Big switch

*Don't forget! Tomorrow we switch our address to http://lilpattisons.blogspot.com!*

Rain rain...

GO AWAY! Mommy and I are ready to kill each other!!!!!! I want to run around in the sun... these pillows are getting O-L-D!

I already missed it?

I'm ready for Mardi Gras!

What's that? It was in February? But I've been practicing earning my beads! Oh well I guess there's always next year. :)

30 min

Rachel here. I'm currently breathing. Taking long deep breaths because it's been one of those days... well let's say weeks. It's been rainy, Bryan's been out of town, and it's just been blah. Today Reese begged me to go 'bye bye', so we ran some errands. Wouldn't you know she screamed and threw her sippy cup at me at Target, and then she screamed 'bye bye!!!!' repeatedly at the top of her lungs at Once Upon a Child. We were literally in each place for 5-10 minutes tops.


We get home, and the neighbor boys were out playing... thank god! She loves the boys, and the boys love her, so they played for a good 20ish minutes before Kurt said "why don't you go inside and take 10 minutes to yourself?' SERIOUSLY?! People... I peed... I peed with the door CLOSED! No one bursting in on me saying 'pee pee?' It was AMAZING! I went back out to collect my daughter, and she wasn't finished playing... but it was starting to rain. What did Kurt suggest next? 'Go home... and come and get Reese at 430.' That's 30 more minutes of Reeseless time! I wish I could pee again! Here's what I've been doing for 30 minutes:Ahhh... the glamorous life of a SAHM. :)

Address change

Rachel here. It's getting closer to baby Deuce's arrival, which means we're getting closer to Reese sharing EVERYTHING in her little world. This includes our blog. I mentioned a few months back that we'd be changing the address to the blog so as to not offend our pending arrival. I think I've finally settled on a cute address (I believe it was one of the few Carrie came up with... thanks Nagle/Bogle!)... the new address to the blog will be http://lilpattisons.blogspot.com. I'll be switching it over this coming Monday morning, so mark your calendars... all 3 of you. ;)

Doc. appt

Rachel here. All was super this morning at Doc. Roberts' office. I'm measuring at 33 cm, which is completely fine for being 35 weeks. I was a little worried because I was measuring small and hadn't gained weight the last time we were in (2 weeks ago), but good news... I'm up 6 lbs from last time... up 22 total. Next visit is the mighty Strep test... oh the bliss of it all. ;)

Poor thing

Rachel here. I guess along with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and eating lunch outside, during the summer you have to deal with bee stings too. :(
It got her right in the lip! After watching it swell to disgusting proportions, we called the emergency number for our ped. He said to watch her breathing and give her some Benadryl now and then Claritin before bed. We threw in the popsicle. :)

Mission Accomplished

Rachel here. Reese's room is officially finished... well I'm working on painting some growth charts for both of my girls, so other than that... we're officially finished. :) Here's the finished product!

This picture isn't all that exciting, but I wanted to post it because I LOVE THIS WATERCOLOR Meredith made for Reese for her first bday. It's a beautiful tree with Reese's name painted in it. She made one for Jackson when he turned one, and I was in dire need of one myself. It's one of my favorite things ever given to us by great friends!

I wanted to point out the toy box. I found the toy box below in the 'Land of Nod' catalog for about $500. I thought it would be perfect for Reese's new big girl bedroom, so I asked Grandaddy if he wanted a project. ;) The above toy box is what he came up with. It's beautiful and IDENTICAL to the LON one but for a serious fraction of the price, and I know it's something Reese will treasure for the rest of her life. Grandma made the cushion for the top.

'Land of Nod' toy box.

That cute little table and chairs is a hand-me-down from Reesie's Auntie Amanda. A little paint, and it's just like new!

The dresser is a recycle as well. It used to be Bryan's dad's, and then it was in our old room in our townhouse... now it's in Reese's room!

The little bookshelf was also built by Grandaddy. I found the below one in the 'Pottery Barn' catalog for about $400 I believe. Oh the talent! ;) (The thick light green stripe will be where the growth chart will hang.)

'Pottery Barn' bookshelf.

And here is one of the owls I made out of scrapbooking paper for Reese's room. I was able to make matching sparrows for Deuce's room.

One more thing to check off the list before Deucie arrives!

The only way...

... to get me out of my new house and into Mommy and Daddy's house is to promise me that we can watch Yo Gabba Gabba. I LOVE TO DANCE!

I moved

I have a new address these days... well it's new just TODAY. Mommy and Daddy live at 311 blah blah blah (we don't need stalkers in these parts), and I now live at 311 & 1/2. My mailbox isn't up and running quite yet, so all my mail can be sent to the parentals and forwarded to moi. ;) One of Daddy's bosses was nice enough to offer his daughter's old house to us. She's a big girl now, and I'm so thankful to be the proud owner now. This will give my sister and I years of entertainment!

