Thursday, December 16, 2010

Pre-Christmas Christmas

We had a little pseudo-Christmas celebration this last Sunday. We are flying out to Utah/Colorado for the holidays and we didn't want to pack any big presents. So we had Reece open his "huge" presents a couple of weeks early. It was really fun, but Paul and I both now feel like Christmas is already over. For Reece it will be a wonderful surprise to get more presents next week at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and now that he knows Santa = presents, he gets a lot more excited when he sees Santa paraphernalia. These videos will be all sorts of fun for me to watch for years and years, but probably kind of boring for everyone else. Just so you know, it looks like a ton of presents, but we wrapped every possible thing to put under that tree. He really only got three presents (which is fine with me). Also we keep a tiny Christmas tree so the presents look more abundant by comparison. It's genius, I know.







This last one is just for fun. This is Paul Skyping his mom late one night. He tried to make her think she was seeing things. She was a good sport.



Now it's time for our real Christmas celebration. Reece and I head to Utah tomorrow for some quality family time and Paul joins us next week. We can't wait! Merry Christmas to everybody and please know that we love you. Unless you're one of those people who keeps trying to post SPAM in my comments section. I don't love you.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

World's greatest cuddler

Reece is the best cuddler in the world. I just love it. He also tries to get out of bed at least three times before he actually goes to sleep. The reason he still tries it is because I give in so often. What can I say, I love to cuddle with him. Lately when we're away from home he'll ask for his bear or his blankey and then say "home...cuddle." Then as soon as we get home he grabs his bear, his blanket and his mama and we cuddle away. I just love love love that little boy.

I post this now because I'm trying to be strong and not go in to get him while he's calling for me (it's 10 PM and he's two hours past his bedtime...dad was babysitting, bless his heart). He keeps saying "Mama, cuddle!" How can a mom resist that? My answer: blogging about it. It worked, apparently, because he's now asleep. It was harder tonight too because he has a killer heat rash on his leg and he kept telling me about his "sore." Maybe if I go cuddle with him it'll go away...

Friday, December 3, 2010

Pregnancy: week 14

I have to edit this post a bit from what I previously said because Paul got mad at me. If you don't check our blog every hour, I was ranting about how pregnancy makes you feel fat. He said I'm not fat and I shouldn't complain because I'm healthy. I appreciate his support. So I am amending that rant to say that I am grateful to be healthy. It's so nice to go to the doctor and to feel like I'm doing everything I can do keep myself and my baby healthy. I am coming to accept that my body just needs to gain more weight than average during pregnancy, and that's going to have to be okay. I worked hard to get it off before, and I can do it again. So here I am at 14 weeks pregnant. I am SOOOOO glad to not be sick anymore.

So I know this is ridiculous, but I had a really smokin' hot picture that I took the same day, but I accidentally erased it. So you get this one instead. Not quite as smokin' hot, but probably closer to how I actually look.

Now the good stuff: I have started to feel the little flutterings of a baby in my belly. Nothing huge yet, but this is about the same time when I started to feel Reece kicking around in there. It's very exciting, and pretty much the only good part of pregnancy (besides getting the baby at the end, of course). I've talked to several women who loved pregnancy (my sister included) and I think they're all crazy. There are good things, but they're outweighed in my mind by all the crappy things. Remember: we're not taking the whole "getting a baby" thing into account. That's so awesome that it is obviously worth going through the 9-month gauntlet of pregnancy. Otherwise there's no way I would have done it again.

So with all that said, I am very grateful that I am healthy, that the baby seems to be healthy, and that Reece is healthy. Pregnancy is a miracle, even though it sucks sometimes.

Notice I didn't say that Paul is healthy. He actually broke his wrist this week. He had a pretty bad crash on his bike when his back tire hit the train tracks wrong. It was dark outside and he was wearing all black, so we're grateful he didn't get run over or hurt even worse. We're still waiting to hear if he needs a full cast, but he's in constant pain and has a hard time doing most simple tasks. I still wonder if he crashed on purpose just to get out of doing dishes and changing diapers. Hmm...probably not.

Notice Reece's pants go up to his chest. He's just so short and he insists that his pants don't touch his toes. I think it's adorable.

So that's our week. A little about Reece and I'll be done: he is amazing. He is so funny and a real jokester. When Kyle was in town he started spitting in people's faces. But he'd be sly about it. He'd go in for a kiss, then at the last minute he'd spit right in your face. Now when he does it he'll say "no no no" and then "Kyle" because he really only wants to spit in Kyle's face. It's sweet.

Another trick he plays is fake sleeping. He'll say "night night," then pretend to snore. Then, when he thinks he's lulled you into a false sense of security, he'll roar like a bear. This started when Paul would fake being asleep and Reece would growl to wake him up.

He is best friends with his teddy bear. He'll ask it questions like "Belly? 'Kay." Then he'll tickle the bear's belly (only after getting permission, of course). Or he'll put the bear in a basket and push him around the house (like Paul does to Reece). He always makes sure the bear gets enough to eat and drink at mealtimes, and he definitely gives the bear plenty of hugs and kisses.

One of my favorite things is a Reece cuddle. He LOVES to cuddle, and he's super good at it. He gets his blanket, his bear and his parent and just cuddles right in. He really is the sweetest boy. He's very obedient (most of the time...for now), he's very compassionate, and very funny. We couldn't love him more.

So you now wonder, with how awesome Reece is, how could I possibly complain about pregnancy? It's a funny thing being a parent and feeling your love grow for your kids. You definitely love your child more if you sacrifice for them, so by the time they're born you can't help but feel so much love because you've spent so many nauseous hours letting that love grow. Or something like that. I guess if the next kid isn't as cool as Reece, I may change my sentiments (kidding, kidding).