What's Up Wednesday

Because Tuesdays come and go before I can think of 10 fascinating things that I am doing, I am posting random thoughts on Wednesdays.

• Today I am 15 weeks into my pregnancy. So far so good, but I can only stomach eating things that are bad for me. I have terrible food aversion - I think it has something to do with me hating to puke.

• I think I felt the baby moving on Monday night. Something is so neat about that feeling.

• Monday night I finished up potting my hanging baskets for the front porch. I think they have turned out pretty cool and I have RaRu to thank for the idea. I will post some pictures later.

• I was so happy that it is raining and cool today. I cannot do 90+ weather. If it stays that hot all summer I will have to be nocturnal.

• Last night I decided to try Vivian sleeping on a quasi-big girl setup because I know she could not be comfortable sleeping in her pack-n-play every night (we took down her crib because she tried to climb out of it). She was so excited about something different that she stayed up very late jumping on her mattress and running around the room. The jury is still out on this one particularly since she ended up in bed with us most of the night. I hope this works better once we get her room finished.

• I also found myself fairly frustrated last evening for some reason (I think it is the pregnancy thing) and finally had enough with stop-strips on a doorfacing in our house that would not let a door latch (this has been a problem since we moved in). I was initially planning to just nudge the wood strip over enough that the door would latch, but after a few attempts I decided that Lowes sold them every single day and I just let loose with my claw hammer. I feel much better (and the door now latches).

• I picked up a bottle of Ruby Red Grapefruit juice by mistake at the store and took a big drink just a little bit ago thinking it was my Strawberry Kiwi juice - very disappointing.

• Rick got a pretty good head start on lawn work yesterday (and a really sweet sunburn). We have so much to do outside & inside this year that it is hard to know where to start. Hopefully we can get our garden planted soon - I cannot wait for fresh tomatoes.

• Have a happy week everyone.

Vivian's Easter

Vivian was not too sure what to think about Easter this year. A few weeks before Easter, Grandma brought the stuff to decorate our pear tree with Easter eggs. Vivian thought it was funny but it allowed her to be outside with her dirt and sticks so it was okay. She was really into batting the Easter eggs with her stick.

The Easter Bunny was not an aspect of Easter that Vivian enjoyed - she cried and was really mad about the whole experience. During a trip to Harrisonburg, we stopped by the mall to visit the Easter Bunny. Although she liked all the decorations around the Easter Bunny, she wanted nothing to do with the actual Easter Bunny. We have the picture of her crying to prove her displeasure and someday she may try to use it against us. Fortunately, she cheered right up when we went into the Gap - I think that is a good sign.

As for Easter morning - Vivian was pretty excited.

Mostly she was excited about the grass in her Easter basket. She pulled all of it out.

And gave it to Tibbs.

She did check out her fishing pole for a while. I never thought I would be shopping for fishing equipment with Rick when the biggest dilemma was whether to buy the Disney Princesses fishing pole or hold out for another character. Times have really changed around here. Vivian did enjoy all her Easter goodies and was really wound up for church.

I know there has been a lot of discussion on the blogs about different Easter egg hunts that everyone was involved in this year. As luck would have it, Rick was responsible for organizing the Easter egg hunt at our church this year. Since we are last minute kind of kids, we were getting ready the day before and I must say that we put together a pretty good hunt and some really nice prizes for all the kids. The only down side was several of the regular Sunday school attendees were not there this weekend - several were sick and others were out of town visiting family. So we had fun with the ones who were there.

Vivian had some help on the hunt and although she found some eggs, she did not see what the big deal was. I do think the walk around the church did make her sleepy because she slept through most of church which was a real blessing since we had a longer than usual service.

After the Easter egg hunt, we went to Grandma and Pop's house for Easter dinner. Vivian enjoyed spending time with Uncle Ashby, Grandma, and Pop. The Easter Bunny had also been to their house and left lots of great goodies for Vivian. After checking out her Easter basket, we decided to have a Vivian egg hunt. She was hunting for everything except the eggs. Although she did pick up an egg at one point, she simply opened it up, looked at the toy and threw the egg down - eggs cannot compete with dandelions and sticks.

I really enjoyed our Easter and I think Vivian did too.

18 Months

Dear Vivian,

It is so hard to believe that 18 months have gone by this fast. You have changed so much over the last few months (sorry I did not get to update month 16 and 17) and have done so many new and crazy things that it is hard to keep up with everything.

You are now running and your coordination is improving every day. You are a born climber and have gotten really good at climbing on our kitchen chairs without being detected. You still enjoy your baths and have your bedtime routine down to an art.

I believe you are going to be an outside kind of kid. It has been too cold for you to get in much outside action, and many evenings you look outside and cry because you really want to be playing. Sticks, rocks, dirt, and dandelions are your favorite toys in the whole world. I wish you would quit putting all of them in your mouth, but at least you will spit the stuff out in our hands when we catch you in the act.

You have picked up a few new words - Cooks is one of my favorite (Cookies of course). You also have gotten better at patty cake and say cake and love to end the rhyme with an enthusiastic "and ME".

You are generally in a great mood in the mornings and enjoy getting your Mommy up particularly when Daddy puts you in bed with me. If I am sleeping on my side with my back turned to you, you pull on me until I roll over on my back so that you can snuggle up to me. You are also starting to pucker up to give us kisses which is a real treat.

