Merry Christmas from the LeBlanc's

Josh and I celebrated our first (and last) Christmas with just the two of us this year. Every year before we had been staying with our families and celebrated with them. It took a little trial and error with the camera timer, but here is our official 2009 Christmas jammies photo: On Christmas Eve we went to church for cocoa, cookies and free family photos. This is us all dressed up before we left:

It was FREEZING and windy Christmas Eve night. After taking pictures at church we went out to eat then came straight home, and cuddled up in our pajama's with hot cocoa and "A Christmas Story"

We went to the 11pm candlelight service that night, but were much more comfortable in our warm sweaters.

Christmas morning I made Monkey Bread for breakfast. Santa came!

The traditional orange in the stocking...thanks mom!

Candy!

Pens for work:
Gotta love the orange!

Izzy got a new Christmas toy: I got my diaper bag for Christmas! I did a lot of research and found the "perfect" one. Its got a bunch of pockets, its fully lined, and looks like a purse!

Josh got Versace cologne:

Unfortunately I had to work Christmas night, but we had a relaxing Christmas day. After breakfast and presents we watched some Christmas movies, played cards and took a nap. I got up before work and made garlic chicken, candied yams and green beans. The candied yams were much more candy than yams haha (it was my first time making them), but they tasted good! I have worked the last three nights, its been crazy up at the baby factory! But I have a couple days off then I have to work New Years Eve. I figured we wouldn't be going out and getting crazy so I offered to work that night. Josh's brother Drew, Meredith and Caiden are coming in New Years Day on their drive through back to San Angelo. We are very excited to spend some time with them, they are leaving for Germany early next year. Once they leave we will be in baby mode! I will be 36 weeks pregnant by then, so we will be getting everything Miss Avery's arrival. So exciting!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Last weekend Josh's parent and Summer came in to celebrate Christmas with us. We had a great visit! Saturday night we went to a restaurant to watch the Saints game. It was their first loss, but we had a nice night, eating good food and visiting. This is a picture before we left.Sunday we went to church. This is a picture of Josh and Summer in the parking lot, she loves her big brother!

Then Sunday night we had Christmas Dinner (ham, baked macaroni, green bean casserole) and opened up Christmas presents. Josh got to play Santa again :)

These are my goodies: I got some clothes, a new straightening iron, my Dolce and Gabanna Light Blue perfume and a little kitchen decoration. Santa Aleta is so good to us :)Josh got some XBOX games, clothes and set of golf clubs!The best part were his personalized, embroidered golf towels:It was a very relaxing visit. One night we drove around eating ice cream and looking at Christmas lights. But for the most part we hung out and visited.

I love this picture, the puppies are all cuddled up on Mr. Chris and Ms. Aleta:

Josh and Mr. Chris are playing poker AGAINST each other on two different lap tops!

Izzy loves her Aunt Summer:We are a high technological family, we had enough computers and Iphones for everyone to be online at the same time!

We are so blessed to have such amazing family. It really meant a lot to us, that they were able to so come up to spend some time with us before Christmas. We aren't really traveling anymore since I am so far along in the pregnancy, Avery has been behaving herself, but we would hate for something to happen while we were back home and so far away from my doctor and hospital. Merry Christmas!

Mr. and Mrs. Claus!

Josh got chosen to be Santa Claus at his school's Christmas party. It was at the clinic, so the patient's could also bring their kids to come and take a picture with Santa. He had a great time, and was excited to get to spend time with all the little kids.
Mr. and Mrs. Claus Little one month old baby:

The costume he dressed up in was really nice.

This little girl was so cute, she was scared of him for the longest time. Josh kept talking to her and asking her what she wanted for Christmas.

She very slowly warmed up to him.

I am officially 33 weeks today! I can't believe I only have 7 weeks left, it is flying by! We took these pictures right before my appointment today.

Here's the belly shot, still no stretch marks!!!

My appointment went well. Dr. Hernandez was at a delivery, so his nurse checked me out. My fundus only measured 29 weeks, so she told me to make sure he checks the baby's weight at my next appointment. Avery's weights so far have all been normal, so maybe she was just hiding in there more than usual. She was hiding her face on the ultrasound AGAIN, so no good pictures this time either. I gained 3 pounds since my last visit, which puts me at a whopping 14 pounds gained so far during the pregnancy.

Josh and I went to IHOP afterward, then I went out and finished my Christmas shopping. I am done, thank the Lord! Josh was even a sweetheart and wrapped all the presents under the tree! All I have left to do is wrap his stuff, and put our goodies in the stocking on Christmas Eve. Like I said this Christmas hasn't been very stressful at all, and for that I am truly thankful.

Josh's parent's are coming in this weekend. We have lots of fun stuff planned, and are looking forward to spending some quality time with them. Will try to update again soon!

