Pumpkin Fest

here she is- the bean at the pumpkin festival! like i said yesterday it is unbelievably big- they basically shut down the entire town for 4 days. there is more clog your arteries fried fair food, carnival games, and midway rides than i have ever seen in one place! bean loved watching every thing! but mostly she loved the pumpkins!! now i thought that there would be more pumpkins.... but what do i know?!?! ;)


bean looked at the gourds. bean looked at the pumpkins. we told her she could get one pumpkin. oh, that is hard! what pumpkin did she want?? take a good look at that picture there to the left. which pumpkin is she pointing at? if you said the pumpkin with the blue ribbon on it, you win! of course that one is NOT for sale. but the pumpkin man was very nice and offered her the one behind the blue ribbon pumpkin which she decided was ok.


we set it on the ground next to her while we paid the man. she smiled. then she looked puzzled. she looked all around her pumpkin. she looked up at me and said, "mommy where his face?"! ha! i told her that we had to make his face. she said, "oh! ok!" then she smiled real big and hugged and kissed her pumpkin. she really wanted to carry that big ol' pumpkin back to the car herself. of course she could not even get it off the ground... daddy had trouble carrying it that far himself.

she had a great day at the festival. we even broke down and let her ride the pony ride. i have to say that i always feel a little bad for those poor ponies. they walk in a circle all day toting little children around and around. BUT she really wanted to ride it when she realized that the "merry go round" had real horses on it. so we shelled out the $4 to let her walk in a circle. she of course LOVED it.

we will probably go back again next year. she will be big enough to ride the rides then and well, you can't beat pumpkin donuts! ;) BUT next time we will probably stop at this pumpkin farm that we passed on the way there. that way she will get the walking in a field of pumpkins experience too! :)

well, that is it. i gotta go get ready for my o.b. appointment!

Best Shot Monday

it is monday, isn't it? oh dear! guess i better dig out some best shots. ;)
we've got 2 today- a sleepy bean and a happy bean.

first, the sleepy bean... can you all say, "awwwwwwwwwww!" HA! so, this is a shot of bean's all too infrequent naps. (we are down to 2-3 a week. sigh.) i went in to check on her and this is the position i found her in. she had taken off her pants and thrown them out of the crib! and that arm thing looks mighty uncomfortable! the way children sleep is amazing sometimes!

here is the second, happy bean. bean requested a leaf pile to play in. i thought that was funny because last year she was not real thrilled with the idea. this year, it was SO much fun! she jumped, she danced, she sat, she threw leaves in the air, she even rolled in the leaves! when the pile was completely flattened she tried to re-rake it. unfortunately the rake was much too big for her to maneuver, so mommy was in charge of all rebuilding efforts. did mommy get in the pile? of course... could you say "no" to that face?!?! the only thing she couldn't manage to do was get the magpie into the leaves. the magpie wanted NO part in that nonsense!! ha ha!

our journey to the pumpkin festival was a good one. i've never seen so many carnival games and trashy fair food in one place though! wow! i'll share some pictures of that tomorrow.
if you want to see more great shots go visit everyone over at tracey's, you won't be sorry! :)

For Mommee...4 Things

ok, mommee wants me to do this so i will. it is a little difficult though... i don't know if i have four of some of these things!

4 jobs i've had:
1. assistant to director of safety town
2. department manager at a large retail store
3. latch-key teacher
4. department manager at an art/teacher supply store

4 places i've lived:
1. bowling green
2. athens
3. dublin
4. here... dude, i have to maintain a little mystery ;)

4 movies i love:
1. the maltese falcon
2. the princess bride (can quote it like mommee quotes dirty dancing!)
3. monty python's holy grail
4. this is spinal tap

4 movies i want to see: (wow, this one is HARD)
1. the hobbit (when they finally get it made)
2. harry potter and the half-blood prince (when it comes out)
*really sad but i can't think of anything else! i just don't get all that excited about movies anymore. most of them just seem so lame when i see the commercials!

4 favorite foods: (i'm soooo healthy, HA!)
1. cheesecake
2. most things chocolate
3. pizza
4. left over thanksgiving turkey made into sandwiches... that is why we have thanksgiving, right? ;)

4 weird things about me: (hmmm, what isn't weird?)
1. i love tomatoes and tomato soup but i'm disgusted by the thought of tomato juice and ketchup
2. i LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of coffee (i could sit in a coffee shop all day!) but... OH THE HORROR of the taste! GAG! shudder
3. the sheets and blankets on the bed NEED to be tucked into the bottom of the bed and very smooth or i CANNOT sleep! (this makes my husband crazy because he wants them un-tucked)
*i can't think of anything else even remotely interesting. sorry.

