Two Years

Busy Days with my Baby

First of all, isn't my husband the best!!!!

Valentines day I had a party here at our apartment with lots of mommies, babies and kids. It was tons of fun, the kids painted icing on sugar cookies and did a great job! Naomi ended up with icing ALL over her shirt and more than one kid figured out that the icing paint was super edible:)

Yesterday was Naomi's birthday, 2 years old! I can hardly believe she's so old! When I was putting together the picture slide show (next post) I saw just how fast the time has gone by. She's such a sweetie, and also such an independent, happy, and outgoing little girl!

We did a little bit of a theme birthday this year. We gave her the Finding Nemo movie right after breakfast and then told her we were going to the Aquarium! We drove to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, she watched her new "fishy, shark! moobie" on the way there. She loved the aqarium, we did too! I wished it wasn't so busy with people and that we could have spent more time there, Naomi was a fast mover but she loved the huge sharks and manta rays!

We opened presents later that afternoon and I think that it's official that the $7 doll stroller is a definite favorte! She's going to be a good big sister:)

Later for dinner we had some friends come over, the Stewarts and the Piersons. Naomi was in heaven having friends over, she gets soooo excited. The kids ate about 2 bites of pizza and about 10000 bites of ice cream and cake:) It was a fun little "party." Naomi even figured out how to blow the candle out- with a little help from mommy.

So after two busy and fun days in a row we are just chillin' at home today. Naomi went to bed late but got up right at 7 a.m. as usual! I'm hoping for a nice long nap later.

Naomi is getting to be such a good talker. She constantly surprises me with how much she says and understands. She will read her books back to us, it's darling.

my favorite was this morning when I was changing her diaper she started talking like this:

" Nomi sing a song- ohtay. Blaah, la, dooh ahh may bee.... Sing Bee Song. Bee song beeeeee song, be song beeeee song , bee song bee. Sing 'nother song....twinkle twinkle little star, how I w......what you are! ..... sing 'nother song...." And she went on making up songs or using phrases she knows from songs until we were done with her diaper change:) It's just so cute to listen to her.

I can't believe it's been two years already but I'm sure before I know it, it will have been two more years.

Happy Valentines Day Trisha

Dear Trisha,

I've infiltrated your blog today because in the tradition of all famous lovers (of which I can give you examples later) I wanted to declare to you my love and have it be known to all the world (I'll keep it short because I know you can only tolerate a certain amount of sappiness:).

You truly are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You are my best friend. Our relationship brings untold joy and happiness to my life. I cherish your companionship, your love and your devotion. I admire your selflessness in caring for Naomi and me (and soon our son). A day does not go by that I don't thank the heavens for you. I consider myself exceedingly blessed.

Thank you for everything. I Love You and can't wait until forever.

Zach

Husband Tag

So this is a new kind of tag that I thought was an interesting change:)
Thanks Natalie for tagging me.

Zach is a fantastic daddy, that's not on the tag list so I thought I would add it at the top.

What is his name? Zachary Taylor Champlin
How long have you been married? 6 years and change
How long did you date? not very long! Honestly our first date was July 4th and we were married December 29th
How old is he? 28
Who eats more? Zach, by a loooong shot. Unless it's cereal....
Who said "I love you" first? Zach
Who is taller? Zach
Who sings better? Zach does, he's got a pretty good voice.
Who is smarter? As much as I hate to admit it, I'm pretty sure Zach's smarter- But I can hold my own!
Whose temper is worse? Hmm, that's maybe a toss up. He'd probably say me!
Who does the laundry? both of us
Who does the dishes? both of us (he saves me from my most hated chore often!)
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me
Who pays the bills? both of us do
Who mows the lawn? (ditto from Natalie) one benefit of apartment dwelling - no lawn to mow!
Who cooks dinner? we both do but Zach cooks MUCH better than me. And he always improves upon my recipes. Lucky huh!
Who drives when you are together? Both, but I like for him to drive. Acutally- lately I would prefer he DIDN'T drive, since he rides the metro everyday he's a little out of practice....
Who is more stubborn? Me
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Zach
Whose parents do you see the most? Right now neither. But probably mine when we are "home"
Who proposed? Zach
Who has more friends? Probably me, Zach gets a little lost in his school stuff:)
Who has more siblings? We're even! 7 kids in each family.
Who wears the pants? We'd like to think we are soooo even on this, but I'm pretty sure I do. Or at least I get my way more often. I hate to admit that one too!

