"Oh My Goodness"

Here is Addie's latest saying, "Oh my goodness".....

As I was wondering where she could have possibly picked that one up, I heard myself saying it several times just last night. Hmmmmm....gotta be very careful what we say lately! In her silliness last night, she also began calling me "mommium" and that has continued today as well. She just keeps us laughing!

Over the weekend, Chris built Addie (and future kiddos) a swing set in our backyard. It began as a pile of wood and slowly transformed into "Addie's house" as she calls it. Addie LOVES to swing and slide so both of those features are included in our new swing set. It is nothing huge and it's not totally finished, but the swing and slide are ready for use and she absolutely loves it! I will have to say that Chris almost drilled a hole in his thumb early in the day on Saturday, but refused to stop working until he made some major progress on the swing set. He's going to the doctor today to have it checked out...just hoping it's not infected or anything fun like that.

The "before"

Leaning on the roof of "Addie's house"

Helping mark the drill holes

Helping daddy drill

Sitting in Addie's house--nice socks, Daddy!

Testing out the swing (it definitely met her approval)

Ready to slide!

In preggo news, my body has decided to give up on me a little earlier than it did with Addie. I have been going to physical therapy about 2-3 times a week to help with back pain and sciatic nerve issues (I'm sure I've been overdoing it a bit lately, which hasn't helped). "No lifting Addie" is on my list of don'ts so it has been very challenging around here lately. My mom and Chris have been major saviors for me as I'm trying to help my body prepare for the big day. Of course, between Christopher's bum thumb and my limitations, we're not doing much good around here. Addie has learned how to use a stool to climb up and down and she has been very patient (for a 21 month old!) with me. Only a few more weeks to go and honestly, I can't complain a bit about how easy this pregnancy has been up to this point. Now we're just ready for a baby! (Or are we?)

A Weekend in Indy

This past weekend, we hit the road to Indy for our last "hoorah" of traveling before baby #2 arrives. Somehow it worked out that we were able to visit with three different friends of mine from college...who are all very dear to my heart. Our first stop was in Franklin (where I went to college) to visit the McCrary's. Stephanie and I had every class together our senior year in college and grew very close...I was even in their wedding the summer following our graduation. We've always had a special friendship where we can go months and months without talking and just pick right back up where we left off. Stephanie and Jeff have 2 beautiful girls, Elaina and Emily. Addie warmed up to them quickly and they enjoyed their evening of playing hide and seek, gymnastics, and "jump on Jeff" together. It was a short visit, but great catching up and watching our girls play.

Stephanie and I with our girlies

Goodbye hugs!

The next stop was at our friends' Amanda and Topher's house. Amanda and I started hanging out more my senior year in college as well. She was a year behind me in school, so I relived my senior year again through her after I graduated :) We have the same decorating taste so Addie always feels right at home when we stay with them...although Amanda has lots more Boyd's bears than I do so Addie was extremely excited to see how many of them she could round up right away. She also enjoyed their fish and even got to help feed it. I think we might have to get a tiny aquarium and welcome a new pet into our family soon. Unfortunately, Topher was working a lot so we didn't get to see him a whole lot, but we managed to stay up late for some good chatting.

With Topher and Amanda and "Wibley" (one of the many bears)

Reading the "Pitter book" (Very Hungry Caterpillar) before bed

On Saturday afternoon, we ventured up to Noblesville to visit the Troxels. Cheryl and I were college roommates and attached at the hip the first few years of college. Our friendship changed and grew over the years and it has been so much fun to watch Cheryl and her family grow. Cheryl and Chris have 3 girls, the newest is only 3 months old and we were meeting baby Olivia (Livie) for the first time. Addie was very curious about Livie and wanted to hold her right away as if she was one of her baby dolls at home. She got to play outside in their sandbox and in their playroom with all sorts of fun toys. After dinner, it was just so nice to catch up and watch the girls play together. Addie couldn't handle her curiosity any longer and finally gave little Livie a sweet pat on the belly. It was pretty precious and hopefully she will respond this positively to our new baby!

With Avery in the playroom

Styling Mia's hair

Getting a peek at Livie

Patting Livie

On Sunday, we even got to see a little bit of Uncle Mikey at Jimmy John's for lunch. We were all tired and ready to get home by this point. It's always a bit emotional for me to leave my friends, but I know we will see them all again soon. Thanks so much for the visits McCrarys, Morris', and Troxels! We love you all!

