christmas whirlwind

after more than a week of visiting, eating, playing, enjoying, celebrating, gift opening, driving, more visiting, more eating, more playing, more enjoying, more gift opening, and more driving... we're home. we had such a wonderful time with everyone that it was hard to let it come to an end and head back to our quiet house. i feel so grateful to have such wonderful family to be with during the holidays - not just the family that i grew up with and all their fabulous new additions, but also the super family that i was lucky enough to marry into. thanks to all who let us invade their houses and bask in their hospitality!

a few highlights from this past week:

• getting to know an almost-two-year-old oscar - he was super fun and it was great to hear him talking in his little voice. what a cutie on christmas morning with that happy hair!
• seeing my super sis for the first time in almost a year and a half. i had great fun doing girlie things and laughing loads with my little sister.
• seeing abby all dressed up in her christmas outfit. could that photo be any cuter?
• hanging out at uncle roger and aunt janie's fabulous farmhouse. they're incredible hosts.
• seeing gracie's bellybutton
• getting a chance to see mike's grandparents - grandpa dannis and grandma nordstrom
• watching the nieces and nephews open gifts at mike's mom's house is always a highlight

awesome aunties

yesterday was a shopping extravaganza of epic proportions. with the help of the amazing aunties and all their sage advice, we chose a stroller, a bouncy seat, a backpack carrier thingy, and i decided on a carseat (though i didn't actually buy it yet). i don't think i could've made those decisions without their help. we also got blankets and towels and cute little fuzzy socks, and hats, and the aunties each bought him something cute to wear... i feel so lucky to have the advice moms there. thank you both! i'm as spoiled as ninja - and he's not even born yet!!

ha ha ha... merry christmas

christmas for ninja

we had a wonderful visit from one of the printer reps yesterday. she's one of my favorite visitors at work - always has funny stories and neat crafty things to talk about, and LOVES children's books... definitely a kindred spirit. she made this hat for ninja! it's so tiny, and soft and i was just floored that she would take the time to do that. every time i look at it, i get warm fuzzies. i can't wait to send her a photo of it on the little guy.

she also brought him a buddy. here he is modeling the hat:

more baby stuff

yesterday i had visits to two pediatricians' offices. they were scheduled several hours apart, so in between i went to target to pick up a few things for ninja. i finally bought a changing pad, a waterproof mattress cover for the crib, and a couple of plain white crib sheets. none of it was all that exciting, but they were all things i knew we'd need or want.

i'm still pondering the idea of buying bumper pads for the crib, but i'm having trouble finding something i like in a price range that doesn't seem utterly ridiculous. for example, i really like the simplicity of this one, but there's no way i would pay that much for bumper pads in a million bazillion years.

wrapping it up

i'm finally making some progress with my wrapping and cards. i might actually be sleeping on christmas eve.

one thing off the list

we finished assembling the christmas card today at work. hoo-rah! i was worried they wouldn't make it out the door before we take off for the holidays. no more worries here!

update 12/17: they went in the mail before noon today!

dream a little dream

less than a week until missy and her entourage arrive! hoo-rah!

i've been looking forward to this so much that i've started having dreams about it. the other night i had a dream that i was helping oscar wipe off his face and hands after eating something messy. the result was that instead of getting clean, the mess just spread all over his face until it was completely covered. weird, eh?

best ever

we went this afternoon to pick out a tree with mom and dad. we usually go with them to help pick out their tree, but this is the first year that we got our own tree at the same time. i think we found the best one ever - and it smells just as wonderful as it looks!

i'm looking forward to having some time off to be home and enjoy every bit of the holidays. there are so many wonderful things to look forward to. i can hardly wait!

cute tootsies

aren't these adorable? i do believe i have some red felt around here that might make cute little tootsie warmers for the ninja. now i just need to find the time to make cute things...

32 weeks

getting ready for class tonight - and chipotle after (yay!)

maybe i'm a sap...

