Christmas update

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We ended up having a really fun Christmas and I love the age that Coranelle is at. She had a great time opening gifts and playing with new toys, helping other people unwrap their gifts and throw the paper away. We celebrated with Ryan's family on Christmas Eve and started a tradition of making Cheese, broth and chocolate fondue and it was quite fun and delicious. We opened up the majority of presents Christmas Eve and then spent the night at their house. The next morning, we woke up to have fresh baked tea rolls, enjoy the hot tub and open stockings and all of the gifts Coranelle had been too tired to open the night before. She got some great gifts and has had a wonderful variety of things to play with since. She really got spoiled and it made me excited for the day that I can buy gifts for neices and nephews! We celebrated Christmas with my family on the 26th and had a nice afternoon and dinner together. All my siblings spoiled Coranelle and got her neat toys and clothes and books. She is one, lucky niece and granddaughter. My aunt and cousin came to our celebration and we got to have lasagna, play ping pong, and just catch up. It was truly a fun Christmas.

Meanwhile, Ryan is back to work and I am spending some time catching up with some college girlfriends and the girls that I worked with through First Pres in college. We're trying to get back into a normal routine.

I was hesitant to post another blog post after last time. As Ryan's uncle put it, "When your life, your heart and your blog is an open book, you take such chances." When you blog, you wear your emotions and thoughts on your sleeve, and they are open to individual interpretation. Your intentions are not always clear through writing and that is hard. I pondered giving up the blog, or just writing about surface level things like Coranelle and the baby's development. But, upon thinking more, I realized that this blog has been a good release for me. When I was struggling with big baby blues, writing really seemed to be a catharsis for me. Further, I have received so many great tips and advice and words of encouragement. But, when I post the link on Facebook, I think I open myself up to hundreds of readers who may not REALLY know me and may second guess my intentions, feelings, and motives. So, let me reiterate that this blog is not a space for me to publicly/ passive- aggressively criticize people. That's not who I am. If I have an issue with someone, I'll talk to them in person and not state some complaint for the world to read. This is just a space for me to share my thoughts and feelings and occasionally get feedback. Thus, this is the last post that will have a link on facebook. From now on, for those who are interested, they can just visit my blog site at their leisure.

Now for some highs and lows of this season:
Highs:
Seeing Coranelle be so excited to see family members! She learned Amanda and Rebecca's names this past week and was so excited to meet my friend Jaime's daughter- Grace. She kept saying "Baby Grace" and it was so fun to see the girls together!

Coranelle is articulating everything really well and it is awesome to be able to understand and communicate with her.

Coranelle is loving all of her new toys so much that it allows me to get some cooking done without her wanting up to see everything. She loves her new kitchen and making us coffee to drink!

Seeing Ryan and Coranelle together over Christmas just melted my heart! They are precious and I LOVE my family!

When Coranelle gets excited, she wiggles. That sounds really basic, but not only does she wiggle, she gets this big grin on her face as says (in the cutest voice ever), "wiggle, wiggle".

Seeing friends from my previous life (pre-mom) has been wonderful!

Feeling the baby kick and move all the time is such a joy!

Struggles:
I am fully aware that we sort of paved the way in our families with having kids. I'm not blaming anyone, nor do I want anyone to rush into parenthood. I just wish Coranelle had some cousins to play with! Sometimes it's hard to pave the way because we're the only ones who have to plan our outings around someone's naps, bedtimes, and dinner times. I am excited for some day in the future- whenever that is- when there is someone who fully relates to the role of being a parent!

I feel big! I don't know that I am a whole lot bigger than 25 weeks with Coranelle, but I just feel big. It's not as exciting to wear maternity clothes this time. I think I am gaining more weight and faster and that kind of freaks me out. I'm not looking for sympathy here or compliments, I am just telling you how I feel. I am trying hard to eat well and exercise daily, but I still feel big. And, as I said before, for some reason, when you're pregnant, it seems as if there is an unspoken rule that anyone and everyone is allowed to comment on the size and shape of your body. Try as I may to ignore it, sometimes it hurts my feelings when people call me huge! But, I think this baby boy is going to be bigger than his sister and I just have to keep my head wrapped around the excitement of his arrival and try to be a bit less vain about my body image!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading another random post! I hope you all have a truly wonderful New Year!