2010

My wish for 2010 ...

12 months of happiness

52 weeks of fun

365 days of success

8,760 hours of good health

525,600 minutes of good luck &

31,536,000 seconds of joy

for all my family and friends!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Years Eve.

Until next year ...

34 weeks

This was me at 33 weeks. We were at a Christmas party. My friend April took the picture of me. Thankfully she seems to always snap pregnant pictures. I am thankful because I am never in the mood to have them taken but always love to have them after. Thanks April!

Here is a little update after hitting the 34 week mark.
:: I am emotional. I have always been pretty laid back and not really on the emotional side but these last few days I have been a wreck. Which leads me to my second...
:: I am so so tired! My body doesn't want to sleep so I am tossing and turning all night.
:: I swear my belly is growing at an alarming rate. I feel HUGE.
:: I have given up. Well I have given up the urge to gain "just a little" weight. I have gained more then I wanted and so I give up. Its one less stress for me to deal with righ tnow.
:: I am getting impatient. Very impatient. A friend of mine had her baby on Saturday and I was jealous. I feel rediculous for getting jealous because she was a week overdue and obviously it was her time! But I still had that twinge of jealousy.
:: I am feeling a bit nervous. We are switching health insurance on the 1st of January back to Kaiser. I have seen a midwife thru Providence this whole pregnancy but now were switching. We had Kaiser when we had Lila back in 2007 and loved it. Its more expensive every month but its well worth it. Our deductible is so much smaller and its much better health care. I am just nervous because its so last minute! But I have had no problems or complications so it should be a very simple and easy switch.

Sorry if I sound like I am complaining. Honestly its been a very good pregnancy and I am very thankful for that. Its always these last few weeks that really get hard. But soon enough I will have a new baby boy in my arms!

Friend Makin' Monday {New Year's Resolutions}

Wow...Its hard to think that Christmas is all over.

But it is and now its time to look forward to the New Year!

I have always had a hard time sticking to new year resolutions but I am going to try real hard this year. Here are a few on my list!

:: Lose 20 lbs after pregnancy

:: Have more patience with my daughter

:: Start saving money for a down payment on a new {bigger} house

:: Take more time for myself

With Blake's arrival in the next few weeks I am going to be in desperate need of loosing some poundage so that is on the top of my list. I want to be a hot mom. Its true! I am going to try Weight Watchers because I heard that your able to still loose weight while nursing. Any of you have any luck?

During this pregnancy my nerves have been shot. I have been more feisty and moody and I feel like I have been a little hard on my daughter these last few months. I am sure that its also the terrible twos that have plagued this home as well and that hasn't helped much. But I am determined to have more patience with her this coming year. Don't laugh...a newborn and a 2 year old will make it so easy, right??!!

My husband and I live in a small house with a dog, cat, fish, a nutty 2 year old, and soon a newborn. Its a bit tight and will only get tighter as we go. I would love to get into a cozy, larger house. I am hoping that in this new year the economy will get better, that we can save money to help with a down payment on a new house and that we can get more money for our current house then what was estimated this year. My fingers are staying crossed!

And last but certainly not least...

Me, Me, Me! I need to take more time for myself. I don't remember the last time I had time to take a bath, read a book or paint my finger nails in peace. I can only imagine that with a newborn it will only be harder but I am going to try. For the sake of my family, I need some alone time!!

I know that these are all possible goals and with the help of my blogger friends, my family and my close friends, each of them are very reachable.

What are some of your New Years resolutions?

Visit {aefilkins} for more Friend Makin' Monday posts!

It was a very special Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

We had a great one. On the Eve of Christmas we put out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and when she woke up she had a special Santa gift, her stocking was full with toys and the treats set out for Santa were gone...well most of them!

She was so excited. She got the guitar she wanted and SO MUCH more.
Seeing the excitement and the joy in her that morning was everything I wanted. I loved it!
Thanks to all our family and friends for making this Christmas such a great one!

holiday wishes

♥Merry Christmas♥

&

Best wishes from our family to yours!

Enjoy,

The McAulay Family

Proof Santa is REAL

I won another giveaway from BlueViolet over at A Nut in a Nut Shell! I got a free proof from icaughtsanta.com. Its such a cute idea and Christmas morning I can show my daughter that Santa was really here. Its only 9.99 and its super easy to do. I would have bought the picture if I had not won, actually.


To see the magic and wonder in her eyes is going to be the most special moment and I cannot wait!

All I want for Christmas... {Friend Makin' Monday}

Happy Friend Makin' Monday! I am almost done with all my shopping for the holiday. So thrilled to be able to relax this week!! All I want for Christmas is...

• A very exciting Christmas for my daughter

• Snow on Christmas morning

♥I am wishing you all a Christmas that fills your heart with joy and laughter♥

Visit {aefilkins} to see other Friend Makin' Monday posts.

p.s. Oh and dont forget to leave out cookies and milk for Santa!!

