Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!

I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating with all your nearest and dearest.

Merry Christmas from the Getchman Family!
Sometimes it's just impossible to get a 2-year-old to cooperate for the annual family Christmas photo. This is the best we got...

We typically celebrate Christmas in my home town at my parents' house, and this year we arrived a couple days early for some extra quality time and relaxation. 

Almost as soon as we arrived, my brother and his beautiful wife revealed some super exciting news!

YAY! Ryder is getting another cousin this August!

After a day of lounging around doing nothing except eating, napping, and watching Christmas movies, Stew and I left Ryder with my parents for the day while we headed up to Seattle for the Christmas Eve Seahawks game versus the Cardinals.

Bundled up and the icy cold tailgate. I forgot how much colder tailgating is when you're sober...

It was an awesome day out with Stew and our friends, but unfortunately the Christmas miracle we prayed for at the end of the game just didn't end up panning out... 

However, Ryder had a fantastic Christmas Eve at home, baking cookies with Uncle AJ and Aunt Morgan, and making a gingerbread house with Nana. 

After the game, we went home to enjoy our traditional Christmas Eve meal of Chinese take out before we all settled down for our long winter's nap. Of course that was after Stewart stayed up until almost midnight putting together Ryder's Christmas present. 

Christmas morning was quite a blur, at least for the littlest Alway.

Ryder got a three story wooden fire station, complete with all the accessories. He was thrilled and literally hasn't stopped playing with it since.

Sometimes you just really gotta get in there...

And not to worry... Santa brought him his blue dump truck.

Later that morning, we had our traditional Christmas brunch with my dad's side of the family.

Heck yeah, we rock those Christmas jammies ALL. DAY. LONG.

My lovely, adorable grandparents.

Cousins!

Christmas Night family snuggles. Check out that amazing Paw Patrol quilt that Aunt Morgan made for Ryder!

On the day after Christmas, we always go over to Grandma Sally's house. 

My mom has 14 brothers and sisters, and I have almost 30 first cousins, so we typically like to avoid the chaos that ensues over there on Christmas Day. Instead, we head over on the day after for a nice, quiet visit with Grandma. 

Ryder gets an epic fail for his cooperation in family photos this year. This is the best I could get...

Once again I was blown away by the generosity and thoughtfulness of our friends and family this year. 

And a HUGE shout out has to go out to everyone for all their lovely holiday cards! We almost ran out of room on the fridge!

From our family to yours, we hope that you had yourself a merry little Christmas and that from now on your troubles will be miles away.

Happy Holidays 2016

From our (growing) family to yours... 

Merry Christmas, and best wishes for a happy New Year!

An Alway Family Christmas

When celebrating holidays with multiple family loyalties, the key is to be flexible about dates. 

The holiday season technically lasts for a couple of months, so as long as everyone is fairly easy-going about the whole situation, it's pretty simple to make time to celebrate with everyone you love. 

This year we had Christmas with the Alway Family the weekend before the "official" holiday, and it was so much fun... like a bonus preview Christmas!

Photography by Mark Alway.

Patty and I spent the morning baking dozens of Christmas cookies, and thanks to her master chef talents, I think they turned out really well! 

Not that I need to be eating any, although Baby Sister probably would have appreciated the holiday sugar rush. 31 weeks and counting...

Finally it was time to open presents!

It was such a generous and thoughtful display of gift-giving this year! Ryder was especially thrilled with his Thomas the Train and Paw Patrol gear.

Although I like presents as much as the next girl, my favorite part of Christmas is just sitting around with family... hanging out, chatting, watching movies, cooking, etc. 

I'm so thankful for the Alway Family and their willingness to be flexible about our holiday traditions. We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with them, and I look forward to making many more memories in the years to come.

Have a holly, jolly Christmas, everyone!

Dear Santa: I Want A Blue Dump Truck

Last night we took Ryder into town to see Santa. 

Unlike last time, this year he really understands the whole Santa Claus concept, and we've been talking a lot about how Santa brings good little boys presents on Christmas. So he seemed fairly excited to go visit and tell Santa all about his wish list.

Ryder hardly seemed apprehensive at all when I picked him up to put him on Santa's lap – we were so proud! He cooperated for the photo, and then seemed content to sit with Santa for a few more minutes looking at a Christmas story.

And what did Ryder ask Santa for this year? 

A blue dump truck. 

Not just a regular dump truck. A BLUE one.
(He was very specific about that).

Ryder's favorite color is blue, and he is always quick to snatch the blue crayon, the blue candy, or the blue toy. So although it's really no surprise, where the heck is Mommy Santa going to find a blue dump truck on such short notice?! 

Thank goodness for Amazon Prime... 

Happy Birthday To Me

Thanks for stopping by to help celebrate my 25th (ish) birthday! 

Plus or minus a decade doesn't really make much of a difference, right? 

Seriously though, how did this happen?!? I am halfway to 70, for the love of freaking pete.

Just for fun, I thought I would go back to my old blog and dig up my 25th birthday post. 

Wow... just wow. 

