Someone. Stop. Me.

According to parentingweekly.com, "Around the fifth month of pregnancy, the "nesting" instinct can set in. This is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world."

BINGO.

I have had an overwhelming urge to completely organize my house.  I mean I have been a label-making, cabinent cleaning, storage box buyin, wallpaper stripping maniac!  I think part of this is due to my first trimester misery.  I was incredibly nauseous and tired.  I compared my tiredness to being slipped a "roofy" at about noon everyday.  So for the last 3 months, I accomplished basically nothing. 

This week I decided, impulsively, that I couldn't bear to live with my outdated, wallpapered laundry room.  It all started with a little pick of the paper and an innocent thought of, "Hmmm, I wonder if this comes off easily."  Needless to say, many hours, a "not-so-easy" to remove glued on 3 layers of wallpaper, an angry husband, an extremely messy laundry room, and one pregnant lady in extreme pain later, I had the wallpaper off!  Now what?

I pondered my situation as I laid in bed that night barely able to move.  I came to the conclusion that I would not be painting the laundry room.  I would call my trusted painter in the morning.  I scheduled him to come the next day to paint.  I also felt the need to buy new knobs for the cabinet, new light fixtures, a new utility sink, a new exterior door, and a new interior door.  Did I mention that I was out of control?  Did I mention my husband was just a wee bit annoyed with me?

Well, I'm definitely making up for the 3 months of doing nothing and someone needs to stop me.... take a look at just some of my madness.  I will post before and after pics of the laundry room soon! 

Hmmm... I wonder what project I should do next?

Grandpa and His Girls

I thought I had this picture in my previous post, but somehow to got deleted.  It's a good one, so maybe it was meant to have its own posting!

 I love this picture.... My Grandpa and his Girls!

Christmas Craziness

We spent Christmas at my parents' house this year.  Mya and I headed down earlier in the week and were able to "help" Mimi prepare for the big day.  We anxiously waited for everyone to arrive.  Soon, there would be a house of CRAZINESS! 

The Kuehls + The Wiegmans= One Jannusch house full of love, laughter, and complete chaos!

I, of course, took lots of pictures to document all the happenings of the week. 




Mya and Brady were ready to go snowmobiling.... except they were still in their jammies!



Mya wasn't too sure about going at first.  The original plan was for her to ride with Uncle Steve.  However, she panicked and would only ride with me.  I wasn't dressed to ride.  In this wet snowfall, I really needed goggles, snowpants, and a helmet.  The things we do for our kiddos!  Mya ended up loving it and while on our ride she said, "One more time."




How gorgeous is this picture of the snow and trees?





Mya was trying to wave to Daddy.




Christmas Morning! Mya was the last to awaken! She had no idea that Santa had visited and left her a ton of presents!




This picture doesn't really do it justice.  There was an UNBELIEVABLE amount of gifts under the tree! These kids are spoiled!




A castle for Princess Mya!





Mya loves her new trampoline!



What I would have given for a room like this when I was little!



  PROJECTS!



Auntie helped Mya paint on a bowl for Grandma Laurel and Grandpa Bob.




Mya decorated her reindeer cupcake.



Mya helped Mommy make colored, peppermint, play doh!



Ta- Dah!



The apron Mommy made Mya.



Mya loved wearing her apron to help Daddy cook and Mommy clean!





This is what happens when you are the youngest!  The boys covered Mya in packing peanuts!  It was fun at first.....




Hey guys, get me out of here!





Where's Papa?




I found him!

  


Relaxing and watching Dora with her new chair and lap tray.





Scary Santa

Today we went with the O'neills to meet Santa Claus!  Mya was super excited to meet him!  She talked a big game... until it was her turn to sit on his lap!  She ran up to him and then stopped dead in her tracks.  To be honest, he was a bit creepy.   Perhaps it was the black mustache showing below his white mustache?!?!? Luckily he adjusted before the pictures!

Picture with Santa?  Only if I can sit here with Daddy!

Who is this guy holding me?

