Thankful

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted.  As you can imagine, it has been a busy weekend.  We are kind of laying low today, and relaxing.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of family around.  This year, everyone hung around for an extra day or so and that helped with leftovers.  -because as you can see, we had PLENTY of food.  

So this first picture is Abby waiting patiently for everyone to get to the table so we could eat.  The second picture I cropped some, so I didn't have mad relatives since everyone was shoveling in food!

The Feast

Today was Abby's Preschool Thanksgiving Feast. She has been so excited about it. We've been hearing about it quite a lot around our house. She has been practicing their songs for weeks. When Matt has talked to her about preparing for our Feast on Thanksgiving, she told him that she didn't want to go to two Feasts, she just wanted to go to one at Preschool. So, today finally arrived. I decided to run an errand at SuperTarget on our way and I asked her if she wanted to get something special to eat for lunch after Preschool. Her response was, "No. I want to eat at the Feast." You see how one track mind she has been?

We arrived at church for it, and they gathered all the kids (multiple preschool classes) for their songs. As seems to be her way, she clammed up quite a bit and was very quiet during songs. I'm not even sure she sang all of them. Many of them have motions and she did hers on a much smaller scale. It got better as they sang, but she was definitely shy- too many strangers, I think. When it came time to eat, we shared a plate. All of the dishes were prepared by the kids, except the turkey. Her class was responsible for preparing the rolls. We had turkey, green beans, rolls, cookies, and water. She turned down the dressing and cole slaw (no surprise there).  (Oh, and we did need a snack when we got home.)  Here are some pictures of our morning...

Loving her Daddy

Matt was watching a football game and Abby decided this was just a good place to lay, all on her own. She loves her Daddy.

I'm exhausted!

I'm exhausted! After I posted last night, Matt and I got another burst of motivation and moved (from the baby's room) our "office" to the loft and put the crib together. We didn't really get everything moved, but we did get the desk moved, which is the biggest thing.



Today my big job was to clean to prepare for Thanksgiving, so I'm not running around all stressed out on Wednesday. I have dusted and dusted and dusted and cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed and cleaned out paperwork from the office. I had to put dusted multiple times because it doesn't sound like a lot, but it was. I only have a few minor things left on my list and I'm saving those for Matt- or at least for him to help me with. I know that I'll be glad I did all that work today, tomorrow, but for right now, I'm just glad to be lounging on the couch.

My major plans for the rest of the evening? Dancing with the Stars Finals. Rough night.

Decorating

We are moving full steam ahead on decorating the baby's room. Now that my c-section is scheduled for Jan. 30, it feels like it rapidly approaching. My friend, Nicole, a designer, came over today and we decided what we want to do with paint. She had one of those huge paint sample things, with every imaginable color on it.

We spent some time looking at the bedding set and narrowed down some colors and exactly what we wanted to do. Here is a picture of the set (we don't have all the accessories, but it gives you a good idea):



We are going to paint the walls a light sage green, the same color as the leaves. Then, at a chair-rail height, we are going to paint a wide stripe of the bright pink color, with a possible dark brown thin stripe in the middle of the pink stripe. We aren't definitely going to do the brown stripe- we're going to see how burnt out on painting we are. We are all super excited about it and have set a "Paint Day" of Dec. 6. It is going to be really pretty, I think. Yay!

Mix tape

While we were cleaning out to prepare for the new baby's room, we found some old Walkmans. In my old one, there was a mix tape labeled "Mix-Happy". So today, while running errands I put it in my car stereo- the only cassette player I think we have. What a trip back that was. It had to have been made while I was in high school based on the song choices. I had everything from Amy Grant to REM to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Bel Biv DeVoe to Wilson Phillips to Michael W. Smith. Abby's favorite was "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Yup, even that was on there. Good stuff, huh? I'm thinking I seriously need to get a copy of that old Wilson Phillips CD. Love it.

Father, Thank you for bringing me fun memories from my past. It brings smiles to my face. Amen

Pregnancy Risks

So before I begin this, I should say that everything is looking great in my pregnancy.

That said, I have heard several pregnancy stories in the last week or two that are devastating. There are times when pregnancy feels like a high risk activity, even when everything seems normal. I, myself, have suffered a miscarriage at 10 weeks, which was the most personal loss I have ever gone through. We heard of an acquaintance at a restaurant that Matt caters through who just lost her baby at 8 months pregnant. Even after delivery, the doctor said that everything looked normal and they aren't sure why it happened. I also just received an e-mail from someone in my Mom's group at church that their friend who was 25 weeks pregnant lost her baby. She had developed preeclampsia and they had to deliver the baby because the mother's health was at risk, and he didn't survive.

