Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

As 2012 comes to a close and we look forward to 2013, I can't help but think of all that life provided us with this past year. After sending out Christmas cards, one of Phil's friends commented to him, 'wow, in one year, not only did you buy a house and get pregnant, you saved a child's life and you run an airport?!?' It seems that life has truly blessed us and we are looking forward to more adventures in 2013.  With looking at all we accomplished in the past 12 months, I can't help but wonder, will we get it all accomplished in the next 12 months (let alone the next 12 weeks)? I had such big plans to get things checked off of our to-do list while on break from school, but the days are ticking by, and we still have a list. If picking out a bedding set for our child's room is this difficult, how the heck are we going to handle the 'real' decisions that we have to make in the up and coming years?!?  While we have narrowed down names, I know it will come down to the moment that we see her and then we'll know (so for all of you looking to know baby's name, sorry, but even we won't know it until the moment she makes her grand entrance! I mean, what happens if we choose one name and then we see her and think, well she looks more like a ____).  I have a feeling that the people at Babies R Us and Target will know me by name come summer time, since I will probably purchase, then exchange, then return, then re-purchase items for the nursery.

But, on to more joyous events! The week before Christmas, Phil and I drove to Sioux City (about 2 hours south of here) to see Cirque du Soleil as an early Christmas present to each other, as well as to get one item completed on our baby to-do list. Our book recommended that before I hit the third trimester, we should go on a date that we won't be able to go on after the baby is born. I'd say that a 4-hour round trip drive on a work night would be the jackpot. The show was amazing and it was fun to get out of Brookings for a few hours.

For Christmas, we went to Phil's parent's house on the 23rd and did an early Christmas with his family. There is always so much energy and excitement at the Tiedeman celebrations, since there are three young nephews who get ecstatic for presents, and then add the 13 adults and we had a full house! Phil and I drove back to Brookings on the 24th and did Christmas Eve service at our home church. I love having new baby moments (having other people feel her kick for the first time, running into people we haven't seen in awhile and telling/showing them the news) and at the service that night, we had another moment. During communion, I walked up to our female pastor (our church has two pastors that are husband and wife and the husband typically runs the service that we go to on Sunday mornings) and she gave me communion and then asked if she could do a blessing for our baby. She put her hand on my belly and said a little prayer and it was just the most touching thing. To think about the story of Christmas with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus and then to think about this little baby... it makes this blessing even more special. That evening, we opened presents from my parents and they gave us an iPad! So of course, we had to experiment with facetime and enjoy being 'together.' Tom even took a picture of my parent's iPad screen (so you could see Phil and I on one part and then my parents and Tom on another part) and called it our family Christmas picture. Hey, when you're 1000 miles away from family, I'll take it!

I'm still feeling pretty good and the break from school has been great. I know I'm really lucky to be able to get a break, since the majority of people work 40-hour work weeks 52 weeks of the year. With Christmas break training, I run practices for about 3 hours in the morning and then another 3 at night, so in between, I have definitely enjoyed some power naps. On long road trips, I still tend to feel a little nauseous. And I can tell that things are shifting in the hip area, with tightness and a little pressure making an appearance. The heartburn has continued, so Tums can be found in my car, backpack, coaching bag and on my nightstand.  These days, I still love milk (seriously, I liked milk before, but now I love it and go through a gallon almost every week). No weird cravings or immediate trips to the grocery store. I continue to be on the high end of weight gain, but still see my personal trainer once or twice a week while continuing to swim once a week and do the eliptical two or three days a week.  Swimming is starting to be a new experience with my center of gravity shifting and I've heard that it won't be long until I choose not to do flip turns at the wall. 

I am 26 weeks (the picture is from Christmas Eve, so I am 25 weeks and 4 days) and Baby T is a little under 2 pounds and is 14 inches long. It's so crazy to think that in the next 13ish weeks, she'll put on another 5-7 pounds (hopefully that's all I put on too! I know that won't happen, but here's to wishful thinking) and grow another 6ish inches.
We hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve celebration and get ready for an amazing 2013!