X-Mas, New Years, & preggo updates:

Oh boy, oh boy where to begin??

First - Christmas recap:

Our Christmas this year was, as usual busy, busy, busy. Never a dull moment when you have two large families to visit within a 2 day period. I know I always complain about having to make the "rounds" at Christmas time, but honestly it's all we've ever done and it always ends up being a good time....tiring, but fun, especially this year being 36 weeks preggers and jotting from house to house, let's just say I should've/could've been more of a team player this year! :( Anywho, Christmas was great at that! Donnie was excited about pretty much everything from his Spike the Dinosaur (Jr., I might add) to me opening socks in my stocking, he "ewwwwwed & awwwwwed" about most all the gifts we opened, it was pretty funny. Nolan enjoyed watching, he wasn't too much of a participant this year, oh how soon that will end.:) I also, might add that the kids did amazingly well at the Christmas Eve Mass this year, pretzels and gummies kept them satisfied...thank-you Lord! Not sure what has happened since, but they've been at each other's throats the last few days.... don't ya just love how kids can change in the blink of an eye! :/ Oh, my I almost forgot to add the BEST gift Donnie received this year....take a look, we'll be heading up to Dee-triot City tomorrow for the show & dinner! My brother is an Event Accountant for Joe Louis, Fox Theatre, Cobo.... so, these tickets were his X-Mas gift to us, how sweet is that!? Let me fill you in, as I'm sure lot's of you reading already know Donnie is obsessed with Dino's, and when I say obsessed I mean it, most of our life with Donnie involves something to do with Dino's on a daily/hourly basis... cartoons, books, Halloween costumes, Christmas gifts, Birthday gifts, even his conversations always end up leading back to Dino's somehow, someway.... even his preschool teacher mentioned his "love" for Dinosaurs....(mmhmmm, I know what she really meant was obsession)! So, tomorrow is the day, here we come Dino's!


Second - New Years:

Didn't do anything too exciting on New Years Eve....had to miss out on the Barczak's New Years Eve Bash, Bummer! :( Both of the boys were sick with fever's, so we stayed home and celebrated with take-out & a movie, not so bad. I did have to miss out on the highlight of my evening which would've been the lucky "nut" tree, cracking my walnut to see what the New Year had in store for me...Boo! But, Don and I did manage to relax and watch "He's just Not that into you", I liked it, made me think of my single days....man, those seem like forever ago! It gave me a few good laughs. :)

New Years Resolutions:

1) Patience (is a virtue)....that I NEED help with...lol! No really, I'm going to work on my patience this year, as I know I'll need it. With baby #3 on the way, in just 3 short weeks... work, motherhood/wifehood, classes, & other obligations, I need to just have some patience with things.
2) Relieving stress in a healthy manner....(something other than getting angry, yelling, or turning to alcohol ;). I do need to make sure I try to exercise this year, somehow I've got to make it a routine...I used to exercise a lot, like waaaaay back in the day, I would exercise almost daily (whaaaa, seriously where did those days go?)! Not only did it help me stay in shape, but it's always been a huge stress reliever for me. So, I'm going to try REALLY hard to do something at least 3-4 times a week, even if it's only for 20 min.

3) Pregnancy:

Well, it's coming to an end here soon, almost finished, I can't believe I'm actually saying that....only 3 weeks left! I'm 37 weeks right now & feeling larger than life! My legs and feet are swollen, making it uncomfortable to be on them for very long. So happy that it's almost the day when we get to meet the newest addition to our family, but I'm also anxious, scared, overwhelmed....not really sure how the adjustments going to be with 3 kids vs. 2, and all kids still being very young, ugh! just gets me anxious thinking about it! Someone PLEASE tell me I'll live through it! I know things will fall into place eventually, routines will happen, the kids & mommy/daddy will adjust, but I'm just still nervous.

Oh, yeah, NO NAME STILL: much help is needed! A few ideas:

* Rhenner (Don, not a fan...)
* Fynn
* Connor
* Harrison
* Cole

Give me your thoughts...PLEASE, or this baby is going to have NO NAME when he enters the world, poor little guy!


