Trent's 3 Year Pics!! {Yes, taken 3 months late}

I dare you to tell me I don't have the cutest kid ever.  Go on, try.

Oops...My Bad

See this paint?

I was decisive and by myself picked out the paint for Baby Gurl's room.

Decisiveness is not my strong suit.

Cost $50.

I was so proud of myself.

My fabulous mother-in-law painted a few sections of the room.

I hate it.  {Brent and the FMIL do too, ha.}

See these little paint samples?

These are the samples of new colors.

Cost $6.

Oops.  Costly mistake.

Maybe next time I should be indecisive and make other people help me choose.

I still intend to do a sneak peak at some of the BBR and nursery projects, just haven't gotten my act together to take pictures and organize.  Plus, I've had some other semi-disastrous DIY projects that have to be corrected...at more cost.  Good times. 

Girls Day!!!

Dena and I were supposed to take a girls trip from a Monday-Wednesday for our August birthdays at an area spa.  Then my work inspections got in the way {boo}.  Dena was none too happy with my employer (a.k.a. her former employer) but such is life.  What we got instead was today, a fun-filled Girls Day.  If you follow me on Twitter {and you should} - @aggieallena, you got a play-by-play of the day, but if you don't {why not???}, allow me to make you very jealous.

• Started the day at body pump with Rhonda, so props to me for the 5:10 wake-up call and hour of pumping it!
• Did the mom thing for a bit and took Trent to school.
• High-tailed it to south Austin (speeding just a little out of giddy excitement), stopping at Starbucks along the way for 2 chais and some delicious pastries.
• Met Dena at a nail salon to start with an amazing pedicure.
• Did some shopping.  Bought a Christmas present for my mom (for once am trying to start early given my December might be a smidge busy) and a AH-MAZING dress that will work for an upcoming *sprinkle* and our trip to Vegas.
• Listened to my pregnancy cravings and got Freebirds for lunch.
• Ordered some baby items for Baby Gurl.
• Had a massage.
• Ate some appetizers at Bacon - yes, it is what you'd guess.
• Went to Amy's Ice Cream.

I intended to take pics of us at all our stops, but all I got was a pic of our apps at Bacon.  Be jealous.

I am full.  I am refreshed.  I am one happy girl.

Homemade Goodness Part 2

I blogged over a month ago about my homemade laundry detergent.  Well, that's not all I've made.  I also made glass cleaner and an all-purpose cleaner.

Just a few ingredients (who doesn't love that!) and recycled spray bottles

All-Purpose Cleaner
Ingredients:
-1/2 water
-1/2 vinegar
-Essential oil
THE END!

*I just mixed water and vinegar until my spray bottle was about half full and put enough essential oil in (still Lavender from our experiments with T's sleep) to cover the vinegar smell.  I use this all the time and love it!*

Glass Cleaner
-1/4 cup vinegar
-2 cups water
-1/2 tsp. Dr. Bronner's Castile soap {I originally thought you had to buy this at Whole Food's, I have since found it at Target AND H-E-B.}
-Essential oil

*I think I made a 1 1/2 batch due to how big my bottle was so it's easy to experiment and get the right amount.  And again, just use enough essential oil for the smell, but Dr. Bronner's smells great too so you don't need as much of the oil as you do for the all-purpose cleaner.*

Both of these products have worked great so far, and I feel great about using them!

Baby Gurl Bumpdate - 26 Weeks

Hello 26 weeks!  It dawned on me this week that I am 2 weeks away from the 3rd trimester.  How did that happen?  I cannot believe I am that close to the final stretch.  This trimester has flown by!

Weight Gain: Holding steady at not quite 20 pounds.  Whoo hoo!

Maternity Clothes: More and more... I'm confounded by how so many from my pregnancy with T don't fit. Shirts I wore all the way through my pregnancy with him are already getting too short. I really don't want to spend a lot of money on more maternity clothes, but I think I still need more. Old Navy is having a big sale right now, so I might try to get some staples to get me through a little longer.

Movement: Oh man, I have a dancer in there. Tuesday, I was wearing the same dress as I was when I made this video of T, and she was having a party I could see from the outside. Just reminded me of that moment with T, and I loved it.

Sleep: Still fabulous. Don't want to jinx myself, but I am not getting up much to go to the bathroom, and my head hits the pillow, and I'm out!

What I Miss: Sleeping on my stomach. Wine. Being able to sit up easily.

