New Year's Eve

Our New Year's Eve really isn't even worthy of a blog post! We aren't much on New Year's celebrations.  This year I was also just starting to feel better so we decided to not attend any parties or anything like that. We stayed in for dinner and ended up watching a movie in bed! I think we were asleep by around 10, or at least I was! Then I woke up at around 11 in time to see the ball drop on TV in New York before falling back asleep! We definitely spent our New Year's doing what we typically like to do! The next day Colt was off.  I made chicken fried steak for lunch, along with the traditional (at least in my family) New Year's black eyed peas and cabbage. It was the first time I've ever cooked either one since I'm the only one of us that eats either (I think Colt may have had one bite of both), but this year I figured why not try to start the year off with good luck and good fortune?! Even though we are now already a month into 2015, I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the year! 

Christmas Decor

It was our first Christmas in our house in Temple! Our ceilings are not as tall in this house as they were in our old house so we weren't exactly sure how our large Christmas tree would fit and look. I was thinking the tree would need to go in the corner of the living room. However, the ceilings are a little shorter there, and Colt didn't want to move anything around just for a month! He insisted that we were putting it in the middle of the room. I wasn't so sure at first but I ended up liking it after we got it up! 

Of course then when I took everything down after Christmas, the living room looked empty and plain!

Christmas with Family

Colt was originally scheduled to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after so we weren't really sure what our Christmas plans were going to consist of. We just knew it wouldn't be our normal Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with his. Luckily, he ended up getting off on Christmas Day even though he had to be back to work the day after. 

I will admit it was very strange not being with my family on Christmas Eve. Of course my mom brought up that this was the first Christmas in 29 years (ever) that I haven't been there AND they weren't able to take a family Christmas picture this year since I wasn't there. I told her to crop me in! It was inevitable that our traditional Christmas plans would end up changing eventually. 

Since Colt managed to have off Christmas Day, Christmas Eve night we made the drive to Forney to stay with his family for the night. When we arrived, we had our baby's first rocking horse waiting on us!

We went and visited our old neighbors, Wiley and Tiffany, for a few minutes, and we also drove around the neighborhood to see this house that went a little crazy with the Christmas lights. 

Christmas morning we woke up, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and waited on the rest of the family to arrive. I tried to get a group shot of everyone. Dede took a posed family shot that I'll have to add later if I get a copy of it. 

Davallen opening presents

Along with a "blardigan," we got Dede a Stella and Dot necklace that she had kept commenting on and some Kendra Scott earrings. I think she liked them!

David and his new teeth that Blake and Victoria made for him at the candy store. Right after this he was scheduled to get real new teeth.

Even though I thought I was getting over my cold or whatever I had, unfortunately, Christmas Day is when I took a turn back for the worse! Colt also started to act like he was coming down with it but of course, what lingers with me forever only makes him feel bad a day or two! We had lunch with the family, and then we spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching movies until it was time to head home. I worked on Friday morning, and Colt ended up coming home for lunch and not having to go back! We basically drove all the way back to Temple for a 1/2 day of work and then turned around and headed back to where we came from plus an additional 2 hours to make the 4 hour trip to see my family!  

At least our dogs are great travelers!

 

When we got to my family's house, my mom had presents waiting for us. Most of the presents were gender neutral presents for the baby!

Heath and Jennifer were going on an anniversary date to stay the night in Dallas Saturday night so they brought him over on Saturday morning. It was his first time ever to spend the night away from them, and he did great. I think it was definitely harder on them than him!  He definitely became a fan of Colt! They squeezed orange juice together and had a good time.

Of course my mom made one of my favorites for dinner one night, and Joe and Lily also came down and saw us for a little while on Saturday.  We stayed with my parents both Friday and Saturday night. I tried sleeping with a vaporizer in the bedroom, but I couldn't sleep so I ended up in the living room one night. My intention was to move so Colt could get some sleep but he came with me and slept on the couch while I slept propped up in the recliner.  My dad had been sick as well and seemed to take a turn for the worse while we were there so we were a puny bunch! 

Sunday, on the way home from my parents, we met Gerald and Allison, the newly engaged couple and expecting parents, at Mesquite at On the Border (I MISS THIS PLACE). 

In the midst of our Christmas celebrations, we also let our dogs open their stockings on Friday before heading to my parents. 

And right after Christmas, my Christmas present from Colt came in the mail. We don't really do presents for each other, but he got me a new charm for my bracelet!

Even though Christmas was a little different this year and consisted of even more driving than normal, I'm glad we still got to see everyone!

Christmas

We decided that since I would be about 12 weeks at Christmas that we would go ahead and announce our pregnancy in our Christmas card! I thought that the fact that the dogs had a sign around their neck that said "Baby Smithson Guard Dogs Est. Date of Duty July 2015" and the fact that our card also said "We are happy to announce that our family will be GROWING next year" that it would be an obvious announcement, and it was to most of our friends and family. However, to a few, including my aunt and uncle and one of my mom's friends, it wasn't quite so obvious and they didn't get it until my mom talked to them on the phone later!

