December

Getting ready to pour cement for our garage!

Uncle Dave, Dad, Buck, and Jesse all worked very hard.

Sierra's first time on Santa's lap.  She was so excited for this moment and walked

right up to him with her arms out.  But ended up being kind of speechless when

she was asked what she wanted for Christmas.  She had originally told me

that she was going to ask Santa for cookies:)

I would kiss those candy cane lips any time!

At the Benton County Museum's Christmas Tree Lighting

A blur of lights from afar.  Sierra was very upset that this tree had a snowflake on the

top instead of a star.  Come on guys!

We were able to just drive down our driveway this year to pick out our tree.  This was the prettiest

tree that we have ever picked out in our married life.  Usually we pick out a $5 Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Following daddy back to the truck.  It's not really as dark as it looks outside - we just

waited until after her nap to pick it out.

Helping daddy load it into the truck.

Helping daddy place the STAR.

 

Pretty excited about lights and ornaments!

Placing her ornaments with care.  We ended up with about 30 ornaments

in a one foot section of the tree:)

All finished!

Making a gingerbread train with daddy

Fun times!

They did a great job!

After opening a princess set from her cousins Tasha and Rob...

Getting ready to open presents at Grandma and Grandpa Skaggs

Helping the boys put together her present.  They were taking too long

so she came and asked for my help, she believed mommy could do it faster:)

Helping Grandma with some baking

Her new dollhouse! 

Talking to the gerbil thing that Grandma and Grandpa Lee got her for Christmas 

"It's just what I wanted."  She said that to just about everything:)

Coloring in her jammies/princess dress from GG/and her "dancing" shoes 

My sweet, happy girl! 

Christmastime is coming to town!  Sierra is pretty excited about Christmas.  She loved helping decorate the tree, making gingerbread houses, and cookies.  I on the other hand am way behind in my usual shopping and other holiday festivities.  I started having contractions this month and have had to start taking it a little bit easy.  For some reason at the 32 to 33 week mark, my body starts heavily protesting the fact that it is carrying a baby.  There is no apparent abruption at this point, but I am contracting and unfortunately this time I'm actually dilating.  With Sierra the contractions I had were all due to the abruption and I never dilated.  Even after 20 hours of tough labor I was still barely dilated.  So when we went to the hospital the day after Christmas and they said I was dilated, it terrified me.  So, I'm off my feet as much as I can be (with lots of helps from my mama and mama-in-law).  When I'm sitting or laying I still sometimes will have contractions, but it is much less than if I'm up for very long. 

Sierra is being a total trooper!  She does try to convince me that the floor right beside her is soft, and I will be comfortable and can "rest"  if I sit right beside her.  My response is that I can watch her, sip her pretend tea, read to her, etc from the chair that I am in.  She usually tries to convince me otherwise but winds up content to be curled up around my belly.  I also tell her that when baby brother is born and my tummy gets smaller again, I will be able to sit on the floor and play.  This seems to appease her though she does sometimes walk up to me and ask, "Mommy, is your tummy smaller yet?"  I am really impressed by how well she is handling this, and this experience has reassured me that she will adjust well to a new baby in her house.  I know it will take time, but she will be an amazing big sister. 

With two sets of grandparents close by we usually have pretty busy holidays.  Sierra woke up at 6am on Christmas morning hollering her usual "I'm awake!"  The funny thing was that we had talked a little bit about Christmas morning with her before bed on Christmas Eve.  After being asleep for about 40 minutes she woke up saying, "Mommy, Daddy, I'm Awake.  It's time to go downstairs!"  When I went in and told her that she had only been asleep a short time, that it was still very dark outside, and she needed to go back to sleep, she wasn't convinced.  She did make it back to sleep though and Jesse and I discussed the fact that if a two year old has this much excitement over Christmas, what will it be like next year at 3? 

We got her up on Christmas morning and tried to bribe her with laying in bed with us and watching cartoons.  Something she would usually NEVER turn down.  But on this morning she stated, "I want to go downstairs.  There are presents down there."  So we got up and headed downstairs.  Before we let her open anything we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.  Her big present this year was a little wooden dollhouse with a family of wooden dolls.  We had it set up for her on the coffee table.  She was so happy with it that we kind of had to convince her to open her other presents.  After present time we got dressed and headed to church.  After church there was lunch with my parents and then we headed home for her nap.  After nap there was dinner with Jesse's family.  It was a very busy day and Sierra loved every minute of it.  What really impressed me was that of all the presents Sierra received she really has played with all of them.  I expected her to have a few favorites (which I will admit she does LOVE her dollhouse) but she has played with each of the gifts that she received.  It has helped to have lots of new toys to play with right now because we are home A LOT.

