Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

People like me should not be allowed to have live plants.

This was a full and very beautiful poinsettia a couple of weeks ago.

Can I tell you how much I love This Amazing Woman's Blog? She can make me laugh and cry and want to eat Greek food (which I hate) all in one post. Someday, I hope to be able to write like her.

Someday.

Top 5 reasons I KNOW I'm not making up this pregnancy thing:

5. Bathroom breaks are WAY more often than any normal human being. Let's just say I have a preferred stall in the bathroom at work because I know them all so well...

4. My belly button used to be at least twice as deep as it is now. And I should know. I love my belly button - and it's disappearing!

3. Leg cramps in the middle of the night. Awesome.

2. That breakdown I had before dinner. Long story, but let's just say Nate just looked at me like "why the HECK is this crazy woman in my wife's body crying (no, BAWLING) over Spaghetti?" (To his credit, he was very good about it - he just hugged me until I calmed down - while trying really hard not to laugh).

And #1 reason this is for real:

1. The 'lil poke, poke every now and then (I can just imagine that little guy/gal -- "Uh, mom? Could you please not lean forward like that?" Poke, poke.)

*Disclaimer: These are, by far, not the only fun, new things I'm experiencing. The others, however, most of you (or maybe all of you) would prefer NOT to hear about.

Promised update:

For Thanksgiving, we went to Chicago (technically Naperville, since we never actually went into Chicago - more on that) for the holiday to see my sister Shan and her family, as well as my sister AJ and her family who came down for the weekend. We had a BLAST! Granted, we probably didn't get as much sleep as normal (there were 4 kids ages 2 and under), but I got some good practice for the future! It was definitely worth the lack of sleep since we hadn't seen two of the nephews at all and it had been the longest since we'd seen these two families. While we would have preferred to have the WHOLE family together, I think we're all learning that when the family is as spread out as our's, we'll just have to see bits and pieces at a time.

While there, we spent most of the time just hangin' out at their apartment. We considered going downtown, but with 4 kids who need nourishment every 2+ hours and naps often, it would have been crazy. Honestly, I wasn't disappointed at all. I went to be with family and we had so much fun just being together, playing games, watching movies, laughing at silly two-year-olds, etc. etc. Here are some fun pictures/videos from the weekend.

This was a pretty common scene. Glenn, Josh, Nate and AJ played Mexican Train (with Dominoes), Monopoly and several other games. Shan joined in a few of the times as well, but I was content to hold babies and play with/deal with toddlers.
Here's one of AJ being a good mommy (as always). She always got interruped during games to take care of her little guy.

Here's Shan also being a good mommy (:D) and multitasking (taking pictures of the other munchkins).
I was sort of amazed that Xander looked at me since he was watching a movie. :) He really loves the Shrek movies and I think that's what was on at the time.
Also Stella watching a movie. I love this picture because she's SO focused (and in such an awkward movie watching pose).

I have a few videos of an absolutely silly 2 year old dancing queen, but my computer isn't letting me post it, so I'll have to do that separately. Stay tuned for that!


Usually, I like to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, but as I didn't get home until the following Monday, I had to wait a few days. I love putting up the Christmas tree (and hate taking it down - it's too bad I was thinking about how I would have to take it down as I put it up)! Here it is:

And finally, I keep getting requests for belly pictures (I guess that's what I get for dishing it out, huh?)

So here is one at 12 weeks:
One at 16 weeks:
And one at 17 weeks: (I think this one looks like I'm sticking my stomach out, but I promise, I was even trying to hold it in a little bit...)
So there you go! We had a great Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a fun Christmas!

The Doghouse

Beware of the Doghouse

SO FUNNY!

I've either got a boxer or a soccer player residing inside me.

I'm a little worried about what the next 23 weeks hold for me if he's/she's already kicking/punching me with such vigor! I only started to feel any movement about a week ago and now this morning it almost hasn't stopped.

Maybe he/she is just making sure I know this is real.

As if I could forget.

I promise there are pictures coming of Thanksgiving (if I can figure out what the heck is wrong with my camera card) and a Twilight update and Christmas stuff, but until I get that done (and while I'm sitting here at work), I'm going to post another of those silly tags/surveys/whatever. (Let me just say right here, how awesome blogs are. Instead of getting forwards with these things in them and feeling bad for forwarding basically SPAM to family and friends, you can post it on your blog and people can read it if they want! Or not! Whatever!).

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? A glass of each! I actually drink hot chocolate all year long, so that's not really a representation of Christmas for me. But Egg Nog - oh yeah. You'd think I'd hate it since I had it forced down my throat when I was 10 and wasn't eating anything because of my surgery, but I still love it. However, I think Nate doesn't love it, so I probably don't drink it as much as I could (which is probably a good thing huh?).

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Actually, family puts wrapped presents under the tree. Santa puts presents by our stockings, which have been placed on couches and chair around the room.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White with colored ornaments! We always had colored lights growing up, but I think I like white for my tree. Oh, but I like colored lights for the house.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. Don't need mistletoe to kiss my sweetie. :D

5. When do you put up your decorations? The day after Thanksgiving (or the soonest I'm home after Thanksgiving).

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Um...that's a good question. I don't think I have a "favorite" holiday dish. Oranges are SO Christmas to me though. Can I count that?

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Having my oldest sister Emily come wake us up at 5:00 AM to go look at our presents. Then running into my parents room to tell them EVERYTHING I got and wondering why they were always so tired. :)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? You mean the truth that Santa's a busy guy, so he needs moms and dads to be his helpers? Or the truth that he's a representation of the Spirit of Giving? Oh, sometime in the last few years.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nate's family opens one present (usually pajamas), but my family never did (except at the Cox Family Christmas Party).

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? White lights, colored Christmas balls, and our old ornaments (there's this really cute one of Nate as a snowman when he was like 5. I'll have to take a picture and post it), and candy canes.

12. Can you ice skate? Huh. Sort of. I end up in pain after (either from falling or the muscle strain of trying to keep from falling).

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don't think I have a FAVORITE gift. I have MEMORABLE gifts, like the year I asked EVERY Santa I saw and wrote about 5 letters to Santa to ask for "Giggles and Go," the doll in a stroller who giggles when she hits into a wall in her stroller (she also giggles when you throw her at a wall or the ceiling, which Ben so kindly found out for me).

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? FAMILY! Also, being super lazy - just ask my poor in-laws who thought there was something wrong with me when I slept practically three days of the holiday 2 years ago.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Candy from my stocking.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? It used to be when we would drive from Roosevelt to Salt Lake for the Cox Family Christmas party, then drive back late on Christmas Eve and I'd watch for Santa's sleigh the whole drive. Now, it's probably the fact that we basically don't eat a meal on Christmas. We just kind of snack all day. Maybe eventually something will be made, but if not, that's okay!

17. What tops your tree? A big red bow.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? A little of both. I love seeing people's expressions when I got them something they wanted. On the other hand, who doesn't like getting new stuff! :)

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? The Christmas Song (does that sound boring or what?)

20. Candy Canes? I like the fruit flavored ones to eat. Peppermint ones are only good to eat in hot chocolate.

21. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? I hate the fact that Christmas decorations start going up in stores on or even before Halloween. I hate that it gets away from the real reason we celebrate CHRISTmas. (There's actually a senator here in Utah trying to pass something for stores to start using "Merry Christmas" more instead of just "Happy Holidays" since we are a predominantly Christian nation. I thought that was kind of cool - let's get it back to the reason for the season!).