Christmas 2010

We had a really nice Christmas this year. Christmas Eve we went over to my parents house for dinner and gifts.

Audia loves her Grandma and Grandpa so much. She had a lot of fun reading with both of them, and doing puzzles with Grandma while Grandpa and Daddy made dinner.

Christmas Eve dinner has been the same since I can remember. We always have Swedish Meatballs, Mashed potatoes, Gravy, Lingonberries, and Green Beans.

Audia got a truckload of wonderful gifts (we did too!) Among her favorites seem to be her doctor's kit and kitchen.

Christmas morning was spent at the apartment, just the three of us. Audia suprisingly slept in until 8:30. She had been asking about Santa coming every night for weeks, so when we finally told her that "tonight's the night!" on Christmas Eve, I was sure that she would have trouble sleeping and get up super early. I guess her sleeping in was a Christmas gift to us!

Santa brought her all kinds of fun goodies, and we also opened gifts from Chris' parents that morning.

After Audia's nap (which was much needed after all that present-opening,) we went back over to my parents to relax and have our traditional Prime Rib dinner. Yum!

Overall, we had a very joyous Christmas. Audia is still talking about Santa and asking when we're going to go over to Grandma and Grandpa's to open more presents. I think it will take a while for it to set in that there won't be any more gifts until Easter!

Pre-Christmas Celebrations

Christmas has been a total blast this year. We've made sure to do a lot of Christmasy activities to prepare Audia and get in the spirit, and boy did it work! She had so much fun and is still talking about all the things we did (and, of course, asking if we can do them again!)

Decorating an apartment is a bit different than decorating a house....especially since our complex doesn't allow real trees (Bah Humbug!), but limitations aside, I had a lot of fun with it, and Audia loves the Christmas tree even though it's fake.

About a month before Christmas, we kicked things off with our annual trip to the mall with N and A to get the girls' photo taken with Santa. Neither of the girls wanted to sit on Santa's lap this year, so us Mommy's had to get in the photo too.

The majority of our Christmas activities started two weeks before Christmas. We started with a trip downtown with my parents for dinner and to see Macy's 'A Day in the Life of an Elf.' When I was a kid, Macy's was Dayton's (and then Marshall Field's) and every year they had a different story set up. The past few years (since Macy's bought Marshall Field's, I think) have been the same show, but Audia's never seen it and she sure seemed to enjoy it!

After the floor show, we went outside and waited in the bitter cold (ok, maybe not bitter, but it was pretty darn cold!) to see the Holidazzle light parade. Audia was in heaven! She loves seeing all the Christmas lights when we go driving at night, and to have thousands of them rolling by her on floats was like a dream come true.

A couple of days later, we joined my parents again for 'Snack with Santa' at the Zoo. Audia loved watching Santa from afar, but once he came around to our table she became shy, and yet again we were forced to join her on Santa's lap. She asked Santa for "Books, teeth, and babies!" and he gave her an adorable stuffed monkey.

Later that day we had our Annual Snow Bocce Tournament. Audia loved seeing all her friends, and of course Chris and I did too. Now that we're parents, it's a lot harder to make plans and get out to see our friends, so our Bocce parties are a good way to catch up with friends we don't get to see as often as we'd like.

A few days later, my dear friend E, who I've known for 24 years, was in town visiting and stopped by for a playdate with me and Audia. Audia certainly loves her Auntie Em!

Our big present from our parents this year was a new mattress (it was desperately needed!), and the place that we got our mattress from had a raffle for an amish doll bed. Well, lucky us! We won the bed! So the day before Christmas Eve, we went over to the store and picked it up as an early Christmas present for the munchkin. Fievel, however, seems to have claimed ownership. He is even sleeping on it now as I write this entry!

Lately

We've been busily enjoying winter here the past couple of weeks. After the second big snow a couple of weekends ago, we decided to take advantage of a nearby park and play in it. I'm really glad that we did, because while we had another major snowfall this past weekend, it was simply too darn cold to go out and enjoy it. So, instead we stayed cozy inside, baked some AMAZING cardamom-lemon-butter cookies, watched Christmas movies, and finally finished decorating the gingerbread house that we built the weekend before.

This pregnancy has unfortunately brought on that old familiar sacroiliac joint pain that I had with Audia, only this time it is a lot earlier on. With Audia I was pretty much immobile around 6.5 months. My doc prescribed anti-inflammatory pain meds, I took them for a couple of weeks, and the pain went away never to come back. This time I'm only 3 months and it's already to the point that there are only two chairs in our whole place that I can sit in. Walking and pretty much any other activity that involves moving my legs is excruciating. Luckily I have an appointment tomorrow, but the last thing I want is to be on pain meds again, especially now that I stay home with Audia. Being fuzzy when I was working was fine by me, but I don't feel comfortable being fuzzy while I'm caring for my child. I am not holding my breath, but hoping that doc can give me an alternative option for pain relief. Like, say, a cortisone injection.

Audia has been so much fun to share the holidays with this year. She was last year too, but this year she is so aware of what's going on. She asks me every other day if Santa is going to come to our house, to which my answer of course is "if you're a good girl!" She has already memorized 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town,' 'Frosty the Snowman,' and the main chorus of 'Jingle Bells.' She's still (eternally) obsessed with books, and I frequently will find her in her bedroom with piles of books surrounding her, reading to her baby doll.

Big News

Yes, it's true. We are expecting baby number 2! Chris and I decided some time ago (almost a year) that we wanted to add to our family, and that the best time for us would be when Audia was around 3 years old. We started trying a little earlier than when we wanted to get pregnant simply because I had the Mirena and I've read that it can take your body a few months to "bounce back" from having it removed. Not my body! We got pregnant in the month after it was removed. And we are sooooo excited :-) Audia regularly talks about how mommy's "makin' me a new baby brother or sister!" I think she is going to be the best big sister a kid could ask for. Li'l Widget, you are going to be one lucky boy or girl!

This pregnancy, so far, has been completely different from my pregnancy with Audia. With Audia, I had no symptoms aside from superhuman sense of smell until I was well into my second trimester. This time around, it's been nausea and sheer exhaustion from the get go. With Audia, I craved sweets. This time it's anything savory. Dessert rarely interests me these days (unless, of course, there's peanut butter involved.) With Audia, I gained 7 lbs in my first trimester. This time I've gained barely 2. Based on all these things, my guess is that it is a boy, but we would be perfectly happy with either. Truth is this baby is already so incredibly loved. And, as they say, love makes the world go 'round. It certainly keeps mine turning :-)