Au Revoir

When 2009 began, I thought there was no way it could be anywhere near as big as 2008. No babies, no marriages. We planned to travel quite a bit but that was pretty much it.

How does the saying go? Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. Ain't that the troof?

In August, we found out we were expecting again (so much for no babies!!!)
In October, we moved from Dallas, Texas, to Memphis, Tennessee.

Pregnancy + Moving out of state = pretty big year.

In 2010, we'll welcome our daughter and (hopefully, in August) I'll be going back to school. Both pretty big things. Maybe 2011 will signal the slow down? Only time will tell.

When we raise our glasses of champaigne (or sparkling grape juice or what have you) at midnight tonight, we won't just be toasting a new year, we'll be toasting a new decade.

Holy Y2K readiness, Batman, I can't believe it's been TEN YEARS since we said goodbye to the 1900's.

I spent all but five months, 19 days of my 20's in the first decade of the 2000's. For most people, the "big,big" happens in your 20's so this has been a full decade for me. I'm pretty sure that my 19-year-old self, back on December 31, 1999, saw her 29-year-old self as married (though not to Eddie! That was ten years ago, yo, we both celebrated the new millenium with different significant others) and probably even with kids. But I don't really think I had any idea . . .

I had no idea how much being somebody's Mommy would change me.
I had no idea how many changes I would come across in my life in my early to mid 20's.
I had no idea how much our world and our sense of security would change, as they did with the 9/11 attacks.
I had no idea just how BIG the 2000's would be for me.

So much has happened in the past ten years . . . there have been break ups and broken hearts. There have been job changes and, here I am now, with "Mommy" being my full time job. I lost my dad in 2005 and I can honestly say, no matter what our relationship was at the time, I never, ever, ever thought I would lose a parent when I was just 25-years-old. It reminds you of how fleeting this life is. How precious, and how a split second decision by someone else can effect so many lives.

I lost my wonderful, sweet Granny in 2006 and maybe, being as she was 99, that was a day we saw coming. But it was still hard and it still hurt. I had my own major health scare in 2006 and every day since I've felt lucky to be alive.

I got married. My brother got married. Most of my best friends have gotten married. We've all began welcoming babies into this world. People have their degrees, have bought their first houses, and now we're all quickly descending into that scary area between being young and being middle aged. (What's the saying? That you know you're middle aged when old people and young people annoy you equally? If that's the case, then I'm already middle aged!)

At any rate, this past decade has been a heck of a ride! When another ten years have gone by and we ring in 2020 (holy cow!), I wonder what "big, bigs" will have happened over the past decade?

Here's a quick - scrappin' style - look at our 2009:

And, now, let the toasting and resolving and all things New Years-y begin. Have a safe and happy one! Bring it on, '10!

And Away We Go. Again.

Kyan, on our way to Nashville on Monday:

The poor baby's expression pretty much sums up how both of the boys and I feel about traveling. Being in the car at all. Anything like that.

However, that did not stop us from hopping in the car yesterday afternoon and heading south to Dallas. *Sigh*

I am tired.
I am weary.
I would give anything to sink down in my big old bathtub and take a bath.
I am down to just two pairs of socks because, apparently, I can't make it back home from any trip with every pair of socks I brought.

But.

Eddie is on vacation this week. He's been working almost every single day for the past several months and hasn't really indulged in the travel the boys and I have partaken (partaked? partook?) in. He wanted to get out and get away for awhile. Plus, we hadn't seen any of his family since we moved and they were anxious to see the boys.

So here we are.

And I am still tired.
I am still weary.
I still would give anything to sink down in my big old bathtub and SOAK and read one of the books I found stuffed in my stocking.
I still have just two pairs of socks because I haven't been to Walmart yet.

And I'm not going anywhere - other than the doctor and the grocery store - in the month of January and I mean it!

Now, how about some currents for December since I now have just a little over a day to get them in?

Current Book: 7th Heaven by James Patterson (actually, I finished it last night and I didn't bring any other books with me so looks like I'll be bookless until we return home!)

