33 months old

Taylor passed her 33-months-of-being-alive marker this past week, putting us a mere three months away from both her big birthday and her welcoming a brother or a sister to her life. Yes, we are just about 12 weeks away from welcoming a new little peanut into the party mix we call our family, with our almost-three year old being the spicy nugget of our ensemble. She's definitely the star of the show that gives our entire family that extra boost of flavor.

Our little Princess showed us a lot of love, growth and sass these past weeks, making for one wonderful, yet frustrating, month. We were able to experience the sweet, unparalleled joy of watching our precious girl open Christmas gifts, and we were also subject to some of the biggest, earth-quaking tantrums we had ever witnessed. The emotional rollercoaster we call living with a toddler… It's not easy, but all you need just one unexpected hug, smooch or, I love you Mommy, and that's enough to make this the best job ever.

So we did hit a few milestones this month, one of which was getting her teeth cleaned at the dentist. We had a routine checkup right before Christmas, and both Dr Jennifer and I were blown away by how awesome Taylor handled the whole appointment. Of course it helps that our dentist is a good friend, but Miss T was super cooperative with both the cleaning and the examination. And not only did everyone leave the session with their fingers in tact, but I'm happy to report that despite the gummies-intake, our Princess has perfectly healthy teeth.

I would have to say that the biggest milestone we hit this past month was moving into her big girl bed. We've been crib-free for over two weeks, and she has been sleeping like a champ in her new space. And while it is harder to get her to fall asleep at nap-time with all that freedom surrounding her, all she'll do when she gets out is grab a few books, crawl back up in her bed and under her covers and read, and then I'll catch a glimpse of her on the video-monitor, totally snoozing with a book open across her chest. As my mother says, She's a Blackwell!

Taylor has also become quite the question asker lately. All day long I am peppered with inquiries such as, Mom, what that lady doing? Where that person going? Who that? Why her wearing a hat inside? What him eating? And because Chris and I are the only source of Taylor's education right now, we try to respond with each interrogation with facts and general knowledge. Well, Honey, I think that man is going to the post office, or I believe that woman thinks berets are back in style and is trying to look sophisticated while buying her cat food.

And while her simple inquiries are pretty adorable, sometimes it is quite obvious that she's just talking to her herself speak. She loves her voice about as much as she adores her own reflection in the mirror. The minute she catches a glimpse of herself in any sort of reflective surface, she stops, twirls and says, I look beautiful, Mom. And I always respond, Yes you do, Love. You look perfect. And, as a both a mother and a woman, I hope with all my heart that she never stops admiring her own loveliness and charm in the mirror. Because she will always be the most splendid thing I've ever seen.

But this month wasn't all silly questions and glamour, we had a number of come-aparts that shook both of us to the core. After almost a year of handling Taylor-tantrums, I had started priding myself in being able to calmly deal with the unnecessary crying fits and occasional tests of my authority. But, whether it be she's evolving past my yoga-breathing or the fact that I am entering my third-trimester, we had a few instances this past month that incited high-octave screaming and left both of us crying on her bedroom floor.

For example, Taylor is currently in a no-pants faze. As in, she has refused to wear anything resembling jeans, pants or leggings for the past month. Couple that with both the freezing temperatures outside and the light-weight princess costumes she has been gifted, and getting her dressed in an appropriate outfit to leave the house has turned into a daily battle. So a few weeks ago, Paige and I decided to treat our Princesses to a matinee of Tangled, the new Rapunzel movie. I was looking forward to it, and Taylor was thrilled to go to a big girl movie with her buddy. Well, I woke her up from her nap to go the show, and after informing her that we would have to put pants on under her costume to go, the scene that followed was one of her shrieking and squirming on the floor as I laid all six and half months of my pregnant body on top of her and forced her kicking limbs into leggings. And after ten minutes of wrestling her and threatening her that we wouldn't go, I finally became so overwhelmed and frustrated that I swatted her bottom. And she stopped still, her face grew bright red and she screamed at me, MY BOOTY! And then we both gave up, exhausted and hysterical on the floor.

And after fighting her sobbing, yet wearing pants-self into the carseat so we didn't miss the movie, I had to stop and count to ten before driving out of the driveway because I was so frazzled. Because the last thing I ever wanted to be was the Mom who spanks and yells at her kid. And after collecting ourselves, depuffing our cry-eyes and getting some I'm-sorry-I-spanked-you popcorn and treats, we were all smiles by the time Tangled's opening scene began. And as I held her close while watching the Princess-wonderfulness unfold before us, I just kept kissing her head and savoring the moment. Because in just a few months it won't be as easy for me to just take a Thursday afternoon to go see a movie with my daughter. So for the next 12 weeks I need to just soak-up all the Taylor-time I can, even if that means she's not wearing pants.

