It's the Time of Year...

when packages start coming for Christmas!

We got our first baby/Christmas package yesterday from my Uncle Matt (who's actually only three months older than me so he's more like a cousin than an uncle...) and his wife, Becky (who I just can't call "aunt"...it's just too weird since they're not much older than me).

An outfit for Baby Girl, a sweater and socks for Lane, and vanilla extract, nutmeg, and cinnamon for me!

Lane loves her sweater. When I showed it to her and asked her if it was pretty she said, "Oooohhhh!!!!" in her new sing-songy voice that she does when she thinks something is pretty (like the Christmas lights on the tree, for example). She wore it all day today and didn't want to take it off when I told her she couldn't wear it to the park. I think she likes it!

One thing I love about the giraffe outfit is that it doesn't scream "I LOVE PINK!!!" Becky is great at picking out outfits that are cute but not over-the-top ruffles and pink and make-me-throw-up-it's-so-girly (she got Lane a great outfit that was also not-so-overly-girly). Granted, I love super girly outfits too, but it's nice to have things that are more neutral!

And I'm so excited to have more vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I was on my last bottle of vanilla and my nutmeg was running low, so it's nice to know that I don't have to worry that I'll run out as Christmas baking commences! So...thanks so much, Matt and Becky, for the great baby/Christmas package! Everything will be put to use and much loved. Thanks!

22 Months Old

Ahh, a few days late again. But what else am I to do when struck by the plague on the actual 22nd, and then with Thanksgiving following close behind? So I'm late. I'm getting used to it. I think I might as well continue the trend as Baby #2 is arriving shortly and will surely alter our lives even more drastically than Lane did.

At 22 months (and five days) old, Lane:

*has some new words! She's saying "baby" (and it actually sounds right) and a slew of other "words," most of which don't quite sound like they should, but she's trying. She has her own way of saying "Leah," "Simeon," "Judah," "Dinah" (can you name the Bible story she likes these days?), "onion," "Papa," "Nonna," "Santa," "Rudolph," and some others. Honestly most of these sound nothing like the actual word ("Leah" is "Yuhyuh," for example), but they're consistent and sound the same each time, so they count, right?

*likes to pour. She's getting pretty good at aiming but still spills a lot. I try to catch her and just let her pour water from cup to cup, but sometimes I'll be too late and catch her trying to pour her cup of milk into the curve of her spoon, or into the hole meant for a straw in a water bottle...

Playing "Noah's Ark" with daddy. She's perfectly content to sit in daddy's lap forever and play.

*is starting to play pretend. She'll bring her "guys" (stuffed horse, kitty, sheep, or giraffe) into the kitchen to give them a drink, let them eat some food, have them kiss each other or me or daddy. Today she gave one of her dolls a spanking (yes, we spank our child. Don't judge me for my discipline methods and I won't judge you).

*is getting good at putting some puzzles together. She has a Melissa & Doug numbers puzzle that she can put together on her own, as well as an animal puzzle. She's getting good at rotating the pieces to get them to fit in the slots meant for them.

*has watched way too many shows in the last week to ten days. First, Lane got sick. Then daddy got sick. Then I got sick. So between all the sickness, crabbiness, medicines, and bad sleep all around, the television has been on much more than normal. We're working it back down to an hour a day, though.

Playing with her shapes and Noah's Ark animals...carefully placing them in the "hole" in the base of the fan.

*loves dancing, but only with me (ugh...not so fun being 37 weeks pregnant and bouncing a 20-something pound toddler around to music) or daddy. She won't really do it on her own, although she does like to spin in circles and jump, jump, jump. We need to get her enrolled in some kind of physical activity...gymnastics or something. She never. stops. moving.

*knows a few more signs, although I can't think of any besides "tree" right now.

*is obsessed with our Christmas decorations and stockings. She loves the stockings, so they pretty much only stay on the hooks while she's asleep. Once she's up she's slapping her leg (the sign for "dog") for me to get down my dog stocking for her, and then she wants daddy's Aubie stocking and her snowman stocking. She hauls them around the house, putting things in them.

"Helping" hang lights on the tree.

*has started to play better by herself in the last few days. I always feel bad letting her play alone when I could play with her, but the bottom line is that she does need to know how to play by herself. And she has to learn that somehow. And the way for her to learn how to play by herself is for me to let her play by herself. So I'm trying to not feel guilty and to instead enjoy the fact that she's learning something new.

*has given us a rough couple of weeks with regards to sleep. She's fighting naps and bedtime, and waking up way too early most days. We've started putting her to bed earlier because it doesn't seem to matter what time we put her to bed: the battle is always there, and she still wakes up early, whether she goes to bed at 7:00 or at 9:00. So, 7:00 it is, at least until we get things figured out.

