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Today is the day!
Current mood:Today is the big day......we have our ultrasound. I thought that I would be more excited about it, but since I am still exhausted from our weekend festivites, and still sick, I am feeling kinda blah about the whole thing, Dan thinks I'll perk up once we get there.....I hope so. I remember feeling like I would jump out of my skin with excietment the day of the ultrasound with Maddie, and I kinda feel bad that this little peanut doesn't get that same reaction from me. Maybe I just need to wake up a little more.....my coffee hasn't kicked in just yet......yes, I'm drinking coffee whilst pregnant......my doc said it was fine as long as I don't have 12 cups a day.....I have a toddler, I NEED me some coffee.
awake
So, in non-Gina's uterus news, today is New Years Eve! Last year we didn't do anything because we had an infant, and the year before we might have done a tad too much because I got wasted and then found out a week later that I was preggo (which scared the crap out of me, but turned out a-ok) so this year we had planned to do nothing again, but ended up inviting our friends Tonya and Christian and their little boy Aaron who is 2 weeks older than Maddie over. We are going to let the little ones play and eat lots-o-appetizers for dinner and play board games. I think that they may even spend the night in our guest room. So, not a huge party, but something totally our speed now that we are parents and I am preggo. The house is clean thanks to a mad dash last night and now all I have to do is go grocery shopping and put together some appetizers.....I think I'm gonna do pigs in a blanket (thanks to my MIL!) and mini bagel pizzas and a half batch of buffalo chicken dip because they requested it. I might look through some recipes to see if there is anything else I want to make, but I don't want to go overboard and I want it to be an easy afternoon for me.
So, wish me luck with my big events today. I'm feeling a little perkier already which is a good sign for my baby fetus. For those of you going out and painting the town red.....please have a cocktail for me, and be safe.....make sure you have someone sober designated to drive you home, or shell out the money for a cab.....it's not that expensive when compared to your life. *end motherly lecture*
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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Christmas Eve
Current mood:Merry Christmas eve everyone! I don't know if I will be on tomorrow, but I hope that everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Christmas day.
blissful
Today has been a total lazy day. None of us changed out of our PJs all day.....Dan tried, but I threatened him with deadly force if he got dressed. We weren't going anywhere and we were just hanging out at home as a family......whats the point of getting dressed? I made a fantastic dinner (if I do say so myself) and it was actually fairly easy to execute. Here's the menu:
Apple ginger glazed ham
Wild rice and orzo pilaf
Green beans with honey pecan butter
Apricot ginger carrots
I was going to do a filet, but ended up buying top sirloin and decided today that cooking it would be too much. So it continues to marinate and we'll grill that up tomorrow night to go with our left overs. Here's what our dinner looked like:
I can't even tell you what I liked best because it was all so DELICIOUS! Now we are off to watch some Christmas cartoons with Maddie until she goes to bed and then Dan and I are going to do the mad dash to tidy up the living room and put together her presents for tomorrow. Thank goodness I have all of my wrapping done......Dan the procrastinator does not. Hopefully we'll get to bed early-ish because we are gonna all get up whenever Maddie does tomorrow.....no sleeping in for Mama. Well, I best be off. I have some family bonding time to tend to. I hope that everyone has a merry Christmas!!
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She’s still at it
Current mood:A few people have asked me if Maddie is still into pushing her pants down and walking around the house with her crack showing. The answer to that is YES. She is currently walking around with the crack showing, dragging a pair of headphones by the cord and saying "good, good, good," repeatedly. She is such a silly girl....she serisouly keeps me laughing all day long. I don't know why it's so appealing to have her hiney sticking out of her pants, but for some reason she really ejoys it. Maybe I should give it a try! lol. I'm kidding! Here is some future blackmail material for your viewing pleasure! (she is currently shirtless because she was wearing white and it's easier to take it off for dinner than to ruin another shirt!)
