The pictures yesterday turned out great. After our at-home portrait session before Christmas, I was a little worried about Emma cooperating, but she couldn't have been better. She was even begging to take more pictures after it was over!

This morning I am bringing Emma to get pictures taken. We haven't had any done since she turned a year old, so I figured we'd better get some with her alone before the baby comes, and since her third birthday is next week, now seems like a good time. I told her we could bring a few different outfit changes, and of course she packed every sparkly dress-up dress, piece of gaudy jewelry, and boa she owns. I packed some of her regular clothes, so hopefully I can actually get her to wear them when we get there.

On Saturday I (again) decided to step up the potty learning efforts. I took her to Target and let her pick out some more cute little underwear, and any kind of candy she wanted. She picked Jelly Bellies, and I told her she could have three of them any time she peed in the potty. She was all excited, but the next day and nine pairs of underwear and nine "Uh-oh, I forgot to pee/poop in the potty," statements later, she hadn't gotten a single Jelly Belly. Now she's back in diapers because I'm tired of cleaning up the messes, and still no using the potty. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! Why doesn't she want to do this???

I have been driving the same car for over five years now, and although it is super reliable and I've never had a single problem with it, it is small and ugly and it's getting almost impossible for me to get Emma in and out of the backseat now. We're planning on getting a van, but Steve wants to wait until after we get our tax return so we will have more cash to put down. I, however, have decided that I can't fold myself into that itty bitty backseat anymore, and shouldn't be forced to, so my current top priority is talking Steve into getting a van ASAP. I just started pushing for it yesterday, and so far he is not convinced. Hope's hoping he gives in soon.

Emma adores doing crafty things, and since she is almost three, I've decided that we're going to start having a little organized preschool time every day. There are so many websites with great preschool ideas and I'm having a lot of fun looking at them all and planning activities. Since today is Groundhog Day, we talked about that and then made a little groundhog out of a toilet paper roll.



















After that she wanted to do more, so we went ahead and did tomorrow's activity as well. She made a Valentine mouse and then we worked on the letter M. She can write an E, so I thought M would be a good next letter but she totally wasn't getting it. I told her to draw two mountains next to each other, but every one of her Ms looked more like an entire mountain range. She did all the tracing, cutting, and gluing on the mouse and was very proud. I think that's pretty impressive for a two year old.

Here at my mom's, we were looking through their closets at some old stuff and we found my First Communion dress. Of course Emma wanted to try it on. It came down to my knees when I was seven, but reaches the floor on her and, since it's all ruffly and sparkly, she of course nabbed it for herself. She's been wearing it ever since, and I'm certain she will wear it for the entire ski trip. She will defninitely be the most ridiculously over-dressed person in the ski lodge! I can't post pics now, but will when we get back home.

I've been worrying about how Emma will deal with the new baby and how my relationship with her will change. Someone in my birth club on MDC posted this poem, and it made me cry when I read it (although what doesn't these days?).

As I hold your 2-year-old hand, basking in the glow of our magical
relationship, I suddenly feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that
our time alone is limited.
And I wonder: How could I ever love another child as I love you?

Then she is born, and I watch you.
I watch the pain you feel at having to share me,
as you've never shared me before.
I hear you telling me in your own way,
"Please love only me."
And I hear myself telling you in mine,
"I can't," knowing, in fact, that I never can again.
You cry. I cry with you.
I almost see our new baby as an intruder
on the precious relationship we once shared.
A relationship we can never quite have again.
But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and
feeling almost guilty.
I'm afraid to let you see me enjoying her.
-- as though I am betraying you.
But then I notice your resentment change,
first to curiosity, then to protectiveness,
finally to genuine affection.
More days pass, and we are settling into a new
routine.

The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.
But something else is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just we
two.
There are new times -- only now, we are three.
I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch
each other.
I watch how she adores you -- as I have for so long.
I see how excited you are by each of her new accomplishments.
And I begin to realize that I haven't taken something from you, I've given
something to you.
I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of
you.
I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally
strong.

And my question is finally answered,
to my amazement..
Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you-- only differently.
And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I now know you'll
never share my love.
There's enough of that for both of you
-- you each have your own supply.
I love you -- both and I thank you both for blessing my life.

~author unknown

Little Miss Explosive is doing much better. She's still a tad cranky, but other than that she's fine. Thank goodness!

Emma and I were planning on going to my mom's on Friday for our annual ski trip. Of course, I won't be doing any skiing this year, but am still looking forward to hanging out with my family, playing lots of games, and hopefully lots of knitting. My brother who lives in Oregon is coming in on Friday and I'm excited to see him as well. Anyway, we were planning on going Friday, but Steve is going to be working past midnight all this week, so Emma and I are leaving tomorrow instead of just hanging out here all by ourselves until Friday.

Last night I finished knitting this soaker,



















and here is a picture of the old belly, taken yesterday at 29 weeks. Right after I took this picture, Emma was laying on my lap and the baby was kicking a lot. I didn't realize she could feel it until she said, "Will you tell your tummy to stop bumping me, please?"

We are not doing well here. I am worried that Emma has the dreaded rotavirus. She hasn't eaten a single thing since Friday night, yet is somehow still throwing up. She even refuses to eat ice cream. Her temperature has been between 101 and 102 consistently since Friday night. Today we went to Target to get some Pedialyte, and in the fifteen minutes we were there she exploded out of her diaper, and then threw up all over herself, me, and the checkout aisle. On the way home and for about thirty minutes after we got home, she was writhing around in pain and screaming that her tummy was hurting her. I felt so helpless and horrible for her. Then, suddenly, she got up out of bed and walked into the living room, which was odd considering she hasn't stopped hanging on me for the last two days. She crawled up on the couch and looked like she was going to fall asleep. (Just an aside - we got new couches last week, and had sheets over them to keep them protected. Yesterday she threw up on one of them so I pulled the sheet off to wash it. I was a little nervous about her laying on the new couch with no sheet, but I would have been so relieved if she had gone to sleep so I let her go.) A minute later we looked at her and she was laying in a large pool of the nastiest nastiest nastiest poop I have ever seen. Her diaper and clothes didn't even come close to containing it. (So much for keeping the couches nice.) We gave her a bath, and she has been sleeping ever since then. This is no fun. I just want her to get better.

Ugggg. It is 3:14 a.m. and I am so tired I can barely think. Tonight we were all exhausted so we were in bed and asleep by 9:30. Emma, who seemed perfectly fine before going to bed, woke us up an hour later by throwing up what seemed like gallons of vomit - all over herself, me, the sheets and comforter, and two of the three pillows in the bed. Fun. We gave her a bath and pulled off the sheets and everything, but the mattress was too wet to go back to bed there. We got out all our blankets and made a bed on the floor in the living room. We slept there for awhile, although I didn't sleep much because every time I heard a little tummy gurgle or hiccup, I jumped up to put a bowl in front of Emma's mouth so she wouldn't puke all over us again. She did throw up again, in the bowl - whew! - and afterwards wanted to come back here and "nurse pillow", which means I am sitting here at the computer while this poor pukey-smelling, crusty-haired kid sleeps fitfully on my lap. She hasn't thrown up since she was about ten months old, so I guess we were due, but still. I suspect tomorrow is not going to be a fun day.