4 places i'd rather be:
1. london, england
2. salzburg, austria
3. on a cool (temperature wise) windy secluded beach... completely alone
4. sleeping...

i'm not tagging anyone... if you want to do it, go for it! ;)

Costume Mania

here we are! we finally got the bean to put on her costume... i think she likes it! HOORAY!

these pictures are especially for my bloggy friend christina and her little girl nadia. see bean loves to look at pictures of nadia and really loved the pictures of nadia in her cat costume. (oh, is it cute!) so she wanted to show nadia her pumpkin costume! :) here it is nadia! what do you think?

i normally wouldn't have taken a picture of an orange pumpkin in front of an orange wall BUT that is where the bean wanted to stand.... and you kinda have to do what the bean wants when trying to get a decent picture! so after 2 shots against the wall she agreed to go outside. (thank goodness!)

yes, she is barefoot outside in october BUT it was 75 degrees out so she was not cold.... she my have been a little hot in that costume! she ran around the yard, went into her playhouse, got the magpie all riled up... you know the usual... all in pumpkin costume. i think this means she likes it and she will wear it again. oh dear, you don't suppose i just jinxed myself do you?!?

we are heading on a road trip tomorrow- pumpkin festival here we come!! bean needs a pumpkin and well, where better to go then a festival that celebrates the pumpkin (and has a generous supply of pumpkin donuts!) oooo, yummy! AND i will, of course, take pictures! so look farward to those next week. :)

hope you all have a lovely weekend!!!

Thursday's Theme: Star

hey, its thursday and our theme is star!

here is my little star strutting her stuff across the stage a few months back. we were at a park and decided to have our picnic in the amphitheater. (we were looking for shade, for the love of pete! HA HA!) bean got up on the stage and started with this... what i like to refer to as her "mick jagger strut". ha ha ha!
you know, someday i will actually take a picture specifically for thursday's theme. although, i wouldn't hold your breath if i were you.... ;)

so this is my star, what is yours?
and don't forget to visit picture this more more stars!

Ms. Smartie Pants

bean is ms. smartie pants now. about 3 weeks ago she suddenly discovered that "m" upside down is "w". then, OMG, "w" upside down is "m"!! that fact that she understood it and was purposeful about doing it was pretty cool. well, yesterday she realized that "z" turned sideways is "n". Holy cow! then she had to find the "n". she found the "n", and what do you know, "n" sideways is "z"!! she kept showing me over and over that she could change "n" to "z" and "z" to "n". how she suddenly figured this out is totally beyond me! boy, i'm glad we have those magnetic letters!!

what else is new? bean has been talking to sprout. last night she looked down at my ever expanding belly and said, "hi there, babers!" babers! HA HA HA! then she said this "you too small to come out. hurry up and get big so we can play!" oh dear! so we talked about how it was still going to be a VERY long time 'til "babers" (tee hee) would be big enough to come out. and she said "yeah, after the snow." i tell you that kid remembers everything! we told her quite a while ago that she would have to wait until after halloween, after thanksgiving, after christmas, AND after the snow is gone before she could meet the baby. so she "knows" but doesn't quite understand the whole thing yet. i just can't believe what she can remember and for how long!!

Went to the insect fair...

... what did we do there? look at bugs of course! this is bean checking out a hissing cockroach. she was told she could touch it if she wanted too but she just wasn't sure. i touched it to show her it was safe but she still looked a little uneasy. i think she was actually a little more afraid of the man holding the cockroach than of the cockroach itself. i mean look at that face! that is a face of genuine interest, not fear. :)

we also got to see bees and spiders and millipedes, and some other bugs whose names i don't remember. there were also a lot of examples of bugs that weren't alive- like beautiful butterflies from all over. AND we got to make several bug related crafts! fun!
bean enjoyed it for the most part. it was very crowded and she was a little overwhelmed by the amount of people around her. other than that i would say it was a success. hooray for the insect fair! ;)

Best Shot Monday

happy monday!

so, there is nothing really special about this picture of bean, it just makes me smile. therefor it is my best shot monday. it is a shot of bean offering the camera some cupcake. NOT me, the camera!!! what a turkey!!

i also like the pictures i took saturday but since i already posted them yesterday..... :)

if you want to see any more "best" pictures, head on over to tracey's! have a great week!

