Love & St. Nick Night

There are times when I absolutely love my dog.  And then there are times like last night, when I am ready to list her on Craig's List (no I would never actually list my dog on Craig's List).  She decided to sit on the side of the bed and whine at us all night.  DJ slept through it.  I did not.  Then to top it off...she sat up in bed after DJ left for work at 5am and whined at me.  I gave in, and got up.  She is now sleeping soundly in my bed.  Like I said...Craig's List.

Aside: I am spoiled, and my husband gets my morning coffee ready for me the night before.  All I have to do in the morning is walk to  my coffee pot, and push the on button.  So at 5:30 am when I finally gave in and got up, I walked half asleep to my coffee pot and turned it on.  Went back a few minutes later and poured myself a cup of hot water.  Um...honey...I think you forgot the most important part of the coffee...the actual coffee...


St. Nick visited the house on Monday  night.  He left Karson a few surprises.  One being his favorite treat.  When I got him out of his crib in the morning, I told him to find what St. Nick had brought him in his shoes.  He went running straight to the jar of m&ms.

See the paci sticking out?  He was likely saying 'mmm nummy nummy mmmm.'

I let him have a few (or handful) of m&ms and pointed out the other gift St. Nick left.

 he is sucking on, what was likely, his 20th m&m of the morning.

He knew exactly what to do, and ripped the package open.

That St. Nick is pretty smart.  A 'goggie' on Santa's sled sounds perfect for my sweet boy.  As soon as he saw it he started panting.  Which is what he now does every time he sees a dog.  I am not sure how he picked that one up, since all Molly does is bark!

He went straight to the tree to hang it up.  He is so proud of his new ornament from St. Nick, and points it out for everyone.  He is always sure to demonstrate what the 'goggie' says by panting.

I love the magic that Christmas creates.  And after going back and forth, I have finally decided, St. Nick will be sending us a special Elf to watch over Karson and Baby Sister next year.  I can hardly wait!!  Have I mentioned I love the magic of Christmas?

And that morning I won Mother of the Year...

I may or may not have added a few of St. Nick's special treats to his morning waffle. 

Along with the magic of Christmas...I also love sneaking into the living room to find him snuggled up on the floor next to the tree, watching a Christmas Movie.

 Our house has a wood burning fire place, with a plug in log with a rotating light. A log I have often made fun of.  We finally got the fireplace inspected.  Mama is a safety nut and said absolutely no fires until we know it is safe.  Daddy agreed.  He is catching onto my safety nut ways!

It was exactly as we had expected...an extremely clean, perfectly safe fire place.

  As soon as the inspectors left, Daddy got working on our first fire.

We all stayed in the livingroom all night, watching Christmas movies, and laying in front of the fire.  Karson loved it.  Daddy loved it.  Mommy loved it.  Molly posed for a pretty picture...

But no one loved it as much as my parents dog, Maggie.  She laid in front of it all night, and never moved.

I can't wait to have a fire on Christmas morning...after Santa comes down the chimney of course!!

Lately...

Santa Tree Topper

Growing up, we had a Santa on top of our tree.  We each took turns getting to put him up.  The last two years, Karson has helped Nana put our very old Santa on top of the tree.

Doh, Mommy, doh!

Don't buy playdoh again.  Google a recipe, and make it.  So easy, it takes 2 minutes.  If it wasn't for the fact that I am comfortable in the rocking chair right now, I would post mine.  But it is in the kitchen, and it is a rare case in the evenings that I can actually get comfortable.  

 

Karson asks for his doh all the time!

This face usually follows the 'oh wow oh wow oh wow.'

December/Spring Weather

I would like to send Mother Nature a letter, and remind her that it is DECEMBER in MICHIGAN.

And while Karson has a had and gloves on in these pictures, it was in the 50s this weekend. 

It is December....we need snow!!

have i ever mentioned how much i love his blue eyes?!

Daddy cut down my parent's neighbor's tree the day after Thanksgiving.  If everything goes well with our fireplace inspection tomorrow...we will have a fire tomorrow evening!! Not completely random...Karson is staring at the cut up tree on the side of the house, and signing his version of 'tree.'

 Karson and I took Nana and Grandpa to the airport last week.  Karson LOVES airplanes, we were all excited to see his reaction when he saw them.  He totally didn't get it.  The planes weren't in the sky like they were supposed to be...

this picture cracks me up...Nana & Grandpa pointing out the plane...Karson looking at them like they are crazy

Jesse Advent

 I have said this many times, but I am a huge believer in incorporating both the magic and miracle into Christmas.  I love all the magic that Santa brings, but I want Karson to understand the true meaning of Christmas as well.  We started doing the Jesse Advent Tree this year.  Except we didn't do a tree, because I have ocd and wanted them in chronological order.   I bought this book last Christmas and we have been following the devotionals for kids.  It is way over Karson's head.  He understands where we put them each day, and loves to show Daddy his ornaments he makes when he gets home.  That is about all he understands.  For the most part we have just been asking him, "Who made the Earth?" and "Whose Birthday is it on Christmas?"

