Christmas 2011

I can't believe I'm just now getting around to posting about Christmas!

This is the only picture I got of Meyers on Christmas Eve. We baked our Happy Birthday, Jesus cake that day. Those pictures are on my advent calendar post. After a nap struggle (Meyers is trying to drop her one and only nap) in which we won, we went to Christmas Eve service at our church. Our church held two identical services on Christmas Eve and Day, so we chose to go on Christmas Eve. After that we went to John's parents' friend's house for their annual Christmas Eve get-together. Meyers had a blast playing and we stayed way too late!

I got these pictures of all of Meyers's stuff after Santa left:) She got pretty much everything she asked for. I'm sure it helped that she is not at the age where she is asking for super expensive things!

Here is Meyers walking in on Christmas morning. She looks half-asleep and stunned all at the same time. I kind of expected some squealing and lots of excitement, but it was mostly just shock.

And because I love comparison pictures, here she is walking in (assisted) by John. Can y'all believe she wasn't even walking last December??? That's our content girl!

Christmas 2010

Back to this Christmas, she LOVED her rocking chair!

This face just makes me laugh.

Meyers is obsessed with Karen Katz books. She had the Grandma book at both her Mimi and her Gran's house, but she asked for it at our house, too. She was excited about seeing that!

After she took in all of Santa's presents, she unwrapped presents from me and John. She still didn't get into this like I thought she would. I thought she would tear into them, but that's not really her personality, so she was content for John to so most of the unwrapping.

2011 Christmas Morning Picture

2010 Christmas Morning Picture

2009 Christmas Morning Picture

Back to this Christmas...... after we opened presents, took lots of pictures, and had our Happy Birthday, Jesus party, we went to John's parents. Meyers got an awesome kitchen. It was crammed into the den with a bunch of other presents, so she didn't really freak out over it like I thought she would. But now that it's at our house, she definitely LOVES it like I thought she would. 

Oh, and we decided to keep Meyers in her Christmas pjs all day because she looked so stinkin' cute and cozy. You know I had two Christmas outfits for her to wear, one for the day and one for back-up, but I think she liked being in her pjs:)

She got a red Minnie Mouse, which was great because we only have pink:)

This is a picture I took of Meyers with my new lens that I got. Unfortunately, it was the one I asked for, but it wasn't the right one, so I had to send it back. Can't wait for my new one to get here soon!

Here is a picture of Meyers, Minnie, and part of the kitchen!

For the last 10 years, we have eaten lunch with John's family and dinner with mine. This year was no different. After lunch and hanging out time with John's family, we went to my parents' house. I was hoping Meyers would nap, but that didn't happen! For the last two years at my parents', we decided to kind of have "Christmas morning" all over again.....at night. For us and my brother's family, we have already eaten all the Christmas food for lunch, so we are kind of over it. My parents are super flexible and don't have to have close to the same food that we've had the month before at Thanksgiving, so we have breakfast, and it is so good! We also bring pjs to put on. It's the perfect end to a long day of celebrating!

I'm embarrassed that this is one of the few pictures I took that evening. My pregnant self was done for the day! Meyers enjoyed handing out presents and opening them with her cousins! She got a cute table and chairs for her playroom, a baby doll bed, and some baby doll things. Her playroom is officially decked out!

We had a wonderful, filled day with our families celebrating Jesus' birth! I can't believe that it's over, and I can't believe that next Christmas, we will have a 3.5 year old and an 11 month old!!!!!

35 Weeks

 

 

 35 Weeks Now

(I didn't have a 35 week picture with Meyers. I guess I got busy.)

 

How Far Along: 35 weeks

Size of baby: a honeydew, over 18 inches long, and weighs a little over 5.25 pounds

Maternity Clothes: All maternity this week.

Gender: We'll find out in January!

Movement: Yes!!! All the time!

Sleep: I am sleeping okay besides getting up to use the restroom several times a night.

What I Miss: I miss having enough room in my belly to eat! I miss having enough room in my lap for Meyers to sit in comfortably. I miss being able to bend over, get up and down out of the floor.....all the things that you do all day with a toddler.

