Texan Christmas

We have lived in Texas for 5 Christmases and this year, due to being very pregnant, was the first time we stayed home for Christmas!  While we missed our families terribly, it was exactly what we wanted and needed as our last Christmas as a little family of three before baby girl comes. We are so excited for little one to come and make us a family of four... but in these last weeks I am cherishing and soaking up every little memory making moment as a family of three and with my baby boy while he's still the baby.



I'd like to say that it was peaceful and restful and perfect... but it's real life. ;)  Unfortunately during the Christmas Eve service, Grayson started spiking a temperature. Christmas morning we were so tired... not from "playing santa" and wrapping gifts all night, but from getting up every hour with our sickly little boy and his rising temp. Thankfully it had broken by morning and we had a great time opening presents and playing most the day.

This was our first Christmas Eve service - it was so amazing. Such a beautiful candlelight service celebrating the birth of our Savior. Grayson was so excited to get to go to "big church" for the first time... but he didn't make it through without konking out. :(

And we attempted a Christmas family picture in front of the tree.... But Grayson wasn't feeling very photogenic after his little nap.

 Christmas morning he was feeling better and could not wait to open his presents!

This little only child is so completely blessed! Family shipped all his presents so he could have them Christmas morning.

 He got a doctor's kit and has been doing "check ups" all day! He opened new spider man shoes and had to put them on right away before opening any other present.

 He also got a new baby doll to help him get ready to be a big brother and take care of his "baby inter" and a basketball hoop which has been fun for all of us!

 And if I could brag for a minute.... This guy is amazing! My sweet husband always does so much for his family and works so hard for us - but during this pregnancy especially, he has been going above and beyond in taking care of us. We were all so tired Christmas day from the night before that we all took a nap, but he woke up early to start Christmas dinner, and let me keep sleeping when Grayson woke up. He woke me up with a huge Christmas dinner made by him all while watching and playing with Grayson. He spoils me and I am so blessed!

Now we have 4.5 weeks before baby girl arrives. We have lots to do to get ready for her arrival. Tony gets to be home with Grayson all week while his school is on break. So he has lots to get done for us. And I'll try to leave the house for work and not be jealous every morning next week while they cuddle on the couch and play all day. :)

Life

This poor blog has been neglected lately, but life happened and suddenly it's the week before Christmas, 6 weeks (to the day) before Olivia's arrival and I am a very large and tired 33 weeks! :)

This is the first year ever (since moving to Texas) that we are staying home for Christmas! That means we have all of December for some Holiday festivities and resting together without the stress and craze of packing and traveling... So we've been doing just that! We went to Santa's Wonderland and drove through thousands of lights - Grayson was in awe!

We got back home from snowy Illinois Thanksgiving and I received a baby shower from my sweet friends at work! A week later, I started in a new position at work. I am absolutely thrilled to be doing something I'm passionate about and using my degree as the new Communications Associate at our church. It's a step up for me and a great opportunity! It's a little crazy starting at 32 weeks pregnant (hello pregnancy brain!) - but I'll work here 8 weeks, then take my maternity leave and jump right back in. :)

Speaking of, we have 6 weeks to the day before our baby girl's arrival. We have scheduled the C-Section for January 29th... So hopefully she doesn't take after her brother and come early. As the weeks and days come closer to us being a family of four I have had an intense need to capture and relish in every sweet moment with Grayson while he is an only child. This sweet little momma's boy has me wrapped around his finger most days. He's getting so gosh darn smart and thinks he can negotiate with that little smile and winks at me. Goodness he's a charmer! We've been on lots of dates lately soaking up each other.

Pregnancy has gotten much better than the first 5 months ;) I am just tired! But what preggo momma isn't!?  We are doing good and she is right on track. We have a "getting ready for your c-section" class at our hospital tomorrow - just so we know the procedures of a new hospital. And we get to see her on an ultrasound next week before Christmas!

I'll update again after Christmas! I'm so excited to wake up in our home together as just the 3 of us and soak up the day. :) Merry Christmas!!

Illinois Recap #3

I know I sound like a broken record - but we made such sweet memories this year! I can't stop looking through all the pictures and smiling at how loved we are, how blessed we are by our family and how thankful I am that we got to see them, even for a short time.

 

 

Grayson got to play with his cousin, Koen, who he has only met a couple of times. It was so sweet to watch them be together. I hate they are so far apart.

 

 

Speaking of Koen... my sweet nephew is getting SO big!! I cannot believe he is 5.5 years old!

 

 

Grayson getting bigger means that he is getting much more fun! Aunt Eesha (Alicia) and her boyfriend, Brendan got to make some sweet Kodak moments with him.

One special moment I will remember and cherish is our Bianco women cooking lesson from Grandma Bianco! So thankful to be a part of these women and this family!

 And lastly, before we left we had to make one more memory.  Handprint ornaments for the family!

So thankful for almost 10 days in Illinois! Looking forward to Grayson's birthday in March when we get to see some of our family again!


Happy New Year! :)

Illinois Christmas recap

We have been home for less than 48 hours and I am still reflecting on our days in Illinois with family and friends and thinking how blessed we are!! We had such a sweet time with our family and got to sprinkle some time with sweet friends too.  We took SO many pictures and packed in so much fun and memories that I'll have to break it up into a couple of posts...

I'll start with Christmas...
I was really excited for Christmas this year as Grayson has grown and understand more. He is so much fun and gets so excited and expressive!

What a difference a year makes!!!

