free zoo day

monday we went to free zoo day with my friend, jodi, and her daughter, elle, and her youngest son, parker.  it opened at 10 and we got there at 10 30 and had no trouble parking super close and the weather was the epitome of perfection.  we only stayed for an hour and a half because we both needed to get back for stuff but we saw everything we wanted to and it was plenty of zoo for baby girl and elle.

 

baby girl and i had an ongoing struggle about whose turn it was to push the stroller.

checking out the mini sloth monkeys or whatever they were.

 

playing the drums

the little mini pygmy penguins.  just kidding... i think they're called african penguins... but they sure are small. they were baby's favorite.

 

as was swinging on this bar.

 

this elephant was my favorite.

it seriously had the longest eye lashes.  like a weeping willow tree.

mother daughter picture... not the best.

and the okapis were my favorite too... even though i didn't get a picture of them.

 

 

my view when i was winning the stroller struggle.

 

scariest animal of the day?  the giraffes!  who would have guessed?  i held baby girl while she burried her head in my neck and clung to me tightly.  "it's scary.  it's scary."

parker hanging out in elle's stroller.

it was a lot of fun and easier than i thought it'd be.  no traffic or anything getting into denver, parking was a breeze (and free), and the zoo itself was not crowded at all.  especially for was a beautiful day it was!  there's two more free zoo days this month... maybe we'll have to go again!

sunday school girl

 

 

embarrassing

this isn't the first time we've had weird trash but it might take the cake... so far.  

we recycle.  a lot.  so on trash day we typically have just a small trashcan put out on the curb.  

well, honey did quite a bit of yard work recently and this is what our trash output looked like this morning.  i was rolling this from our backyard to the curb (since honey is still out of town and because i asked him to keep it in our backyard since it wouldn't fit in the garage and i didn't want anyone to be able to see it) this morning just praying that none of our neighbors would be out to see this spectacle.  

 

 

honestly i was just really relieved when i saw that the trash people actually took it all away.  and also very glad that this heavy load didn't fall on me or our fetus at any point in this whole situation. really, the pictures do not at all convey the colossal nature of this thing.  it was enormous.

less than 48 hours

 

 

' 

we can't wait til this guy gets home.  baby girl is missing him.  and his "phoam."

shopping without honey

it's busy season and honey's out of town again.  left for work as usual friday morning and won't get back until tuesday night.  so today basically felt like a friday again.  my days are easy because they consist of three parts.  morning: baby and i have an outing... play date, errands, or hanging out together at home.  afternoon: naptime.  evening: dinner and hanging out as a family.  when honey is gone it's normally during the week and mornings are simple during the week because we have story time and friends to hang out with.  night time and weekends are a different story because we're on our own.  everyone else has husbands and is doing stuff as a family.  and we've normally already completed all of our errands and we really don't have many to begin with.  so with my honey gone for this many days in a row and over the weekend i was more than a little worried.  but i'm happy to report that it's going really well.

last night baby girl was sad when i told her daddy wouldn't be coming home to play with us but we went to a middle school play (two of my young women were in it) and met up with people there so we had a good time.  this morning we went to the dollar store and goodwill.  i sure love the dollar store but i really do hate our goodwill.  it's full of crappy, overpriced junk.  today though i got lucky finding the 7th harry potter book in hardback in absolutely pristine condition.  since it's a kids book it was only $1.  retail is $35 so i was thrilled.  it's not really in the budget at that price y'know?  now i have the 4th and the 7th in hardback.  send a note to my goodwill and tell them i'm looking for 1,2,3,5, and 6.  then we went to the park on main street and it made me realize that i should make more of an effort to take baby girl to parks populated with kids.  our neighborhood park is empty more often than not and i think half the fun for her is just watching the other children.  

