Have I really been gone for ten days?  Yes, it must be true...the blog says so.  Ok, so I haven't really "been" anywhere, except on my couch, and my bed, and maybe the floor a time or two.  But the good news (at least for me), is that I'm back, with some old pictures to share and quite a few new ones that are still in my camera.  Cool, right?  Definitely.

So, when you haven't been doing anything, what do you blog about?  I blog about the nothing we've been doing.  And "nothing" these days, always includes Elmo and Abby.  Because you can't have one without the other...that would be ridiculous, or at least that's how Laci feels about it.

And even if you are busy picking up olives and your hands are FULL of olives (as pictured above), you still have room to carry your friends.

Well, sort of.  It can get a little tricky carrying olives and Elmo and Abby.

Occasionally, when Elmo and Abby have temporarily been forgotten on the living room floor, we are joined by a fluffy stuffed dog that likes to collect every leaf, twig, and sticker in his fluffy hair.  It is awesome...according to someone.  Not according to the person that must then pick the leaves, twigs, and stickers out of his fluffy hair.  And on a really spectacular day, we might be accompanied by Elmo and Abby AND the fluffy stuffed dog and then it gets really tricky to carry all your friends AND olives at the same time.  But somehow, I can assure you, it gets done.

And, after all that exciting commentary on friends and dogs and olives, aren't you glad I'm back?

a proper announcement

I figured I owe it to our unborn child to make an official announcement, instead of just tagging an "Oh yeah, I'm pregnant" at the end of a long, boring post.  So here it is:

We're having a baby!!  Hooray!!

Or at least, I'll be feeling more "Hooray" when I don't feel quite so sick anymore.

I'm only nine weeks as of yesterday, and I was really trying to save a big, fun announcement until after we visit the doctor, but my appointment isn't until February 2nd, and I was feeling so horrible last weekend, that I just couldn't hold it in any longer.  The good news is, I feel slightly better today, so I'm beginning to see a light at the end of the nausea.

I swear we didn't really plan it this way, but I'm due August 25th.  Right smack in the middle of Laci's birthday and my birthday.  Another August baby...what was I thinking?  Laci's due date was the 27th, which is kind of weird.  Also weird:  my first doctor appointment with Laci was February 2nd two years ago.  Seriously, I didn't plan this.  I'm not sure what this says about my fertility, but I think Thanksgiving turkey might have something to do with our ability to conceive.

We are super excited, although it is hard to believe my little baby will be a big sister.  She just turned seventeen months old.  When I was seventeen months old, I was two weeks away from being a big sister.  I love that my babies will be close in age, but I'm kind of glad they won't be THAT close.  Gosh, I wonder how my mother survived sometimes.  I love that Laci will have a playmate (and someone to fight with).  I love that I'll have a new little person to take pictures of.  And I love that I'll have so many stories to share, if only I get the time to share them.

And one more thing, obviously the picture above has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but see...I took a picture!  Hooray again!

an overly explanatory explanation

So, I blogged for seven days in a row, then I took a break for seven days in a row, and none of it was really intentional, but that's what happened.  And I was trying to figure out why all this happened and I thought I'd explain my thinking publicly, here on the blog, whether you think it is necessary or not.

Obviously, I had an overabundance of Christmas pictures to share, which explains for the overload of pictures for an entire week.  After posting about Christmas for three days, I was on such a roll with the whole daily posting thing, I thought to myself, "I can keep doing this...this is good."  And I did.  Seven whole days.

Then Saturday happened.  A week ago today.  My mom, sisters, Laci and I drove to Santa Rosa for the day for my Uncle Larry's funeral.  Something about funerals makes you feel not like blogging so much.  Add the down funeral feelings to the fact that I drove a vehicle for 6+ hours that day, and the thought of blogging was the farthest thing from my mind.  Then Sunday happened, or rather, didn't really happen, because I didn't do a single thing.  I held the chair down all day, because, you know, chairs have been known to spontaneously fly away on their own if a bottom isn't firmly planted in them.  Ok, not really, but that's what I told myself to justify sitting in one for the entire day.  Then it got foggy.  Then it got rainy.  And before I knew it, Friday had rolled around and I had to pretend that I knew how to work for a day, at a "real" job, you know, one that doesn't include raisins and changing diapers and sippy cups, and blogging was just NOT on my mind.

