37 weeks

I'm officially "full term" so if Eleina comes early (HA HA HA) they won't stop labor.  I had my checkup today and all is well, no real serious progress or anything, so I don't expect her anytime super soon.  She is still head down, luckily. 

My next appointment next week is during preschool time, so I'm nervous about getting out in time to pick up Karina.  Bill is on-call as backup, but he works a good 20-30 minutes from preschool, so it's not a good backup.  Hopefully there won't be any delays and I can get in and out quickly.  I never know, and there have been times I've waited a looong time to see the doctor.  I usually don't care because I love the doctors there and they are just awesome (which is why they sometimes have backups; they actually talk to and listen to their patients), but it does make me a little nervous when I have to be walking out the door in one hour from my appointment time. 

Otherwise, same old same old around here.  We finally finished Christmas yesterday, visiting my mom at her house.  Karina behaved as I had originally expected her to on Christmas morning, had she not been sick:  "Wow!  This is awesome!  Where's my next present?"  And yes, she does use the word "awesome".  (She also says "cool", "no problem", and "I can't believe this").  Her family birthday celebration thingy will be Saturday.  My awesome dad is bringing pizza (now you know why she says that word, he he) and Karina and I are baking a cake or cupcakes tomorrow. 

But mostly I'm thinking of New Baby things...now that Christmas is pretty much over, and I'm usually too tired to do more than change my calendar for New Year's.  I can't believe Eleina will be here in less than a month.  (I say that because I don't think they'll let me go overly late, considering how big Karina was for me and the fact that Eleina is also on the bigger side). 

More to come later, and hopefully pictures soon.

Made it through the day

What a holiday this has been!  Karina came down with some little bug yesterday and was sick all day.  We weren't able to go to the Christmas Eve service, but I was hoping she'd feel better today.  She was up and kept me up half the night feeling bad, but then seemed to perk up this morning when Bill mentioned blueberry muffins.  She was able to look at, open, and play with about half of what Santa left her--two princess dolls (Barbie size), some clothes, a marble run, a car, and a few other things, but by 10am she was winding down.  Coughing and crying and afraid she would throw up.  At 1130 my dad and his wife stopped by, and she promptly fell asleep in my lap, and slept through their entire visit.  Bummer.  But, when they were leaving she woke up and after that seemed to have a second wind.  I canceled going to my mom's today, so they brought dinner to us around 4, as well as a couple of gifts for each of us.  We will finish Christmas with them on Wednesday.  I have postponed family birthday plans for Karina until Saturday (instead of tomorrow) so she can have a quiet day, because Tuesday we're supposed to go up to Richmond to see the extended family.  I'm hoping we'll make it to that.  It has been a crazy day.  By about 330, I was feeling so bummed out because we hadn't even made a dent in the presents, and the let-down of Christmas not going the way it traditionally has was getting to me.  But then I ate the food Nana brought and felt much better after that and opening some stuff with my family.  Karina seemed more into it, too, which was great. 

She still hasn't opened everything.  We probably got her too much, but this was her last year being the only one; next year the gifts will be split between her and her sister, so I justify it that way.  I did get a few nice things; a Nook, which I got early and have been enjoying, some new cooking pots, and an awesome lap desk to use in bed when I'm doing my night time email and such.  I'm using it now.  It's awesome--and it's real wood so it smells good, too!

Karina got a marble run, some princess dolls, some Cars figures, a huge car garage that she really likes a lot, and quite a few other things.  She was excited that Santa came and ate his cookies and milk.  She also got a purple tutu/pettiskirt thing from Santa that she wore all day.  That was pretty cute. 

We're going to do more Christmas tomorrow.  She hasn't even touched her stocking, plus she has a stack of presents under the tree still, some from us, some from other people. 

I gave Bill a purple stuffed turtle.  He had mentioned once that it was the special stuffed animal he'd had as a kid, but of course it was thrown out.  His parents were weird about throwing things out when they moved.  I gave it to him and he was really surprised that I had remembered him mentioning that, but frustrated that he couldn't remember what its name had been.  Then he got all teary eyed during the movie Cars, reminiscing about riding his bike cross country in 1976 with his grandfather during Bikecentennial, and thinking of his mom.  (Karina got Cars for Christmas)

David got a fake beard, some glasses, and some movies.  Mom gave me a border punch system I've been wanting and Nana gave me a yard stake for hanging flags on.  I'm so excited.  Our yard may be overgrown, but by golly, it's going to have a pretty flag out in it! 

