I have been on the look out for more websites for crafts and learning for Emily. I need to update the links on the side but I thought I would share these and see if anyone has any other suggestions of sites that they like.

• Free Kids Crafts
• Crayola- great ideas for crafts, printables, etc.
• Preschool Activity Box- “materials to develop their preschool children’s ability and skills through various fun learning activities.”
• Funschool- Preschoolers can learn their ABC’s, study math, and begin reading using the games on Funschool.
• Nick Jr- of course.
• DLTK’s growing together- This site is really cool. It has crafts, printables, ABCs, numbers, etc.

I am sure I will run across some more but these are a few that I have found over the past few days. Take a look- you might see something you  like!

Snow day….Should have left the house yesterday instead of having a pajama day! I wasn’t prepared to stay in today as well so I didn’t have much planned for Emily. After she helped me clean bathrooms, we decided to make a hand/foot penguin. I found the instructions on this website.

Emily enjoyed making this and using the glue stick as well. I think it turned out pretty cute. Killed about 20 minutes- that’s something right?

I am sure I have said this before but it used to be a real BEAR to get a cute picture of Emily. She would pose and hold still for anyone but me. Anyone, I tell you! That has changed so much in the past few months or so. She has become the biggest ham! She will bring me the camera so I will take her picture while she poses. At her aunt’s birthday, she was into posing with her hand in front of her face for some reason. Luckily, that hasn’t stuck so I don’t have 300 pictures of her hands. But I do have a ton of pictures with her head cocked to the side and smile on her face. She looks like a runway model. It cracks me up! I am loving all of the pictures! Here are just a few from the past few weeks!

I have to say…..3 is an AWESOME age for Christmas. I am sure I will say it about 4, 5, 6, etc but 3 was great. Even if we couldn’t get Emily to go see Santa. And believe me- we tried. Everything. It just wasn’t happening. I told her that she MUST take her brother to see him next year. She informed me that she will take Zachary but she isn’t sitting on the fat man’s lap.

I love 3 for several reasons. Emily was not greedy. Sure she said she wanted everything she saw for Christmas, but she didn’t expect it all. She was happy with whatever she got. No matter how small. Everything was new and exciting for her. She didn’t want to see Santa but she had to make sure that he left crumbs on the plate from his visit to her house. She made a special cookie for him at Grandma’s and was ecstatic that he ate it. Everything she opened was amazing! Even the tiniest thing got a huge squeal of approval. It really warmed my heart. She tore through her gifts in record time but everything got the same happy, joyous squeal. I LOVED it. I hope we got some of that on video. She was truly the happiest little girl Christmas morning.

She enjoyed looking at lights every time we went out this holiday. Each light display got their own ooh’s and ahh’s. I wanted to take her to one of the big displays around here but we just simply ran out of time. She wasn’t deprived though because she got to see one of the local displays with her Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Nina.

She was so patient during morning mass and didn’t make too much noise. I am sure she had some people looking at mommy like she was crazy though! I was sitting up from as lector mimicking her head movements and sending her kisses. They probably thought the pregnant lady had lost it! She was also very patient during lunch at Grandma and Papa’s. She ate lunch like a lady before opening presents.

Christmas was bittersweet this year. It was our last year as a family of 3. I was a little sad about that in a way. But next year will be even better because God answered our prayers and we will be a family of 4! Even better!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday full of love and joy. You might not have gotten everything you asked for but I hope you got everything you need. Family, friends, faith and happiness. That’s what it’s all about.

PS- Picasa album has been updated with more Christmas photos.

Wow! Where has the time gone??? I cannot believe that I am 36 weeks along already! Seems just like yesterday that I learned I was pregnant. I know that sounds corny but that’s how it is.  Entering the home stretch now. Zachary could be here in the next few weeks. Makes me a little excited and scared to think about that at the same time actually.

We are pretty prepared really. We have a small list of things to do: install carseat base, pack a bag, among a few other things.  Am I mentally prepared? Not so much. I have an idea of what it will be like but won’t actually know until the time comes. How am I going to manage two?? Not so sure. But I know that it will work out. I might be a little crazy but we will get things under control, eventually.

I haven’t updated much about this pregnancy because there hasn’t really been much to tell really. Every pregnancy is different- that is for sure. Here are a few ways this pregnancy has been different from my first:

• My Crohn’s has not been the silent partner as it was with Emily. I think there have only been a few weeks that I have not been plagued with it.
• I haven’t had any of the same scares I had with Emily- early, heavy bleeding, early labor, early loss of plug.
• I can still wear my rings. I had to ditch them several weeks before this point with Emily.
• Crazy, crazy movements. Emily was a mover and a shaker but Zachary is a kung-fu master.

I am nervous about the dynamics of having a second child. I am nervous about Emily and how she will react. She’s excited now but will that change? How will I do with the adjustment of having to give someone else my attention? For so long, I believed that Emily was going to be an only child. I hope that we both transition well with the sharing of attention thing. I hope that Zachary doesn’t have “second child envy”. I don’t want him to think that he is any less important than his sister but the reality is that he will have to share his parent’s attention and won’t get the same things Emily did.

