Merry Christmas!

We had such a wonderful Christmas!  Sofia of course was very spoiled, as were we. We loved spending time with our families, and missed the ones we didn't see!

Loving the bows on the presents, so fun to pull off and put in the mouth!

 Crazy to think we are over half way to her first birthday, she is getting so big!  She amazes me every day at what she figures out and learns, before we know it she will be a year old already:

Happy 7 month birthday to our beautiful girl!!

Jumpin' Fun!

She absolutely loves this thing, when we take her out of it she leans down to it because she wants more! 

16 Weeks already!!

Sofia was 16 weeks last Wednesday, it's hard to believe!  Looking at the last pictures I posted of her, she is looking so different to me now.  Her hair is growing in, it's fairly blonde, and pretty thick (not that that's surprising considering her parents...).  She is all smiles, even at 2 am when I am wishing she would be eating. I still love it, even then. She loves her bouncer, she's getting really good at batting the toys on it, and she has many conversations with the gorilla and koala toys on it. She rolled over today from her tummy to her back, LOVES to kick her legs, and likes to watch the computer screen while we work.  She definitely is developing a personality and an opinion!  I don't take nearly as many pictures as I would like, but here are a few:

All her family that came for her blessing

Trying to catch a smile...sort of got it

So sweet...and she looks like she has angel wings!

 

All Consuming

I am so busy being completely in love with my daughter, I hardly find time to get on the computer lately.  But I promised several people some more pictures, so here we go:

All dressed up for a party:

An attempt to get a picture with her eyes open, ended up a little blurry though:

Her little tiny foot that is just so cute!!

Another attempt at getting a clear picture of her awake...still blurry. 

Her princess dress she wore to church today: 

 

She's just so dang cute, no wonder I'm in love with her!

Out of control

People are control freaks.  We try so hard to control our lives, to feel like we are planning and making our decisions on our terms. But the more I live, the more I start to understand that things hardly happen on our terms.

At work, as people have found out that I am pregnant, there have been quite a few comments about how bad my timing is for this.  That just makes me want to laugh...as if I really did have control over the timing of successfully carrying a pregnancy. I suppose some people do have that kind of control, they plan the whole pregnancy around their convenience, but that's not how my life has worked out.  So...maybe it looks like bad timing for my work life, but I think it's perfect timing for my family life which, for me, has a much higher priority.

Then I must have gotten over-confident.  I thought that I could plan out my last few months at work before this baby is born, even transfer to a new position with enough time to get semi-established, and make this all work out how I planned.  Then came the dreaded words from my doctor's mouth.  "Bed rest.  Strict bed rest".  Two days before I switched positions.  Right when I was tying up all the loose ends and getting ready to transfer to a new position, location, and duties.  I missed my going away party (well, it was cancelled). And there is nothing I can do about it.

I can lay on the couch.  Or the bed.  Or even the floor if I really wanted to.  I can get up to do the basics, eating, showering, doctor appointments.  I am technically not even supposed to be sitting (which is why I'm typing FAST).  They cannot give me medication to fix it, all I can do to help is lay down.

So, all my well laid plans...not really working out. No shopping, cleaning, organizing that I intended to get done.  I get to read books, which luckily I enjoy.  And I get to try and get this baby as close to her due date as possible, which is what my priority is anyway.  So, if anyone needs me, I'll be here doing my best at what I can do...laying down.

Makeup Love

Normally I am not someone that can justify spending a lot of money on something like makeup.  I feel like I'm getting a little out of control when I want the latest-and-greatest more expensive L'Oreal mascara at Wal-Mart, and then if I do get it, I always end up going back to my stand-by anyway. Now I admit, a few years ago I decided to try Bare Minerals makeup, which can be pricey but a little goes a long way and I have stuck by that one, but I don't have to buy it all that often so I can justify that.

Then, not that long ago, I went into the Sephora store at a local mall.  So shiny. So sexy. So colorful.  All these things that you never knew you needed until you saw them in their cleverly packaged displays that convince you you would be FAR more beautiful if you would buy the tiny tube of something or other for just a mere $40. I started to feel like my current makeup routine was drastically lacking.  And they have these helpful employees stationed all around that are ready and willing to tell you how if you just bought this or that, it would make all the difference for you!

 Luckily for me, I had come with a specific purpose.  I wanted an eye-shadow primer, something to help my eye makeup to stay where I put it in the morning, instead of smudged wherever my work day led it.  I asked one of the super helpful employees, she took me around and showed me their top 3 out of their many options.  I wondered what helped make these the 'top 3', perhaps the ones that are paying the store the best for advertising, but didn't want to go there.  I waited until she felt awkward standing there staring at me and left, then started testing (yeah, you can test everything in the store, kinda sounds like a germfest to me).  I checked prices and ounces, decided what I would be most able to use sparingly.  I decided on the one that had the most fun packaging (but not the most expensive), but only because it actually was what I had been looking for.  I had my Christmas money that I had saved specifically for my frivolous makeup splurge, and just bought the one item from a young man who was better made up than me on my best day, and then I left feeling like I had escaped.

So a month or so later, I have determined it was worth it.  I actually LOVE my little splurge, and hopefully it lasts long enough that I could possibly justify it again.  And away from their shiny displays and perfectly made-up staff, my makeup routine seems just fine to me.

Counting

It's funny how many things in our lives become part of a running count.  Birthdays.  Anniversaries.  Number of speeding tickets we've received (and that's a 0 for me folks!  knock on wood, totally just jinxed myself).  So I'm excited to finally be able to say that after 5 1/2 years, 4 losses, 4 'regular' doctors, 1 (excellent) specialist, countless tests, medications, and meltdowns, and I don't even want to know how much money...we are expecting 1 little girl who gets to start her own count somewhere around June 8th of this year. We are so excited I don't even know how to express it well in words.  At the bottom of my blog is a ticker that is (you guessed, right?) keeping count of how long she's been baking, and how much longer till she's done.  Jon sometimes is inpatient, he asks if we can turn the heat up in the oven and get her done faster, but this is one countdown I'm happily waiting out.  One miracle baby, coming right up! 

 

January...16 days done, 15 more to endure

January is NOT my favorite month, in fact, I think it's my least favorite.  It's kind of anti-climactic to have the Christmas and New Years holidays, only to go straight into a long, dark, cold month without an actual holiday to speak of (No offense MLK Day, but I still have to go to work).  Everyone takes down all their fun Christmas lights, I leave home in what is almost still dark, I come home in the dark, and to top it off, we've always got a fantastically strong inversion going on that makes it seem cloudy most of the day and keeps it cold in the valleys.  Luckily, I have several family members that have birthdays in January that help to add some celebration (thanks to Fabi, Dad, Julia, and Randy to name a few).  Hooray for being halfway through already!

Christmas??

I love Christmas.  What I don't like is that I am a Super-Procrastinator every year and don't get my shopping done until it's very late, I always have too much to do, I never have enough money, and the next thing I know, Christmas is stressing me out.  I know that gifts aren't the reason we have the holiday, I truly appreciate that it is much more than that. But this year, I sort of feel like Christmas came and went without me.  I was there, and I thoroughly loved being with my family, and we were very blessed but...I think I forgot to slow down and realize it was Christmastime.  So, here's to slowing down, enjoying the season, and getting the shopping done EARLY this year!