Are you ready for some football?

here is daddy.... attempting his longest field goal of the day- 38 yards. the crowd is holding its breath in anticipation.


the kick is up........it looks straight......it is...... GOOD!





his legion of fans go WILD!!!!!!!!!




this is how we spent our saturday afternoon, family fun in the sun.

so, what did you all do??

Some things are scary

yesterday at library story time the librarian WASN'T THERE. who was there? well, firefighters, of course!

this sounds fun and exciting right? bean likes firefighters, after all her grandpa is one. BUT when i firefighter is in FULL gear- including his air tank and face mask- he is SCARY. bean was literally crawling into my lap saying "i scared, i scared!" of course i had to try to convince her that it was NOT scary in any way. the last thing we want is for her to be scared of a firefighter that is coming to rescue her from a fire. so once he took off the mask i got her to go up and talk to him. she did ok. here is a shot of her waving to me while she was talking to him.

and on the costume front- bean is going to be a pumpkin after all. we took her to the costume shop last night and got her a cute pumpkin outfit. she was all about it last night... today not so much. we are currently trying to get her to put it on so we can take pictures. she is 2, she has other plans. two year olds are like that. that is the problem, one day she can't wait to trick or treat, the next she wants no part of it. so, we have to be prepared with a costume in case she wants to. if she ends up not wanting to... sprout can wear this costume in a couple years! :)

we have a very busy weekend ahead of us. hopefully bean will survive... she hasn't napped in 3 days and there is no possible way she can get one tomorrow. akk!

Thursday's Theme: Walk

today's theme is walk. bean enjoys taking walks. we started when she was about 13 months old. we would walk past one or two houses then turn around and come home. as she got older we started to walk farther. then she learned that there was stuff on the ground she could pick up and carry, like sticks and acorns and crab apples. walking is something we really enjoy doing together.... except when it is raining, below freezing, or above 85 degrees, then not so much! ;)


these pictures are from september of last year on one of our many walks. she was, oh, fourteen months old. she is wearing a poncho that my grandmother made for me when i was her age. it was TOO CUTE. i needed pictures. so i took one of her little waddle-y walk. then she realized- mommy is not following me anymore!!!!! and turned and came running back to me... one of my all time favorite pictures of my bean.

these are my walk pictures. do you have any? do you want to see more? head over to tracey's to see and share!

Ummmm.... Okay?

totally had to share the events of late afternoon because... OH MY GOSH!

some of you may know how weird and annoying my one set of neighbors are. (i've ranted about them before) i will say again that they are nice people just very odd and they, um, DRIVE ME NUTS! ;) my story involves them... here is a tad bit of background for you: they just adopted a baby girl after several years of trying to have another. she is about 2.5-3 weeks old.
now, the story:

i am sitting in the living room with bean playing. i hear voices outside. i look out the window. neighbor lady and her son (soon to be 5) are running down the middle of the street trying to fly a kite. the five year old in a long sleeve t-shirt, the mom is wearing a coat. then i notice that sitting in the middle of their driveway is a bouncy seat containing new little baby girl. new baby girl is wearing a pair of feetie pajamas and a sweater. i can see her bare little hands flailing around and she has NOTHING on her head. it is about 50 degrees out at this time! fast forward about 15 minutes.... i hear the baby crying. i look out. baby is still in the bouncy, older brother is standing at the end of the driveway (about 6 inches from the street) and mom is.... wait a second, where is mom?!?! oh yes, it appears that she is INSIDE. about 2 minutes later she comes out of the house with a plastic bag for the boy and a binky for the baby. this child is still not wearing a hat or blanket. they stay out for another 10-15 minutes!

i'm sorry but that poor little child had to be freezing!!! my daughter- over 2 years old- was chilly when she was out and she was wearing a coat over her long sleeve shirt. seriously, bean's fingers felt like icicles (and so did her cute as a button nose). can you imagine having a 3 week old baby outside today without a hat and blanket?!?!? i'm usually not so judgmental about parenting "choices"- we all make mistakes after all. BUT she is dressing herself warmer than her children AND leaving them outside in front of their house completely unsupervised! this just screams stupidity to me.
of course, what should i expect from them... they let their son help mow the lawn. yes, you read that right, he helps mow the lawn and has since he was about 3. (the let him help push the mower) it scares the crap out of me every time i see it! kids should not be near lawn mowers! gah!

am i right about this? this is a total OH MY GOODNESS WHAT IS SHE THINKING moment, is it not? i mean, wow just... WOW!