Isn't my new house uuuuuber cute? It goes nicely with my picnic table:

and my sandbox:

I can't wait for SUMMERTIME! It's gonna be awesome!

Bubbles

Rachel here. Reese is utterly obsessed with bubbles right now... it's hysterical. We have a little blower machine in the shape of an octopus... it makes my life just a titch easier, and it stops Reese from eating all the bubble solution. :) She tends to get very worked up if you turn the machine off... even if she's not at all interested in actually playing with the bubbles. The second you turn it off... "UBBLES! NO MO?" Needless to say, the machine is on constantly, and if anyone would like to donate double A batteries to the cause, we'd ever so love you for life. ;) There is a gap where the video gets kind of dull, but hang in there because you'll hear/see Reese's new trick when she sees the camera. I don't know where she learned this, but it cracks me up!

Did you hear it? When she notices the camera she looks at it and says "cheese!" I love this kid!

(PS~ I finally got a new Kodak Easy Share, so let the videos resume!)

34 weeks

Baby incubation... 34 weeks.

Rachel here. We're definitely to the point where we're READY to have this baby. By the way she spends most of the day (kicking and pushing on every millimeter of space in my stomach), I think she's ready to be out of the oven as well. With Reese having been a week early, I wouldn't be surprised if Deuce wasn't here early as well. As long as we make it to 37 weeks, she can come when she wants. We're guessing definitely one more belly picture... perhaps 2 before she's here.

Preparation: Reese and I will be venturing out this afternoon to purchase the big time stroller... oh the excitement! Deuce's room is (I think it's safe to say) finished. I hung her letters after Nana left. Bryan says I should wait... we have a shower in a couple of weeks a la Auntie Lu, (family will once again be in town) but we'll make sure to have them down and back up around that time. Everything is washed and ready to go otherwise. We'll be packing our hospital bags and making concrete arrangements for Reese in the next couple of weeks. Oh the excitement!

Reese's room is THISCLOSETOBEINGFINISHED. I painted her bookshelf this past weekend... it's looks GREAT (thanks Grandaddy)! I still have a chair to paint, and I need to attach straps to the cushion on her toy box. We'll DEFINITELY be posting finished pictures by the end of the weekend... get ready!

Little Miss Fixit

Grandpa gave Uncle Aaron his old bicycle to use around town this summer in order to save some money on gas. He brought it over a couple of days ago to wash it before taking it to get a tuneup... I helped him.

"Yes Uncle Aaron... I concur... this bicycle will need a lot of work." ;)

Aaron graduated!

My uncle Aaron graduated yesterday!

Uncle Aaron right after his big moment.

Here he is in front of his college building... isn't Hokie Stone beautiful?

Posing with Mommy. (Check out that hot belly button! Sexy!)

Posing with his mom and dad (my Nana and Grandpa).

He insisted on visiting his old stomping grounds. Mommy (and I can only imagine the rest of the planet) is disgusted they'll be making this into a co-ed dorm. REPULSIVE!

We're all so proud of you Aaron!

My 4 Daddies... saga solved?

Rachel here. Soooo... we think we may have solved the 'why do I call all these random men Daddy' mystery. Besides Mr. Noodle's brother Mr. Noodle having an uncanny resemblance to Bryan... what do the other men have in common with our daddy? FACIAL HAIR. If you notice all 4 men, and a new man that Reese pointed out on a book I'm reading, all have either goatees or mustaches. Could this be the connection?

On another note. Reese does not call me 'Mama' or 'Mommy'... she can say both of these, but insists on calling me 'Nana'... pronounced NahNah. Now Bryan has said that she's called me 'Mommy' quite often behind my back... once I appear 'NahNah!' The last couple of mornings I've heard her say, on the monitor, 'Daddy.... Mama!... Daddy... Mommy!' Alas she does in fact call me Mommy... just not to my face. :)

Fore!

Daddy may have won his 'my daughter WILL be left handed' war... but will I learn to golf?

