The sTate of Things

We had an absolute blast in Florida. And thankfully Florida was having a warm spell, so it was near 90s most of the time we were there. We went swimming on Christmas, to the Beach on Boxing Day, and then back to the pool the next. I'm proud to report no sunburn! But sad to say I couldn't enjoy the wet fun, lack of a maternity swimsuit. Though Joseph was awesome in trying to get me one. He took me to a maternity store, and they had a few, but I wasn't going to pay 100 bucks for one (especially if I just liked it and not loved it). The kids also had a blast looking out the windows into the cannel looking for ducks and playing on the screened in porch. It was pretty funny to see the boys slip and slide on the tile right after the sprinklers finished watering the lawn. The trip had more excitement in the commuting parts too. We blew out a tire soon after crossing into Florida from Georgia on the way down. Got lost a few times in Naples. Then got caught in LOTS of traffic on the way home. One was due to a very nasty accident. They shut the whole north bound I-75 down, and once we got off the interstate, we got extremely lost. Joseph figured if we headed North we would run into the interstate again, and it would have worked, except the roads didn't want us to head North and we ended up right back were we started. So we stopped to eat our lunch and by then the accident was cleaned up and traffic was normal again, so we hit the interstate again. That was our longest detour, 1.5 hours! We hit Ikea in Orlando, though we loved the store, Orlando is a different story. Traffic was horrible. Oh, we did get lost in Ikea for a little bit, but it was only when Joseph and I got separated (lack of map and so many places to be). It has been decided Teagan is definitely not made for winter. While in Florida he spent the whole time barefoot, he is extremely good at taking off his shoes and hiding them. So yes, we let him walk around even Ikea barefoot. And yes he had massively stinky feet. I can proudly say he takes after his Mom, I too would rather be barefoot. So now the kids are all sleeping in their beds, the house is still a disaster, but we are home and life will return to normal soon too.

I'm giving up on the rest of the get Christmas done list. We leave for Florida in a day and a half. We are very excited, but also very worried in the usually stuff to get done for traveling. I just checked on the weather in Florida, and we will be enjoying a balmy Christmas, around 81. So maybe we will go swimming Christmas morning. Oh the wonderful possibilities!

Tonight we celebrated an early Christmas with all the local family. With only two days till we start our migration south, I figured we go head and open almost all the presents now. I didn't want to take them all down. Teagan enjoyed opening the first two, and then got bored. So Joseph and I opened his presents and he started to play with them, and loved them. Alex got lots of matchbox tracks, but since we didn't assemble them he took more interest in his emergency helicopter from my aunt Annette. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. And though I cheated them out of a nice holiday dinner, no one seemed to mind. I'm very excited about my new vera bradely purse. I've already switched over to it, my old one had seen better days and I out grew it. Joseph is totally excited about his blu-ray dvd player, and I even managed to get to Blockbuster to rent a few blu-ray dvds to play on it. All I have to say is WOW! I thought our movie theater was awesome before, but now, holy cow. You can see every beauty and non beauty spot! The picture is pure AWESOME, even with our tv needing its tune up (first of next year, I promise). I'm so glad Joseph decided to pick up this better model than the first he picked out. I can't wait to watch another blu-ray movie on it! I think the best part is not having to wait several days for the trash man to come, we just have to survive to Monday. Though the recycle man will have his work cut out for him, lots of boxes.

We have been testing the waters of potty training again, and right now everything is going wonderful. He gets all his pee in the potty, but still has worked up to putting the rest. Almost as soon as we started potty training again, Alex has been waking up dry! I was totally surprised. I must admit I'm very impressed. So now he wakes up and the family makes a bee line for the bathroom. He likes the moral support of Teagan and I. Teagan goes Yay! and claps, and I help with tricky pants and present a hug afterwards. But these past two mornings I've not been able to convince him to go straight to the potty. And Alex has shown a very responsible side. The penalty for peeing in his pull up is losing a car, and two for the others. This morning he brought me his at the moment favorite car and confessed to peeing in his pull ups. It amazes me how well he is doing under this new system. I'm very excited about the fact he tells me he's got to pee. And now he holds it for 4 to 5 hours at a time, that is amazing!

1. A caterpillar says honk. I don't know if Alex was talking about a construction caterpillar or a turn into butterfly caterpillar.

2. The unwanted food: Alex gives to Teagan. Teagan gives to Gus. Mom takes away from Gus and puts it in the trash or compost pile.

3. Citrus makes great balls, at least in the eyes of Teagan and Alex.

4. Teagan is great for body slamming.

5. Dining chairs make great army crawl practice.

6. It is pick on Teagan day, and Mom and Teagan aren't liking it.

Today was a better day than yesterday, mentally and emotionally. I have several more things crossed off the two mile long list. The sad part is that those things have to be absolutely done in about a week time. I'm still hoping to find a dog sitter tomorrow so I don't have to call all the kennels in the Triangle area to find an opening. After talking with my Grandparents are very excited about us coming down, so I would have to disappoint them.

