Best day ever!

Whenever we have a really fun day, Aurora likes to tell me that it was the best day ever. Chuck E Cheese was one of those occasions, as was our evening at the library earlier this week for craft night.

I'm not as quick to call a day the best ever, but yesterday... yesterday really was the best day ever. I'd already arranged for Miss Brittany to take Aurora home, so we dropped her off and carpooled in to work. I snuck out early and went to see Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in the theater (loved it), before heading out with Chuck to my 5-year appreciation dinner at Z'Tejas. Just a few of us hit 5-years of service in 2011, and it was pretty great to get out and celebrate the milestone.

Today was a good day too, but wow am I tired. Looking forward to what we can only hope will be the best 3-day weekend ever ;)

10 Weeks

I feel like we're still really early on here, but since this started as a pregnancy blog, I figure I may as well focus a little on the second pregnancy. We're only 10 weeks in and if you followed along the first time, you won't be surprised to hear that the bra size just keeps going up. Not my favorite symptom! I already think I look pregnant - which is partially the bust size, partially the bloating, and partially just because I'm starting 10 lbs heavier this time. I'm still struggling with digestion issues, but this weekend I started feeling good enough to eat normally again, which is pretty nice.

One of the things I have not wanted at all these past couple of months is dessert. Any sweets really. I figured out the aversion was gone when we went to Presley's birthday party this weekend and I said yes to chocolate cake! I think I would've been better off without it, but hey... it was a party.

I'm pretty tired and Chuck-E-Cheese sure wore me out, but I decided to the gym this weekend for the first time in awhile. I'll try to get back into prenatal yoga in the coming months, but it'll be a bit harder to do this time since there's no kid's area at the yoga studio. Now that I'm eating chocolate cake again, I should probably try to get a couple light workouts in each week!

My next prenatal OB appointment will be at 12 weeks, where we'll have a sonogram, more tests, and get a good look at the health of the tiny little Wadey. 10 weeks down, 30 to go!

Sprite

Tonight I gave Aurora her very own cup of Sprite for the first time...

Details

Thanks for all the great comments on our last post! We spent the last 5-days in Arizona and have a few photos to share, but I wanted to answer your questions and give you more details as well.

Last Friday we had our first OB appointment and took Aurora with us. She's been asking for a baby brother or sister for awhile now, so before the appt Chuck said "Aurora, we're going to go to the doctor, and they're going to look inside mommy's tummy to see if there's a baby inside. Do you think there's a baby inside?" She said: "No, but I guess we'll have to wait and see!" Boy, was she surprised. Later that afternoon we called my mom and I asked Aurora to "tell Grandma what we did today." She said "We went to the doctor to see if there was a baby in my mommy's tummy, and there WAS!" I think my mom was more surprised than Aurora. Then we put a sonogram picture in a card for Grandma Nancy to open on Christmas morning. She didn't get it at first. Once she figured it out, Julia started crying and Nancy said "Oh no...  another baby?" Wow.

It was a nice relaxing trip, which went by pretty quickly. I won't go in to too many details, but here are a few of my favorite pictures (Nancy took a bunch more, so I may post more later):

Zeland's a pretty crazy kid, but I wish we'd had more time with him, Andrew & Julia!

Anyway, it's still pretty early on - we're just approaching 9-weeks along with a due date of August 5th. Robin, we won't know if it's a boy or girl for a few more months. Julian, if it's a girl we probably won't name her after a Disney princess, but if it's a boy we might name him Beast. I've been feeling okay, though in general, eating and digesting are not my favorite things. I suppose if our next one is as good as the first, it'll all be worthwhile!

Merry Christmas!

With Love, from Chuck, Amber, Aurora, and the littlest Wadey on the planet...

Holidays

Last week Aurora came home and asked: "Do you know what other holiday is right now?" Me: "What?" Aurora: "KWANZAA!" Yesterday her teacher asked if we celebrate Chanukah and Christmas, because Aurora's been talking about both. I said yes, but we probably don't do either very well.

Last night we lit the first candle on our little Menorah and I let Aurora open all of her Chanukah gifts, since we'll be going out of town in just a few days. Boy was she thrilled...

Today she asked if it was another Chanukah day, and when I said yes she squealed! She's also very into Santa this year. Last week when Bailey was babysitting, they made a list telling Santa what she wants for Christmas. Bailey was kind enough to make sure she included us in her wish list:

We didn't put up a tree this year, so we're placing gifts on the fireplace - and Aurora has adjusted the mythology to fit. "Mommy, when I go to sleep on Christmas, Santa's going to come and put presents on our fireplace, and then in the morning I get to open them!!!"

