Our Three Year Old!

Just a little glimpse at a THREE year old!

There is an indoor play place with inflatables and a small ball pit where we went to play with a couple friends.  Other than the obligatory 1/2hr adjustment to new experiences (ball pit) and one fairly fun-ending collision with another excited running toddler that effectively sent us back to our place for cupcakes and ice cream a little early, well, you can see that she had a blast!

So excited that her birthday was blood free and the guest list actually was able to make it!  2012 was a good birthday year!  (For those who noticed and were wondering, there was an outfit change due to a lunch spill....Ah the life of toddler clothes...)

Birthday Recaps and Wishes

Birthday Party Track Record

2010:  Blizzard--No one could make it.

2011:  Running, falling, massive split lip just after guests arrive (even cake and gifts were not fixing this one!)

2012:  Well, we shall see....

No matter what happens with today's party, our first baby has turned THREE and I am so grateful to have her in our lives.  She acts like a preteen with just a tiny bit less attitude issue most days and Papa and Momma are only scared of rather than dreading the decade worth of preteen-ness.  The only thing missing are crushes and those can happily wait that decade!

Having Papa home this year makes this exciting for Momma because there won't be a rush to upload pictures or attempt to arrange a perfect skype call.  There won't be the heavily mixed emotions of sadness and joy and trying to mask half of it to keep the day upbeat and happy for a birthday girl.  Mostly though, it is exciting for that little girl and her Papa.  They get to share the day together this time!  Real hugs, real kisses, and real playtime with toys being handed back and forth rather than trying to shove them through the laptop screen!

So to our daughter:  Happy Third Birthday!  Momma and Papa couldn't be more amazed, proud, or awed by you and we definitely couldn't love you any more than we already do!  You are cherished.

Big Week!

With Christmas pretty much done (we do have one more group rolling in this weekend for a mini holiday) we have to cruise right along into BIRTHDAY season!

This year Alyssa turns 3 and she is ready to eat her body weight in cake if we let her!

This year is going to be a small little party but we are used to that.  Our family parties have been all but cancelled for her in the past.  Born into the snowy winter, turned one during a blizzard where we made it to my grandparents' house just barely where the party was going to be (obviously no one else made it there), turned two and the blizzard held off until that night and was only slippery roads and light snow during the day (we called that a success because everyone made it to that party!).  This year we aren't even asking family to come down.  Between Christmas trips and shortly to be followed with at least a good chunk of them coming in January to meet the little boy...well, it seems pretty tough to pull off.  Instead we are having a little friends party!  Alyssa is SO EXCITED when you talk about parties but she has no idea what is in store for her this weekend.

There is a place near us that has those inflatable jumping things, you can take your kids (ten and under) to jump for a small fee and let them at it.  We invited a couple other toddlers to join us there for a couple hours of jumping and then we will come back home to eat cupcakes and ice cream before the day is over.  It should be a great time even with such a small group!

In the meantime we have plenty to keep us busy until Sunday.  Monday we had our little Christmas Eve, Tuesday was the Santa Christmas and we went to Wreck It Ralph that night (big hit!), Wednesday some family came down for a playdate at Chuck E Cheese's, Thursday brings a growth ultrasound and doctor appointment, Friday we close on the house followed by buying paint and probably getting the first coat up in Alyssa's new room to prep for Saturday's painting too.  We also have more family down Friday night to celebrate a mini holiday on Saturday and hopefully some extra hands painting too!  That is plenty for one week, right??

Happy Kwanzaa!

Happy Kwanzaa!!

Picture Source: Here

For some starter information on Kwanzaa feel free to follow the link under the picture.  They have a nice layout to find different things you might be curious about.

(No idea why but I had this all ready to post tomorrow....but Kwanzaa began today.  It runs through Jan. 1st so if you know anyone celebrating, wish them a Happy Kwanzaa for me!)

Our 2012 Christmas Chaos

 Well the holidays are wrapping up for most of us.  I thought I'd give you a glimpse into our chaos...I mean Christmas.

"So Excited"  (post xmas energy high)

We opened our gifts on Christmas Eve after lunch (when Papa got home from work).  She was thrilled to FINALLY be allowed to open the presents!

