Mr. Bossy

My son is the bossiest person alive. We call him "the director." He tells people where to sit and where to stand and he gets upset if you don't do just as you're told. We have been working on it with him. You know, explaining to him what it means to be bossy, not caving everytime he wants us to do something, allowing him to feel some frustration when things don't go exactly as he planned. But, sometimes it's just funny. When we were at Knott's Berry Farm before Christmas, Liam wanted to ride the carousel. He wanted to ride the giraffe and he wanted Daddy to ride the horse. No prob. But oops! Daddy isn't buckled in! He needs to wear the seat belt.

Then he kept turning around to play with the horse's tail or to talk to Mommy. That is definitely against the rules so Liam kept yelling at him to face forward and put both hands on the pole in front of him.

This went on almost the entire ride.

We also have these nightly jam sessions where we all get an instrument and we have to play the song he chooses, the way he chooses, and where he chooses. This usually means Paul is playing on the miniature piano, I'm on the xbox drums, Liam is on the xbox microphone and, occassionally, my mom is on the maracas. We sing Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, It's a Small World and Itsy Bitsy Spider. It gets old sometimes but mostly I just try to enjoy it. It's family time. This stage won't last forever and he definitely won't want to play with us forever. Plus, maybe he really will become some sort of a director when he grows up. We wouldn't want to squelch that fire, now would we? Most of the time we just talk about poor Brygit. I hope she's up for the challenge.

Christmas favorites

My favorite Christmas moments this year were as follows:

Exchanging pajamas on Christmas eve while Liam talked excitedly about how Santa brought them to him because he was a "big boy." He had no clue what he was in for the next morning and I love that he would have been happy even if he only got pajamas.

Christmas Eve candlelight service where Liam held his own candle and asked repeatedly, "Now I blow it out?"

Watching Liam "shoot" his entire family with a giant candy cane turned around like a gun.

Playing Santa on Christmas Eve after Liam fell asleep then staying up late talking to Paul.

Liam insisting that Santa needed CHOCOLATE milk with his cookies then talking all morning about how much Santa LOVES chocolate milk since he "drank it all gone."

Asking Liam if he was having a fun Christmas only to hear Paul exclaim, "Yes! This is so much fun!" as he played with Liam's dinosaur toy. Then later that night, after telling him how tired I was, hearing him say, "But I want to play with Liam's new toys."

Liam "mousekersizing" with his new basketball hoop.

Hearing Liam gasp and say, "Oh my gosh!" in his sweet little voice while he opened presents.

Playing Ring Around the Rosie with Liam, my niece and nephew, and four or five other adults.

Spending time with family, giving gifts to the children in our families, experiencing thoughtfulness and generosity and pretty much every other moment of the day.



P.S. I am well aware that Liam has chocolate on his face in almost every picture I took. It was that kind of weekend.

Cookie Cutter Babies

Last week we had a couple of 4D ultrasounds done. The first one didn't quite work out because Brygit kept putting her hands in front of her face and turning her head away. She is very uncooperative when it comes to ultrasounds. Has been this entire pregnancy. They let us come back and try again a couple of days later and although she still preferred her hands in her face we were able to get a much better shot of her. What was so striking was her resemblance to Liam. He also had a 4D ultrasound done but his was about a month earlier so those pictures don't look as similar as pictures of him when he was first born.. or even now. She looks just like him when she sleeps, she's bald like he was, and she has eyelashes for days just like his. The bottom two photos could definitely be of the same baby. I can't wait to meet her in person!

Mother's Bucket List

Every now and then I hear I great idea or a cute story that I want to remember to do with my children someday. It's like a bucket list I have going in my mind of things to do before my children grow up. I heard one of these ideas the other day and I'm blogging about it in hopes that I remember it. Maybe this will become a blogging series for me. Who knows.

Anyway, I overheard a mother and her two children talking on the shuttle bus as we were leaving Disneyland the other day. They were talking about how the mom woke the kids up that morning and got them ready for school like any other day but instead of going to school, she surprised them with a trip to Disneyland. They were ecstatic needless to say and I found myself admiring that mom for being so completely awesome! I must remember to do that when my kids are older.

It actually got me thinking (yet again) about the kind of mom I want to be and about the kind of childhood memories I want my kids to have. It's difficult sometimes to be a disciplinarian who is responsible for making sure her kids don't turn out like complete jerks while simultaneously being the person they trust most in the world, the person they run to for comfort AND a person they have fun with. I've only been at this for almost two and a half years but I think I'm doing a pretty good job so far. But I know I've only reached the tip of the iceberg.

I want my kids to have memories like the one this mom gave her kids. A memory where their mom did something unexpected just to make them smile. A whole day where she put all responsibilities aside and let loose. I want my kids to see that part of me. It's a must-have on my bucket list.

Queen Mary

When we first arrived at the Queen Mary it opened up and poured. Then the wind picked up and it felt like we were in a hurricane. We hurried into our room, ordered a pizza, and did what we wanted to do most. For me that was play with my new toys, for Paul it was to make an unsuccessful attempt at beating me at Scrabble on his phone, and for Liam it was to drink sparkling grape juice while making funny faces in the vanity. This is the life.

Once the funny faces wore off and the grape juice ran out Liam took to writing "letters" on the hotel pad of paper then he wanted to leave. Actually, he wanted to go "ride the boat." That's what happens when you tell a two year old you are going on a boat. He wants to ride it and he wants to drive it and he doesn't understand what is so fun about being on an old boat that no longer works.

