What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Linking up with Jamie to share What I'm Loving this week!

Since it's August, my brain is focused on two things - Reese's birthday party and finally getting to meet her baby sister!  We are having Reese's party at The Little Gym again this year, and I've tried to plan as much in advance as possible!

She originally wanted a Tangled Party, then she switched to "JUST Cinderella," and now she wants "Aaaaaaaalllllll the princesses."  I kid you not.  And this is what she's like with Halloween, too.  First it was Cinderella, then it was Tinkerbell, and now it's Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates!  Since she requested all of the princesses, I went with this invitation :).

 

Source: etsy.com via Brittney on Pinterest

I would love to get her a cake like this!

Source: m2-photography.net via Brittney on Pinterest

Or these cupcakes!  How fun!  But I can't do it this year - I will be 38 weeks pregnant, and I can't do it myself.

Source: birdonacake.blogspot.com via Brittney on Pinterest

So instead, I might just get the cupcake toppers that match her invitation and be done with it!  She changes her mind between cake and cupcakes every day, too!

I also think that these favors are super fun for girls! I got buckets for them for $1 in the Target $1 bins, so now I just have to get the supplies.  Watercolors can be found pretty cheap right now, too!  I usually just make chocolate covered pretzels, but I really don't want to add any stress to myself right now!

Source: free-deals-daily.info via Brittney on Pinterest

Now on to her Baby Sister!

I was finally able to purchase her car seat last week!  This is the first time I've needed to buy a new one since Wyatt was born. We were in a car accident right before we switched Wyatt to his convertible seat, so the insurance company bought us a brand new one.  Reese and Hudson were both able to use the seat that the insurance company paid for, but it wasn't in the best condition to use again.  So I got to pick a fun girly seat for her.  I really liked another one, but Brian didn't like it.  He liked this Minnie Mouse seat, so we got it instead.  Fortunately I had a 20% off coupon!

 I have heard great things about the Fisher Price Rock-N-Play, but I couldn't justify spending that kind of money on something we won't re-use.  I stopped by a different Target last week, and they had this one on clearance for $40! I decided to pick it up, and then talk it over with Brian since this was the last one.  I think it looks super cozy, and hopefully can replace the battery eating swing as the baby's preferred sleeping spot :)

 Other than those two items, we really still need diapers (I'm not planning on cloth diapering her for at least a month), burp cloths, socks, bibs, and D batteries.  Hopefully I can get those things in the next couple of shopping trips, too!

Now on to me :).  

Just in case my husband was wondering about getting me a push present (he never has before, since I've technically never pushed.  But maybe the last time is a charm?), here are two things that I would absolutely love to get soon!

A new pair of running shoes!  I think I got my last pair two years ago (that's about my average for running shoes - which is probably pathetic.  I should be buying them more - right?), but after I get the go-ahead, I don't plan on wasting time getting back in shape.  I LOVE these Nike's!  And it might just be a coincidence, but I know a guy who lost a pair a couple of weeks ago when he forgot that he left his shoes on the bumper of his Jeep after he mowed the yard.  One of the shoes made it to work on the bumper, but the other flew off somewhere between work and home.  So maybe he can Rack Room it up for a BOGO :)?

 Another viable option would always be the baby's birthstone :).  A sapphire charm for my Pandora bracelet would be lovely, too!

And I guess that's what I'm loving this week!

Out for Ice Cream!

Brian's day off this week was pretty low key for us!  We took the kids to swim lessons and then Brian's mom took the big kids to the library while we took H to Target.  We all met back home for lunch and quiet time and just hung out.  These kids are so spoiled on Daddy's day off!  They kept asking what we were going to do that was fun.  Brian and I decided that after we ate dinner we would take them out for ice cream.  Wyatt and Reese talked about what kind of ice cream they wanted the entire ride to Handel's!

Blue eyes!  It will definitely be interesting to see whether she stays our only blue eyed child!  She actually intentionally wanted to get the ice cream on her face because it matched her dress.  HOT MESS!

Somebody loves his Daddy.  He has been doing a MUCH better job eating lately.  We've cut down afternoon snacks to a piece of fruit.  This did not go over well at first, but he's actually asking me now for carrots instead, or for a "big bowl of strawberries."  This is completely unbelievable because he wouldn't any of this without a fight.  Or he would only eat his 5 required bites.  Now he eats it all and asks for more.  I don't know what switch flipped, but I'm glad it did!  He does ask me to feel his muscles all the time now though!

 

So happy to be getting some ice cream!  His basic request was "Bite!"  He would follow that up with "It's good!" or "Thank you!"  Sometimes I can't get over how much he resembles his brother at the same age!

Me and my future kindergartener!

