Sad News!

http://www.thewiggles.com.au/us/mediacentre/news/31

Greg has been diagnosed with a very unusual condition that will prevent him from performing with The Wiggles. We're so sad for him...and us.

It's Monday, AGAIN?

I read this in Reader's Digest...
People who are retired seem to lose their "Friday euphoria" because everyday is like a Friday. It's much the same for stay-at-home moms. Except everyday is like a Monday!

Have Mercy!!!

It's A Fact:
A Russian woman holds the record for having the most children. Between 1725 and 1765, she was pregnant 27 times and had 69 children.

New Math!

I just got home from my 33 week appointment. I'm still pregnant! There is good news and there is big news. The dr. measured the baby today and she is a biggie! She is measuring in at 35 weeks (which if you do the math correctly is 2 weeks ahead). She also weighs about 5 1/2 lbs. The dr. also commented on the size of her head. Ouch! Anyway, I thought I'd let you all in on the BIG news. (I'm not going out and buying and premie clothes yet!)

By the way, I don't think I've mentioned that we have a name for the baby. Instead of "It" or "the baby" or "her" we've come up with Emma Marie James. Charis can't wait for baby Emma to come. Anytime someone knocks at the front door Charis says, "It's baby Emma!" I'm trying to explain to her that baby Emma will come a different way. I'm just glad she's excited for her to come period!

Christmas Already?

(I know I am posting Christmas themed pictures before our Thanksgiving ones but I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving. They are all on my dad's camera. So as soon as he sends them to me, I will fill you in on all the details of the day. But for now...Christmas is almost here!)

Today, while still feeling the effects of the tryptophan in our turkey Ben helped me clean the whole house and do a load of laundry and decorate for Christmas! He should of had seconds yesterday. After Charis woke up from her nap Ben got out all of our Christmas decorations and we set out to Christmasize the house.

We put up our winter village and nativity set but somehow the house seemed so bare without a tree. (By the way, this nativity set is straight from Israel and carved out of olive wood. Cool, huh?) So we bundled up and took a trip to Frosty's Christmas Tree Farm (it's about a half a mile away...and we drove.) It actually was sort of chilly today. At 9:30am it was only 48 degrees! Ben put long underwear on Charis so she could play outside. (Ok, stop laughing now!)

Anyway, back to the trees. This place is pretty interesting. You can pay to cut down your own tree. Hmmm...that just doesn't seem right. The first year Ben and I were married we paid the man then walked out about 50 feet away and sawed for about 45 minutes then dragged a rather sad looking tree back to the man and paid him again to take the tree home. I think Ben only needed about 15 bandaids after using that rusty saw that they lend to you. So this year we decided to purchase one of their pre-cut trees.

The first ones we saw reminded me of Charlie Brown (but they were $20!) So we moved on and looked at the next size up. They were $45!! Ok, were going back to Charlie Brown. I wasn't completely happy with our choice of a tree (especially since there was a couple there that bought an 8 foot tree and strapped it to the top of their 2005 Chevy Tahoe and we bought a 3 foot sapling and put it in the trunk of our 1997 Honda Civic.) But once we got it home I was greatful for the wisdom (or Scrooge like behavior) of my husband. It's a cute little tree sitting on a cute little table decorated by a cute little girl and her cute little daddy in a cute little apartment. Once we got the lights and ornaments on you can't even tell that Snoopy and the gang had one just like it.

Easy Come, Easy Go?

Well, I was up until 2:15am last night (this morning). Surprisingly I wasn't all that tired for only getting 4 hours of sleep. Having an infant should be a breeze! (yeah, right!) Anyway, hopefully I'll sleep tonight.
So I lost my Ebay bid. (Thanks by the way for the bidding advice. Good stuff!) I was outbid by $1.05! That totally stinks! But, whatever...there's always tomorrow.
One more thing...does anyone know of a good place to find a "Finding Nemo" Christmas ornament?

