A Very Merry Christmas

Well, hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. So hard to believe the time has come and gone and it's fixin' to be 2007! Today marks 30 weeks for me, so only 10 more weeks to go (at the most, I hope!). I've attached some of my favorite Christmas pics to share with you guys. None of me, so y'all lucked out! Enjoy~

Here is Lucy by our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve - she's still our little baby for one more Christmas! She even got to spend most of Christmas w/ the family. We took her to the Zabodyn's on Christmas morning to open gifts from Santa, then she got to go to my mom and dad's for lunch.

Here is little Anna. This was after church on Christmas Eve when they were opening gifts. They were all so cute this year, ripping into anything that had gift wrap on it!

Brock got this cool tractor for Christmas from my parents. All of the kids enjoyed riding it and pushing each other on it. He doesn't really have the steering down, just full speed ahead - look out!

Bryn was such the big girl this Christmas. She enjoyed opening all of her gifts and thanking everyone for them. Here she is showing Anna how to use this toy. Y'all should see how grown up she is - her hair is getting so long. She loves talking to Baby Dayton. I know she'll be such a great big cousin to him!

Here are the "big kids" on Christmas day. Jake and Brandon got a kick out of this little fishing game that the kids have. To see two grown men sitting Indian-style in the middle of the living room floor playing "Go Fish" was a pretty funny site. Brock is looking on trying to pick up some good strategies!

*Tomorrow I have another sonogram and doctor's appointment, so I'll try to get some pics up as soon as I can. I'm taking MeMe (my mom) and Nana (Brandon's mom), so it should be exciting. We'll see how big this boy is getting. I feel like his legs are very long. Have a good one! JZ

Quick Post

Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas weekend/day! May the magic and miracles of Christmas bless you all! I can't believe the time is here - my how this month has flown!

The Rockettes were absolutely fabulous! It was a wonderful day spent w/ my mom. One of the best Christmas gifts I could've given myself and her. We had a blast.

Last night's Christmas parties were okay. Hopefully next year, I won't have to be that fat pregnant woman.

Today Brandon has the day off so we're headed to Sugar Land to get us some new hair cuts and styles. We'll see how it goes.

One thing I really wanted to share: Dayton had his first case of the hiccups last night while we were at the Jenkin's party. It was hilarious. My stomach was bobbing up and down pretty rhythmically. What an experience. I kinda just whispered it to Brandon, I didn't want to look like a freak - "Hey everyone check this out!" Anyways, another miracle of pregnancy - amazing!

Again, Merry Christmas to all and be safe! Lots of love and holiday wishes - JZ

Monday Morning...

Well, another weekend has come and gone and busy it was (as usual). Saturday my mom and I braved one more trip to Sugar Land to fight the crowd. Our first stop was Spec's Liquor so mom could pick up some gifts for the guys. You should've seen pregnant ole' me pushing a shopping cart full of Crown and whiskey - pretty funny! Then we made a quick stop at Carter's. They were having 50% off the entire store, so I couldn't resist buying Dayton a few little outfits for the spring. We stopped at Swoozie's and looked around, but didn't buy anything. Then, we went on to the mall which was craziness! I've been a little more hormonal than usual lately and going to the mall did not help my mood. I was a little grinch-like. It's hard enough for me to get around as it is, but imagine trying to walk between tables at places like Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret when the lines are out to the door and there are people everywhere. My poor stomach sticks out way too far to get around places like that. I was not much fun at the mall. We got what we needed and got out of there. We ate at Pei Wei (of course), then stopped at Target for a while. We were pretty exhausted when we got home.

Yesterday, we ate lunch at my parents then Amy and I sat down and wrapped gifts for my mom for a couple of hours. Then, I came home and turned into Betty Crocker. The bank is putting on a Cookie Exchange and they were nice enough to ask me to participate, so I baked over 5 dozen of my mom's famous sugar cookies. My poor feet were exhausted, but it helped me get back into the Christmas spirit after my mishaps w/ shopping on Saturday. Last night we ate at the Zabodyn's, and I helped wrap gifts over there, too. I'm just becoming a professional wrapper!

