January

How is this month over already? Have I really not blogged all month?
A summary of what's been happening in JANUARY 2011:

*The winter is passing WAY too quickly. It's absolutely heaven outside every day- 75 degrees and sunny. I am already dreading the summer and wishing time would just slow down.

*I am spending HOURS every day working on getting my blog turned into books. It's long overdue, and it was one of my New Years Resolutions. I'm doing that instead of blogging these days! It's so time consuming, but I can't wait to get them. I am doing two huge ones (280 pages each) of my blog over the last 6 years, plus a wedding album, plus one for my mom's blog. I bought Groupons to pay for them, and I only have 22 days to finish. Almost done!

*Speaking of weddings...yesterday we celebrated 5 years of marriage. I can't believe it's already been 5 years. We were going to splurge and go on a cruise until I realized there was no way anyone was going to let me on a cruise ship with this big belly. I guess we'll just go out to dinner today. We are really bad about making a big deal about our anniversary...BUT, we do get to do staycations and over night getaways almost once a month (thanks to my great in laws and to Expedia. Another post on how to get free hotel stays...coming soon.) So I don't feel deprived. Here's one of my new favorite pictures that's going in the wedding album. I never even noticed this picture before.

*My parents drove 8 hours to visit us. We loved having them here. We had a great weekend with them, and my girls loved having Grandma and Grandpa all to themselves. And they left us better than they found us: With lots of new food storage, and with both my girls staying in bed all through the night. My mom made that happen with a GUM bribe that has continued in the two weeks since they've left. I didn't think it was possible...but I am feeling a lot more rested. (So far no gum in hair or on carpet...I am not expecting that to last. But hopefully the new night habits will.) THANKS MOM!!!!! Here's a few pics from their visit:

Off to church...we were all wearing black and white...unplanned...It was fun to have both Grandmas (and Grandpas) over for Sunday dinner.

*Samuel is taking one class this semester, along with working. Biology! He has to go at the pace of the nursing program he's in- and since he already has his bachelors degree, he doesn't need all the other classes they are taking right now. So of course I helped him find his textbook for $65 instead of $157 that the bookstore was charging. Half.com baby. It's kinda fun to see him as a student.

*Pregnancy is going great. Baby Girl moved out of her rib-cartilage-tearing position, and most of my pain in gone and I am somehow managing to sleep through the night without having to get up to go the bathroom too!!! So I am EXTREMELY grateful for these positive changes. December was an exhausting and painful month, but January is going MUCH better.

*A lot of strangers are asking when I'm due. I've decided to just answer "Two weeks" instead of two months. That usually scores me a few compliments, instead of looks of pity.

*After gaining 7 pounds in December, I didn't step on the scale for 30 days (out of discouragement/depression). Maybe my new years resolution to "eat healthier" has helped, but I finally braved the scale this morning...only 2 pounds this month! What a relief for someone like me who packs the pounds on.

*We are still hunting for baby girl names. I just don't feel super connected to anything. I got a ton of great suggestions on facebook, and last night I finally ran them by Samuel, and we have a big list to choose from again. We'll probably end up taking the narrowed down list (of 5-10 names?) to the hospital and figure it out when we see her.

*I am SO BABY HUNGRY! For a newborn! It's making it hard to wait the last 9 weeks. I don't care that all they do is eat and cry. I love that tiny curl-in-a-ball-on-your-chest stage and wish it lasted longer. (Found this picture while working on book #1. This is Kalia:)

*I really feel the need to just get everything ready for the baby now, not because I think she'll be early, but because I really don't want to stress about anything the last month. So the newborn clothes are out, washed, and put away, I bought new burp cloths and a new bouncy chair, and I have a new kind of bottle to try. I also ordered some stuff off of Amazon with all these awesome coupons that keep coming in magazines (deserves it's own post....maybe later ok?) So I have milk storage bags, nursing pads, and one brand new baby blanket. Everything else for this baby is stuff I already have. I guess that's the beauty of having 3 girls in a row! My friend is recovering our car seat for us. I am SO excited to see it since i have no idea what it's going to look like. At least that will feel like new.

*I want Samuel to be able to feed her once a day, so she never refuses a bottle. I'm hoping to get a breast pump from WIC, since I don't have one. Fingers crossed.

*I've bought a bunch of different kinds of newborn diapers, and stocked up on my favorite Huggies Wipes. I'm so sad that my favorite newborn diapers (Pampers Swaddlers) switched to Dry Max. I hate Dry Max. If I find a package of the old version, I buy them. I'm also trying Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive (no Dry Max) to see if they'll do. Also a few generic brands. Anyone have a good newborn diaper that worked for them? I'll try that too.

*My biggest fear with this baby is that she'll have food allergies too, like Annie did. (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let her not have them...) Let me remind you that Samuel and I do not have any food allergies that we are aware of, so we don't know why Annie has them.

*Speaking of Annie, she is doing the same thing Kalia did when I was about this far along-- and that's getting clingy and sad when I leave her (like in nursery.) We've been talking about Baby Sister coming to our family for a long time, but all of a sudden these little kids just start to SENSE it, you know? I am just not sure how Annie's going to like sharing my attention. She's always been a mama's girl. She also has to sit on time out every day for hitting Kalia- maybe I should call it swatting...still though. It has to stop. This could be a bad combo.

*Finally, a funny story about Kalia and her (past) binky addiction. We were in Babies R Us the other day trying to find the perfect way to spend a gift card. I wheeled Kalia past the binky section (it was more like a 100 foot WALL of pacifiers) and it was like all the sparks in her body started flying. She was so in awe of all those binkies. She wanted me to wheel her close enough just so she could touch them. After a few minutes I wheeled her away, and we were all the way across the store when she said to me, "Ok Mom, here's your choices. Take me back to the binkies, or let me get out of the cart." Oh man, I still laugh outloud over that one. One, that she was "giving me choices" or two, that she was still obsessing over the binky wall, and plotting a way to get back to them. I took her back (since there was no way I was going to let her run loose in that huge store) and I promised her that another day I would let her pick out a new binky for Baby Sister (probably from somewhere that's a little cheaper.

*One more cute story from the other day- Kalia is really into Disney Princesses and movies and dressing up right now, and she's started to grasp the concept of "getting married." She saw the wedding album I was working on and said, "You and Daddy get married!" Which was cute, but the funny part was that the other day at the park she grabbed Annie's hand and they started running together, and Kalia said, "Annie, we're married! Call me 'Hon'. "

Good times. :)

Kalia's favorite princess dress:
I straightened her hair a little bit with a flat iron. It's getting long.