blah -
What’s up doc and other random things
Current mood:I had my monthly Dr. appointment today. It went well. I think it's really funny that my doc thinks I'm smart, he actually jokes about how many questions I ask and how I make him think. I guess a lot of ladies don't really know whats going on with their pregnancies and don't have a zillion educated questions. I don't really understand how someone could not try and learn everything they can about the process and show up to their appointments knowledgable with the stage they are at. Oh well.....guess I'm a preggo genius! lol
happy
So, I have a scheduled ultrasound date. December 31st. It's hard to believe that in 11 days we will be finding out what the sex of our little peanut is. It seems like time has gone by much quicker this time around! I am excited, but I remember with Maddie I felt a little bit of dissapointment once we knew. The surprise was over.......even though we were overjoyed to find out we were having a girl, there wasn't that suspense anymore. Neither Dan or I have any patience to actually wait until delivery day, so we know we will find out ahead of time with each kiddo, but I will savor these last 11 days of suspense. Maybe the little peanut won't cooperate and we won't be able to to find out.......we'll see on the 31st!
Things are going well. I am still sleeping wonderfully on my stomach and feeling good. I know eventually it's gonna start getting hard because I'm going to be as big as a whale, but right now I am feeling good and am really happy. We'll see how long I can continue not even feeling like I'm pregnant. It's just so much easier this time around......I wonder if the third will be easy too, or if it will go back to being tough since I'll have two rug rats and a fetus. We'll see. lol
I can't believe how close we are to Christmas. We have the lights up, and the tree up, and the presents bought and wrapped, but it still doesn't really feel like Christmas. I remember last year I felt the same way, but at the time I had a 3 month old and I vividly remember rocking her in the living room and looking at the tree with it's twinkling lights and singing carols to her. Now she won't even sit still long enough for me to rock or sing to her, and forget about he being near the tree without trying to take all the ornaments off it. We actually have our tree in the den and have a baby gate up so she can only be in that room while supervised. Maybe it will start feeling more like Christmas once she is old enough to realize what is going on. Then we can make traditions together as a family and get really into the spirit of the season. I feel like I am currently in limbo because I'm not a kid anymore and don't celebrate like I used to when I was younger, and my family isn't grown enough yet to have our own traditions. I'm excited about just staying home from now on for Christmas eve and day. No driving around, no rushing from here to there. I am planning on making a fabulous dinner, and I bought sparkling cider and I am gonna rent some good holiday movies. We're gonna chill in our jammies and play with toys and watch movies and eat......just the three of us, and next year just the four of us. I am really excited. It will be so amazing to put together Maddie's big gift with Dan on Christmas Eve because we will be the parents. We will be the ones up late trying to figure out how to goes together and to try and be quiet so the kids don't wake up. We will be the ones filling stockings and eating the cookies left out (not this year, but someday!) and anticipating the twinkling eyes of our children Christmas morning. It's almost as good as being a kid myself. I love this parenting thing! And guess what? I'm in a much more Christmas-y mood now! Here is a pic of Maddie's big gift this year......I think she is going to LOVE it! It'll be all set up in the living room waiting for her to wake up on Christmas day!! How exciting. I'll let ya know how it goes! Time for bed for the preggo chick. Good night.
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Home again, home again jiggity jig
Current mood:Yep, that's right. We are home. I'm glad to be home, but not because our trip was bad, just because I am so DONE traveling. The flights home were actually better than the flights to California, but it was still trying, and long and exhausting. We got a row to ourselves again for the 4 hour flight which helped a lot and Maddie slept about 2 hours of the flight and the satellite TV was working so I got to watch some mindless Real Housewives of Orange County which made it that much better. We spent the night at Dan's parents house and hit the road on Tuesday for home which took us 3 hours and again Maddie slept for a large chunk of that. The only bummer was that we turned our heater off while we were gone because when we left it was in the 80's here in NC and when we got home the house was 45 degrees and we had to bundle up in coats and socks and slippers and snow hats while cuddled under blankets. It took almost 4 hours to heat the house to 70, but man it feels good now! I can't even imagine living without a heater.
exhausted
A
sleepy Maddie on the plane in her own big girl seat. We realized that
this was her 18th flight since she was born. Only 6 trips, but we
usually have lay overs so it is 18 take offs and landings. WOW!
