Happy Holidays!

I'm finally getting around to updating the blog... blame it on the holidays. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready for one last celebration in 2009.

We traveled to Baltimore to spend Christmas with my family. We had the pleasure of enjoying a White Christmas! It didn't snow on Christmas Day, but there was a ton of snow on the ground. It has been many years since I've had a white Christmas and Ian has never had a white Christmas. I think our Tour de Baltimore has been completed and I apologize for anyone we missed while we were in town. We visited with Dawn, the Pfeilers and other old friends. We spent Christmas Eve with my mom and her side of the family. We spent Christmas Day with my mom and her side of the family in the early afternoon and then with my dad and his side of the family later in the evening. We enjoyed spending time with both sides of the family, shared a lot of great food and laughed it up. Every time we visit and spend time with my family, I am reminded as to just how much I miss my family and living in Baltimore. We were supposed to bring the boys with us, but decided at the last minute to leave them at home. 

Unfortunately on Saturday I was a bit under the weather, so we really didn't do much that day. We bummed around my dad's house, watched some bowl games and took naps. Despite not feeling very well, it was a very relaxing day. We watched the Ravens game today, although I almost wish we didn't because it was a terrible game. The refs made some bad calls, the Ravens made some awful plays and the Ravens ended up losing. Oh well, the Ravens are still in the hunt for the wild card spot in the AFC playoffs, so at least they still have a chance. 

We leave tomorrow afternoon and will be back in Tampa and back to the real world. I really enjoyed having the past few days off from work and I can't wait for the next 3-day holiday weekend, which happens to be this weekend! We're in the process of making plans for New Year's Eve but I think we're going out this year. Obviously I will serve as designated driver, lucky me! 

As for the bun-in-the-oven... she is doing just fine and enjoyed all the delicious holiday food! I'm now 24 weeks and progressing as expected. The next OBGYN appointment is January 8th, but it's just a routine 4-week appointment; no ultrasound or anything fun. We did schedule a "boutique ultrasound" at Meet the Baby. I referred to it as a boutique U/S because it is conducted outside of the OBGYN's office, by a licensed U/S technician but it's just for fun. We're going to have a 30 minute 3D/4D on January 16th, when I'm 27 weeks. Hopefully she cooperates and allows us to confirm that she is, in fact, a she. 

That's all from the land of Ravens and Natty Boh! Oooh, which reminds me... I need to stock up on Tastykakes, Utz potato chips and Berger cookies before we leave. Yum! 

Love always,

Ian & Kim

P.S. We really miss our boys, Riley and Kaiser and cannot wait to see them tomorrow!

Merry Christmas... to me!

It's that time of year again, when we begin making plans for the upcoming holidays and begin our shopping. We're going up to Baltimore for Christmas this year, so the actual "gifts" will be scaled back due to us flying. We actually haven't started our shopping for others, but rather we have purchased a few gifts for each other. I know, it seems really selfish, but it's just how it happened!

I can't share with everyone what one of Ian's gifts will be, as he has not received it yet. He will be opening this gift early, which I am quite excited about. I'm terrible about buying presents for people because I want them to open it immediately so they can receive the instant gratification I received when purchasing the gift. Two years ago I ordered Ian a Wii for Christmas and it arrived about a month before Christmas. I couldn't wait to give it to him, so I made him open it the day it arrived. It's something I really need to work on, especially with a baby on the way.

I can share with everyone what Ian's gift was to me. As many of you know, our house was burglarized last May and thankfully the only thing that was stolen was my Macbook. All of my school work from graduate school, pictures from 2007-2009 and my master address book were all saved on that computer. I was devastated, however I was thankful that nothing else was taken and that no one was hurt. I have been wanting a new Macbook every since, however we decided not to file an insurance claim because the value of the computer was approximately the cost of the deductible. We purchased an HP laptop over the summer in hopes of replacing my beloved Macbook, but nonetheless, a non-Mac is not for me. Ian kept asking me, "What to you want for Christmas?" and I would jokingly reply, "A new Macbook." I knew it was selfish of me to request something so expensive, when our money could be better spent on preparing for the baby. Yesterday, Ian told me that he had been thinking and wanted to at least look at Macbooks. We priced the Apple Store and Best Buy, since now Best Buy is an authorized retailer of Macs. We went to look at Best Buy and were told there was an open box Macbook available. We decided to purchase the open box model, because it had never been used and still had the same warranty as an unopened model. Even better, the open box model was $100 less and came with Iworks (think Office by Apple). We brought the computer home and realized the software had not been installed, nor was it in the box, so we're going to go back to Best Buy to see if they can credit Ian for the price of Iworks. I'm hoping they'll be able to do so, which means we saved $179 on a brand new Macbook! Merry Christmas to me!!!

Today will be spent fantasy football stat tracking on the new Macbook and relaxing before the work week begins again tomorrow. I can't wait until the holidays because we'll both be taking time off from work and traveling up north to visit family and friends. It snowed in Baltimore yesterday, so I'm hoping it will be a white Christmas this year. That would be another wonderful gift!

That's about it from sunny Florida!

Love always,

Ian & Kim