Ms. Potato Head

Natalie is obsessed with Ms. Potato Head earrings. Any time she finds them in the Potato Head bucket, she insists that you put them on her and that you hold her up in front a mirror. Yesterday she wanted me to wear them.

Ahhh... this girl needs some dress up clothes!

Cheyenne Kathryn

My friend Jill (who WAS due 4 days ahead of me) went into labor yesterday and gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Cheyenne Kathryn. Just look at all of that hair!!We had a great time holding her and reminding ourselves just how small they start out!

On the way home Kevin and I were all "I'm not ready for this, I'm not ready for this, I'm not ready for this!" Is it possible to be excited and scared all at the same time?!?!?!!

Heroes Day

This past Saturday, our church had a "Heroes Day" for kids. It involved a fire truck, several helicopters, an ambulance, the mobile library truck, etc. I'm sure Natalie will get more out of it next year, but we had fun this year nonetheless.


My friend Kera and her 3 year-old twins, Callie and Sienna, came along for the ride. The kids have gotten that the idea of the whole "picture" taking thing is to smile so therefore, they insist on doing the exact opposite! These were the few pics I could salvage from the bunch I took. Ahhh well...




This is the same kind of helicopter Kevin got to fly for his 30th birthday. Needless to say, the pregnant woman and the 1 year old were NOT in the air this time around. =)

On a Walk

Natalie likes to go on walks these days and push her baby down the street. It takes the work out of having to push her around myself.

Hmm... I'm wondering now if I can teach her how to change diapers before this next one comes along?

It's Summer Time!!!

You should have seen the diaper she had for me after playing in the pool. Needless to say we drained the water. Uggggg...

35 Weeks

I'm 36 weeks tomorrow... these pics are from last week.

Cha-ching Cha-ching

Uggg.. when it rains, it pours. Lately we've had a lot of pop-up expenses... tires for the car, tires for the truck, engine work on the SUV, three rounds of new vegetables for the garden (we keep killing ours). And we've had some not so pop-up expenses: yard work, basement steps refinished, double stroller (used) for the new kid, furniture (used) for Natalie's new room, window seat cushion, baby carrier, another carseat for both kids, etc, etc, etc.

And today?

The garage door opener quit working. Just stopped. And it's only three years old.

Sometimes you just want to pull your hair out and say ARRRRRRGGGGG!

Wheels Before the Age of 2

Lately my little one has been astonishing me with things that she says and does that are indications that she's definitely leaving the "baby stage" behind. She can count objects (up to three) and can "babble" count up to about 15. Then she'll sing her ABC's (although we're working on pronounciation) and she's saying more and more words (i.e. "bye bye wawa" to the water down the tub drain).

This weekend my Grandpa Frank came to visit from Pittsburgh, PA and brought with him a handmade gift for Natalie that cements her transition into the toddler years: a car! It didn't take her long to figure it out and she had a good time steering it all around our kitchen and back patio. I'm envisoning her running over her brother with it in a few months when she decides she's sick of sharing Mom and Dad's attention.


While my grandpa was in town we went up to Havre de Grace (a water-oriented burg not too far from here that was a leading contender for the nation's capitol at one point). If you move to this area, you'll quickly learn that the correct pronounciation of this little town is "HAVE A DE GRACE" (no French accent please). The people here looked at me like I had two heads when I tried to pronounce it the French way back in 2001.

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant where we got to witness an honest-to-goodness brawl between the owner and an apparent rival (now you know these are REAL Italians). There was a scuffle, a tackle and a lot of cursing and Kevin hopped right up to help steer the commotion outside and hold off one of the guys from beating the other into a bloody pulp. Go hon! Quite the excitement for the night!

Then we went to the park and Natalie did the swing (weee as she calls it) and attemped to slide down wet slides (it had just rained). Finally we strolled along the promenade (a non-commercial boardwalk of sorts) looking out over the bay. It was a beautiful night.

All in all it was a great visit. Thanks, Grandpa Frank, for making the trip and for thinking of Natalie!

Swimming With Friends

On Friday a friend of ours invited us to their pool. Natalie decided to start the day at 530 am that morning and I thought we were going to have to skip the afternoon pool play date for all of her crankiness. However, she held out like a champ and we ended up having a good day. She definitely is more fond of the kiddie pool, though, than the larger pool.

