Big things!!!

I cannot believe it is December. This year has just flown by. I have some exciting things to talk about today. 1. Andrew is Graduating from Grad School. 2. Kodi is Potty Trained. 3. We are having another baby. So first of all after going to school for what seems like a million years Andrew is Graduating. Well he already has his bachelors of Arts (NMSU 2010). But now he has his Masters in Organizational Communications. Woo Hoo. I am so happy. He studied so hard and worked on his papers so diligently. Now no more school for us. :) Kodi is almost 3. In fact her birthday is next month. We have been struggling with the whole potty training thing for 9 months. It has been the worst thing ever. But the week of Thanksgiving I was talking to one of my sister in laws and asked for some advice. Thankfully it has worked and now Kodi is totally out of diapers. She even goes to Grandma's house in panties. On Tuesday we were at WalMart picking up some stuff and one of the things I was dreading happened. Kodi said "mommy I need to go potty". I had a little panic attack. "What if she pees her pants?!!!!!" kept running through my mind. We were at the back of the store and the bathrooms are at the front. Maren was having a little whine attack and was driving me crazy and Kodi kept walking in front of the cart as I was trying to run to the bathrooms. Thankfully we made it and she went. But still I don't like those situations. but I am pretty sure all potty training moms have gone through that. So I have just passed through an important mom right of passage. I guess. Well Big News for those that have not found out yet. I am pregnant. Yikes! I know. 3 children 3 and under. Yes we are crazy in this house. However if you really know us you already know that is true. Our little one is due in April so I am half way done. Just so I can remember since this is the closest thing to a journal I need to say how horrible this pregnancy. I am not trying to get the readers to feel bad for me. It is weird how each pregnancy is different. With Kodi I could not go into the grocery store or my own kitchen with out throwing up. With Maren I threw up every single day for 6 months. And now with #3 I have also been really sick. In one week I lost 4 pounds. That was awful. I literally did not eat for days at a time. But almost worst than that is the back pain that I am having with this baby. The days I work are the worst. By 6pm I cannot move. I mean it hurts so bad that I am brought to tears. Not many things make me cry and I have a pretty high pain tolerance. But this is horrible. It does not matter if I try to walk it off, sit down or lay down nothing relieves the pain. As a rule while pregnant I try to stay away from pain relievers and cold medicine. I even talked to my doctor about it. She of course told me that the more I exercise the better I will feel. I wanted to tell her to shove that advice. I already exercise everyday and that makes it worse. I just know that this baby is really special so I will just deal with all the crappy pregnancy stuff. Ok I am done with talking about that. Funny Tolman girl story time. This last week the girls and I were setting us the Christmas Tree and Kodi was being a big help :) She got all the ornaments and was putting them on 1 branch at the bottom of the tree. I told her it might be good to spread them out a little. So she put the rest of the ornaments on another branch. SO when she was finished only 2 branched held all of our decoations. I spread them out without her fighting me and now out tree looks great. Later that same day Kodi was looking at the tree and told me "Mommy I love the Christmas Tree in my heart". It was really sweet. On Tuesday, While at Walmart, I got us a gingerbread house to decorate. When we got home the little girls were really excited to put it together. Quickly it all went down hill. The second I opened the candy it was like wolves after a rabbit. Those little bottomless pits I call children were eating the candy faster then I could put it on the house. I guess it turned into an Ashley Gingerbread house instead of the Tolman Girls house. But I got it done and it looks great. hahahahaha. Maren is the sweetest little girl ever. I just love her so much. She has been doing this thing where she grabs your finger and pulls you when she wants something. She is also into smelling me. It is a little wierd but funny at the same time. When I pick her up she puts her nose on my shoulder and takes a big sniff. The first time she did it I was concerned that I smelled bad. But now its like a little greeting that she does. I am really excited for Christmas. Each night we have been reading a Christmas story to the girls and we have been watching lots of Christmas movies. Our house is all decorated and I love this time of the year. It just seems like everything is a little better. The girls and I have driven around our neighborhood 10 times already looking at lights and they love them. Shhhhh, no one tell Andrew. But I am working on a 12 days of christmas gift that I am excited for. I hope he really likes getting little surprises everyday. So for now. Merry Christmas!!!!