** Gotta go, pics. to come, I've got X-Mas shots of the boys, not sure where they ended up though??**

MIA

I've been such a slacker....

*Insomnia....never had it. But, I do now, it's crazy...... I'm not tired, wide awake at night and ready to go at 7am, man hormones do CRAZY things to your body. :)

*I'm busily trying to finish wrapping gifts, making cookies, and keeping peace between my children. I will be back to post pics. of the holidays and let you in on the "scoop", not that there is one, I guess I just mean the everyday happenings over here.

*And..... with a new BANNER God willing. Seriously, Nolan is an INFANT in my banner & I've got a new baby on the way in 4 short weeks! LOL! Pathetic I know!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has a Happy Turkey Day! I'm enjoying my day with many of those I'm thankful for in my life.... starting with my wonderful husband & boys.

Enjoy your day!

Names

New names I'm really liking...

* Colby
&
* Maguire


Hmmmmm?? I likey, likey!

31 1/2 weeks preggers.....almost 32! Gettin' there!

"buddy"

I've gotta get my braggin' rights in for today because, I'm such a proud mama lately..... of my Donnie! He is turning into such a nice big brother lately. Now of course, my kids have their spats and there are days when I wish I could drop them off somewhere and return when they're not acting like total maniacs, but lately it has been nice to see the interactions between them. They're really developing a relationship/friendship, it's nice to see.


Lately Donnie:

• Will make sure Nolan has a toy to play with, if Donnie is playing with a dinosaur, he'll make sure to get Nolan one to play with.... if he has a car, he'll get Nolan a car to play with. I'll hear him say "here ya go buddy, you can play with this one..."



• In the morning if Nolan wakes up first and Donnie hears him, he'll go into his room and say "good morning buddy, hi buddy, it's a good day today!" Awww, makes my heart melt every time I hear him talk to Nolan like this.



• Donnie has officially given up his stokke chair because Nolan refuses to sit in his booster/high chair anymore. He'll ONLY sit in the stokke chair (I know it's because he wants to do everything Donnie does). Donnie at first was a little put back by the fact he had to move into a normal kitchen chair, but now he's fine with sitting in his "big boy" chair, so Nolan can sit in the other.



• The other day Donnie went to the store with my mom and she let him pick out a dinosaur, as he had lost his in her yard earlier in the week. Donnie made sure he was able to get one for Nolan as well. He said he'd only get one, but he had to make sure Nolly had one too.



• I'll go upstairs and put laundry away or do other misc. things at which Nolan & Donnie will follow in my path. When they get up there Nolan always sits in his room and gets into his rocking chair with a book. Donnie will scoot in his chair with him, put his arm around him and pretend to read to him. The little voice Donnie uses cracks me up, it's like a little boy trying to make his voice sound even littler (if that's a word). Too cute.

So, as much work, sweat, & tears (so to speak) as these boys put me/us through, it's all worth it for times like these. I'm just so happy & proud of Donnie for being the nice big brother I new he could be....this is a definite contrast from a 1 1/2 ago, when Donnie was, ummmm not so into Nolan you could say. ;) Finally, I'm seeing some hope, a little light at the end of the tunnel. :)

3:00 am..... blog post

Well, I promise this will be a more uplifting post than the last. WOW! Can you say "Mommy meltdown"! :) BTW: thanks for all the nice comments....

Anyways, last night I was up for oh, about 3 hrs. (1:30-4:30) due to my wonderful, once "easy going Nolan" (as I used to call him), but while I was up I was thinking what day tomorrow was....which obviously is Wed., I was hoping it was Tues., and the week/day that my cleaning lady comes. Which lead me to thinking about what a GREAT, WONDERFUL, investment she has been.

