#3 - Week 33

pregnancy #1, week 33:

But there is also this one in the same shirt...suddenly I don't feel so big!

Dahl Christmas 2011

Though it's odd to call it that since only two of those pictured still have Dahl as their last name. Next year it'll just be one...weird!

There were a few entertaining outtakes to get the photo above, and maybe a little bit of chocolate bribery for the little guys, but hey, no photo shop required!

Lots of food and fun with family! And presents...can't forget the presents...

Christmas Eve 2011 Group Picture...Sort of

There were 21 total pictures taken before we threw in the towel. I only posted the ones where the flash actually went off. :)

 Then I handed Alex the remote...the rest of these were taken by him...

Merry Christmas!

Here's my hack job edit...at least everyone has a face :)

One of Mommy's Gifts from Santa

The last few years I've been using my camera with timer on a tripod to take the annual Kolbow Christmas Eve group picture (and Thanksgiving picture). Jill has made it a little more difficult to push the shutter button, then take my place in the group. So after Thanksgiving, I asked Santa for a remote trigger. Best thing EVER! Here's Striker trying it out...

 We learned how long you have to wait between clicks to make sure you get the flash to go off. :)

Still experimenting with remote placement and flash settings though...

And I'm sure Striker will be thrilled that I've posted all of these :)

Christmas Morning 2011

He saw the gifts stacked on his table from the stairs and giggled with glee! Then immediately ran over and dove in :)

 Must open quickly!!! Help us Dada!

 A choo!

 Cinnamon rolls for breakfast...of course!

 This continued for 3 hours until we realized that Santa had left the Cars GeoTrax in the garage...now we'll probably be playing with that for 3 hours...good thing mommy is well stocked on batteries :)

Kolbow Christmas Eve 2011

The group picture was an epic fail...I'll post a separate post with that disaster since there are MANY outtakes. But a few highlights...

How cute is this kid?!

 The Kolbow boys...this is when the Hexbugs were running around...those things are scary! Notice the little ones' feet safely up off the floor. 

 Alex distributed gifts to everyone and then expected to be allowed to "help" open them...and by help, he meant open for you. If you look closely, you'll see that this gift is mine...

 Tony liked to "help" too...

 These are shake and go cars...yeah, they were fun on the drive home ;)

 Playing with "Uncle" Art...keep in mind he was having back problems but couldn't resist playing with the munchkins...can you blame him?

I failed to take pictures of the goulash...or desserts...but it was tasty!

Merry Christmas to Jill

I couldn't very well bring my baby girl home from the hospital in a blue and gray car seat...and since shipping time on these suckers is running 4-6 weeks, I thought I should probably get it ordered. Just enough pink to hopefully avoid the "is it a girl?" question a few times. Striker was baffled that I spent as much as I did on this. While I am frugal, when it comes to something that I will be looking at every.single.day for a year-ish, I want something I love and that will last. :)

#3 - Week 32

Nothing new to report really...still wearing wedding rings, not swelling, super tired. Going to be the really annoying pregnant lady and ask a ton of questions of the "new" doctor tomorrow. Have I mentioned the heart burn though? Cuz it's awful. Like all day long, but especially bad at bedtime. I've got to eat something absorbent or drink milk (read: eat ice cream) or it kills to be flat. Oddly, I don't really want any sweets with the exception of peppermint mochas...or peppermint mocha cookies...OMG those suckers were amazing! Oh wait, there was also the Oreo pie...Maybe I just have a thing for chocolate...but selectively. Enh, whatever. 

Thanks for the predictions...I'm setting the eviction date for 2/7/12...This will be 39 weeks (though 40 according to MY knowledge...screw measurements), our 7 1/2 year wedding anniversary, another 7 birthday,  and roughly 10 years after Striker and I first met...technically we didn't start talking until after my 21st birthday in March, BUT I'm pretty certain our class started on or about this date and it's also the birthday of my very first BFF.

Striker pointed out that we were going to run out of comparison pictures in 4 weeks...I'm okay with that. :)

For comparison, pregnancy #1, week 32: