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?  


   

Settling In..........

Aaron at Morse Park

Aw, Aaron and water parks.  He can never resist the water, even on a cloudy day.  He loves water and has been to water parks since he was a wee little babe (as evidenced here: Flickr).

This past Friday I took the day off and spent it with Aaron (translation: mom & dad were out of town).  We met Josh downtown for lunch and then headed to this park I heard about from other mommies in the area.  It was a really nice, well manicured park with a play area for big kids and another for little ones.  And it has this really awesome water feature area that runs every day!  Since the day was a bit cooler and overcast, the park was virtually empty but that didn't stop Aaron one bit.  He played on all the big kid equipment and even went down the big slide all by himself!  He stopped for some playtime in the water and then went back to the slide and bridges.  After the park and a quick change of clothes in the parking lot, we went to get some yummy Pinkberry.  It was a great afternoon!

The 3 of us (and Ulrich of course) have made a successful move from our apartment into a house we just rented.  We are very excited to be able to have a bedroom for baby #2 AND another for Aaron and a nice yard for everyone!  We've been busy unpacking and updating and rearranging things and pretty soon it will start to feel more and more like home. 

A few weeks ago I went in for my big ultrasound and now we know that baby #2 is a GIRL!  We are very, very excited and having been planning the nursery.  We've registered at Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids.  I am feeling good and things are progressing well with the pregnancy.  I couldn't ask for anything better right now! 

Aaron knows baby girls name and that he'll be a big brother soon.  He tells his grandparents that the baby will pop out on Halloween!  He also says that baby girl is going to share all her toys with him!  I can see where this is heading already............  oh brother!  Anyone have any advice on preparing baby #1 for baby #2?  LOL!

Hope you're all doing just as well! 

Hugs & Kisses from The Herrings!

2 is my favorite number

 

SURPRISE!  I'm pregnant!  Baby #2 is on it's way and should arrive at the end of October.  I'm currently 14 weeks pregnant and feeling great.  My fatigue isn't nearly has bad as it was the first time around but even that is starting to fade.  With Aaron, I was literally falling asleep at my desk during the first trimester!  I would even go to my car during my lunch and take a nap!  It was insane.  This time fatigue and "pregnancy brain" (it's totally a real thing) aren't as bad and that's great!  The not-so-great was that I showed WAY earlier with this one than I did with Aaron and I'm already looking big, though I'm only 4 months at this point.  Hopefully it's just a second pregnancy thing.

Aaron knows there's a "baby in my belly" and he knows the girls name already.  We don't have a boys name picked out yet, but we're working on it.  We won't find out the gender of the baby for a few more weeks though and I think it's no surprise, I'd like to even things out in this household.  Even the dog is a boy!  But anything that is healthy and pink and has all it's limbs will be alright with us!

Right now we're looking for a larger place but so far we've had haven't had the best luck.  I'm still working on it though.  I'm still at work full-time and will probably be so until the end again, though I'm not sure I'll work as long this time.  Last time I worked until December 19th and Aaron was born on December 21st.  This time around, I think I won't push it.  I have a feeling it might have been a subconscious thing.  I wasn't relaxed enough until I stopped working. 

But Aaron eventually got here and now he's 3!  He is past my waist now in height.  He still loves most of the same things -- reading, music, cars (well, any vehicle), animals and now you can add dinosaurs.  He also got his first multi-player game -- Hungry, Hungry Hippos!  He's playing it right now with Josh.  Though he's not really quite clear on the rules of the game yet, he loves to play it!  

Aaron loves being with his grandparents everyday though he's missing his grandpa lately since he went back to work.  This morning he asked "Grandpa, are you staying?" when I went to drop him off and pick dad up.  But he also knows that his daddy comes and picks up him at 4 pm.  He knows that 8 pm is "ni-night time" and best of all........ (drum roll please)..............................

Aaron is potty trained!  HOLLA!!!!!  

Really, he's still wearing pull-ups at night in case of accidents but he is usually dry the next morning and he even wakes us up sometimes in the middle of the night to go potty!  It's all very exciting and something everyone worked hard on.  Thanks Grandma Yvette & Grandpa Howard!

So the Herring household has been through some exciting changes since our last update and I'm glad I could share them with you even though it took awhile this time around.  The truth is, I was laying low the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy and the first doctor visit was, well, terrible.  Perhaps someday I'll write about it, but the important part is that everything turned out fine and the pregnancy is going well.  Let's hope it stays that way!

    

That's My Boy!

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!  

On the eve of Aaron's 3rd Birthday......

I invite you all to look back to his 7th month - YES, he was only 7 months here.  And now we remember the "CHUBBS"!