Christmas Eve

We had to get everything prepared for the big guy's visit. That included cookies, milk, carrots and reindeer food! Normally we visit with my side of the family on Christmas Eve, but the snow kept us in for the night. Miss E and Baby J enjoyed opening their Christmas Eve gifts from Momma and Daddy!

How was your Christmas?

Ours was wonderful!!! We had a white Christmas! First time in 80 years that we've had a widespread amount of snow!!!

Miss E had a blast playing in the snow. Baby J didn't get to - he would have tried to eat it! We're going to get hit again tomorrow and then once again on Thursday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with two kids stuck in the house for three straight days besides go crazy, but we'll figure it out.

Miss E has started to play upstairs on her own and she thinks she's such a big girl. The baby just likes to sit on the floor and play with his toys and try to crawl. He's *this* close to crawling but just can't get it done. I have a feeling that my life is going to get doubly difficult with a mobile baby!!! Sometimes we get what we wish for! YAY!

And more...

While I was away...

I am going to post some of my favorite pictures I took while I was on my hiatus. I have quite a few, so it may take a couple of posts.

Enjoy!

Can Santa just drop the gifts off with no wrapping paper?

I overbought. There, I admit it. My hubby doesn't often read this, so he doesn't know - yet! Here's the problem with overbuying gifts. You have to wrap them. I hate wrapping presents. I've been trying to wrap one or two every day, but those are for family. I haven't even touched the kids gifts. I still have to buy Santa wrapping paper that Miss E hasn't seen.

Santa is exhausting. There I said it. In the future I'm only buying from places where the gifts come pre-wrapped!

Anyone want to bet whether Santa actually wraps his gifts this year?

Santa Baby!

This was taken a few weeks ago - but Santa this year was better. No more tears, but no smiles either. Neither was sure what to think, but Miss E knew that this scary guy brings toys, so he couldn't be all bad!

Christmas Parties, Gingerbread Houses - oh my!

Yesterday I was "forced" to attend Miss E's class Christmas Party at her school. We had an encore performance from her school party, which was Monday. It was adorable as you can see by the pictures. Just be happy I'm only subjecting you to a few - I have a hundred!

The party also involved a craft. A craft which became the bane of my existence. I have a third degree burn on my finger and I think the thing cost me $50 bucks - but the kids

had fun!!! Seriously though, I helped hot glue graham crackers to milk cartons and we made gingerbread houses. The kids had a deliciously fun time seeing as half the decorations ended up in their mouths rather than on the houses! Miss E was hoarding m&ms the whole time...she's so much like her momma she squeaks!

You have to love anything that involves tons of icing and candy - right?

Baby J enjoyed the morning too. He got to spend time with Nai Nai and Poppaw. He spent Monday trying to convince Nai Nai she never wanted to watch him again - all he did was scream. So much she had to call me to come settle him down, but yesterday was a much better day. Teething BITES!

I'm going to be playing around with the blog a little today - trying to make it look a little more fun. I may have to contact my friend Diana for a little help!!! :o)

Wow, it's been a long 9 months

It's been 9 months since I posted. Long enough time to have a baby - unless you're an overachiever like me! One week after I posted my last post, on March 6, Baby J was born. He was one pound 11 ounces and way, way, way too early.

I was very sick as well. I spent several days in ICU trying to get my kidneys to function properly and my blood pressure back to normal.

I am happy to say, that while he is still small, Baby J is happy and healthy! I couldn't be more blessed. I have two gorgeous children.

Holy Batmobile Robin, she's pregnant!

J was in charge of a large dinner last night for the County, so he hosted over 500 of our closest friends!  While we haven't been hiding that we're expecting, we haven't shared with most people either.

So, ummm, there was a bit of surprise when people saw me last night.  No matter how hard I could have tried to hide it, it's pretty obvious there's a "baby in Momma's belly" as Miss E puts it. Here's a 25 week pg picture.  Once again, Maureen is the fab photographer!

Big Girl Bed *sigh* She's growing up!

Well, last week Miss E decided that naps were for the birds.  This was not ideal for us because of course, there's a new addition coming into the house and we all will need our sleep then!

While trying to determine what we should do, we decided that it was time to turn her crib into a toddler bed.  She already had a true toddler bed in the room but we thought we'd give her a choice of which one to sleep in.  The first "nap" time turned into a party fest.  We let it last two hours on Saturday and she promptly fell asleep in the car later!

Saturday evening she played for about an hour and a half and then I heard these beautiful words "night night" and then silence.  She had crawled into her bed and fell asleep.  It lasted until about midnight when she awoke and became a little frightened not knowing exactly where she was.  No biggie, we understood that this would take time.

Sunday at nap it was party fest again - but only for an hour.  An hour into the party there was sudden silence!!!  She fell asleep in her bed - again!  SUCCESS!!!  And Sunday night she slept through the night and slept in later than she ever did in her crib!  

