Mobile Home: 2013, so far so good

Happy New Year everyone!

One of the first events that occurs after New Year's Day is January 3rd, one of the best days of the year. Besides November 12, and December 11, and a date TBD in March...

and actually, if you know me, I'm really not that into January 3rd in the first place.

January 3rd is a day that in 1980 I decided to make my way here on Earth. A day my Dad said was where he "knew you'd always cost us money" due to not being able to claim me for those 1979 Carter era taxes. I guess I wanted to make sure the family had one last day of cabbage rolls and black eyed peas to enjoy before adding to the family.

This year's birthday was great. Seth and my friends in Cairo made sure it was a great day. Benjamin made the declaration that everyday was his birthday. He also asks most mornings if Santa came to bring presents. We have failed at discussing how we don't get presents everyday. The boy hasn't had that one register just yet.

To my right was a full on cake thief. A little girl joined our party out of the blue, sang Happy Birthday to me, and helped herself. Nobody knew who she was. Hey, at least she sang for her supper.

2012 was a great year filled with seeing family (twice in the same year!) and finding out we're having Baby #2. I actually found out when we were home for the summer, so it was great to share that in person with everyone.

Baby #2 is due in late March. Benjamin came into the room for the ultrasound, so now he thinks his baby is on the tv and not in mom's belly. At least we've convinced him the baby isn't in his belly, which was his opinion for the majority of this pregnancy.

Benjamin and I will be heading to the US in early February. I'm glad to be going home, but I'm not at all glad to be leaving Seth behind. He'll join us closer to the due date so he can use his vacation for all the post baby fun.

Second pregnancies are different from your first. Obviously you can't come home, give your husband a half smile, shower, and hit the bed by 7pm like you did in your first go round. This time you have a small fry who really doesn't care that you're sick/tired/make that exhausted/ breathing fire from heart burn/finally got comfortable on the couch and really don't want to get him a milk. You also forget how far along you are. I feel bad when people ask and my answer is usually "Ummm...it's in the 20's for sure. 27? Hahahaha, you know, second baby" and get a look like "I still knew how far along I was with my second baby." When I was pregnant with Benjamin my response was often like "I'm 18 weeks, the baby is approximately the length of a bell pepper. The baby flexes his arms and legs, and his blood vessels are visible through his skin."

I was, like, 15 weeks? 34? 3? when we took this. I don't know...

I can at least stay we're prepared gear wise despite not knowing how far along I am. I'm checking right now because I'm starting to feel bad about this...28 weeks!!! Thank you babycenter! So, we have all of our baby gear that we used for Benjamin. Which I really need to get on the ball about setting up again, and Seth letting me know how much he just spent in batteries. Now the baby can sit in their sweet lamb swing that I just had to have, only to find they absolutely hate it.

We got like 2 full hours use of this thing. I mean, I want to sleep in in! Why wouldn't a 2 week old?

I'm also gearing up Benjamin for Mardi Gras. Yea, it's Carnival time and everybody's havin fun! Something tells me he's going to be more excited about the police motorcycles and fire trucks pre/post parade. What's going to be a totally epic reunion are the combination of forces from "The B's"...

I can't wait to get those two together again. Benjamin is excited to see "my buddy, that's my buddy" for sure.

Aaaand, that's about all I got for 2013 so far. We also started the preliminaries of what adventure we'd like to go on next. So far we've decided either Barcelona or Rome. But, as of Jan 6th we have a baby on the way, Mardi Gras with my man B, and being home and enjoying all things Louisiana. Yea, those 8lbs I gained this summer, then immediately lost when coming back to Egypt, are coming right back. I aint skeered neither! Bring it, all things seafood and cooked with butter, bring it all.

You're first, Corn and Crab Bisque