Game Night

Since last week, we've kept busy.  On Thursday I had my OB checkup.  Everything is fine, I go back again in 4 weeks.  On Friday there was a fundraiser at Fuddrucker's for Operation Sea of Support.  OSS provides yellow tutus for the daughters of soldiers for the homecoming.  All day Friday, 10% of the receipts turned in went to OSS.  We went in the evening with 3 of our friends and their kids.  Saturday we went to Katrina's house for a late lunch/early dinner and ended up hanging out until about 9.  Sunday Lauren and I went with Katherine and Ethan to try a church.  The service was good, the church was beautiful, and Lauren really enjoyed the play room.  On Monday morning she asked, "more church?"

We took Monday easy.  Katherine and Ethan came over and she and I decided that we'd cook this week, taking turns, and invite our friends over.  We planned out a menu for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Tuesday was Lauren's dance class again.  We got there early and she took my hand and showed me around her classrooms.  There's one class that is just a large empty room with one mirrored wall.  The other room has a mat covering the floor that's kind of squishy.  There's a trampoline with a bar to hold on to, an inclined tumbling mat, a balance beam that sits on the floor, about an inch high and maybe 3 inches wide, and a long Thomas the Tank Engine tent/tunnel thing that they crawl through.  Lauren had been talking about Thomas ever since last week and I had no idea what she was talking about.  It was nice to get to see the room.  She did well again and got two more unicorn stamps.  She was very cute in her leotard and skirt.

Tuesday night dinner was at my house.  I made a big pot of spaghetti and two sauces, a large salad and garlic bread.  I had 4 of my friends over and their 7 kids.  It was a full house, but lots of fun.  The 3 bigger kids ended up playing Wii in the other room while the other 5 played here in the living room with us.  Katrina and Amy ended up staying late and watching "Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day" with me.  It was a really cute movie.

Last night we went to Katherine's house for dinner.  One less adult and child than was at my house, but still a full house.  We ate and then played Pictionary for a while.  At 9:30 we decided to call it a night.  Tonight again we're going to Katherine's house and we'll have more game options.  I'm bringing Taboo and Apples to Apples and Katherine is replenishing her play-doh supply for Cranium.  I'm looking forward to it.

I'm ordering the Nikon D60 this week.  I can't wait to get it!  I should have a lot more pictures to share when I have a better camera with a quicker response time.  It gets so frustrating with my little camera when I press the button and 5 seconds go by before it takes.  A lot happens with a toddler in 5 seconds, and it can make a big difference in the picture.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Mia!

First Dance Class

Lauren had her first dance class yesterday. I got her all dressed up in her leotard with the tutu and some shiny silver shoes with her hair pulled back. She looked adorable!

We got to the class and I was ready with camera in hand. I was a little afraid I'd look like a crazy stage mother having her all dressed up, but all but one of the other little girls were dressed up in leotards too. They were all so cute!

There we were, waiting for class to start, and the instructors came out to get the girls, and they walked into the dance room and shut the door. I was so bummed! I didn't get to watch it at all! But I guess the kids don't listen as well and get distracted when their parents are in the room, so there's a method to it all. The class was 30 minutes long and I sat in the waiting room with the other moms. When they came out she showed off a unicorn stamp on each hand and a gummy bear. They said she was shy for about the first five minutes, but then she participated. As soon as we walked outside to the car she started asking for "more dance class!" I think she really enjoyed it. Then this morning when we woke up she said, "Good morning, Mommy. Dance class?" I guess a week is a long time to wait when you're two.

Here's a picture from the pool on August 1st. She does well, but it's been SO hot, I haven't wanted to go back yet. Hopefully it will cool off so we can go a few more times before it closes. (If you click on any of the pictures in this blog, you'll be able to see it much larger.)

This Saturday I'll be 20 weeks pregnant... officially halfway! I'm excited to meet this little girl who kicks me all night long. I feel like I'm counting down until November. Once we hit Thanksgiving, hopefully Christmas, New Years, her birth and Ben's return will happen really quickly. And a move to Germany! (I'm keeping my fingers crossed!)

I ordered a Bengal's jersey for Lauren today. It's a toddler size and it's pink and white. I'm hoping to get it soon so I can get pictures of her in it to send to Ben before the season gets underway.

Happy Birthday to Carson and Lissa!

Have a Passport?

You may want to apply for one.  We've put in our request for our next duty station and Germany is #1 on our list.  We haven't heard anything yet, but we will let you all know as soon as we know.  I think the town we'd move to is Ansbach.  We'll stay here for at least 90 days after Ben returns from Iraq before we would get to go.

Lauren's dance class starts on Tuesday.  I'm excited for her to get started.  I hope she enjoys it, I know I'll have fun watching her.

It's still been hot here, I don't think there's a day on the 10 day forecast that it's below 96 degrees.  The city is calling for voluntary water conservation and asking residents only to water twice a week.  My lawn is getting brown enough as it is, I hope it rains soon.

Yesterday Lauren and I went to brunch at our friend, Katherine's house.  Our friend Katrina and her daughters, Grace and Quinn were there as well as Mandy and her son, Will.  Lauren had a great time and the food was delicious.  I made cinnamon swirl coffee cake muffins and we had an egg, sausage and hash brown bake and fruit.  I ate until I was totally stuffed.

Welcome to August

Wow.  It is hot.  The high today was 104 and tomorrow it's supposed to be 105.  Yuck.  Thank goodness for air conditioning!  I've been watering the lawn in the evening, I'm worried about the bushes that we planted after we had the trees cut down.  The grass around them is looking pretty dry, and I don't want them to get dry.  I'm going to go to Lowe's or Home Depot tomorrow and pick up some bush spikes to get them a little nourishment.

