January Happenings

We had a hail storm the other night and Troy and Erica went outside to play in it. There was actually enough ice for Erica to make her first snowman. She was VERY proud of this snowman!! I love that she is still wearing flip flops, but at least I put some mittens on her.

For some reason, Erica loves to sit under the table with the dog. They are becoming great buddies. She will even go outside by herself (i.e., without me) and play with Kayla for a little while. It is wonderful!!

Erica helping me make donuts. This was my first try at making them. They turned out a little greasy and ended up making me sick. I think I will just stick to buying them.

Stream of Thoughts...

I am copying a post idea from a friend. I really liked reading about her thoughts for the day.

On living in Arizona:
-I love that it is the middle of January and we can be outside in sandals and short sleeve shirts.
-I miss living close to family.

On being a mom:
-How do you not love this?

-I stop loving it at about 3pm when she won't take a nap and I'm exhausted.

-I really stop loving it at about 5pm when she is super whiny and Troy won't be home from work for another hour or so.

-Should I really look forward to bed time with so much anticipation?

-Why do I feel so guilty putting a movie on? Am I just giving up on being a mom for a little while or is it okay to waste my child's brain so I can have a few moments of sanity?

On working:

-I know I just passed the bar and I'm trying to get set up to do estate planning, but is that really the best thing to be doing right before having a baby?

-I really want to put Erica in day care or preschool a few hours a week so I can have some time to work. Why do I feel guilty about that?

-Would working part-time really bring me satisfaction or do I just see it as a break from being a mom? Are those the same?

-What if I like working way more than I like being a mom?

On being pregnant:

-I am grateful to be pregnant, but I am so uncomfortable.

-Am I really ready to have a second kid in seven weeks?

-What if I really hate it?

-Am I going to get the house ready before she shows up?

On my spouse:

-Am I the only woman who feels like her husband has to work too much?

-I really shouldn't complain because he works less hours than most people I know. Then I just feel wimpy because I still complain.

-Why do I still want him to do things for me when he gets home, even though he's been gone for 10 hours and is sick? Why can't I be more self-sufficient?

-I wish I could hang out with him all day, every day.

And if you are just reading the picture captions, this is how I found Erica a few weeks ago after trying to get her to take a nap. Who knew a box of tissues could entertain her for an hour. At least I got to take a nap while she did this.

What a Difference a Shirt Makes...

...and a pair of cute pants.

Beginning my 8th month

Another shot within 24 hours. Gotta love the flattering pjs.

Unmotivated

Ever since returning to real life, I have been completely unmotivated to cook, clean, blog or pretty much do anything productive (if blogging counts as productive). Can I blame this on pregnancy? Ok. Thanks.

In light of my current mood, I am doing a massive picture blog for the last few weeks of December. I could break it down into smaller, creative and interesting blogs, but that is just not going to happen. Feel free to read each and every detail, skim through the pictures or "mark as read" immediately. Enjoy!!

To get us excited about our trip to Seattle for Christmas, Troy's dad sent us a snowboarding DVD. Troy got the best Christmas present when Erica kept asking to watch the DVD and pretended to snowboard. Of course, this could not be done without her permanent purple sidekick.


Erica and I tried to get the house clean before we left town. She enjoyed the mopping part. I think we did more dirtying than cleaning, however.

Erica finally caught on to what presents are. She was very excited to open one with Pooh Bear wrapping paper. Nice choice, Alice. We still have the book on her bed to read at night. She loved it.


We spent just over a week in Seattle and we're spoiled with so much family time. Erica had so many great cousins, aunts, uncles and her grandparents to entertain her. I don't think I've ever gone so long without her needing to be by my side. Should I be happy about this? You will notice in all of these pictures that she is rarely without some kind of princess dress on. It was an absolutely necessity to always be dressed up as a princess/barbie of some kind.

Even the dog, Ringo/Bingo helped to entertain. Yes, that big, white fluff in the background really is a dog.


Troy spent the first part of his vacation like this. He was working desperately to get his iphone/ipod game in the itunes store before Christmas. He barely made it.

Erica learned how to play "Hungry, Hungry, Hippos", but we are realizing that she is not the competitive type. She had more fun putting her marbles back in the center of the game so she could try to catch them again. She didn't care/understand about getting the most marbles. It was just cute to watch her play with her cousins.

Since it was so much colder in Washington, we let Erica open one of her presents early. A pair of mittens. We told her they were from a snowman. She insisted on hugging and profusely thanking the stuffed snowman sitting next to her on the couch. She really liked the mittens.

One night we all went to see the Christmas lights at the Botanical Gardens. They were beautiful. I was expecting to see just a bunch of lights in the trees. Instead, they created plants and animals out of Christmas lights. It was amazing!!!

We also spent 2 nights up at White Pass before Christmas. We stayed in this huge cabin, with a kitchen and big open room on the main floor and a ton of bunk beds on the second floor. Troy got to go snowboarding, I got to hang out in the warm cabin and eat and Erica got to dress up like a princess and play with cousins. I think we were all very happy.

Erica was scared to sled down a hill by herself and I wasn't about to hop on the sled with her and my big belly. So, we resorted to pulling the kids around the parking lot in a sled. They seemed just fine with that.

One of their favorite games to play was Super Barbie. This consisted of dressing up in princess dresses and knocking down the enemy with light sabers. It was a huge success.

She was also very excited about finally being allowed to jump on the bed.

We returned back to Seattle on Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas morning opening gifts at Troy's parent's home. Erica was thrilled to get so many great gifts. In fact, we haven't even opened the presents we bought her yet because she has so many other new and fun things to play with.

Here she is thanking Oma and Opa for her purple fairy Barbie. This doll has already entertained her for hours. I don't think I ever even owned a Barbie growing up. This was by my choice. We are so different, but I find her girly ways very cute.


Aunt Sonja made the girls these beautiful tutus and tiaras. Erica was, of course, very excited to get them.

Troy's mom is making me this beautiful quilt. I LOVE the colors in it.


We spent the last few days at Troy's brother's house. He has three kids who took great care of Erica. Since Troy got to spend time snowboarding, he sent me on a night out with his brother's wife. We went to this amazing crepe restaurant and stuffed ourselves. It was wonderful. We didn't come back until the kids were asleep.