Ok, I tag.... Angela, Kelly, Dani and Raegan

Best Play Dough Recipe

I'm not totally sure where I originally found this recipe but it's a good one. We get out the play dough probably at least once a week around here, Naomi loves it. Today I decided it was time to make some new dough. I do buy it occasionally too but it's fun to make, Naomi helped me measure all the ingredients and stirred them together.

In medium bowl add:
2 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Salt
1 Tbs Alum
3 Tbs Oil
Boil 2 Cups water. I do this in the microwave, about 4-5 minutes ought to get it hot enough.

Add food coloring to water. More drops = brighter/darker color. I add to the water and not the mixture as a whole because then it is more evenly distributed- and doesn't end up on my hands when I knead the dough.

Mix ALL ingredients with spoon until a dough forms, dump onto table and knead until smooth.
I've found that on rainy days I need a little more flour, if it's too sticky just add little bits of flour until it resembles a nice big wad of stale bubble gum! Sorry, that's what it reminded me of today:) We also added some silver glitter to the green dough today, it sticks to the dough really well, don't worry that you'll have glitter everywhere.

Store this in the fridge in a zippy baggie, it lasts FOREVER. The last batch I threw out finally because I was sure it had picked up all kinds of gross things over the past month, not because it was stale or whatever.
Ok, have fun making (and playing with) play dough!

A week in the life of....

We've been busy doing lots of things this week, having fun for the most part.
To start off, last Saturday- a week ago, I went to pick up my friend Kelly to go to a baby shower. After I backed up her driveway my car was stuck in reverse. Literally stuck. It's a manual and the shifter wouldn't budge. So after much pushing, wiggling and backing up we decided to leave the car parked at her place on the road and take her car. We were late and I was embarrassed. I hated my car that day. It's done this in the past and it's somewhat mysterious. From what I could find out from my internet sluething it seems to be something with the bushing on the linkage (???). No idea. But what I do know is that to get it fixed at the shop would definitly cost more than our little 94 Altima is worth. Meh.

So we left it there overnight, actually Zach was conviently gone to Charlotte that day and wouldn't be home until the next morning. Hmmm. So Kelly and Brian, being the nice and very cool people they are, invited us over Sunday for dinner. After dinner "the boys" went and worked on the car:) Well, Zach backed it down a hill and up another and then let it roll forward and viola! it was unstuck! I know it's not the best plan, but I'm just crossing my fingers it doesn't get stuck again in a more inconvienent location....say the grocery store. It seems to be related to backing up a steep incline, so I'll avoid that!

Then, the rest of this week we have been playing! We went to the park (last post), we went to a a few friends houses to play, we went visiting teaching. That last one ended up with Naomi and the other little girl smacking their heads together, oops.

On Thursday we went to storytime at the Bethesda library with Abby, Cassie and Claire (the baby that Cassie takes care of). The girls had a good time dancing and just being crazy little toddlers.

We drove "downtown" with Zach to get some books from his school. I realized that I don't drive/ride into DC very often. I need to make a better effort to see all this city has to offer!

On Friday I went early to "the Lab" to take my glucose tolerance test, you know for when you're preggo and they want to check to see if you have gestational diabetes. When I was pregnant with Naomi, my doctor sent me home with the sugar-shocked orange drink to take one hour before my blood test. So I could drink it at home (but you only have 5 minutes to down 10 oz of the slightly fizzy orange syrup,) and then come in to get my blood drawn an hour later. Well, here I had to make my appt for the test, go and drink the orange stuff in their presence and then sit and wait an hour there in their office. Oh my... it was boring. Their TV channel was very much annoying, especially when it looped through it's programming. I brought a book that proved to be just about at boring as the TV and I was sick of all the songs on my iPod. And I was tired. Then they get to stick a needle in my arm and suck my blood. Ok, I know I'm being a whiner but it was a drag.

