Vacay?!

My parents are going to Puerto Vallarta this weekend. I was willing to drive five hours to meet them just to kill the day on Saturday. I kinda wanted to be home on Sunday for the Super Bowl. Kyle realized yesterday that he has next Monday off of school - as do the kids. (Thanks random MExican Holiday!) So - now I'm bargain hunting for PV hotel deals. I can't think of any better way to kill some time than to do it on the beach, drinking daiquiris (non-alcoholic of course), building sand castles and chilling in the sun. I guess we'll be watching the game from our hotel room (hopefully with English commentators, but maybe not).

Only 50 days 'til due date now. I guess time is passing after all. ;)

55 days!!

I keep thinking that because I'm a grownup and have a realistic sense of the passing of time and patience and discipline and responsibilities and so on and so forth that the last months of this pregnancy should be a blur as they whiz by me in all my maternal labors. Ummm - its not happening.

Seriously? 55 whole days? And that is just until my due date. What if I go overdue? *gasp* The horror. Its too much. Time has slowed down just to spite me.

And Mr. 55-days away STILL does not have a name.

I think the situation is compounded by the last-semesteritis that I am currently suffering from. The symptoms of this condition include an awareness that the end of four years of foreign living and 8 semesters of foreign medical education are winding down. It also includes an intense need to DO something to hasten the end and an inability to think of anything to do - or anything to distract you from your lack of ability to do.

I keep thinking that if the baby would just come, then time will speed up because, well. . .have you ever paid attention to how quickly your baby is one, then two, then three months old? Seriously, they're like backtalking before you know it. This brings me back to my original problem. . .55 DAYS?!

Dontcha hate it. . .

When bloggy moms post just to tell you how wonderful/perfect/intelligent/polite/spiritual their offspring are???


Okay yeah, me neither. *cough, cough*


ANYWAY. . .I'm being the laziest mother in the world today (and yesterday and the day before. . .) and poor Sullivan just isn't sure what to do with himself. For Christmas, Santa brought each of the kids a puzzle. Santa was great and even made sure they were age-appropriate in their total # of pieces. Sully's was 24 pieces, Adeline's 50, and Guthrie's 100. I would find Sully's puzzle completed in its entirety on random surfaces in the house, yet never actually see him doing it. I honestly wasn't sure if HE was doing it or if the other kids were helping him.


Sullivan proved to be as bored as his mom today and a minute ago I looked down to find him doing this:



Awwww, he's so talented (that's Guthrie's 100-piece puzzle). And then he picked his nose and whined for juice.

The Name Game

There is only 1 drawback to finding out this baby is a boy. I cannot for the life of me come up with a name that makes me happy. I had a mile-long list of girl names, which should have alerted me to the fact that this would be a boy. While we were in New York, Kyle and I picked up a book with 100,001 baby names. I have been through it multiple times, each time coming up with an entirely different list of potential names, and each time crossing them all off one by one.

There are so few boys' names outside of the traditional John's, William's and Michael's. (Not that those names aren't great. . .) I guess I am just looking for something different - something that will take hold of my heart and bring to mind pictures of the perfect little boy that is about to enter our lives.

I actually had this same struggle with Sullivan. For the most part I was set on naming him Lincoln. At the last minute I panicked and changed my mind, finally settling on Sullivan when I was a few days from delivery. I'm pretty sure most people hated it at first, but I like to think that our little Sully has the perfect name now. I did have a brief moment of panick when he was about 10 months old. Somewhere I found a little blurb alerting me to the fact that I had until 12 months of age to change my son's name without the hassle of a legal proceding. I came *this close* to changing his name to Lincoln - and only the tediousness of paperwork stopped me (and even that might not have stopped me if we had been in the states at the time - mailing from Mexcio is less than simple.)

I hate to even bring this up in conversations because it usually starts a cascade of name ideas flowing my way - and as much as I hate to have my favorite names criticized, I DREAD telling other people that their ideas aren't appealing to me.

I got a few emails with some decent name ideas - both included one name that is still rolling around my list from last time (can ya guess?? ;). The process made me wonder if maybe the ol' blog could help me out slightly. Will you guys give me some ideas? And promise not to be offended if I don't love them??

Come on - this bump needs a name!

(Self-portrait - explaining the lack of smile and bad lighting. Unfortunately it can't explain away the bed head and no makeup - work with me here.)

Guthrie

Guthrie has been taking Tae Kwon Do (I actually had to google the spelling for that) since the beginning of last semester. (Isn't it fascinating that I'm in my late 20s, my husband will be 30 next year, and we still live our life in semester-long increments?) He received his gi (I also had to google that spelling - it means Tae Kwon Do uniform ;) for Christmas this year - black so it is easy to keep clean. Yesterday he had his test to receive his gold belt. He was so excited and did GREAT! Kyle was blown away at all he had to know and how Guthrie has really absorbed it all. I never thought I would have a kid interested in any kind of martial arts, as it wasn't something that I was into and neither was Kyle. We have a great neighbor and fellow medical student who has participated and taught for years and he was generous enough to offer to teach Guthrie. It has been so great for our little guy to have something special that only he was able to do and I think it may be something he wants to stick with for a long time.

