Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2006 December

The other day my friend Jennifer came over to say goodbye - they are moving to Arizona. She brought me an early baby gift, part of which was an adorable white onesie with puffy sleeves and embroidery. She also made me some burpcloths by taking cloth diapers and sewing ribbon and fabric on them. John heard us talking about sewing on cloth diapers and was a little weirded out until I explained you used them as burpcloths. These are the first baby girl clothes we've got - still holding off on buying stuff!

John has started reading a Dr. Seuss book to Beet every night. She seems to really like it, and I can't blame her; I loved when my parents read to me.

It's fun to listen to John read and hear something Mom was always saying. (The difference between this and "we wonderss, yess, we wonderss" is that when Mom was quoting Dr. Seuss, I knew she was quoting Dr. Suess. Not so creepy.) Here's my recent favorite, from Horton Hears a Who.

"Humpf!", humpfed a voice. Twas a sour kangaroo.
And the young kangaroo in her pouch said, "Humpf!" too.

I am getting so excited for Christmas! Not only do we get to spend it with all our nieces and nephews, but we are staying with Brook and Erin, which means... Doggies! Also hope to spend lots of time with Grandma June.

I have had five people tell me today how cute I am all pregnant. One girl actually said, "You should be the poster child for cute pregnant women."

The company I work for is owned by a of couple South African doctors, and we have a bunch of employees from SA. I work directly with a lady named Cheryl who has started everyone saying "spot on" whenever they don't find errors in my data entry they're reviewing. I have little "spot on!" stickies all over my screen.

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I used the phrase "for reals" the other day and had to explain it to her.

Today is the last day for people to turn in bills & expenses to get paid this year, so we are extremely busy this week. Also, the person who has been teaching me Payroll is out this week, and I am on my own. And we're moving on Friday. Stress! I'm glad I get paid overtime.

I can't believe I actually finished payroll in time (and correctly the first time, which is a first). Now I get to go to our company holiday party and then to Disneyland!

Rachel and John are slaving away at home moving our stuffs... Rachel brought a laundry basket full of lemons which we juiced last night and had some delicious homemade lemonade.

Before I dive headfirst into my piles of work, I'm forcing myself to take the time to write a nice long update.

First things first, I love our new apartment! It feels so spacious, even with all the baby and scrapbooking stuff piled in "Rachel's Room". Things I like: new carpet and linoleum; it's downstairs; bigger dishwasher; more cupboard and closet space (the closets are awesome!); the showerhead; we moved our TV out of the bedroom. Things I don't like: the microwave (I didn't know non-turning ones still existed); the counterspace; all of the lightswitches are in really weird places.

John and Rachel did an awesome job moving all the stuff, including emptying out the storage unit. We had some help from friends with the furniture, but John and Rachel did most of the work. yay!

I've still been extra busy at work... I'm hoping it'll die down next year, but I may be playing catchup for a couple weeks. This week hasn't been as bad as last, so far. I actually left practically on time yesterday. John made a yummy pot roast, and we went to South Coast Plaza to pick up some jewelry for Jamie. We went for a walk around the mall (so crowded) to take advantage of the only time I will ever be carrying a Tiffany and Co. bag. John even offered to buy me some See's, but we decided it wasn't worth the wait. I'm glad we're done with Christmas shopping. One less thing to worry about right now.

My baby is due in 10 weeks!

My little car turned 100,000 miles on the way to Disneyland on Friday. What a way to celebrate!

Made it all safe to Utah. We are staying with John's brother and his family (and the dogs!). Having fun so far, other than I fell down the stairs this morning and my tailbone really hurts. John insists that clumsiness is a choice, but eventually gave in with an "awww, poor Susie!"

Ember is such a good reader. She read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" to Beet last night, and I think some other stories to her Uncle John. Beet appears to be quite spoiled already. Erin is giving us her baby swing, also some clothes from her friend's baby girl, and Ray and Lynn (Erin's parents) gave us a gift which Ember says is for the baby. Such a happy Christmas for a happy baby - other than being rudely awakened by a bump bump bump down the stairs.

Still in Utah, still having a fun time with the family. Last night we had a baby shower at Grandma June's. We had yummy taco salad, and I ate about 10 cream puffs. My nieces were there all cute and handing me presents. I got lots of cute pink clothes and blankets. Susan gave me the blanket John's Grandma Chadwick made for his blessing and Jamie bought us an adorable little blessing dress with little booties.

Ashley made the invitations and also some announcements for us with a "beet" theme. And Linda made some little onesies that say "Baby Beet". She'll never shake the nickname now!