Screamin!

I hope you have a SCREAMIN' New Years Eve!

Love, Nugs

p.s. I told Nugs for blog purposes we needed a TANTRUM! What an obedient little girl.

Sweeping

My favorite little helper is getting so much better at sweeping: Take a look:

Kiss the Snowman

This is what you get when you ask Nugs to "kiss the snowman"

She proceeds to find every single snowman left in the house and kisses it.

Thanks G&G

Thanks G&G for the cute dress!

Love, Nugs

GoodNight!

We have had a wonderful day and we are exhausted. We are happy, a little bit fatter, and merry. Hope your day was as much fun as ours was!

Thanks again to everyone who made our Christmas so special!

Love,

The Hamiltons!

Thanks G&G

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!! I love all my new clothes and web-cam! I can't wait to talk to you!

I am just pretending to be angry at my mommy for taking so many pictures- I am really happy- I promise!

Different Kind of Dance

So who is to say what is dancing? I have never been a fan of "headbanging"... I always got a headache. Well, for your viewing pleasure... just click play.

I guess that Erin will laugh the hardest and definately will watch it the most...

Christmas Day update 1

For the family in Napa! We love you and miss you!

Thank you Uncle Cory and Aunt Katie! We love the PJs!

Christmas Eve

Here is our cute Nugs on her way to Grandma Mingo's House! We had fun!

And here is our Christmas Tree for the morning! Merry Christmas Nugs!

Thanks Uncle Jason and Aunt Devyn!

I am contemplating not doing thank you cards this year and just posting my "thank you" notes on my blog... such a great idea! Well, maybe not. But I might just do it anyway... we'll see. So to start off. THANK YOU to Uncle Jason and Aunt Devyn for the adorable velour sweatsuit!

Nugs knows she opened her present a little early... but we figured that J&D already opened a lot of their gifts... so why not us?

Look at her pretty painted finger nails! I only got one hand done last week and never really finished- but it does look so cute where it was done.

Los Angeles Trip

So on Friday we took a quick trip to L.A. My cousin was getting married and my parents were going to be there. I knew this would be my only chance to see them around the Christmas Holiday (be strong... hold back the tears...stupid hormones...) So I wanted to bring them some Christmas presents and visit with them for some time.

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While we were there we were able to have 1 crazy packed car ride, 1 sleepless night, 1 beautiful day at the LA Temple, 1 cranky baby who was much happier after her 1 hour naps, 1 wedding, 1 lunch, 1 fabulous reception, and 1 awesome car ride home.

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Here is Nugs for your viewing pleasure I love how she puckers her lips in an "O" to emphasize her "NOOOOO"

My friend Maddy is in the background- she saved my life by coming on this whirlwind trip!

Playing with the flowers and christmas lights

(Don't look closely at my roots! I need you Devy!!)

Fascination as she sees the beautiful temple

Walgreens Free 8x10

I just ordered a free 8x10 photo of Nugs to give to Grandma today. If you order an 8x10 at the walgreens photo store online you type in FREEGIFT in the coupon section and you get it for free!

I am picking it up today right before Nugs and I leave for Los Angeles for my cousins wedding and to play with Grandma and Grandpa!

Daycare

Nugs has spent the past 3 days in daycare and has loved it!

Nugs started on Monday at Ms. Mary's Daycare and it has been fabulous.

Ms. Mary has spent the last 17 years doing daycare out of her home and you can tell how much she loves these children. Everyday Ryann gets a report card sent home with her of everything she ate, when she ate, how long she slept, when her diapers were changed, and more. (this is not a real picture of Ms Mary's Daycare!)
Rich is able to drop Nugs off each morning around 8:45 before he goes to work and I am able to pick her up a little before 5:00 each day. She has her own crib to sleep in, has a special silky just for daycare, and a sippy just for daycare.

My favorite part about Ms Mary is that I never worry about Nugs during the day. I do often miss her and think about what she is doing, but I have never worried about her.

I will try to get a picture of her and Ms Mary soon.