In the morning, before we headed out the door...

Ready for some wa wa (as she calls it).



You'll notice there are no pictures of me in my bathing suit. And yes, that's for a reason. No one needs to see my pasty 8 month prego body sitting poolside for all of posterity. No one. Hopefully the high schoolers in their cute little bikinis got ONE thing clear when they saw me busting out of my swimsuit: abstinence!

Surprise!

Last night my friends got me good.

Kevin suggested we go to PF Changs for dinner. He's been doing Atkins and claimed he was frustrated with his progress and just needed some "good food". To be honest, I haven't been cooking as much as I normally do since cooking for him these days involves steaming some veggies and grilling a side of beef. Not a very fun dinner. So I totally believed the story.

He dropped me off at the door to get our name on the list and I waddled my ever-growing self inside to get a table. As the hostess was getting menus together a camera pops out behind her and some of my girlfriends started waving! They'd all been in on planning an impromptu baby shower for me and I'd had no idea. I've never been this surprised before!

We had such a good night. I completely stuffed my face at Changs. We ate our favorite lettuce wraps. Then I tried the Singapore Street Noodles (SUPER spicy) and had my favorite garlic spinach. After that we went back to my friend Laura's house for presents and this super delicious strawberry trifle dessert (of which I ate a large helping). They wrapped up the night with having me share my prayer requests and praying for me. What a blessing these women are!

I remember moving here (to MD) like it was yesterday. I knew no one and it was SO overwhelming. I'm such an impulsive person and the move to the East Coast sounded so glamorous when I was planning it. I thought it was going to be full of SO much adventure and excitement. What I found when I moved here was that I was pretty lonely for a good while and that it was going to have to be ME sticking my neck out in order to meet people. No welcome wagon showed up at my apartment door to ensure I was well taken care of.

I prayed a lot those first few years that God would bring friends into my life and slowly, one-by-one, I've met my husband, tons of people at church and each of the ladies I hung out with last night. It's cool to see that, 8 years later, I'm surrounded by such good friends that are genuinely here with me through it all.

I'll have to post some pictures of the party last night when I get them off of everyone elses cameras. I, of course, didn't have one with me.

So, Kevin still hasn't been to the particular PF Changs he took me to. I HAD been excited for him to go and thought it would be good to have Natalie try to eat out a at a "real" restaurant. As it was he ended up taking Natalie to McDonalds. Awwww... I did feel a little bad about that.

How Are You Feeling?

Well, I get this question a lot these days.... so I thought I'd tell the world.
In a word, the answer is PREGNANT. I think I'm about ready to have this little one (except for the fact that I have yet to find the dresser to complete Natalie's new room). The sleep I get at night is sub-par at best. I'm always hot and end up freezing Kevin out in order to fall asleep. I'm up 3 times a night to pee and I limp when I get out of bed as though I were 80 because my hips are all out of whack. I mean I know I'll be getting less sleep once this little one arrives, but I might be willing to trade that for what I've got now. Check back with me again in a few months on that one when I'm up every three hours for feedings.

I get heartburn from everything these days. Seriously, one almond can have me running for the Zantac or the Tums. All nuts and pizza sauce are right out. And apparently my body doesn't like something in the new Special K whole wheat crackers I bought yesterday. Heartburn from a cracker? Really, people.

Added on to all these things my back hurts and my feet and hands are swollen so sitting or standing for long periods of time are equally uncomfortable. All in all you've got yourself a woman about ready to will herself into labor.

Ok, so technically I have 6.5 more weeks till D-Day so it's too early yet, but I was told earlier this week that my due date COULD be as early as July 14th (rather than the 21st). I went in for a sonogram because my doctor thought that the baby was measuring small. I wasn't too alarmed by this news because Natalie was small and, believe me, she hurt plenty! She was also healthy at her small weight, so it wasn't a bad thing. But when I went in Tuesday to get the sonogram they told me the baby is looking pretty tall and skinny with a big head. TERRIFIC. Big head is NOT what I wanted to hear. They sent me home with some pictures that I will NOT be posting as they are rather alien-like (they took them looking directly at the eye sockets). The 3D sonogram does such a better job producing cute pictures, but alas the lab I was sent to this time did not have that capability.

Ahh well... I guess I'll just have to actually wait another month and a half to actually see this kid in person. I'm REALLY looking forward to it.