Christmas Recap

Whew! Christmas week has been a whirlwind. This is the first chance I've had to stop and catch my breath.

We opened presents from Santa Christmas morning, and the highlight, of course, was the vacuum! In fact, Owen didn't even care about opening his other presents. He just wanted to play with his vacuum. Somehow we convinced him to open the rest though:) Then we headed over to the Baskins for presents and lunch with them. Owen had a great time playing with the toy dinosaur that Santa brought cousin Garrett, and then he was really excited about his Buzz Lightyear from Gran & Pop. We've been watching Toy Story nightly before bed with Woody sitting on one side of Owen and Buzz on the other.

Then we had a few rounds of presents with my side of the family. His favorites so far are his Geotrax train set, Mr. Rogers DVDs, and his Loving Family minivan. Yesterday we were taking down the Christmas tree and Owen said, "We only put the tree away. Not the toys, right Mommy?" I thought that was so cute. I reassured him his Christmas toys did not have to be boxed up and put away!

Another highlight of the last week has been Owen playing with his Uncle Gil. He's my brother that lives in Texas so Owen doesn't seem him but maybe twice a year. He really took to Gil and wanted to play with him a lot. He asked when we were going to visit Gil in Texas. "Next time, Mommy?" "Yeah, sure, next time...." Anyway, that's what we've been up to. Buck goes back to work on Friday, so we've still got a few days to enjoy with Daddy. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a great new year!

Counting down til Christmas

Well, first of all, let me say this week I've been feeling so much better! Thank the Lord. I'm pretty sure the culprit was my prenatal vitamins. My doctor had given me several different sample packs to try, and I had been taking one kind for about 2 weeks. Well, when I started a new brand this week, I felt instantly better. I guess some of them have way more iron in them than others and that can cause nausea. So, on these new vitamins, I've been feeling, dare I say, normal?

Christmas preparations are in full swing around here. We got most of the presents wrapped today, and now we can sit back and countdown to Santa's arrival. Owen had his Christmas party at school Thursday. He was so excited because they had pizza for lunch and opened presents. Although he couldn't understand why he didn't get to dress up for this party like he did on Halloween!

Hope you enjoy the pictures of Owen below. The one with jar probably needs explanation. I gave him this empty plastic jar to play with, and he's been going around and filling it up with miscellaneous things. He loves figuring out what will fit in the jar and what won't and then showing off his collections.

Ho, ho, ho!

Owen & his jar

Merry Christmas!

Almost too sick to blog

Well, I hit 6 weeks of pregnancy this week, and right on time the morning sickness began. Or shall I say all day sickness? I can't complain too much because I haven't been sick enough to actually throw up, but I am in a constant state of queasy. Plus I've had a bad cold for about a week now which has made everything so much worse. I'm super exhausted all the time, feeling yucky, and, quite frankly, cranky. I'm sure Buck can vouch for that! Whew, I'll be glad when this morning sickness stage is over. I remember being sick some with Owen but don't remember how long it lasted.

Oh yeah, and another thing I forgot about being pregnant, everything tastes weird! I'm constantly grazing all day to help with the morning sickness but all food tastes terrible. Last night I woke up at 1 am feeling sick and had Buck make me a piece of toast. Is he a good hubby or what? I've basically been surviving on cereal, chips, and jello the last few days. And I miss my caffeine!!! Sigh. This too shall pass......

Santa Encounter 2008

We took Owen to "Breakfast with Santa" at the high school today. He was excited, though you can't tell from this picture! I was hoping the Santa would look a little more legit, but I guess it doesn't matter, huh? Owen was too shy to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas so I had to speak for him. And what is his only request so far? A vacuum! 

Busy, Busy, Busy

This past week has been so busy! Last night my book club met to discuss Women of Magdalene by Rosemary Poole-Carter. This book just wasn't for me, but all the others in my group loved it, so, go figure! It's set in Louisiana post-Civil War at a women's insane asylum. It was very dark, creepy, and depressing. Not something I cared much about, but to each his own.

Then, today my MOPs group had our monthly meeting, and we had a cookie swap. So, I had to get up this morning and make cookies at 6 am! I made Milk Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, which I had never made before but thought they turned out pretty good. I got the recipe from the Nestle Cookie cookbook. I haven't tried any of the others I brought home yet, but they look delicious.

Lastly, tonight, we decorated a gingerbread house with Owen. I bought the kit like a month ago, and he has been begging me daily to put it together. So, tonight we relented. Thank goodness it was the kind that's pre-assembled and all you have to do is decorate it because Owen is not a very patient child! Anyway, I think it turned out pretty good considering. Tomorrow we're planning to take Owen to see Santa. I have no idea how that will go over but I'll post pictures:)

Doctor's Visit

Well, yesterday I had a doctor's appointment to confirm pretty much what I already knew.......I'm pregnant! Due date August 5, 2009. More details to come later.

Back to Normal

Owen at the Trees of Christmas

Owen in his new big bed

Owen helping put up the Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving Day

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. It was especially nice having Buck home for 4 days straight. We had several family get-togethers and even got around to putting up the Christmas decorations. Owen thought it was so neat to get the tree box out of the attic and "help" Daddy put the tree up. Every time we turn on the lights he gets so excited and yells "Look at the tree! So pretty!"

Yesterday we decided to move our full-size guest bed into Owen's room. He's been asking for a big bed for awhile so I though, heck, why not go ahead and see how it goes. So, that turned into lots of furniture rearranging, vacuuming, etc. Plus 3 trips to Walmart to find a bed rail! That was irritating. First,  I sent Buck to get one and he came back saying they didn't have any (which I knew wasn't true because I'd seen them there). However, in his defense, he did ask an employee who told him they didn't have any! Second trip,  I went by myself and found 2 different kinds. I picked the more expensive one thinking it would be better, but, lo and behold, it didn't fit the mattress. Turn around, and back to Walmart we all go and exchange it and get the cheaper one, which, thankfully, worked! I was worried how Owen would sleep on it last night but he did great.

Today I took Owen to see the Trees of Christmas display here in Manchester. It's something I've done with him since he was a baby. It always puts me in the Christmas spirit, which wasn't hard today since it was also snowing! Then, this afternoon my friend Greyson and her 3 kids came over to play. Owen was a bit overwhelmed with all the playmates. He had fun though. Looks like this will be a busy month for us all. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend full of food, friends, and family.