Mr. Dayton seems to be doing well. He's hanging in there through all of Mommy's holiday business. I had a gingerbread latte at around 9:00 last night - bad idea. He refused to go to sleep until around 11:30. He's wide awake right now, too. I have the laptop partially resting on my tummy and everytime he kicks, it kind jumps around too! This kid must have some legs/feet on him. I don't know if I've mentioned my new obsession w/ milk lately, but it is the weirdest thing. I am not a very big milk person, infact, before lately you couldn't even find any in our refrigerator, and if you did, it was bound to be spoiled. Now, I'm buying at least a gallon a week and loving every sip of it. I am obsessed with cow juice! It's so crazy. I can't get enough of it, and Dayton seems to like it, too. Everytime I drink it, after about 15 minutes, he is kicking around like crazy. Atleast I'm not craving something else, it could be worse. I'll stick w/ milk!

Have a great week everyone - I'm sure it's gonna be a busy one. As for me, I have the cookie exchange today, then dancing Christmas parties today and tomorrow. Wednesday Mom and I are going to see the Holiday Spectacular (Rockettes) in Houston. I am soooooo excited. We have two Christmas parties on Thursday night. So, we'll see how the week goes. Take care and Happy Holidays!

Today's Doctor's Appointment

Today I had my first appointment with Dr. Sangalli and everything went great. He seems to be a great guy/doctor. I was worried he would be one of those real "professional" serious doctors, but he was very nice and personal. He was cracking jokes and talking like I'd been seeing him forever. He made me feel very comfortable. He had reviewed my records and knew my history before he got in the room. Blood pressure, urine and weight all looked good for me, so I was grateful for that. He measured my uterus, which was a new thing for me. Dr. Ogdee never did that, but Sangalli said he was old-fashioned and he kept up with measurements, so that is fine. Dayton's little heartbeat was as strong as ever and he seems to be doing well. I did a little shopping in Wharton, what little there is to do, and then Amy and I had lunch at Pat-a-Cake - yummy! I had me some fruit and broccoli and cheese soup - delicious! I'll keep it short today, I've been running pretty long lately...

Update

This morning I got my weekly update and had to share. The email said the baby is the size of a blow dryer - random, huh? I thought that was pretty funny! He is between 10 and 16 inches long - head to feet and weighs between 2 1/2 to 3 lbs. He is just growing by the week. Just think, he only has a couple of more inches to grow before he is born. It's just so unbelievable. I say it all the time, but the most amazing feeling in the whole world is feeling a life inside of you kicking and moving about. It is so awesome - I don't think it'll ever get old. Even as he grows stronger and stronger, it just becomes more and more wonderful. Dayton likes to play tricks on Daddy, so everytime he starts kicking around at night, I tell Brandon and as soon as he puts his head/hand on my belly, Dayton gets real still like "Ha, ha - got you Dad!" It's pretty cute.

Tomorrow is my first doctor's appointment with my new doctor, Dr. Sangalli, so I'll let you all know how that goes. Starting tomorrow, I'll be going to the doctor every two weeks - yikes! At the end of this month, I'll have my last sonogram before he gets here - it'll be at 30 weeks. I'm 28 weeks tomorrow, so I'm in my last trimester now - only 12 more weeks to go.

This morning, my dad kept Bryn and Brock, so I went over there and we went to Prasek's and had breakfast. They love going there with Grandpa and so does Anna. It is so cute. Then, we all went to the museum here in town. We had a good time. Bryn was a pro, she had just been on a field trip there so she was our tour guide. Brock was just starring at the big animals in awe. Grandpa brought his camera so he could get some good pics of them. He still uses a regular camera, not a digital one, so it was so funny everytime he took a picture, Brock would say "I want to see". I told Dad, kids these days won't even know what film is because they are so used to digital cameras and seeing the pics right then and there - pretty funny! We went back to Grandpa's house and played in the back yard. Now I'm home, fixing to get lunch ready for Brandon (left over pizza and Spaghetti-o's) and then I've got to finish making my ornaments I'm giving to my girls for Dance Pizzazz. Hard to believe, but I start Christmas parties on Thursday already. Christmas will be here before we know it!

Say a prayer for a good appointment tomorrow and I'll let you all know how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed that I didn't gain too much weight, but I have a bad feeling that I did, I'm just starting to "swell" up everywhere, not a pretty site!