...but i'm okay with that.
last night while i was peddling myself along on the elliptical and looking for distractions on tv, i happened on "the parent trap" on the tcm channel. it was already more than halfway over, but i watched the last 45 minutes or so with relish. it's one of those movies that i never get tired of watching (as long as it's the original). Even though i know it's sappy and sugary and might give other grown-ups cavities, i still love it.
the movie following it was the even sappier "pollyanna" and if it hadn't already been 10 o'clock on a work-night, i probably would have stayed up to watch it also.
i'm still hoping to happen on "miracle on 34th street" like i did last year. i've forgotten what channel it was (possibly tcm) that showed it back-to-back - first the black-and-white version, and then the colorized one. i watched both.

the final dip

i dipped the last of the fondants for the cookie exchange today! huzzah! this always seems like it turns into a bit of a chore, but i hope my co-workers will enjoy them. mike has given his approval and offered to do more extensive taste-testing should the need arise.

essential niece gear

so i was originally thinking that i wouldn't post this until after it was delivered to abby. but since i missed my opportunity this weekend, and i'm completely impatient, i'm posting it now. this is the cheerleader outfit we got over the thanksgiving weekend. i can't wait to see her in it, and hope she can wear it more than once before she grows out of it.

catch up post #3

unfortunately for me, i came down with a cold and had to miss out on gavin's birthday celebration saturday evening. i was pretty disappointed, and hanging out at home was not nearly as much fun as it would have been to be visiting and hanging out with the family, but i really thought i ought to keep my germs confined to home.
i did manage to get a few more of the christmas decorations up though, so not all was lost.

catch up post #2 - hanging of the greens

friday evening we went to the "hanging of the greens" at church. for the traditional potluck i made gingerbread muffins. for a recipe i hadn't made before (and randomly pulled off the internet and altered), they turned out pretty well. i think that the recipe could use some tweaks, but it's probably a keeper. the craft that i helped to run was making these little angels with the "bell bottoms" (as mike referred to them). the tricky parts had to be put on with hot glue, so that made it more difficult than i thought it would be (and also made it frustrating for some of the participants). mike won extra bonus "good boy" points for guarding the hot glue gun.

catch up post #1

this past thursday was a pretty busy day. in the morning i had another doctor's appointment. it's always good news to know that ninja is doing well and that all seems to be going as it should. i also reached the "every two weeks" point with my doctor visits - ahh! after my appointment i made a quick stop at target and bought some socks and admired all the baby whatsits. i'm hoping to go again sometime soon and actually buy some of the stuff we'll need, but that was for another day. after target, i went to mom and dad's to help with a project for church and do a little visiting. it was fun to see their new, fancy, paper-cutting machine and get in some real visiting. also, while i was home, i managed to find my old blocks (pictured above). i've been keen on bringing them home for a while so that i could pass them on to ninja (and also so i could play with them again - which i did). that evening, mike and i attended our first "prepared childbirth" class. i think we each got something out of the class. we completed our evening with a trip to chipotle. by the time class was out (9:30pm), we were both hungry for some dinner. it was yummy and spicy, and luckily there was no heartburn to be had. i guess ninja even likes food with a bit of a kick!

candles and angels

one more post about today's decorating. we got these candles last year and i was excited to put them into use. i think they look really nice with the glass angels - so sparkly! i feel very fancy having an actual mantel to decorate.
i've still got two bins of decorations to go up. hopefully i'll make more progress when i'm not stopping to move and fold loads of laundry or dip fondants.

color me cool

a while ago i saw this toy on another blog (unfortunately i can't recall which one). sadly, it was out of stock at the time, but i got an email earlier today saying that it is now back in stock. i'm so tempted to order one for the ninja and keep it for his first birthday (or a rainy day, or until i want to play with it). i realize that maybe it's a little design-nerdy to get a color wheel puzzle, but there has to be something to balance out all the buckeye-ness, right?

christmas countdown

i'm always excited about the holidays (regardless of the fact that i do not enjoy shopping), but this year i'm especially excited because we will be able to see family that we haven't seen in forever. yay!
last night mike was nice enough to carry up all the bins of christmas decorations so that i could start counting down. first to go up was the advent calendar (made by mom). i love unwrapping each ornament from it's paper cocoon and putting them in the pockets and thinking about the original calendar hanging at mom and dad's house (especially the santa with a missing foot). i'm hoping to get a few other things up today. the tree will have to wait for a couple of weeks though (all the better, as i'm still working on the tree skirt). the best part of this all is knowing that next year we'll have a little person to share all the fun and tradition with - hoorah!

for the buckeye-to-be

while we were in columbus this weekend, we stopped at buckeye corner and picked up a few things. we wanted to splurge on a little something for the boy, so we settled on this nightlight (what kid doesn't like a little light at night?) and a little sleeper that says "born a buckeye!" on it. i think we got the 6M, so hopefully he can wear it for a bit.