2-6 was naptime.  baby girl had some cheese and pineapple and we were off shopping.  because who wants to sit at home on a saturday night?  not me... it still creeps me out being at home at night without my christopher.  will i ever grow up?  we went to old navy and ross.

i found some awesome maternity jeans at old navy but they were $40 so i didn't get them.  don't ask why i tried them on in the first place.  probably just to be rude to myself.  i found some other good deals but i exercised restraint and didn't buy anything for myself.  i just kept repeating my new mantra.  just kidding, i don't have a new shopping mantra.  but i kept reminding myself that even if something is cheap and a really good deal, i don't need to buy it unless i have a specific need for it.  sooo, tonight i've been back and forth fifty times about kicking myself for not buying the stuff i was contemplating and patting myself on the back for not spending money on things i can do without.  

while i was going through the maternity section (located right next to the little boys section), baby girl found this awesome thomas shirt... in her size and everything!  she was SOOOOOO excited and when i told her it was time to go to the dressing room she kept telling me that she was bringing thomas to try it on.  need something to melt your heart and make you giggle?  have your two year old tell you how excited she is to go to the dressing room to "try it on."  

seriously i wanted to get her this shirt soooo badly.  just look at that happy face!

but it was $15 and, as i said, i wasn't feeling spendy.  we escaped with a $2 t-shirt for baby girl instead and headed next door to ross.

it's typical when we go to ross for baby girl to pick a toy or item of some sort and carry it with her throughout the store.  i like that because it slows her down and keeps her hands a little busy.  this time though she picked out a chair (and tossed a hat/mittens combo on there for good measure) and pushed it around the store while we shopped.  and because i'm more add than usual when i get inside a ross, we probably made the rounds with that chair a good four times.  for probably about an hour.  just killin time.

add some heels to the mix...

 

 

 

 

and we definitely got some comments.  i very rarely see black people in parker (it's white suburbia at its finest) but there were several black women at ross (probably because it's in centennial... sliiiightly more diverse) and they were so hilarious and friendly about baby girl and her heels.  we all had a good time in the shoe section tonight.

meanwhile, honey is just living it up in south dakota...

life is good but i can't wait til tuesday!

a little dishwasher elf

i try to be one of those parents that cleans in front of my kid.  i don't save all of the housework until naps/bedtime.  first because that's my time and second, i want my kid to know how it's done.  i want her to know that when our house is clean, it's because someone made it that way.  and that it's not something that we put off doing because we hate it, it's something that's just part of our everyday life like eating and brushing our teeth.  we do it because it needs to be done and it makes us all happy.  

i'm happy to report that so far it's going really well.  baby girl is really good about picking up her toys when i ask her and knows where things go.  she's conscientious about where she puts her sippy or her book because she knows where everything belongs.  not only is this helpful to me but it's absolutely precious.  it's easy with toys throughout the day because she doesn't get out too much at one time so normally it's just whatever she's currently playing with and i can ask her to go put away her dora doll and stroller and i know that it's going to be done correctly (she's got a better record than honey honestly... he's still trying to figure out where all the different toys go).  

but then there's housework and cleaning that gets a little more tricky but baby girl does so well with it.  with laundry, baby girl is my best friend picking up all those socks and things that drop to the floor when i'm transferring clothes from the hamper to the washer to the dryer and back to the hamper.  bending over can be a pain (especially in small spaces like a laundry room!) with my ever increasing girth so it's a welcome relief to have two little hands continually clearing the floor and tossing those little items up where they need to go.  baby girl doesn't know how to fold yet but, when possible, i try to fold clothes at the kitchen table while she's eating or somewhere else where she can see me.  this doesn't happen every time because i'm a slave for the dryer (i refuse to iron) and the second it goes off, everything immediately gets folded and put away regardless of what else is going on.... but it happens probably at least half the time.

when i'm wiping counter tops, baby girl normally gets a paper towel from under the sink and then asks me to make it wet.  it's fun to see all the things in the kitchen she deems worthy of scrubbing. i just have to take the paper towel away when she starts scrubbing her face with it.  which usually happens sometime after she's done the windows, chairs, cabinets, and floor.  same with those wipes for shopping carts.  why does she always feel the need to scrub her face with those?!

