Mama-MIA

So you may have noticed I went MIA over the holidays.

Yeah.

I was busy.

The kids wanted to use the computer every time I sat down and thought about typing.

And I was lazy.

Yep, I'm admitting it. I laid around in my pajamas, snuggled my kids. Helped them try out their new toys. Did some laundry. And that's about it.

Honestly? I'm OK with it. I felt like I just needed to relax a bit. The upcoming month will be a tough one as Scott is working or traveling or both every weekend and I am winding down my full-time employment. Yep, I finally have a new supervisor and will transition back to half-time on February first. Which seems like not a moment too soon.

I'm huge -- the girls are both growing and moving and have the ability to pull a neat trick that leaves me breathless as they consecutively flip head-for toe. I'm guessing they both dislike being head-down at the same time, so if one switches to head down, the other dislikes it and switches to breech. If you've ever been pregnant, you know the odd sensation that is "baby rolling" or "baby flipping." When it happens one baby after another, I start poking around to see if I'm having a contraction. Thankfully, I haven't been, at least as far as I know.

Naturally, the other kids pick "baby flipping" time to ram their heads/elbows/feet/hips into my uncomfy on the inside belly so that it is uncomfy on the outside, too. I can foresee many a lap battle in my future... Right now, I still have enough lap for both kids big kids to fit at the same time, so that's good. But I fear that my lap space will dwindle rapidly. I'm already experiencing some of that third trimester discomfort -- my pubic bone aches if I walk to much and Tums are my new best friend. but, all in all, i have very little about which to complain.

Although, I could really use a great night's sleep...

Oh, here's us on Christmas Eve!

Baby Love

I am loopy today. Not sure if it's because this is my last day of work in 2010 and the holidays are rapidly approaching, if it's because I'm planning holiday menus and plotting to wrap kids' gifts, or if I just need some more sleep. Probably all of the above. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's all of the above.

But I can't stop thinking about babies. About the sweet coos they make as newborns, the wobbly way they hold their heads up as they peer over your shoulder, the soft fringe of hair at the nape of their necks...

I am such a loon. Really, I am. I just have the overwhelming urge to snuggle a newborn right now, to meet a brand new person, showering them with crazy love.

MMMmmm...

Baby toes
Baby ears
Baby necks
Baby thighs
Baby bellies
Baby cheeks


Baby love.
Sigh...

I guess it's a good thing I've got two on the way, eh?

Black Friday

Did you all go shopping?  Find any great deals out there in the madness?

Not me -- I did make a trip to the grocery store with the kids to get food for the dogs and something for the people to eat, too.  But Christmas shopping?  Nope, not yet.  Haven't even started.  Sigh...

Oh, I have good intentions.  But I am derailed by the million other things that need to get done around here -- work, kids, sleep...  sleep... eat... sleep...

The fact of the matter is that our holiday preparations have been, umm... lacking in the last few years.  Gone is the day when Scott and I sat down together and drew up a list of the people for whom we're shopping, browsing and window shopping and planning a couple of months in advance.  Oh, we still make a list, but it's just names that get crossed off as we find gifts.

It's been harder the last several years as Scott's professional schedule has picked up.  We've lost our weekends and, with the kids, it's a thousand times harder to shop in the evenings during the week.  This actually makes me pretty sad -- we used to have so much fun finding the perfect gifts for the people we love.  Now, we browse online after the kids go to bed, place a huge order, and hope everything shows up on time.

It's kind of sapped some of the joy of the season, at least for me.  It's fun to get all bundled up and trudge out in the cold, scurrying between stores, stopping for hot cocoa.  I'm kind of jealous of the people who join the Mardi Gras of holiday shopping.  At one time, I would receive an invitation for me to "go out with the girls," but after a couple of years of using Black Friday as an alternate Thanksgiving with my family, followed by a couple of years of me having very small breastfeeding children, followed by a couple of years of Scott working like a dog all day on Black Friday, the invitations have floated away -- not that I blame anyone, I haven't been able to go anyway.

Maybe I feel like I'm missing out because there's something inherently female about shopping fantastic sales.  I don't have many female friends, so I can feel very acutely the sting of not having a pick-up-the-phone-and-gab gal pal.  But then again, I'm not really a phone kinda gal.  I sometimes just feel left out as I work all week and, during this season, parent all evening and weekend alone.  Nothing could be worse than the painful loneliness I felt in 2008 when Scott was in NYC for three weeks, but living out in the prairie can sometimes feel isolating, the stern wind sometimes sweeps away my holiday cheer.

So, anyway, enough of my pity party -- I hope you all had a super shopping day!!