Christmas 2011

Whew! What a whirlwind of a couple of weeks it has been! I guess that is how it will be from now on, especially with 2 kids starting next year! It's been a fun time, but I am not going to mind getting back into a regular routine for a few weeks (and then all will never be the same again as we try to figure out life with 2 kids!) and not having so many things to do each day, even though most of them have been really fun!

This year's Santa visit went alright. We talked a lot about Santa, read about him, did puzzles, colored him, practiced telling him (nicely) what we'd like him to bring for Christmas, etc. Then, the big event arrived. We went to a local mall and, luckily, the line was short and Santa was very friendly and obviously had a lot of experience with timid toddlers. She went up to him, talked to him, looked at a book she had brought about him; they had a discussion about the reindeer and the elves and she told him she wanted a 'bike and dollhouse' (there maaaay have been some help from mom and dad preparing her ahead of time). Then we suggested a seat on Santa's lap for a picture and the crocodile tears appeared. We ended up taking a picture with her on MY lap, sitting in front of Santa. Her face is not smiling, and is a face caught between sobs. (our scanner is refusing to work, I will try to post it later) Oh well. It could have been worse. Maybe next year, when she gets to show baby brother how it's done, things will go better. Or, maybe he'll show her how it's done. We'll see!!

She was in her 3rd Christmas pageant at church this year and also did very well. She had the choice to be a sheep or angel this year and had very strong opinions on being a sheep. Her buddies Oliver and Rosie were sheep too, so that determined it. She wore the costume with no problems and only needed a little assistance from mom to go to her place. She sat quietly with the other sheep and did great!
Christmas Eve was spent going to the family service, which includes a special sermon for the kids (our priest used to be a chaplain at a school, we love her!), including candy cane distribution, which she was very excited about. We then went to my parents' house afterwards to share Christmas Eve dinner, which in our house has been Italian food for the last few year. Mom made lasagna and Kalaya ate a ton! We opened presents, which for Kalaya was a new table and chairs, which Daddy put together later that night for Christmas morning:
Christmas Eve was spent putting together the gifts from 'Santa' which Nelson loves! (no sarcasm, he seriously does) This year included a tricycle ($15, new in box on Craig's List!!), the table and chairs and a new trampoline!! ($49, down from $120 on Black Friday, thank you very much!) It took 3 HOURS for poor Santa to put the trampoline together, but she loves it!

Christmas morning, we had to draaaaaag her out of bed at 9 and she did NOT want to get up! We would have let her sleep, but had plans to see Nelson' family that day and wanted to give her time to open presents. She finally warmed up after some special Christmas blueberry muffins from mommy and then decided Christmas was pretty fun! She especially loves her new tutu, toy cars, Sesame Street play set and dollhouse.

We then drove to Salem to see Nelson's family and had a delicious meal, none of which I had to cook!! Kalaya got lots of fun gifts and had a great time playing with her one year old cousin Amara. She got lots of cute clothes, which made me extra happy. : )

We rounded off the week with a trip to The Great Wolf Lodge, to enjoy one last vacation and some special time as a family of 3, but that's for another post!

What I Wore Wednesday at 34 Weeks

Let's be honest: I haven't been posting outfit posts, because nothing is comfortable any more. I'm outgrowing maternity clothes, wear a lot of sweats and pjs and just throw on whatever is big enough to be covered. And, when I do actually put on something cute (usually for church on Sunday or to visit the midwife), I never remember to grab the camera. Pants are getting less comfortable, jeans, no matter what size. This guy is getting big! Skirts and leggings are more comfortable, but seem ridiculous to wear around the house. This outfit was to take Kalaya to see Santa, because I suspected I may end up in the picture too. (I was right, more about that later) This was taken at 34 weeks.

Sweater: Hand me down (Motherhood)
Skirt: Thrifted (Motherhood)
Leggings, boots: Kohl's
Snowflake Pin: Target

And the belly to go with it....

33 Weeks

Alright, I'll try to stop saying how fast this pregnancy is going by. But, really, now that the holiday season is in full swing, EVERYTHING is happening quickly, not just the growing bump!! Just on a day to day basis, how did it get to be Thursday this week??? And Christmas is a week from Sunday???? Holy cow!! Luckily, having plenty to do distracts from getting bigger and bigger. I finally got my Christmas cards out yesterday, have gotten almost all of the prep work done for the big day and starting to feel like I can slow down a little. Yeah right, the Christmas pageant is Sunday, (starring a certain VERY cute sheep. okay, 'starring' may be an exaggeration.) I have a few craft projects to finish up, presents to wrap and we are going to see the Big Guy in Red next week.