Not the best picture, but Lane in her new (big) kitty cat hat. She still prefers last year's hat (I can't believe it still fits her), but she'll let us put this one on her occasionally.

*loves for us to kiss her right between her jawline and her neck. She cracks up laughing so hard when we kiss her there.

*is a good helper at anything we can figure out to let her help with: carrying a plate, pushing her step stool around, putting clothes in the washing machine or dishes in the dishwasher, pouring soap into the washing machine, setting the trash outside the front door, and so on. I've been trying to let her "help" with anything I can think of to let her help with.

*asks for candy first thing in the morning. We give her a chewable vitamin that apparently Shannon has told her is candy. So she's always asking for candy now.

And there you have it. 22 months. I can't believe she'll be two so soon!

Kreativ Blogger

About a week ago Barbara over at Footprints in the Sand passed on an award to my blog, the Kreativ Blogger award.

While I'm not exactly sure what the award entails (being creative, maybe?), it's always fun to receive blog awards! (Especially when you've been a horrible blogger in recent days!) So, "thanks!" to Barbara (by the way, Barbara, I can't comment on your blog...it hasn't let me in days, maybe weeks)! I'm supposed to list seven random things about myself and pass the award on...here goes.

1) At one point in time I could ride a unicycle. Not very far, but still, I could ride it. Pretty sure that "skill" is gone by now.

2) I don't like picking "favorites" of anything. But if I had to pick a favorite movie, it'd be either The Shawshank Redemption or Big Fish. Or Slumdog Millionaire (see my point?). If I had to pick a favorite food, it'd be something Italian. Pizza. Lasagne. Fettuccine Alfredo. Eggplant Parmesan. Something along those lines...but which specific food...I have no idea.

3) I love to read but rarely have time for it anymore. The last time I read a book for fun was on our vacation back in August/September. I'm (maybe too-optimistacilly) hoping that when this baby arrives in a month or so that I'll get to read a bit on my Kindle while nursing at night. Or while I'm not going to Turkish class. You know, I'll be multitasking like any good mom does!

4) I like my hair better short, but prefer it long. Confused? I think I look better with short hair, but due to the amount of work it requires I prefer to keep it long. All I have to do is blow-dry it and it looks great (well, as far as my hair goes, anyways). When it's short I have to blow-dry and straighten and blow-dry with a specific brush...it's just a pain. I have better things to do with that extra 20ish minutes in the morning (like sleep!).

5) I hate green bean casserole. It will never make an appearance on my Christmas or Thanksgiving table, unless it has been brought by somebody else. Disgusting.

6) My dream vacation is to go to Fiji with Shannon for our ten-year anniversary. On the dream list for before then (since we live pretty close) is to go to Egypt. I want to see the pyramids and the Red Sea

7) I changed my major twice in college and still graduated in four years. And I graduated a little over ten years ago. I can still hardly believe it's been that long!

So, there you go. Seven random things about me that most of you probably never cared to know. Ahh, well. It's my blog. =)

I'll pass this award onto Kristel, Amy, and Priscilla. You three girls are truly creative, so I think you should get this award. Congrats!

36 Weeks (second time around)

Alright, peeps, this is going to be quick because it's late and I forgot that I have to make some coleslaw for tomorrow (you know it tastes better if you let it sit overnight!).

Only four weeks to go! Eeek! We have been super busy over the last few weeks trying to get things ready for this bambino's arrival! And, I think...I think we can say that we have accomplished most of what needed to be done:

*Everything in our apartment is functioning, many things better than they were just a couple of weeks ago (light fixtures, hot water heater, leak on the balcony, toilets, etc., etc., etc.).

*Baby clothes are all clean and while they're not put up (I'm honestly not sure where to put them), they are clean and easily accessible.

*We have 140 newborn disposable diapers (yes, we will switch to cloth, but probably not for the first month...I like to get in a routine before I add washing diapers every other day into the mix!), which might last us two weeks if we're lucky.

*We have a baby monitor.

*Our pantry is stocked the best I can do for now, just in case this baby comes early.

*I got new contact lenses and Shannon got new glasses.

*I've made it through 6 of 7 weeks of Turkish class outside my home.

36 weeks. Do I look giddy or what?