Weather.... BAH!

soooooo, monday it was 90 degrees, bean wore a tank top and cute little skirt. tuesday was 78 degrees, bean wore jeans and a sleeveless top. today... well, today it is currently 52 degrees and cloudy. there isn't even a speck of sun! and it has actually been getting colder as the day progresses instead of warming up like normal! bean is wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt and a jean jacket- i'm not sure she is warm enough.
believe me when i say i'm not complaining. i wanted fall weather and i got it. problem is when you have to go from shorts to sweaters in the matter of two days it makes things a little... um, tougher? you see, i usually end up getting sick when there is a sudden and severe change in the weather. i'm keeping my fingers crossed... i got a cold when pregnant with bean that lasted oh, about 8 weeks. ugh! i really want to avoid that! and i don't want to deal with a sick bean either....
wish me luck! ;)

Halloweenie Disappointment

we took bean shopping for a halloween costume. she wanted a pumpkin, we were on the prowl. store number 1 had NO pumpkin costumes, so on to store 2. store 2 had a pumpkin costume, it was kinda cute. i asked bean if it was what she wanted- because that was all that really mattered. well.... you see there was a bee costume hanging next to the pumpkin. bean saw it, bean had to have it- NOW. so, i thought, why not. a bee is a great costume! now we come to the disappointing part... it doesn't fit her right. sigh. she wants it but can't wear it because it is too small. i take it back to store 2, they don't have it in a bigger size and pretty much all the costumes are the same style and don't fit her properly. ahhhhh! so, off to stores 3 and 4 where they have cute costumes BUT no bees OR pumpkins. she will NOT try anything else on because she "don't like monkeys. i only like to look at monkeys at the zoo!" and about a dozen other reasons. so we came home before mommy completely lost it. she claims she no longer wants halloween. WHAT?!?!? she has been all about dressing up and trick or treating since her babysitters told her about it a week and a half ago! i'll have her dad talk to her. maybe he can figure her out?
in the mean time does anyone know where i can get a bee costume? you know, one that doesn't cost a ba-jillion dollars. ;)

Best Shot Monday

since i already posted the picture of her kissing the giant grasshopper tuesday and the nice picture of her walking with her father on thursday i had to find something else.....

how about this one? bean's bare feet in the fall leaves. i had to take a picture to show that it was still hot (and hot is the right word) enough to play bare foot in october! why oh why is it still 90 degrees outside?!?!?! it isn't the world's greatest shot but i kinda like the colors. that and i just love her little toes.... kinda strange coming from a person that can't stand feet, huh? ;)

there is a cold front a-comin'- or so they claim. here is to FALL weather!
if you want to see more best shots, head on over to tracey's!

Cooking Helper

here is my little chef in training! monday we made "apple crist" (for some reason she won't say crisp! ha!) and yesterday we made applesauce and macaroni and cheese. she really wants to help- especially now that she has new aprons!! (her aunt in texas sent them to her)

she likes eating what she makes too. the "apple crist" was good. the applesauce was "mmmmm. yummy mommy!". daddy said the macaroni and cheese was good and asked bean if she made it. she smiled proudly and declared "oh yes, i did!"

this morning she wanted to cook breakfast but i decided that it would be better for me to do it alone this time. it is fun to cook with a two year old but it takes a heck of a lot longer to get things done! ;)
have a great weekend!!

Jinx!

first, i'll say this: this picture is especially for you mommee! because great minds think alike, don't you know! :)

now, on to the jinx... remember yesterday how i said that bean napped 3 out of four days this week. how it was so nice. how i was HAPPY. yeah well, totally jinxed! she claimed she would take a nap today but sat in her crib for an hour and ten minutes talking, singing and playing. you are probably thinking that that is pretty good. yeah, its alright but i find that i can't relax when she is awake. i lay in bed trying to nap but i can hear her and i can't relax enough to sleep let alone rest. bah! should have kept my mouth shut!

Yet another conversation...

in the car on the way home from dinner...

bean: when i get home i get a snack!

daddy: you just ate dinner, you don't need to eat again already!

mommy: no, it isn't snack time yet sweetie. remember if you eat too much you'll get sick!

bean: when my food digests, maybe i have a snack?

yes, she actually said "digests"! we both had to chuckle at that. that kid remembers EVERYTHING you say to her. i don't know how it is possible for her to have so much information in that little noggin of hers!

