Ride 'em cowgirl!

Yesterday, as I was feeling nesty and making Johnny do all sorts of hard work, Myla spent the afternoon with her Mam-mam at the stock show. They saw all sorts of animals and Myla came home with a "fancy hat from the cowboy store." This morning, before we could even sit down for breakfast, she had her hat on. She had it on for most of the day actually, except for that pesky nap her mom made her take...

Myla has been full of cute sayings lately. She told Johnny the other night at bedtime that she "will tell baby not to be scared of Santa Claus" Or today when she tried on this super cute hat and gloves I found and she begged for 5 minutes to go outside. Every time I said not right now (it was 7:00, a little early since the sun wasn't up!), she would say "but I don't want to wait, I'm ready now!" After a banana before bed she always says, "my hands are sticky. No, not my hands. This finger is sticky." She's a funny girl.

Check in for baby on Tuesday - the last one before we head into the appointment-every-week time. This one should be quick, no ultrasound, but I'm sure that the doctor will be honed in on my blood pressure. She was doing some crazy moves yesterday, I swear a foot was about to punch through my side. It was kind of fun actually...

Baby its cold outside!

We got another blast of snow and cold and on Sunday we were able to just stay home and lounge in our jammies all day. Myla didn't mind, she was happy to play with her toys, watch a little Mary Poppins and take a nice nap. She's been pretty funny lately - usually she quacks for yes. Or, okay turns into o-quack. For a while we were all animals - mommy-duck, daddy-pony, Myla-penguin. Now we quack. Its actually pretty cute. She's also into lunches and tea parties with the sandwich and cookie sets she got for Christmas. We got her some little plates with the gift card she got from Omaha and now its the best thing to do! If she's not downstairs playing train with her daddy.

We had a check in for baby yesterday and were surprised to find out that they are measuring her to be about 4 pounds 12 ounces! That's more than Myla was when she came home! Everything checked out great and I think the doctor even bounced into the room, we were all doing so well. Its kind of unfamiliar territory, but we're liking it.

Johnny and my dad and brother Jeff and family friend Mr. Bill painted Myla's room yesterday - after us having the paint since, oh, October! It looks really good and I'm excited to put some finishing touches on it that I've been collecting for about a year now. It looks finally like a little girl's room. Next up, baby's room...

Christmas & New Years

So, December passed us by pretty quickly. With all the fun stuff to do - and multiple trips to the doctor - we just spent as much time together as we could. But when Christmas came, we stopped. It was an awesome day.

Johnny and I woke up first and kept saying, why isn't she awake yet!? When she did come into our room, we could hardly contain ourselves! We finally made it downstairs where we found Santa had come and filled our stockings. He also made a special trip down to our basement and left Myla a HUGE chalkboard that she immediately started coloring on. She made out like a bandit with lots of games and toys, new clothes and a tent to play in. She got a new baby doll that she has snuggled with most nights and puzzles and coloring pages. Johnny and I were spoiled too. I got a bread-maker, which is not as easy as I thought it would be. The first loaf of bread I made for our special New Year's Eve dinner before Johnny went to work... lets just say, it will be nice when the ice melts to feed the ducks at the pond.

The new year brought lots of snow and a frozen pipe for us. Myla woke up early and after being very distract-able yesterday with her wooden cookies and sandwiches set, she was insistent on going outside to play in the snow. It was still bitter cold, but that didn't matter when you have on your snowsuit and mittens! She didn't get to stay out for very long and when she came in, her little nose was pretty red. But she loved every minute of making tracks and brushing the snow off of our deck. Tomorrow, when Mr. Sun makes a stronger appearance, we'll stay outside a little longer.

Last check-in for baby went well and her heartbeat was strong. This week there will be no doctors appointment (scheduled) which will be kind of strange to have a week off. We got new windows installed in the girl's rooms and Johnny will be painting in short order. We don't have much time left!

Happenings

What have we been up to lately? Oh, you know, the usual...

Myla had her BFF over for a day. Johnny made them a tent. They wore him out.

We made Christmas cookies that swelled up into pretty much one big pan of cookie and not the cute little shapes we cut them into.

We went with the family to see lights at Hudson Gardens and ice cream afterward. It was awesome.

So you know, a little bit of this, little bit of that... just been having fun and enjoying the season. Myla is having the best time looking for Bentley every morning and having a special countdown Christmas chocolate at night. She's very excited for Santa to come, even though if we were to take her to see him she would cry and run away. Its going to be a lot of fun to watch her this year. I'm really looking forward to it too!