Cravings: I haven't really had an appetite again. Chik-fil-a chicken noodle soup has once again been my food of choice this week.

Symptoms: I still feel pretty uncomfortable.....laying, standing, sitting, whatever..... This baby is constantly on my bladder, so I feel like I'm going to wet my pants all the time. I am having major random heartburn!!

Best Moment This Week: Getting the nursery a little more ready. I'm sure we were done with Meyers at this point in my pregnancy, but we are a little slower this time:), but it's been fun getting the room together, washing the gear, and things like that.

Advent Calendar Activities - Part 2

Like I said before, I have so enjoyed our Advent Calendar this year. Meyers definitely got into it more as the month went on. We haven't undecorated, so she is still asking me to "open the calendar".  I am sure she will really get into it next year. We finished up the last of our Advent Calendar activities on Christmas Day. I wanted to get them on here before I forget to!

MAKE AND DECORATE CHRISTMAS COOKIES:

 It took her a little bit to warm up to this, but once she did, she really liked it!

Finished product - I thought I had food coloring, but I only had neon colors, so we had to make do with white, hot pink, and green! Meyers loved putting the "frinkles" (sprinkles) on all the cookies.

MAKE SNOWMEN OUT OF PLAYDOUGH:

I didn't find the white playdough until we were about finished, so the blue snowmen had to do.

DECORATE A GINGERBREAD HOUSE:
**I decided it would be easier just to decorate cookies when I saw these at Target!

Our unadventurous eater promptly stuck a cookie in her mouth!

GO SEE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS:

 

No, Meyers is not driving in the front seat "Britney-style". There is a house nearby that does the "dancing lights" with music. So you stake out your spot and park; that's why she is in the front seat:) At first, I think she thought being in the front seat was the best thing about the activity, but then she got into the lights and kept asking for "more lights" after we left.

 

MAKE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS CAKE:

 Meyers is super into birthday parties these days, so she talked about making this cake for probably two weeks!

This girl loves to hold eggs! I had to pry it away from her!

Can you believe I actually wanted to be a cake decorator when I was little? My mom can decorate cakes, but I obviously did not inherit that!

HAVE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS PARTY:

Some of the things we did the last part of the calendar that did not make it in pictures were:

• Listen to Christmas music
• Pop popcorn and watch a Christmas movie (do you know how many times Lucy says the word "stupid" in Charlie Brown Christmas??? We turned it off after one too many "stupids".
• Read the Christmas story

What Meyers Wore Wednesday

How did it get to be Wednesday already? One of these days, I'm going to sit down and sort through Christmas pictures to post:)

We have had a LAZY day today! Meyers sleeps in one piece pajamas. If she wasn't potty trained, she would have probably stayed in pjs all day. I did! Jessica, Bert, and their girls are staying with us for a few days. Fortunately they didn't judge me for my laziness:) They probably would have stayed in pjs, too, if they didn't have family to visit and a doctor's appointment to take Caroline to. They hardly slept because Caroline has double ear infections, and John and I hardly slept because we were not feeling well last night.

So that's why we had a lazy Wednesday. Meyers is wearing some bummy clothes from Target, maybe. Not sure, but she still looks precious in her bummy clothes:)

Merry Christmas!

34 Weeks

34 Weeks Now

 34 Weeks with Meyers

 

How Far Along: 34 weeks

Size of baby: a cantaloupe, 18 inches long, and weighs a little over 4.75 pounds

Maternity Clothes: All maternity this week. We had a Christmas pajama party with our friends last night. I actually did wear regular pj pants, but they were not super comfortable:)

Gender: We'll find out in January!

Movement: Yes!!! All the time!

Sleep: I am sleeping okay besides getting up to use the restroom several times a night.

What I Miss: I miss having enough room in my belly to eat! I miss having enough room in my lap for Meyers to sit in comfortably. I miss being able to bend over, get up and down out of the floor.....all the things that you do all day with a toddler.