BUT, after that yesterday we had our very first "Preschool" at our place! Naomi, Abby and a new little friend that just moved in, Isabel are doing preschool twice a week, rotating whose place it's at. The girls were so cute, I wish I would have taken a few pictures. I had fun getting a little circle time ready and a creative activity. It's been a while:) Our theme was Snowmen. We talked about the letter S and circles, we sang a snowman song- "Once there was a Snowman," and then we made snowman pictures. The girls had the most fun with the glue, Abby had nice big pools of glue all over her paper. They used cotton balls, buttons and pom poms to make their pictures. Naomi is still talking about it.

Today we met Cassie and Abby at the mall play area. It was probably warm enough to hit the park again today but it was all soggy from our downpour yesterday. So we made good use of the mall, again. I also did a little shopping there at Target, and Motherhood Maternity- as much as I despise that store. I swear, they basically ask for your blood type when you try to buy something.

So there- it's all out. My week! Here we are at Saturday night again. Time goes by so quickly. Things are just going to get busier around here as we get ready for this baby, and Naomi's big 2-year birthday!

33 weeks

I am realizing that I have the "pregnant face" thing going on. Not happy. But what do you do.
Anyway, here is my 33 weeks preggo picture!



And also a couple of pictures from the park today, it was cold but we REALLY needed to get outside. Needless to even say, she loved every second of it.

The Mommy Survey

I copied this from Andrea's blog. It looked like fun, and since I'm about to go through another delivery, it was enjoyable to think back about some of the details. It's kind of long, and possibly really boring- consider yourself warned- So here we go:)

1. Age(s)? 23 months

2. Name(s)? Naomi Natalie

3. Birthday(s)? 2/15/06

4. Time(s) of birth? 7:58 p.m.

5. How long did labor last? 10 hours, give or take. I was induced that morning, I think they started the pit at about 10 or 11.

6. Who was in the room when baby was born? Zach, my doctor and 2-3 nurses.

7. How long did you push? about 1/2 hour, about 5 sets of 3, I was super surprised how fast that part went. My nurse made me stop pushing and wait for my doctor to get there. She did, but JUST in time:) My doctor walked in and said, "Oh, you're crowning!"

8. Weight? 6 lb, 8 oz

9. Length? 19

10. Any hair? Not really, she had a little fuzz that promptly fell out over the next few weeks.

11. Who does baby look like? Most everyone thinks she looks like Zach but she does have some features like me- she looks like my baby pictures right now.

12. Be honest...how much weight did you gain while pregnant? I gained 32 lbs, or could have been 33? I think I'm well on my way to breaking that record with this pregnancy....

13. Was the baby early or late? 5 days early.

14. Who drove you home from the hospital? Zach

15. How many baby showers did you have? 5, (blush). My mom and sisters threw one for our side of the family and neighbors, same with Zach's mom and sisters. My good friend Sarah threw a friends shower with all the girls. The ladies in my ward did a neighborhood shower and the girls I worked with threw me one too!

16. When did baby start sleeping through the night? 6 months. 6 looooong months. She finally slept all night when we said goodbye to the binky.

17. Did you breastfeed? Yes- for about a year.

18. Who takes care of your baby/kids the most? I do. But Zach is soooo Super Dad when he's home!

19. When do you want to have another one? Preferably BEFORE March 17th:)

20. How did you pick the name(s)? Some friends of ours had a little Naomi when we were first married and I fell in love with the name, then a few years later as we were trying to pick a name I got a 'Naomi' in the temple and it just stuck in my head. I love her name.