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: I honestly can't think of one. Nothing shames me anymore.

Current Songs: I am still oh-so-loving New York by Jay Z and Alicia Keys!

Current Movie: Two kids age three and under = are you KIDDING me with the movies? I wish!

Current Needs: Baby girl stuff, to be home for more than 24 hours

Current Triumphs: I survived Christmas. 'Nuff said.

Current Wish List: A happy, healthy 2010! Oh, and a babysitter for tomorrow night so we can have f-u-n kicking off the new decade!

Current Blessings: My family <3>

Current Excitement: The new year, baby!

Current Quote: Quote, as in something I say a lot? How about "seriously, just leave me alone for 15 seconds, please and mmkay?"

Current Mood: All is good.

Cold as Ice

My family . . . we like to travel.

My husband is in the military. He's Reserves now, but he was active duty for ten years. And he's been everywhere. He's been all over Europe. We have a box of souvineres from Japan residing in our garage. He did a nine month stint in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War. He's also been plenty of places stateside as well. Every once in a while I'll make a game out of pulling a random place out of my head and asking if he's been there. Helena, Montana? Yup. St. Paul, Minnesota? Yup. Raleigh, North Carolina? Yup. He's been ever-where.

Me? Notsomuch. But I'm hurrying as fast as I can to catch up! ;)

We got back from Arkansas yesterday afternoon. This morning (well, it was supposed to be this morning but my husband and punctuality do not have a good relationship) we headed out for a day trip to Nashville.

When we were having Santa pics made a few days ago, a lady behind me was talking about ICE at the Gaylord Opryland hotel and just how all around neat it was. It sounded fun to me so, when I got home, I looked it up on the internet. The fact that it was all done up in a Charlie Brown Christmas meant that we had to go. Eddie is on vacation this week and he thought a day trip to Nashville would be fun.

And, it was!

We had originally planned on doing more . . . hitting up the planetarium and the botanical gardens. But, again with the whole punctuality thing. It was 4:30 before we even finished up at ICE and it's a three hour drive back home.

I hadn't been to Nashville since the summer of 1993, when I was 13 years old. I went with a church group and we actually stayed at the Opryland hotel. This was back when the Opryland amusement park was still up and running (why, oh, why did they shut that down? The 3D roller coaster was the coolest). Seeing as it's been, oh, 16.5 years since I was in that area . . . holy back taxes, Willie Nelson! A LOT has changed. You could spend a whole week and never even have to leave the Opryland area . . . you wouldn't run out of things to do! (And, JEEZ-O-PETES, the crowds were insane).

We thought the ICE exhibit was slightly overpriced (adult tickets were $22. I think the $12-$15 range would have been a little more suitable), but it was really just a neat, neat thing. Jaidan absolutely LOVED it and didn't want to leave. (The Kykers, on the other hand, was throwing a FIT through the last half of it. The boy . . . he just does not do cold).

I wanted to go crazy with taking pictures but, eh, people everywhere. It was hard to take a picture without getting the sleeve of someone's blue parka in it (oh yeah - they made us wear these super sexy blue coats!)

Here are a few of my more favorite-est scenes. None of which have been editted because, well, it's kinda late yo:

^ That's Linus telling the true meaning of Christmas. It's a funky angle. Boo.

The most breathtaking scene of all wasn't even from Charlie Brown's Christmas - it was a nativity done completely in ice. And it was GORGEOUS!

I do have to say . . . one good thing about there being a bajillion people in there? There were enough good hearted souls milling around who would take a FAMILY PICTURE! Woo Hoo! I told you those big blue coats were ultra seck-sy. We were thankful to have them though - it was 6 degrees in that mofo!

P.S. -- I will be glad when I no longer have to worry about the one side effect of pregnancy that ALWAYS effects ME: fat girl face. Ugh. Go away, puffiness!

In keeping with the theme of COLD, COLD, COLD lemme share a layout real quick like. I did this one a few weeks back.

