twelve weeks

 
how far along:  12 weeks (compare to 12 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  according to the bump a plum, about 2.1 inches long and weighing .49 ounces.  All of baby's critical systems are mostly formed, and now he or she just needs to work on growing and maturing.

weight gain: 0 pounds.  Not too shabby for now I suppose.  I hadn't gained any weight yet with my last two, but still hoping I stay close to the 20-25 pound range this time around.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms: I generally end up with a headache by the afternoon, despite trying to stay away from as much processed food and sugar as I can.  Those things 100% make a difference.  I know I'm not taking in enough water, I seriously can't stand water right now, but I don't know what else to drink.  I only drink water.  I get tired in the evenings and I still sometimes feel queasy, but it is much less often.

exercise: I exercised five days this week, woot!  I did a barbell class at the gym, ran a total of 14.5 miles and walked 4.3 miles.  I also did some strength exercises after my walk yesterday.  It is surprising how sore some walking lunges can make me.  Ha.

cravings/aversions: I still want nothing to do with pizza and m&m's.  Those are the funniest aversions I've ever had (Lies, I just read several of my pregnancy posts with Elsie and I guess I didn't want to eat pizza with her either.  Just plain weird!).  In general stuff that is heavy just doesn't sound good.  I want a lot of fruit, Panera Mac n' Cheese, and biscuits with strawberry jelly.

movement:  nope

sleep: It hasn't been the best, but not the worst either.  I've started waking up between 5:15am and 5:30am.  No real specific reason, but after the first time I do it I just keep doing it every morning, and it always takes a miracle to get me sleeping past 6am again.

gender:  We should know in less than a week.  I can't wait!  I was dead set that it is a boy.  And then all the sudden this week I got the 'what if' feeling.  What if it is a girl?  I still am leaning towards boy, but I started a list of girl's names just in case.

looking forward to:  Finding out boy or girl.  Also looking forward to a Georgia vacation in a few weeks!

worries:  Surviving the next eight months is starting to become terrifying.  Selling a house, moving, renovating, having a baby, Ryann starting kindergarten... there is just a heck of a lot going on.  I know we'll come out on the other side ok, it just won't be easy.

what's different this time:  I can't believe I'm already 12 weeks.  I wouldn't say time is flying, but I still feel like I'm barely pregnant, not more than a quarter of the way done.  If this baby comes at 38 weeks like the last two did, I've got 26 weeks to go.  Plenty of time, but not all that much in the grand scheme of life!  Also I don't think my headaches are as bad as with Elsie.  I'm going to attribute that to my mostly better eating habits.  Thank you Whole30!

best moment this week:  Ryann asked me this week when I'm going to have another baby.  Similar conversations have occurred every couple of weeks now.  I'm not sure what has made her fixated on babies, but I'm so thrilled to tell her about the pregnancy.  Hopefully she is excited as she seems like she will be!

my little dance star

This past weekend Ryann had her first dance performance of the year.  It was the competition showcase, which gave all the girls an opportunity to do their dances on a stage before the real competitions.  I was so nervous that Ryann, and her class, would be a disaster, but they pulled it together!!

No, their dance wasn't perfect, but for a small group of 4 and 5 year olds it was pretty good.  Ryann did a wonderful job staying with the music and only forgot one part.  And she was pretty pumped because she got to wear lots of make-up and fake hair.  I'll admit the fake hair was pretty awesome.  Hers looked a bit cheerleaderish (not that that is a terrible thing, but not what I was going for) but it was too cute.  And makes me long for a day that maybe her hair will thicken up a bit!

After the showcase Ryann asked me if she was all done with that dance.  When I reminded her that she still has two competitions and a recital to go, she asked me what a competition is.  We have kind of been over it before, but I've tried not to dwell on it too much because winning doesn't matter, especially at this age.  I want her to enjoy the atmosphere, have fun with her dance friends, and feel like she is a part of a team.  But I explained that a bunch of different studios will come and dance and try to do their best so they can win ribbons and trophies.  Naturally she is now paranoid that she won't be good enough and won't win.  Of course I assured her over and over that winning doesn't matter.  Smiling and having fun does.  So we'll see.

