6 months

Rachel here again. So tomorrow marks my being 6 months pregnant. 3ish more to go. Things are going well in general. I have my glucose screening and 3D/4D April 13th, so hopefully all will check out great... I have no reason to believe otherwise. :)

Physically... I'm STILL getting sick every morning... isn't life grand? I'm feeling tons of pressure/discomfort, but nothing painful. Getting comfortable to sleep at night is humorous to say the least. Deuce is quite the mover and shaker. She is literally all over the place in there. I want to say she's much more active for longer periods of time than Reese was. Now don't get me wrong... Reese was all over the place, but they were shorter spurts. Exhaustion has set in big time. The other night I went to sleep at the late hour of 730. Good times. Emotionally... We're getting very excited. There is still tons to do around here to prepare for her, but we're moving a long!

Down on the Farm

Rachel here. So Reese has been showing that she needs more to keep her attention lately. She's all about magnets, her umbrella, sidewalk chalk, coloring, painting, etc. You can only run around the house with an umbrella for so long. The fact of the matter is... I'm getting bored. and I was hoping to broaden her horizons a little bit by adding some themes to our daily schedule. Our first adventure... Farm animals. She's been doing really well with learning farm animals and their sounds, so I figured this would be a great jumping off point for us.

Last night I copied a bunch of pictures of farm animals with the intention of gluing different things into each shape. We had cotton balls for our sheep, straw for our horse, feathers for our chicken, fake black fur for the cow's spots, and pink marshmallows for our pig. Here I am thinking this is a fantastic activity... Reese has never used glue before, so that's new... plus the animals... I'm a genius! Well about 2 seconds into the activity I learn Reese hates glue. HATES glue. HATES glue. She especially HATES glue when you pair it with cotton balls that tend to rip apart and stick to said glue all over her fingers. DRAMA! There were immediately tears. Did I let her stop? Nope... sadly I made her sit there and glue down every single cotton ball until the entire sheep was covered. She eventually simmered herself down a little bit, and ended up doing a great job.

She had no desire to put more than 3 or 4 feathers on her chicken. We didn't even attempt the straw on the horse. The cow received all of 4 spots. The big winner... the pig. She loved gluing the giant marshmallows to the pig. And then she realized she could eat the marshmallows and the gluing was over. :)

I thought I'd cut them all out and hang them in her playroom for a while. We're also working on a mural. I drew a big picture of a farm and tons of little farm animals. Reese is working on coloring the animals and hopefully we'll get that all put together with a little less drama. We had a couple of bumps... some frustrations... but I refuse to give up. What kind of kid doesn't like glue????? :)

Sunday lunch

How could we come to Tidewater and not visit with my Nana and Pop? Don't worry we didn't! We met with them, my Great Nana, and Uncle Aaron and Liz for lunch, which was super yummy. I immediately recognized my Nana and stuck by her side the majority of the time. :)

My Great Nana got me some really great things for Easter, but Mommy says I have to wait to show you all of it because... well... it's not Easter yet, and I'm not supposed to know what I got yet. :)

Chuck E. Disease

Saturday was also Mommy's birthday. She tells me birthdays are no longer any fun after you turn 21. I'll take her word for it. Somehow everyone got the idea in their heads that it would be super fun to go to Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate. Why? Why not we say?! The closest one to Grandpa and Pearl's house was in Chesapeake. All we can say is OH MY LANTA! It was packed OF COURSE first of all. Second... we almost founds ourselves in the middle of a nice little race riot. Someone accused someone of something else, there were f-bombs flying left and right... it was rather frightening. What did we do? We all ran for cover back at the table! People were losing their kids and then asked to identify them... but couldn't???? There were women with bright yellow hair... imagine if you will a yellow highlighter. All in all it was quite a magical experience. While Uncle Aaron, Liz, and Uncle Stephen played games and won me tons of tickets (which we later turned in for giant cockroaches), Mommy and Daddy took me to the toddler section where I enjoyed myself away from all the chaos.