 Christmas 2012 (Grayson 9mo old) - Christmas 2013 (Grayson 21mo old)

 

Every year Santa visits the Bianco's Christmas Eve party with a bag of gifts for all the kiddos! I was unsure how Grayson would react to Santa bounding through the door, as he wasn't a fan last year. But to my amazement - Santa came in and Grayson had a look of pure joy! Pointing to him and making a bee-line for Santa! I wish I had a pic/video, but it was priceless!! He went right to him for a high-five! 

The only time he cried - was when he wasn't the first child called to sit on Santa's lap! It was adorable! Not too much of a difference from last year....

Crying on Santa's lap v. crying to be on Santa's lap!

 

 

Grayson had soo many presents! He is definitely the spoiled first grandkid on the Bianco side! ;) We are soo blessed to have such loving family and friends! He did a great job opening his presents and was SO excited!

 

But he eventually got bored opening gifts and took a break to watch some cartoons.

 Tony and I were spoiled all week with Nana and Papa getting up with Grayson most every morning while we got to snooze a little while longer!

 Merry Christmas!

 Thankful for how good our God is to us!

It's almost here

All last week we were home with Grayson while he was sick... He made a full recovery this weekend and now we our in our last days in Texas before going to Illinois for Christmas!

This weekend Tony and I were able to go to Celebration (our church's Christmas production) - and it was WONDERFUL! Such a great show and time alone together after nursing a sick kid all week!

Unfortunately, with Grayson being sick all week, we had to cancel our Christmas Party that we had planned on Friday. And by Sunday night I had started not feeling well. Caring for a sickly all week finally caught up to me (Tony never gets sick). So I've spent most the week taking Nyquil and going to bed by 8:30 with lots of Airborne and hot tea during the work day. I haven't gotten to do nearly as much as I would have liked during our last week before Christmas; but I guess God was telling me I needed to rest before the craziness of traveling and family this weekend.

Having a week of school Grayson has had a hard time transitioning back to it this week -- not looking forward to the first week back to school after being spoiled by family all Christmas. :/

But he still loves school and his teachers and friends! I'm excited to give his teachers their Christmas gifts tomorrow. We got some soap and sanitizers from Bath n Body and put cute tags on them that say "Thank you for your helping hands." Grayson also got his 2nd haircut this week! We thought we'd give him a trim, since the first haircut really just took care of the mullet in the back, he needed a trim on the top. :) He doesn't love it... He starts fussing as soon as I sit him in the chair... So it's lots of distraction with toys and suckers.

 

 

We hop on a plane tomorrow evening and will get to spend 9 days in Illinois. It snowed there last week, so we are all really excited to take Grayson sledding and teach him to make and throw snowballs. Nana and Papa went and got him a snow suit and boots.... they are really excited! I'm excited to see him open presents this year, and how much more he interacts with everyone. It's so fun to watch him grow and develop. He's teaching me to slow down and enjoy the moments.

 

 

I'm going to absorb every moment with our family in Illinois and will update the blog come the first of the year!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Wintery Weekend - part 2

Sunday was our Christmaspalooza for our students at church and it was SOO much fun!!  We started in the morning and all went and saw the movie Frozen (oh my word - so cute!! Cannot wait to buy it!). Tony and the student staff team has been planning and working so much for this event - it was so great to see it end successfully!! And what a load off now that it is over! :)

We ended the event with some snow and sledding! The students went crazy over snow and it was soo funny to watch them all play in... shaved ice!

While we were off with big kids playing all day, my sweet friend watched my sweet boy all day for us! I think he had as much fun as we did playing big brother to baby Josiah! So thankful for sweet friends that are Framily here in Houston!

Wintery weekend

This weekend was a whirlwind!! I don't even know how we packed so much into the weekend and had so much fun... and actually had a great time and not stressed ... mostly.




Nana and Papa were back in town for 2 more days before hopping on a plan to Illinois. It was such a treat to have them almost 2 full weekends in a row. Grayson was completely spoiled and did not want them to leave! LOL.

He got to spend all of Friday with daddy and Nana and Papa while I had to work. :(  But it ended up being a great time for them and they visited me at the office and I got to get out and have my lunch break with them. :) Tony, more like Grayson, took them on a tour of our church and they even got to take a few pics in front of the giant Christmas tree together! I'm so glad they were able to visit this time of year and see our little world in Houston all lit up and festive!
 




Did I mention that Grayson was spoiled!? Not only did he get that fabulous tool bench the last weekend for an early Christmas present, but this weekend Nana and Papa got him his first train set! Have I told you how much this kid LOVES choo-choo's!? Oh my word! He could play with this thing for hours! It was adorable to watch the three Bianco boys put together the train set and play with it! My heart was so full! (Notice G is even wearing a choo-choo shirt!)

Speaking of Grayson's love for trains - After nana and papa left Saturday morning and we rested most the day, we went out to Christmas Train in Alvin, TX. It was so much fun! I was hoping Grayson would like it because of his love for trains and I thought he'd enjoy seeing the lights - but I didn't expect him to be so enthralled by it all!! It was so sweet to see my little boy (big boy!) get so engrossed in it all! We rode the "choo-choo" through lots of lights, then went inside to get warm for cookies and cocoa and looked at all the trains and train sets!

 

 

 It was SUPER cold here (for Houston, that is), so I bundled us up! I even whipped up a little Grayson-sized scarf!!

 

He was not thrilled about it!... LOL.... But as soon as his coat was on he quickly forgot. 

 

We gave Grayson a cookie and a sip of my hot cocoa.... and he was really happy and energetic! Here he is dancing to the Christmas music before we headed home....