A Nelson Christmas

Unfortunately our camera battery died Christmas morning.... so I have to wait for my mom to figure out how to post hers to Facebook before I can share some.... don't hold your breath.

But here are some from our Christmas evening at my aunt and uncle's house :-)

                       This is the first time the three of us were together in over a year and a half.

                                                                        The five of us :-)

                                  My cousin Eliah loved playing with Ryleigh! (Ry actually loved it too!

                                                        The soon-to-be newlyweds

                            You can see that the high energy Ryleigh has definitely runs in my family

Totally off the subject of Christmas

I know it's the eve of Christmas eve, so I should be blogging about Christmas, but too bad :-)

Today Ryan left work early because he hurt a muscle in his back yesterday, and felt like if he worked more it would damage the muscle more. So, long story short, he just needs to rest the muscle.
So since he was home he had the privilege of running around the state with me today. Despite Ryan being with me it was a pretty typical day.
I had to get a Rhogam shot, which is something every pregnant woman with a negative blood type has to get at 28 weeks. So we went to the hospital, sat in the waiting room, I got the shot and we left. Then we headed to my SIL house to pick up our portable DVD player so we have it on hand for our long car trip tomorrow. Next was the MVC to get a new registration for my car since I lost mine. (Oops!). Then we went to the library to rent DVDs for the trip. Last was a trip to the dollar store for cheapo snacks for the trip.

Pretty typical busy errands kind of day for a SAHM, right? Not to mention the packing, cleaning, and preparing for being out of state for 6 days.

Well, after I finished work in the evening Ryan made a comment about how he felt like we didn't do anything today, and how unproductive we were.

Ahh!

I felt the flood of those same emotions I felt when I was first trying to adjust to staying at home instead of working. The feeling of accomplishment, lack of meaning in my life, boredom, etc.

And I am happy to say, I have come a long way from those days, and now feel a sense of accomplishment in staying home.

I have a somewhat active social life. Yes, most of it happens within church activities, and I don't leave the house in the evening because of my work schedule, but I usually have a playdate or 2 each week. My daughter is doing well, and learning a lot from me. She's starting to use full sentences, she knows almost all her letters (except for W and S), and can identify all her numbers 0-9. She's getting really good at figuring out what letter words start with too! I also am doing pretty good with keeping out with my household. There's always food in the fridge and cupboards at least. And, I now work 2 part-time jobs.
All in all I'd say my life is full.

Maybe Ryan will learn that staying at home can be fulfilling too... he has 10 days of trying it at least!

Where are you Christmas?

"Where are you Christmas? Why can't I find you?"

So many people this year have said they're just not feeling the Christmas spirit, and they're wondering why.

I have your answer.
The Christmas spirit has turned into the Politically Correct eggshells that we all must tiptoe around during the holiday season.
Think about it. How are you supposed to get in the Christmas spirit when no one can even say, "Merry Christmas" to you?

I don't know about you, but each time I want to wish someone a Merry Christmas I find myself biting my tongue, because god forbid we offend someone by inferring they may celebrate a holiday that they don't in fact celebrate!  Then I start getting all mad inside, and it pretty much squelches the merriness I was feeling.

It's too stressful when you have to worry about insulting a certain people group all the time. You just can't find the Christmas spirit in the "holiday trees", or the "holiday lights", or the "holiday food".

Christmas has been wiped out of our society. And unlike the Grinch I don't think it will ever have a change of heart :-(

Birthday Stress

I am blogging this to see if anyone has any helpful suggestions.

Ryleigh's birthday is 5 and a half weeks away and I still have no idea what to do! Obviously our apartment is out. And last year was so sad/pathetic with sickness/snow getting in the way of cousins coming to celebrate, I really feel like I want to make it up to her (and yes, I know she won't remember it, but what about when she looks at her photo albums later on in life and wonders why her birthday parties were so lonely?). Plus she will not be an only child for much longer, doesn't she deserve to have a big party?

So with that being said, we want to do something big-ish... ok, more like medium sized.

I really like the idea of having it at a place that does all the set-up, clean-up, entertainment for you. That sounds very good to me since I'll be 8 months pregnant.

I'm thinking the guest list will probably include 10 kids. Varying ages, from about 1-5 years old.

However, I'm also looking for something kinda cheap... like around 200$

So does anyone know of anything that fits all that criteria? Or does anyone have a strong recommendation for a certain place?

Help!

Just some thoughts

So I started a new part-time position this week. It's still a work at home thing through Educate Online. It's still very part-time, (ie. 5 hours a week). However, it's a kind of make your own schedule thing, where I squeeze in some work when I'm not busy. It all sounds easy and wonderful right? That's what I thought too, but now I'm just completely stressed.

Not only do I work in the evenings so I miss out on dinner with my family, cuddle time on the couch with my Ry's before bed, and putting Ryleigh to bed, but by time I finish working Ryan's pretty much asleep so now we don't have anytime alone time together. Not to mention the fact that I am busy all day with being a mom/housekeeper, plus working in the evenings, and now any "free" time I used to have needs to be filled with my second job.

