the essence

To ring in the new year, I broke in my new maternity jeans. I've been wearing my regular jeans as they fit fine, but over the last week I'd started to notice that they weren't the most comfortable when sitting. During Sherlock Holmes, I flat out had to unbutton & unzip my jeans - good thing I had a coat!

If you're on facebook then you may've seen my New Year's Resolution - to gain at least 20 pounds by June! My other resolution will be to lose those 20 pounds by December. :)

After the holiday goodies I've been eating I finally started to gain some weight. This pregnancy has been different in so many ways, including not gaining any weight for the first 15 weeks. I also was well enough that I didn't lose much weight in the beginning like I usually do either.

Anyway, we seem to have made my mom sick when she visited us around Christmas. I feel so bad, she has such a weak immune system that when she gets sick it's so much worse than it is for most other people. We were supposed to be at my parents' house for New Year's Eve but my mom was too sick. We spent the evening with Eddie & Sarah & then quietly at home after they left for their family party. We were going to go with them but then remembered that perfume would probably be very strong & I wouldn't be able to stay anyway.

We did have a delicious dinner before they left though, 4 lbs of Bistec de Palomilla & black beans & yellow rice. It was so delicious! My favorite part of the steaks are all of the onions and lemon juice piled on top. I'd planned to make them the week before but never had time but Eddie thought it was a good idea & cooked up the steaks for us. The girls got ahold of a lemon & took turns sucking on it & making sour faces!







After they left for the family party we took Addison outside to do some snap 'n pops. When Ray told her we were going outside to do snaps Addison got SO excited - because she thought Ray said "snacks." She still enjoyed herself, though.



Susannah also received dress-up clothes from her aunt while she was here which meant the girls were able to be even more decked out princesses. If you can't tell, they were really more interested in dancing around than being still for a picture.



On Friday Sarah & I did a little shopping and after dinner we had the guys take care of the kids so that she & I could go to the movies again. By the time we got there (after a Target stop to load up on coffee & slushies) it was just a few minutes before the movie was to start & there were only 19 seats left in the theater. So, it was either sit separately or in one of the first two rows. Do you have any idea what Avatar in 3D is like from the second row?!? I felt like it was practically in 3D already without the glasses.

The movie was good, very well done, very different, but having seen it once I don't have a desire to see it again. It just didn't have enough interest for that, it was a bit on the slow side, and definitely heavy on the special effects.

Saturday our guests departed & it was back to the daily grind. Ray worked in the afternoon & I finished the ironing & cleaned our bathroom.

Hope everyone else had a Happy New Year!