Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Speechless

WoW! I have some news! Some BIG news!!!! I was going to write a cute little blog about the fact that I am pregnant. That's really not even big news compared to what I learned today. We had an ultrasound today to see the real due date of the baby because I had a miscarriage right before I got pregnant.

Well, I AM HAVING TWINS!!!!! OH. MY. GOSH. TWINS.


I am FREAKING OUT here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The due date is August 8th, but I'll probably have them a few weeks early. I'm only 8 weeks along, so hopefully it doesn't nip me in the butt that I am posting this on my blog so early, but I just had to share the news. Plus, I just can't hide the fact that I'm pregnant anymore. My belly is already gargantuan and I am SICK SICK SICK. Details will come in next post.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A Post That Turns Out About Hannah....

Well, let's see. These past two weeks have been somewhat eventful for us. We've been sick in this house, which is definitely not fun. Hannah has had a nasty cold for the past week and a half, which means less sleep for all of us. I'm trying my best to take away her binky too, which she only uses to help her fall asleep for naps, but have been failing miserably because she won't take a nap without one. Stubborn little girl! I NEED that precious 1 to 1 1/2 hours to myself. So that leaves me in a pickle.....do I take away the binky and give up my free time, or do I continue to give her the binky, despite the fact that she's too old to have it, for my own selfish reasons?

Besides this constant battle that has been going on in my head for the past couple of weeks, here are a few other things that have been going on:

Activities:



Ward Christmas party- We had a yummy Christmas feast and talent show with our ward a couple of weeks ago. Santa didn't show up, however, because our Bishop's cabin started on fire that same day, and unfortunately, he's probably the only one in our ward who could pull off Santa. Sad day for him and his family, though.

Work Christmas party- This year, good old Staples threw a pot luck as a Christmas party at the store because funds were too tight to take all of the employees out to eat. The food was good, though, and they had a white elephant gift exchange, which ended up being pretty fun.

Christmas Primary program- At church on Sunday, Hannah got to participate in her first Christmas primary program. She's not really in primary yet, just nursery, but our ward is different because we are all young students. There are about 7 kids, all ranging from 16 months to 2 1/2 years in the "primary." The parents of the children all had to go up with their kids, considering the children are still so young and have no idea what they are doing. They sang "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam," and I found myself getting emotional watching Hannah sing and lift up her prop sun every time the word "sunbeam" was sung. It was so cute to see my little girl growing up and yet so sad. I just can't believe where the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday I was holding her as a newborn in my arms, and now she's practically in primary.
What the "h?" (H stands for heck, by the way;)

Hannah flirts- Another indicator that my daughter is growing up. We met with our bishop on Sunday and Hannah was flirting her way into his jar of candy. It was seriously the funniest thing I've ever seen. She was batting her long eyelashes, cocking her head to the side, giving a cute half smile, and sticking her hand out for him to touch it. She charmed her way into getting four pieces of candy out of him.


A few other indicators that my daughter is trying to be a big girl:



Yes, that's Hannah shaving her legs. I caught her in the bathroom, hiding in a corner, trying to shave her legs. Thank goodness the cap was still on the razor this time, but I did catch her once really shaving her face. Luckily there wasn't any blood.

Despite the fact that my daughter has been really good at throwing tantrums lately, getting into trouble, being extremely stubborn, etc., I've really had the chance to just step back and look at her this Christmas season and see what an incredible little girl she is. She makes up for all of her stinkerness by the cute things that she does, such as playing pretend with her baby, calling her dad a "scraggle muffin," putting her arms around me and giving me a kiss without being asked, and using certain phrases such as "I'm just...."

"Hannah, stop touching Dad's Xbox."
"I'm just pushing the buttons."

"Hannah, I need to change your diaper. Come here."
"I'm just hiding in the corner."

Anyway, I love this little girl more than words can describe.

Somehow this post turned out to be about Hannah, but she's really just a sweet little girl and I am thankful for her.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Christmas At The Sprague's

Almost every year since we've been married, we've been able to go to California around Christmas time. Because we went to California for Thanksgiving this year, we will not be able to make it there for Christmas. I've decided this year that because Hannah is getting old enough to recognize what Christmas is, it's time to start some of our own traditions. We put up our decorations on Monday and I was actually quite proud of the way the tree turned out. We usually just have random ornaments that were given to us by our parents and no cute color scheme. Last year I bought some red and gold decorations after Christmas, so I got them for a good deal. The tree actually has a small theme going on this year. Sure, I added the important ornaments from our parents (Some are hidden in the back. Do you have those ugly ornaments from when you were born like we do?), but a lot of them are new!

One tradition that I enjoy is that every year we decorate the tree together. This year we did it while watching Frosty The Snowman. When we are done with school and have a house to fill with decorations, we will get a real tree every year that I hope to be able to chop down with my family. There is nothing like the smell of a real Christmas tree; believe me, I've tried the Christmas tree scented candle.....not even close.







Cost of two strings of lights: $10
The feeling of seeing Christmas lights in a bush on the outside of your apartment, even if it is only two strings and looks absolutely pathetic: priceless

some day:


As part of the Christmas tradition, we also like to make goodies for other people. These cookies were the grossest sugar cookies I've ever tasted, so we didn't give them out, but we'll try again next week with a different recipe.



A tradition that I've started this year was something that my mom did for us as kids. She used to make bear Christmas ornaments every year for each of us. I used to get very excited to see what my bear would look like. She wrote our names on the bottom of it, which made me feel special. I still have all of my bears and hang them on our tree every year. This year I made one for Hannah, one for me, and one for Scott. I plan to do this every year for each of our kids. Hannah loved helping me make the bears and hang them on the tree, and I really enjoyed making them.
Other traditions that I enjoyed as a kid were reading the nativity story on Christmas Eve, lasagna with sausage and meatballs on Christmas day (we're Italian), and not seeing ANY of my gifts until Christmas morning (It leaves a fun suspense to do it that way). I plan on keeping those traditions with my kids as well. Feel free to take any of my traditions if they interest you. I would love to hear some of your favorite traditions (or you can just leave a comment even if you don't have any traditions).