Cousins, an Aunt, and an Uncle

The best part about visiting family is FAMILY! Willa finally reached the age where she could really enjoy all the fun cousins that she got to see. Constant playmates! Big cousins, small cousins, she loved them all.  In this first picture, she got Easton to push her around in a little cart over and over again. At the family Christmas party, I was looking for her and she was busy toddling after all the big cousins as they ran around the house. It was very fun to hear her laughing at some cousin's antics from another corner of the house - she thought they were all very hilarious!

Though she looks a little wary in this photo, she also LOVED Celeste. She would say her name and run to her bedroom door several times a day to see if Celeste would come play with her.

I thought I'd include this picture of Uncle Robert and cute baby Slate. We were able to meet at the aquarium one afternoon, but sadly that was our only visit with any Daniels clans. We were very sorry that multiple schedules and lots of sick people on both sides kept us away. Slate was actually the one cousin that Willa wasn't too sure of, something about me holding another baby made her very jealous. The next few months are going to be eye-opening for her!

Brody and Willa are only a few months apart and they played so well together! Willa would boss Brody around about getting her more cars to play with and Brody was very concerned when Willa took a bath and he didn't think she had enough bath toys!

Doesn't my mom look great?! She doesn't let cancer get her down and she seemed to have more energy than me most of the time. I would try to make dinner suggestions or start meal planning, but she was always one step ahead of me and did most of the cooking and cleaning. I do think that our favorite part of the day was naptime, we would both collapse on the couch and watch "Say Yes To The Dress" while we recharged our batteries for a while.

This is my mom's lounge chair. Willa got pretty used to seeing her in it. By the end of our trip, every time my mom got up, Willa liked to climb into it and sit with a pillow and blanket just like grandma.

Friends

 I was so glad that we were able to get together with Ashley and NH! I don't think Ryan has seen them since we both moved from California, but we all picked up right where we left off! Mason and Willa were a little wary of each other at first, but by the time we got to the restaurant they were running around and rolling all over the disgusting floor like they'd been friends for ages.

I also got to meet up with one of my dear friends from Latin classes at BYU. There was a group of four friends and we all followed each other through the many Latin classes. Rachel was/is much better than it than I am. She is in town from Boston to finish up a MA from Harvard, smarty-pants. We got to compare our kids and talk about coming babies since she is pregnant too. It was so fun to see her again. Ubi amici, ibi opes. And since my Latin really is so bad, I just want to admit here that I looked that quote up.

Blast from the past

My mom and I took some time to go through our cedar chests while I was in Utah. So many treasures in hers, so much junk in mine (why did I think it was important to keep my old mission shoes - sure, they are worn out beyond belief but I think it's just better if I tell people how worn they were instead of being able to show them). I ended up throwing a lot of things out.

We found all these little outfits for Willa, though, and couldn't resist putting her in them. I pack a bunch of clothes to bring back to Texas for both Willa and the new baby to wear. In fact, I actually found the little outfit that I came home from the hospital in. It is so sweet and little, Ryan doesn't know it, but I'm planning to bring the new baby home in it.

Here is one of the favorite items that we found. It is a little wool skirt and blazer that my mom's grandma made for my mom when she was a toddler! It was in great shape and so adorable and hilarious at the same time. Willa wore it to church on Sunday (excuse her facial expression, she was eating a cracker). There were so many amazing little homemade items like this outfit. A lot of little hand embroidered little dresses for the new baby and an adorable knitted coat and matching hat for Willa. I felt bad taking some of the stuff and using it, but my mom said that it was meant to be used. I like that attitude - with a few exceptions, things don't do any good sitting around being "saved". I'm glad that Willa will get to wear some clothes made by her great-great Grandma McCall.

 

This photo is unrelated and I already posted a similar one on Facebook, but I couldn't resist putting this better photo on the blog. My dad has been taking bagpipe lessons for the past couple of years and has finally built up the lung power to play some tunes on the real pipes now (not enough lung to get the drone going, but baby steps). For a long time, he practiced on the chanter, which is this pipe without the big wind bag :). He practiced his big bagpipe almost every evening outside, much to all the neighbors' delight - one person who lives a block away asked him if he knew who was playing the bagpipe over in our area.

One night, however, he decided to practice the much quieter chanter inside. Willa ran in to see him and immediately went to get her pink plastic princess recorder that she got in her stocking. They played together and she thought it was really great!

Home!