Baby update... we had a check in with the doctor two weeks ago where she measured exactly where she should be and was even making noticeable breathing motions on the ultrasound, which is apparently hard to see at that stage. Then we found out that the fluid around baby was a little low, so we went back this week for another test to make sure everything else was good. Baby passed the test beautifully and the fluid was up a couple of points. I'm on a "rest period" every night when I get home and drinking more water than any normal person should, but its helping so that's what we'll continue to do. That's what the doctor says, and I'm sticking with my doctor. Johnny and Myla have been amazing in helping out when I'm down and we've played a lot of the Elmo memory game, but its been good. Another check-in comes on Tuesday, although no ultrasound this time. They will probably want more blood from me. Drat!

Christmas Time!

Tonight, in keeping with family tradition we started when Johnny and I were married, we decorated our Christmas tree. It was awesome, a little Christmas music in the background, Myla running back and forth between the ornaments and the tree, her getting frustrated when they wouldn't stay on the tree and saying "I can't do it" with her little lip out. It was fun to watch her get into the spirit and so what if the lower front part of our tree is top heavy? She loved it.

We also added a new part to our tradition - the reading of the Elf on the Shelf. Myla was mesmerized by the book and immediately found a place for Bentley (our elf) to sit for the night. If you don't know about these guys, they are little elves that report to Santa every night after you go to bed, and of course they don't return to the spot they left. So you have to be good so he has something good to report. It will be fun in the morning to remind Myla to look for Bentley and see if he's moved - that means he left to report! I think she'll catch on pretty quick.

To top off the evening, Johnny and Myla put the angel bear on top of our tree. Craziness ensued and memories were made. Allow us a moment to share...

I seriously laughed so hard I dropped the camera, Myla and Johnny watched it over and over and laughed hard each time, and it was truly the best way to end a perfect night.

Too good to be true?

Shutterfly is having a deal for bloggers - 50 free holiday cards just for posting about it on their blog. I have used them for a lot of things in the past, but the best is probably a photo book I made for Father's Day for Johnny one year. He says he can't read it because its got "dust" in it that makes his eyes tear up. Myla loves to ready it though, conveniently when he's not around. I've already got my Christmas cards picked out... Maybe this one .... or this one.... or....

My family has always sent out Christmas cards, and the photo ones are the best. My mom has a book of all the ones she's sent out with the family and its kind of fun to see us grow up from year to year. I think this year is the first year she'll send one out with Myla on it too - just talking about her in the letter doesn't count. It will be fun to add to the book and see not only us "grow up" but the family grow too.

My mother always comments that I can find anything online - and good deals especially. This one I have to credit to my fellow blogger Stephanie (who has one super cute little boy!) for turning me on to. I feel kind of bad about posting this, since my mom just bought her Christmas cards, but she doesn't have a blog, so that makes me feel a little better...

Thankful-ness

And so it is, the week of being thankful and the time when we start thinking about all the wonderful things we have - the holidays! Myla is so excited for Thanksgiving because after that its A2's birthday and then its CHRISTMAS! She is going to be so much fun to put up all the Christmas decorations that I finally get to pull out of storage. I have a feeling this year, she is really going to get into it. Johnny and Myla came downtown last week to watch Santa repel down the giant "D" at the Pavilions. She kept waving to him "hi Santa!" Maybe this weekend we'll help him light the Christmas tree in downtown Littleton...

Myla had a lot of fun last week playing with her cousins Tank and Kaidy from Omaha. Of course, did I pull out my camera, um, no. It took her a little while at first to warm up to having more kids around but she was talking about them for days after they left. She loved to come home and see them and one night they got to eat at her little table before all three hopped in the bath. She thought it was so cool. I know how much she loves to play with cousins. She has been saying all sorts of random things and laughing at nothing in particular. Tonight, she was running around the house (gotta love those circular layouts) singing horsey, horsey on your way. And truly having the best time. John and his brothers were able to move my mom's old piano over while they were out last week so she has been having a good time playing that as well when she needs to sit for a minute.

We had a check-in with the doctor last week and baby is measuring right where she should be, which was good to hear. I'm feeling fine, although I have to admit, I'm a little freaked out right now. "D-day" is next week and I'm just hoping that everything continues to go smoothly. So far so good, lets just keep it that way!