In our house, there is no getting any privacy for anything. If Emma finds the bathroom door locked, she can grab a coin out of our change bucket and unlock the door in seconds, barging in on whoever might have been trying to relish a minute or two of privacy. When my mom was here last week, she told Emma she was having peace while she took a bath, and asked Emma not to come in. It must have had an impact on her because yesterday I found the bathroom door locked and I knew Emma was inside. Through the door, I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Go away, please. I'm doing peace!" Then, a few minutes ago, she told me she wanted to do peace so would I please make a bath for her and then leave her alone. Right now she is calling me from the bathtub, saying, "Mommy! I'm finished doing peace! Now I'm just taking a regular bath so come back in here!"

More cuteness...last night she was asking if Steve was going to be home for dinner. I told her sadly that he wasn't because he had to work late again. She threw up her hands and said incredulously, "Doesn't that guy ever get hungry?"

She is starting to pronounce her "l" and "th" sounds and that makes me a little sad. Obviously it wouldn't be good if she never learned them, but it makes me sad because she talks so cutely now and I don't want her to be growing up so fast. Last night she was peeling garlic for me and actually calling it "garlic" instead of gar-ic and she now says "other" instead of uh-er. Sigh.

Man, I so don't want to go anywhere today. Unfortunately, we have no food in the house and will likely starve if I don't go outside and dig my car out from under the snow and ice so we can go to the store. Did I forget to mention that it's three degrees outside? Yes, that's right - three. Brrrrr!

So, two nights ago we tried the plan of putting the dogs in the crate when we went to bed. As I expected, they cried and barked pitifully. I felt terrible listening to them be so sad, and Steve said he thought I was being cruel but that it was up to me. Their cries were really tearing me up inside. This is why I will never be one of those parents who let their kids cry themselves to sleep. I just can't handle the sadness. So, after about thirty minutes of nonstop crying and barking, I went and let them out. They were SO happy, and they jumped in bed with us and kissed and cuddled and I think we were all glad that they were with us again. So, that didn't work, but I am feeling better about them being there. Not really sure why, but I do and I guess that's all that matters.

Yesterday I finished knitting these longies for the new guy.

I have a friend who actually trains dogs for shows and stuff, and, after reading my last post, she emailed me with some advice. Now I'm inspired to work with our dogs, no matter how much they will hate it, so that we can all co-exist peacefully. If I don't do this I'm afraid Steve will come home from work one day to find that I have murdered them in a fit of cold-blooded rage. Okay, maybe not, but still. Steve doesn't think there is a problem, so I had to sit him down and make a point that while he doesn't have to help me, I do need him to back me up and not sneak them food under the table or invite them up on the bed after I'm asleep. So, here are my goals:

1 - No chewing tissues. Yesterday I went to Target and bought several trash cans with those flippy tops to replace our other trash cans. Now the dogs can no longer reach in them and drag out tissues. Problem solved.

2 - No sleeping with us. I brought up the crate from the basement and am going to start putting them in there at night. That crate was used for all of about five minutes when Jose was brand new. We put him in there once, he cried that sweet little puppy cry, and we took him out. So, five years later, after never spending another second in there, I know they are going to flip out when I put them in there. I know they will bark all night, but at some point they just have to accept it, right? Maybe a week from now? Two weeks?

3 - No jumping on and climbing all over visitors - same solution as No. 2. If someone is coming over, they will go in the crate. If, at some point, I can teach them to control themselves, they can stay out.

4 - No stealing food. This will be the hardest one. I got two choke chains, and a bunch of special treats, and we're going to work on being around food that isn't theirs and actually not taking it. I am certainly no dog training expert, so I guess we'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

Let's see, what else...oh yeah, here is the hat I knitted for Emma out of the yarn we dyed the other day.

I really don't like our dogs anymore. :( I feel awful for saying this, but I wish we could get rid of them. I'm so tired of picking up all the Kleenex they have dragged out of the trash and chewed everywhere. I just swept our bedroom and the office this morning, and now both rooms are already covered with nasty chewed Kleenex. We have scrapbooking stuff all over our kitchen table, so Emma and I have been eating on overturned laundry baskets in the living room. Today I gave her a plate with a grilled cheese sandwish and half a clementine. She got up for mere seconds to show me how she could hop like a kangaroo, and Pax rushed in and ate her entire sandwich in one gulp. In doing so he flipped the plate and the clementine pieces fell on the floor, where Jose immediately snatched them up. I would never, ever kick a dog, but today I really had the urge to do it. They steal her food all the bloody time and I'm so, so sick of making things twice. I try to not be mean to them, because I don't want Emma to be mean to them of course, but she is picking up on my attitude towards them. Today Jose rang the bell to go out and Emma yelled, "Stop it! You just went out!" Then later Pax was just sitting on the couch and Emma walked by him and said, "Ugh! Pax is so annoying to me!" I am feeling pretty sad about this, especially because I used to adore those dogs so much. I don't know if they just got way more annoying, or if I'm more intolerant. I suspect the latter. For example, Pax has always slept on my pillow at night. Now I'm having a hard time sleeping, and having to wake up and shoo him off my pillow eleventy million times a night because I can't get comfortable with him there is about to push me over the egde. Catch on, dude! I don't want you sleeping on my pillow anymore!!! Bloody just sleep at the bottom of the bed!!!

So remember that yarn that I ruined? Two of the three skeins actually turned out okay. The one on the right was supposed to be earthy oranges and reds, so you can see how far off the colors are, but Emma loves it so I will use it to knit something for her. The other one was supposed to be darker, definitely not so neon, but I can still use it.

Steve got home from Chicago late last night. He is planning on working all weekend, of course, but we're supposed to get lots of bad weather so hopefully I can talk him into working from home.

Emma and I spent the better part of this afternoon dying yarn, and I am really frustrated about it. The color didn't take at all, and because I know that I've used this same dye before and ended up with actual, vivid colors, I kept doing more and now I probably completely wasted three skeins of yarn. My hands are now a nasty brownish, greenish, blueish color so I know the dye was working...it just wasn't working on the yarn. Grrrrr.

Today my midwife was over here and I showed her the diapers I've sewed so far for the baby - because who doesn't love looking at cloth diapers? She said that, in addition to her regular home visits, she has recently opened up an office and has things for sale there such as slings, pregnancy tea, and handmade items. She asked if I would sew some diapers to sell at her office, and suggested I do ten of them before the baby comes. I thought it was pretty exciting that she thought my diapers were good enough to actually market somewhere, but I decided not to do it. I could probably sell them for $15 each, and if I factor in the materials and time (each one takes me about an hour), I'd probably only make about $8 or $9 off each one. That's not such good pay by itself, but considering I can only do them when Emma's asleep, it's totally not worth it. Those hours when she is sleeping are much more valuable to me than that.

Emma and I also spent a lot of time scrapbooking today. She is making her own book, and is really getting into it. She's almost filled up an entire notebook with pictures, drawings, stickers, etc., in just a few days. Here is she working diligently













and here she is critiquing her work.













And, here is a picture of her in her new favorite outfit. A mama in my AP group gave me some maternity clothes, and Emma nabbed this shirt for herself. She's been wearing it for the last two days, and I'm sure I'll be seeing plenty more of it until she finds something else that she deems "fancy" enough for her.

I have been crazy busy lately. Or at least I feel like I am/should be, but am not accomplishing much. There is hope, because my parents are visiting this weekend and my mom is staying until Wednesday! I am so excited. She will be able to keep Emma busy while I clean, organize, sew, scrapbook, and all the other things I want to do before the baby comes.

More good news...a mom in my AP group said she had some newborn and small diaper covers to give away. I went to get them and check this out!













