Waiting for You

I'm about 35 weeks now. 

The little flutters of early pregnancy have given way to rolls, flips, hiccups and sharp kicks.  You move almost constantly, shifting and shaking my belly nonstop.  Your little heel makes a tiny protrusion on my left side.  Your bottom up sits high. In just one more month I'll be kissing your heel and patting your bottom.  

I can't wait.

This is the most exciting time in pregnancy, I think.  There's discomfort, yes.  Exhaustion, heartburn and sleeplessness. Stabbing round ligament pain that takes my breath away in the middle of the night.  But now there's anticipation.  Knowing that you'll be here soon eases everything.  We're getting close. 

Honestly? I worry about handling everything.  I know I have a challenging year ahead of me.  But I also know that God doesn't want my worries.  I often find myself praying for peace, wisdom, and an ever-present appreciation of the blessings I've been given.

And I thank God for giving me you.

I don't know quite what the next year will be like.  But I do know that once you're here I won't be able to imagine life without you.  I will be over-the-moon, head-over-heels in love. In a sea of unknowns, of this I'm sure. 

After all, it's happened twice before.

I love you so much already.  See you soon.

Love, me

No Boys Allowed

With a baby belly that's not getting any smaller, I know the clock is ticking on a few things.  Sleeping through the night...leaving the house in under 30 minutes...and one on one time with my big girl. 

So, this weekend Brooke and I sent the boys out to do something manly like get the oil changed and we had us a little girl time.

First stop: nail salon.

I wasn't sure how this would go.  But as soon as girlfriend saw the wall lined with bottle after bottle of colorful nail polish, she was hooked.  She picked the brightest, most glittery bottle of red nail polish you've ever seen in your whole life and sat like she'd done it a million times. She asked the nail lady if she would please make her nails "beautiful and glittery and shiny."  And for $3 she did.  We'll be doing this again, for sure.

The first of many mommy-daughter manies, I do believe.

Next, off to the cupcake shop.

I'm such a kind, giving mother to take my little girl to get a cupcake, aren't I?  Don't you know enormously pregnant lady wanted a cupcake, too. 

If you're diabetic or have high cholesterol you're gonna want to look away for this next part...

Behold. 

Toasted coconut.  White cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese filling.  Heck yeah.

A great morning out, but the best part was the company.  I love that girl.  :-)

Favorite Pics From 2011

Happy 2012!

So far we've had an eventful one around my house.  Scot and I celebrated our 11th anniversary this week.  Dixie, our 17-year-old cat, went on to a better place.  The reality of another baby in 6 weeks is slowly setting in and we're (I'm!!) panicking at the thought of getting rooms ready since we've done absolutely nothing to prepare for our new little man! There are so many things I want to do before he gets here, including transitioning Nathan out of the crib, since that will be the baby's bed.  And by the way, thanks to everyone who voted for names!  We're still in debates but getting a little closer, I think.  If we land on one for sure, I'll let you know.  

In the midst of the chaos I'm trying to make good on my New Year's resolution to get a little more organized.  Organization.  Ugh.  So not my thing, but I'm working on it. I got going on organizing the mass amount of junk on my computer, which basically means deleting pictures. 

Of course, looking at pictures is way too fun.  The kids have changed so much and there are so many sweet moments to relive.  So, while "getting organized" I got distracted and decided to do a blog including some of my favorite pictures from this year.  Because that's way more fun than organizing.  Most things are. 

I'll wait to get organized when the kids move out.  Unless something more fun comes up.  Here are the pics.

 

 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2011... 

God bless you and yours this Christmas! 

Name this baby!

This baby boy...

...will be here in a little less than nine weeks!

And he doesn't have a name yet because we haven't come across anything that seems like The Name. We have lots of time, I know.  But we've also known that he will be a "he" for twelve weeks now. I have visions of me, fresh out of a c-section, half anesthetized and hormonal as all get out, still trying to name this poor child. 

I would like to avoid this.

You'll find some of our favorites in the baby name poll.  Please weigh in and let me know what you think, will you?  If you don't like any of them don't tell me that because I will cry.   

Baby Boy thanks you.

Some Christmas Pictures

Santa!  Brooke asked for a Barbie.  Nathan totally didn't get it but sat happily on Santa's lap because Brooke was doing it. 

Christmas program!  Brooke was the loudest child in the choir.  I taught her everything I know about singing:  pitch and tone?  Whatever.  It's all about volume, baby.

 A super cute baby Jesus.  :-)

Christmas traditions are kept alive and strong around here.  Especially edible ones.

Not sure where Nate will play when the tree is gone.

I actually did something I saw on Pinterest.

If you're looking for something cool and crafty you are SO on the wrong blog.

A few weeks ago I saw a page on Pinterest about how to entertain toddlers, and one of the ideas was to paint the bathtub with watercolors. Since I have a couple of toddler types running around I decided to give it a try. 

Be sure to give a good scare-the-tarnation-out-of-them speech.  Tell them: repeat after me, "DO NOT PAINT ON THE WALLS!!!"  Look serious and mean and growl.

Then strip 'em to their scivies, throw 'em in and go for it.    

 

Verdict: this was perfect!  It really wasn't that messy, they thought cleaning the tub was fun (HA!) and we got the bath over and done with after the painting.  It took a good hour and a half or so, start to finish. 

So...clean kids, clean tub, morning of entertainment. Not too bad.