I went to the doctor earlier this week and am up to 10 kilos (22 pounds) gained. Baby is weighing (to my doctor's best guess) about 4.5 pounds, or a little over 2 kilos. She's still measuring a bit small, but my doctor isn't worried since I'm not a big (I'm tall but small-boned) person and neither is Shannon. I got some medicine for reflux since I've not been wanting to eat due to feeling like food was lodged in my esophagus. Now, while the medicine is nasty, at least I feel like eating and can lie down to sleep at night! Baby girl is still low, low, low, and my doctor estimates that my labor will last about six hours, beginning to end. Ha. I hope she's right, although I'm not banking on it!

That's that! I'll be back soon...like I said, we've actually gotten a lot done in the last 3-4 weeks so now I can relax some. I need to pack my hospital bag, put a towel under my side of the bed (just in case my water breaks at night!), and brush up on breathing techniques and that chapter about birth in What to Expect When You're Expecting. Not too long now!

21.5 Months Old

Yikes. Almost three weeks ago Lane turned 21 months old. I hadn't been able to do her monthly post because the power cord to my computer was fried, but now that I'm up and running again I figured I'd update, even though we're halfway to 22 months. I tend to forget new things she can do, though, so better now when I still remember!

At 21.5 months old, Lane:

*has had a huge jump in her language abilities! She started saying some new words! "Amen" is the only one she's not consistent on, but the others are regular parts of her speech now. They are:

-okra (guh-GUH)

-broccoli (braKEE!)

-booboo (bobo)

-elmo (moemoe)

-amen

-go

-Ava (vuh-vuh)

-Marco (gogo)

When going through a hat fetish a month or so ago...

*has learned almost all of her letter sounds and can identify all letters. When she sees letters anywhere (out and about, on a book, on a calendar, on a kitchen appliance, etc.) she'll start making the sound: "tuh, tuh, tuh!" until we acknowledge her, "Oh, you see a 't'! Good job!" It's amazing to me that she can't say but ten or so words, yet recognizes all letters and knows most of their correct sounds.

*is incredibly stubborn. She has reached the tantrum stage and often pitches full-on tantrums, throwing herself on the ground and kicking and screaming. It's frustrating.

Onto a shoe/boot fetish in October...

*knows more signs this month:

*dog, cat, friend, sorry, clean, bath, hurt, excited, feeling, grumpy, cereal, hot, cold, wet, stars, sad, cry, boy, girl, hat (signs she uses regularly)

*wind, rain, scared, boots (signs I've seen her do but not regularly)

*can do a somersault. She doesn't always make it completely forwards, but she does a lot of the time.

Her first time finger-painting.

*has 16 teeth. Her last tooth (other than her 2-year molars) popped through about a week ago.

*often points to my belly and signs "girl" and "baby" and will kiss my belly.

Lane helped Auburn to a victory by wearing her Fighting Okra shirt. This was also the day she learned how to say "okra."

*is getting better at actually brushing her teeth, as opposed to just sucking/chewing on the toothbrush.

*loves, loves, loves her daddy. She prefers to play with him over me.

And who wouldn't love daddy when he'll climb in the princess tent with you? (My belly is too big to get down that low!)

*is still picky about food. Some days she'll scarf food down and the next day she'll shun the

same thing. She still loves broccoli, bananas, rice, and pasta without fail, though.

Check out the concentration to eat (or play with) spaghetti!

*will not leave her socks on no matter what these days. After her fascination with them a couple of months ago, she now almost always immediately rips them off.

She's getting better at making intentional marks with crayons or markers.

*gets super excited when we let her watch Baby MacDonald. She bounces up and down and says "moo, moo" over and over again.

Finally, enough hair for some real ponytails! Playing with her fridge farm and magnetic animals.

*has corrected some of her animal sounds, so now says "baa baa" for sheep, "duhduh" for duck (she can't quite make the "qu" sound yet in "quack quack" and it sounds like "duhduh"). She still has the cutest "meow" on the planet.

*has learned how to lock doors (the kind with the push-button) and how to open door knobs. It's a good thing she's learned how to do them at about the same time since she's locked herself in a room a time or two!

Happy girl, playing on "the big bed" with mommy and daddy.

*hates to get her hair washed.

*is wearing mostly 24-month clothes, although some of her pants are still way too big, even when in a cloth diaper. She can still fit in a lot of her 18-month clothes, although some of the sleeves or legs are getting too short.

Snoozing soundly at nap time.

I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting, but this will have to do for now. I'll be back in just a couple of weeks with her 22-month post. Eeek!

34 Weeks (second time around)

I've been trying to get a good 34-week belly picture since Friday but to no avail. Here's the best (blurry) photo we could conjure up:

Friday was 34 weeks. I can't even believe that we're going to have another baby in, oh, a month and a half or so. Yikes!

