a mini getaway

My husband and I celebrate our anniversary and both of our birthdays in November. This year, with Josiah due in the beginning of December, and knowing our history of preterm babies we decided we want to celebrate in October. We've decided on a joint celebration, just a little weekend getaway.

A Friday and Saturday night, free of kids, free of cooking, free of cleaning. Days have been pretty busy here, with me watching  my niece and nephew on top of our girls, homeschooling Lexi and my niece while chasing around two 2 year olds is not an easy task. Many days I do not get to sit down to have any form of "me" time until 9 or 9:30, and I'm so tired by then my husband and I don't get much time together.  So we decided this would be the best gift!


We're not exactly sure where to go, we're looking for somewhere not too far away, and cheap! My only requirements is a clean, comfortable room and no cooking, cleaning or chasing kids!!

Ever growing belly

My belly will not.stop.growing. Yes, I know I'm pregnant, yes I know that is supposed to happen. But I'm only 28 weeks along and the amount of weight I have gained already is crazy. I don't even know WHERE it's going, or how it's building up so fast. Maybe I just have a 20 pound baby in there? ok, i hope not. I know one thing, once he's born I'm going to be looking into how to get rid of belly fat fast! The diet and running I did in January worked pretty good, hopefully I can find the motivation to start again. It might be a little harder for me to get started since I will have 3 kids, plus the 2 that I watch during the day. I've been pretty tired and stressed lately, I know running will take that stress away, it was a great stress reliever. Maybe I should work on the diet thing now, I know eating better gave me more energy.

Some dailies

I realized today that things have really calmed down in this house since we started doing school. I think it's because we've got a little bit of a schedule or routine going on and the kids know what to expect. In the mornings we play, have a snack and I start a subject or two with Gab, then somewhere between 10 and 11 the two little ones go down for a nap and I get Gab going with math and do school with Lexi. The little ones normally wake up before we're completely done with school, but we eat lunch, finish school, clean up a bit then head outside (weather permitting). We normally stay outside for a few hours, then come in and we'll sometimes do crafts, sometimes play on the computer or just play, i leave the back door to the porch open so they are often out there playing.

There have been a lot less temper tantrums, fights and fit throwing. It's made the days more pleasant and the dark circles under eyes a lot lighter. :) Since then I've started buckling down on some major discipline issues I've had with the two two year olds (and Lexi too some) and that is rudeness! Screaming no, or grunting, or for Lexi- being bossy. Being "mean and nasty" to each other or me gets an immediate hand slap as well as a talking to. I know they are two so it's not going to go completely away, but I've been stressing that we need to love each other, and use our words to tell each other that we're upset instead of screaming and whining. I'm hoping it works! (and yes, I scream sometimes too, i'm working on it. In fact just last night I screamed over something very stupid. I made pizza, most of it was plain cheese, but i put some spinach and mushrooms on a few pieces for me. Some spinach happened to land on some of the plan cheese and both girls threw a fit when I tried to get them to eat it. Their eating habits are something that sets me off at the drop of a hat... let's just say I apologized.)

Fall is in the air!

Fall is my FAVORITE season! (I’m pretty sure I say this about spring too) I love the cooler weather, the changing in the leaves, I LOVE fall decorations (not Halloween decorations, fall ones, pumpkins, cute scarecrows etc). Some day I am going to have a fall decorated house, i promise.
Yesterday while on our way to the mall Lexi had to go to the bathroom. So we stopped at a gas station to take her in. She was admiring the leaves on the ground and talking about fall, and when we came out of the store I noticed the clear, crisp fall air. So I asked her if she smelled the leaves. Without hesitation she bent over, picked up a leaf and sniffed it. I love her literalness.

We've been spending a lot more time outside during the day now that it's not 100 degrees out there. Today I think our total was around 4 hours of outside play. (with a few trips inside to potty, get snacks, change diapers etc.) If the bugs weren't so bad around here I'd be investing in some outdoor wall sconces so we could sit out there at night once the kids go to bed. It's really nice outside then.

Celebration cigar?

I am 27 weeks 2 days along now, The furthest I've made it with my pregnancies was 36 weeks 6 days. So if I make it 10 more weeks it will be a new record for me. :) I'm hoping I make it at least that long, we've got some stuff to get before he arrives.

