My little helper

We had a pretty uneventful week.  I had a nasty cold for most of it, which was definitely not fun.  Jamie had Thursday and Friday off work due to the temperatures, and he has this entire week off for winter break.  I’m not jealous.  What I feel is definitely stronger than jealousy!

I can't believe I still have 8 weeks until my due date... ugh, I feel overly-pregnant, if that is possible!  My doctor said it's normal, all the uncomfortable stuff starts earlier with each pregnancy.  I'm hobbling around like an old woman and using words like "malarkey"!  As it’s getting harder and harder to do all the chores and such on the weekend, I've enlisted a little helper to help me out:

She usually makes more messes rather than helping to clean, but she's so darn cute and well-meaning. 

After church this weekend we took Maggie to the mall to run around and do fun kid stuff.  She really loved the merry-go-round and even got to go on a train ride.

The happiest (and only?) hot dog
driver I've ever seen

Check out my new ride

Riding with Daddy

Way cuter here than when she
was told to get off the ride...

We are mostly finished with Maggie's room, just need to get some curtains.  Jamie did a fantastic job on the walls!

Here's a few other randoms from the week:

I don't know what this look is, a
flash-forward to her teenage years?

She will just pose like this for long periods of time,
waiting for Daddy to flip her over

Love this girl

Grammer always sings this song to her grand-babies, and Maggie just loves to sing it after bath time lately:

Our funny valentine

Maggie is our little song bird.  She just loves singing songs, and lately her favorite one has been “Part of Your World” from the Little Mermaid (which I 100% approve of)!  She really gets into the emotion of the song (if not the exact words), and loves belting out the long-hold diva notes.  I love that I can now figure out what song she is singing, at least most of the time.

Lately at dinner, we’ve been goofing around with facial expressions.  Her favorite expressions are “surprised” and “angry.”  I love seeing her transition between them both.

I was a bad photographer this week and didn’t take any pictures… luckily Grandma snapped a few!  Maggie spent the night over there so Jamie and I could go the Bishop Foley auction (I know, most romantic date ever!).  Jamie surprised me and had my desperately-flat piano tuned – it sounds sooo much better and is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.  He knows I love when gifts are both practical and thoughtful!  …and I got him a bunch of beer… not so much practical or thoughtful – he wins again!

Uncle Jason’s birthday was Sunday, so the family got together for dinner and games.  Maggie helped Grandma make a cake:

Do you mind?  I'm trying to make a
masterpiece here!

Oh, I was just trying this on, making sure
it still functions correctly...

Her new favorite game

Sleepy Head

Well, this past week started off difficult – we were still trying to help Maggie adjust to her big girl bed.  It took one and a half hours to get her to fall asleep the first couple nights, and I continued to sit outside her door to make sure she didn’t feel scared.  Clearly this was not the solution.  So I decided to copy our old crib routine exactly (except with a bed)… no lights, sing a lullabye, put her in bed with a kiss and then walk out and close the door.  After 30 seconds of whining, she settled right down and went to bed!  Jamie bought some big body pillows to put on either side of her.  These help her from falling out of bed, and also raise up the covers enough to let her turn around with her braces.  She's done great all week!

I love getting Maggie up in the mornings and just sitting together on her bed for a minute cuddling.  She likes to sing songs and look at books while getting changed and cleaned up for the day.  She still really hates getting her hair done.

Dancing to express her big girl feelings:

Maggie’s new annoying phrase is “I can’t” in a super-whiny voice.  If you ask her to do something she doesn’t like, she covers her eyes and says her little phrase.  It’s slightly nicer to hear than “NO!”, but drives us crazy sometimes!

Red Robin has become our restaurant of choice...
sigh, we are such parents

Our other little girl is becoming more and more active, kicking and squirming all over the place.  Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night while she boogies down; I don’t mind, it’s only a couple minutes before I clonk out again, and I love feeling her movements.

Thursday we had another check-up with the orthopedist.  Nothing new to report – Maggie's feet still look great and she’s walking very well.  The doctor warns us at each visit that her left foot could potentially require a minor surgery in the future because it is still a little stiff.  He says it’s not very likely, but he also keeps reminding us…

Maggie and I did some painting on Saturday:

She gets very focused when painting, just
like her Daddy

Maggie really hates having anything on her hands - she will whimper because she has a little sauce or crumbs on her fingers during a meal.  You can imagine my surprise when she decided to start finger-painting (albeit with one very carefully placed finger):

Brrrr

We had a very snowy Sunday/Monday in Michigan!  It was not fun getting out of the driveway (and back into it) on Monday, but shoveling is good exercise, right?  Jamie came down with a rough stomach bug yesterday, so after all the effort of getting myself to work, I had to come home at lunch and take care of Maggie so he could rest.  Thankfully he had a snow day yesterday and today, so no missed work!  Our neighbors' son use his mega snowblower to take care of our driveway - thank God!  I could barely handle digging out the car and porch, and Jamie was in no condition to even stand up.

We had some fun in the snow Sunday though!

I can't believe all this snow!

Making her first snow angel!

Trying to look at her first snow angel

Getting pulled by Daddy:

Daddy getting pulled by Maggie:

The other big news for the week is that we moved Maggie into her big-girl room this weekend.  She started Sunday with a nap, and did pretty well.  We decided to keep going and put her in there for bedtime as well the past couple nights.  She definitely has a harder time falling asleep, and struggles to flip over while under the covers with her braces.   We have had to lay next to her on the floor for a little while until she falls asleep.  Last night I tried to leave while she seemed to be dozing… that back-fired.  I think she felt really abandoned because I spent the next hour+ outside her door, reassuring her I was there until she finally fell asleep.  I think we’re on the right track, it’s just going to take some patience and time.  I’ll post pictures of the finished room once we get the final touches done.

Terrible picture of the monitor showing
my big girl in bed

We made jello jigglers after her first nap to celebrate

Pretty soon she'll be able to drive...
getting some practice in at Home Depot

Daddy, I told you I was going to wear the flowery bow today!