Christmas Day 2010

I am finally getting a chance to post pics of Christmas Day 2010.  We spent 5 days in WI this year for the holiday and it was wonderful!  My sisters made it home from San Fransico and Chicago too!  Mom, Dad, 3 sisters, one husband, one future bother in law, one toddler, one baby in utero, 1 cat and 1 100 lb dog all under 1 roof - priceless.

Christmas morning.

Hanging out in his new Thomas the Train tent.

A new scooter and helmet!

Tools, tools and more tools.

Molly likes to help open.

After present opening and Christmas brunch we headed down to Milwaukee to celebrate with all the Lyons clan.  So wonderful to see everyone!

Playing choo-choos with great grandpa.

Happy New Year!!

Things we are most looking forward to in 2011:

• Becoming a family of four very, very soon!
• 3 months of maternity leave to spend at home with the kiddos!
• My sister Laura and Tom's wedding in June!
• Jeff starting his FINAL year of training in July! Light at the end of the 11 year tunnel.
• Isaac starting preschool in August!
• An anniversary trip (we hope)!
  

Isaac just prior to passing out from an apple juice overdose on NYE (excuse poor quality of blackberry camera)! 9pm.

5 YEARS

Happy Anniversary Jeffy! I'd do it all again.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas....

Christmas in Wisconsin was very white - and Isaac enjoyed every moment of snow he could talk Papa and Dada into!

Christmas with the Browns

The weekend before Christmas we did lots of celebrating with Jeff's folks and brother before we headed up to the great white north (WI) for Christmas.

Jeff and Brad took Larry on a guided quail hunt on Saturday for their Christmas gift to him this year. I know nothing about hunting and the excitment that comes with it, but they were all sure excited. Here's the boys all bundled up with their loot. Anyone know any good quail recipes?!

When the boys were back and got all cleaned up we took Joan and Larry out for dinner to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary which was on Saturday! 40 years, wow.

After dinner Brad's girlfriend, Angela, and I took Joan to see Mannheim Steamroller to celebrate her 60th birthday! The boys hunt and the girls go to the theater - not a bad arrangement if I do say so myself.

We topped off the weekend by celebrating Christmas on Sunday morning with brunch and present opening. Isaac is so overwhelmed with new toys he barely knows what to do with himself. And to think, Santa hasn't even come yet ;)

Too Much Relaxin

I wish there was too much 'relaxing' go on around here, but unfortunately I am talking about too much of the hormone 'relaxin'. While pregnant the body produces relaxin to make ligaments and joints stretchy. Which is helpful when in normal doses. When your body produces too much relaxin, as is now diagnosed with me, you end up with major pain and find yourself in physical therapy. That's right folks, my 'better than the first' second pregnancy has now become the worse of the two. I have been diagnosed with SPD (symphysis pubis dysfunction). Basically, the ligment/joint that is located where the 2 bones of the pelvis meet in the middle has become so relaxed that it is causing hypermobility of my pelvis.

Whenever I have to shift my weight from one side to the other I find myself in excruciating pain because there are no ligments properly working to keep my pelvis stabilized. No big deal if the simplest of things (like walking) didn't involve shifting your weight. Walking, stairs, getting in and out of the car/bed/bathtub, putting on socks or pants, etc. have become increasingly difficult and managing the pain has become a full time job. I started physical therapy yesterday to help with the pain management (we hope). I am also on a Tylenol regime and get to wear this really awesome (note sarcasm) support belt.

All I can say is good thing this baby will be full term in 6 weeks. That's about all this mama can handle. And big brother is not a fan of mommy's physical limitations :(

Christmas in Washington (IL)

I wanted to share pictures from our annual extended Brown Family Christmas round robin in Washington, IL. This year (if I counted correctly), there was 1 Grandma Rosie, 9 of Jeff's aunts and uncles, 15 of his first cousins and their signficant others, and 14 of the great grandchildren. What a party!!

4 GENERATIONS

My handsome boys

Jeff, Grandma and Brad

A taste of the wonderful chaos.

Isaac and Jeff's cousin's son Colton.  They are 5 months apart and really enjoyed each other this year!

We also took a moment to celebrate Grandma Rosie's 85th birthday which falls on Christmas Eve!

Isaac had so much fun running around with the other kids that he performed a Christmas miracle and slept the ENTIRE 2.5 hr car ride home and barely lifted his head off Jeff's shoulder before falling right into his own bed and sleeping soundly until 8am :)