After that conversation I looked up the various rules for the competitions we're going to, and the category that these cute little girls will be in is 8 and under.  I'm sure their age is considered when comparing the two, but the difference between an 8 year old's ability and a 4 year old's ability is pretty big.  So that will be interesting.

Nonetheless, Ryann is having fun and learning a lot, and I'm loving watching her dance.  Can't believe I'll be heading in to a dance competition as a parent!

eleven weeks

I had a doctor's appointment this week.  It went really well.  She found baby's heart beat right away, and it was pumping along at about 170 BPM.  I wound up with an annual exam which I wasn't too thrilled about, but at least it's over with.  And then they drew some blood for the panorama testing, which means we should know boy or girl in less than two weeks!  I can't believe we're going to find out so soon.  This pregnancy still barely feels real, and to know whether I'll have another daughter, or a son, just seems insane.

how far along:  11 weeks (compare to 11 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  according to the bump a lime, about 1.6 inches long and weighing .25 ounces.  Can you imagine a lime being a baby?  That is nuts.  Baby has see-thru skin, no more webbed fingers or toes, and the tooth buds, nail beds and hair follicles are all forming.

weight gain: -.5 pounds.  Guess who is no longer nauseous and wants to eat all the things?  Uh yes, that's me.  I'm honestly surprised I didn't gain more weight based on the amount of food I ate in the last three days, I can't get enough food!

maternity clothes:  I don't need maternity clothes yet.  My pants are still fitting just fine.  But I did bust out my bin because I feel like all my tops in general are just too short and I'm trying to find longer shirts.  Unfortunately all my winter maternity stuff is big or very obviously maternity.  Not really sure how to tide myself over until I actually need maternity clothes.

symptoms:  I can't stay awake past 9pm.  No matter how good I'm feeling in the evening, 9 hits and I pass out.  I was still feeling super gross and nauseous until about three days ago, and then all the sudden it is just gone.  I'm so hungry now, but still having a hard time figuring out what sounds good to eat.

exercise: 4 ish workouts this week.  They were nothing fabulous, but it's better than nothing.  I went on a two mile walk with the girls in the double Bob, that was exhausting.  I also ran a total of 11.5 miles.  Not too shabby, but I want to fit in more walks and make sure I strength train at least once a week.

cravings/aversions:  This week I really wanted a great steak.  Like perfectly cooked and super juicy.  That never happened.  I did however give in to a need for Red Lobster's coconut shrimp.  I haven't had them in forever but Wednesday I just NEEDED them.  I'm also very into fruit.  Heavy things don't sound good.  My biggest aversions are pizza and m&m's.  I don't even know who I am with that.

movement:  nope

sleep:  I usually end up taking a 2-3 hour nap on the couch after the girls are in bed.  Once I head to the bed it's a toss up whether I fall right back to sleep or am up for a couple hours.  If I was smart I'd just start off in the bed, right?  I forgot I've been having insane vivid dreams too.  Sometimes I wake up so worked up because of what was going on in my dream, that I just can't get back to sleep.

gender:  I've made a list of like ten potential boys names.  Zero girls names.  I'm convinced it's a boy.

looking forward to:  Finding out if we're having a boy or girl!

worries:  Nothing in particular right now.  My biggest worry is figuring out what the heck I actually want to eat.  I guess that is a good thing!

what's different this time:  Um, not really sure.

best moment this week: Watching Ryann dance in her competition showcase.  Oh my gosh so much cuteness!  She did great, stuck with the music and didn't freak out.  Calling it a win.  Also a good doctor's appointment doesn't hurt either.

that's what she said

Me:  "Did you have any dreams last night?"
Ryann:  "Yeah, me and my mom went to all the grades and then college."
Me:  "Well that's weird."
Ryann:  "Why?"
Chris:  "I thought you said she was your mom."
Ryann:  "Life works out weird in magic land."

