Christmas Break!

There are some benefits to having a job that essentially furloughs you at the end of every Dec (read=mandatory 1.5 weeks of vacation/holidays). And a Daycare which would have charged full weekly rate if Addie came even 1 day this week. No thanks, I'll use more vacation and keep that $240. What benefit exactly is that, you ask? 2 weeks of no work. Or maybe, just 1.5 weeks of no work and 3 extra days of not having to go into the office. Having already worked 5 hours today with conference calls, emails, phone calls, and sign-offs it hardly feels legit to call today "vacation." But at least I'm at home with Addie.*

I love it. It reminds me of finals week in college leading up to Christmas break. Ahh Christmas concerts and trying to make sure you weren't too hungover to study the next day. Sure, craming in all the extra work is a pain. But you literally get to turn off your brain for two whole glorious weeks.

*So more about being home with Addie today. Our morning started at 5:30, with her waking up and throwing up in her bed. I got there right as she started and caught most of it with my hands (a trick that pre-baby me would shudder just thinking about...but moderately effective for mess containment.) She threw up 4 more times that morning, most of which went into trash cans placed strategically through out the house (once all over my jeans.) Opp- she's waking up now. More later.

Squishing Baby Bumble Bee

Here's a funny recap of singing a car song with Addison. Enjoy!

Me singing slightly off-key while Addie makes the hand motions, "I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee, won't my mommy be so proud of me! I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee... Ouch! He stung me"

Me to Addie, "What's next honey?" Trying to prompt her to sing the next verse.

Addie, "Kill it!"

Me, "Ah...yep that's right. I'm squishing up my baby bumble bee...."

Note that nowhere in the song does it actually say that the bee is killed, nor have we discussed what it would mean to squish the bee. Interesting.

Big Girl Weekend

Well, it was another weekend of milestones at the MitMit house. Here are a few of our favorite assuming encounters/accomplishments/musings from the weekend:

• Potty Success! So while we really want Addie to start potty training (cannot imagine two kids in diapers come April!), we're also trying not to push too hard. She can be a little stubborn, and this has the potential to backfire badly. On Sunday she seemed to really turn the corner and used the potty multiple times. She even went "number 2" in the travel potty. (Don't know why the travel potty, but she fished it out of the closet and insisted on use this potty.) Is this also significant in that she was telling us when she needed to use the potty, rather than just responding when we ask her. This morning right after she woke up, she asked and went in the potty too. Addie even insisted on wearing a big girl pull-up to school rather than a diaper. So a big GOOD JOB goes out to our Addison on her progress! Editor's note: for any great-grandparents reading this blog, potty usage is a completely appropriate topic for a blog about parenting toddlers. Just in case you were concerned about our apparent disintegrating values.

• Cleaning Up for a House Showing: Whenever we're trying to quickly pick-up, clean, and get out the door, it seems to take even longer to clean-up behind Addison than to do the actual cleaning we set out to do. Read = in the time we started cleaning Addison actually makes more of a mess than we originally started out with.

• Sunday Night Bath Time Conversation (after meal of Swedish meatballs & Ligonberries):

Me: Look at Mama so I can clean the berries off your face.

Addie: No Mama. Not berry.

Me: So if it's not berries on your face, what is it?

Addie: Bacon.

(If you don't get it, neither do we. There was no bacon at dinner.)

It's a girl!

Last week's ultrasound reveled the opposite of what I expected - we're having a girl! Pregnancy hormones must have my intuition on the fritz...I've been having boy baby thoughts for weeks!

Now the fun starts - selecting a few "new" things for baby (let's face it, she'll be getting a lot of hand-me-downs) and finding the right name. Decisions we've made so far (okay I've made):

1. Baby's signature color will be PINK. Addie's signature color is purple, and this will be an important distinction to aid in her identity development. (No, honey your toothbrush is the pink one.)
2. Baby will look like mom. Yes, I'm making this decision - from the brown hair to the Siri shapped feet.
3. Baby will be an excellent sleeper, mostly due to big sister tiring her out.

Now on to the name decision. Very important. Right now I'm trying to steer away from all of our "runner up" name choices from Addison. I really want this to be a name we've chosen specifically for baby. Addie likes to give her input on the names too. Her top (independant) picks are Tootie (from Yo Gabba Gabba!) and Oliva. Last night at bed time I started asking Addie if she liked any of Mom's favorite names-

Do you like the name 'Charlotte'? Yes

Do you like the name 'Katelyn'? Yes

(Reaches over and taps my belly) Baby Charlotte.

Do you think we could call her 'Charlie' for short? No. Baby Charlotte.

MitMit Family Note: The above names do not represent our "choice" or "only choices" for baby names. As such, we kindly ask that you not get your hopes up, start calling the baby by either name, or lobby in favor of influencing name decision. To be as direct as possible, comments such as "What? We thought you were planning to name the baby Charlotte" are not allowed. Thanks for your support.