Friday, August 31, 2012

21 week bump attack

8.31.12
Oh you know... just me... rockin' a necklace backwards. Oops. Didn't notice until AFTER ;)

Got your first batch of clothes in the mail. I am of course in love with the thought of having a BOY version of Elliana running around in this house with cute little striped rompers on. Who said boys can't be well dressed? I will make sure of it.

Now, no bows for you my dear, but definitely cute leather jackets, jeans, and hats. We will accessorize where we can.
Don't hate me for it.


Still no boy name picked out. Although we have a couple on our mind.
Weight gain total: 9lbs.
Maternity clothes: none.
Stretch Marks: None. Lets keep it that way
Belly button: Barely in

Feeling lots of movement. Feel a lot of pressure down yonder. Feel a lot, period. I just feel more pregnant. I know I sound like a broken record. But really, it's pretty prominent these days. And? I'm only halfway through. Not complaining, just saying.



Elliana's big girl room is in the making. Which means that the office will also be in the making to transform it into an office/ guest bedroom. And then the current guest bedroom will then be made into your sweet nursery. I cannot wait to add your personal touches to it. Especially once we have a name picked out.

The weeks are flying by right now. Fall is right around the corner. Which means the holidays will be here before you know it. I can already hear Santa's sleigh bells ringing.... ho ho ho :)

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Have you heard?


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Vacation; What didn't go as planned.

8.30.12
*Yesterday was color, today is black and white! Also, just a disclaimer, my in-laws were also with us during this vacation, whom we had the best of time with and took lots of beautiful pictures with. However, these pictures will not be on the blog to respect their privacy. Just know, they were there with big smiling faces :) *

Things that Didn't work out on vacation:

1. Taking family pictures

I talked about this for a month before. What we were all going to wear. Color coordinated. The poses that we would take. Who would take what pictures and how I would bombard a stranger to take a large group shot. I had it all mapped out in my head. I even had the idea of doing a gender reveal shoot where we would do both "it's a girl" and "it's a boy" takes and then when we found out that following Monday, I would reveal which picture it was. That. Also didn't work out. So at the end of the day? Trying to get a whole bunch of anti-picture taking people to get their butts moving proved to be more work than its worth. But? Definitely my biggest regret of the whole trip.


2. Going to dinner more than once.

Why did I have ideas of going out for pizza this day. A restaurant that day. Maybe even another one for lunch. I mean, clearly, I am the mother of my child and I should know better. Plus? We were such big beach bums that by the time we would get home, shower, and unwind, it would be too late to make plans. So? We cooked almost everynight, ordered pizza and carryout a couple nights, and drank the night away. Okay okay, not everyone drank. Me and the kiddos were not allowed to the party. But everyone else did. And our entertainment for the week? The olympics. Needless to say, I passed out by 10 everynight. Just about.


3. The one time that we did go out to dinner.

So the one time that we did make it out to dinner? Was a complete failure. Here is the problem. My plan was to get Elliana down for a late night. We tried that. We battled that. It just didn't work out. Fine. Then my plan was that we would go watch the fireworks and eat somewhere outside. Easy enough right? Wrong. The thing is, it had started raining. THE ONE NIGHT that it rained the whole week and it had to be on firework night. So that plan was thrown out the window. We decided to go to harbour town, the next best thing. Unfortunately we didn't look close enough and went into one of the nicer restaurants where we had to sit inside.

"Sit inside? What? Have you lost your mind, mama?"- Elliana.

Apparantely I had. Because no amount of coloring, playing with blocks, and even Caillou on the ipad was winning my daughter over. In fact, we {her and I} were out of that restaurant within ten minutes of sitting down. And? We never made it back in.

Instead, her and I went to the ice cream shop next door. Purchased a scoop of raspberry cheesecake DELICIOUSNESS, and sat on the rocking chairs overlooking the harbour. Surprisingly, that was pretty pleasant.

Once we were done? We hit the shops and I purchased a little alligator toy for her.

The evening ended up okay in that sense. But I never got to sit down, or eat, and ended up going home a grump.



4. Pool time.

This was never on my must to-do list, so I'm not sure why I am adding it onto this list. But lets just say pool time only happened twice. Once if you want to count how many times we actually got in. Twice is how many times we actually went. The first time, Elliana really didn't enjoy it as much as she did back home. And the second time? Well that was the day before we left, right after Elliana had her busted lip incident. We were actually supposed to head to the beach, but because of this little accident we decided that wouldn't be a good idea. I thought maybe going to the pool would make her happy and distract her? That also proved to be a not-so-good idea. But staying home and cuddling and giggling proved to be brillian. Smart mama.

