Nesting & Resting

Check out my awesome DMB Shirt!

Well the it's finally here!  My resting & nesting period.  I'm officially off work at 37 weeks and now I get to worry about all the things I have to get done before baby gets here while I lay in bed with my feet up.  LOL!  Not really --- I have a list of things I get to supervise Josh doing!  But honestly, since I'm home now I will be doing what I can while I have some quiet time to finish organizing and cleaning both of the kids rooms.  

We had told Aaron that because we painted Baby Girl's room, we'd paint his too and we let him pick out the color.  His favorite color is green, so we took him to Home Depot to pick out a shade of green (that we approved of) and Josh has successfully painted Aarons' room after a Pinterest room I saw that incorporated green and navy (which was my color choice for Aaron).  There are only a few touch ups left for Josh to do (the walls are textured so some of the paint from the lines bled) and then we can move the furniture back in.  Once everything is back, I promise to take pictures of both finished rooms!  

Aaron has started school part time and he's still getting used to this new venture.  He's hesitant at drop off, but I'm assured by everyone at the school that once I'm gone, he warms up.  When I pick him up he seems to be just fine, though happy to see me.  Yesterday was picture day - his very first!  The idea of it just makes me smile!  I hope he smiled in the picture!  

Fall has finally arrived in Sacramento and I'm so grateful that it did because I wasn't looking forward to having Baby Girl in 100 degree weather.  But that also means in addition to my baby nesting, I have to weed through Aaron's closet and toys and get take inventory of what's left and what we need.  I can already tell you he'll be needing pants, shoes and a new sweatshirt or two.  He does NOT need more toys!

I'm also looking forward to decorating for Fall and I hope that we can get a few Halloween decorations up too.  I think Aaron wants to be a Minion for Halloween but the actual costume is super lame.  I would be better off trying to make one if I thought I could find the items.  Anyone in Sac know how to knit?  As for Baby Girl, if she gets here before Halloween, I've got a purrrfect outfit for her from the Gap.  

I feel like we have so much to do and I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed but I just remind myself that as long as we have the basics, we really don't need the other things.  We do need your good thoughts, prayers, mojo or whatever else you feel like sending us for a healthy baby and uncomplicated delivery!  

Keep us in your thoughts!  We'll keep you all updated! 

Whooooo had a lovely baby shower?

My Adorable Owl Cake

I had a lovely baby shower recently hosted by my friend Stephanie at her home.  It was a small party, but still perfectly lovely and the food, decorations and cake were fantastic!  Of course the gifts weren't bad either!  

With both friends and family to celebrate with me, I had a great afternoon.  See for yourself (on FLICKR)!

Baby girl got some clothes, gear and all of her bedding.  And I got my diaper bag!  Woot!  Or should I say, Hoot!  

With Aaron being born in Seattle and us living near the water in Ballard, choosing a theme for Aaron was easy.  I knew it had to involve water so we went for a kind of pirate/ocean/sea life theme.  For baby girl, we're in Sacramento and land locked.  Ok, there's a river or two, but basically..... land.  And trees.  And land.  So, I decided to go with more of a "land" theme and I've been digging on the whole owl theme ever since I saw a friend of mine and her baby's owl quilt.  So for my baby girl, she's getting an owl/woodland creature/forest theme.  It's pretty adorable.  

Josh got the nursery painted and the crib up so now we just have to wait for other furniture and accessories.  Once everything is in, I promise to take pictures.

I also had my 32 week check up and baby girl is doing well and head down!  So exciting!  The end is almost here.  I've got so many pregnancy complaints, but right now I'm just trying to ignore every single one of them.  Taking things day by day and hopefully will be able to work another month.  

And in case you're wondering, YES, I do have a name picked out.  If you REALLY want to know, just ask.  

In another few weeks I'll start going to the doctor every week so I'll probably be updating more often.  We're in the final countdown people!  

The 3rd Trimester Is Laborious (Pun Intended)

Aaron helping his dad paint the fence.

Well, here I am 29 weeks pregnant and just into my third trimester.  Though this pregnancy has been tons easier on me than I remember Aaron's being (*knocking on wood, crossing fingers and making wishes*) the beginning of this third trimester is bringing on all the wariness and awkwardness of pregnancy that I remember toward the end of Aaron's.  Back aches, sore muscles, swelling, heaviness, sleeplessness..... you name it.  