Temple Lights

We were able to go see the temple lights at the Mesa Temple. Ryann had so much fun running back and forth touching all of the different lights. Here is a picture of us with the beautiful sunset.

Hay Ride

Last night we went with about 40 of our friends from church on a hayride. The older kids sang christmas carols and the horse drawn "covered wagon" took us up the mountain where we got out and hiked up a candle lit trail. Ryann was a little tired but we had a lot of fun looking at all the lights. Afterwards we spent some time with our friends eating delicious food!The wagon full of people- a little blurry- sorry

One of my girls better date this cutie

And we sure enjoyed the ride!

PillowCase Dress

This is the best picture I could find of the cute pillowcase dress I made for Ryann yesterday. Grandma Pat makes us pillowcases each year and Ryann doesn't have a pillow so I decided to make her this cute dress. It was a nice experiment and it actually turned out well.

Ultrasound Appointment

Since "weigh in"** was today I am sitting here drinking egg nog and listening to Ryann scream.

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I went to get my 20 week ultrasound and had to wake her up from her nap (she only slept about 20 min instead of 3 hours) so now that I am home almost 3 hours later she is screaming because she is so tired and wont fall asleep.

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We'll just see who has more willpower.

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So I will post ultrasound pictures soon-- Rich promised me that our scanner was working even though I told him it wasn't. So right now I can't figure out how to scan the pictures to post them. Instead I will just post a picture of Ryann for your viewing pleasure.

(sorry Cara-- Ryann is a little more cute at this stage of the game)

**weigh in is that dreaded time with each prenatal visit where they like to weigh you and see how fat you have gotten since the last appointment. So I try to starve myself the day before and eat as much as I want after the appointment!**

Mall Playground Trauma

I took Ryann to the mall today because I just realized that starting next week I might not have any daytime left to shop for Christmas! So we browsed for awhile and then I took her to the playplace there. She was having a blast... up and down the slide... up and down the slide... well then she ran out of view and a couple minutes later I hear crying. It sounded like Ryann, but Ryann hardly ever cries. So I didn't worry about it. Finally I decide to go over and check on her since she is still out of view.

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Red eyes and a tear streaked face. But happy and playing again.

I pick her up and look at the 5 year old who was playing near her. I ask, "did she fall and hit her head?" He shakes his head no and points to the little boy with the pacifier in his mouth. Can't be more than 18 months old. Oh well, I shrug it off because she is okay.

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I put her down so she can play some more and she starts to climb up the school bus near the little boy with the pacifier. Before I can even blink he shoves his hand in her mouth, grabs her jaw, yanks it and then proceeds to scratch her across the face as she is turning her head to get away from him.

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Obviously there is instant screams and tears as I grab Ryann and try to console her. However, Ryann is doing just fine. haha. just kidding. I wasn't crying, but Ryann really was. The little boy broke some skin and she was hurting bad.

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The little boy's dad and mom were mortified and very apologetic. I told them it was fine-- because really, kids will be kids and as long as the parents try to do something about it then I am okay.

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I held Nugs for about 30 seconds, asked her if she was okay and told her to be tough. She calmed down and said, "ok" after I said "ok".

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I then bought her a cookie.

She still wasn't very happy until I got her a silky.

See-- she still isn't her happy chipper self even after the cookie.

Pregnancy Update

Every week I have Rich take a picture of my growing belly. I will be half way through with my pregnancy on Friday- but I am getting my 20 week ultrasound on Friday and I thought pictures of Cara would be a more exciting post for then. So I decided to update you on TEN pregnancy things.

First: Here is a picture of my growing belly. Not much to look at I admit, but the long torso thing helps. (taken a couple days ago)

Second: I have gained 10 pounds thus far, and hopefully I keep on the slow track because I am still running almost everyday. However... with the holidays coming up I am a little nervous.

Third: Cara moves a lot- not as much as her big sister moved, but time will tell as her movements get stronger every day.

Forth: I am getting some weird pregnancy skin changes. I have random patches of really dry, red skin that I have to put eczema cream on every day or they itch.

