October 24-30

The majority of our week was pretty quiet. After the overkill of activity the past few weeks Aubrey and I spent the majority of the week chillin' at the house enjoying what was probably the last of the warm weather of the year.

However, the week did include my 33rd birthday, but I asked to keep it low key and my wish was granted. Aubrey and I drove to Todd's office to eat lunch with him and I got a super yummy burger and sweet potato fries. On our way home from Todd's office, he sends me a text to check the front porch when I got home. I figured one of our mothers ordered something from Amazon for me, but I was so surprised when I got there to see a big flower box on the porch. Todd managed to keep a secret by ordering flowers and actually not telling me. I hadn't expected anything at all from him since we just bought my camera a few weeks ago but I won't complain about getting pretty flowers. For dinner, my parents took us out for steak and we enjoyed hanging out for a while. Perfect, low key birthday.

I got the macro lens out and took some close up shots of my flowers.  I also took some of the whole bouquet, but they are on the other memory card that I haven't uploaded yet.

Saturday was finally time for my 3D/4D ultrasound. I was a little apprehensive about scheduling it early in the morning because that's usually Mason's inactive time, but mom has to work at night so morning was the best chance to have everyone together. Plus, I remember how uncooperative Aubrey was during her ultrasound so I tried not get my hopes up that Mason would do any better. Sure enough, he insisted on sleeping through the entire thing. He would not budge after a Dr. Pepper, a Tootsie Roll, fruit snacks, water, or walking. He had his face to my back to begin with but did roll over after some prodding. But, true to Baby P tradition, decided to keep his hand over his face the rest of the time. I did get confirmation that he is still a boy (big sigh of relief) so that made it a little better. The owner is letting us come back next week to try again for the face shots. She did save a few images for us, but I told her to just give them to us after our next visit so I don't have to keep up with multiple cds. I don't know what it is about our children, but they do not like dopplers and ultrasounds. Pretty frustrating, but can't really argue with an unborn child I guess. After the ultrasound, Todd's parents took us out for brunch for my birthday and my parents and sister tagged along. I love eating breakfast any time of day and going to Cracker Barrel makes breakfast even better.

We spent the rest of the day Saturday and Sunday getting things ready for Halloween. I am so excited that Aubrey understands a little more about Halloween and I can't wait to see her tomorrow when she gets dressed up and we take her out for trick-or-treating. I'll share the rest of our getting ready pictures after I get her in her costume.

Hope everyone has a great week!

October 17-23

The biggest news of our week was that the insurance company has declared Todd's truck a total loss. A small part of us wished for it to be totaled after the accident, but neither of us thought it would actually happen. We paid off the truck in March and were planning to keep it for a long time on top of buying a new smaller car for Todd to drive to work sometime next summer/fall. So, now that our plan has been shot, we have started the research and have a few ideas for new cars to look at. Todd has contacted a lawyer to help him with the settlement to make sure we get the value of the truck and we have to wait on that dust to settle before we actually go and make any purchases. Our hope is to get enough out of the truck to have minimal to no car payment to make on the new car, but we'll see how that goes.

Fall weather made its appearance and begrudgingly I even turned the heat on this week. While I am sad to see the warm weather go, I am excited to get out the warmer clothes and shoes, despite not being able to wear most of my fall tops at this point. The weather has been perfect during the day, which was great for our weekend activities. We met my dad on Saturday at the McGuire Nuclear plant where he has worked since it opened in 1981. They had their 30th anniversary celebration and he invited us to tag along with him. It was a little festival complete with a bounce house, carnival games, and yummy food. Aubrey had a field day in the bounce house and the slide while the adults enjoyed watching the sail boats come by on the lake.

Enjoying the slide

I've always wanted a picture of her in this chair and was excited to see one while we were there. But this is about the best she would give me.

The sailboats on the beautiful lake.

After the anniversary celebration, we drove to another part of the lake for a birthday party for Aubrey's friend Henry. She was sad about leaving the anniversary celebration, but the sadness was mostly forgotten when she saw the playground the birthday party was being held at. She had a blast playing on the playground, using Henry's dump trucks, and running with the other children. She was also introduced to dirt cake, which we have not stopped hearing about since. (It was yummy but I think she just likes to say she ate dirt!) Poor Aubrey was worn out after these adventures and only got about a 5 minute cat nap on the way home so she passed out at 8:00 pm and I had to go wake her up at 8:00 am this morning so she would take a nap today.

