Nit's News

....Is Now a Family of Four

2012-01-24T20:44:00.000-05:00

We knew this past weekend was our last weekend as a trio, but we had no idea that Sunday really was our last day as a family of three.I truly thought I'd last until my scheduled c-section on the 27th. I had the week planned out in my head-work my usual shifts and a special Mommy/Avery day on my day off Wednesday.

Well, someone had other plans for us!

Here's our story.....

Sunday night we went to bed gearing up for work on Monday. I went to bed around 10pm like usual.

I woke up around 3:30am to use the bathroom (big surprise when you're pregnant!), got back in bed and realized that the baby wasn't moving much. This was pretty unusual since normally when I get out of bed then get back in bed, the baby would be very active. So of course my mind starts racing and I start to worry something is wrong.

I couldn't fall back asleep and then at 4:30 I had a shooting pain across my back that was very familiar. My doc had told me on Friday that she thought the baby was posterior like Avery was and that I'd probably have a lot of back labor again. As soon as I felt that pain, I knew what it was. I'm sorry, but you never forget that type of pain!

I just stayed in bed waiting to see if anything would happen again and sure enough, about 12 minutes later, I felt it again. I decided to come downstairs and get my iPhone. I downloaded a contraction timer right on the spot to keep track of things. I had another contraction while downstairs then headed back up to bed.

Around 5am, Gabe was semi-awake so I told him I was having contractions. We debated what to do since they were still about 12 minutes apart.

My Mom gets up for work at 5:30am so I knew she would be awake then. She wanted to drive in from Buffalo for the birth so I decided to call her right at 5:30. Of course she said she'd be on her way ASAP! I ended up calling my Dad too (also in Buffalo) but knew it might be hard for him to get out of work so quickly that day. He told me to keep him posted and if things progressed, he'd try to head out here.

Around 6am my contractions were a little closer-around 8 minutes apart. We both decided to get in the shower real quick in anticipation of having to leave soon. By the time I got out of the shower, they were coming about 6 minutes apart and getting a little more painful.

As I continued getting ready and packing last minute things in my bag, the contractions were around 5 minutes apart. I decided to call the doctor's office and see what they suggested. It was now 7am and we decided to wake up Avery and get her to daycare. I felt awful waking her since we usually let her sleep until she wakes on her own (around 8-830) but we thought it was the best thing to do.

My doctor called me back shortly after 7am and asked how I was doing. I told her the contractions were about every 5 minutes but they weren't super painful. She told me to head to the hospital but that it wasn't a huge rush. She was more concerned about my prior c-section and the risks involved with that.

My Mom showed up at our house around 7:15 and all of a sudden I was like "we need to get going." I could tell the intensity was picking up and knew we had a drive ahead of us. We had to drop Avery off at daycare and then get to the hospital-we were looking at a good half hour in the car.

Let's just say the car ride was horrible. My contractions were coming roughly every 3-4 minutes and were really bad. It was all back labor too. The best way to describe it (sorry this will be TMI) is it feels like you have to have a bowel movement rightnow and you're trying to hold it in. Multiply that times 10 and that's how I felt. Needless to say I was basically climbing out of the passenger seat with each contraction and pounding my fist on the door of the car (yes it's comical to think of now!).

And the worst part? We hit rush hour traffic! It never crossed my mind but there were times we were in a stand still and I was not a happy camper at all. I think by the end of the car ride, my contractions were closer to 3 minutes apart.

So we drop off Avery then head to the hospital-of course I'm still climbing out of the chair and pounding my fist on the door. Gabe called the hospital and asked for a wheelchair to be waiting for us. That was a fun ride too (NOT!). As they're pushing me towards the elevator, one of the doctors from my practice (who I happened to see quite a bit for my appointments) walked by and was like "Hey! Looks like something is going on here! I won't go too far!" (My doctor was on call all weekend and her on call ended at 8am so she did tell me this doctor would be the one on call today).

We got up to the check in desk and it was now 8am.

They took me to triage and had me change into a gown (seriously-I can't even sit still and you want me to change my clothes?!). A doctor came by to check me and I was 5cm dilated.

The doctor said "So I see you had a prior c-section. Were you going to go for the VBAC or do a repeat c-section?" I was in so much pain that I was just like "I don't care just get it out!" Then they told me that either way it would be at least another 20 minutes to get things started. And I cried saying "I can't wait that long! I can't do it!" And of course they told me I really had no choice at that point and that they were going to call anesthesia about an epidural.

I have no idea how much time passed, but it wasn't long. I all of a sudden felt like I had to push and I told them that. Next thing I know I'm wheeled to another room (a labor/delivery room) and they want me to get out of bed and get into another bed (again, seriously?!). The same doctor came and checked me and told me I was already at 7cm.

I still had a very strong urge to push and they kept yelling at me not to because it wasn't safe. That was the hardest thing ever. I was lying on my side death gripping the bed rails and just moaning/screaming in pain with every contraction. I remember being very hot and very thirsty-they kept giving me cold washcloths for my forehead and Gabe was giving me water throughout. I kept telling them I had to push and so they checked me again-I was 8.5cm.

They were going to give me Nubain to help with the pain since they didn't know how long anesthesia would take. but for some reason I hadn't gotten it yet. At one point, I heard a doctor ask the nurse, "Did you give her the Nubain?" and the nurse said, "No, I haven't had time." What the hell the nurse was doing, I have no idea!

Anyways, the anesthesiologist comes up and starts to rattle off some long list of garbage-I didn't hear a word she was saying as I was writhing in pain. Gabe was answering all of her questions and I was just like "Just give it to me!"

Again I told them I had to push and they checked me-9.5cm! At that point they were like, "Sorry, we can't give you anything right now for the pain." I started to cry again (I should say I tried to cry-I was crying but no tears were coming out-maybe from it being so dry in there?). I went through a few more contractions and they decided it was time for me to push (THANK YOU!).

And let me tell you that pushing is not as easy as you would think. There's way too many things to think about....legs out to the side and relaxed, elbows out, chin to chest, push down and not with your face. Yeah, try doing that 3-4 times every 2 minutes or so!

At some point the doctor from my practice showed up-I have no idea if I was already pushing or what, but she did show up. I pushed roughly a half hour and we sort of ended up like I did with Avery-they could see a very small part of the head with each push, but nothing was really happening. I remember saying to Gabe, "I can't do this anymore! I'm so tired." and of course he was like "Yes, you can do it!" When I spoke to my doctor in the morning, she had told me that I got to call the shots as for how long I wanted to push. Basically she said if I hit a half hour and nothing was happening to elect for the c-section. She didn't want me as fatigued as I was with Avery's birth. So at this point, Gabe said to the docs, "Her doctor said to push for a half hour and that's it-if it's not going to happen, we just want the c-section." The doctor from my practice was basically like, "I really think you can push the baby out-if I didn't think you could, I'd call it but I really think you can do this. I think what we'll do is help you out a bit and use forceps."

So, the forceps went in (yep, not comfortable, especially when they tell you not to push when you're having a contraction) and they said on the next set of contractions that I could push. So I pushed my little heart out and yes there was a lot of pain. They say without meds it feels like a "ring of fire" when the baby crowns and they are right. It felt like someone lit a match to my nether regions for a few seconds. The only thing I remember is saying "Oh my God it HURTS!" (which Gabe told me after that that's when he thinks I tore a bit).

With a few pushes, I looked down and there was the baby in my doctor's hands! I saw them cut the cord (they had to do it since the baby had a bowel movement inside), then the baby got whisked away to be checked.

She was born at 9:46am. So if you're keeping track, my labor started at 4:30am, I got to the hospital at 8am, the nurse told me I went from 5cm-10cm in 40 minutes and ended up pushing for roughly an hour. Yep, very fast labor...5 hours from start to finish!

After about a minute I was like "wait, what is it?" and the nurse shouted "It's a girl!" I started to ~~not~~ cry again and looked at Gabe and said "Avery was right, that little shit!" and the doctors laughed at me!

At this point they started putting me back together-delivered the placenta (painful again) then I had to get stitches (yep, more pain at times). Because of the forceps, I had almost a 3rd degree tear so it took them a good half hour to get me all sewn up. Gabe got to hold the little peanut and brought her over to see me. I got to hold her once I was all put back together and of course we were immediately in love!

I will say that 99% of the time I was in my own little world. From the time we got to the hospital and through most of the delivery I was just in a zone. I remember at one point near the end of pushing, I had my eyes closed and just saw darkness and I asked God for help. I'm not a very religious person, but sometimes there's a time and a place for it and I felt it in that moment.

Gabe was obviously by my side and such a great coach but I think I only looked at his face once and I'm sure it was to cry about something! I remember squeezing the life out of his hands and wringing the chest of his shirt several times, but really, I was zoned out (sorry honey!). I will say that there was no way I could have gone through all of this without him. I wanted to throw in the towel numerous times, but he kept talking me through it and all I can say is I did it!! I never expected to have a VBAC, let alone a med-free VBAC! I've heard of people doing it, but it never crossed my mind that it would be me.

So, without further ado.....

Please meet Cassandra Grace! Born Monday, January 23rd at 9:46am. She weighed in at 6lbs 10oz and was 19" long.

First photo!

6lbs 10oz

The new addition!

My Mom and the peanut

Proud Grandpa

After Avery got out of daycare, Gabe brought her by for a quick visit. Of course I was nursing her when she got there so I don't think she knew how to react at first.

Avery entering the room

After a few minutes she said "I want to see the baby!" and climbed up on my bed and wanted to touch her and look at her.

Big sister

Our family of 4

All swaddled up!

My Mom and Dad of course were there for the birth. Gabe's parents unfortunately couldn't be there. His Dad recently had surgery so they had to stay home. Of course they got a phone call right away but we missed having them there!

Our friends Richie and Julie stopped by in the evening to meet the little peanut:

And that was the end of day 1!

(I also realized that I never got a belly pic before leaving the house so I don't have any proof of how big I was! I was a little pre-occupied at the time!)

Our Family of Three.....

2012-01-22T20:36:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that we just finished our last weekend together as a family of three. Next weekend, we will be a family of four, which is just crazy to think!

Yesterday was a nice "me" day....I met a friend (and old coworker) of mine for breakfast. Then I went to the AT&T store to get a new phone. Long story short....I inherited Gabe's old iPhone and it started randomly shutting off on me and the only way I could get it back on was to plug it in. I took it to the Apple Store and they tried doing something to it and it didn't work. So I had to bite the bullet and buy a new one. After going to AT&T, I had an appointment to get my haircut. Gabe had Avery over at my In-Laws' house for most of the morning for a nice visit.

Once they got home, we played then went out to Moe's for dinner. We put Avery to bed and just relaxed.

This morning Avery and I went to one of her friend's house for a playdate. The kids had a great time! After coming home and getting lunch for Avery, I went grocery shopping. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and playing with Avery.

Just gearing up for the week ahead-work and the arrival of the new baby on Friday (if not before)!

T Minus 1 Week....

2012-01-20T15:22:00.003-05:00

In one week from now, we will have another baby.

One week.

Yes, it could be earlier than that, but no matter what, in one week he/she will be here with us.

I can't wrap my head around it.

Today I took Avery to my doctor's appointment-the last one she'll be accompanying me to. In fact, my doctor told me I could cancel next week's appointment since I'm scheduled for the c-section on Friday. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to-if I should go or skip it. So, today might have been my last check up.

Then I took Avery to our last story time before baby.

And we're gearing up for our last weekend as a family of three.

It's weird having an end-day in sight. It's hard to explain, but it's just a weird feeling.

Physically we're ready-the room is as ready as it's going to get at this point. I want to put up shelves, but we don't even have any yet so I know that's not going to happen anytime soon. Baby's laundry is done and clothes are put away. My hospital bag is packed and pretty much ready to go. Bottles, etc have been cleaned and put away in the cupboards. My body is ready to be done-just not comfortable lately and ready to have this baby out.

Mentally I don't think we're ready. Can you ever be?!

It's a weird mix of emotions this time around. Of course we're excited to meet this baby (and know what it is!) and have it in our lives. I'm nervous about how Avery is going to do with the whole transition-with me not being home a few days, adjusting to the baby, etc. And part of me is sad that these are the last few days that my baby girl will be just that-my baby girl. Yes, she'll always be my baby, but she'll now be sharing the spotlight with another. She won't be getting 100% of the attention on her now which will be a change for everyone. And of course I already feel bad for #2 because he/she will never ever have 100% of the spotlight like Avery did. I also am nervous about the whole newborn stage again. It feels like forever ago that Avery was a newborn and honestly I don't remember it much (hello sleep deprivation?!). It'll be hard getting used to sleepless nights again and really not being able to nap this time around since Avery doesn't really nap anymore.

It's going to be an adjustment, that's for sure.

I have a week (at most) to prepare for it....

Snow!

2012-01-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

Around these parts, we're used to snow in the winter time. This year has been a very unusual winter thus far. Here it is mid-January and we've only seen snow maybe 3 times so far. And it hasn't been a lot of snow either-mostly a dusting here and there.

Over the weekend we actually got some measurable snow-maybe 6" at the most I'm guessing.

Sunday we took advantage of it and took Avery outside!

Here she is all geared up and ready to go!

Feeling the snow out a bit:

And walking in it:

She didn't last long-maybe 15 minutes outside then she wanted to come in. I wasn't going to complain because I was freezing as well! But at least she got out and had some fresh air. The funny thing is that today it's in the 40's and raining out....so once again the snow has melted! A very odd winter for us so far-but I'm not complaining!

Baked Mac-N-Cheese

2012-01-13T20:47:00.003-05:00

I'll be honest, I LOVE macaroni and cheese....who doesn't?! But....I've never tried to make it myself. Not the homemade kind at least! I saw this recipe from our local grocery store, Wegman's, and decided to give it a try since it seemed pretty easy.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
1 lb elbow macaroni
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan
5 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
3 1/2 cups milk
1 lb shredded cheddar cheese
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1. Cook pasta according to directions on box.

2. Mix bread crumbs and paremesan in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Heat butter in a large saucepan. When melted, add flour and stir until smooth. Cook 3-4mins or until golden brown.

4. Add milk 1 cup at a time and whisk until smooth. Once all milk is added, bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat for 10mins, whisking at times.

5. Add cheddar cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Add salt and nutmeg and mix well. Add pasta and stir until coated.

6. Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. Dump in pasta mixture and spread out. Top with bread crumb mixture.

7. Bake on 400 for 15-20min or until golden.

Notes: Instead of parmesan, I used pecorino romano cheese and I used skim milk instead of whole milk like they say. For the cheddar cheese, I used a mild cheddar although I'm sure sharp would be just as good. One other thing I might do differently next time is that it tells you to make the sauce in a large saucepan, then add the pasta to it. Well, it was so much stuff that it nearly overflowed my pan so next time I might use a bigger pot-like a stock pot or something for it. And my baking dish was a decent size (2.5 qt I think) and the pasta was right up to the rim of it! So maybe a bigger baking dish next time too! I also don't own a whisk so instead I just stirred the butter/flour/milk combination and it worked just fine.

This turned out very good! It's a very easy recipe too so I'll definitely make it again. And it makes a ton! All three of us had it for dinner and leftovers the next night and I still had enough to freeze for another meal! I love when that happens!

38 Weeks-Baby #2

2012-01-11T20:53:00.001-05:00

Today I'm 38 weeks along-only 2 more weeks to go (2 weeks 2 days until the planned c-section)!

How I'm feeling/sleeping: I hope I'm not jinxing it, but I haven't itched in a few days now. I have no idea what changed because I'm not doing anything different, but it's wonderful! I think I woke up once in the past 4 nights to scratch and that's it! Of course I am up between 1-3 times to use the bathroom overnight. My feet have been swelling again by the end of the day. Overall I'm doing ok-sore here and there but overall hangin' in there.

Appointments/events: I've had two-one last Friday and one today. Last Friday they said I lost 7lbs (there goes the 7 I gained last time!). Total gained so far according to them is 18lbs. It was a very quick appointment-the usual bathroom sample, weight, blood pressure, heartbeat-that was it. In and out very quick.

Today they said I gained 4lbs (according to my scale I haven't gained anything in the past few weeks) so right now I'm up a total of 22lbs. I had my first pelvic exam and I'm currently 1.5cm dilated! I was totally shocked because I never dilated with Avery until after I was induced. Yes it gets my hopes up, but at the same time I know I can stay that way for weeks with nothing else taking place. Everything else was pretty normal and I go back again next Friday.

Cravings/Aversions: Nada-still eating too much junk! Haha!

Movement: Yes, my stomach looks alien-like at times-this baby is all over the place!

Avery's thoughts: Still thinks it's a girl and has her named already-but I'm not sharing since she likes a name on our list!

Here are my photos for this week. The pink shirt is me at 39 weeks with Avery and the black shirt is me today at 38 weeks. Honestly, I don't think I look much bigger than at 36 weeks-so I guess that's good!

Last Date Night

2012-01-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

Last night, Gabe and I went on our last date night before the baby's arrival.

I had a gift card to use at the Melting Pot, so that is where we went.

Dinner was very good. I opted not to do the whole 4 course thing and instead just got the cheese fondue and chocolate fondue along with a salad. Gabe did order an entree, but said afterward that next time he probably won't-we were just too full at the end of the meal!