I used the kit 'Winter Wonder' by Samceline. She is having her grand opening at MLAS this week and you can get this kit (which is gorgeous and PACKED with stuff - no kidding, it's a huge kit) and all of her stuff at 50% off right now. Here's the link to her store. Aaaaand . . . if you like the layout pictured above then you can get it - and three other QP's - by clicking the image below. Enjoy!

I'm Beginning to Rethink This Whole Santa Claus Thing

Thanks to blogs and different networking sites, I've come to the realization that a lot of parents out there just don't do Santa Claus anymore. There are various reasons but it doesn't seem like the big guy is as prevelant in the imaginations of children as he was in the days my brother and I would tell my dad to hurry home because we could swear we saw Rudolph's blinking red nose in the sky.

We, however, do Santa Claus with our children. It's something magical and fun and I don't want to deprive my children of it. I'm well aware that once Jaybird starts school and some smart-mouthed meanie (that I will, inevitibly wanna punch in the face -- I don't care if they ARE just five years old) tells him that Santa Claus is not real, there's a good possibillity that all three of my children will learn the rumor that Santa is your Mom and Dad. And there's a good possibillity that I'll be a little crushed that I couldn't keep the magic alive and my children innocent a little longer. But it's okay. It's worth it now to see their eyes light up and, well, to get them into bed early on Christmas Eve night.

Well, it's sorta worth it anyway.

Sorta.

Because, ya see, it was ME who braved the crowds and flying elbows on Black Friday to find the deals. It was ME who wrapped present after present after present because, heck, my kids are 3 and 1.5 and they think wrapping paper is the best thing ever. And it was ME who had to listen to Eddie mutter and let a few dirty words fly and, in general, be an ass as he was putting together a Power Wheels police car. (And, yeah, yeah, let's give the husband SOME credit -- he was, afterall, the one who put that car together).

And who got all the credit?

The fat guy!

And not just a "oh, look what Santa brought!" Oh, no, nuh-uh. Jaidan was shouting "thank you Santa Claus" up the fireplace Christmas morning. Seriously. Seriously.

As previously stated, I'm rethinking this business with the one whose belly shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly. It woulda been nice to get credit for at least some of this:
They'll thank me when they have kids of their own, right?

In all seriousness, we had a great Christmas. The boys made out like bandits because that's what tends to happen every Christmas (and is also a big reason my kids only really get toys and junk on Christmas and birthdays).

Our Christmas Day was INsane and has me rethinking how we're going to do things next year. The day went something like this:

6:45 am - Eddie and I were working on the steering compartment to the police car pictured above so that Bo and Luke Duke could hop in and enjoy it as soon as they woke up.

7:30 am - Woke the boys up

7:32 am - The chaos commenced. Stockings were flying, Kyan was ripping off wrapping paper with his teeth, and Jaidan was holding up every single thing he received, yelling 'cheese' and giving me the World's Most Fake Smile.

10:18 am (approxomately) - We were in the car, ready to go. And only 48 minutes behind schedule.

** In between 7:32 and 10:18, we managed to open presents, play with presents, shower, dress, finish packing suitcases, load up the car with presents and food, etc.

*** I also want to add that getting my husband out the door at that time - even if we were 48 minutes late and still had to stop for gas AND at Walgreens (what did people do for diapers on Christmas Day before Walgreens decided to stay open??) - was a Christmas miracle. For real.

Anyhow. On with the schedule.

1:10 pm - Finally arrived at MawMaw and PawPaw's house. An hour and 10 minutes late. And slightly disappointed that even though several central Arkansas Facebook peeps had said something about waking up to a white Christmas, we saw not one single solitary snow covered nothin'.

I feel like I didn't sit down at all the whole time we were there! I know we did - I was sitting when we ate and I was sitting (I think) when we opened presents. But, by 3:00, we were back on the road again and by 4:15 or so, we were opening presents (again) with my mom and stepdad.

I was exhausted. Run, run, run. All day long.