Daddy later took me to play some ski-ball. Can you say EXCITEMENT?!

After all the craziness that is Chuck E. Cheese, we went back to Grandpa and Pearl's for some cake.

The ceremony... part deux

Yeah the ceremony was lovely... but what I didn't tell you before was that it was just a big ol' party for moi! Before they started I got to run a muck! I really enjoyed running down this runway they had at the church... I'm quite the dramatic runner. I almost always throw myself on the floor upon finishing. Call it my grand finale if you will.

The long aisle wasn't the only thing made for running through... so were the pews.

Here's my bodyguard Dave. He's making sure no one touches the goods... and by goods I mean my Elmo and Cookie Monster.

During the ceremony I talked, laughed, and tried to do my best to entertain Uncle Aaron and the rest of the guests.

There was a reception following the ceremony where I ate cake and managed to pop every single balloon they had for decoration. Good times!

Congrats Uncle Stephen!

This past weekend we ventured to Suffolk/Norfolk for Uncle Stephen's Eagle Scout Ceremony. It was a really nice to get to spend some time with family, but it was really special to be able to see Stephen accomplish something he'd worked so long and hard for. Mommy took tons of pictures, but we'll just show you some of our favorites. Congrats Uncle Stephen!

I love it!

Dear Grandma and Grandaddy,

Mommy told me to tell you thank you for the blankie you made her (and the purse and money)! I LOVE THE BLANKIE... I mean she loves the blankie. :) It's so soft and cuddly.

I love it when it's my birthday... I mean Mommy's birthday. :)

xoxo,

Reese

Crayola

Rachel here... again. I've been trying to do more creative things with Reese the last couple of weeks because she's actually showing some interest. Since the energy is SERIOUSLY lacking on my part (I feel way more pregnant this go round than I did with monster), I'm always looking for a fun, creative, not too messy for right now craft for us to do together. Reese is super into the play-doh, stickers, crayons... you name it. Unfortunately she's been getting more and more interested in painting. I've let her paint before, but that was when I wasn't 6 months preggo. This afternoon after a play-doh marathon, she was being VERY demanding... she WANTED that paint and wasn't going to stop asking for it until I gave in. Luckily we had plenty of our Crayola Color Wonder paints left. All I have to say is GOD BLESS CRAYOLA! Their Color Wonder products are really really... did I say really... GREAT! We were flinging that paint EVERYWHERE... and it only showed up on the special paper... BLISS! Sadly the products are a little pricey, but well worth it in our household because they make both Reese and Mommy happy, so isn't that worth it in and of itself? :) Just look at my little Picasso at work!

What does a seahorse say?

Rachel here. So Reese and I were playing with play doh this afternoon. I bought her this little pouch that has 4 colors of dough, a bunch of cookie cutter type things, a roller, and some shape squeezie things; she loves it to say the least. There hasn't been a day this week that she hasn't gone into her play room and pointed at the bag screaming "play!" But anywho... so I'm cutting out shapes of animals for her and just playing around. She likes to hold the shapes up and wait for me to tell her what they are. She held up the turtle and before I could say it, she said "toetle." MELT! Then she held up a cutout of a seahorse; I said it was a seahorse... she IMMEDIATELY started neighing like a horse! :) God I love this kid!

Potty time... Excellent...

Now that I don't confuse my potty with my naughty chair, Mommy and Daddy thought it was about time I start becoming acquainted with it. This evening after my bath, Mommy asked me if I wanted to sit on my potty. "POTTY!" Mommy didn't even know I knew that word! I sat right down... for a little while... then would get up... do a little dance... sit back down... Mommy sang "tinkle... tinkle... tinkle"... I sang "tinkle tinkle tinkle"... got up and danced some more. Obviously we have A LOT of work to do. Daddy doesn't like my business to show... he's trying to teach me modesty in front of the camera. ;)

I contribute...