21. How did you know when it was time to go to the hospital? I called bright and early to see if I could come in (for my scheduled induction) and they said call back in a few hours, we had a REALLY busy night (it was Valentines the day before:) So then we waited and called back, got the go ahead and drove on over. I have no idea what I'm going to do this time! I have to start labor on my own and then get there at the right time. Hopefully It'll be a no-brainer!

22. Anyone spend the night with you the first night home? Just Zach! Naomi had to stay an extra night in the NICU, she was being screened for an infection, she got a rough start for some reason. She ended up with no infections and came home the next morning.

23. Did you cry the first time you held your baby? No, the first thing out of my mouth was "She's so BLUE!" She pinked up quickly though.

24. Where was the baby born? Logan, UT

25. Did you video tape the birth? No. In fact, Zach dropped the video camera during labor sometime and the battery pack broke off! He was so depressed but it was all a little comical to me:) He could use the camera if it was plugged in to an outlet. We didn't plan on taping the birth anyway- we got some footage of me hanging out in bed and then of our little pink baby girl.

My silly toddler!

Naomi is getting to be such a funny girl! She's also displaying lots of un-funny toddler-ish things too, but I'll not get into that:)

Singing Ring-Around-The-Rosies with her favorite lovey, "Baby Christmas"


Naomi wanted to wear a "princess dress" so Zach got her dressed (he did a good job eh?), I then did her hair in little "piggy tails" and Naomi was thrilled to be looking so pretty. I had cute little ribbons in her hair too, but they fell out by the time I took these pictures.




Zach or Naomi- not sure who's idea it was in the first place, decided to put "Mr. Heads" AKA Mr. Potato Head's earrings on Naomi! I guess they are actually MRS. Potato Head's....



Naomi thinks it's more fun to put the pieces on HER than the potato!

Free Toilet Paper Anyone???

If you happen to have an Albertson's near you, it's your lucky week to stock up on some toilet paper, for FREE!
Check out Erica's blog Preggot with the link below, she outlines how to snag this awesome deal.

http://preggot.blogspot.com/2008/01/random-post-free-toilet-paper.html

Too bad for me, there is not an Albertson's to be found 'round these parts. And I could really use some free toilet paper about now, seeing as I used the bathroom about every 5 minutes or so......

something old, something new...

Nope, no one is getting married. I just have a few thoughts I had running around my brain I wanted to let loose here:)

First, something Old. I don't think I ever announced our decision for where we will be spending next summer. After a very busy and crazy process of interviews for Zach during the first few months of school this year we had narrowed down our choices to three places that he had offers. Sorry, to clarify- offers to work as a summer intern for a law firm. One of the three we were deciding between was here in DC, one was in Phoenix and the third was in Charlotte. After much weighing of the options and trying our best to decide which firm and place was best we came to the conclusion that all three were really good choices! We prayed about it and thought about where we really want to be living the first few years or more our of law school. That's important because generally after your summer internship you get an offer to work at the firm as an associate once you finish your third and final year of school. Well, unless you did a horrible job :P So after considering all that again, and then again, Charlotte was the winner, I mean answer. Now that the decision has long since been made, I've been feeling really good about it.
We will spend 7 weeks there this summer and then the remaining half of the summer we will be going to Logan! Zach was just very recently offered a position to clerk for a law firm in Logan for the second half of the summer. We are really excited because we will get to spend the summer with family again. Plus I will be welcoming the helping hands of family members this summer with our new baby:) Thank goodness for Grandmas.