Addie Update and Nesting Me

Big Sister with her baby sling

I guess it's only fair that since I added a post updating baby news, I ought to have one for Addie too! She's truly been a hoot lately, especially with her phrases and little antics that make her Addie. "Thank you, Mommy" are my most favorite words these days...it just melts my heart every time she says it and it actually happens more than a few times daily. She loves to play the hiding game and even if you're in the same room but not visible, she yells "Mommy, whe-aw-you, whe-aw-you, Mommy!" The whe-aw-you is "where are you" of course for all those who don't speak Addiese.

Her newest game, which has been a blessing to tired and worn out me, is pretending to serve coffee, lemonade, tea, milk or whatever drink and snack you choose. She has been playing pretend since a very early age, but it has spiraled into a wonderful long-lasting game we all love to play. You see, we have an old trunk that I repainted in our living room and it has a nail poking through the front (not sticking out as to harm anyone, just poking through and flattened into the wood). It started out as a soap dispenser, but is now a spigot for any type of drink you could imagine. If you ask nicely, you may even receive cream and sugar in your coffee if you prefer.

All sorts of objects around our house have become cake, donuts, cookies, and other snack type foods to be served with the specialty drinks. I was feeling really bad that we don't have any play food around here so I broke down and bought some at Wal-mart on Friday. Although it doesn't have the assortment I was hoping for, she has been enjoying it very much and goes straight to it before playing with anything else. If we only had room in our house for a play kitchen...



This weekend was designated fall cleaning/rearranging/organizing/decorating time. I always look forward to putting away all my summer stuff and pulling out the wonderful fall stuff! This is probably my favorite season if I had to pick one. Our living room is rearranged and all of Addie's toys and books are nicely stored on a bookshelf I used to have in my classroom and Chris painted it for me--yay! I feel so much better about bringing a new baby home and we might even have room to put the swing in here now that it's somewhat organized. A big thank you to my husband for putting up with my indecisiveness and grouchiness throughout the big cleaning weekend...and especially thanks for washing all the windows, cleaning the bathrooms, and mopping the kitchen floor (all jobs I HATE doing).

While I've been in super-nesting mode, this morning I decided to go ahead and go through all of Addie's clothes and put away stuff that's too little and dig out all the baby onesies, gowns, and PJs. I am washing everything as I write this ;) Thankfully, everything for a tiny baby is neutral for a boy or girl so we'll save getting out anything "girly" for later if necessary. I would LOVE to be able to use all of Addie's stuff again and not have to buy new, but I suppose it would be kind of fun to add some boy goodies to our stash too :) Someone small really enjoyed going through all of her shoes and trying to put the tiny ones on her big feet. We even dug out the infant car seat and bathtub and she just had to try out the car seat. I think I hurt her feelings when I told her that it was for babies and that she was too big, so I broke down and let her sit in it for a bit.

Baby Update

Well, it's hard to believe that I have LESS than 2 months to go before this baby is HERE!!! I must say that I can't really complain about anything because this pregnancy has been pretty easy, just like Addie was....it's just different this time since I have an energetic toddler to keep me busy day and night!

I had a Dr's appointment yesterday and everything is looking great...heart rate was 140 this time, which is one of the lowest ones so far. Baby (Bubsis, as I've started calling "it") has already made the big move to head down position and hopefully will stay put for the weeks to come. This child is VERY active and Addie has started to develop a very small interest in feeling my belly when Bubsis is moving around. Yesterday, she sat with me on the couch and laid her head on my belly for a very long time...sweetest thing. And she constantly says, "I wuva you baby" (which translates to: I love you baby). According to her, we're having a "bubby sissy" (hence the nickname, Bubsis) and we're going to name it "Mommy Daddy" and we'll call it "Addie" for short.

I have started a slow process of nesting, thinking about getting the house organized and ready for this new life. After all, if Bubsis comes early like his/her sister did, we could be down to only 4 or so weeks left! If you know Chris and I at all, you know we are not the "planning" type and tend to not stress about little details until the last minute. I think we feel a bit more prepared this time around since we already have all the necessities for bringing home a new baby and we're just anxiously awaiting the big day! It will be here before we know it!