Somewhere in the middle of the week, I entertained the idea of writing up a little post, something cute about my baby, when I realized that I hadn't taken a single picture of her since January 1st.  JANUARY 1ST.  Yes, that picture you see above, is the ONLY picture I've taken of Laci all year.  Apparently, my distractions with life extended beyond the blog to also include my camera.  And it isn't because I haven't had my camera with me.  No, I'm really weird and take my camera with me practically everywhere.  However, I have not used it even once.  In a desperate attempt to inspire myself, I stuck my head out the front door yesterday and took these two pictures.

I'll be the first to admit, they are pretty lame.  In real life, the way I saw it, the fog was just burning off, the sun was glowing through the mist, and there were millions of water droplets on the branches and leaves.  It really was a beautiful sight.  Obviously, my vision didn't translate into my photography and sadly, did absolutely nothing to inspire me to take any more pictures.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I refused to actually step out my front door, maybe not.  Regardless, the results are less than spectacular.

So basically: no pictures = no inspiration = no posting.  OR maybe I just burned myself out with all the over-posting the first week of January.  Or really, I just feel like crud because of the little peanut growing inside of me and I'm going to go back to my chair now, because I just announced something I wasn't going to announce for a few more weeks, but it is just too relevant to my current state of mind to ignore.  And if you don't call that an overly explanatory explanation, then I don't know what is.

Eat Your Veggies

You're supposed to feed your children vegetables so they'll grow up healthy and strong.

Do vegetables have the same nutritious benefits if they are absorbed through the skin instead of eaten?

I doubt it.

I also doubt that this qualifies as the messiest baby ever, but at least she gave it a good effort.

By the way, frozen peas are delicious, canned peas are disgusting,

and can create the exact same mess in your home as you see pictured here.

That is, if you mix them with pasta & sauce, and then smear them all over your body, face, and head.

And because I think every parent needs a few pictures of their children looking absolutely hideous,

I present to you this dandy.

It's like you just want to grab her up and hug her, right?

Okay, not really.

Okay, not at all.

Yes, she went straight to the bath after this.

just chatting about the weather

Today was cold, gray, and very foggy...Gross.  We stayed inside all day. Yesterday was chilly, but sunny and bright, and even though I took this picture three weeks ago, it could have been yesterday.  And since I didn't take the camera out with us yesterday, I'm happy with my three week old picture.  And why is any of this important?  I really don't know, except to say that I really like this picture and felt like it needed a little something to go with it.  And also, I thought I'd comment on the weather, because isn't that what you do when you're trying to have a conversation with someone and you have absolutely no idea where to start?

the aftermath

Blogging about Christmas for three days has left me nearly as exhausted as I felt the day after Christmas - when I was surrounded by too many toys, too many clothes, and a baby spreading it all over the house.  Yes, she even had to wear her new squeaky shoes until I could no longer handle the incessant squeaking.  I'm so glad everything has found its place now, and even though it still gets spread all over my house everyday, at least it has a place to go back to in the evening.

And in all the hustle and bustle of our celebrations, we forgot again to get a picture of Laci in her Christmas PJ's with her Christmas paint can.  So, I took a picture a few days later, and then realized that I didn't pick very holiday-ish PJ's, but then again, last year's PJ's weren't holiday-ish either, so I guess maybe that's part of our tradition.  Also part of our tradition:  forgetting to take the picture on Christmas Eve and "re-enacting" it a few days later.  Oh well, at least it's a tradition.

