Christmas Time

Have things been crazy for you the last couple of weeks??  They have for us!  It's been a good kind of busy with the holidays and family visiting, but now that everyone is gone and the shopping is over, I have a little breather.  Ahhhh...  

I'm getting ready to fly out the door and run a day of errands, but wanted to drop a line and say that the pulse of our house is still strong, but we've been a little preoccupied.  I will write more on that later...  We've been making some big decisions here and I'm not ready to write about them yet, but I will be in a few more weeks depending on how things go...

In the meantime, here are a few un-edited pictures from Christmas in our house.  No makeup.  No frills.  Thus, no judging ;-)  Just enjoy the pure unadulterated Christmastime shots.  

 Did I mention that K does NOT like Santa??  

"Mommy!  Save me from the big, hairy, red man!!"

 So we all had to sit on Santa's lap for a good shot.  

 Making Christmas cookies.  One of several, several dozen!  K LOVES them!  

 First shot Christmas morning.  Like I said, no judging!  You're lucky I'm even posting one of me in the morning!! 

 I had to include this one too because I love K's expression.  

 The opening begins...

 A fix-it car!

 A car garage!  

 A basketball hoop!  

Tired Mommy and Daddy.  I love how K's foot is a blur here.  He has so much energy!  He honestly never stops until we put him to bed!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas too!! When I have a few minutes, hopefully I can catch up on the blogs I love to follow.  It's been a while!  Oh, and by the way, 30 weeks tomorrow!!  Yes, another belly update is in order.  But honestly, where does the time go?? With K it seemed like I was pregnant forever.  This time around I keep asking myself, "Am I really that far along already???"  We still have a lot to do on the nursery, buying necessary things, and finalizing the name (which seems to change from month to month).  Wish us luck since I only have 10 weeks and 8 1/2 if he comes on K's schedule...

Winter Wonderland

These were taken on Tuesday morning after my last post.  We had so much fun after our little winter storm.  

Can you really get any happier than this??  

 Our backyard winter wonderland

  

 First taste of snow

Mommy's and K's snow angels

 Making tracks

When we were done, we came in and made Christmas cookies.  I'm so happy they've been turning out this year!!  And K just loves it!!  He's turned into a little cookie monster.  Since he can reach the counter tops easily now, it's getting harder and harder to keep things out of his reach.   The other day, he actually grabbed a plateful of freshly frosted cookies and took them into the living room to enjoy.  Thankfully we caught him just in time and averted disaster.  

Hope you're getting ready for Christmas!  Only 9 days!!  Soooooo hard to believe it's almost here!  

Brief Glimpses Into My Everyday Life

A simple re-cap of my last very ordinary 24 hours.  

• Woke late thanks to my awesome husband who took K and let me sleep in a little extra.  This made me late to playgroup.  Oh well.  I think an extra hour of sleep was definitely worth it! 
• Met Kai for a lunch date which consisted of black bean burgers, fruit and veggies, chips, and yogurt.
• Went to the post office to get our weekend’s worth of accumulated mail and chatted with the friendly post office workers that I see weekly.  They think I’ve now suddenly “popped”.  Lovely.  I still have 3 months. I’m blaming it on those darn Christmas cookies that I have been craving the baby loves! 
• Opened beautiful Christmas cards from great friends and it made me miss them all the more!
• Opened Kai’s loan repayment notices that start next month.  He’s worth a lot to someone else besides just me now!  Ugh!
• Headed out the door to the next playgroup.  K grabbed a granola bar from the pantry and I thought he’d be fine playing with it in the car.  Halfway there, I noticed it was a little too quiet and checked on him only to find that he had smashed, mashed, smooshed, and utterly destroyed the granola bar thus breaking open the wrapper and covering himself in gooey chocolate and peanut butter.  He was thrilled with his genius.  I was not.  This was realized about 2 miles from playgroup #2. 
• Prepared for a small winter storm coming through our area.
• Put K to bed after our normal routine of story, songs, prayer, teeth brushing, and rocking.  His favorite song is, “Only a Boy Named David”.  He's awesome with his imaginary sling and makes a great dying giant impersonation!  
• Finalized the purchase of the bedding set for Baby K.  Julie, you're a genius!!  Found the matching aeronautical set I wanted on Craigslist from a major city several hours away.  They are shipping it directly to me and it will be perfect!!  I love conveniences of the internet!   
• Realized I have only several short days until Christmas!!!  Eeeek!  So much to do!
• K woke up at 3 a.m. for some unknown reason.  I went in to check on him and was immediately overpowered by the stench of a behemoth mess in his diaper.  Good morning to me! 
• Woke again later in the morning to discover a beautiful white wonderland outside.  It’s gorgeous!  Sometimes I miss the beautiful weather and palm trees of southern California (not to mention great friends and family), but we may be making a trip there again soon! 
• While writing this, K has brought me almost every toy in his toy box trying to entice me to play with him.  He’s adorable, so I’m done.  No blog, you just can't compete.  I think I’ll dress him up in his winter clothes and take him outside to make snowmen and snow angels!  Hope you’re having a great day too no matter how ordinary it may be!       