 

He colors an ornament I make each day, and we hanging it on a ribbon in the living room.

The first day, I printed off a picture of the Earth.  He insisted on only coloring the back, so I have a blank circle with Karson's artistic work hanging up, with the Earth side glued to the card stock.

Our Jesse Advent Tree so far.  I have to come up with a new way to hang them soon, because I only have a few clothes pins left.   I love that the book goes through the Bible from the beginning, to Jesus's birth.  It is a fun tradition and a great reminder about the true meaning of Christmas.

Before Nap Snuggles

Depending on how early Karson wokes up, I will sometimes let him watch a few minutes of a movie before nap.  He and Molly usually snuggle up on the couch together while I pick up lunch. 

Tripod

It came with my Camera, I have had it for over a year, I have never take it out of the box.  We took it out a few days ago, to get some family pictures, and this was my first attempt and figuring out the self timer.  Karson thought counting to 3 and running was hilarious! 

Bedroom Play Time

I love it.  

Tired Munchkin

We do NOT mess with Karson's nap.  Ever.  Bad things happen when Karson's nap gets messed up.  He went down relatively late for nap after church yesterday, because he fell asleep on the way too church, and was wired when we got home.   Poor Munchkin had such a rough evening yesterday.  Every little thing made him completely melt down.  He handles lack of sleep like his Mama. :)  He was still tired today, and even asked to get in his crib at 10:30...nap is at 12.  We settled for The Grinch and a comfy spot on the floor by the tree instead.

St. Nick Night

It is St. Nick Night.  Karson put his shoes by the door before bed, so St. Nick could fill them while he is sleeping.    St. Nick has already visited our house...he must be running a little early this year...

I can't wait to get Karson out of bed in the morning and see his reaction when he sees his shoes by the door.  Click HERE to see more on our St. Nick Night tradition.

InstaFriday

Linking up my cell phone pictures with Life.Rearranged for Insta Friday.

Carters was having a HUGE...like I got 90% off my entire purchase.

not black friday

Baby Sister got spoiled. 

Karson doesn't understand that Baby Sister is in Mommy's tummy.  But when you ask him where Sister is going to sleep or ride in the car, he can show us.  He loves to pull the car seat out and sit in it.

We visit the train table at our Barnes and Noble often. Karson loves it, and it is free.  The train table is lots of fun.  Not quite as fun as the Tractor Book he found though!

Homemade play doh = cheap and hours of entertainment!  

He runs around yelling 'doh' when he wants to play with it.

Helping Mama bake chocolate chip cookies.  

The kitchen was covered with flour.

As were Karson and I, but he had so much fun!!

Watching The Grinch before bed in his jammies.

His jammies include: a long sleeve onzie, a cotton sleeper, and a fleece sleeper.

We keep our heat at 72 degrees, and he is usually still cold in the morning.

We are looking into installing a fan into his heater vent to blow more heat to his room.

He is so hard to keep warm!

We have my parent's dog for a few days.  We each have our 'own' dog, when in reality, we basically share them. :)  I sent my mom a text because her dog was cuddling with me.  Maggie DOES NOT cuddle.  Like ever.  A half hour later DJ informed me it was Molly laying on me.  Guess I can't even tell them apart...

Thanksgiving 2011

I love holidays.  I love them even more now that I am a Mommy.  I love making little things extra special for my Munchkin.  Growing up, we didn't have family in Michigan.  Which meant holidays were just us.  Which meant we never left the house on holidays, and my Mom was in charge of the entire holiday meal.  I loved helping my Mom make Thanksgiving Dinner.  We have always prepared a lot of the side dishes and pies the night before.  Wednesday night, Karson and I headed over..around the corner...to help Nana.  I figured Karson would just play in the living room while we baked.  I was wrong.  He spent the entire night sitting on the counter helping us.

 What started out as just a night of preparing food for Thanksgiving, turned into a night my Mom and I will likely never forget.  He had so much fun.  He mixed, and stirred, and helped Nana  flute the pie crust.

Of course, I didn't have my video camera or my slr with me.  Because, after all, we were just baking.  Karson has this shy grin and laugh when he is really excited about something.  He loved helping Nana with the pie crusts!

It may have taken us twice as long to make the pies, and the cake, and the corn, but oh my word he had so much fun!

