Stream of Consciousness

Welp my steady string of almost regular blogging is shot. Holidays happened, they were great, I've been exhausted, I rarely remember what day it is, and frankly can't remember what happened when. I wrote this post a few weeks ago and forgot to push publish, so theres that.

Fun fact, I have 9 types of vinegar. I just got done prepping dinner which called for rice wine vinegar and of course it was the last one I picked up. And well, I have 9 vinegars, and I'm ok with that!

I jot down pregnancy memories here and there. On the back of a church bulletin, which later I probably throw away. In a journal with a thousand other ramblings most of which have nothing to do with this growing babe, and will be lost or forgotten until I die and my kids dig through my junk, and sporadically I write them on a cute piece of scrapbook paper hopefully to be added to a baby book later, but lets be honest, third kid, this blog probably is her baby book.

Not much excitement has happened in the pregnancy since I posted last. I pasted my three hour glucose test after failing my one hour which was such a relief considering I had convinced myself I certainly had gestational diabetes considering how tired I am. Guess my mom was right, having two kids and being pregnant is just that exhausting! The lovely phlebotomist busted a blood vessel in my arm on the last blood draw of my three hour and now over a month later the soreness and bruise have finally gone, luckily it's winter and long sleeves are a must so I didn't have to make up any fun stories about the green and blue bruise just under my elbow.

I'm just  a smidge over a month away from this little girl being here and the least prepared I've been for any of my babies. I hear that it's normal to ready later and later with each child which is good, because for us it's true. My parents are coming next week to paint the nursery which will relieve a lot of mom guilt I'm feeling about my lack of preparedness. We're using the same bedding we've used for Addiston and Isabella (because I still LOVE it) plus a few new decorations so hopefully that'll all fall together quickly, since we've done it before. I was able to sort through ALL of our kids clothes recently. Since we didn't have them all properly sorted before we moved I literally went through all of them, the girls helped me sort, and attempted to try on clothes they thought were cute that happened to be 3 sizes too small, it was entertaining. I have 0-9 months sorted out in the closet yet to be washed (as I'm sure they'll smell like fresh paint after next week) and all larger sizes separated and labeled in our storage room. I even found some clothes I had forgotten about for Isabella so her wardrobe got a boost too.

We had the biggest snowstorm Nashville has seen on over a decade last week (or maybe 2 weeks ago?). 8 inches of snow in 24 hours is respectable even for Jared and I's northern selves. The girls and Dogs loved it. There was lots of comfort food, snowball fights, snow angels and a decent snowman.

The Best Part was that 3 days later it was 60 and the month long gross, dirty snow that we're all used to after a beautiful fresh winter wonderland melted away, turning our cute little creek into a river with semi-respectable rapids for a day or so. But a girl could get used to a snow storm like that!

We're trying to be intentional about spending time with the girls before the new baby comes. Random one on one trips to stores or to grab a snack, individual game time and random "dates" Addiston and I got to go to a special children's event at the symphony recently and She was so cute. She had perfect manners. She could have taught the adults in the box next to us a thing or two. It was precious and I swear sometimes she makes parenting easy. SOMETIMES!

Isabella and I got to sneak in some one on one time last night too, we went to the mall and rode the carousel (which we had all to ourselves) did some disney store shopping and topped it off with mini-cupcakes.

28 weeks

Figured I'd get this down before I forget half of whats going on because... Pregnancy Brain is real my friends!

Our halls have been decked, presents are waiting under the tree and littles are anxiously awaiting tearing open gifts in a fraction of the time it took to wrap them.

We've been more intentional about participating in the season of advent this year as a family. We've been reading a nightly advent family devotional and progressively decorating the tree and house to participate in the anticipation of the coming of Christ. The girls' are getting it and it's so precious to hear their sweet childlike faith and wisdom remind me what it's all about.

The third trimester is here.

We've taken a break from all things baby prep for the holiday season, which after the move, the new car, the new job and wanting to stay on track homeschooling is, oh so NECESSARY!! But I have spurts of nesting where I clean like a maniac and cook freezer meals to store till after baby comes. I'm anticipating the new year and getting this little girl's nursery ready and washing all the little clothes and hopefully finishing unpacking the boxes that have been neglected in our storage room.
I'm excited to know little one in there is growing and things are looking good. I've still been feeling good, although getting slightly more uncomfortable, which I'm reminded of every night when I try to get comfortable. Luckily Jared doesn't mind the 4 extra pillows that have recently taken up residence in bed.