Baby Avery

With everything going on lately, I haven't updated very much on the pregnancy. But luckily everything has been going great! I am 32 weeks and 4 days today. Avery is such a wiggle worm, and she moves the most at night! We will definately have a night owl on our hands when she is born. She weighed 3.68 pounds at my doctor's appointment a week and a half ago. She is definately getting bigger...you can now feel the outline of her little feet, knees, and elbows when she is moving around in there. Josh can always get her to move, all he has to do is put his hands on my belly and talk to her...she definately knows her daddy's voice. Speaking of her daddy, here is a picture of him with Izzy in Avery's carrier. Poor puppy puts up with so much! Here are some belly pictures. I was 31 weeks and 2 days in the first one and I felt HUGE! I was swollen and just felt like there was no more room for her!

And the funny thing is that in this second one I was 32 weeks and 2 days, a week later, and didn't feel as big. Its amazing how my uterus keeps growing and giving her more and more room.

We go back to the doctor's office on Thursday. Since I go every 2 weeks now, the visits are much shorter, they just check my BP and pulse, do a quick ultrasound, and make sure there are no problems. We did find out after my last appointment that I am GBS positive though. Its not that big of a deal, it just means I have to be treated with antibiotics during labor, so when I deliver Avery she doesn't get exposed to any bacteria that her immature immune system can't handle. That just throws out my plans of going to the hospital 10cm and delivering...haha, yeah right, momma needs an epidural!!!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is my FAVORITE time of year! I know how easy it is to get caught up in the stress and pressure of the season, but this year has been really stress free for me. I did most of my shopping online, we decorated when we got home from LA on December 1st, its just been really easy this year. We are staying in Texas for Christmas this year, I will be 35 weeks at that time, and we are going to stay put just in case Avery decides to act up. I am excited about our first Christmas with our little family. We plan on going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church, and just starting our own little traditions. The great thing is that our parents have been able to come out for a Christmas visit. Josh's parents are coming in this Friday, so we will be able to spend some time with them. My mom came in this weekend, so we got to do our Christmas at that time. We did Christmas baking and candy making, we listened to Christmas music non-stop and watched all the cute/cheesy Christmas movies on TV. It was a great visit!

Here are some pictures of the goodies we made. White chocolate covered Oreos:

Decorated sugar cookies:My Maw-Maw's Ranch crackers...yum!This is called Puppy Food, it's chocolate and peanut-butter covered Chex mix coated in powdered sugar...so good!And my favorite...Buck-Eye balls: peanut-butter and powdered sugar dipped in chocolate:Josh went to a Christmas party, and of course had to wear his cheesy Christmas sweater.Here are some pictures by the tree:My mom and Josh being goofy!

Like I said, Josh's parents and little sister are coming in on Friday, so we have a fun weekend planned with them. I will post pictures after that visit too. Merry Christmas!!! and remember the birth of Jesus is the real reason we are celebrating, don't lose focus of the true meaning of the season!

Baby Shower!

While we were in town for the Thanksgiving holiday Josh's wonderful mom and sister threw us a baby shower. It was absolutely perfect! The theme was "tickled pink" and everything was pink and polka dotted just like Avery's room. Here are Josh and I at the cake table.

Josh's mom's friend, Ms. Vicki, made the cake. It was absolutely beautiful and delicious too!

Here is a picture of the cake tableMs. Aleta ordered the CUTEST sugar cookies. They were little pink onesies with brown polka dots and the letter A on them; and the other ones had Avery's initials monogrammed on them.And of course there was TONS of food. Here is a picture of the spread:Everyone mingling and eatingHere are some of the guests in the living room, waiting for us to start opening presents. My (bigger) little brother Jake came!Before we started opening presents, Ms. Aleta had Josh dress up like a baby, he had a diaper, big pacifier and bottle...it was too funny!When he sat down, Jen and Jody's son Mitch wanted to feed him the bottle!We got so many gifts! We are so truly blessed to have such great family and friends that take such good care of us.

I am not going to post all of the presents we opened, but here are a few of my favorites. This is a handmade quilt sewn by Mrs. Patricia. She is so talented and has made one for all of her daughters when they had a baby, I got one too! I have kind of been an honorary daughter since Chelsea and I became best friends in second grade.

Here is another handmade blanket from Mrs. Janet Killen, it is so soft and cuddly.

Ms. Aleta got Avery her first pair of shoes! The poor child had a closet full of cothes with no shoes. They are little black, patent leather ones that will match perfectly with her valentine's day outfit.She also got her the cutest little sailor outfit...I can't wait till she is big enough to fit into it.

This is one of the beautiful gown's Ms. Aleta got for her too.

Besides A LOT of clothes, we also got Avery's high chair, pack and play, boppys, bumbo seat, tummy time mat, jumper gym, and plenty of gift cards to get the other little stuff we need. Again I say we are so lucky to have such amazing friends and family.