One Last Christmas

My parents came down for a few days this week and brought us our Christmas presents. Whitney got a lot more cool stuff, our house is starting to look like a Toys R Us!!! Yikes!!!! My parents got her a little vaccum that may be her new favorite present. If only it really worked....

Wade showed her that you can eat snow. She thinks it is the coolest thing!

Daddy wait!!

(no, I don't wear a nice coat outside to play, we had just got back from a dr appt and my parents had Whitney in the back yard)

33 Weeks

33 weeks and counting!! So far everything is going well and not much to report, minus a little stomach bug I caught ealier this week. I was so tired and had that awful muscle ache. Thankfully my parents were here to take Whitney shopping in Des Moines so I could stay home and rest. Not sure on exact weight gain, about 15-20 lbs at this point. With Whitney I gained a total of 28-30lbs, so maybe I'll weigh in at the end a little less with this one?? Not sure how that will happen with the way I have been eating this pregnancy! We had a tour of the birthing unit at the Ames hospital here, and it looks pretty nice. I'm ready to get in there and have this baby!!! (closer to my due date of course) My plan is to get Whitney's new bedding for her twin bed and get her in it next week. I'm sure I'll blog about that later. I would also like to have baby's room/stuff ready to go by Jan 16, one month before my due date. Never know if she will decide to come early! Hopefully January will go as quickly as December and we can get to February!!!

Christmas Day

Not sure who was more excited for Chirstmas morning, Wade and me or Whitney? Whitney of course doesn't get the whole Santa thing yet. She likes him, but doesn't get him. Well, usually first thing in the morning she ALWAYS wants milk and will cry and whine and until she gets it. Christmas morning she was distracted enough by the Dora couch that she went straight for her couch. I think it may be her favorite present this year.

She's not crazy about opening presents. We had to get her going on all of them, and it was hard to keep her going because she was so distracted with all of her new stuff and had to stop and play with each thing.

She got Elmo slippers and jewelery that she had to put on immediately and then sit on the couch to open the rest of the presents. We had a Curious George and Dora themed Christmas. She also got CG movie, books and a coloring book. And for Dora she got stickers, bath toys, puzzles, the couch and back pack.

Her tent with a tunnel!! I was so excited to find this on sale at Penny's at an impromtu stop at the mall while I was on my way to Wal-Mart. Whitney loves it and I love that it folds up into a nice little box!

Relaxing after a tough morning of opening presents!! Watching George of course!

We had Christmas evening at Wade's sisters. I failed to get any pictures while we were there and we didn't get any family photos either?!?! I guess we were all too busy keeping up with our toddlers. Getting the three toddler cousins together is always a little crazy! And Grant, the oldest, does such a great job with patience around the three of them. We missed Lee this year, our brother in law who is currently in Afghanistan. Next year we will be able to get everyone together!

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve together as a family of three. It is nice that we are able to see both sides of our family, and still have a day together as just us. Whitney got to really play in the snow for the first time this winter and then took a nice long nap! We went to Church that evening and then came home for some family time. Whitney did not want any pictures taken, and Wade hates that any time we put on nice clothes we have to take pictures.
We had a fire burning all day. It was nice to look at, but the smell of campfire in our house... not so much.

"Daddy, that's hot!"

Our first time as being Santa. She is really into Dora right now as you can see.

In the Snow

Christmas Eve Morning

The Perfect Gift

Saturday afternoon we went out to "The Perfect Gift". It was put on by the Church we have been involved with and it was open to the community. It was a much needed outing during the cold weather. Little did we know that a blizzard was coming through (we don't watch news channels very much) and just minutes after we got there and into the live nativity/petting zoo tent the winds and rain/snow really picked up. I was worried the animals were going to get skittish and stampede Whitney, it was really windy!. Whitney really loved all the animals and was not the least bit scared! Just like her Dad, she loves the "quackies"


Cookie decorating. They had different activites for the kids, but this is the only one we had Whitney do. She liked the cookie without frosting! She had fun putting the frosting on and helping with the sprinkles. It was a good think I had my mommy hawk eyes on, because I managed to catch about 90% of the sprinkles she was dumping them out.

yummm, good frosting!

good thing they don't make cassette tapes any more! Well Uncle Matt, Whitney had a lot of fun with your white elephant gift!!! :)

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Just an extra update on what is going on in the Welsh household..... Wade is in finals week for the semester and will then have three weeks off. Woo hoo! It looks like he will get all A's and B's, but really had to work for his grades this time around. HS and undergrad and even his first masters came naturally to him, unlike this masters program.

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I am now 31 weeks! My belly is pretty darn big now and at times uncomfortable, especially when Whitney is climbing all over me and trying to get comfortable. Just this past week I have noticed the baby getting the hiccups. I had the worst case of indigestion EVER yesterday, I thought I was getting the flu. I have never had indigestion before and never got it with Whitney either, but have had it about three times this pregnancy. I don't know if baby had indigestion too, because she was freaking out in my belly the whole time. I was starting to get a little nervous something was wrong, but by bed time last night and this morning I have felt fine and baby has been calm again. We are pretty sure we have a name picked out, but won't be sharing until birth. Wade found it and I'm reluctant to commit to it, just because I feel like being the girl I should have the perfect girl name I've dreamed about. Like I'm a failure to the mommy race. I guess that's just me, I haven't always just LOVED a particular name! Whitney didn't have a name for a couple of hours after birth, I really liked Emerson, Wade wasn't crazy about it, but to make me happy he would be okay with it. We both liked Whitney, so that's who she is! Any name I thought I've always liked just doesn't sound right any more. I am EXTREMELY indecisive so I should just save myself some stress and go with the name Wade found. Even after naming Whitney, I had second thoughts filling out the Social Security form the day we left the hospital. Wade said no, she is Whitney!