Fifth: I feel like I "popped" yesterday. This picture was taken a few days ago so I will take a picture tomorrow to confirm that I now am "showing" when I wear my clothes. (this is about 3-4 weeks earlier than last pregnancy)

Sixth: I started wearing maternity underwear yesterday. Yuck.

Seventh: My stretch marks are already making their reappearance from last time. I know this is normal, but with Ryann none showed up until 36 weeks! So now, the ones I had before are just becoming more apparent- no new ones yet, but still they are yucky to look at.

Eigth: I never had ligament pain or twinges or pulling sensations with Ryann so those are definately a new experience for me. It is funny that I tell my pregnant patients about these sensations all the time and I am just now experiencing them for myself.

Ninth: Did I ever mention her name is Cara Kay Hamilton? What if she doesn't look like a Cara you say? Well, if she doesn't, eventually she will.

Tenth: This has been an easy pregnancy thus far. I truly enjoyed being pregnant with Ryann and I am also loving this pregnancy with Cara. My sweet girls are nice to me.

Sunday Dress

Ryann and I were matching when we went to church yesterday... so obviously I made Rich take a picture.

Baby Jesus

Look at the cute Baby Jesus that Nugs helped make in nursery today:

Too bad as soon as she got her hands on him she ripped off his blanket. Poor Baby Jesus. Nugs still doesn't understand the meaning of "cold".

My Little Blogger

Isn't she cute? Blogging already.

This is the happiest day of my life.
Haha. Just Kidding! She is playing the alphabet game on www.Fisherprice.com

Crafty Me

I was inspired over the holiday to be a little crafty with my mom. With help of April and her Cricut we made these adorable signs that I have already hung up in my house:

Then I got really creative and made these wall hangings from the leftover paper and hung them in my kitchen on a very bare wall:

I'm Back!

It is amazing how your life can be flipped upside down from getting out of your routine. Which, means, if I wasn't using the computer at my desk with my pictures and my Internet and my favorites and my easy access to watching Ryann play then I was thrown for a loop.

Haha. Believe it or not I still had a computer and the Internet- it was just the computer in the guest bedroom and even though it is new it is slower and doesn't have my usual favorites.

Wow. I thought Nugs was spoiled.

So, in light of my (metaphorical) return- I will post my favorite picture I took this past week:

We really do love Aunt Erin

Surge Protector What?

So before we left for California last week there was a tiny little rain storm. For some reason this rain storm caused us to lose power. Then yippy! The power comes back on.

Wait- here is the problem- Now our computer doesn't work. It was plugged into the surge protector and somehow it still blew through and fried our power supply in our computer. (hopefully that is all it fried!)

Rich is taking his lunch break today to run buy some new parts from Frys electronics. Hopefully this fixes it so I am out of the dark ages of no pictures and limited internet. Yuck

Christmas Pictures

So we tried to take Christmas card pictures today and this was the end result:

and now we are about to get in the car and drive home!

Thanks Daddy-O

Rich was a great husband and father this week.

He spent tons of time with Ryann and not all of it was while he was playing video games.

;)

Today at Zach's varsity basketball game he purposely had Nugs fall asleep on his lap because she was tired- which is awesome to me because I hate it when I get stuck in one position trying not to wake her up.

He also didn't throw-up last night when Ryann did- that itself is amazing. He even helped bathe her after all the throw-up stink was gone. We kind of leave all of the yucky bodily fluids to me because of my strong stomach.

And he spent most of his Thanksgiving dinner running all over Great Grandma's house trying to keep Nugs from breaking things.

Yeah, he is an awesome dad.

Crazy Hair

We took out the pig tails in Nugs hair today and we got CRAZY HAIR! She was too cute to pass up.

Some day when I grow up I will get an awesome camera like my moms. I never get this good of pictures with mine. Bummer

Determination? Concentration? Independence?

Look at the focus, concentration, and determination in Nug's face. I hope this continues throughout her life, in all other aspects of her life.

Not just when trying to climb onto playground equipment.

I am thankful for Nugs and thankful for her independence and determination. I believe that this will cause some struggles during her teen years but in the end it will pay off. I wouldn't trade these early traits in her for anything....(remind me that I said that in like 13 years)

Thankful

Turkey Bowl.

