December GBOMB

It's that time again to hit publish on the only reliable post every month. It's the Good, the Bad, and what's been On My Brain for the month of December.

G O O D
+Christmas, Christmas, Christmas! Not just Christmas day, but the entire month of celebrating. We watched so many holiday movies, read every Christmas book we could find, and had way too many treats (justified because it's Christmas). Kids really amplify the season and I love it so much.
+I turned 27 this month and Andrew took my birthday off from work. We spent a full day in Disney and managed to accomplish a lot even while fighting the holiday crowds.
+Olive turned two which I still can't believe. She was very excited to get the bubbles that Taylor gifted her and she wouldn't put down the stuffed panda Andrew and I gave her. Olive loved her birthday and was the happiest kid all day (two year olds are so easy to please).
+Andrew's company shuts down around Christmas so we had a lot of time to see our family in Arizona. We got to see everyone except for the M's in Seattle (but who we will luckily be seeing in January). The kids had a blast being with their cousins and seeing all their grandparents and aunts and uncles. Taylor and Olive are a pretty lucky bunch when it comes to relatives.
+We bought a minivan! And I love it with every fiber of my being. Before kids, I swore that I would never drive a minivan. After having kids, I started seeing the appeal. Now that I own one, I will never go back to life before owning a minivan.
+Of course Christmas has to be included in the good category. What's better than watching a kid's excitement as they open presents? I'm planning on writing a post on our entire Christmas vacation. We'll see if that ever comes to fruition though.

B A D
+Taylor had some sort of stomach bug a few days after Christmas. He had a fever and threw up a few times, but after two days he was on the mend. We watched a lot of TV to assist in his recovery. Unfortunately for me, I also caught this mysterious illness. I think I slept about 34 hours over a two day period. I managed to avoid throwing up (probably because I slept instead of eating). Now I'm crossing my fingers that this is the only sickness we experience for the next little bit.
+My goal was to have Taylor potty trained by Christmas, but we're still not 100% on that goal. With long drives in the car and the few days of illness, sometimes diapers were the easier choice and that put us back a few steps. I guess our new goal is to be completely potty trained by the time baby #3 gets here.

O N  M Y  B R A I N
+This baby is nestled snugly into my bladder. The last month or two are always difficult when it comes to peeing every 5 minutes, but this baby has made every step a painful reminder to my bladder that a baby will be here soon. I still think I'm slightly in denial because I haven't been hit with any sense of urgency to get things ready. When is the nesting suppose to kick in for your third?
+Organization. All the new Christmas gifts tend to get me thinking about deep cleaning, purging, and organizing what we have. It's something I enjoy so I'm excited to get after it once we get home.