Friday, I had a doctors appointment and 1 hour glucose test, which I found out today I failed meaning I get to return to take the 3 hour glucose test in a few hours. (BLEH) I had gestational diabetes with Addiston and it seemed terrible because I already had food aversions, but as good as I've been feeling this time I honestly don't think it would be that bad to have it again this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong I don't welcome the hundreds of finger pricks but in the big scheme of things it's manageable. And do to the excitement (anxiety) about the follow up test, I'm up at 4am blogging (not eating-even though a pb&j sounds divine) instead of sleeping-lucky you!

Sunday when we were in our regular hurry to get all four of us dressed, ready, fed and in the car for our (we've been in the new house 3 months and still cant get used to the) 30 minute drive to church. I was loading up the van with breakfast items that hadn't been finished, make-up that still needed applying and little girl hair bows when I slipped. My cute leopard print ballet flats have nearly no traction and as I was reaching to put something on the console my feet just slipped out from under mean and my belly caught my fall on the edge of the seat and van. It hurt, startled me and Jared and led to a few  hours of baby girl being chill (which is very unlike this growing little karate kid) I tried to take it easy the rest of the day sunday, but woke up Monday feeling extra sore, so I called the doctor who told me to head strait to Labor and delivery.

After a few hours of being monitored, they determined Baby and I were ok and that I should try to limit myself till the pain subsided. I had a few days of being sore and nervous but am feeling much better!

We're headed to my parent's house for Christmas and I'm super excited to see family and get to continue with our little family traditions. The girls' are at great ages for traveling and usually we can make it strait through only stopping once. I'm only a little annoyed that It's suppose to be in the 50s on Christmas day, in Cincinnati. I love that today it was 70 in Nashville and we played outside, but I go north for the holidays to get my white Christmas. (get it together mother nature) On the bright side, heavy winter clothes take up more space and require and extra suitcase, so here's to packing light for the trip!

Safe travels and Merry Christmas Friends!

Easter & a flower girl

Both girls are napping which if you follow my blog you can see hasn't happened since March 19th. Eek, sorry for my inability to update anytime other than naptime!

Easter was a bit hectic with a long weekend worth of activities crammed into a shortened weekend if you factor in the travel time to and from Cincinnati. I love easter and I am so glad I get to spend it with my whole family but I also love my home church and am seriously considering making Easter our stay planted holiday and enjoy it with our little family of four and church family.

I'm trying to start participating more in practicing traditions and holiday decorating now that Addiston is old enough to realize. So this year we took up dying easter eggs. We did it a week before easter so we would have a chance to enjoy them before we left town.

Boiling the water for the eggs

Cooling the eggs off quick so we could get to the fun stuff

making the color

Checking to see if they're done

Putting them on the cooling rack all by herself

Adding some decoration

The finished product!

Addiston loved that she got to do most of the work by herself and honestly I was shocked that she didn't break a single egg. She was so cute while she was decorating the eggs after they were dyed. She put a basketball and rocket sticker on a blue egg and told Jared that was his egg because he likes basketball and he should go in a rocket with buzz lightyear. 

The day after we had our church egg hunt and while my girls had very little interest in finding eggs or eating the candy inside of them They did have matching egg hunt shirts that I made them-I am NOT a talented seamstress so I was super proud of my handywork! 

This past weekend was "Uncle" Nathan's wedding. Jared was a groomsman and Addiston was the flower girl so I had my hands full. A sweet family at church watched Isabella for the day to save me from certain insanity and exhaustion.

It was perfect weather for a spring wedding and it was so exciting for me to witness God's blessing of marriage upon these two sweet people whom I have been praying for to find each other for years.  We adore Nathan in this house and are so happy that he has found Whitney. Addiston has been referring to her as uncle whitney since the wedding so we'll have to work on that but I'm pretty sure it means that she approves!

I should have taken more pictures but I was preoccupied with this lil one and while I was missing my baby terribly it was nice to have a day with just one kid again!

She and the ring bearer got along so well and I thought they looked like they could be related.

When they made it down the isle the proudly exclaimed "we did it" and ran over to us to receive their candy reward which also doubled at keeping them silent throughout the ceremony.

She acted like a perfect little lady all day

She need a picture with her daddy and there were dozens of pictures of her with the bride. I managed to get one of her with her "uncle" Nathan and after all the photos were done she said momma you need a picture with me so we got a quick selfie before the reception started. 