Cravings: Not a whole lot this week. I haven't really had an appetite again. Chik-fil-a chicken noodle soup has once again been my food of choice this week.

Symptoms: The crazy dreams are back. I still feel pretty uncomfortable.....laying, standing, sitting, whatever..... This baby is constantly on my bladder, so I feel like I'm going to wet my pants all the time. I am having major random heartburn!!

Best Moment This Week: Hearing the heartbeat at my doctor's appointment this week!

What Meyers Wore Wednesday

We had a really low-key day today. I had a doctor's appointment and John took Meyers to Chik-fil-a.

Meyers and I took a nap this afternoon and decorated gingerbread cookies after we woke up. Our advent calendar said to decorate a gingerbread house, but I made a change to that when I saw premade and cooked gingerbread cookies at Target that you just had to decorate. That seemed easier for Meyers.......and me, too:)

Today Meyers wore a Blessed Be the Name Christmas outfit that I got brand new on eBay. I love the little bloomer pants because it makes her seem like she's still a baby:)

Look Who Came Home With Us!

We discovered this Santa Mickey about a month ago at Lowes. Every time we go, we have to go down that aisle so that Meyers can visit with him. She was super sweet about leaving him at the store. Can't remember who, but one of my smart mommy friends told me a long time ago the "We have to leave XYZ here so we can play with it next time we come" trick. That. is. genius! It works every time with Meyers, at least. We were not about to buy this Mickey. He was originally $28 (He is about two feet tall and plays Jingle Bells)! Call us cheap, but this wasn't one of those little tiny happies that you get if your child was good at a store or had no potty accidents. I kept hoping he would go on sale.

How funny does he look in the seatbelt???

Well.......today was the day. We went to Lowes for a few things and Santa Mickey went on sale, and we had to have him. This video will show you why we had to have him. How funny is Meyers dancing with Mickey? By the way, this is what we do every time we would visit Mickey. I know the people at Lowes probably think we are nuts!

Getting Our Money's Worth!

I love, love, love when Meyers gets more than one year out of an outfit......especially holiday outfits that don't get worn more than a month or so. It makes me feel like I am getting my money's worth for a nice outfit, AND it is so sweet to look back at her pictures in that particular outfit. 

2009

2010

2011

**Here is another dress that was new last year that we were able to wear again this year.

2010

2011

Advent Calendar Activities - Part 1

I was so excited to do an advent calendar this year. Meyers hasn't totally gotten into it, but that's okay, because I wanted to start the tradition. One thing that I did not really think about was how it would keep me/us on track with doing Christmas activities. This time of year is so busy; it's easy to have all these plans and those plans get sidetracked in the busyness. The advent calendar has made sure that we did some kind of Christmas activity each day.  It took me a little bit to come up with age-appropriate activities for a 2.5 year old. Some of our days were really simple, and some involved bigger things. I filled the little cups with a piece of paper telling us what to do each day. I also put m and m's in there to make it a little more exciting for Meyers! Her favorite part has been to carry the little strip of paper around!

 

I wasn't sure how I wanted to document this here. I knew there would be lots of pictures, so I'm breaking it into part 1 and part 2, so here is what we've been the last two weeks with our calendar. There are a bunch of pictures, so I'm keeping the words minimal:)

MAKE A CHRISTMAS CRAFT:

GOING TO SEE ZOO LIGHTS:

WRITE A LETTER TO SANTA:

**Didn't get an actual picture of the writing, just a video. But I did take this picture right before we started:)

long letter!

MAKE A CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT:

Who knew foam crafts were so great?? Not me! They are not messy and Meyers loves to peel the foam stickers off!

GO SEE A CHRISTMAS PARADE:

GO SEE SANTA:

This was after she calmed down and knew that Santa was far away.

Some of the other things we have been doing this month that didn't get documented are:

• learning a new Christmas song
• reading a Christmas book
• seeing Starry Nights
• coloring pages about Jesus's birth
• going to see a live nativity
• coloring something Christmas"y" for someone special
• take canned goods to the Food Bank

Now we are getting started on the rest of the month.......