Did I mention it has been 5 years since I was in Napa for Thanksgiving? I missed it.

I love my husband so much for making the drive.

If I were to write all the reasons why I missed it and why it feels like home today I would cry- so I am not going to.

Just know I am thankful.

The Car Ride

Well the 10 hour car ride (who forgot to calculate traffic on the busiest travel day of the year??) was really a 13 hour car ride.
However, Ryann did exceptionally well.

We watched:
1. Shrek
2. Madagascar
3. Shrek the Halls
4. Sword and the Stone
And then ate dinner at McDonalds and gave her some benadryl and she slept well the rest of the trip. Occasionally she stirred due to Rich yelling at the traffic.

Water Anyone?

So I go to the grocery store and find these way cute little water bottles. Wouldn't that be great if Nugs drank out of a water bottle? Totally. So in the house she does well with the water bottle. So well that she loves it and won't let it go. No problem. She is so stinkin cute it doesn't matter.I put her in her carseat to go run an errand and you can tell where this is going...
Did I do something wrong? When will I ever learn?

I guess now that I am soaking up water out of her carseat I have learned this lesson.

How come?

How come it takes 12 pictures to get only 1 that isn't blurry?

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How come Ryann would rather watch "Shrek the Halls" with her new Shrek doll rather than with me? (thanks gra-mingo and aunt vicki!) How come these big blue eyes can get almost anything they want?

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How come we have to have 2 more sleeps before we get to Grandma's in Napa?

Twilight

I don't remember the last time--- if ever--- that I went to see a movie on the opening day. I usually am patient and wait for the hype to pass if I even see it in the theater at all. I usually just wait for it on DVD. Well, not today.

It was really amazing.

I thought I would spend most of the movie comparing the lines in the book to the lines in the movie (since, well, you know... I do have the books memorized) but it wasn't like that. I sat down ready to enjoy myself and I DID!

I am sure that most of you know I am "Team Jacob" for lack of better words- but I thought they portrayed the goofy looking, silly, teenager perfectly and I can't wait to see him develop in the next film.

LaborLooks

It is about time I posted this...

My sister Ashley and I (well mostly Ashley) have started a company called LABORLOOKS!

We make maternity hospital gowns for labor/delivery/ and postpartum.

They are super cute, comfortable, make for great pictures, and even better babyshower gifts! Since Ashley is a labor and delivery nurse and I am a certified nurse midwife, we both know exactly what the hospital will allow you to wear during your stay. They even work for after a c-sections in the recovery room...

Anyway, the website and blog explain a lot more about it...

Don't you love the sweet models??

www.laborlooks.com

www.laborlooks.blogspot.com

This Morning...

I found this not so happy face- in her crib- I didn't let the crying last long but she remembered I was the traitor this morning. And by the way- Auntie Devyn! We NEED YOU! This hair is getting out of control.

Anyone have any thoughts on what is going through this little nugget's head?

Big Girl Bed

So as I type I am listening to Ryann cry while I am testing the waters with the big girl bed. Why not let her try it out already? Let's see how it works. I will let you all know how it goes in the morning...

Check Out My New Bed!

Thanks to Grandma Mingo (Rich's mom- grandma flamingo shortened- long story- but Ryann can't even say Grandma so I don't know why we try...) we got this adorable toddler bed for Ryann! We aren't quite ready to switch her out of the crib, but Nugs 1 and Nugs 2 are going to be sharing a room so we are slowly starting to get things headed in that direction.

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So now I need ideas on bedding and decorating the room! I am so excited to make them matching bedding (which I will probably have to make because of the round crib-).

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Another big thanks to Rich for putting this IKEA bed together which I know is a pain in the butt because of all the little pieces and picture instructions. But I love you even more for doing it!

Check out my new boots!

Last year during the Old Navy children's sale I got these boots for $2.99. They finally fit Ryann but they are still a little too hot to wear... we are excited for Thanksgiving in Napa because we will be able to wear winter clothes!