Last weekend we did indeed see Santa. We also saw SNOW! The Hill Country Galleria brought in snow to make a winter wonderland for folks to play in, and said it would be there until it melted. We didn't have a chance to go during the day, but after dinner we decided to drive by and there was still some left - right next to Santa. It was dark and Aurora wasn't really dressed for a picture with Santa, but it was clearly the thing to do...

Aurora knew the drill. She was ready for this. She told him that she wanted dress up clothes, and we figured that was that. Then he asked what else she wants... she thought for a moment and said "a people puzzle." And since she clearly didn't have any further requests, he started suggesting other things she should want! What!?!?! Santa: "Do you want a pillow pet?" Aurora: "Yes!" Santa: "Would you like a unicorn or a lady bug pillow pet?" Aurora: "A lady bug!" - then I said "Okay, thank you Santa, that's enough!" We've got the dress up clothes wrapped and ready, I found what I think might be a people puzzle, but... a lady bug pillow pet? Ugh.

Happy Chanukah, everybody! And Kwanzaa and Christmas too!

Play & Ballet

I seriously can't believe how much we did this weekend. I'm saving some of it for a future blog (or two), so we can focus on the fancy play and ballet! Aurora got to dress up twice in sweet dresses from my Grandma Bernice (who was on my mind a lot this weekend). I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

A very cute play at the Scottish Rite Theatre.

Meeting Snow White after the show.

A fancy lunch at the Driskill Hotel Cafe with Melody.

Gingerbread Houses.

Posing with a Nutcracker at the Long Center.

Balcony seats a the Nutcracker Ballet!

Remembering Grandpa Sandler.

More parties, as promised!

This week has been full of parties. In fact, Chuck's out at a party right now. Oh well, clearly I'm the one having more fun... blogging and going through all the photos from Monday's holiday party!

We had a crazy photo booth again, which is always fun. The "Where's Bobby?" sign is referring to our co-worker who was a no-show at the party (he was at home with his baby). He also missed the lovely volunteer holiday luncheon we held last week. We have some pretty great volunteers...

Chuck spent the whole day celebrating, but it had nothing to do with the holidays. Today his company had it's IPO and everybody was snapping pictures, eating and drinking, and watching the stock market. They got special t-shirts and a photo backdrop of times square. I think he's having a good day.

Aurora's school had their holiday party today, too. Santa came and gave them little presents. It was the highlight of her day, until I told her what we have coming up this weekend... (get excited!).

Topless Tapas

Last night was our first of many holiday parties on the calendar. Chuck's work took over a tapas bar (not to be confused with a topless bar) with great food and brought in a pretty awesome photo booth.

We didn't stay out TOO late, but we were so lucky to have Bailey come over and spend the night. She and Aurora did a little partying of their own. Warning: this part really was topless!

Whoa, bathtub hair! We'll probably lay low this weekend and get some rest, as Monday night we're going out again for my work's holiday party. Ah yes, more to come!

Don't say no to me.

I'm a pretty reasonable mom, but sometimes I have to lay down the law. Recently Aurora's been coming up to me - completely out of the blue - saying things like this:

"Mommy, don't say no to me."
"Okay..."
"And don't ask me where I'm going."
"Oh, okay..."

Then she'll head into the kitchen. Most likely she'll just grab a snack, but there's a chance she could be doing something a little more sneaky, like cutting her own hair.

I do tell her 'no' if she's trying to eat snacks right before dinner. This girl would snack all day long and never sit down to a real meal if she could. She'd also cut every piece of paper in the house with her little scissors. This weekend Chuck made these cool Star Wars paper dolls (which she LOVES)...

After playing with them for a couple days, she asked if she could cut them. I said NO!!!

By the way, when she plays with Darth Vader, he is good and he only sighs, he does not breathe heavily. And with hair like hers, you really can't tell that she cut it.

Breakfast with Santa?

This morning we went to Breakfast with Santa at our local mall. It was free and included arts & crafts, a goodie bag, food from Chick-fil-A, and of course, Santa. Aurora loved the art project, enjoyed all the snacks and goodies, and even took a ride on the train.

She sat in front and rang the bell the whole time. Check out this action photography!

Before the real Santa Claus made his appearance, an awesome Chick-fil-A Santa COW came out to greet the kiddos, and really, who could ask for anything more!?!?!

He posed for pictures, gave high fives, and even danced with Aurora! After all that, we were ready to go home. Santa did show up, but he was in high demand. We can get pictures with him another time...

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas! I can't believe it's December. Our calendar is already packed with all sorts holiday activities, and this evening we kicked it off by making ornaments at the local toy store. Fun!