Wyatt is a pro at taking pictures with Brian's camera (seriously, we find pictures on our phones that we know we didn't take.  In the mornings before we're up, he'll grab a phone and take pictures of us sleeping.  Or of the TV.  So silly!).  He decided to take a picture of Brian and I together.  I don't know when we last had our picture taken, so it was nice of him to take one :)

And yes...I'm kind of huge!

Baby Minnie: 36 Weeks

 36 weeks, and really, I'll be 37 on Thursday!  I made the countdown rings for the kids like I did with Hudson so that they would have a grasp on how much longer it will be before she's here!  I think it will be an easy transition for Wyatt and Reese, but Hudson is going to have some problems.  He doesn't like to let me out of his sight, and I know he isn't going to be super laid back about me sitting on the couch feeding his sister!  The big kids and I have had talks about patience and how important it is that they tell me that they need water or a toy or something before I sit down to feed her.  I'm trying to get every one ready.  Much like my body is apparently trying to prepare me - I'm up at 3AM writing a blog post because I can't sleep!

• How far along: 36 weeks.
• Size of baby: 20 inches and 6 pounds-ish?
• Total weight gain/loss: Still only up two pounds!
• Cravings: Ice cream, and then Brian took us out for some :).  Baked potatoes.  Broccoli.  Fortunately Smart Ones makes a quick lunch that kind of covers those two cravings.  So that's what I have most days :).
• Maternity clothes: Yes.
• Gender: Girl!
• Movement: All the time.  She is literally on the move all day, every day.  I like it though :).  It's most likely my last chance to enjoy this!
• What I miss: Sleep.  If it's not incredible hip pain (which currently has me awake at 3AM), then there is a little boy who sneaks to my room in the middle of the night and takes up my space! Or I wake up to use the bathroom and my mind starts racing.
• Sleep: Midnight to 6:30 or 7 every day.  I just can't get comfortable and then I'm up every hour to go to the bathroom. I haven't been able to squeeze in a nap lately, but I'm hoping I can after my doctor's appointment today.  I also can't fall asleep without playing a puzzle game on my phone.  I think I'm an addict.
• Symptoms: Hip pain. I'm tired. Contractions. And honestly, I've developed an irrational fear that I'm not going to make it to my scheduled C section.
• Best Moment this week: 
• I feel like things are finally getting done!
  
• Name choices are narrowed down.  We spent a good hour talking about them the other night.  I think we're both willing to compromise - but she doesn't actually have a name! 
• I bought her car seat on Thursday.
• Brian moved Reese's armoire to our room on Friday night.  Her sweet little clothes are now hung up and waiting for her!
• The beginnings of our hospital bags are packed.
• I have found and washed boppies, baby carriers are ready - her things are coming together!
• What I am looking forward to: Settling on a name for our baby!  Meeting her!  Getting the big kids ready for school to start after Labor Day.  We have a lot of things ready, and my mom is taking them each on a little back to school shopping trip, so we should be set after that :).  Open House is in two weeks, and school starts for Wyatt on the 4th!  I can't believe he's going to be in Kindergarten!  Wyatt's t-ball season will start with practices next week, so that's adding just a little more to my plate (we're still trying to decide about Reese, and whether they'll be playing soccer this fall).  I also REALLY want to get some freezer meals ready for us to have after the baby comes -  I guess I just have to see how productive I can be in three weeks!  Ha!

Funnies from the Kids

It's been awhile since I shared the things the kids say, so I figured I should do it now :).

Wyatt taught Hudson that when you say "Kevin Youkilis" or "Red Sox" it should be followed up with "yuck."
So, if you say either of those things to Hudson he says, "Yuck!"

 Wyatt:
"Mommy, when I grow up I'm going to be a hockey player, a baseball player, and a paleontologist. But after college, I just want to be a paleontologist."
He also told me that he wants me to bring him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day at the dinosaur museum.

Reese:
"Mommy, I don't need to go to the bathroom before we leave for Didi and Pop Pop's, so DON'T even ask me. If I do, I will. If I don't, I won't."

Wyatt:
"Mommy, are you SURE that Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader? And we're sure that he's Luke's father? Can you call Dad and double check?"

Reese (singing The Pretender by Foo Fighters in the car):
"1,5,6 are not like the others! 1,5,6 are not just a number!"
Actual Words: "What if I say I'm not like the others?  What if I say I'm not just another..."

Wyatt:
"Mom, Parker told me that when you say 'Oh my Santa Claus' it makes him happy, and then he brings more presents!"

Me: "Hudson, how did you get so cute?"
Hudson (wasting no time, with a big smile): "Dada." And then he turned around and high fived Brian.

Wyatt watching the Olympic basketball game:
"Mom!  I see Kobe Bryant!  And he's playing with Lebron James!  And....the Duke Coach is there!"
(for the record, he doesn't actually watch NBA basketball.  He just watches Mike and Mike with his Dad every morning).

