Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving...

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring except...

I was partially awake last night when I heard a loud noise in the house. I had just flopped over in the bed to lie on my other side and gotten my "nest" of pillows readjusted in all the right places when I heard it. So I did what every red-blooded American girl would do. I shook Anthony until he woke up and told him he needed to go check the house because I had heard a noise. As he stood up, we heard, "Daddy?" spoken softly outside the door. The loud noise I had heard was Tessa shutting her bedroom door as she left it. You see, when we first moved Tessa to a big-girl bed, we put safety child door knob covers in the inside of her room. She was too young to wander the house at night--but she was very capable of doing just that. Since then, Tessa has developed a very healthy fear of the dark. Apparently, the dark is where dragons are. She usually won't go into a dark room and certainly not a dark house alone. So we removed the doorknob lock. The last month, she has slowly come to discover this new freedom. And that leads us to last night.

We have officially begun that stage of parenting where your child comes into your room at night and asks you for a cup of water, or says they are scared, or tells you they are about to throw up. It's like being promoted in the field of parenting. (haha)

For Thanksgiving today, we cooked our little family a nice small feast. Before we ate, we made special hats together to wear. Anthony was a pilgrim, I was an Indian, and Tessa was a turkey. I know she spent over an HOUR playing with the glue, scissors, and construction paper. You give that child an art project and she goes to town!

My favorite dish was the deviled eggs. Tessa loved the rolls. Anthony said it was all great, but he ate seconds of the green bean casserole.

Now we are plunked on the couch digesting our meal while Tessa naps hers off upstairs. We are truly a blessed family!!

Hope you are having a great Thanksgiving with your loved ones today!!

Time keeps on Tickin'

There comes a point in every woman's pregnancy when she no longer cares how much sleep she will lose, or how painful labor will be, or how different life will be in her world with a new baby--she just wants it to be over!!!!!! I am officially there. I am past the worry stage. I am now into the please-let-it-be-over-soon stage. Here are some visual images that I think do a better job of communicating my feelings than my words ever could:

Maybe I've said too much...

Disney Princess Makeover

We got a book from the library a few months ago that had all of the Disney princess stories in it. I know there are a lot of mothers out there that cringe at the whole Disney Princess thing. I really never thought it would stick in Tessa's head so well. I guess it is reinforced over and over again whenever we walk into any store and see all of the Disney Princess products on display. Like, the Safeway has Campbell's chicken noodle soup with the noodles in Disney Princess shapes. And Tessa has such an eye for these things! She can pick a head shot of Ariel out of a million Disney characters in seconds. She is just all about everything princess right now. And no, we don't discourage it. Mostly because she is 2 1/2 and very cute when she pretends to be a princess. Groan all you want! My most favorite part of this whole fascination with princesses, is that Tessa will call her Daddy a Prince and ask him to dance with her. They will get up and dance around the living room or kitchen. And she always has this cute smile on her face. My second favorite part about the princess phase is the names she calls each princess. Here are a few of my favorites:

Princess = Princa (prince - ah)

Belle = Bale

Beast = Peas

Ariel = Arrow

Snow White = Nose White

Sleeping Beauty = Slippin' Booty (my personal favorite)

Cinderella = Cinarera

I was driving Tessa to school the other day when the light for our turning lane turned green. The woman in front of me didn't notice the change, so I said--rather impatiently (HUGE SHOCKER)--"Green Arrow"! Tessa was listening in the back seat and said, "No, Mommy! It's a RED Arrow". It took me a minute to realize that she was referring to Ariel and her red hair. And I had to concede the point.

The Turtles said it.