Pregnancy-wise, I still feel good! Definitely more crowded and feeling bigger, but I don't have too many complaints at all. My appetite is fine and most nights I'm able to get some sleep. He's head down, which is a HUGE relief and we're hoping he stays there!! Our next appointment is Wednesday and then we'll be going every other week and soon after, every week! With a VBAC, I'm technically considered 'high risk', but as long as I know my rights and speak up for myself, we can treat this as a 'normal' birth. Our midwife said that if I'm late, they'll let me go up to 42 weeks if necessary (hopefully not!) but that they won't induce without my body starting to labor on its own. Which means, c-section if no labor begins. Hopefully, this won't be an issue. I just have no idea, since my body didn't go into labor at all with Kalaya. Head down means a new sensation; feet poking my ribs! It is pretty painful, but I can usually change positions and feel better. (does not work in the car, I've discovered...)

We started our childbirth class and love it! We're taking Hypnobirthing, which came highly recommended by other ladies who have had successful deliveries without any pain medications, intervention, etc. It's basically an approach to childbirth that has you practice getting as relaxed as possible before labor so that your body is trained ahead of time. It is also based on the idea that your body is prepared for this; God/Mother Nature knew what to do to prepare you, it doesn't have to be this screaming, painful, agonizing, medical event. It's a natural process that your body was created for. We love it!!

Jakiah is still very active and I love, love, LOVE feeling him move. This is the part of pregnancy I missed the most, so I'm trying to savor each moment. People are asking if I'm ready to be done, and honestly, not yet. For obvious reasons, such as I know that he'd be premature at this point, but also because who knows what God's plan is for us with children?? I don't know if we're stopping after this or not, so I'm enjoying being pregnant while I can. Yes, we're excited to meet this little guy, but I'm loving having my daughter all to myself and her having her parents all to herself for just a couple more months. (eek, more like a few more weeks!!) We're taking everything one day at a time. : )

Let the holiday season begin!!

It's been a busy few weeks, which apparently meant no blogging!! Let's see, where to start...

Thanksgiving was really nice. We had (as usual) 2 dinners, one with my family, one with Nelson's family. My mom and dad came over on the actual day and mom and I split up the responsibilities of cooking the big meal, which was GREAT! I was in charge of the turkey, rice, jello salad, green veggie (broccoli), mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and.....I think that was it. Mom did the sweet potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. Then there were those other quick things that just come out of a can. At our house, that includes olives and cranberry sauce. I do the turkey in the crock pot (just the breast, actually), so it actually was a really easy, laid back preparation. We had dinner, the men watched football, the ladies looked through Black Friday ads and chatted in the kitchen. (and the men did the dishes, of course.) Saturday was spent in Salem with Nelson's family, eating another big and delicious meal. And, I didn't have to cook a thing!! I was going to bring a side dish, but Nelson had this idea that he wanted to try to make a new recipe he found, so he made a sweet potato casserole, leaving me with nothing, AWESOME!! Kalaya ate a LOT at both meals this year; much different from last year! She especially liked mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, broccoli, cranberry sauce and stuffing and mommy and daddy let her have a (VERY SMALL) piece of pumpkin pie at each meal, which was very exciting!

Black Friday. Yup, it's totally crazy and I understand completely why people avoid it. The last few years, my mom and I have sometimes gone out in the late morning or afternoon, to check out the sales, but avoid the crazies. Then, last year, my friend Sarah got me to go with her in the middle of the night and I got HOOKED!! Do I feel guilty about those people having to work ridiculous hours and for supporting corporate America?? Yes. Very, very much so. But, we are on a limited budget and the sales really do make a huge difference in savings. Last year I went to 5 or 6 stores, but at 7 months pregnant, not this time. I go with a plan and very strategically. This year, I decided on Toys R Us and K Mart. Toys R Us opened at 9pm on Thanksgiving (which is absolultely horrible, I agree) and I learned last year that it's pointless to get there before 2 hours after they open. (the line out the door takes that long to get through) I arrived just before 11 and got in pretty quickly, got the items I wanted and checked out @ 1am, which was exactly what I expected. Yes, it's crazy, but I got everything we wanted for Kalaya and saved 50% or more on each item, as well as the other kids on my shopping list. My make a list ahead of time, arrive with cash in hand, have back ups for each item and only go if it really is worth the savings. Last year, it was for her kitchen, this year a trampoline and some other toys. I got up and went to K Mart @ 6, which wasn't crowded at all, had no lines and I got everything I wanted. The only bummer this year was that I did it alone, since Sarah had just had a baby 3 weeks prior.

The weekend after Thanksgiving was spent finalizing projects around the house and working in the yard, getting things ready for our Housewarming party that we had this past Saturday. Nelson has removed a LOT of weeds and been putting down mulch, it looks SO much better. We did a lot of raking as well. Nelson put the lights on the house and we did come other decorating around the house, including getting our Christmas tree! We found a great place, within a couple of miles of our house. It's a family home with 5 acres of Christmas trees behind it, all trees one price and you cut it, they tie it to your car. We'll be heading back, it was really nice!! And so close! Kalaya had a lot of fun running around and looking at the trees, even though it was COLD! She wasn't too sure about the whole tying the tree on the car part, but once we got home, she loooves having a decorated tree in the living room, especially the lights!!

Running around and having a blast!

Supervising

New word learned: Stump

Helping decorate! (notice her area of choice, mommy had to spread a few out, as she put them all on the same branch : )