2010-A Year in Review

January, Jennifer reached her weight loss goal after three years on Weight Watchers and became a lifetime member.

March, Dave finished his degree work and earned high awards for his capstone project while Jennifer spent sixty hours at Liberty Elementary learning how to be an elementary school principal (and decided that wasn’t for her).

April, Dave graduated as Valedictorian from ITT Technical Institute with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Security.

Melissa started her new job as RN at Redlands Community and moved into our house.

May, Dad was called as Senior Pastor at Faith Fellowship in La Palma and Dave was offered a four week contract job at Kohls that lasted sixteen weeks (jobs are good).

June, Jennifer graduated from California State University, San Bernardino with a Masters of Education Administration (and yes, I’m done with school for awhile, PhDs are just too expensive).

August, we celebrated my parents’ thirtieth anniversary (and our fourth) with a week long Mexican Rivera cruise.

Found out that we were expecting a baby (due April 3, 2011)

Jennifer started her sixth year teaching English (Arlington HS)

September, shared the news that we’re expecting a Baby Pfeffer!

October, Dave began a new job at Gordian Project as a Database Lead (check out outdoorpros.com or plumbersurplus.com to see his work).

November, confirmed that Baby Pfeffer is boy and enjoyed a week in Oklahoma/Missouri visiting family.

December, finished the master bedroom and bathroom massive remodel, celebrating Christ’s birth and sharing our joy with you!

Here’s to a joyful 2011!

Christmas Day

Bright and early on Christmas morning, we opened presents as a family (early so Melissa could go back to sleep to prepare to work Christmas night).

Santa's letter

The stockings are hung and filled by SantaMy parents were excited about their Grandma and Grandpa stockingsReese bought Melissa a blond nurse badgeOne of my five pairs of PJs

(it was pretty obvious that I wanted/need maternity PJs)Baby Andrew got some pretty cool things too--onie and Fisher Price Nativity from Aunt Melissa

Mom and Melissa both got new CAMERAS! As you can tell from mom's face, this was really, really exciting. Mom's is pink and Melissa's is blue.

Dave with one of his big boy toys--a firepit!

Mom who will be a "grandma [that] does it all" My FAVORITE gift of the day--Andrew's new bedding!!

Dave's second big boy toy--a new 22 inch monitor for his computer!

It is still pretty hard to believe that this will be the last Christmas without a little one. More times that I can count, we said "next year, there will be a nine month old" whether is was talking through Grandpa preaching on Christmas Eve, or opening presents, or driving four hours to Bakersfield to turn around and come home the next day... everything will change in a short three months!

Baby, Baby, Baby

My mom and sister purchased the bedding set for my Christmas presents. As you can see we're going with blue, green, and brown colors with cars, trucks, and airplanes for baby. A few weeks ago, my hairdresser mentioned that she was going to be selling all her baby "supplies." The wheels in my head started spinning as I thought about how much money we could save by purchasing it from her instead of new. Dave and I decided that we would purchase it from her and she set the price at $400. This was almost 60% off the full price of the items. From her, we purchased a stroller, infant car seat (w/three bases), pack-in-play, bassinet, high chair, swing and jumper. She also gave us her baby bath, Bobby, sheets for the bassinet/pack-in-play/crib, and other small things.

On Christmas day, we set up most of the stuff in the living room to check it out. I was SOOOO excited to see it all!

Baby Andrew won't be using the jumper any time soon, but Dave put Reese in for a "jump."
The pack-in-play is pretty spiffy. It has all the bells and whistles, including a music/vibrating function, infant raised bottom, changing station, and canopy with mobile.

The bassinet is my favorite! It is adorably cute! It is hard to tell from the picture, but it is a light green and cream. The base is adjustable and right now we have it at standing height. Underneath it there is a basket to hold blankets/anything else. It has a vibrating/singing mobile. It can be on wheels or rocking base.

The swing is Dave's favorite item. It switches from back and forth to front and back so they can swing or rock. It was the kind that Dave liked the best when we went to Babies R Us, but also, the most expensive kind that we figured we wouldn't be feasible.

Baby Andrew was also a bit spoiled with his Christmas presents. So far he has about ten outfits, three blankets, and a few pairs of adorable socks!

Christmas Eve

With the Lakeside house selling (closing escrow on Dec. 22) and my parent's new house in Lakewood not unpacked, Christmas was held at our house for the first time in five Christmases. My parents drove out on the 23rd with the RV so that they had their "bed" and the festivities began.

On Christmas even we started the day by making and decorating sugar cookies.

Afterwards, we all went to see Disney's Tangled (yes, even Dave and Dad). It was adorable! When we got home, my mom, Melissa and I made a gingerbread house with the Target kit.

It started out pretty well. The walls and roof went up easily.

The roof was pretty easy, along with the basic stuff on the sides. You couldn't get a small, or detailed, line with the provided frosting bag, so it started to look a bit messy. Melissa decided that she needed curtains in the windows... this is where the murderous scene began...

Quickly we had a full murder on our hands.

