New Year, New Haircuts, New Rooms and NEWS

Happy New Year! I can't believe that it is almost March and I am just now getting to my first post of 2011. Well, to start things off, we are expecting Baby Blane #3 in mid September, which puts me at almost 11 weeks pregnant right now. While we are very excited, we have also experienced a fair amount of "what the #*!$ were we thinking" moments. I blame the latter on my overwhelming exhaustion and the miserable morning sickness that hits late every afternoon and persists thru the evening, sending me to bed with my head spinning. I don't think I felt this lousy during the first trimester of my other pregnancies. My theory for the increased misery?--I was able to take a 2 hour nap every day and put my feet up once in a while the last two times; this pregnancy I am constantly chasing two active kids and my only down time comes when they are finally both asleep (at which point I feel so sick that I can't even relax). Fortunately, my first trimester is nearing an end and I am optimistic that this yuckiness will be over. I am sure my family is hoping so, too, as they have not had many home-cooked meals lately. Since the smell of almost anything is agony for me, my kids have been persisting on Cheerios and poor Paul has had to pretty much fend for himself.

In this picture we have not yet discovered that I am pregnant. We are on our way to Morton's for what would be the absolute BEST steak of my life, sort of a late New Year's date--just the two of us. We had a lovely, if not gluttonous, time.

My little cowboy!

Sam loves horses, and walks around with the toy versions saying, "Heeee." Sometimes he can even hoist himself up onto this rocking horse, and then he rocks it like crazy--I sometimes think the thing is going to start moving around the room he is going back and forth so fast.

After much pressure from Paul, we finally took our blonde mullet-baby in for his first hair cut. I think part of my resistance stemmed from not wanting to wrestle Baby Rambo into holding still while some stranger wielded scissors at his head. I just figured that to even attempt such a thing was a futile waist of energy, since Sam does not like to sit still for anything--and he is nothing if not headstrong. The other reason I resisted?--I quite liked his long blonde locks. Ultimately, Paul won the argument--but only after he agreed to accompany me on the mission.

And guess what? Much to my jaw-dropping surprise, Sam was a CHAMP!! It couldn't have gone any smoother.

He held so still, barely moving a muscle throughout the entire procedure. I was beaming with pride.

He does look very handsome (and very grown-up) with his new 'do.

I think that part of the reason Sam did so well is that he watched Max's perfect mane-trimming behavior. Max has always been good for haircuts.

Too bad the woman gave Max a "monk cut". His bangs were hideous, and I eventually had to fix them. Even with the priestly 'do, I must say these boys are a super cute pair!

When Max was Sam's age we practically modeled our entire day around his nap schedule. We always made it home for his nap. Poor Sam, he just has to nap on the go...

We were at Target, and it was actually kinda early, but the poor guy must have been exhausted. He didn't even wake up when Max was in his face yelling and laughing at him.

When we moved here not quite 2 years ago, people told us that we were going to love it here because the winters are so short and it "never snows". Liars. For both our winters out here, the snow has been insane. What makes it worse? They don't know how to handle it. A lot of the back roads don't even get plowed until days after a storm has hit. And I can't even remember how many days school has been canceled for even the most minute amounts of snow. It seriously amazes me that this whole area can shut down for a couple inches of white flakes. I am not even exaggerating. If the weather forecast even includes the possibility of snow, the school district cancels school, and everything else follows suit (including Max's preschool and my gym).

So, we've just had to play in it. The boys love to be outside--they don't care how cold it is. Too bad their mom is a wimp and can only take extreme temperatures in very small doses.

Sam is so stinking cute. There are so many pictures of him that are just so good, it is hard to narrow them down.

Max, on the other hand, does not like his picture taken. He pretty much tries to hide whenever he sees a camera. Hmmm... reminds me of someone else I know.

So, not a lot of pictures of him this time. He is stinking cute, though, too.

We took the boys to a museum in Philadelphia called "Please Touch". We had been here once before for Max's 2nd birthday when Sam was just an infant.

The highlight of the day was the carousel ride...

Sammy was happy because he got to ride on a "heee".

We have also been busy with some renovations. With the near completion of our basement (we are about 90% finished), we were able to move all the toys down there and reclaim our dining room. We feel so grown-up now. Here are some before pictures of the room as a playroom...

and after moving all the toys to their new home...

We have a dining room (albeit one that is screaming for a new paint job).

We had to have some friends over (the Impriano's) to commemorate. How fitting that Max is seated at the head of the table.

Also, after much persuasion on my part, we finally eliminated the biggest eyesore of the house...

That horribly HUGE and UGLY fluorescent light had been plaguing my quality of life in the aesthetic sense since we moved in. So, it just had to go...

I think the final result is a huge improvement. The kitchen desperately needs paint, too... So many things to do, so little time.

As I mentioned, our basement is 90% complete. If we ever finish, I will post pictures. It is in a livable state right now, and we are definitely enjoying it. However, the few tasks that still need to be completed will be very obvious and will totally stand out in any photo (holes in the ceiling, etc...), and the end result is going to be so amazing that pictures are just going to have to wait.