Summertime in Arkansas

Last week we were able to get away for a few days and visit my family in Arkansas. We had a blast! We had several rain showers, so it was a nice break from the Texas heat. Will loved swimming with his cousins, and we were able to spend precious time with friends and family.

Will loved taking walks with Popa!

Will loved being GJ's helper in the kitchen

We had fun swimming with all the cousins! River even came over to play with Lucy.

Carol Ann loved playing with Will. She is going to be a great babysitter!

We had a fun playdate with Carter Stuckey!

Will cheering for Carter

They had fun playing cars together...

And wrestling on Tucker's bed!

Friends!!  (I think Kelly has one with Carter's eyes open)

 

 

Spending time with WeeWee (Will's great grandmother)

Playing on the iPad with Popa

Will loved playing in GJ & Popa's backyard

Peek-A-Boo!!

Mommy & Will

Will & GJ

Popa & Will

Will loves GJ & Popa!

27 Weeks

I know that you can't really see how big I am since I'm wearing a black dress in front of a dark wall, but I actually had someone to take my picture when I thought about it (thanks mom!), so it's better than a mirror picture. Believe me, my belly has grown, but I feel like I've gained the weight in the back instead of the front--different than Will. And yes, my hair is curly. I've decided to run with it since the weather is so hot and the last thing I want to do is blow dry my hair. I also think my hair has gotten curlier with this pregnancy, so instead of having a frizz head I'm trying something new. :)

How Far Along: 27 weeks today!

Size of baby: 2.2 pounds, 15 inches  (a cucumber)

Maternity Clothes: DRESSES! With this crazy heat, that's all that I want to wear. Pants are out the window and shorts are uncomfortable when I sit down to play with Will, so I've embraced the dresses. Apparently Dallas has broken all sorts of records with the heat this summer--I think we had almost 40 days of over 100 degree heat. What a perfect time to be 6.5 months pregnant, right?! 

Gender: A sweet baby girl! Still haven't decided on a name, but we're working on it.

Movement: She is a mover and a shaker! I've heard that it's pretty common with your second to feel more movement, and that's definitely been true with this little one. She is really active after lunch and at bedtime. 

Sleep: Sleep is hard, but I'm used to it by now. I'm just afraid that I keep waking Matt up every night. It's hard to get comfortable and I wake up at least 2-3x a night. It seems like it alternates between a terrible night's sleep with a good night's sleep--probably because I'm so exhausted from the night before! Naps are my lifesaver. I usually rest/sleep every afternoon during Will's nap time, so that's been helping a lot.

Symptoms: I'm really feeling good these days. Still taking progesterone shots every week to help this little one from coming early like Will (you can read about his birth story HERE), but it's not too bad. Nesting is still in high gear--I've cleaned out 3 closets, moved the office stuff to our bedroom, changed the old office to a play room, and I've started getting both Will & baby girl's rooms together.

What I miss: Shaving my legs without difficulty. :)

Cravings: Nothing specific, but my mom made me homemade peach cobbler with homemade ice cream this week and it was heavenly.

Best Moment this week: Visiting family in Little Rock and talking all about baby girl with family who already loves her!!

What I am looking forward to: Will's room is getting painted this week, which means that we can start moving his things into his new room and change the nursery to pink!  :)

Curls

People always ask where Will gets his curls, and I think it's a mixture of Matt's dad, my mom, and my sister. Looking back at his 12 month photos, he did not have curls like this. I guess it's just happened in the last few months. It seems like it just keeps growing like crazy! Lately, the part on top has gotten a little wild and looks like a mohawk of curls at times. I find myself combing (not just brushing) his hair at least 4x a day, just to keep it from looking like a crazy man. I have at least 3 combs stashed in the car, my purse, and the house. Regardless, I LOVE this unique part of him and I'm scared that if I cut his hair that the curls won't come back. It makes Will who he is, and I wouldn't trade those ringlets for anything!

ps. This picture was taken right after he had been swimming, so I'll have to post another when it's been combed a little better. :)

Summer at Rise

Today is my first day of our second summer break!! Yay!! Even though I work in a school, we have a different summer schedule so the kids aren't away from the structure of school for too long. It helps with the transition back to school in August. SO....we have had school all through the month of July. Even though we are in session, we still try to incorporate fun summer activities throughout the month. We had an ice cream social, "splash day", graduation (complete with "Elvis" theme), and end of the year parties. The best part about it was that Will was able to come with me to work--he was in our Toddler One class and loved it!! He made lots of special friends. Even though we had fun this summer at Rise, we are looking forward to our break in August. :) We are going to visit family, go to the pool, and eat lots of sno cones!!

