Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas just the three of us. Nothing too exciting happened. No reindeer stuck in a tree branch, no Santa passed out on the couch from exhaustion.

Lily left a note to Santa with her cookies and carrot.
They were a welcomed snack for the big guy and his reindeer

The loot!

1st glance

Going through the stocking was tough. The dollhouse was a little more exciting.

getting the hang of the stocking thing.

Santa sure fits a lot in there!

PILLOW PET!

MOON DOUGH!

What next?

RAPUNZEL!

NEW SLIPPERS!

All very exciting. Can't wait for next year!

3 Going on 4

3 going on 4....This kinda sums us up. Lily will be 4 in February, which is unbelievable as it is, and in the spring our fam of 3 will be 4. Shane and I will both be turning 34. So I guess it is safe to say that 3 and 4 are going to be our lucky numbers in 2011. It is just hitting me that I will have another little one in about 4 months! To be honest I am a lot more scared this time. I am not scared of the baby necessarily, we can't wait to meet him/her, but of the whole process of getting him/her here. Do I opt for a planned C-Section or do I try for a Vbac? Will I have trouble breastfeeding again? Will Lily get enough attention and love? Will I cry every time Shane looks at me funny because I haven't gotten enough sleep? Will Ringo run away because we brought another one of those baby thingys home again? Deep breaths...we will get through it!

I am feeling a lot of kicks these days. Last night Shane was able to feel it for the first time. I have to say it is one of the coolest feelings in the world and what I miss most when the baby is born. I tried to get Lily to feel some kicks this morning but she didn't have enough patience and was laughing at my belly instead. Which by the way is HUGE already and I still have 4 months to go. There are also a couple things a bit north of the belly that are a little out of control. I didn't think they could get any bigger!

I haven't been very good at taking pictures lately. We have had snow, turkey day, Ringo had to wear a cone on his head for a while, and the cutest little 10 month old came to visit and the three pictures in this post are all I have worth showing. Pathetic!

She loved the snow! Would have stayed out for hours. Loved throwing snowballs and getting snowballs thrown at her. Ringo was pretty funny also scooping up the snow with the cone around his head. I don't think he thought it was as funny as I did though.

Cheeseball Cheese Face!

Island Vacation 2010

Things heard from Lily on vacation (some on a daily basis):

"To the Bar!"

"To the beach!"

"I've got to go show the boys I'm pretty!"

In a very deep voice -"I want to hold that baby"

Grandma taught her this on -"Off like a dirty Shirt!"

One night she fell out of bed and mom had to call me home from the bar (yes I was at the bar don't judge, that's what we do on the island) -"I've lost Lily's mommy!"

The Park!

We met the Hinton girls at the park last week and Gina took a few shots of Lily

Lily loves the slides

We went down to see the geese and duck and pigeons and at one point all the pigeons flew up and over the girls heads. They thought it was the coolest thing. I on the other hand just kept thinking about the potential poop targets our girls were making for them.

I was also convinced that Lily was going to run and jump into the water with the birds.

A Beautiful Weekend!

A little lunch in the backyard

Nothing like an ice cold tall boy with lunch
Cool Lily-O

happy girl!

My Lilies!

Poor Ringo

Lily likes to torment poor Ringo

This is his princess dress
And now he is sleeping

Could he look any sadder?

Go to sleep sweet princess

And now someone has had enough playtime.

Life

To sum up our last six months.....life has been interesting, challenging, fun, sad - I don't know, you name an emotion and we have felt it. I am a mom of a three year old. If you would have asked me 4 days ago about Lily I would have ran screaming in the opposite direction. 3 days ago you would have heard nothing but praise about her. She is a roller coaster that keeps us guessing every minute. Everyone tries to "reassure" us that year 3 is much more challenging than year 2. I am not sure if I am suppose to be relieved that my kid is "normal" or am suppose to be bracing myself for the next 6 months. She is pretty fun though, we now have deep conversations about very important topics : The whereabouts of Mr and Mrs Potato heads bodies, Who is our favorite fairy and whether or not a wild thing could really eat you up. When she was eating her push up yesterday and i pushed up more Popsicle for her she said, "Thank you Popsicle lady."She sings every song that plays on my ipod (Carrie, she can sing a mean chorus to "build me up buttercup") her favorite song is "Elvira" by the Oak Ridge Boys (yes I bought this song on itunes - don't judge me). This song reminds me of visiting the island when I was a kid, going to the bar with my parents, Karl and Katy and cousins, having as many cans of 7up as we could drink, trying to play pool, and playing whatever we wanted on the juke box = happiness. Summer makes me miss the Island the most. I can't wait to be up there again.