Merry Christmas everybody!!!

How cute am I?!

Santa loves me too!

Rubber ducky, you're the one.... you make bath time lots of fun!

Lily had her first bath (at home) and it was super fun! She fussed only until she was covered by the warm wash cloth - then she just enjoyed it and watched us the whole time!!! Here are a few pictures of us the last couple of days!!
Daddy teaching Lily about video games...

Ittle bitty fingers and toes are SOOOO kissable...

Deep in thought already!!

Sorry the sound doesn't work...

Sorry?! I got the video loaded... finally, but without sound? Go figure... I'll try and reload it at some point :o) In the meantime, we're at home and trying to get stuff put away and set up for our little one! She's doing great... nursing well, and even sleeping pretty well thus far! I have a feeling she's going to start waking up more and more in the next few days :o)
Here's a couple of VERY non-posed, unprofessional pictures... but it'll sufice until we try and take some others!!!





Daddy and his girls... :o)

Lily Belle Elston is here!!!

We've just arrived home and are trying to get things in order... Graci has yet to arrive and meet her new rival! Lily was born on December the 15th, just like mom asked for, at 5:53pm Alaska time! There were no complications whatsoever (other than a few rude remarks pre-epidural) and Miss Lily made her debut 12 hours after she first started stirring early Saturday morning! We've got a little video to post and we'll try and get more up late tonight/tomorrow!! Thanks so much to all - we're definitely in love with this little girl! (Please excuse my appearance... it was a long day :o)
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Happy Anniversary to us!!

That's right... one year ago today, we were getting married... and today we were reminded of all of those reasons that we chose to marry one another! The day was filled with several sentimental moments and tears... mostly by me this time instead of Josh! (we'll blame it on pregnancy...) We had a very laid back day that we were able to just enjoy one another's company and realize exactly why we love one another soo much... and I'll be the first to stay there are more reasons today than there were 1 year ago when I pledged my love to this man for a lifetime! God is good. We did go out for a nice steak dinner which was well above our budget but supported by great "grandparents" :o) We had some GREAT steak and topped it off with a free key lime pie that was AMAZING! We also came home to put on our comfy clothes (ie stretchy pants after that dinner!!) and partake in the traditional eating of our wedding cake. IT was awful... the icing still tasted good - the cake? Tasted a little like sand. HA - Enjoy the photos...

37+ week belly! We're FULL TERM now

That's right - we're considered full term as of Thursday - 37 weeks. So bring it on... and GET HER OUT!!! I'm more than ready for her to be out... as far as taking on motherhood? We'll see, but being unpregnated (think about that word for a minute...)? DEFINITELY READY!!! Stay posted...

Graci roasting on an open fire...

That doesn't sound very nice, I know... but look at what my little cutie decided to do when I wasn't availble for her to cuddle in my lap? Find a new, warm spot...


What a little cutie... At first, she was curled up on the tile... so I put the blanket up there for her! Ahhh, my first born :o)

Josh had a shower!!! FINALLY - haha

Well, he usually does take showers on a daily a basis - but I still like the play on words! The folks at the Elmendorf pharmacy (aka Josh's colleagues) gave him a shower yesterday during lunch time! It was a GREAT time and the folks were sooo gracious... we were just warmed and blessed by the love, gifts and support to the 2.5 of us when we're so new to things here! They all brought in yummy homemade food and had a huge spread (even though for preggo people)and just enjoyed sharing this time with us! Josh got a big taste of pink and opening gifts that are just "cute" - He usually had to take a few minutes to figure out exactly what each of these items were... but he got the hang of it. He got several "I love daddy" items that he was just thrilled about! My favorite was the Boppy moment... despite having heard of these before (listening must have been his downfall) he was perplexed with this one! HA Enjoy seeing Daddy in action with all this pink!

I know I know... it's about time...

So we've been busy I suppose! Josh's brother, Lance married the love of his life, Liz and we were lucky enough to be there! Josh left a week before me to do some training exercising in San Antonio (and therefore use Uncle Sam for his flight home and back! Thanks Uncle Sam) and then hopped on over to Houston for the weekend of events! Before THE events took place, we had a little girl time. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law Kristy, soon to be sister-in-law Liz and I were treated to massages and pedicures on Thursday followed by a very unexpected little baby shower for Lily! How fun is that?
Of course the wedding WAS the event of the weekend and it was juuuuust beautiful. Josh and I most definitely enjoyed a much needed and long overdue trip home to be with his family... especially getting to spend such great time celebrating with Lance! Here are a few wedding shots!!
The boys...

Part of the Elston family...

The blushing bride and groom!