At that time, my biggest concern was disqualification from applying to star as a cast member on MTV's The Real World. Ten years later, my apprehensions revolve around the fact that this particular birthday has pushed me over into the unpleasant, slightly scary category of "high risk pregnancy." 

Times do, indeed, change.

A decade ago, it seems I was able to cram about ten different events into a single birthday weekend. These days, the very thought of an itinerary like that makes me want to crawl into bed and take a nap. However, I did have a lovely weekend celebrating with my nearest and dearest.

Stewart and Ryder surprised me with an absolutely gorgeous bouquet of a dozen long-stemmed red roses (seriously the most beautiful flowers I have ever received) along with a card that brought tears to my eyes. I love those guys so much. 

A few hours later, my parents arrived with a delicious lunch and armfuls of presents from my super thoughtful and generous family members who weren't able to make it up to our house in Snoqualmie that day. Then, as the greatest gift of all, they headed home with Ryder in tow, which meant that we were free to spend a child-free evening celebrating with our friends. 

Stew had planned a small holiday cocktail party at our house with just a few of our closest buddies. Although I couldn't drink Sparks and Olympia beer like I did ten years ago, I made the best of it with nonalcoholic wine and hot apple cider (sans cinnamon whiskey -- sad). It was actually a super fun, low-key evening, and somehow or another we ended up sitting around until after midnight chit chatting with my bestie and her husband... what?! I do not stay up that late anymore... let's face it, I usually go to bed with Ryder at 8:00.

The next morning I had a lovely breakfast with my former office manager before heading south to pick up our firstborn before the Seahawks game. They didn't seem determined to end my birthday weekend on a high note (let's hope they can pull it together next week).

Unfortunately, pregnancy makes me swell up like Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, so I absolutely forbade any photography at my party. I'd like to maintain some sort of third trimester dignity...

Instead, please enjoy this classic photo of 25-year-old me. 

Have I really changed all that much?

Honestly, I couldn't be happier with how the last ten years have gone, and I look forward to another decade of adventures ahead.

Oh Christmas Tree

Getting our Christmas tree every year is one of our favorite and most important holiday family traditions. 

When I was growing up, on the day after my birthday in December we always bundled up in our coats, hats and boots and headed to the tree farm with Dad to select and cut down the perfect Christmas tree. We never would have considered putting up a "fake" tree, or getting a pre-cut one from the grocery store parking lot. 

Now, as grown ups with our own little kiddo to celebrate the holidays with, we've learned that "you-cut" Christmas trees are a lot of work... but oh-so-much fun.

We typically dedicate an entire day to the adventure.

For the past three years, we have gone to Enchanted Winds Christmas Tree Farm, nestled in the picturesque cascade foothills near Issaquah. This place is so much fun! All of the employees are super festive and helpful, and we love walking across the bridge over the river and into the "forest" to select and cut down our very own tree.

This year the weather actually cooperated without any rain or snow, and Ryder was old enough to "help" choose and cut the tree. 

This one looks perfect!

Our little helper...

After securely tying our prize to the top of the car, we went into the festively decorated rustic red barn to warm up with hot drinks and cookies, and browse gifts, ornaments and decorations. 

We also took our traditional family photo in front of the Christmas tree. 

Once we got home, we set up the tree next to the fireplace, put on our favorite Pandora Christmas music station, and had so much fun decorating the tree and reminiscing over our ornaments (Stew and I have traditionally given each other ornaments for Christmas ever since we first started dating ten years ago, so we've got quite the collection!) 

This has become such a memorable experience for us, and even though the process of cutting our own tree can be time-consuming and messy, we think this is such a special and important tradition for Ryder.

We can't to do it again next year as a family of FOUR!

Do you have any special Christmas tree traditions? 

Adventures with Baby Sister | Second Trimester

I love the second trimester!

I can finally understand why so many people claim that being pregnant is no big deal. 

Everyone finally knows I'm knocked up, I've gotten a ton of energy back, I have a legit baby bump (rather than just looking like a slightly chubby girl with a beer belly), all of my nausea is gone, and for once in my life I'm not consumed with portion control and dieting (because this baby girl needs calories)! My only minor complaint is heartburn, which is quite easily dealt with.

Basically, I feel great!

I haven't been taking weekly "bump" photos this time around, but I do have a couple from the second trimester, the first of which Patty took during our annual trip to Priest Lake when I was around 16 weeks. The last time I was pregnant, I had just barely started to show at this point... 

It's been quite a contrast to my pregnancy with Ryder!

During the second trimester of my first pregnancy, I continued to puke multiple times a day until at least week 17. I had horrible skin problems and grew weird hair in all sorts of strange places. I experienced scary heart palpitations that eventually uncovered an underlying heart condition I've apparently had my whole life. I had to take supplements for terrible anemia. And right in the midst of the joy of finding out that Ryder was a boy, we also learned that he had some concerning cysts in his brain that required extensive and stressful genetic testing to determine whether or not he had a serious, life-threatening developmental abnormality (clearly he didn't). I suffered from excruciating back pain, and by week 25 I had already started to experience pain, swelling, and numbness in my hands and feet. Oh, and I failed my first round of glucose testing (luckily I passed the second time).

