What do you think?

Polling the audience.....I think my belly is much bigger and rounder this time. How about you?


May 15, 2005 The day we went to the hospital to have E. She wasn't born until the night of the 17th. 2 VERY long days.

Yesterday, September 29, 2008. Mind you, I still technically have 2 weeks to go/grow. Luckily my Dr. is a kind man.

Big Sister Prep

Ellie has been working hard for the last couple of weeks to get everything ready for the baby's arrival. If only she could help with the really hard part. She asked again today just how the doctor was going to get her out. I told her the doctor had some special tricks. She thought I meant like gymnastics tricks. I suppose I will actually be the one doing the tricks. Too bad I don't have any magic tricks. Especially since they estimated the Peanut's weight today at 8lb 14oz. She's more like a watermelon than a peanut. That's going to be fun.

Here are some of the ways E has been helping me to get everything ready.

Testing out the changing table. She thinks it's funny that I used to change her diapers on it too. Her body takes up the whole top of the dresser now, instead of just the changing pad. She has just about kicked over the lamp several times.

Now that the mattress is at the highest setting again, she can climb in and out of the crib. She never did it when she was actually using it for her bed, but now she likes to play in it. She asked me if she was going to be able to check on the baby if she cried so I have a feeling I will find her in it with the baby at some point.

Making sure the baby tub didn't spring any leaks. It has actually been used as a boat, car, baby doll bed and TV watching spot in the last 2 weeks. I had to hide it because I kept tripping over it.

Obviously the chair and ottoman we are borrowing from Barbara and Eric for the nursery are comfy (as well as super cute). I was sitting at the computer and she climbed up on the ottoman in this weird position. I started rocking it back and forth and she fell asleep in about 2 seconds. I am using the chair right now as I type. It's much softer than the computer chair and my bum and I are all about comfort right now.

She also helped me paint the letters to hang on the wall. Well, she painted one and a half before she got bored and moved on to something else, but at least she wanted to help in the first place.

Remembering the good times she had in the infant carrier car seat. She was determined to sit in it and tried to use the buckles. She is just a little too tall for it :)

Are we biking today?

Ellie has had some fun lately riding on the back of Brandon's bike and also at the Trike-a-Thon (pronounced "Trike-a-Fon" heeheehee) at her school. She's much more comfortable as a rider than she is as a "driver".



The kids rode around the gym for about 20 minutes last Thursday to raise money for St. Jude's. Since our driveway is too steep and our street is too bumpy, Ellis hasn't ridden her trike much. It was pretty obvious that the others were WAY ahead of her. (But she looked cute in that giant helmet)
Clearly we need to practice more. By the 800th lap or so, she finally got the hand of steering and pedaling at the same time. She never did figure out how to start off from completely stopped. I had to push her off every time. Here is frustration setting in......



And taking hold....look at that face.

And she stopped to rest a few times while the others were zippping around the gym.

Her teacher said she passed out as soon as the nap mat hit the floor.

Her bike is still in the car so we can take it over to the smooth track at the park and practice. Soon.

Oh, and she was line leader that day. What a big girl.

Green Acres is the Place to Be

Farm Living is the Life for Me.

Ok, not really, I just like that song. Too much poop and dirt and giant spiders and rat snakes for me.

So Friday we went to the Jones Family Farm for E's school field trip. Once a month they have Fabulous Friday where the parents can choose to take the kids to whatever is planned. The Jones Family has a little girl in one of the younger classes and they were kind enough to invite all the classes to their property and give us lunch. The weather was really nice and there was lots to see.


First stop- baby chicks with mother hen. Undeniably E's favorite thing at the farm.

Story time with the retired children's librarian from the public library.

A little snack and juice before we see any other animals.

Stop by the baby chicks again...this will be a recurring theme for the day.

The hugest pig ever. I forget her name, but she was so tame. The kids could just walk right up and pet her. She would sniff them like a dog. Ellie did NOT want to pet her. Plus, the snake lived in this area so we didn't hang around too long.

A random nest of eggs in the pigs pen. E thought this was so cool.

Ginormous banana spider. Almost as big as the pig.

Petting the pony. There was a sheep and some goats in this barn, but they did not want attention.

And, back to the baby chicks.

There was also a field of goats, one of turkeys and some cows. Mr. Jones had a hay ride going too, but E did not want to ride. Maybe at the pumpkin patch next month.....ooh, we'll have 2 kiddos to cart around at that one.

It finally happened

Conversation at Wal-Mart yesterday: (which I've been waiting for weeks to come up)

Ellie: "Mommy, is that baby ever going to come out so I can be a big sister? It's taking a long time."

Me: "I know. But we only have about 2 more weeks."

Ellie: (no concept of weeks whatsoever)" Ugh! "

(expression of deep thinking crosses her face)
"So, Mommy, just how is that doctor going to get that baby out of your shirt?"

Me: "Um, it's going to be really hard work....hey look over there- TOYS!"

