29 Weeks

Ahhhhhhhhh, yeah! Big belly, big belly, big belly... oh yeah, big belly! (for those of you Ags who lived through the Big Booty craze of the 2000's ;-) Elizabeth is continuing to grow and develop and has begun to make her presence known even more so then before. She is kicking harder, rolling around constantly and assuring me regularly that she is ok, and/or miffed at me :). She is now the size of a Butternut Squash at around 14.25 inches long and 2.8 pounds!

Sanity Restored

Have you ever had something that has just been bugging you more and more and you don't know how to make it go away? Well, I've had a smell in my kitchen the past three weeks that I just couldn't figure out. It smelled like meat does when you've thrown away scraps but it is still a couple of days until trash pickup.

I would catch a whiff of the unpleasant odor and start a frantic search for the source. The weird thing was that the smell wasn't coming from near the trash can, it wasn't coming from the fridge, and it wasn't coming from near the disposal.... in fact, it was the furthest corner of my kitchen away from all of those things. A couple of times every day I would go NUTS looking for the source.... and then yesterday, I found it.

I had used four beautiful pumpkins to decorate a high shelf in my kitchen.... and one of them had liquefied. EWWWWWWWWW!! Three of the pumpkins were in perfect shape and while the fourth looked more or less solid, it was so rotted that when I tried to pick it up, the stem came off in my hand. EWWWWWWWWWW! I decided to spare you guys any pictures in case any of you were eating when you read this. Needless to say, I saved the scraping of the pumpkin off the shelf and the subsequent de-grossifying of the shelf for Nate :P

28 Weeks

Wow, there is NOTHING to really write about the development this week.... she's getting fatter and her brain is going from smooth to wrinkly... that's about it :) She is currently the size of a Chinese Cabbage... 14 in long and 2.5 lbs! In case there is any confusion, the above picture is not me, rather it is a Chinese Cabbage..... just to make sure we're clear :)

On to the next....

I have recently been hit by some inspiration for Micah's 2nd birthday party... I think it was the cold weather that got me thinking :) Lets just say it's going to involve a cookout, multiple inflatable things and LOTS of water. I have the menu, activities, favors and cake all worked out in my mind... at least conceptually.... all I need now is some inspiration on the invites :) On the upside, I think this is at least four months later than I started planning his first birthday party! Hmmm, Lizzie's first birthday party.. gotta get started on that ;-)

Gingerbread Fun

If you are looking for a gingerbread house experience without all of the hassle and mess, look no further! This site has a super fun house that you can decorate to your heart's content! Simply drag and drop the candies onto the house and let your imagination be your guide.. Have fun!

Micah Bean

On possibly the busiest weekend of her life, my sister-in-law Amy took time away from moving and taking care of her two kids and she and I dragged our pregnant bellies and Micah to the Japanese Gardens in San Antonio to get some pictures of him. Amy has started a photography business and I am SO excited we finally found a time to get some pics of Micah. I'm thrilled with how they turned out... Thanks Amy! I'm posting all of them on our photo site too :)

27 Weeks!

I am now officially in my third trimester! Crazy stuff! Elizabeth can now open and close her eyes, she has a regular asleep and awake cycle, and she now has eyelashes! She is approximately the size of a head of cauliflower which makes her about 13.5 in long and 2.25 lb.

Antsy

I have been feeling uber-crafty this fall and I finally decided to re-do my blog. In the process I learned that I am not nearly as computer savvy as I would have hoped and that even if I had Photoshop, I think I'd be totally lost trying to use it :P Anyhoo, here's my new look.... maybe I'll learn more about photo editing soon and make a snazzier header :)

I Even Amaze Myself ;-)

I hate to be boastful, but yesterday I did something amazing. I have to admit that as a stay at home mom, typically the only amazing thing I have the chance to do is keep my sanity on days when Micah is trying desperately to make me lose it, but yesterday was different....

I stood at the register at Target, my jaw dropping another inch every time one of my coupons worked....."Really??" I thought, "This is REALLY working??" I had done it. I had maximized my coupon potential and made a truly ridiculous purchase. Want to know what it was? I bought the UP blu-ray/DVD combo pack AND the Monsters Inc blu-ray/DVD combo pack for $17... TOTAL! That's right folks, these movies retail for $40 EACH and I got them for $8.50 each after tax, none the less... woo hoo!!

So now I know you are asking yourself, what sort of coupon prowess must Abby possess to accomplish such a feat? Well, actually I have Google prowess and just found out what other people were planning on doing and then I got lucky on top of that :) I checked out Target sales and found out that they had each movie on sale for $26.99 this week since they are new releases (Monsters is new to blu-ray). I then located a $8 off coupon for the Monsters Inc blu-ray pack from the Disney Movie Rewards website. Then I found a $10 off coupon for the UP blu-ray combo pack from the same site. I found out from savvy peeps online that Target had a coupon out for $10 off if you bought both blu-ray movies together.... score!! So I headed to Target and bought both movies spending only $27 after all of my awesome coupons.