Cravings: I am obsessed with a My Fit Foods Lemon Pepper Turkey meal. I split it into 2 and add bell pepper, hominy and sometimes more asparagus. I think about it all the time. There are definitely worse things to crave though! I drink hot chocolate almost every night and look forward to that all day long. If there are sweets in the office, I have to take a nibble. I do a good job of it being a small nibble, but I have to have some!

Symptoms: Just the normal aches and pains. I was laughing at the gym this week because running is getting SO challenging but only because of Baby Gurl being on my bladder. I told Rhonda at one point that I thought my bladder went numb, so if I peed on myself to please ignore me. But darn it, I finished my run, and we both hit over 4 miles! It is hard to play on the floor with Trent, and I despise reading to him at night ONLY because it hurts so bad to get up after we're done.

Best Moment of the Week: Finalized my 'vision' for her nursery and starting to purchase furniture and odds & ends. I really think this is going to turn out adorable. If I can figure out a good way to show stuff, I'll do a 'sneak peak' soon.

Worst Moment of the Week: I really can't think of anything too bad. Tuesday I did a presentation at t.u. and by the time I was walking back to the parking garage, my feet hurt so bad I contemplated going barefoot...

Other Random Stuff: Y'all...all I think about is her nursery and T's BBR. Brent and I don't discuss names at all. I don't think for any particular reason other than nothing is coming up that either of us likes. Trent likes to play the drums on my belly. He has talked about wanting to breastfeed the baby and gets really disappointed when he hears he won't make milk. Too sweet. {And embarrassing for him when he's a teenager...tee hee hee}

Maybe starting to even out a little?  Or wishful thinking?  Ha!

Finding Nemo - An Adventure in Parenting

Patty and I took the boys to see Finding Nemo last weekend. I saw this in the theater in college and have always thought it was such a cute movie. I knew it'd be a hit with the boys.

Excited but no clue what is going on. {grin}

Ready to go with popcorn

The boys enjoyed the movie, but Patty and I agreed their behavior deserved a C at best. They just didn't get the concept of being quiet and staying in their seats. The previews were SO long, T kept asking 'Is this my movie?' There was a preview for Monsters, Inc. which is coming back to theaters in December; Trent has seen parts of that movie and got mad when that wasn't the movie we were there to see - ha. He also got mad that I got him water to drink and started to pitch a fit. Both boys wandered a little bit in our row and the row in front of us. But given we were 4 of the 9 people in the theater, I don't think they were TOO disruptive... What's funny to me is when we got in the car, T asked if he could watch a movie on my phone. Um, we just left the MOVIE THEATER! It was definitely an experience, and I won't complain if we hold off on another movie until Monsters, Inc. or later.

5 Things

5 Things I'm Loving Right Now...

1. Baby Legs for my Baby Gurl

2. The weather!  It's amazing when it isn't 100 degrees every day.

3. Hot chocolate made with milk.  I drink a cup almost every night.

4. Decorating.  This is shocking to me because usually it overwhelms me.  To the point of indecision.  But I have been having a blast making over T's BBR and Baby Gurl's nursery.  Several friends are probably sick to death of me talking about it, showing them pictures from Etsy, Target, Land of Nod, Picket Fences, Pottery Barn Kids...  Making 'inspiration boards' to put my thoughts down.  I actually started buying furniture this week for the nursery!  Yippee!  I'm sure it'll be months before either room is really 'ready' but I'm excited!

5. My husband who told me he didn't care what Baby Gurl's nursery cost - all because she will be his baby gurl.  Swoon.  And ka-ching!

5 Things I'm Loathing Right Now...

1. How my house looks and knowing I have to pick it up tomorrow for our cleaning lady {that sounds super whiny given I have a cleaning lady, ha}.

2. How much it costs to accomplish #4 above to suit my 'vision'.  {Although #5 helps!}

3. My blasted work inspections.  1 is complete and was a success!  1 is d.r.a.g.g.i.n.g.  I started 8/13, and we aren't done yet.

4. How I get almost NO comments anymore.  I guess my blog is boring.  {Brent said so just the other day.  Maybe I take back #5 above.}

5. How sore my feet and back are at the end of the day.  I love being pregnant, but I could do without the achiness.

Bumpalicious Sisters

Patty and I seem to do this* a lot.

Patty - 18 weeks, Allena - 25 1/2 weeks

Really crappy iPhone picture - I look awful.