So, California was a good time. It was so nice to see my brother Dave and his wife Maria Elena.....we hardly ever get to see them because they are usually off traveling somewhere. They actually left right from my parents house to go to Columbia for Christmas.....lucky ducks. Our pseudo Christmas on Saturday went really really well. We opened presents, I got slippers, an alarm clock the book Deceptively Delicious and more pieces to the Willow Tree nativity set my mom has been buying for us. Dan got some pajama pants and season one of Heros and Maddie got a few outfits, a Little People nativity set which is HUGE, a toy vacuum, many books, a v-tech computer type thingy, and many more gifts......I can't even remember them all. We had a FANTASTIC family dinner with the most wonderful food.....have I mentioned that my mother can COOK? I aspire to be as good as her one day, but Maddie ate filet mignon, salad, twice baked potatoes and part of a roll and she ate a LOT. She must like my mom's cooking too, because she has never liked salad before and she usually doesn't like red meat.
The girls in front of the Christmas tree. Here is Maddie with just the head injury. She was being such a good girl sitting so still......too bad we couldn't get a smile!
Anyway, the night was going so well, and then my daughter got attacked by my brother's dog. Yep, you read that correctly! Both Dan and I were in the other room, but I guess Maddie found Mya's (the dog) raw hide and Mya attacked her. We heard a loud dog noise and then a baby scream and I went running.....seriously running and grabbed Maddie. At first it looked like she got bit on the face, but after more inspection, she just got scratched so there was a puncture wound from a claw and then scratch marks down her cheek. I was so mad, and trying so hard not to cry and Maddie was crying hysterically. It was just really bad. The bleeding stopped and the crying stopped and the dog got banished to the garage for the rest of our visit, and the next morning the boo boo didn't look as bad, but man it was scary. Maddie also had another boo boo from missing the step to go outside and hitting the cement patio at my parents house so she already had a red mark and scab, and now she had a puncture wound and scratches. Poor baby looked like she had been in a brawl, so I've been calling her scar face and bruiser for the last couple fo days. The scab is already coming off, and the scratch marks are fading, but people still look at her and are like " what happened?" cause she looks like she was beaten up! The thing that made me so mad, was that after the fact my brother tells me that Mya sometimes gets like that because she is posessive of her food, bones/raw hides and her ball. He knew she was like that, and never told us. It seems like that would be good information to know when a food agressive dog and a toddler both have the freedom to roam all around the house together. I guess you live and learn. I am just so used to our dogs who would let Maddie take food out of their mouths that I assumed Mya was fine around her......that and I didn't hear anything different from my brother. There won't be any permanent scars, and Maddie is still young enough that the incident won't make her afraid of dogs from now on. When we got home and saw the dogs she was all over them just like normal.
My poor baby with all of her boo boos.
I didn't take many pictures because I forgot about it for the most part.....that and my mother took tons. So the above is pretty much all I have. I did however get to play with my brother's Canon rebel XT which is an amazing camera but I can't post those pics until I convert them because they were shot in the raw. Using his camera sealed the deal for me, and now I really really want a SLR. It is such a great camera! Anyway. I need to get going, I have to go to bed because I am exhausted. I guess I haven't switched back over to NC time yet......either that, or I'm pregnant and it's 11:40 and I can't seem to function when I stay up late anymore.
Less than one week till Christmas!!! Are you ready?
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We have arrived!
We are officially in the land of California festivities. Yesterday was in fact as horrible as I thought it was going to be. That is with the added grace of having rows to ourselves on both flights. Seems that people don't fly much on Thursdays? The first flight had one row totally empty so we sat there and Maddie got her own seat, and on the second flight it was only half full so again Maddie got to rock her own seat.....however it didn't really make much difference. We have decided that we aren't flying with kids again until they are 12. Toddlers are so active, and not yet able to understand that they have to sit still in one place because we ar ein fact actually going someplace. I am really not looking forward to our trip home because Monday is a big commuter day and I doubt we will get our own row which means we will have even less room.
Once we arrived we drove straight to a park so that Maddie could get her wiggles out and run around before arriving at my parents house of breakable stuff. In all honesty, there isn't that much breakable stuff, and so far Mads has done a really good job of being a good girl.....doesn't hurt that my mom can completely block off the room with all the Christmas deccorations. All went really well yesterday and it was nice being fed delicious food that I didn't have to make. Maddie went to bed easily and only woke up once about 2 hours later probably just worried about being in a strange place. She ended up sleeping about 12 hours and hopefully caught up on the sleep she hasn't been getting at nap time. Dan and I went to bed at 8:00 last night and got about 9-10 hours of sleep. I am a much happier camper this morning.