Aside from Karina being sick and missing out on a lot of things, it was still a good day.  Karina's feeling better and I still got to see my mom and my dad.  David spent most of the day hanging out with us, too, which was really great.  He'll probably be moving out in the next few months now that he's employed, so I'm happy to have him around while he can still be.  Plus he was really helpful with putting together Karina's garage. 

I hope that whatever you all did today that you were able to spend some time with family and friends.  That was really the best part of the day. 

Christmas Eve

Well, we should be getting ready for our Christmas Eve service.  Karina was going to be a shepherd and take Lambkin up with her when all the little kids get to participate.  However, she woke up this morning sick.  Fever.  Puking.  Figures.  We have three days of holidays and birthday to get through, and I can't believe she's sick.  Keep your fingers crossed she feels better tomorrow.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Quick update

Just quick, holidays are wiping me out.  I had a doctor's appointment Monday, and all is well.  Baby Eleina is head down finally and I'm 1cm.  I'm all cleared to make the 2 hour trip to my aunt's for Christmas with the extended family, and I have started my weekly appointments.  Won't be long now!

In case I don't write again til after the holidays, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!  If you don't celebrate Christmas, then I wish you a happy, relaxing, and restful season of peace. 

Karina's stress

I think Karina is really stressed out about the new baby and all the things Mommy can't do with her right now, like sit on the floor.  She has started to get really cranky about things and is taking out her frustration on her poor Lambkin.  We are trying to keep things calm and stable for her, but I know it's hard for her.  I just hope that as things get closer it doesn't get worse.  Hopefully, once Eleina is here and she can see that the only thing that's different is this whiny kid is around, she'll feel better.  I tried explaining things to her some, but I don't know if it was helping so I stopped.  She finally said something nice about the baby coming the other day, about how she would teach Eleina how to do things and she also asked if Eleina would talk to her.  She said, "Baby Leina kicks if I talk to her" and of course I told her yes, she does. 

We are keeping as many of her routines the same as much as possible.  I'm just not sure what else to do.  I'm open to advice.  You know how I love my girl and I can't stand for her to be unhappy like this.  So any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Decorating, Caroling, and Baby Shower?

Yesterday was the greening of our church, which just means putting up the trees and greenery.  I didn't go to that because there was nothing I could do to help out, being as big as I am.  I can't get on the floor to sort the ornaments and I can't reach up to hang greens.  So I skipped that.  But I did go caroling.  The youth group carols to several homebound church members each year, and it really brightens their day.  We love doing it and seeing their smiles and having a chance to talk to them.  We bring a little gift, too.  Then we have our youth group Christmas party.  This year it was scheduled at Pastor G's house, but she ended up having a wire go down in her neighborhood, so we moved it to Kelly's house.  PG went home to get all the food and stuff, and when she got to Kelly's, finally, with the pizza, finally (can you tell I was a hungry lady?), I was told to Sit and Stay.  So I sat and stayed in the rocker/recliner until I was "allowed" to get up.  I had some suspicion that something might be going on, mainly because we threw a surprise shower for Kelly once before.  So finally Kelly released me and lo and behold, they had done a shower for me!  I was so appreciative, I can't tell you, because being my second child, and second girl no less, I have not been given an opportunity for a shower.  I don't need much, really, just a few things need replacing, but still, I feel bad that Eleina isn't getting all the cutesy new baby stuff like Karina did.  But this was SO nice--PG baked 2 cakes!  One was chocolate with chocolate icing (my absolute favorite) and the other was vanilla with pink icing (but not strawberry, I don't like that--no, she dyed white icing just for me!).  She also made pink Rice Crispy treats and found pink "it's a girl" Hershey's Kisses.  Unreal!  Kelly did games with prizes, and even the two boys present at the event seemed to have fun.  I got some nice things, things I really wanted, but honestly the best part was just being made to feel special for a little while.  It was so nice of them to do that and it was so much fun.  I have said a thousand times today in thank you notes and things how lucky I am to be part of such a caring and thoughtful group of people. 

