Iced In and Cabin Fever

We're going on day 4 of being iced-in and although we have gotten out of the house twice, I'm definitely ready for schedules to resume as normal! I am one girl who loves my routine. Stella's preschool is closed tomorrow since the ISD it's located in is delayed until 10am. We've watched lots of Christmas movies, eaten some yummy comfort foods, and had very lazy days, which really has been nice.

I had my sonogram last week at 31 weeks and Blakely is looking perfect. She put on quite the show for my mom and me. She was opening and closing her mouth, stretching her arms and then pulling her hand to her face, kicking everywhere…which is not surprising since I cannot imagine her being any more active! I am feeling her all the time! She weighed 3 lb 15 oz! She was head down and her little booty was up against my right rib cage and her feet at my left. It was such a ray of light in my week to see her! From the blood work at my 29 week appointment (yes, I'm already in my bi-weekly appointments -eek!) I was anemic, but I fear taking iron…so I'm pretty much walking around pretty tired. The indigestion has gotten awful, but other than that and a few nights of insomnia, I'm feeling pretty great!

We had to cancel my baby "sprinkle" this past Sunday because of the ice and the roads would have just been too dangerous. We decided to reschedule until after Blakely gets here and do a Sip and See…so I'm really looking forward to that. My "sprinkle" was going to be Christmas themed and I was just so excited about it - but nature didn't ask me my plans :)!

Stella is just a hoot these days. My favorite things she's saying/doing - which both are only cute after she's been corrected and I can laugh by myself about them - are asking me to "put my hairs down" and when I'm getting onto her she'll tell me "I'm the lost princess." So, as for the hair, she absolutely cannot stand for my hair to be up in a pony tail. She wants my "hairs down" and will actually cry and nearly pitch a fit if it's not down. So….we're working on that, especially since hair is kind of low on my priority list right now and its just a heck of a lot easier to wear it up! The "lost princess" thing is a bit much, I'll admit, but it's taken my so long to figure out what she's been saying! You may remember her obsession with the Disney movie, Tangled (i.e. "Punzel" as she called it). At the end of the movie, after Rapunzel has found out that she's the lost princess and is standing up to the woman she believed to be her mother all these years, Rapunzel says in a defiant tone "I'm the lost princess, aren't I, Mother?" Well, apparently little sponge brain picked up on that and after I correct her or have to get onto her about something she tells me she's the "lost princess." So, now I'm having to correct that, too! But, I am secretly laughing about it! And, hold up, that makes me the queen mother, right?! :)

That's about all there is here - we're really enjoying this Christmas season and looking forward to a few fun outings that we have planned. I'm almost done with Stella's room - just a couple more things to put on her walls and I'm waiting for her bed rail to be delivered! So, she should be in there within a week or so! And just 8 more weeks until Blakely arrives…unless she decides to make an early appearance!

Scorpions and Such

Well, I'm going to start this post by telling you that two weeks ago my sweet girl got stung by a scorpion. Scariest moment ever. Blake was out of town at the deer lease for a few days (of course something like this would happen when I'm by myself). And I REALLY like to think of myself as being able to handle these type of situations with a clear mind….but I'll admit, I'm dramatic and emotional especially when I'm seeing my baby girl in pain. She was sitting on the fireplace just playing away with her baby dolls and she started grabbing her foot and crying. I asked her to come here and she just sat there bawling and still holding her foot, so I walked over there and picked her up. I actually saw nothing on her foot or leg that would have indicated anything was wrong, but then I looked at the fireplace right where her foot would have been and saw this…

Definitely freaked out. We ended up going into the dr.'s office and other than her crying because of the initial pain, she was fine. Our doctor said next time, just Benadryl and Cortisone cream will be fine. Well, let's hope there's NO next time, but if you follow me on Instagram our scorpions are well-documented and I'm actually relieved none of us have been stung prior to this. Apparently, scorpions around these parts are just like bee stings (but the ones in South America are much more dangerous…lil fact for ya). I blame it on the trees and especially now that the trees are all coming down because of the gas pipeline, I'm gearing up for more scorpion sitings (wahhhhh).

{At the doctor's office - she looks so pitiful}

We've had a great few weeks. Stella is saying the funniest things. Like when I tell her it's nap time, she'll look at me and hold up a finger and say "Almost!" Sometimes I give in, other times I'm quite ready for a little break. I'm back to being pretty tired and worn out from this pregnancy, so I covet any down time I can get. Stella has also been saying she's "nakedy" when we get undressed….and this is probably my favorite word of hers right now. It's so funny! She likes to negotiate with me about things (especially nap and night time) and tell me, "I'm gonna go lay on the couch some minutes." She's always been a great sleeper and still is, but there are some days where she's dropping her naps. She still goes to her crib for some "rest" or "alone" time, but many times she doesn't fall asleep. Night time is still great and I'm very thankful for that. She's now 2 1/2 and has seemed to hit a bit of an attitude and talking back/being disrespectful. That's been challenging, but I'm just trying to remain consistent.