And for something New.
Today I took Naomi to have some blood drawn to test her lead levels. Her pediatrician wanted me to get it done sometime before she turned two. I had her hematocrit (iron levels) tested a while ago, it was just a toe prick and Naomi didn't even cry. So I wasn't' too worried about this today.
When the nurse came in I asked if she would be drawing blood from her finger or foot. Silly me. The answer was "her arm."
Oh.
I realized then that they needed a little more blood than I had anticipated. Naomi sat on my lap and I held her arm. They took the blood just like they would for an adult, using a rubber band thing to stop blood flow and then slid a little needle-type thing into her little inner arm, and collected the blood into two little vials. She screamed and cried and told us it was "owie, owie, owie!" I felt sooo horrible, but it was over pretty quickly. Once she was done the nurse taped the guaze pad on and we were out of there. Naomi was over it instantly, because if you've ever had your blood drawn you know that it stops hurting as soon as the needle is out, usually before that even. She was pretty brave afterward:) Once we got home I put a cute sesame street band aid on it.
I'll get the results at Naomi's 2 year well child appt next month. Hopefully it's all good.

Piano!

Here it is! It's been so much fun. I've realized how much practice I need!

Naomi loves to play the piano and usually will not share a chair. I wish we had a piano bench but you can't have everything. Naomi will sit and pound away singing some nonsense-words song. It's adorable:)

So, if you're Canadian......

I was browsing around the Huggies.com website and found a sweepstakes to enter.
Free diapers for a year!
Yay! I'm all about free and SOMEONE wins these things, right?
So I entered of course.
Afterward I decided to check out the rules and how many winners there are, etc. and I find this little sentence tucked away in the last paragraph:

To be declared a winner, any Canadian resident selected will be required to correctly answer without assistance of any kind, whether mechanical or other, a time-limited mathematical question. The question will be administered by telephone at a mutually convenient time. Entrants agree to be bound by these Rules.

So, if your Canadian, you better brush up on your math skills! Seriously though- do you think it's like "what's 2 + 2" or some impossible-to-solve-without-a-calculator complex algorithm?
Who writes these kinds of laws anyway?????

Naomi's "Big Girl Bed"

This last picture is of the cute table and chair set someone in my freecycle group gave away. Like I said, I can't say enough good things about freecycle. We are actually getting a piano this week from another freecycler. Yes, a real piano! It's used of course but in good condition and I am soooo excited! I think I need to figure out something I can "give back" with freecycle. I need to clean out the closets I think.

Listen Up! I have an announcement!!!

Naomi is in a toddler BED!
She is sleeping in it right now for the second day straight (naps included).
I was NOT planning on moving her to a bed for quite a while. I was going to just keep our baby when he come in the pack and play until I needed to move Naomi. I didn't want to deal with her being out of bed when she should be in and really I just wanted to delay the transition until I had to. She wasn't climbing out of her crib or anything yet.
Well, the real reason we made the switch was because I got a super cute wood frame toddler bed for FREE on Sunday.
How?
Freecycle.org (click that link and go find your local group.)
It's a darling little bed, light colored wood and in great condition. I had actually received the mattress for it (same as a crib mattress) a few days earlier also from freecycle.
Naomi hasn't been "perfect" with the bed but she's been really, really good. It was MUCH easier than I expected. Maybe it will get worse.....
When we set it up, it was love at first sight.
Naomi flopped down on it and wanted to pretend to sleep, it was so cute. I decided to give it a try that night, why not? Her crib is still up so if it wasn't going to work I can just put her in the crib as usual.
She loves her new "big girl bed".
I need to get a picture of it, I just never seem to think about it until she's sleeping in it. Maybe I'll have her pose after nap today:)

Hawaii Christmas!

Christmas 2007 Pictures

blogging slump

I've been vacationing:) and taking a blogging break I guess. I'm back in Utah for a few more days and I just haven't had the initiative to blog much!
Hawaii was fantastic, I will post a few pictures later, when I am home again. My parents computer does not have a photo upload program I like and I decided I'll just spare them the extra downloads and extra pictures on their computer. Naomi loved the beach so very much, she's true to her sign, Aquarius!
On another note, we've been watching the back-to-back presidential debates tonight. They have been interesting and a little depressing. I was disappointed with the republican debate overall, it was a whole lot of mud-slinging, not as much issues addressing as there should have been.
So that's all for now, and that I'm due in just over 2 months!!!! AHHHH, this pregnancy is flying by. I'm not so ready this time around, I mean I've wised up to the fact that a baby is a lot of work once it's out:) I spent most of my pregnancy with Naomi wishing it would just hurry up already and with this little boy I'm excited for the addition but savoring my days as a mom of just one, who is no longer a baby.
So, as promised, a few pictures from Hawaii and maybe a few from Christmas later.

