Eating & Sleeping

Last month was so hectic and the coming months will be very eventful, but May... May has been quite relaxing. I wish we could've been with Zeland and his family to celebrate his 4th birthday this weekend! The most interesting things around here have included trying new restaurants and eating out with friends. Yesterday we had breakfast at a cute cafe with Mona and her dog Cash:

We've also been working to finish up both kiddo's bedrooms. I finally found a cute seating solution for Aurora's room, which actually folds out into a bed. This should be great for when we have company:

And Chuck just turned the old toddler bed back into a crib, which sure makes the nursery feel like a little baby is about to sleep here again! At the same time, Aurora and I sorted through all her old baby clothes and found a pretty good stack of outfits suitable for a little boy:

I couldn't have a theme of eating & sleeping without including this pic from last week. We asked Aurora's teacher to take her home from school so we could go out a movie (the Avengers in IMAX 3D), and she accidentally left the garage remote at daycare, which meant she was locked out. She took Aurora to her house, which worked out fine but meant Aurora stayed up way past her bedtime. The next day, our tired girl insisted she did not need a nap, and instead fell asleep while eating dinner:

I personally have been needing naps again. Chuck's really been pitching in extra around the house and I was able to take a nap yesterday AND today, which has been much appreciated by this 29 weeks pregnant mama. I told Aurora that once we have a baby, we will be taking naps again every day and she said okay. We'll see how that really goes...

Mother's Day

So far today has been a perfectly lovely Mother's Day. After breakfast I headed out to prenatal yoga and while I was gone Chuck & Aurora did all the food shopping, picked out some cute flowers for me AND grabbed dinner for tonight! Who could ask for anything more?

This may be my 4th Mother's Day, but it's my last as Mother to just one. As of today I'm 28 weeks pregnant which (I think) means I'm in my 3rd trimester. Less than 3-months to go, and already we're planning dates for both of our mom's to come visit in August and September.

Speaking of our moms, we sent gifts to Grandma Nancy & Grandma Slane and I wanted to post pictures of them here as well. Here's Nancy with her basket of bath stuff...

And for my mom, two dozen beautiful red roses. Happy Mother's Day to you both and to all the moms out there who read my blog. I hope your day has been just as lovely and relaxing!

Tadpoles

Aurora's school just implemented a new system where they can send schedules and photos each day via email. Less paper and more photos - awesome! The system is called Tadpoles and I just love it. Here's one of the first pictures I've received:

It's Aurora and her friend Mia reading in the school library. Her teachers have been telling me that she is well beyond her classmates on the reading skills, and I know she's been sounding out words. I never mean for this to be a bragging blog, but I'm pretty proud.

I've been working a little at a time to complete Aurora's room and the nursery. This week I ordered posters and found frames to match each room, and they turned out great! Aurora's is so, so cute:

As for baby brother's room, well, I figure our little tadpole might like reading too, just like his big sister! At least he should like monkeys...

Aurora's Weekend

This weekend, Aurora read to her baby at the library

Practiced her ballet poses on stage before a play

Made paper helicopters at a science workshop

Held her Daddy's hand so she could run and jump

And snuggled up with her "preg-a-net" Mama

Different

For the most part, I've found this pregnancy to be very similar to the last. I have the same doctor and sonographer, the same yoga teacher, and I'm even wearing some of the same maternity clothes! I've known for awhile that my cravings were different, but nothing else has seemed different... until now.

Today I had my hour-long glucola test, and the drink they gave me to test my blood sugar levels was definitely different than it was 4-years ago. Instead of syrupy orange soda, it was like overly sweet clear gatorade. The affect it had on baby brother was certainly different as well. Actually, everything I eat or drink seems to have this affect. Heck, even when I'm not eating or drinking!

When I was pregnant with Aurora, I remember her stretching out and making slow movements, as though she was doing yoga in my belly. This little guy, he's tap dancing. Maybe drumming. Perhaps gently practicing his soccer and karate moves. Awhile ago Chuck asked "What if he likes sports?" to which I replied "Well... then I guess we let him play sports! You don't have to be the coach, just show up and watch." Chuck said "I'd feel sorry for any team that has me for a coach." I figured there was a good chance he'd be more into video games, but as of today, I'm thinking he might like sports.

And now for something completely different. I asked Aurora if she'd let daddy take a picture of us with my (nearly 27 weeks pregnant) belly, and she said no. But she offered to take a picture of us! Here it is:

Little Love

Lately Aurora has been all about love. She says the sweetest things all the time, in front of anybody and everybody. It's constant, and it's pretty obvious that she loves her mommy, daddy, and baby brother. Here are a few of her latest quotes:

"Mommy, I don't ever want to stop loving you never, not ever, NEVER!"
"Baby brother is sure going to love his big sister, just like she loves him!"
"Did it hurt when baby brother crawled into your belly? When I was a teeny tiny baby, I looked at all the mommy's and when I saw your face, I knew that I would love you and you would love me, so I crawled into your belly."