Elliot turns three

Yesterday afternoon we adventured to Chuck E Cheese to help Miss Elliot Scully celebrate her third birthday. Not only is Elly-bean Taylor's bestie and partner in crime, but she is also a very special, honorary member of our family. And we love her dearly. And we were super excited to share her special day with her, Paige, Danny, Kyla, Logan and her other friends and family members.

And I don't know who was more excited for the big party, The Birthday Girl or Princess Taylor. For one reason, we had never been to Chuck E Cheese, and since Chris and I grew up going to Showbiz Pizza for special occasions when we were younger, we totally pumped our daughter up on the venue to the point that she announced, before even going yesterday, that she wanted HER Ariel Birthday Party there this year.

And Miss T was also pretty fired up to give her buddy her birthday present - A Tinkerbell costume. Because after having Elliot over for our dress-up party last week, and knowing her love for the animated pixie, we knew she would be thrilled to have a new, sparkly outfit to wear. And Taylor was so sweet about giving her the gift, and never once said, I want that! or That's MY costume! No, she walked into the party and announced to her friend, Here's your Tinkerbell costume, Elly! And then marveled and squealed over how beautiful she looked in it.

And because I am having fun experimenting with my new, fancy computer, here is a video and picture montage I put together from the special day. Enjoy!

Like winning the toddler lottery

About a month ago Chris was talking with a woman that works in his office about Taylor's uber-obsession with Princesses and how our house currently looks like the Disney Store, and she remarked upon how her granddaughter's also adored Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty when they were younger, and that she had some old dress-up costumes that were gathering dust at their beach house that we might be interested in. And after spending her holiday at the coast, she so kindly brought back the frilly, sparkly outfits for our precious Princess. And when Chris showed them to her, her little body started convulsing and she started shrieking, SLEEPING BOOTY DRESS! CINDERELLA COSTUME! with such enthusiasm that Ruby even got up from her nap to check out the action.

And who better to share her new loot with than her very best princess friend, Elliot. And just watching these two beaming toddlers prune in front of the mirror and remark on each other's outfits was like watching Taylor open her Christmas presents all over again. An absolute joy.

Now the only problem is trying to leave the house without one of the new costumes on.

Goodbye 2010, Hello big girl bed

So one of our first projects of 2011 was rearranging Taylor's room to make space for her big girl bed. And if you want to get technical, the absolute first thing we did once the sun came up on 1.1.11 was devour a ginormous pancake breakfast, and then we strategized as to how we were going to fit a twin bed AND a crib AND a changing table AND lots and lots of toys into the not-so-huge room that Taylor is in.

You see, Chris and I moved into our house nearly seven years ago. And for a newlywed couple with a chocolate lab puppy, it was a palace. But throw in a toddler, all our stuff and now a baby-on-the-way, you can safely say that we're a bit cramped. It's not that I want a much bigger house then I have - Lord knows I don't want anymore space to keep clean - It's just that our three-floors are laid out with two bedrooms on the second-story and one bedroom in the basement. And while huffing it up two flights of stairs whenever one of the kiddos is hungry, crying, whatever would definitely help the baby weight come off, it makes more sense to just have Taylor and Baby share one of the upstairs rooms until we find a new house. Yep, we're six months pregnant and house hunting… We're an HGTV nightmare.

And because I promised everyone that Taylor would move into her big girl bed once Christmas was over, and because all of our holiday guests had visited and left, we decided that this past weekend was the day to move one of our twin guest beds upstairs and get our toddler out of her crib. And since I'm in no shape for heavy lifting, and way too scatterbrained to make design decisions, Taylor and I adventured to Target to pick out bedding while my wonderful husband sweated out the previous evening's fun by moving furniture up two flights of stairs all by himself.

And while Chris definitely had the more physically demanding of the two jobs, I was placed in an ugly battle of the wills over what bedding would be on the new big girl bed - OF COURSE she wanted the entire Disney Princess bedroom set, and I was totally in love with a cute, bright flower comforter and sheets. And after plenty of squeals and whines, and a phone call to Chris in protest, we finally agreed on the Princess sheets and a solid-colored, not-Princess quilt. Truce. She gets to sleep on her Cinderella pillow every night, and I get to cover up the hideous, matching sheets every morning.

