The things she says...

So B was walking around in Seans' UK slippers this afternoon. Later today, Sean ran up to Kroger to get popcorn for his new popcorn machine. When he went to change back into his lounge wear, he asked Brooklyn where his other house slipper was. Her response: "Ummmmmmm, lets see......I don't know. Maybe you left it at Kroger!"

Seriously, they rationalize at 2?

This week off with her I have more than realized how...um...."opinionated?" she really is!! ("you put my stuff in my drawer daddy, put blue on top so I can get them! And close the drawer when you're finished!)
And how loving she really is!! ("You ok mommy? Are you hurt? [she uses my belly to help herself up], I love you Daddy! I love you Mommmy!)
And I still don't know who Lewis is, but I'm going to ask at daycare.
"Am I funny Mommy? Lewis says I'm funny"

Lets just double check

I went for my belly measurment on Thursday, only to find I measured 3 weeks less than I should so they scheduled an exta ultrasound. Turns out, everything is just fine. The tech mentioned that he is low, & depending on the babys' position at the precise minute they measure, it can be as much as 3 weeks off.
According to my original due date, I am 33 weeks, 6 days. I measured 33 weeks, 3 days. The baby is exactly 5 lbs, & in the 40%. The books say the baby shoul be putting on a .5 lb a week, so that puts him in the mid 8 lb range.
When we got home, I told Brooklyn nothing fell off, its still a boy, & that she'll have to think of something else to call her brother other than 'sister!'

Christmas Day, our annual Pajama Brunch

A bit of a late start with morning breakfast, but so happy to sleep in a bit! Fruit bowl, Vermont bacon, pancakes & a delicious apple compote started the morning off right.
This year, we made room for family & new friends! Merediths friends from Dayton who were unable to travel to see their family joined our crazy bunch for a day filled with gift openings, endless tea parties, & multiple rooms of video gaming (the new Kinect & Move.) Aunt Mere Mere is quite competitive on the volleyball games, & I'm looking forward to our first match, once I can jump with more ease! This will be the only arena in which I could possibly beat this volleyball star!
All Brooklyn asked for was trains...ok well, really she asked for presents (what kinds of presents you ask?, 'Christmas presents,' she'd tell you!) Santa brought a train table, & several others gifts, but at the end of the day, it seems her top 5 gifts were 1) food for her kitchen playset from Santa 2)baby dolls from aunt mere & Godfather Sean 3)Bee pillow pets from the Boutelle gang 4) Aquadoodle from Daddy 5) princess wand book from GG. And above all of this, her favorite activity is still playing "tea party!" I'm not sure how many tea parties she had with her new friends Lea & Abbey, but I'm guessing more than 1 hand count!
I think Seans' fave gift came from his parents- a 5ft. popcorn machine, perfect for his media room viewing. And me? Sean nailed it this year. All I asked for was my body back! It came in the form of a personal trainer for a year, coupled with a beautiful right hand ring! (Little man, you stay in there a little longer & keep growing so you come out super healthy! I'll put this gift into action soon enough.)
The party continued well until 10pm, snacking on Mimi's potato snowman, shepherds pie, soups, the ever disappearing Quinoa crackers & guacamole dip, & Grinch punch.
Glad everyone had a great time, & looking forward to the next one being filled with as many great memories! (sans the head cold!!)

Mimi & her Grandkids

Chrismas Eve

Wow, church gets crowded earlier & earlier each year. We saw some walking in, & watched them walk out it was so crowded! Luckily, Mimi got there first & was nice enough to find a seat for Granny & me. It was so crowded & was surprised at how little people I recognized. They had a live manger out front & B enjoyed petting the donkey as we sprinted back to the car to avoid the cold ( & traffic) as much as possible. We headed over to Mimi's for a nice Christmas Eve dinner of soup & sandwhichs, while B lay on the floor in her good dress playing with Buddy the neighbor cat, hiding under the table! I really hope this cat allergy goes away, as I'm sure we'll have another 4 legged member of our family again one day.
Daddy's profile pic on facebook is a bit outdated so I asked them both to give me some Cheese!!! I'll tag him, but who knows if he'll change it. The one he has now is super cute!

'Tiss the season

Headed downtown for a day of trains at the Duke Energy center around noon today. We were pleasantly surprised to see Santa there too! Brooklyn waved to him, & since she sat on his lap last year, I figured this would be a breeze.....until we got up there for her turn & all she did was death grip my neck! Finally, we scooted back about 5 feet & I knelt down by her & said " Brooklyn, you need to sit on Santas' lap & tell him what kind of Christmas presents you would like since you've been a good girl this year." She turns & yells over to Santa: "I WANT TRAINS!" LOL.
A short line for ice skating gave everyone time to mock mommy for dressing her child like the poor little kid in Christmas Story (Maaa....I can't put my arms down!!) Ok, so she was bundled, but I cannot help the puffiness of snowsuits! :-) Ice skating was a blast for some...ok, B & Noah! Aydan wimped out on the cold, Q went a round or 2 after being a wall hugger, & the ladies suffered sore backs after leaning over to hold up a 2 year old wearing size 8 skates since that's the smallest they had (she's in a 5) but smiled & giggled the entire time, not wanting to come off the ice! Hopefully, everyone recovers easily, b/c I'm sure we'll have a video game marathon on Christmas day!