Think you have something planned?

Think again.

We are SUPPOSED to be in Kauai right now. We aren't.

Yet.

Christmas Eve morning I woke up and started getting ready and started to have some pain - about where my cyst supposedly is. I sat down and hoped it would just go away in a minute. We were supposed to leave within in the hour for Hawaii!

After a few minutes I was curled up on the bed in pain, I could barely talk. Zach helped me finished getting dressed, my dad gave me a blessing and those two rushed me to the hospital. My mom stayed here with Naomi. She was soooo sweet. She

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So I'm still here, just been busy with all things "family." We've been in Utah since Tuesday and it SNOWED! Tons. We got in my parents hot tub while it snowed big fat, fluffy snowflakes. Naomi thought that was the coolest. She kept on eating the accumulating snow off the side of the hot tub! The next day I played in the snow with Naomi and my nephew Matthew until we were all too cold to play anymore. Naomi's been hanging out with all her little boy cousins and it's a little bit rougher than she's used to but she's hanging in there:) Yesterday she got to hold baby Henry, Erica and Dave's little one. She didn't want to let go of him, it was soooo sweet. She kept telling him sweetly "no crying" when he fussed and then patted his head and tummy and stroked his cheeks. I just hope she's that excited about our new baby when he gets here:)
I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out the easiest way to load them onto my parents computer.
And also, tomorrow we are leaving for Hawaii! I'll be thinking about all of you here in the cold while I hang out on the beach.
Have a Very Merry Christmas!

Baby Jesus?

Naomi was playing in the kitchen with her Little People Christmas Story nativity while I got breakfast ready for us. Cereal and milk and blueberries on top:)
I told her to go climb into her chair so we could eat. Then she said THE cutest thing I've ever heard her say!
She had the little baby Jesus in both hands up by her cheek in a little hug and asked me:
"Baby Jesus come to breakfast too?"
I started laughing it was so sweet, and she used 6 words all together! It was just the funniest little question. I of course said yes and he joined us at the table, watching Naomi eat her chex and blueberries.

Festive Chocolate Bark

Festive Chocolate Bark

1 C shelled pistachios (1/2 lb in shell) salted & roasted
12 oz semisweet chocolate, chips or bar broken into small pieces
8 oz white chocolate, chips or bar broken into small pieces
¾ C dried, sweetened cranberries

-Melt the semisweet chocolate in microwave for 1-2 minutes until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. When some lumps remain, remove from microwave and stir until smooth. Melt the white chocolate following the same directions in a separate bowl.
-In a small bowl, combine nuts and cranberries.
-Stir ½ of the nut-berry mixture into the semisweet chocolate.
-Using a rubber spatula, spread the mixture about ½ thick onto a large lightly greased cookie sheet.
-It will not fill the whole pan.
-Drop the white chocolate by spoonfuls over the dark. With a spoon or butter knife, swirl the chocolates together to create a marbled effect.
-Sprinkle the remaining nut-berry mixture over the top of chocolate.
-Refrigerate the bark for about 1 hour or until firm, then break into pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month.
-Bark can get soft/melty at room temp, keep refrigerated.
ENJOY!

This is one of my (relativly new) favorite holiday goody recipe. A friend gave me the recipe a few years ago. It's simple, easy to make, hard to ruin, and DELICIOUS!

Random Things

This has been a busy last week and this week will be even busier! It's mostly good busy stuff, things I am happy to be doing, it just seems to all fall on the same week. Could be because I'm leaving next week for Utah.

Naomi and I are flying out on Tuesday and Zach will be coming next Friday after his last final. Just his luck to have a final on the very last day possible.