Seriously, she's always hugging and kissing me, my belly, and her daddy. I'm willing to bet I was about the same way at this age, considering my mom has always called me her Little Love!

One of my co-workers told me she thinks it's a cruel joke that I got such a sweet loving girl, and now I'll have to deal with a rambunctious boy. I expect he'll be completely different from his big sister, but I'm pretty sure we'll all love him (and he'll love us) just the same.

Doctors and Dentists

Today was another big busy day, as I had the crazy idea to schedule both Aurora's 4-year well child visit AND her first dentist appointment this afternoon back-to-back.

She's still squarely in the 25th percentile for both height (39" tall) and weight (31 lbs). She passed her hearing test, though she couldn't seem to hear the highest decibel in her left ear.

Afterwards she had to get 3 vaccinations, which was not fun. I'll tell you what was fun... getting her teeth tickled at the dentist! She seriously laughed almost the whole time.

I also got my teeth cleaned while Aurora climbed on my legs the whole time. When that was over, we had both earned ourselves some ice cream so we headed to Sonic for a treat.

The dentist said everything looked good and we could bring her back in a year, and the doctor said she won't need another shot until she's 11 years old, though we'll see her again in a year as well. Probably sooner, considering she'll be baby brother's doctor, too!

25 Weeks

This weekend we hit 25 weeks and I can finally say that most of my maternity clothes fit and I feel pregnant. I've been getting heartburn or indigestion multiple times a day, I feel all kinds of kicks and wiggles, and even strangers are starting to talk to me about being pregnant! Early on, nobody seemed to notice (or admit to it) because who knows - I could've just been gaining a little weight, right?

Wednesday I had my monthly OB appointment and instead of a sonogram, she used a doppler to hear the heartbeat and measured my belly. It's amazing to me that belly measurements could possibly match up to weeks, but I measured right at 25 cm. Yup, 25 weeks down, 15 more to go!

Tie-Dye

During Aurora's party, she tie-dyed a tank top and I asked Grandma Nancy if she'd like to dye a shirt for cousin Zeland. I think they turned out pretty cool!

This week we had our company picnic, and one of my friends brought her daughter, who just happened to be wearing her tie-dye from our party...

And today when I went to pick Aurora up from school, her friend Seth was wearing his tie-dye!

So cute. We still have a few white t-shirts and more dye, so I'm thinking one of these days when we need an activity to do, we just may make some more! I kind of like the idea of a maternity tie-dye...

Big Birthday Girl

The party may be over, but we're still celebrating our big birthday girl. Yesterday she brought the rest of the brownie cupcakes to school and her friends sang Happy Birthday to her, then today she was able to officially move into her big girl bedroom. Well, not before saying goodbye to Grandma Nancy. I think Nancy enjoyed watching cartoons with us one last time before leaving...

This afternoon we moved most of Aurora's things into her new room. We still need to clear off the walls in her old room and decorate a bit more, but wow does she love it. She told us that she's going to stay in this room "FOREVER!!!" - then amended that to say that when she's as big as me and can drive, she'll go to her own house and will have a different room.

I thought she looked so little snuggled into this big full-size bed, but she was definitely outgrowing the converted crib, and of course... we'll have a tiny new family member using that crib very soon!

peace * love * party

Well, I can't say Aurora's birthday went EXACTLY as planned. Shortly after our guests arrived for the outdoor party, the skies grew dark and it started raining. No, pouring. But we all found cover, brought a small part of the festivities indoors, and the weather cleared up in time for us to enjoy some outdoor activities as well. Luckily I had friends and family here to help clean and prep, as I was not feeling my best. But Aurora had a great time, and I think everybody else had fun, too!

As you can see, this was a very groovy party! Instead of cake we had brownie cupcakes that looked like little flower pots. After lunch, we headed out to the studio garage to tie-dye shirts and play outside.

Special thanks to Chuck & Nancy and also Bailey & Laura. I couldn't have pulled this off without them, and I think these little girls had a very happy day because of their hard work...

Happy Birthday to my sweet, gorgeous, awesome BIG girl Aurora. We love you!!!

4 Year Photos

Grandma Nancy's here! This morning we went to JCPenney for our annual birthday & family photo shoot and I just love the results. I also love that they were able to post them online this quickly!

First, the family photos. We decided to add a few maternity poses, so I think we can call this Little Brother's first photo shoot too... sort of. Right?

And now for Aurora's 4 year photos. Seriously, could this girl be any cuter???

There are more, but I think this is about all I can fit on one blog post. Tomorrow's the big birthday party, which may have to be moved indoors due to weather. It'll still be great!