My Beautiful Bean

here is another picture i took yesterday- no giant bugs in this one! ha! just my pretty little girl in her movie star sunglasses sitting by a waterfall. ahhh, my beautiful little diva. ;)

i must say that at this moment bean is napping- this is the third straight day with a nap! can you believe it! last week she only took three naps the entire week and this week i have gotten three naps in four days! every day i've said, "are you going to nap today?" and she has said "yes." i can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me!

bean has decided that she wants to be a pumpkin for halloween. i don't know where she got the idea but it is better than her first choice- jimmy buffet! ha! (i'm totally serious! daddy asked "what do you want to be for halloween this year?" and she said "jimmy buffet!" i'm not sure how i was supposed to accomplish that!) so now i have to decide if i'm making a pumpkin outfit or buying a pumpkin outfit. i have questionable sewing skills.... hmmmm. maybe i'll go shopping and see what is out there then decide. :)

Big Bugs!!

this morning bean and i went to a metro park to see the large bug sculptures that they had on display. it was quite fun! there were lots of neat "big" bugs- praying mantis, assassin bug, damselfly, etc. bean had a great time helping me find them around the park then we walked the wooded trail- bean walked about a half mile before asking to get back in the stroller!

here is a great picture of bean kissing the giant grasshopper!! how funny is that! i'm so glad i had my camera out and ready!

we also had a little craft time today. last week we made construction paper bats (traced bean's hands to make the wings!). this week we made five little pumpkins! she helped glue on stems and faces. she really did a great job. we first discussed where eyes, noses and mouths go and then i reminded her when she was gluing. the faces are all pretty crooked but their parts are all in the right place! afterwards we hung them on the wall and said the "five little pumpkins sitting on a gate" rhyme. wow... i sound like all those over achieving moms i dislike so much! ha! oh well, we had FUN and that is all that matters. :)

here are a couple more bug shots for you. hope you are all enjoying the fall as much as we are.... it would be better if it wasn't 80 degrees out though! gah!

Conversation

bean asked to sit on the potty (don't get excited- she still doesn't want to actually use it!) and we sat and talked. here is part of our conversation:

me: do you think it will be fun to have a new baby or do you think it will be a lot of hard work?

bean: (looks thoughtful then smiles) i think it will be good hard work.

good hard work. you know what, that is exactly what it will be. i don't think i could have said it better myself. :)

Best Shot Monday

hi! is it monday all ready?!?! ahhhh!

well, we had a great saturday afternoon at the apple orchard. we went with mommee and her boys. bean and adam had a great time together. bean loves them- and when i say them, i mean all 4 of them. my daughter is a very loving person... much more open and friendly then i ever was as a child! it is really great that she has such wonderful people in her life!

anyways, i took MANY pictures at the orchard and could post them all today because they were SO cute BUT i decided to go with my favorite. here is daddy lifting bean way up high to reach an apple at the top of the tree! she was sooooo excited. (she loves being lifted high up- her favorite thing is when daddy lifts her up to touch the ceiling in the house!

i also had to share this picture. after weeks of seeing bigger kids go down the slide on their tummies and scolding them for it (she would actually yell, "no no, on your bottoms!" ha!). she finally got brave enough to try it herself! she was quite proud of herself! she liked it so much she did it 5 more times. :)

thanks for stopping by! and don't forget to check out all the great shots over at picture this!

Seems kinda early...

is 14 weeks to early to feel a baby move?
for the past 3 days i've felt a very faint random tap inside me that i have NO other explanation for. it happens 2-4 times a day. pretty sure it is "sprout" (yeah, that is what i decided to name this one... come on, bean and sprout! you can't get any cuter than that!) trying to make his/her presence known. i didn't feel bean move 'til about 18 weeks so 14 weeks seems a little early but maybe not? oh well, i guess i should just enjoy it. :)

Thursday's Theme: Ritual

rituals- we could have done any stage of bed time- especially last night when she said "i love you!" and i said "i love you too sweetie" and she said "i love you too sweetie mommy!" awwwwww. but i decided to go with a habit of bean's that i find amusing.

we don't know why she does it. neither one of us does it. where did this come from???
bean has a "ritual" of removing her shoes then immediately removing her socks and placing them inside her shoes. she does it every single time she wears socks and shoes- and she always takes them off because, well, toddlers hate shoes and socks from what i can tell. (we had to make a deal with her- shoes have to be worn when we go out BUT when you are at home you don't have to wear them. it is working well so far.) so the other day when she was playing in the sandbox i snapped this picture of her little pink shoes with the socks peeking out. mostly so i wouldn't forget how she did this but also so i could share it with you all. :)

want to see more rituals? stop by picture this!