Ryann:  "Mommy will you please print me a picture of Elsa to color PLEASE?"
Me:  "Hold on let me finish these invitations."
Ryann:  "PLEASE MOM.  I'm making a picture for you.  And if I do something for you, you do something for me.  I'm pretty sure that is how this works."

Ryann:  after getting herself dressed  "I picked out leopard pants for the bottom, and my anchor shirt for the top.  So it's like I'm half leopard, half boat girl!"

ten weeks

how far along:  10 weeks (compare to 10 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  according to the bump a prune, about 1.2 inches long and weighing .14 ounces.  Still so itty bitty!  Baby has working arm joints, has developed all of their vital organs and starting to swallow and kick in there.

weight gain: -2.2 pounds.  I thought the nausea was getting better.  Then the last two days happened.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  I thought that I've had a cough and a sore throat for like two weeks now.  But Chris has pretty much decided it is reflux.  The only symptom I'm missing is the burning sensation in my chest.  Everything else fits the bill.  So that's fun.  Food rarely sounds good.  I'm having a hard time getting myself to even drink water, and I think that is leaving me with headaches.  And all of the above combined makes me just feel weak and tired.  I hate the first trimester so much.

exercise:  Only worked out three times this week, but I just don't really care.  It's amazing how much super cold temps and feeling slightly crummy make me totally give up.  I did one barbell class at the gym, ran about 7 miles total and walked half a mile.  I'm hoping during the second trimester, and as the weather warms up, that I'll get some more walking miles in if nothing else.  I've got a 10k planned for Feb. 28th so I can't give up running just yet!

cravings/aversions:  Smoothies and Bluebell frozen strawberry fruit bars.

movement:  nope

sleep:  Not great, but not awful.  Ryann has taken to waking up before 6am again, so that sucks.

gender:  I still 100% believe it is a boy.  I will be completely surprised if it is a girl.

looking forward to:  Telling the girls and finding out the gender.  Also looking forward to my doctor's appointment next week, despite the fact that I'm sure it will be pretty uneventful.

worries:  At the current moment I'm stressing mostly about Elsie's 2nd birthday party and selling our current house.  I'm terrified that isn't going to go well.  And we have so much to clean up and organize.  Blech.  On the bright side, if I had gotten pregnant when we started trying I would have been due in April.  I don't know what the hell we were thinking, that would have been awful.  Trying to sell a house and move with a brand new baby?  No fun.

what's different this time:  At this point while I was pregnant with Elsie I was starting to worry about how I was going to deal with two kids.  Of course three kids is going to be challenging, but for some reason it doesn't freak me out as much as I thought it would.  I'm just prepared for it to be crazy.

best moment this week:  I manged to find the heart beat with my doppler at least three different times this week, so I'm feeling pretty good.  And I'm certainly not lacking any symptoms so I've got those to comfort me.  Haha.

elsie - twenty three months

And here we are.  One month shy of Elsie's second birthday.  I can't handle it.  Elsie has brought so much joy in to our lives, and I can't believe my littlest girl is going to be two!  Cue the tears.  I'm getting emotional.

My best guess is that Elsie is around 26.5 pounds.  I haven't a clue how tall she is.  Pretty tall compared to her friends.  She is in mostly 2T clothes, with a few 18-24 month items that still work.  Poor thing though, she is shoved in an 18 month onesie for these photos.  This was the last time we were going to need it, we don't have any 24 month onesies, so... sorry kid.  Next month I'll have a shiny new shirt for you to wear, promise!  Elsie is wearing size 6 shoes and size five diapers.  I think my favorite pair of her boots are starting to get a touch small, but I'm pretending it's not happening.  I should have bought them in another size or two!

Nap and bedtime has become a whole lot of fun.  Elsie is still a relatively good sleeper, however she has taken to tossing everything out of her crib, and then crying for us to come give it back to her.  And at night when she strips off her pajamas and throws all her blankets out of her bed, when it feels like -11 outside, I feel like we have no choice but to go back in there.  It is going to start being a tough love situation pretty soon.  And I'm worried that we need to switch her to a bed soon anyway.  I know she could climb out of the crib if she wanted to.  She easily swings her legs over the top.  She just hasn't actually done it.  She is usually in bed by 8pm, and is up around 7am.  I lay her down for a nap at 1pm, and she actually sleeps from about 1:45-4.  She spends so long just messing around before she lays down to go to sleep.