I hope everyone else had a nice weekend too!

Successful Party!!!

Karina's birthday party was a great success!  It went so much better than I ever could have dreamed, even though a few people couldn't make it.  Unfortunately, one of my friends was sick and another's daughter was overly tired from being kept out a little too late the night before.  But we had 5 wonderful friends of Karina's attend, and the whole day was just so much fun.  Karina was very excited to see everyone, although she was a little shy at first. 

I should back up.  First, she got 3 presents from me and Bill.  I gave her a special birthday shirt with Holley the purple car on it, and Bill gave her a toy truck and a book with pictures of outer space (she is really interested in the shuttle and how it "goes to the moon").  Just before her friends arrived, she decided she really needed to color this little wooden car I had gotten for the kids to have a craft in case we needed something like that.  So she and her first two guests, little girls M and C, sat at the table and colored.  When my friend Kelly arrived with her boys N and A, they wanted to play in the living room with the trucks, so that finally drew the girls out.  They played a little while and then Bill cooked the hot dogs for lunch.  They were delicious. and I learned that 16 hot dogs for 8 kids and parents is not nearly enough.  It turned out to be a good thing a few people couldn't make it!  We only had 4 hot dogs left over!  Then after lunch they played while we cleaned up the table.  Then Karina opened her presents, which she loved, and then they ate cupcakes and ice cream.  I thought everyone would leave, but they stayed a little while and let the kids play some more, which was so nice!  They all kind of took turns playing with each other in different little pairs, and even the shiest kids started to play and have fun. 

Karina loved her presents.  She got two stuffed Cars characters, a 3-inch Rapunzel doll with two dresses (who immediately had to play with the 3-inch Cinderella she already had), a Princess stories book, a vinyl cling "sticker" book, a magnetic wooden doll (like a paper doll) with about 8 different princess outfits to mix and match, and a toddler Cinderella doll that's about 15 inches.  I would have never even thought of something like that for her, but she LOVES it!  She kept saying, "She's huge!"  She loved everything, it was so perfect!

I had a good time, I know Karina did, and I think her friends had fun, too.  More than anything else, I just feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends who made this party nice for Karina.  I wanted her to have a fun party this year, since it's the last year she's an only child and her first ever friend-party.  And it was, it was just so much fun.  I wasn't even tired afterwards!  Now that's got to be a sign of a good party!  I even managed to put the Christmas tree together (no lights on or anything yet, but it's set up and ready to go tomorrow!). 

I did have one terrible failing today, and that is I did not take any pictures during the party!  I don't know what my problem was.  I do have some pictures to share, of the setup and stuff, but ugh, I can't believe I didn't take any during the party!  So I'm sorry.  I will post some pictures soon but now I am going to bed.   Another busy day tomorrow!

Birthday party tomorrow

Just to let you all know, this past week has been pretty hectic as we finalized everything for Karina's birthday party tomorrow (Saturday).  Plus I've been fighting a cold, so that has not helped much.  Sometime next week I hope to post a few pictures and let you all know how it goes, but til then I just wanted to make sure you knew I was still hanging around!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Gourmet Gift Baskets

You all know that I'm not a giveaway or review blog, just personal, but I recently found out that there is a great way to give back to our hard-working military folks, just by writing a review.  So that is what I am doing, happily, because I know lots of military people and living where I do, there are many more men and women in the service beyond my circle of friends.  I appreciate all that they do and sacrifice (and boy, do they ever sacrifice a lot!), and while my husband and I are not in the military, I know through friends how tough it can be when loved ones are deployed.  So when I saw this opportunity, I jumped on it.

Gourmet Gift Baskets (gourmetgiftbaskets.com) has a huge array of different kinds of gift baskets, which you can browse by occasion or theme or even price.  I found one link to "chocolate" and of course I had to check that one out, too!  They also have a really big selection of holiday gift baskets, which is the first section I looked at.  I was really surprised how many different options there are for the baskets.  They even have MLB themed baskets, for select teams such as the Phillies or Cubs (no White Sox, though, poor hubby!).