 Our long winter holiday in Utah has come to an end. Willa and I flew back to Houston on Wednesday. Willa was very sad to leave. At first, I felt badly that we are so boring for her in Houston, but then I thought that this is how it should be - grandparents' homes should always be more fun! I remember loving to go to my grandma's house. I am happy to be back with Ryan, but I was sad to leave, too. It was just such a nice and relaxing trip, I could have stayed twice as long. Still, it was mighty cold and snowy in Utah and I'm really enjoying the 60 degree weather in Houston right now!

Willa was lucky enough to be given beaters of fresh whipped cream to lick several times during our stay!

She loved putting the marbles down this wooden marble coaster thingy that my grandpa made for us when I was young.

She loved lining up her cars and playing with her cousin Donna.

And she especially loved playing with her cousins and showing off. This picture of her is in a little wooden rocking chair that was made for my grandpa when he was a little boy. She was rocking hard and then pretending to fall off in order to make the cousins laugh.

32 Weeks

 I'm 32 weeks along today and so I thought I'd take a picture of the bulge. I couldn't get a good picture, so I just put in two bad ones. This is always a milestone week for me because it feels like I can breathe a sigh of relief if the baby were to come. It's still early, but 32 weeks is definitely viable if I ended up going into labor. My trip to Utah is coming to a close and it's strange to think I've been here so long. I was only 27 or 28 weeks when I got here. My coat originally buttoned three out of four buttons, now I can only button two buttons - a very scientific measurement to prove that I am growing.

Sister Pillow

Willa has started to have a very cuddly stage and I am trying to soak it all in while it lasts! The other day she sidled up to me and decided that my belly made the perfect pillow! I have a feeling that given the choice, Willa would probably prefer this nice pillow instead of a baby sister. Still, maybe she will be very good. She has been taking expert care of all her baby dolls and loves to give lots of kisses.

For a pregnancy update: I just passed the 31 week mark, I'm due March 9th. I had Willa at 38 weeks, though. I'm not sure if that was an anomaly or if that's way I cook 'em. Either way, the day is coming VERY soon! I'm feeling the regular 3rd trimester aches and pains. I don't think I noticed them as much last time because I wasn't continually forced up and down off the floor by a demanding two-year-old who wants me to follow her and play games all day. I think this baby might be sitting higher since my stomach has two settings: hungry or as stuffed as a Thanksgiving turkey. There doesn't seem to be a nice medium satiation level. I'm still running, but it's pretty slow and pathetic running. The baby is a regular Rocky and likes to punch and kick a lot. Sometimes I swear there is popcorn popping inside of me! Extra big baby? Extra small uterus? I'm not sure which, but it's hard to believe I've got two more months to grow. I'm grateful everything is going well.

My mom and I went to a bread making class on Saturday (side note: the Bosch has 800 watts of power, the KitchenAid only 250-300; if you make bread with a Bosch and let it knead the bread for at least eight minutes, it works the gluten so well that you only have to let it rise once; if you tried the same antics with a KitchenAid, you would burn it out very quickly - true story). Anyway, there was a sweet three-week old baby at the class and it got me very excited to hold and cuddle this new little one.

Christmas

Christmas with Willa was so fun this year! We had exhausted her the previous two nights from family parties and picking Ryan up from the airport, so Christmas morning she actually slept in until almost 8:30! We were all up an hour earlier, so we decided to break with tradition and eat Christmas breakfast before the presents. She woke up just in time to sit down at the table with us and I think she was a lot happier having food in her stomach while we opened gifts.

After we finished eating and cleaning up, we got ready to go in the living room. In my family, Santa doesn't wrap his gifts. In December, the gifts pile up under the tree from family and friends, but on Christmas morning Santa brings the toys and sets them up. We would run into the living room and play with the toys for quite a while before we actually moved on to opening presents. I actually think this is wise of Santa because he doesn't have to worry about different wrapping paper or anything like that. It might have made for a late Christmas Eve night at our house, however, when he had seven children's worth of toys and presents to assemble. Anyway, Willa had both some wrapped presents under the tree and some special Santa gifts that were set up and assembled for her. Ryan pointed her to look at the living room where the new toys were laid out and she said, "Ooooohhhhh!!!" and then starting running towards it. It was extremely, extremely adorable. She was very cute opening her gifts. One of my favorites was when she opened a small set of matchbox cars and shouted, "CARS!". She got probably three times more presents than she really needed. She was a little overwhelmed with all the new toys (and also had gotten a little hungry again) so we ended up opening the last of her gifts. That seemed like a better option than yelling at her to "Come open your presents!"

It was so fun to have Christmas with her at this age, and I can't wait for next year when she'll get the whole concept even more (and hopefully still be happy and compliant about what she receives). When we get back to Texas, I think I will take half of her toys and stash them in the attic for a few months - maybe they will be a nice surprise when the baby comes.