Eating her dirt cake

Thrilling Todd to pieces with her tomboy side

Today's adventure was going to the Hodges' Farm and Pumpkin patch. We've gone the past few years with Aubrey to pick out a pumpkin and to see the farm animals and she has been asking me for 2 weeks when we were going to get a "pumpkin patch" so she was excited to finally get to go. Her excitement over the pumpkin patch faded when she saw the farm put up a bounce house. That is all we heard about the entire time we were there. Unfortunately, there were way too many big kids playing in it by the time we were ready to leave, so we broke her little heart by not letting her get in. We did manage to pick out 3 pumpkins and enjoy the animals and sunflowers while we were there. 

Aubrey and Todd posing with our big pumpkin of the year.

Posing with her little pumpkin

Giving me her silly grin while checking out the sunflowers

Next weekend brings us to our 3D ultrasound and we are so excited to see Mason again. Can't wait!!

Hope everyone has a great week!

28-week check-up

Today was what I like to call the pin cushion visit. The 28-week visit has to be the worst of all the visits. I knew going in today that I had my gestational diabetes screening. So, I had to modify my my usual carb-heavy breakfast to something more Atkins diet friendly and forgo the Dr. Pepper until after the appointment. Luckily, as soon as I got there they sent me straight to the lab to chug the super sugary fruit punch. It was a lot tougher to get it all down this time, made worse by the lab tech staring at me while I drank it.

After I finished the drink, I went back for the usual dr. check. The CMA had the toughest time finding his heart beat which really didn't surprise me considering how much he was kicking and squirming from being jacked up on sugar. She had to really dig in my lower abdomen which was not comfortable and a little frustrating, but when she finally found it it was 140. She said she is not used to having to search that hard at 28 weeks, which was not too comforting. I knew he was ok in there because he was kicking me pretty hard, but still not good to know you have a difficult child. But, Aubrey was the same way. My children seem to hate all dopplers and ultrasounds so I should be used to their stubbornness at this point. After that drama, I was expecting to see Dr. Gorsuch, who is my regular doctor. I haven't seen her since my post-partem check-up with Aubrey so I was kind of looking forward to it. Instead, I met Dr. Murphy (I guess she was a doctor, she never gave her title, but she was wearing blue scrubs so we'll just go with dr.) She said everything looked great. So great in fact that I get to do my next visit at 31 weeks instead of 30. Kind of suspicious if they are spreading out the low-risk patients since they are such a busy practice, but I won't argue with not having to go back in 2 weeks. After our visit, the CMA came back in to give me my RhoGAM shot. As soon as she got the needle in hip, the burning started. I don't remember it burning so much with Aubrey but she told me she probably pushed it a little harder to make it go faster. Um, thanks!? I guess.

I had to wait 20 more minutes after my check-up to go back to the lab to have my blood drawn. Once I got in the lab, she started laying out all the supplies and I'm sure my blood pressure shot up. I hate having blood drawn and today was no exception. She ended up taking like 2 vials of blood which sucked. She then taped up my battle wound and sent me on my merry way.

I scheduled my next visit with Dr. Vuong which will be the first time I've seen her since she stitched me up after Aubrey's delivery. Aubrey will probably be coming with me to that visit, so I might have to get a picture of them together.

October 10-16

Such a crazy, busy week. It started out pretty boring with the usual work and house stuff. However, that changed Wednesday afternoon. I was getting Aubrey and myself ready to go to dinner with Todd who was on his way home from work when he calls and says he's been rear ended less than 2 miles from home. He said he was fine, he was just waiting on the police so I called the family to share the news and then took off to check out the damage. When I got there, I was surprised to see Todd's truck had pretty minimal damage compared to the kid's car that hit him. It looked like just Todd's bumper and hitch cover got the damage, but the other car was pretty smashed up. He told me the guy was 17, had a provisional license, and said he just didn't see him, despite Todd being at a dead stop waiting to turn left. While Todd was talking to the police officer, I started chatting with the tow truck driver who told me that the driver admitted to him he was changing the song on his iPod when he hit Todd. Fantastic. The police officer told Todd that all the kid has to do is get his insurance company to write on letter head that the damages were being covered and they would drop the ticket. Really?! Because that's the way to teach a new driver a lesson. Todd did go to urgent care afterwards to get checked out and luckily no serious injuries were found. Sadly, the same can't be said for the truck. He took it to a body shop the next day and they realized its more damaged than we thought. The impact pushed the bed of the truck into the back of the cab so there is possible frame damage on top of the bumper and towing hitch. So far the estimate is almost $4000 and that's before they really tear it apart to analyze it. The parts have been ordered so once they get them in and start tearing it apart, they are  anticipating that estimate will go up. We just paid that truck off in March of this year so its pretty frustrating to know we've lost even more value and can't sell it because of some kid not paying attention. But, we will count our blessing that Todd and the other driver both walked away and called it a day. Todd is still pretty sore at this point, but still no serious injuries have popped up so that is another blessing.

