We are having a baby......

NEXT YEAR!

We can still say that, today. And that feels good.

Tomorrow is a different story. Tomorrow the panic sets in.

Tomorrow the excel spreadsheet BABY TO DO list will be started.

(I can feel John cringing from his desk chair, sorry honey)

Until tomorrow, Happy New Year's Eve!

Christmas Day Brunch at our house

We had both families to our house for Christmas Morning brunch and opening of presents

First up, the puppy dogs!

Sundance grabbing his bone

Butch grabbing his; Monkey see, Monkey do

Courtney and John

Can't wait for my dad to read (upside down) books to the baby

More books for the Baby

The Baby's gift to John

John's awesome present to me!

The Amazon Kindle: Wireless Reading Device

The rest of the day included lunch & presents at my grandparent's house, dinner at the Hinson's house and Marley & Me that night.

It was a very Merry Christmas and hard to believe there will be a 6 1/2 month old with us next year. What fun!

Christmas Eve at The Orr House

All Orrs and all Hinsons spent Christmas Eve together, as usual, at my parents house.

The Hinsons gave the Baby a must-have book for the holidays

The Grandmothers got to open one present at dinner

A ticket to the delivery room!


With a disclaimer at the bottom:

This ticket is subject to be revoked at any time due to uncontrollable horomones from the birth mother!

The Twins, Angie and Courtney

2 of my favorite guys

Angie reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to the Baby

Courtney thinking about her wedding, one month from Christmas Eve

One last Christmas Eve as a family of 2 (or 4 with the dogs!)

A Special Afternoon at The Ritz

On Christmas Eve, we invited Aunt Anne to meet us at The Ritz to exchange Christmas Presents....Santa was there too!

The Baby gave Aunt Anne her first present, a book on Christmas Cookies, because Aunt Anne did ALOT of baking this holiday season.

Aunt Anne reading the inscription from the baby
This is what it said:

Christmas Eve 2008

Aunt Anne,
I look forward to making Christmas Cookies with you every year, among the other fun traditions and memories we will make in the years to come.

You are going to be the best Godmother a child could ever need or want.

We are going to be the best of friends, just like you and my mom. And my dad really loves you too.

Thank you for loving me.

Love always,
Your Godchild

After Aunt Anne graciously accepted the challenge, we gave her her real present!

Her very own Pack n'Play so she can babysit and play with her Godchild at her house!

Anne, thank you for a special Christmas Eve afternoon at The Ritz and accepting to be our child's Godmother. You mean the world to all 3 of us. Love you loads!

Christmas Eve Eve at The Faletti's

The Faletti's had their annual Christmas Eve Eve party tonight and ALL of the Betties were in attendance, with spouses and children!

First Bettie Family Picture

9 Betties, 6 husbands, 1 toddler, 1 baby and 1 on the way!

Just the Girls

Our very own Marley

We can't wait to see the movie version of Marley & Me, which opens on Christmas Day. We live the same experience everyday, times two, and wouldn't change it for anything.

"If you want the best seat in the house ... move the dog(s)"

oh and that is Butch's slobber on me!

The beginnings of the bump......

We had our 16 week doctor's appointment this morning. It was the quickest appointment so far. We got to hear the heartbeat again, always a good feeling. After asking the doctor several questions and giving a blood sample to test for spina bifida, we were on our way.

We go back in a month for the 20 week anatomy ultrasound though we will be leaving out the anatomy part. Sometimes I still can't believe we are really not going to find out the sex but it is going to be so exciting in the end! We will have to get an online poll going in April/May for people to guess the gender. Fun!

16 weeks and an avocado!

So we are 16 weeks and have our next doctor appointment on Wednesday morning. The baby is the size of an avocado. I am feeling better overall but still have several moments a day of feeling sicky but it is so much better than it was. I haven't experienced the burst of energy I keep hearing about yet but am definitely not as tired as I was in the first trimester.

We did read to the baby for the first time last night. My mom recently found this book at their house. It was given to me for Christmas 1980 by my cousins, so we thought it was the perfect book to start with.

Did the baby react? Who knows! But from everything I have read, we could start feeling some movements any day now.

Miami Update....to be continued

Sorry it has taken me so long to update about our fabulous trip to Miami but I was in charge of the Meadowbrook Homes for the Holidays (Tour of Homes), which was yesterday, and that took all my free time last week and weekend. It was a huge success!

So I just sat down to work on the blog entry and since I didn't take many pics, I am having to get them from the other girls from Ofoto. But Ofoto won't let me right click and save (they used to!) so until I get a burned cd of the pics, I will hold off on the update.

T-minus 36 hours

until we leave for South Beach~Miami for Carrie's 30th Birthday Weekend!

Art Basal, the largest art show in the country, is happening this weekend which brings an extra 90,000 people to the area, not to mention lots of celebs!

Saturday Night we have a table and bottle service at Mokai, one of the "it" spots of South Beach.

Last year, this is who was partying at Mokai:

Paris Hilton and ex Stavros Niachros

John will die when he sees Paris Hilton on our blog but the baby is excited about dancing and rubbing elbows with famous people this weekend!

New post to follow early next week with a (sober!) recap of the fun weekend....

Adios 1st Trimester....Hola Christmas!

What have we been up to the past 10 days?

been to 2 funerals in 7 days

spent one afternoon in the ICU waiting room at Piedmont

done a lot of praying

some of us laid around and relaxed


been to church twice

had a wonderful Thanksgiving with both families together

ate too much

missed Courtney not being with us

been to the dog park once, in our beautiful city



completely decorated the house for Christmas, inside & out

spent an evening with our favorite 8 & 5 year olds and were entertained the entire time

said good-bye to the first trimester and look forward to the 2nd and 3rd

Celebrated Shaun's 30th Birthday at a surprise Brunch

Got to see Katie R. and meet baby Ralph

Spent alot of time thinking, praying, being thankful and being grateful for so many people and so many things in our lives, including this little baby that will bring so much joy and hope to our entire family, at just the right time.