Typical Day at the Office

We try to entertain ourselves around here at the office, so I was super excited when our new camera came in the mail and I got to bring it to work today to learn how to use it.

So this picture represents that they stole all the trashcans from the immediate area around my desk (there used to be three within trash tossing distance) and so things accumulate until I have to get up to go somewhere like the fax or the bathroom. I think someone has it out for me.

This is Eleamar. I know she looks like she's working, but she's actually using my color pens to update her Christmas list.

The pictures are dark, not because of the new camera, but I decided not to use flash. The flash tends to cause 50 people look my way all at once, scowling because they are having to work and I'm not.

Design Style

Quiz of the day... Finding out what my design style is...
You're eccentric with a touch of: sweet and classy.
Ok like we didn't know I was eccentric....
Take the quiz here.

Ahhhh.

I am finally able to sleep almost a whole night without waking myself up coughing.
I am drinking Starbuck's Caramel Apple Spice (why can't they just call it cider?) in my red cup with blue sleeve.
I'm back on the hook (crocheting that is) so we'll see if I can get myself up to speed to get all my intended holiday hooking done.
Life is feeling a little bit better.

Adam's Birthday Bonanza and Baby Kipp Update

Birthday Bonanza
So while I was on the fictional brink of death this past week, Adam's birthday came and went without much more than a, "Happy Birthday" from his wife. Luckily, Adam's good friend Bill came to the rescue to take him out to breakfast while I was the Princess of Porcelain and Mucus. But today we finally got to celebrate "his" day. We went to Chip's Hamburgers for lunch.
Then we went to Sprinkles, a gourmet cupcake bakery that has the most delicious cupcakes ever. Really. Ever. That's all they make are posh, delicious cupcakes.



The Red Velvet cupcake was so rich that I could only have a bite of it when we got home from the store. But don't worry, I ate a whole Pumpkin one later that night and it was so good I didn't even mind when it all came back up later. (I guess I'm not quite ready for that much sweet stuff yet.)

Baby Kipp Update
We had another doctor's appointment yesterday and got new pictures of the baby! I really love that our doctor does a sonogram every visit. Especially right now when I still can't feel the baby move or even really know it's there. But even though I wasn't eating much the baby looks like it has had more than its fill.

Look at that belly! The head is there on the right and the little legs are sticking straight up in the air. You might also be able to see the little back arm up by the face.
The doctor does a video on VHS for us when we go and she forgot to put the tape in so we got a double long sono and while the tape was in Baby decided to show off, sucking its thumb and then getting the hiccups. It's super cute, if I do say so myself.

The Holidays

I LOVE the fall and winter. I love holidays- decorating, cooking, baking, going to parties, traveling, the airport, shopping, traffic. The whole shebang. I'll admit it, I'm a little bit crazy about the holidays. I plan out menus, and keep a Christmas notebook with addresses that get updated (sometimes!) throughout the year, gift lists with ideas and budgeting (that always gets blown out of the water), cut outs from magazines with crafts and recipes and ideas (that never all get tried out and accomplished).
Adam has set very clear boundaries for me during the holiday season. The decorations do not go up until the day after Thanksgiving, that is also when the holiday movies and music are allowed to begin their 24 hour vigil in our house. They are put away sometime before the end of New Year's Day. The only contraband that is allowed out before Thanksgiving is the Christmas cards (that were purchased the year before on sale, I can't justify the 100+ Christmas cards we send out unless they are on sale), because they have to be prepared and ready to mail the day after Thanksgiving. (Note: This year they will be a little later. I know! Horror! But I promise the wait will be well worth it, so keep your pants on!)
We have the same (but less stringent) boundaries for the fall. The fall decorations come out after it is officially Autumn and not before. And really I can't justify that one any earlier here in Texas since it is usually still 90 degrees outside when this occurs and I'm allowed one mini pumpkin spending spree- Can't have big pumpkins in a tiny apartment.

But what I love most about the holidays are traditions. I love knowing that I will do the same thing every year without having to really think or plan well for mishaps or problems. But I think what I appreciate most this year is how the traditions have morphed over the past few years. I know that for Thanksgiving there will be Kristi Campbell's Stuffing, Grandma Kipp's Corn Casserole, Laura's Cranberry Cobbler from her grandmother, we will all go around the table (whether it's a table seating 2 or 20) and say what we are thankful for (from my Step-grandparents, Bugs and Judy).
For Christmas, we will hide the Baby Jesus from the rest of the nativity until Christmas Eve, then the wise men will get increasing closer to the nativity as the days go on after Christmas, and we will open at least one good present on Christmas Eve so I can sleep (thanks Mom!). This year may be a little different because we will be at Disney World for Christmas, but usually I would have Black Forest Pie and Monkey Bread for Christmas Breakfast and Adam and I would fight over whether we should have ham or turkey for dinner (we usually end up having both). We would watch the full 24hours of The Christmas Story on TV, even though we have it on DVD and I hate that movie.

What are your favorite holiday traditions?

Oh the joys,

of pregnancy. It basically means that your body is not going to make any sense for 10 months at the very least. I believed myself totally prepared for this: getting up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom, morning sickness, all day sickness, many other things not appropriate to really share on the blog. I've been through the whole nausea, morning/all day sickness thing and was pretty much over it by the 10th week of pregnancy. I was totally praising God everytime my meal stayed where it should and I could go about my normal business.
But really a cold/undiagnosed sinus infection is something I lived with about 5 times a year in Ohio, but for the pregnant Cara, it's a totally different story. Apparently, my body has decided that while it is sick, all foreign things that come into my body are deemed bad and must be immediately expelled from the nearest exit (mostly out of my mouth again, the same way it came in). This would include water, juice, vitamins, tylenol, benadryl, any form of food that is not bread and by bread I mean basic white bread, no buscuits, wheat bread, or rolls allowed. I've lived off of ginger ale (no Sprite or 7-up allowed either) and white toast for a week now, I've tried to eat other things thinking I was a little bit better to be sorely disappointed by the resulting cleaning that then needs to take place.
Adam jokingly asked me yesterday if I was trying to vomit in every room in our apartment. So far I have just about every room down. At least I have goals in life.

Every single time...

I go back to Ohio, I get sick. Sad part about the last two times I've gotten sick is that, since I'm preggers I can't take anything that really kicks it in the hind end. Tylenol, Robitussin, and Benadryl have never really done it for me (I'm a NyQuil girl), but now they are pretty much the only things I can take. So I've been miserably at home living off of a loaf of white bread (because it's the only thing I can eat), ginger ale, and a box (actually two) of tissues.
I don't have this problem when I go to Florida. I'll just have to go visit Baby Ella from now on instead of the rest of the family. Hope you don't mind Ryan and Laura!