I put Naomi's hair up in pigtails, it was too cute to not take a picture of. She likes having her hair done and it makes her look sooo much older! But I'm all for letting it go wild for now too, for as long as I can get away with not having to pull her hair up/back the better. That would be the ONE benifit of having a super-bald baby.

Last week was our ward Christmas party, it was fun, and good food of course. Naomi pushed her way up to see Santa Claus. I'm proud of her for getting in there with all the big kids! She was totally stone-faced for the picture. We stopped to see Santa at the mall today too. She was thrilled to sit next to him and tell him about things. I'm glad she's not afraid of him, it makes it all a little more fun.

Naomi played the piano a little too after the party, it's her new favorite thing. Hopefully one day soon we will own a piano!

In these pictures I'm 25 weeks pregnant, nearly 26. I have almost exactly 3 months left. This pregnancy seems to be flying by lately! I'm not sure I'm going to be ready for this baby so soon!

And one more fun thing. I bought Naomi some water color paints and we tried them out for the first time. She loved, loved, loved it. The water bowl was by far the best part. Her paper ended up soaking and all kinda grayish green. So did all the paints. She's a budding Picasso! We'll have to work on the get the paint onto the paper thing. And she only tasted the paint once. I guess that was enough to convince her I was right, it's yucky.

That's all for now, I'm off to do some laundry!

OH, one more thing I wanted to mention. Yahoo has groups as you all may know but the coolest ones by far are the FreeCycle groups. Check out yahoo.com or Google 'freecycle' to see if you can find your local group. It's like craigslist but all free. I'm in love.

Faith In America

Zach and I are Mitt Romney supporters. We have been following his campaign closely and last Thursday Mitt delivered a speech addressing how faith, specifically how his faith would influince his leadership. But that was not the half of it. He did a fantastic job. I was very impressed and I don't think he could have said it any better. (pause music on player below before pushing play.)

Edited to add: um. Couldn't get the video to post, so here's the link!
http://mitt-tv.mittromney.com/?showid=718280

Is she cute or what!

I picked up Naomi's portraits from JC Penney today and they turned out super cute. I scanned them and played with color a little and cropped too. The photographer must have been new because she was struggling with centering the pictures!

I think Naomi looks adorable if I do say so myself. I just had to share her cute new pics!

(don't you just love her little curls! I need to "do" her hair more often!)

SNOW!

It snowed today!!!! This is the first snow of the season and the first one Naomi can probably remember. She LOVED it. We had appointments and other things all morning so she had to wait all day to go out and play in it but it was worth the wait:)

First thing she did was eat it, of course. I think children are hard-wired to eat snow.

I tried to show her that some snow is "yucky" and told her only the "white" snow is ok. We'll see how long it takes to learn that lesson!

She helped me build a "Frosty Snowman!" It turned out cute- although I couldn't find any pebbles for buttons or eyes!

Out where we were playing there is a big Holly TREE. It looked so pretty with it's green leaves, bright red berries and now snow!

Snowpants....check, boots....check.

"Ready go, outside, 2 minutes" That is what Naomi says when she wants to go outside. I guess I tell her "in two minutes, ok?" a little too often.

Tasting and eating the snow.....

mmmmm, yummy.

"Frosty Snowman!"

Ok, Ok. Here's a "belly" shot.

This one's for Erica.

After this I swear I'm going to talk about something else other than pregnancy!

I'm 24 weeks and change in this picture. And I know my hair is just lovely:)

My goal is to take a new pregnant profile picture every other week until the end of this pregnancy. I only took a few with Naomi, right at the end. Now I'm thinking it would have been fun to compare as I go.

This pregnancy has been different for a few marked reasons:

I was sick much sooner and a little longer.

I started "showing" earlier.

I have heartburn!

I can stomach meat.

I sometimes forget what week I'm in of pregnancy.

People keep telling me "good luck" when they hear I'm having a boy.......

I am much calmer about being pregnant:)