Saturday, July 31, 2010

Close to finished!

This barn has been consuming our lives (and yard) since last Fall! Finally, this week, we were able to pretty much get everything completed and get our yard back to normal.....somewhat! Some of the contractors were up this week to move the dirt so that we would have proper drainage. Now all we have to do is wait for the grass to grow and then everything will finally be complete and the Sanford & Son yard will disappear! :)
I'm really excited to be able to decorate the porch, get a porch swing, and to just have little nook to relax!


Some of the guys that work for Ryan did an AWESOME job of cleaning out the old part of the barn and organizing everything throughout the new and old barn. I really wish I would have taken some before and after pictures, but sharing them would have just been embarrasing! They took out 2 full dump truck loads of junk for the dump! It is so nice to be able to actually walk around out there and to find what you want!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Our Little Princess

For as long as Zoe has been able to say it, she will tell you that she is daddy's angel and mommy's princess. :) Yeah, slightly spoiled! I have been trying to have little dates with her since school has been our so that we make sure we get in our "Mommy and Zoe time" before her little world gets all flipped around. The big date for the summer was to see Cinderella at La Comedia.
She was so excited because she knew she was going to be mommy's princess for the day and go see all the other princesses. I let her pick out what dress she wanted to wear (which of course, wasn't the one I was hoping), I put eyeshadow on her and curled her hair along with put ribbons in it.


When we got to La Comedia, all she cared about was when the princess was coming out. To waste some time, we visited the gift shop and she got a little crown and a wand. She enjoyed some salad and chicken and then was ready to go home.

She didn't really like the transition time between the lunch and the show. Once the show started, she was fascinated! I'm not sure she really moved through the first Act. When intermission came, she said "I'm ready to go see my daddy".... After some stalling, a visit to the bathroom, some bribery, and a conversation with the little girl sitting next to us, I convinced her that we were going to stay for the rest of the show and see the princess go to the "party". After the party came and went, we then had to stay to watch the princess get her shoe back. When the shoe fit, Zoe asked..."Where's the other one mom?" She continued to tell me several times that she was ready to go, but she did dance a little during Act 2.


Overall, we had a really nice "date" and I loved being with my little princess! Next year is Sleeping Beauty!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Regression?

I have really been trying to prepare Zoe for the different items that the baby will be using. For example, the difference between her bed and the crib, diapers vs. the potty, drinking from a big girl cup vs. nursing, baby toys vs. big girl toys, etc. I got her car seat out and washed it and also got the baby car seat out to put into the car......

Here is how I found her.....

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Sibling Class

We took Zoe to a sibling class on Monday night. The class was recommended for children ages 3-10, but we took her anyway. In the beginning, they showed a video that she wasn't really interested in watching. We then took a tour of the maternity unit. We explained to her that the first room was where the baby would come out of mommy's belly and the second room would be where mommy would stay with the doctor for a few days.
*On a side note, I was awake all night thinking I would be going into labor. It is a full moon and the unit was full - same senario as when I had Zoe. Obviously, I should have been sleeping, because I'm blogging and still preggers*
We then went back to the classroom and Zoe was able to watch how to diaper a baby. She was very interested in watching this and it was so cute!



Next, she was given a little t-shirt and fabric markers to make a shirt for the baby. The little artist was loving this one! She used every color of marker that was there. :)



In the end, she got a certificate and we told her it was to show that she did good at school and learned how to become a big sister!
I'm so excited to see her with the baby! Everyone says how worried they are about how she will react to a baby....personally, I think she is going to do great. It will be an adjustment for her, but it will be for all of us. I think she is going to be the perfect little mommy :)

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Party Day

Today was our official "pass" day from the doctor and we traveled to Columbus for two birthday parties. We went to Natalie's party first and I completely forgot to take any pictures! OOPS! Happy 3rd birthday Natalie!
Next, we went to the skating rink to help Keyairra celebrate her birthday a little early - thankfully we celebrated it early or we wouldn't have been able to go back for it.
At first, Zoe was fascinated at first by the skating and then played a few games. She really liked to play the basketball game along with the "bowling" game.







She still got distracted by the people skating, so I decided we would rent her some skates. She was very excited at first - and daddy walked with her.



**Sorry this ones a little blurry, but you can see her excitement**

She made it about halfway around and had enough of the skating!


By this time, the lack of nap had set in! Mamaw Kathy and Papaw Bob talked her into walking out for the hokey pokey. She watched for about the first verse and then gave up! She was pooped!


Overall, it was a very fun, but tiring day for all of us!