Late Night Musings

So I'm not sleeping so well lately. Actually, I am not really sleeping at all. It's currently 12:45am and Charis has been asleep for almost 5 hours and Ben has been asleep for 2 1/2 hours. I have been doing Sudoku since 10pm and I think I should take a break. I am trying to type really quietly since our computer is in our bedroom. Here is a picture from last Easter. This is before I was pregnant and sick ALL THE TIME! Thankfully, I only have 8 more weeks to go. Then I will be craving sleep! Ben has offered to go and rent some movies for me but I am just not a movie person. I'd rather do something. I have a hard time just sitting and doing only one thing. Is that weird?
I don't know how many of you are familiar with Ebay but I am currently bidding on something for the first time. It's totally nerve racking! I think I only have about 15 hours left and I am currently the high bidder. It's so fun and could be addicting if I had any money. For my baby shower I was given some money to purchase a diaper bag of my choice. So I found a Petunia Pickle Bottom one on Ebay. If I win I'll post a pic and tell you all about it. I'd better go now. (I think I'm waking Ben up with my loud typing.)

Love is Blind?

Charis is a very loving little girl. She likes things that are little and she loves to kiss and hug. This is a very nice trait to have in a daughter. But sometimes her choice in what she "loves on" is questionable.
This is her "turtle". He is a Star Wars action figure that was Ben's when he was younger. She loves this thing. She feeds it and changes it's diaper and hugs it and kisses it. Then one night last week she came to me before bed and asked if she could sleep with it. I had my reservations. I told her it wasn't really cuddly but if she really wanted sleep with it she could.
Then she came to me with this. Yes, it is exactly what it looks like...a broken toilet paper holder. She held it in the palm of her hand and said, "I seep this too, Mommy?" After composing myself I told her that she couldn't sleep with it because there was plaster and a screw still attached! She hugged it and kissed it and begged me to let her sleep with it. I didn't give in. Finally, she gave it a kiss goodnight and went to bed with her "turtle".

The Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one. On Friday Ben and I went out on a date for the first time in 11 months! We went to Macaroni Grill (yum!) and then dessert at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (double yum!). Charis spent the night at Grandma James' house so we even got to sleep in on Saturday morning.
On Saturday at 10:30 Danielle Steinmeyer threw me a baby shower! It was so much fun! Here are the only two pictures I got on my camera. Another friend of mine took a bunch and she said she'd e-mail them to me, so I'll put them up soon.
On Sunday (it was my birthday) Ben woke up with the stomach flu! So in the midst of caring for Ben (who is a typical man that cannot handle being ill) Charis and I cleaned the house, did some laundry and made lunch for my parents and my sister & brother-in-law. (Birthdays are different when you're the mommy.) Then when my family came we ate lunch and I took a nap! It was a good birthday!

2 Going on 22

So last night I was sitting on the couch and Ben was in the kitchen. I knew Charis was sitting at the computer in our bedroom and playing with the keyboard. In an effort to get her to come out and be with us I said loudly, "Charis come here. Tell Daddy what you saw today with Grandma." And this is what I hear in a very loud and slightly annoyed voice, "Wait, I'm pushin' the buttuns." Ben and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. After a few moments she walked into the living room, saunters over to me and says matter-of-factly, "All done pushin' the buttuns now." Then she turns to Ben in a very serious and business like voice. "Daddy, I saw puppies with Mama." (that's how she pronounces grandma.) Ben and I could hardly contain our laughter!

Another funny thing she says is, "whoopee". It's when something happens by accident, like I drop something or she bumps into someone. Instead of saying oops or whoopsie, we hear, "whoopee!"

Nesting

So I think I'm nesting. (At least as much as I can while on bedrest) I spent 3 whole days cleaning out Charis' room. I went through all her drawers and stored the clothes that don't fit and cleaned out her closet and organized her toys in a whole new way. Man it feels good to be organized! (This is Charis' closet as it is currently. Notice the little dresses to the left and the bigger ones to the right. We're going to have 2 little girls!)

Ridiculous!

