Follow-up

This is a follow-up to my last post about freaking out. Thanks for the advice everyone! I went to Babies R Us today to get a playpen and some little odds & ends, and now I'm actually getting pretty excited! I bought some cute little t-shirts and onesies, then sat around with them on my belly thinking "those don't really look all that big compared to this basketball" and I actually smiled and got excited. I'm just picturing her, curled up on my chest like Lo used to, in a little ball, and taking a nap. I'm pretending that a 2 year old isn't bugging me for something while all of this is going on, and it's fabulous. I just can't wait to see what she looks like - we know from the last ultrasound that she has Bryan's nose, and some hair (but Lauren had hair, too, when she was born and where are we now?), but so soon we get to see how cute she really is - like she could be anything but.
Lauren has been calling herself "big sister", and I realize that she might not be so terrible when Mya gets here. I see how she interracts with other kids, and I know that she will be such a great big sister. She might mother her to death, but that's OK.
Anyway, I'm just feeling very calm today and very blessed, also because this was the day (25 days before my due date) that I had Lauren, and things were so scary for us. I'm scared to death that I might have to go into labor on my own, but it's OK - women around the world do it every day. So I'm just happy, a little nervous, a little scared, but I know that she'll be here soon, I can't control the circumstances, and that's just fine. At least I can look forward to 3 months of not working - woo hoo for that!!

Freaking Out

I'm just putting this out there - I'm due 4 weeks from tomorrow and I'm freaking out! My baby's room is torn apart like the rest of the house and I'm nesting but I can't do anything about it. And I think I'm in denial of how far along I am because I refuse to pack a bag. All of my baby clothes are still in storage. Will someone just tell me to breathe, calm down, and everything will be fine? I just wish I knew which house I was going to be in when she gets here. The logical part of me is saying "stay in there until the last possible minute", but the pregnant part of me is saying "come whenever you want as long as you're healthy". Bryan says I need to not worry about stuff that is out of my control, but the problem is that EVERYTHING right now is out of my control!!!

We're Homowners Again!!!!!!!

So I don't have pictures yet, but we got our keys yesterday and we're finally grown ups who have a house again!!! Too bad there's about a month's worth of work that needs to be done. We got a good start with some holes in a wall, banging up some tile, and tearing down some hideous wallpaper last night. Aaah, demolition. I just wish I was able to do the fun stuff - but I can't really swing a sledge hammer being 8+ months pregnant.
Lauren just runs around and hides in closets saying "new house, new house", and talking about her "big girl bed" that she gets when we move in. Which, by the way, I can't believe I have a kid old enough to be in a big girl bed.
I'm just happy to be getting started on this HUGE project - it's going to be so much fun to see how all the changes we make look in the house. I love doing this!!!!
Anyway, hopefully I'll be putting some pictures up soon so everyone can get the full before/after effects.

Yellowstone is not the place for 21 month-olds

Old Faithful - this will go down in Kinyon family history as one of the worst days ever. Lauren was just about the orneriest kid in the entire world, and when you're stuck in Yellowstone National Park for 6 hours, that really sucks. This is us waiting for Old Faithful to go off with a kid who has had about 10 minutes of nap time all day. It will be much more fun when she's older!

Buffalo! Or as Lauren called the painted ones in West Yellowstone on the street - camel-bears!
This was so cute - little chipmunks were eating right out of everyones' hands - here's Brock and Becky feeding some granola bites to one - it was adorable!
The picture quality sucks - I know, but this just shows you a little piece of the temperament of Lauren that week, even with her little pink six-shooters on! I'm normally not a "junk toy" buyer, but they were so cute, I couldn't resist. You can't see very well, but she's got a black bruise under her left eye. Apparently camping is hazardous to my child's health - in 4 days' time, she managed to give herself a black eye, a cut over the other eye, scraped up her hand, a cut on her chin, and a huge scrape in the middle of her forehead. If the child would just watch where she was going, life would be much easier on her. OH, and I forgot to mention the constipation as well.

Aside from all of that, we still had fun with Bryan's family and being away from work and everything else. I hate to sound like the trip was a total loss, because it wasn't, we still had a pretty good time, all things considered. We just weren't prepared for Lauren to be such a little butt :). Let's just say, thank goodness for Off bug spray with Deet, sunscreen, portable DVD players, and full hook ups that enabled us to watch Ratatouille ALL DAY LONG in the trailer because my child is a danger to herself in the outdoors.

I FINALLY got my pictures!

Here are just some of the random pictures that I have had in my camera FOREVER since I couldn't find a way to get them onto this computer - I need to really think things through the next time we move (which hopefully won't be for a long time) and pack away all of our connections and cords and battery chargers.

Sassy pants with her hat and shades
This was when we were moving - hours in the box - we had to make sure and not keep any boxes around made up or we couldn't get her out without a SERIOUS tantrum.
I know this isn't a very good picture, but this is Lauren being super proud of getting her dress back on herself. She finally let me fix it when she realized that when you fall and don't have the use of your arms, you have nothing to stop you from face planting into the floor.
Only the best of daddies can make forts like this!

I love my Lolo!!!

I just have to tell this cute little story about my kiddo yesterday. She was a royal pain in the @** all day yesterday, so finally at 7:30 I decided it was just time to give her a bath and get her little booty in bed. She splashed me more than usual during bathtime (she knows I hate that) and wouldn't sit still for 3 seconds for me to lotion her chubbiness down. Then, as soon as she was all slick, I helped her stand up and she stepped forward, gave me a big hug, and said "I love you". I could've just melted into a big puddle right then! I was so frustrated with her all day, and so ready to get her into bed and out of my hair, and for her to just say that without me telling her to.......just goes to show you, kids can be the biggest trial and frustration in life, and then one little look, or one little "I love you", and everything changes. Parenting is funny that way. Your patience is pushed to the limit every day, but you still love the little stinkers more than anything.

Walking.......Finally!

Lauren is finally walking!!!! I would've posted some pictures of the event, but I can't get them to dowload to my in-laws' computer for some reason. But here's how it happened:
We were playing downstairs and she was taking a couple of steps here and there, which for her is good, because Lauren really has to be in the mood to walk, and she looked at me and said "I want to go see Daisy". She walked across the family room, and down the hall - only falling down once. My jaw just dropped! That little stinker could walk all this time, she was just deciding that she didn't want to yet. She crawled up the stairs and said to me "I walk!!", then walked across the living room, through the kitchen to the window to see the dog. And I, being pregnant and emotional, just started bawling. I seriously could not believe it! I've been so worried that she wouldn't walk before the baby came, and then what was I going to do, I can't carry around 2 kids all the time - especially a 2 year old. When we went to bed that night, I told Bryan that I was worried she was going to wake up the next morning and not want to anymore, because anyone who knows my kid knows that she's just about the most stubborn, hard-headed kid on the planet, and if she doesn't want to do something, she's not going to do it. But, of course, she hasn't stopped and just wants to run - yes, not walk, run - everywhere. I love it!!!