She gave me 37 - yes, that's right, THIRTY-SEVEN - covers that are all in great condition! I am SO stoked about this!

Instead of complaining about the little girl who always tells me before she pees or poops but refuses to sit on the potty to do so, I will just post a cute picture of her. She got a giftcard to Build-A-Bear for Christmas, and last weekend we went and let her pick out a bear and an outfit and some shoes for it. Steve and I decided the place was a huge scam designed to get people to pay $40+ for a stuffed animal, but she really loves her bear. She named her Charlotte and has been taking her everywhere we go.

For months, we've been thinking of this baby as a girl. We've only been discussing girl names, always calling her the "baby sister", etc. Well, the other morning we went and had a sonogram, and it turns out this baby is a BOY! It's a bit of a shock, just because now this baby feels like someone completely different, but we're just as thrilled and excited.

Last night I went through my stash of diaper fabric, and every single piece but one is super girly. (Maybe it is because of me that Ems is such a girly girl!) I sewed one itsy bitsy adorable little diaper last night, and now I get to have the fun task of going to Joann's and picking out a bunch more fabric. My grandma gave me a little serger awhile back, and I used it for the first time last night - not without a struggle. The serging looks horrible, but I still love the diaper just because it's so little and cute. I also applied the snaps wrong and put the elastic on the wrong piece of fabric. It still works, but I am definitely out of practice since I haven't sewed any diapers in over a year.

The other night we were eating dinner at Chipotle. Emma, of course, was wearing her princess dress, and several people stopped as they walked by to comment on how cute she looked. One couple looked to be in their forties, and they stopped and oohed and aahed over her, then the man asked if he could take her picture. I sort of stammered, "Uh...I don't know..." but Emma and already grinning and saying "cheese" and the guy already had his phone out and was snapping her picture. I guess it's no big deal, but that just struck me as odd. I don't think I like strangers taking pictures of my kid (darling though she may be).

Christmas was good. It was the same as all holidays - wonderful time at my parent's house, lots of stupid drama at the in-laws. We aren't actually finished yet, because we were so busy visiting and running around that Santa never had a chance to stop at our house. Emma (and Steve) are napping right now and I just set all her stuff out in front of the tree, so we will take care of that as soon as she wakes up. She has already received so many gifts that I think we could probably have skipped getting her anything ourselves and it wouldn't have mattered. I forgot how many things we got her until I was getting it all out again, and it seems a little ridiculous now that one little girl would get so many presents. I'll have to remember that next year. Her favorite things that she got so far were, of course, frilly girly dress-up type things.

I didn't finish my Christmas knitting, or even come close, but that's okay. I did these washcloths (from Mason-Dixon Knitting) for a few people and gave them with soap.













My main project was making slippers (from a Little Turtle Knits pattern) for everyone in my family-my mom, dad, three brothers, one brother's finacee, Emma, and myself. Out of 16 slippers I had to do, I finished six. Oops. Hopefully I can finish the others within the next couple months.

I am going to be disappointed when Christmas is over and we stop getting all this good mail. We got TWELVE cards yesterday and NINE today! As Emma, who has not yet mastered her "sm" sound, says, "Holy pokes!"

Why is it that things always seem much better in the morning? Last night I was feeling pretty down. Emma never really took a nap yesterday, and consequently was super cranky the rest of the day. We've only seen Steve about an hour total so far this week (and probably won't see him again until tomorrow afternoon), and I was really feeling like I needed a break. Just five minutes to myself or something. Actually going to the bathroom by myself would have been good enough. Emma and I were making spinach calzones for dinner, and she knocked the bowl of filling on the floor. It splattered all over the table and walls and made a huge mess. Plus, we were left with nothing to have for dinner. We ended up having mashed potatoes and apples. Then, awhile later, I decided to make cookies to cheer us up. At one point Emma and I went in her room to change her diaper, and came back to both dogs standing on the table, trying to down every bit of our dough as fast as they could. Ugh! I considered making them anyway, but they had eaten a lot, and the licked-all-over dough just looked too gross. So we left the mess and went to bed. However, the point of this all is that this morning, even though we woke up to a huge mess, I felt so much better. We've actually had a pretty nice morning and accomplished a lot. I'm still wearing my pajamas at this point, but I'll take what I can get.

I am very much looking forward to Steve's coming home tomorrow, and actually being able to spend the next whole three days with us.

Christmas Letter

The past two years, Steve has written a letter to send out with our Christmas cards. I think that's a great tradition because I love getting letters from other people, and Steve is pretty good about making the letters funny and interesting. This year he wrote another one, but I think he went a little overboard with the "trying to be funny" part. I'm not sure if I'm being too sensitive, but I'm not comfortable sending out the letter he wrote, so this year our cards will be letter-less. He poked fun at me for not going in our backyard for the last five months due to my fear of snakes, but failed to mention that our yard is completely overrun with snakes! It's not just some crazy baseless phobia. He also mentioned that I have "cast off certain societal norms, such as bathing, dusting, and mopping". The last sentence of my paragraph said, "All kidding aside, four things can be said about Sarah: she is a great wife, a loving mother, a talented knitter, and a horrible housekeeper." I realize he is being sarcastic, and I don't care if we joke about these things together, but I can imagine people who don't know me that well reading it and thinking, "Wow. This chick doesn't bathe, has a filthy house, and is afraid to go outside. She sounds like a real winner." So no letter this year. And if there is to be one in the future I will have to write it myself, because I doubt Steve is going to waste his time writing one again that won't get sent out.

Steve has been working up in St. Joseph a lot lately, which is about 1.5 hours away. Last night he just decided to stay there instead of driving back late, so Emma and I drove up there to spend the night with him. She was very excited to be on a mini-vacation. He didn't get to the hotel until about 10:30, and by then I was ready to go to bed, but it was still a fun trip. Especially because I stopped at Gap Maternity on the way up there and bought myself a few Christmas presents!

Yesterday Emma was running down the hall, when she tripped and her poor little face slammed into the corner of the doorjamb. Now she has a large bruise that covers almost her entire sweet little cheek, and I'm a tad self-conscious about it when we are out. It looks like someone hit her, and I don't want anyone to be thinking that. Emma, by the way, has completely become the World's Most Polite Girl. Remember when, not that long ago, I was saying she was being really whiny and demanding? She transformed herself back into a sweet and wonderful kid, and is once again pleasant to be around. Whew!

Oh, and the big girl underwear thing? Not so successful. She pooped in her first pair, then peed in her second, and I was about to put on her third pair of the morning. I said, "Now remember to tell me when you have to go potty, because you don't want to have wet underwear, right?" She matter-of-factly said, "Yes, I do. I really, really like to have wet underwear." Oh. Well that may be, but I don't like cleaning it up, so back she went into the diapers.

I generally don't make New Year's reslutions, but this year I'm making one for our family. We are only going to eat out twice a week. Steve, of course, will still eat out when he's working, but only twice for me and Emma. This morning I was thinking about it and I realized that Saturday night we had dinner at Cinzetti's, Sunday we had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, yesterday Emma and I had lunch at Jason's Deli and dinner at Mimi's Cafe, and this morning (which really couldn't be helped because we were so far from home) we had breakfast at Houlihan's. Five times out in four days is pretty ridiculous, and it's not unusual for us, either. So, in an effort to stop wasting so much money, two times a week is the limit. Hopefully this will be more successful than most New Year's resolutions.

