time flies

I can't believe I haven't posted in this long. I don't know where the time goes.

Well, we're gearing up for Christmas here. Bethany loves the tree. She loves to let us know what everything on the tree is. And now she has started saying "whassat?" or "whosat?" (what's that, or who's that) when she doesn't know something or someone. When I turn the lights on in the evening she says,"Lights!". Nathan's grandmother gave us some of her animated Christmas things. Her favorite is the Santa that sings "Jingle Bells". She says, "Santa! Push it! Button!", then moves her arms up and down and her hips side to side. She also likes the reindeer from Nathan's mom that sings "Jingle Bell Rock". "Reindeer! Push it!"

This morning when I was making her breakfast I caught Bethany at the back window. She would gather up the curtain and hold it up to her face and say, "Bessyah! Wharyou?" Then pull the curtain down and say, "Boo!" and giggle. She's hysterical.

She loves giving hugs and kisses and asks for them often. Of course, you can't resist that sweet little face when she asks. She also kisses like every one of her stuffed animals or dolls. And she loves to rock them in her cradle and sing, "Rock, rock baby" (her version of "Rock a-bye baby").

Bethany still loves books and can "read" half of every one of them. I leave words out and she fills them in. I think her favorite book right now is "Frosty the Snowman". She also loves "Snuggle Puppy" by Sandra Boynton. I checked that out from the library but might put it on her wish list. It's cute.

Still no more teeth. She has her fingers in her mouth ALL the time, but nothing!

Well we started kindof potty training. I don't think I'm up for the rigid potty training yet. She has started wearing pull-ups during the day (which she LOVES) and I'll ask her every once in a while if she needs to go. She's gone a few times. But I think mostly right now she's "asking" to go right after she's gone in her pull-up. That's okay, though. She's recognizing that. We'll get there slowly but surely. She went today for Nathan so I'm glad that she will for someone other than me.

I just can't wait for Christmas. She is going to be so much more fun this year. Last year we had to stop opening presents for her to take a nap! She was so cranky the whole time! Plus, of course, we were all by ourselves. This year, everyone will get to see her open her gifts. I can't wait!

leaks and things

So as if the tree thing weren't bad enough, a few days later we discovered we had a leak in our bathroom. How did we discover this? Well, the first clue was the water squirting out from underneath the kitchen floor (there was laminate flooring in the kitchen). The first plumber we had out told us there was no pipe leak. Well, when the problem was getting worse, Nathan's dad came out and found it (we also ripped up the floor). We called a different plumber to fix it.

After the insurance adjuster came out, we took down the rest of the wall around the shower (on the kitchen side) to let it air out. This week, we've been replacing the drywall and finishing the removal of the wallpaper on that side. Due to all of this, we've decided to go ahead and replace all of the floors in the house. Even though we will be in debt up to our necks, it will be worth it, I think. We are about to add a ton of value to our house, anyway. Merry Christmas to us.

Our Thanksgiving was so great. We had a really good time at my aunt's. It was good to see everyone. For a lot of them it had been since Bethany was born that we've been together. And, we got to come home with peanut butter pie! :) My mom decided to have Thanksgiving on the following Saturday. That was nice, too. It was calmer. And, when my mom couldn't find her flour, we were able to get some!

Friday we put up the tree. It looks really nice. I love having it in our front window. It looks so cozy.

I can't believe that after Thanksgiving I actually lost weight. Ok, it was .2 pound. But I didn't gain! I'm down 25 pounds and almost 3 dress sizes.

Ok, so here are some updated house pics starting with our lovely floor. Click on it to see the rest: