After a 3 month delay, here's the latest & greatest from the Tomlinson fam

Oh my goodness, how did I get so far behind on my blog? Am I really 3 months behind? Seriously, what happened to 2010 and how are we a fourth of the way through 2011? It could have a lil something to do with a busy 3 year old in the house, a very pregnant mommy who's tired most days and needs a nap, or it could be I've just gotten to lazy. Whatever the reason, it's time for a long overdue blog. I have so many funny stories and quotes from Inara to share and fun updates on baby boy too.

Inara's been all about being a big girl lately. I tease her and tell her I want her to stay my baby girl. She now retorts with "But I'm not a baby. I have to be a big girl because I'm going to be a big sister soon." Then the other day she said, "When I get bigger, I'm gonna be 33 just like Daddy." I replied, "Wow, that is big. Do you wanna be 66 like Nee Nee when you get bigger?" She quickly said, "NO! That's old and I don't want gray hair." I cracked up and couldn't stop laughing. She's so quick with her responses and seriously, how does the girl know what gray hair is? She's SO hilarious!

Some of her funniest jokes come at Nee Nee's expense lately. Shawn, Inara and I were at the park last weekend. Inara was of course running because the girl runs ALL day long and she always wants to be first. Shawn asked who's the fastest to which Inara replied, "I am." Prego mommy was taking her time and waddling in the back. Shawn asked who's the slowest. Inara quickly blurted out, "Nee Nee." (Poor Nee Nee.)

For some reason lately, Inara's been making references to pirates. One day when she and I were playing with her Barbies, she nonchalantly said, "Mommy, princesses don't marry pirates." I cracked up. Ummm...yes, you are correct, sweet pea. My favorite pirate comment came when we were having dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Shawn and I were telling her she needed to eat more carrots. We had recently told her she needed to eat at least 2 carrots since she has 2 eyes. That night at dinner, she said, "If I only eat 1 carrot, I'll be like a pirate. Arrrgh!" I can't remember the last time Shawn and I laughed that hard. I just love how hilarious she is. She's got the best personality EVER!

One of my other favorite lines of hers was when I picked her up from school one day. They had a special lunch that day of hot dogs, baked beans, and lemonade. As we were driving home, she suddenly started coughing. I asked if she was ok and if she just got a froggy in her throat. She said she was ok. I think it's just a froggy. She paused for a second and then said, "Maybe my lemonade turned into a froggy and made me cough." The randomness of her thoughts are what makes them so priceless.

Because she gets so sad when Daddy leaves in the mornings, we've always told Inara that Daddy has to go to work to make money for her piggy bank. Her latest reply when sad that Daddy was leaving was adorable: "But Daddy, I have enough money in my piggy bank already." Shawn then explained he has to make money for his piggy bank too. She paused then asked where his is (because of course, she's never seen his in our house). He then told her about the bank we go to and that's where we keep Mommy & Daddy's piggy bank. "Well what color is your piggy bank?" "Um, it's brown." "Why isn't it blue? You like blue." Such conversations occur on a daily basis and amaze us because it shows how smart she is and how she processes every new thing. It's truly awesome to see her grow!

As many of you know, Inara has become quite the fan of Disney's movie Tangled and the main character Rapunzel. She frequently talks about Mama Gothel (as Inara calls her) from the movie as well. This is the character who kidnaps Rapunzel and holds her captive in the tower. One day, Inara comes to me and says, "Mama Gothel isn't very nice. She doesn't let Rapunzel leave the tower and go to school or My Gym. That's not very nice." It impressed me that she was able to rationalize the meanness of Mother Gothel's actions and the two things she keeps Rapunzel from are school and My Gym, obviously two things that are important in Inara's life.

Inara's developed quite the imagination too. It's not unheard of for her to personify inanimate objects. This is a daily case when I do her hair in the mornings. She loves to make her toothbrushes talk to each other. Or she creates voices for her brush & comb and hair clips. I'm continuously eavesdropping on her while she plays with her toys because I'm in awe of how much her imagination has grown. At times, I think she's much wiser beyond her 3 years. Recently, I was washing dishes when I looked over and saw her on her hands and knees looking under the coffee table with her flashlight. I was a bit taken by what I saw, so I asked her what she was doing. "Just looking for clues like Scooby-Doo," she said. I seriously wish I could have a camera on her at all times. She's a riot.

She's also becoming WAY too smart. If I think I'm in awe of her creativity and sense of humor, then I'm totally taken aback by her intelligence on a daily basis. A few weeks ago the three of us were shopping at Super Target. We were walking out of the store and she points to the big sign and says, "S. U. P. E. R." I gasped and hit Shawn on the arm to make sure he was paying attention. We both got the biggest smiles and congratulated her. She then continued spelling "T. A. R. G. E. T." Then on Thursday, she and I were driving around and I hear her from the backseat say, "F. O. R. D. F. O. R. D." It took me a sec to figure out what she was spelling. I started looking around and asked her where she saw those letters. She then pointed to a truck 3 lanes over. I had to squint to see the letters. So not only does she know her letters and can spell, but the girl has amazing eyesight too.

I just love how excited she is about baby brother and can't wait to be a big sister. This morning we snuggled on the couch and talked to "baby budder." We were asking him what name he wanted. We started with serious names and then ventured into silly names. If he kicked, then that meant he liked the name. At this point, it looks like brother wants to be named Mickey Mouse since that's the name that got the biggest kick.

My little girl loves to pamper mommy lately. She's always offering to put lotion on my back, which I don't turn down since I've developed a slight case of eczema on my back and need to put lotion on it every day. She also offers back massages now. We have a little hand massager that she loves to use on my back. She thinks it's so fun to play with. The other way she loves to pamper me is by brushing my hair. This morning I must have gotten a 20 min scalp massage and hair styling. She was even so gracious as to hand me a magazine so that I could read while getting my hair done. I LOVE our mommy-daughter time! And I'm trying to take full advantage of it right now since we have less than 10 more weeks till baby brother arrives, possible 8 weeks if he makes an early entrance like Inara did.

I'm happy to report that we made HUGE progress on home projects while Pop & Nee Nee were here a week ago. Shawn & Pop built shelves for the basement so we can get a lil more organized. Or at least Shawn thinks we will be more organized...in one corner of the basement. There's still a lot of "stuff" to organize in the rest of the basement. The best part was the old sheet Shawn hung to close off the new organized corner and even put a doormat in front of the curtain so we don't track any dirt into the newly cleaned up corner.

Pop also painted the nursery with help from Inara. She was SO excited to be helping Pop paint baby brother's room, and she did an awesome job. Honestly, she did a LOT better than I did with no major spills anywhere. It was the cutest thing watching her rolling paint and asking Pop to fill up the paint tray. She's such a hard worker and always wants to help out with any home projects. After we finished the nursery, she then asked if we were going to paint her room. I hadn't planned on doing it, but after she gave Pop & I her sad puppy dog look, we couldn't resist. So we went to Home Depot, picked out several paint colors, put swatches on the wall, decided on the color, and started painting her room the next day.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colors we picked for both kids' rooms. They are perfect! I went with a soft sage-y green for baby boy's room. I think it goes perfectly with the brown furniture and the bedding, which has mocha brown, brick red and dark blue. I also got dark brown curtains, which really helps break up the green walls. It's such a peaceful, relaxing, yet boyish room. I couldn't be happier. Inara's room was a bit of a shock when we first started painting it because she chose purple...Rapunzel purple to be exact. Pop & Nee Nee bought her new bedding since we moved her into a twin bed and they surprised us with a huge Rapunzel mural. This, to me, is the perfect bedroom for a 3 year old little girl. I want her room! With the white furniture, purple paint, Rapunzel murals, and pink/purple sheets, I just love it!!!! She does too! The first night as she laid in bed, she rolled over and looked at Shawn and I and said, "I love my new room!" Doesn't matter how much work it was, hearing her say those words made it worth every second...and every penny. I just feel like she is only this little once and I want to do everything to make her childhood the best it can be. I truly adore her more than I ever thought I could love another person and want to spoil her as much as I can.

The other great compliment that made my long fight to win Shawn over to painting the kids' rooms was a few nights later when we were laying in Inara's room getting her ready for bed and he says to me, "I really like the colors you picked for the kids' rooms. I think they make the house. You guys did a great job painting. Makes me want to paint our room now." Holy cow! This was huge for me since Shawn has fought me since the day we moved into our house and all the times I've said I wanted to paint. He now has faith in my color choices and sees how color adds personality to a home. Score one for me!

It truly shocks me when I think baby boy will arrive in less than 10 short weeks. This pregnancy really flew by. It's been an easy pregnancy in that all my doctor visits have been positive and I haven't had any really bad issues. I did recently develop leg cramps at night, but I know how to deal with those since I had them with Inara too. My skin has been itchier this time around, so I've had to resort to putting heavy lotions and creams on every day to help alleviate the itching. I haven't had many food cravings. I did find this great ice cream that I annihilated in a couple days, then bought a second container and ate that one all to myself. Shawn was giving me a hard time about eating so many desserts. I was worried what the scale would show at my appointment this past week. Hooray! Only 15 pounds total gained at 30 weeks. Can't say that's so bad if I do say so myself.

One thing that's different about this pregnancy from Inara is what a kicker this boy is. I remember Inara kicking quite a bit, but baby boy kicks NON stop it seems like and he's got a super strong kick going already. It never fails that since I'm on the go most of the day with Inara and just doing my daily work that the second I sit down, he starts stretching and kicking. It gets really bad around 7pm and right when I lay down for the night. He just knows that Mama wants to rest and wham-o, he reminds me it's his turn to get some attention.

I've had a couple great dreams about baby boy. One was last week where I totally felt like I was starting labor. The contractions got stronger and stronger and then suddenly things went black and then I was holding baby boy. If only labor went like that, right? The other labor dream I had was so awesome and I could totally see baby boy's face plain as day. He had light eyes and brown hair. He was small like Inara and I just couldn't stop staring at him. Although we have stuff still to do before his arrival, I really do hope these next 10 weeks go fast because I just can't WAIT to meet him!!!