Keeping it Real

*****************WARNING*********************
The following post contains graphic and probably inappropriate info to share on a blog, but it cracked me up yesterday and I had to share.

I am now almost 5 months pregnant and, well, let's just say that my stomach isn't the only thing on the front of my body that is expanding. In fact, I think the change in the size of my tummy is less noticeable at this point than the change in other things. The following conversations occurred last night while we were sitting on the couch.

Me: (Actually somewhat annoyed by these things that I'm not used to, can be a hassle, and get in my way) Why are my b***s so big with this pregnancy??? I'm only 5 months pregnant and haven't even started nursing yet?!?!

J: Because God loves me

Such a quick, but perfect nutshell view into the male mind. As if any of us doubted that in the first place :)!

It's a .............

BOY!!!!!!!!

That's right, when we bring our additional member of the family into the world in June, it will be a boy. I was fairly shocked and also quite excited to hear the news. I was somewhat suprised. This pregnancy has been so similar to my first one with Av, that part of me was thinking it was probably another girl. Show's how much I know. J was almost floating as we left the Dr's office yesterday. Every time we have asked Av if she was going to have a brother or a sister, she always responded "sister!" So I wasn't sure how she would react, but she has been excited and telling anyone that will listen that she is going to have a brother.

We are incredibly thankful that baby boy Leonard and I are doing well and seem to be healthy. We are also thankful that we will get to experience having a daughter and a son. I know that I have much to learn about the world of little boys. We have become so accustomed to the life of dress-up and princesses and now we will have to add trucks and dinosaurs. Do any of you with boys have pearls of wisdom you would like to share?

Land of the Living

Hello all. I know, I know...I keep making worthless promises of not blogging so infrequently. I will be 18 weeks pregnant in a matter of days and most of the "can I just stay in my bed and sleep until the baby is here?" days are gone. I have returned to a semi-normal level of functioning and the nausea and vomiting has also passed for the most part. I have found that I have an incredibly active child inside me. Av began practicing karate and gymnastics in the womb, and I thought this child might be different, but apparently it doesn't want to be outdone by it's older sister. I have my ultrasound next Weds. to possibly find out if we will have pink or blue balloons on our door in June. Av is quite adamant that she's going to have a sister, but--shout out to the Stickler's--her name will be John Martin. My brother and sister-in-law are trying to convince us that we should wait to find out what it is until the birth, but I just don't know if I can do that. Any thoughts?

I would love to give recent pictures, but the only things that have consistently been on my priority list lately are eating, sleeping, and bathing myself and child at least once a week-kidding, at least twice a week :). The other problem is that most of our belongings are still in storage and what we do have accessible is not highly organized...so finding the camera, battery, battery charger, and USB cord to download pictures can be challenging.

I do have lots to update you on, especially about Av--for one thing, she turned 3 in the interim since my last post, but that will have to wait for a future post. Hope to be posting more frequently, buy I'm not making any promises. Would love to hear how all of you are doing.

Hello!

OK, so I am actually still here. We have had A LOT going on lately, and even though I love blogging, it has not topped the priority list. I have hardly even been reading any of your blogs, much less composing any of my own. So here's a nutshell of our life over the last few months.

1. We have put our house on the market, sold it, packed up all our belongings, and moved.

2. Started new jobs

3. Had my brother's wedding last weekend

4. While all of this madness has been going on, I'm pregnant!!! Of course, it's wonderful news and I'm very excited, but I'm also very sick when pregnant. With Av I wasn't sick until I was 8 weeks, and it lasted until I was about 20 weeks. With this one it started at around 4-5 weeks. I'm 8 weeks now, so we'll see how long it lasts. I can tell you that it has been challenging to pack, move, be a bridesmaid in heels all day while my 2 year old was the flower girl, and do all the normal activities of life while feeling completely cruddy all day every day. The good part is that I know it will come to an end before too long, and the end result is worth it :)

Hope all of you are doing well and hope to "talk" to you more frequently!