I suddenly have this overwhelming urge to clean and organize. While I am the first to admit that my housekeeping abilities are pretty abysmal, Steve always acts like I do nothing but sit and watch soap operas or something all day. Yesterday I had already put clean sheets on the bed, swept the kitchen, vacuumed and steam cleaned the carpets, done four loads of laundry, planned our menu for the week, and been to the grocery store when Steve called. He wanted me to go look at something on the computer, but I was in the middle of setting out a picnic lunch (on the living room floor) for Emma and myself, so I told him I couldn't do it right then. He said in this sarcastic tone, "Oh, like you're too busy?". Grrrr. So what if I don't mop the kitchen as often as I should, or if sometimes we don't have any clean socks, or if I never dust? Anyway, I'm rambling, but it annoyed me more yesterday I guess because I was feeling really efficient before he called. Hopefully I'll keep feeling motivated and the house will be so spotless it will knock his (clean) socks off.

Yesterday I made a joyful discovery. I had two pairs of stretchy pants - one black and one grey - that I wore every single day. After we got back from Thanksgiving, I couldn't find the black ones. Since then I've been wearing the grey ones constantly, and really wishing I hadn't lost the black ones. Last night I found them shoved way back in one of my drawers! I'm so excited to have two pairs of pants to wear again!

Steve bought Emma this set of princess stuff last weekend, and she hasn't taken it off since. I don't know where she gets this super girliness from - definitely not me!



















More exciting news - this morning when she was getting dressed, Emma told me she wanted to wear big girl underwear today! I guess we'll see how it goes, but I think it's a good sign she might be ready to (finally) ditch the diapers!

I am so tired.

We had a great time at my mom's as always. However, we came home to a messy house and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed about all the stuff I have to get done in the next week.

I'll write more tomorrow, but for now I'm off to bed.

Oh yeah, we had 19 Christmas cards waiting for us when we got here! Woo-hooo! I love getting cards.

Yesterday I participated in an handmade ornament exchange with some other moms. I made these,













and got these in return.













Steve has been working crazy hours again, and will continue to do so until mid-April. Yuck. Yuck yuck yuck. He worked until about midnight every night this week, and only came home earlier last night because I called him in tears. Today he is, of course, at work again, but we will see him this afternoon when I bring Emma up to his office for their family Christmas party. She will have a chance to sit on Santa's lap there, and it will be her first time. I am not too fond of that whole sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what you want idea, but I guess I'll have to deal.

Tomorrow Emma and I are going to my mom's house, where we will stay until Thursday. We are excited, and it will be much more fun hanging out with them than sitting here by ourselves while Steve works.

In the past two days, I have taken over 100 pictures of Emma, hoping to get one we can send out with our Christmas cards this year. It is darn near impossible to get a two-year-old to pose for pictures. Most of the pictures ended up looking like this



















or this.














It took forever, because she got her toy camera and wanted to take pictures of me as well. So after every one of her, we had to switch places for her to take one of me. She'd usually say the exact thing I had said to her for the last picture. "Put your little butt in the chair, please, mommy!" At one point I told her to sit and I would tell her a story. When we switched places, she asked me what my favorite story was, and I said The Three Little Pigs. She proceeded to tell me the cutest story ever that started with, "Once upon a time there were two little pigs and they lost their mittens."

Emma and I are stranded here today without a carseat, so we have been making the most of our day at home. In addition to the photo shoot, we've played lots of Candy Land and baked blueberry muffins. Now while she is asleep I better go knit. I am starting to think there is no way I will get all my gifts knitted before Christmas!

I have a confession. Emma has been driving me crazy for the last week. Ever since we got back from my mom's house, she's been super unreasonable and she cries about every. little. thing. She is still limping around and often complains that her foot is hurting, so I hope it's because of that and not some drastic personality change. Last night I got her one of those stretchy bandage things for her ankle, and today that seemed to help. Let's hope it's on the mend and that she will soon be back to her cheerful self. Please, please, please.

Today I wanted to take a picture of Emma and I said, "Okay, look cute," and this is what I got. That's one for the Christmas cards, right?













See what she is wearing in the picture? Saturday night my friend watched her while Steve and I went to his company holiday party, and when I picked her up, she was wearing that little purple nightgown, which belongs to one of my friends' daughters. Since then, she has only taken it off for a bath, and it went right back on afterwards. She wore it out to breakfast and to the mall yesterday, and on all our errands today. I am not looking forward to the spectacle that is sure to arise when we have to give it back.

After we went sledding on Friday I left our sleds in front of my car in our driveway. They were right up against the house, and while we were gone yesterday someone came and took them. Even though they were sitting right there, I still feel violated. What's wrong with people?

And lastly, me at 22 weeks.

Snow, snow, snow! I love snow! We went sledding with some friends this morning, and honestly, being out in the snow with little kids really isn't much fun. It's carrying toddlers while trudging up slippery hills, replacing dropped and snow-filled mittens over and over (and over), blowing on icy red little hands, and eventually, a bunch of kiddos crying because they are cold. Still, I know Steve wants to go sledding when he gets home, so we'll give it another go this afternoon.

Okay, I need some advice. Steve and I have been using T-Mobile for our cell phones and always thought they were great. We each had 1000 minutes for $45.99 a month, and never went over. Last month he switched to Cinglular to get some big fancy phone for work, and we both went over our minutes. He used 2200 minutes (!) and I used 1016. He wants me to switch to Cingular so we can get mobile to mobile, but with them I would be paying $10 more a month for 100 less minutes. I am also reluctant to leave T-Mobile, who I like so much. So, if you use Cingular, please tell me that you love them (or if you don't).

Here is a little Christmas cheer from Emma, whose favorite part of making a movie is watching it on the camera afterwards. Sorry it's a little blurry.


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We put up our Christmas tree yesterday, but half the lights didn't work. Emma was so excited about getting the ornaments on so we went ahead and did that, and I figured we'd just have a half-lit tree. Well, it was annoying me after just a few hours, so today we went and got more lights. Now we'll have to undecorate it to put them on, then decorate it again. I'm sure Emma will be thrilled about it, though.

When we got out all our Christmas stuff from the basement and the garage, some spiders came in as well. We saw two little ones, which we captured and put outside, but then there was this huge monster beast spider crawling across the back of our couch. I hate to kill anything, especially in front of Emma, but this one had to go. I told her to watch it, then ran in her room to get a shoe. When I came back, the spider was nowhere to be seen. She said she didn't know where it was or where it had gone. Ack! That was yesterday afternoon and I haven't sat on our couch since, because I don't want to disturb the monster spider who is apparently living in there now. Blech!

We had freezing rain all day yesterday, and are supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow today. I didn't want to dig my car out from under the sheet of ice, but I really had to go to the store for some food. My doors were frozen shut, but after kicking them, hair drying them, and trying to pry them open, I was finally able to get one open with hot water. Now I am so glad we made it out. It's really snowing outside, and we are holed up in here with everything we need for the next couple of days. Today we are planning on watching movies, baking cookies, drinking hot chocolate, and making Christmas presents. What could be better?

We are home. We took the train back last night, and the 5.5 hour ride on the very crowded train wasn't too terrible. The people all around us trying to sleep or read peacefully might be thinking differently, however. There was another little boy right across the aisle from us, and he and Emma became fast friends and terrorized everyone else in the near vicinity.

Emma is still gimping around, so I took her to the doctor this morning. Apparently she is going to survive, but will just be a bit slow for awhile. Not too long, I hope, because carrying her everywhere seriously wears me out.

