Sister or Brother, We're Having Another!

Woo. It's been a hot minute since I've been on here. Let's just say that Callum's first year of life completely and totally floored me, and I never got back at it. Aaaand let's just ignore the fact that I need to update this blog pronto.

Welcome back!

So yes, SURPRISE, Baby # 3 is on the way, and has been letting me know since day 1. Literally. I'll be 14 weeks in a couple of days.

Honestly, this news is not a surprise to many because I have looked like 6 months pregnant since month 1 (My body: Oh, hCG? I know what to do with that. Boom! Belly.) and also because I've been pretty sick.

I have been sicker from the very start than I have been with either of my other pregnancies. This one has really been a doosy.

Logan was totally convinced that I was having twins because everything has just been a little more extreme this time around. I'm actually due on April 1, and we decided that if we were having twins, we would have no choice but to name them Fred and George, even if they were girls. Good thing we're just having one, huh?

I have been very nauseous. I am not a puker, but I just feel sick constantly. It's like walking around, always feeling carsick. I've also been having terrible migraines and headaches--so fun when you can't take anything good for them. (If you're wondering, my preggo go to's are peppermint [oil, Altoids, herb tea] and caffeine [pass the DP, please].) I am having more and more feeling-good days as each week goes by though.

One of the biggest differences this time around is I've been feeling very depressed and completely unmotivated and unenthusiastic about everything. Like I mean everything. Food, shopping, cleaning, reading, sleeping, etc. In talking to a friend, I learned that this is a real thing that affects a lot of pregnant women called prenatal depression/anxiety. I had never heard of it before, but it is no walk in the park. That paired with morning sickness has been a bit much for me for this wonderful harvest time of year. (Logan's been working 14-16 hour days, 6 days a week!) But hey, the kids are still alive and fed, so we've got to call that a victory. Plus, I have a great support system of family and friends. I have felt this lessen quite a bit though as I've started to feel better and be able to be up and doing more.

I've also had more food aversions than ever before. New to me also is metal mouth. That's when your mouth just randomly tastes like metal. What to Expect actually uses the word "normal" to describe this. I'm sorry. A mouth that tastes like metal is not normal. Haha

Here's the biggest FAQ, so I'll just address it here. I am planning on a csection this time, so the little tiebreaker will most likely arrive in late March. I could technically try another VBAC, and if I did go into hard labor before my planned csection and it actually looked like it was progressing, I might try it. But, I feel like I have had a pretty clear answer to my prayers that a csection is just best for me, for whatever reason. And that really is ok with me.

We both think this baby is a girl, mainly because of all of the old wives tales like feeling extra sick. I also only struggled with headaches with Audrey. But here's the kicker...

Logan doesn't want to find out gender.

Yeah.

I'm not jazzed about that idea at all. But I am totally gonna try because it's really important to him. But, we may end up being a Jaxon and Suki (Gilmore Girls) and if we are, I will absolutely make him a button and I will be allowed to tell no one else.

Audrey took a little while to warm up to the idea of another baby, but now she is pretty darn excited about it. Callum has no clue what's going on, but follows along with Audrey's excitement anyways. Ignorance is bliss at this point.

We're thrilled! And tired. And really excited for Harvest to end. We've still got a ways to go on that though.


Remember: Drinking pickle juice may not cure metal mouth as suggested, but you should do it anyways because it is delicious. (Trust me, I'm pregnant.)

"My Breast Pump Talks to Me" and Other New Mom Confessions

I'd like to start by formally apologizing to everyone that I told I was ambidextrous as a child. I tried to flip French toast with my left hand (while holding Callum in my right) the other day, and it was NOT pretty.

My left hand is basically useless to me. But, in all fairness. I really did believe in my heart that I was "both handed." ;)


So, I know little man is over 3 months old now, but I'm still running around like a chicken with my head cut off--A little lost, a little LOT messy.

Babies are so sweet and wonderful, but MAN. They are hard work too. And the first few months are just rough, and I think we don't talk about it enough because we don't want people to think we can't handle it or that we aren't grateful for our kids. And also, we tend to forget a lot of it once it is over (thank goodness), and all we are left with are those sweet memories of holding our little angels while they sleep so sweetly.

I can actually remember being pregnant with Callum and thinking, oh, those first few months are nice because they can just sleep anywhere, so it won't be hard to go places for a while. Yeah... I just really didn't remember those newborn months very well. Here's some of my experiences, recorded, in part, so I can remember for next time and also because some are just funny.


