Life lately...

Miss P turned 22 months a few days ago.  Still can't really believe that.  She is so smart and so fun and sooooo heading into the terrible two's.  We spend a lot of time in time out lately.  Some days she is an angel and others...well, not so much.  She understands far more than I ever could imagine.  I can tell her to do anything and she will do it.  I can ask her to point out all sorts of objects and animals and she can do it.  Sure, she doesn't have words but she knows what they are.  It's pretty amazing.

Still waiting to start speech therapy.  They were supposed to schedule her this week but have yet to call so I guess I will be calling them.

I'm in birthday planning mode now.  Two months till the big day.  I'm thinking we will have a small party this year and I've planned it during a time where I don't have to serve a meal.  We will probably just have desserts.  I love dessert.  I've purchased some decorations, her invites and printables, her birthday outfit, booked her two year pics (and my maternity/family pics!), have a million things pinned to buy, and I am ready!

I'm so ready for fall.  I usually love summer but I feel like a big hefty bear right now.  I never really felt big when I was pregnant with P until the end.  I feel like I weigh a billion pounds right now.  At my last appointment I had only gained 2lbs...I can't imagine what I will feel like towards the end.  Oy.  I've pretty much bought P her entire fall wardrobe.  I keep finding the cutest things.  I can't wait till it's cooler and we can bust out the cute sweaters and boots and jeans!  I managed to find myself a few pairs of maternity jeans too.  Thank you motherhood for carrying LONG sizes for my ogre self.

Our anatomy scan is next week.  I am so excited to see our little baby again :)  I am now 18 weeks pregnant (well almost 19).  My belly is growing!  I think I'm finally starting to look a little pregnant and not just like I ate too much.  Nikon is STILL fixing my camera.  It is reallllly annoying.  Please excuse the poor quality.  My husband sucks at taking photos on my iphone.  I am feeling really good lately.  Just tired.  Exhausted.  I don't know if that is ever going to go away now.

Oh and we went to the zoo this week :)

Show & Tell Marriage

 Are you married? If so when did you get married, and tell us about your special day. If not? How would you describe your dream wedding

Yes, we were married on a beautiful fall-ish evening, September 20, 2008.  It was seriously perfect weather after the entire week before was full of rain.  We were married in a small ceremony under a gazebo at Brook Lodge in Augusta, Michigan.  It's no longer open which is sad because it was so gorgeous.  Everything that could go wrong, did but it worked out.  At the end of the day I was married to my best bud

 Show us some wedding pictures. Either yours or of some that you love.

Ohhh I could post so many more.  Our wedding was so fun!

How about the engagement? Tell us your story. If not engaged, what's your dream proposal?

Our engagement wasn't really all that exciting.  We had discussed getting married and had been ring shopping.  We lived in California so we went to my favorite place ever, the Golden Gate Bridge.  He asked me to marry him I said yes, we spent a few days on the beach in Santa Cruz.  It was nice.

Show us your wedding rings or an engagement photo! If not engaged/married ... show us your "dream" ring.

Tell us why you think marriage doesn't work out for so many? What can we do to make things last?

I think so many people rush into marriage.  I know a lot of people are more in love with the idea of marriage than the actual person they are marrying.  A lot of girls I know are obsessed with the idea of marriage and a family and will jump into something just because it's the first step to the life they have dreamed of.  But sadly, a lot of times they do it with the wrong person because they aren't patient enough or they just settle.  After awhile that dream can't really keep you together.  Marriage is hard.  Dustin and I lived together before we were married and people assume that nothing really changes but it does.  With marriage comes a lot more than a piece of paper.  It's a promise to last a lifetime and it takes work.  Don't be lazy.  If it's important to you you'll find away if not, you'll find an excuse.  And make sure you are marrying the right person.  Sometimes people change but most of the time you are blinded by puppy love and don't recognize the things that will start to eat you alive in the long run.  Things that seem like little differences can turn into huge differences in a few years.   

Mama Meetup

On Friday P had gymnastics.  When we pulled in the parking lot I saw a guy who looked awfully familiar.  I realized quickly it was David Boudia.  You know, the olympic gold medalist diver.  What the heck was he doing at P's gymnastics place?  Soon a news crew showed up and another olympic gymnast (from the Beijing olympics) and the two of them were doing all this gymnastics crap it was pretty awesome to watch them flipping around.  P was so intrigued watching them that she walked smack into the corner of a wall and busted her head.  Poor kid.

