Better luck next year

Ask anyone who knows me. In preparation for our annual Christmas photos I've been killing myself to put together two perfect outfits for each of my children. I looked all over in Des Moines, Williamsburg, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids for each perfect piece.

I had Lauren's dress and killed myself to find a suitable matching tie for Josh. I ended up scrapping the first dress and found a second dress instead because I had a matching tie. Then I couldn't find the headband. Then I couldn't find a purse.

All that gas, all that energy, all that running around was a monumental waste of time because Lauren was in no mood for pictures on Saturday.

To say it was a disaster would be putting it very, very....very mildly.

I got one photo of Lauren by herself and that is only because I threw her into the chair and ran. And what I ended up capturing was her sitting in a little chair, pointing at the camera and yelling at me. Doesn't that scream, "Merry Christmas."

Every single one of Josh's pictures turned out. He is a model. Always has been. Lauren is the drama queen. And our Christmas card this year will reflect that.

Some people think the photo is hysterical and the other half can't believe I'm sending that out as a Christmas card. Either way, I don't care. Because the last thing I was going to do is reschedule so that I may go through that 30 minutes of hell again.

As soon as we left the photo shoot we rewarded Josh by letting him ride the indoor Merry-go-round at the mall.



And wouldn't you know it...Lauren was all smiles and waves.



That little girl is lucky she's so darn cute! Do you have any idea the restraint it took to not scream in frustration? Dustin got off the ride and said, "Where was this little girl 10 minutes ago?"

We worked in the basement all day on Sunday and had nothing but a hung door to show for it. Yet another day of disasters.

Not to mention Josh had been coughing quite a bit and I was considering taking him to the doctor for his cough and right on cue he started complaining of an ear ache. So I took him to the Insta-care and sure enough the poor thing had bronchitis and an ear infection.

Thankfully, I was already off on Monday due to our office moving back downtown. AND...speaking of which...CHECK OUT MY NEW OFFICE!!!!



Everything is in disaray but we are all thrilled to be back downtown! The cubicles aren't in yet, the break room is half finished, Jim's furniture isn't in yet, boxes are every where...well, you get the point.

With all the chaos in my own home...this feels ironically familiar. I thought you might all enjoy seeing our new office since the last photos of our old office were pretty depressing.






It will certainly be beautiful when it's all done!

Baby Update: 23 weeks

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.