The other day Eugene and I were talking about Josiah's birth and he informed me of something I was unaware of. According to him when you have a boy you smoke cigars with all your guy friends. Maybe smoking some cohiba cigars makes you more manly? I have no clue. I told him I'd buy him the gum cigars that say "it's a boy!" He didn't like that idea. Oh well, I don't like the idea of cigars.

So far things have been going good, I've got another glucose screening test coming up next week, and an ultra sound planned for 32 weeks. They did another antibody screening text last appointment to check on that weird antibody that showed up 2 tests ago. I think they just like my blood. This is the 3rd time they've screened me for antibodies. Then at 34 weeks they said they were going to start checking me for progress. Only because of my history of preterm labor. I was weighing my options with the cervix checks. I was going to refuse all of them until I was actually in active labor and wanting to push in order to avoid risk of infection. The more I thought about it though the more I came at peace with allowing them to check me. The reason being is because if they catch me dilating early they can do something to help keep this little man in long enough to where we know his lungs and everything will be fully developed. I think the risk of infection is a better option than the risk of having a premature baby who needs to be in the neonatal care for months. If I make it to 37 weeks I'll make them stop checking, there's no need after that.

I haven't been sleeping well lately, between being uncomfortable, Caylee waking up 3 or more times a night and then last night my shoulder decided to just about kill me. I'm hoping tonight's rest is a little more peaceful and satisfying.

Lesson learned :Senor Frogs

One day while on vacation we decided to go to Broadway at the beach to walk around, do a little shopping (mostly window shopping) and eat some lunch. We got there right around lunch time and I was already pretty hungry, so we started looking for food right away. My sister is a vegetarian, so we like to check menus before we just blindly walk into a restaurant, that way we can make sure there are some meat free options for her.

There were two restaurants right by where we walked in, Senor Frogs and another one, both had their menu's out, I was already getting to the point where I needed to eat soon, so I didn't want to shop and walk around looking for a place, I just wanted to eat. We decided Senor Frogs looked the best and went in. (The menu's outside were just food choices, not prices and none of us had ever eaten there.)

We were seated quickly, and started picking out food and drinks, we ordered our drinks and then looked at prices, it was a bit more than we expected, but we picked what we wanted from the cheaper things and went to order.

Remember how I said my sister is a vegetarian? Well she ordered vegetable fajitas, and the waitress said they didn't have them anymore. That was the only meat free meal on the menu. Then she tried to come up with some way to make vegetarian fajitas and was talking about carrots and broccoli. Has this girl never had fajitas?! So I decided to chime in... "Can't you just use the peppers and onions you would normally put on the chicken fajitas, and just leave out the meat?" "oh, I guess we could do that, but I would have to charge you for the chicken fajitas." um.. ok, clearly this restaurant has issues, and their first is that they hire dumb waitresses. Seriously? If you have a vegetarian fajita on the menu, why can you not charge that price?!

Then I go to order a cheese burger and ask if they can put guacamole on it. She tells me it will cost $3 more. WHAT?! for a spoon full of guacamole it will cost $3?! um.. no thanks.

Anyway, they managed to make a meat free fajita, much to my surprise. we ate, were decently satisfied with our food (it wasn't the best that's for sure, but it was edible.) Then we got the bill. $100. I couldn't believe that the meal cost $100, the girls split a children's meal. My brother in law ordered an appetizer as a meal. There's no way our food should have been that much (there were no mistakes on the bill though, we looked, this restaurant is just completely over priced, especially for their brainless waitresses who must be getting really good term life insurance through their employer for as much as their food costs.

Home sweet home

We got home from our camping trip tonight, the trip home which was only suppose to take 5 hours took us over 8 because of traffic. Luckily the girls were good for 98% of the trip, Lexi got really tired about 30 minutes from home and started some whining, then fell right asleep.

We were a little concerned that hurricane earl would make our trip a little less than pleasant, but it was a great weekend! Last night we had a bad thunderstorm, which made packing up so much fun since everything was soaking wet. Oh well, at least our tent kept us mostly dry. Friday when we got there it was really, really hot, the other few days were pretty enjoyable, a little cooler and there was a nice breeze on the beach.