And our pumpkin pies had the cutest Karson finger prints in them!!

Karson didn't sleep thought the night, and after tossing and turning for a few hours after DJ got K back to sleep, I finally got out of bed at 5am.  EARLY!  I had planned on getting up early to make cinnamon rolls.  I just didn't plan on getting out of bed at 5am, after being awake since 3.  But...I wanted my baby to wake up to my Mom's homemade cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving morning.

 

Someday, I will post the recipe, they are relitively easy, and after growing up with them, even a Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll doesn't taste good!

Nana and Grandpa came over for coffee and a cinnamon roll  in the morning.  It was the perfect Thanksgiving morning.  Have I mentioned I LOVE living around the corner from my parents?!

We watched the parade for a while with my parents, and headed to DJ's parents for lunch.  We ate, Karson played with his cousins, and we headed back to my parent's for Karson to take a nap.  Holidays are hard on little ones, and we are sticklers about Karson's nap! When he woke up, Uncle Steve & Aunt Jenni were over, and we ate Turkey Dinner.  The best part about being pregnant on Thanksgiving...I don't feel full.  I ate a lot...a lot a lot.  Plus, maternity pants =  elastic waste.  Fabulous!  

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful.  I was having so much fun (and was absolutely exhausted :)), I totally forgot to take any pictures after breakfast. We have so much to be thankful for this year!!  I can't wait until next Thanksgiving...when a sweet baby girl will be joining us at our Thanksgiving Table!

21 Weeks

 

I am over half way through this pregnancy already!  How did that happen?!  It seems to be flying by, and I am starting to get nervous about getting everything done.

* We found out last week, Karson will have a Baby Sister!  We are so excited, and although DJ tries to hide it, he is just as excited as I am.

* At the ultrasound, Baby Sister was super stubborn, and didn't want to cooperate.  Everything looks good, and she measured 19w 5d.  I was exactly 20 weeks when I was there. Karson always measured about a week ahead, Baby Sister seems to always measure a few days behind.   She hid one of her arms for the majority of the ultrasound.  We were beginning to think she may be missing one, but she was just laying on it.  We have to go back in January to recheck her heart.  Not because there was something that alarmed them, but because she wouldn't let us see her heart at all. :)  Because of family history, I go to a specialist to have my babies hearts checked.  And of course, she wouldn't let us see it.

* Baby Sister has a name.  But this time, we are keeping it a secret.  I have to say, I love keeping her name a secret until she is here. 

* I have been feeling really good.  As long as I am careful with my reflux I don't get sick.  Except...have you ever tried to avoid foods that are highly acidic??  I have a very hard time with this.  In our house, ketchup is a food group.  I love pizza, and apple juice, and peanut butter, and coffee, and chocolate, and spaghetti...  Needless to say, I have a hard time avoiding the foods I shouldn't eat. 

* I very rarely feel full.  A problem on most days, when I could seriously eat everything in sight.  On Thanksgiving, it is fabulous!!  My Mom and one of my brothers even commented on how much food was on my plate.  I ate it all....and got seconds.  Thank.you.very.much! :)  I have decided it is a must to be pregnant on Thanksgiving!

* Baby Sister seems to be so much laid back than her big brother.  Karson NEVER stopped moving.  At one point, he didn't move for a few hours, and my dr. sent me to the er to be monitored.  If I went into the er every time Baby Sister didn't move for a few hours, I would be there numerous times a day!  If I am up moving around she doesn't move, when I sit down, usually just went I go to bed and sometimes during the day (like right now), she moves around for about 10 minutes, then stops.

* Charlie Horses hurt...especially when you get 4 in the middle of the night.  DJ is stopping on his way home from work for some bananas for me.  Are bananas acidic?

* My insomnia is so much better!  I got to bed between 9 & 10 and get up between 6 & 8.  Except for the nights when Karson is up at 3am...which is like every other night lately.  Then I am usually up for the day at 3, or fall back asleep at about 6 until he wakes up.

* My Mom kept every one of my dresses from when I was little in the Cedar Chest.  We went though them this weekend...and well...they deserve a post of their own.  Lets just say, there are A LOT of smocked gorgeous dresses waiting for Baby Sister to fit into them.

* I figured out what was causing my migraines...my braces.  I called my orthodontist last week and told them they have to come off.  My teeth may not be 110% perfect, but they are 100% better than what they were.  Good enough for me!  Plus...at almost 6 months along, with a 21 month old, I need to function.  Karson doesn't quite understand 'let mommy lay on the couch all day because her head feels like it is going to explode.'  They are coming off Saturday. Yay!

...and with that...I need to go find something to eat...