Spying On Miss Molly

Today I was walking pass Molly's bedroom and saw her playing with one of her favorite toys, Baby All Gone. This doll drinks apple juice and eats bananas. Cute, and Molly loves her.

I watched her feed Baby All Gone so nicely, talk to her lovingly, take her into her window seat and pretend to read her a book on a blanket her grandma made for her, and then put her down for a nap.

She did it all so lovingly, which is impressive for my little turbo-Molly.

I knew from watching her that she was picking up some good habits, and I was really proud of myself. . .proud of all the times I took her to my sister's house where she could pick up these habits ;) Thanks, Rachelle!

I Passed. . .But Then I Failed

Since this is my 4th pregnancy, my OB-GYN is pretty laid back about my visits and tests. By now I should be going in every two weeks, but I am blessed to only have to go monthly still. And I did not have my glucose test until today, when I am over 30 weeks.

I passed the glucose test, but I failed the iron test. I have to take iron supplements twice a day, my numbers were so low. I am glad that there is a reason behind the fatigue and the fact that my nails were falling apart. I hope to feel better soon.

I Tried It!

I am well aware as the mother of girls that I need to step up my game. I need to help them with their hair and buy those hideous big flowers and I need to make sure that I look nice so that when the natural embarrassment kicks in they will not be THAT embarrassed.

So this week I tried Almay's "Smoky Eyes" eye shadow. I am not a huge fan of eye make-up because if even a little bit gets on my contact, bye-bye contact!

The "Smoky Eye" kit comes with three colors to help you create the "smoky eye" effect. I have to admit that I found the three colors to be messy. I looked around Relief Society and one woman just used two colors -- a natural color for most of her eyelid and a dark color for the very tip of her eyelid. It looked nice and I think that I will go with something like that in the future.

What I've Learned Since Then

Today during Sacrament Meeting I broke out my cell phone and checked out my calendar and started counting weeks. I have about 8 1/2 - 9 weeks left of this pregnancy left, depending on when my OB GYN will schedule the c-section. I remember being at church when I was pregnant with Emma, sitting in my pew and just absolutely convinced at 30 weeks that I could not do another 10. Pregnancy was just too hard. I was going to die. Good thing I did not know then that I would actually go 41 weeks with Emma.

But, this is my 4th pregnancy and I've learned something since then -- they are a whole lot more work out than in. While this has not been an easy pregnancy, especially with this cough that just will not let go, this baby can definitely stay put for awhile.

I Do Worry About. . .

There's one thing that I worry about before each and every baby. It's kind of petty, but I worry about the increased laundry.

We're about to become a family of 6 and sometimes that overwhelms me. So for the last two weeks, to get into the swing of things, I have really tried to do at least a load of laundry everyday so that it does not get backed up and overwhelming. I love my family, I love where I am now in life, but sometimes I flash back to my single days when laundry "day" was just that -- one day every so often -- and I smile.

But I do not know what is worse -- doing a load of laundry everyday or just doing a lot once or twice a week?

Mommy's Time Off

While Garry's Day and Step-Mom were here, they all took the kids out for the day. They went to get something to eat and buy the girls some flowers for their hair (all the rage in Utah right now, I'm just catching up. . .) and then went over to the mall.

I stayed home because I had some things to do for work and then spent the rest of the day slowly picking up around the house. I had a great time! I had some thoughts and they were complete and uninterrupted thoughts. Ah, what an afternoon ;) And when I was to the point where I almost missed them, they came home!

Cookie Monster Cunningham

Yesterday at dinner Macey announced that whoever finished dinner first got to name the baby.

I have no idea where she got that idea.

But I do not think that I will like the results.

A Re-do

New Years Day is my day to get organized. A fresh start, a more organized me. But this year I started off in the kids playroom. Holy chaos, it was pretty bad. I knew that it was bad when I told Emma to clean up the room before Grandma and Grandpa came, and she came upstairs a few minutes later and told me that things were better -- she had 'cleared a path' for Grandma and Grandpa. How messy was it that a 'path' could be cleared? Pretty darn messy.