Every pregnancy really is different!

This time around, I really find it difficult to find a single thing to complain about.

We've actually been having a lot of fun.

Somehow I always end up pregnant during football season. I think Stewart plans it this way so that he can ensure himself a sober driver for the duration of the season. 

Luckily, this year I had some partners in crime. 

My fellow Hawkwagon Tailgaters, Jessica and Haley, are also pregnant this season!

Besides going to football games, quite a few exciting events went on during the past three months. 

We ended the summer with a couple fun trips to Mayfield Lake and Priest Lake, and took a super fun "Babymoon" trip to the ocean with Brett and Haley.

My sweet Grandma Sally turned 90 years old, Halloween was a blast, and we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Alway Family. 

First family photo with all four of us (if you count the bump)...

I also got to see one of my very best, lifelong friends, Brooke, over the holidays. Remember her from our trip to Denver when I was pregnant with Ryder? 

And back at home, we started nesting and preparing for Baby Sister's arrival...

Stew and I got to work on transforming Ryder's nursery into a baby girl's room, starting with the installation of a chandelier. Although I LOVE the final result, I don't necessarily recommend doing electrical work with your spouse.

I've been trying to spend as much quality time with Ryder as possible while he's still my only baby.

He's pretty darn excited to be a Big Brother!

We're working on potty training, because I'm not necessarily thrilled about the idea of having two kids in diapers at the same time. Ryder does love his Paw Patrol Big Boy Undies, but he hasn't really taken to using the toilet yet... we'll see how things progress (fingers crossed)!

Oh, we're halfway there!

We were so thrilled to really get to see Baby Sister at our 20 week ultrasound! She is perfect, with ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes, and her sweet little profile sure does look a lot like Ryder's did, I think. We are loving feeling her kick and move around, and can't believe that in just three more months we'll get to kiss her sweet cheeks.

22 weeks pregnant with Baby Sister.

I'm feeling anxious and excited all at the same time. 

I'm so excited to meet her I can hardly stand it, but I am apprehensive about how I am going to handle being a mother to TWO children at the same time! This pregnancy is flying by crazy fast, and with so many events and holidays coming up, she's truly going to be here before we know it. 

We sure can't wait to meet our sweet little angel!

An Alway Family Thanksgiving

We have many things to be thankful for this year, but I must say that I am most grateful for my (so far) easy, breezy pregnancy! Now I just have to hope that Baby Sister will be just as calm and easygoing after she's born... 

Like most years, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Alway Family. 

I love how they stick to classic Thanksgiving traditions like football, beer, and a delicious turkey feast with all the trimmings. And this time Ryder was a year older and extremely well-behaved, unlike last year, when I spent the entire day chasing him around to make sure he didn't eat kitty litter, fall down the stairs, or break precious family heirlooms (next year will clearly be another story with Baby Sis...)

 We had a wonderful Turkey Day visit with Stew's extended family (I think we had about 16 people for dinner), and stayed over on Friday as well to watch the Huskies kick butt in the Apple Cup. 

I'm so thankful for these two that my heart could just about burst. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Beach Babymoon

Stewart and I love our sweet firstborn baby boy more than life itself, but we also recognize that a little healthy one-on-one "adult" time is crucial for our marriage and sanity. And since our lives are about to change again drastically in about three months when Baby Sister joins the family, we decided to plan a little grownup getaway for ourselves with some of our very best friends, Brett and Haley. 

We headed out to Ocean Shores for a weekend of relaxation...

Believe it or not (she looks tiny in this photo), Haley is also due with a baby girl just six days after me! We've had so much fun sharing our pregnancy experiences.

We had big plans for our weekend at the beach:

Relax... Repeat.

After an amazing night's sleep during which I, for once, did not have a two-year-old kicking me in the ribs and trying to climb on top of me all night, Haley and I headed to the nearby beach town of Seabrook for prenatal massages. Haley had found a beautiful unique day spa, where we were both treated to the most amazing massages of our lives! 

I honestly can't remember the last time I felt so relaxed and calm; it was exactly what I needed...

In the meantime, the boys had no trouble entertaining themselves back at the casino. 

They both won big, which meant next up was a yummy lunch at my favorite coastal seafood restaurant, Bennett's. And since we were on vacation, our next stop was the candy shop for ice cream and salt water taffy. 

Afterward, we rolled ourselves on down to the beach...

Future Baby BFFs.

The rest of the weekend we spent lounging, chatting, napping, watching movies (and the UW Husky football game), and of course eating as much as we could manage. I think on Saturday night all of us were asleep on the couch by about ten o'clock... 

Times sure have changed...

Ryder spent the weekend with my parents, and even though I knew he was having a fantastic time I sure did miss that little guy! He has been my entire world for the past 2.5 years, and I'm having a bit of a hard time imagining how I'm going to split my time and attention between two children. In the meantime, I am just trying to shower him in as much love and quality time as possible.

Because Baby Sister is on the way, and we can't wait to meet her!

Many, many thanks to our fabulous friends Brett and Haley for making this fantastic weekend possible. 

We love you guys!