Christmas Balloons

Somewhere my kid got the idea that Santa should deliver presents Christmas morning as well as balloons. Folks if I had known how much a hit balloons were going to be I would have asked Santa to keep a few presents at the North Pole.

Every Christmas morning should have balloons!!!

 

Merry Christmas from The Shinaberry Family!

 

Cole and Santa

This year Cole was so excited to see Santa, we kept asking him what are you going to ask Santa for when you see him " trains, cars and tracks" he replied every time. As we waited in line and made our way up to see Santa we kept wondering would he be just as excited once he saw the big fella in person?! The second he laid eyes on him he ran over and said "I want trains, cars and tracks". Kid cracks me up! He then hopped up on his lap and told Santa he was a good boy and when Santa asked again what do you want he said "Balloons"?! I'm not sure where this one came from but it seems Santa will now be delivering presents and balloons Christmas morning. It's amazing how magical Cole makes Christmas, it makes me so giddy for Christmas morning! 2 more days!!!!

 Cole with Santa this year. 

Cole and Santa in 2011

 

Cole and Santa in 2010

   

Sweet Moment

Even on the hardest days... moments like this make it all better.

 

32 weeks...almost 33!

So we are under 60 days, I hit 32 weeks on Monday and have now entered my 8 month of pregnancy! I mean she could be here next month…though I’m still feeling like she will be a February baby.

At my doctor appointment, little lady is doing great and is measuring right at 32 weeks. She is also heads down already so that’s good. My blood pressure has been very normal and I’m hoping it stays this way till the end. With Cole around 37 weeks it started creeping up, nothing alarming but in the end it ultimately led to me be induced right at 40 weeks. My doctor explained to me the chances of preeclampsia happening during your second pregnancy is very slim. I did however find out this awesome itchy rash I have on one side of my lower belly is PUPP. Never heard of it? It stands for pruritic urticarial papules and plaques…it’s a mouth full. It occurs in 1% of pregnant women, it’s a hives like rash that is very itchy that can cover the belly. It causes no harm to the baby or me. From what I have read it’s very common in women’s first pregnancy, carrying twins or having boys. Yea I’m none of the above. I will however be making sure it’s still a girl at my 36 week ultrasound just in case. It’s a very minor case and thankfully has not spread but it can be pretty itchy and annoying.

For the most part I still feel pretty good. The pregnancy waddle has not occurred yet and I still seem to be able to cart around my 32 pound toddler with no real pain. Its amazing how different this pregnancy has been from my first. Yes morning sickness sucked and my short stink with back pain was no fun but I feel 100% better right now than I did the first time around. I really hope this lasts for at least a few more weeks.

How far along? 32 weeks and 5 day

Weight: +17.5 lbs, that’s 4 lbs in the last month. It’s coming on fast now!

Stretch Marks? Yes on my belly. Honestly I think they are from Cole it’s just now that my belly is bigger you can really see them.

Sleep? Peeing all the time. Sometimes it’s hard for me to fall back asleep.

Best moment this week: Emery’s Nursery, it’s basically done!

Movement? Yes, tons! She really likes to stretch out which can be a bit uncomfortable for me.

Food Cravings: Grilled Cheese, Chocolate

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: NO

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Normal clothes..I refuse to buy anymore maternity clothes and I'm just sick of what i have!

What I am looking forward to: Christmas and spending a ton of time with my family  :)

Nursery Project

Well I'm happy to report that Emery's nursery is officially done. There are a few minor things that need to be done but if she was to show up after Christmas we would be ready. Room wise that is :)

When it came to deciding how to decorate my little girls room I didn't know where to start, my dear friend Courtenay suggested Carousel Designs. The choices are endless and I fell in love with Love Damask right away. With the bedding all picked out I then started thinking about what I wanted for wall decor. I wanted to have something that would last more than her baby years, not forever but at least till middle school.

I found this on Etsy. I love the look of it and it even matched her bedding. It was just so perfect...except for the price tag.

 

I started brain storming and figured I could come up with something similar at a fraction of the price. I purchased three blank canvases from Hobby Lobby on sale and ordered a yard of fabric of the Love Damask. I cut the fabric than made sure it lined up just right by taping it first. Once I was confident that it looked good I stapled the fabric right onto the canvas.

 

Next up was painting the big canvas pink. I used a small handle roller and it went on nice and smooth.

 

I also found just the right aqua blue letter at Hobby Lobby to put on the canvas. I kept it simple and used heavy duty command strips on the E and it worked great.

 

So here is the final product,

 

Once I put it up in her room I decided not to add the white pok a dots. I'm in love with how it turned out. And in total it cost me around $75. Not to shabby.