Oh, and FYI - looks like my big baby shower is going to be on January 27th, 2007 in the morning, just in case anyone wants to mark your calendars if you can make it.

FSB Christmas Party

Here are some pics from the First State Bank Christmas party on Friday night. These were taken at my parents before the party. You guys should see my parent's Christmas tree - it's beautiful! Too bad the big pregnant woman is blocking the view. My, my how large I am getting, but knew you guys would like for me to share! The party was a lot of fun. I even lasted til midnight. I thought that was pretty good for an ole' sober, pregnant woman!

On Saturday, Brandon and I decided to go shopping in Sugar Land and fight the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers. We had a wonderful time. We finished all of our Christmas shopping and even did some for ourselves. We just took our time and browsed the mall. Half way through the afternoon we went and sat at the new Barnes and Noble and had some Starbucks and read some magazines - Brandon read a car magazine and I read a pregnancy magazine of course. Mrs. Zabodyn was doing some shopping at the mall also, so we met up w/ her and shopped some more. After we'd worked up a pretty good appetite from shopping for about 6 hours straight, we went and ate at Benihanna's - it was yum-o! On the way home, we stopped in Pecan Grove and drove around and looked at Christmas lights. They were beautiful. We had a full day, but it was good to spend some time with my husband. We had a lot fun!

Sunday, we spent the day resting up - just hung out, addressed Christmas cards, and watched a lot of football!

Dog Owners Beware~

Hey Guys, okay, so Cassie's poor little Lex had problems earlier in the week, and now Lucy has caused some problems of her own! The rest of you dog owners better watch out for the rest of the week!

Let me tell you what are precious little Lucy did last night. Brandon and I were supposed to meet at the Zabodyn's at 7:00 for dinner. I was coming straight from dancing and Brandon was coming from home w/ Lucy. When I got there at 7:00, I noticed Brandon wasn't there so I called him and he said I'd better get home fast. So here's the story: Our garage door has been broke for a couple of days, so Brandon had backed his car out the garage, then got out w/ the car running and went to close the garage. When he went back to the car to open the door, little Lucy had stepped on the lock button to the car (it's on the center console by the stick shift in Brandon's car, random, I know). Anyways, she had managed to lock herself in Brandon's running car. The car which we only have one set of keys to. By the time I got home, she'd already been in there for about 10 minutes and Brandon, his mom, and his dad were trying to get her to walk back across the console to step on the button again. They were all knocking on the window, showing her treats, looked pretty funny to anyone who did not know what was going on. Brandon had tried to call the police to come break into his car, but they said that animals were not considered an "emergency", they'd only come if it was a child - whatever! So, we called a locksmith. When he showed up, he said he didn't know if he'd be able to get into the car due to the make and model. He recommended towing the car to the nearest BMW dealership (Houston) w/ it running and Lucy in it (oh yeah, with the heater blarring in her face - she was really panting in there, and Brandon's radio was blarring w/ his screaming hardcore music, so she couldn't even hear us talking to her). Anyways, Brandon said we wouldn't do that to her, we'd just break a window if we had to. When the locksmith started to try to put his little devices down the door, Lucy finally walked over the center console and hit the hazard button and the lock button and Mr. Zabodyn hurried up and opened the door and she was free!!!! She was locked in there for about 45 minutes - it was crazy! Darn animals!

Today I went shopping w/ Mom and Diane, and we had a really good time. I got to eat my Pei Wei so I was very happy. We got into town around 4:45 and I was at dancing by 5:15 and then got home after 8:00 - busy day but lots of fun!

Won't keep you any longer, just had to let everyone know about our doggie excitement for the week!!!!

Enjoying the Weather!

Isn't this weather just wonderful? I must say I'm enjoying the winter chill. Now all we need is some snow - so much for wishful thinking! I'd be willing to wait one more year, so Dayton could enjoy snow on his first Christmas - Wouldn't that just be so special??!!!??