It was very nice and relaxing and we were in a very secluded table so it was like we were the only ones in the restaurant. It was nice getting a break and just enjoying each other's company. I know in just a few short weeks that we won't get much of that anymore!

And a special thank you to my Mom for coming out and babysitting for us! We appreciate it!

Names

2012-01-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

So now that we're officially in the month and year of our baby's birth, we have to get crackin' and think of some names!

We're pretty set with a boys' name since when we had Avery we didn't know what we were having. Luckily the boy name we picked out then is still our top boy name so we don't have to think of that at all. Of course I'm not sharing just in case ;)

Girl names however, we're stumped.

Since we have an Avery, we want a name somewhat along the same lines-not too plain-Jane and not too "out there" weird. It's hard thinking of something that fits along those lines that flows well with our last name, etc.

And I think Gabe and I have different tastes when it comes to names. He tends to gravitate towards more traditional names where I tend to gravitate towards more uncommon names. I think I have a list of about ten names and I don't think he really cares for any of them! And I can say that some that he has suggested I haven't been to fond of either.

We do have a few girl names that we're tossing around, but are still unsure-definitely a work in progress! I think if it ends up being a girl, she might be nameless longer than Avery was!

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T22:21:00.001-05:00

So I mentioned in the beginning of the year that I thought this was going to be a big year of changes.

Well, our first change was not a good one. Having to uproot a child from daycare is not fun. However, we found a new place for Avery to go and now I can say that we are VERY happy with where she is. The teachers there are great and they do so much with the kids. It's like she's in a preschool when she goes there and we just love it! The only bad thing? They don't take infants. So we have no idea what to do when baby #2 joins us in a few weeks.

Our second big change of the year was deciding to build a home. From the initial piece of land, to groundbreaking day, to the finish line! And of course moving day!

Change #3...our big news of the year....becoming parents again! Of course this will really effect us in 2012, but it's still a change for us nontheless.

Avery had a few big changes as well. She started potty training, and moved to a big girl bed! Not to mention the poor thing went through the daycare change and moving into a new house as well! She's gone through a lot of changes this year and will soon be a big sister-another change for her to deal with. I have to say this girl is a trooper and has taken everything in stride-and way better than we anticipated!

One other change is in the works that I haven't mentioned on here yet. My In-Law's are in the process of buying a new house as well! They've been in their current home since before Gabe was born so this will be a huge change for them. It's a bigger home (don't you know you upgrade when you're empty-nesters?!) and closer to us, which is nice. They still haven't gotten a closing date on it yet, but they're hoping sometime in January. So they will have a lot of work ahead of them. It was sad at the holidays this year knowing it will most likely be the last at their current home.

I think that pretty much sums up the big changes for the year.

Other things to mark 2011?

I started some new skills when signing up for my first cake decorating class. It was a ton of fun and I'm glad I did it! Now I can make my kids' birthday cakes and feel like I have some sort of clue what I'm doing!

Gabe and I celebrated 3 years of marriage already!

And some firsts for Avery....bowling, her first haircut, her first egg hunt, her first daycare performance, first time going on the potty, turning 2 years old, and having her eye tube removed,

2011 was a great year for us and we're looking forward to what 2012 will bring!

Happy New Year!

36 Weeks-Baby #2

2011-12-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday I turned 36 weeks! I delayed my post so that I could include my doctor's appointment from this week, which was today.

How I'm feeling/sleeping: I'm still pretty itchy which isn't fun. It has gotten a little better, but not much. Some days are great and I won't itch at all until around bedtime (go figure). Other days I itch all day long. Overnight has been hit or miss but I'm usually up a few times scratching and/or to use the bathroom at this point. I'm just feeling really huge these days so I get tired/sore pretty quickly now.

Appointments/events: I had my appointment today. I gained 7lbs since my last visit (did I tell you I think their scale is really off whack?! According to mine at home I gained 4lbs-they weighed me in 3lbs heavier then my scale did this time!) so according to them I'm up a total of 25lbs and am at the exact weight I was when I delivered Avery. Let's see-all of my bloodwork came back normal so no cause of my itching (boo!). They did do an ultrasound to check out baby's position and great news....baby is now head down! Yay! Now we just have to hope he/she stays that way! I start weekly appointments now so I go next Friday already.

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing really-no cravings, no strong aversions these days! The holidays totally killed me though-I've been eating like a pig!

Movement: Yep! Lots of movements that you can see from the outside. Sometimes it hurts too! Baby has had hiccoughs quite a bit lately too!

Avery's thoughts: Nothing new- still strongly convinced it's a girl though!

Here are my photos from this week. The blue shirt is me at 37wks with Avery and the black shirt is me at 36 weeks now. I feel like I'm carrying lower this time around, but looking at photos I look the same! And honestly I don't look much bigger this time around either!

Christmas-Day 3

2011-12-27T21:05:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was day 3 of Christmas festivities.

My Dad had to work on Christmas Eve when we were in Buffalo, so we didn't get a chance to see him that day. Instead, they came out to our house to celebrate since we all had off of work yesterday.

They came out around noon and I just made us some appetizers to snack on.

Avery was very excited to open up her big gift!

It was the train table she desperately wanted! My Grandpa also sent along a little gift for her-a little leap frog thing she can play with!

Silly Smile!

My Dad also got us our infant car seat and bases for the baby, so that was a big help! We got the train table all set up and Avery had a blast playing with it!

Before they left, we had to get a family photo:

Dad, Avery, Me, Gabe

Shortly after my Dad left, we headed to my In-Laws' for our Christmas dinner. There were about 12 of us there and we had a really nice time.

The kids had their own kiddie table for dinner and were so cute sitting there together!

Owen, Bianca, Avery

We had our usual Christmas dinner which was excellent-soup, followed by salad, followed by shrimp scampi (chicken for me since I don't eat seafood), followed by filet and roasted squash. Delish! And dessert of course!

Gabe's birthday is on the 29th so we sang to him at dessert time

And of course the girls had to help blow out the candles!

So our celebrations for the year are officially over. Part of me is glad because now we can get Avery back on some sort of sleep schedule. Of course it's always sad to see the holidays go! Until next year.....

Christmas Day-Day 2

2011-12-26T21:03:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Our day started with Avery getting up and we had to remind her that Santa had come overnight.We brought her downstairs and asked "where did Santa put the gifts?" and Avery actually ran to the back door to the garage! We were laughing at that! We had to tell her they were under the tree and then she ran to the tree and got all excited saying "I want to open them!"

We didn't go super crazy with gifts for her. Gabe and I got her some PJs, an Aquadoodle, the Memory game, a Big Sister book, and a Mrs. Potato Head.

Santa brought her some cozy PJs, a piggy bank, finger paints, watercolor paints, a reese's pieces candy cane, a butterfly bow for her hair, and a radio flyer wagon.

She had a blast opening everything and of course once she opened something she wanted to play with it! I think by 10am we already had the Aquadoodle, potato head and finger paints out!

It was her first time finger painting with us, so of course I had to take a few photos of her!

Look at my hands!

While I was on the phone, Gabe told Avery to paint my tummy. She was very hesitant to do it even when I told her she could, but after a few minutes she caved in and tried it out!

We had a pretty relaxing morning. Had a good breakfast and just played with new toys. We went over my In-Laws' house around 4pm to just open gifts (the formal dinner was on the 26th). The kids had a lot of fun, but I think by the end Avery had had enough-she didn't nap so of course she was exhausted and was actually not into opening gifts near the end.

Here is our nephew opening a very cool plane ornament we got him. He loved it!

And Avery (looking like a ragamuffin) with our niece:

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday filled with those who are special to you and filled with many memorable moments!

Happy Holidays from our home to yours!

Christmas-Day 1

2011-12-24T21:32:00.001-05:00

Our Christmas festivities began last night-party #1 at my Sister-in-Law's house. I didn't take my camera with me, but took this photo of Avery before she left-all dressed up in her party attire!

Today was our Christmas in Buffalo. We left our house around 10:30am and got there around noon. My Mom had Avery open up her stocking shortly after we arrived

My girlfriend Katie was in town from Maryland and I'm so happy she was able to stop by! I only get to see her once or twice a year now so it's nice to have some time to visit with her while she's here. Her son, Roman and her sister came along for the visit. We had to get a photo of us with our kiddos:

Roman, Katie, Avery and I

And since I had Avery in her Christmas dress, I wanted a nice picture of her by the tree as well!

And a nice family photo of us too!

Avery loves this one zoo book my Mom has for her so it was read to her multiple times today. Here my Mom just finished reading it to her.

My friend Renee also stopped by for a little while and also my Uncle Joe and Aunt Marion came by for a bit. It was pretty much a rotating door all day of people coming in and out. Once Renee left, we had a very yummy dinner-stuffed pork roast, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, salad, bread.

After dinner it was more guests-my friend Megan, her husband, Todd, Noah and baby Leigha. We attempted a photo of Avery and Noah by the tree and it was an epic fail. We couldn't get both of them looking at the camera at the same time for anything! I think this was the best shot I got of them:

Avery and Noah exchanged gifts and she got a really cute doctors set. Of course we had to open it immediately so she could play with it! She was pretty funny with it too-checking everyone out to see if they were healty.

I hear something!

Whatcha got in there Noah?

Here, you listen now!

The kids played very well together-they were even sharing the little people house!

And I had to take a pic of little Leigha-hard to believe she's almost 2 months old already! What a cutie!

Once they all left, we still had to do gifts with my Mom. Avery was so overtired by the end of the day (she didn't nap of course) that she was getting really silly. She started making a ton of funny faces and cracking us up!

We ended up not leaving until about 9pm which was really late for us. Avery crashed in the car and slept the entire ride home. She did wake up when we got home, but quickly fell back asleep, thankfully!!

Tomorrow we get to see what Santa brings!!

35/35

2011-12-21T21:27:00.000-05:00

35 Weeks down, 35 DAYS left....

Wow, where has this pregnancy gone?!

Updates

2011-12-21T20:16:00.002-05:00

I thought I'd give a few updates on things this week....

In my last pregnancy post, I mentioned having blood work done for my itching. I found out yesterday that 2 out of 3 tests came back normal. The third test had to be sent out for results so they won't have them until the end of the week. So I won't have a final answer until then. Yes I'm still itching-some days are ok, others are terrible. I just wish I knew the cause-allergies, weather, pregnancy, hormones, etc.

I also wanted to update on Avery's transition to her big girl bed. The first night, she did great. We put her to bed and she fell asleep rather quickly. We didn't hear from her all night long. The following morning, she showed up in our bedroom just before 8am. So she did manage to climb out of bed, open the door, and come to see us. So I knew we needed to gate her doorway.

I thought of just gating off the stairs, but honestly I don't want her running around all upstairs either-it would mean access to the baby's room, bathroom, and spare bedroom. I thought it was too risky so I decided to put a gate right across her doorway. Her door still shuts, but if she does open it, she can't escape. So on Friday I put the gate up.

Naptime both Friday and Saturday were a joke-she was so obsessed with having free reign of her room that she was constantly in and out of her bed. We would hear her door open and shut, light turning on and off, etc. Sunday she did take a nap though, which surprised me.

Bedtime has been ok. The one hard thing was we broke her routine of rocking with us at night. We used to sit in a rocking chair and read stories then sing songs. With the bed set up, there really is no room for the rocking chair in her room. And we knew we wanted it in the baby's room eventually. So I think that transition was a little tough-she kept wanting to rock before bed and instead we were trying to get her to lie down in bed and we would lie down with her. We still do stories and songs, but now in her bed.

Some nights she falls asleep rather easily (usually when she doesn't nap). She has had a few nights of crying for awhile until Gabe goes to sit with her and rub her back. She had one night that she was just off the wall wound up and we ended up leaving her in her room to play. She played for awhile then somehow made it to her bed.

The good thing is that once she's asleep, we typically don't hear from her at all overnight. We only had one night that she woke up screaming at 1am so I went down to check on her-she had turned her light on and was trying to open her door. I asked if she fell out of bed and she said yes, though I don't believe her-she tends to answer yes to anything you ask her these days. Luckily she fell back to sleep in about 10min and that was that. So far, so good with the whole bed thing!

Other than that, we've been gearing up for Santa's visit this weekend-finishing shopping, wrapping gifts, etc. Can't wait!

34 Weeks-Baby #2

2011-12-17T20:59:00.001-05:00

Wednesday I turned 34 weeks! I had my doctors appointment yesterday to check on the little bambino....

How I'm feeling/sleeping: I'll admit-the past week and a half have been pretty bad. My skin is itching me like crazy-head to toe 24/7. Last weekend I was up every hour on the dot overnight to scratch myself-it was terrible. A "good" night is me waking up only 3 times to scratch. I've tried everything-multiple moisturizers (Eucerin regular, Eucerin calming cream, Babyganics eczema cream), anti itch creams, steroid creams, oatmeal baths, and antihistamines....NOTHING gives me any relief. It's awful. I'm literally covered in bruises from all of the scratching-it's a site to see. Besides that, I'm doing ok.

Appointments/events: Had my appointment yesterday. I gained 1lb since my last visit (up a total of 18lbs)-how that's possible I have no idea! I told the doctor about my itching (it had just started at my last appt) so she sent me for bloodwork to check on my liver. I guess if you get bile in your bloodstream it causes severe itching so they're going to check that out. I'm hoping that's not the cause, but at the same time it would at least be an answer. She really said she had no other "tricks up her sleeve" for me to try so I might end up suffering until this itching goes away. I should have the results of the bloodwork hopefully Monday. She also said that the baby now feels head-down which is good. We will confirm that with an ultrasound at my next appointment in two weeks...we shall see!

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing really-no cravings, no strong aversions these days!

Movement: Yep! Lots of movements that you can see from the outside. Sometimes it hurts too! Baby has had hiccoughs quite a bit lately too!

Avery's thoughts: The other day she said to me "how's that baby doin' Mama?" Cracks me up!

Here are my photos from this week....the green shirt is me at 35 weeks with Avery (I look incredibly small in this pic) and the grey shirt is me on Wednesday at 34 weeks.

New Bed!

2011-12-15T20:47:00.001-05:00

Today was the day....

....another step in my girl growing up.

This has been in the works for a few weeks now, but today it all came together.

Avery now has a "big girl" bed!

The week before we moved, she figured out how to almost climb out of her crib-we caught her straddling the top of the crib several times in that last week.

Then the week we moved in, she completely climbed (fell) out during her nap time. That next day Gabe and I went mattress shopping.

We have had the mattresses probably two weeks or so and we've been waiting on the bed rails. They took forever to get here! When they finally came, we postponed converting her crib just because we wanted to do it when we had a few days (a weekend) at home. Last weekend was busy with us having our party, so we knew that wouldn't be a good weekend to do it. So, it became this weekend. Since I have off on Fridays, we figured to start on a Thursday night and see how things go.

After work, Gabe spent awhile taking apart her crib, assembling the bed, putting the boxspring/mattress on and getting the bed all ready for her. She had no idea what was going on as her and I stayed downstairs playing. When I brought her up for her bath, she still didn't see what was going on. After bath, we showed her the surprise-and I wish we had recorded it! She walked in her room and yelled "my big girl bed!!" and was so excited. She couldn't wait to get in it!

Of course I had to get a few pics of her in it!
This is also her first time using an actual pillow too!

With her new comforter and pretending to sleep:

To be honest, we're both dreading this change. It's so nice having her contained in her crib, especially when she doesn't take a nap. This will be a real adjustment for all of us so we're hoping it's a smooth transition!!

Updates to come....

One Month

2011-12-12T21:34:00.001-05:00

One month....

We have officially been moved into the new house for one month already.

Part of me feels like we've been here awhile and part of me feels like we just moved in.

The first week or two were odd. I think Gabe and I both felt unsettled. I chalk that up to the fact that we were going to the old house almost daily to get things that we needed. And also the fact that he had lived there for ten years and I lived there for six years. For me, as soon as I turned onto the old street, it felt like I was coming "home". I would get that relaxed feeling and think "I'm home" when actually I wasn't anymore. I'd open the door to an (almost) empty house and it was an odd feeling. Then I'd come back to the new house and not feel fully settled here either. I think it was really challenging for us at first because we sort of felt like we didn't "belong" at either place.

I will say that now I'm feeling more like this is home. I think decorating for Christmas really helped-the tree is up and decorations that we normally would put out at the old house are now put out here. So it's familiar stuff in a new place. I think that has helped me feel settled. Plus, we hosted our first party over the weekend and I think that helped too. Getting to entertain and show off the place was nice.

I think Avery settled in pretty well. She hasn't mentioned the old house in a long time now. We purposely haven't taken her there since moving day and I don't know how she would do if we did take her there. Part of me wonders if she remembers it at all but I don't want to bring it up to her either.

I was at the old house once last week and actually didn't even go in....I forgot the key! So it's been awhile since I've been to the old house. We still have some things to empty out of there one of these days. And we're still getting mail delivered there so we have to go every now and then to pick that up as well.

First month down...many, many more to come!

Gingerbread

2011-12-11T20:48:00.004-05:00

I'll admit, I've been a slacker on my blog this week.

This week was just very, very busy.