 

Paci Fairy

Well little man is jumping leaps and bounds into toddler hood. Surprising me every day with how bright and grown up he is these days. We finally decided it was time to take his pacifiers away. I suppose I could have tried this earlier but it was out of sheer fear that he would never nap again or sleep at night without them that held me back. Cole had been allowed to only use his pacifier during nap time and bedtime, it was not allowed to leave his bed. So he didn’t have a huge attachment to them except when it came to sleep time.

So the plan was to start talking about how the paci fairy was coming soon to take away all his pacifiers. I said the paci fairy needs them for all the little babies who don’t have them. Hubs and me kept this up for a few weeks not really knowing ourselves when the paci fairy was going to come. Our goal had always been before Emery arrives. Well last week I just decided at nap time the day had come.

Did Cole get upset? yes but for only 5 seconds. I promised him a treat if he slept like a big boy without them. Homeboy bought in right away. He fell asleep within 10 min without his pacifier! Seriously?! When he woke he asked for his treat and was so proud of himself.

As a parent I have learned that your child can surprise the hell out of you. Transitions over the last few months with Cole have gone surprisingly smooth, it was my own fear that held us back not him. Do I think every transition will be this easy? No. But I’m willing to try and let Cole lead me to what’s right for him.

A week later, we are still no pacifiers with no tears or tantrums about them. In fact he rarely even asks about them. And when he does its pretty comical.

Cole: No paci’s?
Me: No the paci fairy came remember?
Cole: No mama, the cow fairy.
Me: oh yes the cow fairy, and she gave them to all the baby cows
Cole: I’m going to get that cow, and get my paci’s
Me: Well the babies need them (laughing crying as I say this)
Cole: OK mama

No joking. He even talked about bringing a rope to get the cow fairy. Ha. God love him and this age.  

Elf on the Shelf

This year I was almost giddy about doing Elf on the Shelf for Cole. I just knew he would really get it and enjoy finding the elf every morning. I went in search of fun ideas of how to introduce the Elf and came across some wonderful ideas on Pinterest. So I decided to make it an Elf breakfast and introduce our Elf Buddy to Cole. I explained that Buddy had brought snow covered donuts and hot chocolate with extra marshmallows for us to enjoy why we learned why Buddy was here and that he had come from the Northpole. Let's just say Cole was crazy excited...I'm mean all this sweet stuff for breakfast who wouldn't be!

 

Buddy also brought a gift from Santa ... a McQueen Ornament!

 

It's just another great tradition I'm excited to begin with Cole this Christmas season. One that's both fun for him and us. So now I just need to make sure Buddy is in a new place every morning. Sounds easy enough but I have already nearly forgotten twice in the first week. My expectations are low I will make it to Christmas.  

Our Christmas Tree

Every year right after Thanksgiving we head out to get our Christmas tree. We usually just go right down the street and grab a nice 8 foot Douglas Fir, but this year we switched it up. Last year by the time Christmas came our tree was pretty dried up, obviously pre-cut tree's have an expiration date and it had hit about a week before Christmas. fail. Of course we could just wait this year to get our tree to ensure it didn't happen again...but that wouldn't fly with Hubs. So this year we set our to cut down our Christmas tree, starting a new Shinaberry Christmas tradition.

So we headed over to the eastern shore to a cute little tree farm. I had found it online and after researching it we figured we found just the right place.

 

It really was an enjoyable ride over and we made our way out to the middle of nowhere and when we arrived we all were excited to pick out our tree.

 

After looking around we asked the tree farm owner where the Douglas Fir tree's were, and he explained to us that the Douglas Fir's were already cut down. Um mm what?!?! Yea so we drove 45 minutes to a Christmas tree farm to cut down our own tree and they were already cut down. He assured us they had just been cut down two days ago and that it would last through Christmas. All we could do was laugh. So we loaded our tree and figured all in all it was a fun experience even if we didn't get to cut down the tree ourselves. Though I would have really enjoyed watching Hubs put some work into cutting it down.  

So Very Thankful!

This thanksgiving went by so fast and it was fully packed with 2 turkey dinner meals to fill our tummy's. I didn't take many pictures and that's OK. If thanksgiving taught me anything this year...it's to be thankful for your loved ones. Hold them tight ...we take for granted the time we have to spend with them. Time can be so fleeting so remember to tell them how you feel and be grateful for now.

Hubs and me both had a few days off for this holiday so we were able to enjoy lots of time with family, hunting down our Christmas tree, shopping and introducing Elf on the Shelf to Cole.

It was a prefect laid back weekend that ended with one of the most amazing comebacks from the Baltimore Ravens. Ray Rice, 4th and 29...no worries he's got it! WOW!

Cole and his GG

 

GG and my Grandpa

 

This turkey is almost fully cooked

 

Dada reading to Cole

 

My dad set up a Little train set for Christmas and of course for Cole. Yea he loves it!

My love