10 on Tuesday

1. Today was my due date. Not even one real contraction. Just Braxton Hicks.

2. This baby is really getting on my nerves tonight. I think she is alternating between kickboxing and using my uterus as a trampoline. And she is hitting a lot of nerves! Ouch.

3. Ava started picking boogers out of her nose and giving them to me. Awesome. "Here you go mom!"

4. Ava is really into the fact that she has blue eyes and I do too. She brings it up every day. She grabbed my mirror this morning and said, "I want to look at my blue eyes. It's beautiful. You have blue eyes too!"

5. Ava is really into anything sparkly and "princess-y." I told her we were going to go shopping and she informed me that she needed "princess shoes."

6. I made a couple of freezer meals today. Go me.

7. I need to get better at writing things down or putting them in my phone, as in Ava things, because by the end of the day I forget a lot! And I want to remember this age. My favourite so far. I love having conversations with her and the things she remembers and tells me.

8. Favourite Ava sayings: "there you go!" "thanks mom" "I want to snuggle you!" "Wait a minute!"

9. Waiting is hard.

10. That's it!  :)

15 on the 15th and My Word.

I think I have decided on the word CAPTURE for this year. There are lots of goals I want to accomplish but one thing I really want to focus on is capturing our life right now. I absolutely love this stage with Ava and there are so many cute things she says and does, and we will have a newborn in the house any time now, and I know these days will go by so fast! So I am determined to get better at capturing it all. I got a new camera bag for my birthday and I am using it as my diaper bag/purse so I can take my camera everywhere.

This year I am going to continue doing 15 on the 15th (capturing the 15th of each month is 15 photos), inspired by my friend Rhonda, who is amazing at capturing and documenting life. She has a few fun ideas for photo projects I may borrow this year! Visit her blog at www.rhondasteed.com.

This month, to be honest, as you can see below, there are some so-so photos and some just plain awful ones. I may have gotten lazy/pregnant and I may have missed a few things I could have captured. Shooting into a mirror and taking selfies is not very original. BUT, I did it! And I still can't find my remote so I am ordering a new one as soon as I hit publish!

One of my favorite little quirks of Ava's is her need to play with her belly button when she's tired. She was upset that she couldn't find it with her jammies zipped up so I unzipped them for her. She ended up in my bed last night when neither of us could sleep through the sound of the wind! It was insane. I thought my trampoline would be gone but nope it's still there and my windows are all intact.

She slept in this morning so I decided to capture my pregnant morning awesome-ness. Desperate housewife right here.

I can never get too many morning snuggles! I love how snuggly she is when she wakes up.

Her favorite "bek-fast" is pancakes.

I tackled a few de-cluttering/organizing projects today.

Ava loves her games on the iPad! And I love how she says iPad.

Check out that booger.

I look awful but this is us every day! Those papers are paintings we did together.

Lunch time and still in PJs. Kind of how we roll these days. She wasn't going for the chicken noodle soup so we tried sandwiches. And no meal would be complete in Ava's eyes without chocolate milk. ("caca milk"). She likes to "mix and mix" it and eat it with a spoon. Which is why she has it all over her face!

Finally getting ready for the day!

Sneaking on to mom's computer. The sewing machine is out because I am finally putting Emma's quilt together.

A little Diego before bedtime tonight. Dad was gone so it was girls night!

Getting ready for bed and brushing her teeth.

Saying her prayers as fast as she can.

And an out-of-focus selfie of story time in Ava's big girl bed. Two books and she was falling asleep. Cutting out naps will do that!

And that was our day!

2014

I am always so excited to start a new year! This year I am finding it strange to be a little (or a lot) more tired, and not quite as clear on what I want to accomplish. I chalk it up to being 38 weeks pregnant. I do have a list of goals, and I have a particularly ambitious list of house decorating projects (hmmm...nesting perhaps?) for the coming year. I guess I am just lacking a bit in motivation to start doing things.

Last year I chose "one little word" to be my focus for the year and I loved it. This year I am still trying to decide for sure what that word will be. I may just start my year over again in February after this baby comes! I feel a bit scattered and all over the place. 

My word for 2013 was "Do." I built garden boxes and planted a garden by myself, and started Project Life, and took pictures and videos of myself with Ava instead of being sad I wasn't in any. I installed Ava's closet organizer and made Roman shades for my dining area and hung curtains in my room and finally bought a new thermostat and installed it. I did things I had put off because I thought they were too hard or I didn't know how to do them. Some were big, some were pretty small. I educated myself on streamlining my album design process to get caught up when I was overwhelmed and took a class to get organized. I did 15 on the 15th because I wanted to capture our every day life (I only missed one month!). I tried really hard to just do things I wanted to do without finding excuses or letting things get in my way. I made over my 'office' on a budget after thinking about it and wanting to do it forever. I threw stuff away and organized some areas in my house. I organized my pantry. I finally had stools built for my entry (the upholstering part is currently underway - finally :)) I built shelves in my storage room by myself and organized a lot of junk and keepsakes and all of Ava's baby clothes. 

There are still so many projects and things that I want to do/accomplish, but I feel good about what I did. I was pregnant and babysat kids the whole year and shot weddings and that made the summer and fall a little crazy for me at times! As much as I would like to be Wonder Woman, I'm not. I'm just me! And I am learning (slowly) that that's ok. 2013 taught me a bit about recognizing my limits and saying no to things. It was a good year! 

Now to figure out my word for 2014...and have this baby... :)

10 on Tuesday

1. I realized today I haven't set any goals for 2014 yet. One of them will definitely involve baby weight and working out!

2. 37 weeks today - 3-4 to go!

3. I am shooting my sister's bridals tomorrow. Can't believe my baby sister is getting married this weekend! I feel like this is going to be a crazy week.

4. I discovered what Braxton Hicks are. They are awful. They did not stop coming for two days straight and I am just not a fan. At all. According to my google research they are only supposed to come a few times per hour. I wish! But today has been better.

5. Ava is back to not sleeping well at night. I think maybe her teeth are bugging her again. Maybe my resolution for 2014 should be survival. I think of a friend of mine who had a newborn and an older child who wouldn't sleep and I don't know how she did it!

6. I am excited to get back to working out, and not having back pain all the time after this pregnancy. If my tailbone doesn't get all messed up again this time around that will happen a lot sooner! I am excited to eat food without feeling sick. That's one difference with this pregnancy vs when I was pregnant with Ava. After 5 months with Ava I could eat whatever.

7. I just got my Christmas cards to send out - better late than never right?? :)

8. I am excited for Ava to have a sister! I am excited to have her meet our new baby.

9. I didn't accomplish everything that I planned to in 2013. But, I didn't plan on being pregnant when I made my resolutions for this year so I am ok with it!

10. I am excited for a new year!