Happy New Year to you from the Kings! Hope everyone had a wonderfully restful and refreshing Christmas – ours was definitely refreshing but not quite restful. As our last holiday as a family of 2 (or 2.5 when we count Scout!), we wanted to make sure to see and spend good time with everyone, so the holidays had us traveling to Fort Worth and Houston to spend time with our families. We loved each moment, but couldn’t be happier to be back home and in our own bed!
Houston was a wonderful treat for me – my sweet high school girlfriends hosted a little girl time/shower for me! It was wonderful getting to see all the little babies we already have, enjoy our favorite Sugar Land cuisine, Thai Cottage, and just get some sweet time together! I cannot express adequately in words how much it meant to me. I felt so encouraged and loved by these dear friends who have known me a large portion of my life. I know from the many transitions that M and I have already walked through that to maintain friendships across cities and states and various seasons of life sure is a treasure, and I hold these ladies so close to my heart 🙂
M was a SUPREME HUBBY over the holidays. Not only has he been wonderful taking care of me and my growing inability to do some things on my own, but he also got started on one of the most exciting projects we have going on in the nursery – refinishing a dresser! A couple of months back, M happened upon an AWESOME garage sale. There was a couple in our neighborhood whose parents used to own an antique store, and from time to time they clear out some of their old storage units, unloading amazing pieces at CRAZY prices! The trunk we used in our gender reveal came from them – for $5 no less! Here is a pic of my wonderful hubby sanding down the dresser for me to prep it for paint (sorry, I only got a picture of the back side):
I can’t wait to throw some chalk paint on this and build a few rails for the changing pad! I only wish I was able to help Mason with it more. I have wanted to find a project like this to try my hand at refinishing and painting furniture, but in the least I am thankful for a partner who enjoys these projects as much as me (and is quite good at being the handyman too – as I write this post he is sitting next to me repairing a somewhat weathered briefcase he got on ebay!)
New Year’s Eve was great fun, spending time with some sweet dear friends. We cooked great food, enjoyed watching our puppies play together, played games, and just shared good time together over encouraging conversation. As would be expected, we cannot wait for 2013. The Lord has great things in store for us with lots of life change, but it sure will be fun! Here’s a few pics of me and M from our night:
So there’s where we’ve been! And now – the belly update!
How far along: 26 weeks
Baby’s size: a head of lettuce
Maternity clothes: thanks to the advice of a friend, I discovered that the Dallas Galleria H&M carries maternity (H&M Mama), which has been my lifesaver! Inexpensive clothes that still allow me to look a little trendy! (top in the pic above is courtesy of H&M Mama)
Sleep: I think I finally figured out that the Snoogle would be more effective the bigger I got – and now it is a staple for me both in sleeping and lounging… Poor M had to share a full size bed with me and the Snoogle over the weekend, but he was such a champ about it!
Best moment of this week: having sweet high school girlfriends throw a girls’ baby shower for me while we were in Houston. It was great to get quality time with some of my favorite girls, and Piper and I really felt their love for us. It was so sweet! Hopefully they will send me the pictures they took soon so I can share!
Miss anything: definitely missed that champagne over New Year’s, but I sure did enjoy some pomegranate sparkling cider in its place!
Movement: little lady on the move! It has been really fun sharing her movements with friends. She’s a little wiggle worm!
Food cravings: still ice cream. After all the sweets over the holidays I think we are craving veggies now too 🙂
Queasy or sick?: healthy as can be!
Have you started to show yet?: oh surely. It’s fun when I get the opportunity to see a friend that I haven’t seen in a few weeks who excitedly acknowledges “wow, you’ve grown!”
Gender: excited for our sweet little girl, Piper Elyse!
Belly button in or out: inching closer to an outie each day
Wedding rings on or off: on
Happy or moody most of the time: mostly happy, with the occasional grumpy morning.
Looking forward to: the nursery decorating!
the kindred kings 
You are the cutest! I wish I knew about h & m mama!
You look so amazing!! I loved getting to see you over the break! Please post pics of the dresser when you are done with it 🙂