{christmas in three parts} Christmas Night

On the evening of Christmas Day, we returned to Tyler & Jen's house for dinner and a few more gifts with Ryan's dad's side of the family.  Laci played with her cousins, the adults ate more food, and we even had a surprise visit from Santa himself.  Sydney and Joelle were very surprised and excited, Evan just wanted presents, and Laci was more than a little wary of the big guy in red.  She refused to go near him, yet wouldn't, or couldn't, take her eyes off him.  Even after he left, she would look to the door every so often, just to make sure he hadn't snuck back in.  However, she did (and still does) enjoy the xylophone he brought for her, so maybe she'll reconsider her feelings next time.

{christmas in three parts} Christmas Morning

I love spending Christmas morning at my parents' house.  We exchange gifts, and eat too much breakfast, and talk too loud, and interrupt each other too much, and build too hot a fire in the wood stove.  We always have fried bread dough dipped in sugar & cinnamon when it's hot from the pan.  Our morning visit never lasts long enough because we all have other dinners and gatherings to attend, but those few hours make me feel young and carefree again.

We let Laci open one gift before breakfast, so she'd stop getting into all the other presents.  It was a picnic set from Aunty Kristina with little metal cups and plates.  She played with it all through breakfast (I could actually eat my food while it was hot), and would have been more than content if that had been her only gift for the day.  Now, over a week later, this toy is still the first one she plays with in the mornings.

**David & Beth**

**Myles & Kristina**

Can you feel the love?

**Grammy & Papa**

(and spilled milk on the counter behind them,

which was so much more interesting than looking at the camera)

I love my family.

{christmas in three parts} Christmas Eve

*Christmas Eve*

Dinner and gifts

at Tyler & Jen's House

with Ryan's mom's side of the family

**first cousins**

**oh, so many cousins**

**all the pretty lights**

**staying up too late, playing with new toys, and of course, hugging Shiloh**

**that special cousin bond** 

**presents!!**

**keeping in touch with family on the video phone**

**fireworks!**

**Papa E's Santa hat**

**and last, but certainly not least, Nani & Papa E**

a new year & accidental resolutions

It's the first of the New Year. Welcome 2011.

I had planned to be done posting about Christmas by now, so I could start off the New Year with a clean slate - free to blog about the here and now. Despite the best of intentions, it turns out I just didn't get it done. I am perpetually behind, distracted, or just plain procrastinating. There is always a different reason, but the result is the same: I just cannot accomplish all that my idealistic mind wants to. So rather than struggle and resolve to "fix" myself over the coming year, I find it simpler to just accept who I am and all that is, and will remain, undone. Which brings me to the here and now, which is me, sitting in my mom's living room in front of the wood stove, blogging from my phone using a picture that I am (thankfully) unable to edit.

This year is going to be a big year for my little family. Some big things are for certain at this point, some are still up in the air, but no doubt I'll have plenty to blog about. And despite the fact that I didn't want to make any resolutions (mostly because I never keep them), I accidentally made some anyway. Accidental resolutions. Does anyone else have that problem?

Accidental resolution #1: Blog more often. Not only because I want to record the happenings of our little family, but also because it makes me feel good for some reason. And don't we all need more things in our lives that make us feel good?

Accidental resolution #2: Do more things that make me feel good. Just came up with that one...accidentally.

Accidental resolution #3: Learn to use my little camera better. Mostly so I can justify my desire for a bigger, better camera, but also so I can take better pictures of my family.

Accidental resolution #4: Listen more, talk less. I'm pretty sure I won't last long at this, but it's the thought that counts, right? Or is that only with gifts? Beth in particular is excited about this one because she says, and I really am quoting, "Then I can talk more." For real, she said that.

Accidental resolution #5: Stress less. Also another tough one for me, but I'll worry about that later. See? I'm already working on it.

I believe five accidental resolutions are more than enough to set me up for disappointment. I could have stopped with one and felt completely successful, but I'm not me if I'm not complicating things and setting unattainable goals. Like I said, there are just some parts of me that aren't worth the struggle to "fix," and I'm OK with that. At least for now. And the best part is I'm already one for one on the whole blogging resolution. Can't beat that!