Gingerbread Houses

We did a little gingerbread house decorating yesterday with a couple of friends. It was so nice and low key. Right up my alley this season. I love this time of year but my energy has zapped me from wanting to even send Christmas cards. All that addressing and stamping....I am exhausted just thinking about it...LOL! Instead I am treating myself to new baby bedding for our sweet girl's nursery and getting Claire's big girl room ready. I am picking out paint samples and beginning the nesting process. The baby's room won't technically be put together until several months after she's born but it will be painted and ready to go when we do move her in there. For the first few months we'll keep it as our guest room/sleep bunker to get through those early days (then it's bye bye guest room)! I am so ready to get Claire's room all set up and move her into the bigger bedroom! It won't be long now!

School Party

School's out for Winter Break! To commemorate the day, the kids had a party complete with a musical. As usual, I use the term "musical" very loosely! Claire did great though. She sang and totally performed the whole gig. Last year she cried before it even started and we sat in the hallway. She's a big girl this year and it showed!! The kids just crack me up. During practice you could hear them in their classroom singing SO loud and when the parents show up they act like they barely know the words!

Now the big question is what will we do the next 2 weeks? She only goes 2 days a week so it's not a big chunk left open in our week but boy does it throw us off. I guess that's the point though. To just enjoy having wide open days to enjoy together! I am really trying to embrace that because this will be one of our last few weeks with just me and my girl alone.

I'd thought I'd share a little something we bought recently for anyone who has an early riser. Claire was waking up between 4-5:30am and never seemed sure if it was time to get up since it's so dark outside until after 7am. Her body clock was just getting wacky. We bought the Teach me Time clock. For kids who can't tell time...like Claire...it has a setting where you can have the clock glow green when it's time to wake up. She has loved it so far and every morning she comes into our room and says..."the light is green, it's wake up time!!!" The next thing we have to work on though is making her understand she can get up to pee if she needs to (not that she was doing this yet). I don't want her to wet the bed like she did yesterday b/c she stayed in her room until the light turned green. So that part is a work in progress but something we were needing to tackle anyways so she can stop wearing pull ups to bed someday!

Hi baby

28 weeks, 6 days

We had what should be our last ultrasound for the pregnancy. The 3rd trimester measuring to see how she's growing. It's been so exciting to have more ultrasounds this pregnancy! I have loved having a doc who has all the equipment in their office. My last OB outsourced everything...labs, ultrasounds. I feel like I get more sneak peaks this way!

Baby girl is doing good in there and indeed still a girl! She is measuring at 3lbs, 7oz. Woah Baby! If I go to my due date it's quite possible she'll be bigger than Claire (8lbs) was at birth. I went over my due date by 4 days the first time so it's a good possibility I could deliver around my due date this time too. We shall see! She looked so smooshed in there and a little pist that we were pushing on her. Must have been her nap time! We were just so glad to hear how well she is doing and that she is head down ready to begin her final journey into the world!!!

SANTA!!

Claire's first visit to Santa without tears!!!!!!!!!!! So exciting. She practiced telling us wanted she wanted from Santa all weekend. Her actual visit went a little something like this...

Santa: Hi Honey, would you like a baby doll or princess doll for Christmas?

Claire: No. I would like a kite and a train!!

Santa: No princess dolls?

Claire: NOPE!

As soon as she gets off his lap she asks me..."Where's my kite and train??" Oh yah, forgot to tell her it doesn't work like that! LOL!

Now I have to ask myself....did I really take Claire to see Santa in November?! HA! It will be a long month now..... At least there was no line or fussy drama!

Tree time

The tree is up and it's looking beautiful! I love this time of year! Eric was home all last week and we didn't get a lot done around the house as planned but we did decorate!

I am starting to really feel "pregnant". In the belly department that is. Knowing how my body works and how big I get at the end, I know this is just the beginning. The belly looks all cute right now but for my body it's a lot and just wait........it gets BIG! I love being pregnant in these cooler months especially having a toddler but wearing more clothes makes me feel even bigger. The one (and only!) good thing about summer pregnancies....dresses. Big dresses! I would love to live in leggings but it's hard to find a top that will cover my ass. That is a total pet peeve of mine....leggings are NOT pants. They are not meant to show your butt or top of your thighs. They go UNDER things. Just saying! Otherwise, everything is going good and I really have no reason to complain. We could live where it's really cold and I could really look like a bundled up snowman.

Happy Thanksgiving

We didn't take many pictures but here's what we did get! A group shot of the family and friends we have spent our turkey day with the past 4 years. One cheesy Biscuit and a preggo mommy!

Eric has been off all this week and we have been just kicking it around the house. Cleaning things, fixing things, cooking lots, and being lazy. Now it's time to decorate the tree and bring on the Christmas spirit! I am a one holiday at a time girl. No tree before Thanksgiving for us!! The day after Thanksgiving we start the decorating! I can't believe next year we will have a 4th stocking and a 9 month old! So hard to imagine her outside of my body!

The 3rd trimester is beginning and there is only 3 months left. Part of me hopes they fly by so I can stop being pregnant but the other half of me is so scared of the changes, lack of sleep, and starting over with everything again. Claire is becoming so much more autonomous and it's nice. Life is about to get way trickier and I can't imagine myself doing it all but I will. We will all adjust. It's just going to be weird to get off the "gravy train" because one kid is pretty manageable in the big picture of things. On the other hand, I can't wait to see her and watch our family grow. I can't wait to see Claire be a big sister and Eric with his girls! It's going to be amazing.

25 weeks

Finally............another belly shot!!!! 25 weeks today! Feeling good!