Christmas travels: part 2

So, more story.  I guess it was the next day, Daniel and I had to see this place called Voodoo Doughnuts that we had seen on TV, and first - make sure it exists (I always still feel a tiny bit of surprise when I finally see places in person that I had only previously seen on TV.  Isn't that weird?), and second - get some doughnuts.

 
Oh, baby.

On the left is the Voodoo doughnut, complete with pretzel-stake through the heart.  The next one has maple icing and bacon (better than it sounds, whether you think it sounds good or bad!).  The next one, called the Old Dirty Bastard, has crushed Oreos and peanut-butter (this is my heaven).  And for Hollie, a plain cake doughnut.

But wait, there's more...

 
The biggest apple fritter I think I've ever seen.  All four other doughnuts fit in there on top of this one.

Fortunately, it took us two days to finish all this.

Next, the cousins looked out the window and got into an adorable game of hide and seek...

 Wait a sec, where's Juliet?

There she is!

Hollie says, hmmm, I'm pretty sure she was there a second ago...

Pepere, is that Juliet in there?

A-ha!

 I found you!

To be continued...

Also, fair warning - you can see the Voodoo Doughnuts website for a list of all their wild and crazy pastries, some of the names are fairly (ahem) explicit.  The O.D.B. above is relatively tame.  Just so ya know.

Quick story

In church earlier this week, while rummaging happily through my purse ("burse"), Hollie found chapstick.  I took off the cap, and showed her how it just goes just on your lips.  That translated to "lower half of the face" in toddler-ese.  I let her go, since she still had a bit of a runny nose, and her poor nose and lips were pretty chapped.  It was also adorable, and she was having fun with it - including putting some on my face, too.

Anyways, before this, she had been holding on to her Alvin the chipmunk doll, so he was still sitting out on the pew.  And he had some chapped lips, apparently.

Then things evolved from adorable to very cool...she would put chapstick on herself, then on Alvin, replace the cap, take it off again, and repeat the whole process...over and over and over.

I knew that this kind of repetition is normal for lots of toddlers, and I had seen Hollie do it a few times before, but never with this many steps, and never with a toy/object that she had never used before (the chapstick).

It was funny and fascinating and baffling at the same time. What in the world is going on inside her head?  Why did she have to take the cap on and off every single time?  Of course, we will never know.  I hope I see it again, because it was awesome.

It was one of those vacations...

...that you need another vacation afterward to recover from.  Don't get me wrong - it was great!  Nothing beats getting those cousins together in Portland, OR with Daniel's family, and also going down to see my family in Phoenix!

But the trip had its other moments.  Allergies, pinkeye, fever, and runny eyes/nose all made an appearance.

But still, overall we were lucky.  The weather was cooperative, even at home while we were gone.  We'd had a dry winter so far in Wichita (unusual), so we were pretty sure that after nine days away, we would get back and have to dig our car out of a snowdrift in the airport parking lot (at 9:30pm).  But amazingly, it was actually raining the night we got back..that's right, warm enough at 9:30pm to be raining!  And yeah, we've been home six days now and still no snow.  I'm convinced we're going to get the whole winter's worth at once, in like, April.

I had my last week of my first trimester while we were gone, and wow, this is the best part of pregnancy!  Energy!
Appetite!
I almost forget I'm pregnant sometimes, except for this little growing belly.  Yes, I'll start taking pictures soon.

Speaking of pictures, I took quite a few, so I think I'll split them up, with stories from the trip, over several posts.

Starting from even before we left...

Lights on the house!  Didn't get put up until the night before our departure, but that's okay.

 For the sake of time, mess, and a queasy stomach, I decided to just cover things in chocolate in lieu of making cookies.  Pretzels are as far as I got.  I tried one Oreo but it didn't really work out.  These were pretty good though.  And also just pretty.  :)

I opened one gift before we left on our trip.  My new sling - a mei-tai!  It's may-tie.  I was looking for something more versatile (front/back/hip), and this is it!  Here's a link: www.meitaibaby.com.  I didn't order from this site (muy expensivo), but it gives you a good idea of what it's like.  

I opened it early because I intended to use it during our trip, especially getting through the airports, but that didn't happen.  The day before we left, Hollie squished a banana all over it.  I washed it, hung it up to dry...and there it stayed.

We have used it a few times, using the back carry in my photo, and I think Hollie likes it!

The whole Leger clan came to meet us at the airport!  Hollie insists that everyone hold hands.

     

The same day, we took the girls up to ride the tram, and got a great view of the city.  There are two trams, which people ride to get to Oregon Health Science University, which is up on a big hill.  You can also drive, but why would you when you can ride one of these? ...  

This is the other tram passing us, going the other direction.

 

Looking back up at OHSU.

 

Hello Portland!

Later the girls chilled out...

...and had a snack.

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More pictures on the way! 