My Mom came out for a visit Tuesday night and into Wednesday. I took advantage of having a babysitter and did some Christmas shopping on Wednesday. Thursday was work like normal. Friday I had a dentist appointment then took Avery to story time. Gabe had an employee only happy hour after work and didn't get home until after I went to bed.

Did I mention that we hosted a holiday party on Saturday?! Yeah, so between all of that, we were cleaning, baking, etc to get ready to host our first party in the new house. And did I mention that I'm almost 34 weeks pregnant?! Yeah, just when cleaning, etc needed to be done, all I wanted to do was sit on my butt and relax with my feet up. Not a good combination.

But I will say that the party was fabulous. We had a great turn out, got to show off the house, had some great food and even better company. It was wonderful!

So today I was thankful that we had nothing to do. ZERO.

Sounded like a good day to relax and bust out the gingerbread house kit I bought for Avery.

I ended up assembling it myself because she was being too grabby with it-she wanted to just reach in and eat the frosting so I took it in the other room to assemble.

After her (no) nap time, we did the decorating. And I think she really enjoyed it! I would put on frosting and just let her have at it. She lined the roof with gumdrops:

And decorated the roof with little colored balls:

And here is her masterpiece (she's saying "cheese"):

Of course all she wanted to do was eat the candy so at times it was hard to get her to actually decorate. I don't blame her though-that's the fun part is getting to eat the stuff that comes with it! But she had a great time and the house stayed together and turned out really cute.

I took a picture of each side of it as well:

Now my question is....do you actually eat these things or what?!

Garden Factory Fun

2011-12-06T21:11:00.004-05:00

On Sunday, we did our annual trip to the Garden Factory. We have bought our tree there in the past, but with where we live now, it's quite a hike to get there. We didn't really want to drive across town with a tree strapped to the top of a car, so this year we didn't get ours there. But the one thing we always get there is pointsettias. We bought about a dozen of them for the house and they look great!

We met my in-laws there as well as my brother-in-law, niece, and nephew. Like I said, it's a famiy tradition to go there. And we made quite the day of it.

When we first got there, they had a Great Dane rescue group there with about 4 dogs. They are HUGE-I swear I've never seen dogs this big ever. The pictures don't to them justice! This grey one was the biggest of them, but what a sweetheart he was! I found out he weighs a "slim" 170lbs and is in his "skinny" season. He'll beef up another 30lbs in the next few months-yep, you're talking a 200lb dog! Yowza!
Here he is standing up-his head was up to my chest!

Avery loved him-she was going right up to him and petting this guy like crazy-and the dog was eating up all of the attention!

We did take Avery to see Santa, but since I was holding her, I didn't get any photos of the whole thing. She was all about sitting on his lap until we got up to him. Then she didn't want to. So I crouched down and she sat on my knee and talked to Santa. Yep, she actually told him what she wanted ("a train table and a bank"). He gave her a candy cane, which she tried and didn't like. We saw him walking around later in the day and she was waving and yelling "Hi Santa!" to him so that was cute.

After Santa, the girls were all about going on the rides....

They rode the train together-and wouldn't look at each other or even look happy for that matter. They had looks on their faces like they were being tortured....it was hysterical!

They went on the merry-go-round numerous times. Avery could ride the "horsies" all day long if we let her. I went on the first time and Gabe took her on a few times as well.

Avery and Bianca braved the big slide all by themselves. Avery had some trouble going up the stairs while carrying her sack and actually was crying when they sent her down the slide. She came running up to us crying after, but said she had fun. Needless to say, she didn't want to go down it again!

We took a break from some rides to look at the huge train display they have. It's quite impressive!

Avery wanted to get her hand painted so we went to see the clown doing face painting. She picked out a candy cane and did pretty well sitting still for her to paint it.

After the arm painting, the girls went on a few more rides and then we called it quits for the day. We literally were there for four hours and Avery did not want to leave! We had a lot of fun and it was such a nice day out that we all kept warm while there (usually the area they have all of this in is freezing). We'll definitely be back next year!

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-03T21:10:00.000-05:00

32 Weeks-baby #2

2011-12-02T14:37:00.006-05:00

I'm posting a few days late and may continue to do so just because of when my doctor appointments fall. I turned 32 weeks on Wednesday, but went to the docs today, so I figured I would just update today.

How I'm feeling/sleeping: Overall I still feel pretty good. If I'm on my feet a lot during the day, my feet and back hurt by the end of the day and I feel pretty worn out. I've also had some rug-burn type of feeling right below my chest line lately. I asked about it when I was pregnant with Avery and they told me it's just from the muscles separating so it's nothing to worry about-just painful at times. I'm usually up 1-2 times a night to use the bathroom and sometimes it takes me forever to fall back asleep.

Appointments/events: Had my appointment today. I gained 5lbs since my last appointment (although I think they weighed me wrong last time-this time I weighed what I did at home and last time I was 3lbs less than I was at home) so as of now I'm up a total of 17lbs. Baby's heartrate was at 150 and sounded good. I did get some semi-bad news....the baby is still breech. They got a new ultrasound machine so they brought it in and checked and sure enough, baby is butt-down. He/she still has time to flip so we'll see. Part of me is bummed because I did want to try a VBAC this time. Part of me is relieved because my decision on how to deliver would be decided for me. I guess we'll see what the little one decides to do in the next few weeks.

Cravings/Aversions: Still not eating oatmeal. Everything else is fair game. No strong cravings for anything though. Still eating too much junk food (pregnancy and holidays do not mix)!

Movement: Yep! Lots of movements that you can see from the outside. Sometimes it hurts too!

Avery's thoughts: Nothing really new-still talks to the baby a lot and still says it's a girl!

Here are my photos.....the peach shirt is me at 33 weeks with Avery. Black shirt is me on Wed at 32 weeks. (Yep, still have a saggy looking butt-haha!)

Sacrifices

2011-11-30T20:26:00.002-05:00

I had the idea for this post back when I first got pregnant in the early summer. And I'm just getting to it now for some reason. For those who haven't been pregnant and for the men out there, this is just a little insight as to how a woman's life changes when that test comes out "positive".

Sacrifices....

A definition-"to surrender or give up, for the sake of something else"

That's what pregnancy is all about (and if you breastfeed, it continues).

As soon as I got the positive home pregnancy test, a switch flipped and my lifestyle changed.

No more alcohol (like I drank much anyways).

No more caffeine (with Avery this included chocolate-this time around I was a little more relaxed).

No more diet drinks (no nutrasweet, etc).

No more lunch meat.

No more soft cheeses (blue cheese, feta, etc).

.....For the next 40 weeks of pregnancy. And if you breastfeed? Well, the alcohol/caffeine/diet drinks don't come back until you wean. I'll have those things in very limited amounts while breastfeeding, but not like I normally would.

Yep, making sacrifices for the sake of your child-you basically give up your body to grow another human being (how weird is that to think of?!) for the good part of a year.

It's amazing how one little test turns into you not "owning" your own body for roughly 2 years (if you breastfeed). My body becomes my child's during that time.

Yes, it's difficult.

Worth it? You bet!

I will say though that by the end, I'm ready to have my body back. As much as I loved pregnancy and nursing Avery, I was so relieved when she weaned. My boobs were my own again (sorry!) and I could eat and drink whatever I pleased whenever I liked. It was like I was handed a slice of freedom!

I don't know if it's more difficult the first time around or the second. The first time it seems harder at first because your lifestyle changes so much, but at the same time everything is so new and exciting. The second time you know what you're in for, but you know how long it'll be until that slice of freedom comes your way again. I'm down to 8 weeks of pregnancy, but the road is still long since I plan on nursing again. I won't get my slice for at least another year if all goes as planned.

Getting in the Spirit

2011-11-28T21:06:00.003-05:00

Since it was such a nice day out yesterday, we decided to take advantage of it and go get our Christmas tree! We've done the tree hunting in 20 degrees in the past and it's just not fun. So when it's 60 out, I'll gladly take it and run with it! We thought of waiting until next weekend, but really, the weather at this time of year is such a toss up. We decided not to gamble and went while it was still nice outside.

We usually go to the same place for our tree, but since we moved, that place is quite a haul for us now. And to have a tree go across the city doesn't sound like much fun. We decided to go to a place within a few miles of the new house to see what it was like and figured it would be easier since it was so much closer.

Gabe's Dad joined us with their minivan so it ended up working out really well.

I can honestly say I don't remember ever being to a tree farm, so it was pretty cool to see all of the trees growing in rows like this: Most of the draw at this farm was cut-your-own trees. They provide a cart (to drag the tree to your car) and a saw for you as well. We opted not to cut our own as they did have some pre-cut trees. They were bringing the pre-cut ones by the truckload so you know they had to be fresh.

Before choosing our tree, Avery had to check out the Santa sleigh and reindeer they had. She loved sitting on the reindeer!

They also have a "live" nativity scene....yep, the sheep, donkey, and goat are all real animals....smells and all!

Close up of the donkey and goat-which took me awhile to figure out was real (the goat):

Gabe's Dad kept Avery over by the sleigh and reindeer while Gabe and I scoped out a tree. I have to say, we picked the first one that looked like it was tall....Gabe stood it up and I thought it looked pretty good. Then I held it and he thought the same. So he dragged it over to see how tall it was (they had a 10' candy cane measuring thing) and it was 9.5' tall-perfect!

They shook off the needles and bailed it up for us....and here is Gabe with his big tree he has always wanted:

Avery finally joined us and ran up to the tree like she was going to hug it:

And posed with Daddy:

We successfully got the tree home and set up in the stand. Now we just need to buy a few more strands of lights (we're used to maybe a 7' tree, not a 9.5' one!) and get it decorated and we'll be all set.

I also took some time this weekend getting our other decorations out as well so the house is feeling pretty Christmas-y right now! Love it!

Thankful

2011-11-24T21:01:00.000-05:00

Today is the day we reflect on what we're thankful for.

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband every day. He is the rock that I lean on and my true partner in life. He supports me and loves me for who I am. And he is the best Daddy any little girl could ask for.

I'm thankful for my sweet angel, Avery. Even though she stresses us out sometimes and we get frustrated with her, she is also the light of our lives. I love watching the world through her eyes and I love watching her grow and learn new things. And I love her taking her first bite of cinnamon roll: only to put it down and eat her fruit instead (she does not have my sweet tooth just yet)! And I love that on this Thanksgiving, she drew her first face without any direction from me.

So what if it looks a little creepy?!

I'm thankful for baby #2 who will join us in roughly 9 weeks. I know life will change once again when he/she arrives, but it's all good. The whole thing is a miracle to me and it's amazing what the human body can do.

I'm thankful that we have a beautiful new house to call home. Even though it doesn't feel like home yet, it will. And it will be wonderful.

I'm thankful that we both have jobs in this economy. Some way to bring home a paycheck and buy the things that we need/want. I know there are many people out there who are not as fortunate.

I'm thankful for family-those related by blood and those that aren't. We had a larger than usual turn out for dinner today and it totally reminded me of Thanksgivings as a child-more people than you can cram at a table, kids having their own tables, etc. And I loved every minute of it. The more the merrier to me!

I'm thankful for my friends as well for they have had a place in my heart for years now. Even though we don't see each other that much anymore, we can still talk as if we saw each other yesterday. I miss them all dearly and wish that we all lived in the same area again so that our kids could grow up together. But, life has separated us all and we try our best to keep things going.

And I'm thankful for health-that all of our family and friends are healthy. You don't realize how good you have it until you hear of someone else's story. And health is one thing that you really don't have much control over. But we're all hangin' in there as of now.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have many, many things to be thankful for this year.

Happy 4th Birthday Bianca!

2011-11-21T21:14:00.005-05:00

Saturday we went to my Sister-In-Law's house for our niece's 4th birthday. Her actual birthday was the week before, but they had the party this weekend.

Avery napped very late so we had to wake her up for the party. And for some reason she HAD to wear this tu-tu there. In the year and a half we've owned it, she's worn it one other time. But Saturday, she insisted on it! So this was her get-up for the bash:
My Brother-in-Law's parents came and brought their 2 new dogs with them so Avery was having a blast chasing them all around the house! And she loved getting kisses from them too!

We had a great dinner-pulled pork, potato soup and some salads. After dinner I got Avery to give the birthday girl a big hug:

Then they brought out a pinata for the kids-Dora of course!

It was one of the ones where you pull a string (instead of hitting it).
Bianca took the first pull since it was her birthday:

And she got it on the first try and the candy all came out! Avery was clueless as far as what to do-we kept telling her to pick up the candy and she would just stand there watching Owen and Bianca-it was funny!

Then it was time for presents. My In-Laws always buy each kid a toy so that they don't feel left out on another kid's birthday. So Avery tore open her gift and got a new doll!

Here's Bianca modeling a pair of hello kitty earmuffs that she got:

And tearing into another present:
Then it was time for cake-princesses of course for Bianca-she loves them!
And she loved when we sang to her-she was totally into it!
Make a wish!
Happy 4th Birthday Bianca!! We had so much fun at your party!

30 Weeks-Baby #2

2011-11-18T22:31:00.003-05:00

I'm a few days late in updating, but Wednesday I hit the 30 week mark. Only 10 more to go!

How I'm feeling/sleeping: Well, I've had an ear/sinus infection for the past 2-3 weeks and I'm just about over it, finally. Just finishing up my last few days of antibiotics so hopefully it's gone for good! It's made sleeping very challenging because I couldn't breathe at all and was up numerous times a night coughing. Not fun at all!

Appointments/events: Had my monthly appointment last Friday. Somehow I lost a pound from my last appointment, which caught me by surprise (according to my scale at home I gained 2lbs)....so for their record I'm up 12lbs now overall. Baby sounded fine and all is going well. I now start my biweekly appointments which is crazy! Although it'll be 3 weeks between my appointments because they couldn't get me in the week of Thanksgiving so it got bumped out a week.

Cravings/Aversions: Still not eating oatmeal. Everything else is fair game. No strong cravings for anything though. Still eating too much junk food!

Movement: Of course! Baby had hiccups for the first time the other day that I noticed as well!

Avery's thoughts: She's still convinced it's a girl and there's no telling her otherwise! She told me today when I picked her up from daycare "I missed you and baby, Mommy!" So cute!

Here are my photos from this week. The blue shirt on the left is me with Avery at 31wks and the yellow shirt is me on Wednesday with baby #2:

Backsplash

2011-11-16T22:27:00.000-05:00

One of our missing pieces that needed to get done was our kitchen backsplash. We had all of the materials bought, it just needed to be put in place.

The one guy we use to do a lot of improvement type of things was actually available this week and came and got it done in no time! And we love the way it turned out!

Here's one area next to our fridge: And over the cooktop:

We are very happy with it and I think it really tied the whole kitchen together! Love it!

Moving Day!

2011-11-13T13:53:00.001-05:00

So yesterday was the big day....moving day!

Our POD was supposed to be picked up at 8:30am and we were woken up at 7:45am by them! Nice and early!

Gabe's Dad showed up around 9am to take Avery for the day-we didn't want her to be in the way of the movers and this way Gabe and I could get some stuff done while she was gone.

Before she left, we took a family photo outside of the old house:

The movers showed up around 9:15am and got right to work. We had one truck and three guys and man, did they hussle! We were only going to have them take the "big" items (99% furniture), but we ended up having them take some boxes too because they moved so darn fast! They had all of our furniture packed up in just over an hour-it was amazing!

Here's the truck in our driveway:

I forget what time they completely finished packing up, but I'd say it was in under 2 hours easily. Then we headed to the new house:

And they were just as quick to unload! Basically the entire job was done by 1pm-so about 4 hours or so, which was way faster than we expected.

Once they left, Gabe and I took my car and headed back to the old house-we stopped at Wendy's for lunch then went back and packed up my car. We came back to the new house and got a few things arranged. Then we took both cars back to the old house and did another big load. Gabe took the cat and I was on Avery duty.

I went to my in-laws to get her around 4:30 or so. She seemed excited to go see Daddy and Jerri the cat at the new house.

We got home (Gabe had been home at least an hour with the cat) and I asked how the cat was doing. Gabe said "she's laying in the box of china." Somehow she wiggled herself into the box (which was closed) and there she stayed for about two hours! Avery was loving it because Jerri was too afraid to move so Avery got to pet her all she wanted! Here she is giving her kisses:

Silly cat!

Gabe finally took the cat out of the box to see what she would do. Anytime we'd leave the room, the cat would meow like crazy! We had the door from the house to the garage open and Jerri went and hid under Gabe's car for a long time. I went out there and she came up to me and I petted her a very long time. That seemed to calm her down and she slowly followed me back into the house. She did keep meowing a lot and I was paranoid that she was going to keep us up all night.

Avery on the other hand did great-she went up and saw her bedroom all set up and just grinned from ear to ear saying "I love my new room!" She went to bed super easily-it was a piece of cake! Here I thought Avery would have a tough time and Jerri was the "problem child".

I'm happy to report that the cat calmed down enough to sleep with us at night and really was quiet for the most part-thank God!

Overall it was a good day-busy, but good!

Now the fun of unpacking begins!

Last

2011-11-11T20:57:00.001-05:00

Today was it....the last day in our house...our home.

I had an OB appointment in the morning so Avery accompanied me there. We stopped for cupcakes on the way home for our special dessert tonight.

