The Nursery

After my baby shower a few weeks ago, I was ready to start putting the nursery together! I stayed with a nautical theme, in case the boys have to share a room one day. I love how it looks, and yes, admittedly, sometimes I'll run in there and hold his clothes or rock in the rocking chair or press one of his soft blankets against my face. I can't wait for this little baby to be in my arms!

Our "to-do" list is growing very short! Only five more weeks!

Sorry!

A couple of months ago, Blogger removed my Shabby Blogs background. Nothing I could do to tweak the HTML would let me get the background back. I've looked into the problem, and apparently, I'm not the only Blogger user who is having this issue.

In the meantime, I'm trying to tear my blog apart and completely rebuild it. Please bear with me! Thanks!

A Fairly Good Day

This morning, my friend Christi and I took our kiddos to the free day at the Arkansas State Fair! We took them last year and had such a great time. I really, really love the fair--the atmosphere, the food, the promise that fall has arrived, and did I mention the food!?

Here's a picture of the cuties from last year:

Oh my, what a difference a year makes! Last year, we leisurely walked around the fair, chatting, eating great food, and our little angels were perfectly content to sit quietly in their strollers and take in the sights.

This year, the toddler wanted to ride every.dang.ride. I have to admit, I thought he wouldn't want to ride any of the rides! I told him we would do the Ferris wheel and we would go see the animals, but I wasn't prepared for a scream fest every time we walked by a ride! And the worst part? He wasn't tall enough for the rides! He was only a couple inches too short, but it shattered my Momma heart into a million trillion pieces. I mean, really, my nearly two-and-a-half year old can't ride on a train that moves at 2 mph in a 20' diameter circle!? Come on!

So, we rode on the carousel, and the toddler loved it!

Then, we took the kiddos to go pet and feed the animals. My little one has always been a major animal lover (completely ironic, if you know me or my husband), and I'm pretty sure he could have stayed in that nasty-smelling tent for hours! :)

We bought some carrots so the toddlers could feed them to the animals. They thought it was the coolest thing!

Being 7 1/2 months pregnant obviously prevented me from riding anything other than the carousel, and so we tried to steer the little ones away from the rides. But, alas, my child had already seen it: his dream ride. . . an enormous helicopter turning in circles and wheeling in the air. He went berserk. And then Christi, who is an angel disguised as a person, suggested we stand in the eternally-long line and that she would take the kids into the helicopter.

So we waited. And waited. And waited. And I spoke the same words, very sternly, over and over and over again, "Yes, you are going to ride on the helicopter. We are waiting. You have to wait." And after about thirty minutes, and several conversations about "this is why you don't take your two-and-a-half year old to Disney World," it was time for the helicopter ride!

Getting into the helicopter!

Super Mom! A toddler on each hip!

I will forever be grateful to Christi for taking my sweet boy on the ride he was just dying to ride on! And, of course, he loved it!

Then, it was time for purchasing some ridiculously-priced toys that the toddler just had to have: a red race car and a blue airplane!

After having his fill of animals, loud noises, rides, crowds, chaos, and toys, my child promptly lost it. I'm not exaggerating. He didn't go to bed last night until 11:30, and he was running into our room this morning at 6:15. It had caught up with him. "I want to go HOME!" he screamed, with tears running down his cheeks.

I went into panic mode. Why? Um, because I hadn't had ANY fair food yet, duh! Why do you think I ran by the ATM and took out $40.00 at 7:30 this morning for FREE day at the fair!?!?

So, we divided and conquered. Christi went after the corn dogs; I went after the jumbo bags of cotton candy.

After stuffing one jumbo bag under the stroller and securing the other one under the covering on the stroller, I ran to Christi, grabbed my corn dog, squirted mustard on it, said a 2 second goodbye, and sprinted through the crowds and for the exit. Yes, I was shoving a corn dog down my throat, pushing a screaming toddler wielding an enormous inflatable airplane all over the place, through the parking lot, darting in front of cars, up a very, very, very steep grass hill, and by the time we got to the car, I was just about ready to cry.

Do you ever feel like, "Why do I even try to do fun things for my child? It backfires every dang time!" Well, that's how I felt, as I watched my angel crying, with red cheeks, begging to go home.

