Addiction

I have a confession to make - and it has to do with this Christmas tree. No, it is not my tree, but you may notice that it's a bit shinier than most and then you look closer and see what it's made of . . .

Mountain Dew cans.

My confession is that I crave Mountain Dew lately. I blame it on pregnancy, but who knows?? I used to love the stuff, then I went off it and thought it was nasty, sugary and syrupy and now, for some unexplained reason, I crave it again. Ugh! Honestly, the only thing that holds me back from drinking one or more a day is the thought of all the sugar and the following weight-gain on my body. So, I suffice with one every couple of days and I just dream of having one the other days. I could blame it on the holidays and all the energy that I need to have to get stuff done and so I convince myself that the caffeine will help me make it through the day/night/church, but that's just an excuse, isn't it?

Amy's Jim replaced his Code Red addiction with Ruby Red Crystal Light, so maybe I should start looking for a more healthy substitute before my baby comes out needing an IV of Mountain Dew! (okay, I'm really exaggerating here and not THAT addicted...)

Megan sent me these pictures and I thought they were hilarious. Here's the finished product. . . and above in all it's lighted glory!

26 Weeks

So, my baby is the size of an English cucumber and weighs about a pound and a half, but I think this picture is much cuter than a cucumber. The lovely weekly email said that her hearing is improving vastly and she's responding more to sound which I definitely believe because every time Nate talks to her, she kicks hard. So cute! The girls have yet to feel a good, hard kick that they recognize, but we'll keep trying.

I'm getting a little worried about London. She's become very attached to me and often talks in a babyish voice, constantly saying "I love you mommy." I'm not complaining about that -- especially when people in the store just sigh over her cuteness of loving me -- but I'm a little worried that she's going to have a really hard time when the baby comes. I can already spot signs of "middle-age syndrome" in her and am worried about it.

Does anybody have any ideas for me on this? My only step toward prevention has been to be sure and point out her talents and how beautiful she also looks (I think she feels inferior to Savy) - and I told Nate that it's really important for her to hear it from daddy, so he's doing the same. Any other ideas?

Word of the Week

I decided since I have had a hard time posting lately that I would start doing April's Word of the Week and maybe even Lelly's SPT (Self-Portrait Tuesday), but all that sounds a bit ambitious so . . . we'll see. I think my problem is that my camera has been having issues and it's really frustrating and I don't like blogging without pictures - maybe I should get over that and remind myself of the journaling aspect of why I started blogging.

So here's the word of the week:

incandescent /adj./ very bright. shining brilliantly. beaming, effulgent, radiant. a high degree of emotion, intensity, or brilliance.

incandescent /adj./ 1. My house has no incandescent lights on the outside, BUT the other day my wonderful husband informed me that he promises he will put them up next year. He promised. Maybe he thinks I'll forget his promise, but I won't. So, my house will be incandescent next year -- yahoo!

incandescent /adj./ 2. One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas holiday is to put my kids to bed (love that 7:00 bedtime!), turn off all the lights, snuggle up on the couch and just space out in front of the beautiful, incandescent Christmas tree. It's almost as good as a camp-fire for zoning.

incandescent /adj./ 3. I love the incandescent aura of Christmas. The other day in the car London exclaimed "mom, I just love all the pretty (she could have said incandescent) lights, Christmas trees, and everything about celebrating Jesus' birthday. I love His birthday." And so do I. I am very grateful that my girls have been more focused on the birthday part of Christmas than the Santa/presents part this year. London wants to watch the Nativity dvd all the time.

Hmmm. . . I kind of like this word of the week thing -- I know I'll learn some good words!

Hello from inside the womb!

Here is one of the three videos I have from my ultrasound a few weeks ago. This one is probably my favorite because her mouth was opening and closing and she's waving as if to give a little shout-out.

Mini-Politicians

Kids are like politicians. They say whatever is convenient to get people to do what they want, even if there are absolutely NO intentions of following through.

Over the past few months, I've been amazed at a few things I've overheard as the girlies play in pretend-land. Then, watching and hearing about all the election circus, I realized the parallels.

When I was young, it came from the older and much wiser sister who Megan and I would do anything for because . . . well. . . she would give us a dollar.

"I'll give you a dollar" were Amy's famous words for getting us to do anything. I think if she actually paid up for all the times she got use out of that phrase, Megs and I would be super-rich! I think Megan got it more than me though, because they shared a room.

The new and updated version in my house is:

"I'll give you a sticker, a treat, and a new toothbrush!"
Now, I can see the excitement in the sticker and the treat, but the toothbrush???? I'm sure their dentist would be proud. So far, London has received none of the above, but still falls for it every time - and you hear it quite often around here.

Then one day they were playing blocks and I hear, "Nana, pretend that you never knock over my castle." Pretend is their vehicle for absolutely everything, including getting your way. You can pretend anything --- "pretend such and such never happens" is a constant in their playing.

Like I said, they're like politicians, using any means to get things to turn out the way they want it.

Breathe

Amy informed me today that I needed to add "write a new post" on my to-do list today because she's sick of London's Reverence Song. Well, not the song, just the lack of a new post.

So . . . I don't really have much to post about until I take some pics of some things, but I will make it a goal to post at least 3-4 times this week -- how's that, Amy?

Here's a picture Amy took a few weeks ago when she was practicing with her camera on the kids. I just sat and re-read a classic favorite of the Hendrix-romantic-teenage-girls, wondering if it would be as good to me as an adult. On the Night of the Seventh Moon. It was good, but maybe not as intriguing as it was to my teenage-self and definitely not the the best writing, but it was a fun, easy read.

I like this picture because it reminds me of the beginning of last year when everyone chose a word to focus on for the year. Mine was BREATHE. I wanted to relax and just enjoy life a little more and not just jump into things, to think before I spoke, etc. I think I did pretty well the first six months, but then I forgot my word. This picture brought me back to my word and reminded me how nice it is to just sit and relax and drink some hot chocolate or curl up and read a good book by the light of the Christmas tree. It's nice to take a break during this crazy season and just enjoy quiet - and breathe. So, just take a break and relax a moment and you'll feel better.

London' s Reverence Song

So last week we were sitting at the table drawing and London sang me a new song that she learned in nursery. It was so cute that I had to get it on video. She got a little shy, but I think it still turned out cute. It's about being reverent in sacrament which is ironic because yesterday she was anything but reverent as daddy had to take her out. But that is beside the point - I'm hoping that someday the words sink in and turn into actions for that little girl.

I don't know about anyone else's kids, but mine are constantly making up songs. Last week was full of new songs. I meant to write down some of the hilarious lines that came out, but I forgot and now they're gone forever. The things these two little girls come up with just make me laugh so hard sometimes.

I think they wish they lived in a Disney movie or a musical so that they could sing their way through life! In fact, they've told me on numerous occasions that they want to live with the princesses because people just throw garbage on the ground in our world. London, especially, loves to belt out a made-up song of whatever she's doing at the moment (it's usually spurred on by watching her favorite sing-along princess video).

After London, Savy, of course, had to sing a song so that post follows. Sorry about the clicking sound, I don't know how to get rid of it on my camera.

Savy's Church-Mix Song

I labeled this Savy's Church-Mix song because, to me, it sounds like a mixture of all kinds of real and made-up primary songs. My favorite line has to be "I'm small I know, but wherever Jesus goes . . . the grass grow greener. . ." I never would have thought to change Give Said the Little Stream like that!

Aren't kids hilarious?

Once again, sorry about the clicking - I'm not sure why my camera does that.