Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to you all!

Good-bye 2014, HELLO 2015!

It has been such a great year and we have had such a great day!
We started out the day with a visit to the doctor! We told everyone we wouldn't find out the gender of our baby until January but we convinced the doctor to move the appointment up! We went and learned...

IT'S A GIRL! Eric and I both "knew" it was a girl due to the instant prayers in our hearts when we thought we had miscarried (we both thought, "Please don't take her from us"). We are SO excited!
(I promise our kids are excited too ... they just weren't pleased that they had to sit on the table for the photos rather than dance on top of it.)

Isn't she beautiful?

After the ultrasound before the appointment with the doctor, we went out to lunch to celebrate! Audrey and Aaron both learned the goodness of katsup on your fries.

At our doctor's appointment, we did learn a few things. First we learned I've gained 20lbs already... As the nurse passed along this information, she was quite wide eyed... lol. We also learned, through the ultrasound, that our baby girl is growing right on track, everything is within normal ranges - but ... my cervix is shrinking which is something it does when it's prepping for labor (it is still within the "normal" range but is obviously changing when it shouldn't be). So, from now on, when I feel cramps, I'm not just to sit down, I'm to lay all the way down. I'm to take it even easier than I have been and I'm to drink 3 liters of water a day (sheesh ... that's 102oz, or almost 13 cups. I'm going to spend most of my day in the bathroom!).
But, we'll do whatever it takes to keep our little girl out of the NICU.

After our appointment, we went down to Eric's parents' house where we surprised them with the news (We filled a box with pink balloons and had pictures of the baby inside. We said, "we couldn't help ourselves, we had to get you another Christmas present," so they had no idea what they were opening.) and then spent a quiet evening with them! Jon and Amanda stayed with us for a bit and we played games.

When Jon and Amanda left, Eric learned from his dad how to make the famous eggnog.
We all enjoyed several cups :)

  

Audrey went down around 9:30 and we put in the movie, Live, Die, Repeat (I told you we love that movie). Eric's parents hadn't seen it yet. Then we just chatted until the countdown on TV. Seriously, so chill and relaxing. Aaron went upstairs to play while we watched our movie and surprised us by staying awake all the way until midnight! Crazy kid! He came down just in time to yell, "Happy New Year!"