The Entertainer

I'm not sure that I've blogged about Zoe using the fireplace as her stage...well actually she pretends as if it is a t.v. and she is the entertainment. For a while, she would "play her guitar", aka a golf club, and sing. Today she found her microphone. Here's a video of the entertainment (sorry it's a little bouncy, it's really hard not to laugh when she's doing it because she goes on and on)!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

34 Weeks and an Update

This past Monday marked 34 weeks. Monday evening, I had about 3 hours of very "uncomfortableness" that I guess were contractions (I never had any with Zoe, so I'm assuming that's what they were). We went to the doctor on Tuesday to see what he had to say about it all.
He had not received the ultrasound results yet, but said that everything must have been fine or they would have called him right away. I was measuring 35 weeks. My blood pressure keeps fluctuating, it was 141/90 when I got there and 129/83 when he checked it again before we left. Because of the contractions, I was lucky enough to get "checked". The baby was still high in the canal, but I was dilated to 2cm.
We asked about pre-term labor and he said he wasn't going to treat me for being there and also wouldn't stop me if I did go into labor. He said they usually say that after 35 weeks they will not stop labor, but since everything is measuring ahead a little, he would treat mine the same. I haven't gone into labor, but definitely have several strong contractions each day. We go back to the doctor this coming Tuesday to see how things are going, but I'm going to predict the baby has dropped a little. I give it another few weeks though.


I have been doing a lot of "nesting" since I have been off for the summer with Zoe's help :) We have cleaned almost all of the closets in the house, rearranged some rooms, got the nursery ready, yadayadayada, and I'm finally feeling like the house is in order! YEAH! There is still plenty to do, but I am beginning to feel like I'm not living in a cluttered mess. Now I just need to get moving on the stuff I've brought home from work to make sure it gets done before this monster makes it's appearance. Although, I will need something to do once the baby is here :)

Friday, July 16, 2010

Update on the Elephant!

IT'S OFFICIAL! The ultrasound today shows that we are having a baby elephant! :)
Actually, everything looked great. We got a little glimpse of the baby's face using the 3-D ultrasound, but we asked that she didn't show us any more. I'm not going to share the picture she gave us - sorry :)
I am 33 1/2 weeks. The baby weighs 5lbs 11oz! This monster is in the 88th percentile with the projected due date (according to the ultrasound), so who knows what that means with the actual due date being Sept. 2nd!

Take a look at the puckering kiddo! :)

Sunday, July 11, 2010

The barn....





We finally got the concrete poured for the barn!!! I snapped just a few shots of the men working :)
I really wanted to put Zoe's handprints in it, but she refused! Little stinker!
Next step is to get the blacktop poured to the garage door and then on to the messy part - moving the dirt for the landscaping and drainage. This has been quite the project!
I'm not really sure why Ryan seems to be running away in a few of the pictures - but we all know how much he likes manual labor and how much he enjoys getting dirty ;-)

Friday, July 9, 2010

A girl and her dog


Zoe has been obsessed with taking a nap on the floor lately, so when she laid down today, Buckeye laid right beside her. Eventually, they were both out of it :)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Did she really do that?!?!




This morning, Zoe was writing on the chalk board while I was working at the table. She said, "Look mommy, my name" and she had made an "e". I asked her what else was in her name and she wrote the "o" to the right of the "e". Finally, she said she had a "z" and made the squiggly mark to the left of the "e".
I have worked and worked with her on her letters and she just doesn't have any interest in learning them - yet, I keep on trying! Whenever I write her name, I always hold her hand and have her help me.....maybe it has helped.....who knows if she could do it again though :)

Happy 4th!

Just as we have the past few years, we went to Ken and Lynn's on the 4th and spent the night! We enjoyed a great fireworks show put on by Ryan's cousin on Sunday and then had some friends over on Monday for a fun-filled day of swimming (those pictures to come later).
Here are our family pictures from the day :) I am a day short of 32 weeks...

The first one isn't the greatest picture of Ryan and I, but I love it of Zoe!


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Painting

Last week, I took on the huge task of cleaning up our garage. With the help of Val and Zoe, we accomplished a lot and we no longer dread opening the garage door! I decided to paint the steps in the garage to help it look a little cleaner, so on a trip to Lowe's, we bought some painting supplies - Zoe found herself a little paint brush. I figured she would be able to help a little and would be totally proud of herself. Once I started painting, I changed my mind about letting her help because the stain was so stinky. I promised her I would let her paint once I had finished and we had showered.
Of course, I had no paint for her to use, but thought of her using pudding. She was so excited and loved every minute of it! here are just a few pics from her art time....





She's blowing a kiss to the camera :)