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So this is Christmas

Well, this week has been full of both highs and lows. On the plus side, I was approved to start taking leave as of the 23rd. Woot woot! That means I only have 6 business days left. Now, on the other side, I asked to start leave on the 23rd because they make us take 40 hours of PTO before our FMLA starts…and apparently the 24th-25th are not ‘regular’ business days. So, lucky me, I get to take 58 hours of PTO…which I don’t have. Not ideal, but I guess it is what it is.

Friday at work I started having some pretty painful Braxton Hicks that lasted a little under 2 hours. I was sort of scared, but also excited. It definitely made me think about how real this is becoming. Baby boy should be here in less than a month. Crazy! It also made me go into overdrive in getting the house ready. I cleaned the oven and cabinets and scrubbed the bathrooms on my hands and knees this weekend. I definitely am not as lax about leaving stuff around. In the event that Eli comes early, I don’t want to come home to a disaster. We just need to make it one more week! I also finished putting all my recipes into OneNote and Josh set up the cars for Eli, so we’re doing pretty good. Now we just to decide between a 529 college plan or a UGMA account. Does anyone have experience with either? Any suggestions?

Here’s this week’s check in…
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Weight Gain:  35 lbs in 36 weeks. In reality I lost some weight since my parents left haha.
Eli’s Size: He should (still) be around 6 lbs or the size of a honeydew.
Cravings: pancakes, Doritos, Taco John’s potato ole’s (so sad there isn’t one close!), Dr. Pepper
Side effects: heartburn with nausea, hip pain, swollen feet, numb hands, seeing stars, Charlie Horses, weird taste in my mouth- kind of like you just put on some Burt’s Bees non-mint flavored chap stick. I’m not sure how exactly to describe it.
Belly button in or out? Out-ish (same as last week)
Thing I miss? Getting in a hot tub, running. It bothers me that I can’t run even if I wanted to.
Most awkward moment? Wearing non-matching earrings to work and not noticing until about 4pm
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Best moment?  We got to see Eli Tuesday and he is huge! He was laying kind of in a C shape and took up so much space. He didn’t want to show us his face, but we did see his little heart beating. It still is so awesome to see. Still blows my mind that this little person is about to be here. The doc said he’s looking perfectly normal sized, so no giant baby for us. Oh! I passed my second 4 hr glucose test, which was also nice. Eli also has his head down, which is a good sign!
What we bought: I bought some realllly cute nursing scarves. I got a bird scarf from AbbieGraceDesigns and a chevron scarf from StellaBellasDesigns Don’t you love them? I am so happy they don’t look like aprons. And, they work! I got them in already and they are awesome. I also bought some teething jewelry. I bought an amber necklace at the advice of some friends and also bought this ChewBead’s bracelet. I got them for myself to wear, not the baby, due to potential choking hazards. We’ll see how they work. We also finally got our mobile in!! I love it.
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In other news, I finally got around to taking a few Christmas decoration pictures. Here’s our new addition, Mr. T Rex (plus other pictures)
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I don't know what's up with the picture of the stockings. On the laptop it looks differently. And this year’s ornaments…. from Branson, The Biltmore, and the Chattanooga Choo Choo. I can’t remember if we got one from Savannah or not. I can’t seem to find it, so maybe not.
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Well, we’re off to church and then to Josh’s immediate family’s ‘Christmas’. I hope you all have a great day!
-Shantel

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