An Attitude of Gratitude

We had a pretty good Thanksgiving. The running joke for the day was that we were all ruining Ryan's Thanksgiving. We took it easy, for the most part. Ryan and I spent the morning putting up Christmas trees at our house. This year, we went over to my mom's for our Thanksgiving feast. She made the most delicious turkey! My own contribution was a pumpkin cheesecake made from scratch. It turned out pretty good - Ryan thinks it might be the best dessert I've ever made. It's interesting to me how much things change over time. Growing up, Thanksgiving was a pretty huge party with so many friends and family in attendance we'd bring in several extra tables. But so many people have moved. This year, it was us, Jim & Amy, Matt & Resa and my mom - much smaller. This was also our 2nd Thanksgiving without my dad. I miss him so much. Rather than dwell on what and who is lost, I'm trying to focus on what's here. I'm grateful for so many things at this time. I'm grateful for my loving husband who also came with a great sense of humor. I'm grateful for my crazy three-year-old whose antics I don't usually understand but who has the ability to drive me up the wall and make me laugh at the same time. I'm grateful for the little miracle I'm about to meet next week (and for the heartburn, backaches and leg cramps to end, too). Especially at this time of economic hardship in the world, I'm grateful for a roof over my head and Ryan's employment. I'm grateful for food in my cupboard and leftovers in the refrigerator. I'm grateful for a grandmother who listened to the missionaries and my dad who wanted to know what made the pretty red head in the office (my mom, duh) so different and special. Without knowing it, they both made the same decision that has had a vast impact on my life by enabling me to be raised in the gospel. I'm grateful for my mom and all her encouragement. I'm also very grateful for my sisters and girlfriends who are always there for me.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Uh-Oh

Tonight, I was explaining to Gio (who's 3) that if he didn't start being a good boy I would have to call Santa and tell him not to bring him his Polar Express Toy he's been telling us he needs (every minute of every day). I furthered explained, once again, that Santa only brings toys to good boys and girls and that it wasn't mommy's job to do so. Gio gave me this puzzled look and replied, "Wait, you're not Santa???"

Insanity

Seems the closer we get to delivery of our little guy, the more insane our lives get! We're just 3 weeks (and a few hours) away from meeting Baby Vinnie and the list of things to do just keeps piling up. I've nearly finished painting the changing table, an brilliant idea I had when my mom bought us the crib from Ikea I wanted/needed (Gio's was just too tall for me) that's white, not cherry stained. This project has turned out to be a literal pain in my rear! Ryan has successfully rearranged the boy's room but every time I turn around there's more baby stuff to launder. Today we ordered a new swing from Babies R Us (Gio's died & the one we got from eBay fell through) and, also today, I had to get all four new tires on my car. Aside from all this, my watermelon-sized womb has rendered me pretty immobile and there's Girl's Camp/Stake Young Women's Nights '09 to prepare for....wish us luck!

What do you think?

Last Saturday, I was officially 34 weeks pregnant. I get SO many comments from people that I was wondering, am I bigger with this pregnancy? So, in the picture on the left I am exactly 34 weeks pregnant with Gio and on the right I am exactly 34 weeks pregnant with Vinnie, wearing the same shirt. What do you think?

Halloween Adventures

I cannot believe I let the entire month of October go by without putting up a single decoration in my home, baking and decorating sugar cookies (for friends, neighbors, visiting teachees, etc.) and not starting "the Phantom Ghost Treater" in our complex! This baby must be sucking the life out of me.... Without these things, however, we did end up having a pretty good Halloween:

One week before Halloween, our good friends, the Machado's, hooked us up with tickets to "Mickey's Halloween Treat" at Disney's California Adventure. It was so much fun! There were, I think, 16 of us total and we all dressed as dominoes. It was the easiest costume (almost, keep reading) I've ever worn. We all wore black and our friends, Joey & Gabbie, provided strips of paper for our center lines and cut out circles for our dots (we taped it all on). I was really blown away by how many moms of young children wore skimpy costumes. Honestly, one mom's outfit looked like it came from Fredrick's! Only two rides were not open that night (Grizzly Run Rapids & the Sun Wheel) and they handed out SO much candy that we put it out for the trick-or-treaters Halloween night rather than buy anymore. Gio & I actually only rode one ride that night (Toy Story Mania) while everyone else also got to ride the Tower of Terror. Thankfully, our friends also provided a wheelchair for Ryan to push me around in or I would not have made it through the night. The event is supposed to be from 7:30-11:30 only but I'm pretty sure we didn't leave the park til way past midnight 'cause we didn't get home 'til after 1! Thank you again, Machado Family!

