My Toy

I know, I know, I'm supposed to write about our wonderful Christmas, and I will later. But first I'm playing with my toy! I got a new video camera that is much easier to upload, etc...to the computer. Sooooo....here. Let's see if this works. It's a little shot of the white Christmas we enjoyed.

The Mall

What was I thinking?! The Mall? A few days before Christmas? I even had a friend ask me that when I told where I had been most of the day. Surprisingly, it wasn't as awful as I thought it could have been. I generally avoid the mall during Christmas. I seriously can't tell you the last time I bought a Christmas gift at the mall. With so many other options (uh, and online), it's just not necessary. And I'm confused as to why so many other people feel like they have to do their Christmas shopping at the mall.

So, you may ask, as I am obviously opposed to the mall, what I was doing there. Well, as you know, I'm pregnant. And also a mother of a young child. And every once in a while, there is something Inside Me that switches on and I simply MUST accomplish/do/see fill-in-the-blank. It's crazy, and I even feel crazy when this happens. Hormones? Maybe. Who knows. Anyway. This time it was Northpark Santa. And if you Know, then, you Know, about Northpark Santa. This is Baby's 3rd Christmas. I've known Northpark Santa exists for all 3 years, and year 1 and 2 Half-Price-Books santa with no line and the cheap fake beard was fine for us, thank-you-very-much. But starting a week ago, I got the feeling that HPB wasn't going to cut it this time. We had to see the REAL Santa. Check out the photo. See? He's real!

It actually worked out quite nicely. Turns out there are many fabulous children's things to do at The Mall (which I've also known about, just didn't want to make the effort). We were meeting a friend for story time with Santa and a puppet show, so I figured, why not get there a little early and see what this whole Santa thing is about? OK, so how it works...you arrive as the door opens if you even want a chance to see Santa. You get a number. Then you wait (wherever you want...mall, home, China) for hours until you check back and get to get in the short line (15-20 mins) to see Santa. We arrived at 9:15. We got number 77. Yes. 76 people were there before us starting at 9. And after we saw the shows and had lunch, it was time for us to get in line (about 1PM by now). Not bad. As I was in line they were handing out number 148. Yikes.

Something I noted while not even yet AT the mall. I was cruising for a parking space (which are ample at this early time of day), and saw several people LEAVING with packages! The mall had only been open for 15 minutes! My kinda shopping.

Although this post is getting long, I do have other news to share. Poor Little Baby. Always gets the last paragraph. I wonder if that's how it always is with the 2nd, 3rd, etc... child? I mean, we used the Dollar Tree test to learn I was pregnant this time. Of course the high dollar EPT told us the first time. The second time? Spent 1 dollar. Works for me! Anyway...the big fun news is...that we are having a BOY! Yes, yes. Now we'll have one of each. Baby is excited about her little baby brother. We took her to the sonogram and have started talking about it, and I think she gets it, somewhat anyway. Aside from the fact we learned that it's a boy, we also got to see 4 little heat chambers working away, the brain, 2 arms, 2 legs, even fingers and toes. God is so good to us.

I probably won't post again before Christmas, sooooo....a big Merry Christmas to you!

Haircut, ballet, and other random things

Yeah, I know I know. I keep going a long time between posts. I thought I would keep it up better even after Hubby came home because I enjoy writing. But it seems that I don't have much to say. I think the world wide web got a look at the casual family chatter that would have happened had Hubby been home all last year. Now since he gets the real thing, I don't feel like I have much to say, ya know? But I know there are a few others who like to keep updated about the routine family things, so here I go again.

Baby finally got her first haircut! And she loved it. I took her to one of those ridiculous kiddie haircut places, which is actually a pretty good idea, but a lot more pricey than me whipping out my scissors. I think now she's gotten a "real" cut I can probably do a bit of trimming. Anyway. Back to the cut. This place has a whole play land for the kids while we wait, which is a good thing since we waited quite awhile. But when she got in the chair she was ready from watching all the other kids. Then they put a movie on and even pump them up with suckers so they sit still. Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. Oh, and one more thing, they get this token to put into a machine that spits out a toy when they are finished. Crazy! I remember my mom putting my hair up in like a thousand rubber bands and then just cutting the tops off of all the tiny pony tails. I wonder what that looked like? Mmmm. Maybe I'll try that next.

Other things we've been up to is Christmas tree shopping! It was nice and cold which put us in the spirit, but made picking a tree a quick job. We already have it up and Baby had fun decorating it. You can pretty much tell a 2 year old decorated it, but who cares. It was fun.

And...dudndudu! Ballet parent observance was today! I think we all know that Baby takes ballet because I want her to, not because she does. She even ran up to her teacher not too long ago and said, "I don't want to do to ballet today." Oh well. I keep taking her anyway. And today we got to see her "perform"! So fun. All these little 2 and 3 year olds sorta following directions but all looking adorable in their little ballet outfits. Loved it. Can't wait for the recital in May. And the mother/daughter princess party!

A final story. Today I had a parent conference with Baby's teachers at school. She's 2, are you serious?! Anyway. They just confirmed that she is advanced and wonderful. She is even promoting into the preschool room 2 months early. Can you hear the pride in my writing?! A few posts back I wrote about the need to discipline, and well, I must say that she has made quite a bit of progress since then. Maybe it was a stage? Maybe the discipline actually worked? I dunno. But we are having fun. And I am full. Full of happiness.

False Alarm

So, I'm not one of those gals who just loves to be pregnant. I don't mind it so much, but I'm not wild about it either. I do particularly love one thing, tho, and that's feeling that little tiny baby bee bop around inside my belly. That's the best! So I've been waiting and anticipating when I can finally feel this little thing a movin' around, and what better day than Thanksgiving?! Hubby and I were on the couch just hangin' and relaxing after our big 'ole huge Thanksgiving dinner, and I thought I felt a kick! Hubby did too! We were sure! What fun! Then later one we were reading the weekly pregnant update and read, "It's still too early to feel your baby move...." Ba! Guess it was just that Thanksgiving diner since I haven't felt it since. Maybe in a few weeks.

Speaking of the weekly update...isn't the whole thing just wild? I mean, I hate to be cliche' about it, but it is a miracle, huh? You read these crazy things like by week 10 the heart is formed and functions and all organs are basically created and now (week 14) the baby can respond to pokes and prods. It's just wild. Sometimes I get a big head about it...wow, I'm creating a PERSON! But really, no, I'm just the hostess. God does all of this! Seriously...so complicated. So delicate. I wonder why this way? Such a process. You know it's God. It really blows the mind if you think about it too much. At least it does mine.