And after returning home and making up her new bed, our little Princess was so excited to get in her bed that she asked to skip lunch and go right to nap time. And then she cuddled up in her new space and slept for two hours.

And after attending a New Year's party that afternoon, we got home and Taylor immediately requested we all go upstairs just so she could look at her new room. She absolutely LOVES her big girl bed, and has been sleeping like a champ in it. And I don't think she realizes yet that she can get in and out on her own free will, as each afternoon and morning she just lays under her Princess sheets and reads a book, waiting for us to come in and snuggle up beside her and say that it's time to get up. Which I am totally fine with.

So we have successfully conquered one more milestone in de-babying Taylor. And just saying that makes my heart ache a bit. Because even after Baby arrives, Miss T will ALWAYS be my sweet baby girl. Just hopefully one that won't have a binky in her mouth and will at some point be wearing big girl undies. But we will tackle those battles in due time, and hopefully with the same triumph and savvy as we did with this transition. Regardless, we are very proud of our little girl.

24 weeks pregnant

This week I entered my 24th week of pregnancy, and according to my weekly babycenter.com update the baby is just over a pound in weight and about the length of an ear of corn. And my uterus is now the size of a soccer ball. Which is coincidently how I feel when I look in the mirror - Like I'm smuggling round inflatable objects under my shirt.

So the ear of corn is getting bigger and bigger everyday, and so am I. And even though this is my second go-round with growing a human, it's still a bit alarming to watch your body being hijacked by something that weighs less then 1/15th of the weight you've gained. Yes, pregnancy is a beautiful thing and at the end of the 40-week process you produce this amazing little being that you will love more then life itself, but does this baby really need my hips and thighs to get this big? I understand that my body is now a vessel for my baby to grow in, but is it really necessary for my butt to grow so much as well?

And in a full-hearted effort to maintain the giant-ness, I have been trying to watch what I eat and making my frequent visits to the gym. Which, I'm sure is alarming to the other people working out beside me, in that the more I am there the bigger I am getting. This past month I've dedicated the majority of my cardio-time to cycling classes and the pool. And while spinning is pretty grueling, I always feel good swimming laps. But the only problem is that as my midsection keeps growing, my swimsuit is stretching tighter and tighter, pulling the neckline down to the point that Pamela Anderson might give me a disapproving look. So for Christmas I asked my Mom for a competitive two-piece to swim in, and after picking it out and having her order, wrap and send it to me, I tried it on and was completely HORRIFIED at what looked back at me in the mirror. I'm talking an offensive amount of curves popping out from all corners of the insufficient amount fabric that was trying to shield my bits and parts. I'm pretty sure the lifeguards would have had me arrested for indecent exposure if I had shown up to the pool to swim in that suit. Thank goodness Sierra Trading Post has an excellent Returns and Exchanges department. What was I thinking?

And while I have been doing my best to stay active while pregnant, Baby is definitely following suit and has been super-duper active in my belly this past month. At my 22-week appointment it kicked the microphone five times while Dr Simmons was listening to the heartbeat, and every night and morning I feel like I'm falling asleep and waking up with a tiny ninja in my belly. Baby can groove, and if it's half this active outside of my belly, Big Sister Taylor is going to have a hard time catching it when it starts grabbing her toys.

No unusual cravings or aversions this month. I'm still obsessing over citrus fruits and juices, and would rather staple objects to my forehead then eat a hamburger. The Christmastime cookies and candies were lovely, but I was really craving red wine and champagne during the holidays. Thank goodness a pregnant friend suggested Fre-brand alcohol removed wine to me, and while most people would say it just tastes like grape juice or sparkling cider, to me it is wonderfulness in a wine glass. Cheers!

And for the past few months Chris and I have been hard at work trying to narrow down our lists of baby names. We have a pretty good stock of girl names that we love and agree on, but boy names are really tough. We've combed through male family member names and online lists, but no boy names have really jumped out at us. With a girl name you can be really creative and whimsical, but try that with a boy name and it starts sounding feminine. Luckily we still have a few months to edit our options, but I have a feeling we're going to be arriving at Labor and Delivery with names still swirling in our heads.