Elsie loves to sing songs and is getting pretty great with the ABCs.  Sometimes she gets tripped up, but for the most part she does good.  She can regularly pick out E, O, R and Y in print, but otherwise we haven't done much on letter recognition.  I know it isn't a necessary important thing right now, but I think she COULD learn them, so whenever she is willing we might as well go for it, right?  She is great with her colors and most shapes, and can count to like 15 or 16.  She can also count down from 3.  Not a huge feat, but she'll say "3-2-1!" before heading off to do something.

spaz.  for sure.

E has also gotten a lot more interested in her books lately.  If I take the time to just sit and read to her, she'll listen for a good half an hour.  She tries to read them all with me, too.  She has gotten pretty good at reciting some of her favorites.  We regularly read I Love You Stinky Face, Smile Pout Pout Fish, What's Wrong Little Pookie and the Belly Button Book.  She has also picked up on the fact that all the letters and such are words, and will point to a page or sign or pamphlet, anything with words, and ask "what these words say?"  Pretty cute.

She's still my little helper, loving unloading the dishwasher and doing laundry.  And now whenever I vacuum she busts out her mini Dyson she got for Christmas and gets to work as well.  But her newest task has been unloading the bags or groceries when we get home from the store.  And she started it completely unprompted.  One day we really need to do dishes so the counter was full, therefore I set the bag of groceries on the floor.  I had to do something, I can't remember what, but I didn't get right to the groceries.  I came back in to the kitchen to find her taking stuff out of the bags and putting it the best place she could come up with.  She got several pantry items put away correctly, and had corralled fridge items together.  Then she pulled out a package of wipes and took them to her room.  I was impressed, and she was so happy to be helping.

Elsie's vocabulary has gotten to the point where I don't think there is much that she doesn't know or understand.  And if a word confuses her, she'll say "what? what you say?"  Some of my favorite phrases this month... I'll ask "Are you poopy?" when I know without a doubt she is, and she'll respond "No, I just fine!"  She hates having her diaper changed.  And when she doesn't want to get her diaper changed or doesn't want me to pick her up, "No Mama! Leave alone me!"  She'll ask me to play with her in the family room, and if I agree she grabs my hand and says "Aw-wight Mommy.  Tome on.  Wets go."  She regularly looks at cute things and says "Awww, so fweet!"  She often gasps at pretty things, or something she finds exciting, and says "Oh my gosh!"

Miss Elsie is OBSESSED with Hello Kitty.  I have no idea how or why the obsession started, but she can spot a Hello Kitty from a mile away.  Naturally Christopher feeds her love of that little cat, and we've now collected like six different stuffed Hello Kittys, tons of Hello Kitty stickers and coloring books and a Hello Kitty cup.  I admit now when I see a Hello Kitty anything, I think to myself "Elsie would love that!"  But I try to refrain.  I am on the hunt for some cute Hello Kitty pajamas to get her for her birthday though.  Pajamas don't bother me as much as actual shirts and stuff.  I also saw a 50 inch Hello Kitty balloon at Party City, and I just might break down and get it to have at our house on her birthday as well.  Why is making kids happy so much fun?

Speaking of birthdays, I was all set to have a carousel horse themed party, and then Elsie started telling people she was having a school bus birthday party.  I tried several times to sway her back to the horse side, but no luck.  She talks about her school bus party every day, and pretends she is going to a school bus party all the time.  I'm pretty sure her mind is going to be blown when a bus pulls up in front of our house and she actually gets to get on it.  Yes, I rented a school bus for her birthday party.  I'm crazy, I'm aware.  But it was cheaper than renting a place to have a party, and it is starting to get a bit cramped having a bunch of kids in our house for a party.  So we'll putz around on a bus for a bit and call it good, and the kids will have a blast, right?

