Happy (belated) Christmas!

Hello all!

It's me, Erin... checking in to say 'hello' and post a few updates. :)

First off, Niall and I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!  I missed my dear Dohm traditions and family as usual, but the Maddens sure know how to have a sweet Irish Christmas in their cozy Naas home.  :)  We had a wonderful time relaxing, sitting by the fire, playing charades, watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' (I was in tears-- these pregnancy hormones!!), reading, drinking coffees from their new Nespresso machine, and just enjoying family time.  It was very special and I am so grateful to have a family that I love so much here in Ireland.

Niall and I both finished up work on the 23rd-- that's me done for good until I pop!  Then, as Niall would say, I'll be promoted to 'motherhood'.  :)  I actually really enjoyed my last day at work; everyone was in a festive spirit, and I love the girls I work with-- I'm really, really happy I don't have to be on my feet for 7 hours straight anymore, but at the same time I'll miss the cafe buzz and seeing everyone.  With that said, it's just a few minutes walk away, so I'm sure it won't be too long before I'm back in there for a coffee!  We got everything packed up quite quickly Tuesday after work and hit the road that evening, stopping to check out a few furniture places along the way.

I'll update you on other things as well, but for now, here are a few Christmas shots!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning... cold but clear!

Niall got a lesson on lighting the fire (with several different ingredients)... it's an art over here!

Niall 'adopted' a tiger for Avril in Nepal.  Only 3,200 left in the wild... she loved it :)

Mum sporting her new apron and hat

Every year we put together a photo album with all the photos from that year.  We did one for mum and dad with photos dating back to 2008 (the weekend when I first met them!) until now.

Niall knows how to make his girl happy-- no gifts please, just a holiday!  We'll see how this goes with a baby :)  Thank goodness for British Airways frequent flyer miles!

getting ready for Benny's Ulster fry

Out for a Christmas day stroll

self timer :)

the cooks in the kitchen again!  Niall and I always feel very spoiled

Needless to say I finished this... and more.  A good way to end the day!

After 4 days of relaxing and being spoiled with homemade meals and warm fires, we headed back to Belfast Saturday afternoon.  We wanted to check on some post-Christmas furniture sales and see if there were some options for our new home (by the way-- we got approved for the loan!!  Move in day will probably be in a couple of months, after baby comes... phew!).  We didn't buy anything but there were a couple of items we had our eye on.  One was a big comfy chair called a 'snug.'  I found out from a manager (not sure if he was supposed to reveal this or not!) that it would be further reduced on Monday morning (today).  So, we took a chance and it was worth it!  Literally as Niall was making the purchase, 3 other people tried to buy it.  So, it is with great pleasure that I announce we have made our first furniture purchase for the new house!  Introducing the 'snug' :) ...

Our sitting room is small, so it's a good size for it-- fits two people!  We're planning on putting it in the front bay window.

As we were getting this sorted, Niall's parents were looking at another store down South and found us a great deal on another sofa that will go with it.  We decided to take a risk and let them order it for us without seeing it in person... we both hate shopping, so we are thrilled that the sofa hunt is over!!

In all of this you may be thinking, what about baby stuff?!  Yes, I must say I'm quite behind on that as well.  I was putting it off until the Christmas season ended because I didn't want to think about too many things at once.  But now, it's business time!  Here's our nursery so far:

we're going with the 'simple' theme here :)

Haha!  Hopefully the kid won't mind.  :)  We aren't changing our spare room because we want to keep it for guests... not to mention, there is a double bed in there that pretty much takes up all the space and we aren't getting rid of it.  Niall's buddy from work gave us this dresser with a changing space on top which was really nice!  We just need to give it a wee sand and paint job.

colour-- cream.  Still no inkling of whether it's a boy or girl, though most have guessed boy!

The big bag to the right of the dresser are donations from mum.  It was so fun to see a few things from when Niall was a baby!  And she got us a few cute outfits, mostly snuggly winter ones.  :)  Everything has been so surreal up to this point-- with less than 4 weeks to go, it's finally starting to sink in that soon, Lord willing, we will have a little baby Madden in our home!

Speaking of trying to get things sorted, we are leaving in a few minutes to look at a car seat we saw posted on 'gumtree' (our version of craigslist) last night.  It's a great deal so hopefully we'll get it.  I have more photos to post and more to say, but I'll get this published for now and update you guys again later this week!

Lots of love to all,

xox