*By 'this', I mean get pregnant at the same time and pose for pictures together with our bellies touching that I irritate my sister to death to pose for.

How 'Bout Them Apples?

*I wanted to sneak some apples into a recipe to see if I could get Trent to eat them and unknowingly get some fruit.  {Don't judge me, peeps.  You know we're facing this in his speech therapy.}

Chicken Apple Quesadillas
Ingredients:
-cooked, cup-up chicken
-sliced up apples (I peeled them, not sure you need to and chopped them really finely to be extra sneaky)
-grated cheese
-tortillas
I didn't put amounts because it can be as much or as little as you want.

1. Mix apples and chicken together.
2. Sprinkle a little cheese on 1/2 of a tortilla, add apple/chicken mix, sprinkle a little more cheese.
3. Fold tortilla in half to make quesadilla.
4. Cook in skillet until cheese is melted and quesadilla is crunchy.

B and I loved them.  T wouldn't try them...  I will still call it a victory because these were super easy to make and B enjoyed them - that in itself is almost a miracle!

*On Friday, for speech, I was to bring some apple.  We used apples last time and the goal was to get Trent to touch and interact with the apples.  He did!  This time, I brought some of the leftover apple from our quesadillas.  He and the therapist painted with the apples, then acted like dinosaurs and TRENT ATE 18 BITES OF APPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I almost cried when the therapist and I discussed his session.  What a big moment!

*Saturday night, I bought Snow White and the Huntsman off pay-per-view.  {Hopefully my apple reference isn't too far of a stretch with this story.}

Plot: In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.

Review: I would say this movie was okay.  Charlize Theron is fantastic as the Evil Queen (and I thought her creepy brother was great too).  Chris Hemsworth was also great as the Huntsman. Kristen Stewart?  Meh.  She was less twitchy than she is as Bella Swan, but overall, she's just not that interesting.  The plot was pretty good, but I'm glad this only cost me $5.

Good thing I like apples.

Book Review: Belly Laughs

I am a big reader, duh.  When I was pregnant with Trent, I read a few pregnancy books and a few newborn books.  I didn't go overboard because I just didn't think I could process all the information that was out there.  One book that I didn't read, that I wish I had {based on other people's comments} was Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy.  I had a friend offer to loan it to me this time around, and even though I've done this whole pregnancy thing before, I still wanted to read it.

I honestly have to say I didn't enjoy it as much as I did.  Was Jenny spot-on with a lot of the pregnancy 'side effect'?  Yup.  But I just didn't laugh at her.  Maybe it is because I've done this before, but I think part of it might be that she covered so many topics in a short 160 page book.  Each chapter was only 2-3 pages and barely got into a topic.

I think the best fun pregnancy book I read was The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy.  This book had me laughing out loud in parts.  Now, I did read this when I was pregnant with Trent, so maybe I was a little more impressionable then, but I definitely think this is the better read.

Did you have any favorites?

Trent-isms

Trent is funny.  Hysterical at times.  I really want to remember some of the best things he's been saying/doing lately.

• We read 2 books he got for Christmas quite often.  'I Stink' about a garbage truck and 'I'm Dirty' about a backhoe loader.  We take turns reading the book - he knows it so well, he can quote the whole thing.  And he bosses which lines I get to read.  I want to video him doing that.
• Papa was telling him goodnight and Trent said 'Come visit again another day.'
• He doesn't like to be picked up from either set of grandparents' houses.  He now asks 'Are you ready for this?' and gives me a hug and a kiss.  Papa taught him that to help him have something fun to do when we got there, and it's working!
• My uncle is staying with my parents for a few days after being released from rehab after his leg amputation.  (He is doing great with his recovery!)  Trent woke up after a very short nap over at my parents today and said 'Uncle Bruce's hopping sticks woke me up.'  I mean seriously.  That kid kills me.
• Yesterday he told me that he changed his mind and didn't want a baby sister after all.  Um, so sorry to hear that, bud.  She's coming!

Sleeping and cuddling with Curious George.  

I love that you can see his toes.

Project 52 Update

Well, I think I can easily admit, Project 52 is not going well this year.  I wasn't sure I wanted to do it this year and set a list...but my heart just hasn't been in it.  With that said...

Success:

15. Try a new restaurant - I went to Zocalo and Cenote with co-workers.

22. Break Trent’s ‘night-night’ habit - It's broken...but it ain't pretty still in our house.

29. Visit a state I’ve never been to - I'm counting my work trip to NOLA, I've only driven through LA before.

36. Do something special for our anniversary (October 16) - Trip to Vegas is booked!  My co-worker is getting married there on 10/13.

