Tick Tock...

Kelly and I turned 29 on the 29th. You only get that once, right? Now, some of you know how I feel about birthdays...they tend to be a bummer, especially when you're born this close to Christmas, and you share your birthday with a twin. (which isn't so bad really) But, the Beeb did all he could to make sure I had a great birthday. Our husbands took us to lunch at Olexa's where we thoroughly enjoyed the ultimate grilled cheese sandwiches and, of course, white buttercream cake with warm chocolate ganache drizzled over it. It was probably the best cake I've ever eaten.

MCM enjoyed her kid version of grilled cheese. It's one of the few things she'll eat besides fruit, yogurt, and crackers/bread. She LOVES it.

Leland was able to come to lunch, even though he had to work on Monday. MCM was a little ready to get out of her high chair, or maybe she was leaning in to give Daddy a hug. She is obsessed with Dada right now!

What would a birthday be without more cake? Yes, then we were given an entire cake from Olexa's which we've been eating on daily since Monday. YUM.

Kel and BT babysat on our birthday (so sweet) so that Leland and I could have an evening together. (Sol Y Luna - seriously, I've had so much great food this week, I should just stop eating!) Then we had cake and Leland let me watch Discovery Health, the shocking story of the tree man. Have you seen it? It's freaky.

The best part of the birthday is still to come though. Leland planned a weekend away for us! Well, sort of a weekend. Thursday - Saturday. It's our first time spending the night away from Charlotte in 18 months, and it's also our first night away together since I was pregnant with her. It is much needed, and we're so excited! Please say a prayer that she'll do great and not miss us too much. Frankly, I'm not worried at all considering when we leave these days she barely looks up, just says, "Byyye!" - with quite a southern accent, mind you. Anyway, I'm sure I'll miss her like crazy and worry like crazy a little too. I've forgotten what it's like to wake up and not have a child to take care of. What's that like?? Will I be overwhelmed with a sense of uselessness? Will I even remember how to relax? I'm sure it's like riding a bike...

Tonight we're having a laid back new year's eve at our house with friends - games and Mexican food. Tomorrow Ellie will come to keep MCM for the next few days, and we head out! I am thrilled about the new year, knowing we have many blessings in store with our baby girl on the way. Happy New Year to all!

Christmas 2008

This is the face MCM makes when asked to smile for the camera. Pretty cute...

This is her refusing to smile for the camera. Already worn out at church Christmas Eve.

The loot! In our defense, there were a lot of people involved in this Christmas. This was right before MCM woke up.

Not sure what to think...

Eating some grapes from her new kitchen.

With Daddy, aka, "Santa." MCM is much more interested in whatever she's eating.

Lots of cooks in the kitchen Christmas night. Unfortunately, I failed to take a picture of our feast.

MCM having more fun with the stuff presents are wrapped in that the actually presents themselves.

Duncan wants to have fun too. He usually thinks she has food in her hands.

With Ellie and Caitlin just before they headed back to Nashville.

What a great Christmas! I wouldn't say MCM totally understood what was going on this year, but she definitely enjoyed having lots of attention and fun. As for Santa, gifts, etc...it was way obvious she didn't get that part. She just wanted to play with her family and eat yummy foods. Let's see, she learned about Christmas cookies, all kinds of sweet, yummy breads, and, by far her favorite, chips and dip. Bless her. She knows what's good. Anyway, I could write out lots of details, but I'll give you the quick breakdown. My family and Leland's mom and sister came to spend Christmas in Bham with us. (That's lots of folks + 3 dogs!) Kelly and I did all the cooking and hosting, and we are very proud to say that it all turned out great and so much fun. Living down the street from each other is an excellent arrangement for holidays! I hope we'll get to do it again next year!

Twas the week before Christmas...

It's 12:30 PM, and I'm still in my PJ's. This hasn't happened in a long time. But, MCM has been on the rampage this week - that's my excuse - and it's one of many. (Let's not forget that I'm pregnant, people!!)

