easy way out and tagging everyone who reads this and wants to do it. =)

30 Weeks

The third trimester is shaping up quite nicely. For the most part, I still feel great. Sure I may or may not be a little emotional. I also battle horrendous heartburn, which is definitely not fun. In addition, this baby is low--like really, really low, which makes it difficult for me to bend. Other than those minor things, I quite enjoy being pregnant. I'm sure that opinion will change in a few weeks as I start to get larger, but I'm just enjoying where I'm at right now.

There are 10 weeks to go. Well, probably more than that...considering this is my first pregnancy and my doctor told me to plan on 5 days after my due date. We are both scared and excited, nervous and anxious. We lay in bed at night anticipating this change that will occur in a matter of weeks, wondering whether or not we're going to be good at this whole parenting thing. I often ask Chad, "What if she hates me?" or "What if she likes you more?" (I'm not worried about my child loving Chad more, I'm sure she'll be a daddy's girl. I think what I worry about is lacking the mother's touch, not being able to be someone who can soothe/calm her.) These may seem like irrational fears, but I'm pregnant...irrationality is a part of the game.

What I do know is that I have never loved anything in this kind of a way before. I love the way she comes alive at night while we're watching our shows. I love the way she "plays" by kicking back when I touch her. I love the way she gets hiccups--sometimes 3 times a day. I love the way she calms right down when Chad puts his hand on my belly. I haven't even met her, but I love her.

Everything else is going well with us. Chad is loving his job. We are settling in to our house. We love our ward. Life is good!

The Casa

Perhaps this is a little overdue, but here are pictures I took of our house the morning the movers were coming to deliver our junk. Obviously the house was empty in these pictures, but it has been filling up quickly. I will try and take some pictures of some of what we have done since we've been here.

This wasn't taken the day we moved in, considering we moved on June 21st. This is just in case you've forgotten what it looks like on the outside. I haven't taken any pictures of the outside since we moved in.

1/2 bath downstairs

Entryway (leads to the living room or the music room)



Breakfast kitchen (the red wall is now sage green)

Music room


Kitchen


Laundry/Mud room


Living room

Stairs (off the living room)

Upstairs hallway

Master bedroom (Bedroom #1)

Man cave or Bedroom #2 (used to be a little boy's room...hence the baseball wall)

Office

Bedroom #3 (We've turned it into our baby's room...now all of the walls are one color =) )

The other two walls in Bedroom #3

Bedroom #4 (will serve as our guest room)

2nd floor full bath (the walls are now white)

Not pictured: The backyard. I'll try and get some pictures of that sometime soon, as well. So there you have it. We're loving having our own space. Fortunately there aren't many things we want to change about the house, other than colors on the walls and a few minor things to make it our own. We love it!

Progression

I'm like the Energizer bunny these days. I just keeping growing...and growing...and growing...

Week 8 (I'm counting this as my "before" shot)

Week 14


Week 16

Week 18
Week 20

Week 22

Week 22 with the belly button--oh boy.

So far, the 2nd trimester has been wonderful. I love being able to feel her moving around in there, which she does often. I don't have anything to compare it to, but I feel like she's a pretty active creature. Aside from the wretched heartburn, I've been free of most "symptoms." I'm just enjoying this time before I start to get uncomfortable! We're both getting so excited for December, but we're definitely soaking up every last second we have of just the two of us.

Gymnast

I'm saving my dollars so my baby can go to gymnastics. See that foot? It's definitely resting on the top of her head. The ultrasound tech and I were pretty amused.

California 2010

We were in need of a post-graduation, real-life-is-gonna-start-soon, new-job-means-no-vacation-before-baby trip. So, we decided to do a 10 day California adventure. We started in San Francisco, after we missed about a day of our trip due to a storm in Denver. Fortunately we managed to squeeze in everything we wanted to see, despite the less-than-friendly weather.

Grace Cathedral

Pretty flowers




Funny sign


Lombard Street


Ghiradelli hot chocolate...

...at Ghiradelli Square

Coit Tower

Seals at Pier 39

Toured Alcatraz

Chinatown

Saw the Golden Gate Bridge

Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

Thought about jumping off the bridge, but then saw this sign. Whew. Close call...


After our day and a half in San Fran, we rented a car and drove four hours south to Pismo Beach.

Our room was quite fantastic, and it reminded of us of our cruise with the little towel animals.

We woke up and took long walks on the beach after breakfast.

Our trek down to the beach included scaling the side of the cliff...luckily there were some poorly constructed, barely functional wooden steps to help us.

We walked downtown San Luis Obispo, which has it's very own Bubble Gum Alley. This entire alley is devoted to people's chewed up bubble gum. We were disgusted and did not contribute. Don't worry, I'm not really touching the wall.



After a few wonderfully relaxing days at the beach, we drove four more hours south to Fontana, where we got to hang out with these cute fellas. (My brother and his wife and 3 boys live there.)

Cute Jared.

We went to Disneyland and California Adventure with them. (J.D. & Jacob)

We brought presents for birthdays. That's a heartbreaker right there...

Jacob with his new stuffed panda.

We spent the next few days just relaxing with the Jorgensen's. It was so good to see them and spend time with them. Overall, I would say our vacation was a success!