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}