But hey, I'm thinking next year will be way better, because the toddler will be tall enough to ride all the rides. And all of our pictures look really happy, right? And I'm pretty sure that's all he'll remember when he looks back through old family albums. (What I'll remember? That you can in fact sprint at 33 weeks pregnant, pushing a stroller with two popped wheels, and cramming a delicious corn dog into your mouth.)



The Toddler's New Room

Last week, we officially moved the toddler into his new bedroom! As soon as my hubby finished building and painting the bed (he only has to finish making the drawers that go on each side), we were organizing the closet, moving playroom stuff out, and moving bedroom stuff in. Of course, the toddler will only be in this room for about six months before we move, but I'm so happy with it!

We are getting a new bedside lamp for his bedside table. Last night, I was enjoying a bubble bath when the door burst open, and the toddler ran in holding his pointer finger and declaring, "My finger hurts! The light hurt my finger!" He had touched the small bulb and burned his finger, so Momma is going to make a quick trip to Walmart today for better lamp.

We kept the craft table in his room so he would have a place to color and play. He has loved it! He plays with his cars at the table.

We also left his reading chair and the bucket of cardboard books (the nice books are all in the nursery) as well as his basketball goal. I'm very happy with how everything turned out. . . and I think the toddler is, too! He is very proud of his new big-boy room!



Fun In Hot Springs!

Today, the hubby got home at 1:00, so we decided to take a fun family adventure to Hot Springs! First, we went to the Mid America Science Museum. Fun, fun, fun! The toddler was in heaven!

This was most certainly our last little family trip before baby arrives! I'm pretty sure I walked around the museum fighting off contractions and looking for the nearest bench (hence, Momma isn't in any of the pics).

We went to dinner at Cajun Boilers, and then we walked around downtown. The weather was perfect!

What a wonderful Saturday with my sweet fam! :)

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Randoms:

1. The toddler has been standing in front of the television for the past five minutes shouting, "GO BAYLORS!" :)

2. I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any way I'm going to make it to 40 weeks with this baby!

3. Potty training has suddenly taken off! The toddler decided last week that he was ready. He told his teacher at school that he wanted to go to the potty! Wooo hooo! :)

4. Yesterday, I was at an event for work and spent some time bouncing around in a golf cart, and now my sweet little baby is NOT positioned in the correct direction. I will not be happy if I have to have a C section, people!



From One To Two

Of course no mother forgets that day.

I was twenty-three years old, I'd been married for all of one year and nine days, and I didn't have a clue what to do past giving birth.

And now here I am, two-and-a-half years later. I like to think I've got this parenting thing down--that I've got a handle on it. I might not be the Master Mommy Guru Of All Time, but we've got our lives, our schedules, our day-in and day-out stuff sorted. My house is even clean most of the time, and my toddler is even well behaved half of the time. Imagine that.

And yet.

I know everything is about to change: our lives, our schedules, our day-in and day-out stuff.

What it's going to look like, I have no idea. I've watched my friends who have two kiddos, and they don't seem to be losing their sanity. I know that while this time around will probably not be as life-altering and radical as the first, it will still be both life-altering and radical.

I find myself worrying. How will I handle the toddler on three-and-a-half hours of sleep? How will I snuggle and love on the teeny tiny and still make my toddler (and not to mention my hubby) feel loved and adored and cherished? Will I be as evil, when sleep-deprived, as I was the first time? What about my work schedule? If I have to get up at 5:30 AM now to get me and the toddler out the door and to work on time, what time will I have to get up between a newborn and breastfeeding? How will I go grocery shopping? What if the toddler is sick and we all have to go to the doctor and I have to sit in the nasty sick kids' side of the doctors' office with my newborn who isn't sick?

Okay. I'm psychotic. I know.

The truth is that schedules will be ironed out. Our lives will find some normalcy. And eventually, I will get a handle on things. The truth is that I have a wonderful husband and family to help me. I will be sleepy, but I will still make it into work and do my job well. And before you know it, I'll be back to lying to myself that I've got a handle on this whole parenting thing.

In the mean time, bear with me, okay? I'm soaking up my clean house, my organized schedule, and--of course--my favorite sidekick.