Friday, December 30, 2011

Baby!

Hey, guess what? I'm having another baby! It hasn't all quite sunk in yet, even though I've known almost since the beginning. It feels like forever ago that I took that little bitty test and got those two little bitty lines that said "YES! BUN IN THE OVEN!" but at the same time, it doesn't quite feel "real" yet.

{11.11.11 - my lucky day}

I started having my morning sickness about 2 weeks after I found out. And man oh man, has it been brutal. My first pregnancy was a walk in the park compared to this one so far. It's not so much the vomiting (which is incredibly awesome, let me tell you), it's the non stop feeling like crud all day long. It seems I'm sick in the morning and then I can't quite seem to shake that crappy feeling all day. I'm getting nothing done. My kitchen looks like something out of hoarders half the time, there are toys all over the house, the laundry is backed up, it's bad. I just don't have the energy to get anything done.

I'm hoping this feeling passes soon. With Ben, it seems like I was sick just barely into the 2nd trimester, so I'm hoping that's also the case with this one. No inklings one way or the other as to gender. I don't seem to be craving anything the same - with Ben all I wanted was $1 cheeseburgers from McDonalds, fountain Cokes, non-stop Mexican food and chocolate milk at night (although, all other chocolate and sweets were grody to me). This time, I'm not into meat at all - I made meatloaf for dinner last night and had a bite. Chocolate milk (milk at all - not even on cereal) is grossing me out. I can't stand scrambled eggs. I'm digging saltines with peanut butter, tea and water. Those are about the only things I'm "craving". Well, I've had several intense cravings for watermelon but it's out of season... Mostly it seems all food is turning me off.

I'm feeling blah body image wise as well. I'm about 20 pounds lighter now than I was when I was carrying Ben (and I've only gained 1 pound so far in this journey) but already I feel frumpy and gross and my clothes aren't fitting right. I'm not quite at the stage where I need to bust out the prego pants (though I have indulged in a few maternity shirts simply for comfort around the house) but my non-prego clothes just feel uncomfortable.

No names on the horizon, either. We had only two names picked when we were expecting Ben: Benjamin Owen and Olivia Camille. Clearly we used our boy name on Ben and we've since eliminated Olivia as it's like #1 or #2 on the most popular list. There are a few girls names we like but nothing for boys yet. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what we're having. And no preference, either. I won't lie and say I wouldn't be absolutely thrilled with a girl (the pink, the hair bows, the tights and cute shoes) but we'd be delighted with a boy, too. Besides, I saved a TON of Ben's old things so we wouldn't need hardly anything for a boy (well, I planned ahead and tried to buy things we could reuse, in anticipation of another baby, so we wouldn't have to buy that much other for a girl, either).


{I can take no credit for the creativity of this photo. I found my inspiration here - I considered this one as well}

Here's how we announced it on Facebook. Poor Ben, I didn't realize I had set him in the time out chair for pictures (it's near the window so super good light) so if it looks like he's crying in the 1st picture - it's because he was. We bribed him with a sucker and Caillou to get the rest of the pictures.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas.


Well this year we did something I haven't done since 1998. We traveled away from home for Christmas. My dad decided he was going to Portland to visit his parents and invited us and my brother's family along as well. We decided we'd go, my brother & his family stayed here to be with my grandma.

We had a nice time - we stayed with my aunt & her family and my dad stayed with his parents. We all got together on Sunday for Christmas dinner and a small gift exchange for the kids. Ben was quite smitten with my cousin Will's baby Mariah. She's about 3 months old and is super cute. Ben loved to give her lots & lots of kisses.

Although I brought my camera.... not one single photo was taken. Not one. Oops. I never even got it out of the bag.



Monday morning we packed up and headed home. Tuesday morning Ben woke up to discover Santa had made a special trip with his Christmas presents since we weren't here. Santa brought him a Thomas Train table, grandpa & Lisa got him a lot of tracks & mama & daddy got him extra tracks, some trains, cars, PJ's (he opened the bag, said "jamas!" and that was it). Aunt Susan got him some books, some new Cookie Monster jams, a Thomas bath toy and a Little People garage. :) It was a good Christmas indeed.