We had a pretty good/busy weekend. Brock's party was really fun. The kids were so cute. I was bad and didn't get any pictures, so I apologize. I was too busy crawling around on the floor putting toys together and playing - what a sight! Saturday we went to Aaron's wedding in Sealy. It was really nice. We were home early evening, so we went and visited w/ the Zabodyns for a while. Lucy needed to play with Bandit since she'd been home by herself all day. Sunday we woke up early, went to church, went to breakfast w/ my parents, then got home and started putting up Christmas lights. I had my Dance Pizzazz girls dance at the Christmas Mall, so that was fun, then we stayed and shopped around. When I got home, we finished up on the Christmas lights. They turned out beautiful if I do say so myself! Brandon is so proud of himself. He wants to enter the light decorating contest. I don't think we have much of a chance, but it is just so cute how excited he is. He came home from work yesterday, and put even more lights out. After nine years, my Christmas spirit is finally starting to wear off on him, he's really in the spirit of the season this year - it's been so much fun and December has just begun!

Yesterday and today at dancing are Parent Watch Days so they really wear me out! All those parents, cameras, siblings - ahhhhhhh! We survived yesterday, so only one more day to go. Not too bad. I'm about to go through some more costume magazines here in a few minutes. I want to have all of my costumes ordered by the end of this month. Costume time is so stressful for me - pick out the perfect costume, choose the right size, in the right price range, age appropriate, etc. Decisions, decisions!!!!

Tomorrow, my mom and I are headed to Houston for a shopping trip. I think Diane might come along so that should be fun. I'm going to force them to eat some Pei Wei - it's been a few weeks and I am craving!!!! I have dancing tomorrow night, so we'll have to be home around 4:00 or so. The Christmas Parade is on Thursday night, so I've moved those classes to tomorrow. The parade should be fun - we are going to set up camp at the studio and make some chilli and fixins. - yummy! Nothing like a good ole' Christmas parade, some cold weather, and some chilli! I'll let you know how it goes.

Yesterday was my first dose of my iron supplement and so far, so good. I don't seem to have any side effects so maybe this won't be so bad after all. And, I thought they'd look like some big ole' horse pills, but they're nothing more than a gelcap, so not too bad!

Friday is First State Bank's Christmas party at Greeks. I think it'll be fun. Only one problem - you guessed it - my wardrobe. This is our third one w/ the bank, and this year they've decided to have a "themed" party - just my luck. We're supposed to dress up like the 50's - poodle skirts and all. Well, so much for getting me in a poodle skirt, and I'm not thrilled at the thought of wearing rolled up maternity blue jeans w/ one of Brandon's white dress shirts (frumpy!), so we may skip out on dressing up. But, I still have the problem of what to wear - so hard! Hopefully, I'll find something tomorrow on our shopping trip!

Well, I'll keep you guys posted as the week goes on. Have a great one!

Friday, already!!!

Well, it's Friday already and another week has flown by. My how time flies when you're having fun!!!????!!!! Not much to report today. We had a garage sale yesterday at the Zabodyn's and considering the weather, we had a pretty good turn out. I had to get rid of a lot of clothes that, let's face it, I'll never squeeze into again, and if I do I deserve a new wardrobe anyways! After cleaning out the nursery, I had a lot of things to sell. Brandon and me managed to make almost $300 so I was pretty happy. Brandon says we're going to spend the money on Dayton, since it was him who gave me the incentive to clean. I won't argue with that.

Well, I spoke too soon when I bragged about my good test results from the doctor the other day. I got a letter in the mail yesterday saying that my glucose level was normal, but I am border-line anemic, so look out iron supplements, here I come! Yuck! I'm hoping they don't make me feel too bad. I tried to go get the prescription filled this morning at Wal-Mart and they won't have it in till Monday - oh darn, I get to go a couple more days without getting on that nasty stuff ;) I saw it coming, I knew it was too good to be true. I'll keep you updated on how they affect me.

Brandon finished his last paper for the year for his grad. school class. We won't have to worry about SWGSB anymore until he leaves at the end of May, sniffle, sniffle. I'm already dreading it - sad, I know.

Tonight we're celebrating Brock's birthday, so that should be fun. He is so cute! I'll try to take some pics and send 'em out! Tomorrow we're going to Aaron Cox's wedding in Sealy - again, my biggest crisis will be what to wear - no winter maternity dresses in my closet, so I guess it'll be slacks and a sweater - how exciting... Sunday, I've got my little dancers dancing at the Christmas mall at the civic center, so we'll see how that goes. Hope everyone has a wonderful first weekend of December - the best time of the year!!!! Stay warm!