It started Sunday when she woke up at 4:00 AM with a fever of 102. We thought she was teething, but that seemed high for a teething fever. So, I kept an eye on her, kept her home from church and started the usual Tylenol/Children's Motrin cycle. She continued to have a fever until Monday, but there were still no other symptoms. Obvious tooth/gum discomfort, but no teeth have appeared. Now it's Thursday, and I'd say we've had one night all week that didn't include night waking. Last night she woke at 3:00 AM crying like crazy for apparently no reason. I held her, rocked her, tried to get her to sleep in our bed, tried the firm "Go to bed!!" approach, and then finally caved, and Leland gave her a bottle. (I am suffering from a bit of guilt related to the fact that my soon-to-be-18-month-old is still taking a bottle, but that is for another post) All of this probably took about 2 hours. Even so, she managed to be awake by 8:00 AM, raring to go.

Something is just off. She's prone to meltdowns, can't seem to get enough attention and love, isn't getting enough sleep.......all typical signs of major teething discomfort or sickness. I have no idea what it actually is though. I'm sure it's just a little phase that will pass in a few days, but I am getting so frustrated and worn out. I have lots of little Christmas details to attend to, but by the time I get her to take a nap during the day or to go to sleep at night, I am completely out of steam. Ugh. The weekend could not get here any faster. (although with the amount of work L has had for the past few months, our weekends haven't exactly been fully enjoyable)

My Christmas cards have now turned into new year's cards, because I haven't had time to address them. I have a huge batch of sugar cookie dough rotting in my refrigerator, because by the time I mixed it and chilled it (2 days ago), I no longer had the strength to attempt to roll it out and bake it, whilst trying to involve MCM and keep her out of trouble. My once spotless house (last week) is now laden with a trail of crumbs, toys, books, and tupperware all carefully placed there by MCM. I am currently re-washing a load of clothes that I left (wet) in the machine for over 24 hours. I thought about it but didn't have the will to transfer it to the dryer yesterday. I haven't wrapped a single present. I haven't even purchased Christmas wrapping paper. In fact, I still have a list of presents to buy. My roots are showing. As it stands, I only fit into 2 pairs of pants that I own, and yes, they are maternity. (That being said, I will confess that my lunches this week have consisted of Chickfila, Milo's and - rock bottom - Krystal...I guess you could say I felt I needed a "treat") I bet all the Thursday night shows are reruns tonight too. Dern. Dern this week. I wish we could go back to Sunday and just start over...

(The funny thing is, I actually feel a little bit better after writing this. Thanks, blog. Maybe now I'll go take a shower after all!)

It's a...

GIRL!!!

We are thrilled to have another sweet girl in the house, and THRILLED about MCM having a sister.

My sister, Leland, and MCM came to the ultrasound yesterday afternoon. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but considering the ultrasound tech said "she" about 10 times before making the big announcement, the cat was out of the bag relatively quickly. It may be premature to speculate about this baby's temperament, but this ultrasound was a much different experience than MCM's 18-week ultrasound. By 18 weeks MCM was already kicking and flipping like crazy - punching Mama from the inside! (A trend that merely intensified as the months went on) This new baby girl seems to take a more relaxed approach. I've felt some little taps here and there, but even being poked and prodded during the ultrasound didn't seem to bother her too much. Perhaps we can expect a chilled out little gal? That wouldn't be so bad! It's hard to imagine two little girls with completely different personalities...I know it is going to be a joy to get to know this new babe. Believe me, I am already daydreaming about a house full of little women...scheming about how I can get them to call me "Marmee" and how we can skip around the house singing and putting on plays and there will be lots of bows and dresses and dolls and fun. I can't wait!

I do hope we have a little boy in the future to temper all this girlie fun, but even if we don't, I feel extremely blessed by what God has given us.

Today I'm hoping to get myself motivated to run errands and take care of some last minute Christmas details and perhaps go to the book store and buy MCM a stack of books about the wonders of having a little sister. Yay!

