The cookie maker

Merry Christmas!

Vacation by numbers

1: Life-size gingerbread house I had to see.



2: Items we lost in the hotel room. How do things just disappear?

3: Number of weeks it took me to post anything about our trip.

4: Feet away I was from Kelly Ripa at Mexico at Epcot! She was looking at some folk art. I couldn't believe how skinny she is. What's smaller than a size 0?

5: People who wedged in front of me to see the parade.



6: Rides I wanted to go on but couldn't because of the expectant mother warning.

7: The shape that the Mickey Mouse straw we came home with turned into after putting it in the dishwasher. A cashier gave it to me because it was my birthday.

8: Times I just wanted to nap.



9: Pounds of clothing our family never got to wear that was just excess luggage.

10: Minutes Fly got to ride a real pony.



$25: Average price for lunch for our family?!

1,500: Number of Christmas trees across Walt Disney World. No exaggeration -- it's a fact.



$????.??: Amount we could have saved by not going to Disney and just taking Fly for rides on the county bus, because bus rides were his favorite part of the whole trip.

Hurt and gratitude

A new life coming into the world. A beautiful baby to celebrate. (Aren't all babies beautiful, really?) You would think any time a person says, "I am having a baby!" that you would congratulate the mother or father. It's the polite and reasonable thing to do -- even if you are a stranger who doesn't know the person.

We rejoice with those who rejoice.

Except for JP's sister.

When JP told his sister the news that we are expecting another baby, she made a rude and untrue comment to him. Then she sarcastically said, "Congratulations," and cut off the conversation.

That was one of perhaps five times I've known my husband to cry.

Not every family is perfect, and relationships can be fragile. Something, somewhere, went wrong with our relationship with JP's sister. We don't know what that is. But I certainly never expected her to make her brother cry when she should have been sharing in his happiness.

As disturbing as this is, I am overwhelmed by your comments and good wishes -- overwhelmed and grateful.

Thank you.

I'm pregnant!

All your good wishes and pregnancy vibes worked! (That, and my husband is a stud.)


(Actual baby. Not really a tornado.)

After all the wishing and trying, and celebrating others who are welcoming babies, I can finally look forward to a little brother or sister for Fly. I'm due in June.

And yes, this is partly why I haven't been around as much as I'd like....

- - - - -

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes! I was touched by your comments. I'm giving away three Disney gifts -- one to the person who guessed my age and two others to randomly selected bloggy friends. I had so much fun with this that I think I'll do it again next year! (So I can't reveal my age just yet!)

Happy birthday to me

... and I'm going to Disney World!

(It's also bloggy friend Elizabeth's birthday today.)

My hair is still dark, but when the sun is out, you can see some red peeking through. It's a start. I'm just going to ignore my hair and have fun.

The first person who correctly guesses how old I am will get a little gift from me from my trip. But, hmm, maybe I should give a gift to the person who guesses a more flattering age....