anyways, i don't let her often help with the dishwasher because things are breakable and knives are sharp.  i'm normally loading the dishwasher after meals when we're cleaning up and then unloading it while she's in her highchair eating.  i still wash a lot of stuff by hand (sometimes it's just easier) so we probably only run our dishwasher once a week (when we moved here 17.5 months ago i bought dishwasher gel packs from costco... a box of 85... and we still have at least 6 or 7 left) which also doesn't afford a lot of opportunity for practice.

well, the other night the dishwasher got done and baby girl was still awake and not in her chair so i took out the plates and knives and let her help out.  she was absolutely loving it.  like to the point that this morning after breakfast when i was putting a few things in the dishwasher, i realized she was unloading it just as fast.  so we had a little lesson on "that's still dirty so we need to leave it there."

i had so much fun watching her help out and keep me company.  she required some assistance at times and was more than a little add when she would catch a glimpse of a sippy cup she wanted to put away, but other than that, she was actually helpful!  she knows her way around the kitchen drawers pretty well.  i'll have to make it a point next time to make sure she's around when i unload the dishes!

dressup with lucy

baby girl is obsessed with the cute little neighbor girl across the street.  like i couldn't begin to describe the obsession in less than a paragraph... which i'm too lazy to do right now so just take my word for it.  anyways, lucy is really busy and our schedules never match up for us to get together so i told my neighbor to just drop lucy off next time she needed to run errands.  so even though we've been to lucy's house about a million times (one time baby walked in by herself when i was on the curb talking to my mom on the phone), today we celebrated lucy's first time coming to play at our house!  it was a momentous occasion and the girls had a blast.

lucy came over just after 9 30 and they started out playing with baby dolls, then got a bite to eat (lucy's snack, baby's breakfast) and went upstairs for some more fun.  in no time they were dressed to the nines and spent the next hour or so admiring themselves and each other.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

then they came downstairs to read thomas books (lucy is a huge fan too... baby girl almost passed out from excitement last time we were at lucy's house and she saw a thomas train and tracks) and raced some matchbox cars.

 

 

and then they admired their beauty until it was time for lucy to go home.  so if i had to guess how long they were fully dressed up i'd say it was at least a full two hours.  10:30ish to 12:30ish and they were sooo cute.  lucy insisted on wearing the dress, wings, and head piece (she's an opinionated child and baby girl just always goes along with it just fine) so baby girl made up for it by wearing everything else she could get her hands on including all three necklaces and three purses too.  

so yeah, this is my new favorite thing.  borrowing kids from my friends.  i call/text them and beg them to drop their child off for a few hours.  i've given several of my friends and open invitation but they don't take me up on it unless i call them to schedule it.  "ummm, wanna drop lucy off friday morning sometime for a few hours?  you can go to the mall or take a nap or do whatever you want but for the love just give me your child!!!"  except i try not to sound so desperate.  but what are my other options when i just want to stay home and wear sweats and do a load of laundry and my kid never stops asking to play with friends?!  this just seems like a win win win for everyone involved.

ps- when it's just baby and me at home she's pretty much only interested in books and maybe a toy or two.  but when she has friends over, she pulls out the big guns.  apparently she's had enough play dates to know that her friends like baby dolls, dress up clothes, and the ball pit and it just cracks me up to see her play hostess like that.  although she has shown off her collection of thomas books several times this week... even if it was only blake and lucy that actually appreciated it.

oh, and here is a video from when we were reading thomas books.  apparently baby girl has parts of them memorized because i opened one of them to the first page and before i even opened my mouth, baby girl had beaten me to the first words ("peep! peep! thomas....") and lucy thought it was hilarious.  so here's a few seconds of that.

a nose for thomas

 

 

 

 

32 weeks

How far along:   32 weeks  (11.1.12) -  compared to 32 weeks with abigail

Total weight gain/loss: + 22 lbs  

Maternity clothes:  i'm thinking it's not a good sign that my shirts are already starting to get too short.  it's not that my bump is huge (i think my belly is actually smaller this time around... or at least seems that way) but that i'm tall, plus i have a bump, plus shirts have to be insanely long anyways because of the band on maternity jeans.