Avery had lunch then went down for her last nap in her room: And a wonderful one it was-almost 3 hours! She hasn't done that in a very long time!

Shortly after she got up, Gabe came home and we got dinner ready.

Here's Avery waiting for dinner:

Our last meal-huge salads with chicken on them:

Avery had half of her cupcake at lunch and half at dinner (the girl HAD to have it at lunch-haha!). She goes right for the frosting too!

Then it was time for her last bath at the house and she did great!

We got Avery ready for bed and to sleep, then Gabe and I enjoyed our yummy cupcakes once she was asleep:

We've been buzzing around trying to pack up a few things here and there. We're heading to bed on the early side since we have the POD place coming at 8am to move the POD and then the movers arrive at 9am! Busy day tomorrow!

Two Nights

2011-11-10T21:23:00.003-05:00

That's all that we have left in our house.

Two more nights.

It is the weirdest feeling-exciting, surreal, nerve wracking, and sad all at the same time.

I've been in this house for six years now. Gabe has been here ten.

We met when he lived here.

It was where we first lived together.

We got engaged in this house-in the living room on the couch by the fireplace.

We got our first pet while living here.

We got married while we lived here.

We started our family here.

It's weird to leave it all behind and start over somewhere new when you have all of these memories.
And of course I keep thinking of all of the last things we'll do here-Avery's last bath tomorrow night. Today was my last day to wake up and get ready for work here. Tomorrow will be our last dinner here, Saturday our last breakfast. Our last mornings of getting showered and dressed for the day. And of course tomorrow will be our last night sleeping in our bed in our room.

I know I will shed some tears-heck, I'm tearing up just writing this! Yes, I'm excited to move on, but I'm sad to see our home go. I love our neighborhood and our neighbors and I will say it has been an incredible 6 years here for me.

It will be an adjustment at our new place just because we're not in the actual city anymore. No more Wegman's, gas, or pizza right around the corner. No more easy access to the expressway. No more 5 minute drive to work for both of us (that I'm going to really miss!).

But with that, we will acquire more space, a bigger yard, an up-to-date house, a better school district, and our favorite-a garage!

And of course we'll create many more memories in our new house-our kids will be raised there! Heck, I don't even know if Avery will remember our current home. We'll have pictures to show her, but I doubt she'll actually remember living here....which makes me sad.

The next few days will be stressful, but I'm going to cherish our last moments here together as a family. And hopefully I'll take some photos of us enjoying our last day and night here tomorrow.

Done!

2011-11-08T20:48:00.008-05:00

Our house is officially done!

Today we went for our final walk through to look things over and I must say I'm in love with it! I didn't really get to inspect everything because we were there on our lunch breaks, so I had to look at things quickly. I haven't been to the house in a few weeks so there was quite a bit I hadn't seen yet (carpets, hardwood floors, granite, sinks, faucets, lights).

This is the sink in the half-bath downstairs (wall color Behr "Pale Daffodil"):
Laundry room sink (wall color Sherwin Williams "Interactive Cream"):

Kitchen-stove area and pot filler (wall color Sherwin Williams "Macadamia"):

Kitchen island:

Family room (wall color Sherwin Williams "Macadamia"):

Full shot of the kitchen:

Dining room (wall color Sherwin Williams "Compatible Cream"):

Office (wall color Sherwin Williams "Smokey Blue"):

Stairs (wall color Sherwin Williams "Interactive Cream"):

Master Bedroom (wall color Olympic "Cosmic Rays"):

Master Bath sink area:

Master closet:

Master shower:

Baby's room (wall color Behr "Pale Daffodil"):

Guest room (wall color Sherwin Williams "Compatible Cream"):

Avery's room (wall color Behr "Jamaican Sea"):

Full bath (wall color Behr "Pale Daffodil"):

I think it's safe to say that we are very pleased with how everything turned out! Now we're just waiting on our closing which hopefully will be in the next few days!! YAY!

Welcome Baby Leigha!

2011-11-06T20:40:00.000-05:00

We went to Buffalo yesterday so that I could see a new bundle of joy!

My friend Megan and her husband, Todd (and big brother Noah) welcomed a new addition to their family on Thursday!

Welcome baby Leigha Reese! She was 6lb 12oz and 20.5" long.

And what a peanut! I totally forget how tiny newborns are and she was almost a pound and a half less than what Avery weighed! She seemed so small to me!

I went up to visit them at the hospital-all was going well and they were looking forward to going home in the next day or two!

Here's Leigha and I:

Precious girl! I loved the hat the hospital gave her!

Congratulations Megan and Todd!!

28 Weeks-Baby #2

2011-11-03T22:37:00.000-04:00

28 Weeks now! Only 12 more to go!

How I'm feeling/sleeping: Still doing pretty well. Just tired of getting out of breath very easily! I go up one flight of stairs and I'm winded! Haha! I had a long day of being on my feet at work and I really felt it in my hips that night-they were just so sore! And my feet get swollen a little bit from time to time.

Appointments/events: The only update I have is that I passed my glucose test, although I am anemic (I was with Avery too)....so I'm back on my iron pills. My monthly appointment is next week.

Cravings/Aversions: Still haven't been eating oatmeal. Peanut butter here and there, but not craving for it like I usually do. I will say that I feel like I've been eating so much junk food this time around. With Avery I was SO GOOD at eating healthy and barely touched junk, but this time I can't help it. Avery's Halloween candy is calling my name several times a day!

Movement: Yep! I've been able to see my belly move a lot lately-feels like he/she is having a party in there sometimes! Some movements have been a little painful at times too-like an elbow is jabbing my side! Ouch!

Avery's thoughts: She still tells everyone that baby is a girl! She wants to "see" the baby daily (which means exposing my bare tummy to her) and gives hugs and kisses to it all of the time!

Here are this week's pics-the blue shirt is me with Avery at 29 weeks, the green shirt is me now! Love the one of Avery showing the baby some lovin'!

Boo!

2011-11-01T22:32:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween!!

What a great day we had yesterday!

Both Gabe and I had to work of course but Avery got to spend the day with her daycare buddies.

I got to leave work early to attend her daycare Halloween party. I took a few photos, but didn't want to post them just because I'm not sure if the parents want their kids online. So I'll just post one of Avery and her friend, Josie (since I didn't get a shot of them at their playdate on Sunday): They had all the kids and parents line up and we did a parade around daycare-we went down the major road and the kids were all waving to the cars and stuff. It was cute! After parading around, we went inside for some doughnuts, cider, cookies and candy! Avery picked out a pink doughnut and a cat cookie:

And before we left she grabbed a chocolate covered pretzel finger:

The teachers gave the kids some goodie bags with a sucker, some mini oreos, stickers, pencils and bubbles in it. Very cute!

When we all got home, we just had some pizza and then got ready to trick-or-treat! Avery was so excited with her pink bucket and pumpkin flashlight:

Gabe and I both took her out for about half of the block. I don't think she understood it at first....

but by the second house, she was totally into it! She would say "trick-or treat" to everyone and then say "Happy Halloween" and "thank you" to them as well! It was so cute!
She really loves lollipops so when she saw one go in her bucket, she had to have it immediately! So she walked more than half of the way with a lollipop in each hand!
About halfway through our block, the kids were out in big groups so Gabe headed back home to hand out candy (we had the bowl just sitting out for kids to help themselves at first). I took her to maybe 6 more houses and she was loving it. She would keep saying "More trick-or-treat" and "how about this house Mommy?" Luckily as we were at the last house before getting home, Gabe's parents pulled up! Avery got so excited to see them that she ran back home. The timing was perfect because if they hadn't shown up, she would have been ready to go for hours I think! Here she is showing off her full bucket (yeah, a full bucket after 12 houses! Crazy!):
And admiring all of her loot:
The only thing she ate was her lollipops-she opened each one that she got and took a few licks of each one. Then it went back in the wrapper. I offered her a candy bar and she said "no". Can't complain about that!

And so far, she hasn't asked for any candy! Mommy and Daddy will be eating most of it I'm sure!

Pre-Halloween Weekend

2011-10-30T21:30:00.001-04:00

We had quite a busy weekend again! It started out with no plans, but we kept ourselves busy!

Yesterday I got up early and hit the gym for an 8am class (yep I'm nuts)-and it was packed! The most crowded class I've been to yet! I guess most people are early birds!

When I got home, we took Avery to the Strong Museum for their Halloween party. Of course when we walked in the door, she wanted to ride the horsies with Daddy! No trip is complete without a horse ride! Here she is playing with one of the train table type things:

And giving the Berenstein bears some big hugs and kisses:

Of course we had to hit up the train before we left too! Daddy rode with her since I usually get to when we go (he's usually at work):

She didn't do too many of the Halloween things they had-they had a lot of crafts set up and some games, but she really showed no interest in them. She did collect the coins they were handing out, which you then turned in to the Pirate and got a prize for. They also had a DJ and music/dancing going on that she loved-we were there for a good 20 minutes at least! She just wanted to hear the music and dance around which was cute!

After the museum she took a nap and then we all went out for dinner.

This morning Avery and I went to her friend Josie's house for a playdate. The kids both wore their costumes for awhile which was really cute. I forgot to bring my camera though so I don't have any cute pics to share! We ended up walking to the playground for a little bit and enjoyed the day outside too!

During her nap I went grocery shopping and it ended up that she didn't nap! We watched the Bills game and had maybe one of our last cookouts of the season-burgers! They turned out really good too!

And now we're just gearing up for work and Halloween tomorrow! Can't wait!

Frustrations

2011-10-28T20:50:00.000-04:00

I love my little girl to death, I truly do.

But lately, she has been quite the handful. Any parent would be lying if they said their child is "good" all of the time.

And the terrible two's?! Yeah, I think we're there.

We've had some days lately where I question how we're going to do this with a second one here as well. It's been very trying.

I try to be patient with her, I really do. But sometimes, it's very, very hard.

Let's just say that if we tell her "no" for anything, a meltdown/tantrum typically takes place. Even if we say, "not now, later" she still freaks out. The foot stomps, something gets thrown across the room, lots of crying....good times.

Her latest thing really has me frustrated.....getting her in the carseat.

Monday I picked her up from daycare and found out she didn't have a great day there. We walk out to my car and as soon as I open the back door, she clings to me screaming "No Mommy!" I try to put her in the seat and you would swear I was wrangling an alligator....she stiffens up, arches her back, kicks/slaps me, and contorts herself all over the place. I pulled out all of my tricks-songs, stories, my cell phone (she always takes that), bribes for candy...nothing. She somehow launched herself out of my arms and was headed face-first to the pavement. I caught her and finally lost it and yelled at her. Yeah, that didn't help. The crying just got worse, the wrangling continued, etc. Let's just say that after a HALF HOUR we were both in tears. Her because she didn't want to sit and me because I couldn't get her in her seat. I have no idea how it happened, but I finally got her in her seat and we made it home.

Let's just say that Tuesday was basically a repeat performance. The only difference? I got there later so about 4 cars of parents/kids came and went while the whole performance was going on. I even was showing her how well the other kids got in their carseats. She didn't care. The only difference was that I didn't lose it on her this time and somehow I got one leg buckled in so she was at least held in her seat. She cranked up the crying though and had herself so worked up it was like she was foaming at the mouth. I felt horrible. And I'm sure every parent that saw this going on will definitely nominate me for Mom of the year (NOT!).

Want to know the funny thing?! The whole time she's pitching a fit, she's telling me "I want to go home." I kept telling her that we can't go home until she gets in her seat. That did absolutely nothing.

Tuesday when we finally got home (a half hour later) and before exiting the car, I had a talk with her. How much she understood I have no idea. But I basically told her a few things:
1. I was sorry for getting upset with her
2. I have to get her in her seat so that she stays safe ("like Dora" she says)
3. Mommy loves you and doesn't want you to get hurt
4. Next time I want you to be a big girl and get in the seat for Mommy
I go to unlock the door of the house and come back to get her. As soon as I open the door, she goes, "Mommy, I sorry I didn't get in my seat." So...maybe the talk worked.

I will say it was one of the most frustrating situations I have been in. When you need to go somewhere (HOME!) and can't get there until she sits and having no control over her....not fun.

On a good note, she has been better since then. I was dreading picking her up on Thurs/Fri, but she did great both days. Let's hope it stays that way!

Sometimes being a parent is not an easy job. Not easy at all.

In the Halloween Spirit

2011-10-26T14:13:00.004-04:00

So I have to admit, our house is not very spirited this year. See, when we started building our house, we thought we would be moved before Halloween. So....I packed up all of our Halloween stuff and it's not buried in the back of our POD in the driveway. Needless to say, I'm not about to go out there and unbury it for just one day and then have to pack it back up again. It was bad enough that I had to send Gabe out there hunting for Avery's costume that was packed up! Because of this, I don't even know if we'll carve pumpkins this year-I know the carving set is packed away as well.

Since it's a gloomy day out here today, I decided Avery and I would do some Halloween stuff. I did a quick search online for easy crafts and actually had some stuff in my house I could use to make something!

Craft #1: Coffee Filter Ghosts

What you'll need: scissors, string, a coffee filter, a black marker, tinfoil and tape.
Lay out a piece of tinfoil flat on the table and tape a piece of string (whatever length you want the ghost to hang from) in the middle of the foil.

Crumple the foil up into a ball:

Take your coffee filter and draw on a ghost face:

Poke a hole in the top of the coffee filter and thread through the string-the coffee filter will rest on top of the tinfoil:

Display them around your house! (Please ignore the ugly chandelier we have-and yes, it's missing lights!)

Just a note-you're supposed to use a regular coffee filter, but my coffee maker takes the cone shaped filters-they still worked out just fine!

Craft #2: Handprint ghosts

What you'll need: white paper, scissors, a black marker, a pencil

Trace your child's hand on a piece of white paper. Using scissors, cut out the handprint making the wrist area rounded (for the ghost's head). Draw on a ghost face!

Here's Avery posing with her ghost:

The finished handprint ghost!

She really got a kick out of this one. Lately she loves tracing her hands so we made 3 of these in no time. She colored in two of them and I did this one. We hung them on our front door and she loves them!

Boo!

There's one other thing we're doing to get into the spirit of things around here. It's called getting Boo-ed! I saw this idea on another blog and thought it sounded like so much fun!

You start by printing out a few copies of this. You put a copy into a bag of treats that you assemble. Then you deliver the treats anonymously to your neighbors without them knowing (basically a ding-dong ditch type of thing). They put the ghost sign up in their window so that others know they have been boo-ed and then they continue on the fun! The idea is to see how many houses can get boo-ed by Halloween.

I delivered the first bag back on Sunday hoping the neighbors would participate. I saw the sign go up on their door so I was hopeful. Unfortunately I haven't seen any other signs going up, so I don't know if they followed the instructions or if they did follow them and our other neighbors are party poopers. So, I put together 2 more bags to deliver tonight to see what happens.

These are just a few things we're doing here to get into the spirit of Halloween. Tell me, what are you doing to gear up for the holiday? I'd love to hear your ideas!

A Very Busy Saturday

2011-10-23T20:20:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was quite a busy day for us.

We got up in the morning and got ready to take Avery to her first Halloween event of the year. The library I take her to for story time does a Fall Festival along with the town hall and police dept (their buildings are all connected). We took Avery there last year and we enjoyed it so we decided to hit it again this year.

Avery was so excited to put her costume on! When I showed it to her in the morning, she wanted it on right away. Once she finished breakfast, I got it on her and she wore it right up until naptime!

Doesn't she look adorable?! We got to the party and the first thing we saw were two characters-one was a dog named "Biscuit" and one was a cat (not sure of the name). Avery was obsessed with them-always saying "hi" when they walked by and showing them her costume. Lots of hugs and high-fives. She wasn't too fond of the cat at first (hence no photos of it) but finally gave him a high-five at the end. She loved "Biscuit" though!

Then we took her to the trick-or-treat area. They set up "houses" and you got to trick-or-treat. She got a lot of cute stuff-candy, pencils, stickers, toothbrushes, etc.

Here she is getting her first treat-her fave, M&M's!

A close up of Avery:

And a quick family shot (Avery is saying "cheese"): They had pony rides set up outside and she really wanted to go on. The line was pretty long, but we decided to wait. Thankfully when it was her turn, she actually went on! I was fearing waiting in line only for her to decide not to go on. But, she donned a helmet and got right on the pony! Taking her walk around:

Checking out her helmet:
Our last stop was in the library where they had a few animals on display. This year they brought an owl:
And a duck!
The duck actually nibbled Avery's fingers, but she just laughed at it! Then she sat down and made a fall themed wreath which turned out cute.

And that was just the start of our day!

When we got home, Gabe's parents came over to babysit Avery while we went out looking for our kitchen backsplash. Luckily we only went to one store and found something we liked so that was good! Then we got home and my Mom showed up to spend the day/night with us. Gabe and I took off again to go to a local baby furniture store that was having their tent sale this weekend. It's the same store we bought Avery's crib set from and the quality is very good so we were interested in seeing what they had. Originally we went looking to buy Avery a new bedroom set-full size bed and dressers. But we ended up just buying a new crib set and dressers for the baby. Avery's crib converts to a bed anyways and they had a great deal we couldn't pass up! So, we now have baby furniture for #2!

