Oh, Christmas Tree! / Week 22

With Christmas quickly approaching, I realized I needed to get my butt into gear putting up the few decorations we have.  I waited too long to nag Joe to get the fall decorations from the attic (since I’m in such a delicate state and can no longer do it myself), so our house was barren for fall.  I didn’t want to make that mistake for Christmas as well.

So, I nagged.  A lot.  And Joe, being the great man he is, finally succumbed to my nagging and pulled out the 2,000 bins of Christmas crap that we store annually in our attic. 

What’s unfortunate is that even with my impatience, the decorations sat in our garage untouched for about a week until I got off of my lazy butt and started unpacking everything. 

I’m going to be honest and tell you that decorating for Christmas is a chore.  Every single year this is how it plays out in my mind prior to the decorations going up…

<<soft Christmas music is playing in the background, the fireplace is warm with fire, the house is filled with the fragrance of cinnamon candles and a pot roast cooking in the crock pot, the cats are snuggled near the fire, Joe is wearing a turtleneck sweater while holding a mug of hot chocolate, Anna is prancing around in angel wings and singing White Christmas>>

My reality…

<<Superman is playing in the background, this is the 25th time we’ve watched it for the day, the fireplace is over-flowing with soot and embers from fires that we had days before, but it’s cold and dark tonight, the house smells like cat box and garbage that hasn’t been taken out in three days, the cats are puking on the carpet – never the wood or tile floors, Joe is sitting on the sofa playing Angry Birds while wearing a hole-y t-shirt, Anna is eating Velveeta cheese and crying because she wants to ride her bike outside even though it’s dark and rainy>>

Add in 2,000 white lights that no longer work, all of them tightly wrapped into the garland I need to hang on the mantle, and what was supposed to be a wonderfully charming Christmas experience has turned into my own Clark W. Griswold nightmare.

Except take Joe out of the equation this year because he was actually at work.  And Anna wasn’t really eating Velveeta - she was eating Kraft. 

The one bright spot about this year’s decorating adventure was that Anna was actually able to participate for the first time, and she actually enjoyed doing it.  So, while I sat untangling 2,000 broken white lights, she started decorating the tree for me.  Granted, most of the ornaments are in the same 2 inch spot, but her efforts were greatly appreciated, and I left everything exactly where she put it just to let her know that I’m proud!

Next year I’ll need to buy a Christmas phrase with five letters!

Now we just need some presents beneath this tree!  Santa?

I’m not sure if you’ve heard of this adorable FREE service, but you can have Santa Claus send a personalized message to your little one HERE.  Anna’s video turned out so cute – I can’t wait for her to watch it.  I think she’s going to freak out because I was able to personalize it just for her.  I may play it all year so she’ll continue being a good girl.  This Santa thing really does work.

Speaking of videos, I was able to capture a short video of Anna singing and decorating the tree.  As I said before, her little singing debut really made my night – even though she only knows two phrases to two different songs (Oh, Christmas Tree and All the Way) and meshed them into one song.  At least you can see how excited she is about decorating the tree and actually taking part in Christmas this year.

Anna’s singing debut!

Since Anna is a bit older and more into the spirit of things, we’ve introduced the Elf on the Shelf phenomenon into our house.  The only difference is the elf we’re using was a free one that someone gave us last year, and we don’t have the book.  I made up poem in place of the actual story.  I think it explains it well enough.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You better be good this year,
The freaky ass elf is watching you.

I leave ass off when I say it to Anna because that’s what responsible parents do. 

Anyway, Anna has lovingly named her elf JoAnn (my mother-in-law’s name).  My daughter has a slight obsession with the name JoAnn and also with her maw maw.  I think it’s pretty cute!

Here’s JoAnn the elf:
We were a few days behind with this whole thing, so JoAnn has only appeared in different spots twice – the first morning we found her riding Anna’s bike, but I forgot to take pictures because I fail.

This morning JoAnn was taking a dip in her own little elf bubble bath made of cotton balls.  I’ve seen pictures of entire sinks filled with cotton balls, but I only had about 10 cotton balls left, so I improvised.  Either way, Anna missed it because she was in a really bad mood this morning and didn’t care.  At least I have a photo!

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22 weeks and counting…

Here’s where we are this week:
At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.


Images and content courtesy of babycenter.com


How far along: 22 weeks

Total weight gain: +13.5 total.  This is +/-0 from last week.  I think the baby has moved up just a bit, which, in turn curbs my insatiable appetite a bit.  Which, in turns, curbs my weight gain.  It’s so weird how I can gain 3 lbs. in one week and 0 the next.  According to the weight gain calculator, I’m smack dab in the middle of below average and average gain, so I think I’m doing just fine. 

Sleep habits: Sleep has been pretty great this past week.  I’ve gotten a break from the sciatica and the bladder pressure, so I’ve been very comfortable.  I still have random bouts of pregnancy insomnia where I’ll wake up in the early hours and stay up an hour or two, but it’s nothing the Golden Girls can’t cure.  I actually enjoy the quiet time where I can jump on my phone and catch up on things without having a toddler asking me to wipe her butt or fix her a snack.  My dreams have quieted down a bit, too.  The baby seems pretty active at night – especially when I’m on my back.  No matter how hard I try to sleep on my side, I always wake up on my back. 

Maternity clothes: No updates here – I’m still wearing them. I haven’t really bought anything else as I feel like I have enough staples to get me through for now.  The baby hasn’t moved up very much, so my bump is still in the same spot – maybe a bit higher some days than others.  It’s starting to round out more and look less fat-like, so I’m glad about that.  Next week I promise to have an updated belly shot picture.  I want to do something cool like my friend Liz over at Bon Temps Beignet. She has showcased her beautiful bump in a very artistic way.  Isn’t she adorable?!

Best moment of the week:  Hearing my sweet child singing Christmas music while decorating our Christmas tree.  She’s such an angel on earth, truly.

Food cravings: My appetite hasn’t been as strong, so I haven’t had many cravings other than just normal stuff like pizza and red sauce.  Which, thanks to Dominos, was satisfied!

Symptoms: I kind of over-did it this past Sunday when I spent the entire day cleaning my house and putting up the Christmas decorations.  By the end of the day, after walking around for hours, I had the pregnancy waddle down, and my hips/butt/legs felt like I weighed 2,000 lbs.  Even though I don’t pull out the pregnancy card often, I have to understand my limitations while I’m pregnant.  Hours of hard-core organizing and cleaning are just not possible right now since this baby likes to hang out so low.  The constant pressure really takes its toll after a while. 

Other than that, I can’t complain.  Little Joe has been a wonderful little guy so far (knocks on wood). 

Movement:  He’s a wiggler.  He’s super strong when he kicks/punches.  You can easily see all of his movement from the outside now – Joe even got a glimpse the other day.  He tends to move most when he hears my voice or Anna’s voice. 

What I’m looking forward to:  Christmas!

What I miss: There’s nothing I miss at the moment. 

Next appointment: January 5th (moved from January 3rd)