Will's first day at school--taking a walk with his new friends

Having fun with his class at the ice cream social!

Somebody LOVES strawberry ice cream!!!

One of the many slides at Splash Day  (Will is climbing up the slide on the left)

Matt was able to come swim with us too! Everyone loved the Popsicles!

His favorite was the tunnel

Graduation 2011

The graduating class of 2011

Video of the Graduation Performance--they did great!

Will's end of the Year party

His teacher--Miss Tiffany

We love Rise!!

Vail

At the beginning of June, we had the awesome opportunity to have a family vacation with my parents in Vail, Colorado. It was wonderful! The highs were in the 60-70s during the day, and it would go down to the 40s at night. What a refreshing break from the Texas heat! We had a wonderful time with my parents and enjoyed every minute.

We kicked off the visit by going to the Teva Mountain Games. It was so much fun! We went to several dog jumping competitions, a kayak race, and it was a great place to "people watch".

Then, we all rode the Gondola and had lunch at the top of the mountain--definitely a highlight of the trip!

Later in the week, we had a great time at a park that was close by...

Matt and I had a date night...

And we had fun relaxing and playing at the condo!

Will loves playing with GJ...

Reading the paper with Popa....

Wrestling with Dad...

And playing in the pool!

We had a wonderful trip, and we're missing the cool air--especially on day #18 of 100+ degree heat here in Texas. We can't wait to go back!!

21 Weeks

I'm not a huge fan of the belly pictures--I feel like everyone else looks cute & I just look huge--but I'm going to try to document this sweet baby girl whenever I get the chance. I didn't do a great job of writing things down when I was pregnant with Will, so I'm hoping to do better this go around...

How Far Along: 21 weeks (22 tomorrow)

Size of baby: 8 inches long and 1 pound

Maternity Clothes: maternity pants/shorts/some shirts + some of my regular shirts/dresses 

Gender: A GIRL!!! 

Movement: I'm really starting to feel her kick more--especially at night before I go to bed. For the last two days, I've also been feeling her move right around lunch time and after I drink a cold glass of water.

Sleep: Sleep started to be a challenge this week. Up until now, I was sleeping pretty well, but I've woken up at 3:00am the past few nights. :(

Symptoms: Mr. Reflux has reared his ugly head again, but mostly just at night before I go to sleep. I'm feeling some ligament stretching/pains; mostly in the afternoon. I'm still really tired--probably from chasing Will all day!--and take a nap on the days I'm not working.

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach!

Cravings: Mostly salty things, but a few sweets every now and then (Hooray for the return of Chick-Fil-A's peach milkshake!!). My cravings seem to change from day-to-day. Something that sounds great one day, makes me feel sick the next.

Best Moment this week: Starting to feel her kick more.

What I am looking forward to: Starting to get things organized--the nesting phase took over this week!

Fireworks & Fun

We had a great 4th of July this year! The day started off with a yummy family breakfast before Matt went to work, and then Will  & I had the day to play together. We are trying to get on a 1-nap schedule, so I'm trying to do really fun activities during his old morning nap time to keep him awake and engaged. SO...we pulled out the sprinklers and baby pool and had a big time in the back yard. The boy loves water and was happy as could be--even though I'm sure it was almost 100 degrees already.

After a great afternoon nap, we went over to the Tramonte's for some family fun. Even Lucy came along! We had fun playing games, cooking out (eating the best homemade fried apple pies ever), and watching fireworks with our community group.

In the past, we've gone to a really fun fireworks show here in town, but decided this year that it would be too hot/difficult with the little ones. So we had fun watching it on TV and thought that we might try it next year. To our surprise, we saw a huge group of people gathering at our neighborhood park on the way home. Turns out that you have an awesome view of the fireworks, just right down the street! We pulled over and had a great time watching the show. Matt even turned on some patriotic music on his phone for the full effect. Will loved it--especially since they were far enough away that they weren't too loud. We were able to have our fireworks after all! We decided that it's definitely going to be a new family tradition.

Hope you all had fun celebrating!