We have 363 days to figure out how to do it next year. But I'll say this much: last year, when we lived in Dallas, I hosted. I fixed turkey and ham and all the fixins. Dinner for 12 or so (I don't remember the exact number: it was supposed to be my folks and my brother and SIL plus my brood. Then we invited my "adopted" brother Miguel and his wife. And our brother-in-law on Eddie's side. And his girlfriend. And some other friends of Eddie's. There were a lot of people). Anyhow, even cooking dinner for all those people and making sure my house was clean since all those people were going to be there AND being sick the week before Christmas -- I was not as exhausted on Christmas night as I was this year.

Still.trying.to.recoop. 363 days until we do it all over again.

In case you're wondering: Eddie did MUCH better than last year with the whole spice rack incident. In addition to the work on the house (and did I mention we're planning on FINALLY painting these baby poop yellow walls in February? As well as laying new flooring?), the wii, and the promise of wii fit after Karis gets here, he also got me a laptop cart. VERY much needed and most definitely appreciated. Good job, Eddie, good job.

I've already knocked out a few Christmas layouts. Wanna see? ;)

Zhairah opening her presents on Christmas Eve Eve:
The boys on Christmas Eve in their Christmas jammies they had just opened. By the way, did you know Santa Claus is lactose intolerant? That's why we always leave a coke with his cookies rather than milk. ;)And a two-pager for Christmas morning. I realized AFTER I saved and posted this one that I forgot to include one of their gifts in the journaling. Hate it when that happens!I've become slightly . . . obssessive, shall we say? . . . about keeping up with my scrapbooking. I'm really not sure why other than I know, in a few months when Karis is born, I'll fall behind so it would be nice to be all caught up before she gets here, ya know?

There are a couple of new challenges coming to MLAS with the new year that I am VERY excited about. There is Project 52 - which will provide a template and photo prompt to help keep on track with Project 365/ 52. I am going to attempt to do Project 365 (one photo a day, all 365 days of the year) this year. I attempted last year as well and only made it as far as, oh, mid-January. I suck. At least with this new challenge, I'll have something to keep me on track and even if I can't (or don't!) do one photo a day surely I can do one photo a week. There is also My Life in Scrap starting up and I'm uber excited about this one! It's a weekly challange to do layouts all about ourselves. Anyone who has kids knows how hard it is to sit down and just crank out a layout about just you so this one should be a lot of fun.

Merry Christmas to Us (& to YOU, too!)

All things considered, my husband is pretty great. He's an all around nice guy. He has a good heart. He knows I don't like to take the garbage out so, on Friday morning when he'd forgotten, he called the repairman who was at our house and asked him if he would mind doing it. (Seriously, yo, I was mortified because I'm pretty sure this guy was thinking, "what a diva! She can't even take her own garbage out?" But I know Eddie meant well so it's all good). A majority of the time when he works nights, he'll stay up after he gets home and feed the boys breakfast so I can sleep in a little bit (sleep in until one of them barges in my bedroom door, climbs on me, and yells "MOMMYMOMMYMOMMY" in my face until I finall get up).

I'm telling you all this because I really feel the need to preface this next story. It's the Story of Last Christmas.

Eddie and I went on a quasi-belated-honeymoon-ish type trip last November. Due to this trip, I got my Christmas gifts a month early. One of them was a new Chi (aka my BFF) and the other was my camera (never leave home without it). When he ordered my camera, he also went ahead and ordered his own Christmas present: a 52" flat screen TV. Heck of a Christmas present, huh?

Since we'd gotten fairly expensive gifts, I didn't get him anything else except stocking stuffers. Then. THEN, he decided to tell me approxomately 72 hours before time to open gifts that he'd bought me something else. "And you'll really like it. I know you'll like it. You'll really, really like it." *Cue the panic* I went out - to the mall and freakin' Walmart - two days before Christmas and bought this man more gifts.

Would you like to know what he bought me?

Ready for this?
Sitting down?
Brace yourself.