9 Years...

9 years ago today i got married. i was 24 years old. i thought that working full time while by husband finished school and worked two part time jobs was going to be stressful. HA! somehow life has only gotten more stressful as time has gone on. but i have to say it has been pretty darn wonderful too. i wish i had a picture of us all dressed up and 9 years younger but sadly i don't have any pictures that old on the computer... that was definitely in my pre-digital days people!
so, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to me! oh, and i guess to him too. he he! :)

(no, we aren't doing anything exciting today. sunday we are going out to eat and to a professional soccer game... it was the only day we could get a sitter.)

oh i'm back!- just found my present! (he got me a present!) a bottle of aromatherapy sleep lotion (i don't sleep worth crap since i got pregnant), a bottle of yummy smelling body lotion, a gift card to old navy, and a box of hot tamales (mmmmm, cinnamon candy!). what a good husband.
i know, you want to know what i got him.... well, nothing of course. we agreed no gifts! bah!

Doctor Update

ah, yes. i'm back from the OB. turns out i didn't have too much to worry about weight wise... i only gained around 2-2.5 pounds (i don't remember the exact amount from the last visit). and no one (nurse or doctor) said anything about my weight so it can't that bad. as a matter of fact, the doctor came in and looked at my chart and said "everything looks perfect here on paper so lets take a listen and see how the baby's doing." so, i'm perfect- on paper ;) she also mentioned that my uterus had started to pop out- well, DUH! i only have 3 pairs of pants that fit and my stomach is ROUND not flabby like from fat. it is pretty obvious that i've started to pop!

fun stuff now:
the doctor found the heartbeat and said it sounded really good. then there were a couple of strange sounds. bean looks up and says (no joke) "the baby tooted!" and she started cracking up. the doctor about lost it! through her giggles she tried to explain to bean that that sound was the baby kicking and swimming inside mommy. she seemed confused as to why the baby would kick mommy but since the doctor said it was good to have the baby moving around she didn't argue.
bean was the star of the show. she had everyone there laughing and smiling. she really liked all the attention too. not necessarily a good thing seeing as in a few months she is going to have to share the stage with a sibling.... i'll worry about that later.

i was told to get more rest and to take breaks from bean. the doctor claims this will make me feel better. how i'm supposed to accomplish that remains to be seen. i don't have a lot of family close by and i certainly can't afford a sitter. oh well. we shall see how it goes.

oct 9= afp blood test
oct 23= next ob appointment

Random Beanisms

here is a shot of bean posing with mommy's obsession- food! mommy's been eating far too much lately. mommy has a slight problem with stress eating.... my afraid to get weighed at the doctor today!

anyways, back to bean.

1. bean wants to name the new baby "baby lettuce". yes, lettuce! (when she was about 16 months old she named one of her dolls lettuce. we were surprised because we didn't even know she knew that word. now she wants to name her sibling that.) sigh. i think one lettuce in the house is enough.

2. bean invented her own game this summer. it is called "bump ball team" and it involves hitting beach balls with plastic golf clubs into a soccer goal. it is a classic. everyone should be playing it by next year! ;)

3. yesterday she told me it was snack time. i told her it was almost dinner time so no snack. she said "let me look at the clock!" she walk to the kitchen door looked up at the wall and said "yep! clock says its snack time!" what the?!?!?!?! (and no she did not get a snack it was quarter to five!)

that's all for now- gotta go to the OB! :)

Best Shot Monday

here is my best shot for the week. you see we went back to visit bean's friend the orangutan and the whole group was sitting by the window! wow! so i got several shots and i just love this one. his eyes just go right into you! of course i have to add a few more shots because they were all so fun!


enjoy my orangutan pictures and then head over to tracey's and check out everyone elses
best shots! :)

Uggh.

i've been struggling all week with writing a post. it seems like everything i think of is negative- and who wants to listen to that crap. i'm trying to come up with happy thoughts and fun stuff to write about but it just isn't there. it isn't that i'm physically unwell- other than being very tired, i feel fine on the outside. it is the inside that isn't doing so well.

see, i haven't yet felt good about this pregnancy. i haven't been happy or excited. i feel indifferent in every way. i thought when i had the ultrasound it would be the thing to make me excited- i mean come on, who wouldn't feel good seeing their baby squirm and wiggle? me i guess. my thoughts were "yep, it's a baby". no emotion, no nothing.

things have gotten progressively worse. i feel awful all the time. i want to cry but can't because i can't cry in front of my daughter. i'm alone 80% of the time- just me and the bean. what am i going to do when this new one is born?? how will i cope?? if i want to cry all the time now, what am i going to do then?? am i a terrible mother because i can't seem to love my unborn child??

there, i got it off my chest. sorry to be such a downer... i was just hoping i'd feel better if i wrote it down. sigh.