But overall? Not disappointed at all in the lack of pool time. We are total beach bums, like I've said before, and why go to the pool when we have one at home, right?


5. Healthy eating.

Again. Never was my goal, as I believe whole-heartedly that a vacation should be a vacation from healthy eating as well. Surprisingly, we didn't do too bad though. Lots of sandwhiches. Lots of fruits. Salad everynight. And with the exception of a dessert here and pizza there, I think we did pretty well for vacation.


6. Staying up late.

I tried guys. I really did. My eyes would peel shut as soon as 930 rolled around. It was absolutely pathetic. Sometimes? 8PM. Go ahead, call me a loser.

7. Nap time interruptions.

We definitely played around with naptime hours and I think we screwed ourselves over big time. Most days we pushed it back, and that was okay. Some days? It wasn't. There were a few anti-nap meltdowns, and I feel like it was harder to transition back to our normal routine once we got home. But? We did get a nap in EVERY day. That was a must.




8. First boo boo.

Well I think I have only written about this 10 times already, but whats another time going to hurt? So that was a big damper in the trip, mainly because of mama's broken heart. But out of all things that could go wrong? A little busted lip turned out to be just fine.

It was unfortunately our last night in hilton head. Our last day. And Elliana and I spent most of it in our condo. Quite alright though, we made our own little memories.





---So there you have it. Our trip in a nutshell. The car rides, the vacation, and the things that didn't go as planned. Did I miss anything? Probably. But I wouldn't change a thing about this week. And I absolutely can't wait to do it all over again. Except next time? We'll have another little body with us :)

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Vacation; The Week Long Events

8.29.12
*Color pictures only. Tomorrow will be strictly black and white. Also, just a disclaimer, my in-laws were also with us during this vacation, whom we had the best of time with and took lots of beautiful pictures with. However, these pictures will not be on the blog to respect their privacy. Just know, they were there with big smiling faces :) *

I talked about our ride to South Carolina and our trip home. Now the fun part, the actual vacation. Initially, I was going to split all the posts up into days. Day 1 and 2, days 3 and 4, and so forth. But then when I started writing, I realized that all the days would actually blend together. Because in reality, we did not do much of anything but be beach bums. And beach bums....well we gave that a whole new meaning. Each day was similar than the last. Each day was just as fun and relaxing. Each day was exactly what we all needed.



But lets get into a little further detail here.

On our first full day in Hilton Head Island, Sunday, Elliana and I were up early {surprise surprise}, while everyone was still nice and cozy in bed. It was about 7am, and I realized right away that we needed to get out of this overly quiet condo. And so we started a routine that we continued on throughout the week. Elliana would wake up bright and early, sometimes as early as 6am, and we would hang out for a little bit, eat our bananas, and then take a stroll over to my in-laws condo which was just down the street. I always enjoyed these walks, and theres just something about the South Carolina air, especially during the early morning hours, that brings a sort of peace around you. Hard to put into words really. Perfection pretty much sums it up.




But anyways, we would walk. And hold hands. And I'd kiss on my girl all the way over. And of course by the time we would arrive at the condo, she would light up each and everytime she would see her beloved grandma and grandpa. How exactly did I know that they would be up as early as us? Because those people {that I love} don't sleep! They are early birds, which worked out perfect for us.


Usually we would stay for about 30minutes to an hour in which Elliana would then either start getting fussy for breakfast or she would do her grunting and number 2 would come. Then we really knew it was time to go. A couple times during the week, I actually went with Andrew as well. I know. That means he was up at 7 am too. Hey, two parents here, we mean business.


So that was our typical morning. After we would go back to our condo, I would place Elliana up on her booster chair at the dinner table and she would eat her cereal while watching Caillou. At this point I would get myself ready and pack up our beach bags, cooler, and beach essentials.
By the time Elliana was done with her food, we would then get her ready, SPF'd up, suit on, shades and flip flops in tow. The car was jam packed, and me, my mom, sister, and E would hop in by 930 am and drive just down the street to the beach.

The thing that really saved us all week was the beloved red wagon, which I have written about plenty of times in the past. That thing truly has been amazing. Absolutely. We were able to pack our lives in this thing, squish the tiny tot in there, throw the beach chairs and tent around our shoulder and walk up the trail to the beach. And by trail, I mean like 100 feet.


