Sheesh, I have a lot to catch up on! First, I hope you had an amazing holiday! Ours was truly unforgettable, and we were so fortunate to be able to spend time with our friends and family during our time off.
Now, where do I begin? I’ve lost track of what week I’m in, so let me see. Last Friday was 22 weeks; this Friday will be 23 weeks. Yikes, I’m officially more than halfway there! Speaking of official, I now officially look pregnant, as well. I seemed to have grown like crazy over a period of 3 days. It was 12/26-28 … we were in Pittsburgh, and every morning, Michelle would say I looked like I grew overnight! She was right – and there’s no mistaking this bubble belly any more! That little person in there is moving around like crazy now, and Justin’s even had a chance to feel kicks and acrobatic routines from the womb. So cool! Now if only I had my pre-pregnancy bladder back …
The cutest thing is my nephews “tickling” the baby in my belly. Recently, my nephew Kannon has grown a baby in his belly, too! Amazingly, his baby falls out at night, but he simply puts the baby back in when this happens. Thank goodness! That baby in his belly even laughs when you tickle her! His imagination is unbelievable!
Okay, now I’m back-tracking … trying to keep things in order. Christmas Eve, we spent the evening at Justin’s parent’s house. It’s an annual tradition, and is always done in true Polish style. Every year, we have broccoli & cheese soup, shrimp, scallops, salmon, pierogies, and lots more things that I’m forgetting. 
Then we head downstairs and open gifts, which has become a blast now that the boys are old enough to “get” opening gifts from Santa. We had so much fun! Kannon opened a few, and once he got his Hess truck, he told Michelle that he wanted to take the rest of his presents home and open them later! He’s 3 1/2! Then again, he has always been a detail-oriented little guy, so I guess it makes some sense! Magnum, on the other hand, was flying through his stuff! It was cute to see him stop and play with some of the ones he really liked. They were such fun!
So, are you curious about whether we’re having a boy or girl!? Here’s how it all happened …
We were joined by my parents, my sisters A & Alli, Alli’s boyfriend Billy, aunt Joan, and uncle Gary for Christmas dinner. We had a great time; ate lots of food, traded great gifts, and enjoyed each other’s company. 
Later that night, Justin’s parents Sandy & Jon came over for the big reveal. My mom and Sandy were about ready to lose their minds in anticipation, and I found it hilarious to prolong the suspense in as many ways as I could imagine! We opened gifts – slowly! Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let me serve dessert before the big reveal! When we finished opening gifts, everyone but me decided it was time, so I gave in. My mom, Sandy & Jon were on their cell phones, ready to let others in on the fun via phone. 
After a few photos with the envelope, it was time. There was such anticipation! I so wanted to know, but at the same time, the suspense was so fun! We opened to a sea of pink … it’s a girl!!! I had spent weeks saying I knew it was a girl but wanted a boy. Now that we know she’s a she, I don’t know how I’d feel if we were having a boy. Justin, on the other hand, knew it was a girl, too, but wanted a girl. Looks like he got his wish! 
After all of the excitement died down, we did some scratch-offs, and most of us won a big, fat nothing. Ask my mom, however, about her big $25,000 winnings! She loves this story!!!
So that’s that. The next morning, we headed to Pittsburgh to visit with Justin’s grandmothers, aunts and uncles. We did the annual family dinner, got some shopping in (Including plenty of shopping for our new “girlfriend!”), and even got a tour of the Pittsburgh suburbs thanks to some wrong turns.
The rest of our time off was spent working around the house. Girlfriend’s room is currently being used as a storage room, so we were able to clean a good bit of that out. We even pulled up the carpet and linoleum in there, so we’re just about ready to start the floor!
I’m learning that creating a baby registry is WAY more difficult than preparing a wedding registry. There are so many new “things” that my head is spinning … and so much that I don’t know!
We finally decided on a theme for girlfriend’s room – it’ll be a bright retro theme based around an area rug we found. We’ll use brown, green and maybe orange or pink as the main colors and will accent with some of the other colors in the rug. Wall colors are still up in the air. As our living room is lime green, we can’t do girlfriend’s room in green. I don’t want to do brown, and also wasn’t crazy about pink. We’ll probably end up choosing one of the teal or orange shades in the rug for the wall color.
Hmmm, what else? I had so much to write about, and it’s all escaping me now! I guess this really should be enough for now – I’ve given you more than enough to read and if you’ve made it through, way to go! For now, I wish you a wonderful year in 2009. I know it will be a magical time for us, and I wish you joy and prosperity as well! I’ll be back with updates just as soon as I can remember what they are! (Yes, I believe the mommy brain has kicked in already – I’m in big trouble!)