After gymnastics and all the excitement we drove to meet one of my favorite October mama's.  She lives a few hours from here so we met in the middle and let the kiddos play.  Her sons are both SO adorable and so sweet as is she.  We had a good time talking and chasing the toddlers.  Her October baby and P loved each other and he could say her name and it was probably the cutest thing I have ever heard.  He can speak so well and in little sentences.  I was amazed.  I can't wait for P to talk.  I love her little tiny voice.  Adrienne snapped some pics of the kids and I just love them so of course I stole them from her facebook page to share with ya'll.

 P hanging on that bar...omg.  Her face was so priceless.  She is obviously learning some fun stuff at gymnastics. haha.  And that bottom picture of her hanging...seriously.  She makes it look easy.  She is a little monkey.

The gang!

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Hearing/Speech & balloons!

P had her follow up appointment with her pediatrician to get her nasty ear cleaned out.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the gunk that the doc pulled out.  It was disgusting.  She then had her ear retested and it wasn't 100% but it was ok.  They are going to retest it at her two year appointment because she had a little fluid in her ear.

Today the two therapists came to see P and see if she needed speech therapy.  They told me that she was way beyond 22 months as far as her motor skills.  She is a balancing, climbing, running, jumping fool.  They also said usually boys are the rowdy ones and it was nice to see a little girl that was crazy haha.  They also said she is fine as far as comprehending and understanding language but needs some help with expressive language.  She needs to learn how to express herself with her words.  So she will be starting speech therapy soon.  They will help her learn to use words and teach me how to help her!  I am excited to get it started.  And did I mention how relieved I am that her hearing came back pretty good (the one ear still makes me wonder if it is ever going to be 100% but hey at least it works pretty good)?  It's so nice not to have to worry about that anymore.

In other news, balloons fly over our house like every single night.  It makes me miss ballooning so much.  I am seriously trying to talk dustin into getting into ballooning.  I wanna fly dangit.  P had her first up close view of a balloon when it landed across the street from us the other night.  Usually when they fly over she yells and points and dances around.  She is so excited.  When it was SO close she went crazy.  She took off running for it.  When it finally landed (after chasing it down the walking path) she ran right up to it and didn't even flinch when the pilot hit the burner.  I'm telling you, it's in her blood.

17 weeks

I am always late with these posts.  Baby and I were 17 weeks on Saturday but with our company and busy day I didn't have time to post.

Today I had my doctor's appointment and everything went perfect.  I have only gained 2lbs which is nuts to me considering since I've had my appetite back I've lived on burritos and uh....maybe a few donuts. :-/  Luckily I like to snack on things like cucumbers and tomatoes so maybe that helps balance it all out.

Baby sounded good, belly is growing just like it should, urine, BP, and everything else a-ok.  Dr. P asked if we were going to find out the sex at our ultrasound in two weeks and I said no!  He said that he wouldn't know what baby is either since they don't include it in the report if we don't find out.  A big surprise for all of us!

Still not loving meat.  Feeling flutters which is crazy.  Finally starting to feel like myself.  Still no feelings as to what baby is.  I get tired realllllly easy.

I can't really believe that in a few weeks I will be halfway done with this pregnancy.  Now that I don't feel like death it is flying by. 

Pretty babe getting ready for mama's appointment and toddler time :)

Show & Tell Home Edition

We just moved so I thought I would link up with Becky and tell you about our search for a home.  Our house is still in need of a few things (like PAINT in every room) so I won't be posting pics YET.  I need to do a big reveal once it is all done.  Speaking of which, I really, really, really need to get on the paint thing.  I have all these paint chips and still not a clue what I want to do. :-/  

Motivation is lacking lately.  I'm just happy to be unpacked.

1. If you were searching for a home now, tell me what would be on your "MUST" list.

Well since we just did our big home search I will tell you what was on my list!

A basement - Did you guys know I am PARANOID of tornados and storms?  Well, I am.  I have to have a basement if I live somewhere where there is even a chance that it will thunderstorm.  We didn't have a basement in Virginia but luckily we didn't have many bad storms.  Our new house has an amazing finished basement.  Complete with a full bath.  It was what finally made us settle on this house over the others.

This is a small portion of our new basement.

4 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms and an office - I really would like 4 bedrooms and an office but beggars can't be choosers.  Our last house had only 3 bedrooms and no office so when we decided that #2 would be happening soon we knew when we moved we had to have at least 4 bedrooms.  Ours, P's, new baby's, and the office if there wasn't a separate office.  Dustin works from home so he obviously has to have a work space of his own.  Non negotiable.  I would really love a guest room too but oh well.