Our attempt at getting Papa his iPad back since it is useful at work for him.

Her big gift this year was the LeapPad 2.  Once she was told that it was a tablet like Papa's she was sold.  Hopefully this attempt at getting Papa his iPad back for work is successful but only time will tell.  So far so good though!

She got a lot of trinket type toys which are always a big hit.  She was introduced to the Kaleidoscope this year. 

Christmas Day brought Santa of course...That fat man always seems to out-do us parents!  He knows just what our kids want most it appears and I'm almost resentful that he brings out the show stopper.  Anyone else?

Yup, Santa left a present AND a stocking!

Serious?  A whole musical instrument set?  Boy Santa really knows my kid!

Thankfully she still loves that tablet we gave her...She keeps going back and forth between the drum and the tablet so Momma's feelings are spared this year.  ;)

I'd like to leave you with just a little bit of silliness that all picture sessions are required to have:

That perfect picture that took all sorts of luck.

Hope your holidays were fun, silly, exciting, and full of family time!

A Christmas Message

We wish you a merry Christmas,

we wish you a merry Christmas,

we wish you a merry Christmas,

and a happy New Year!

To those military families who are apart this holiday season, you are remembered for the sacrifices that you are making.  Thank you.

To those members of our families who are no longer here to celebrate with us, I bet your party is even bigger than ours!  But we still miss having you all here.

Take a moment to think of another special person that you are missing this holiday season.  Now take many moments to look around you and see the wonders of who you get to celebrate with this year.  Let's be thankful for each of them.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas Card Display Gifting

Gifting a craft:

You've seen the Christmas Card Holder here previously...I thought I'd show y'all the one I made this year as a gift for my mother-in-law.  It is pretty tough to package up for delivery and unwrapping at 20" wide and wired ribbon that you don't really want to crease if you can help it prior to gifting.  We decided to not wrap it at all and deliver it loosely so that it would get there and be useful prior to Christmas this year.

Embellish

Feel free to take pictures before gifting.

Don't forget to add the necessary accessories for it to be functional!

We went with gold paper clips to hold cards (mini clothes pins or decorative clips would work also).

If you choose to gift something that hangs, consider including something to hang it from!

I hope your crafting has been fun!  What projects have you made and gifted?

Ornaments and Kids

This year Alyssa picked out her own ornament to add to the tree.  2012's ornament is "Punzel"!  (You've probably already seen her in a couple pictures here or there.)

Previous ornaments have been a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Toodles) for 2010 and a Princess Tiana in 2011.  We do love Hallmark holiday ornaments!  We take a sharpie to the underside (or back if need be) to write which year it joined our tree.

I can hardly wait to start our son's collection too!  The 'kid tree' is going to be so fun looking over the years!

The Blogging Adventure....probably taking a backseat.

I've been at a loss on how to keep up with my blogging over the next month or so...It might get pretty sporadic around here but I'm determined to not let it get dropped altogether.  I'll try to keep up with updates of our holiday, birthdays, moving, and a birth (of course with an introduction to the new man as well).  Bear with me through the crazy hectic life that is our December/January...

We are still in the process of planning exactly how our holiday will go this week plus the toddler birthday next weekend paired with house closing and painting and moving beginning next weekend as well!  I think Christmas is going to be the easiest part of this season since we aren't able to travel to family for it.

As exciting as all of these changes are, I can assure you that we are just short of overwhelmed when we look at a calendar.  It is going to be a little bumpy packing it all into less than a month but at least we will be super motivated by deadlines...HA

So if you could spare a little extra patience with my gaps in posts, I promise I'll try my best not to leave y'all hanging for full weeks at a time!

Elf Days 13-21

Sorry y'all!  I've clearly been slacking in my Elf posts...I did miss a few days of pictures so there will be a couple gaps in this post as well but they weren't all that exciting anyways.

Here is Flower upside down over the dining table making sure we try anything on our plates!

12-13-2012

Naptime Patrol:  **Make sure your child is NOT scared of your elf before he enters their room!  We were smart enough to hold off until half way through the month before we left the public areas...The reaction was full of giggles for us.