Pregnancy in the third trimester is me saying "I'm too uncomfortable right now.  I think I'm going to go lay down" and 20 minutes later..... "I was too uncomfortable laying down.  I think I'm going to walk around a bit".  If I ever find a truly comfortable place, I am SO not leaving it.  Work and food be damned!

We have been slowly making upgrades to the house when we can afford to and have the time.  With the help of my parents we finally (OMG NO SERIOUSLY..... FINALLY) got a new bed.  YESSSSSSSS!  A wonderful, memory foam hybrid -- KING size and with a frame to match our dressers.  I, am sleeping SO much better since the new mattress.  Even with the waking and peeing and tossing and turning.  Seriously, the bed is awesome.

A few weeks ago we got someone to come and haul away this yucky, old deck that was in our backyard for free (yes, thank you people of Craigslist) which is totally awesome because I felt it was super unsafe for Aaron to play on it.  Rusty nails, rotting wood, splinters.... you get the idea.  Of course, this means we have a backyard that is half icky grass (more like weeds and different kinds of grass) and half dirt and holes.  Now we just have to figure out how to easily and cheaply put sod/grass back there.  That's a project for the next month or so.

This weekend Josh was able to finish up fixing & painting the gate at our front yard.  The wooden trim was rotted and so the iron gate was just hanging there all loose and squeaky like.  So he went to Home Depot and bought new wood for the trim and replaced it.  This weekend he finished it up by painting the wood to match the existing fence and remounting the iron gate.  Aaron is always wanting to help his daddy out with these projects so I figured this would be a good one to help out with.  I put him in some old clothes and sent him outside to help Josh paint the trim.  Of course, here in Sacramento it was like..... OH 107 DEGREES outside on that day so the paint dried as quickly as it was being put down.  Aaron, fair child of mine that he is, can't really be in the sun too long (just like his momma) so I let him be out there for about 10 minutes before I told him what a good job he did helping daddy out and then offered him an Otter Pop if he came inside.  After the Otter Pop we had a shower!  Man, it was HOT.  

But Josh toughed it out and finished the gate.  Then he went out back and did some cleaning up back there by removing a bunch of unwanted rocks and debris from what was under the deck.  Also, those ugly brown rocks that people use for landscaping which I find hideous are all around our house in the yard so I told him I want them all gone.  He got up a lot of them, but not all before the garbage can was almost full.  After he knew the heat was too much he came inside and worked on the bathroom faucet, replacing and fixing the filter in our sink.  It had a super low flow filter that basically gave us drops of water.  Literally, drops.  We bought a better one and Josh replaced it.  Now I can actually brush my teeth!

In the next 2 weekends we'd like to get the baby nursery finally painted and get the crib up.  Luckily, I've saved Aaron's crib so we already have that.  I also saved all his clothes so I finally went through and saved a few that were unisex for Baby Girl and the rest I guess are going to have to be sold or given away.  

At the end of this month my bestie Stephanie is going to throw me a baby shower at her house.  It looks like a might have a visitor or two this month also so that's going to be wonderful!  Next month I only have one thing planned...........

Let's all pray to the gods (and God) now that it be about 25 degrees cooler and that I be about 25 percent more comfortable for this.....

Dave Matthews Band in Mountain View!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I know, you think I'm cray.  But I haven't missed a year and Aaron went in my belly, so I think Baby Girl can too.  Of course, I wasn't 8 months pregnant at the time.....  But who's counting?

SO, that's the update folks.  Who is ready for Baby Girl besides me?  