Peacock Lane

This was our first year going to Peacock Lane as a family. Lila is really impressed with Christmas lights so we decided to walk the few blocks and see all the lights. She loved it. A huge grin the whole time and she pointed to every Santa and snowman we saw.

"Look at this!"

"Look at this!"

OMSI rocks

I can't remember the last time I went to OMSI. Maybe 8 years ago or longer. I have heard that they have an amazing play area for kids 5 and younger so we went to check it out.
I was impressed. Of course my pictures are horrible {camera phone}-it doesn't look like much when you look at them and we were there for 3 hours but didn't even come close to playing with half of the stuff. Lets just say that we will be going back again and again. Hopefully Santa will get us a membership!

Circle of friends

Chacoy over at ma21cuteboy passed this fantastic blog award to me! She has a wonderful blog and is a rockstar!

So as I accept this award, I need to pass it onto 5 other deserving blogs and I need to tell you about 5 things that I like to do!

1. I love to blog.

2. I am addicted to the serial killer Dexter.

3. Shopping is a great joy of mine. Even though I dont do it nearly enough.

4. I love to make crafts with my little girl.

5. I love drinking bloody mary's and dirty martinis. Although this is somthing that I am not currently participating in. Sniff sniff...

Now I get to acknowledge 5 very deserving bloggers:

1. Willis, Party of 6

2. The Daily Fiasco

3. My Name Ain't June!

4. Seriously, Why Can't I?

5. Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts

You girls all rock! Keep up the fantastic blogs!!

patiently waiting...and waiting some more

This morning I went to the local Post Office to mail out an Etsy order and to get some last minute stamps for our holiday cards. In an attempt to "beat" the crowd, I had Lila ready at 9am. It opened up at 9am as well and we are about 5 minutes away. I felt great and I really really thought that we wouldn't have to wait too long.

I was dead wrong.

I was told that there was a line before the damn place even opened! Normally I wouldn't care waiting in a line but with a 2 year old that is {full} of energy its a bit hard to keep your sanity. Luckily I was surrounded by older women who were swooning over her and kept her busy most of the time. Although, when Lila was on the floor I kept telling her to get up and there was an older gentlemen who kept saying, "Oh, let her have fun." Excuse me Mr. Man...this here is my kid and I am in charge. I don't like my kid crawling on the floor in public places. DISGUSTING! I just ignored him. Trust me I wanted to punch his lights out but I kept calm. You don't want to mess with a tired, cranky, 8 month pregnant woman. I guess he didn't read his guy handbook.

So we ended up leaving a little over an hour later. A freaking hour at the Post Office. Not my idea of a fun time!

We drove as fast as we could to Starbucks and I got Lila a cookie and myself a yummy peppermint mocha. I thought we deserved a treat!!

Friend Makin' Monday {Holiday Home Tour}

This weekend we went to a tree farm out in Estacada in search of the {perfect} Christmas tree. Its a family tradition to go out and cut ours down. Tromping through the mud in our boots and running in between all of the trees is always so much fun. This year the little one had too much fun! Grandpa David had a blast chasing his granddaughter all around the tree farm. She was laughing hysterically the whole time. I will post a cute video of that soon...

Our little tree and some more decorations...Happy Holidays!

visit {aefilkins} for more great friend makin' monday posts!

pin ups - a favorite local find

I have seen these prints all around Portland at local salons, bars, boutiques and restaurants and have always loved them. Brenda Dunn is the artist and illustrator. She is very talented. Then I recently found out she has an Etsy site and sells them online as well. I think they are so gorgeous and I am going to be getting some real soon. She has a great sale going on right now too. Most of her 8.5x11 prints are only $10 bucks! Thats such a steal. They are so beautiful and unique!

http://pinupbrenda.etsy.com/

Scary St. Nick!!

Lila was scared to death of good ol' St. Nick.

She gripped on to her daddy for dear life and wouldn't look at Santa. She was crying, HARD and all I could do was laugh. I wanted so desperately to get cute pictures of her and Santa but it just didn't work. Shit, I even sat on his lap and tried to show her it would be ok. Didn't help at all and I felt pretty weird after. But it's what we do for our kids!
Anyways, I didn't get the best pictures because I was laughing so hysterically.
The very best part is that she wanted to still let him know what she wanted. So she yelled, "I want a guitar for Christmas, Santa!"

Santa even got up out of his big chair to give Lila a coloring book and to help with getting a picture or two. My husband looks all sweet but he said that he wanted to punch Santa out because Lila was freaking out more being that close to her! I can totally see it now...Santa pressing charges against my husband cause he knocked him out. LOL. It makes me laugh!!

This is the traumatized little girl right out of Santa's range.

Sorry Lila but your mom had to at least TRY!!
There is always next year...