12-14-2012

Flower must have been sleepy this night because he simply landed on the vertical blinds valence.

12-16-2012

Well, Flower felt like going for a gallop.  The immediate reaction upon discovery was a demand for the pony to be turned over...Of course the elf magic outweighed the sad pony friends so Flower was allowed to continue his ride.  Later that day it was much more amusing to Alyssa who was starting to enjoy the tricks he was playing.

12-17-2012

My personal favorite:  Flower fixed a jingle bell bracelet that had broken using ornament string.  It became reins for the stuffed reindeer (Kohl's has those $5 stuffed toys and books that donate profits to St Judes or other children's hospitals and this was one from this season).  Alyssa LOVED this!  Not only were there jingle bells involved, but she was informed that Flower would probably leave them for her to play with the next day.  We also had just watched Polar Express the night before and Alyssa loved that jingle bell from the reins too so it was very fitting.

12-18-2012

Flower wanted to play some Xbox so he climbed into the cabinet where the games are currently kept.  Alyssa was very concerned once she found him.  He was locked in (there are hidden magnet child proofing locks on our TV cabinets) and Alyssa thought he was stuck for good.

"Me need the magnet!!  Me help him!"

I was able to convince her that he would use his magic to get out just like he did to get in though it took a few minutes.

12-20-2012

Flower seems to trust Alyssa finally.  He has come down within reach and so far no incidents or accidents.  Alyssa did stay back and refused to say 'hi' to Flower after finding him though.  However, he brought her a special book all the way from the North Pole and she did thank him for it.  Later she tried to give him a drink of water but a quick reminder about his magic and she let him be again.

12-21-2012

Mayan Calendars and 2013

It's COMING!!!  The End Of The World is HERE!!!

Oh....huh....oops, false alarm folks.  Go about your business.  Nothing to see around here.

Well, of course we do have a good amount of time to still implode or have impacting meteors or whatnot...but you should probably consider how the Mayan calendar system actually worked before jumping on that bandwagon still.  The basics of it that apply to today specifically are that the calendar being referenced was the Mayan's long calendar which worked on a cycle.  A new age comes at the end of each cycle (think a new shift in mankind's perspective as one possibility) that defines the next cycle.

If you want to simplify what this means to you personally...well, compare today on their Long Calendar to December 31st on your standard 12 month wall calendar here in the U.S.  (I have no experience with other countries' calendars so I can't say for sure which follow the same pattern though I know many do because of the Catholic influences in history).  January 1st still comes along the next day even if you haven't purchased your 2013 calendar for your wall....

So...if you don't already have one...I can't think of a better day this year than the apocalypse to purchase a 2013 calendar!  Do you have a physical calendar around your house?  Wall, planner, pocket, desk?  What is your favorite style of calendar?

Only HOW MANY DAYS?!?!

So I looked at my little Reindeer Countdown and realized that it is getting CRAZY CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS PEOPLE!  Of course my hubby being who he is is also pretty difficult to shop for.  I came up with only a couple ideas really this year and none of them were WOW to me.  So I resorted to massive amounts of Google and Pinterest searching for ideas.  Wow was the well dry there too.

I came up with one result that I would LOVE to share with you giving you almost no time to copy it (which is exactly how much time I had left too) but I can't guarantee that Chris isn't stalking this site waiting for me to get excited about that last thing that I stumble upon and blab it.  SO...y'all will just have to bear with me and wait until after the holiday to find out what I FINALLY found.  I promise you'll get the chance to steal the idea just like I did when the next holiday comes around if you want.

However...I could always use a stash of ideas for Valentines, birthdays, anniversaries and next Christmas....What was the best gift you got your significant other?  What was the best gift you received?

Prayers to CT

Prayers to all the families and children affected by today's horrific tragedy.  There aren't enough words to express the shockwave that has hit parents across the nation at this news.

Go hold your kids and tell them how precious they are in your life.  I know most of us will be doing exactly that and thanking whatever god we have that we can.

"Belly Pop"

I love mysteries of medicine (okay, so only ones that are completely not harmful or painful).  Have any of you heard this one?