My breast pump may not be sentient, but it does say words. It's kind of like an inspirational chant... Except not really because pumping just makes me feel like a cow. I actually have 2 different brands, and they say different things. My Ameda says, "Breast. (pause) PUMP. Breast. (pause) PUMP. ..."  My Medela says, "Lenard, Lenard, Lenard ... Then Racoon Racoon Racoon..."

If Audrey sees me grab my pump, she says, "Ah foo, ah foo, ah foo." She knows what it's all about.

Logan thought I was a little crazy when I first told him this, until one night I heard him chanting along with it. And I knew he had finally arrived at my crazy tired place. I know I'm not the only one out there who knows about this. If you haven't realized it before, you will now.

You're welcome. ;)


We're still riding the rollercoaster of nursing. And I haven't even thrown up the oatmeal I need to gag down every morning yet, so we're calling it a win. ;)

A few weeks ago, I started to make this board on Pinterest called, "Things I wish I could eat right now." Yeah... Callum is a little sensitive. I can't have tomato or anything with much flavor ... I mean, spices.

Let's just say, when I am allowed to eat pizza again, I think we'll eat it for a straight week. (Kudos to those mamas who have to cut dairy and more. That would be way worse.)

But don't worry. I came to my senses and didn't actually make that board. I like to spend my time pinning much more realistic things, like pictures of people's spotless, gleaming houses that look exactly like mine right now...


I'm actually a neat freak. But you'd never know it by walking into my house these days. (A perfect example of why we shouldn't judge others.) When I was little, I would spend hours organizing and cleaning my room. There was a defined line of neatness and order where my side of the room started and my sister's ended. ;) Now, I live in somewhat, but mostly not, organized chaos.

Audrey is a great helper, even if sometimes the only thing she is helping me do is gain more patience.  She wants to be doing whatever I am doing and is always cleaning with me. She even went through a phase of nursing her puppy or baby dolls. She nurses them, burps them, then throws them on the ground.

I promise she did not learn that last part from me.


She is growing up at the speed of light. We have her in a big girl bed. She is having a lot more 2 sided conversations now. Her imagination makes us laugh daily. She loves her brother most of the time, unless he's getting too much of "her" attention. She also likes to say, "Brother Awake!!" at the top of her lungs right when I get him to sleep or if he's starting to stir. ... He really likes that... She spends the fussy car rides saying, "It's ok, Brother." over and over.

We love our sweet girl.

We even love her when she gets out of her room in the middle of the night and scares the pants off of us by slamming our bedroom door.


Callum is a fussy guy. I really didn't know how stressful it is to have a fussy/colicky baby until him. When Audrey was a baby, I can remember feeling stressed out about going to the store or being in church because I knew she would probably cry at some point and I would want to be able to make a quick getaway. She was an average baby. And that stress was real.

Callum on the other hand.... I didn't want to go anywhere at anytime because his default setting for the first 3 months of his life was screaming. And when you have a fussy baby, I think a lot of people just kind of assume that you aren't feeding them enough or that you're doing something wrong, and they just want to talk to you about it at the store and give you a bunch of advice when all you're trying to do is get through the dang store as fast as you can. ... You know, not that I know from any kind of experience...

Do you think if I called WalMart everyday and asked them to bring Grocery Pickup to our store, that it would work?

But this awesome thing happened when he turned 3 months old. He started having like 5 whole minutes of content alone time where I wasn't holding him or feeding him or crying because I had been running on borrowed patience since 9AM and it was only 3 O'clock in the afternoon.

And then the 5 minutes became 10 and so on. He is still fussy a lot of the time, but boy, it is not nearly as bad as it was. I have finally started coming out of this horrible fog, right in time for the postpartum balding to set in. ;)

Anyways, if you have a really fussy baby, know that they DO grow out of it and also that if you can hold your temper long enough to not scream at someone to leave you alone at the store, it's totally ok to cry in the car. ;)


Now that Callum is older, he laughs a lot and plays and is such a sweetheart. He looks more and more like Logan everyday. He is a major momma's boy though. He loves to nurse, and will also take a bottle. We like to give him one right before bed. This has a made a big difference in everyone's sanity and has helped the nighttime fussy phase be less prolonged.


My most important confession is that I could not possibly do any of this without the best support team a girl could ask for. We like to tout the virtues and superpowers of moms, but it truly takes a village.