And now that 2011 is here and spring is just around the corner, the realization that we will soon be a family of four is really starting to kick it. And I am so excited to meet this Baby. Because every time I look at Taylor and think about how wonderful and cute and sweet she is, I am overjoyed that soon we are going to have another amazing child in our lives. Another squishy baby to smother with kisses and affection. It makes me feel like both my belly and my heart are expanding in size right now, because come April I will have so much more to love and cherish that my heart might explode.

iMama

Chris and my Christmas gift to each other:

Which means you will have to be patient with me as I make the transition from my laptop to this new, shiny, beautiful machine. I already had one Taylor-sized tantrum trying to figure out the iPhoto software to download all of my Christmas pictures, and realized that it is going to be a process to retrain myself from my Picassa photo editing days. Wish me luck.

Best. Christmas. EVER.

Happy Christmas weekend from the Famous Amys household. I hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday as much as we did in snowy Asheville. Yes, SNOWY. It was the first White Christmas on record for our area since 1981. And while we usually revel in our year-round mild temperatures, it was quite the treat to have a winter wonderland surround us for the holidays. And even though the weather forecasters had been predicting snowfall for days leading up to Christmas morning, we were a bit skeptical while we were playing in the balmy sunshine the day before. Here’s the picture of Taylor and Chris I snapped right before Mass on Christmas Eve – note the lack of coats:

And after waking up to beautiful, big snowflakes on Saturday and having it steadily drop throughout the day, here’s what we had 24 hours after I took the previous picture:

So, snowy wonderfulness on Christmas is always a bonus, but what was more fun then any accumulation was watching the pure joy and excitement radiating through my toddler’s body while opening the presents she had patiently been staring at for the past weeks. And because Chris’s parents had come into town earlier in the week to celebrate the Amys Christmas, she already had scored a sweet dollhouse and had mastered the ability to rip decorative paper off of packages in record time.

And because the Young family always unwraps the majority of our presents on Christmas day, and the Amys clan opens all their presents on Christmas Eve, Chris and I had to meld our traditions a few years ago to encompass our present-opening heritage. And so at our house we open all extended family and friend gifts on Christmas Eve, and then we get our Santa presents and just-us gifts on Christmas Day. So on Friday night we watched Taylor enjoy all the booty that my parents, her aunt and uncle and my Granddaddy generously gifted to her. Which included some beloved princess shoes from YaYa and Papa, some crafty items from Beeba and Dirky and some blocks and a bus from Uncle Ryan.

And just a quick byline here – At the beginning of the month I got a frantic email from my 90 year old grandfather who was standing in the Homewood toy shop looking for a present for Miss Taylor. And when I responded, Anything to do with a Disney Princess, he took that message to the ladies working at the store and this is what was selected and shipped to my lucky daughter:

A Cinderella Barbie and matching pony. You can only imagine how excited Taylor was when opening the gift, and just moments after ripping it out of the package she looked at us with all joy and enthusiasm on her face and said, Opening presents is lots of fun!

And after falling asleep that night with Cinderella wrapped tightly in her arms, we awoke the next morning to find that Santa had made a significant stop at the Amys house overnight, bringing Taylor oodles and oodles of Princess loot for her stocking and the one gift she had been asking for since we starting questioning what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas, a Rupunzel Barbie doll.

We then ate breakfast, made a big fire in the fireplace and started opening the final presents under the tree. Chris and I were pretty excited to give Taylor her big gift from us – a Princess trunk full of dress-up clothes. I’m sure I have mentioned how much T loved her Cinderella costume, and how after months of nonstop wear she finally shredded the skirt and popped all the seams. So we knew she would be super jazzed about a whole trunk of shiny, sparkly princess gear.

And the cherry on top was her very own full-length mirror to put in her room. What can I say, my daughter’s a diva.

So after playing with our new toys, taking a nap to recharge and then building a giant snowman in the front yard, we packed up the Envoy and braved the roads to get to the Bound family’s annual Christmas night throwdown. Because the majority of our good friends here are all Asheville transplants, LeAnn and Jamie open their house for a big celebration the night of Christmas. And they definitely got the party-with-your-kiddos thing down, putting up a projector screen in their media room so the kids could watch holiday flicks while the parents were able to converse downstairs.

I even brought a bottle of Fre alcohol-removed Brut for the occasion – That’s right, even a preggo lady like myself knows how to get down. And baby-in-my-belly was having fun too.

And while driving home last night, Chris and I just kept remarking about how wonderful this Christmas was. Best one on record. The snow, all of our gifts, being with our best friends – We are a very blessed family. But the most awesome part of the whole weekend was being able to see the absolute joy in my daughter’s eyes throughout the last few days. To be a kid again on Christmas is pretty fun, but to WATCH your kids on Christmas is by far the best thing ever. And we can’t wait to do this all again next year, with one more little precious bundle