We don't usually give Gio options when it comes to what he's going to be for Halloween, we just choose for him, but this year we at least ran the idea past him before assembling the costume. He was THRILLED when I asked him if he'd like to be Charlie Brown. We spend a lot of time watching Charlie Brown DVDs around here. When I pop popcorn and tell Gio we're watching a CB DVD in the afternoon he knows mommy's not gonna stay awake for the viewing of it (a frequent occurrence). He's very good at sitting right next to me and even occasionally will fall asleep himself.

Halloween was a very busy day. We started off with a party at Tot Lot. There was story time, 5 or 6 different"projects" (crafts), and viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." For snack time they had pizza and mini cupcakes - definitely not the norm. It ended with dancing to Halloween music until all the mommies picked up their kidlets. Each kid also got their own pumpkin bucket full of treats and goodies. Gio followed a girl who was dressed as Jasmine from Aladdin all over the place, asking her to dance, take a picture with him and even come to his house! He has been asking to watch that movie every day for the past week or so.

Later, we attended our Church Halloween party. Here, I took off my shoes, making my costume "being barefoot and pregnant." Ryan dressed as a Disneyland tourist/annual passholder. There were lots of game booths, karaoke and sweets to eat. Ryan won me a soda at the ring toss soda booth. He's so thoughtful! They had trick-or-treating in the hallways and didn't mind when the kids went through multiple times. My friend, Cathy, handed out glow-in-the-dark earrings (not pierced), bracelets and drop necklaces. Pretty cool!

After that party, we headed to Nana's to trick-or-treat on her block (the only real trick-or-treating I let Gio do). I was pretty sad to see how many people weren't handing out candy and how few kids were out. Gio had a great time, though. Several people, throughout the day, asked how we even thought up his costume, much less found it. A big "thank-you" to my friend, Aaron, for printing it. It was actually amazingly difficult to find a yellow t-shirt and black shorts. Must be the time of year.

OFF with her HAIR!!!

I don't know if this happens to all pregnant ladies, but when I'm pregnant I notice that I shed a lot less hair. Consequently, I end up with thicker-than-usual hair that poses a problem. For the past 8 months I have been dealing with more headaches than usual and, strangely, a very sore scalp. Being as slow as I am (when I'm pregnant), I finally made the connection between my thicker-than-usual hair and scalp-soreness last week. It's been 6 years since my last drastic chop and, thanks to Wendy (for her encouragement) and Cathy (for her talent with scissors), today I will donate another 10 inches to Locks of Love. Honestly, I felt relief as soon as she made the first cut. She even told me my scalp truly looked red and irritated. Guess I made the right decision!

"Tot Wot" Diary

Giovanni's doing very well at Tot Lot. About 3 times a week, however, we have to call Daddy for a pep talk to get us out the door. Gio says, "I not going to Tot Wot today," or, "No! I stay home wif you!" Thankfully, Ryan always boosts his confidence and we get there in no time. When we get to the check-in gate, Gio stands there (not even looking at me), waiting for his kiss good-bye from his mommy (on the forehead, 'cause he doesn't make any more effort than that) and doesn't move an inch until he gets it. I think Gio's favorite day so far was when Ryan took the day off work and volunteered to be Mr. Tot Lot. A group of boys flocked to him and they all played ball together. Pretty cute.

Nearly every month there is a Tot Lot Excursion (like a field trip, but all the mommies attend and drive their own kids). In September, we had a meet-&-greet pot luck at a local park that had a train. Gio rode it twice and tried to sneak on it one other time without me. This month we went to a pumpkin patch that also featured tot-sized carnival rides. Once again, there was a train and Gio rode it twice, also. This time he got to sit in the engineer's seat. He also road some cars (like a merry-go-round) and visited the petting zoo. Here, he seemed to really like the little chicks. My favorite part was the pregnant goat. Gio pointed at it and said, "Oh no! What's wrong?" I explained that this goat was going to have a baby, like mommy. And then, of course, I had one of the attendants take my picture with her.

One Mrs. Tot Lot told me last week that Gio's the only kid there who comes up to her every day that she's there and has a conversation with her. She said he talks about whatever's on his mind. He's made a lot of friends and doesn't usually participate in the projects, preferring to ride the bikes ("motorcycles") at this time, instead. He seems to eat a good amount at snack time, at least when I'm there. He's had only one time-out. It was the 2nd day and he had pushed his best buddy from church! Not normal for him!

Overall, I think Giovanni's really enjoying Tot Lot and making the most of it. I'm really grateful that he doesn't scream and cry when I drop him off. I was worried about that, him being a mama's boy and all.