Santa brought a fat lip

Jerome woke me and Story up Christmas morning. We were both really tired, but he couldn't wait any longer. We got home at like 9 on Christmas Eve, Story was OUT, but I changed her into her Dora jammies anyway, she was VERY excited when she woke up. She looked down at her arm and said "Woah! Dora! Back Pack!"

The day before Christmas eve I made Jerome open the present Story got him, because i was SOOOO excited about it. I really thought i had out done myself. Jerome takes his wii bowling very seriously, and i found a wii bowling ball. He opened it and just laughed, went to the closet and pulled out the same present that he bought for me! We laughed pretty hard. :)

Story got a bazillion cars this year. We found a big lot of them on ebay and called it good for Christmas this year. She LOVED them. She thought the ramp Jerome made was a slide at first and tried to sit on it. Then we showed her what it was for. I'm sure she'll try to slide on it one day and break it.

She lets them fly then, they back way up and she doesn't know what to do. The one in her hand (above) she calls her "chocolate milk car", because it has mud all over it. I think its her favorite.

Santa also brought Story a fat lip this year. We were playing in our room and she tripped over my leg and smacked her chin on our bed frame pushing her top teeth through her bottom lip, so she has a cut on her chin and a big purple lip. Jerome had to pin her down and keep a towel on her lip with lots of pressure, by the time she quit bleeding both of them were covered in blood. She keeps the fat part tucked in her mouth, probably will take forever to heal because of that, but what do you do? This was day 1. The next picture was yesterday:

Yuck. Other than that we had a great Christmas. Story got me an awesome waffle iron that turns to make those really deep belgian waffles. :) We eat lots of waffles at our house. Jerome bought a deep fryer which i opened and was really nervous about, but we made home made potato chips last night and they were actually really good! Our house smelled like a hamburger joint afterwards though. Jerome got a bunch of boring tools. zzzzzzz.

In other news i'm no longer sporting a wedding ring. My hands are swollen to the point where it was getting too painful to keep it on and i think my glasses might be permanently fixed to my face from now on, because i cannot see. I find out Tuesday if i've got gestational diabetes. *keeping my fingers crossed that i don't!* 7 more long weeks until I get my body back. I'm really looking forward to bending over to put my own shoes on and being able to sleep. Jerome painted my toenails for me the other day, because i simply cannot reach anymore! It'll go by quick i'm sure. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

snowman

Story has been very obsessed with snow and snowmen lately. On Max & Ruby they make a snowqueen, so every time she sees snow she says "snowman!" or "snowball!" which sounds a lot like robot... Grandma Julie bought her some gloves and a hat, so we put them to use immediately and her and Jerome went outside and made a snowman today. She LOVED it!

That top picture is one of the best pictures i've gotten of her in a really long time. She's usually to quick for my camera finger.

i need 8 hands!

Its funny, by the time i got done drawing this i felt a lot better and am a lot more okay with all the things going on right now. I feel like i need 8 hands to get all the things done that are required of me right now, but am more okay with it.

Story's new thing since she got the flu is she wants me to sit with her ALL the time. If i sit down to sew or do a project or even to work she will grab my hand and say "where going?!" then say "Stay here!" (because that's the answer i always giver her) but she will want me to come sit with her. Good thing i'm making a playmate for her right now! Except I don't trust her to be alone with a new born... or even a 1 year old at this point, because she just "loves" too much. You've got to be able to hold your own around Story, she's a rough girl. Lets just say its hard to get anything done lately. I think she's just lonely and wants a companion all the time, but I can understand that.

Seems like our house always looks like a tornado his lately. No matter how many times Jerome and i clean it and pick up all the toys and do all the laundry, there is still more to do. Plus by the time I get home from picking up Story its late and its time for dinner, then by the time dinner is cleaned up and Story is in bed I'm wiped out from my lack of energy. I'm pretty excited to have my body back and not share it with this baby anymore. Its getting pretty hard to bend over and put my own shoes on, let alone pick up toys after bedtime.