The man bought me a spice rack.

A SPICE RACK!

I love him and I know it's the thought that counts but, come on now, a spice rack??? When you tell me it's something I'm going to "really like," then I have visions of high heels and purses dancing in my head. NOT visions of oregano and basil in a nifty spinning rack.

I must say, though, Eddie has made up for the spice rack (so far anyway) this year. He informed me today that he has to stop on his way home in the morning and pick up another gift for me (and it's one that I'll "really appreciate" -- what the heck is that supposed to mean). But, thus far, all is good in the hood.

First off, Merry Christmas to us! We're working on our house. It doesn't seem like much of a Christmas present but, JEEZ-O-PETES it looks so much better. Over Thanksgiving, we had someone come and fix the missing shingles on the roof. This past week, we've had a couple of gentlemen here repairing and painting the window trim and landscaping the backyard. In January or February, work will begin on the inside of the house: we're redoing the flooring in the front entryway, living room, and office area and we are finally painting these baby poop yellow walls! Halelujah! Here's a look at the work that's been done thus far.

Missing shingles, rotting wood. And believe it or not - those rocks on the windows? Yeah, they were keeping the wood in place! Sheesh.

And, dude, it was a gorgeous day when I took that pic. Notsomuch today. I think we'll be dreaming of a wet Christmas 'round these parts:

And the after: no missing shingles, no rotting wood, and those rocks have been removed. Much-o better. Much-o.

We also opened our family Christmas gift today. We won't have Z again until after Christmas so today seemed the perfect day to open it and, well, we were dying to get our hands on it. Why? Cause we are no longer the last family in America to NOT have a Wii, ya'll! We finally got one! Woo Hoo!

I have to tell you, this thing is awesome and addicting and OMG, why didn't we buy one two years ago?? The only games we have (right now) are Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. But. Let me put it this way. Today I had planned on taking care of the following things: laundry, making fudge and baking sugar cookies, cleaning the kitchen, and vacuuming. As of 5:30 this evening the ONLY thing I'd done is a whole lot a wii'ing! We have been having too much fun. It's awesome for a lot of reasons but the bit three are:

1) Expressions like this on the face of the child opening it:

2) Laughing at your husband because his Wii Bowling stance is so very Mary Catherine Gallagher:3) It keeps the two big kids out of my hair. Do they fight over it? Of course. But the first time I hear "It's my turn!" "No, it's my turn" I bust in with "Sorry, punks, but it's MY turn." Bwaha. Hahahah. Hahahaha.

In all seriousness now . . . *pulls up soapbox and perches on it*

We enjoy gift giving. We enjoy the tree and going to look at lights and baking Christmas goodies and everything else that just seems to go along with Christmas. But we also know - and teach our children - what it's really all about.

(Yeah, I totally felt a little meh about a picture of the baby Jesus with the word 'dumbass,' but I also figured it was better than my first choice [hooker] or my second choice [numb nuts] and, besides, even though I have doubts that Jesus would use the word 'dumbass,' I'm sure he gets a little fed up with Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, and even the Grinch stealing his thunder on his birthday).

It always amazes me what people give as the true meaning of Christmas.
Oh, for us it's all about family.
It's about giving to others.
It's about remember those in need.

No, no, no, no, nooo. All of those are, yes, important and fun and they make Christmas more enjoyable. But the fact of the matter is we celebrate Christmas because Christians believe that a little more than 2010 years ago, God sent his son in human form and the child was born of a virgin mother. We celebrate Christmas because of the birth of Jesus. The birth of Jesus is what it's all about.

Frankly, I could care less what holidays anyone celebrates during the month of December. Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Soltice: you celebrate whatever it is you believe. If you believe in stripping yourself butt naked, using tribal paint to put zebra stripes all over your body, and performing a ritualistic dance under every full moon in December then, honey, you go right ahead and do it. But don't take Christmas and try to turn it into something that it's not. Being with family is wonderful and it's great. Eating turkey and ham and opening presents - hello, who wouldn't want to? Giving to those less fortunate - there's never, ever anything wrong with that. But the reason we do so much of that the 25th day in December is because of the birth of Jesus. End of story.

