Farm

My mom and dad have taken Natalie to the farm a few times over the past few weeks and it is by far one of her most favorite trips to take. She is able to get close to the animals, feed and even pet some.

Isn't she a doll!

Holiday Season

Well, here we are in 2011 and I for one can't believe it. I swear that Christmas snuck up and kicked me and then before I even recovered it was New Years Eve...how did that happen?

We have had a LOT going on over the past few weeks, so this is my attempt to update the blog for record keeping sake.

In a first for us, we decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Natalie LOVED helping decorate the tree and playing will all the decorations. The tree and all the other decorations really take a lot of space out of our living/dining room; but I love it.

Mistletoe

Frosty eventually moved outside

part of the mantel

Stockings

Next was my brother's first annual holiday work party, which we were invited to. Because we had decided to skip Phil's holiday party and my work didn't have a holiday event this was our big chance to dress up and take some holiday photos like we have done in years past. (remember last year?) Because I was/am very pregnant my holiday outfit choices were limited (not like last year) but I sucked it up and got dressed up along with Phil and Natalie and smiled for photos.

Funny note about my outfit - when I got into the skirt, I said to Phil, "do you think this looks a little tight?" and he said, "All you can see is your belly so it doesn't matter". It is a good thing that he is honest and that I have a sense of humor. I lesser pregnant woman might have killed him.

This photo was taken after the party and after Natalie's bed time. Not a great combo, but it worked out and I'm glad that we documented the year.

Next was the Christmas holiday.

Christmas eve was spent at my Aunt's house having delicious minestrone soup and cookies. Christmas morning we hosted my family for breakfast and present opening. Natalie was up at 8:30 and ready for everyone to arrive at 9:30. We opened lots of presents and took very few photos of the festivities.

Natalie received too many presents and was a little overwhelmed. She took her time opening the wrapping paper and then just wanted to play with that toy and NOT move on to the next toy. She received, a kitchen set (my old set) with lots and lots of fake food (by far this is her most favorite present), a new guitar from Godfather (which she won't let anyone touch - except for Godfather), an easel and art supplies, puzzles, a Dora lounge chair, a kazoo, and a bunch of other things that I can't remember right now. She also had a great time distributing presents to everyone else. She helped me wrap almost everything and remembered who they were for on Christmas morning.

The madness of too many gifts

Wearing two gifts (apron and tutu) while opening another gift

Showing off her ensemble

Christmas evening we went to my parents house for dinner, more presents and more time with family. All in all a great weekend!

ahhh what joy an ipod brings to kids

I took the last week of the year off of work and tried to take it easy most days, allowing myself one activity a day. One of the activities of the week was celebrating my father's birthday. For his Christmas/Birthday gift, my brother, Phil and I purchased him a new flat screen TV which was quite a shock to him. He was speechless when he opened it. We had spaghetti for dinner and banana cream pie for dessert and enjoyed celebrating a wonderful father, friend and grandfather.

Getting ready to blow out the candles

Christmas dress Natalie wore to the birthday party

For New Year's Eve, Phil and I decided to host a small party at our house. It was billed as the "start your night" at our house party - scheduled from 7-9 pm; hoping people would stop by and have a bite to eat on their way to another party which would last until midnight. What we learned (too late) was that we should have called it the "Joelle is 9 months pregnant - so come, enjoy, drink and eat, but LEAVE our house by 9:00 pm so Joelle and Natalie can go to sleep" party, because the 7-9 time frame didn't happen.

Also, in hindsight we should have hired a babysitter for the kids who came, because Phil spent his ENTIRE night in the basement making sure the kids didn't break the toys (his or Natalie's) and that everyone was getting along, while I spent most of the night entertaining people upstairs. It was fun, and I'm glad we hosted, but by 9:30 pm, I had lost almost all of my patience and was ready to / wanted to start throwing people out.

One of the best lines of the evening was when my mom came downstairs and this exchange occurred:

Mom: What can I help you with?

Joelle: I'm just trying to clean up the mess (it was like every toy was taken out of its box and left for me to clean up). You can help me by telling people to leave.

Mom: Well, dad is cleaning up the food, and I've been taking away and hiding people's drinks. I'm hoping if they can't find their drinks they will just leave

God I love her :)

After most of the people had left, my mom put Natalie in the tub and then into her pjs (again, love her), while Phil mixed extra drinks for the few people who were still around. After my parents left for the night, Natalie settled right down and finally got something to eat. Godfather and Auntie stuck around with us to celebrate the beginning of 2011. Natalie really enjoyed the group hugs, getting a new years kiss and saying "cheers" with her cup of milk. After GF and Auntie left we watched a few minutes of fire works and then all fell asleep.