I have awesome resources to research and learn how to be a better parent. (I've recently been a huge fan of Parent's Magazine.) I have wonderful friends and family members. And I have the greatest husband who is always patient and kind to me. (Can't say enough about him.) Mostly, I am grateful that motherhood is a partnership with the Lord. Because I just don't possess the kind of patience that 2 kids under 2 require.


Remember that we're all a little crazy sometimes, and that's ok, baby giggles cure anything that ails you (for a short time anyways), and "corned beef and quesadillas" is totally an acceptable Irish dinner when you have screaming children and can't get around to making the potatoes.

Birth Story Vol II: A Condensed Version of How the Heck Callum Got Here

Welcome to my 3 part blog that I have no clever intro for because I no longer possess a brain or any free time. ;)


The Overdue Baby Saga:

Seeing your due date come and go is a depressing thing. I personally believe that people who study physchologically damaging situations would have found my brain a very interesting palce to be for those 4 days after my due date. I just kept thinking about the studies I've heard about with people on death row and how it affects them mentally...

Anyways, the way it affected me was... I donned a horrible purple grandma nightgown and wallowed in self pity, while eating spicy foods, pineapple, and eggplant parmesan. All while balancing on my yoga ball... You know, because you can totally bounce the baby out.

I had plenty of contractions. But I was showing little progress. I was particularly stressed out because Audrey was a csection, so they really hesistate to do any kind of inducing because there is a higher risk of uterine rupture. My doctors said they wouldn't let me go over 41 weeks, which was comforting because I wanted it to end already, and not comforting because I really didn't want to do a csection again.


Labor:

I like to tell people that the ward (church) Christmas party put me into labor. ... But the truth is that I was already in the early stages by the time we got there. By the time we finished eating our dinner, we knew it was real and we needed to get to the hospital, which is about an hour drive.

I had been up since 4:30 AM with contractions that had been off and on all day on the 6th. We got to the hospital about 10:30 PM. My water broke at 11:15 PM. We had him by csection on the 7th at 10:37 PM. We actually got to go to sleep at 3:30 AM on the 8th. I got to eat food sometime the next morning. It was a long road.

That's the cliff notes version. I'll give a little more detail for those who want it.

Logan was in super pumped mode as we drove in. He was really excited. I was in super-uncomfortable-stop-being-so-cheerful-this-hurts mode. They hooked me up and found that my contractions were fairly strong and pretty consistent (uh, yeah. I could have told you that...), but I was only dilated to 1cm. They decided they'd send me walking for an hour. If I had progressed, they'd officially admit me. If I hadn't, they were going to send me home.

Right when they were about to unhook me from the monitors, a strong contraction ended and I felt this POP. It felt kind of like the little guy had just kicked me really hard. Along with the pop came the telltale rush of fluid. "Uhh, I think my water just broke." The nurse didn't believe me. She turned to get a little strip to test for amniotic fluid. By the time she turned back around, Niagra Falls had filled the bed, and the little test strip was not necessary. So, they admitted me.

At first, they let me walk the halls. It's definitely awkward, walking around with fluid randomly deciding to leave the nest... But, it was nice to get a change of scene and to have something other than the pain to think about . We went back into the room and they told us that I actually wasn't allowed to walk around because I was more high risk, and needed to stay hooked up to the monitors. :/

I wouldn't say that I was super awesome at managing pain while I could walk, but this was a step in the wrong direction. I could only walk in a 3 foot radius while monitors kept beeping at me. And boy, those contractions just kept getting stronger. And the lovely water just kept flowing. It was rather unpleasant.

They wanted me to wait until I was dilated to 4cm to get an epidural. The hours kept passing... And I stayed at a 1. And I stayed at a 1. And I stayed at a 1. More than anything, I was just SO so exhausted. I'd been up since 4:30, and it's not like having regular, strong contractions allows for much rest. So I decided to ask for an epidural anyways and discovered that the nurse was misinformed. I could have an epidural after all! Halleluia! (Don't ask me about time frame on this, by the way. I have no idea.)

They also put me on pitocin about this same time. This is kind of a big deal because a lot of doctors won't let VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) patients have any pitocin--especially ones that had their csection such a short time ago.

Getting an epidural was amazing! Ah-mazing. So great. Best decision ever. I could finally get a little bit of rest. Not much, of course, with people coming in constantly, but still. It was great. So great. I can't even say enough about how great. So great.

