Just saying...

Being sick stinks.  Being sick while pregnant stinks even more.  I never realized that I was addicted to NyQuil when I had a cold until I couldn't have it, And tylenol just isn't doing the job.  This is what my nightstand looks like...

I cleaned up the snotty kleenex for the picture.  I ran out of kleenex at 2:35 this morning. I wept. Toilet paper is not soft like kleenex.  I've had the jar of Vicks Vapor Rub for 10 years.  Not kidding. It's moved with me 3 or 4 times.  The Bible is for when I'm awake at 2am and praying to God that he will clear my nose and let me sleep.

Just a few randoms...


Don't you hate it when you have a nice big glass of ice water and a clean shirt on, you take a drink and the ice gets in the way and makes the water splash all over your nice clean shirt.  I hate that. I hate it even more when the water is replaced with pop and the clean shirt is white. Man that really stinks.

I also hate when I realize I have eaten the entire fun size pack of 3 Musketeers bars I just bought yesterday. 

Then I realize I'm pregnant and the baby is hungry and craving chocolate so it's ok.

I DO NOT hate this picture...

My baby teaching my baby to use a laptop.  

Or this picture...

My daddy (yes, I still call him daddy) and my baby at Disney on Ice.  She loves her Papa, and oh does her Papa love her!

Final thought...

I planned to have my mother in law pick up Ally tonight so I can surprise The Duke with a romantic evening, just the two of us.  Let your minds wonder where they will.  Since our nights have been filled with sweatpants (me), tv, and a demanding but loveable 3 year old I thought we could use some time alone.  I want to look pretty when he comes home from work, but being sick I will actually probably look like this...

At least I have better hair than this lady.  Unfortunately the red nose will be accurate.  Here's hoping for a good evening!

Catch you on the flip side :)

Just a few things that make me smile...

Burlap makes a pretty nice wreath, who would have thought.  I made this one up yesterday.  I would like to experiment with different bows and such.  The Duke thinks I should sell them...any takers?

Tiny little glue gun and abnormally large glue stick.  It just makes me laugh.  I'm probably the only one.

Baby clothes, baby bedding, baby decor. I'm obsessed with baby stuff.  I have purchased enough clothes to last him until his 16th birthday.  All on sale of course.  The pile is starting to take over the room, yet I can't seem to talk The Duke into getting the room ready yet.  Does he not know the baby will be here in 17 weeks!  Let's get the ball rolling dude!

Ally had a sleepover last week, which was all fun and games until the actual sleep part.  Here she is with her buddy Harper. They are so stinking cute together. Right after this picture Ally tried to steal Harper's doll, but let's savor the innocence for a moment.

The first snow of the year was a welcome surprise in our house!  Ally was ready to play outside at 7am, so we bundled up and headed out.  This is her first snowman, she was hugging him and talking to him.  It was not fun when she looked outside later in the afternoon and he had melted.  Hopefully there won't be therapy in her future.

     

Ally playing dead.  She's actually trying to make a snow angel, but the snow was too hard and wet.  She could have laid there all day if I let her. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traditions - We all have them

Most of my favorite traditions center around my family during Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Thanksgiving night us Wandell's would start our countdown to Christmas with our first Christmas movie of the season...Holiday Inn.  It is not a movie about the popular hotel chain. It's a wonderful black and white movie with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.  Most of our holiday movies include Bing Crosby.  The first time The Duke watched this movie with us, he admited to me he didn't understand why we would all laugh at spots he didn't think were funny.  He doesn't get it, and for that reason he is now excluded from our family tradition.  Just kidding.  The day after Thanksgiving we set up the Christmas tree.  Always colored lights, never white.  And always and angel on top and not a star.  Changing any of this would greatly alter the universe.  Christmas Eve up until I started my own family was always the same, we watch a Christmas movie, usually A Christmas Carol, read Luke 2: 1-15 in the Bible, the story of the birth of Jesus, then my dad reads The Night Before Christmas.  When we were little we left milk and cookies, until my dad told us that Santa really likes beer and cheese, then we started leaving that.  When my Papa Bill (my mom's dad) was still alive, he and his wife Tiny (that's what we call her) would come over Christmas morning (early, my brother and I would wake between 2 and 5am, depending on the year) and watch us open our presents and have breakfast with us.  Breakfast was and still is the same...sausage strata and monkey bread.  I am so thankful that my parents started these wonderful traditions that we still cherish to this day.

