Time Flies...

You know the old saying, "time flies when you're having fun"?  Well, apparently, time also flies when you're busy preparing for, and recovering from, the holidays.  My last post was over three weeks ago and so much has happened since then.  In fact, I've been kind of overwhelmed by the thought of writing this post, but since we are snowed in today and I have so many great pictures to share, I'm finally going to hunker down and just do it.  However, to avoid boring you all to tears with an insanely long recap of the past three weeks, I'm going to include a lot more pictures and a lot less narrative than usual.  Here goes...

Two weeks before Christmas, in the midst of decorating for the holidays, finishing up with last minute Christmas shopping, hosting Supper Club at my house, winding down the second quarter at school, and preparing for our trip to Louisiana, our nursery furniture arrived.  And, well, me being me, I simply could NOT wait until we returned from Louisiana to assemble it.  So, my sweet and patient husband obliged.  Putting everything together was actually a lot of fun and aside from wall decor and window treatments, which should be hung this weekend, the nursery is now ready for Little E's arrival. 

Our Christmas tree and stockings

The nursery furniture is here!

Brad, unpacking the changing table. 
As you can see, Hank is not happy with the new "No Dogs Allowed" rule in the nursery!



Brad, hard at work.

 

Me, putting some muscle into it!



The finished product!



The crib, before assembly.



Brad, hard at work again!



Little E's crib, complete with adorable bedding from Serena and Lily!



Close-up shot of that adorable bedding!



My amazing hubby and "baby-daddy" also made a lamp for our little guy's nursery!



It works!

 

The new lamp looks great in the nursery!

After surviving the week of school leading up to my winter break, we packed all of our luggage, gifts, and Hank into my tiny (funny how it once seemed spacious and roomy!) Jeep Liberty and began the trek to Louisiana.  The drive, which usually takes roughly nine hours, took eleven, but we finally made it to Louisiana for a wonderful and relaxing week with family.  My sweet sister-in-law and my fabulous cousins helped us kick off the week by hosting a baby shower to help us prepare for Little E's arrival.  The shower was so much fun and it was so sweet of the hostesses and everyone who attended to take time out of there own hectic holiday preparations to celebrate our little guy.

The invitation

Isn't that a gorgeous cake!?!

 

My mom and I

Aunt Cyndie, Nanny Kay, Mom and I

My sweet sister-in-law, Christina, and I

My fabulous cousins, Maria, Andrea, Lizzi, Kathryn, and I

Lots of Little Golden Books from my Godmother, Tracey

One of Little E's many sweet little outfits

The Bumbo Baby Sitter from Nat and Jarrod

The video monitor from the shower hostesses

A baby blanket that was made for me by my grandmother before she passed away

My mom and I sharing a hug and a few tears

Brad and I spent the rest of the week relaxing and enjoying our time with family.  We even checked out a Star Wars exhibit at a local museum and hit up one of the local casinos, where my mom won $250 playing the nickel slots, or as she would say, 5,000 nickels.  Brad's parents arrived the day before Christmas Eve and we were so thankful to them for traveling all the way from South Florida to be with us.  Brad and I really are so fortunate that our parents are so willing to travel to be with us for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It enables us to be with everyone, instead of dividing our time like so many couples have to do.  I'm sure we will appreciate it even more next year and in the future as our own little family continues to grow.

There really isn't anything I love more than Christmas with my family and this year was certainly no exception!  Every year, we still uphold many of the same traditions we have had for as long as I can remember.

My mom with Thomas and Caroline on Christmas Eve morning

It is so hard to believe that Caroline is almost crawling!

Brad and I (28-weeks)

My mom with Thomas and Caroline, all dressed up

Brad and I with my mom, Caroline, Christina, Thomas, and Bart on Christmas Eve

Me with my gorgeous cousins

Boys will be boys!

Piazza Family Christmas Eve

Piazza Family Christmas Eve continued

More Piazza Family Christmas Eve

Still more Piazza Family Christmas Eve

Brad, his parents, my mom, and I celebrated Christmas day with brunch at my mom's house and lunch at my Nanny Kay's house.  We returned to Atlanta the day after Christmas.  After returning from Abbeville, we rang in the New Year with some of our neighborhood friends, got the go-ahead from our home owners association to proceed with the re-siding of our home, sent Hank off to a 10-day training program that I like to call bootcamp, and we've been able to check several things off of our to-do list, including taking our Childbirth Preparation class at OBGYN of Atlanta.  It is hard to believe it, but we are in the home stretch!

29-Weeks
Or, as I like to call it, OMG that thing is huge!!!

Ellen (27-weeks), my sweet friend/neighbor, and I (30-weeks)

Hank, practicing his favorite trick before being sent to bootcamp

If you have made it through this entire post, I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it!  I also hope that you had as merry a Christmas and as happy a New Year as Brad and I did!

Snow Day 2011