As far as work goes, i'm actually really enjoying my job right now. Now that my boss has been let go, i actually get to do what i was hired for. She really didn't have any faith in us and it was VERY frustrating. She never let us actually create art which made absolutely no sense. Now when i go to work i sketch in my sketch book, scan it in and create on the computer. I've been having a lot of fun, plus there's so much to do that i get to go from one project to the next really quickly, which keeps things much more interesting. I'm really liking it minus the commute and of course those token individuals that make you want to pull your hair out just listening to them ramble on and on about things you could care less about. Don't get me wrong, i like to talk to people, but some people, one person in particular, just rubs me the wrong way and i could just do without her. :D i'm so sweet i know. Merry Christmas.

I've been getting the major sewing itch lately. I want to sew sew sew all the time, just have to find time to do it! I'm getting SUPER excited for Christmas. Christmas Eve is my favorite day and this year since Christmas is on a Friday I actually get the entire day off which will be SO nice! Usually we get a half day, which is totally lame. I like that day better, because there is still the anticipation of Christmas and we have dinner with Jerome's family and open presents and sometimes watch a movie, its just the best day of the year!

We really don't have much out of the ordinary happening, just regular day to day stuff and LOTS of it. Hope everyone has a great Christmas week!

Train pics

Since i'm a doofus and left my camera in my car Brandon and Ashley were nice enough to take some pictures for me and send them my way. This is from the Anderson Christmas party this year.

She loves Santa!

I looked SUPER sick that day, because i just didn't have energy to care what i looked like. Dumb on my part since everyone had their cameras. Oh well. At least i was comfy.

Not much happening in our neighborhood. Jerome did get that truck moved off our lawn thank goodness! I am getting more and more uncomfortable every day :) We've only got less than 9.5 weeks until this baby makes his debut! I'm getting a lot more excited and less stressed about it. His room is all ready, but i cant post pictures until it is done being our christmas station. The crib is filled with presents and his dresser is our wrapping center. We are all ready for him to come though and have everything we need! Thankfully i did all the hard work in his room when i had energy. Now i get to just sit back and wait!

Successfully turned 2.

Story successfully turned 2 and she has the attitude to prove it.

This is the Pablo cake the Jerome made for her. He did a great job, much better the second time. We kept it low key and had Felix and Axel and grandma and grandpa come over on Friday to eat cake. Then shared cake with Rayder and Jace and grandma and grandpa on Sunday, so we made 2 cakes. Got our 10 dollars worth out of the Pablo cake pan purchased off eBay.

I had to hold her hands back, because she really wanted to touch the flame.

She got lots of great new toys to play with!

Axel helped her play with them, because she couldn't do it all on her own. He was a great helper.

Rayder helped her open presents, because she's really not good at it yet.

She loves to clobber uncle Kris.

On Saturday at the Anderson Christmas party we took the train up to the North Pole and saw Santa Claus. I was just waiting for her to scream once Jerome put her on his lap, but she yelled "SANTA!!" and gave him a big hug. We all had to yell her name to take a picture, because she gave him a really long hug. :) She sure isn't shy. At the doctor's office on Thursday she gave some little girls a hug and she now tells everyone new she meets "I Story!"

Happy Birthday!

This is the smile i got this morning when i asked her to say cheese. Happy Birthday to my favorite 2 year old! She was very happy when i walked in her room this morning and sang to her.

If you'll notice, we finally got her a hair cut. She looks so much less homeless than before. Leisha is completely amazing and could cut her hair while she was screaming and moving her head. It looks really girly and i like it! She has some serious wave like her mom, so it looks messy all the time, but the hair cut helped a lot!

Bored Out of My Gourd

Saturday Morning i was SO Bored! Jerome said, "you need to start a project before you drive me crazy". So, i googled "sewing for baby boys" thinking i'd find a cute hat or something to make that day. Instead i found a little play mat/jungle gym thing. After spending like ten years at the fabric store deciding on what fabrics to use and after 2 days of sewing, we have this:

Sewing circles like that is WAY harder than it looks. It doesn't look very good in person, but i did my darndest.

There's loops all over it to hang toys for him to play with.

Thankfully we already had pool noodles for the top, because its not exactly swimming season, they might be hard to find. Jerome and I had a BLAST pulling the fabric over them. It only took an hour! Lets just say its a tight fit!