And of course, the famous WHOOPING Aggies... (yes, it was another whooping wedding)


And to top the week off was our niece, Analiese Bellows, enjoying her 1st birthday!!! Yuuuummmm.... cake is good :o)



And now, Josh and I are back at home enjoying the very festive Alaskan weather! We arrived home at 1am to a car that was covered in at least 6 inches of snow! Scrapping that off and warming up the car in order to get home was eventful... but we made it! We've already got our outdoor Christmas lights up and we're hunkered down for Thanksgiving. I'll be working, but we still plan to enjoy the holiday! Our plans are to get the Christmas tree up and the insides decorated ASAP!! Graci seems to be handling the snow quite well. We'll try and get some pictures of her up soon! She occasionally gets playful and just runs and jumps right in. The snow sticks to her and she came out looking like Santa with a big ole beard the other day!! We missed the photo opportunity though... When she's not feeling so playful, she stops at the garage door and does her duty (and doodie) as close to the indoors as she can! What a dog.
We're coming up on 35 weeks tomorrow and definitely just ready for this little girl to COME OUT! Stay tuned...

Happy Halloween!!!

SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!

So we had our first snow :o) How fun is that? I woke up early Monday morning to head to work, and when I pulled out on the driveway... I realized it had magically turned white!! I was super excited about it - unlike the rest of Alaska! We had to rush off to work on Monday, so we didn't get any pictures - but I had a little time this morning to show off our new digs around here! It's not as pretty as it was yesterday all blanketed and unblemished... but it gets the point across! And nevermind the lovely construction equipment. They laughed at me when I asked them to move for the picture (no, I didn't really ask you morons) (K)

Home 1 last time before baby Lily arrives!

That's right - I traveled home after the lovely wedding in Minnesota to enjoy family and friends and shopping :o) It was a BUSY busy week with a quick timeline to fit as many people as I could in... and there were many of you I was unable to visit :o( or saw for such a short time it just wasn't fair!! After flying in, we drove promptly to MiMi and Paw Paw's house to visit the grandparents... sorry, no pictures! Monday - I enjoyed a VERY fancy lunch at Dante's with my mom's best friends. They're church ladies - but not the blue-haired type. Not yet at least... someday, I'm sure they'll have their own little circle of blue-hair habits though with my mom being the ring leader ;) HA Super cute gifts for Lily were received here... hence my hair bow.

Tuesday, Mom and I drove to Charlotte to meet up with one of my greatest friends - La and her boys! Sawyer is 2 and a half, and I was at the hospital when he was born. Sadly... baby Holden was born Sept 5th (I believe?) with me, here in Alaska... pure torture. I finally got to meet this littlee guy though!

And of course, I must give Sawyer his Halloween debut - "To Infinity and Beyond..."

Next, on Wednesday - I traveled down to good ole Chapel Thrill. Ahhh... that glorious, special place! Alli and Cheryl were nice enough to take the day and drive down from Virginia Beach. We reminisced of nursing school... bla bla bla... and enjoyed lunch at Top of the Hill before some shopping on Franklin street! WE did find some lovely Halloween spider caps :o)

That night - I was able to stay with Scott and Nina (my brother and sister-n-law) and have some yummy PF Changs. I miss that restaurant... :o( Murphy was the happiest to see me though :o) That's there lab puppy that is just HUGE now! He still thinks he's a lap dog though?! IT was a task trying to keep him out of my lap... but he sure is a lovable dog! I managed to not take any pictures at all while there. How wrong of me?! Baby Lily will come into this world without having any pictures of her uncle Poopsie with my belly. What can I say? Oops... AFter spending the night - I got up the next morning to relax and do some shopping around town! I ran lots of errands and enjoyed all the stories I used to shop at on a regular basis! Good thing for Josh I can't do that often :o) I meet up with my great friends from the Chapel Hill Bible Church that night for dinner... and again, failed to take a picture. We'll blame it on placenta brain?! AFter dinner, I scooted home - stopping by to see my good friend Heather who's also pregnant and due about a month before me! Oh the joys of hearing from her what I have to look forward to in the next few weeks! WE're kinda getting into that "just get it over with" stage! Of course, Amy (church friend from dinner... not posted here - oops) and I have been in that stage for quite some time now! HA . Friday was business as usual at the Pernell house - dinner with the extending family... that Pitmans. Again, not posted. Saturday - Jen Gresham came up and we headed to the local Octoberfest for some funnel cake - yippe (baby Lily really liked that!) and met up with Sarah, Barb and baby Easton. Then it was off to dinner with the crew - thanks for everybody driving in!! We all again laughed about some nursing school/college stories as well as pregnancy/motherhood stories. That seems to be taking over most of my world these days? Guess that's how it happens! You get pregnant and start a family and the focus shifts - it's not about you anymore. Ahhh... sad... :o)