We were planning to get Emma this dollhouse for Christmas, but now we're getting her this one from Target. I've been wanting to get her some pots and pans for her play kitchen, and replace her crummy plastic food with wooden food, so this way we can do both, in addition to getting her a dollhouse. So this morning we were at Target looking at toys, and I figured I could slip the dollhouse onto the bottom of the cart without her noticing since she was at the end of the aisle, engrossed in some other toys. I slyly pulled the cart up next to it, then slid it onto the cart. Without even looking up from whatever she was playing with, she said casually, "Are you getting that for me, mommy?" Gah! I said, "What?" and she looked at me, then nodded at the dollhouse, and said, "That box. Are you getting it for me?" I stupidly muttered something like, "Oh, I didn't mean to put this here," and put it back on the shelf. I should have known better than to try to get something past her.

Our Thanksgiving was great. Steve, Emma, and I met my family at a cabin down at the lake for a couple days. We played games, watched old family videos (I was so, so annoying at age nine), hung out outside in the fantastic weather, and wrote our yearly "What I Am Thankful for this Year" letters. It was a perfect weekend.

Now Steve is back home, and Ems and I are staying at my mom's house. Emma hurt herself jumping on the trampoline yesterday afternoon, and has yet to put any weight on her injured foot. I forgot how much work it is to have a child who can't get around on her own! If she is still crying around and not using it by tomorrow, I'm going to try to get her into a doctor somewhere for x-rays. I feel bad for her because she is obviously in pain, and has not been her cheerful self since it happened. Can two-year-olds use crutches? I doubt it.

I am feeling completely irrational today. I brought my favorite kind of bread from home so that I could eat turkey sandwiches (my current food obsession) while I was here. Today I went to the store and got turkey, cheese, and sprouts, but when I got back here I couldn't find my bread. I know it was there yesterday, but it is mysteriously gone today. I actually had to sit on my bed and compose myself for a minute, because I was dangerously close to crying about the ridiculous missing bread. I had to eat my sandwich with some other bread my mom had, and now just writing this I am tearing up again over my lost bread. Apparently I am well on my way to becoming a completely crazy person.

ETA: Today I am thankful that Steve is such a good sport about participating in my family's traditions, including our homemade family Trivial Pursuit game, which includes questions like, "Who was Peter's second grade teacher?" and "Name all the cats we've ever owned."

Our weekend was really great. Friday night we saw my brother's play and it was outstanding. I was so proud of him.

The Bed and Breakfast was also good, although the night away from Emma didn't quite work out. I called to check on her at 10:00 and again a little after midnight, and both times they said she was doing great. The second time my brother said she was looking pretty tired so they'd probably go to bed soon. I hung up thinking the night was going to be a success. As I went to sleep I was really missing Emma and almost wishing that we'd brough her with us. At 3:52 a.m., I was awakened by my cell phone ringing. My poor parents and Emma were in their car on their way to the B&B. Apparently my dad had driven Emma around at 12:30 to get her to fall asleep. They put her to bed with my brother and all was well until 2:30, when she woke up. For the next hour, they tried everything to make her happy, but she just cried inconsolably and repeated, "I can't nurse without my mommy!" So they loaded her up and delivered her to us. Thankfully we were only about 25 minutes away. I met them outside and brought her in. I think I was almost as happy as she was to snuggle up together and go to sleep. The owner of the B&B was pretty surprised to see her in the morning! Kids under 12 are not supposed to be allowed to stay there, but the owner handled it well. For Christmas every year my mom and dad give us a night at a B&B to be used in the next year. We're thinking we'll try to use the next one before the baby comes, but meet up with my parents at midnight or so to get Emma back for the night.

I signed up to participate in a homemade ornament exchange with some friends. We're exchanging the ornaments sometime in early December. There are eight of us, and I assumed we'd each make one ornament and swap with one person in the group. Today I realized that we are all supposed to make one for each person. Yikes! I was already worried about finishing my Christmas knitting, and now I have to add these ornaments to my to-do list. I seriously need to get busy!

Today I am thankful that I have such wonderful parents who I can completely trust with my children.

Emma and I have been listening to a lot of Christmas music lately, and as soon as she woke up this morning, she told me she wanted to listen to the Geese Mamamot song. I told her I didn't know what that was, and she kept saying, "Geese Mamamot! It's a Christmas song, mommy!" Several hours later, Feliz Navidad came on, and she started jumping up and down excitedly. "Geese mamamot! Geese mamamot!" Ah ha. No wonder I didn't get it.

This morning we were at Target, about to check out. We were waiting in line when another cashier opened up the lane next to us. I headed over there, and called to Emma (who was inspecting all the candy for sale in the aisle) to come with me. She looked up, didn't see me, and took off running in another direction. She disappeared into a nearby aisle, so I left the cart and went to get her. As I rounded the corner, there she was holding the hand of some stranger, along with a little holiday Life Savers package, and saying to the stranger, "Should we get this for Christmas, mommy?" The lady looked completely amused, and just stood there looking at Emma, who clearly thought this woman was me. I said Emma's name, and she looked up at me, then looked at the lady for a minute, then dropped her hand and sprinted to me, looking completely terrified. The lady said Emma came running around the corner, saw the Life Savers, grabbed them, then came over and took her hand without ever looking up at her. I guess the excitement of the Life Savers - which I'm pretty sure she has never had before - made her forget that she didn't know where I was!

We are getting ready to have a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow Steve is taking off work, and we're driving to St. Louis. Tomorrow night we're going to see a play - in which my little brother plays the lead - so I'm pretty excited about that. Then Saturday night Steve and I are going to stay at a Bed & Breakfast all by ourselves. That's right...ALONE. Emma is going to stay with my mom and dad. It will be the first night in her whole life that she will not be cuddled up next to me, and I'm feeling a little sad about it. I think she'll be okay, and she won't have to sleep by herself there or anything, but I'm still pretty nervous about it. I hope it goes well, because it will be nice for Steve and I to enjoy a night alone together. We probably won't get another chance for three or so more years.

Sniff, sniff. Emma got her very first haircut yesterday. She looks so old and grown up to me now. She was very excited to get it done, and was a perfect angel the whole time. She had been saying she wanted a "pink haircut" for awhile now, but afterwards she didn't seem disappointed that there was nothing pink about it.

I have no control over myself when it comes to my stomach these days. Last time I was pregnant, I don't remember having such strong cravings for certain foods. Today Emma and I were going to Wild Oats, and I was feeling a little hungry. There is a Cheesecake Factory right in front of WO, and as soon as I saw it I thought about how delicious some of their Chicken Littles (basically chicken strips) and mashed potatoes would be. The Cheesecake Factory is a little extravagant for just a weekday lunch, so we went ahead into WO. I looked in their deli area but nothing looked as appetizing as Chicken Littles and mashed potatoes. I decided to just get my shopping done and go home and eat lunch there. Halfway through, thoughts of Chicken Littles were taking over my brain. I couldn't focus on anything else - I absolutely had to have some. We backtracked through the store and put everything that we had back, then walked over to Cheesecake Factory. Mmmmmmm. It was so very worth it. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a meal of chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans that much in my entire life.

I am realizing that it's going to be difficult for me to buy presents for Emma for Christmas. Last year she was still more or less oblivious, so I could easily slip something in the cart, pay for it, and take it home without her ever noticing. So far this year I have seen several little things that I thought would be good presents, but I couldn't get them because she was right there and there is no way to get something like that by her anymore. How is this going to work? Do I just have to buy everything online? That also poses a problem because she gets really excited about going through the mail every day, and is thrilled whenever a package arrives. Hmmm.