Winter officially starts today?

Straight from wcpo.com:
CINCINNATI - Winter officially starts tonight at 6:38p.m. December snow totals continue to go up and up and up! Another 1 to 2 inches fell across the Tri-State late last night and early this morning. This brings the monthly total to more than 14 inches at CVG making December one of the snowiest and in the "Top 5" coldest on record.
And we're likely not done yet!

Thank you for my shirt Uncle Joe!

Ready for her nightly Grinch viewing!

Friday Nights

I remember when these used to filled with friends, cocktails, & dancing into the wee hours of the night. Here's how tonight is spent!

SNOW DAY

We've got every bit of 5 inches out there fresh today, and another 2 from earlier in the week. Sean worked from home today, & luckily, I was already off. She's been looking outside all morning, wanting to wear her snow boots & go outside & play. MAYBE, we were out there 15 minutes!!! We might try again after naptime, since there is no wind whipping thru you. My original thought was to go out before naptime so she'd take a nap, but she may have just been too tired. For someone who told me as we were coming in "I do not take naps anymore," she fell asleep very quickly. THe fussin' stopped once Daddy picked her up! LOL

Just a quick side note- ski pants don't zip like they're supposed to when you're pregnant! Brrrr on the belly! :-)

The things we say to our kids

Background: Mimi received a Dora sample pull up in the mail,brought it over & it came with a sheet of Dora/Diego stickers.
Last night Mommy says to Brooklyn "Oh Wow, Brooklyn!!! DORA sent you a very special pull up. It has her picture on it!! How special is that!!! But Dora only sent ONE, so if you want to keep wearing your Dora pull up, you're going to have to make sure you don't have any accidents & put all the pee-pee in the potty tomorrow."

So, she wakes up this morning, asking if she can wear her Dora pull up & I told her she could after we go potty this morning. Dora was on within 5 minutes. Off I go to work, crossing my fingers she tells Sean when she has to potty today. Fast forward 8 hours & I come home to a napping Brooklyn. I woke her up as it was time to rise & shine, & she says 'hi mommy, can I put Dora on now? (she wears a diaper during naptime.....with Sean.) I couldn't BELIEVE it! There sat her Dora pull up on her dresser, still dry!!! She didn't tell him when she had to potty, but did go every time her took her in to try. And to top it off, she went potty twice more with me since I've been home. Dora is still dry & on her dresser.

8 week countdown

2 months, 8 weeks...either way, it still sounds to me like "I've got time" before this baby comes. But somehow, when the doc today says its time to start coming in every 2 weeks, it seems SO MUCH CLOSER to the end!
Everything still looks good.

OWWWWWWWWWWWW..............

If you were a fly on our wall last night, you would have seen me flopping around on the couch, grabbing at both legs, severely cramped up, tears rolling out of my eyes, screaming in agony, & Sean panicing over what to do to try to help out. He grabbed Icy Hot & tried rubbing my legs but they were so sensitive to touch, but it did still help a little. What seemed to be an eternity, was about a half hour long event, followed by my entire body just chattering for the next 10 minutes or so, & no, I wasn't cold, & I couldn't control it. WEIRD. Ahh...the joys of pregnancy! So here I sit, on lunch break at work, drinking LOTS of water today just in case that was the issue and hoping it never happens again.

Dr. Suess Nursery is coming together

We've finished the "Oh The Places you'll Go," and just about finished with "Horton Hatches an Egg." Who should I paint next? What was your childhood favorite Dr. Suess book?
You can see in the one photo his main crib sheet, & we have 2 pillows- A Cat in the Hat, & Thing 2. Next pic I'll post is when the room is complete.

Good Ol St. Nick

Visited our house last night! He brought all 3 of us new Christmas pajamas & house slippers. Here's her new snowman pair! We've attempted watching Dora's Christmas special & Shrek, but I keep hearing "I cuddle with my daddy & watch Grinch Mommy!"
Just like her father....a Grinch addict! LOL.

"I wake up Mommy!"

So, just before nap time, Mimi calls & B proceeds to tell her that she's not going to take a nap today. So, after our phone call, we headed in to her room to read a book & take a nap as we usually do. I headed in to my room to work on Christmas cards/gift wrapping. Hour later, I come into the living room to hear someone singing "....all the colors that we know, live up in the rainbow." I open up the bedroom door & this is what I see: a half naked kid with all of her diapers pulled into her crib & she's changing her bear & kitty. She tries to tell me "I wake up Mommy!," but as I soon found out, she really wasn't going to take a nap today!

Early Christmas celebration

G-ma Kay has been in town this week, getting the rest of her condo emptied out & prepped for its closing. We celebrated Christmas a little early this year since she'll be Florida this year. She was more than happy to open her presents, and even though she liked everything, she very quickly moved on to open the next present. Daddy got after her to stop & say thank you so she did run over to G-ma Kay to give her a big hug...and then she wanted to open more! I thought she'd be most excited about her legos, but it turns out, she wants to use her new Dora plate & bowl at just about every meal thus far.