Today, all the pregnancy hormones, stresses of the holidays and trying to get life ready to go on vacation to Florida came crashing down on me. So I went through fits of tears and fighting tears most of the day when my realization of the two mile long list I have to do took over. I'm kicking myself cause I tried to plan out a bit better so by this time of year, I'm more or less stress free and can enjoy the holidays (or as stress free as a Mom can get). Despite all those tears, I was very productive. We finally got to Borders to use some 50% off coupons.

But Gus was a bad dog and refused to do his business outside. So I had a stinky nasty mess to deal with, so I choose to deal with as little as possible. I put Gus in our shower stall downstairs (we got home at 11 and he stayed there till 5:30pm and Joseph dealt with him). Bagged all that nastiness and left it and the blankets out on the back porch railing to be dealt with tomorrow. Then it was the endless wiping out the crate to get it clean, and trying to remove that stink from the air. Why couldn't have he done this yesterday when it was 70 degrees and I could just air out the house, left the bedding outside to get rained on and him too? Instead he did it on a cold day and was trapped in a dark bathroom. My life was less stressed.

Then came realization of how much I have to do in just a week. December is flying by so fast. It is a good thing this baby isn't due till the first of March, I'll have time to recover before having to deal with labor and a newborn (though I do love the newborn stage. It is so sweet and demanding but last so short and is gone forever, or till the next one come along).

We did finally get a tree up. Since we are hoping to go to Florida, we only put the fake up in the family room, instead of our usually fake in family room and real in the living room. I must admit it doesn't smell like Christmas, so that is probably why I feeling humbugish. I love the smell of a Christmas tree, and the needles cleaning doesn't bother me.

Let's see how we last though another crazy weekend. The weekends are getting so busy and crazy, I look forward to the week, a chance to recover. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few things off that two mile list.

I just realized two things, one I've not been very good at taking photos. I'm quite a bit slower than then kids now, which makes me laugh trying to catch Teagan. And two I've not uploaded pictures in I don't know how long. So I've recently downloaded the images from my camera, and I'm uploading those. Sorry about that for all who are wanting to see my clowns.

This evening, I ventured to the mall for some much needed shoe shopping for myself. The stores I needed to visit were, of course across the mall from each other. So I tried the straight line theory. It didn't work. All the vendors were hawking their wares and trying to get my attention and money. No matter what I did, they were relentless. You would think they would take pity on a pregnant lady who is waddling as fast as she could, but no. One dude even put his wares on me (they were a rice and herb heating pad) and then walked away. How rude! But at least I got my much needed shoes!

I'm happy to announce, only three months left and then my belly will start shrinking!!! But that being the case, I'm totally exhausted. I'm now wishing for a fenced yard, then I won't have to chase Teagan so much. This weekend was CRAZY busy. Friday the boys and I went to the state farmer's market to go price hunting for fruit for our ward's christmas fruit bags. We had a blast, but froze. I so underdressed us, one problem with pregnancies. Then we went to "waste time" at the Burlington Coat Factory, I do love that store. I found an awesomely warm winter coat for Teagan for very cheap, but unfortunately I couldn't find me a medium warmth coat. So I'm still stuck with my thin sweaters and a extremely warm winter coat (I roast in that thing even when I'm not pregnant). Then we had a tastey lunch with Joseph at Olde Time BBQ, and I just barely fit in the booths. So that will probably be our last. Then Saturday morning, we hustled and bustled and got to the farmer's market by 8:15am (that is saying something since we didn't really wake up till 7:00am and everyone needed breakfast and it is a 20 minute drive). We all had a blast going through the wholesellers. We even bought 2 bushels of Selma apples for applesauce! The deal of the day was bananas, 10lb boxes for $2. That's right $2. After all the fruit for the bags were done, we migrated to the farmer's stands. I love walking through all the Christmas trees. That is the smell of Christmas. Then we loaded up on yummy apple cider, lettuce and sweet potatoes. We tried german pretzels, they were awesome. Alex was worried Joseph would eat them all so he held the bag. Then a quick drop by the car to unload and off the the market shoppes. Joseph, Alex and Teagan had a blast picking out old timey candy. I sneaked away to the fudge, and it didn't last very long either. A quick stop at the pork outlet (best pork in the world and extremely fresh too). Then it was 10:30, time to fight our way out and head home. During naptime I made truffles, and everyone seemed to love them, and work on Alex's next pair of pjs (after this one I'll still have 7 to go, though one is for Teagan). And then to our church's Christmas party. After church Joseph sent me to bed for a nap while he at Alex made cookies to make some Christmas drops that night. So after naps, it was off driving around Durham to find a few people, and only one was home. Quick dinner and then off to bed. Joseph and I worked on wrapping presents, and by the time we were done and put away it was midnight! I don't think we wrapped very fast. Now I'm looking forward to a nice quiet week, except all the Christmas stuff I got to get done.