Christmas Eve - 29 weeks

One week until Christmas

We are excited!

Here is Ana checking out our first snow fall. It was not even an inch, but she was excited and wanted to catch some on her tongue and make snowballs.
I was expecting we'd be buried in snow by this time of year, but nothing so far. It has been damn cold though. Surprisingly James is loving the weather. He just commented that he thinks he was cut out for this weather! He even was out cooking steaks in the 20's. Miracles never cease! I definately prefer it to the oppressive heat, so all in all we are pretty happy with our move!

Finally, this is just a bad picture of Ana trying to attack me with a snowball. Nothing remarkable except that I look frighteningly like my Mum! If I didn't know who was in the picture I'd think it was her! Ha ha!

28 weeks

I thought I was 29 weeks. Ughhh! That being said, this past 2 weeks have been the best I've felt all pregnancy! I'm tired and achy from being massive, but otherwise feeling good. No more nausea or headaches! Yay! Of course the fun didn't last all that long because now I've started getting heartburn. Still not as bad as I had it with Ana, but it is awful at night when I try to sleep. It wakes me up and I have to sleep propped upright. Pah!

p.s. I just commented to James that I don't feel this picture actually does justice to how huge I am. He agreed and said no picture could do it justice, it needs to be seen up close and personal. I'm not sure how to take that :)

Is it time for parental controls on the TV already??

Well I got to sleep in this morning, that's a bonus! But guess what sweet little Ana did? She snuck downstairs without waking us up (not easy in this creaky house), put on the TV herself and watched South Park!! Mr Hankey the Christmas Poo to be specific!!! Uh-oh! Parenting fail!

Here's the thing, she saw Mr Hankey in our Netflix queue earlier in the week and thought (rightly I suppose) it was a cartoon. We told her it was NOT for kids and she was not to watch it, so this was a totally premeditated move on her part. She must have woken up plotting and decided she was going to watch this "forbidden" show. Of course, she eventually came and woke me up, grinning like the cat that got the cream, and confessed. She continued to grin like that all morning! Little Stinker!!

She's also been singing "Mr Hankey the Christmas Poo" all day. She is under strict instructions NOT to mention this at school. I will die!

Reading at Ana's School

Yesterday I volunteered to read a Christmas book at Ana's school. I casually told her the day before I would be doing it, and when I got there that night she had told every teacher and kid in the school, multiple times! She was so excited. So on Thursday I went in to school with her; I watched her in gym class and sat with her class for snack time, then read Twas The Night Before Christmas and talked about Christmas in England. I was there about an hour and a half and Ana beamed the whole time. She could not have been more proud! She saved me the seat closest to her at the snack table and made sure she was right next to me for storytime too. It was one of the best things I've ever done. Thinking ahead only a few years I'm sure she'll be mortified to have me around and probably pretend she doesn't know me. It was a good reminder that while these are tough demanding times with kids they are also absolutely the best times too. It was a day to remember for both of us!

Look who is ready for Juilliard!!

Grandad taught Ana to play this in about 5 minutes! Awesome :)

Untitled from jasmin hutchinson on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving and other stuff

Nana and Grandad have been visiting for the past 2 weeks. We have all loved having them here, especially Ana of course! We spent thanksgiving day with our family in Connecticut. We also got to catch up with Judgey and his family. Ana and William got along really well, although I think Ana is still smarting from the thrashing she recieved in the great 20m mall dash. We visited Bright Nights, which was great. Of course Ana's favourite part was the dinosaurs. She is majorly into dinosaurs! We also visited the Springfield Science Museum, where once again the dinosaurs were a huge hit!

Ana inside a dinosaur footprint

Fun with mirrors



Ana and William



Grilling Santa to make sure he got her letter!

The temperatures are dipping here, but Ana still prefers to be naked most of the time. I'm not sure what it will take to get this kid to want to wear clothes, but apparently it's less than 30 degrees!

Clearly none of us are used to the dry air up here. We all have chapped lips and noses, especially Ana! Poor kid!

I have finally started to feel better. The nausea is gone and the headaches are not as constant as they were. However, since I can apparently never have a moment of symptom free pregnancy I'm now suffering with lower back pain. I am permanently attached to my hot water bottle. James has been great (as always) about helping me out. I am just trying to remind myself I'll NEVER have to do this nonsense again! Ana has been great too. She's in a really lovely phase where she is super kind and affectionate and obedient. I'm not sure who's child she is. She even cleans her own playroom and bedroom every day!

Ana is predictably excited about Christmas. I am equally excited. It is pretty cool to enjoy Christmas with a 4 year old. They are the perfect age for all the magic. Yay!