All our Christmas Fun

Our Christmas holiday was full of family, fun, and a lot of laughing. Marie made this Christmas extra special this year. She was so in tune to all things Christmas: singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, waiting for Santa to bring her that pink bunny rabbit, opening gifts and dropping her jaw with amazement, and even twirling around when she got too excited. It really made Christmas more magical this year.

We started in Spencer with the Mueting side. We went to church, played games, and Marie jumped on the bed as many times as she could convince her aunts and uncle. Marie had several opportunities to open presents and loved every minute of it. Although at times when she would feel overwhelmed by all her fun new gifts, she would just simply grab a book or a lap and zone out for a few.
Next we went to Sheldon to be with the Van Beek side. Marie is one of many grand kids there so she learned how to take turns opening presents. This came easy to her and it seemed to confuse the other little ones that she didn't rip her presents open one after the other...instead she opened her first gift and decided to just read that while the others opened more.

That evening we played "Minute to Win It" games that Keri and I had organized. Everyone loved it! I don't think I have laughed that hard in years. The kids got really into it as well. It's hard to explain it all but the pictures do some talking for me. One of the favorite games was one where you had to get all the jingle bells out of a box that was attached to your bum...needless to say everyone was forced to do this and we have video to prove it!
We were so blessed to be able to spend time with our family over the holiday and enjoy some much needed time off. Although...Andy sees time off as an opportunity to tackle projects. So, he and his dad were busy transforming our basement with some new sheetrock, paint, and organizing. It looks great and we are very thankful for the help. Marie was happy to have Papa in town too because that meant she got to go swimming at the hotel! It was hard to drag her out of the pool after all that splashing around.

Mueting Christmas Card 2011

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011 has proven to be another adventurous year for us.

Some of our happenings:

-Andy winding down his 4th year of medical school at Des Moines University
-Marie turning 2 years old in June
-Charlie enduring another knee surgery in November and recovering well
-Kelly switching school districts in August
-Marie getting potty trained in October
-Andy & Kelly celebrated 5 years of marriage in June
-Andy traveling around for Residency Interviews
-Kelly discovering she was expecting baby #2 and due in July

We are certain 2012 will prove to be even more exciting with the new baby, possibly a move, and much more.

Marie's 1st Christmas Program

Friday night was the annual Children's Garden Christmas Program. This was Marie's first year participating. Her Butterfly room has been practicing since August for this one song...so we have been hearing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" since then. Needless to say we were READY for the program to happen. Her teachers, Melissa, Kristina, and Edith did such a good job getting all the kids dressed in their best and ready for the performance with several dress rehearsals.

Unfortunately my video-taking skills were less than sub-par, but you get the gist. Marie did a great job with the song and even was the star for part of the show. Her voice carries anyway but when you put a microphone in her face you know she is going to go for it!

Following the program, we went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in the area and then went home to have our Christmas. Marie had no idea we were going to open presents that night so she was very surprised to see the tree with presents underneath it and her stocking stuffed full of goodies.


On Saturday morning we decided to have our Christmas morning breakfast - pancakes. Marie asked for pink minnie mouse pancakes and as you can see, she got them!


I am so grateful for this past weekend because I felt pretty good the majority of the time except I need to be in bed around 8:30 as that is when I start to get sick again.
I was finally able to enjoy some play time with Marie and I was able to help Andy around the house. Andy has been doing way more than his share with me being sick this past month and a half on top of his residency interviews and rotation schedule...I am a lucky girl.

We have a zoo at our house...

Marie is going through an unbelievable pretend/imaginary stage right now.

We spend countless hours going on alligator, giraffe, hippo, lion, and tiger hunts. Most of the time, Marie rides on our backs as we make our way through the house by crawling on our knees in search of these creatures.

When we find these wild animals, they are either scary (if it's in a dark room) or friendly tiny creatures that fit in the palm of our hand. Luckily we have Charlie in the house because if we find a particularly scary animal, he is there to bark at them and scare them away.

Marie is especially fond of the giraffe that goes everywhere with us...it jumps on the bed, takes a bath, and even visits the grandparents homes with us.

One night, Marie needed some cough syrup before bed so Andy got it all prepared. Of course the giraffe needed some too. So, he put some water in the medicine cup, Marie brought it to the giraffe, and looked away. Andy instructed me to quick drink it up. Marie turned around, picked up the empty cup and exclaimed, "the giraffe drank the medicine all gone!!!"

The weird taste of medicine/lukewarm water was disgusting, especially to this nauseous mom-to-be, but so worth it just to see how excited she was about it.

So, for now, we are playing right along with this imaginary wild animal stage and we have the worn-out knees to prove it.

***

We have Marie's 1st Chistmas Program at her school Friday night. She is sooo excited and has been singing the song since August. More to come on that soon!

Flour Flour Everywhere

We had an unexpected day at home on Wednesday due to pink eye. I knew I would have to keep Marie busy so we decided to make our Christmas cut-out cookies since I had a helper at home.
(I use the term "helper" loosely here)

As you an see, most of her helping was by playing in the flour which felt like "pretty powder" to her. It was EVERYWHERE! Every time I thought I had it all cleaned up I would find more.

Marie was very good at laying the cookies on the cookie sheet. I knew I would be tired from this baking adventure but I didn't think it would wipe me out completely! Marie and I cuddled together and took a 2 hour nap to recover. I am enjoying my time with her and trying to spend quality time while she is my only little one to care for.

This pregnancy is much different from my first with Marie. I have days where I feel great and then days where I feel awful and spend a lot of time wondering if and when I will vomit. I can never predict what the day will be like or what will sound good to eat (not a lot). I have heartburn and indigestion so Tums have become my new best friend. Who knows, maybe the differences mean it's a boy...we will be finding out with this baby. Marie was a surprise for us and it was a great experience. This time we want to experience hearing the news at the ultrasound. I think that will be nice for Marie so she knows exactly what to expect - a baby brother or sister!

Seeing Santa

After listening to Marie chat about Santa Claus non-stop this week, we decided we should take the adventure on this weekend. She wanted to be especially cute and insisted on a flower in her hair for the occasion.

We only had to wait in line for a little while and it was well worth it. Marie walked right up to the big guy and told him exactly what she wanted - a pink bunny rabbit.

She was very happy with herself and enjoyed the candy cane from Santa as well. When she saw her picture on the screen she said, "That's me and Santa!!!"

***Surprise***

On November 6th, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. we were given a BIG surprise.

I mean the kind of surprise that takes your breath away, causes sweating, and increases your heart rate to a near-dangerous level.

The kind of surprise that slows down time and allows you to hear your thoughts running through your mind.

Yep...it was a life-changing kind of surprise.

Here comes Baby Mueting #2 !
Due July 6, 2012

I am very sick (again), but we couldn't be happier.

Although this was not our timing, we are excited to expand our family, and very thankful the baby appears strong and healthy.
We were already able to see the strong little heartbeat on an early ultrasound!

It will be a busy summer with possibly a move, Liz and Andrew's wedding, and Andy starting residency the week I am due...

Marie is very excited there is a baby in my tummy and was a little upset when she was told it would be a long time before it came out. She loves telling people about it and isn't very good at keeping it a secret. She also believes she has a baby in her tummy, too!
Right now, she is hoping for a baby brother, whom she has decided to call "Henry."

Stay tuned...it should be an interesting year!