Here is a cute pair of slippers I finished knitting for Emma. I just got the pattern (Stripey Slippers from Little Turtle Knits) yesterday, so they were super fast to knit. I think they are so adorable that I have already started a pair for myself.

Today I am thankful for the baby that kicks and jabs me all day long, giving me a little tingle of joy every time I feel it.

Awhile ago I mentioned that Steve had gotten a speeding ticket, and then because of some sort of miscommunication with our lawyer, he had a warrent out and a threatened license suspension. To avoid the suspension, and all the hassle and money that would be involved in reinstating his license, we had to take a last minute, middle of the night trip to St. Louis (where he got the ticket) Wednesday night. He didn't get home from work until after 9:00 that night, so we ended up rolling in to my parents' house pretty late. Thursday morning he went in and paid the fines, then we hit the road again and were back home a little after noon. It was nice to see my mom - for all of 45 minutes - but it seemed like a huge waste to make that drive and not get to stay any longer.

Emma has suddenly become super whiny and bossy. I'm getting more than a little tired of hearing demands like, "Get me some water!" and (in the whiniest voice ever) "I neeeeed a snaaaaaack," all day long. I think I say, "If you can ask me nicely, then I'll get it for you," a thousand times every day. I hope this is just a phase.

Brrr, it is cold outside! After a few really nice days, it was quite a shock. Emma and I left to go for a walk, but turned around pretty quickly because it was too cold and windy for us.

I threw up today, BUT I am thankful that it was the first time I have puked in almost two weeks!

A year ago today I set up a Sitemeter account to track how many hits I have to this blog. The count is currently at 13,088. It amazes me that, in that last year, people have come to this blog over 13,000 times because they're interested in what I have to say. Or I suppose they could just be bored, but that's okay too.

I heard a great tip about clearance Halloween costumes at Target (thanks, Catherine!), so yesterday Emma and I went to check it out. This dress, at 90% off, cost all of $1.50 and she loves it! It was a struggle getting her to take it off for bed last night, and she put it on right away this morning as soon as she woke up. We're taking a walk with some friends this afternoon and I suspect she'll be wearing it for that as well.

Today I am thankful for this gorgeous weather! Right now it 75 degrees outside and sunny. Does it get any better than that?

Wow, I haven't blogged in almost a week.

Emma and I spent five days at my mom's and had a great time. Here are a couple pictures of Emma while we were there.



















Poor Emma is sick now. Since we so rarely get sick around here, I forget how crummy it is when it does happen. All she really has is a stuffy nose, but that makes it hard for her to sleep and I can hear her struggling to breathe all over the house. I really don't like giving her medicine, but last night we were getting no sleep so I went to look for something. I found a little unopened bottle of decongestant, but it expired over a year ago, so I chucked it. Also, yesterday Emma sneezed while I was carrying her into the post office. When we got home, after the post office, the dry cleaner, and the grocery store, I discovered a huge glob of snot on my jacket. It must have happened when she sneezed, and I'm so glad I went all over town with it stuck to me. Lovely.

Kansas City has two radio stations that play nothing but holiday music around Christmas. One of them has already started, which is a little ridiculous, but has inspired me to download many, many Christmas songs for my iPod. I love Christmas music and am so looking forward to the holidays, so Emma and I are already enjoying all Christmas music, all the time.

My friend Catherine had the idea to blog about something for which we are thankful every day during November. I'm getting a late start, but today I am thankful that, because I went to the store yesterday, today we have a refrigerator full of choices of delicious things to eat.

I think Halloween was a hit with Emma. We started off by going to the library yesterday for a fun Halloween program (I love Dino O'Dell!) The little kids all wore their costumes, and Emma had a mini meltdown when she saw a few other girls in pretty princess-type dresses and decided she'd rather be wearing a dress than a cow suit. I can't imagine why. Anyway, they got some candy at the library and that made her feel better. People were giving out candy as we walked out the door, and she exclaimed, "I'm so exciting about this! This candy makes me very happy!" Next we went to the thrift store, and she got more candy, which she was also very "exciting" about. I let her have one piece, and in the car she asked for another piece. I explained that candy is not good for us so we had to wait before we could have another piece. She laughed and said, "Silly mommy, teasing me 'bout candy not being good! Candy is very tasty for me!" Anyway, she had so much fun trick or treating and was extremely excited about every single piece she got. We're saying she gets two picks of candy a day until it's gone. What she doesn't know is that I'm taking most of it out to send to work with Steve, so it will be gone hopefully by the end of the week.

I'm knitting washcloths for some people for Christmas, and planning to wrap nice soap in them to make them a little more exciting. I realize that knitted washcloths are something that one might expect from an 80 year old woman with not much taste, so I'm trying to find cute ones that people would actually want. I finished this one yesterday, and I don't like it at all. For some reason my bobbles are on the wrong side, and it won't lay flat. I think I'll save this one for MIL, and find a better pattern for the others.

Today I decided to take Emma to St. Louis to visit my family for a few days. We haven't seen them in a few weeks so I am starting to miss everyone. We will probably come back on Saturday, depending on how much Steve has to work this weekend.

And, lastly, here is the belly at 17 weeks.

My poll strangely became some other random poll, so I took it down. Before that, though, I am proud to say that my spider pumpkin was winning, 8-6. That'll show Steve for calling my pumpkin "elementary"!

Last night, for the second time in a week, some loser came and knocked on our door after dark. Both times Steve wasn't home, and it freaked me out. I realize that someone who is intending to rob us or worse probably isn't going to ring the doorbell to try to get in, but still. Last time Steve was almost home, and I flung the door open, thinking it would be him (and for some reason not wondering why he would be ringing the bell). It was some creepy guy trying to sell me some oil changes. Gah! Go away! So last night, Emma and I were sitting in the living room and at almost 9:00, the doorbell rings. Almost 9:00! The dogs went crazy, and Emma started to get scared while whoever was on our porch rang the bell, then knocked, then rang again. I want to get a No Solicitors sign, but Steve said probably no one would pay attention to that anyway. For awhile, after Emma being woken from her nap twice in one week, I had a sign that said, IF YOU FEAR FOR YOUR LIFE DO NOT RING THIS BELL, but that one mysteriously disappeared. Someone needs to start a "no-housecall list" like the no-call list. Seriously.

There's a saying that goes something like, "Picking up your house when you have kids is a lot like shoveling your driveway when it's still snowing." This is so true. Emma can take a completely spotless room, and trash it in under five minutes. Then, getting her to clean up after herself is like pulling teeth. Whenever I ask her to help me pick up, she'll sigh heavily, then sit on the floor and say, "Makes me very tired. I'll just watch you do it." Um, no. The only way she'll ever clean anything is if there is something else she wants to do, and I say we can't do it until we pick up first. Then, she'll pick up a toy, take it in her room, apparently get distracted in there, and come out with three different toys! Most of the time it's easier just to pick everything up myself, but I'm trying to get away from that because I don't want her to just expect that I will.

Happy Halloween!

Last night Steve and I were supposed to go to a work thingey of his, but it was cancelled. A friend of mine had already agreed to watch Emma, so we originally planned on going on a date by ourselves instead. After thinking about it some more, we couldn't really think of anything to do - going out to dinner seemed silly because we do that all the time, and there weren't any movies we were dying to see - so we ended up just staying home and having a lovely evening together, all three of us. We drank lots of hot apple cider and carved our pumpkins. Steve wants me to post a contest here and have you vote on which pumpkin is the best. You can probably tell which one is his if you know how weird he is anything about him, but just humor us. Here are the pumpkins. If you so desire, you can cast your vote over on the right sidebar.