After shopping, we all met Gabe's parents out for dinner which was nice. Then it was home and time for Avery to get to bed. It was a super busy day for us, but a productive one at that!

26 Weeks-Baby #2

2011-10-20T13:52:00.003-04:00

So I'm at 26 weeks now-hard to believe that next week I'll be in the 3rd trimester already! It's crazy how fast it's going by this time! January still seems so far away to me, but when you think I have 14 weeks left, it doesn't seem like much!

How I'm feeling/sleeping: Pretty well at this point. Sleep is still hit or miss and I'm up at least once to use the bathroom. I have the occasional swollen ankles or back ache, but that's about it really.

Appointments/events: I had my monthly appointment last Friday. I gained 5lbs since last month (for a total of 13lbs so far). I also had to do my glucose test that day. I haven't heard anything from the office so I'm assuming it went ok. They told me if something was wrong that they would call me. My doctor wanted me to get a c-section on the book in case we have to have one again. She said the OR schedule fills up fast so she wanted me to get one booked ASAP. I had the choice of 39, 40, or 41 weeks and she told me she needed to know at my next appointment. Well, they must have taken it upon themselves to schedule it because I got a call yesterday that I'm scheduled on January 27th! My due date is the 25th so we'll see what happens. I know my doctor only works part-time and on the 27th I'm guaranteed to have her do the surgery, so that's fine with me. Plus it's a Friday so Gabe won't have to take too much time off of work! It's pretty weird having an "eviction date" though!

Cravings/Aversions: Still not inclined to eat oatmeal or peanut butter but everything else is fair game. I was dying for rice krispy treats the other day so I made some while Avery napped. I was out of rice krispies so I used Cheerios instead. They hit the spot!

Movement: Yes! Baby seems to be more active these days-I have many times in a day that I feel lots of movement (of course one of them is when I go to bed!). I'm not sure if the baby is still breech, but I do feel a lot of movement down low-mostly below my belly button. I honestly don't remember where I felt it when I was pregnant with Avery!

Avery's thoughts: She still tells everyone that baby is a girl! Now when we ask her what to name the baby, she says "girl"....nice name! Haha!

Here are this week's pics...the grey shirt is yesterday at 26 weeks and the red shirt is me at 27 weeks with Avery. Hard to tell if I'm bigger now or not. I weigh exactly the same as I did with Avery at this point.

Monday Night Fun!

2011-10-18T20:51:00.000-04:00

This is what we do for fun on a Monday night.... Yep, we wear our winter gear (love how I'm wearing Avery's hat?!)!!

What do you do?!

Turkey Dinner in Buffalo

2011-10-17T20:38:00.005-04:00

Before I start what this post is about, I had to include this picture of Avery from the other day. Can I just point out how old she looks in this pic? Oh my gosh-where is my baby?! FYI-this is her eating her first cheerio treat (a rice krispy treat made with cheerios instead). She just looks so big.... And onto the post....

Yesterday we went to Buffalo for the day to visit Nama. Here's my big girl in her cute outfit:My Mom and Aunt were dying to make a turkey dinner, so they decided that yesterday was the day for it. They went all out-turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, broccoli/cauliflower, stuffing, rolls...yum! My friend Joelle, her husband Matt, daughter Samantha and her Mom JoAnne all came over to enjoy the yummy feast with us. I've mentioned before that Samantha is 8 days younger than Avery and both Joelle and I are expecting-and we're about a week apart again which is too funny!

The girls had a blast playing together and were really big into the hugs!

And Samantha shook Avery's hand which was so cute!

After dinner they got to showing off their tummies!

And on their way out, more hugs:

and kisses:

They were just too cute together!

We had a nice visit, that's for sure! And of course dinner was wonderful! Joelle brought dessert which was also amazing! We were all stuffed!!

Before we left, Avery got in her jammies and watched some Dora on Gabe's phone-her new obsession! Look how focused she is!

I'm really not sure when we'll make it to Buffalo again-our weekends have been a little crazy and with our house almost being done, it's hard to say when we'll make the trip back!

We're Gettin' There

2011-10-13T21:04:00.007-04:00

Yesterday Gabe, Avery, my Mom, and I all made a visit to the house. My Mom hasn't been there in a very long time (I don't even think the siding was started yet!) so I was excited for her to see the progress in person, as opposed to her seeing the pics online. Of course I haven't been in a few weeks myself so I was anxious to see all of the new stuff as well!

I'm going to apologize for the pics-they aren't the greatest because of the lighting. There is no lighting done in the house yet, so really I'm relying on the natural light and my flash so some of them turned out a little dark. You know there will be more to come though!!

This is the mudroom area-laundry room is the far room. Tiling on the floor is done, paint is done!
This is the half bath downstairs-cabinets and floor are in!

Family room-painted, bookshelves in, fireplace installed-stone and mantle are done!

Morning room/kitchen-they were just starting the hardwoods when we were there-love them!

Kitchen-cabinets are done!

The office is now painted (Sherwin Williams Smoky Blue):

The "good" stairs are now put in and stained-they really look great!

They have part of the banister up-it's missing the spindles still.

And on to the upstairs....this is the 2nd story foyer area-I like the hardwood accent up there!

Guest bedroom:

Avery's room:

Baby's room:

Full bath upstairs-tile is all done and cabinets are installed!

Master bedroom:

Master bathroom-cabinets installed:

Master bath-jacuzzi area-floor is all done and tile is all done! I really, really love this room so far!

Our walk-in shower....they still have to install the glass wall for it, but there will be no door at all!
Close up of the tile and listello (or as I call it-the "border"):
The column of the shower:
And our hidden shelf in the shower area-so glad the tile guy suggested this! Hopefully it'll hide our shampoo bottles!
So those are the latest updates! They still have to finish the hardwoods downstairs and the carpet needs to get put in. Then the granite counters, speakers, lights and grass outside. Other than that, I'm not really sure what else has to be finished. It can't be much-we're in the last few weeks so I think they are pretty close to completion at this point! YAY!

And an Equally Sunny Sunday!

2011-10-10T20:51:00.001-04:00

Since we had another beautiful day yesterday, we decided it was a good day to go to the pumpkin patch.

We went to the same place as we did last year and the year before....Powers Farm Market. Like expected, it was very busy, but the place is so big that you really don't notice just how busy it really is.

When we first got there, Avery wanted to check out the animals. She really liked the goats! And can I say-look how cute she is with her ponytail in?! LOVE IT!

The little white goat let her pet him a few times!

Then we had to check out the big tee-pees they have set up. The first one has a ton of carved pumpkins inside so we spent a few minutes in there looking at all of them:

After exploring the tee-pees, Avery wanted juice so we ran into the store and got her an apple cider. Then she wanted to go on the "tractor"....or the hayride they have there. Let me tell ya-for the 3 of us it was $12 to go on and the line was super long. What a racket they have there! Wow!

Here's Avery waiting for us to start the ride:

Her and Daddy ready for the hayride!

First we started out in some area loaded with bats hanging all around:

Then lots of ghosts:

And scarecrows:

This scarecrow was enormous:

More ghosts:

It was a cute ride-went through a cemetery, saw some broken down cars and tractors, then it ended with a dark tunnel. Avery wasn't scared at all which I was thankful for-one little kid behind us was afraid the entire time!

After the hayride, we picked out our pumpkins and got some treats (cider and popcorn). Unfortunately, Avery wouldn't let me take any photos of her in the pumpkin patch like we did in previous years. I'm a little bummed about that.

Last evening, we went to my in-laws' for dinner to celebrate my Father-in-law's birthday. We had a yummy dinner and Avery had fun seeing her cousins and Grandparents!!

Sunny Saturday

2011-10-09T20:35:00.004-04:00

Our weekend has been wonderful when it comes to the weather. You could't ask for a better weekend-sunny and mid to upper 70's both days! It was fantastic!

Our Saturday was a little odd to start. Backtracking a little, Avery didn't nap on Friday at all so we had her in bed and asleep at 8pm Friday night. She woke up at 5am screaming for us, which she hasn't done in months. So Gabe went in to see her and rocked with her for about an hour until she fell back asleep. We heard her again around 8:30am so I got up to use the bathroom and by the time I got to the bathroom, she was quiet again. I left to go to the gym at 10am and she still hadn't woken up yet! That has to be a record for her! Gabe actually woke her up right after I left the house. I wonder how long she would have slept if we just let her go! Silly girl!

Needless to say, we knew she wouldn't nap on Saturday then either since she got up so late. Right after the gym, I met Gabe and Avery at a lighting store and we started to pick out some lights for the new house. When we got home, I showered while Gabe went to get his haircut (he took Avery with her). I did some stuff around the house and then when they came home, we went over to Julie and Richie's house to visit.

Gabe was getting tons of love from both girls-Avery and Carly were giving him hugs! It was so cute! And the girls chased each other around the table:

and did a Dora puzzle together:

They sat together and had mac-n-cheese for dinner. This shot cracks me up!

While we were there, Avery fell and split her lip open-it was bleeding and all puffy. They had some popsicles at their house so both girls had one and I think it helped her a little bit-at least she said it did! Looking at her, it's her upper lip on the left-but it's hard to see. She was all smiles for a photo though!

Carly loved her popsicle too!

We had a really nice day-busy, but good! And we are loving the nice weather-it can stick around as long as it wants!

24 Weeks-Baby #2

2011-10-05T20:08:00.009-04:00

How I'm feeling/sleeping: Doing pretty well so I can't complain too much. Sleep is hit or miss-some nights I sleep well, others not so well. Some nights my back hurts, others I'm ok. I'm still up at least once to use the bathroom overnight. I'm starting to get out of breath pretty easily these days, which makes things "fun".

Appointments/events: Last week I had to go for my repeat ultrasound to get another hand measurement and spine measurement. The baby was still in a bad position so it took the tech quite awhile to get what she needed, but I think she got the measurements. The heart rate was 147 this time-the lowest it's been so far. And the baby is still breech at this point...again, I know that can change!

Cravings/Aversions: Still not inclined to eat oatmeal or peanut butter but everything else is fair game. I feel like I've been a pig lately-some days no matter how much I eat I'm still starving!

Movement: Yes! Baby seems to be more active these days-I have many times in a day that I feel lots of movement (of course one of them is when I go to bed!).

Avery's thoughts: She still tells everyone that baby is a girl! Yesterday she lifted my shirt and said "Hi baby! Nice to see you today!" She's so sweet!

I finally wore a pair of my maternity jeans the other day-they're Old Navy ones. I forgot how comfy they are! I seriously wish they made their regular jeans out of the same material-they are just so soft and comfy! Of course none of the pants are really staying up well on me-I keep hiking them up all day long. Not sure if my belly isn't big enough (how is that possible?) or if the pants are just stretched out from round 1.

Here are some pics-the black shirt is me with Avery at 25 weeks, the blue shirt is today (24 weeks): (and I love my saggy ass in my jeans! Haha!)

Our Weekend

2011-10-02T20:36:00.002-04:00

Our weekend was nice and it was a little busy with some random stuff.

Saturday we all went to the place to look at granite for our new house. It ended up being a waste of a trip (with all of us outside freezing in the rain) so that was disappointing, but at least we found a few that we might consider. Once we got Avery down for a nap, I ran to Carter's (had $10 I had to spend that day) then went grocery shopping. After I got everything put away, I started frosting cakes for a family function on Sunday. When Avery got up, we all went to some furniture stores to try and get some ideas for Avery's new bedroom. Then we stopped at Moe's and had a quick bite to eat before heading home. It was a late night for Avery-we didn't get home until around 8:30 which is when we try to put her down for bed.

Today we didn't do too much this morning. Gabe had to run to the tile store to pick out the grout for all of the tile work at the new house. When he got home, I ran to another furniture store to look around real fast. Avery unfortunately didn't take a nap, so when I got home we headed out to our cousin's house for our annual clam bake. We got there probably around 3:30 and it seemed as though everyone had eaten already, so we ate pretty much when we got there. Relaxed, visited, and ate way too much.

I was on cake duty-we had 2 birthdays we were celebrating so these are what I brought:

We got home, gave Avery a bath and got her to bed early-I think she was actually asleep by 8, which is good for her!

I had to add in a few pics of Avery from earlier this week. We were getting her ready for bed and she still (sometimes) wears a sleep sack. Well, on this particular night, she wanted her Dora doll in her sleep sack with her. It was too funny-looked like she was using a baby carrier or something! I had Gabe run and get my camera to get a few shots of her!

Look at her smile!

Oh yeah, and Happy October!

Details

2011-09-29T20:53:00.003-04:00

Gabe has been to the house quite a bit this week. He took a bunch of pictures so I had him email me a few so that I could update on here. I just don't know when I'll make it to the house again, so I figured it would be nice to put some new pictures up when I can!!

Basically all of the big stuff is done and now we're down to the little details-the things that make a house a home. And let me tell you, seeing this makes it feel that much more real to me. I can't wait to see it in person-it has to be gorgeous! I'm hoping next week I can make it out there to check things out!

So here is our family room-the paint is all done now! You can see they put in the stone and mantle around where the fireplace is. The built-ins are all done-the TV will be going on the right hand side. Love it! This has me so excited-the kitchen!! It was so hard to picture it since it was such an open space, but now it's really taking shape! All of the cabinets are officially in place-they just have to finish up the island. Again....love it! Another view of the kitchen-this is where the fridge will go:
And the start of the island-the space is where the dishwasher will be.
Cabinets are also in in the bathrooms, but I don't have a photo of them yet. I'm pretty sure they're starting our tile work soon too-so that means the bathrooms will be almost complete!!

Fun at the Farm

2011-09-26T20:58:00.008-04:00

On Saturday, we had a playdate with Avery's friend Josie and her Mom! We had an idea to go apple picking but waited to see how the weather would be. Luckily, the weather cooperated and we were able to go!

We've taken Avery apple picking the past two years at different places. The first year we went to Whittier Fruit Farm and last year we went to Green Acres. Lisa suggested a new place this year, the Victor Apple Farm so we decided to go and check it out!

We got to ride on a tractor out to the apple orchards. Here is Avery on Gabe's lap on the tractor:

She actually loved the tractor ride. When we took her strawberry picking in the summer, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea (cried when we got on, etc.), but this time she jumped right on and was all smiles!

They made two stops-the first was to pick red delicious and mcintosh apples. The second was for cortlands and macouns. We opted to skip the first stop since none of us like red delicious and I'm a HUGE fan of both cortlands and macouns.

And when we got off, the scenery was beautiful!

Can you imagine how pretty it'll be when the leaves start to change?!

Avery and Josie got right to work picking the apples and Josie started snacking on one right away:

(I'm loving her skinny jeans and pigtails-adorable!)

Here's Avery picking an apple:

Josie and her Mom:

Gabe and Avery (eating apple #1):

We picked cortlands first, and before starting the macouns, we stopped for a quick family photo:

The girls enjoying their apples (#2 for Avery):

Avery really got a kick out of picking the apples. And here, the trees were low enough that she could reach some all by herself, which she just loved!

We tried getting the girls to pose together, but Avery wasn't being very cooperative. I love this picture of Josie in front of the macoun sign-look at that little attitude-so cute!

Showing off her apple:
After getting our fill of apples, we got back on the tractor to ride back. Then we explored the little store there and paid for our apples. We all picked up some doughnuts and cider too!! We sat out at a picnic table for a little snack. The girls loved the doughnuts and cider! Here's Josie making her doughnut face:
And Avery making her doughnut face:
And one more family photo (can you tell the sun was in our eyes?!):
We were there a good two hours and had a really great time. The girls had a lot of fun and Avery talked about it all day long! It was a great day for it too!!

Color

2011-09-24T20:53:00.003-04:00

Avery and I took a ride out to the new house yesterday. I knew the painter had started this week and was dying to see what it looked like with some paint on the walls!

Let me tell ya-it's amazing what a little bit of color can do to a place! Wow!

Here's the outside-as far as I know, it's done! They just finished painting the trim around the windows this week and I think that was the last they had to do out there. Looks great!
Here's the dining room with the chair rail put up. (Color-Sherwin Williams "Compatible Cream")

The kitchen-they haven't painted much in this area, but I'm pretty sure that is the wall color they have started. They have the hood up now for where the cooktop will be. (Color-Sherwin Williams "Macadamia").
The bedrooms were really hard to photograph because they had all of the doors standing up in the middle of the room and painted. So it was tough to take a good picture of any room upstairs. But, you'll get the idea!

Master bedroom (Color-Olympic "Cosmic Rays")
Master Closet:
Master bath (toilet area):
Baby's room....the color is supposed to be Behr's "Pale Daffodil", but honestly I don't know if this is it. That's the same color that Avery's room is painted now and it looks a LOT different. So I have a gut feeling that it's not the right color. If that's the case, they'll be fixing it! It just looks way brighter than it does in her room now.

Guest room (Color-Sherwin Williams "Compatible Cream"):
And Avery's room (Color-Behr "Jamaican Sea"):
This is her closet area:
Avery loved her bedroom-she kept running in and out of it to look at it-it was so cute. She was so excited to see it painted and I'm so happy she ended up liking the color (you never know with a 2 year old!).

The rooms they haven't started yet are the office, family room and kitchen/morning room and the foyer.