I know that millions of women have more than one child. I know that it works out in the end. I just need to learn how to deal with the mommy guilt and put it up on the shelf. Both of my children are going to be very, very loved. They will be so lucky to have a sibling to travel through life with. My hope is that they are close and support each other throughout their lives. One of my concerns in the past was how was Emily going to do being an only child. Now I don’t have to worry about it. She will have a friend, a playmate and a brother. For life.

I had my 36 week appointment on Monday. Fingertip dilated and anterior. Not making a lot of progress but that’s ok. We didn’t want Zachary to come until after the first of the year for several reasons anyway. I did have to have a non-stress test (nst) while I was there due to decreased fetal movement. He’s still moving around, just not as much or as crazy. I think it’s due to his lack of room but they wanted to make sure. Things are looking good. I had a few contractions while I was there but nothing major. He didn’t move a ton but he did what they were looking for when the agitated him by shoving on my belly. My next appointment is this coming Tuesday. We have an ultrasound and another nst schedule, along with the doctor appointment. Emily is so excited to come to the ultrasound. She can’t wait to “see baby brother on tv”.  Can’t wait to see the little kung-fu master again and see how big he is getting. Wonder if he will be early like his sister due to his size??

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. 4 days later and we are still trying to recover. Hopefully I will be able to get everything done that I want to before Zachary gets here! I have several projects I want to finish, update the blog and relax. Not sure how much I will get done but I have lofty goals!

I have been a bit lagging about working with Emily on her numbers. She can count to 12 or so but she doesn’t recognize her numbers. I am really stinking in that department. But I am trying to make some progress. I am always looking for ways to teach her numbers and letters so if you have any ideas, please share them with me. I figure I need to have some quiet activities for the future.

Last week we made a number caterpillar. She loves it! I found the template online somewhere and printed it off. She had a blast coloring each circle. I then cut them out and put some contact paper on them so they will last a while. I am working with her recognizing her numbers while putting the caterpillar parts in order. So far, so good. She seems to enjoy it for now!

I know there haven’t been too many posts lately. It’s not that we haven’t been busy, we have, it’s just that I am not sure what we have been doing. Can I claim pregnancy brain??  I do have some posts to catch up on and will try to do that later. Right now I wanted to share some of the crafts Emily and I have been working on. We do quite a few crafts during the crazy time after nap and before Stephen gets home. Keeps her busy and me somewhat sane. Although, there are only so many crafts you can do…..

We were finally able to go see Cole this weekend! Little guy was born the day before Thanksgiving and this was the first time we were able to see him in person. Stupid colds.

It was great to be able to hold a newborn. I totally forgot how small they were! It was also a wonderful opportunity to see a newborn before Zachary got here. She did really great. Unfortunately, Cole got really hungry when she was trying to hold him but she was a trooper and still loved it. Had he not been squirmy and hungry she probably would have done great by herself.  I think she is going to be a natural with Zachary. You ask her what she thought of Cole and she says “He was very sleepy.” Little does she know, soon will she learn.

Cole was such a doll. So cute and cuddly. Really made me ready for the arrival of  my son. He needs to bake a little while longer but I think the visit brought reality a little closer to home. I know it’s going to be A TON OF WORK but so very worth it. I am very nervous but it will work out.

It was a wonderful day as well because I got to visit with my mom, dad, two sisters, brother, THREE nephews and Chloe as well. More than likely this will be the last time we get to visit before Zachary is born and then it might be awhile before I see my siblings. We got a good visit in and everyone had a good time. I am lucky to have such a great family. It’s just too bad we don’t see each other more often. Must make more of an effort in order that Emily and Zachary grow up close with their cousins.

I thought I’d lump our Christmas craftiness into a few posts, rather than one for each. It’s been cold and rainy so we have been busying ourselves with baking cookies and making crafts. I think we might have too much time on our hands and not enough crafts to do as it is only December 9. What the heck am I going to do with her when Zachary comes???? Yikes!!!

A dear friend shared this recipe with me recently. I decided to make them for the mom’s group cookie exchange and the church fundraiser. I might have to make another batch because they are so tasty! They are also super easy to make.

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Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup Cream of Wheat (best with Baby Farina)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds or pistachios
1/2 teaspoon cardamom (can substitute with cinnamon- which I did)
2 sticks of unsalted butter (softened)

Directions: Beat together butter, sugar, and cream of wheat until smooth. Gradually beat in flour and cardamom. Roll into balls and placed on greased cookie sheet. Gently press a few pieces of almonds/pistachios into the top of the cookies. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 to 375 degrees until edges are golden brown. (Variation- add 1/2 cup ground nuts into the dough before rolling it into balls instead of placing them on top.)

I do want to try to find some cardamom to use but I am ashamed to say I don’t know what it is or where to find it.