...and scene.

No Real News

Just wanted to check in for the week. Ellie had a great week at school. Her teachers always tell me that she is a great listener and she can usually tell me at least one thing that she's done each day. The biggest milestone this week is that she actually played with other kids on the playground. Before she would tell me that she just played by herself and I've seen her just follow the teacher around when I've picked her up early. At least twice this week she told me she played "princesses" with some of the other girls and today she even gave me some names! She also says she does not play with the boys because they are always in trouble. And only the girls got to pick from the treasure box because they were good. I'm sure it's not all the boys, but I just think it's funny that she lumps them all together. Each day they have done some kind of activity or worksheet to practice letters and numbers and she is very proud of all of her work.

On Wednesdays we've started going to the park in the mornings since she doesn't have school and this week Barbara and Abby met us there. I took one picture and Barbara sent me some good ones of Ellie that she took. Check out her "hair raising" experience on the slide.

We are very excited that tomorrow is "Fabulous Friday" for the Mom's Day Out program. We are going to a local farm to see the animals, have a hayride and pony rides and eat hot dogs. It should be fun and I will take the camera and try to be better about getting some cute shots.

Ellie is very excited and impatient about the baby coming. She knows time is getting close and yesterday asked me, "Is it going to take forever for that baby to come out of your belly?" And just a minute ago (as she was climbing into the crib to play with her dolls) she said she was so excited that we are having a baby girl and that "it won't be long now". She's right. Only twenty more days! That is if she doesn't take half a week to join us like Ellie did.

Grandparents' Day Tea

Last Monday E's school had a special treat for grandparents to celebrate Grandparents' Day. MeeMaw drove all the way here from TN to go with us. It was very nice. I enjoyed it because it was an excuse to be in her classroom and see some of what they do each day. There were not a lot of grandparents there, so I was so glad we went. First off, the kiddos did a learning sheet at the table. They usually do that every morning until all the kids are there.

Then they came to the floor and did the days of the week and the date and I think the weather. They also sang some songs for us.

Each student had made an adorable picture frame for their grandparent with a fun picture from the playground in it. We had muffins and juice together and then the kids sang us a goodbye song. I think E really enjoyed having us there. She made MeeMaw's day when she looked up at her and said, "Thank you for coming to our party." With no prompting at all.

That made the 5 hour drive all worth it.

Due Date Update

Well, I'm still technically due on October 15th, but I'm going to be induced on the 8th. Scheduled as of yesterday. We all think this bambino is going to be of the larger variety so the doc thinks it's a safe bet to plan ahead and bring her on out a week early. Its great for me to have a date so we can get some grandmas here to watch Ellie and help out. Hopefully it won't take 2 days to get her here like it did with Ellie. And hopefully we won't be in the hospital for a week like before. That was not fun. So anyone who wants to come visit, make plans for sometime after the 8th. I'll keep you posted.

September So Far

I'd like to say that we've been so busy I haven't had time to post anything. Unfortunately, I've just been too lazy to really DO anything worth posting. The normal routine has been followed and all children/husbands/dogs have been fed and taken care of, but other that that, this has been a no frills house lately. I have read a lot of books and I did clean the house on Tuesday- even the tub. That is not easy when you have a basketball attached to the front of your body. In fact, Ilene called while I was in the middle of it and asked why I was so out of breath. Very sad. Lucky for me, Ellie is in school for 3 days each week and when she's home she likes nothing better than the TV. We do turn it off and actually interact on occasion too. Here are some very random pictures of what we've been up to this month. Oh and I heard that the hottest temp ever recorded in AL was in September so these last 5 weeks of basketball belly ought to be FUN!




Another day at ballet. I just thought she looked so cute in her tutu.

We've been experimenting with new makeup looks. I call this one Pink Blush Everywhere.
I can't even come up with anything for this outfit. The best part was that she wore it to help Brandon out in the garage. Crack up!

Carys's (a playgroup friend) birthday party was a Messy Art Party. The kids got to paint and use all kinds of cool materials and then we all got in the pool to wash off. It was really fun. Alex even made each of the kids a t-shirt to cover their clothes that said "Carys's Messy Art Party".

E was very serious about the painting. She really concentrated and only used 1 color. But the end result is pretty cool.

Here we are in the pool. I was like the Pied Piper for all the kids there for a while.
On Thursday we celebrated our NINTH anniversary. We are old. The scarier part is, we've known each other for 14 years now. Soon I will have been with Brandon longer than I wasn't.

These are "our" anniversary flowers. Ellie thinks it was her anniversary too. The carnations are mine and the rose is for Ellie. She has decided and will inform anyone that will listen that roses are her favorite, but Mommy just likes pink carnations. And Daddy listened.

On Friday Ellie and I met Kim and Madison at the bowling alley on post for lunch and the girls bowled a coupe of games. E is much better than she used to be. They have these hilarious pink 4 pound balls that she can lob down the lane. It's quite a sight.