And boring. Most of the morning was really boring. We wished we had brought some cards or something. After 12 hours of my water being broken, I finally had progressed past 1cm.

Yes. It seriously took that long. I continued to slowly progress through the rest of the day. I was on a time limit because they only let you have your water broken for 24 hours because of risk of infection spreading to the baby.

Sometime in the afternoon, my epidural slowly stopped working on this spot near my hip on one side. And the not-working area slowly spread until there was a whole lot of pain going on.

So much of this is just a blur... But I'll tell you what I remember. I was stuck at 7cm for 4 hours with really strong pitocin contractions and an epidural that just wasn't working. (Apparently, the little guy was sunnyside up (facing the wrong direction), but we didn't know that until the csection.)

I hope I never see the nurse that was helping me through those hours again because I was just ugly. Inside and outside. I was so completely discouraged because baby wouldn't engage so I wasn't progressing anymore, and I was in SO much pain that felt like it wasn't even doing anything to get the baby here, and I had just started to run a fever. :/

So we made the hard decision (that would have been made for us in the next hour or so anyways) to proceed to a csection. It was extremely emotional. But honestly, at that point, I hardly cared anymore because I was so tired and so done.

Almost 24 hours after my water broke, little man (who was still nameless at this point) was born via csection. And it was so awesome. We are seriously grateful for medical advances that allow us to have healthy babies when difficulties arise.

Logan watched the whole thing again. The nurses made a point of bringing him up to me so I could see him when he was born because I told them about the traumatic experience of not getting to see Audrey for 6 hours after she was born.

7 lbs 13 oz, 20.25 inches of pure perfection.

My doctor was amazing. I had a really bad scar from Audrey's section. I was allergic to the dissolvable staples they used, and it developed a really painful keloid scar. It basically looked like an earthworm was stuck to my skin. It was that raised. And it hurt me up until the time he cut it out. (He said it looked like I had had 3 csections with all the scar tissue I'd built up.) He took extra time to use special stitching and stitch extra layers so that I could heal better this time.

And it really worked. I felt better after 2 weeks than I had after months of Audrey's.

This extra stitching took a really long time. When they wheeled me out, I was so out of it, and barely staying awake. This nurse came up to me and said, "Let me tell you about your son." And boy. That really scared me. But Logan was there, and he didn't look worried. So I tried really hard to stay awake through the fog and listen to this lady. (I'll explain all about him in the next part.)

I had to stay in the recovery room for 2 hours. I threw up once. And slept the rest of the time. Then, they woke me up and wheeled me into the NICU so I could hold my little guy. Oh man, it was such a tender mercy. I really was scarred by the way things were handled with Audrey, and this was just so much better.

When we got into our postpartum room, I was SO groggy and super grouchy. The nurses kept asking me questions and really being so sweet. But I just couldn't handle it. I told them that I just couldn't talk to them, and they needed to go away so I could sleep. And I pumped for 15 minutes and went to sleep without eating because I was just that tired.

The next morning I had breakfast, pumped, and got to go see little guy.


Callum in the NICU:

Little guy (still nameless at this point) would have to stay in the NICU for at least 48 hours because he had a pneumothorax. Basically, when he screamed after being born, a little hole developed in his lung, causing it to collapse. This created an air pocket between his lung and his ribcage. They had quickly stabilized him with a high flow of oxygen, so it wasn't like we were ever scared or worried about him, but they needed to monitor it until it healed.

He also was put on an IV of antibiotics that he would need for 48 hours because my water had been broken for so long.

He also had IV fluids of sugar water because the high flow of oxygen made eating impossible for a little while. They said it would be like trying to eat while your head was stuck out the window of a car driving 60 miles an hour.

Before too long, they were able to lower his oxygen so he could eat. I was keeping up with pumping, and would nurse him, then give him a bottle of formula. They had us supplement him from the start because they needed to keep his blood sugar up high enough to slowly wean him off the IV sugar.

His oxygen came off completely sometime in the first day. His antibiotics came off right on time too after 48 hours. They also took chest Xrays everyday to check on the progress of the pneumothorax. It shrunk quickly, and he has had no lasting effects from it. The long (5 day) stay was mostly for weaning him off of the sugar.

It took FOREVER. After every feeding, they would prick his little heel and check his sugar. If it was high enough, they could lower the IV one notch.

