No Work, All Play

We're enjoying a second week off of work for me. Even though Todd doesn't have the whole week off, he loves coming home at night and hearing about all the fun things we did during the day. We've been playing, running errands, watching our favorite videos, and just relaxing! The house is clean, the laundry is getting done and I love waking up without the rush of trying to get out the door by 7am. I think we could all get used to this lifestyle!

Bridget has been cracking us up with some of things she's been saying lately. We sometimes have no idea where she picks up her words and phrases. She's been plagued with the hiccups quite often lately, so she says, "Hi-ups again?!" She calls a heart a "heartbeat" and thumps her chest when she says it. She asks to go to the car wash everyday and every night she tells Todd we went there, even when we didn't! She is phasing out "Mama and Dada" with "Mommeeee and Dadeeee". And we have been watching our "Boopy" (Snoopy) videos over and over and over on the new playroom TV from Grandma and Grandpa Garner. This has been quite convenient as I try to get ready in the morning!

She has been such a good girl and I'll be sad to head back to work next week. The good news though, is that the countdown to my maternity leave is officially on! 5 weeks and counting!

She never gets tired of this toy, which is not new...it's from her 1st birthday!

Checking for cars

She was very excited when the lawn people showed up during breakfast yesterday

Reading those Christmas books one last time

And today was a tea party kind of day...

Christmas

It was a very Merry Christmas for us. We hosted Christmas Eve at our house with family and friends. Bridget stayed up way too late entertaining all the guests and had to be woken up on Christmas morning at 8:30! I was up at 7:00 and just couldn't wait any longer to get the morning started. Her new play kitchen was put together and waiting under the tree for her. The good news...she loved it! The bad news...we had a hard time getting her away from it to open any other gifts! It took us about an hour and a half to get through all the gifts under our tree. Not because there were sooooo many, but because Bridget wanted to take each new thing she opened out of the box to examine it more closely. And then in most cases, she threw it to the side to get back to her kitchen!

On Christmas Eve she opened her gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Johnston and boy did she love this one...

Bridget slept on and off throughout all of Christmas Day which is very, very unusual for her. We were worried that she must be getting sick, but she woke up the next day feeling just fine. I think she must have been completely exhausted from all the Christmas festivities of the week.

The house is still cluttered with toys and boxes and new gadgets, but Christmas clutter is the only kind I don't mind. I'm usually sad to see each Christmas season come to an end, but not so much this year. Once the Christmas decorations are packed away, we'll be decorating with new baby furniture, hanging teeny tiny clothes in the closet and bringing out all those newborns must-haves that have been put away since Bridget outgrew them not so long ago.

Good-bye Christmas, Hello new baby!!

The Most Wonderful (And Busy) Time of the Year

The Thanksgiving to Christmas stretch has flown by and I can't believe Christmas Day is this week! Each year things seem to get busier and busier. We're keeping busy decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking, socializing and celebrating with friends and family. And in between all that trying to keep up with the normal day to day routines. It seemed like every afternoon was spent making a quick stop here or there to pick up this or that...another bar of cream cheese for the dip, one more tube of glitter for a 1st grade craft or grabbing that last stocking stuffer! AND I'm approaching my 8th month of pregnancy! I'm seeing the doctor every 2 weeks now and can't believe how much more of a physical strain this pregnancy had been. By the end of the work day I am completely exhausted, but I'm trying my best to have all the energy I can for my afternoons and evenings with Bridget. Thanks goodness Todd is there to do anything and everything we need. He'll mop the floors, put Bridget to bed, clean up the dinner dishes-whatever it is, he'll do it! We still have A LOT to prepare for the new baby, but I know it will all fall into place just in time.

Bridget is loving anything and everything Christmas this year...She has grown to love Santa. I think she's sat on his lap three times now. We're pretty sure it's the freebie coloring book that keeps her going back for more! She's having fun searching for our Elf on the Shelf each morning and she's in heaven with all the Christmas sweets that have been in the house.

More fun to come later this week!



Enoying her first cup of hot cocoa on one of the few chilly days we've had so far this season



An evening out to look at Christmas lights!



Hugging her singing and dancing snowmen given to her by the Smith Family last year



Almost chose this as our Christmas card picture, but went with ths one instead...