Rachel here. So last week our AAL representatives stopped by the house to talk to Bryan and I about our life insurance status and "what would happen if"s. While I like these men very much, I was taken aback by their presentation. Being told NUMEROUS times that I don't contribute because I don't 'work' didn't sit well with me. I'm quite aware I don't have an income, but to say I don't contribute really hit me hard. After throwing a temper tantrum (after they left of course), I was determined to find ways that I can contribute FINANCIALLY. I'm a very educated driven woman... it's not like I'm free loading off of my husband here for goodness sakes! Going back to teaching is not an option for me right now. I'm lucky enough to have a great husband who agrees that me being home with my nugget and unborn child is important enough/doable to make some sacrifices. If we had WONDERFUL AFFORDABLE child care in our area, we may be dealing with a whole different scenario. I have friends who have great opportunities with child care that would be great for us, but we just don't have those options.

How can I contribute? We clip coupons, but find that a lot of the products we use (organic) aren't available at discount with a coupon. After doing multiple searches on-line for ways to better your finances, I found a really creative idea thanks to a friend of a friend's blog. While she provides links to TONS of different deals... some of which are available to us, and some that are not... there was a great idea she found on another blog. It's more of a challenge than it is anything else. The idea is to eat only the food you already have in your home for an entire week. No going to the grocery store to buy new things. This is a huge money saving opportunity for us right now both with me being pregnant and never knowing what I want to eat and us consistently buying random things as opposed to actual meals. While the challenge is for one week only, we'll be extending it to two weeks because we'll be out of town for a few days with Bryan for work. We will be going to the store, however, to purchase milk, bread, and fresh fruit when we need it for nugget.

We began our challenge this evening with grilled cheese sandwiches and minestrone soup. The grilled cheese were extra special because all we had was shredded cheese... SPECIAL. Anyway here are the before pictures of our food supply. Please disregard the messy fridge... hopefully this will also teach me to clean it out regularly and wipe up. :)

Please disregard the Nutty bars and Girl Scout cookies... those are my emergency pregnancy foods. :)

Oh and there is NO eating out, which is a serious problem because that's all I want these days... but I WILL CONTRIBUTE! :)

My new BFF

Mommy and I had a dandy morning out this morning, which was followed by me getting to spend some quality time with my new BFF. Who is my new BFF you ask? Why it's my giant yellow ball that Brett gave me at his b-day party! I seriously need to know where it is at all times, or I am in a total panic until it reemerges. Yesterday we went to visit with some of Daddy's family, and I wouldn't walk out of our house until I knew the ball was coming with us.

So anyway... we come home from lunch today, and my ball is nowhere to be seen. Where on earth did I put it?! Ahh... how could I forget? The dryer is the PERFECT place to put my giant ball!I screamed at the top of my lungs for Mommy to come and help me... Thank god she came to my ball's rescue.

When I knew my ball was safe and sound, I ran over to the sliding glass door and yelled "SIDE!" So out we went to play with my BFF.

Isn't being outside just grand? Especially when you can spend that quality time with those you love... like my yellow ball... oh and I guess Mommy and Winston too. :)

The blues

Rachel here. Let me start by saying Winter stresses me out. I love the snow... I love the holidays... I love the warm food and hot cocoa, but Winter stresses me out. It follows Fall, which is a blast and a half around here in HOKIE country, but I always look forward to Winter being a time to relax and catch up on family time. (We tend to have lots of visitors during football season, so it's nice to be able to just have our trio time.) Winter never turns out to be a nice stress free relaxing time however. With Bryan being an auditor, he's busy from the end of Summer up until April 15th. I'm virtually husbandless for 7 months straight. No, it's not like him being deployed, but it does put a huge strain on our lives nonetheless. Then there is traveling. We're either following Bryan to trainings around the East coast, or driving to various family members homes for the holidays... it gets to be a lot, and it seems as if we're never home. When we are home during Winter, you'll find me in many a foul mood... locked in my home with a toddler, a dog, and a lot of alone time.

