Friends with (not those kinds of) Benefits

Throughout 2011, I became close with a group of girls who last weekend threw two of us a shower--for our friend Mindy's second baby and for my third. These women are the sort who say things when we go out to dinner--or, you know, to the third Twilight movie--that make me laugh for months afterward. When I started spontaneously giggling the other night, Dave asked me why and I said, "Honestly? I was just thinking about something Julie said a few weeks ago." 

Here we all are, and if you think my expression makes me look a little strange, I can assure you it's because I was trying my best to keep my facial muscles from convulsing entirely with laughter. Even the group-photo-taking part of the morning was hilarious.

 (My bizarre expression in this photo is actually not due to suppressed laughter, but to the fact that I was kneeling down to make my bump level with Mindy's.)

(This last one shows Julie and Rachel performing the "necklace test" to determine the baby's sex. According to the almighty necklace, I'm having a boy and Mindy's having a girl--although my guess is the exact opposite. We'll find out soon!)

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to these girls--

for an awesome shower and for their don't-know-how-I-ever-lived-without-it friendship.

Christmas Day 2011

Boringly, every holiday post on this blog has to include the year in its title because...otherwise, how would Mrs. Pregnantbrain (that's me!) remember to look back in the 2011 archives when it's clearly 2012 already? Yes, I'm that much of a space case these days.* (Hey, remember when people said "space case"?)

Will was the first to wake up on Christmas morning, and he was definitely excited. I'm not sure he quite remembered why he was excited, or what he was supposed to do when he woke up, but still:

 

Does he not have the cutest bedhead ever?

Then Finny woke up and everyone opened stocking presents,

followed by Santa bag presents:

Will's black Mustang from Santa was declared "my favorite present!"

 Finny thought unwrapping gifts was cool, but as you can see...

he vastly preferred chowing down on pieces of the gingerbread house.

Then the boys got to work!

 Will had requested a robe, and he got one.

My mini-Hef!

 He adored this snowplow from his great-godmother, Aunt Kathy.

 And he also loved his dinosaur train from Great-aunt Ronni.

 Finny got his very own piggy bank!

 And some tub crayons; apparently he aspires to be in their next ad campaign.

In a totally magical, Polar Express-y moment, snow began to fall!

It was only the tiniest of flurries--small enough not to bother us, but big enough to see it falling from the sky. The boys watched out the window:

Then Nan and Mamp dropped by for a quick visit:

Here was our family of four as we prepared to pack up and hit the road for New Jersey,

which is a story for another (actually, my next) post:

*Best example of space-case-ness yet: I spent an hour an a half over the last couple of days looking for backup shams for our euro (square) pillows. Today I went into the linen closet and clapped eyes on...our backup shams for our euro pillows. That we've had forever, and use somewhat regularly. See? Space case.

Christmas Eve 2011

We celebrated Christmas with my sister's family on the 24th this (last) year. I brought over a couple of gingerbread houses from our favorite local bakery, and Will and I worked hard to decorate it with some mini-Twizzlers, Skittles and holiday M & Ms.

Rachel and Bella also did a little exterior work on theirs:

As usual, both boys loved trailing Joe around and doing whatever he was doing:

My mom made a delicious dinner, we exchanged presents, and then we hustled our kids home to get ready for Santa!

After the kids were asleep, Dave got to work on construction:

Santa actually brought this table a few years ago,

but we just now were able to find a place for it (and a use for it).

We laid out their Santa bags--

anything from the Jolly Old Elf that won't fit in their stockings

goes directly in here, still unwrapped.

As I've mentioned, there's a definite bald spot on the side of our tree;

thankfully, it's not as noticeable in person.

You can see (if you squint) in the above picture that our stocking holders

are four silver reindeer. We bought them to match this one, which my parents gave me a long time ago:

And then all we had to do was crawl into bed and wait for St. Nick ourselves...

Advent 2011

This year, with a three- and almost-two-year-old to entertain and a real, grown-up house to decorate, I decided 2011 was the year to start some Christmas traditions.

No matter that I've been Classic Exhausted Pregnant Lady for the last six months. I love looking forward to special occasions, planning bits and pieces to celebrate along the way, and what better opportunity for all of that than the advent season?

So here's what we did this year:

-ordered sixteen Christmas or winter-related books from the Scholastic book drive at Will's preschool (that was back in November)

-got out the advent calendar given to the boys by Dave's parents

-printed out sixteen "Find a Book!" notes, almost one per weekday leading up to Christmas and put them in the corresponding boxes in the calendar

-wrote little notes in each book to match its plot, e.g. in The Longest Christmas List Ever: "December 15, 2011: Are you done writing your list for Santa? We love you, Mom and Dad"

-scheduled more labor-intensive projects like "Get a Christmas tree!" or "Decorate a wreath" (or even "Make hot cocoa") for weekend days

-juuuuuust remembered to hide the appropriate book under a bed or a couch pillow in time for the boys to do "Avin calder!" as Finn calls it every morning

The book idea helped me a lot because a) it's an easy way to get 'er done every day, and b) it adds to our at-home library, which means there's less of a chance that I will have a nervous breakdown because I've just read Berenstain Bears Go to the Dentist for the umptrillionth time.

The Christmas tree pickup was mostly me and Dave eyeballing trees while the boys wreaked havoc on the lot; because of this we ended up with a 90% great-looking tree with a 10% bald chunk that we could only kind of hide. Oh well!

The wreath decorating at Will's preschool was a non-starter as a project, although we did end up with two lovely wreaths (scantily adorned) regardless.

It should go without saying that the hot cocoa was a hit, as was lollipop day. There was also St. Nick's Day, where we had the kids put their shoes outside their bedroom doors and then gifted them with a Cars 2 toy the next morning. (My best friend in high school Maria's mom did this--except with candy and stocking stuffer-ish treats--and I was jealous every year.)

On Christmas Eve we're planning to decorate gingerbread houses with my sister's kids during our gift exchange, and I think that will be A LOT of fun and also EXTREMELY messy.

And now for a little pre-New Year's pledge: It's important to me that I document the months leading up to the new baby's arrival since they will be our last as a family of four. Also, Finny will turn two next month (!!???!??!?) and there is so much that is delicious and amazing about him at this age that I really want to record it. Meanwhile, Will's imagination has exploded and I've been slacking on writing down his recent gems. So in January, I'm planning to write here at least every other day, or four times a week, or fifteen posts in total. I figure if I put it online, I have a better chance of sticking to this pledge.

(I'll also post the whole backlog of photos from this month...)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving 2011

We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time ever!

*

My dad and Dave played with the boys while I helped my mom cook--

although she still did most of the cooking.

Clearly, some people crashed hard in the early afternoon.

Then we ate!

This was our wedding china's inaugural supper,

after four years of being ignored.

 After dinner, the boys ran themselves ragged and took Mampy down with them.

(Note the red faces and sweaty hair.)

It was a small celebration--only six (and a half) people--

but with delicious food and great company,

and we didn't have to leave our cozy home!

*I realized this is the first picture I've put up here that shows my belly (24 weeks tomorrow).

As you can see, it shot right out at the four-month marker and hasn't looked back.

I also think I'm carrying a little high this time--most shirts make my upper body look like one big shapeless entity, with my shoulders and rib cage and baby all merging together.

Maybe this means I'm having a girl? Or, you know, quadruplets?