Maggie's 5th Birthday Princess Party

Getting ready to help.
Such a big girl helping do her cupcakes. She frosted two, and then decided she'd rather add the pink glitter sprinkles.
Licking the frosting off the beater. It's more fun than helping get the cupcakes ready!
The Princess Cake. I used Maggie's Sleeping Beauty Doll for the doll part. It was made out of strawberry and lemon cakes. Yum! Also, between the cupcakes and this big cake, I ended up making 4 batches of buttercream frosting. And yes! We cut into and ate the princess cake at the party. Delicious!
So girly. I let the girls use my china for their lunch and dessert!
The princess's place setting. So girly!
Here we are! Maggie chose to be Snow White for her party. And it was so fun that everyone came in their dress-up clothes.
Little Miss Snow White before her party.
We started out the party with coloring princess pictures and decorating crowns with princess stickers.
After the girls were done coloring their princess pictures and decorating their crowns, we had a Princess Parade. Each girl got to take their turn coming down the stairs and join the procession marching around the dining room table. They took it very seriously and it was so darn cute!!!
Princesses on parade.
Enjoying cheese pizza, grapes, carrots & dip for lunch! They all did so well - no spills or accidents and everyone loved their lunch.
Smiling while everyone sang "Happy Birthday".
Blowing out her candle.
Watching part of Beauty and the Beast. All the little girls loved it!
The party went off without a hitch!!! They all played nicely even thought they didn't all know each other (church friends, neighborhood friend, MDO friends).

And a big thanks to Gramma Amron for all her help getting things ready and keeping things flowing. I was so not motivated to do the party this year being so pregnant and just getting over a really bad cold, but it was the most painless party I've ever thrown for Maggie.

So very thankful for my little princess girl. She is such an amazing blessing in our life!

Maggie's 5th Birthday

I am brought to tears every time I think about how old Maggie is now, or the day she was born, or the day we brought her home from the hospital, or her previous birthdays, or that she starts kindergarten this August, or the fact that we have so few years left with her before she goes off to college. I am so very thankful for the last 5 wonderful years we have had together with her and I'm so excited to see how she does as a big sister.

My beautiful 5-year old girl!
Maggie picked grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for her birthday dinner.
Enjoying her dinner.

The birthday girl getting ready to open her gifts!
Amron, Mormor, Me, Tyler and Maggie.
She opened her presents pretty quickly, I think because she wanted to get to her birthday cake and I said we would do presents before cake.
Not sure what she wished for...
I made a chocolate cake for her birthday, but she ended up having the last cupcake from the batch we brought to Mother's Day Out.
Playing with her "Paper Jams" guitar. What a goofball!

34 Weeks

Ahh, 34 weeks. 6 weeks to go. Got some good news this week at my OB's office:
1) I was NOT diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I thought I was, but the OB confirmed on my charts that they were satisfied with my blood sugar readings and I just have to check it every once in a while to verify it's not going up. So that is GREAT NEWS. Not sure how I missed that because I've checked my blood sugar religiously for the past 2 months. Not being labeled a gestational diabetic makes a huge difference in how you are treated - both at the OB's and in the hospital for delivery - so it is a big relief.
2) I am no longer measuring significantly larger than my dates, now I'm just on the larger end of normal instead of gargantuan. Which means no special treatment from the OB, they probably will not do another ultrasound on James unless I start measuring extra large again.
3) the result of #'s 1 & 2 mean I can still try for a VBAC. Yay!

In related news, Maggie is very excited about her baby brother on the way, but to anyone who asks if she's excited with "Yes, but I still wanted a baby sister first."

32 Weeks

I don't have a photo of my belly with Maggie at 32 weeks, you'll have to wait 2 more weeks for that. But here's my profile from today.

Observations:
1) At this point all the books I have say the baby should be filling out the available space in utero and their movements are starting to be restricted. HA! That boy flip-flops and hits and kicks like it's going out of style.
2) As of today I've entered my 8th month, and there are 56 days left to sweet baby James' due date, less than 2 full months - yikes! I am hoping he comes a little sooner than March 9th. Any time after Valentine's Day would be fantastic.
3) Sciatica is terrible. I took Maggie to the mall on Tuesday to get in some walking (not in the cold and snow and ice) to help alleviate my pinched nerve. About 1 1/2 laps in, sciatica set in BIG TIME on both sides of my tailbone and on down to my knees - usually it's just in my right leg. I finished my laps walking incredibly slowly and like a stiff 90-year old. I was so embarrassed. The rest Tuesday was rough.
4) I've LOST 2 pounds in the past 2 weeks. So that was a nice surprise at the OB's today. I've been keeping my weight gain down anyway, and though it was certainly not intended, I'm pleased.
5) There are LESS THAN two months to James's debut. From time to time we come across little video clips and pictures of Maggie as a baby, and I am so incredibly happy that we get to go through this all again. Even the sleepless nights, because it is so worth it!
6) I need to get a move on getting the baby's room ready to go. The basics are in place, it's just not painted or decorated.

Snow Snow Snow and More Snow

We have gotten some REAL snow in Tennessee. It wasn't just a dusting like we normally get (and school closes anyway). Sunday night it started snowing, and when we woke up on Monday there was a good 3 1/2 inches on the ground. Glorious!!! I will say, though, that it is really funny to me how so many people here treat it like the End of Times.

Roads were so bad Tyler's work closed Monday, too. Yay! that meant Tyler would take Maggie outside so I didn't have to. I didn't want to go outside, and I can't find my snow boots, and I'm pregnant, so there. And Monday I still have household chores to do, regardless of snow or Tyler's day off. I powered through laundry while they were outside.

Maggie just reveled in the snow. She loved it!
The beautiful woods.
The view down our street after breakfast. Lovely.
Snow angels. Any time snow is mentioned, snow angels are quick to follow with Maggie. Those black boots belong to Emily, the neighbor girl.
Across the yard at Emily's. They played outside for a bit, then Maggie disappeared into Emily's house for a good portion of the afternoon.
The snow came Sunday night/Monday morning. It's Wednesday night and the snow is still here and has spit a little more each day since. Such a rare occurance here in Nashville - it is usually melted away by the same afternoon. After dinner tonight Tyler took Maggie outside to play for a little bit before bed. Tyler's smile is directly related to the big clump of snow he flicked at me and James - and the fact that it stuck right to my belly. Maggie stayed focused on digging the snow off the porch steps. It was very important to her that they be cleaned off.
And, schools are closed again tomorrow for the 4th day in a row. Seriously.

Playing with Christmas Presents

One of Maggie's gifts was a gift card. So after Christmas I took her to Target and she had a great time figuring out what to get to use up her dollars. And one of the items she picked out was a candy necklace making kit. Here she is, I took a picture of her with her finds.We all sat down the other night and made necklaces. Daddy, too.
Happy girl with her necklace.
Tyler's necklace. Can you see that the white candies in the middle say "death"? Yeah, the kit came with blank candies and edible ink pens. He had his way with the pen.
I had fun with the icing and sprinkles on my candies.
It was a fun family night!