Now that I have a family of my own, it has been bittersweet to leave those traditions with my family and start new ones.  With the blending of families we now have our own way of spending the holidays.  Christmas Eve is now spent going to church with The Duke's family, opening our gifts and eating oyster stew and soup and enjoying their company.  I'm still trying to convince my wonderful Father in law to read The Night Before Christmas, he's caving in.  The Duke, Ally and I then return home, set out our milk and cookies then head to bed.  Christmas morning is spent at home opening gifts then we hustle off to spend Christmas day with my parents.  We get there in time for brunch, which is still sausage strata and monkey bread.  Sausage strata and monkey bread are so good...but for some reason we only have it one time a year.  Maybe that's what makes it so special.

One tradition I am starting with Ally this year is a fun idea I found on Pinterest.com.  Each year, starting at age 3, I will ask her the same 20 questions and see how her answers change.  Here are the results from the first session!

1. What is your favorite color? pink
2. What is your favorite toy? baby doll with the nightgown (she saw this in a catalog and won't stop talking about it)
3. What is your favorite fruit? cheese
4. What is your favorite tv show? magic school bus
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? hot dog
6. What is your favorite outfit? pink heart shirt (she was wearing it at the time)
7. What is your favorite game? animal game (no idea what this game is)
8. What is your favorite snack? hot dog and cheese curls (what she was eating for lunch)
9. What is your favorite animal? all of them (animal lover apparently)
10. What is your favorite song? Zippity Do Da
11. What is your favorite book? Cat in the Hat book from the library (my least favorite book at the moment)
12. Who is your best friend? Seth and Kara (I'm a little sad she didn't say mommy)
13. What is your favorite cereal? "I don't know mommy, I don't eat cereal" (got me there)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? "ride my bike, swing, play"
15. What is your favorite drink? milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? "When Santa comes and brings me toys" (She must be referring to Christmas)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? "my bedtime baby that Grandma got me" (she's never slept with it)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? "oatmeal and sausage and eggs" 
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? "birthday cake" (duh)
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? " a snowman and a helicopter"  (I can't make this stuff up)


Oh what fun this will be!

I'm Still Here!

Ouch!  Logging into my blog today the words...last post Oct 31st really stood out.  It's November 15. I didn't realize I had neglected my plethora of readers for that long! My deepest condolences.  I feel like using big words today.  The Duke sometimes makes fun of me for the words I use.  For example, the word pallet.  Some of you might only think of this as a wooden structure that you sit stuff on or use to move stuff with a forklift.  But the word pallet has a whole other meaning as well, get ready for it....it can also mean a small bed on the floor! This is exciting new information for some of you.  I use this word often.  "Ally, should we make a pallet on the floor to watch a movie?"  Or for unwanted guests, rather than offering them a bed to sleep on in your house, you could offer to make them a pallet on the floor.  The first time I used this word amongst my non-Missouri friends or relatives, I was laughed at.  But it is a word, I assure you.

Another word I get made fun of for using is woller.  I admit, it is not actually in the dictionary, but it is used quite often by my family.  It means (in our vocabulary) to wiggle around, or not stop moving.  I'll use it in a sentence, "Ally stop wollering on me and sit still!"  It has greater effect than actually saying, stop wiggling or moving around so much.  

Another favorite is cattywampus.  It's a fun word that means not straight, or out of order.  I taught Ally this word, now its fun to hear her say her shirt is cattywampus, or if her shoes are on the wrong feet they are cattywampus.  Her teacher must love me.

Words are fun. Unless they hurt. Then they are not fun.  Choose your words wisely :)  Lesson for today over.

In more exciting Duke news...we found out we will be welcoming a baby boy come March!  We are super excited!  I've been busy buying boy clothes, shoes and blankets. I even have the crib bedding and paint all ready to be set up.  The Duke tells me we have to wait until after the Holidays to get the room ready.  He's always spoiling my fun.  I am a tid bit nervous about having a boy.  They are rough and destructive.  I like things clean and organized.  And they have these things that spray urine everywhere if not covered correctly.  I'm not sure how to handle this.  But I think if we had another girl I would have become an alcoholic, just saying.

Well, my peeps, hopefully it won't be another 2+ weeks before my words grace your eyes again.  Until that time comes, keep on keeping on.