I was speaking to a friend of mine who is now 32 weeks along and we were consoling each other with the hard facts of pregnancy (it's not all cute clothes & soft baby kicks). She said something that seemed to sum it all up, "Sometimes it's easier to get out of bed, turn around, then lay back down rather then roll over." And it's true...I think I start to break a sweat when I try to roll over in bed. Ahhh! 10 more weeks to go!

The Help I'm Getting

There have been so many friends and family that have pitched in to help during this time of bedrest. My mom and Ben's mom come twice a week to take care of Charis and many people have brought us meals. Here is another one of my little helpers! Tonight I walked in to the bathroom and saw Charis cleaning the shower with a tissue. She was so happy and having some much fun. I took a few pictures then went to put the camera away. She began to cry and said, "Mommy take more pictures!"Ben and her spent some more time just taking pictures and goofing off in the bathroom. I don't know what we would do if we didn't have a digital camera.

Memory Lane & Thankful Trees

So this weekend Ben dug through all the boxes and found Charis' 0-3 months baby clothes. I had cleaned out a dresser for the baby and was now faced with the task of sorting through all the clothes and deciding what was baby #2 worthy. Unfortunately, Charis was born in July and this baby is due in January. There is a slight discrepency in the seasons but seeing that this is California, and we don't have extremes here, I can probably make a lot of these clothes work. (By the way, today is November 6 and Charis & I are wearing shorts and a t-shirt. It is supposed to get up to 84' today.) It was so fun to look at and remember all the cute clothes that Charis used to fit in. She was so little! This outfit was the one that she wore home from the hospital. She put the pants on herself but needed a little help with the top. It was really funny to see the brands of the clothes that Charis used to wear. They were mostly very expensive and very nice brands. Now we pretty much wear Target & Old Navy. (I personally didn't buy Charis any clothes until she was around 12 months old. We have very generous grandmas and an aunt.)

This is a Thankful tree. Someone had given it to Deidre and she passed it along to Charis. You can find similar ones at Oriental Trading Company. It is made out of foam and you are supposed to write what you (or your children) are thankful for on the leaves then glue them onto the tree. It was interesting to try to get the concept of "who am I thankful for" across to Charis. I started with talking about who we pray for and why we pray for them. (Every night before bed Charis gets to pick a few people to pray for. Sometimes it is more then a few people and I think it turns into an excuse to stay up later. We have to use our "parental wisdom" and discernment for that one.) So I think Charis understood the concept. The first thing she said was cats. hmmm...interesting...we don't own a cat. Then she said daddy & Mimi, mommy & Papa, then she said Nenny. (Nenny is my Uncle Kenny who Charis has met twice but hasn't seen since June. He obviously has made a big impact on her. He is one of the lucky ones who gets prayed for almost every night.) She finished up with Jeje (Aunt Jennifer), Aunt Dottie (she actually does pronounce that one very well), Grandma (who she calls "Mama") and Grandpa. Then she said Jesjes, Deedees and doggies. I surmised that Charis loves her family and she loves animals. (Notice the hippo on the tree. He is from her Noah's Ark stickers.)

If you're interested in getting a tree of your own here is the link. Or you can make your own for free out of paper. (But where's your support of the economy in that?) http://www.orientaltrading.com/

Eyeballs!

One of the unique candies that Charis got last night trick-or-treating was this nasty looking eyeball. I thought it was the grossest thing I'd ever seen. But today when it came time to pick her one piece of candy, this unforunately is what she chose. Ben said that we absolutely had to take pictures of her eating an eyeball. She loved it!

Baby Watch

I had another dr.'s appointment today. Good news...he said my cervix hasn't changed since my last appointment. He also said my blood pressure is good, my glucose levels are good, the amniotic fluid levels are good & the baby weighs about 4 lbs. WAIT...FOUR POUNDS?!?!?! Yes, that's what he said, 4 lbs. I asked if that was safe and what does that mean. He just chuckled and said, "It means you have a big baby. If she gets to be more then 10 lbs. we schedule a C-section." Oh, dear! So I'm still on bed rest, officially. He said I can try to do more and if it causes contractions then I need to stop and take it easy. Well, that's all for now. Me and my Paul Bunyan baby are going to lay down now.