Doc. appt

Rachel here. All went well today at the doc's. I measured a little small, but the heartbeat and everything was great, so no worries. There was no weight gain this go round... which cracks me up. I eat normally for 2 weeks and gain 5 lbs... out of town I eat garbage and TONS of it and gain nothing. Another enigma of pregnancy. :)

My 4 Daddies

Rachel here. Okay I think it's safe to say everyone got a good laugh at Reese calling Mr. Noodle's brother Mr. Noodle 'Daddy.' There is an uncanny resemblance... especially when B first wakes up in the morning... or say in this photo at the beach:

Mr. Noodle's brother Mr. Noodle AND the 'real' Daddy

Today Reese threw me for a loop! She said 'Daddy?' to both of the following men:

Randy Jackson from American Idol AND LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow/Star Trek

Perhaps she just needs some extra Daddy-Reesie time? :)

19 months

Tomorrow I turn 19 months... what... what! I'm changing so much everyday the parentals just can't contain themselves! :)

Language skills are through the roof! I've added the following words and PHRASES... yes phrases... to my everyday word usage: Chair, Side (outside/inside), Pancake, Breakfast, Fower (flower), Eyes (egg), Berries (which is used for all berries and melons), Apple, Go go go, Daddy go?, Daddy at work, Yeyow (yellow... everything is the color yellow, unless it's green... then sometimes it's yellow and sometimes it's green), Wah (water, which we have become DEATHLY afraid of... bath time has even become a bit of a headache now.), Cirsle (circle), Oskie (Oscar the Grouch), Ayee (Aly Funk), Doo doo (Pinky Dinky Doo), Ossie (Oswald), Yo yo (yogurt), Bee (Little Bill), Bee, Cat, Play, Car, Play the car, Grapes, Peek-boo (which I enjoy saying while peeping in on Mommy in the shower), Quare (square), Shower, Broccoli, Sice (Sid the Science Kid), Green, Fan, Boys (neighbor boys), Pee pee, Poo poo, Sack (snack), Knees, Bees (cheese), Tiki (turkey), Sand, Sandbox, Pane (plane) Bubbles, Words that somewhat resemble Grandma and Grandaddy, and something that sounds likes Cheerios. That takes us to a whopping 105 words! Not too shabby. :)

Eating is still super great. Mommy and Daddy did try to give me to eat a cut up hot dog tonight with my homemade mac and cheese, which I kindly pushed aside. I don't really fancy ice cream, but I have become quite in love with cookies. Raisins seem to be a favorite as well. Now eating out in public is a different story. I no longer enjoy sitting in the high chairs. Numerous times I've shimmied on out and attempted to stand. I also like to push off of the table legs and shoot myself out into the aisles. This makes me laugh and it makes Mommy and Daddy want to pull their hair out. I've also become very good at throwing my food. (Thank you Brett for the heads up!) Mommy has decided that we'll be taking our weekly Panera dates to go. :)

I no longer walk... I run... all the time... and everywhere. This has caused my knees to become quite uncute... I'll never be a knee model. This summer is going to be awesome because I plan on spending the entire time in the backyard barefoot and dirty. Mommy and Daddy have been collecting fun outside toys for me to play with, and Mommy hasn't given up on doing crafts with me. She's been hoarding different art supplies and recyclables from Grandma to keep me busy. I have an awesome swimming pool for the backyard too... Mommy plans on filling it, putting me in my swimsuit, and letting me work out my fears. She says if I play in it great... if not... that's great too. We'll see what happens. I have a slight obsession with Yo Gabba Gabba, which surprisingly doesn't bother Mommy because DJ Lance cracks her up. My friend Jackson likes to rap... he learned that from Biz (aka Biz Markie) on the show. I've recently started rapping as well. At the end of the lesson Biz always says "bye bye" in a really funny voice... I'm perfecting that as well.

I've been working on my kicking and screaming. Bedtime and nap time have become much easier for me... I think it had A LOT to do with my allergies and all the Claritin I was on. While I do still kick Mommy and Daddy when their changing my diaper, I'm less likely to do it if there is something in my hands to keep me occupied. I also still like to hit them while their trying to 'get me under control', but I'm a toddler... what do you expect? I'm definitely pushing all limits. :/ The goods definitely outweigh the bads exponentially, but I do have my naughty moments.

I'll be going in next month for my 20 month appointment (remember the ped. didn't need to see me at 18 months and instead wanted to push it back), so hopefully well have some growth numbers for you then. Until next month!

Mother's Day

Rachel here. Today has been a GREAT day. I woke up to Bryan asking me what I wanted for breakfast... Hardees chicken biscuit it was. :) Sadly... one of my favorites. Reesie gave me her great gifts... What to Expect the Toddler Years and two cutout themes for my Cricut (hopefully I can get caught up on scrapbooking soon!)... and the cutest most appropriate card ever!

We then started some laundry and spent the day outside playing in the sandbox and doing some yard work. Lunch, nap time, and grocery shopping soon followed. Reese helped me do some planting. We probably should have already gotten our veggies in the ground, but with being on vacation we knew our garden would be neglected, so hopefully we're not TOO late. Our veggies will incubate in their mini greenhouses for a couple weeks and then into the ground they'll go. Bryan will be busy building another garden next to our current one for pumpkins. In the past we've just crammed everything into one; we're hoping we'll have a little more luck this year.