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On a Whitney update.. we still battle her waking up in the middle of the night. She goes to bed without a fight, even when I think she's not sleepy. BUT, if she wakes up in the middle of the night she wants me to come sit with her and give her a drink of water. Most of the time this only takes 5-10 minutes. And keep in mind that MOST nights she does sleep right through. When she does wake up it's a lot harder to ignore her in the middle of the night when I hear, "oh no, where mommy go?" "mommy, where are you?" Some of our sleep issues lately may be teeth related. I hope. Starting at 16 months she started to get her four molars and four eye teeth. And this poor girl gets them one at a time. I FINALLY noticed this morning that her last eye tooth broke the gum line. Done with teething until she gets her two year molars!! But, does teething really hurt? After losing baby teeth I don't remember adult teeth hurting when they came in, do any of you?

She is still a big time mama's girl. I thought she would start to outgrow it by now, but I guess not. When new baby comes we'll just have to deal with it! We got her a new twin bed last week, courtesy of a Christmas present from my parents, but don't plan on putting her in it until next month. She is not ready for potty training either, so we'll wait until she's ready.

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Gotta run, she's up from a nap calling for me. "Mama, where are you?"

Christmas Has Begun

Owen, Tiffany, Brynna, Grant, Jessica, Whitney and Me

Sunday we had our first Christmas of the season with Wade's family. We held it at our house, which was pretty darn nice not having to pack up and drive any where! The Christmas loot. That's a lot of stuff for 4 grand kids!
Wade slaving away! Good job honey! Wade took over the cooking, which he usually does since we have had Whitney because she doesn't usually allow me to get anything done when other people are around. Shoot, I can hardly get anything done when it's just us! She did do really good with Grandma Cathy and let her hold her and play with her while I was around. It's nice that she is getting comfortable with others the more she sees them.

Owen and Whitney checking out her new kitchen. She loves it! She immediately was pretending to get a drink of water and wash her hands. Come on Matt, Owen wants a kitchen too!

She got a new baby that when you give it a pacifier or bottle it makes noise and moves its face. Whitney was unsure of it at first.

Then that night she was shooting it with her new laser gun. She came up with this on her own, it was just her and me home at this point. Great, is this what she is going to do to her new baby sister?!?!

the next day.... she loves her new baby!! She may be a good big sister after all! She likes to hold it, rock it and feed it. I listed a bunch of names for baby and the one she liked best was "pink baby".

Winter Wedding and a Few More

Saturday we had a friend's wedding to go to. It was really pretty and had great food. It is so nice being in Iowa again and being able to go to these events. Whitney did great, despite only napping for about 15 minutes while at the church. She was a little overwhelmed with all the people and didn't want to go any where unless she was holding mine or Wade's hand. Her cousin Owen on the other hand was running around like he owned the place, what a difference in personalities!

She was super excited to be back home, don't know where she got this burst of energy at 9:30!

Whitney and Aunt Tiffany (darn blog posting my pics sideways again!)

Whitney and her cousin Owen running down the hallway, Whitney really likes playing with her cousin Owen. She can now say his name correctly, it used to be Owna .

Whitney is already jealous of her little sister, she just HAD to have me hold her and be in the picture too while I was getting a Christmas belly shot. 30 weeks now!

Christmas in July? No, Whitney just has this new obsession with her swim suits.

I got a new baby sling and put Whitney in it. When I took it off she had to wear it and carry around her babies!

Charlie Brown Tree

We are hosting a Christmas this Sunday, so Wade decided we couldn't have Christmas without a tree, and that today was the only day that would work to go get it before then. Yes, it was about 14 degrees not considering wind chill. It was our first time going to a tree farm to pick out our own and cut it down. Other years we have gotten it free from post or not gotten one at all because we usually traveled for almost two weeks over Christmas. Whitney was not having a good day and she kind of spoiled the mood for us. Picking Wade up from class to go get the tree. She was in an okay mood at this point. I don't know if she was just tired today, her teeth hurt, or if she is just so spoiled that she can't ride any where without her dvd player. Or all of the above. After we picked up Wade she cried the whole way there. Oh yeah, if the sun shines on her face she just freaks out, this was also a factor for the ride there.
Our Charlie Brown tree. I'm covering up the dead spot, it's basically flat on the backside and the trunk is all crooked, but the side that shows is perfect. Plus, once you shove it in the corner and get it decorated it looks darn nice! Not too shabby for $28!

In her mood today, she wanted nothing to do with Wade. He couldn't hold her, talk to her or even look at her and she would start crying. So much for getting cute pictures by the tree.

Right where she wanted to be, in the truck.

Her first candy cane, she is temporarily happy.

Putting on the first ornament. I got the ornaments out and was figuring out what we had, and she picked one up and said tree, and went over and put in the tree without being told what to do with it. She must be paying attention to other trees when we are out.

While I'm getting ready for bed or whatever, Whitney likes to get into the linen closet and investigate. I let her play with my old glasses and she likes to wear them. She shuffles around and reaches out and touches things and bends down and touches the floor. I can't imagine what the world looks like to her through those glasses, it is hilarious! Don't worry Grandma's, she doesn't wear them long!