Proof that anything goes as long as I get to cook dinner

I wish you could see the mess of tupperware all over the floor. MCM worked very hard to clear out a spot for herself in the cabinet and was very proud of herself! After she cleared a good spot, she shut both doors and just hung out inside, thinking she was super clever and funny. We couldn't even get her to come out when Leland got home! She was having too much fun.

See?

O Christmas Tree!

It's hard to capture the beauty of a Christmas tree in a picture (or at least, I don't have the skills to do it!), but in the spirit of sharing holiday fun, here's our tree! It's already been so fun to see how excited Charlotte gets when she sees the ornaments each day. She has a few favorites...of course, she loves the balls, because she can say that word. And there's a little red bell she likes to ring over and over, and there is a glass version of Noah's ark that she loves to look at and say "roar." It has a lion on it. You can also see her handy work at the bottom of the tree - she was pulling the ribbon off. Silly girl! She's actually been great about being careful with the tree and the ornaments. It's just fun to share this season with her and see that she's understanding things so much more. Having children enhances every life experience, but it's especially fun to see how each holiday is full of delights for little ones. How much fun will it be when there's two?!?

Our ultrasound is next Monday, so we're counting down. What do you think? Boy? Girl? I'm going to start keeping my mouth shut on that subject. Hopefully I can manage for a few days!

Catching Up

Hey you.

Leaves are crunchy!

Almost learning how to smile for the camera.

Well, I hope to be truthful when I say that I am officially back. Internet is up and running, so I've officially run out of my #1 excuse not to blog. I miss it. But, I also feel like I've fallen off the wagon. Getting back on by simply typing something onto the computer screen suddenly feels like a monumental task. Still, life continues to move forward and continues to be occasionally blog-worthy, so here I am. I'm sad to say that I didn't take many pictures over Thanksgiving. We spent about 10 days in Memphis with the fam, which was great. But, I spent most of the time trying to keep up with or entertain MCM, so pictures just didn't happen much. She did have a blast playing in the leaves outside Nana and Pop's house. Every time we went out to get into the car we had to crunch leaves first. Good times.

It's been a hard week getting back into reality. It only took 10 days to virtually forget how much time we spend alone at the house or running errands. We're in such a routine (a rut, perhaps??), which is great, but it also becomes a bit of a grind when you do it day after day. The Beeb has had so much work over the past month or so, that it's difficult for him to get home in time to see MCM before she goes to bed much less to have the time he'd like to have to relax. All in all, life is an odd sort of busy. I am looking forward to the holidays in hopes that we'll have more time together, time to relax, play, and just enjoy life. We're having our first Birmingham Christmas this year, which should be fun. Lots to do to get ready for that...

MCM is almost 18 months old. It's insane how fast she's growing up. We are loving her more each day as we watch her little personality blossom. She is super sweet, loves kisses and hugs, is obsessed with dogs or "dog-uhs" as she calls them, and runs everywhere at full speed. She keeps us very busy from 6:30 AM when she wakes up (practically like clock-work) until 7:00 PM when we finally call it a day. After that, my brain is mush, which is another reason I've failed to blog for so long. Lately, I feel like I rarely have thoughts unrelated to feeding, entertaining, coralling, or disciplining a toddler. What's going to be really interesting is somehow expanding my brain to include nursing, changing, loving, and caring for a newborn! Bring it on!

I am 16 weeks pregnant right now, and we find out what we're having in 2 weeks. We can't wait! Right now I'm feeling good, although tired, and have a rapidly expanding baby bump. Man, is it true that you start showing earlier with #2! I keep trying to stuff myself into my pre-pregnancy jeans, but that's basically like Chinese water torture by the end of the day. Onto lovely maternity things!

Alright, I could go on and on, but MCM is refusing to nap and making lots of annoying sounds from her bedroom. Time to go retrieve her and carry on until 7:00 PM.

I hope the tens of people (if that!) who read this blog won't give up on me completely. I'm back!!