Sleep:  it's been a good week sleep wise.  i've had dreams but nothing that's super crazy or exhausting.  i sleep through the night just fine and wake up feeling rested.  life is good.

Best moment this week:  i don't know.  maybe tuesday night?  for some reason i had a super fun time at the young men/young women combined activity.  we put on a mystery dinner for them and it was pretty awesome.  and talking to my friend emily... for the first time in almost a year!

Movement:  it's been considerably different this week.  i'm feeling more elbows, knees, shoulders, etc and less abstract punches and kicks.  now it's like i'll see and feel a fist bust out and then roll slowly up and over to the other side of my belly.  i'm also feeling a lot more movement when i'm standing and just moving around in general. there's still lots of kicks and punches, just not as much as before.  

Food cravings:  it's still not great.  i haven't had candy corn in who knows how long and i don't even day dream about egg nog.  most of this week i've been eating breakfast around 9 30ish and then not eating food of substance again until  4 or 4 30 when my headache and hunger is too much to handle.  eating food that i haven't prepared is much easier because somehow food looses its appeal throughout the preparation and cooking process.  maybe that's why i liked the mystery dinner so much last night.  because i had an awesome dinner that i didn't actually cook!  

Gender:  BOY!  it's just like last week.  i can't imagine life with a little baby boy in the mix.  one of these days i need to write down my feelings on this subject in a separate post but i always write completely candidly and i'm more than a little worried about how this all will come off sounding.

What I miss:  my ab muscles.  i feel like a beached whale anytime i'm in bed and i'm trying to rock up the momentum to roll over or something.  also, i really like being the big spoon but my belly is too big so now i always have to be the little spoon.  or heaven forbid, forego spooning altogether.
Milestones:   i've reached the point where people can't resist constantly asking when i'm due.  i feel like i say "right after christmas" about twenty times a day.

Theme: the week of i'm doing okay.  i'm excited to be getting closer but apprehensive as well.  i feel fine a lot and emotionally unstable a lot but never really like myself.  physically sometimes i feel great and other times my back just aches and my body feels heavy.  it's a whole swirl but i just keep telling myself "i'm doing okay" and i'm moving forward.  [insert random FORWARD! joke here]
Extra:  i'm grateful that my crying spells have pretty much all stopped and that i'm not so mean to christopher and that i'm enjoying abigail more but i'm also impatient to things to get exciting again.  i used to be excited about even the simplest things and aspects of my life.  now i can't even get excited about my birthday, thanksgiving, christmas, or having a new baby.  i'm not a huge halloween person but it's still definitely unusual for me to just lay in bed halloween evening and not want to carve a pumpkin or go trick or treating.  last year i was so excited about taking baby girl trick or treating with friends.  this year, i kept saying i was going to invite people to come with us but never could get myself to actually commit to asking anyone.  eventually we just went trick or treating as the three of us and i was crying about six houses in and telling christopher i wanted to go home.  i was able to get my act together and after running into a bunch of people we knew, i was doing better.  then we ran into baby girl's favorite friend elle, and her parents so we joined up with them and went trick or treating way longer than we'd anticipated (since they were just starting out when we joined them).  baby girl filled up her entire candy collecting pumpkin since we were out for close to an hour and a half.  so halloween wasn't a disaster but it was thiiiiis close to being one.  poor christopher.  i'm such a downer these days.  i wish i'd kept better record last time of when the apathy went away.  i know it'll happen eventually, so i'm just waiting it out and continually reminding myself that this is no where as bad as last time.
also, i've seen 140 pretty consistently on the scale this week.  why is it so hard to go up to the next set of tens?  i'm crossing my fingers not to break 150 but i'm not gonna hold my breath.  also, i'm going to start bracing myself for turning 30... even though that's several years off... i'm anticipating it being very difficult.

taken 11.1.12 at 32 weeks

taken 11.1.12 at 32 weeks