There are things to be grateful for though and I have been really blessed. I've gone back to work after three weeks of mandatory leave for Christmas. While it was extremely nice to have the time off and even nicer to have a break from my job, it wasn't easy financially to not get paid for that long of time. Especially since the medical bills seem to never go away despite our best efforts to pay them all. (Have I mentioned my insurance doesn't cover ANYTHING baby? Who knew it was so expensive to be pregnant and give birth?!?) So, even though I have a really hard time with my job most of the time, I'm grateful to be back at it. We are also so blessed with everything we have. While I've only bought one thing for the baby -- 20 baby hangers (Don't judge...everything we have is currently going to getting the baby out of me.) -- I still have enough clothes to put on all of the hangers, thanks primarily to Moni and my mom. Also thanks to Moni, I have a crib and a changing table. They may be hand-me-downs, so much like most of our house is, but I couldn't be more grateful or happy...for all my hand-me-downs. Shout out to Seth and Lacey for our bedroom and living room furniture too. We really wouldn't have much of anything if it weren't for other people's generosity...in fact nothing, because even the things that aren't hand-me-downs were wedding presents. There are really very few things in our apartment that we had before we were married and brought into the marriage. I am also so blessed to have a very active baby. Now I say this because this means the baby is healthy, right? Not so much that I love feeling her move all the time...because it hurts. Seriously while lying in bed this morning Curt had his hand on my stomach and you could feel and see the baby winding up and BAM...she kicked me so hard in the rib it made me cry out. I'm convinced she hates me, but at least she's healthy right? At our last doctor's appointment on the 9th, the doctor was laughing at how hard it was to get her heartbeat because she wouldn't stay still long enough. And to think I'm supposed to be counting her movements and making sure she moves at least 10 times in one hour. How about 10 times in 10 seconds? Yep, you read that right... But alas, she's healthy... I'm also really blessed to have a library 10 feet away from my house. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but seriously I can drive there in two minutes...even with the traffic lights. I've been trying to read books on the whole labor and delivery thing I have to look forward to because I won't be taking any childbirthing classes before the big day. It has been really nice to be able to check books out for free instead of purchasing books on the subject. And who knew that Fort Worth and surrounding area libraries have InterLibrary Loan options? I have a whole list of books coming to me. And finally, while I couldn't be more blessed than I am to have a paycheck that helps to pay the bills, to not be late on any bills, have hand-me-downs, a library card for the first time in 12 years or so and a healthy and active baby inside of me, I am most of all blessed with the best husband. He really is the biggest blessing in my life. I don't think it is possible to be treated better than Curt treats me. He truly is my best friend and I couldn't be luckier.
Okay, so one last thing before I end this really long post... I know I should have been taking belly pictures all along and at least posting a few... Well, I haven't...obviously. However, here is my belly as of January 9th. I was 28 weeks pregnant. I think I look so much bigger in pictures, but then again it is a totally different angle than me just looking down at my belly. So there you have it...a pregnant belly picture...
Curt received the History of the Church collection,
a pair of jeans, the Star Wars movies, Ticket to Ride (okay so I mostly got it for me...), 
a book on the Atonement and some Burt's Bees stuff. I received my 7 gypsies card carousel and supplies for it, 
two dresses from my favorite store DownEast Outfitters, and some tall boots. I've always wanted tall boots...it was a great surprise!! Curt did an amazing job playing Santa. We spent the rest of the day playing games, visiting with Curt's family, eating more yummy food...especially the pumpkin rolls and just hanging out. Our first Christmas together definitely was wonderful!
We searched for forever trying to find the reindeer...which we never found because they were not out. It was a really fun date and I would totally recommend it to anyone. It's even free...well except for the $10.00 parking. Yep, $10.00!! I remember feeling really bad about that last year, because I didn't know it would be so expensive. Ooopps. :) Thank goodness Curt had money because I don't think I even had any cash. I forgot about it again this year too...except this year neither one of us had cash and had to pay a $3.00 ATM fee to get cash. That was kind of stinky. It was to fun to go again and retrace our steps, talk about what we talked about on our date and laugh at some of the things we were thinking but didn't say while on our date...like how I thought it would take him forever to marry me. :)
We finally found the reindeer this year. It was kind of small and disappointing...but at least we finally found it.