But wait Abby... you said you spent $17 dollars! Oh yeah, the luck part :) I got home and saw that on the front of the Monsters Inc movie was a coupon for $10 off if you bought it with UP. Hmmmm, it was a manufacturer's coupon while the other $10 for buying both was a Target coupon... could I get so lucky? I took the coupon and my receipt back to Target, and sure enough, it was valid! Even with all the other coupons I had used! I walked out of Target with a smile on my face and a $10 refund in my pocket. So Anyways, I'll be watching UP reallllllly soon :)

Need Inspiration?

Confession time.... I love to craft. No really, I do. As I am in the middle of one craft, I am constantly thinking of what I want to do next. I currently have 5 projects I want to do NOW and prioritizing them has been rough. Well.... what I'm about to tell you has not helped :P

I follow some crafty bloggers and occasionally get inspiration from them. One of my faves is a girl named Jill who has a boy just a few months younger than Micah. She is my craft icon currently... she dreams big, finishes impeccably and (drumroll please) she can SEW! I SO need to learn to sew! Although not knowing keeps my craft list shorter :P Anyhoo, she was invited to compete in an online craft competition called So You Think You're Crafty, so I've been following the competition. Basically, it started last week with 10 crafters that each come up with a craft that fits the theme for the week. We all vote and the one with the most votes each week is the winner and posts a tutorial on how to make her craft! The crafter with the least votes is eliminated. You should check it out... It'll make you want to go to Hobby Lobby DAILY!

soyouthinkyourecrafty.blogspot.com

26 Weeks!

Holy cow! I am in the last week of my second trimester.... unbelievable! Lizzie is going to be here before we know it... it's hard to believe. We moved Micah to a "big boy" carseat today and I still have the infant seat in my car for now.. it's weird to look back there and think that in around 3 months, they'll both be occupied! For those of you wondering, most kids have moved out of their infant seats into a foward facing seat much earlier than this, but Micah just now weighs enough for the big switch :) He loves it, by the way.

Anyhoo, Miss Elizabeth is making her prescence known by pinching a nerve in my back repeatedly, settling herself near my ribcage which results in my having a hard time breathing, and even causing a little foot swelling already :P Really though, I don't mind :) It's not that bad and it's worth it every time I feel her moving around inside of me. She is particularly active after I eat apples or non-chocolate candies (aka, Spree ;-). As for development, she is starting to swallow amniotic fluid which helps her lungs to develop. At this point, if Elizabeth was born now, she would have about an 80% chance of survival! Of course, I do not want her born before 37 weeks at the earliest, but still it's nice to hit that point where survival outside the womb is possible :) Lizzie is the size of an eggplant now (13in, and 2 whole pounds)!

Arg

Last week, Micah was getting up between 8:15 and 8:45. I thought that would translate to 7:15 to 7:45 this week. Well.....Yesterday, Micah got up at 6:20 but was content and I managed to snooze until 7:10. Today, Micah got up for good at 6:40...... Whoever thought of Daylight Savings time should be shot :P

Bigger?

I've had several people ask me what the differences are between this pregnancy and my first. They want to know if I am sicker, if I am carrying differently, gaining weight differently, etc. One question has stumped me though..."Do you think you baby bump is bigger this time?" Hmmm, I know it popped out earlier, but I guess I never thought about whether is was smaller or bigger at this point. Soooooo, I decided to compare pictures! The difference is subtle, but I'm pretty sure that I am bigger this time.... what do you think?

Halloween 2009

On Wednesday we had a costumed playgroup... it was great! The kids were so cute and sat surprisingly still for pictures... of course I think it helped that we didn't decorate and eat cookies until AFTER we got some pictures :)

I think it was his extra girth, but Micah just leaned back on the couch and smiled quietly me throughout the entire picture process... he was awesome :)

A lovely full body shot of our little monkey~

On Halloween day, we took Micah to the carnival at HFBC.... he loved it! He wanted to go fishing for these little duckies, so we figured out a way to let him fish and keep him dry :)

He also enjoyed the game that let him hurl a ball towards a target~

Outside, they had a petting zoo set up and Micah became quick friends with this very patient goat~

I didn't get any great pics, but we spent some time in the toddler room and Micah found a bounce house (sans roof or walls) that he was quite enamored with and since nobody there was over 4 years old, he could run around the inflatable without too big of a chance of being taken out by a rowdy kid :) He also enjoyed the other toys in that room! We took a few pictures in the courtyard before we left, and despite his fatigue, we actually got some cute ones of little man~

25 Weeks

Today marks 25 weeks for Elizabeth and the beginning of me feeling really big :) I've officially hit that point where by the end of the day, I feel uncomfortably big and tight... if you've been pregnant, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about :) But also, I am far enough along now that I feel Lizzie moving around all of the time... I love that! It is so reassuring and cool to experience. Plus, she isn't yet big enough to wedge herself against my lungs so that I can hardly breathe... it's a cool stage to be in.

Anyhoo, at this point Elizabeth is more or less completely formed! She now has to fatten up and chill out for awhile while her respiratory and other systems mature enough for her to survive outside the womb..... hmmmm, I wonder if Houston babies have some special development to prepare them for the humidity :P Lizzie now has fully developed hearing and can hear my voice! She also starts to blink this week.

As of now, Elizabeth is the size of a rutabaga..... ummm, yeah, I also have no idea how big those are :) So for reference, that makes her around 12.75 inches and 1.7 ish pounds.