The past couple of weeks have been very good for us as far as getting-things-done goes. We (finally) got a potty for Lane and a baby monitor (we haven't needed one until now because our apartments have been so small, but in this new apartment our bedroom [and where the baby will be] is so far away from Lane's room and the front of the apartment that we really can't hear crying very well if fans or noisemakers are going). All newborn clothes have been sorted and while they're not unpacked (since I'm not really sure where to put them), they are clean and easily accessible.

In the past two weeks we've gotten a light in our kitchen fixed, two lights in our living room/dining room fixed, and six light fixtures hung. Our toilet no longer squeaks when it's filling with water. Our balcony shouldn't leak anymore. An outlet that had come out from the wall has been reattached. We now have a rod in our entryway wardrobe so people can hang coats up when they come in. We got an end table to go between our couches and hold our telephone. We've gotten some baskets to organize hair bows, clips, spices, napkins, q-tips, and so on. I think the only thing left on our "to do" list as far as apartment things go is to get some blinds (which we already purchased) hung in our kitchen. It's a major load off of my back to know that these things have been purchased and that most of them are finished. Hopefully by Thanksgiving all of the loose ends will be tied up and I can spend time preparing for Christmas and Lane's birthday. It is a wonderful feeling to get things done that have been hanging over your head for months!

As far as pregnancy goes, I feel fine. I have a bit of heartburn at bedtime if I eat anything after dinner, so I'm usually choosing to be a little hungry before bed so that I can sleep...otherwise it's a bit painful to lie down, even with extra pillows. My legs/feet aren't hurting nearly as much as they did not too long ago, so I think that maybe I've finally developed some extra muscle in my legs to carry my belly around. My maternity pants are still sagging, which drives me crazy. Most days I feel pretty normal and capable of life, but some days I feel like this baby is so low that I can barely walk. I'm getting even slower at getting around this great big city.

Anyhow, that's what's up in the Scarbrough household at 34 weeks, 2 days pregnant with kiddo #2. We're doing well, just trying to get things taken care of ASAP so that we're not caught totally off-guard if this baby comes early. I miss blogging more regularly, but...I think it'll have been worth it once Baby Girl comes and I'm not stressed out trying to get things in our apartment fixed, since they'll already be taken care of!

I'm Back!

A couple of weeks ago my computer's power cord decided to start acting up, and last Friday (12 days ago) it completely quit on me. So I've been at the mercy of a friend to charge my computer a couple of times in the last 12 days so that I could check my email, but...of course I couldn't do any blogging (at least not with photos!). So, here I am. First up on the backlog is...

Packages!

I know how much some of you love reading about what we get in our packages, so here are a couple that we received over the last week from my mom. The first one was sent in August at the same time as another package, but we never received this one. After a lot of phone calls, a visit to customs, and a visit to the local cargo post office, I finally managed to pick up this package, which had been sitting there just waiting on me for over a month. Why they didn't try to deliver it is beyond me. At any rate, we're so excited that it made it! Only three missing packages now!

A Little People Noah's Ark with lots of animals, a stuffed cat, peanut butter M&M's (the rest of Shannon's birthday present!), a couple of dresses, a hat, and a skirt for Lane, an alligator towel, and newborn clothes, shoes, and socks for New Baby Girl.

As some of you might recall, the last family whose apartment we lived in had a Noah's Ark that Lane loved. So the search began for one. My mom found one on ebay (maybe? I don't remember exactly) since this pictured Noah's Ark is much better than the currently-in-production Noah's Ark. Lane has already been playing a ton with it. And more newborn clothes will be great since I was pretty sure we had enough, but still might have to do laundry every day since we don't have a clothes dryer! These will give us a bit more grace in the laundry department, although if this baby's feet are as big as Lane's were...none of the socks will have a chance of fitting!

Check out that grin!

Lane loves the stuffed cat, too. She hauls it around with her, saying "me-oooowwww" and running to find it when she's left it somewhere. It's her new bedtime buddy, too.

And my mom sent another, smaller package with some winter stuff in it for Lane, which, strangely enough, made it here in about ten days while the first package took 2 1/2 months. Gotta love Turkey's postal system!

A winter coat, a hat and gloves, incredibly cute leggings/footless tights, and some shoes in the next size up (7).

It's not quite cold enough for the coat or hat and gloves yet, but let me tell you, Lane is a cutie pie in that cat hat. I can't wait to get a photo. And I can't wait to get those leggings on her, either...the giraffe on the butt is just too cute!

So...thanks, mom, for the loot for Lane and New Baby Girl! We're so glad everything made it to us (finally)!!!

***Up next, Lane's 21-month post!***