  

Over the last couple of weeks Elsie and Ryann have started playing really well together.  Of course they still fight like crazy, but they can actually spend a good 20-30 minutes doing imaginative play together.  It is amazing to watch, and so very cute.  Not to mention I get a little bit of quiet time here and there.  They have a thing for going in the closets with flashlights to 'hide'.  I don't know what goes on in there, but there is an awful lot of giggling, and it just melts my heart.  They also find it hilarious when each other toots or burps.  That's fun.  Ha.  But again, they start laughing so hard and I can't help but smile.  I hope that as they both learn more social skills and how to communicate better, that they play together well even more.

A few more of Elsie's favorite things include coloring, mac n' cheese, the play kitchen and carrying things around in random bags and boxes.  She likes being able to use dip on her food, and can sniff out snacks like it's her job.  I think she would eat all day long if I let her.  She drives me nuts taking off her shoes and socks in the car all the time.  She tries to sing with all the songs on the radio.  Our cat Max is one of her best friends, I don't know how she convinced him to put up with so much tough love.  She wants to be just like her big sister, and is still a total mama's girl.  She says her favorite color is red.  She has to walk or crawl through anything that looks even remotely like a tunnel.

Elsie girl I can't get over how much I love you.  Sometimes you make me smile so much my cheeks hurt.  Can't believe you're almost two!

welcoming 2015

The fact that we are nearly halfway through January is just crazy to me.  I felt like the days would slow down after Christmas, with less to be looking forward to in theory, but nope.  Not at all.  They just keep flying by.

This year we spent New Year's Eve having a slumber party in our new house.  We needed to meet with the contractor we selected, and my parents were out of town, so we figured why not.  It's our house, might as well sleep there!  Before my parents left for Georgia they dropped off air mattresses, as well as some snacks and New Year's party supplies.  After meeting with the contractor, we headed over to The Blue Moose for some dinner.  Chris and I hadn't eaten there before, so we were excited to try it.  The waiter we had was great, and our food was pretty good as well.  My favorite part though, was the fried pickle appetizer we ordered.  They were fried in a beer batter, and weren't full spears but not the little rounds either.  So good.

After dinner we headed back to the house, and eventually had a couple of friends over.  They brought cake and ice cream, along with some paper bowls and plastic silverware since we didn't have any!  The kids hung out and watched a movie, and at 9:00pm Ryann asked them when they were going to leave because she was ready for bed.  Haha.  A little blunt but oh well.  Our friends left, we got the girls in bed and then Christopher and I started a movie of our own.  But I barely lasted half an hour before decided I was ready for bed myself.

In the morning we sent Chris out for some doughnuts.  Probably not the healthiest way to start off the new year, but when you don't really have any groceries or cooking utensils, why not?  The girls seemed pretty satisfied.  Especially Elsie.  We hung out for a bit longer before packing up and heading back to Kansas City.  A very mild but fun New Years.

Usually I would sit down and make some lofty goals for the year, things that I want to accomplish, ways I want to become a better person, etc.  But the truth is, I anticipate this being a crazy year for my little family.  Chris is so close to finishing his fellowship, we're going to be moving, Ryann will start kindergarten, we're renovating a house, we have to sell our current house... the list goes on.  So this year?  We're going to survive, and take everything in stride.  That is the goal.  It's going to be big, but I think it is going to be pretty fun too.

christmas morning

I was on such a roll, and then I got distracted or something.  So my Christmas posts are way late and I've still got New Year's and Elsie's 23 month post on my to-do list.  And then maybe I'll actually come up with something more exciting to blog about.  A girl can dream, right?  Ha.

Anyway, Christmas morning!  After a fun evening at my uncle's house, the girls actually slept until almost 8am.  A Christmas miracle no doubt.  When Elsie woke up we pulled her in to bed with us and told her Merry Christmas.  She told us Merry Christmas too, then proceeded to pull up her shirt and said "Merry Christmas be-bo!"  I about died.  Only my child would tell her belly button Merry Christmas.  We laid around for a bit until my mom texted that Ryann was up.  She was anxious to peek in her stocking, but I convinced everyone to have breakfast first since they were only serving it until 9am.