You also like dancing to your Farmer Tad Fridge Farm and entertain us with your routine. This evening I danced with you a little bit before I took the picture of you. It was a particularly good evening and you laughed a lot - probably at my dancing.

You and Tibbs are still friends - even when you try to lay down on her to go to sleep. Although Tibbs can be annoying to your parents sometimes, she is certainly very good to you.

In closing, you are a real blessing in our lives. We had no idea 18 months ago that you would completely take over our hearts.

Love you, Mommy and Daddy

Outside Fun

It has finally warmed up a bit - enough to get outside and play after a long winter cooped up inside. Vivian decided to try out her soccer ball on a much larger playing surface than our living room. I think she has pretty decent form for her first time kicking it around the yard.

Of course she had to stop what she was doing briefly to run back to the camera.

She is awfully focused, but eventually she wears out and........

Crashes on the couch with her buddy Tibbs. (Her Father took this picture - just so he gets the credit)

Things have been going pretty good for us. I am feeling a bit better and have a little more energy. I am almost 12 weeks now. I had a doctors appointment last week and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat (although it was only for small intervals because the kid was moving around a whole lot). Otherwise, everything is pretty good still working on lots of little projects when I have the time - I have to fix my sewing machine and get back to making Vivian's quilt for her new big girl bed and we are working on our yard and garden for the summer. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying what bits of nice weather we get.

Skipping Church

By the time Sunday morning rolls around, I am totally exhausted. Lately, I have been trying to sleep in on Sunday mornings, so I have not exactly made it to Church much this month (Rick has to go because it is his month to be an usher:) Anyway, when I skip, Vivian hangs out with me. Now Vivian does not like to sleep in. She could spend a whole night awake, fall asleep at 6:45 am and be up and ready to start her day promptly at 7:00 am. Not cool. Usually after she is fed, I let her watch a movie while I stay in bed - it does not always work out really well as you can see.

Imagine my surprise when Vivian and Tibbs come out of the bathroom with Vivian wrapped up in toliet paper. She was so pleased with herself.

Then it was time to go back for more - Tibbs is following along to take care of the paper trail.

It is a good look for you kid. Now let Mommy get some sleep!!!

Putting Out an A.P.B. for CBR

It would appear that the month of February got away from me in blog world. To those of you who check this blog often and have been totally frustrated with my lack of posting, I apologize. I do have a pretty good reason though, you see February was a pretty crazy month at our house.

I feel the need to do a top ten - so here it is, the top ten things going on at our house in February (in Letterman countdown format).

10. Vivian is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING.

9. Vivian went for a checkup at her doctor and got a great report - she was 20 pounds 14 ounces (finally got to 20 lbs.) and she does not have to go back until her 2 year old appointment:)

8. I now have 2 bosses and the same paycheck - seriously, although I am still on the GT and am not like taking work home or working weekends, it is definitely different and I am still adjusting.

7. We had a good valentine's day - I took Rick and Vivian out to dinner the night before Valentines day and Rick cooked dinner on Valentines day - very nice.

6. My husband was busy getting ready to spend the end of February trapping. My husband's trapping sent him to the hospital when he caught one of our outside cats and instead of letting her go by dumping her out of the live trap, he decided to pick her up - bad move. He got bit on the index finger several times and had to spend almost two days in the hospital. After he was better (well after I knew he would be okay), I laughed.

5. We had some pretty sad news in our community because Rick's boss's son got killed in a car wreck. That was pretty hard on everyone who knew the family and it continues to be difficult for a lot of people.

4. I injured my thumb and was unable to type for a while. It was a very silly accident that still makes me cringe - trust me, you don't want to know. Good news is my thumb is feeling better now.

3. I have been sick on my stomach.

2. I am always sleepy.

1. I am pregnant.

8 weeks 3 days to be exact. We went to the doctor week before last and everything seems to be okay. I am due October 22. Vivian will be getting a baby brother or sister for her second birthday on October 13. It is cool, I wish I felt better though. We have so much to do to get ready for the baby - particularly to get Vivian ready for the baby. I hope it all goes smooth.

Anyway - that is what I have been up to. I promise to blog more in March.

Snow - for real this time.

Well, we got our snow afterall. It is a snowy, icy mess here - but it did provide some pretty good times this morning when we took Vivian out to play in the snow. Vivian was pretty excited about being out in deeper snow this morning. She started out by getting down and rolling around and had a good taste of snow.

Then it was into sled #1 for a trip around the yard. I don't think she trusted it too much since she kept one hand on the ground.

Then her Daddy picked her up out of the snow to go get on sled #2.

She brought some of her snow with her - and put it down his coat.

After the snow was out of Daddy's collar he tried to get the hood out of Vivian's eyes so she could see what was going on. The hood was an issue all day (we cannot locate her pink hat - it would have been very handy).

So then it was off to the top of the hill (not much of a hill, but enough for a 30 year old and a 15 month old to have fun). It took a minute to get going, but then....

Down they go!!! Notice that the hood is still covering her eyes, so Rick tried to adjust it.

After her eyes were uncovered - she closed them.

And then she covered them up.

But towards the end - she was enjoying the ride.

We took a couple more trips down the hill and then it was back to the house to warm up and take a nap. It was a fun morning and I was really glad to catch a shot of her covering up her eyes with her mittens. It looks like another snow day for me tomorrow so maybe we can get into something else fun.