You're sitting there nice and quiet either trolling some Mommy blog or discussion board or Pinterest...whatever, and baby kicks.  *CLICK*  You hear a tiny noise that sounds something like a knuckle popping or a computer mouse click.  Did that seriously just come from your stomach??  Since when were there joints around there to pop?

No, you're not crazy.  Yes, that noise did just happen (it may have happened a few times in a row even).  No, there is no medical consensus currently out there to be found though plenty of Mommy boards have made various suggestions and guesses (and thrown out their midwives/OB's best guesses also).  My personal best answer is the ligament popping one (I think it meshes nicely with my "new stretch mark" theory LOL).

I had these noises a lot with my pregnancy for Alyssa and last night I got the first "belly pop" for this guy, followed directly by a second.  I love this click because it is just so bizarre and yet harmless.  It isn't my hips/pelvis like some theorize since it is the top of my stomach...it is too far out in front of me to be my ribs so the only bones involved would possibly be the foot or butt of my unborn child.  (Good try though folks.)

Anyways...I'm interested in theories just for fun but I don't require a medical opinion or answer from the internet masses.  Feel free to post your Belly Pop experiences or theories!

Christmas Gifts and a Toddler

"Pease me open now???"

This is the first year that we have really gotten the concept that presents under the tree have stuff IN them.  It has been pretty funny listening to Alyssa ask us what is in the presents in Target (the cardboard cutouts hanging from the ceiling) and telling us that she will open them when they come down and see "What IS it?".

Luckily for us, she has an awful lot of self control it seems because while she asks every day so far (day three of gifts under the tree), she does ask us before ripping paper off.  She also puts the gifts back under the tree when told 'no, not until Christmas'.

The very beginning of our gift pile, organized by Alyssa.

Any of your kids jump into the gifts before Christmas without permission?  I'm sure it'll happen around here someday.

Elf Days 11 &12

Our little Flower is getting a little braver with his antics though not so much that he would come down close enough to accidentally be touched by an excited toddler yet.

Day 11

He had an awful lot of our blocks and Alyssa told him in no uncertain terms that they belong in the block box!  She also told me to take them away from Flower but as soon as I reminded her that his magic goes away if we touch him she told him it was okay.

Day 12--Note the loose grip on the string so as to not topple the elf when pulled by the toddler!!

Day 12

This morning Flower was hiding out in the kitchen but not just any place...He was in the TREAT BUCKET! He had fished out a fruit snack and sent it down on his line so Alyssa could get it when she found him.  A special treat considering it is breakfast time when he is found typically!  Of course she got to eat her treat with her breakfast so I'm glad he chose a fruit snack rather than one of the chocolate candies instead today.  Who knows, he might just drop a little KitKat or bag of M&M's during naptime!

Flower had a pretty loose grip on the string so that Alyssa could have her treat without falling on her head.

Silly Flower...up in a bucket....oh! Thank you Flower!

Coin Chart Issue/Solution

I mentioned in our Two Month Update that one of our biggest issues was that bedtime was essentially removed from an effective daytime process like the coins.  Well, it is still somewhat true but we have since removed a sticker from the chart after she had earned it for the day because of a kicking episode directly afterwards while going to bed.  WOW!  She was horrified and bedtime didn't get better that night.  She knew that kicking (or any form of violence like that) results in a loss of 2 coins around here.  I went and grabbed the 2 coins and the sticker and explained to her that she lost the coins because of her kicking and that meant I had to take the sticker back because she didn't have all of her coins anymore that day.

This was difficult for her to understand.  She didn't know that stickers were able to be taken back.  I don't recommend doing this for anything that you might consider minor (or more due to sleepy moodiness than all out toddler war) because this was very complicated for the toddler to come to grips with.  She was very concerned about all her previous stickers the next morning because if Momma can take one away, logically she can take more.  The differentiating is the tough part.  HOWEVER...violence is not okay no matter the sleepy mood or bedtime war and SOMETHING had to give.  The shock of her lost sticker didn't help that night but it has helped subsequent nights.