The particular hotel we were staying in only has a continental style buffet, cereal, crappy muffins, yogurt, etc.  So our Christmas breakfast was a little lackluster.  But it got the job done and we raced back upstairs to see all the gifts that Santa brought.

Elsie was obsessed with her umbrella.  She is a Hello Kitty fanatic.  I have no idea why.  And she thought the Hello Kitty umbrella was pretty much the coolest thing ever.  They also had some stickers, bath paints, crayons, coloring books and a couple of other random things in their stockings.

Then we moved on to the family gifts.  In our family Santa only fills the stockings.  I mean, why should the imaginary red suited guy get all the glory?  Honestly I'm still undecided as to how much I'll allow Santa to influence our holiday season.  We talk about Santa, but we don't make a huge deal about him.  I don't remember Santa being some huge magical thing when I was little.  I remember when I found out he wasn't real, but I don't remember being super pissed about it or anything.  Maybe I was, I have no idea.  The thing I struggle with the most is how to deal with Santa in a way that works for our family, without taking away the magic for someone else's family.  Life is complicated.  Ha.

In that last one the heater was giving Ryann quite the model wind blown look.  It was awesome.  The girls got some great gifts, and I was pretty pleased with a new camera strap, running shoes, an external hard drive and a new dishwasher (thanks mom and dad!).  We had a great day, but I'm so excited to see what Christmas can look like in our new home.

nine weeks

I just can't get on board with this picture thing yet.  Meh.  Whatever.

how far along:  9 weeks (compare to 9 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  according to the bump an olive (which still makes me shudder, thinking about eating an olive), about .9 inches.  The baby is forming more distinct facial features and continuing to grow.

weight gain: -1.6 pounds.  Based on the amount of cheese bread and ice cream I've wanted to eat in the last week I was expecting to be up.  But hey.  My goal was to not gain any weight until after 10 weeks, so that even at 1 pound a week I wouldn't go over 30.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  I have felt much better this week.  I've found if I steer clear of sugary and crap food I feel so much better in general.  Weird right?  Ha.  I've been a little tired but not excessive.  I have had a sore throat and a cough but that isn't pregnancy related.  Just super annoying.  My only symptom I would say right now, is just a general disinterest in most food.

exercise: Got in four days of exercise this week.  The extremely cold weather is killing my runs, I just don't have it in me to go outside when it feels like -11, and then I'm not the best at squeezing it in to my day at other times.  I did on barbell class, a 3.1 mile run, a 2.25 mile run, and walked a total of 5.7 miles.

cravings/aversions:  In general nothing sounds great, but I'm not highly opposed to anything either.  The only thing I don't really want is pizza.  So weird.  I've been enjoying strawberries and ice cream, and last night I really wanted peanut butter green beans.  Don't knock it before you try it, look up the recipe!

movement:  nope

sleep:  The cough is the only thing really disturbing my sleep.  Once I'm out for the night I'm good, but if I wake up a little in the morning, especially after 5:30, I start coughing and I need to pee and I just can't get back to sleep.  But really I haven't been as tired as I was expecting so it's alright.

gender:  I feel like this pregnancy is just different than my last two.  Something just plain feels different.  Therefore, I'm almost certain it is a boy.  We shall see.

looking forward to:  Being able to find a heartbeat on the doppler.  I've stupidly tried the last two days with no luck, and I'm just feeling paranoid at the lack of symptoms, so hearing that heartbeat would be such a blessing and a sense of relief.  I know I could just have Chris bring home the ultrasound machine again, but I don't want to abuse the thing either.

worries:  I'm still having a hard time believing that at the end of all this I will go home with another baby.  I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to go wrong.

what's different this time:  I guess it does look like some of my symptoms let up a little this week with Elsie as well.  Maybe it isn't so different from last time.

best moment this week:  There is a Huggies commercial that comes on the Disney channel I think.  There is a little newborn baby, and Ryann has been ooooohing and ahhhhing every time it comes on.  She has a sudden interest in babies and I don't know where it is coming from.  And then we had this conversation as I was putting her in to the carseat at the gym...