There was no open dancing at the reception just the standard first and father/daughter but music was playing the whole time so Addiston made Jared and I dance with her every time we were standing.

The last few weeks have been packed with about as much as possible and I'm so looking forward to having a free weekend to catch up before Jared's work trip next week.Well boys and girls thats all the time we have for today I hear whimpering and thats my que!

8 Months & the Zoo

Both girls are currently napping which happens less than once a week so I'm taking advantage of this beautiful day with windows open and an iced coffee in hand while I get some things done. Addiston wanted so badly to take a nap with Isabella and tucked her into bed. Of course it didn't stick, and frankly I wouldn't let Isabella sleep anywhere Addiston at this point since addy's pretty much a helicopter when she sleeps.




Isabella is 8 months old as of yesterday.

She's tiny but strong.



She wears mostly 3-6 months size clothing but her feet are still so small that even newborn shoes have trouble staying on her little toes! She's crawling every which way and pulling herself up-both of which she's been doing since she was just about 7 months. She cut her first two teeth in one day, last week 3-13-13 and I have a feeling more aren't very far behind judging on the way she's been gnawing on everything in sight. She's eating normally now and I would say that peas and squash are her favorite. Teething has thrown a monkey wrench in her sleeping and my awesome sleeper who slept through the night from day 4 now wakes up 2-3 times a night just needing some comforting and once to nurse.


Our mother/daughter pic last night out to pizza with friends.


Her teeny tiny lil pony tail

Addiston is doing so well as a big sister and much to my dismay is becoming more independent. She loves to read-The Bible is her favorite, and she's annoyingly obsessed with puzzles. We have at least one tea party a day and there is a growing number of baby dolls and stuffed animals taking up residence in her princess bed. And on special occasions I let her play with my old polly pockets that we stole from grandma & papa's house!



She loves to have a bow in her hair and every time she's done getting dressed she asks if she looks beautiful. It cracks me up how girly she is already. Her favorite place to go is church and she has so much fun helping make coffee on Sunday mornings! She loves how it smells and pretends to drink it.



Last week we went to the zoo with some church friends and had such a good time. It was our first time at the Nashville zoo and while it was better than the central park zoo it still didn't measure up to my hometown zoo! But the company more than compensated for the lack of lions, tigers and bears!


flamingos-more affectionately know as "tacos"


The monkey


Alligators


We got to see the elephants up close and Addiston thought it was funny that he was eating the tree


The playground

Saying goodbye to the zoo



The sweet little boy talking to addy in that picture was so sweet to Addiston all day, holding her hand and making sure she could see, and the girl in the pink pushed the stroller when Isabella wanted to be held. It made made me appreciate friends who have older kids and made the day so nice!

Lunch with Daddy

When we moved to Nashville 3 years ago we anticipated moving back to somewhere in Ohio in 3-5 years. We often talk about this fact and are still very unsure where we will end up. We just know that our Nashville story isn't finished yet. We jokingly keep a score card for Nashville vs. Ohio and today I think Nashville earned a point or two!

Today my favorite food truck was a block from Jared's office downtown so the girls and I decided to meet him for lunch. Addiston was so excited to see daddy in the middle of the day and it was absolutely beautiful (70 degrees-in November) so we found a good spot on "the green" by a fun fountain and enjoyed some gourmet grilled cheeses!



All the business men got a kick out of Addy yelling how excited she was to see daddy and the "mountains"-fountain and get lots of grilled cheesy's! And I might add that whoever thought to put pumpkin in a grilled cheese is on the short list for my new best friend!

She likes to cheers anything that matches; cups, napkins, toys, and apparently sandwiches.



After we ate I decided why not play in the fountain so we had fun splashing and trying to grab the water and running through when the water was low!


(excuse the yoga clothes I had a self defense class this morning-I usually don't rock the workout clothes outside of a gym!)



Addiston loved playing in the water but was a little intimidated to go by herself. she prefers "flying" through the mist with mom or dad.


After half an hour of playing in the fountain someone got brave and decided to run through on her own

we may be a bad influence as a family because a few tourist families' kids tried to get in on the fountain action and got a swift scolding to step back! OOPS! Sorry we like to have fun with our kids!

This little one was so good the whole time, she just sat in her seat and cooed and smiled!


Nap time was approaching for the older girl and the little one needed to eat so we had to tell the daddy goodbye but not till after a quick stop at my favorite coffee shop!



+1 for Nashville