I'm very happy with how it looks so far! Hard to believe it'll be completely done in about a month! Wow!

22 Weeks-Baby #2

2011-09-21T21:50:00.001-04:00

How I'm feeling/sleeping: Doing pretty well. My back is still bothersome overnight and of course I'm up to pee 1-2 times so my sleep is pretty broken up at this point. Still having some mild sweeling of my ankles on some days.

Appointments/events: I had my monthly appt last week. Gained 2lbs since my last appt (for a total of 8lbs so far). Everything was good-urine tested fine, blood pressure low, heartbeat was fine. Talked with another OB about my repeat c-section vs. VBAC....still undecided as to what to do. I have now met with 3 out of 4 docs-2 of them (one of which is my doc) were very laid back and basically said it's up to me. The 3rd was leaning more towards a repeat c-section. So who knows. I also had my "big" ultrasound that day. We got to see the baby in all it's glory-well except that we didn't find out the gender! The heartbeat was high-I think in the 160's if I remember correctly. I do have to go back for another ultrasound next week because they couldn't measure the vertebrae because of the baby's position. And so far, the baby is breech...but I know that can change.

Cravings/Aversions: Still not inclined to eat oatmeal or peanut butter but everything else is fair game. I feel like I've been a pig lately-some days no matter how much I eat I'm still starving!

Movement: Yes! Still several times a day and still unpredictable. Gabe finally felt the baby move yesterday which is way later than he did with Avery (by a good month!). I tried having him feel it numerous times and as soon as he put his hand on my stomach, the baby stopped moving.

Avery's thoughts: Nothing new-she had the baby blow a whistle yesterday which was funny! She made me pull up my shirt and she put the whistle up to my belly! Cracks me up! Today she came up to me and said "Let me see that tummy" and pulled up my shirt-then said "Hi baby!"

I'm officially converted to all maternity clothes now...finally sucked it up and put them on.

Here are some pics-the one in the light pink shirt (left) is me at 23wks with Avery and the white shirt is today!

A Day at Nama's

2011-09-19T21:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we went to Buffalo for the day. We were supposed to go sailing with my Dad (my belated bday present) and my Mom was going to watch Avery for us. On our way to Buffalo, my Dad called and said the captain had to cancel our sailing trip. His son had been in a car accident and he needed to be at the hospital. It would have been a beautiful day for it too....so now we have to reschedule that.

So, we really did nothing all day. I didn't really hear from any friends and the ones I heard from were either sick or already had plans so we ended up just relaxing at my Mom's house all day.

Avery did lots of running around and playing with toys. Gabe and I watched the football game (it was an exciting one!). We had a nice dinner and after, Avery had a blast helping Nama outside.....

digging in the dirt....

watering flowers.....

and sweeping!

We had a nice visit of course-it's always good to see Mom and Aunt Pat!

I had to post these pics from Friday. I had Avery outside "doing chalk" (as she says) and she really got into it! She had our front stairs all decked out and of course sat in it so her pants were covered-they looked like tie-dye! She was just having a ball with it!

Here she is showing of her masterpiece (both stairs and pants):

And apparently she thought Daddy needed some chalk on his face to go along with hers!

Daycare-The Real Test

2011-09-17T21:21:00.000-04:00

So our big "test" as far as potty training goes was to see how Avery did at daycare.

On Tuesday we sent her in her underwear and came prepared for the day-lots of extra undies, pants, socks, and of course treats for when she went on the potty.

I was curious at work all day wondering how she was doing during the day. Was it accident central or was she doing an ok job?!

I found out when I picked her up.....she had one accident in the morning. Not surprising-lots of kids, lots of stuff going on, different bathroom, etc.

Apparently she woke up dry after her nap (which never happens at home) and right after nap the teacher took her to the potty and she went! Then later on, Avery did tell the teacher "pee pee on the potty" and went!

I was SO proud of her!

She was also at my in-laws all day on Thursday and unfortunately had 2 accidents there that day. I guess she didn't tell them she had to go and would just run to the bathroom. By the time they got there, she had already peed her pants. Not a total fail, because she did know to go to the bathroom!

Avery was at daycare again yesterday and I forgot to ask how she did on the potty. I noticed she was sent home in a diaper, but also in the clothes she went in in the morning so I was confused. I did end up emailing the teacher because I was curious how she did. She did stay dry all morning (not sure if she peed on the potty or not) and was put in a diaper for nap. The teacher forgot to put her undies back on after nap, but was checking to see if she peed and apparently she didn't. It was a different teacher than normal that day, so I don't think she remembered about Avery's new undies!

So it's been a week now and so far, not too bad. Yes there will be accidents with different situations, but overall I think she picked up on it pretty well! Will keep ya posted!

Potty Training-Day 4

2011-09-15T15:01:00.001-04:00

So Monday was my day 4 of potty training. I decided since I had the day off I would tack on an extra day since I only did a half day on Friday. I will say that I really wanted to go out somewhere since I was bored being at home all weekend, but we did end up staying home.

It was nice outside so I decided to chance it and take her outside to play while we have the nice weather. Our neighbor's daughter was also outside so they got to playing with each other. I was a little worried that she would be too distracted, but I kept giving her reminders and praise (for dry undies) every few minutes. The reminders weren't as frequent as they had been because I really wanted to see how she'd do with less reminders in a day.

After awhile of running around and playing she ran up to our front door and stood there. When I caught up to her she said "pee pee on the potty" so I took her inside. Sure enough, she peed!

That was the only time she went before her naptime. When I went to get her from her nap, she had pooped in her diaper.

After nap, we were back outside and eventually we made our way across the street to play with some other kids. At one point, Avery ran down their driveway and was pretty far away from me. When I looked at her, she was just starting at her feet and I couldn't figure out what she was doing....then I saw it....a huge puddle of pee! She came running towards me and said "I peed!" So, she had an accident but it was partly my fault. I wasn't reminding her as much and I let her get too far away from me. Not to mention there were 4 of them playing so I'm sure she was quite distracted.

After dinner, Gabe gave Avery a bath. To our surprise, during her bath, she said "pee pee" and Gabe said "you want to go on the potty?" She replied yes so he put her on the potty all soaking wet and sure enough she peed! We were very shocked at that!

Overall not a terrible day-2 potty trips and one accident. She went to daycare on Tuesday in just undies, so that was the "real" test.

Potty Training-Day 3

2011-09-14T20:53:00.002-04:00

Sunday was day 3 of potty training.

Avery woke up again asking to wear her underwear and as excited as could be. She walks around a lot now saying "I went pee pee on the potty" and "I want a treat!" Kid cracks me up!

It took her awhile before she went again-I think it was around 11am or so. She was playing in our family room and all of a sudden said "pee pee" and ran into the bathroom!! I quickly followed her in there and sure enough, she peed on the potty!

About a half hour later, she was still in our family room and Gabe heard her say "poopy" so he quickly ran to her and got her on the toilet as fast as he could. And surprisingly, she did a poop on the potty! I couldn't believe it! And as an FYI her poop reward was a piece of a cookie-we had to up the ante for that!

Gabe's parents invited us over for dinner Sunday night and I was skeptical about going-I didn't want to break the "don't leave your house" rule and I knew my nephew and neice would be there so I was a little nervous. But...we haven't been to their house for dinner since July 4th (ususally it's a weekly event!) so we decided to go. Besides, I was getting ready to be out of the house a bit!

So we went over there and she wore her underwear in the car and did great! She was playing a lot and having a great time! We were sitting at the table either finishing dinner or something and she ran by saying "pee pee on the potty" so I ran and took her in the bathroom. Sure enough, she peed on their potty! She stayed in her undies on the ride home and did just fine then as well! I can't say enough how proud we are of her!!

I have to say that day 3 was pretty great-no accidents at all! I am doing one more day since Friday was only a half day in undies....so it's my 3 1/2-4 day plan!

Potty Training-Day 2

2011-09-12T21:57:00.000-04:00

Saturday was Day 2 of potty training for us (or maybe day 1 since day 1 was only a half day?).

Avery woke up and as soon as I went in her room she said "my underwear." She was very excited to get them back on again! I brought her downstairs and let her pick out the ones she wanted to wear again.

We had breakfast and played a lot-again with me right by her side and giving reminders every few minutes. She was up a little after 8 and was a camel again-I don't think she peed until after 11!

Her and I were out in the kitchen and she started to pee. I ran her to the toilet and she got a very tiny dribble in the toilet. We celebrated that and she got a reward!

After that incident, she realized she could easily take her undies off-so she stripped herself down naked. The 3 day program emphasizes them keeping their underwear on, but I didn't see the harm in it for a little bit. Maybe a half hour later she started grabbing at herself so I said "Avery let me know when you need to go potty" and she sort of grunted and I took her to the potty. And sure enough, she peed! She got another reward and was super excited then. It sort of became a game and she just kept running to the bathroom to see if she could get any pee out to get a reward. She ended up peeing a total of three times on the potty before naptime!

I put her diaper on her for nap and she slept just fine.

After nap, as soon as I got her she asked about her underwear again and all day she was so excited and kept saying "I went pee pee on the potty!" Of course we called Daddy (he was getting his haircut) and Grandma to beef up the praise!

Undies went back on after her nap and she didn't take them off this time. At one point we were playing in our back family room and she started to pee so I ran her to the bathroom. It was the biggest pee ever and none made it in the toilet-but she left a nice pee trail from the family room all the way to the bathroom and a nice puddle on the bathroom floor!

Later in the evening she had another accident. Gabe was out mowing the lawn and she was watching him through the front door and started to pee. So I took her to the bathroom, but none of it made it in the toilet.

You're probably wondering about pooping. She pretty much poops on a daily basis. When we started on Friday, she pooped that morning and when she woke up from nap so it was all before we started undies. Saturday she didn't poop at all which is unusual for her.

Oh and for rewards....the first time she went on the potty I gave her a sticker. Honestly, it didn't phase her much. So I bumped it up a notch. Avery is very food-driven and loves "treats" so now when she pees, she gets a tiny piece of chocolate (equivalent to 2 M&Ms I'm guessing). This of course gets her very excited!

So for today....naked she's 3 for 3 on the potty but with underwear she's 0 for 3.

We'll see what day 3 brings!

Potty Training-Day 1

2011-09-11T21:11:00.002-04:00

I'm going to apologize in advance if I bore any of you with the next few posts. I just thought it might be helpful information for anyone going through this stage now or in the future, so bear with me!

I'm not really sure if there is a "right" age for potty training a child. Gabe was asking me the other day what age is considered "late" and I honestly don't know....4? So really, I had no idea when to start training Avery or anything.

When we went for Avery's 2 year appointment I asked her pediatrician about potty training. He told me that there is a window between 2 and 2 1/2 that you can train them very easily. He said typically once they reach 2 1/2 they're harder to train because they get very set in their ways at that age. So introducing something like this gets harder to do. So he basically said if you can catch that window, to go with it.

I'd say back in early to mid August Avery really started showing more readiness signs to potty train. For awhile she has said when she poops, but this was different. It started when we were ready to go outside one day and she goes "I pooped my diaper. Change diaper." and ran into the other room, threw herself on the floor, and basically was begging to be changed. And when I changed her, she didn't poop...she had peed. This became a trend-she didn't do it every time she peed, but she did it at least once a day. I also noticed that when she was sitting in her chair at dinner, if something got her seat wet, she would flip out wanting it cleaned up and to be out of her chair. I started thinking "is this the sign I should be looking for?"

Don't get me wrong-I'm in no rush to train her. Diapers are easy-I can take her out anywhere and she really isn't bothered by them. My thought process was this-she'll be 2 1/2 right after Christmas (the age when according to her doc it becomes harder to train). Early November we'll be moving-new house, new bedroom, new bed for Avery (LOTS of changes for her to come). I'm due for baby #2 in January (another HUGE change for her). Between the move and the baby is all of the chaos of the holidays. I didn't want to introduce training her then-it's just too much going on for her in just a few short months. And I know once the baby arrives, I'm not going to have my full attention on Avery anymore (*sniff sniff*) and it would probably be a dragged out process at that point.

So, I decided now was the time.

This weekend is my last 4 day weekend for months. We had nothing planned, so I decided this would be the weekend for it.

I followed the 3 day potty training method. Well, most of it at least. It's an e-book that you can buy online (I got mine from a friend).

Basically, you purge any diapers you have and put them right in underwear. They wear a t-shirt and undies for 3 days straight. Ideally, you do not leave the house and the child is by your side every waking minute. When you catch them "in the act", you rush them to the toilet. It's all positive reinforcement and putting the child in charge of training. You don't sit them at designated time intervals or anything-the child dictates when they have to go. No using pull-ups or anything.

I will say I was dreading being homebound for 3 whole days, but I was also anxious to see how things would go.

I started Friday afternoon after her nap. I wanted to get out Friday morning and take her to story time and have something to do that day so I figured after nap we would start things. She woke up after her nap and I brought her downstairs. We made a big deal out of her picking out the underwear she wanted to wear for the day and praising her for being such a big girl.

Then the games began and I followed her around until bedtime, giving her reminders every 5mins or so ("are your undies dry?" "tell me if you have to go potty"). The girl is part camel I'm pretty sure because she didn't pee until 4 hours after her nap-so right before bedtime! In fact, she was in her bedroom and we were getting her PJs and stuff out when it happened. I ran her to the toilet but she had already finished going at that point. We made a big deal about her underwear being wet and "yucky" now and that they needed to be changed.

Now the reason I'm only doing part of this method is that I'm not training her at naptime or night time yet. Honestly, she pees so much at nap and overnight that there's no way she would stay dry yet. I'm just aiming for daytime, awake training right now. Sleeping times will come at some other time!

So, day one (or half a day) is done-only one accident! Keep posted for the rest of the days!

Just as a note-I did take some super cute pics of her modeling her new undies, but didn't want to post them on here just in case....ya never know who's looking at these things! So the next few posts will mostly be photo-free (sorry!).

Oh, and if you have any questions, please ask! I'm more than willing to share my experience with you!

Siding, Stone and Primed

2011-09-09T14:17:00.007-04:00

Avery and I took a drive out to the house today!

And I'll say that it looks AMAZING!

The siding is almost done, the stone is finished and we have a few shutters and cedar shakes as well! I love, love, love the way it looks! Just what I imagined!

Here's a closer look at the stone:

And a better shot of the windows and shutters. The details around the windows still need to be painted. And it's amazing what a little paint can do! Now it's really looking like a house inside...the transformation is incredible! The painters came a few days ago and have everything primed right now. I guess they don't do the actual paint until after the trimmer comes and does all of the baseboards and molding (doesn't make sense to me, but whatever). So, we have all of the walls and ceilings fully primed right now.

Here's the family room:

Kitchen:

Dining room:

Stairs/foyer:

Office:

Now upstairs....Master bedroom:

Master closet:

Master bath-shower:

Baby's room:

Full bath upstairs:

Avery's room:

2nd floor foyer:

As of now, our closing date is November 2nd-so less than 2 months now! But....the house is supposed to be finished by mid-October. It's really crazy to think that in about 5wks it'll be finished! It's definitely getting more exciting now!

20 Weeks-baby #2

2011-09-07T21:39:00.002-04:00

I'm officially at the halfway point!!

How I'm feeling/sleeping: As far as the nausea, much better. My sinus thing is gone now too so I'm somewhat back to normal. I'm feeling HUGE lately though-definitely in the past week or so. I'm already getting out of breath really easily and my back has started bothering me more when I sleep now. I'm just not comfortable lately. Gabe said last night "You're not enjoying this pregnancy are you?!" and it's not that I'm not enjoying it, it's just a totally different experience. When I'm tired and just want to put my feet up, I really don't have that option. It's hard feeling huge and uncomfortable when you have a 2yr old to chase around. And I noticed last night that my ankles are starting to swell...lovely. I thought it would hold out a little longer this time!

Appointments/events: None-I go next week for my appointment and the "big" ultrasound.

Cravings/Aversions: Food is more appealing to me now. I will still say that some things sound better than others. I have been eating my fair share of sweets again so I'm back to my "old self" as far as that goes. Still not wanting my oatmeal or peanut butter at all. I will say that I've been loving cereal this pregnancy though. I typically eat it most weekdays (then having something like eggs/oatmeal/pancakes on weekends) but since being pregnant, I eat it everyday for breakfast.

Movement: Yep! Several times a day. It's very unpredictable though. Gabe hasn't felt the baby move yet (he did with Avery by now) because I'll feel it once or twice, then nothing for a few hours. With Avery it was more like I'd feel her 10 times in a row. With this one, once I feel it, it stops!

Avery's thoughts: She's still pretty adament that this child is a girl. If she's wrong, who knows what she'll think!

As far as clothing goes, I've worn a few maternity shirts just because I need the length in them. I still haven't crossed over in pants yet-but it'll be any day now!

Here are some photos. The ones in the pink shirt are from today. The grey shirt is with Avery at 21 weeks...big difference in these pics!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T20:26:00.000-04:00

It was a very nice, long weekend for us. Both Gabe and I had off on Friday so we actually both had a 4 day weekend. It was glorious (but went by too fast!)!

Saturday we did some stuff around here-I went to the gym, did our grocery shopping. After Avery's nap we ran to a tile store, then out to dinner and for ice cream for Avery.