Ryann:  "Mommy when is there going to be another baby in your belly?"
Me:  flustered "I don't know sweetheart.  Do you want there to be?"
Ryann:  "Yeah.  I want another baby.  I want a baby brother.  And another baby sister.  I think I want to have the baby sister first, but if it's bum looks different than Elsie's than it is gonna be a boy."

It was pretty adorable, and I'm thrilled that she might not freak out when I tell her I'm pregnant.  :o)

christmas eve

Still plugging away at my backlog of photos.

For Christmas we made our annual trek to Omaha to spend the holiday with my Dad's side of the family.  Christmas Eve was spent at my uncle's house, with lots of family, food and a visit from Santa Claus.  Elsie started crying as soon as Santa came in the room, and she wouldn't get within 10 feet of the guy.  As much as I wanted a picture of the girls with Santa, I wasn't going to press it.  Ryann was a pro though and hopped right up and told him what she wanted.  We had picked her out a Barbie with a unicorn that she had been asking for at Target for probably the last six months.

The rest of the night was just spent watching the kids run around like crazies and having conversations with my cousins.  Another fun, but uneventful, Christmas Eve in the books.

Next year we plan to spend Christmas at home in our new house.  I'm sure going to miss all of the family, but I've spent one Christmas at home that I can remember.  It never really bothered me when we stayed at my Grandma's house.  But after my Grandpa passed away and she moved into an apartment, we've spent Christmas in a hotel.  While being with family truly is enough, we'd like to experience a Christmas at home.  I'm excited, but it will definitely be bittersweet.

cookie baking day

The weekend before Christmas we headed to my parents house for the weekend for some holiday fun.  We drove around Winter Wonderland to look at the lights, celebrated my Dad's birthday and had our annual cookie baking day.  Sugar cookies sure are a lot of work, and certainly not my favorite Christmas cookie, but the girls have a blast and I love watching them help my mom in the kitchen.

And I use the term help VERY loosely.

We ended up splitting the process between two days, because Chris and I went to a KU basketball game Saturday afternoon (rock chalk!) and that evening Ryann randomly had a fever.  But she was feeling good by the next morning so we baked and decorated.  Elsie was adorable with the sprinkles, saying "prinkle prinkle prinkle!" as she decorated her cookies.  Ryann just dumped excess amounts of sprinkles on a few cookies, but she was proud of it so we'll call it good.  Oh, and Elsie was obsessed with the "wittle bitty (1/8th) tup".  No idea why, but it was cute.

Fun stuff.  Personally, I'm ready to get back to our regular routine and schedule, but there is just so much fun to be had during the holidays.

snow day

A few weeks ago we passed around a nasty stomach bug in our house.  The girls each threw up once, on different nights and then were fine.  Then I got it.  And it was not a once and done kind of thing.  It was like 12 hours of being a slave to the bathroom feeling like I was going to die.

The following morning Christopher stayed home so I could get some sleep.  He texted his attending to let her know what was going on, and she told him not to come in at all that day because she didn't want any of 'our nasty germs anywhere near her'.  The extra bonus?  It just so happened to be a snow day, so Chris took the girls out to play.

For some reason we never have mittens that work.  They don't stay on at all.  So we resorted to putting socks over the mittens.  But then the girls couldn't really use their hands.  Ryann didn't care too much, but Elsie was pissed.  And shortly after that Chris accidentally hit Ryann in the face with a snow ball.  Which equaled them lasting outside for maybe 15 minutes tops.  But we made them hot chocolate when they came inside and all was right in the world again.

And after the snowball incident...

Doesn't get much funnier than that!  I told them they couldn't come inside until I got a happy picture though.

Also random tidbit to mention, Elsie is wearing the same snowsuit she was in last year.  Which is a 12 month size.  No wonder a 12 month old can't move in the darn thing, when my nearly two-year-old can wear it without any issues.