Merry Christmas!!! (And hello old friends, it's been awhile!)

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your holiday is bright, warm, and sweet. We're in the midst of baking cookies and magic bars and prepping dinner for tonight. Then, once the little one is in bed tonight, we'll get to work assembling some presents. This is our first year to tackle toy assembly, so we'll see how it goes. I'm so excited to see Hadley's face tomorrow morning. It's great that she now knows what is going on and can enjoy the holiday!

I know I've been MIA for a few weeks, but rest assured that I do have posts planned. These last few weeks have just been busy with holiday planning and shopping, travel, and a work project that I finished in mid-December. This month was also made more hectic by the fact that I had to squeeze in numerous continuing legal education hours that I delayed (i.e., procrastinated) in taking until now. The deadline is December 31 and I finished on the 20th-- go me! Hey, at least they are done.

I've also managed to check several things off of my to-do list in the last month: cleaning out the closets in the soon-to-be new baby's room, shopping for cute (or as cute as they get) maternity clothes, packing up infant items to send to my sister for her new baby, setting up a business for my contract work, and assorted other odds and ends. It feels so good to start the new year with a slightly less onerous list of obligations.

And, lest you feel deprived of Hadley info-- my baby is doing beautifully! She was given rave reviews and praise by our pediatrician (and friend) at her 15-month appointment. Our pediatrician said Hadley is definitely precocious. She asked how many words Hadley knows and when I told her probably 15-20, she was super impressed. Apparently, she only needed 3 words to be on track. And, Hadley has added several more words to her repertoire in the last few days, including "towel," "oatmeal," "I don't know," and "bottle." She loves multiple syllable words. When Sean asks her what she knows, she says, "I don't know," except it sounds like "a da loo." It's so cute.

Our new little one is doing well, too. I'm about 26 weeks along now and the little bean is soooo active. I've been able to feel her kicking since about 15 weeks (early, I know!), and now, I can see my stomach move when she gets really active. It's amazing and a little weird at the same time. I have my glucose tolerance test at my next appointment. Other than that, this pregnancy is just moving along. It is really flying by and I have to make myself stop sometimes and just enjoy these moments. Before long, we'll be a family of four and I'm not sure I'll ever have time to slow down again!

And, since I have utterly failed to post a bump pic thus far, here is a pic of my belly at about 24 weeks. I think my belly has about doubled in size since this picture was taken.

We're planning a trip to visit family the day after Christmas and luckily, there is an IKEA within a quick drive of their house. That means we can stock up on baby furniture and other goodies while we're there. I'm anxious to get the new nursery decorated and ready.

That's it for now, folks. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!