The End of an Era

The nursing era, that is. I think that Calleigh has just about completely weaned herself from the boob. We had been down to just first thing in the morning and I think even that has gone by the way side. I guess it's good that it happened this way. I know that I didn't want to be the one to stop it - - I wanted to just let nature take its course. And this is the result. We went about 19 1/2 months. I guess it will give me almost a five month break until I'm at it again. At any rate, Calleigh is just too busy to spend much time in my lap so the nursings were becoming very short anyway. She has her "milk bubby" (milk sippy cup) as she calls it and that seems to do it for her. So for those of you that were concerned that I would have a three or four year old still at the breast, your fears are put to rest - - as far as Calleigh is concerned. You never know with the next one!

Speaking of the next one, the big day is Monday. We get our ultrasound. I'm so looking forward to seeing the little bugger. He's been doing a lot of kicking over the last few weeks - - it's always nice once you get to the stage where you feel the movements because you are assured that they're alive and kicking so to speak. It's a big day all around as a friend from work that's due on the same day as me has her ultrasound at 12:45, mine is at 2:00 and Camille's is at 3:15. I'll obviously post the news here as soon as I can. Here's a picture of me at 19.5 weeks taken a few days ago.

On Wednesday evening (New Year's Eve) we had Christmas 2.0 as Duncan calls it. That's when we exchange gifts with Ron and Elaine who also happened to be celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary. We had a nice dinner and than proceeded to the gifts. Once again, it was difficult to keep Calleigh engrossed in anything for too long but she did get some new toys that grabbed her attention such a fire truck, a radio type thing that plays music, a new rocking chair, a play tent castle, and the best of all, a new bike! It's an ingenious invention, really, in that it has a handle on it so that an adult can push it by standing straight up. So nice not to have to bend down! The bike is a big hit but we've unfortunately been on the receiving end of some nasty outbursts when Calleigh has to get off the bike and come back indoors. I almost dread going outside with it knowing what will happen in the end. But it is a delight to see how much she enjoys it.






I was thinking about possibly staying up for the ball dropping but in the end, sleep won out. Honestly, New Year's Eve is by far the least exciting of the major holidays for me so I really could care less if I'm up or not. The only reason I was going to stay up (although, let me mention that I'm usually up to at least 11:30 anyway so it wouldn't be a big stretch to be up at midnight..but I was really tired for some reason that night) was because Shannon was getting back into town and needed to pick up her car from our place. She arrived just before midnight but Duncan was the only one to greet her (Megan picked her up at the airport).

Speaking of Duncan, he unfortunately came down with the same bug that I had gotten while up in Boston. It's the same bug that sickened practically everyone in the family. It started Monday night and he ended up home from work on Tuesday. The problem with the bug is that even though you may not be in the bathroom dealing with it, you still fill sick in the stomach and it affects your appetite for a few days. So today is the first day that's he's felt like his complete normal self. Thankfully Calleigh didn't get it.

Last night we met Allen, Tangie, Braelyn, and Tangie's parents at Panera. After Calleigh finished stuffing her face, she and Braelyn had a great time running around the restaurant doing their hand holding bit. You have to keep reminding yourself that some people may not find it as cute as we do so we tried to contain them but they get so excited that they're hard to hold back. And speaking of hand holding, I took Calleigh to the playground this morning and it only took her about a minute to find some little girl (who was about 4), grab her hand, and start walking around with her. Apparently she isn't going to have trouble making friends.

I went to say a special Happy Birthday to my Aunt Shirley who turned 75 yesterday. Oh, that we all will look so young when we hit 75! At any rate, I love you Aunt Shirley and I hope you had a memorable day!

Have a Happy Sabbath. We're looking forward to Sabbath School tomorrow since we missed last week (the whole Calleigh arm thing).