{here mama, have a present to the face}

Now we have to gear up to get our crud down by the 1st. Usually I'm raring to take it down the day after but this was a weird holiday this year. As long as it's down by the 1st, I'll be good. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Merry Bright

Merry Christmas from our home to yours! We hope you all have a special holiday season and may 2012 be the best yet!

Much love,
Nick, Sarah & Ben

Merry And Bright Holiday
To view our most popular holiday card designs, click here.
View the entire collection of cards.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Santa

We didn't get Santa pictures with Ben the first year he was born - he was born the week before Christmas and it never occurred to me to take him in. Last year, I saw several newborns with Santa and they were precious - Santa laid back with baby on his chest so it looked like they were both taking a much needed nap. I believe those would have been the most peaceful photos with Santa to date.

Last year, Ben was pretty clueless about Christmas. He liked Santa just fine, he was totally cool with sitting on his knee until he realized that mama & daddy were not right there with him. Then he lost it. Absolutely lost it. This remains one of my more favorite photos ever. The sheer misery on Ben's face coupled with the delight on Santa's is pure comedy:

{2010}

This year, I honestly didn't expect much different. Part of me had hope,but... :) We got there on Sunday, somewhat early (I think around 10:30). My thought was we could do Santa while most every one was at church. It was a great plan, except Santa didn't come until 12:00 on Sunday's (probably because he was at church). So we wandered the mall, went to have lunch and then came back. The line was huge. Wrapped all the way around. We figured, what the heck. Ben's not ready for a nap yet, we're here, let's wait. We waited an hour. Ben did so great. He waited really patiently. Santa showed up at noon, walked around the line, saying hi to every one. Ben froze a little. Was interested, but didn't want to get to close. Then Santa sat down and they opened the gates for friends to visit. We moved up in line. Ben kept pointing and yelling "hi Santa!" and saying to me or Nick "Santa hug?"

Then it was our turn.

The steps got slower.

The steps stopped all together.

The crying started before we even put him on Santa's lap.

Now here's where I stop and wonder "I am terrible for making him take photos with Santa when he's so clearly distressed?"

And then I look at this picture and giggle:

{2011}

I don't think he's scarred, though. He talks about Santa all the time. The other night I was out with friends and apparently he grabbed his shoes and told Nick "go. Santa." and he asks to give Santa a hug all the time. Now, were we to actually put that to the test... I think we'd get the same results. I wonder what next years photos will look like?

The side by side, though, is hilarious. They're almost identical:


Sharing my Santa photos today because Little Miss Momma did :)

Monday, December 19, 2011

2 YEARS OLD!

Hey Ben,

Holy cow, little man! You turned two and are now apparently a "preschooler" rather than a "toddler". How did this happen? I swear just moments ago we were bringing you home from the hospital.

We had a small party for you on your birthday. I would have posted this a little sooner (but hey, a day late isn't too bad) but since your dad was out of town last week, I let some things slide. Okay, most things. I was very busy Saturday evening and Sunday morning!

On your big day, you woke up to the floor of your room littered with balloons. You thought this was lots of fun. We played in your room for probably a half hour, just chasing the balloons around, tossing them in the air and throwing them in your crib. Your patience with the balloons nearly blew me away. It's not easy grab them by the ends - they kept moving! But you never gave up or got mad. You just patiently chased them around until you'd finally get a hold.



Next you came out to the living room and saw the balloon banner that mama & daddy put together and the tissue pom's that mama had daddy hang over the table. You very softly whispered "ohhhh wow" as you looked around.



We played for a little while longer than then went out to have birthday breakfast at a place called the Griddle. We'd never been but heard fantastic things. You really loved your french toast and mama's eggs. :)

After you woke up from your nap, your family arrived! First to get here were Auntie Carin, GG and Connor, Hannah & Emma. Just after that came grandpa & Lisa. You were so happy to show your cousins your new kitchen and loved playing with them. Then it was time for presents. You were SO excited by all the cars your cousins gave you. In fact, you were not interested in opening grandpa & Lisa's present because you wanted to play with your cars. Once I showed you what you got, though, you were quite happy!