*Steps down from soapbox*

Here's a little heads up for you: Tomorrow is a Christmas BLOG TRAIN that begins over at the MLAS blog. Seven designers have collaborated to come up with a super cute kit. If you want a preview, then click here to check it out.

Now, it's time for me to go kick some 9-year-old booty at Wii table tennis. Wishing you and yours A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

All Wrapped Up in the Season

I firmly believe that whoever came up with this whole idea of wrapping gifts should be drug into a town square (preferably my town square. Do I have a town square?) and be tortured mercilessly with paper cuts.

I.hate.wrapping.presents.

I hate it more than I hate getting cold fries at a restaurant.
I hate it more than I hate seeing some dumbass at a baseball game dressed in a miniskirt or high heels.
I hate it more than I hate the show How I Met Your Mother (HOW is that still on TV?) or the fact that TBS runs A Christmas Story for 24 hours on Christmas. OKAY, okay. "You'll shoot your eye out" and the pink bunny suit and OMG a leg lamp but ENOUGH already.

I do NOT like wrapping Christmas presents. But. My children enjoy ripping into paper more than they enjoy the gifts themselves. *Sigh* Therefore, this afternoon, I locked myself(yes, literally locked myself -- my children are nosey little boogers) in my bedroom and got to wrap-wrap-wrapping. And getting paper cuts and getting tape stuck to my fingers and doing a lot of muttering under my breath about the benefits of children being old enough to appreciate a good GIFT BAG.

But.

Now this is all done:

Yes, those are stacked in my (nasty, dirty) closet rather than under the tree. I have a 19-month-old, mmkay? 'Tis the same reason there are only one or two ornaments left on the bottom 1/3 of my tree. It was cute the first time he grabbed one of them off, yelled "BALL" and chunked it across the room. But, now . . . now, I'm just tired of redecorating the tree 234928 times a day.

I'm pretty sure one reason I hate, despise, loathe, and abominate wrapping so much is because, um, I'm not exactly, ya know, good at it. Most of my gifts end up looking like this:

Chuck the Talking Truck: you are an a-hole to wrap!

Who cares if I ripped the paper while wrapping it? I mean, they're going to have to rip the paper anyway right?

Cheap-o tape from the Dollar store. This is what it'll do for ya!

By the way: I stopped wrapping gifts long enough to run in the other room and grab a box. While out of my kid-free haven I was informed that Kyan had a poopy diaper because, apparently, I'm the only one who can change dirty diapers. *Rolls eyes and prepares to take one of Eddie's Christmas gifts back*

I have a layout to share, but first I must tell a Jaybird story!

Sunday afternoon, I pulled Kyan out of the tree for the 2039423th time. I set him in time out, told him no, the whole nine yards. Jaidan, in all his bossy three-year-old-ness, went over to Kyan and got right in his face. The finger came out, mean teacher style, and went in Kyker's face. Serious as he could be he told him, "Santa Claus is watching you!" How do you NOT scrap something like that? Come on now . . . that's a memory for the ages.

I used the new MLAS mega collab "Crazy Christmas." You HAVE to go get this kit! In fact, you have to get both of the December megas. (You can get both of them for $8). Crazy Christmas is fun and funky and Elegant Christmas is breathtaking -- probably my favorite MLAS collab ever!

And, now, I will leave you with the Christmas Quote of the Day courtesy of Clark Griswold:

"We're gonna press on and we're gonna have the hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny f*cking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down the chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse."

Words of Wisdom from Spongebob Squarepants

Who'd a thought? Every once in a while that annoying little turd can actually say something that, well, all people need to listen to. Take heed of. Apply to everyday life. For example?

"Don't be a jerk. It's Christmas."