26 Weeks and the Belly

How far along:  26 weeks   

Best Moment of the Week: Today!  Spent the day as a family and took K to see Santa.  He didn’t do very well this year though.  He screamed and ran away from him.  So, we all sat on Santa’s lap in order to get a decent picture ;-)  Also paid for a full day’s admission into the enormous bounce house exhibit in the mall for K—to which he also was not interested.  Note to self—schedule a long nap before attempting new things.  Still, even though K was not excited to try new things today, he absolutely adores Kai and I being with him together all day.  It always makes me smile to see him so happy. 

Movement:  A lot of rolling!  I feel a butt or foot stick out all the time and I love it!  

Food Craving: Christmas cookies!!  I made some yesterday and decorated them today.  Such fun times with K!  Finally after years of trying and failing, I actually made a great batch!!!  Martha is a genius--again!     

What I'm looking forward to: Kai’s mom coming to visit next week and Christmas of course!  Also, I’m almost into my 3^rd trimester—whoa!  Where did the time go??

Weekly Wisdom:  A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside... when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time, and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone.
-- Author Unknown

Big Brother:  My favorite thing he does lately is when he comes up, pats my belly, and says, “Baby!!” in a singsong voice. 

His favorite thing to do is read, read, read!  He loves books lately, which makes me soooo happy because up until a few months ago he showed very little interest.  Being a teacher before having K I know how important reading is for kids, but he wouldn’t sit still for stories.  I worried a little about it, but didn’t push it.  I figured when he was ready he would let us know.  Now he brings us book after book to read to him and absolutely loves story time--especially if the book includes an airplane or a digger!

Nursery: The second convertible crib has been purchased and we are thinking about the bedding options.  I love the bedding set we have for K and since they will be eventually sharing rooms, I looked for more of the same bedding, but since Babies R Us seems to retire every collection after a year or two, I can’t find it anywhere L  So…we’re still considering several things.  I might buy baby K some neutral bedding that would match the colors of the already loved aeronautical theme or we may go with something completely different…

Weaned

Last week I weaned K.  On one hand it was completely liberating to have sole ownership of my body again, but on the other hand it was sad.  


We decided it was time because the new baby will be here in just about 3 months and I didn't want to be nursing 2 or have K have hard feelings toward his new little brother, and honestly I was ready...or so I thought.  I had already cut back to two times per day; morning and night, and had been on this schedule for months.  That first night while I was rocking K and he was no longer nursing, I thought I would be thrilled and happy that it was done.  Without even knowing why, tears started suddenly pouring down my cheeks.  K had fallen asleep quickly and there I was crying my eyes out over...what?  When I thought about it, I realized that for me it felt like K had just arrived a few months ago and now he was weaned!  I realized how fast time flies and I think the sentimental feelings took over.  I imagined him going to school on his first day, graduating from high school and then college, and someday living his life completely independently--which is exactly what I want for him, but not yet when I'm his mother of 21 months!  