Yesterday was the EXACT SAME THING!  I'm sure she will still have her moments, but she seems to be sleeping so much better in the toddler bed than she has for a while in her crib.  I guess it was just time.

My baby is growing up.  Can I be happy and sad at the same time?

Birthday Party

Because J was traveling, we had Miss E's birthday party a little late this year.  It was once again held at the famed playhouse - The Little Gym!

When asked what kind of a party she'd like, Miss E responded "pink"!  When asked what kind of invitations she'd like to send out, Miss E responded with "pink"!  See a pattern?  Same thing happened when asked about her cake and what she'd like to wear.  When looking for the invitations, she did settle into pink and green - so a them emerged.  Thank goodness it didn't look like the wedding in Steel Magnolias.  This was a little better!

Enjoy the famed photographer Maureen's photos - she did a FAB job on them and I can't thank her enough for taking them and making Miss E's bday party that much more enjoyable for me!!!

Preschool Birthday Party - Hello Kitty Style!

Notice how the little stinker is just waiting and waiting for them to finish singing so she can dig into the cupcake! She cracks me up.

Our Superbowl Halftme Show

Some people had Bruce, we had Miss E. I think we had the better show than the rest of the world!

My little rocker chick

Notice the fresh from the bath crazy hair!

Today is my daughter's birthday

I can not believe she is three years old today. Just in the past few months she really has begun to act like a kid, not a baby. I miss that baby stage, but I do love her little personality. She tells me everything right now, good and bad and I know at some point I'll miss that.

For example, yesterday I asked her to do something she didn't want to do. Her response? What Momma, I'm not listening...Oh boy, just think when she learns to just ignore me!

This little girl loves elephants, music and did I mention elephants? She turns anything into a musical instrument and loves to sing "pretty songs". I bought her a harmonica the other day and as soon as she figured it out, she couldn't play more than a note or two because she kept smiling so big. She's already gotten pretty good at it. I see lots of music lessons in our future.

I'm going out while she's in preschool to find her an electric guitar. Yes, I am. She has an acoustic guitar, but it's a little big for her. The electric one I'm looking for is smaller and she can hold it more easily. She is going to be so happy she'll bust! And hopefully, she'll sing me a few more happy songs!

Happy Birthday baby girl! Your Momma and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know.

(pictures of the big day will come later)

It's a BOY!!!

We had our 20 week appointment yesterday. Our little man is measuring right on target and everything looks good. He moved his little hand in front of his mouth like he might have been sucking his thumb and even yawned while we were watching him! It's pretty amazing to see!!!

I am in awe of the fact that we're having a boy. Ever since we decided to adopt Miss E from China, I've always dreamed of little girls. It was a little surreal to hear boy when all my thoughts were still pink. We even had girl names picked out! Of course, it meant that Miss E and I immediately went shopping yesterday afternoon looking for baby brother things. Miss E also grabbed a big sister gift as well - she's going to be great at this!

I started crying on the table because I was just so happy to see everything looked good. We had opted out of any testing in the first trimester, so this was our first chance to really see him and know that he was healthy.

On my health note, I have a horrid cold that is keeping me from sleeping. It's hard to sleep when you can't breathe. I'm hoping this one doesn't linger because it's a doozy. I'm including a 20 week belly shot that I'm not thrilled with, but it'll do! I wish I'd learn to stand up straight. I look a lot bigger but in reality have still only gained two pounds total. Everything is just shifting!

Parent Teacher Conference

We had Miss E's first parent teacher conference yesterday. It was fun to hear about the few hours that she spends away from me. Apparently she is very bright (we know), very active (we know) and a big helper (nothing new there).

Her teacher said that she will help the other kids pack up their lunchboxes after snacks and always loves to help out when she can. She also said that the other kids ask about her if she's absent. I think that's pretty impressive considering they're only two!

Umm, okay yeah...it's been a while!

I figured I'd make one more post before our big ultrasound on Wednesday. We find out whether it's a girl baby or boy baby. I really don't have a preference other than boy babies scare me a little. I've got the girl thing down (for now) so a change in my parenting MO is a little nerve wracking!

I have another belly picture that I'm going to post when we know the gender, but even though I look MUCH bigger (I feel huge) I've still only gained a pound. It's not for a lack of eating either...I'm a little piggie these days! I'm sure it'll catch up with me, it always does.

On another note, tomorrow is our first parent/teacher conference for Miss E. I'm a little nervous to hear what the teacher has to say. I think she's absolute perfection, but I guess we'll find out if her teacher thinks so or not! I'm sure that will be a blog post too!

Oh, and NICOLE IF YOU ARE READING THIS I NEED TO SEE A PICTURE OF THAT BABY! I know you wouldn't read a blog without sending me one of new little P right???