And i just thought this picture was cute. Every time she puts a hat on she says, "hey cowboy!" She also pronounces Kelli's name "cowboy". She can say "Stowee" for Story, but Kory's name is still pronounced "ko-kur". Don't ask.

No One Left Behind

This is what we go through EVERY time we have to go somewhere. She has to pick up all 5 of her Backyardigan dolls and bring them wherever we go. Have to admit i've been guilty of hiding them and then telling her we're leaving, so she wont bring them all.

I started videoing this after like 3 minutes of her trying to pick them all up at once, she will drop one and then pick it up while dropping another. Reminds me of the mouse on cinderella who can't carry all the cheese. :) Which is appropriate, because we call her gus gus sometimes.

craftastic

I went through A LOT of thread this weekend. I was a busy sewer and made this car seat cover for the baby and made a bunch of barf rags. Story always goes up to the car seat in his room and says baby, then hugs it and says, "Awww. So nice!" I think she learned from seeing Felix in a car seat with a cover in it that babies go in there.

I'm aslo just about finished with his room. I still have a couple little things to do and we're all set. Which thankfully i was a little crazy and got it all done early, because my energy is quickly vanishing. I'm already getting to the point where Jerome has to assit me in putting my boots on in the morning!

our weekend

Despite having a cold, we actually had a really good weekend. We watched a movie Friday night and worked on the yard on Saturday (cut down some trees) and went on a lunch date with Story. Then Sunday we just took it really easy and watched Toy Story 3 with Story (well i did). I put pig tails in Story's hair on Sunday and it lasted a whole 5 minutes before i turned my back and she yanked them out. It was a very relaxing weekend, i wish i could return to it, especially because people are bugging me today. It doesn't help that i woke up on the suicidal side of the bed this morning. aka splitting headache. I did walk past Story's door this morning on my way to the shower and saw 4 little tiny fingers under the door hoping to escape. She hasn't learned to open doors yet and i'm totally okay with that!

We are getting closer and closer to this baby coming and I really am in no hurry. I know this time around how hard it is to have a c-section and how hard it is to take care of a new born, i've never mixed a toddler into the mix before and i'm quite nervous. I do want to meet him, but i'm okay waiting. I went to the Dr. last week and got to pick his birthday out. He will be greeting us a week early on Sunday February 13th. I really wanted his birthday to have a 3 in it, because Story's is on the 3rd, mine the 23rd and Jerome's is on the 13th. I thought it would be fun for everyone to have 3's in our birthdays. The Dr. said you can have him on the 17th or the 13th. Even though its Sunday i opted for the 13th. That is all unless he has other plans of coming earlier or we run in to complications. You never know, but that is our PLAN. I've almost got everything he needs, still some odds and ends to pick up, but i've only got 3 months until he's here and Christmas and Thanksgiving are in the middle of that.

Anyway, I'm excited about his date and very glad that we had a fun weekend together. The End.

November

I don't have much to say, but i'm sick of my last post being up. So I will just talk about what's been on my mind lately. Most of you wont care, its nothing exciting, in fact it might frustrate some of you, but you don't have to read it if you don't want to. Sooooo.

I can't express how thrilled I am that its finally November. The cold weather is getting serious and the holidays are getting closer and closer. This year i've gone crazy for some reason and started listening to Christmas music a few weeks ago. For some reason the Anderson Halloween party is Halloween for me and i'm done with it once the party is over and since the party was so early (because of me by the way) I was ready for November weeks ago. Its been slightly agonizing waiting for it. What i'm most excited for Thanksgiving dinner to be cleaned up and the ads spread all across mom's table. That is a truly fun day! My favorite day of the year however has to be Christmas Eve. The feelings you feel, the excitement, spending time with family. I'm way too excited for it all and I can't help it. Sorry to all you Scrooges who think i'm ridiculous (especially Kory). But i'm a little crazy lately. Lets blame it on being pregnant and having my hormones out of whack.

In the picture above Story got a little tuckered out on Halloween. She insisted on carrying her pumpkin around and fell down our porch steps because she was holding it and tried to walk at the same time (lets face it, she's one of the clumbsiest people i know). She loves her "pun" (pumpkin) and picks it up off the porch every chance she gets. We didn't carve them this year, because i wanted to keep them there until Thanksgiving if they last that long. Anyway, Happy November!

pressure

To avoid a picture of me being at the top of this post i'm showing you the quilt i made for the baby. Kelli helped me pick out the fabrics and i really love it. It went together really fast and i'm excited about it.