40. Be better with my skin care - As a part of trying to get more natural, I've been researching skin products.  Right now, I'm trying Neutrogena Naturals.  I also want to try Burt's Bees...  I'd still like to find some 'anti-aging' stuff.

42. Figure out how I want to organize our family photos - I bit the bullet and decided to go ahead and order all the pictures since January 2009 and put in albums.

43. Organize said family photos - I bought 576 pictures this week.  That covered 1 year.  Eek.

48. Try new foods - I tried radishes this week.  Let's just say I'm not a fan.

50. Get pregnant - Whoo hoo!  Definitely my most important goal and accomplishment!

Failing:

1. Don't be such a homebody - Getting pregnant isn't helping with this!

3. Try (again) to learn how to play the guitar - one song is all I want! - Nope. I really want to take lessons because trying to watch a DVD just isn't working, but it's not going to happen anytime soon.

4. Try (again) to learn how to sew - My mother-in-law and I talked about tackling this again when I'm on maternity leave.

11. Lose these last 10+ pounds - Preggo...

18. Date night once a month - Once a month should be easy...but it isn't.  I'd say we're doing better this year than last though!

30. Have fresh flowers in the house more often - I just never want to spend the money.

38. Have Trent swimming by the end of summer - Utter #momfail.

39. Reduce my work % - Um, I increased it.  The plan is to go down to what I was after maternity leave and then down from there with my next raise...

44. Donate blood - Preggo...

I still have some I think I can manage, but I'll probably achieve half at best.

Baby Gurl Bumpdate - 24 Weeks

Wednesday marked 24 weeks in our pregnancy with Baby Gurl!  60% done.  CanNOT believe that.

Hello baby belly

Weight Gain: 17 pounds.  Don't think I need to talk about my weight gain anymore...this week.

Maternity Clothes: About 85% of the time.

Movement:  Lots!  I love this part of pregnancy.  I have no idea what she does in there all day except cover every.inch.of.my.body.  I feel her little jabs up high, down low, on the side...she's everywhere.  {grin}

Sleep:  Great!  I am still without a new body pillow and doing just fine.

What I Miss:  Not having random back stabbings.  My sciatica isn't as bad as with Trent, but I get these random darts of pain that are so bad they take my breath away.  And it's so hard getting on the floor with Trent.

Symptoms:  Nothing really to speak of, except sciatica.  Everything seems to be growing faster this time around (hello new bras the size of helmets...side bar...did anyone watch Designing Women back in the day?  Remember when Mary Jo would put Suzanne's bras on her head?  Yeah, that's me.}.  No real swelling yet.

Best Moment of the Week:  Hearing her heartbeat at my OB appt.  145 bpm.  Perfection.

Worst Moment of the Week:  Pregnancy hormones...I totally exploded on B the other day. Given the situation, I should have been annoyed.  Not Mt. Vesuvius on eruption day {Name that date, Allison} to squash out all the citizens of Pompeii mad.  I was seriously afraid that when I came home from work the next day, Brent's side of the closet would be empty.

Other Random Stuff:  Baby Gurl does not have a name.  Big surprise.  Brent and I have had 2 or 3 short-lived conversations (one of which was via text while I was in Chicago for a training) that have resulted in nada except further proof that we are not compatible in the 'naming of children' department.  I don't have high hopes that she'll get a name before she gets here.  It's kind of fun though since we don't have the surprise of her gender to have the surprise of what we'll pick... Can't really think of anything else...

Comparison...it irritates me that none of the pics are very similar.  Ha.

Definitely sticking out further this time. 

He asked me to take his pic while I was doing belly pics.

Of course you insanely adorable little boy.

My assistant.  

He was driving the lens cover over my belly.

I'm super excited about my 28 week appointment since I'll get an ultrasound and normally wouldn't.  I'm not really concerned about her size from a health/risk standpoint.  But I can't help but wonder if Trent weight 8 1/2 pounds and she's bigger...what does that mean for delivery?!?!

We are trucking right along and I'm loving it!