After Halloween, I've started putting her hair in a lot more pony tails. She'll usually leave them in for way longer than she's ever left any bow in her hair, but if we go to get in the car she'll tell me "it's hurting" - which makes NO sense to me because the pony tail is on top of her head and not at all touching the back of the car seat. But, I just think she looks so stinkin' cute in the pony tails AND it gets all that hair out of her face!

I'll be 29 weeks pregnant tomorrow and I really love this stage of pregnancy as far as looks go (because every girl is a little vain!). I love it because I look legitimately pregnant, but I'm not swelling yet. If this pregnancy is like Stella's, then I have at least 3 more weeks and then I'll resign myself to swelling and no public pictures of myself! On the flip side, this is definitely the stage of pregnancy where pretty much everything hurts. I'm having lots of lower and middle back pain, some groin pain (ligaments), shortness of breath, pottying WAY too often, headaches again, heartburn, insomnia, and just fatigue. But, feeling Blakely move around like a little acrobat is so worth all the pain in the world. Stella still talks about Blakely multiple times a day and I can't wait to see what a great big sister she's going to be. We're at a bit of a stand still with Stella's room because I'm waiting on her dresser and nightstand to be done and then I'm looking for a bookshelf and/or something to store and organize books and toys. But, I'm just so surprisingly laid back about all this that I'm loving my new-found procrastination mode and I'm just going to go with the flow:)

{wearing her sunglasses like mommy}

{shopping the Dallas Sample Sale with my beautiful SIL}

{Playing at Tanner's 4th birthday party!}

{We had to get a new AC/Heater - it was pretty cold in our house that morning}

{It's wheat planting time!}

{Family night - daddy built a fire and fort…and of course we had to make S'mores!}

Halloween '13

The day before Halloween, we went to my parent's house to paint pumpkins! Aunt Ray Ray joined us and we had a fun, messy time painting each of our pumpkins. G-Mommy helped Stella with her pumpkin and Stella loved switching up her colors and sticking her dirty brush in each of the colors. We just let her go at it and she had a blast. My mom had also gotten three cat masks for us to paint, too. Stella started out painting the whole thing orange and then she added every single other color! We have a little girl who definitely loves to paint and color! My mom had set up a fun lunch for us and then when Stella went down for her nap I started on pumpkin spice cookies. Oh my YUM! My first attempt at the cookies ended up with me having to re-do all the ingredients and so the second time around I bothered to READ the directions. I was a bit distracted the first go 'round and had to take Stella upstairs while I was combining ingredients the first time, so I combined every single ingredient before I realized that was incorrect. I'm SO glad I re-did it (I almost said to heck with it) because they may be one of my favorite cookies ever now. The icing is amazing, too. I'm glad I ate a few cookies at my parents house, because all the cookies I took home didn't even last a full 12 hours (ahem, thanks honey, take the pregnant girl's cookies ;))! I included the recipe below and I will probably be making another batch this week!

I picked up Stella's "Dorofy" (as she likes to call it) costume at Kid to Kid over a month ago. She already had a little stuffed dog that looked like Todo, and then my mom got her a little basket for Todo from Hobby Lobby. To date, I had not put her hair in pony tails or pig tails. And I'm not real sure why...other than her hair is a little overwhelming. It seems to grow out sideways rather than down! But, as soon as I put those pig tails in her hair I about died of cuteness! I was so happy with the way her costume came together...and of course she totally owned it!

Halloween night we went to the Trunk or Treat at our church. We had so much fun last year on the Abbott's hay ride, but I wanted to do something a little different this year. Plus, I've noticed that Stella is really starting to pay attention and notice things that scare her. She was kind of oblivious and too young last year to get scared. I just remembered so many "scary" things in the neighborhood last year that I wanted to take her somewhere that I knew would have less of a chance of the "scary" stuff being there.  I'm just not ready for her to start being fearful of things like that. She had a BLAST at Trunk or Treat and was so cute looking at everything. She loved someone's car who had done spiderman and batman. They had a blow up spider man on top of their van and she could not peel herself away! She was a little nervous of Darth Vader at the Stars Wars car at first, but she seemed to get over it. They had some bounce houses and bounce slides and she loved those, too. We had a great evening and I just loved seeing my cute little Dorothy enjoying herself! My parents, sister, sister in-law, brother in-law, niece, mother in-law and father in-law all came to the Trunk or Treat - I love having our families close by!

{My ADORABLE little niece!! Grace is rocking the monster costume!}

Pumpkin Spice Cookies:

 Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of softened butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• Frosting
• 1 cup (2 sticks) of softened butter
• 8 oz of room temperature cream cheese
• 4 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• pinch of kosher salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine sugar and butter, and beat with paddle attachment until fluffy.
4. Add egg and vanilla, and continue beating until combined.
5. Add flour mixture and stir just until combined.
6. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
7. Roll two tablespoons of cookie dough into a ball and place on baking sheet.
8. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until edges are golden. Don't over bake.
9. Let cool and frost.
10. Sprinkle cookies with additional pumpkin pie spice.
11. To prepare frosting, using the paddle attachment, beat butter, powdered sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
12. With mixer still running, add in vanilla extract.
13. Divide cream cheese into 8 cubes and drop them into the mixture one at a time until well combined.