We don't have any plans this morning because we want to make sure that Maddie gets down for a nap when she needs one, and hopefully she will get a good nap in because it's been 2 days in a row that she has only slept 40 minutes because we have been traveling. This afternoon we may go the the big swap meet in Costa Mesa, and tonight Dan and I are going out for sushi and going to my friend Rachel's Christmas party. Maddie will stay with grandma! I am soo looking forward to some good sushi (cooked items of course) because as good as we can find in North Carolina it pales in comparison to the sushi you find on the west coast.
Tomorrow is the big Christmas celebration and we are waking up and pretending that it is Christmas morning. Everyone will be here and there will be presents a mass. I have to say that it is fantastic being in a house where there are so many tummy treats. My mom made sugar cookies and deccorated them with frosting and candies, and she made some DELICIOUS cranberry white chocolate bars and lemon cake and I think my dad is going to make his homemade candy too! SOO good. I'm trying to be a really good girl.....keep me in your thoughts! lol Well, I best be going. We have stolen a neighbors wi-fi connection on Dan's laptop so I may be on more often then I had anticipated. No pictures though.....unless I can figure out how to do that while we are here. Have a grand day! Ho ho ho.
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Christmas.....take one
Current mood:Today we are leaving for California for our first of 3 Christmas celebrations. So for we're not on the best track because I am up an hour earlier than, needed, thanks to a renegade clock in my in-laws guest room that wasn't changed at daylight savings time. Darn clock.....I could have gotten an extra hour sleep! Oh well, now I have time to blog, and eat breakfast and not run around like a chicken with my head cut off.blah
Let me just tell you how much I am NOT looking forward to this trip. Not the family part, or the Christmas part........but the traveling part. This will be our 5th time flying with Maddie which might lead you to believe that she is a vetran and in lots of ways she is, but this will be the first flight where she is a walker. All the other flights she wan't really moble and didn't mind staying in our laps, but now she is a walking and runnin' gal and I am dreading having to keep her stationary for 5-6 hours of flying. We have a laptop and kiddo movies, we have some toys that we thought she might like and the other passengers on the flight might not want to kill us over, but I am really anticipating that these flights are going to be be HORRIBLE. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers today and Monday both of our traveling days. We have a very stubborn girl, and I think she might be allergic to confined spaces! lol
I'll try and update on the trip, but more than likely it won't be until we get back because it is going to be such a quick trip. Merry Christmas to all....take one.
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somersaults
Current mood:I realize that I haven't mentioned my pregnancy very much. Mostly it's because I really don't feel like I'm pregnant. I was really tired in the beginning but that has gone away and I don't have any other symptoms. I don't forget that I'm pregnant, but I have been so busy with life and with Maddie that I just don't have time to think about it all that much. That was until last night.......I felt the baby for the first time! Last time I didn't feel anything until 20 weeks, but I am only 15 weeks now and totally felt what I think was the baby doing somersaults. I was startled by it twice last night and then once again this morning while on the phone. It's also a lot different from when I was preggo with Maddie because at first with her all I felt was what I would describe as a fish flopping around in my belly, or what others call "butterflies," but this one is making it's presence known in a BIG way! Thus begins the now never ending movements! lol The somersaults, the karate chops, the kicks to the ribs and the random body part visibly moving across my belly! This is probably my favorite part of pregnancy.
relaxed
In other news of the same topic, I think that we will be having our next ultrasound on Januray 2nd. At least that's the date that I am going to push with my Dr. There is a big sale that day, and if it's a boy, I want to be able to get some inexpensive boy clothes. So, yes, we are going to find out the sex.....if baby is willing but there is a catch....for you anyway. Dan and I have a bet. We have $50.00 on the table, and whomever spills the beans first loses. So we are going to know, and you are not......well at least for as long as either of us can keep it a secret! I'm guessing that I am going to lose, but I'm gonna try really hard, cause $50 could buy me some fun stuff! Haha.