We remind her frequently about her prize/goal and how many stickers she needs to get there.  We remind her of the rules frequently.  We remind her how many coins she has to earn back (if any) every time she begins to show a sign of a wrong choice.  We get EXCITED! (yes with capital letters and exclamation point) when she is being helpful or extra thoughtful.  We get EXCITED! when she tries a new food even if she didn't like it.  We get EXCITED! about her great clean up skills or her awesome manners.  There are always hugs and talks about why X was a good thing or why Y should have been done differently.

At night, the diaper change is the beginning of the rough part (and is actually the worst part usually).  She is in the perfect position to throw a tantrum--laying on her back on the floor with limbs free to fly.  This is equated to kicking because she does kick outward and as I am pregnant and she knows my tummy has to be handled carefully/nicely because Baby Brother is in there.  Her aim is to get your hands far away from any diaper changing items and it is quite purposeful.  (I look forward to a toddler sans diapers....)  She now knows that violence WILL result in a sticker being lost because coins were lost too.  EVEN AT BEDTIME.  Minor issues like too many excuses to come out of the room or get us to come in (water, a certain toy, blanket/bedding issues, etc) are corrected by other means currently.  When she gets to a more solid understanding of time, we may be able to switch coin counting to the morning and include ALL of bedtime into the system but at this point in her development, bedtime is a very divisive signal of days making a natural coin deadline.

I am open to suggestions of other bedtime methods...Thankfully this sticker loss has been a one time thing so far and has much improved our bedtime routine/diaper changes.

Elf Days 9 & 10

Flower remains his calm self so far...it might have something to do with being easy for a toddler to find but not touch.  It could also have something to do with the lack of places to hide in a temporary apartment for our family as well.  I have a feeling next year won't be quite as simple to find him!  (Though that could be simply due to doubling sq footage too.)

Day 9

Day 10

Baby Boy Update

I can't recall at this point if I have mentioned how freaking big this kid is that I'm carrying...have I told y'all this before??  No.  I'm serious.  This isn't one of those '7 months pregnant and there just can't be any more room in there I swear' moments.  This kid is measuring 3 weeks (count em--TWENTY-FIVE days) ahead of his due date.  He must have hit his growth spurt while still inside I guess because we have had multiple ultrasounds because of one missed measurement at our 20wk and then a fluid measurement was high and then the size watch started at that time too.

On Wednesday we had another growth ultrasound (paired with the biophysical to double check fluids which are looking great now) and he measured 25 days ahead.  Normal range is 22 days on either side before they start looking at the due date itself.  Well, we can only skew our due date by a week at most either way except that the 9wk dating ultrasound was only a single day different than my EDD (estimated due date) calculations based on last period.  The 20wk ultrasound also matched much more closely to the EDD.  This kid is aiming for an impressive entrance weight according to my doctor and the ultrasound techs.  At approx. 33 1/2wks he is estimated at 6lbs 10oz

O_O

They do say that the error cushion is fairly significant (almost 30%) but STILL!  This kid is trying his best to scare me out of my wits I think.  In related news:  he is measuring proportionately and looking very healthy development-wise so I am overall a thrilled Momma around here.

We did have to move Alyssa's EDD up once (roughly 10/11 days) but I wasn't tracking my cycles back then at all so her EDD was very much moveable.

How big was your largest baby?  Did you ever have to move an EDD?

Before I Forget!

Happy Hannukah

to all who celebrate it!!

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Elf Days 7 & 8

In case you've been wondering what Flower (our elf) has been up to lately...I did miss a picture of day 6 but he hung out with the Reindeer Countdown that day.  We have a pretty tame guy around here but it might just be a way to break the ice until the no-touching rule is well underway.  He does have to protect his magic somehow....like sitting up high.

Day 7

Day 8

Reindeer Countdown!

I mentioned previously that I have used my Cricut to make a little countdown to Christmas.  It happens to be a reindeer with a string of (not so real looking) Christmas lights hanging from him.  I do love the reindeer...but I promise to do better with the lights part (or do something different) next year.

Alyssa loves to remind us frequently that we need to cut the next piece off the string bringing us a little bit closer to that adorable reindeer at the top.  I'm not sure that she realizes what reaching the reindeer is supposed to mean but I'm just happy she likes the countdown.  Oh, and that it makes me happy to have one more little decoration for this holiday season in the apartment!