Luckily the rain subsided so we headed out in the pitch black dark to try to show Liam the different parts of the ship.

Then we came back in and explored the inside until I was so tired that I sat down with this look on my face. It was late, I had just spent two whole days at Disneyland, I was kind of done with being away from home and I was more than ready for sleep.

Luckily Paul had just enough energy left to chase Liam around the ship for a few minutes before turning in. Here is where our trip took a little turn for the worse. Our room felt like a furnace and the fan wasn't working. We opened the little port hole windows but then helicopters were flying over and Liam wouldn't fall asleep. Then our neighbors, who apparently didn't get the memo that the Queen Mary is OLD and the walls are paper thin started to.. um.. love each other... loudly. So at around midnight I marched my tired, hormonal body up to the front desk and demanded they move us. They did and all was perfect with the new room but we have definitely learned that the Queen Mary isn't very kid friendly. A hotel next door to Disneyland is. A historical ship isn't. Lesson learned.

We walked around in the morning for a bit and took some more pictures. It may not be kid friendly but it sure is beautiful.

Disneyland Vacation/ Camera Fun

My little family took a short vacation last week. We spent a morning at Disneyland, checked into our hotel next door for a nap, then headed back to Disney where we left Liam with Grandma and Grandpa so we could enjoy a nice evening alone. During this evening Paul gave me my birthday presents a day early which were a new flash and new lense for my camera. I was so excited but so overwhelmed because I have a lot of learning and adjusting to do but I practiced all weekend so now you get to look at my boat load of pictures. The one above was taken the following morning when Liam woke up in the hotel. (Oh, we also had an amazing dinner at Bubba Gump and tons of laughter and uninterrupted conversation. It was lovely.)

These pictures were all taken the next day when we went back to Disneyland yet again but with sore calves this time from walking so much the day before. Of course, when we started to take pictures of Liam he decided he didn't want to cooperate and, instead, decided to make silly faces.

We got a few cute ones in, of course, because he's just too adorable to not be photogenic.

We also had a visit with Santa and I was very surprised when Liam sat on his lap and told him what he wanted for Christmas. This kid used to cry if a stranger even looked at him so this was a huge accomplishment for my shy boy. He told Santa that he wanted more trains and when Santa asked him what kind of train he told him, "a Percy train" from Thomas and Friends. This was the first time he has even mentioned a Percy train and I wiped my brow in relief that we coincidentally have one for him.

It was a fun filled, exhausting two days and we headed straight to Long Beach for an overnight stay at the Queen Mary. I played with my new camera accessories some more there so I will dedicate a whole post to it in a couple days.

10 more weeks!

 

I'm 30 weeks, 2 days as I write this but I am 29 weeks in the photo. I haven't gotten around to taking a 30 week photo yet since we just got back from a mini vacation and are catching up on some much needed R & R. I'll write a post about our trip later. For now, I want to catch up on my pregnancy posts since I'm nearing the end at an abnormally fast rate of speed.

I feel like I haven't talked about it much because it seriously has been so easy! It really has been a walk in the park compared to my first pregnancy. Let's hope I can keep saying that once she arrives. I have passed the point of "fitting" into maternity clothes and am now at the point where my maternity tanks don't cover the band of my pants. I have taken to shopping for mini-dresses or tunics at Forever 21 and wearing them as shirts.

The biggest symptom I have been experiencing is PRESSURE! Most women who have had a child should know what I'm talking about. It's that feeling you get at the end of your pregnancy when your baby "drops" and is now sitting head down in your pelvis. Except that I've been feeling it for a while now. My doc thinks I'm just carrying low and it's totally normal but I feel like she's going to just fall out one of these days. Liam used to kick me in the ribs and this child kicks me in my hip bones.

One symptom I have that is very reminiscent of my pregnancy with Liam is heartburn. Massive heartburn. When I lay down at night I feel like I literally have fire in my throat and I could just blow it out like a dragon. Luckily it is able to be squelched by a couple of Tums and avoiding spicy foods like the plague. I had it so bad with Liam that I had Paul sneaking me Tums when I was in labor and not allowed to eat anything. I must remember to do the same this time around.

As I mentioned earlier time has been flying by. I feel like I just found out I was pregnant. We finished our last childbirth class at the hospital and the nurse was telling us to pre-register with Labor and Delivery so that we don't have to fill out paperwork while in labor and, also, to start packing our hospital bag. Then I read on Baby Center that now would be a good time to assemble large baby items that we plan on using. Register at the hospital? Pack my bag? Assemble large items? My first reaction is that now would be way too premature for those things but then I do the math and realize it really is about that time. I just can't believe it. And I haven't done any of those things in case you're wondering.

Emotionally I am feeling much more confident than I was a few weeks ago. I know that I can handle raising two little ones if I just take it one day at a time and drink enough coffee to get me through each day. Liam keeps asking me if it's time for the baby to come out and every time I leave the house and return without him he checks to make sure the baby is still in there. I told him that she has to get a lot bigger before she can come out so every day he lifts up my shirt and talks about how much bigger she is getting and how she is going to come out soon. Today at Target I was looking at baby clothes and he grabbed an outfit off the rack and threw it in the cart for "baby sisser." Again, I had to explain that she didn't need it quite yet. I am feeling very excited about them meeting. I was very worried about jealousy and Liam's reaction to me holding the baby and whatnot but now I think he will do great. (Fingers crossed.)

Tomorrow I have a 4D ultrasound appointment and I can't wait to see what my little girl is looking like in more detail. For now, this is a picture the doctor took last week.