so, i took a little looksie on google and found out how all you people make fabric flowers. it turns out that it really isn't that difficult. only problem is, i think i might have gone and gotten myself addicted, and how many clips and pins does one girl need?! my answer to that is that i have another girl on the way, and who knows, maybe one day i'll clip one of these on a purse (you know, the purse that i haven't carried in over two years), or be brave enough to wear one myself. i've spent naptime the last two days cutting and stitching away, and today i even left finley in her room for a good half hour while i darn well knew she was awake. i just couldn't stop. seriously, i have a problem. good thing i'm out of buttons. here's what i've done so far, and don't judge-i'm still learning.
p.s. i sort of wish i would have figured this out like a week ago, because it would have been so darling to top some presents with a little flower.
left side are clips and right side are pins
finley wore a pin to one of our Christmas get-togethers and actually left it alone the WHOLE night!
left side are clips and right side are pinsfinley wore a pin to one of our Christmas get-togethers and actually left it alone the WHOLE night!
This year i wanted to switch things up with the "color scheme" of our tree, but we didn't want to spend money on new decorations, so we used all sorts of white/silver things that we found around the house. I really liked how pretty and sparkly it turned out.
Here's my attempt at making a flower out of scraps of fabric i had laying around. why do other people make it look so easy?
And who needs to buy wrapping paper and ribbon when you have rolls of butcher paper for art and twine?
Unfortunately, all I had for Brian was a batch of his favorite cookies. But, he was happy.
We had made food for Santa's reindeer {oatmeal, sugar, and red and green sprinkles} so on xmas eve we went outside to throw it on the lawn.
Later that night we had lots of fun hanging out at Brian's dad's. 
Instead of spending Christmas morning at my parent's house, we decided that it made more sense for them to come over to our place. We got to wake up and have time with just the three of us, and then they came over for brunch. This was probably the best decision we've ever made. Seriously, it was sooooo much more relaxing! Thanks, mom and dad for embracing a new tradition!
That afternoon we went over to spend time with Brian's family. More yummy food and lots and lots of laughing.
My sissy and I are so excited to be pregnant together and looking forward to having babies a few weeks apart.
And here's the cutest thing that I've ever laid eyes on. It makes my heart so happy to see that in some part of her little, two year old heart, she understands that Christmas is about "baby jesus". 
These are just some random pictures from the weekend. Is it me or does she look really old?!
and i couldn't resist the opportunity to capture a belly shot when i'm actually wearing real clothes and makeup {it's kind of a rare occurrence}.
Apparently, she didn't like that one. 
A few weeks ago I had an appt with my midwife after not seeing her for 6 weeks. She was a little concerned about my fundal height measurement (all the sudden i was measuring 4 weeks behind, when i've been measuring slightly big all along). Thankfully, I was able to get in for an ultrasound the next day, so we hardly had to time to worry. Praise God, everything is a-ok with our baby, in fact she was measuring in the 65th percentile...go figure. Plus, we got to have an extra peak at our little girl. It was so amazing to have an ultrasound this far along. This time I could actually tell what some of the body parts were and I just love the picture we got. It's a profile picture of the left side of her face. Don't feel embarrassed if you can't make it out. My mom took a look at it and goes, "oh yeah, there's her legs, and her butt, and her head". um, no rachel (you know, from FRIENDS) it's just of her face. We are so excited to meet this little girl and kiss this precious face!