Randoms

• I bought Baby Gurl's bedding this weekend!  I am so excited to get started on her room.
• I just got a call from Trent's school that he needed to be picked up for his behavior today.  Please OT help us!  {On a side note, I could do a whole post about how disappointed Brent and I have been about his school this summer.  The teachers he has right now are not helping in the least in this situation.}
• Trent's BBR is painted!  I ended up mixing 2 colors from the original 4 we tested, and I LOVE it.  I think out of the 4 colors in our house, only 1 is not one I created myself.
• The sheets I wanted to order originally ended up coming back in stock, and they came in the mail Tuesday.  Love them.  We pretty much just need a mattress and can move him in.  Thinking that'll happen in the next week or two.
• To add insult to injury, at my 24 week OB appointment yesterday, I was measured for the first time and measured 27 weeks.  I have said from the get-go that I seemed bigger this pregnancy.  So I am having an ultrasound at my 28 week appointment (in addition to the fun glucose test) to see what's going on in there.  Luckily, the nurse said my weight gain was 'fine'.  Ha.
• 'Finding Nemo' comes back to theaters next weekend.  I am going to take Trent - it'll be his first movie theater experience.  I am so excited!

The Seriously Warped Mind of One Pregnant Lady

To some people...or a lot of people if I'm being honest are going to find this post completely insane.  I recognize that, but I feel like I need to write this out to get it out of my head.  And I'm just being honest here, so don't be too hard on me, k?

When I was pregnant with Trent, I pretty much (most of the time) ate what I wanted.  I exercised sporadically and really let loose.  My doctor's appointments were always picture perfect, so I felt like I did okay.  I honestly don't really know how much I gained because I stopped getting on the scale at the end.  Horrible?  Probably.  But I really didn't want to know.  Let's just say it was probably 40-45 pounds.  Result?  I delivered an 8 1/2 pound baby and lost all but 10 pounds before getting pregnant again.

Eek.  40+ pounds heavier the day we had Trent.

I vowed I would do better with this pregnancy - especially given I am starting out a little heavier.  I don't want to take the picture above and ADD 10 pounds to it.  No thank you.

And I feel like I am doing better.  I am consistently exercising an average of 3 times a week, and doing hard stuff too - body pump and body combat and still running.  I feel great!  During the week I eat healthy.  I do tend to slide on the weekend, but hey, there has to be a little fun in knowing you're going to gain weight anyway.

But then the craziness creeps in.  I weigh myself daily and get so mad at how quickly the numbers are climbing.  I constantly war with myself over not caring as long as I have a healthy baby.  And then I think of the above picture.  Or this one...

Due date w/ Trent...picture above is 3 days later.  I am GINORMOUS.

I don't want to lose all but another 10 pounds because then I'm 20 pounds over my pre-children weight.  But that da*n scale keeps climbing.

I don't want to stress over it either because the end goal is to have a healthy baby.  And I KNOW that.  I swear I do.  I am so lucky and thankful to be pregnant when I have so many friends who have in the past (or currently) struggled to get pregnant.

I have always compared myself to my sister.  My parents NEVER did.  But I always do.  And she always gains less and has smaller babies.  Why does that bother me?  Don't know...but it does.

My mind is a constant battle of beating myself up and then telling myself to relax.

See?  I'm totally warped.  I had really hoped to end at roughly the same spot I ended with Trent, essentially gaining a more normal 30-35 pounds...but that is seeming a harder and harder task to accomplish.  And I just constantly spin numbers in my head of 'Well, if I am at this now and am really, really good, I can hopefully keep my gain to XX by Halloween, and then YY by Thanksgiving.'  Who does that?

I'm hoping that by typing this all out, I can let go of some of it.  And just focus on what I know should be my goal - eat as best as I can (and enjoy a little bit of the weight gain) and keep exercising so I can have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.  Is anyone else this crazy?

Movie Review: Moonrise Kingdom

Allison and I hit up 'Moonrise Kingdom' this weekend in celebration of our joint birthday month and 25 years of friendship!

Plot: A pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them.

Review: If you've ever seen a Wes Anderson movie, you kind of know what you're getting into, and 'Moonrise Kingdom' fit the bill.  VERY quirky to say the least.  Allison and I both enjoyed it a lot, and I probably liked it the best of his films.  I thought about it and realized most of his movies revolve around very depressed/disillusioned adults while this centered around 2 young kids in love.  All the adults around them were depressed/disillusioned...but the kids weren't.  I go to the movies to escape the sadness of real life, so I don't typically want to watch sad people.  So, to me, this was a way better Wes Anderson film and worth seeing.  I've heard Oscar buzz already for this film, and that wouldn't surprise me, but I wasn't THAT blown away by it...