This was Caylee's first trip to the ocean as far as I can remember, and she loved it, well, once she got used to it anyway. I really wish we had a camcorder so we could have taken video of her, once she got in the water, there was no keeping her out. She's so much more brave than Lexi is.

Two years ago when we went to the Myrtle Beach area we went to the Ripley's aquarium and did not like it, I blogged about it and the VP of communications contacted me immediately asking me what we didn't like, and also offered free admission to their attractions if we went back. We remembered that a few days before we left and I contacted him. I was quite impressed with how quickly he responded and followed through with his offer even after two years. We decided to check out the believe it or not museum, and mirror maze and the aquarium again. I was so glad my sister and brother in law watched the girls for us while we went to the museum and the mirror maze, the museum is NOT a place for young kids, Lexi would have been REALLY scared. The mirror maze was fun, and I'm sure the girls would have liked it. The did they like aquarium this year, which made me feel better. It doesn't compare with the Tennessee aquarium, but seeing their faces light up at the fish and sharks was worth it.

We spent some time each day on the beach (normally two times a day) and it was actually relaxing! The first night we were there we were walking right after dusk, so it was a little dark, but there was another family there who had 4 kids, ages 6,4,2 and 2 months. I was so impressed with them, they were calm, laid back and were just standing there while their kids played out of hands reach. We were all nervous, yelling at the girls when they got too far away, and trying to make them stay with us at our pace. Seeing them really got us thinking about trying to relax a bit and let them be kids. I think it really helped our vacation be more enjoyable. Yes we still jumped and yelled when Caylee ran into the campground road, or got too far away from us at the beach, but all in all we really relaxed a lot. I'm hoping to be able to continue that here, because yes I want rules and I want them to listen, but I also want them to be allowed to be kids! My sister kept pointing out to me how much more relaxed we are with Caylee than we were with Lexi and saying that by the time we have 4 we'll be like them. We'll see, I really hope we can be more laid back now!

The worse part of the whole trip was the sleeping, or lack there of. I barely slept any of the nights and tonight I am exhausted and looking forward to being in my own bed! Last year we got one of the double high air mattresses, thinking it would make life easier and better, I really don't like it any better than I like the smaller ones, in fact I might like the smaller ones better. This was probably the last summer we will be using the tent we have because it's really too small for us, we have to keep our bags in the car which to me is just annoying. We've thrown around the idea of getting a small, older pop up for next year, we'll see!

Right now I am going to answer the call of my bed! Good night!

Camping in a hurricane.

We are headed to the Myrtle Beach area to go camping. Yes, in the middle of a hurricane. My mom is worried, but everything I've read said that area of SC isn't going to be affected by more than some rain and high waves. We tent camp, but my sister is also going along, and they have a pop up, so if it rains the whole weekend we'll be hanging out in their camper! Bring on the games!! (and if the wind is too bad maybe some strong door hardware, to make sure the camper door stays closed?)

Right now I am waiting on the dryer to finish, so we can put the last few items in our bag and stick it in the car then go to bed! Then in the morning we'll try to load up the bike rack to bring Lexi's bike and hit the roads hopefully before 8. We'll see how long the 5 hour trip will take with two little ones.

I hope there is at least a little bit of clear skies this weekend, I'd love to sit on the beach!

Party!

Today Caylee turned two. I am amazed at how fast time goes by, how did I get a 4 year old, a 2 year old and a baby on the way already?! Am I really getting that old?

We are leaving in the morning for camping, so we had a little party tonight to celebrate. My husband's family was here and we enjoyed sloppy joe then carrot cake. With some present opening in the middle. It was fun, Caylee loved all her presents, especially the one from her aunt and her sister!! (a stuffed puppy and a baby alive)

She's been trying to figure out a lot lately, including how to make Lexi's big girl bike move. It's a good thing that bike has industrial handles because she's knocked it over so many times! Luckily the bike hasn't landed on her.

We got her a Tag jr, and I'm hoping she'll enjoy it so much that it will keep her busy on our 5 hour drive tomorrow, Lexi has a regular tag and likes to play with it, so now the two of them can both play instead of fighting over it. not that they wont find other things to fight about...

Anyway, all in all I think Caylee had a great birthday! I still can't believe she's two.