I Will Remember

Photo Credit: Pacific Historic Parks

Today I went to multiple news websites expecting to see patriotic pictures of a landmark that nearly all Americans have seen every year on this date because today's date would "live in infamy."  Sadly, I was not greeted with words of remembrance or pictures to show that those who died and the survivors are not forgotten.  There were a few articles here and there but none of them a focal point.  I am sad about this.  I am disappointed.  I know that this tragic attack was 71 years ago.  I know there are other things happening in the world today and that we should focus on many things at once...but this truly bothers me today.  In roughly 60 more years will we forget to remember September 11th victims?  Will we allow ourselves to put all tragedies in the past to the point of not even looking at a picture of a monument?  Eventually I suppose it will simply be a notation on the calendar like any other day of honor and remembrance but I hope that does not happen in my lifetime.

Today, please take at least a small moment to remember Pearl Harbor victims and survivors.  Please take a moment and think about the impact this had on our country, not to mention the course of WWII.  I will remember.  I hope you will too.

Christmas Card Display

Having been in the apartment here since the beginning of September and being assured and reassured that it was 'very likely' that we would've been in our house before/near Thanksgiving, I had all of our Christmas stuff packed up and put into storage when we moved.  This means that as we got into December, I had no decorations, no tree, no anything that was 'normal' for me at Christmastime.  Heck, I don't even have a cd player to play my music on!  (Yes, the dvd player would work....and no I don't have a disc drive on my laptop so that won't work.)

How did I go about fixing this?  Well, this year I have a Cricut...so I made a little countdown craft.  We adopted our elf friend Flower.  We set up an inexpensive tree (which will be the upstairs or Momma tree at the new house).  Lastly, I have my Christmas card holder that I made last year hanging up.  It is a little more delicate and odd shaped to store safely in a storage unit full of cupboards, totes, appliances and various outdoor tools so I had it stored on the back of our bedroom door all year long until the move...Flower landed on it the other night so you may have already spotted it in a recent Elf post but here it is again just because I love it.

Christmas Card Holder:

So obviously there aren't any cards on there yet...but it is still early December and we are at a temporary address so I suppose I shouldn't hold my breath on filling this thing up this year but I do love it anyways.

The elf is not typically included in the holder design.  This was crafted last year from (where else?) a Pinterest inspiration.  It was actually the first Pinterest project I completed that wasn't a recipe (actually it might have beaten the recipes too).  This was foam board, ribbon, scrapbook paper (original called for wrapping paper), and decorations--I have a scrapbook tree sticker and decorative red brad pins.  The original design also called for this to be over-a-door mount (two foam boards and the top ribbon would be two pieces to put over the door)--excellent if you have a front closet or another door that is easily viewed in a living space. My house was too small for that option so I adapted and made it a command hook decoration.  Just hang your cards or pictures from the three ribbons using mini clothespins or paperclips that are pretty and there you go!

Finding the Elf

Well, I had my suspicions confirmed.  The Elf is quite a creepy little guy at first.  Shortly after coming into the living room this morning I asked Alyssa if she noticed anything near the tree...I figured she would find the book first and we would read it and then go looking for the Elf, my bad.  She looked the tree over and then started backing up suddenly and stood behind Papa!

She wasn't so nervous that she didn't go get the book when prompted (and noticed its existence) thankfully, though she kept a close eye on the little guy and scrammed outta there back to the safety of Papa's lap quickly.  The story did put her at ease pretty well, enough that she chose a name for our new friend--Flower.  No, we haven't seen Bambi around here yet since every time I pull it out I'm vetoed and Princesses or Barbie or Hello Kitty are selected...Honestly I thought we would have to give suggestions for days to get this guy named so I was impressed with the quick selection (under 30 seconds of thinking) from a girl who doesn't name her baby dolls yet even.

Flower no longer makes Alyssa nervous at all.  She thinks he is pretty tricky getting to his lookout spaces like up high in the tree or into a slinky hanging off of the vertical blinds header.

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

If you have an elf visiting your house this year, what special spots has he or she found to keep an eye on things?  Has there been any silliness going on yet?