There are two times {every day} that people would stare around this hour. That being once the wagon hit the sand {the rough part} and two of us looked like we were in major mode trying to push that thing. All while E was all smiles. And the second time was when we were trying to set up the tent.

The thing about 9am and the beach is that... well... it's 9 am and we are at the beach. Which means the wind is extreme. And extreme winds and a beach tent just don't do. Plus add 3 girls into the equation... and I'm pretty sure we were the morning entertainment for plenty of people.

No worries, we managed to get that thing up. And so our "little setup was in the making. Beach tent. Towel in the beach tent. Beach mats, one in front and one on the side. 4 beach chairs. Coooler and bags inside. Wagon parked on the side. Beach buckets and toys out. Boogie board placed on top of the mat for when the boys arrived later.

Ah. Yes. Finally, relaxation. Oh wait, what relaxation? Let's talk about the fact that there is a toddler present. A needy toddler at that. One that on the first day we learned did NOT like the sand. In fact, she would scream and cry if you even attempted to place her on that sand, near the water, or anywhere that did not resemble the tent or the wagon. She would throw her legs up in the air and tense up if she saw she was getting close to the sand. I mean seriously, I thought we had the drama queen of the century at the beach. There were babies her age and even some that were younger that you would see just run around the sand, into the water, and back. Elliana? No thank you. And this continued on for 3 days.

Finally, on the 4th day, while I was enjoying the ocean water, I turned around to see my mom holding hands with a little girl that resembled my daughter. One that was walking on her heels, and throwing her hands up in the air. One that had the look of terror on her face. Oh that one? Yah. That was in fact my daughter. I think my jaw hit the ground. She was walking on the sand. Actually walking. Okay, she had shoes on. But still, walking. Progress people. And I'm pretty sure every single person on the beach was staring at her. And laughing. And "awwwing." Yes, I do realize people that I have raised a prissy little lady. And you would think that this would lead to her to eventually want to walk on the sand? Play in the sound? Run her toes through the water? No way. She did manage to walk onto the sand without shoes on on day 6, with much hesitation and after much pressure from me and my mom.




So you would think this would mean that we never spent any time at the ocean? Right? Wrong. The thing about is, Elliana did wonderful when it came to the heat, sun, and the over-crowded beach. Remember, we had our set-up. And set-up, my friends, is crucial in this equation. We would stay 5hours on average at the beach. That means we ran into nap time. That means that a few of the days I had to take the bike back to the condo, make everyone lunch, and bring it back to the beach to eat. That means a lot of snacks were packed {and eaten}. That means a lot of entertainment was to be had. Books. Crayons. Play-doh. Toys. Towel over head. Spritz bottle. Whatever we had available to keep the toddler busy, we did.


And of course every 30-45 minutes we would take her out of her throne {the tent} and into the water with us. You know so she can see the waves. Maybe start liking it more? Maybe want to get in past her feet? No. That didn't happen. But mama enjoyed taking her out anyway.




Of course there were a couple of days in the week where we had a few meltdowns. One day I had to take her back around 1230 to nap, and another day at 2. I think overall though she did pretty well for us pushing her naptime so far back. I do have to say that the two days at the end where we let her name at 9am and didn't take her to the beach until 11-12 worked out awesome. We would then stay at the beach until about 5, and it was seriously when she was the most happiest. I think this is due partly to the fact that it would start cooling down around 3-4 and the sun wasn't as hot.




Our nights were alreays the same. By the time we got home from the beach we would all get cleaned up and talk dinner talk. Most nights we cooked. One night we went out. And a couple nights we ordered in. And our entertainment for the night was always the olympics. And booze for the non-pregnant adults. Everyone but myself, sister, and Elliana. So needless to say, I passed out early every night.

We ended the trip with a sad hoorah. Elliana ended up falling on the ground in the kitchen and busting her lip, which resulted in her and myself staying in and feeling pitiful for one another. Pitiful for her because she experienced her first boo boo ever. And pitiful for me because my heart was broken for her.

So we all gathered around the kitchen table that night and kind of reminisced about the week. How absolutely relaxing and wonderful everything went. Sure we didn't get to do everything that we had planned... but then again, we never went into it with these big plans. Our goal was to make it a VACATION. And I think we successfully did just that.

And by the time we got home? My dad was calling me asking where we want to go next year.

Big house. Both sides of the family. Beach. Sounds absolutely perfect.
----
And tomorrow? I bring to you..."what didn't go as planned." Because when does a vacation go as planned right? And the last of the pictures. IN BLACK AND WHITE!

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