And yes, I say investment because she has given me back a little shred of my sanity! Believe me, it wasn't easy to convince my husband we needed a cleaning lady, when yes, we are perfectly capable of doing it ourselves. That's great, fine and dandy, but really when do I EVER find the time to clean my 2500 sq. ft. house, 3 bathrooms, wood floors, tile floors, bedrooms, living, dining, & family rooms.... really WHEN do I find the time, someone please tell me?? Anyways, I made the decision as a full-time working mom that it would be an investment for me to pay a cleaning lady, to look at it as a bill that I had to pay every month..... and it's the best thing I ever did! She's not real expensive, she comes once every two weeks (2 times a month), she does the basic surface cleaning..... my big things were bathrooms & floors, if she could do my bathrooms and wood floors really good I would be happy, along with dusting and vacuuming of course, but those were my little pet peeves that I HATED to do myself and so loved it when they were clean. So, needless to say, one of the best purchases/investments I've made would be my cleaning lady. Oh, how I Love thee!

The 2nd purchase/investment (really this just makes it sound better... investment :) would be my Coach sunglasses. Yes, really my Coach sunglasses... I {heart} them. Not only because they're super cute and fashionable, but because they are so clear, no glare, I NEVER EVER have to squint even in the brightest of sunlight. It truly amazed me when I went into the sunlight and didn't have to squint or see a glare at all. I've never in my life owned a pair of sunglasses that were more than oh, 20 bucks.... and I do still have 3 or 4 pairs that are from Target that I do like, because they're totally cute, but honestly they don't even compare to my Coaches! I will definitely be buying another pair, maybe 2 (1 black) when I go to Chicago this spring.... they are so worth the money to me.

So, what is the best or your favorite purchase/ investment that you've made?? Is there anything that you've bought or made an investment in and now think to yourself....I'm SO happy I have these or I'm so happy I invested in this?? Just curious?

why? seriously, why?

** warning....venting post, rambling & profanity will be used **

Okay, I just want to know if I have a stamp on my forehead this week that says: shit on Katie, or give Katie an attitude, or cry ALL fucking afternoon with mommy because you'd rather be with anyone else but me, or be pissed at Katie about something just cause!! Please take a number and add yourself to the list!

And to make things even better for me would you please throw in some *extra* dark denim jeans with the whites, while they are in the middle of washing, just to turn them a pretty light blue...... AND ruin ANOTHER one of my pregnancy shirts, one that actually fits me (one of the five! God how I {love} my wardrobe right now!:)) And it would be SO easy to just shoot over to the store wouldn't it? (you know the 2 stores in J-town that carry maternity clothes) and buy a couple more shirts that fit, it's SO easy to do when I work FULL TIME, have conferences in the evenings this week, 2 kids to tote along when I do get out of school, and then well, I could go on Sat., oh, but wait my hubby works on Saturdays..... even when he's NOT supposed too sometimes, just because he's oh SO dedicated! :)

And let's just add the extra 38 effing lbs. that I've gained ALREADY & I'm only 29 1/2 weeks along....yeah, you do the math! Hmmmmm.... and to make me feel even better today, my feet and hands were extra swollen, just to make sure I feel like even more of a fat ass than I already am. Let's see what else....oh, my back feels like I'm an 80 yr. old woman today, especially after an 8 hr. day on my feet with some of the obnoxious little shits I have to deal with all day, with NO parental support at that! Gotta love it!

And maybe you could call me just to tell me that your pissed at me about something. Or better yet tell me to not roll my eyes at you, even when you sound like a dumb-ass, and you're allowed to sound like a dumd-ass, but I can't roll my eyes! Oh, and you could always just let me know by not speaking to me that you think I'm a shitty friend....and let me figure it out when you cut off all contact, why don't you just twist the knife in my back while your at it...bitch!

Can I just get a freakin' break somewhere along the line this week?? Maybe a peaceful cup of coffee by myself in a QUIET place with NO children in sight, or a friendly note just because you actually do like me, or a laundry fairy to come make everything better. I know I'm so whining right, whoa is me, and this probably doesn't even make sense to you, but it's either this or sit in my basement & cry by myself....which I already did tonight, so here I am blogging about it.

Okay, I'm gonna go up into my bedroom, try to decompress, fall asleep and hope for a better day tomorrow....