(Still) Thankful

One might ask, "Why is she blogging about Thanksgiving?  We're halfway through January!  Shouldn't she just cut her losses and move on?"

You make a persuasive argument.

Alas, I usually fail to listen to reason.  Let's just pretend I'm not two months late on this one, okay?

So, Thanksgiving.  It was an all-day affair for the Vaughns.  We arrived at my mom's house that morning for breakfast and the viewing of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade:

 Gluten-free Cranberry Muffins

Did you know that there's really only about an hour of actual parade during that whole broadcast?...  Yeah.  Anyway, after breakfast Thomas and Anna went outside to assemble the latest Grammy's House toy -- a musical, talking zebra scooter.  Anna was, suffice to say, thrilled beyond measure.

 70's Baby (too bad the pants aren't bell-bottoms)

Zebra-in-a-box

Helping Daddy assemble Zebra

 United at last!

Anna thinks Zebra is "pretty cool!"

After their fun outside, they came in for a little light reading:

And some cooking:

 

Jonathan and Jinmee arrived, as did Grandma, and our party was complete!

 Anna and "Unca Jinmee" (don't worry, we're working on it...)

Thanksgiving Dinner was served shortly thereafter, and it was quite the feast!

My mom, the Gourmet

This is always where you'll find Jinmee after a meal, forever helping!

And then, of course, we had pie and looked at Black Friday ads.

Pumpkin

Apple

Anna's first taste of pumpkin pie -- "Mo peez!"

The Fam (minus Thomas, behind the camera)

During our game-playing that evening, Thomas took the following video of Anna.  Some might think it cruel that I seriously laugh so hard every time I watch it.

Rest assured, she was just fine!

Aaaand I'll leave you with that.  Oh, wait, no -- here's a picture of the Vaughns at Thanksgiving:

"With a moo-moo here..."

World's Best Maternity Pics

What happens when you have a baby?  You get incredibly behind on your blog!!  Hooray!

Even without that, though, it took me forever (for.ever.) to pick photos for this post.  This is the post wherein you get to see the glory that is Marybeth Graville's photography.  Also, the glory that is my CUTE family.  I tried to narrow it down to less than 70 "favorite" pictures.  Really, I did.  I concluded, after weeks of trying, that it just can't be done.  They're just... all favorite.  I have decided instead to randomly select a few from my favorites, because otherwise I'd never be able to pick.  

Enough rambling!  On to the good stuff:

 

 

And finally, here is the very last progression picture I was able to make:

I really wanted to take one last picture during labor, but things happened so fast that we weren't able to get everything set up to take one!  Ohhh well!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy looking at my beautiful maternity pictures as much as I do.  They will be treasured always!!  Thank you, MB!!  ♥♥♥

Weekend Phupdate

Just thought I'd drop in and give you all a pregnancy update.  I'm currently 36+3 -- we'll lovingly label this stage of pregnancy as "large and in charge."  Here's a progression picture:

Yes, I know it only goes through 34 weeks.  I'm keeping it to 8 weeks per picture!  The last two weeks (35 & 36, not included above) are interesting to compare, though, since Abigail has dropped a bit.  Last Saturday I was sitting on the floor of Anna's bedroom reading a book to her when it suddenly felt like my pubic bone was breaking.  It was... a new experience.  Nothing I tried made it feel better.  I had done way more walking than usual on both Friday and Saturday, so I think the main problem was that I just over-did it, along with the fact that Abby decided to chill out even lower than she was previously.  And although I have no official diagnosis, all of my symptoms fit perfectly with Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction.  Here's a little blurb from Wikipedia about it:

"Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) is most commonly associated with pregnancy and childbirth. It is a condition that causes excessive movement of the pubic symphysis, either anterior or lateral, as well as associated pain, possibly because of a misalignment of the pelvis. SPD is a dysfunction that is associated with pelvic girdle pain and the names are often used interchangeably.

The main symptom is usually pain or discomfort in the pelvic region. This will probably be centred on the joint at the front of the pelvis (the pubic symphysis). Some sufferers report being able to hear the lower back and hip joints, the sacroiliac, clicking or popping in and out as they walk or change position. Sufferers frequently also experience pain in the lower back, hips, groin, lower abdomen, and legs. The severity of the pain can range from mild discomfort to extreme and prolonged suffering.  Sufferers may walk with a characteristic waddling gait and have difficulty climbing stairs, problems with leg abduction and adduction, pain when carrying out weight bearing activities, difficulties carrying out everyday activities, and difficulties standing."

Basically, that's me to a "t" right now.  Last Saturday through Monday, I pretty much just shuffled around as much as I could because it hurt to even walk with a normal stride.  Even things like just getting out of bed were painful.  Thankfully, I had midwife and chiropractor appointments on Tuesday morning, and the chiropractic adjustments helped immensely.  I've been getting slowly worse all week, though, despite doing targeted stretching and exercising.  I'm going to have to rely pretty heavily on chiropractic care until Abby is born, I think.