The other thing that impressed me was that once Christmas was over Sierra did not expect to keep receiving gifts.  I kind of expected her to ask to go open presents every morning, but she seemed to realize that Christmas was only one special day.  Next year we will be celebrating Christmas with a 3.5 and an almost 1 year old.  What fun!  I will admit though that this was probably one of the best Christmas' I have ever had.  It was beautiful to see the joy and excitement through Sierra's eyes.  We get older, and things just lose their excitement.  Having a child certainly brings all of the awe and wonder back into things.

From our family, we hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  May 2012 be the best year yet! 

November

Sierra's first trip on an airplane!

Taking a peek at some Mountains...

She loved pulling (or pushing) her suitcase by herself.

Sunny weather in Palm Springs makes some happy Oregonians!

Exercise

And then a nap.  When you are used to a crib - you need your

mommy for nap.  You hold on tight just to make sure she doesn't leave

when you fall asleep:)

Fun times in the pool with Daddy and Grandma

At the Living Desert Zoo watching an animal presentation

A crazy ride on this wild boar

Water+pink tutu swim suit+teeny tiny pony tail=pure cuteness

This is how she spent most of the ride home:)

Back home and going through a very artistic phase.  These are jelly fish.

Getting ready to watch the Corvallis Christmas Parade

A great spot way up on Daddy's shoulders.

Waiting to see the train float that daddy helped build (with her tiny Thomas in hand)

Smiley face drawing

And her doggie drawing complete with four legs, ears, and a tail!

We took Sierra on her very first vacation this month.  We really haven't traveled at all in the last two years, and Jesse and I were both a little terrified about the trip.  Luckily Palm Springs is only a two hour flight and we made sure that we booked a direct flight.  My mom and dad had booked a week at a condo there, and after months of being nervous about actually booking the tickets, we did it.  The flight times were good (all mid morning to mid day) and we hoped for the best.  The best is what we got.  Sierra did amazingly well.  For a child that had really never had an overnight vacation trip (except for a few when she was a tiny infant), she did beyond amazing. 

She stayed awake for the whole flight to Palm Springs.  She did great during takeoff, mostly just reading her Winnie the Pooh Book.  During the flight we were paranoid about her having to go potty so Jess tried taking her about 6 times, but the potty was not normal to her and she refused to go.  We made it without any incidents though.  The descent was what caused a little bit of a problem.  We warned Sierra that her ears might start to pop and that she needed to chew on some fruit snacks we brought solely for that purpose.  But she refused to eat once her ears started hurting and did cry for about 5 minutes.  Luckily the flight attendants were great and didn't make her sit in her own seat.  They let me hold her and comfort her and she got over her fuss pretty quickly.

When we landed in Palm Springs my Grandma and John were there waiting for us.  They had driven down and were staying at a 1000 Trails Park not far from our condo.  Sierra was very excited to see GG!  After Sierra passed out on the way to the condo and took her nap, daddy and Grandma took her down for her first swim in the resort pool.  She loved the water and usually went swimming at least once a day.  This trip sure was different than the trips Jess and I used to take.  We used to spend most of the day driving around exploring, shopping, eating.  But with a two year old in tow, we mostly stayed at the resort.  Generally at naptime we took Sierra for a little drive so she would fall asleep.  Bedtime was tougher.  She is used to her crib, to her home, and even though we tried to replicate our nighttime routine, she was out of her element.  It took about an hour to get her to go to sleep the first couple of nights.  She cried that she wanted to go home and wanted her bed.  But as the week went on things got a little easier.  She did wake up at 5am every morning though which isn't too much different than from at home.  My mom and dad had a huge room with a small room attached that we put a hide-a-bed mattress on the floor, so when she woke up at 5, it was Grandma and Grandpa that got to keep her occupied:)  All in all, she did amazing on the vacation, but we were all really really glad to come home.  We were sad to leave the 70 degree weather though.  We came home to freezing cold rain.

Sierra did a lot of drawing while we were on vacation and she came home with a passion for coloring.  We generally spend at least an hour a day drawing.  We use cardboard, the chalkboard, and I have a few giant art pads on the kitchen table with felt pens.  She can draw circles really well.  She generally draws a few circles and says, "Mommy, what's this?"  So I make something up, "Well that looks like a whale," as I add a tail and a spout, or "That must be an apple," as I add a stem and leaf.  Gradually she has gotten to where she adds things on her own and you can see by the doggie picture above that she has gotten quite creative and is learning to control her movements more and more. 

Our little boy continues to grow and grow.  I had about two weeks of feeling the best I had during the whole pregnancy and then Sierra and I both caught a cold.  Hers was quick, lasting only about 4 or 5 days.  Mine unfortunately ended with a nasty cough that refuses to go away.  I do not know how women go through pregnancy feeling normal.  My body won't allow it.  When someone tells me that they felt great throughout their pregnancy I sort of want to strike them.  This sick, crazy, pregnant lady feels absolutely NOTHING like herself.  Here's to hoping that trimester 3 is nice to me.....