Sunday we took a trip to Buffalo for a visit. I really wanted to go to the zoo, but the forecast wasn't looking so good so we stayed in. Go figure....it didn't rain so we could have gone! Figures! While there, I ran to Goodwill and found Avery a nice pair of snowpants for $3! Can't go wrong with that. She'll need them for daycare so for $3 I don't care if they get ruined! Of course when I brought them in, she had to model them for us: My Mom, Avery and I took a walk to a nearby park. Avery had a blast going down the slides and going on the swings:

She was climbing all over everything and had fun! After we got back, she did lots of playing at Nama's house with some new toys. We had a yummy dinner then headed home around 730pm or so.

Today was a very lazy day. We all stayed in our PJ's all morning (I didn't shower until 2pm!) and we watched Toy Story 3....it was Avery's first whole movie! And she watched most of it. She was running and playing at times, but Gabe and I enjoyed watching it since we had never seen it! After Avery's nap, we met Gabe's parents for dinner by the lake and heard all about their wonderful vacation! Now we're just relaxing before getting back into "the grind" tomorrow.

Happy Labor Day!

Seabreeze, Take 2

2011-09-03T20:51:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we decided it was a good day to use our rainchecks for Seabreeze. Gabe was able to get the day off of work and the weather was looking good, so we went for it.

I thought it would be a great day to go. I figured since it was a Friday, people would be working. Two districts already started school here, plus most colleges are already in session. A holiday weekend to me meant more people traveling. Well, I was wrong. We got there and it was a mob scene! We had to wait in a pretty decent line just to get in the park!

I'll admit, the first hour was a killer. It had to be close to 90 degrees out and sunny. All of the rides are in the sun so you really don't get a break from it. I was drenched in sweat and really not comfortable. Avery went on a few rides, then we had a quick lunch. We got on our bathing suits and were looking forward to some relief from the heat.

Unfortunately Avery had different plans. She wanted NOTHING to do with the water! She was all excited to get her bathing suit on, but that was as far as the excitement went. Gabe and I stuck our feet in the water (can you say heaven?!) and she just screamed her head off and wouldn't let us put her down. After about 10 minutes of this, we decided to scrap the idea, suck it up and deal with the heat.

Gabe went to get himself a water and also came back with a frozen lemonade. This thing was a lifesaver-between sticking my feet in the water and this drink, I felt much better. Avery loved the lemonade and was chugging it down (I don't know how since it gave both Gabe and I a brain freeze after one sip): Avery did great on the rides! She went on everything all by herself and went on most things numerous times in a row! Here she is on the boats:

And a pic of Gabe and I:

Last time, she left there pretty afraid of the turtle ride and tea cup ride. She always talks about them and says how she won't go on them again. Well, to our surprise she went on both of them yesterday! She actually went on the turtles like 3 times! Gabe took her on the tea cups and as soon as they got off, she wanted to go back on! Unfortunately it's one of those spinny rides and Gabe didn't feel so hot after the first time, so they didn't go back on.

Even with the heat, we stayed about 5.5 hours and had a lot of fun. We were all exhausted when we left though! Gabe and I were ready to crash and Avery fell asleep very well for us too!

A to Z

2011-08-31T20:24:00.000-04:00

I got this from my friend Joelle on her blog so I decided to give it a go as well! A little bit about me....from A to Z!

Age: 32

Bed size: King

Chore you hate: cleaning the bathroom

Dogs: None

Essential start to your day: Breakfast

Favorite color: Red or purple

Gold or silver: Silver

Height: 5'5"

Instruments you play: The flute, although it's been awhile

Job title: Clinical Technician

Kids: 1 girl and 1 on the way

Live: In NY

Maiden Name: An Italian one

Nicknames: Nikki, Nik, Colee, Btags

Overnight hospital stays: Just when I had Avery-was there for 5 nights (yikes!)

Pet peeve: People who chew with their mouth open-yuck!

Quote: "In complete darkness we are all the same-it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separate us. Don't let your eyes deceive you"

Righty or Lefty: Righty

Siblings: None

Time you wake up: Work days-6:20am, days off-whenever I feel like it or when Avery wakes up
University you attended: Haha-which ones haven't I?! Daemen college (2yrs), Buffalo State (2yrs), Canisius College (Masters-2yrs), one class at ECC

Vegetables you dislike: Asparagus, tomatoes, peppers

What makes you run late: Having a child

X-rays you've had: My hip, my leg, ultrasounds for the kiddos, dental ones of course

Yummy food: Italian food and pretty much any dessert

Zoo animal favorite: Lions and tigers

Weekend Recap

2011-08-29T14:43:00.002-04:00

We had a very nice weekend....pretty much the last one of summer (*tear*).

Saturday I went to the gym in the morning. After Avery went down for a nap, I got in the shower. My Mom and Aunt Pat showed up around 4pm. We visited for awhile then went out to dinner right on the lake. It was a beautiful night and we had a very yummy dinner! After dinner, they went to visit a friend. Avery wanted ice cream so before we left the lake, we got her an ice cream. Then we just came home and relaxed after Avery went to bed.

Yesterday I met my friend for breakfast in the morning. While Avery napped, Gabe rant to TJMaxx for a few things. He got Avery a pair of Dora sneakers (which she loved, but they were still a little too big for her). After Avery napped, we all took a ride to the airport to pick up my in-laws' van. They left for vacation on Saturday and didn't want the van sitting at the airport all week. So we picked it up and drove it back to their house. Then we made a run to TJMaxx to get her Dora sneakers that fit her now (she insisted on wearing the big ones which just fell off of her feet so we figured for $6 we'd get her a pair she can wear now too). Then we did a family grocery trip to Wegmans. After that, it was dinner, bath for Avery then bedtime!

And just like that the weekend is over :(

Drywall and Siding

2011-08-25T20:34:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Avery and I made a trip out to the new house to check on things. The drywall is pretty much up now but I think they still have to tape and mud it.

Here's the kitchen/morning room with actual walls now!

Tray ceiling in the dining room:

Family room with walls!

We couldn't get upstairs because they had scaffolding all set up that was blocking the stairway. Avery was bummed because she wanted to see her new room!

They started the siding outside too and it looks great so far! This is the back of the house:

Back of the garage:

I love the color that we picked-I think it looks great!

I guess the stone on the front of the house starts on Monday and I think the painters come next week....so we have to choose paint colors by then! That is not an easy task, let me tell ya!

18 Weeks-baby #2

2011-08-24T14:20:00.006-04:00

Today I'm now 18 weeks along with baby #2!

How I'm feeling/sleeping: I'm getting there. I stopped my unisom about a week ago because I started having bad allergies/sinus problems. So instead of the unisom, I started taking my Zyrtec at night. I've been taking the Zyrtec on and off for the past week and for the most part have felt ok. I did have one bad nauseous moment the other day but it only lasted maybe a half hour and then I felt ok. As far as sleep goes, it's on and off. With my allegy/cold/sinus thing I can't breathe really well so that makes sleeping difficult in itself. I've had good nights and bad nights.

Appointments/events: I had my appt last week. I'm up a total of 6lbs so far which is exactly how much I gained with Avery at this point too. Everything looked well and we heard the heartbeat which is always nice. I talked to the doctor a lot about having a repeat c-section versus trying a VBAC this time....it's a very hard decision for me to make.

Cravings/Aversions: Food has started sounding more appealing to me finally, but no cravings or aversions really. Some things still aren't very appealing (oatmeal, peanut butter) and I've still been reaching for saltier things. Or if I have something sweet, I like something salty along with it (pretzels dipped in nutella like I'm eating at this moment).

Movement: I've definitely felt some flutters! I think it started about a week ago and it's usually once or twice a day that I feel it. Love it!!

Avery's thoughts: She pretty much says hi to the baby everyday. Sometimes we prompt her "Avery did you say hi to baby today?" and sometimes she does it on her own. It's so cute! The other day she came up to me and said "give baby hug" and she pulled up my shirt and hugged my stomach. Too cute!

I'm still not in maternity clothes (shocker!!) but I know it'll be very soon. Luckily I haven't had to dress up for work lately because I know my dress pants won't be fitting me anytime soon! I have one pair of shorts that I can get in to and the others are getting very, very snug.

Here's my photo from today (left, bottom) and with Avery at 19wks (right, top):

Baby Shower for Kim

2011-08-22T21:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we had a baby shower to attend in Auburn for a cousin of ours, Kim. She's expecting a little girl next month!

My Mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I all rode together which was nice. It was pretty much an all day thing. We left by 930am to get there for the 11am start. The shower went until 130ish so we didn't get home until close to 3.

Here's cousin Kim and her Mom, Cindy:

Cindy, Kim, Marissa, Michelle (all cousins of ours):

The beautiful (and yummy) cake:

Kim with the cake:

The shower was very nice. They had a brunch and the food was great! Kim got a lot of great stuff too! She got enough clothes for the baby to wear for at least a year (haha!), carseats, strollers, bouncers, etc. I don't think I've been to a shower before where the person got almost everything you need!

It was a great party and we can't wait to meet the baby!!

Happy Birthday Owen!

2011-08-21T14:10:00.000-04:00

Our nephew's birthday was earlier this week and yesterday we went to his party to celebrate!

They had it at one of those indoor bounce house places and we were anxious to see how Avery would be.

When we first got there it was very crowded and loud. Avery was a bit overwhelmed I think (she had just woken up from her nap) and was clinging to us for awhile. I finally got her to go into and empty bouce house by herself and she started to have a lot of fun.

While she was in there, the kids from the party gathered around and used one of those parachute things: They put Owen in the middle:

Avery finally got brave and went to a bigger bounce house that was a slide. Here she is climbing the stairs:

Sitting at the top:

And her and Bianca coming down:

Avery went down the slide a few times, then something happened and she sort of freaked out and cried. After that, she wouldn't go near the slides again!

She was however, obsessed with a balloon and a few balls she found there and was playing with them a lot!

The kids played about an hour then they rounded them all up for a group photo:

and marched them down to a party room. There they had pizza, saw some magic tricks and then it was time for cupcakes!

Singing to Owen:

the cupcake tower:

After cake they did gifts and then the party was technically over. With the party, the kids got admission for as long as the place was open. We stuck around because Avery was dying to bounce some more. Owen and his family stuck around as well as a few other kids from the party. It was interesting that they had no workers supervising the bounce houses. Adults are not supposed to go in them, but pretty much all of them tried out at least one slide! I couldn't of course, which bummed me out.

But here's my husband, the big kid going down the huge slide:

Happy 7th Birthday Owen!!

Turtle Cake

2011-08-18T14:04:00.000-04:00

I had to look back at all of my recipes and see if I posted this one yet...and I was surprised to see that I didn't!

This is a very yummy dessert and super easy to make too! Not too sweet, not too rich....just delicious!

Turtle Cake
1 box of German Chocolate cake mix
14oz bag of caramels
1/2 cup evaporated milk
3/4 stick of butter
1 cup of chocolate chips
1 cup of chopped walnuts

1. Prepare cake mix as directed on box. Grease and flour a 9x13" pan. Pour half of the cake batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake on 350 for 15min.

2. While cake is baking, melt caramels, butter, and evaporated milk in a saucepan over low heat until melted.

3. Remove cake from oven and pour caramel mixture over cake. Spread evenly and let sit 5-10min.

4. Pour remaining cake batter over caramel mixture. Spread evenly. Top with walnuts and chocolate chips. Return to oven for 20min or until cake is baked through.

Try this! You won't regret it!

Seabreeze

2011-08-15T20:05:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, Gabe had his company picnic at Seabreeze! Last year the weather wasn't great (and according to that, the year before wasn't either!) so we were hoping for a nice day this time around. Once again, we weren't so lucky. I guess we have a 3 year track record going now!

The park opened at 11am so we got there shortly after. We wanted to get in as much time as we could before the rain came.

We took Avery to the kiddie rides and she really wasn't interested in going on them. I finally said "Avery, do you want to drive a car?" and she said "YES!" So I got her in the car and hoped that when I walked away she didn't freak out....and she didn't!

So, here is Avery on her first ride all by herself:

And yes, I totally had one of those "my baby girl is growing up" moments and had a tear in my eye.

After the cars, she wanted to ride the horses, so off to the carousel we went. I took her on first, then Gabe took her a second time.

None of my pics turned out real great from it though:

After the carousel, our Brother-in-law and our niece and nephew showed up. So we went and met them and Owen really wanted to go on the log ride. Gabe, Mark and Owen went on while I stayed with Avery and Bianca. Here they are coming down the big hill:

And them right after coming down:

After the log ride, we headed to the shelter for lunch and Gabe's parents met us there too. We all got our bellies full then it was off for more rides!

I was hoping with Owen and Bianca there that Avery would go on rides with them. At first she didn't want to, so Owen and Bianca went on the planes together while we watched:

When they got off, Avery really wanted to go on! So we got her on there with Bianca. Here she is waving to us as Gabe buckled her in:

And here they are flying around!

As soon as the ride stopped, Avery cried "more! More!" so she went on again!

Then all 3 of them went on the boats together:

After the boats, Avery wanted to do the cars again....go around #2:

And go around #3 with Bianca this time!

After that, Owen wanted to go on the log ride again, so Avery, Bianca, Gabe Sr. and I stuck around the kiddie rides. We got Avery to go on the turtle ride...it's sort of a mini roller coaster. And look at that smile:

Well, the smile didn't last long. After about 6 times around, she burst into tears. The last 2 times around she was crying. Who knows what set her off, but she wasn't too happy about it!

Once everyone joined us again, Gabe took Avery on the teacups:

Yet another ride she wasn't thrilled with. She didn't cry, but looked terrified the whole time and once they got off, she was pretty whiny about it. Oh well, at least she tried it!

After the teacups and the carousel a few more times, we decided to head to the water park. Well, as soon as we got there, they started kicking everyone out due to a storm that was heading towards us. So we went back to the shelter and timed it perfectly-the rain really came down! We all had another snack (or two) to eat-ice cream, popsicles, candy and lounged around for about an hour. Can you tell that Avery enjoyed a nice blue popsicle?

After an hour, it was still raining pretty good out so we all decided to head out. We watched Owen go on the bumper cars, then we took Avery on the carousel one last time before leaving. The good news? We got a rain check on our way out! So we get to go again before the summer is over! Yay!
>

House Pics

2011-08-12T20:40:00.000-04:00

Seriously, I haven't been to the new house in probably close to a month! Ok, maybe not a month, but a good 3 weeks I'm guessing. My Mom came out on Wednesday night and stayed until today, so last night we decided to take her there and show her the place!

The builder was on vacation all of last week, so nothing got done then. And really, the stuff they have been doing is hard to take pictues of....heat ducts, electrical, plumbing. So when we went, I was surprised that not much looked different to me.

The house is now wrapped in Tyvek. I think they're starting to side it maybe next week! That'll be exciting! We also now have basement stairs which is nice-no more ladder climbing!
Our garage has a concrete floor now!
And our basement has a floor too!
Those are the big updates that you can take pictures of!

16 Weeks-baby #2

2011-08-10T20:29:00.002-04:00

So today I'm 16 weeks along in my pregnancy!

How I'm feeling/sleeping: Still not great. I'm still taking my unisom at night to help with the nausea. I tried not taking it over the weekend and the first night I slept ok, but the second night I was awake for 3 hours overnight for no reason! Then on Sunday I really felt sick again. So I took it Sunday night and slept like a rock and felt fine Monday. I tried skipping it again Monday night and again I was up for 2 hours overnight and then felt like crud all day at work yesterday. So I don't think I'm quite ready to stop taking it yet. I do hate that it makes me tired when I take it, but I think I'd rather be tired than feeling like I want to puke!

Appointments/events: Nada-I go next week!

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing very strong either way. I keep choosing saltier foods over sweet foods (totally not me at all)-cheese, pretzels, crackers, soup, lemon ice. Still not loving to eat anything-I do miss peanut butter and ice cream though-I just don't want it!

Movement: Hard to tell...I thought a few times I might have felt something, but then I don't feel it again so then I doubt myself. I'm sure it'll be soon though! I think with Avery it was around 17wks.

Avery's thoughts: She always says "hi baby" to my tummy and wants to kiss it-she'll come over and yank up my shirt to kiss my bare tummy! It's so adorable! We've asked her a few times if it's a boy or girl and almost every time she says a girl! I asked her what we should name it the other day and she told me "Fourteen"!! Nice!

My other shock is that I'm not in maternity clothes yet. I thought for sure I would be, but my shorts are still hangin' on! I'll find out next week what I've gained since my last appt.

Here is my photo from today (left) and my photo at 17wks with Avery (right):

Happy Birthday Brayden!

2011-08-08T20:32:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we went to Julie and Richie's house for Brayden's first birthday party!

Avery sported a new dress and I somehow got pigtails in her hair too (she hates ponytails lately for some reason, but aren't they cute?!). When we pulled up, we saw quite the surprise in the backyard-a bounce house!

Avery was a chicken all day-she didn't go in the bounce house at all and had no desire to go swimming in the pool. What's wrong with this girl?! Maybe next year....

Here's Brayden's cake:

Avery running around outside at the party:

Avery was just having fun playing with Carly's toys. She really didn't want to be outside much and was very content to play with stuff inside on her own. At one point she got herself all gussied up in jewels!