There are baskets for just about anyone you can think of, too, including ones with brownies, fruit, or wine. 

I don't really drink wine, but many people do, and there were lots of labels to choose from.  I liked the look of this one because it has horses on it.  But check out all the other stuff that comes with the wine (three bottles!):
Wild Horse - Cabernet Sauvignon
· Wild Horse - Chardonnay
· Wild Horse - Merlot
· Hors D'oeuvre Deli Style Crackers by Partners
· Hickory & Maple Smoked Cheese by Sugarbush Farm
· Butcher Wrapped Summer Sausage by Sparrer Sausage Co.
· Tomato Bruschetta by Elki
· Red Wine Biscuit by American Vintage
· White Wine Biscuit by American Vintage
· Nicoise Olives by Barnier
· Cashews by GourmetGiftBaskets.com
· Boulder's Mixed Nuts by GourmetGiftbaskets.com

I was also drawn to the breakfast gift basket I saw, because I am a sucker for tea and pancakes and things like that.

Pancakes, syrup, fruit, coffee assortments, jam, even a dish towel!  There was no tea in this one, but that's okay for me since I only drink one kind anyway and am not generally a fan of flavored tea.  The pancake mix and syrup alone make my mouth water over this one.

And candy.  Oh, do I love candy, so I saw this basket and had to check it out of course.

I mean, do you see the candy just leaping out of this box??  Mmmmmmm.  And this is just a very very few of the baskets they have.  A gift like this is great for anyone, because there's bound to be many things in it that they will like.  Plus, it's a great gift for someone to share!  Gourmet Gift Baskets has so many choices that it would really take a while to choose, but I just know anyone would appreciate something like this.  Plus, they have taken all the legwork out of it by building the baskets for you.  You don't have to go hunting up things to put in it, it's already done!  Check out gourmetgiftbaskets.com and see their large selection for yourself. 

(Truffles!   Cheesecake!    Pet baskets!   There are just so many choices!)

And if you have a blog and are interested in doing a review such as this, go here to learn more about what to do.

I wrote this post of my own free will, received no compensation of any kind, and everything I wrote is my own opinion. 

Craft Fair--Unusual Sighting

On Friday, my friends Stephanie and Janice and I went to a big craft fair about two hours away.  The thing is huge, with over 500 vendors selling almost anything you can imagine.  We have been going just about every year, and we always have a great time.  Stephanie likes to drive, so she and Janice met at my house and picked me up about 830 in the morning.  Karina was not at all happy about me leaving for the day, but she endured.  It kills me to watch her standing at the door waving good bye.  Ugh, rip my heart out, child.  (and she was NOT happy with me when I got home!)

Anyway, we set off for the craft fair, chatting away, and as we got onto the interstate I noticed a pickup truck some ways ahead of us in our lane.  In the back of his truck was a port-a-potty, which was kind of leaning to the side.  I warned Stephanie about traveling behind him because that just didn't look good.  So she got in the middle lane and off we went.  Just as we started to pull up alongside him, Janice shouted, "Look, it's going!" and sure enough, that port-a-potty was flying out of the back of the pickup!  Splat, right onto the interstate (luckily, there was not a lot of traffic and no one was directly behind him, so no one was hurt).  Since all was well, we could laugh without guilt, because that was funny to see.  Who expects to go to a craft fair and see a flying port-a-potty? 

The craft fair itself was fun, I got some things for Bill, my brother's girlfriend, Karina, my cousin, and fudge for me!  Then we had lunch/dinner at Cracker Barrel (I love their breakfast menu, but we almost never go there) and did a little shopping in their store, too.  I got two cute little 4-inch dolls for Karina that reminded me of the old Kelly dolls that were Barbie's littlest sister back when I was a kid. 

Overall, it was a wonderful and fun day, great company, and a funny story to go with it.  I only wish I had had a camera, not that I would have been fast enough to catch that potty go flying, but still.  I'm sure you can imagine!