Judecorp.

Punk and I are in South Carolina and have been since last Thursday. We are visiting my brother and SIL, and my mother and her husband are close by as well. Days and evenings have been packed with exciting preschool-friendly activities such as miniature golf, indoor bounce house place, Chuck E Cheese, the beach, the library, etc. It is very fun and very, very tiring. We are eating out a lot and I haven't been making the healthiest choices and I wouldn't be surprised if I gained 10 lbs here. We head home tomorrow.

Jen joined us for the first three days of our trip but returned to work so as not to use up vacation time. It is apparently still very hot in our house and I'm not looking forward to that after 10 days in central air. :)

Senor Cupcakey seems to be chugging along and we are 23 weeks pregnant at this point, very visible. Haven't taken a single belly picture which I'm sure is setting him up for lots of therapy when he gets older. That, and being called Cupcakey. But aside from some pelvic grouchiness all seems to be well on that front. I have another midwife appointment on Monday.

Punk had a rash last week and the pediatrician thought it was folliculitis and gave us an antibiotic ointment before we left on vacation. It has continued to get worse and worse, and my fear is that it is molloscum contagiosum, which - as its name suggests - is super contagious and takes a long time to go away. Sigh.

We have a busy week coming up. Jen's parents are coming to our house today (I'm sure they'll love the heat and humidity in the house) and staying until Tuesday morning. Punk has an appointment at 9am on Monday for the rash and I see the midwife later that afternoon. Punk has an appointment with an allergist later in the week, and also 3 year old portraits. We arrive after Punk's bedtime Sunday night so I'm sure Monday will be full of tired crankiness.

I am not in a great headspace which is not really a good place to be when a full-time mama on vacation and looking down the barrel of expecting #2. But I guess that's just sort of how it goes.

For three days a week, I life out my greatest fantasies. And then, for the other four... not so much. But especially around this time of year, and especially /this/ year, some parts of my life are exactly the way they're supposed to be, because I'm finally some little person's mama. I'm quite sure I dreamed my whole life about these moments.

Oh sure, I've been a mama for 2.5 years now, but this year, THIS holiday season, I'm the mama of a kid who "gets it." She is holiday crazy and it is /perfect/. Holiday life with a toddler is the most amazing thing in the entire universe.

On Friday evening, my child got a visit from her grandparents on Jen's side, and as usual, she charmed the pants off of them and they filled her to the brim with Disney merchandise. Which, by the way, she is in love with. On Saturday, we took her to the mall to get her holiday portraits done, and she was so awesome about it, and so charming and adorable, that they were super and we ended up ordering the overly pricey photo cards from them (instead of making our own) because the pictures were just THAT cute. While at the mall, the grandparents proceeded to buy her more licensed merchandise.

But oh! She has the holiday spirit for sure. We have written a letter to Santa. We have discussed what she wants Santa to bring her. (A "crown and shoes.") We have sat on Mall Santa's lap and she delighted him with her excitement and her wishes. My SIL has provided us with an "Elf on the Shelf" which has been named and loved and is looked for every morning. We have purchased a plate specifically to leave Santa some cookies and milk. Every drive through town in the evening is brought with a chorus of, "Mama! Pretty lights! More pretty lights!" It is a good time.

This morning I took my little child to the post office to put her letter to Santa in the special Santa mailbox. (Our town is so cheeseball and I love every second.) And in that moment, every piece of my heart was whole. This is exactly what I was meant to do, and I could do it 10 times more.

If only I didn't have that stupid job.

Busy around here. Busy busy.

Last weekend, my smurfbrother was in town, and lots of fun was had. We picked up the free playhouse that I got for Punk from freecycle, we went to the Forest Park Zoo, we had good times.

This weekend, Jen's parents are in town for the first time in forever. It's actually the first time they have slept over our house since Punk was two weeks old. It has been a good time. Yesterday we took Punk to the park, and today they took her to the mall while I went to visit my grandmother. We have gone to a lot of restaurants in the last couple of weeks. Wow.

This coming weekend, carina_s and the twins will be here! Exciting! I haven't seen them in a million years. I wonder what it will be like having three more people in our little house. I wonder what it will be like having the twins with Punk. I wonder what they will do while I am at work.

And I am at work a lot. Like, a lot. I typically work until 6, sometimes after 7 (at least once a week). They are long days and when I get home, the last thing I want to do is chores. (But yet, chores still have to be done.) I feel like the weeks fly by because I don't really get to breathe until the weekend... and the last couple of weekends have been so busy!

The weekend after next, we are going to a birthday party at Edaville RR. (amyura, wanna get together?) Then the weekend after that, it's 4th of July weekend and we'll be celebrating Punk's birthday and my brother and SIL will be here again (yay!). Holy crap, we will have a two-year-old.

When did the weekends get so BUSY??!?!