We went and fed him every 3 hours. We could help change his diaper and could spend as much time as we wanted there, except that I was still a patient recovering from a csection. So we mostly went just for the feedings, then had to rush back to my room to take meds/ eat meals/ have the nurses do their latest torture on me ;) before rushing back to feed him again.

Also. Quick shoutout to THE best guy ever. I won't even bother trying to put my feelings into words. Thanks, Logan. Love you.

Audrey stayed at home with my mom. (Thanks again, Mom. You da very best.) She came to see us once, but wasn't allowed into the NICU to meet her brother because of flu season.

I had a MUCH better time of healing this time. If we didn't need to stay for Callum, I would have wanted to go home much earlier this time. We had 2 names in mind, and had a REALLY hard time deciding which to name our little man. We would "decide" on one and try it out for a few hours without telling anyone else. But once we tried Callum, we just knew it was for him. He's definitely a Callum. (A fact I knew since he was in the womb.)

Eventually, I was discharged because I was past ready to be, and couldn't stay admitted any longer. They have a couple of family stay rooms in the NICU, and we were able to stay in one. He was even off of his IV, and able to stay in there with us. It was great! Then, we finally got to go home the next day! We really missed Audrey (and she was missing us) and we were SO ready to get away from the horrible and constant beeping of monitors.


Yeah. There's too much to write about new mom life Vol 2. Life is way busy. Someone is usually crying and sometimes miracles happen, and my kitchen gets clean. ;) That about sums it up...


Audrey LOVES little Callum. She got to feed him a bottle of pumped milk the first night he was home, and she was in heaven. She does get frustrated with how often I've got to be sitting on the couch feeding him instead of playing with her and attending to her every desire.

Nursing has been much better with Callum (most of the time). It is still hard, and I have to eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast and a whole bunch of other milk boosting things, but so far, we're still going with it.


Remember that Oatmeal is disgusting, but helpful, and babies are always miracles, no matter how difficult the delivery. ;)

Just a Few of the Glamours of Mom Life

Third trimester hit me really hard! So hard, that I almost feel like I can understand Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball."

Yeah. That's pretty serious.

I'm 35 weeks along tomorrow. Everything was looking great at my appointment last week. And by "great" I mean: I'm huge, tired, uncomfortable, and full of emotions and contractions... So I'm right on track. ;)

Baby is head down! But let me tell you, he wasn't a week before. We are SO grateful that he decided to turn back around. He'd better stay that way or he's grounded.

I've been obsessed with PB&J sandwiches, taco soup, Apple Jacks cereal, and chips.

In this second pregnancy, I've perfected the sneeze pee (TMI?), gotten varicose veins, and been dealing with LOTS of hip pain, which my doctor told me means that my pelvis is starting to come apart in prep for birth a little too soon. The only cure is having the baby. Yay. Haha


I've made some pretty stellar decisions/ had some awesome mom moments in the last couple of weeks that I just want to share with you.

I asked Logan to cut my hair.

And he did. In the late hours of the night.

Many people with curly hair know what I mean when I say that it is hard to find people who know how to cut curly hair so it will look good. I haven't even attempted it here yet. My hair was so long that I could only pull it up all the time. So I decided to have Logan cut it all in a straight line, and I chunked pieces of it into random lengths--a technique I've wanted to try for a while.

Not that this is a good picture of me or my hair... But, it actually turned out pretty well. So I guess I'll just never pay for one again! ;) (This picture shows how great it is that my nose is already swelling this early... Maybe that means he'll come early.)


Audrey walked into the living room licking the potato peeler.

Yep. Luckily, she didn't cut herself.


I was doing my hair when I turned around to find Audrey sucking on the flusher of the toilet. ... Of all the places...

She'll just have a great immune system...


Ok. Now for some things that are actually great. I made Audrey (well, mostly my dad made it) a learning tower, and it is AWESOME.

        

She loves to be a helper, and it makes dinner prep 10 times easier. I found the plan for it on Pinterest, and it is actually pretty simple. Someday I'll get around to painting it.


Harvest is officially over! We are loving having Logan around more! And we have been enjoying Fall too!

           

Audrey has FINALLY started saying the best word ever. YES! She still says no quite a bit, but it is so nice to hear an occasional yes. 

She loved her first week in Nursery. We'll see how she does this next week when we try to leave her there by herself. How is it possible that I have a 1 and a half year old!? She is at such a fun age. I can't even believe how much she understands sometimes. I'm mostly loving this stage (except for at mealtimes. Picky picky picky!).

