The big 2-8

Today was Ben's 28th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After I woke up (he always wakes up earlier than me), I made him breakfast and then we went to a surprise location...Bella Trio Day Spa! I scheduled a deep tissue massage for him. He is always asking me to rub his back or neck, but, Hello!?!?! Have you seen his neck? It's huge! After like 2 minutes of rubbing it, I get cramps in my hands. It's definitely a job for a professional! He said he really enjoyed it, and I think we might get a couples massage (prenatal for me and deep tissue for him) in the next month or so. I am all for it! We went out for a birthday lunch and a little shopping for me, and then he just wanted to "chill," which means watch a movie, nap, etc. I made some banana nut bread and had to get his favorite dessert...ice cream and oreos! I promise the boy could eat ice cream and oreos every single day. He just loves it!!! I hope it was a fun day for him! He's the best! Love you, husben!

Mr. L.E.

A few weekends ago, we went down to SC for the Bar Mitzvah of a friend's son, Davis. This was our second time attending this type of event...we went to the Bat Mitzvah celebration for Davis' sister a couple of years ago. It is always interesting to see different cultural and religious celebrations and makes me extremely grateful for my faith.

That same Saturday, the Mr. Lugoff-Elgin event (Ben doesn't like for me to use the word pageant) happened, and Ben's little brother, Will, participated. This is something that Ben did when he was in high school too, so it was fun for me to watch and imagine Ben doing this. They had a casual dress portion, a formal dress portion, and an interview. Will was voted Mr. Congeniality of the event, and that's because he is seriously one of the nicest people EVER! Apparently, 25 out of the 26 guys voted for him...he voted for someone else. He looked so cute all dressed up in his tux.

The Connell boys minus Campbell, who is on his mission, and Taylor, who wasn't there for some reason. Zach, on the far right, is 2 years younger than Will but quite a few inches taller. He practically got all of the height because Campell, Will, and Taylor are pretty short. Although, I'm sure all of them have a few more inches to grow...well, except Ben and Joe (the Dad).

Congrats, Will!!!

A Mover and a Shaker

This little lady growing inside of me has been pretty active the past few weeks. It's kind of crazy whenever I feel her move, but it always brings a smile to my face. I first felt her move over Christmas in SC. I was in bed waiting for Ben to brush his teeth, and I felt this very distinct little thump in between my belly button and the top of my pubic bone. I was a little startled by it, but I knew immediately that it was the baby! It's a pretty weird feeling, but it's cool at the same time. I still can't believe there is a baby growing in my body!!!
Ben felt her move for the first time last weekend. He was soooo cute! We were sitting on the couch and I was kind of leaning my back on him and he had his arm over my shoulder with his hand resting on my belly. She started moving some and finally gave a solid thump that he could feel, and he about lost it! A few weeks ago when she was moving, I put his hand on my stomach, but he couldn't feel anything. He was sooo excited he could finally feel her! He even mentioned it in his testimony on Sunday in church. He said he had his first interaction with his daughter. He's going to be an amazing daddy! Later that night as we were laying in bed, she was going CRAZY!!! I grabbed Ben's hand so he could feel it and he just started laughing and asked, "What's she doing?" like I actually know! Ha, I have noooo idea! All I know is that my belly is her playground right now, and I'm pretty sure she is having fun. It's fun for us and kind of crazy to think we have just 3-4 months before she actually gets here.
I might take my first pregnancy belly picture tonight. My belly is getting to the point where I can't hide it very well anymore. Sucking it in is definitely not an option! ha! I'm in between 23 and 24 weeks and go for my next Dr's appt on the 22nd. The appt after that I have to do the glucose test with that, from what I hear, nasty sugar drink! Blah!!! I'm not looking forward to that. And I bought my first maternity type thing the other day...a Be Band, which is a knock-off of the Bella Band. I could still button the majority of my pants, but they were definitely getting really uncomfortable around the waist. I'm not a fan of tight, uncomfortable clothes! I guess that means in the next few weeks, I'll actually have to buy real maternity clothes!

What to do on snow days

Snow Day 1:

Sleep until noon.

Eat something.

Figure out what you are going to do inside all day.

Start knitting hat for future baby.

Decide it's time to go outside to see the snow.

Go outside to see the snow and take pictures.

It was seriously so deep. I think this is the most snow I have ever seen in my life...definitely in the top three snowfalls. He was trying to make a path for me because I didn't have my snow boots. They are in SC, and last time we were down there I didn't get them because I figured winter was almost over...wrong!

Slide on ice because your shoes have nooooo traction. It was pretty fun!

This is a main highway by our apt complex. I have no idea why they did absolutely nothing to the roads. It was sooo scary driving on this part on Monday because there is swamp on both sides with very little firm ground between the road and the swamp. The image of our car sliding on the ice and into the swamp went through my brain about a thousand times! Yikes!

Start and finish two hats for future baby. I did the bows on Day 2.

Snow Day 2:

Sleep until 10am...dang thing rattling in our heating system woke me up! Thank you, Ben, for fixing it!

Make pancakes for breakfast with freeze dried strawberries from your food storage!

Browse the internet.

Decide you're going to make bows for future baby (see picture above). The bows aren't attached to anything yet because I don't have any alligator clips or anything like that. To be purchased...

Take 2 hour nap.

Wake up really hungry and make a delicious soup and some cornbread which also uses food from your food storage! (I think we have only used our food storage twice in the previous 5 1/2 + years of marriage before this weekend.)

Do dishes...blah!

Start loads and loads of laundry...blah!

Watch UNC get beat bad by Virginia.

Fold loads and loads of laundry.

Watch General Conference talk.

Go to sleep.

We didn't go outside, so this was taken from our window through our blinds. The sky was really pretty that day. We should have gone outside...oh well!

Snow Day 3:

Yes, this is Monday and you are supposed to be at work at 8:30.

Call work at 8 and tell them you're not coming in until 10:30.

Sleep until 10am.

Work from 10:45-5pm.

End of snow days...