   

Holidays, Birthdays & The New Year!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

Thanksgiving was celebrated at my parents house with the entire family, including the Coblapoli's cats, which Aaron spent the entire night chasing around the house and under the bed!  A few times we had to rescue him after hearing him from the bedroom "Help!  Help!  I'm stuck!".  Dad made his famous turkey and it was the best one yet!  We hung out, ate, played games, ate, watched movies, ate, took naps, ate........ You get the idea.  The next day we took Aaron to Old Elk Grove because they were having a Dicken's Christmas Street Faire and they had supposedly trucked in tons of snow for the kiddies to play in.  And by tons, as you can see, they meant a small truck bed of snow to dump in a small business parking lot with concrete parking barriers hidden under the snow and a brick wall on one side.  Totally safe and kid friendly.  What you see in the picture is pretty much the entire area.  Also, the street faire had absolutely nothing to do with Charles Dickens.  So...... yeah.  But nonetheless, Aaron had fun playing in the snow for the first time!  And he took a picture with Santa and even sat on Santa's lap and told him that he wanted Flo (from the CARS Movie) for Christmas.  And so begins the "If you're good, Santa will bring you...."

Aaron's 3rd Birthday at The Old Spaghetti Factory

Aaron's 3rd Birthday was next.  I am still struggling to figure out how to celebrate his birthday so close to Christmas without any Christmas influence.  It's super hard because every place is decorated for Christmas, starting in like, oooooh, NOVEMBER.  So, being that his birthday is December 21st, he's pretty much screwed on that point.  The first year I wouldn't even let Josh decorate the house until after Aaron's birthday.  I had the party at his great-aunt Kathy's house and she was kind enough to follow that rule too.  Do you know how hard that is?!  So the 2nd year we had it at our apartment complex' community center.  Which was ok, but it's kind of a big space for such a small group.  Not to mention NO ONE SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT PRIVATE PARTY MEANS.  But I digress.  So this year I decided to try a restaurant.  They still had decorations, but mostly in the lobby.  We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory because, well, who doesn't like pasta?  Especially kids!  The party was ok.  He loved his cake (from Freeport Bakery) and all of his gifts, but I think he couldn't have cared less about the lunch portion.  So, next year I'll be back to the drawing board on that one.  The important thing is that he had family and friends there and that he felt like he was the center of attention.

Nordstrom's Breakfast with Santa 2011

For Christmas we started off with our annual Nordstrom Santa visit.  I thought he'd be going to the fabulous Nordstrom in downtown Seattle for most of his childhood, but that didn't happen.  I decided to keep the tradition though and so for the past 2 years he's had breakfast with Santa at the Nordstrom in Sacramento.  This year was the first year he would really be old enough to ask Santa for something so I was pretty excited about it.  He did so well with the Santa at Old Elk Grove and I was hoping for a repeat on that.  Unfortunately for me, that didn't happen.  He wanted to be shy Aaron, not even really wanting to go up to Santa and just talking to him from a distance.  Eventually, we got the picture above, but I really wanted something that was just him and Santa for our card.  Luckily, this Santa was super patient and nice and he came to visit us at our table after we ate and eventually got Aaron to take a picture with him there, which is what ended up on our Christmas card.  Hopefully next year will go a little smoother!  

We spent Christmas morning at our house opening all of Aaron's gifts from us, The Herring Family and Santa, including of course, Flo!  He was so happy to get that car!  Then we all got dressed and headed over to my parents with the whole family again (yes, even the cats).  This year the "adult children" decided to do Secret Santa (best idea ever!) and stocking stuffers for everyone else.  Except for Aaron, of course.  Christmas gifts are really all about the kids anyway!  I think this is one of the better Christmases we've had in awhile!  We were all relaxed, all enjoyed the gifts we got and had fun watching Aaron tear into all the packages!  He was definitely Santa's Little Helper this year!  Eva got a Wii for her Secret Santa gift so we all had fun dancing to Just Dance (all except my grumpy grumperton husband Josh, who won't do anything he considers embarrassing, even if it is just family!).  Even mom and dad got in on it!  It was a good time with great family and good food.  

Then, on December 29th my sister-in-law had a baby!!  So now I'm an auntie!  I was SO excited!!!  I only wish I could see him in person!  

And now the New Year is upon us.......

I think things are starting to look up for us and most people I know.  I can only hope that this trend continues and grows in the new year.  

I wish all of you a wonderful, happy and prosperous 2012!  

