Long Overdue

So I haven't mentioned this here yet - we're having another baby!  This probably isn't news to most of you, but just in case I thought I'd officially mention it.  

Here I am, 14 weeks.

20 weeks

and this week:  22 weeks!

I'm passed the morning sickness part, which is good, but now I'm feeling huge, swollen and ready to be done with this!  So much more to go... my due date is May 26th.

Oh, and we're having a girl!

Second Attempt at Swimming

We visited Jon and Roberta this Christmas!  It was a lovely time and wonderful to be with family for the holidays.  

Grace was very interested in the pool and loved watching Grandpa doing the daily maintenance.  

Here she is, adorable in her swimsuit and ready to give it a try!

It started out tentative...

And turned into a complete meltdown, unfortunately!

You can see her pouty face in this one if you look closely.  Even though she wasn't into swimming this visit, next time we visit, I'm sure we'll have a hard time getting her out of the pool!

Big Girl Shoes

Grace enjoys walking around with our shoes on!  Shocking I know, as it is one of those quintessential toddler moments.  

I have a picture of me in my Dad's boots as well, but when she does it it is new, hilarious and adorable to us.

Rebecca, sometime in the 1980's

I especially like when she says "bye bye" like she is going out. 

Jason thinks this video is cuter, so you can decide!

Snowy Baby

Hello!  I've been absent for a while because things have been a little crazy with the holiday season.  I'll tell you all about that later.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of Grace experiencing the snow for the first time!  

She had a hard time walking in the snow and kept falling down.  

She was intrigued at first!  

She very quickly became too cold and begged to go back inside.  She was very concerned with the snow getting on her pants and she refused to wear the little mittens I had for her.  Luckily I was able to get some adorable shots before then.  

December Showers

December showers are going to be happening in our new shower, just finished today!  It will still be a few days from now because the grout needs to be sealed.  But hey, we've waited three years for this, so what is a few days more?

We're really excited to see it all come together.  Our bathroom is officially completed!  We're also officially pooped.  We've been working a lot and also the whole family has been fighting off a wicked cold.  I've been trying to take a cute picture for a Christmas card this year, but have been unsuccessful so far.  Plus, I had to take a break from my attempts since a crusty nose is not an adorable accessory.  So, any of you wondering where your Christmas card is, perhaps it will be a New Years Card?  

Tosca Gets a Ride

Jason took a couple of cute videos yesterday.  Grace is laughing so hard in this one that she chokes!  Who hasn't experienced that?

In this one, Grace is fascinated by bubbles.

Christmas over here

It is Christmas over here!  Just this year, my Mom gave me my Great Grandmother's Santa sleigh because she no longer has a mantel on which to display it.  Because of this, I was actually EXCITED to get the Christmas decorations out this year, which is probably a first for me.  

The reindeer were made in 1956 by Napco, a Japanese ceramics company.  

Mr. and Mrs. Claus are salt and pepper shakers, so we imagine this was a table centerpiece display.  They are also made by Napco, and both they and the reindeer have something called Spaghetti trim.  I guess that is the trim on Santa's hat?

The sleigh is made by Brad Keeler.  He died in 1952, so we know the sleigh dates before then.  Anyway, I am very pleased to have it and I think it looks great on our mantel!  We would have put up the stockings here, but we realized they temptingly dangle at the perfect baby height.  We hung them up downstairs instead.  

We also put up our tree!  Grace really enjoyed watching it go up and "helping" to put the decorations on.  Christmas time is definitely much more fun this year, and I feel less of a scrudge!  Let's not overdo it though, I'm sure I'll be plenty sick of it and exhausted by the time we get to January!

Plus it snowed here for the first time this season today.  It doesn't look like it will stick, which is perfect because I need to drive in it later.