A Birthday Surprise

Chris celebrated his 28th birthday this past Wednesday and since we agreed not to buy each other gifts for our birthdays, I decided it might be fun to surprise him with a trip away this weekend. He's not very good at surprises and of course asked a billion questions about our destination, but I kept everything a secret until we got there. We got in the car on Friday afternoon and headed East and arrived at our first stop, The Overlook Restaurant, for dinner. The Overlook is in Leavenworth, Indiana and sits on a hill overlooking many miles of the Ohio River. Unfortunately, it was a bit misty and gloomy when we were there so these pictures don't do it justice, but it was still very neat to sit and eat and watch the barges go by. Here is the website where you can see more views from the Overlook: http://www.theoverlook.com/

The "misty" view of the river from The Overlook

We continued on the scenic byway after dinner and arrived in Corydon, Indiana which is where we would stay the night. I found this wonderful Bed and Breakfast called the Kintner House Inn and we just hung out there and enjoyed the quiet, slow-paced atmosphere for the evening. The Kintner House was built in 1873 and was restored many years later to become a Bed and Breakfast. It was absolutely beautiful and the breakfast on Saturday morning was very yummy! To learn more about the Kintner House, visit http://www.kintnerhouse.com/

The Kintner House Inn from the outside

Not knowing anything about Corydon, we asked around and found out a few things we should check out. Butt Drugs was on the "to do" list for Saturday and we were anxious to see what it was all about. Butt Drugs is a family owned drug store and pharmacy, but it is also houses an original soda fountain (which is what we were interested in!). They are known for their many choices of soda drinks, 35 cent coffee, ice cream, shakes, and other specialty drinks. So after walking around the square and visiting a few shops and having a small lunch, we ventured over to Butt's to get our drinks. Chris got a Vanilla Coke and I had a Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana milkshake...mmmmmmmm. Delicious!

We headed west on the scenic byway and ran into Wyandotte Caves and decided to make our last stop there before heading home. I had never been in a cave, so this was a first for me. I didn't know how I would do since I'm quite claustrophobic, but it was fine. Our tour guide was this young man who was a bit quirky and silly, so we just giggled at him the whole time. It was about 52 degrees in the cave, so it was a great break from the heat too :)

When we returned from the cave tour, we discovered that our van battery was dead...so after a call to AAA and learning that it could be close to an hour before they would arrive, Chris tracked down a nice man who had jumper cables with him and we got it started right away. We continued our drive along the byway all the way home and we were able to see many breathtaking views of the river. It sure didn't feel like we were in Indiana.

We got to one intersection just in time to see a line of horse-drawn wagons driving along, probably close to 15 or so of them. At first I thought they were Amish, but the wagons had seats from modern vehicles in them for comfort and the people were definitely not Amish. It turns out they were part of a Mule Tour, so the "horses" were really mules. I wanted to take pictures, but Chris thought that would be a bit "touristy" and embarrassing. Boo. It was pretty neat though!

I think we both realized that this would probably be our last little escape before the baby arrives so it was nice to just enjoy each other for the day. Corydon is a really neat town and it would be fun to go back to the Kintner House sometime in the future. I would highly recommend driving the scenic byway through Indiana also...especially when the leaves begin to change in the weeks to come! Learn more about the byway here: http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2286/itinerary/4038

A Busy Labor Day Weekend

I'm a little late on this blog, but thought I'd get in a quick update before I get too far behind :) Last Friday, we went on another adventure with Melissa and Luke and this time we went to the zoo. We planned to do an "abbreviated" zoo trip, but ended up seeing basically the entire zoo. The kids had a great time together, even held hands at one point (so cute!). We had a wonderful experience seeing lots of animals close up and Addie even got to feed the giraffe a leaf. Here are a few pictures from our outing.

Good pals!

Watching the river otters close up

Feeding a goat, and not all that excited about it!

Addie has grown up so much in the last month it seems. She is talking up a storm, in (almost) complete sentences. She even sang "Happy Birthday" to Chris this week and it was just too adorable. I will admit that I had tears in my eyes, it was so sweet! In the last week or two, she has figured out how to "dress herself." She loves getting into my drawers and pulling out shorts and shirts of mine and putting them over her head. Here she is trying on her Christmas dress I just finished (obviously, it is upside down and probably inside out too). But she does it herself and she is so proud.

Chris and I had our 10 year high school reunion this last weekend, among many other events including a wedding, a man-baby shower (known as Diapers for Brewskies), and a few birthday celebration dinners. We were disappointed with the turnout at the reunion, but still managed to have a good time hanging out with our friends and catching up. One of my good friends, Josi, is pregnant and due at the same time as I am and we decided to catch a picture of the bellies at the reunion. (Notice, even our purses are the same!). And of course her husband, Jess, had to make an appearance...he's the Diapers for Brewskies guy :)