I just got called to be the Laurel advisor in our ward, and I am so excited! (Laurels are 16-18 year old girls in the youth program at church.) I had really awesome leaders throughout my young women years, so I feel like I have big shoes to fill! 

Here's a couple of cute pictures that my mom captured during spud harvest.

Remember that it is impossible to win an argument with a toddler, harvest may be long, but it does end, and that sometimes it's ok to have your husband cut your hair late at night.

Coast to Coast and Back to the Home We Love Most!

We are officially back in Farmtown, USA after moving and then traveling for a week and a half! We do not miss the tricities heat one bit. Idaho heat is hot enough for us!

So I know everyone will be surprised when I say that moving in and getting organized is very slow going when you have a bowling ball in your belly and a toddler running around being a really good "helper." Basically the only time things actually get done is when Audrey is sleeping or when Logan is home in the evenings. But we'll eventually be more put together.

I have been frustrated though, feeling like I get nothing done in the day because Audrey needs me to sit on the ground and play blocks or sing the ABCs over and over... and over (complete with sign language for all the letters, by the way.) I know none of you other moms have ever felt this way, right? But I am so grateful for all of the moms that have come before me and taught me (and continue to remind me) that being a mom doesn't always feel productive or glamorous, but it is SO important. And there is a time and season for all things.

To all those mommas out there who feel like I feel: I hear you.

I'm also grateful for a husband that does so much for us, who listens to me cry, and who eats Kraft mac n cheese happily any night of the week if I don't cook a real meal.


In other news, I've learned where my loyalties lie this past week as I've been going through our stuff and trying to purge the excess.

You see, we lived in this house when we were first married. And some of our stuff has just lived here for a couple of years while Logan finished school and his internship. So we are now reunited with all of our earthly possessions. And I am trying to get rid of stuff, because we have WAY too much stuff.

I apparently have a hard time getting rid of the following:

Bras -- Even if they aren't close to fitting me anymore
Shoes -- Even if I never wear them
Pickle jars -- But what if I decide I want to do that one Pinterest craft I pinned a hundred years ago?
Notes and assignments -- What if I need to dissect a shark again someday?

Logan has a hard time getting rid of the following:

Anything -- "We might need it someday"


Maybe we'll get better at this... Or maybe we'll become shoe and jar hoarders and entertain everyone on TV one day.


Pregnancy update:

I'm partway through week 27. This means that this week or next week (depending on who you ask) I am in the 3rd trimester! That went by really quickly... And at the same time, I feel like I've been pregnant with this boy forever.

Keeping up with Audrey (especially all of the bending) is probably the hardest part for me right now. My mobility is really starting to decline, and baby loves to be up in my ribs, making it hard to breathe.

I apparently have an obsession with Doritos this week as well, which is really healthy. I'm sure that my eating habits of the past few weeks are really going to show on the scale at my next appointment. It's a good thing I have Audrey to chase after or they might be rolling me into the delivery room.

But really. I've still been feeling pretty great. Just the usual aches and pains.


Our trip to Atlanta was really awesome! We flew there to visit Logan's mission. We saw lots of awesome people that he taught and served with. Most of them don't speak much English, but we got along just fine with my minimal understanding of Spanish and their minimal speaking of English. Oh yeah, and a lot of translating on Logan's part. I was so glad to meet these people and feel a little of the love that Logan has for them. We love the people there!

       

Audrey was a CHAMP! She was a wonderful traveller! And, of course, everyone loved her. How could you not?

We stayed with this wonderful family who cooked amazing food for us and took such great care of us, and we got to do some touristy things too. We went to the Aquarium and toured Peach Tree City in a golf cart. (Logan likes to call the freeway picture below his Jurassic Park picture because the trees are so dense all around you all the time that it seems like a huge dinosaur is going to charge out of them.)

I have to tell you about Peach Tree City though. It is a very affluent city ($$$) completely planned around golf cart paths. Yes, golf carts. They call it "living life in the bubble." People ride their golf carts EVERYWHERE. To school, to work, to Walmart. People strap their carseats into their golf carts. There is golf cart parking at all of the stores. It's absolutely NUTS ... I mean, unique. We got lost so many times, because these trails go through the Georgia jungle. But it was really fun to rent a golf cart and pretend that riding around town in a golf cart is totally normal.

    

The second part of our trip was a week in good ole [my] hometown, USA. My best friend got married, and we were honored to be a part of it!