Emma is obsessed with being four. She talks about it all the time. Whenever she wants to do something, but can't, she tells me it's okay because she'll just do it when she's four. Wishful thinking is starting to get the best of her because now when people ask her how old she is, she usually tells them she's four.

I have been drinking tea regularly for a couple years, and loving it. Now, however, for some reason I can't even stand the thought of it. Not even my pregnancy tea, which was so soothing for me when I was sick. Now all day long I am craving coffee. I've been running to Starbucks nearly every day for a Decaf Latte, but today I finally broke down and bought some decaf coffee so I can actually make it in my own house and have it available for me all day long. Mmmmm. If only coffee weren't so delicious when it is filled with tons of cream and sugar.

This morning at story time we had a little Halloween party, and my poor kid was the only one not wearing her costume. She didn't seem to care too much, but I felt guilty for forgetting. At the "party", everyone - keep in mind this story time is for ages birth-3 - received a Tootsie Pop wrapped in tissue to look like a ghost, and one of those huge, nasty sugar cookies with like an inch of icing and lots of sprinkles on the top. Ugh! I let Emma have the Tootsie Pop, but took the cookie and told her we'd have it after lunch. She was fine with that, and luckily forgot all about it anyway, but what were those people thinking? Giving out candy and a monster size cookie to a bunch of one and two-year-olds? Ridiculous.

I finished knitting one of the Christmas presents, but I've decided not to post pictures until after Christmas. Pretty much everyone who will be getting a present from me reads this blog, but I was going to just link to a picture and warn my family not to look so they wouldn't spoil the surprise. That was until one of my brothers informed me that he would look anyway, so now there will be no pictures. Way to go, David.

This morning after Emma and I woke up, but were still cuddling in bed, she put her hand on my cheek and said, "I wove you, Mommy. You're my best girl." How can I not have a great day when it starts like that?

This cold weather is making me hungry for soup. Right now I have two big pots of it cooking on the stove - Ham & Bean and Ham & Potato. Yum!

I suddenly have the urge to catch up on my scrapbooking. I'm going to try to get all my albums current before the baby comes. That and the Christmas knitting are my main projects these days. I will have Christmas knitting pictures soon!

Well, The Emma's New Bedtime in her Own Bed Plan failed miserably - all because of my hopeless addiction to Scrabble. Emma usually naps at around 1:00, so she was way past her regular nap time when she fell asleep in the car at 4:30. I was going to wake her as soon as we got home, but Steve enticed me with a game of Scrabble. I decided we could wait another day to start The Plan, and I carried her inside and laid her down without waking her up. I did lay her in her own bed...does that count for anything? She woke up at 6:30, we hung out for awhile, then went out for a late dinner. We got back at 9:30, and I was all set to do the bedtime part of the plan, but that darn Steve wanted to play Scrabble again. Instead of taking the time to put her to bed/get her to sleep, I made her a snack and put on a movie to keep her busy (Bad mommy!) while Steve completely creamed me at a game of Scrabble. I think 93 points on ONE word must be some kind of Scrabble record! In the end, we all went to bed together at 11:30. Maybe tonight will be the night.

This year I wasn't going to put up our Halloween decorations because I thought they would just add to the never-ending clutter that surrounds us. Yesterday I decided to stop being such a Halloween Scrooge and we got everything out. Emma was so excited that she insisted on putting on her costume and wearing it for the rest of the night. She looked so adorable that I really wanted to take a picture of her and post it here, but then it wouldn't be as fun to post pictures on Halloween, so I managed to restrain myself.

I've had enough of our bedtime arrangements. More specifically, our going-to-sleep arrangements. We've all been going to bed earlier for the past few months, and Emma usually just isn't ready to sleep then, so she drives us nuts until she is. Pulling on covers, kicking, rolling around, jumping on the bed, singing, and constant jabbering are tough to take when you're tired and past being ready to go to sleep. At least for me. So, I have decided to cut out her naps in hopes that she will go to bed more easily at night. I'm also really truly going to start moving her into her own bed. I am very reluctant to see the naps go, but I think this is for the best. Today we are implementing the new plan: no nap, read books in her bed at 8:00, then after that I will sit with her until she falls asleep. Which, hopefully, doesn't take hours and hours.

Lately it is kind of hard for me to get a cute, regular picture of Emma. When she smiles normally, she looks so cute, even with a kiwi seed stuck to her face.













However, it's difficult to get those pictures because as soon as she sees the camera, she emphatically exclaims, "CHEEEEEEEEEEEESE!", which results in pictures like this.

My needles came! Thank goodness!

This morning Steve's car broke down before he even left the neighborhood. It's weird because just two days ago I was telling a friend that I will never buy an American car because I think they're crap, and I used Steve's car as an example. His car (a Chevy) is six years newer than mine and has way fewer miles, yet way more issues. We're always throwing money into that car. Anyway, apparently I jinxed us because today we had to get it towed into the automotive shop. Steve ended up staying home all day and we had a great time, so that was cool. We played two games of Scrabble and I lost by an extremely narrow margin both times. I was hoping to play again tonight after Emma is in bed to redeem myself, but she is not cooperating so that game will probably never be. The stupid car ended up costing us $670, but it is fixed now, so there is no hope for a Scrabble rematch tomorrow.

Here are some videos I took tonight of Steve and Emma "performing".


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Steve and I are complete failures at taking out the trash in time for the trash pickup. Our outside trash cans are useless because the lids don't stay on so as soon as anything is in there, our lovely neighborhood raccoon knocks them over and the trash is strewn everywhere. My irrational fear of snakes means I am never the one to pick up the trash, which is good for me, but not so much for Steve. Anyway, we just put the trash bags in our garage when we empty the trash, and Steve is supposed to bring them to the curb every Tuesday morning. For some reason or another, this almost never gets done, and we always have trash piling up in our garage. Monday night we were lamenting the fact that we had FIVE weeks worth of trash in our garage, and it absolutely HAD to go out the next morning. Unfortunately, Tuesday morning we woke up just in time to hear the garbage truck pull past our house and on to the neighbor's house. Gah! Luckily, there are two companies that pick up the trash in our neighborhood, and the one we don't use comes every Wednesday between 10:00 and noon. Genius me, I called and signed up with them yesterday and cancelled with the other guys. It will cost us $3.50 more each month, but will be well worth it. Getting the trash out by 10:00 is much more manageable than having it out before 6:30. This morning I dragged all that trash outside, and watched with sweet relief when the guys rolled up and took it away. That is my major excitement for the day - knowing that, from now on, we will never have more than one week's worth of garbage sitting in our garage.

Steve got a speeding ticket awhile ago, so we found a lawyer and assumed he was taking care of everything. We sat back and waited to get our notice about paying court costs. Today we got a letter in the mail stating that Steve had failed to appear for court, and we owe blah blah blah, plus $98 more for not showing up, and if we don't pay asap, his license is revoked and a warrant will be issued. Yikes! My task this afternoon is calling the lawyer and the court and whoever else I might need to in order to get this resolved. Yuck. I hate dealing with all this stuff.