In non related news Maddie for some reason has become obsessed with her butt. I have no idea why, or where this came from but the other day she just started pushing her pants and diaper down in the back to expose her crack and she seriously digs it. Every time I fix her pants she pushes them back down and walks around the house sporting her plumbers crack. This particular pic she doesn't have pants on, but she does it even when there are pants present. It's been about 4 days now and she hasn't seemed to let up, but I'm hoping that it's a short phase because I just know that one of these days there is going to be a poopie diaper at the same time as the crack exposure and I can't imagine that would be a lot of fun for anyone! Pray for us! lol
She looks all scratched up because of her nails. I kept pulling the diaper up, she kept pushing it down......the nails scratched. Weirdo.
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The best invention since the wheel
Current mood:Would have to be the FORK. At least that is how Maddie is feeling right now. We introduced a fork to her about a week and a half ago and she took to it like glue. She isn't all that great at spearing the food 100% by herself yet, but she likes to try and we often help her.....the putting it into her mouth part she is a pro at! lol It's funny cause we have tried numerous times to teach her to use a spoon and it usually ends in disaster, but the fork she loves....so much so that if we forget to give her a fork at meal time she won't eat. She just stares at her plate and then looks at us like...."hello, I'm a civilized human being, you expect me to use my hands to eat.....gimme my fork!" It's pretty cute, and I'm glad that she is well on her way to mastering the art of eating with utensils.happy -
Oh Christmas tree.....
Current mood:This past weekend our family went hunting for a Christmas tree. We heard about the good deals that Home Depot has, but when I checked on-line they advertise their trees as "holiday trees" instead of Christmas trees. LAME. So, Dan decided to ban the holiday trees from Home Depot and we went out in search of an inexpensive cut your own tree farm.
fabulous
The only one that we founf that was anywhere near us was very beautiful and it was a lot of fun to watch Maddie run around all the trees, but their prices ranged from $40-75 per tree depending on the height and they weren't actually Christmas trees. One was some kind of spruce tree that you can actually find all over the place, but they are tall and skinny and BUSHES/HEDGES!! The farmers even told us that neither of the trees they grow can hold heavy ornaments, and we found that to be true. The other tree was really interesting looking and kind of blue, it was called a Leland blue ice and we actually saw them as BUSHES at our church!! So needless to say we decided not to buy a $60 tree that wasn't a tree but a bush shaped like a tree that couldn't actually hold all my ornamanets.
We caved in and went to Home Depot. At first we were just going to check out their selection and prices, but once we got there and saw how cheap they all were, and they were exactly the kind we were looking for, we went ahead and bought a "holiday tree" and just said eh.....to us it will be a Christmas Tree. It was 8 feet when we got it and only $19.95. We had to chop about a foot and a half off the bottom so it would fit in our house because we have 8 foot ceilings, but it is a beautiful fur and it smells delicious and we didn't have to eat frozen dinners for a month to afford it!!!
Having to cut a bunch of tree off the bottm gave me lots of branches to work with and I made two wreaths and deccorated the table. I LOVE the delicious smell of pine! I've heard of people buying candles to try and replicate that smell, but I'm telling you it's just not possible. We've had a fake tree for the past 2 years and you just can't get that lovely pine smell from anything but a real tree.
And finally......Dan put Christmas lights on the house the weekend after Thanksgiving. I LOVE lights and we didn't really do much last year because we were too overwhelmed with an infant, but this year we borrowed a ladder and bought lights to go across our whole house and Dan even rigged them so we can turn them on with a light switch inside!! I think they look so fantastic and I am very thankful to my husband who risked his life on the roof to appease my need for all things Christmas!
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A helping hand
Current mood:Maddie and I went grocery shopping by ourselves the other day. This is a big deal because I NEVER grocery shop alone with the Mad-ster. It was horrible. The older she gets the less she wants to be in the shopping cart, and the more vocal she gets about being unhappy. I don't think that I will try and grocery shop alone with her ever again. We will probably get to the point very soon where I go alone and Dan stays home with her and the new baby. Two kids I think is just TOO much to handle while trying to locate the best deal in the store. Anyway, we made it out alive....barely and got all the groceries into the house.....barely and then Maddie helped me put things away in the fridge. Help being a very broad term!! lolcontent
Saturday, December 1, 2007
December 2007
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