snow shovelers

Colin helped daddy clear our big post-christmas snow from the front walk.  He is actually pretty good at moving some snow!

christmas pics 2012

We had such a nice little Christmas at home this year.  Despite our sadness at missing out on being with family, the colds that Mike and Colin came down with, my feeling every bit of 9 months pregnant, and the snowstorm we got hit with when we would have been driving back meant that it all worked out the way it was supposed to.  

We spent Christmas eve driving around with hot chocolate to see a lights display, and then Colin got to open one present... 

I love that these magna-tiles are designed for cool 3D building, but Colin prefers to build flat roads for his cars and/or the Berlin wall.

Stockings on Christmas morning...

Can you believe it?  Santa brought him the "Mack Truck from Cars!"   How did he know?!

Getting up close and personal with Buzz Lightyear.

My attempt at a posed picture.  Notice that little hand slipping into the wrapping paper...

(also, this is the only shirt he would allow us to put on him, even when I tried to bribe him.  It was imperative that he have "white sleeves" on Christmas.  What can you do?) 

Notice both hands are now in the wrapping paper...

Me and my fella..

Me and both of my babies.  Don't worry about the rest of my head, it's mostly missing these days anyway.

C didn't even want to open this one, he just wanted to carry it around.  Could he look any more grownup?

but I talked him into opening it.

We had to take a break from present opening to drive around the town.

So I got him some new shoes and at the last minute threw them under the tree since they came right before christmas.  Go figure, they were his favorite gift.  He put them on and then began racing laps around the house yelling "These shoes make me go so fast!"  Then he ran upstairs and yelled "bye bye baby shoes!" and is now insisting on wearing his "cool new orange shoes" (and he says it that way every time) every day.  We'll never get another pair on him.  I guess I'm glad he likes them so much?

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We missed you all!

santa and our elves

We've been planning for Christmas in E'ville this year, though we were playing it by ear on how I'd feel at this point.  But, at my appointment Tuesday, Doctor put the kibosh on any travel plans.  I was so sad, though I understand where he's coming from... I guess 35 weeks is getting down to it.  Anyway, we were lucky that Grandma Kitty and Aunt Zoe decided to be our elves and make the long drive up and back just to drop off some presents for us.  Colin got to open one present from Aunt Zoe....

A fire truck!

Needless to say, he was thrilled... and this truck has been sleeping next to Colin's bed every night since.

In other Christmas news, Mike had taken off work last week to take Colin to see Santa at the mall.  Colin couldn't stop talking about how excited he was to sit on his lap and tell him that he wanted a "Mack Truck from Cars".  Of course, once he got to the front of the line, he freaked and refused to sit on his lap or talk to him.

So imagine my surprise when Santa came to visit Colin's classroom this week.  Colin told his teacher over and over he did not want to see Santa or sit on his lap.  Then, when Santa arrived, Colin was apparently the first kid to run right up to him and jump in his lap.  Go figure, you never know with this kid...

As disappointed as we were about our travel plans, we are looking forward to a nice quiet Christmas at home, just the three of us... because it won't be that way for very much longer!

34.5

Here's me and TBS at 34.5 weeks...

In comparison, here's me and Colin at the same point.  Surprisingly, Colin looks bigger/lower than TBS.. which is about the opposite of how it feels....

I'm definitely slowing down these days and feeling a lot more uncomfortable than I did with Colin.  The wonderful brunch and spa day that Tandra and Lynn planned for me this past weekend helped a lot with relaxation... now if I could just do that every weekend :)   We are getting awfully close now!

more weekend fun

Yes, it was a really full weekend!  Grandpa Doug and Grandma Karen came for a quick visit, bearing early Christmas gifts (and lots of little girl clothes :)!  Colin had a great time helping Grandpa assemble his new scooter!  Thanks for the visit and all of the great gifts!

breakfast with santa

Saturday morning we, along with the rest of the entire city, went to the Purdue Union for Breakfast with Santa (or, as Colin calls it, "Special Breakfast").  When we arrived, Colin's mind was blown by the enormous tree in the center of the Union...

Posing with "giant tree"... this is just before he tried to engage in some minor vandalism of the tree.  Good thing mom knows all the Purdue cops :) 

Then we had a pancake breakfast which C devoured...  Of course the highlight was receiving a green balloon from an Elf...

The line to visit Santa was unreal, so being the Worlds' Best Parents, we skipped that.  Surprisingly, there was no line to visit this random Penguin.  So that's what we did.

penguin hugs :)

Then we spent some time playing in this giant (real) gingerbread house.  When I told Colin it was a house made out of cookies he yelled, "I EAT IT!"

We saw several of Colin's friends there, got some fun treats, and had a great time.  Until Sunday when Colin asked, "Can we go to special breakfast again?"

certified big brother

Yesterday Colin attended a Big Brother class at the hospital.  He was very good and listened carefully during the class.  Here he is practicing changing a diaper.  Given that he immediately flipped the baby face down on the table and started scrubbing her butt frantically with a handful of wipes, it's safe to say he won't have responsibility for that task for awhile. 

And practicing holding the baby (this is pretty much exactly the face I expect to see when she's here)

When we arrived, Colin asked the teacher if "this was the hospital?" and "where are the babies?"  He was thrilled to get a tour of the L&D unit, including seeing a brand new newborn, pushing the buttons to make the beds go up and down, and seeing the nursery (where he spent a few nights a few years ago). It was SO strange to be back on that floor with Colin, since it seems like yesterday we walked out of there with him!  I don't know how much of the class he will retain, but hopefully being familiar with the setting will at least help when he comes to visit Mommy and The Baby Sister next month.

monkey at the library

I took Colin for his first real trip to the library this weekend and he LOVED it.  He wanted to find some Curious George books.  I told him I wasn't sure they had them, because - side note - they are the worst books ever written, but of course as soon as we walked in the kids' area there was a whole bin of them right at his eye level.  We ended up taking a few home - at least it will be some variety from the ones we already have.  We've had them for a day now and he already has them memorized!  

sneak peek / name game

We are slowly making progress on the nursery front... still have a lot to do, but at least the basics are in the room now!  It's turned into Colin's favorite play place.  Hopefully we will have bought a new house by the time he figures out her room is twice the size of his...

One big stumbling block has been the wall decor - I want to hang up initials and buy cute prints with her name on it ... but we don't have one yet.  I think I definitely jinxed us when I was pregnant with Colin and said, "girl names are so much easier!"  I'm not sure what I was thinking.  I don't like the girl names we liked 3 years ago.  Everything seems either way too common, doesn't go with our last name/Colin's name, we can't agree on it, or it has been disqualified for some other reason.  It's really hard because we were both so in love with the name Colin right away.. obviously it won't be the same this time around.  We have some semi-finalists, but who knows what we'll settle on by the time she's here.  For now, The Baby Sister seems to have stuck, so that's what we're going with.  At least if she's nameless, she has a place to sleep now.

"this tree is going to stay here? every day?"

Here are some pics of decorating for Christmas with Colin.  Let's just say he was awfully excited about having a tree in the house, and took a much more "active role" in decorating than in years past.

Here he is sporting Daddy's santa hat and showing off the orange ornament he insisted on buying.

During nap time, mom had to reallocate the cluster of ornaments all placed at the 3 year old eye level.

Decorating is serious business.

more orange..

Smarty pants showing me the "C that starts with Colin" on his stocking...

Stocking creeper.  I bet he's going to be a present counter too, like his Aunt Zoe.

Such a big boy with his tree this year!