I realize I haven't posted many pictures lately and I know that at least one of you (ahem, Abbie) is probably wanting me to. I'm making a mental note to take some pictures of the kid tonight or tomorrow so this blog will hopefully be a little more visually appealing tomorrow.

I spent yesterday cleaning, organizing, doing laundry, and more cleaning. Today is the first day in months that I woke up and didn't feel completely overwhelmed by the state of my house. This morning I cleaned more, and by now I feel like this huge weight has been lifted off me. Also, I made Potato and Kale Quiche for lunch today so hopefully the reintroduction of kale means that our eating habits are starting to get back on track. It's so wonderful to finally be getting back to normal!

Awhile ago, I mentioned ordering some needles that hadn't come. It's been over three weeks now and they still haven't arrived. I've ordered from this guy (through ebay) before and the needles have always arrived within days. I'm not sure what to do. I emailed him last week and he asked me to wait a little longer. I emailed him again yesterday, but I haven't heard back yet. This has never happened to me before. Am I just out the money? Should I go ahead and order another set? I'm not sure, but I better figure it out soon because I am losing out on serious Christmas knitting time!

Tonight I get to go to Mom's Night Out. Woo hoo - freedom!

My AP group is going crazy lately scheduling fun Mom's Night Out type of stuff, and I am feeling sad that I can't attend many of them because Steve usually works too late to come home and stay with Emma. It's also Reason Number 1,000,000,001 that I'm sad we don't live by my family. Having them close by would make it so much easier because I know they would love to watch her if I wanted to go do something by myself.

On the other hand, Steve, Emma, and I really have such an amazing time when we're together. The three of us are really in a good place right now. I often feel like we enjoy each other's company so much when we're together because we appreciate it more. Last weekend, for example, was the first weekend in ages that Steve didn't work at all and it was wonderful! If he didn't ever work on the weekends, would we really appreciate them as much? Or...am I just trying to make myself feel better about his obnoxious work habits? Not sure.

Ever since Emma started eating solid foods, I have really been a stickler about nutrition. I devoured many books about nutrition and health and I would always get so excited about all the nutrients I was able to squeeze in at each meal. Sadly, I have lost that. I am hoping one of these days my desire to cook good, healthy meals will return, but in truth I don't even have the desire to cook crappy meals. We have been eating out more than eating at home. Today Emma said to me, "Where are we eating lunch today?" :( After that I really had good intentions for dinner so I got pork chops all ready, but by the time Steve got home the thought of cooking and eating them was making me nauseous. Chipotle, however, sounded fabulous. I really hope this ends soon because I am suffering some serious guilt because of it. And, by the way, the Chipotle was fabulous.

Brrr, it's cold - and I love it! I am feeling wonderfully content and cozy in the house these days. Emma and I have been doing a lot of baking and drinking a lot of tea, both of which make this chilly weather even better.

Steve has been without a cell phone for a few days due to changing providers, and it is terrible! I don't know how we ever survived without cell phones. He was flying in from Houston last night and he was supposed to be home by 10:00pm. By 2:00am, he still wasn't here and I was completely freaked out, already anticipating some cop knocking on the door in the middle of the night to deliver some terrible awful news. He did finally get safely home, but if only he'd had a cell phone he could have called me to tell me that his flight was delayed. (Of course, he was traveling with eight other people - all of whom I'm sure had cell phones - and I'm sure any one of them would have let him borrow theirs to call me. When I pointed that out to him, he was just like, "Oh, yeah." Argh!) Then today Emma and I were out shopping and we had a great opportunity to meet Steve for lunch but we missed it, all because I had no way to get ahold of him. His new phone is supposed to arrive tomorrow, thankfully.

I was planning on knitting some booties to match the soaker I recently finished, and I found a pattern that I thought looked cute. As I was knitting, I thought the pattern seemed a little weird, but I kept on. Now that I've finished one, it's clear that I made some horrible mistake because there is no way to seam this into anything that anyone will ever actually be able to wear. I'm almost embarassed to post a picture of it. Perhaps booties aren't my thing.

My pet peeve for the day: Why on earth do prenatal vitamins have to be so ridiculously gigantic? When I first found out I was pregnant, I researched prenatals and chose to buy a really good food-based one. I only took them for about a week before I started getting sick, and there was no way I could get them down. I still can't. I tried again this morning, and although I haven't puked in two days, it was so big and terrible tasting that my breakfast (and the pill) came right up. Ugh. Why doesn't someone get a clue and make those things a little smaller?

I got an iPod this weekend! I am so excited! Emma is very excited about the "ipond" too, and keeps asking to listen to it. It was supposed to be my Christmas present, but I was too excited and impatient to wait until then. However, the process of going through my 2500+ songs and tagging them all was beyond tedious. I am glad to have that part out of the way, and am looking forward to not having to mess with making new CDs for the car ride every time we make a trip to my mom's house.

Here are some pictures from the weekend, and one from today of Emma with her favorite toy lately, that little Halloween ghost.

See this?



















I don't think I have ever enjoyed eating something so much in my entire life. It was fabulous!

Last night I took Emma to a dance class. She heard me talking about it with a friend earlier in the day and spent the rest of the day begging/whining to go to dance class. Finally I asked her if she even knew what dance class was, and she shook her head and sadly said, "Nope." Anyway, I called around and one lady invited us to attend a class that night. It was "watch night", which is a once a month thing where the parents can sit in on the class and watch. Emma LOVED it! She did really well, despite being the youngest little girl in the class. She was shorter and had considerably less hair than everyone else there! You're supposed to wear your hair in a single ponytail or a bun, which is pretty comical when you think about Emma's hair. So we liked it, BUT I think I'm going to keep looking for a place that will let me sit in and watch all the time. I'm worried she wouldn't want to stay if I wasn't in there. She ran over to me many times during the class to give me hugs or share excitement, which is probably why parents aren't usually allowed in, but I want to be there for those things. Plus we'd have to buy her tap shoes and ballet shoes and "proper dance attire" and I don't want to do all that stuff only to have her decide she is too nervous to go in the room by herself anyway.

I got new shoes today! I've been wearing the same pair of tennis shoes for about four years now. I've bought a couple other pairs since then, but I never like them as much as my regular ones so I usually just go back to the same old ones. Suddenly this week I decided I'm so sick of the old ones that I can't stand to wear them another day. I wanted something really comfortable and that I could preferably just slip on - basically I wanted slippers that are aceptable to wear in public. Today I found what I was looking for and they are WAY comfortable! They go perfectly with my new stretchy black pants that I've pretty much been wearing every day for the past week (and will likely continue to wear just about every day for the rest of this pregnancy). What more could I ask for?

Emma loves to dance and loves frilly, girly things, so yesterday I bought her a little dance leotard at the thrift store. She LOVES it and hasn't taken it off or stopped dancing since we brought it home. She is a dancing fool. Steve and I think she would love to take a dance class of some sort, but I'm not sure they have those for two year olds. I'm going to look into it.

I am feeling whiny today. I've been feeling lots better, but still throwing up once or twice every day. Yesterday, however, was pretty bad, and so far today has been bad too. I can't stop puking. I am SO tired of this! I had to cancel my chiro appointment this afternoon because I don't even feel up to taking a shower, let alone leaving the house. Ugh. When is this going to stop????

Edited to add: I just talked to Steve and not only is he going to come home early, he is going to stop off at the store and bring me some vanilla ice cream and root beer! I've been craving a root beer float for weeks now, but have held off because I don't want to be eating that crap. Today, though, I don't care and I just want to eat something that will stay down. Yay for sweet husbands!