I got to be Matron of Honor and Audrey got to be flower girl/ ring bearer. (The ring bearer took one look at the flowers and decided that was obviously the cooler job, so they switched roles about 30 seconds before we walked down the isle. And let me tell you. He threw those flowers way better than Audrey would have!)

Malena was stunning, as always. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding! Logan was the champion of all dads at baby wrangling. Seriously.

    

We also got to go to Casa Bonita and take a picture with some giant Macaroni... So I call the trip a success! It was great to see so many family and friends before we buckle down for harvest time!

Also, I know that here I am considered a "city girl," but this week I had to try to parallel park... And I just proved how much of a city girl I am NOT. Never even learned how. Or maybe I just proved that I'm not a good driver. ;)


Remember that barn weddings have the cutest flower girls, Atlanta may or may not be harboring dinosaurs, and that singing the ABCs and handing out cracker after cracker to your toddler is time well spent. ;)

It's Blue!!

I will be 20 weeks (halfway there) tomorrow!

We had a great ultrasound today! [Besides the whole discomfort of having a full bladder thing, ya know.] Audrey stayed pretty calm and happy watching with her daddy. The pictures were all pretty clear. As far as we know, everything looks great!

And we got a VERY clear view that we have a little BOY on the way!!

        

She may look like she's way excited to be having a brother, but really she was excited to be eating a sucker. She doesn't really understand the whole brother thing. She can point to my belly if we ask where Mom's baby is, but she also thinks there's one in her belly.

Side note: Yesterday, I decided to start learning cute handwriting, so one of my practice notes ended up in this picture! A little sloppy, but I'm a noob, so that's ok.

We've both thought it was a boy from very early on. But, we thought so SO strongly, that I kept thinking that maybe it would be a girl after all. But, our gut, dreams (You know, like ones of Audrey scratching her brother and making him bleed), and most of the old wives tales were correct. 

My side of the family guessed:

Girl- 8

Boy- 9

Logan's side guessed:

Girl- 3

Boy- 5

I made this little thing because I have been bored out of my mind stuck here in this apartment and because I really love playing around on picmonkey. I also should note that the heartbeat was in the supposed "girl" range, but it has always been significantly lower than Audrey's, so we've kind of counted that as a sign of a boy too.

We have a little boy coming, and we couldn't be more thrilled!!

Remember that old wives tales are 100% accurate (kidding), ultrasound techs are trained to make you uncomfortable by pushing on your full bladder, and I am 2 for 2 on guessing my children's gender, so I'm probably always right about everything else too. ;)

Mom Appreciation Post

My parents are awesome. They had 8 children, and got to raise 7 of us. (I'm sure each and every minute felt like a such a privilege, right Mom and Dad?) ;)

There are many things I appreciate about my upbringing. But today, there is one that REALLY sticks out to me as I'm up to my elbows in throw up. (My, that got graphic really quickly, didn't it?)

We helped out around the house and were taught how to clean and work. We had weekly chores and dish nights and I'm sure we were always perfect angels about it... But no matter how much I thought I had to slave away as a teenager (I can feel my mom rolling her eyes), the grossest jobs always seemed to just magically happen.

When you become the mom and head housekeeper, you get to learn just how awesome those jobs are to do. If someone threw up all over the blocks, it wasn't my problem growing up. It just magically got cleaned up. Now, even if I leave them in the sink to soak overnight, I still have to deal with them in the morning. And let's not even mention all of the random jobs (like cleaning obscure places), that always just happened!

Mom (and Dad, but mostly Mom): Thanks for doing those unappreciated and invisible jobs. I appreciate you now like I never even knew I should have growing up.

...

And if you ever feel like reliving the old days and coming to clean my fridge out or clean up after my children's throw up, my door is open. WIDE open. ;)


Also, if anyone is concerned about the whole throw up thing, Audrey had a stomach bug this weekend.

3 Reasons why it's so fun when toddlers are throwing up:

• They can't tell you so they just walk around getting it everywhere. 
• Anytime she fussed at all, Logan and I both freaked out and grabbed towels and ran towards her to catch the puke that almost never was actually the reason she was fussing. (I'm sure that was very comforting to her.)
• The worst is just that you can't do anything to help them and they're just so miserable.

All's well over here now.


Remember to presoak throw up-soaked clothes, to keep an extra set of crib sheets (or 5) on hand at all times, and to give your mom the biggest hug ever for cleaning up your puke.