February Updates

Dear Winter:  Please go away, we've spent enough time together. Bring back the sunshine and warmth.  Since our return from San Francisco, the cold weather has kept us pretty cooped up. It's hard to find the motivation to leave the house when doing so involves wrestling a toddler into her winter attire and trying to zip a jacket over your growing pregnant belly. All of this on top of the usual exhaustion of loading and unloading the stroller and buckling up the carseat and by the time that we get into the car I'm typically too tired to do much else.  

We do still leave the house for the sake of our sanity, but our excursions aren't too thrilling.  We go to the gym, to doctors appointments, and on Mondays we venture out to our mom and tot class, which is always an adventure. As the youngest in the class, Aaralee's attention span could use some improvement and listening is a skill we've yet to master.  Last week's class took us to an art studio where my little Picasso painted a canvas, as well as the floors, herself, and Mommy.  While the rest of the children calmly painted their canvases, mine ate the paint and had a meltdown when it was time to give back the paintbrush. 

This week we tried out taekwondo, and although she had no interest in doing the moves that the instructor showed the class, she was the happiest kid in the room. She ran around as fast as possible, span in circles, squealed with excitement, and frequently stopped to check herself out in the mirrors lining the walls.  If nothing else, these classes get rid of some of her energy and typically results in long, much appreciated afternoon naps.  

Despite her endless energy and frequent tantrums, I love this age.  It's amazing how much she learns each and every day. She imitates everything that she sees us do (encouraging Ryan to tone down the road rage) and although not much of it makes sense, she's a little chatterbox.  She'd be content eating 24 hours a day, not unlike myself or her daddy.  

With such a busy little girl on my hands it's often hard to imagine that every day brings us one day closer to bringing home a newborn. I'll be 24 weeks pregnant as of Friday, and I don't understand how time is going by so fast. Slow down, I'm not ready!  Those lazy, sleepy days that we enjoyed with newborn Aaralee just won't be a reality with a nearly 2 year old to care for at the same time.  Most days I'm excited, some days I'm terrified. I remind myself that playgrounds, baby carriers, and coffee exist for a reason.  I'm so thankful that this baby will be born just in time for warm weather, giving us the ability to spend our days outside.  

This past weekend I took newborn photos of my friend Cassie's beautiful baby daughter. After cuddling with a tiny 6 pound human I'm even more excited to meet my own.  I also took some family photos of my aunt and cousins, despite the cold weather and numb fingers and toes. I like to occasionally feel as though I'm a hard working wife that is contributing to the household income, so photo shoots are always fun... even if I barely make enough money to cover my addiction to buying photo props. 

Other that that, life has been pretty uneventful, which is okay in my books! I know that life is only going to get more chaotic in the near future, so I'm enjoying our current version of "calm" while it lasts.