December

December seemed to fly by the weeks leading up to Christmas. 

I went to Dallas on the 5th to attend my work Christmas party at the Dallas Aquarium. After the party, I went to a couple of stores in Dallas before heading back home. While at HomeGoods, I ended up buying all of Tenison's Christmas, and then I also purchased some books for our little one! This is the only thing that I have bought so far! Oh.. and while at the Christmas party, my car also got hit. Lucky for me, the lady that hit me left her phone number, and I was able to contact her and get all of her information. Besides a few trips to the repair shop and a phone call with insurance, thankfully it ended up being pretty painless.

Later that night afer I got back home, we headed straight to Josh and Brianna's for dinner. Josh cooked us steak. Unfortunately, the thought of steak then and still makes me sick but everythinge else was good! 

Since my fall wreath turned out pretty good, I decided to give it a try again and update our Christmas wreath one weekend when Colt was working. 

December also consisted of more interview dinners, and we hosted another one at our house.

Out by the lake in Belton, they have a drive-thru Christmas light show called Nature in Lights. A couple of us had planned on going in the middle of the week to avoid the line and crowd. Last minute, Josh and Brianna backed out, but Tina still went along with Colt and I. It was really good and it was definitely worth the small entry fee!

On Saturday, the 13th, we attended the EM department Christmas party at Dr. Drig's house. It was good to get to meet a few more people that I've heard Colt talk about. 

I also baked for another SWMEA bake sale. I didn't get to taste the final product, but the batter was good! I made Mix and Match Mama's Red Velvet Bundt cake. It was super easy, but since I was in a hurry, I don't think I let the icing sit in the fridge quite long enough. 

All month we thought Colt was going to have to work Christmas Day, and regardless, his days off around Christmas were very limited. Since we weren't going to be able to go visit Tooter and Linda, they, along with Clinton, came down to visit us on the 18th after Colt got off work. Colt grilled steaks for us, and we had a great dinner and visit with them. They also gave us our babies first little stuffed animal as part of our Christmas present!

That weekend Colt was working, and on Saturday, I started not feeling too great and ended up running fever. I text Colt and ended up running to the store to get some Tylenol to make my fever go down. After that, I ended up staying sick and congested for a week and a half to two weeks. I actually thought I was feeling better around Christmas, but on Christmas Day, I felt like I took a turn for the worse and was running fever again. That night, Colt went and got me a humidifier and finally after a few more day, I started feeling better.

And a random phone pic… at the end of December, I had to fill out all my benefit stuff for work. Obviously, I had to check yes to question #3, which meant at least one person in HR would know I was pregnant. Not that she would've shared, but because of this, and because they were in the middle of transitioning a lot at work, I went ahead and told two of the partners around Christmas that I was pregnant even though I wasn't really planning on sharing until sometime in January. 

Since I uploaded his phone pics after the original post... Also in December, Colt got new tires on his truck. They did make his gas mileage a little worse, but he loves them. 

More on Christmas coming in a seperate post!

November

The first day of November Colt was in home improvement mode. We went to a couple of nurseries and ended up buying a magnolia tree that he planted in the backyard. 

He also went and bought blinds to go in the living room, dining room, and office to replace the plastic ones. It looks so much better! Blinds definitely make a difference. The previous owners had already put wood blinds in two of our bedrooms so now we just have one more bedroom to update eventually.

Sunday, November 2nd,  Dede and David came down for dinner. We had steak for dinner, and then we went ahead and told them that we were expecting! I had planned on waiting a few days and telling our parents in the same way but since they were here in person we just went ahead. 

My parents ended up coming to visit the next weekend. It's one of the few times my dad has spent the night anywhere! Colt was finishing up a row of night shifts while they were here so he ended up working and sleeping a lot of the time. 

Just because I think they look cute all cuddled up while I'm working... I know Alex will be great as a big sister in a few months but Lucky, I have a feeling will be more than a little jealous.

Interview dinners for potential incoming residents were in full force so that kept us busy a few nights, and we hosted one in November. Chipotle was definitely a hit.

Saturday, the 15th, we went to Dr. Weiter's house for a birthday party.

That following Monday, the 17th, I headed to Dallas for work. We were having our leadership retreat in Glen Rose at Rough Creek Lodge. Before heading to Glen Rose, I went in to the office to see some co-workers that wouldn't be at the retreat. We had lunch at Pei Wei, yet another place that I wish we had in Temple! Once at the retreat, we had happy hour followed by dinner. Happy hour was interesting because I wasn't ready to tell anyone I was pregnant that early so I had to say no to wine quite a few times! The following morning we had our leadership meeting but it was over by lunch time. It was my first retreat to be able to go, but I thought it was odd that from the whole retreat we only met and talked about work for 1/2 a day. As soon as the meeting was over, I had to get out of there and rush home to the doctor for our first ultrasound! We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time that day so it was very exciting!