While I was creating order in the chaos, I started coughing. And coughing. And coughing. By the end of the day, I was really sick. I found out a few days later that I had the flu and since I was pregnant and my immune system was down, I would have parts of it, especially the cough, for a long time.

Wow, I was sick. And, I never got as organized as I wanted, and so I used today as a redo! I tackled the cabinet which is fondly known as "The Black Hole." Things go in there. . .and they do not come back out.

I found great stuff! I found a check for $10. A gift card for $25. Emma's CD for Sunshine Generation. It was a really profitable afternoon!

And The Winner Is. . .

Last week for Show-And-Tell, Macey was supposed to bring her favorite toy that she got for Christmas. She chose the doll that she got from her Pawpaw Cunningham.

But that was not all. . .Macey thought that she was supposed to bring her favorite toy AND her favorite gift from Christmas. So late Thursday morning I caught her trying to cram two toys into her little backpack.

I told her, no, just your favorite toy FROM Christmas. Not your favorite toy AND your favorite from Christmas.

But, she knew what her teacher told her and would not listen to her old mom.

But when I picked her up from school, I asked her how many things the other kids had brought. Okay, so it's beyond petty that I had to prove to my four year old that I WAS RIGHT, but still . .

I talked to my sister about it today, and she said that I did the right thing. I need to prove to Macey that there are times when I am really right. And that there are some stupid mothers out there, but I am not one of them (my sister's words, not mine).

It's a lost battle, no one really realizes how much their parents know until it's too late, and I am wondering how often I should engage in this particular battle?

Let's Go Sledding!

After Christnas, Garry took the girls to a nearby sledding hill to try out the new sleds that they got from Santa. Macey is not very adventurous and only went down the hill once. Emma gave it a few more tries. I think that she's laughing in this picture. They did not stay long (look how cold Macey looks!) but we might try again.

I Missed It!

So you might remember that I have to be a little stealthy when buying Emma her Rapunzel and her Rapunzel vanity. I had to pretend that I was getting them for my sister to give to my niece. And the girls were none too happy because they had been asking for them for awhile.

But, Christmas morning came and there was beautiful Rapunzel and her vanity set. I think that Emma realized I was just pretending because she never did ask Chloe if she got one, too. Maybe the gig was up a long time ago but they just played along. . .

Anyway, I missed the big unwrapping moment, I think I was in the kitchen. . .but Garry snapped this picture for me. She looks happy!

How Do You Blog A Little Thing Like Christmas?

Getting ready to see if Santa came!

How do you blog a little thing like Christmas? Okay, I knew I "over-did" it when three days after Christmas there were still some toys that the girls had not opened. But before the mass unwrapping, it all looked pretty under the tree! Christmas Eve we got together with my sister and her family and had an excellent dinner of crab legs, cheesy bread, jell-o salad, green bean casserole, sparkling apple juice, warm cheese dip. . .ah, it was heaven! The kids played and then we read Luke 2 together. The girls opened their presents from their cousins and we headed home where Garry read The Night Before Christmas, we made cookies, and I watched an episode of The Christmas Story.

Santa decided that the girls had been very good this transient year. Santa left them a Jeep, some bikes, Macey got her Tinkerbell teddy bear, Emma got some roller skates, and the girls got some new sleds.

My sister has kids age 7-15. Christmas is not as "fun" without little, little ones and so they asked if we could upwrap gifts together. We got together around 7 am for the glorious chaos that is Christmas morning. My favorite memory of the whole morning was when Emma & Macey unwrapped the Rapunzel tower from my parents. They had wanted it for quite awhile, but I told them that it was too expensive. When their cousins helped them unwrap it and they realized what it was, they hugged each other and started dancing around. Too cute. There was a whole lot of Christmas Joy going around.