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Aaron, Adriane & Rocky

Well folks, it's official.  The three of us little fishies (plus dog) are moving out of Washington.  We will miss it here.  I will particularly miss the green, the water, the mountains, the clean, the living GREEN, the temperature, the 24 hour supermarkets, the huge seagulls, the sea otters, the ferries, Pike's Market, the farmer's markets, the shopping, the metropolitan yet small city feel, hearing the boats and trains from my condo. I'll miss most of it in fact.

But we're trading it in for other things.  Things that we feel like we need.  Things to help keep us SANE.  Mostly, it's a change we hope will do us some good.


So we just got back from a trip to California to see my family and came back with an apartment leased and waiting for us at the end of this month.  I'm busy with all the details and will have to pack and hope Aaron doesn't pull everything right back out of the box!  

But during our trip Aaron had fun with his grandparents and his tia (aunt) Eva.  For the first day after we go back he went around the house saying "TIA!  Where are you?".  So cute!  He likes his tia's little backyard because it has grass and flowers and cement for chalk and a hose!  


Eva and I took Aaron to South Land Park to see if he'd actually let us put him on the pony rides and he did!  And his pony was named Rocky!  It must have been fate.  (Rocky - Adriane, get it?)  He also went to Funderland which has a bunch of small rides for little kids.  He went on the CHOO-CHOO train and the cars.  He was kind of small for everything else.  The one other ride he could have gone on was a solo ride and he wasn't up for that just yet!  


He's talking so much more now and says new words everyday.  He can count to 10 in both English and Spanish now and he can almost count to 20 in English.  He loves to sing!  He sings to himself all the time.  He also loves to point out buses.  If you're in the car and he sees one he yells at the top of his lungs "BUS! BUS! BUS! BUS! BUS! BUUUUUSSSS!" and doesn't quit!  Somehow he's learned to dance like he's at a hoedown.  I blame that Dance-a-lot Robot on the Disney Channel!  


He still loves to eat but has become a little more picky than he used to be.  Well actually, he used to eat pretty much anything!  Now it changes from day to day, but I can always count on diary and carbs!  If it has bread, pasta or cheese he's gonna eat it!  


He changes and grows everyday.  I still look at him and see part baby, but now it's becoming more little boy.  I love my boy.  


So now on to a new chapter in our lives!  Next time I post it will be from Cali.


Hello Sunshine!


 

World Traveler. Ok, maybe just interstate for now.

My Chubbs! He rode in a plane for the first time! (Don't you just love this picture?!)

SO, our trip started out flying to Sacramento on Alaska Airlines. It was an early flight and we got there just as the plane was boarding. The woman checking everyone in was so nice and so helpful. She moved us to an empty aisle! Aaron and I sat next to the window and Josh next to the aisle. Aaron was perfect on the flight! He only cranked once or twice and only just a little bit at that, but we were able to distract him immediately. And then with the white noise and the bottle, he fell asleep! It was awesome. I had a harder time since I caught a cold the day before we left so my stupid ears wouldn't clear and were blocked the whole trip! UGH!

The day after we arrived mom, dad and Eva threw a party to welcome Aaron to Sacramento and introduce him to the family and friends there. Unfortunately, I think the traveling hit him that day so he was kinda grumpy and most people didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with him.

The rest of the week Aaron spend with his grandparents (my parents) living the good life while Josh, Eva and I went to LA for the Dave concert at the Greek and to visit family. We all had a really good time.

By the end of the week though Eva, Aaron and dad had all caught my cold and so the plane trip back wasn't as pleasant as the plane trip there. Aaron was grumpy and considering this is his very first cold, I could understand why! Josh had to get up at one point and stand in the back and rock him to sleep. After that though, everything was alright. Poor little guy! Not to mention the woman who was checking people in at the Sac airport wasn't as helpful! She was just kind of like, "Oh nope. Sorry, no empty aisles." There was no searching or offer to move single people around so we could get an aisle to ourselves. I there were, in fact, empty seats on the plane. Lame. (You hear that Sacramento Alaska Airlines people!?!)

Overall though it went well and all my worrying went down the drain. It totally helped that my cousin Michelle let me borrow her car seat, high chair, rocking seat and playpen for Aaron so I didn't have to take anything except his stroller! You rock Michelle!

Aaron is now an official traveler! He even got wings on his way back!!!

Where to next?