Embarassing moment #463

OK, so I'm not actually keeping count of all the embarassing moments, but those of you with children get the idea. Can we really keep count of all those moments. I've already lost track of mine and I only have one child :). As for the specifics of the day....of all places, it was at the OB/GYN office. I love my doctor and he is the best ob/gyn I have ever had. Thankfully today was just a "talk in the office/no exam" day, so I took Av with me. Dr. P was born and raised in the south, but his heritage is Indian. In the middle of our discussion Av blurts out "Mommy, what color is he?" Can you say mortified!!! Av then followed up with a question about one of the pictures on the wall. Since I was dumbfounded I did not address the first question. I don't know if he noticed it or not, and I don't think he would have been offended by it anyway, but OH MY! I can't understand why she said that! She has never made a comment about skin color before today. Oh well, I'm sure this won't be the most embarassing moment by my children, but it was the worst one in a while.

Sorry for the bloggin infrequency lately, I'll give an update on the details soon. I have been so thankful for wonderful and considerate friends this week that have watched Av for me, pitched in with all that I have to get done, and brought me dinner (homemade chicken soup from Darby)! It was wonderful to not have to think about what I would cook tonight, spend time cooking, or clean my kitchen. Thanks so much to my great friends--I love you!

Pumpkin Patch

We got to spend a wonderful Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch. It was a gorgeous, sunny, but crisp, Fall day.

Posing on the pumpkins

"This stem isn't too comfortable!"

Washing hands after the petting zoo

A good squeeze before the hayride

All morning Av asked to ride the "horse" (that was actually a donkey). I thought she would get to her turn in line and not want to ride. There were 2 donkeys and she firmly expressed that she wanted to ride "the red one"-the bigger one had a red saddle. J set her in the saddle and she was all smiles the entire time. She loved every second of it.

I was so proud of my adventurous 2 year old!!!!

My favorite pic of the day. J and Av checking out the corn maze.

BOO!

I love Fall. I love the cool, crisp air and no humidity. I love Fall decorations. I love pumpkin bread and pumpkin lattes. Lately I have been loving all the great blog posts about fall. It makes me want to put on a sweater and sit by the outdoor firepit being warmed by the fire as the sun sets and the night gets cooler. I have been trying to find some fall projects for Av and I to do. I found these pumpkin carving and decorating ideas. All you have to do is print off the stencil design.

This one is my favorite. I think it would be easy enough for Av to do with me and this one we would get to carve and paint. But the following are some others I also thought were cute.

Do you think I could find a pumpkin big enough for a 2 year old :)?

Evidence

So here are the pictures that I promised yesterday in my tired stupor.

This was the view from our patio after earlier yard projects this year. Not so attractive to look straight into our neighbor's house/yard. We didn't plan on clearing out our yard to put in a new fence, only to have our neighbor's do the same to their yard and voila-it's howdy neighbor 24-7.J was at Home Depot by 7 am on Saturday to rent this mean machine for $75. We had to plant 6 trees and 10 shrubs. J's shoulders and this auger had the holes dug in 45 minutes!! If we had to to handle that on our own with just shovels we would still be digging. If you are planning on planting any trees or need multiple holes dug, this is definitely the way to go. Well worth the $.

The lovely holes ready for the new greenery.

The finished product! As for the trees-3 Dwarf Magnolias in the center bordered with a Japanese Cryptomeria at each end. There 3 Lorapetalum (sp?) in a triangle formation of 2 in back and one in front b/t each magnolia (6 total) and there are Pitsporum b/t the magnolias and the cryptomeria. It doesn't completely block the view yet, but they will as they grow. What an improvement!

I'll share some pointers that our local nursery gave us. Plant in odd numbers, as in 5 trees, so that way there is a center that the eye is drawn to in the grouping. Same theory in planting the shrubs in groups of 3-the one in front draws the eye to it. Our biggest DUH moment was that we had already somewhat traced out the beds and placed pine straw months ago....somewhat good planning. We didn't even think to rake back all the pine straw before using the auger to dig-so all that pine straw was buried in dirt and we had to completely redo it. Thankfully we have a good pine straw connection. Not too terrible, but a lesson learned.

I have found that I shy away from gardening b/c I feel I don't know enough about it, but I really enjoyed this weekend. The more I make myself get out there and do it, the more comfortable I am with it. I also helped that Saturday actually felt like fall. It was overcast and cool most of the day-I started out with a t-shirt and quickly changed into long sleeves for the rest of the day!! Bring on outdoor fires and pumpkin lattes!