Quick vocabulary update, since I probably won't be posting again for awhile...

Santa Claus - 'Coz

Belly - beddy (Hollie looooves Momma's belly these days)

Mommy and Daddy - she has started calling us this instead of momma and dada (I don't know why, but this makes me kind of sad)

Blanket - mankie

Milk - moke (rhymes with poke) (she's finally developed a taste for it!)

Crackers - her new favorite snack and most-used word.  My response, usually, "Hollie, you're crackers."

Elmo - Ummo (she loves her Elmo doll.  Cookie Monster made an appearance on SNL last night, and when she saw him (yes, she was up that late) she got very excited and said "Ummo!")

Yogurt - gogee

Spoon - moose (I have no. idea.)

I think that's all the new ones for now.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

The snowsuit

Don't know what happened here...  :(

Two heartbeats!

Heart attack?  Sorry, we're not having twins (I wish).

We got to hear the heartbeat twice!  Daniel ran late and showed up five minutes after the first time.  I would have asked the nurse to wait for him, but I was anxious!  164 bpm both times...perfect.

I am 12 weeks pregnant today!  We celebrated with a trip to Dr. J, the OB.

I have actually dropped a pound since my last appointment, which puts me three pounds below where I was when we found out about the pregnancy.  I was really surprised to hear that, because my appetite has been improving lately, food aversions are dying down, and I've been eating much better (i.e. more) than before.  I try to snack all day, but occasionally we have a really busy day and I sit down and realize I'm starving.  I'm going to make more of a conscious effort from now on.

Anyways, the doc's not worried about it, and neither am I.  I remember that with Hollie, during the last month or so, I was hungry literally 24/7.  Could not get enough.  Tried to eat healthy, but boy did I pack on the pounds in the last few weeks!  So yeah.  It'll happen.  :)

At my next appointment, in six weeks, we get an ultrasound!  Can't wait.             

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Hollie is so silly.  And SO smart. 

Yesterday, I was running around the house trying to get Christmas gifts together and wrapped...and leaving Hollie pretty much unsupervised.

I think toddlers have a sixth sense for when they're not being watched.

She's recently discovered this drawer in the kitchen that has various utensils in it, like the can opener and the corkscrew wine bottle opener and and the vegetable peeler and other things that aren't really dangerous but become dangerous in little hands.   

So rather than install another lock (our cabinets are going to look like Swiss cheese), we've just been trying to steer her back toward her own drawer, with the towels and oven mitts (which she loves to wear...it's adorable) and other boring stuff.

Of course, yesterday, while I was running around, I heard Hollie get into the drawer (because I think moms have a sixth sense for when their kids know that they aren't being watched).  I peeked into the kitchen to see her sitting on the floor playing with the harmless measuring cups.

I debated for about two seconds.  This would easily keep her for busy for the last few minutes of stuff I needed to do, but then there's the whole now-I've let-the-rule-be-broken-under-my-nose... which could come back to bite us...

...so I let her play, and got everything done that I needed to do.  Then it was time for a trip to the grocery store, so I asked Hollie, "Wanna got to the store?"  She knows what this means, and got all excited as we hunted up socks and shoes and jackets.

As we were heading for the door, she suddenly stopped like she had forgotten something, turned around, and ran back into the kitchen...
picked up the measuring cups...
opened up the drawer that isn't hers...
and put them back in.

I was somewhere between blown away by the sweetness and blown away by the fact that she remembered.

That's all for now!  I'd better go see what she's up to...

Our little pick-pocket

So Daniel's parents, aka Abuelita and Pepère, came to see us for Thanksgiving.  So much fun!

Great story- Abuelita, Hollie, and I were at Target one day and Abuelita was pushing the cart and making faces and being goofy with Hollie while I shopped.  Apparently (I didn't see it happen), while making eyes, Hollie reached into Abuelita's purse and snagged her cell phone!  Out from under her nose, what a pick-pocket!  Abuelita found me and told me what happened, and we decided we'd have to keep an eye on her...but not long after, Hollie did the same thing and got her wallet!  By that point I'm thinking, okay, maybe this is a way to boost our income?  We've always said it, but this further proves what a sneaky, sneaky girl she is.  She's all smiles, but there's always a plan in the works.

Over Thanksgiving dinner, we tried to decide on what our new baby's nickname will be for the next seven months or so.  After heated discussion, Pepère had the winner with...

Cletus the Fetus.

Haha!  I love it!  It goes without saying, but this will not be our baby's name if it's a boy, so please please please DON'T get this embroidered on anything!  It is the best antenatal nickname I've ever heard, though.  And antenatal is the coolest new word I've heard in awhile.  I'm going to start using it more often.

Another cute story- This afternoon Hollie got out her wipes, a bear, and a doll.  She opened the wipes and started wiping them both between the legs while telling me that they "poopoo"-ed.