That time we went sledding on Christmas...

I hope my New England friends are doing well after the big snow storm that hit them this weekend!? We only received a light dusting of snow and mostly rain... no sledding for us. But it reminded me that I've been meaning to share our little sledding adventure we had in Alaska on Christmas Day! Nothing like February to do so.

After our daughter woke up from her afternoon nap, we quickly headed over to Kincaid park to squeeze in some sledding before Christmas dinner. We met up with some friends who graciously shared their sleds with us and we got to see what our 2 yr old was made of!

Like typical parents, we assumed that she understood the concept of sledding and would be willing to go down a hill right away, sitting on her Dad's lap of course... foolish parents. She wanted to observe and take it all in. Plus I think she had to digest the snow she had just eaten off of the car's bumper, as you do. So she and Cameron ran behind our friends on their sleds up and down the hill, up and down the hill and repeat!

And then, just like that, she was ready. She made it pretty clear that she did not want to sit on anyone's lap, she wanted to do this by herself. And I was VERY impressed. There are always some areas where you want your child to express a bit more bravery- i.e. rinsing the soap out of her hair in the bath (what's up with that!?) and then there are other times and areas where they blow you away with their courage! Just shows that you should never assume anything about your child.

Here's a little video I took of her sledding, I tried to lighten it as best I could without over doing it... That's our friend Ben on the sled behind her with the light on the bottom... and Cameron ran behind her to make sure she didn't wipe out but mostly to keep her from cutting people off, as she did with Ben! (view it larger to see what's going on, and sorry about my finger getting in the way) Listen closely, you can hear Ben say "Oh she's getting aggressive!" She loved going over all the bumps her face would just light up and her posture was so straight it made for a funny combination! 

After she went up and down numerous times, I wanted to go down with her... you know create a memory, have a little mom-daughter time. yeah, NOPE! she really DID NOT want to sit on anyone's lap. Gosh I'm such a jerk! lol

So back to solo sledding she went.

It was a really fun little moment on Christmas. It was nice to play outside on a more "temperate" day, see friends, and to see what our daughter is made of!

30 week bump and our daughter's thoughts on pregnancy

I'm 30 weeks this week, that means I'm 7.5 months pregnant and in 6 weeks I'll be tick tick ticking ... So yeah, gotta dig out the baby clothes and other baby gear and finish setting up the baby's room! In the above photo, taken at my folk's house the other night, it looks like they served basketballs for dinner and I went back for seconds! ZING!

But in general, everything is going great! I feel like we are having a boy... but I'm not as certain as I was with our daughter (I was 99% sure she was a girl)! That being said the husband and I are still bouncing around boy names while we have our girl name options pretty set. So who knows what that means? All will be revealed once the little one comes along!

I also noticed a little trend I'm guilty of, using the bump as a TV tray during my snack/ computer breaks at the toddler's nap time. Obviously some snacks are healthier than others! I'm going to miss my snack shelf.

And last night, our daughter got talking about pregnancy... I think she is still wrapping her head around this whole concept. She's pretty into it though. She loves reading the baby book she got from my in-laws for Christmas, and she loves to pat my belly and talk to me about the baby. I've also been showing  her more baby photos of herself, which I think helps her to understand her own experience and babyhood. It will be an adjustment but she's so helpful and sweet with others, that it should be a fairly smooth transition!?!

(the bump makes a good toddler hand rest too)

Home Video: "I Don't Bother You"

I have a fairly extensive nesting bucket list before our second one comes along... the biggest priority is to make an ultimate home video of all the clips I have taken over the past 27 months of our first born.  (this goes for pictures as well) There were so many instances this past fall where I wanted to share a clip right away, but alas I will admit it must not have been a priority. And so over the next few weeks you'll find little clips and bigger clips- of personal home videos here on the blog!

ABOVE: Our Daughter and her Dad play this new game, which is funny and sweet and almost a nightly tradition after bath... I just hope she understands it's just a game and it doesn't translate to actual sleepy-time (although her 2nd night in her new bed, proved to be quite bothersome... more on that later.) In the meantime this sleep deprived mother is watching home videos in order to focus on the positive aspects of her child! joking, kinda.