Three Christmases

I am pretty sure I am not the only who just went through multiple Christmases, both a blessing and a curse. Well curse is a bit strong of a word, but seriously- I am exhausted. With the less than ideal weather around here what should have been a two day max experience just ended today, after the last rescheduled family event. Whew. Done. We did have a really great time this year though, Christmas and toddlers were made for each other. The MR received so many new toys, too many really, and he just had a blast going from one thing to the next and being around so much love and attention. We had our own small family Christmas the 24th, spent Christmas morning with BL's family, and then just had our belated Christmas gathering (and traditional tamale feast) with my parents today. Our big gift to MR this year was the Elmo Live doll, which he is in love with and has been from first sight. I have to admit it is a pretty amazing little toy, and most definitely the least annoying noisy toy we have ever bought him. A win for us all. He also got lots of cars, LOTS, and plenty of other very annoying noisy toys which are still residing at Nana and Pa's house (we just didn't have room for it all ;). The load was a little extreme from the mother in law, anyone else have this problem of too many gifts? She means well, but she suffers from too much free time and ready access to a credit card and online shopping. We are definitely setting a limit for next year as things got a bit out of hand this time around. For example, we are now the proud owners of a two hundred dollar dino paperweight. Well, it's actually this but as far as we can tell so far it doesn't do much and it scares the heck out of MR. He wants nothing to do with it. So we will hope to avoid this next year. Now with everything done and celebrations at an end, I need another break just to recover.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday celebrating whatever you do!

Finishing touches

The cookies ended up a little abstract in design, but original and wonderful all the same (in this mother's opinion). Besides, the frosting still tasted good regardless of it's form:).

"Making" cookies

Take note: when making sugar cookies with a twenty one month old child, you will not be the one in control. It is best to accept this ahead of time. It's more fun for both of you:).

Hello second trimester

13 weeks, I am most definitely showing now, looking more pregnant than pudgy (I hope). I also had my first "breakthrough" with MR and the whole baby in the belly deal. He and I were sitting together on the couch when he laid his head on my stomach. I asked him if he was saying hi to the baby. He looked up at me, then stared really hard at my belly then said 'Hi Baby!'. He also then got down and start running around the downstairs randomly saying hi baby to other things as well, but it's a start.

Little Bean check-up

I had my first official appointment with my new OB today, and things went well. It will take some time to get used to my new doctor and assess my comfort with her, but so far so good. Everything is well with the little bean, we did get to hear the heart beat today. Somewhere in the 160 range. It was reassuring to hear them in there, the weird thing is that now that I am feeling better (KNOCK ON WOOD) I almost forget that I am pregnant sometimes and the reassurance is nice. Of course there are still obvious signs, mood swings for one, and I am definitely still pooched out there. It's just that without the constant haze of nausea/exhaustion and prior to feeling any little kicks and punches... it's really a pregnancy grey area. My due date got switched, again, I am back to being due on June 26th. So that puts me at a little over 12 weeks now. I will post an updated belly shot for week 13. For now I am just glad that things are safely under way.

Winter wonderland

One of my greatest reliefs in moving out of Spokane was the knowledge that I would never again have to face a winter full of snow. That said, a bit here and there isn't necessarily a bad thing. Especially when it is so cute to see my little boy play in it. No other words really for this, but lots of pictures (and a video!). Enjoy.

Veinte

Dear MR-

Yesterday you turned twenty months old. See, I am only one day late this time. You can attribute this to your old mom feeling better in the nausea department and once again staying up past 8 pm.


I cannot believe that in only four months you will be two years old. I suppose it is time I started accepting reality and the truth that you do indeed get bigger, and fast. This second year has gone by quickly. You pick up new skills and words now like it is old hat, and we can barely keep up with you physically and sometimes mentally. You are becoming capable of mental feats that I really didn't expect to see before your fifth, let alone your second birthday. You have started to procrastinate before your bedtime. You are a smart kid, you know what's coming. So instead of willingly allowing us to trundle you off to sleep, with a hug a kiss and a book, you dawdle. You want to say goodnight to the stars, and check out your books, sometimes you will abandon us all together as we watch the tail of your towel fly out of the room. This isn't play to you, you know that you are avoiding bed time. And for now we let you, because you're awfully cute, but I can tell this logical acuity spells trouble for us down the line.

Here's something else you like to do:

You love cars, and by love I mean you are completely and totally engrossed in all things automobile. You have several hotwheels and a couple of odds and ends cars and trucks you like to play with. By the end of the day you are generally worn out, but you will still pick up your cars and lay yourself down and drive your little autos around on the carpet. Your poor father is at a loss with this love of yours, as he generally defines the difference between cars by their color not their make. Here's hoping your affection doesn't extend much past blue cars and red cars, for his sake.

Happy twenty months kiddo, we love you so very much.

A post through pictures

So I have more pictures to post than words really, so I am just going to use my pictures to help me post. Here we go...

We finally managed to decorate our tree. The poor thing sat on our doorstep and got rained on for a bit, but now it's up and decorated (at least above toddler height). We did have some kid safe decorations down at MR's level, but he picked all of those right off. So the tree looks a bit uneven, but it works for us. We also don't have a corral around it at present, the kiddo has been really good about leaving it be. So far so good.

So glad that we have this little park just a few blocks from our house. It was great in the warm weather and now even in the winter it's a lot of fun to take the kiddo there. He comes back wetter and muddier, but it's a great way to spend time and energy.

Did you know that if you ask nicely the st@rbucks people will put your child's chocolate milk in a mini-cup? MR LOVES this. He covets our cups when we pick something up, and now he can have his very own.

And in news that I don't have a picture of, my husband got a JOB! After eight months of searching, waiting, trial and frustration he was offered a job yesterday. And not just a job, but a great job! It's three blocks away from where I work presently, so we can carpool, and it's a great fit for him. This is an amazing early Christmas present for us, a dual income- hooray!

Oh tannebaum

It's definitely time for things to start looking, and feeling, like Christmas around here. BL has many (regretful) memories of his father procrastinating to the last minute for getting their tree. As a consequence he has always been very insistent that we go out and get ours as soon as possible, once Thanksgiving passes of course. So we went out this weekend and picked ours up. This little holiday outing went WAY better than our pumpkin picking experience. MR has come miles from where he was (or wasn't) in the hand holding department, and was very mindful when I asked him to stay near me or hold my hand when walking through the trees. He also loved the experience, the combination of which made it all much more enjoyable for me. I also didn't have to be the one cutting or carrying away the tree, so that helped.

Just his size
Looking for the perfect fir

Making sure it's baby proof

Helping Daddy do boy stuff

Never wanting to be left out of the fun

10 down, 30 to go

I suppose it was technically ten weeks yesterday, but I won't worry about being too particular. So here's the baby bump:


Looking somewhat reminiscent of what I recall sporting around month five with the MR. Eh. I am definitely feeling better as of late, and BL mentioned that he is glad to have his (generally) pleasant wife back. I am fortunate that he has a strong memory of what last time around was like, so none of this is unexpected for him. He has been most accommodating and his rule of thumb is to keep me fed. This, he says, was his greatest piece of knowledge he gathered from preggo number one. Hungry = even more grouchy/bitchy/intolerable. He's a smart man, that one.

Here's an aerial view, for anyone that might wonder what I see when I look down everyday. It's still crazy to me when I see such physical evidence of the process occurring inside of me. It's exciting and reassuring, but still just as wondrous as the first time.