The days of parenting one child are numbered for us. Tessa will unknowingly step into the shoes of "big sister". I feel like I am cheating her in some strange way. I have become increasingly aware of the little moments we have together. I spend more time cuddling and snuggling with her, and I love to just watch her play. I dedicate "Happy Together" to my precious princa:

Imagine me and you, I do

I think about you day and night, it's only right

To think about the girl you love and hold her tight

So happy together

If I should call you up, invest a dime

And you say you belong to me and ease my mind

Imagine how the world could be, so very fine

So happy together

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you

For all my life

When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue

For all my life

Me and you and you and me

No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be

The only one for me is you, and you for me

So happy together

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you

For all my life

When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue

For all my life

Me and you and you and me

No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be

The only one for me is you, and you for me

So happy together

Ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-baBa-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba

Me and you and you and me

No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be

The only one for me is you, and you for me

So happy together

So happy together

How is the weather

So happy together

We're happy together

So happy together

Happy together

So happy together

So happy together (ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba)

Thoughts on baby number two.

My God, my God! Help me! It's about to begin!!!

Dear Lord, PLEASE make this baby come right at 37 weeks. I can't stand being pregnant any longer than that!

Father, I wish I wasn't pregnant. OK, I wish I wasn't having another child. Please reverse time to March so I can start over. I SOOOOOO don't want to do this.

What's he going to be like? Will he look like his daddy? Will he have blue eyes and dark hair? Will he have long eye lashes? Will he laugh early and have dimples?

WOW! I can't wait to experience having a boy! It will be like the tomboy coming back out in me. I have always done better with guys.

I don't know if I will like having a boy. I mean, they are so........boyish! They like bugs and boogers! They don't have cute clothes like girls do! Their hair is basically one style forever! And they don't *gasp* like to shop!!!!!!

And the tumbling conflicting mass of thoughts goes round and round in my head like the clothes in my washing machine are doing right now. By the way, I totally waited until I only had one pair of clean undies before I broke down and did laundry this time. At this rate, there will be fungus growing on all the surfaces of my house when we bring Todd Junior home. The gripping fear and the awesome wonderment are still duking it out for control. The worst part is having to filter out the nay-sayers. There are several people in my life who just fill me up with negative thoughts. They mean well (I think), but they give me that pitiful head-tilt and wish me luck. Or they share all of their war stories. I say "war stories" because some people make having two children sound like the hardest, most grueling, in-the-trenches job ever. I half expect them to start pulling up their pants legs to show me scars or thump their scalp where the metal plate had to be installed in their head after the Battle of the Legos. Fortunately, the Lord has seen fit to bless me with some optimistic friends who realistically represent the challenges but at the same time gloriously embellish the good things.

Don't worry though. I fully intend to use some of the entries of this blog to represent the changing realities of the Todd household. And I will embellish the good as much as possible because life is better for everyone that way.

Quote of the day:

"Hold onto your butts!" said by Samuel L. Jackson in Jurassic Park.

Life in General

The days around here continue to blend one into the next. Especially since the time change. I am at a distinct disadvantage because I am tired a lot of the time these days. And I am supposed to stay up later so I don't get up at 4 in the morning. But last night, I could only make it to 9:00, and I woke up at 4:30. So I am going to try for 9:30 tonight. Wish me luck!

The Lord has truly blessed some of my time with Tessa lately. We have shared some very special and heart warming moments together. I am very glad for that since I will be less able to focus on just her in the near future. Just yesterday, she came over to the kitchen table where I was reading a book, and climbed up in one of the chairs. I could sense she was staring at me, so I looked up at her and she smiled really big. I said, "What are you smiling at?" and she said "I'm lovin" (which means "I love you"). I was charmed and scooped her into my lap for a hug and kiss. She snuggled against my huge belly, and we contentedly chatted together. At one point, she looked outside at the trees blowing in the wind and said, "Trees are laughing." It was an enchanting description of the bright yellow trees dancing in the wind.

Today, we got home and all Tessa wanted to do was "paint a princa picture". This activity usually gives me about 20 minutes of quiet time until Tessa's artistic expressions begin to travel outside of the box. Sometimes I just let her go with it as long as she doesn't eat the paint.