So, I kissed him on the cheek, laid him in his crib, and walked downstairs for the first time as a "free" mommy with the new burden of realizing that one day all those things would happen and that as hard as it would be, it would also be wonderful for all of us.  I vowed to cherish the moments I have here and now and treasure the time we have together before Baby #2 arrives, and then after as a bigger family.  I also reminded myself that while time does fly, there are days that seem to drag by and hang on forever, so I need not worry too much! 


If you haven't weaned yet and are thinking about it, here are a few things that helped me: 

• Gradually cut back the number of feedings.
• Replace the special time with a different kind of special time whether it's reading books, playing with toys, or rocking (something where you are still spending time together).
• Give extra snacks to make sure your little one is getting enough to eat
• Make sure your little one's dairy/fat/calcium/etc. needs are being met since you are no longer providing that.  I've been making sure K has been getting extra organic yogurt, cheese, etc. 
• I put K to sleep with a sippy cup of water now.  That way if he really feels he needs something, he has something.  I don't give him anything but water in his cup though because I don't want him to get baby bottle mouth and have teeth issues.  Everyone is different though and you have to decide what works best for you.  
• Start when you feel ready and think your little one is too.  It was extremely easy--besides crying the first night ;-)  because I think we were both ready.  K still tried to nurse for over a week, but I just occupied him with something else.
• Good luck!  

The Great Stroller Debate

We've been debating which double jogging stroller to get.  I think this will be the only double stroller we get since they are rather pricey (although we may get a double umbrella stroller for the quick trips since they aren't too bad).  When I was going to my mommy and baby workout group, all the moms had the Double Bob stroller and they seemed to be great for the daily pounding we put them through.  I had pretty much decided that we'd probably go with that one this time around, but then a couple of friends recommended the Chariot Carrier Cougar 2.  After looking at it, there are several things I really like about it.  First of all, it has attachments for a bike and also for cross country skiing, so it's extremely versatile.  I like the options this one has, but it's a little pricier and I've never actually seen it in person yet.  I guess we'll have to make a trip to REI to see both of them and then decide which one is a better fit for our family...

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them as this is probably the biggest purchase we'll have to make this time around.  

Chariot Carrier Cougar 2

Double Bob

As a side note, we decided on the bed...we bought another convertible crib exactly like K's. It's actually being discontinued now and we had to do some searching, but found it clearanced out!  Yay!! We decided on this because both of them will convert to toddler bed's and then full size beds later.  It seemed like the easiest choice since we wouldn't have to buy another toddler bed and then regular bed later.  They will have separate rooms in the beginning until Baby K's sleep routine is figured out so K can still get sleep, and then we'll probably transition them into the same room.  Thanks for all the advice!  It helps so much to find out what others have done and how it has worked!  

The "Junk"

I know, almost 2 weeks!!  Things have been busy around our home.  My mom came to visit for a week at Thanksgiving and we had a great time.  It was sad to see her leave so soon, but we had so much fun while it lasted.  Hopefully we'll be visiting her soon.  

As promised, here are the ultrasound pictures of our little guy!  Yes, after the last appointment (and a much better u/s tech), we got several clear shots and are 100% sure he's a boy!!  If you've had an u/s before, then you'll probably know what you're looking at.  If not, don't worry if it just looks like a bunch of blobs because that's what it always looked like to me before I had my first one.  

 This is his profile shot from our 19 week u/s.  It was clearer than the one from our 23 week u/s.

From our 23 week u/s.  Like I said, you kind of have to know what you're looking at.  He's sitting on the camera, so you're seeing his butt and boy parts.  

Again, this is a similar shot to the above one.  


Looks like K will be having a brother close in age.  We are very excited and still working on names...wish us luck!