Lauren had a bit of a fever on Thursday evening and over night, but by Friday morning she was feeling a lot better.  We even went ahead with our plans to go to the pool Friday afternoon.  She had fun in the water as always.  She is covered in little spots now, but she's had that before for a few days after a fever.  I asked her doctor about it last time and she said sometimes after a viral fever kids will get spots.  So I just keep an eye on them and as long as they don't get worse, I know she'll be ok.

Our friend Katherine got a new nine week old puppy.  He's a Maltese Shitzu cross, and he's just a little white fluff ball.  I thought Lauren would be more interested in him, but she doesn't do much more than pet him and say he's soft and then go on her way.  I think he's great, though, and I love playing with him.  They came over this evening for dinner and brought the puppy with them and he's a good little boy.

I ordered the cards from sarah and abraham for Mia and Luke.  They got some cute cards delivered on Saturday.  Which reminds me!  Abby recommended a cookbook called "Cook it in a Cup" and I ordered it from amazon.  Last night we went to Katrina's house and made the mini-meat loaves and the corn and zucchini melange.  They were both really really good.  I want to make the corn and zucchini dish all the time now.  Delicious!

Back to the Texas Heat!

We are back home now. We got back about two weeks ago. Albuquerque was great. Lauren had so much fun with Mia and she got to do tons of stuff. We went to Explora for toddler time and concerts in the zoo and the park and lots of time in the backyard on the swings, in the pool, or playing with the sand and water table.



The cats will be vacationing in Albuquerque until after this baby is born. I just don't have all the extra energy to keep up with their messes, and I'm not supposed to clean the catbox anyway. I think Lauren misses them a little bit. She talks about everyone out there still. I think she also is bummed that we're not playing outside anymore. But 100 degrees with all this humidity is just unbearable. We haven't done anything outdoors since being back.

Since I feel so bad about that, I'm enrolling her in a "creative movement" class for 2 year olds at a ballet and dance studio in town called A & K Dance. She'll go once a week on Tuesdays. I'm not really sure what to expect out of it, but I think she'll have fun in anything. Actual ballet classes start at age 3, so she won't be able to start those until next summer. If she does really good in these classes and seems like she'd like to do something more, there's a mom and tot tumbling class we can look into. It meets three times a week, so I thought we'd start out slow and work our way up.

Other than that, we don't have a whole lot going on. My latest thyroid tests came back normal, so the doctor said it was just due to the surge of hCG hormones, but since they've leveled off, my thyoid is calming down, too. I feel a lot better and I'm eating a lot more. The baby moves all the time, she's a little gymnast for sure.

Oh! Did I mention that the baby's due date has changed? It's January 3 now. I'm a little less far along than they thought I was, but that's ok, it gives us a little more time between Christmas and her birthday.

I also ordered the cutest cards today. She has a blogspot blog, Sarah and Abraham, and she sells through her shop on etsy, Sarah and Abraham on etsy. The first order is a gift for someone (you'll get it soon... but you won't know who you are until it gets there) and I'm planning on ordering a set of notecards for Lauren soon, too. If you check out her blog, she's doing a giveaway if you comment by... well, tomorrow, so go over and check it out. If you haven't heard, I *heart* etsy and I've found a ton of cute stuff on the site. Check it out at http://www.etsy.com/

Really Quickly

We are in Albuquerque.

Rachelle came out for a week to help out and was amazing.  The day she left, Skipper flew in and the next day we drove out to New Mexico.  We're almost done here, we go home next week.  Lauren has had a great time with Mia.  They have to fight things out for the first part of every play date, but then they're the best of friends and pure trouble for everyone after that.  She's been working on using the potty and has been doing pretty well.

My thyroid tests came back that I have hyperthyroidism, so I'll have blood drawn after my next OB appointment and then the following week I go back to go over the test results and we'll make a decision about treatment (if needed) after that.  Otherwise the pregnancy has been going pretty well.  I'm into my second trimester now, so my nausea has almost disappeared.  It's such a relief!  I was so hungry after not keeping much down for two months.  Hahaha.

I'll do a more thorough update and add pictures when we get back home to Texas.

Bad Week

Last week was really hard on me. I went to the appointment on Wednesday and then wasn't able to keep anything down on Thursday. On Friday, Ben called home and was worried about how I was doing. He made me promise to call and get a same day appointment at the OB clinic.

I really was not doing well, I had been sleeping on the couch through the day and fighting to keep down water, so I called my friend Katherine and asked her to come help me. She called the OB clinic, but they were closed for the holiday weekend, so she called around and was told to take me to the Emergency Room. We dropped Lauren with Katherine's sister in law and went to the base. I only had to wait about an hour to be taken back and seen by a nurse. They took my vitals and started an IV. The doctor came in to talk to me and he prescribed Zofran for my morning sickness. It doesn't make me drowsy, so that makes it better than the Phenergan I took when I was pregnant with Lauren. They pushed Zofran through my IV then had me wait for it to kick in. I then had to eat some crackers and juice, and when I didn't throw that up, they got me ready to go. The whole trip, from the time we walked into the waiting room until I was done and had picked up my prescription at the pharmacy was about 4 hours.

It made a huge difference. I haven't thrown up since, though I do still get a queasy feeling. That just means I'm hungry, and once I eat I feel better. I've been back up and catching up on everything I had let slide when I wasn't feeling well. Hopefully I'll take some new pictures to post soon.

Lauren is doing great. She is stringing together small sentences now. She's been really good especially the last week when I wasn't as attentive as I'd have liked to have been.

Rachelle bought plane tickets to come visit in June, and I'm really excited to have her here. I haven't planned anything, I just want to get in some good hanging out time.