The weapon... the candy cane (see the "blood" oozing everywhere), the crime took place inside the house with Santa climbing out the windows and stumbling along the path...
who says we can't be a "boy" family

After cleaning up the murder, we headed to Magnolia Baptist to celebrate the real reason for the season--JESUS!

After church, we came home and ate yummy pot roast and drank apple cider.

And opened three presents each--most of which consisted of PJs! Here are the adorable matching PJs that my mom bought for baby and daddy.

Grandma's Purchase!

26 Weeks

I LOOK: Pregnant? A bit "fluffy" (should avoid unwanted google searches with that word) and thanks to a tumble out of my parents RV, a bit swollen on the left ankle and foot. All else is pretty normal and standard. I still have an innie belly button (which seems to be an accomplishment per thebump.com), great hair, and stellar nails.

When I'm sitting down, I REALLY look pregnant thanks to Baby pushing up on and out on everything!

• Total Weight Gain: +24--I wish I could say that I've been paying more attention and being more careful, but I haven't. Somehow the scale has decided to stay in the same place for the past two weeks. Thankfully.
• Maternity Clothes: Got a bunch of new things for Christmas to wear and have decided that I MUST go by maternity underwear this upcoming week. This will be the last update with his category, because, come on, DUH!

I FEEL: Again, thanks to the tumble out of the RV, I feel like an old woman! My ankle is causing me to limp a bit and without the ability to take Motrin to relieve some of the swelling, I'm going to have to wait for it to heal itself. I'm pretty sure all the "pain" I'm experiencing has nothing to do with pregnancy.

• Baby Movements: Baby has started to get on a more regular schedule of moving. The most active part of the day in at night when I lay down. On Christmas eve, he treated Dave and I to acrobatics as he did somersaults. Not only could you feel him kicking high, then to the side, and then low, but you could see him pushing against me with his head or bottom. It was pretty cool. He also moves about thirty minutes after I eat a meal, but those are little kicks and twitches.
• Weird Pregnancy Symptom/Event: Last week as Melissa, Dave, and I sat down to eat pizza and crazy bread, Baby kicked me so hard in the bladder that a bit of pee leaked out. Everything else thought that it was hilarious and I had to mention it! I also have a permanent runny nose.

I CRAVE: food. All the time. Doesn't matter what it is... I'm ALWAYS hungry.

I THINK: we're very lucky to have wonderful friends and family. Between the amazing deal we got on baby "stuff" from my friend/hairdresser and the Christmas presents we were given for baby, we have made a significant head start on the baby "need/want" list. More posts on this to come!Although there is NO place to put it in my house, we have it and I feel less stress over it. I've also scheduled our "baby prep" classes for the month of January, so we'll be thinking pretty hard as we learn all the things BABY!

I HOPE/I'M EXCITED: that he has a NAME!!!! Dave and I have agreed to name our little boy Andrew Blake. Andrew has been on of my favorite names since I was a little girl (all of my baby dolls were named Andrew) and Blake is one of Dave's favorites. The "B" in Blake is also a nod to the Bennett clan :) We will call him Drew for short. Read my blog here to remember the "debate."

• Andrew is a Biblical name, coming from Greek, meaning "manly" or "of valor." Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter and was a fisherman too (John 1:25-42). In the book of John, it tells that Andrew was constantly bringing people to Jesus, starting with his brother. During the sermon at the Sea of Galilee, it was Andrew who brought the boy with five barley loaves and two fish to Jesus which Jesus then multiplied into enough food to feed the 5,000. Andrew also brought the Gentiles to Jesus during the Passover Feast because he understood that Jesus came not only to save Israel, but everyone on the earth.

Doc's SAY: no doctor's visit in the past two weeks; however, when we get back from Bakersfield I have to go do my second glucose test to check from diabetes.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Pfeffers

Dave, Jennifer, Baby Andrew, and Reese Santa's elf was WAY too tired from all the excitement and work Santa put her through, so she slept through most of the excitement today, but she still knows that today is Jesus' birthday!

100 days

In 100 days, Baby Pfeffer is suppose to be here!

It is super hard to believe that I am already six months pregnant and there will be a baby joining out household soon. 100 days seems like nothing. We have SO much to do to prepare for the little guy with both house projects and baby projects.

Medieval Times

My surprise for Dave's birthday actually worked! On his birthday, he opened tickets to Medieval Times for the two of us. He asked who was going and I told him that it was just the two of us, he looked a little dissappointed.

Anyway, we made our way in the rain to Buena Park and into the tower. In the tower, our surf welcomed us in and told Dave that the rest of our party was waiting for us...

We walked in and found...

Louie and Kristen
and the baby!

A bit later, Desiree and Melissa joined the party and Dave was REALLY suprised!

Louie and Kristen got there super early and we literally got the best seats in the house!

Our yellow knight died first, but we still had a great time!

Dave's Birthday

On Friday, December 17th Dave turned 29 years old! After a long day at work for both of us, we celebrated at Roadhouse with Melissa and Desiree. As Dave pointed out, we somehow always seem to end up here with him sick for his bday--this year was no exception!

After dinner we walked through Burlington Coat Factory :)

Fun hats!