Saturday we spent the morning volunteering with our community group at an agency called Samaritan's Feet here in Charlotte. They gather and distribute shoes throughout the country and world to those who need them. We spent the morning going through a shipment of 600,000 fake Nike's that were confiscated by Homeland Security (never knew this was in their job descrption) and donated for the agency to hand out. It was not fancy work, but I like knowing that we were a part of it.

Saturday afternoon found us at our friends' cookout. Our friendship with these people has developed over the past 3 years after I met Fran at work. She and I ended up being pregnant around the same time so Aubrey and her son Landon are only 4 months apart. Fran's husband and Todd get along great so when we get together, we always have a great time. This cookout was crazy with so many little kids and the adults chasing after them, but it was perfect. When you think about spending great time and with family and friends, events like this are exactly what you imagine. The only drawback was that by the time we left, we were exhausted. I was supposed to go to a birthday party later that night, but by the time we got home, I realized I had overdone it for the day. I had swollen a great deal from being on my feet all day, plus my back and shoulders hurt. Those coupled with the exhaustion put me out for the count. Sunday was spent doing a few light chores and then being lazy.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Aubrey enjoying her new block set. 

Playing basketball with Todd at the cookout.

The bumper damage.

A good view of the damage to the cab of the truck.

How did this happen?

How is it possible that  I am starting the 3rd trimester today? This pregnancy has gone so fast that I swear it feels like I just got my positive pregnancy test yesterday. This is such a bittersweet point in pregnancy. I know the end is getting so close and I can't wait to meet and hold my little man. I'm not as scared going into the 3rd trimester as I was with Aubrey and I am glad I can laugh about the freak outs I had with her now. But at the same time, I know the most physically demanding times are still ahead and that is a little daunting to think about. The back pain is starting to get more intense and the constant running after Aubrey and picking her up are contributing to that. Luckily, the reduced hours of sitting behind a desk have helped, but I know it will get worse before it gets better. I've also started swelling, a symptom I didn't deal with the first time until after delivery because of the blood pressure meds. But, these are really my 2 worst concerns at this point so I think I am in pretty good shape and am counting my blessings.

I did realize this week though that I really need to get cracking on Mason's room. I was so gung-ho about getting Aubrey's room finished before I hit the 3rd trimester and I am just not finding the same motivation this time. But, I really would like to get it finished soon. We still need to change out Aubrey's furniture and move it to Mason's room, put away the clothes and mounds of baby stuff waiting for a new home, hang the curtains, and then Todd needs to clean his remaining stuff out of the closet. I keep saying I have plenty of time, but in all reality I don't. The next few months are going to fly by so I need to get busy. 13-ish weeks left. Wow.

October 3-9

October is going to be one of the busiest months for us and this week us hopping. Aubrey and I had something to do every day during the week whether it was running to the grocery store or going on a mission to find her new shoes. I think she is going to start thinking Target is her 2nd home soon as many trips as we've made in there for various things the past few weeks. We did manage to squeeze in some play time at the playground and seeing how much Aubrey can do on her own now made me realize just how much she is growing up.

She is getting so good at going up the climbing wall on her own. 

Enjoying her new tea set.

On Friday I took Aubrey to the doctor to get her flu shot and wasn't quite sure what to expect. She watched me get my shot at the doctor and was so curious about what they did and said she wanted to get one at "her doctor's office." When we walked back in the room for the nurse to give the shot she kept asking the nurse what she was doing every step along the way. The nurse administered the shot with lightening speed and Aubrey didn't even flinch or shed a single tear. I was shocked. Every other shot she's had in the past 2 years has caused the waterworks. But not this time. She didn't even want to leave the room after the nurse was finished. I was pretty proud of her so she got a sticker and a lollipop to enjoy when we got home.