Best Shot Monday

Happy Monday!

for today's best shot i thought i'd share this picture i took of my bean at the zoo last week. there is something really funny about taking your child's picture while she is sitting inside a sculpture of the worlds stinkiest flower! even funnier, 3 days before i took this picture my sister took one of her two girls sitting in the same stinky flower- i guess great minds think alike! HA!

also, i had to add another shot of bean and the orangutan. i know i posted one on tuesday but come on they are CUTE! she was so in love with this animal. she didn't want to leave the exhibit. in this picture bean is attempting, unsuccessfully, to get the orangutan to stick out it's tongue!

lastly, bean made up a song yesterday in the car. it went like this:
"i love, love my mama, mama.
i love my maggers, maggers. (her nickname for the magpie)
i love, love, love my toys!"
i'm a little sad that i am not loved as much as the toys... but i guess i should be happy that i come before the dog! ;)

don't forget to stop by picture this and check out what everyone else was doing this week!

Things I Learned...

things i learned this week:

1. bean loves letters, especially the first letter of her name. when she sees it she will say "E! E is for (her real name), e is for elephant, e is for egg!" the book "there is a monster at the end of this book" has some very large type in it. when she sees these bigger letters she will tell you what they are. "look mommy, E! another E mommy! that is a T!"

2. she recognizes her name when she sees it spelled out. my husband was drawing on the magnadoodle and asking her what the pictures were of. she was doing a great job despite her daddy's questionable artistic skills. he thought he'd trick her by writing her name. she glanced at the magnadoodle and said "that's (insert her name)!" then she proceeded to spell it for him while pointing at the letters.

3. she is now interested in what things say and/or spell. she will point to the words in books and say "what that say mommy??" if i write a word on the refrigerator she come over and ask "what that spell??" it is fun. :)

4. bean thinks that she can spell now too. she will go to the refrigerator and move letters and numbers around and tell me what she has just spelled. today she spelled dog: 2-2-5-upside down 3. HA! yesterday it was cat: h-s-w-7-j-0. it is just SO awesome that she understands that words are made of letters at her age! now if i can just get her to realize that numbers do not make words. ;)

5. she is a big girl. she can run and kick a ball at the same time with surprisingly good rhythm. i watch her and think, where did she learn that??

6. when i child says they don't want to try rice... don't make them. she put it into her mouth swallowed and then started gagging. lets just say all of dinner and some of lunch ended up on her dinner plate! ugg! she didn't puke again and we aren't sure why she did it but... UGG! thank god my husband actually helped clean it up!

lastly, what i know. this week was rough at times. the past couple of years with bean have had extreme ups and downs. i know i haven't done everything "right". but i know that i did it the best i could. and that is ok, bean doesn't expect us to be perfect. and when i comes right down to it, i think we've done alright. this was totally confirmed last night. when we were putting bean to bed she rolled on to her side and looked up at her father and i. my hand was on the crib rail, she reached up and touched my fingers and said "i love you so much guys!" then cuddled back down into her pillow. sigh. nothing will ever feel as good as that.

Thursday's Theme: Three

it is thursday and time for our theme, three. since i have been less than well over the past week i have taken very few pictures, my husband however has tried his best. these three shots are courtesy of my husband's cell phone. i think he actually takes better pictures with the cell than with the actual camera! he never gets close enough when he uses the camera, so i end up cropping half the picture out because there is too much background! with the cell phone he gets much closer as you can see. he also got a bit creative with the coloring in the shots. so, great job husband of mine! thanks for stepping in and taking some great pictures when i was down and out!

look at that last shot there. i can't tell you how much that cracks me up!!! :) what a camera ham!

if you want to see how other people looked at three, head on over to tracey's and check it out!

Another good day...

i'm going to start by saying this picture was NOT taken today- it is only 69 degrees right now so skirt and tank top not quite warm enough. BUT oh my gosh! 69 degrees! i am so happy! i LOOOOOOOOOVE fall weather! (i don't think i can put enough emphasises on the LOOOOVE part!) fall is full of great things like trips to the apple orchard, playing in big piles of leaves, picking pumpkins at the farm, and of course COOL temperatures! YAY!! woo hoo for fall!

today has been great again. playgroup started back up and it was great to be back. it is nice to have a good place to take bean where she can have fun with other kids. (and i don't have to be her source of entertainment!) she was scared at first but warmed up in about 2 minutes so everything was fine. we all had a really good time.
tomorrow library story time starts up again. so we will be headed there to pick out new books, listen to stories, and sing and dance.

my thoughts right now are on this subject (because it is FALL outside!)- what should bean be for halloween??? i really would like to try to make the costume this year BUT what will i be making? i just can't come up with anything that i'm really excited about. she was a chicken her first year and a witch last year. hmmmm......