I made homemade mac and cheese for dinner and then there was cheesecake for dessert. All in all... a super nice day together with my two and a half favorite people. :)

32 weeks

Rachel here. So Wednesday marked 32 weeks of baby incubation. :) We'll be heading to the doc on Tuesday. I feel GINORMOUS even though I'm pretty sure I'm the same size I was with Reese. It's getting virtually impossible to get comfy while sleeping. I have aches and pains is parts of my body I didn't know existed. I felt so much more limber and mobile with Reese... not so much with Deuce. Thanks bunches little fetus. ;) If I sit or lay down for too long and try to get up to go to the bathroom for the 890,809,898th time of the day... it takes me a good 10 seconds to brace myself and take that first step because frankly everything just hurts. Morning sickness is still a good friend of mine... we've gotten close. Something new this time around is swelling. I noticed my little fingers turning into hot dogs while on our Florida trip. I don't know if it was the immense heat or what, but it was certainly interesting. It would go away within minutes though, so I'm not too concerned. I am LOVING being pregnant despite it's less than glamorous tendencies. I wish it wasn't going to be ending so soon... especially since I know what's going to happen in about 7ish weeks. I'm sure she'll be a doll, but I'm not blind or deaf this time around! Here's baby girl in her oven:

On the preparation note: Deuce's room is virtually finished, and has been for like the entire time... thanks to it's prior tenant. We do need to rearrange her furniture, accessorize a titch, and hang her letters. None of that will be getting done until after this weekend. It's Uncle Aaron's big graduation, so we'll be hosting some peeps and don't need any rumors flying. :) Reese's room is ALMOST finished. I need to finish and hang the curtains, attach her cushion (that her Grandma made) to her new toy box (that Grandaddy made), paint her little chair, paint her GIGANTIC house bookshelf that Grandaddy made (it's seriously amazing people... the man can make ANYTHING... my children are VERY lucky), and add some extra little touches. I can not wait to post pictures of the finished product! We moved Reese's car seat over for our trip to Florida to get her ready for her backseat BFF. As far as purchases go... in the next few weeks we'll be getting another car seat for Reese (for Daddy's car), our new double stroller, and I think there was something else, but I'm seriously suffering from pregnancy brain at the current moment.

Tomorrow will be my second Mother's Day. :) Here's hoping to a nice relaxing day!

Really Daddy?

Daddy had one more day of uneventful training, so we went to the outlets and then all together headed to Jacksonville for the night. Now if you know my daddy you know that we can't make a trip to Florida without going to the Budweiser Brewery. Last year when we had actually been to Fl. twice in one year, Mommy had to make a 'fiscal year' rule... one visit per fiscal year. We HAD to go this year... bliss.

We've learned to finagle the system and avoid the tour to go straight to the "Gift Shop..." which just happens to be right next to the 'Hospitality Room.'

On our way out I saw Elmo... oh how I love Elmo. What Elmo and Budweiser have in common I do not know, but was enjoyable to see my old friend.

Daddy then made me try to be friends with Larry the Clydesdale... oh how I do not love Larry.

Until next year Budweiser Brewery!

The pool

After Disney Day we knew Daddy would have to get back to business, so we headed to the hotel. It was a beautiful hotel located on the Downtown Disney Property. We decided to hit up the lovely pool the following morning. There was even a little baby pool... just for me! I say just for me because I'm the only one who was actually in the pool (with Mommy) because I was screaming BLOODY MURDER and the other children were too afraid to get in. :) Hence... no pictures. Mommy finally got the hint and took me out about 10 minutes later... will she ever learn. I was literally clawing at her back to get me out of there. Finally we got out and others were able to get back in. This is how I spent the rest of the morning (upon my own will) poolside until about lunchtime.

After nap time Mommy and I spent the day doing a LITTLE BIT of shopping, and when I say LITTLE BIT... you would be so proud of Mommy. She bought me a lanyard for my pins I've been collecting (I have a Minnie and Mickey dancing and Cinderella from my first trip, and this go round I got a 'It's a Small World' pin to commemorate my first rides.), my Small World pin, and a little charm bracelet for me (the same idea as the lanyard... it came with a sparkly Mickey head charm on it, and we bought a little Mickey Mouse Club hat to go on it... hopefully we can get a new one each time we visit).

When we got back to the room to pick Daddy up for dinner, the lovely cleaning ladies had cleaned our room and tucked all my friends nicely into their beds. :)