Pretty good catch up post, don't you think?

And just because, here is one last photo of Natalie...

Holiday Dress

Here is one of the photos we took of Natalie the other night. So cute

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Baking up a storm

I have to use a little over 80 hours of vacation time before the end of the year; otherwise, I lose it. I'm not one to want to lose time so I'm taking a half week this week and next. My objectives this week include finishing up all my shopping and wrapping and baking all the holiday goodies we plan to give as presents. Yesterday I went to the mall which totally wiped me out so today I decided to stay home and start baking.

So far today I've made chocolate fudge, pumpkin bars, three cream cheese pound cakes (that also contain homemade cranberry sauce to make them more festive), chocolate chip cookies, four jars of body scrub and four jars of brownie mix. I also finished another scarf and I am about to start another one.

On tap for tomorrow is lunch with a friend, more wrapping and baking and possibly some relaxing.

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38

I went to the doctor yesterday for my 35 week check up...yep, 5 weeks to go until still un-named baby boy is done cooking. While there I expressed to my doctor that I just feel "huge". My belly is SO much bigger with this baby than with Natalie. I'm carrying different and seem to be smuggling an extra large melon under my shirt.

She measured me and my belly has grown 4 centimeters in two weeks! I'm officially 38 centimeters large. The one plus with this baby is I haven't (yet) gained as much weight as with Natalie so the doctor is expecting him to be around the same weight as Natalie, but longer. Natalie, as you might remember was a little string bean, 6 pounds 14 ounces and 21.5 inches long. Not sure how much longer this little boy can be - there isn't much room left in there...

One other thing to mention for my record keeping is that he moves so much more than Natalie ever did. I remember with Natalie, I would lay down for bed and she would be peaceful all night and never woke me up kicking. This little man is going to come out running! He moves all the time. He really starts moving when I hold Natalie. I was rocking her to sleep last night and she was laying her head on the top of my tummy and he started kicking so much she had to move her head. I bet they will have fun playing together.

Names?

We can't figure out what to name this baby boy cooking in my tummy. Phil has been kicking around some names, while the boy has just been kicking me.

Any thoughts? Help, help, help...

Phil says they won't let us leave the hospital without naming the baby; and I really don't think he will appreciate "baby two" as a name!

Park

After a quick shopping trip, Natalie, Julie and I went to the park. Natalie had a blast and only the promise of a hamburger got her in the car.

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Shopping

They might not have ruffles or be pink and frilly, but these were too cute to pass up. Five more weeks until baby boy can try them on.

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This morning

Well, night one of Phil being gone was okay. We went to my parents house for dinner, which Natalie actually ate! Then the sweet girl fell asleep on the way home (score). My other baby (in my belly) had me up a few times during the night, but Natalie slept until about 6:30 am - which is still REALLY early, but fantastic because lately I was wondering if she had forgotten what it meant to sleep through the night. This is where the need for daddy really kicked in.

Little back story

From the time Natalie was born to about the time she was 16 months old, Phil would would always joke that he knew that Natalie loved me more. I would laugh and say, you just wait because the day will come when she won't want anything to do with me and all she will want is daddy. Well, he waited and that day came. For the past few months (I'm sure brought on by all the traveling I had to do this year) all she wants is Daddy. Some of her favorite phrases are, "No mommy" when I ask her any question and "Daddy do it" when I ask if I can help her do something.

When Phil was packing we talked about how Natalie was going to react to not having him around and I assured him that when he isn't around she lets me help and doesn't demand daddy...fast forward to 6:30 this morning when I went in to her room. "Good morning baby!" I said to her, she looked up at me and as she turned away said "No, want Daddy". To which I responded, "remember, daddy is on his trip, want to come with mommy." Then came her favorite phrase, "No mommy, want daddy." I wanted to respond, "ME TOO!" but decided to take another approach...After some talking, I FINALLY convinced her that if she would come with me, she could lay on my pillow and have some milk. So we cuddled for about 30 minutes while she had some milk which sort of made up for her demanding Phil.

Hopefully I can handle another week of this...it is going to be fun!

"Daddy, Trip?"

This morning, Natalie woke up, looked at Phil's side of the bed, looked at me and said "daddy trip?" I said, "yes, Daddy went in the airplane. He is on his work trip." She must remember helping him pack last night, wearing his hard hat and seeing the suitcase that I normally take on the plane. She is so smart...

Phil left early this morning for a work trip. It isn't great timing, because lately I've been worried that I'm going to pop this baby boy out any minute. I just hope that he listens to his mama and stays put for another 5 weeks!