So much better!

i flipped the mattress, got a new mattress pad, and a new pillow. boy was i more comfortable! and can you believe that the headache has finally subsided! THANK YOU GOD. :)

so, seeing as it was a cool day- in the 60s! (it was very cloudy and gray outside) bean and i decided to go to the zoo. we packed up a quick lunch and headed out with our windbreakers and umbrella, just in case. i love going to the zoo on days like this because there is NO ONE there. everyone is so afraid of rain that they stay home and we actually get to enjoy ourselves! woo hoo!

the zoo was fantastic. the weather was fantastic. and bean made a new friend. that is a picture of bean loving on her. she totally fell in love with this female orangutan. she kept asking to go back there so she could see her again! (see this is why the zoo being empty was great, if it was crowded she never would have gotten this close and i NEVER would have been able to get a picture of it!) it was the best day i've had in over a week. bean and i had FUN today. i was so happy it nearly brought tears to my eyes.

the only problem i had was after we got to the zoo, i started walking across the parking lot and gasped in pain. oooh yeah, the migraine is gone but oh the sciatic nerve pain kicked in! so every step was a little ouchy today and some were really ouchy. but hey, after a 4 day headache a little pain in my butt is not so bad. ;)

Best Shot Monday

yeah, i'm late today.
i kinda jumped the gun the other day when i said i was back from the dead. see i developed a migraine friday and well, i still have it today. caring for a two year old when you feel like your head is going to split in half- yeah, that is FUN.

anyways, here is a cutie shot of bean working in her kitchen. she played with daddy A LOT this weekend, so this shot is courtesy of him. (i haven't taken a picture in about 6 days) go daddy!

i feel like a lousy parent. i know it isn't my fault that i don't feel good but i am to blame for the way i am reacting to it. i raise my voice way too much. i then feel like the worst person on earth because it makes bean cry. not just any cry, a cry of fear accompanied by the hugest crocodile tears. sigh. yeah, i'm rotten. :(

Back from the Dead

wow. sorry i was MIA for the past few days. i was down and out in a major way. everything would be much better if i could just get some good solid sleep. ahh, sleep where toddlers don't scream your name, dogs don't bump you with their nose to tell you to "get up and let me out", where husbands don't snore, and where when you get up for the 6th time that night to pee you can actually fall back to sleep! i'm NOT even going to talk about the nausea.
oh, i've also decided that all pregnant women in the first trimester should be provided with a cook and a cleaning service because OMG you can't do these things when you are newly pregnant!! you just CAN'T!

ok, i'm done talking about me for now. here is something to make you smile. bean exploring the world with her magnifying glass. she got it as part of her bug collecting kit. she carried it all over the backyard today and checked out everything she found. it was most amusing that she thought that she needed to hold the glass up to her eye like that! it kept trying to show her to pull it away from her face but she wouldn't pay any attention to what i was saying. this was the highlight of our day. (the low-light of our day is the fact that bean will NOT take a nap and i feel like i'm about to loose my freaking mind! ahhhhhhhhhhh!)

The park wore me out...

i try to take bean to the park every morning. we usually leave around 9 am to avoid the heat of the day. today was a little different. bean didn't get up until 8:45. so the park was put on hold until 10:00 am. it was also different for another reason. i was hot and TIRED before we even got there. i was walking SLOW. i felt like i was breathing heavy. i felt really bad when i realized that i was trying to get bean to leave early. so, i stopped at the water and let her walk down and look at the water bugs and such. we found a daddy long legs near by and i managed to get it into her bug jug. she happily carried it most of the way home. overall it was a successful park trip but i came home feeling light headed, achy, and exhausted.

i know that being pregnant is never easy. the symptoms seem to be coming sooner and are harder to deal with this time around though. AND it seems to be exponentially harder with a toddler. i don't think i've ever been so exhausted. i don't think i've ever felt so guilty- there i times i don't want her around me! :( sigh. i makes me a little sad that i feel this way already, i mean, i have SO much longer to go!

Best Shot Monday

yeah, it is real late for best shot monday but i just got home and still wanted to play!!
:)

here is a picture of bean picking flowers for her mommy at the park the other day. i think i got about 8 or so of those clover flowers. at that point i told her she better leave some for the bunnies because they like to eat them, and believe it or not she actually stopped! she listened to what i said! woo hoo!

hope you all had a great labor day weekend!!!