Kylie was the bravest kid in line....wait until next year! ;0)

For my birthday, Matt gave me the thrifty/fifty lens for my camera!  This was the first time using it so I was just playing around a bit!  I had a pretty cute subject to practice on!  Here's little Miss Kylie!

Girls in the City

This year for my birthday we will be at a family Christmas party.  So, we decided my celebration would come early.  I thought Matt was planning a surprise night out with friends.  Although I always love our nights out, a part of me was a bit sad that I wouldn't be able to fully participate in my special evening which would most likely consist of dinner and drinks.  I knew my mom was planning on coming up to babysit. That was the extent of the information I was given. 

Until Thursday.......

On Thursday, Matt decided he needed to fill me in on the weekend plans.  He told me that my mom was indeed coming up.  But, she wasn't coming up to babysit.  She was coming up to have a girls' weekend in Chicago with my sister and me!  I was so excited! We have been saying we needed to have a girls' weekend for a long time.  But the timing just never seemed to be right.  Until now!  Matt booked us a hotel on State St., made us dinner reservations at my FAVORITE restaurant (Cafe Ba Ba Reeba!), and left the rest up to us!  We decided to leave our schedule open and just do whatever we wanted to do!  We were just a Mom and 2 Sisters.....no....3 best friends..... that spent the weekend eating, drinking, walking, shopping, talking, and laughing!   It was by far, the best gift Matt could have ever given me!









HORRIBLE picture of me.... but its a picture of me enjoying a miniature sangria!  It was the taster glass they gave my sister to see if she liked the flavor. I did! 

Let It Snow!

We had the first snow of the winter on Saturday. Mya was super excited to get her snow gear on and go outside and play!  I had also taken a quickie photography class earlier in the week, so I was super excited to get my camera out and "play" with it!

My sister and family gave Mya their playhouse over Thanksgiving break!  It was quite the challenge getting it behind our house.  Thankfully, my Dad brought the trailer up so he could haul it over.  It matches our fence perfectly and I look forward to the kids playing in it lots when it gets warmer!  This was Mya's first visit to her new house!

Daddy tried to turn a garbage can lid into a sled.  It didn't work very well.  I think we need to invest in a real sled!

Love this picture! My pretty little Snow Bunny!

Dear Santa, PLEASE bring us a snowblower!!!!

Santa's Watching

We have been struggling a bit with Mya's impulse to bite and hit at any given moment.  It usually occurs in the evening when we are being goofy and playing around.  One minute we are playing, giggling, and tickling.... the next minute I have a miniature JAWS coming directly at me going in for the kill.  She may be small.... but her bite is big!  I have tried a number of different approaches. 

1. Time Out-  This works....SOMETIMES.  Sometimes I'll say, "If you bite, you will go into time-out."  Her response, "Ok!"  Other times, I put her in time-out, she cries, says "Sorry" and gives me a heart-felt hug.  However, the behavior continues the next evening.

2. Firm "No!"- I try this approach often too.  As I see her opening her mouth, I firmly say, "NO!" Ok, I admit, I also tend to close her mouth with my hands (semi-gently) and then say the firm "NO!"  She usually gets terrified and screams as if I have just beaten her with a wooden spoon!  Again, this stops the behavior at the moment but it continues the next evening.

3. Santa's watching you!  This is my new approach I've tried.  Just this year, Mya is kind of starting to get the idea that this "man dressed in red with a white beard named Santa" will bring her presents if she is a good girl. I told her he is watching her and will bring her presents if she is good.  Here's her response to that information.
Mya: No hit, Santa bring presents.
Mommy: Yes, if you don't hit, Santa will bring you presents.
Mya: No bite, Santa bring presents.
Mommy: Yes, if you don't bite, Santa will bring you presents.
Mya: No pick my nose, Santa bring presents.
Mommy (cracking up inside!): Yes, if you don't pick your nose, Santa will bring you presents.

Well.... I guess I will count my blessings and hope that Mya, at least until Dec. 25, will not hit, bite, OR pick her nose!