Saturday morning we went to the Carolina Renaissance festival with my mom. It was opening weekend and traffic was crazy. It took us an hour and a half to get from my house to the festival entrance, which is normally only about a 20 minute drive. Luckily Aubrey took a cat nap on the way because that was the only nap she got for the day. She was fascinated when we walked inside because there was so much for her to see. The last time I went was when I was pregnant with her and at times I wished she was back in my belly because she was into everything. She wanted to touch everything, ride everything, and walk into and in front of everyone. We knew she wouldn't be cooperative in the stroller so we didn't bring it, but looking back I wish we had because she was so crazy. We all enjoyed ourselves despite the drama of the 2-year old and we were all thoroughly worn out at the end.

To end the evening Saturday we went to our friend Heather and Darrin's pig pickin'. It was nice because it is held in the back of this horse farm with plenty of room for the kids to run and be crazy while the adults have a chance to rest and catch up. Aubrey was not interested in eating very much because there were so many kids and things for her to play with but she had plenty to snack on through the night. It got a little chilly a little earlier this year than it did last year, but we still had a lot of fun and look forward to next year's event.

Playing football with her friend Caroline.

Today was spent cleaning and getting ready for the week. I have these grand plans of cleaning during the week so I can hang out with Todd on the weekends, but it hasn't seemed to work out yet. It is hard to do any serious cleaning while Aubrey is following me around so I've realized I have to leave it to the weekends so Todd can keep her out of my hair. However, the cleaning is getting a lot tougher for me to do with my ever-expanding belly so it took me a bit longer and it seemed like a bit more effort. I can't wait to see how it feels in about 10 or 11 more weeks when I go through that last serious nesting phase and insist that everything is perfect before Mason arrives. That should be fun.

Hopefully this week will be a little more relaxed because next weekend looks to be even more crazy than this weekend. Hope everyone has a great week!

September 26- October 2

Well, we did it. Aubrey and I survived by first week as me being full-time stay at home mom. I wasn't quite sure how we would both handle that much togetherness, but it was really good. We stayed pretty busy through the week and I think that helped. I will say, though, it is nice when Todd gets home because then I finally can let my guard down. Even when she is napping I still feel like I'm listening for every little thing that could go wrong. When Todd is home I am not like that and I think it has contributed to my super tiredness. I thought I would nap more but really I haven't had time. I've kept myself busy with various projects and nap time is the only time I get to work uninterrupted so I try to use that time as much as possible.

Speaking of nap time, the transition to the big girl bed has been a little rough for Aubrey. She has fallen out of the bed 3 times so far and she is pretty pissed off when she wakes up. The first time was during nap time and that put a really quick end to that nap. The other 2 times have been during the middle of the night and have scared the bejesus out of me. We ended up having to move her stool to the foot of the bed because she got a nasty bruise after the 2nd fall. So now there are 2 pillows on the side of her bed to cushion any more falls. I really don't want to buy the temporary rails because I think she needs to learn her sleeping boundaries and adding those rails would delay that. Plus her bed is so low to the ground she really can't get hurt falling now that there are only pillows there. So, we'll see how the next few days go and make a decision from there.

Aubrey and I took advantage of the gorgeous late summer-ish weather and spent a lot of time outside, including a picnic lunch and art time on the back porch. It was nice to have time do these things because we've never really had it in the past. That being said, it was shock to my system on Saturday morning to have to put on a sweater before I left the house. I am not a cold weather person so the thought of the warm days coming to an end is so sad.

However, I am looking forward to the fall because it means Halloween, Thanksgiving, and tons of excuses to cook yummy food. Cooking is a new goal I have now that I am home and have time to experiment. I have my recipes printed and waiting on me to spill stuff all over them while I make a huge mess. I spent way too much money at the grocery store on Sunday buying the ingredients for new recipes and I am so excited. I've never really experimented with cooking before so this is a whole new area for me to learn.

It is a bit early to call it a win, but so far I would say I am doing pretty well with the stay at home gig. I'm sure there will be bad days and I will be begging to go back to work, but I'll certainly take a string of good days to get us started.

Even PB&J tastes better outside

Enjoying her new paints during art time

I've seen a bit more of this "no" face in the past week but I can laugh at it in a picture