In better news, she is in perfect position right now, and still acting like a little Evander Holyfield (which, although also painful, is a good sign that she's healthy and strong).  And though I'm still hoping she'll stay in past her EDD, I'm kinda suspecting she might debut a little early.  Either way, we've kicked it into high gear trying to get the house ready.  I don't think I've ever felt so compelled to scrub baseboards in my entire life!

Anyway, that's all I've got for now.  Here, please enjoy this picture of Anna our navigator at the zoo last Friday:

Our Halloween Sugarplum

I experienced something new this year during the Halloween season.  The joy of extreme anxiety over hand-making my daughter's costume.  I plan on making it a tradition.

But it all seriousness, it wasn't too bad because I had my mom helping me.  And by helping me, I mean mostly making it herself while I sat and "learned."  She contests that it was 50/50, but we're not fooling anyone, here.  BEHOLD!  Anna, Grammy's Sugarplum:

Looking so very serious

Yes, this year Anna was a sugar plum for Halloween.  Or rather, a plum with sugar on it (as a real sugar plum isn't nearly as cute).  We celebrated Halloween by going to the Mesa Naz "Celebrate The Light" festival, and everyone thought Anna was an absolutely adorable... purple pumpkin.  No, a purple grape.  No wait, a purple rhinoceros.  Yes, definitely!  The only person we came across that correctly guessed that she was a plum was some random 7ish-year-old girl in line at the bouncy castle.  "She's a plum, right??"  I felt like hugging her.  I'm glad I didn't, she probably would've run away yelling, "Stranger danger!" at that point...

Anyway, the story behind the choice of costume is pretty simple, really.  My mom is always calling Anna her "sugarplum," and since she went as one of her nicknames for Halloween last year (Anna Banana), I thought I'd continue the trend.  Plus, I figured this will be the last Halloween I have in which I get to pick her costume without her having an opinion one way or the other, so I better capitalize on it.

Grammy and her Sugarplum

Anna was not at all interested in stopping to pose for pictures.  It was a little frustrating that she looked so darn cute, but wouldn't let me get any decent pictures of her!!  Oh well.  You get to see pictures of her being cute and uncooperative instead.

Trying to get her to stand next to Moses for a picture

Anna with Anna (a cat) and Grace (Belle) -- Anna's costume was Anna's favorite of the night!  Yes, I realize that is a confusing sentence.

Couldn't get her to smile...

Attempt #2 with Moses... he was such a sweetie!!

Daddy huggles!

Playing the drop-the-candy-in-the-bucket game

Not cooperating for the camera!

Anna's favorite activity of the night -- walking with Daddy

E and A²

Most of the night was spent walking around and watching everyone else play games or jump in the bounce houses.  Anna did play a couple games, herself, though!  And I got to reap the sweet, sweet candy benefits.  The only thing Anna was really interested in was an enormous inflated slide/bouncy thing that was way too big for her.  She was very disgruntled that we wouldn't let her go down a 30-foot slide by herself.  But, that disappointment aside, she seemed to have loads of fun.  I'd say it was another successful Halloween in the Vaughn household!

Happy Halloween from the Vaughns!

Anna Finds a Pumpkin

Prepare to be captivated and delighted with the sights and sounds of Anna at Vertuccio Farms.

We started our adventure with a reading from one of Anna's (current) favorite books -- Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin.  Then we were off to the pumpkin patch/farm!  First, were the feats of strength:

Next, the airing of grievances: 

"But I WANNA pet the turkey, Daddy!!..."

....aaand I can't keep up with the Seinfeld references, so let's just move on.  Anna was SO into everything, it was enormously fun.  She wanted to go everywhere at once!

"Over there, Mommy!"

"Over here, Daddy!"

There were donkeys!

And chickens!

And cows!

And, ohmygoodness, BABY GOATS!  *squee*

And of course, there was dirt.

Sweet, precious dirt.

Shhh... Sleepy time, baby goats!

(Abby says, "Hi!")

"So... I take this ball of tape and throw it at these birds, huh?..."

More displays of prowess

"I got 'em all!"  *clappity clappity*

Taking a moment for quiet reflection

An eventful video:

And then we were first in line for the train ride!

"See, Anna, you hold the steering wheel like so..."

"Move, Dad, I got this."

And finally, Anna wanted to pick out her pumpkin.  First, they needed to pass the huggles test:

This one?  Noooo....

This one??  Noooo........

THIS one!

Yay, pumpkin!

Daddy picks his pumpkin

"Geez, Mom, enough with the PDA!"

Anna is very serious about her pumpkin.

And there you have it, folks!  Stay tuned for our next post about Anna, the Halloween Sugarplum!