I found myself mumbling this yesterday evening when I - in a very jerk like mood - decided to go to Target in search of stocking stuffers for the hubs. (Seriously, are men just the hardest creatures in the world to buy stocking stuffers for or what? I could, and I'm not exaggerating, spend well over $100 stuffing my kids stockings but when it comes to my hubs, I draw a blank). There was a woman standing in the aisle talking on her cell phone. Um, it was the SUNDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. FIVE DAYS UNTIL THE BIG DAY. Everybody and their grandma was jammed into Target and this insensitive a-hole had to stand in the aisle - right in the middle, of course, as she HAD to block traffic from all sides - to make a phone call. Don't be a jerk. It's Christmas.

Then there were the two ladies at Walmart (yeah, I went there next - twas really a glutton for punishment) who were irate and loud over the fact that "THIS STORE DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING I HAVE ON MY LIST!" Ya think? Five days till Christmas is not the time to try to snag one of those Zhu Zhu pet things, mmkay? Don't be a jerk. It's Christmas.

Oh, one more! The crotchety old fart in the produce section of Wal-mart who scowled at anyone and everyone who had children who were making the tiniest bit of noise: Hey old fart, don't be a jerk. It's Christmas.

*Waves all that away*

Today was back to the doctor. Baby is fine, Mama is fine. Not much to report. They did my GD test and all is good as far as that's concerned. They had my records from the practice in Dallas who delivered Kyan and the incision my uterus was a lower transverse. So that means we can let Miss Karis cook until 39 weeks before doing the c-section. And that means we'll be having us an Easter baby! 39 weeks is April 3rd (which would have been my great grandfathers 104th birthday) and Easter is April 4th. I doubt they will do a Saturday surgery so I'm assuming she'll be born either April 2nd or April 5th. Unless she decides to come early all on her own.

Now.

I've been cruising through the Mommy Blogs (anyone else hate that name? It just sounds . . . I dunno . . . I don't like it) here lately and have found some c-u-t-e ones. This week I decided to participate in 'Not Me Monday' which is run by MckMama over at Mycharmingkids.net. I decided to do it because, um, it looks like fun and, um, I'm a big fat copycat. So huuuuure we go.


It was NOT my kid who greeted the window repair man while wearing a thong backpack style on his back. Nope, not my kid. Not at all.

It was NOT me who faked diarreah last night so that I could have just five minutes by myself. Alone. In the bathroom with a good book and no one to bother me. Okay, okay so that was me. If you haven't done it before, you should totally try it.

It was most certainly NOT me who just got around to hanging her Christmas stockings today, on the 21st day of December. Nope, not me in the least.It was not me who had to scramble real fast as to come up to a reason why we only had four stockings when there are FIVE of us. Zhariah wasn't with us last year at Christmas and, well, we didn't buy her a stocking. So, anyway, it wasn't me who explained that the stockings were just for the kids : Zhariah, Jaidan, Kyan, and, um, Karis, yup, Karis. Even though she won't be here until April we still had to get her a stocking anyway. Man, too bad it wasn't me because that was a pretty KICK ASS explanation.

It was not me who forgot the freakin' WAX PAPER when buying supplies for Christmas baking last night.

And, last but not least, it most certainly was not me whispering under my breath about what a jerk my husband was being when he was discussing bidness with the window repair man. After all, MY hubs is just as perfect as I am. ;)

WHEW. All that 'not me'ing' wore me out. I'm going to leave you with my January desktop that I did for the desktop challenge over at MLAS:
My kids loved the hats I put on them on my December desktop so I decided to revive the hat thing again for January. And, on another note, DANG it is hard to extract Kikey's hair! Good thing we're getting the 'fro trimmed tomorrow.

And - just one more thing (promise!) - check out the Christmas Delights section over at MLAS. There are some SUPER cute kits right now. Rucola Designs has 'Golden Holidays' at 40% off. 'Coming up Christmas' by Dogs Day Designs is 50% off and Bubblescrap Designs has all her stuff - including cutesy Christmasy stuff - at 60& off. Who can resist a deal like that? NOT ME! ;)