A big master bath & closet - Our house in Virginia had an amazing closet, the master bath though was teeny tiny.  I hated it but at the time it worked.  When we moved to Illinois we had a HUGE master and it had an amazing layout that included a huge linen closet.  It was by far my favorite.  Our new house has a good size master but the layout is a little stupid and it doesn't have a linen closet, which is really stupid BUT I purchased the cutest little cupboard at homegoods and got creative with under sink storage so it has worked out.  One of the other houses we loved had a small master closet and our relator said she wouldn't recommend buying it because the resale will be hard. Closet space is a must for most people.  Our new closet...oh, it's like heaven.  

A yard that can be fenced in - Do you know some neighborhoods don't allow fences?  Invisible fences are great for dogs and all but they don't keep toddlers in...unless I put a collar on her.  We have to have a fence.  We are waiting to get ours put in right now and I am so tired of chasing dogs and the kid.  

A big kitchen - Virginia we had an amazing kitchen.  Seriously.  It was beautiful and spacious and had tons of cupboard space.  When we moved to Illinois we had a horrible relator and had a horrible time finding a house so when we finally found one that was semi decent in our price range (the 'burbs of Chicago were NOT cheap) we had to just settle.  It was a nice house, don't get me wrong.

But the kitchen was SO small.  The cupboards were narrow and nothing ever fit (that island type thing is a fake out, those arent cupboards on this backside).  There was hardly any counter space and I just hated it coming from our huge kitchen space in Virginia.  It worked for a couple years but I knew when searching for a new house we needed a lot more space.  Here is our new kitchen (well...before the lights are switched out - these people and their ugly lighting...ew)

Plenty of space and a pantry!  Another thing our IL house didn't have (but desperately needed).

2. Show me your favorite room in a home {either your home, or any home, i.e. kitchen}.

Seriously...so dreamy.  I need to get started on our master bedroom.

3. If you could have any room redone, tell me which one would it be and what would you like done?

Our kitchen...I am not a fan of this backsplash at all.  The people that lived here before us were really into the modern look and obviously this house is not a modern style house.  The glass backsplash is so NOT my style.  The black granite shows every spot of water which is stupid for a kitchen.

4. Tell me where your favorite stores are to shop for home decor.

I am going to have to agree with Becky here and say homegoods.  I LOVE THAT PLACE.  I bought so many pieces for our new home there.  We didn't have them near us in Virginia but when we moved to Illinois I quickly discovered them and made way too frequent trips there.  

5.Show me your dream home {it can be your home as well}

Well I had a photo here and it said I couldn't use it sooo.....sorry.  

Update & 16 weeks

I feel like I have been so busy lately but I haven't really been doing too much except hanging with all our new friends here.  I am loving this place.  We have the best neighbors and kids everywhere around P's age which is so nice.  We just go outside and bam, kids to play with!

We signed P up for gymnastics and had our first class last week and she absolutely loved it.  I had fun too!  We start the class in a little toddler room with toddler sized stuff for them to play on and then move to the huge gym with big trampolines and squishy floors to hop around on.  P was exhausted after her class.  Well worth it.  I'm definitely going to keep her in it as long as she loves it!

We've been going to the farmer's market about every saturday.  We went last weekend and ordered the new baby and P matching hats.  P looooves the farmers market.  There is so much to see and do there!

Loving it.

We also went to the state fair last week.  It was fun!  This was the most impressive fair I have been to.  I'm a sucker for fair activities and food.  I love it!  P loves all the animals and watching the carnival rides oh and of course all the junk food.  

Saturday baby and I turned 16 weeks preggo.  It seems like now that I am past the disgusting stage it's flying by.  I bought a couple outfits (one boy and one girl) for the little nugget to have ready for the hospital.  Along with the twotara gear I won!  Not finding out has been so fun so far.  I am terrified the ultrasound tech will screw up and tell us at the ultrasound.  I might punch her!

Today P had her audiologist appointment.  It went pretty well.  There were a few times that she didn't turn her head to the noises but the doctor said that it was normal and kids don't really pay attention unless the noise is louder.  Her left ear is all gunked up and they couldn't see her eardrum or get accurate readings on it from that ear so they are contacting her pediatrician to see if she wants to deal with it or send P to an ear, nose, and throat doctor.  So we are just waiting to hear back.  After that is done I am assuming they will recheck her left ear to make sure it's ok.  

Not much else going on here, sorry for the boring update.