We had left the cornhole bean bags outside after the interview dinner at our house and one day, Alex decided to put a hole in a lot of them so we had squirrel friends on our backporch for a while. 

I had a couple days off for Thanksgiving, but Colt was working 7pm-7am shifts the whole time. Since he was going to be working and sleeping the whole time he was home during the day, I decided that rather staying in Temple, I would make the trip solo to go see my family. Colt was all for it, but of course he gave me a hard time when I got home about leaving him alone on Thanksgiving.  My nephew made the joke that we definitely had a lot more leftovers this Thanksgiving since Colt wasn't there.  Then since Colt didn't get to see his family for Thanksgiving either, Dede, David and Davallen ended up coming and staying Saturday night after Thanksgiving and bringing him some of their leftovers. That night, we went and grabbed some mexican food and went to the movies to see the third Hunger Games. Lucky for me, went to the movie theatre that has icees! That is one thing I have loved since I've been pregnant! On Sunday, Davallen helped me cook breakfast, and then we went to Salado for a little while and walked around the shops there. Colt quickly realized he doesn't ever want to go back! Before cooking breakfast that morning, I also had to make a running trip first to the kitchen sink and then to the bathroom because I HAD to to throw up ASAP. It was the first time, and luckily one of the only times that I've thrown up though so I can't complain! Dede had also been saying she was going to get us a new mattress and box springs for our spare bedroom because the one we had squeaked.  When they were on their way home, she ended up making a stop and we got a call to come pick up our headboard and were told everything else would be delivered the following week. I'm guessing our guest bedroom is probably more comfortable now, and it also now has a bigger bed.

Since I originally posted this, I uploaded a few pics from Colt's phone from November.
He got a new gun that he had been eyeing forever!

And in November, a few days before Thanksgiving, we had a group of about 10 or so over for dinner. Everyone just brought their own meat for Colt to grill. I made sides, including my favorite, broccoli rice casserole, and I also made a pumpkin roll. We had a ton of food! Colt took a picture of his plate so I guess he was excited about it :) Too bad steak was already not appealing to me at all at this point!

October & iphone extras

Colt was on his surgery rotation in October so he worked A LOT. I also worked the first two weekends due to the fall tax deadline. 

Here's a recap of October in a nutshell (again according to my planner and our phones): 

We had no electricity for a few days at the beginning of October. The majority of town and even the majority of our neighborhood had electricity. It was just a few houses that were out due to a tree that fell. Our neighbors across the street even had electricity the whole time! This was not good considering I needed to get a lot of work done! The first full day of no electricity, I assumed it would be back on shortly and to kill time I took my things to Starbucks to try to get some work done. It may seem crazy to some people, but you can't get much done with one computer screen, especially when you are used to working on three!

After the electricity still wasn't on when I got home, I ended up on the backporch making a fall wreath. 

This was the final product. 

That night we ended up staying the night at Matt and Whitney's since they were out of town. The next morning, it still wasn't on so Colt went and packed up my office and set me up at their house. Pretty much as soon as we got setup, we left to go get food and saw the electric company wrapping up the repairs to restore our power. 

On October 6th, I went to the SWMEA Favorite Things party. 

SWMEA is a group that I joined for spouses of medical residents and fellows here in Temple. Besides this event, I haven't really attended much yet though. 

I ended up leaving the party with some EOS lip balm that evidently Lucky decided he needed to taste. I have since bought some more, and I love it!

Random pic of Lucky and Alex helping me work one day.

After the tax deadline while Colt was working, I relaxed and caught up on some Sons of Anarchy. 

Alex's 6th birthday was on October 17th. 

On the 18th, after a Saturday of babysitting one of the resident's newborns, Colt and I met Wade, Kacie, Whitney and Alicia at a new italian restaurant in Belton. I do not recommend the restaurant at all unless they improve their menu! After dinner, Colt had to go to work and the girls went and saw Gone Girl. They did a good job of keeping it like the book and it, of course, was just as twisted as the book was!

The next day, Sunday the 19th, Colt was working again so I went solo to Wade and Kacie's Halloween party. I made these little treats to take to their Halloween party and another batch for the SWMEA bake sale. 

During the month, we caught some Monday night football with friends at Wings and Things.

Melissa was driving through town on the 24th. She stopped by and we got to eat a late brunch at Meg's. It's always good to see work friends! That is definitely something that I miss now that I work from home.

Colt's 27th Birthday, and Halloween of course, fell on a Friday this year! Colt and I went to Josh and Brianna's for a little Halloween party. Afterwards, we ended up at one of Colt's favorites, Chipotle, for dinner with Matt and Whitney.

I guess his card should've really said just Baby Daddy without the future! We had just found out we were pregnant a few days before. 

The next day, we went to Amanda Zelinsky's for a little Halloween party. We played Taboo and Cards Against Humanity. We ended up having to buy both games afterwards! This was technically on November 1st but we were still celebrating Halloween so I included it in my recap.

I also made some purchases and updated out spare bathrooom during October. I like it so much better now! Plus, it smells good too thanks to Pier One.