TGIF TIP

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Dear Blog,

Goodbye.

Sorry to say, I am going to have to end our relationship. I know you've seen this coming. I haven't even visited since June, but I wanted to make it official.

I know we've had some good times, but lately I only feel guilty when I think about you. I've got way too much stuff going on these days to spend the quality time with you that you deserve. It's not you, it's me.

So goodbye Blog. Maybe one day we'll be together again...

Kristi

P.S. If you see me hanging out with Facebook, don't be jealous. He's just much more low maintenance than you.

Drew Branden Allen

Drew Branden Allen
May 5, 2010 at 4:46pm
7 lbs 14 oz

Girls Time

Marina and I have been enjoying the last few weeks of girl time together- going to the park, the gardens, the farm (pony rides!) and the dino museum. I love hanging out with my cute little buddy. It's so fun to just talk with her and see what she'll say next. I am never bored when I'm hanging out with my little girl!

I just hope that she won't feel totally neglected when baby Drew comes along. She is kind of used to being the center of attention around our house. In fact, if she feels like Branden and I are talking to each other too much she'll say "hey! hey guys! stop talking!" Then she'll do something to try to capture our attention. Oh dear.

My mom told me that when my little brother was born she made a big deal out of having me help her do things for "our baby." Hopefully this technique will work for Marina as well. And hopefully we'll still get time every now and then for special girls-only activities. :)

You asked for it...

I have had a few requests (mostly from far-away family) to post some pics of the nursery and our house. I've been waiting until everything is "done," but it seems that may never happen. So, here are some pics of our house as a work in progress.

Dining Room

Family Room

Marina's Room

Baby Drew's Nursery

"I get an ice cream!"

Check out our little star dancing at her recital tonight- the highlight is when she runs to the front of the stage and yells to grandma, "I get an ice cream!" Our strategy for bribing her to do the whole dance didn't really work out since she told everyone in the whole audience about it. Oh well, she still got ice cream for a job well done on MOST of the dance. Plus she is just so stinkin' cute, I wasn't really concerned that she made a tiny bit of a scene. She had a blast and that's what mattered. Afterward, she told me she loves dancing on the stage.

NOTE: Please ignore the gigantic pregnant woman in the background.  :) Seriously though, when I was watching the video I was SHOCKED to see how humongous my stomach looks when I turn around. I guess I don't see myself in profile much.

My Marina

Yes, it's been forever since I've posted, so I'm not even going to try to catch up. Instead I'm just going to post a few things about my wonderful little Marina. She is such a fun little buddy. I love playing with her and just watching to see what she'll say or do next.

Here she is getting ready in the morning. She loves it when dad is home and can help her do "crazy hair." Also, you  may note that her towel is around her waist (like daddy wears it). She sure loves her dad!!!

Marina also has really good dental hygiene. She especially loves flossing. Sometimes she even likes to bring a thing of floss along in her purse- just incase she needs it during the day.

A few weeks ago Marina, Branden and I had a little lunch date at the mall. She was really interested in some people who were getting their picture taken in the photo booth. As soon as they were done she shouted, "My turn!" and ran in there. She sat down and just started smiling. Such a cutie. 

We don't really encourage this activity, but Marina loves to jump from the couch to the ottoman. I think we might need to get her a trampoline when the weather finally turns warm because she loves jumping on everything she can find in the house! (as a side note, Marina's friend Emery was not harmed in the making of this photo)

Another activity we are looking forward to when the weather warms up for good is going for walks and having picnics outside. For now, we have been having many "picnic" meals on the floor in our kitchen. Marina is such a good "mommy" to her little baby dolls. She loves to feed them, rock them, push them in the stroller and take care of them. When they get sad she cuddles them and says "don't cry baby." She is going to be such a good big sister!

Speaking of Marina becoming a big sister... We are working on getting everything ready for baby Drew. I have been a bit of a slacker with the nursery but should finish things up this week and hopefully post some pictures (although at the rate I'm going with this blog it will probably be Drew's first birthday before I actually get the pics posted). It has been kind of weird for me to get used to all the boy stuff instead of the girly stuff. Hopefully I can figure this boy thing out.

We are super excited to meet baby Drew, but I'm not doing all the crazy stuff I did to try to go into labor with Marina. I am good with waiting until my due date or around that time- I learned last time that babies are much easier to take care of inside than outside. (By the way, my due date is May 8th, but according to the ultrasound and measurements it could be closer to May 3rd.) Also, Branden has finals on April 30th, so he's really hoping the baby doesn't come too early. I guess we'll just wait and see!

A Post!

So I was recently called out for never posting anything on my blog. The truth is I sit down to blog quite often but I get overwhelmed by how far behind I am and give up.

So here's a quick post on what's going on with my crazy little Marina!

In case you were wondering, yes, she is wearing a swimsuit, in the middle of the winter. And no, we did not go swimming that day. She just decided that she would like to wear a swimsuit.

I always thought I would be one of those moms who dresses their kids super cute, with bows, pigtails etc. every day. The reality is that although I sometimes do this, more often than not I let Marina pick her clothes. (Obviously if we are going out of the house I require her clothes to be warm.) She looks a little homeless, but she loves being independent and I love how excited she gets when she dresses herself.

Plus, just getting Marina to wear clothes can sometimes be a struggle. She LOVES to be naked. She picked this up awhile ago when Mulan was her favorite movie. She calls Shang, "Naked Guy," because he doesn't wear a shirt. She loves to strip down to her underwear and do karate moves using a wrapping paper roll as her sword.

I love that she is so into playing pretend. She will randomly tell me, "Mom, pretend to be a dog," "Be Sleeping Beauty," "Mom, I'm pretending to be a monster!" She is my best little buddy and I just love playing with her, whether it's having tea parties or dancing like Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip.

Speaking of Sleeping Beauty, Marina is really into singing. She loves Disney movie songs like "Once Upon a Dream," "Be a Man" (Mulan), and "Under the Sea." I also love when she sings her ABCs, "I Love the See the Temple," "I Am a Child of God" etc. I am always amazed at how quickly she learns the words to different songs. Probably the funniest song she sings is "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. She of course learned that from dad.

Well, Branden is home now so we're going to enjoy some Lost. Hopefully it will be less than 3 months before my next post...

Allen Family Pics

Over Thanksgiving we did family pics with Branden's whole family. It was freezing cold, but as usual, our awesome photographer Abbey got some really great shots. The only thing I didn't like about the shoot was the awkward size of my stomach- not quite big enough to look definitely pregnant, but decidedly larger than usual. Oh well! Can't wait to get the rest of the pictures on CD!