GG got you a tricycle and Auntie got you the helmet to go with. You're not too keen on the helmet and you aren't sure about the bike yet. You like it, but you haven't figured out the pedals yet, so you're content to push it around right now. We'll definitely work on that skill come spring and warmer weather.

For dinner I served one of your favorite meals: spaghetti! Then we had cake and ice cream. Again, you blew me away when you started blowing out the candles while we were still singing! Where did you figure that one out?!?

All in all, your birthday celebration was lots of fun. We had your 2 year check up today and that went really well! No shots - HOORAY! You're on the skinny side, just about 26 1/2 pounds (which puts you in the 30th percentile) but tall. You've grown 5 inches since June! You're 38" and apparently your head circumference is on par with your height so doctor thinks we'll see some weight gain here soon to balance out the growth spurt. She didn't tell me the percentile for height, but I looked it up online and it's over 95%. :) Tall & lean!

We talked a little about potty training and transitioning you to a big boy bed. Mama & daddy don't think you're ready for a big boy bed yet, but maybe this spring we'll re-evaluate. We plan to hit potty training hard after the new year and also say bye-bye to the binkie after the new year.

Your vocabulary continues to astound us. The words and phrases you say almost always take us by surprise. Mama's been working really hard on not saying so many potty words. :) You're just a little sponge and you repeat lots of things. We only want you to say the nice things. You've recently begun to refer to yourself as Ben. We had to drop daddy off at the airport today and you didn't want him to go. You insisted "coming Ben" but of course, you had to stay with mama.

I think daddy being gone these 2 weeks is what's causing some bad attitudes on your part. You've been very upset about about really anything lately. For example: bath time. You were mad and had a fit that I made you get in the tub. You didn't want to take your clothes off or anything. Then you got in the tub and were a happy little fish. We spend over a half hour every night in the tub and you get very mad when it's time to get out.

It's been stressful for mama to try to stay calm and reasonable when you're being the total opposite. I want to give in and have a fit with you (and I did lose my temper and yelled at you last week. Imagine how surprised I was when you burst into tears because I shouted. Learned my lesson, that's for sure).

We're just blown away by how grown up you've become these last few months. You answer questions, you can follow multi step instructions, you sing along with songs and you can count to 10. Lately you've only been doing 8-10 but you do know the numbers in between. :) You do have a favorite TV show (as much as that pains me to admit that my 2 year old has a favorite show). You absolutely adore Caillou. If I'd let you, I think you'd watch Caillou all day long. We're enjoying Tumble Time for the most part. You get a little... obstinate towards the end of class. I struggle with myself because I know the class is structured but part of me wants to just let you play and do your own thing. We get lots of structure at home. We do our best and we're getting better about listening during the 3rd set of instructions. :)

What else can I say, kiddo? We love you to bits & pieces and we can't wait to see how else you change and grow this next year!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Monday Musings.

Random thoughts. No necessary order or importance.

  • my child has been having insomnia the last few nights. wide awake and ready to jabber the rest of the night away from about 2:30 on. yuck. no trick i've tried yet works to get him back to sleep.
  • flying solo most of this week and most of next. nick is off to san jose to work with a client.
  • broke out the narrated book my mom made for ben last christmas tonight. twas the night before christmas, as read by my mom. surprisingly, i didn't cry.
  • been thinking a lot about jacyee dugard's story. read her memoir this week and i can't stop comparing her life to mine - she's only a year older than me. i've been writing a blog post about it in my head since i finished the book. wonder if i'll ever type it up.
  • i'm behind on my christmas shopping. i started out early for once but ran out of steam. got some wrapping done today in any case.
  • christmas cards are almost all done and almost all out in the mail. nick's gotta write a blurb to his relations overseas and then those will go out as well. have only received one card so far. bah humbug. i hope they start trickling in soon!
  • been a bit of a flake on my mama's group this last month. sorry ladies. i'll get back into the swing of things after the new year.
  • barnes and noble sent ben a coupon for a complimentary cupcake or cookie in celebration of his birthday. i think we'll cash that in tomorrow. :)

well i guess that's all folks. i've fallen behind on blogging. life gets in the way of the things i want to do. :)