All Things Fall

This is definitely my favorite time of year - all the holidays, the cooler weather, just everything. We've done lots of fun things so far this month and have a couple more fun activities planned before November comes.

A brief pregnancy update - I'm 26 weeks this week and I feel just great. Aside from the normal aches and pains, anything beats nausea and throwing up! I was SUPER sore for a couple weeks in my lower abdomen and sure enough I had quite the growth spurt afterwards...but I am definitely one who LOVES having a baby belly. It's so special and I really enjoy everything about this belly growing bigger! Blakely is right on target for growth, but that little girl must really positioned on my bladder. I'm getting up between 4-7 times a NIGHT!! And I cut myself off from having any liquid after dinner. Kind of a bummer.

We've finished painting Stella's "big girl room" and will be pulling her "big girl bed" down from the attic within the next week. She's so funny and asks quite a few times each day to go see her "big girl room." Stella is just loving school and asks about her teacher, Ms. Amy, all the time. When we walk into preschool, she starts telling all the teachers down the hallway, "I'm baaaack!!" Of course, because the whole world revolves around her ;) She just runs into her classroom without looking back! I have some pictures below from her fall festival at school. They had us decorate their tricycles and they did a parade {which for youngsters was more like contained chaos in the gym}, then had a bounce house, train, and a party! She talks about her "lil sister" and "Blakely" and wants to feel my belly any time I mention that Blakely is kicking. She cannot WAIT to hold Blakely once she gets here and reminds me that she gets to hold her. We also had a super fun trip to the Arboretum with my mom at the beginning of the month. We got there right when it opened and had a good hour before it started getting really crowded. I finally gave up trying to get Stella to look at the camera and just snapped away hoping I'd get a few decent ones! I put an album on FB so I wouldn't overload this post with pumpkin pics, but I was really happy with how they all turned out! We also went to the State Fair of Texas, which might be one of my favorite places! Again, we got there close to when it opened (on a rainy Wednesday) and it was quite pleasant until about noon and then the crowd picked up. Stella LOVED the rides. It was so precious and she actually cried when it was time to leave the rides. She of course loved the animals too...and I loved the food. We went with my parents, sister, and Blake was able to come! He likes to pretend like he's not going to come with me until the last minute! Stella also took a little trip up to my dad's office and she is hilarious. My mom took her up there and I met them for lunch afterwards, but they said she walked into the office of one of the highest positioned guy's office and she said "What choo doing in here?" He's one of my dad's closest friends at work so they got a total kick out of her. I love how she walked around most everywhere like she owns the place! That's one of her favorite questions though, along with "why" and "what happened?" (still!) Stella cannot get enough of football and wants to go to any game she can or watch it on TV any time it's on....she's told me a few times while we're watching it on TV that she wants to "hug 'em" (the football players) - no clue why, but it's funny! One afternoon after preschool, Blake and I took Stella to Elevate trampoline park and we had the place to ourselves! We were there a little less than an house, but she had a blast! They have some mommy and me discounts so we'll probably go back one rainy day!

I also got to have a little girls trip this month, which was SO needed. We went to my friend, Lauren's, in-laws lake house in Mt. Vernon and had the most relaxing time. Mt. Vernon was having their city's fall festival, so that got us out of the house for a little bit, and other than that we stayed in and chatted, watched movies, and made yummy treats! I was also able to go to the Just Between Friends Sale (which is a consignment sale) at the beginning of this month, too. I scored some great stuff, but the prices were so comparable to Kid to Kid, that I'm not sure it's worth going back next year.

One of my two best girlfriends from high school had her gender reveal party last weekend and it was so cute how she decorated and so much fun and anticipation for finding out her sweet little baby is a GIRL! I also found out that night that my other best friend from GCA is pregnant too - I'm SO excited that we're all three pregnant together. We were inseparable in high school and have kept in touch these last 10 years, even though we don't spend as much time together as we'd like, we're still always there for the important things! That same night, Blake and I decided to randomly go to Medieval Times. Stella was staying at Blake's mom's house, so I love how spontaneous we were and how much fun we had!

{Girls Trip!}

{Loved spending time with these girls}

{Yep....these were a must}

{Having fun at the fair}

{Loved hanging out with my family}

{So sweet to see Stella having such a great time}

{She wore daddy out at the trampoline park}

{Cheering at the football game for her cousin}

{Tricycle Parade - I spent way too much time decorating that thing}

{Stella might have take quite a few trips in this train!}

{Party time!}

{I just die when I look at all these sweet pumpkin pictures}

{Love}

{She wouldn't stay in my lap very long, but at least we got a decent pic together!}

{Smiles!}

{Playing at G-Daddy's office}

{Three preggo friends!}

{It's a GIRL!}

{So glad we got to be part of this!}

{Our fun, random date night!}

{Love him}