Christmas 2012

One Of My Favorite Pictures, Ever

Andrew and his mini.

A little behind. . . I'm going to try and get Christmas pictures up tomorrow! In between taking down the Christmas decorations. :)

Christmas Dance Party

Remember how I told you Andi likes to put on a "princess" skirt and dance to Christmas music? Somehow she's roping us all into it (minus any tutus on the parents). Anytime a song she likes comes on she cranks up the radio and it's "Cwissmass dance" time. Sometimes I can sit it out but then she commands me to sing. Especially if it's the Chipmunks.

Tonight was the first time they were able to get Andrew to join. I was able to sneak out of the room to get the camera for a few quick snaps and then it was back to dancing.

(We got Andi her own "princess" that would stay on. No more suspenders.)

Decorating The Tree

Some pre-tree trimming cocoa:

Andrew and Arlie stepping back to admire their tree-topping skills:

All of us getting into the spirit:

The girls are so excited about the tree they practically ran me over the next morning, racing up the stairs to make sure it was still there.

Princess Please?

For some reason I was surprised by Andi's recent interest in princesses. I don't know if I was projecting my own thing on her but she just didn't seem like the twirly tutu type. Anyway, she kept being very sad that Arlie's pink skirt wouldn't stay up. She likes to strip down, put on the skirt and dance to Christmas music. She kept coming up and begging, "Princess, please?" She wouldn't give up even after I told her that it was just too big.

I had the idea to use my suspenders to keep the skirt up. While I was re-sizing them to fit her tiny self, Arlie was standing behind me watching carefully. As I clipped the them into place Arlie asked incredulously, "Are those like Bob's?" (Bob is our elderly neighbor that wears suspenders). I said yes and she went back to silently watching.

All of a sudden Arlie burst out laughing, "Princess Bob!" She followed Andi around the house cackling wildly at this idea. I couldn't stop laughing because I'd never heard Arlie crack herself up like that before. Andi was completely oblivious and just happy that she could dance to her favorite Christmas tunes without her skirt falling down.

(Since you possess eyeballs you can tell I had to draw a shirt on Andi in Paint. And I'm sure you know why I felt more comfortable posting the picture this way. I just didn't want it to go unacknowledged and have you guys thinking I was even trying to pull it off as realistic!)

Leavenworth 2012

First off. We had booked a trip to Leavenworth this year on the Snow Train. So in the weeks leading up to it we were counting down the "sleeps" with Arlie until we got to ride a train through the second-longest tunnel in North America and meet Santa. Too bad neither of those things happened.

We found out while driving to the train station in Seattle that the trip had been cancelled because of a large landslide on the train tracks. We were obviously disappointed (but glad no one was hurt) and were turning around to go home until Andrew suggested we just meet Grandma and Papa, load them up into our beast of a vehicle, and drive to Leavenworth. Day saved.

I have actual photos of Andi smiling! Multiple photos. Although I love the one below where she looks unsure of the half-hug the bear is trying to give her:

So maybe we didn't get to go on a train or meet Santa but it ended up being a wonderful day. We got to Leavenworth early enough that there was still elbow room in our favorite shops and were able to enjoy a leisurely lunch, but stayed long enough to experience the comraderie that comes when thousands of people come together to celebrate the holidays.

Santa's Visit

Every year Santa and the fire department come through our neighborhood. In years past we've missed them because they pass by our house a little too quickly (I don't blame them, our houses aren't super visible from the roadway AND it's pretty dark). I complained to the fire chief's sister and I don't know if that was what did it but we had the whole crew camped out in front of our house this year. It was great! It was pouring rain but it kind of looks like snow in the top picture, right?

I feel like I get so redundant pointing out that Arlie thought this was one of the greatest nights EVAR while Andi put on her puzzled face and just kind of went with it. For those of you that don't get to spend time with Andi, I PROMISE she's a very happy kid. She just doesn't let you capture it on film very often.

Christmas Tree Hunting

We really only had one day on the calendar when we could all go pick out a tree together. Unfortunately it ended up being an extremely rainy day. We did end up picking out a tree in record time - OK, Andrew did while the girls and I huddled under the covered portion.

32 Weeks

Good: Only 8 more weeks until we meet baby girl! I'm so grateful not to be working this pregnancy. Or I guess I should say not working at a 50-60 hour a week stressful job during this pregnancy. I look back and amazed that I was able to do that (with the help of a great husband and the best nanny)! Of course there were days when I wished that I could lay on the floor and refuse to go (heheh) but it's so much sweeter that our plans and hard work have come to fruition. I do still feel guilty that Andrew is working his tail off and I have the easy job of stay-at-home-mom. It is so awesome to have weekends together though!

Bad: Just regular pregnancy ughs. Sciatica, tiredness, heartburn, and joint pain. Still keeping up with yoga which both girls like to do with me now. Although Arlie likes to correct my form (I have to do modified poses this late in pregnancy and she's not really into that) and then does a bunch of upward facing dogs and cobras just to rub it in. Funny girl.

Oh, and I did this to my foot:

You know how loosened joints make you a little unstable? Yeah, I slipped down the stairs. In trying to protect the baby I landed weirdly - rolling onto the top of my foot - spraining the whole thing. Now on top of waddling I'm also limping. It's great.