On another note, my work is being different characters from Toy Story this year and i picked wheezy, because i thought it would be the easiest to make. It only took like an hour or two with a lot of help from Jerome.

I bought a black hoodie from Target and grabbed a white t-shirt from my closet, put it on and had jerome trace the penguin belly on me, then we cut it out and sewed it on the hoodie. The bow tie i sewed together and jerome attached it to the zipper pull, so it goes up and down. Then Jerome with his mad cardboard skills made me a beak and covered it in sticky foam and hooked elastic to it to go around my head. It turned out pretty good i think. I'm pretty embarrassed to wear it, because i truly hate Halloween, but you wouldn't believe the pressure I get from my coworkers. I decided it was easier to just dress up then fight it.

As you can see i don't need to stuff the penguin belly. My pregnant belly fills it out so well that its pretty hard to zip up. :)

Seattle 2010

We took a quick weekend trip up to Seattle this weekend. Jerome has never been to Washington before and Story hasn't either (at least outside of utero). We had a lot of fun, the drive was super long, but we survived. Even Story survived. As soon as we got to Keri's Story went a little nuts and ran around because she was able to get out of the car after 14 hours.

I might have made Jerome pull over on the freeway for a quick picture. He was a little mad, but i'm glad we got it. Jerome is in Idaho.

On Saturday we went to the aquarium. Story couldn't stop saying, "Bishy! Bishy!"

Here's Story and part of her baby brother. This thing was a big ring that jelly fish swam in. She liked that part a lot.

On Friday we went to a bouncy house. It was only an hour long, but Jerome was completely dripping in sweat by the time we were done. Since Story is so little he had to go on everything with her. She liked the slides the best. On the little stairs they have a rope that you pull your self up with. Jerome had Story under one arm and was grabbing the rope with the other to pull them up. As soon as he grabbed the rope Story yells, "Heave! Ho! Heave! Ho!"

Story was a champ in the car. She didn't get out on the way home, which was like 16 hours. Very long day, but she hardly complained at all. She was VERY excited when we pulled up to our house. She ran around from room to room screaming with excitement to be out of the car.

We had a fun trip and aren't really that excited to be back to work today.

Story & Ray

I love this picture. It describes how Story feels about Rayder to a T. She lights up for no one the way she lights up for him. He is her best buddy and just loves to play with him. Rayder has always been very gracious about Story, he always makes sure she has a toy or a stuffed animal for her naps on Grandma Kristi day and he is very patient with her. Seems like he knows that she's little and doesn't get all the rules yet.

This week has been so much fun with Story. i am just eating up every minute with her. She is learning so many new words and will repeat what you say and has started calling people by name. This week she learned to say "way" (ray), "dace" (jace), and "baby" (felix). and she's learned "gamma make-ina" (grandma Maida). She has been really fun for me to just watch her play and to talk with her. I'm really loving this stage. Another phrase she picked up this week is "i can do it". I'm guessing she learned that one from her bestie Ray.

Anyway, just had to share this picture, it was too cute and said a lot to me.

Little singer

This is my best attempt at getting Story to sing her songs on video. I've tried and this is as good as it gets.

i'll help translate: The first song is "bug girl bug girl, here to save the day!" then she sings part of barbra ann (beach boys), then goes on to sing, "new paper, news paper, courtesy of your local paper boy!"

Story's Room

We finally finished Story's room. We moved the crib out and made a little more space for her. I think her room is bigger than ours. Lucky girl! I'm liking how it turned out and am happy she has lots of space to play.

She looks so little in her giant room! It will get a lot smaller once she gets her big girl bed, but that's not for a while.

Family

This is our latest family picture. Don and Kristi got them taken for us before Chris & Ash left. I think it turned out fantastic! We have one of our little family, but i dont have copies yet. i'll have to post it when i get one. But since i haven't blogged in almost a week, thought i'd do something. I love Story's hand. Its very Story, always brushing her hair out of her face.