Father, please comfort these women, and their families, in the pain that I know they must be feeling right now. It is difficult to see any reason in these kinds of loss. Surround them with supportive, caring people. Amen.

Portraits

So, I hope this isn't weird, to post a picture of myself. I've seen it on other blogs, so I'm hoping not. I had 2 "portrait" pictures I thought I'd share. One is of Abby laughing while she is playing ball with her Daddy. In some ways, Matt and I are very traditional in our parenting. He is definitely the one who gets down on the floor and plays very physically with her. I am much better at the more quiet activities. It makes for a good balance. It also makes me think of how difficult it must be to be a single parent and have to fill both of those roles. I would be exhausted- of course with being pregnant, exhausted is a daily vocabulary word for me.



The second picture I'm sharing is of me, obviously. This is me at my sister's wedding reception, relaxing at our table after things have slowed down some. Matt snapped it. Being at the beginning of my third trimester for the wedding was no small feat. I think it took me almost 5 days to feel a little more like myself again, I was so tired. -but it was worth it, as my sister is now hitched!

My Girl

What a weekend!

The big wedding has come and gone. My sister is married. She had the most amazing flower girl ever and the wedding was beautiful.

A Remarkable Day

What an amazing time. Barack Obama has won the presidency. I stayed up a little last night and watched results while talking to Matt on the phone (he's on a business trip). I turned in before anything coud be official. Indiana was still too close to call, so I really went to bed with no news, only hopes.

I woke up to all good news. Indiana went blue for the first time since the 1960's, Obama has won. My 3 YO doesn't have any idea of a time where a black man couldn't be president and that feels good. I have to admit his speech late last night made me tear up a little- but that could be egged on by my pregnancy hormones. Nonetheless, it is a remarkable day!

Barack the Vote

Have you voted? I have!

What an powerful day. I have avoided news lately because I was so tired of all the ads, but now that Election Day is here, it is kind of exciting. I'm excited that our state is considered a "swing state" this year, so it is going to make it more interesting to watch the results tonight.

Here is to the hope that change is in the air!

Love is in the Air

Love must be in the air. My sister is getting married, many TV shows talk about it... I figure that is where this must have come from (because the comment came out of nowhere at the time).

Abby: Mommy, I really want to marry someone.
Mommy: Well, when you are a grown up you can marry someone.
Abby: Okay. (smiles)

Tinkerbell

Abby and I finally watched Tinkerbell, the new Disney DVD. I bought it the day it came out without telling her and we surprised her with it today. It was very cute, and a fun new movie with the same type of "princess" twist that she is so into right now.

At the beginning of the movie, it introduced how a fairy is born. Being pregnant, and having had one child already, I really liked the way they introduced it.   According to the movie, "The first time a baby laughs, a fairy is born." When a fairy is born, they are introduced into the fairy world and their gift is identified. In Tinkerbell's case, it was tinkering. I found the thing that the Fairy Queen says to be really beautiful. I'm such a nerd that I wrote it down, but I would imagine most mothers would find it well said: "Born by laughter, clothed in cheer, happiness has brought you here."

Fun movie.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

As a kid, I LOVED eating salad. My parents would buy me those Italian salad dressing mixes (where you made it yourself with vinegar, oil, and water), and I would eat salad until my heart's content. I remember taking a big ol' bowl of salad in my lunchbox in elementary school, and it was the best lunch even though I knew it was a little weird.

Fast forward to 2008. My daughter loves salad. We went out to our local pizza place recently and I got the salad bar and shared it with her. She went to town on it. Her favorite thing is the croutons. But- she also loves "purple lettuce", cheese, egg, and carrots. It must have "white dressing" aka Ranch. Tonight Matt gave her a choice for dinner. He was going to make our family favorite, Pineapple Pancakes, or she could have salad. She chose salad. Granted she also wanted a pancake once they were ready, but her first choice? Salad.

Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Happy Halloween

Here is Miss Ariel, the Little Mermaid for Halloween.  She got very excited, especially once she got her costume on.  She decided that she wanted Daddy to take her Trick-or-Treating, which was okay with Mommy, because Mommy was exhausted after teaching all day.