Baby: 4 pounds. And she will be doubling her weight in the next 8 weeks, can you believe it? I think she already feels cramped in there! She can't kick as much anymore - it's mostly stretching my stomach into weird shapes. It's getting possible to figure out what body part is poking out which Arlie thinks is pretty cool. We still haven't decided on a name. We're not sure if we should continue the A names (which only happened by accident to begin with) or branch out. We've found an A name that Andrew really likes but I'm on the fence about. He's got 8 more weeks to convince me. . . :) Arlie thinks we should name her "Sister" and Andi suggested "Rabbit". Uh, I'll think about it girls.

Heh Heh

I posted this to Facebook a while back but forgot to put it on here. I'm getting pretty excited to add a third one to the mix!

Married To A Pol

Remember in the last post when I mentioned that Andrew was looking politician-esque these days? I felt the need to compile photos to support my claim.

Getting on the campaign plane with his adorable kids (yes, I'm biased):

Listening to a heartwarming tale from a potential constituent:

 

 

His very best concerned face listening to a tale of woe from another (or same! maybe they're chatty and have had a roller coaster year!) potential constituent:

 



 

And now he offers his common-sense solutions to the madness that is modern day politics:

 

SEE?

 

Of course, I'm the one taking the photos so maybe I should stop making him look like he's stumping for votes. Or dedicating whole posts on it. It's a good thing it's just friends and family that read this blog. And the random Googler that stumbled on here after searching for "badly drawn on eyebrows."

Big Ferris Wheel & A Ferry Ride

This last weekend we took the girls on the Seattle Great Wheel. Arlie was a little scared but if she could hold onto daddy she was fine. And we finally caught Andi smiling on a ride! In fact if Andi could have been outside dangling somehow she would have. She had her little body pressed up against the glass and would yell, "Fun!" at random intervals. Andrew also loved it and looked oddly politician-y with the Seattle backdrop. I was just trying to keep it together for the kids, as evidenced by the picture. MAJOR nausea. If I had been all alone in that gondola I would have pressed the "LET ME OFF" button. Repeatedly.

We took the ferry home since Arlie hadn't been on a "big boat" since she was a baby. It was a ride much more up this scaredy-cat mommy's alley. Andi was the kid that loved the boat ride the most which suprised me. We had to coax her and her cute little pigtails back inside when the rest of us were freezing.

Genes

She may look just like her daddy, but she's got her mommy's genetics in there somewhere. . .

Halloween 2012

I think the theme this Halloween was, "Making It Work".

Grandma and Papa surprised the girls by coming over to help carve pumpkins. The girls' pumpkins ended up being too small for the patterns, so Don freehanded his (the spider, can you believe it?) and I just cut out portions of the original template (owl). By the time we were done using the itty bitty saws to get through the first two pumpkins, neither of us were in the mood to do the same to Andrew's huge, thick-skinned one. So I painted a Frankenstein's monster on it.

(I'm sitting here coming down from a sugar high, so I apologize if this post is a little. . . off). The girls picked out what they wanted to be for Halloween again this year. Arlie picked fairy/princess and Andi wanted to be a bee. When I did the sketches to get an idea of where to start I drew Andi as an aviator bee and it seemed so perfectly her:

I'm pretty proud how it turned out! Arlie's costume didn't go as planned but luckily I had thrifted this fun dress a few months ago for her dress-up box and with a few last-minute tweaks she ended up being a very cute fairy. The best part is seeing their reactions when they see themselves in a mirror, transformed.

On Halloween, we very optimistically got into the car to go trick-or-treating downtown despite the downpour. The relentless downpour that hasn't stopped in 3-4 days. Optimism won! When we got to Trick-or-Treat in the Harbor the rain tapered off and didn't start back up again until we were on our way back to the car. How lucky are we, right?

When we got home, Arlie was really excited to hand out treats to the other trick-or-treaters. She even offered helpful suggestions to the kids on what they might find most fun in the bucket in her sweet little voice. She might have liked that part even better than collecting the candy for herself. Andi stood at the top of the stairs where she could see the costumes and made monkey hoots. Because that is what Andi does.

Well, I'm off to make some tea to try to counteract some of this sugar. . .

Currently Wearing - 27 Weeks

Good: Baby has hiccups! I love that part. Also, the look on Arlie's face when she feels the baby moving. She thinks it's pretty cool and so do I. And only 13 weeks to go until we meet her. I'm getting pretty excited for that part.

Bad: I'm anemic. So, so, so tired. Like moving through molasses tired. But now that we've identified that problem I'm enjoying the challenge of coming up with healthy meals loaded with iron. It seems to be helping already. And I'm outgrowing maternity clothing already! At my last appointment the midwife asked me to stop gaining weight so quickly. Whoops. At my first appointment for this pregnancy, a different midwife asked me to gain more weight this time around - I guess I was succeeding a little too well! Heheh.

Baby: She weighs about 2.2 pounds this week, about the size of a head of cauliflower. She still has lots of room in there. Her movements are more like Arlie's pregnancy. She has a favorite position and then kicks a lot. Sometimes I poke her back to try and get her to move because that one spot is getting tender. Still, pretty calm.