After we ate (a yummy cookout), it was time for cake! Brayden patiently waited.... And big sister Carly joined him (they really look alike here!):

Starting to to sing:

Brayden was loving it when we sang to him! Look at this face!

He was such a happy boy and was eating up the attention from everyone! It was so cute!

And he did a good job on his cake too!

Happy Birthday Brayden! Thanks for having us share your special day!

The Dreaded Appt.

2011-08-05T21:09:00.002-04:00

You might remember a year ago, Avery had to have eye surgery done to open up a blocked tear duct.

Typically with these surgeries, they put a probe in the tear duct to open it and that's it. Well, her doctor adds in another step to it....along with probing it, he also puts a tube down the tear duct that stays there for a year. Apparently just probing it doesn't always work and a high percentage of kids have to have a second procedure done after that. With inserting the tube, the chance of another procedure is very small.

So since last September, we've been going for check ups on her eye every 2-3 months. They're not fun appointments because the doctor really has to pry her eye open to see if the tube is still in place. You can imagine what a treat that is for all involved!

Well at her last appointment a few months back, they told me they would be removing it at her next follow up. So the check up was today and I had Gabe meet me there as well (he hasn't been coming to the other ones because they're very quick). I was nervous because the doctor had said that if they couldn't get the tube out in the office, she'd have to go back to the surgery center and get "put under" again to have it removed. That was the last thing I wanted to go through again!

We got there and they took us back to a room. The technician asked us a few things then she actually gave Avery an eye exam which was pretty cool! Avery did well-I think she was about 20/25 which the tech said is normal at her age (20/25-20/40 is normal for them). Then she gave Avery a numbing drop before she left-which was fun!

Avery sat with Gabe when the doctor came in and he did a few checks then was ready to remove the tube. He tried it first with just Gabe holding her, but she kept turning her head around so I got recruited to hold her head still. And within a few seconds, he had it out!! And I was shocked at how long it was-a couple of inches for sure!

So the good news is that we don't have to go back again unless she has any symptoms that make us think it's still clogged....crossing our fingers that all is clear!

Of course Avery got treated to lunch at Wendy's on the way home for being such a big girl! She did great and we were so proud of her!

Meeting Baby John

2011-08-03T20:26:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, we met some of Gabe's friends who we haven't seen in a few months. They had a baby boy, John, back on June 1st so we were dying to meet him!

We met them at one of the new Anchor Bars here in Rochester and sadly it was very dead. If you know the real Anchor Bar in Buffalo, the place is always packed!

But the food was good and the company even better so no complaints!

And here's the little guy-baby John! He's about 2 months old now!

Gabe holding John (I'm sure he'll love me for this pic!)
Avery did very well with him. She was very curious as to what he was doing but really didn't get "grabby" with him. She gave him a kiss on his foot:

and when we left, she kissed his hand. So sweet! I think someone will make a great big sister!

And I have to say that this child packed away the food at dinner. She had a fruit cup, half of the mac n cheese we got, some chips, 2 chicken wings, and pretty much this entire slice of pizza:

It was a good meal for her! We had a really nice time and hope to see little John (and parents) again soon-they grow so big so fast!

Visiting Nama

2011-08-01T20:25:00.006-04:00

On Saturday, Avery and I went to Buffalo for a visit.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) Gabe had to stay home because we got a call on Friday that someone wanted to see our house! So he had to be here to let them in and had some prep work to do in the morning. We definitely missed him though as this is our 3rd trip in a row without him!

We arrived around noon and Avery had lunch shortly after. My Mom bought her some cherries which she loved! Can you tell by her face? We attempted to have her take a nap, which didn't work so while my Mom was lying down with her, I made a Target run.

When I got back, we headed to Isleview to enjoy the beautiful weather by the water! We have never taken Avery there so I thought she'd enjoy it! Here's my Mom and Avery when we first got there:

Megan and Noah met us as well and we all went to Mississippi Mudd's for some ice cream! This is the first time Avery had an actual ice cream cone and she went to town! Of course she's a rather slow eater so it was melting faster than she can eat it! My Mom had to jump in and help her out a bit!

Noah!

After ice cream, the kids wanted to check out the water and see the boats going by! Avery kept saying she wanted to go in the water-which for her is a shock!

After we left there, we went back to my Mom's house and had a nice dinner. Then it was time for Avery and I to head home. And she did like she did in the old days-conked out for an hour in the car and passed right back out when we got home...it was so nice!

Surreal

2011-07-29T20:49:00.000-04:00

It's a surreal thing to pull up to your house and see this:

That's what I saw when I got home from work yesterday....hard to believe it's actually happening!

14 Weeks-Baby #2

2011-07-27T20:23:00.005-04:00

I haven't really gotten the chance to talk much about this pregnancy yet.

So I'll start by saying that we found out we are expecting on May 27th. It was a Friday and Gabe and I had plans to meet for lunch that day (Avery and I go to his work to have lunch with him occasionally). After Gabe left for work, I took a home test and it came out positive. I know with my OB that I have to go there to confirm my results so after Avery and I got ready, we ran to my OB's office. They confirmed that I was pregnant! So I quickly took Avery to the Carter's store and picked up this shirt for her. When I got to Gabe's work, I called to tell him we were there and he came down to my car to meet us. When he opened the door to get Avery, she held the shirt out to him! Needless to say, he was a bit surprised!

We waited a few weeks to tell our parents and when we told them, we just had Avery wear the shirt and had them figure it out on their own. And they all got it pretty quickly!

I will say that being pregnant and having a toddler is a totally different ballgame! You just don't get any "down" time at all and it really wears you out by the end of the day.

I was nauseous this time from the get go---in fact I was feeling a little "off" a few days before taking my pregnancy test, which is what made me take it. With Avery my nausea was an all day thing but would come and go so I would at least get some relief. This time I'm not as lucky. My nausea has been all day, every day. From the second I get up until I go to bed all I feel is sick to my stomach-it's terrible. If I feel good for 5min a DAY, that's good! And lucky me even vomitted this time around (in a real classy manner-out the car door while driving!). After a few weeks of it not improving and trying everything imaginable (sour candy, gum, preggie pops, ginger ale, ginger tea, sea bands), I asked my OB for some help at my appointment. She suggested taking vitamin B6 and if that didn't help on its own to add in 1/2 of a unisom pill (which is a sleeping pill that helps with nausea). The B6 didn't do anything for me so after a day I added in the unisom. I would have given the B6 more time, but it was the weekend of Avery's birthday party and I really couldn't afford to be feeling crappy that weekend. Anyways, the meds helped a LOT! I'm still taking them now and hope to stop in the next few weeks. With Avery I was nauseous until about 15/16 weeks so I'm giving it a few more weeks. I'm afraid to stop taking it in fear of feeling like shit all day long.

Of course the sleeping pill makes me groggy in the morning and I just feel tired a lot. I'm not sure if its the sleeping pill making me tired all of the time, or what but I really just feel drained a lot of the time these days. I'm hoping my energy picks up soon!

I'm not in maternity clothes yet, but I am showing for sure. I feel really huge compared to last time already!

I haven't had any really strong cravings or aversions yet. I will say this though-nothing sounds appealing to me when it's time to eat. I literally will open the cabinets and just stare at the food and nothing sounds good to me at all. And I'm normally a girl who could eat ice cream every day and I haven't wanted it at all lately. It's not that the thought of it makes me gag, but I just don't really care if I have it or not. Which for me, is odd! So yeah, I've been very not into eating I guess you can say-which is hard when you're starving every two hours! It makes it hard to decide what to eat-and mostly I've been going for saltier foods. I really think I'm dehydrated to a point and it's my body's way of getting me to drink something. That's another thing-nothing to drink sounds good either. I normally drink water all day and lately it doesn't appeal to me-I drink it, but I'm just "eh" about it along with everything else.

So, I think I'm caught up now!

Here's a pic of me today at 14 weeks (left) and a pic of me at 15 weeks with Avery (right):

Pan Fried Pasta and Ricotta

2011-07-26T21:33:00.000-04:00

I had some ricotta cheese in the fridge that had to be used. Typically I'd make calzones or baked pasta/lasagna/stuffed shells with it, but with the heat we had last week, that wasn't happening. I really did not want to turn on the oven. So I turned to Google to see if I could find anything. And....I got a winner!

Pasta and Ricotta
Any pasta you want (I used a mix of ziti and penne-roughly 1lb)
3 tbsp butter
2 1/2 tbsp oil
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to box instructions. Before draining, reserve some of the pasta water.
2. While cooking pasta, heat oil and butter in a large skillet until melted.
3. Add ricotta and parmesan and heat until mixed well.
4. Add drained pasta and stir to coat. If sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water.

Notes-I also added in some spices to my oil/butter mixture. I threw in some garlic powder (my real garlic wasn't any good), pepper, and Italian spice blend. I also added in peas to ours to get some sort of vegetable in there, but anything you add would taste good!

I have to say that this turned out really good! I LOVE ricotta cheese in anything and I can say I've never thought to use it as a sauce. It was very yummy and we'll make it again for sure! The recipe is very easy too!

Girly Girl

2011-07-24T14:32:00.001-04:00

I paint my toes in the summer, as I'm sure most women do.

Avery was very quick to notice them when I painted them weeks ago. She would point and say "Mommy pink toes!" So I asked if she wanted hers to be pink as well and she would always tell me "No." One time she said yes, so I grabbed my polish only for her to freak out when I got near her.

So pretty much everyday I would just hear her say "Mommy pink toes" over and over.

On Friday she started saying it, but then she followed it with "Avery pink toes." So I asked if she wanted hers pink too. She just kept saying "Mommy pink toes, Avery pink toes." We went to the library for our usual story time and throughout the morning she kept bringing it up. So I said to her, "Ya know, Mommy can paint your toes pink later if you want." After she brought it up a few more times I asked again if she wanted them painted....and she replied "Yes!"

So while she ate lunch I grabbed my polish. She immediately put her foot up on the table (while eating) and I started to paint. As soon as she saw one of them pink she said "OOooohh!" and was all excited. So she let me finish all of them! After I finished she said "pink toes again!" I think she wanted me to keep painting!

And look how stinkin' cute these little pink toes are!
So now both Mommy and Avery have pink toes for the summer!

Spray Park = FAIL!

2011-07-22T14:25:00.002-04:00

We've had quite a stretch of heat around here lately!

Wednesday was in the low 90s, yesterday we broke a record and got up to 98, and today we're in the low 90s again! It's pretty toasty out there!

On Wednesday, I decided to take Avery to a spray park to try do to something outside that would be "cool". I found one very close to us and figured we'd try it. So, I got her in her bathing suit, packed up a bag and off we went.

It was a decent sized spray park (although I'm told it's small) and maybe 10 kids at most were there....at least half of them were Avery's age or younger.

Here's a pic of some of it: And with more fountains going:

And what did my daughter want to do??

This:

Yep, she sat in the swing for a half an hour and wouldn't go near the darn water. After pushing her for 15mins, I was drenched in sweat (did I mention it was in the 90s??). I picked her up, took her to the water and ran through part of a sprinkler with her. Well, you would have thought the world ended! This child had a complete meltdown! So....back to the swing we went for another 15min before I decided it was time to go home and cool off.

The thing I don't get? At daycare they claim she runs through the sprinkler/plays in water daily. Yet at home, she won't get within 10ft of a sprinkler or go near her pool. It makes no sense. Maybe the peer pressure makes her go in?! Who knows!

Three Years

2011-07-19T15:32:00.003-04:00

I remember....

barely sleeping the night before. friends showing up at my Mom's to get their hair done. eating pastries. having my hair done. rushing to get my makeup just right. flowers arriving and I didn't get to really look at them. going to the bathroom before getting dressed and taking a deep breath and looking at myself in the mirror. my Dad showing up and I wasn't in my dress just yet. having my dress zipped up and feeling like a princess. pictures at my Mom's. taking a ride in the limo on the way to church so we could actually have some time in it! parking outside church and seeing people walking in. just my maid of honor and I sitting in the limo and waiting. getting the ok to come out and that the procession had started. waiting outside the church doors nervous and excited. standing with my dad at the end of the aisle. walking down the aisle looking for Gabe and when I finally saw him, I lost it. trying not to do the ugly cry. seeing him beaming and waiting for me. the mass-the readings, music we chose. saying our vows and exchaging rings. the kiss. seeing everyone at the receiving line. getting in the limo with everyone this time. pictures at the park and having it rain shortly after arriving and cutting our shoot short. seeing the reception hall all set up for us-beautiful. cocktail hour-too busy to eat. waiting to be announced and hearing our music play-got us so pumped up and excited. eating dinner and stopping to see all of the wonderful people that were there just for us. cutting the cake. first dance. dancing all night even though my dress was hurting me. having him by my side all night. never wanting the night to end.

Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. Three years....it feels like yesterday, it feels like an eternity ago (how is that possible?).

Best night of my life.

Happy Anniversary Gabe! To many, many more years together!

And my wonderful husband sent me these beautiful flowers at work:

and my Mom sent us these strawberries-so huge and SOOOO good!

We Have Windows!

2011-07-18T15:18:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we all went for a ride to take a look at the new house! We now have windows and doors...and the start of a roof!

Our garage door is in as well-Gabe tried lowering it, but there was a ladder in the way so he couldn't get it all the way shut.

Side view of the garage:

Back of the house:

The kitchen/morning room:

Family room with windows in!

Our jacuzzi tub is in as well!

The framing of our walk-in shower:

And the tub surround in the 2nd bath upstairs:

Lots of progress being made!

Date Night

2011-07-17T15:12:00.002-04:00

Last night, Gabe and I went out for a date night to celebrate our 3rd anniversary!

We started out with dinner at Pier 45 which was really nice. It was a beautiful night out so we got to sit outside right near the water. It was so relaxing watching the boats go by! And the food was really good too!

After dinner, we went to see Transformers in 3D! It was our first time seeing a 3D movie and it was good! We're not sure it's worth the extra money to see it in 3D, but it was a neat experience nonetheless. It still amazes me that they're able to do that with films!

Avery went with my in-laws for the evening. They took her to the Italian festival nearby. I guess she had a lot of fun and was good for them. They brought her back here and gave her a bath then put her to bed. Apparently she was a good girl overall!

2011-07-15T13:54:00.001-04:00

Deals!

2011-07-13T15:33:00.002-04:00

I have to say I love a good deal!

Gabe always laughs when I come home with some story about saving money on something, but I can't help it!

Today I got some good deals....

Avery and I went to Target (*love*) this morning and I swear I can never leave that place without spending under $50....and today was no exception. But I did get some great deals! They had a lot of kids summer clothes on clearance so I bought Avery a tank top for $2 (normally $5) and a skirt for $2 (normally $5) for next year. I also bought her a pair of bootcut jeans with an adjustable waist (score!) for $4 (normally $8). They had packs of baby wipes on sale for $2 and I had a $1 off coupon. They had Garnier shampoo (the HUGE size) on sale for $4.50 and I had 2 coupons (1 target, 1mfg) each for $1 off. I also had $6 in diaper coupons that I used to stock up on her diapers, which is always nice too! I think for my whole shopping trip I had like $13 in coupons which for me is really good!

Then yesterday I got a Lands End catalog with their huge summer clearance in it as well. So I went online today and ordered myself some tank tops for $5 each (normally $15) and I got Avery 2 summer shirts for next year for $5 each (normally $15). And the best? Free shipping (code BACKPACKHQ2 and pin 9425....good until 7/19). And FYI they also have an extra 30% off swimwear/sandals with codes they have on their site as well!

There are some good summer deals out there right now but it's sad to see the summer stuff go! I wasn't too happy that Target was filled with Back to School stuff already----ugh! Summer vacation just started!

Beatin' The Heat

2011-07-10T21:48:00.000-04:00

It was a scorcher out there today and tomorrow it's supposed to be just as hot!!

Yesterday Avery wasn't feeling very well-she had a fever most of the day-so we didn't really do too much. I took her to the market in the morning with my in-laws and that was a big mistake. About halfway through she burst into tears and I had to carry her the rest of the way. She didn't want to go home ("stay market Mommy") so we stopped at our usual coffee spot. She actually fell asleep on my shoulder for a good half hour, which she never does. So I knew she wasn't feeling well. When we got home, she took a 3 hour nap and we had to wake her up because it was getting so late!!

Today we had planned on going to Buffalo but I wasn't sure how it would pan out with her not feeling well. Luckily, she woke up in the morning and was feeling fine! So, Avery and I went to Buffalo to visit (my Grandfather goes back to Vegas tomorrow and we really haven't seen him) and Gabe stayed home to get some painting done.

We went to my Mom's for about an hour, then we went to my Uncle Joe's house for a cookout. Like I mentioned, it was close to 90 out so it was a bit toasty! My Mom brought along a big bowl and some toys for Avery so we filled it up with water and let her go to town with it! For a girl who won't get in a pool or sprinkler, she sure will get herself wet with a bowl of water!

We had a nice time-it was nice having a chance to visit with everyone and to see my Grandpa before he heads home. We went back to my Mom's after for about an hour and a half, then we headed home. Another hot day forecasted for tomorrow! Keep cool!