And I feel so selfish that I'm upset about this. My husband works so hard to provide for his family, who am I to complain about 16 hours of work each week? Plus we want to buy a house, and shouldn't I contribute financially toward that goal?

Except that I'm supposed to be a stay at home mom, and what kind of SAHM isn't even around for dinner and bedtime? I feel so guilty missing out on those things because they are the only times we're all together as a family.

And Ryan did not push me to pick up a second job at all. It was totally me, because I thought it would be a good opportunity. Now I am totally regretting the decision! ::sigh::

The only thing I'm looking forward to is maternity leave in 12 weeks.

Early morning lessons in parenting

As parents Ryan and I know how important it is to be consistent. If we establish a rule at home we stick to it no matter where we are. And if we establish a certain punishment for a certain offense we stay consistent with that as well.

But one thing we did not understand until now is that almost 2-year olds don't gather the concept of "special treats". You know, those times when you let something slide, or give special rewards for something in order to show gratitude for good behavior.

Last night Ryleigh wanted to sit in her play grocery cart. We let her because it was cute watching her get stuck, and it was funny watching her try to get out. But then we kind of came to our senses and told her she couldn't get in the cart anymore... mostly because the structural integrity of it really shows that I did not pay a whole lot for it!

Well, this morning she wanted to get in the grocery cart again and I said, "No".
Ryleigh just looked at me and said, "Sit in it yesterday".... Which is Ryleigh speak for, "Well Mommy, you let me sit in it yesterday, so why not today?".

Oops. Lesson learned. :-)

Angels and Dinosaurs

Today we were walking through the mall, and we stopped in a Christmas decoration store. I was pointing out all the decorations, and when we came to a nativity I showed her baby Jesus and His mommy, and daddy. Then we saw some angels. I said, "See? The angels have wings on them".
Ryleigh's reply? "Yes, Angels have wings like dinosaurs".
It made me laugh because people don't generally compare angels to dinosaurs... but, I had to admit she was right. (She was thinking about flying dinosaurs like the Pteranodon).

I love that I get to gain a whole new view of the world as I see it through the eyes of a 1 year old!

Too busy to post

I was so happy this weekend because Ryan took Saturday off, which gave him a 3 day weekend! He actually had personal days that needed to be used up by the end of the year, so he was more than happy to enjoy a day off :-)

So on Saturday we enjoyed breakfast at the Amish farmer's market in Mullica Hill. Then we went grocery shopping and bought stuff to make cookies. So the 3 of us squashed into my tiny kitchen to participate in the cookie making... needless to say by the end there was a huge floury mess to clean up.... but thankfully the cookies still came out good :-) Then we headed to Pitman with a bunch of friends to view the Hagerty House, which is a group of houses that take Christmas decorating to the extreme! We walked through the yards, and saw everything from Sponge Bob Squarepants, to the baby Jesus in Christmas decoration form. Then headed back to a friends house to eat and enjoy the company. (Such a fun way to spend Ryan's day off)

Today was pretty typical. Church, dinner with family, laundry, soccer, and football. But I love knowing that Ryan has yet another day tomorrow to spend at home. We plan on finishing up the Christmas shopping... finally... hopefully.

I am so thankful that I've been so busy because my normal social activities (MTO, library story time, Bible study, etc.) have been put on hold until January. Plus every single TV show I watch has been put on hold till the end of January as well. Grrr!

So, all this busy-ness has led to my inability to blog.

And it's only going to get worse... more and more doctor's check-ups now that I'm in the 3rd trimester! Plus the start of the Salao season in a few weeks. Plus I might be starting a new, additional, position at work to make some extra money.
I apologize for my infrequent updates, but I'll try to be better!!

"I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant"

This morning I woke up to Alexander rolling around on what felt like the top of my ribs. Apparently he was trying to get comfy, so I had to give him a little nudge downward, off my ribs, to where I thought it might be a little more comfortable for the both of us.
As I sat and watched him do somersaults I couldn't help but think, "how in the world can so many people go on that show "I Didn't know I was pregnant"?" Seriously?
Maybe both my kids are just extreme kickers because they're going to grow up to be soccer players, but even if a baby isn't a strong kicker wouldn't you still feel something! Wouldn't it alarm you to feel something moving around like that. Sometimes I feel like being pregnant is like a sci-fi movie when someone has an alien moving around inside of them. It seriously would freak me out if I didn't know what was going on.
And I am someone with hardly any pregnancy symptoms. I don't get sick, or crazy cravings, or swollen ankles or anything like that. However, extreme tiredness, and the fact that I FINALLY have a breast size I can be proud, of would be huge hints towards pregnancy! Not to mention the whole missing your monthly "gift" thing. I know some people have reasonable excuses for that, but not everyone does..

I just don't get it.