Sunday was planned out with the usual group from church, followed by a visit to my Uncle Larry and Aunt Kathy's house to see the girls and Laura! And then Sunday night dinner - pizza with the Pitman crew! Monday was a whirlwind of last minute errands to get everything done and me crashing shamelessly on the couch before packing my now doubled load of things! And Tuesday I was off to the airport... only to arrive home 2 days later. That wasn't planned... but look on the bright side - instead of flying straight to Minn and home - I was able to see Minn for a while, then see Phoenix, then fly over the Grand Canyon on my way to Seattle and FINALLY make it home to Anchorage! (note - there really was NO bright side to any of this...) In fact - I ended up in L&D on Thursday due to the contractions I had all night and all day most likely from the dehydration and stress of the flight home! Lovely. But baby Lily is healthy and happy as ever... even after the chinese take-out on Saturday that re-appeared several times on Sunday! Ahhhh, ode to being pregnant.

Home again home again. I've decided - although it was all worth it, I hate traveling away from my husband. It's not cool. I don't like it. So I'll have to take up a few issues with Uncle Sam and his plans for Josh over the next few months?! We'll see who wins that battle, ok? So 30+ weeks and pre-bad-chinese food... maybe I managed to lose a pound or 2 on that one :o)

And this weekend while I was home in Anchorage, feeling lousy - my cousin Wendy was celebrating her baby shower! There were previously NO grandbabies on my mom's side of the family... the Tuckers. And come December, there will be 2!! Little John Owen Tucker is due a few weeks before baby Lily... and while I couldn't be at the shower, I decided to pretend. Aren't we cute - belly to belly? (I thought you might like that one Courtney! I hear you've been reading up on things :o) And I think the cupcakes were a perfect CAROLINA blue ;)

Everybody needs a little Josh :o)

That's right - and too bad I'm not sharing?! But thankfully, there are others out there and one of my greatest friends - Melissa - found herself one! Even better, Josh (her new husband) is one of our greatest friends too!! It's really too good to be true... and slash mark number 2 for me and setting up my friends! I get to take credit (as much credit as us humans can take in this ordained world we live in and the wonderful God that watches over us) for two of my best friends and their now husbands :o) Kate and Greg - couple number 1... Lissa and Josh - couple number 2. Note to those of you that are single reading this - hang out with me long enough and I'm bound to find you the love of your life!

Josh and Lissa started dating last year at our wedding! How convenient :o) They were both in the wedding party and after we got home from our honeymoon, we heard that sparks were flying! So they followed in our footsteps - were engaged this summer on our engagement anniversary, and married this past weekend. How glorious?! I did warn them that the next few months might be more precious than they realize (aka - bun in the oven at month 4 of there marriage?! We'll see how closely they follow in our footsteps)

MY Josh and I were able to fly down to Minnesota this past weekend for the wedding and enjoy ourselves thoroughly! It was a small, outdoor, family and close friends affair and it was just gorgeous! It was unseasonably warm - but there was a gentle (and sometimes gale force) wind to keep us cool and keep the bugs (mostly) away. The rain came in and pushed off just about 30 minutes before the ceremony and we were able to enjoy the wedding and the rest of the day outside! I managed to zip up my dress - thankfully, and look as graceful as a whale in high heels. ( you can imagine that, right? whales don't even have legs... and sometimes, due to swelling, it didn't look like I did either! Just call me stumpy ;) So most of the pictures don't include my fancy shoes that I ditched post ceremony for my comfy flats! - forgive me for that! The blushing bride and groom were just gorgeous and happy as they could be!

On to the MOST enjoyable moments - please note the grin on my husband's face.

DESSERT! Yummy :o) He wasn't the only one enjoying the yummy sweets though ;o) We'll just say baby Lily had her fair share!
And so we carry on and my tummy grew by the hour (and the bite?!) 28+ weeks, so we've hit the 3rd trimester and we're in the 7th month! WHEW

Holy cow?! Look at me grow... ps - you're not aloud to say things such as "cow" in reference to me. (if you'd like to stay on my nice list) We had a lovely time and enjoyed being a part of the Linder (Melissa's) family for the weekend! And now - I'm off to NC to visit home, family and friends - and sadly without my husband :o( Pouty face and sigh go here.... Josh headed back to Anchorage to claim our sweet Graci from the kennel and enjoy (prayerfully) another week of work while I'm now resting on the couch at home planning a week of relaxing, shopping, and visiting with friends and family! As much fun as that is... it's bitter sweet without my husband!

Until next time....