Sullivan

When Sullivan was a few weeks old (I think 3?), we planned a party to celebrate Guthrie's 4th birthday and to bless Sullivan and his little cousin Caelan (Ashley's daughter). We ended up doing it the first Saturday in July (again, I think) because Kyle had to finish the semester and was traveling back from Mexico. I still think its weird that he didn't even meet his son until three weeks had past, but that is a whole different story. The real point is that for Guthrie's birthday he received a fabulous present from me and Kyle (again, I think). We bought him a Fisher Price dinosaur, a T-rex to be exact. This dinosaur had a button on the tail that activated his glowing red eyes and made him roar and throw his head around in a threatening manner. We debated buying the toy for a few reasons: a) I was worried it would scare either Guthrie or Adeline. b) We wanted to get him a toy he would actually play with and were worried that an animated dinosaur might just sit in the corner. AND c) We're professional students and its a rule that you always debate any purchase, big or small. So - we bought the dinosaur and it was a big hit (yay for us!!) After a year or so, it really did start to sit in the corner more and more often and we may have even discussed sending it on its way to the ol' DI pile. . . then SUDDENLY Sullivan turned 1. About the time he could walk, babble, and manipulate small cheerio-like objects, he learned to push that button on the back of T-rex's tail. From that moment, his love of dinosaurs has increased at an alarming rate. He now has quite the collection and has his own special way of referring to each of them. (Triceratops, baby triceratops, blue triceratops, spike tail, baby spike tail, yellow spike tail, green raptor, T-rex, etc. ) Every holiday rolls around and I wonder if by the next holiday he will have outgrown his obsession - but no, it goes on and on.

The End

Our Christmas Vacation

Hanging out in the car shortly after arriving at Grandma and Grandpa Guthrie's side of town.

If only they were always so loving. :)

The first character we found after getting to Disneyland. I was happy Sullivan wanted to play.

Riding the train back to Toon Town.

The family with Mickey Mouse. This started Sullivan singing, "Mickey Mouse clubhouse. Come inside. . .come inside." Close enough, right?

Minnie was right outside and we were able to catch her for a picture.

Sullivan was really saying, "You got shoes!" It looks more like he's checking out her underpants.

Grandma Guthrie and the kids with Minnie.

This was right after the Roger Rabbit ride in Toon Town.

The tea cups were Addie's favorite. She made us go back for another round the next day. Sullivan and Caelan had the biggest smiles for the entire ride.

We didn't realize that Star Wars had a height restriction. This picture was taken after we broke the news to Sullivan that he had to stay behind with Mommy. It was REALLY sad and involved giant alligator tears.

We left Kyle and Guthrie at the park and took Adeline and Sullivan home for a mid-day break. Lucky for Addie, we found Princess Aurora near the entrance and stopped for a picture. Adeline had sleeping beauty on her sweatshirt and loved showing it off.

Yeah. . .it was cold!

On Day 2 we let the girls wear their princess dresses.

Tea Cups -Take 2

At our rental house - showing off their ears.

Grandma and Sullivan

Family picture outside of Ariel's Grotto - the restaurant we went to for dinner on day 2.

Meeting Belle.

Meeting Cinderella.

Sullivan was in love with the princesses and seemed to have charmed them. First he trapped Snow White and took her to the window to point at the water and the lights. Soon enough, he had Snow White, Princess Aurora and Cinderella all hovered around him. We thought it was hilarious and he was in heaven.

Meeting Aurora.

Sullivan's alone time with the princesses.

On Christmas Eve we had our traditional progressive dinner. This year we basically progressed from Ashley's house to my parents. Ashley dressed the kids up and read the Christmas Story. Guthrie was Joseph and Caelan was Mary. Ainsley was a cow. Adeline was an angel. Sullivan played the shepherd.

It was a difficult labor, as you can see. Jesus was breach and stuck in her waistband. You can see the obligatory cow present for the birth.

Per a forever-tradition, we all received a present of fresh, new pj's on Christmas Eve. They didn't have much stretch for the belly - but they are cute nonetheless.

The girls' jammies.

The boys'.

All our glory. :) It was so cool to have everyone there for Christmas Eve.

Right before we snuggled kids into bed. We were all pretty tired and I think it shows.

Yup, tired - but not as weary as that pajama top is feeling right about now.

Wait - aren't they supposed to be winding down?

Christmas morning came a teeny bit too soon for Kyle.

Adeline squealed with delight at EVERYTHING. Seriously, everything (toothbrush, crayons, puzzle, etc.)

This kid loves his dinosaurs and his reaction over the knitted stegosaurus and triceratops was adorable. I love to hear him ask for them by name.

Trevor wanted a turn in the pop-up tent.

Sully LOVES his Thomas the Train. For some reason, Thomas comes out more like 'dumb a#$' when Sully says it.

The day after Christmas we drove up to Show Low to visit Kyle's sister and the rest of his family for our Christmas party. I realize now that I was pretty lame and didn't get many pictures. We had so much fun with our cousins and playing in the snow was definitely a highlight for the kids. I was a wimp and stayed tucked safely and warmly inside the motor home for most of this little excursion.

Sully and Grandpa Hunter needed a refreshing nap one night last week. Grandpa woke up and went out to dinner with us and my sister-in-law, Kizzy, and her husband, Jeremy. Sullivan enjoyed a few more hours of sleep before waking up to play with his cousins.

I am SUPER excited about this!! I wanted to get a silk sling but couldn't quite justify the $100+ cost. Ashley found a great deal on the perfect fabric and I already had the rings. Today my mom sewed this up and I tried it out on Sullivan. It is AWESOME. I love how supportive the fabric is without being overly heavy. Plus, I think the color and shine are awesome.