Now that the weather is getting warmer (on some days), Reese is getting more exciting to interact with and be around, Bryan is SLOWLY spending more time here at home, and we're getting ready for Deuce... I find myself in a more upbeat mood. For my b-day Big Kel (my mama), came to visit with us and left me some moolah to spend on myself. I found a great little dress that I wanted, so Reese and I headed off to the mall this morning to go pick it up. Sadly they were all sold out. We didn't let that get us down. Reese must have ran 20 laps around that mall this morning... laughing and carrying on the entire time... just as happy as could be. She was rather intrigued with all the green sale signs at The Gap and desperately wanted to take all the 'zooms' aka cars that she saw throughout the mall for a spin. We must have made a good 30 friends on our mall adventure... mostly the elderly making their rounds in their walking shoes. We left the mall empty handed and headed on over to Old Navy. Here I managed to find 2 super cute shirts that will hug my baby bump nicely. :) I also found a couple of cute little outfits for Deuce on uuber clearance. The sales clerk also brought to my attention the great sale they were having on newborn apparel. $5 for everything! It didn't matter if the item was $6.99 or $20.99... it was all $5! Can you say BARGAIN?! Bargains always put me in a stellar mood no matter the season. After our shopping adventure, we headed over to Panera for our favorite lunches. Here a nice little man said to me "I have a granddaughter who is about 20 months... I'm guessing yours is about 18 months?" Now this is by far a huge deal, but when you have a child who has been in the 95th percentile in everything since birth (she's slowed down quite a bit since she started running around), it was nice to hear he wasn't guessing she was 5 years old. :)

So while there are still quite a few cool days ahead of me until Spring has truly sprung, things are looking up, and I'm slowly coming out of my funk. :)

We have color!

Now anyone who knows my mommy and daddy knows that they are not ones to shy away from a little color. Please do not be alarmed by what you are about to see. It's quite bright upon first glance, but trust Mommy... it looks AMAZING with the bedding. :)

In just two days we've gone from this:

to this:

and finally to this:

This color is on 3 of my walls, and then we'll have our grand masterpiece on my 4th wall... Amy D is coming to help Mommy with that the week of the 13th... oh the excitement!

Hot mess

This picture has nothing to do with the following 'story', but it depicts the hot mess that is me (of course it doesn't help that my mother dresses me like a fruitcake everyday).
So, yesterday was the first time Daddy put me in timeout. What do you know... I threw something at him. In fact it was a full bottle of water. Good times. After I chucked the water at Daddy (did I mention it was right at his head?), all Daddy had to do was point at my timeout stool and away I went. Sulking. Daddy followed me to talk to me about what I did wrong, but I was under the impression I was done with time out. See I have to sit there for 1 minute, 'think about what I did wrong,' Mommy or Daddy (whoever put me in timeout) comes and talks to me, we give each other hugs and kisses, and then I'm on my way. I thought I could trick Daddy and peace out before I did my time, but he caught on to me and made me sit there. Then this morning I threw one of Deuce's baby toys at Mommy... she pointed to the stool, and away I went... dead man walking. Oh these parentals and their rules.

Primed and ready

My room is coming along slowly but surely. Yesterday Mommy plugged and sanded holes while Daddy put the baseboards up in my closet. Last night after I went to bed they primed my room and will hopefully get some paint on it starting today. We're going to spend a bit of time with Daddy's family today, but we hope to get some stuff done when we get back. His cousin Brad is in town from being deployed... fun fun fun!

One another note... Mommy's been busy going through my old clothes organizing and washing some of them for Deuce. She had Daddy pull out all of my old infant toys too. Those toys are pretty fun! I seem to be playing with them more than I do MY toys. :)

T minus 2 days

Until what you ask? Here is a hint!

I can't wait for many many days of this...