Speaking of the Olympics, you know your kid has been watching too much Olympic Coverage when he tries to pole vault the kitchen table with the broom.  Not that I would know anything about that :)

This conversation happened in the check out line at Target:
Reese: "Mommy, who are the King and Queen of Birginia?" (yes, that's how she says Virginia.)
Me: "Reese, we don't have a King or Queen in Virginia."
Wyatt: "Yeah, we have a President.  Barack Obama.  How long is he going to be President?"
Me: "There's an election in November.  You get to pick between him and another guy named Mitt Romney."
Wyatt: "Oh, well I think I'm just going to vote for Mufasa."

Which brings me to his final thing...I don't think he's learning the right lessons from The Lion King.  He was standing on the couch with his Mufasa stuffed animal and was holding it by the paws.  Then he looked down at it and said "Long. Live. The King." And he dropped it. I felt like we need to have a conversation after that.  And he told me not to worry.  Because if we were a family with kings, he's the oldest, so he would be first in line and that wouldn't happen. Um, yeah. That's what I'm worried about buddy.

Nursery on the Brain

I haven't been blogging much.  For a variety of reasons.  The kids and I haven't been doing much.  I'm exhausted all the time.   Chasing these three around all day (and catering to their every need) wears me out.  When we do go somewhere fun, I am usually wiped for the next day.  On Monday we went to the Living Museum again, but I didn't take any pictures.  Because I didn't feel like taking the camera out.  And because I sat down most of the time.  I feel sadly pathetic when I say that this pregnancy has been tougher on me than any of the others, but it's the truth.  There is absolutely no down time.   I kind of long for my pregnancies at work that required nothing more of me than sitting at my desk with headphones in for 8 hours a day. 

Anywho, I've been spending time cleaning and organizing and doing laundry.  More laundry than usual now that you count the cloth diapers :).  And sitting down when I can.

I've been getting our room ready for the baby - she's going to be sleeping with us, and rather than make space for her in our closet or Reese's, we're going to move Reese's armoire to our room to store her clothes.  I dream of her little nursery (and I put so much effort into setting Reese's up exactly how I wanted it before she came), but that would require moving the other kids in with each other, which we're just not ready for yet. 

I've been looking at room on Pinterest for MONTHS.  Grey and yellow seem to be big, but Brian hates yellow (I had to paint the family room at the old house because the khaki shade on the wall was yellow-ish), which also rules out anything else with yellow in the mix.  I've been partial to this coral/aqua combo for months, but it seems to have taken off over the last few weeks!

Source: projectnursery.com via Brittney on Pinterest

Source: veryrosenberry.com via Brittney on Pinterest

Source: projectnursery.com via Brittney on Pinterest

Source: honeyandfitz.blogspot.com via Brittney on Pinterest

Source: pinterestschunt684.blogspot.com via Brittney on Pinterest

I seriously love everything about these rooms.  Of course, I could never take a chance and chevron a wall, but I think it's super cute!

iPurge

I ended up using my old phone a la iPod Touch this week to take some of these.  Here's what we've been up to!

Ice Pops - Reese can't get the juice from the bottom, so she uses a straw to drink it!

After his bath the other night, Hudson asked for a banana.  Then he insisted on grabbing some of Wyatt's Star Wars guys, or as he calls them, "Good guys!"  Ha!

Our cloth diapers finally showed up last weekend!  I washed and dried them several times before they ended up on Hudson's bottom - but I was so excited to get my new "collection" in the mail.

Last Monday, Brian took the big kids to Chuck E. Cheese while Hudson and I ran errands.  For some reason, Hudson woke up from his nap (if he ever actually fell asleep) WAILING. He's a happy guy, and for the most part, I wouldn't even know he was awake if it weren't for the monitor.  He just kind of hangs out until I get him and talks quietly to himself.  I knew that something was wrong, so I brought him downstairs.  He was feeling very cuddly, and I thought he might fall back asleep.  No such luck, but he looked sooooo sweet.  I can't believe that he 21 months old!

On our way to swim lessons on Tuesday, we saw this car.  It may not be special to anyone else on the planet, but to me, this car is AMAZING.  It looks just like my very first Volvo - a 1983 240.  Same color, same seats, same dash.  I was tempted to get out of my van to check the mileage.  Volvo's were the "in car" when I was in high school - all of my friends had one.  Not even kidding.  One of my friends registered it for Volvo's 100,000 mile club when it hit that milestone! I loved everything about my Volvo, but mine basically ended up with every catastrophic vehicular problem - at one time - while I was on the interstate. It was already considered "totaled" by an insurance company after I was hit by a drunk driver (and they paid what my parents paid for it - $1400), but it was still drivable - and it was also an amazingly safe car. I walked away completely unscathed (minus some back issues) after the guy hit me going 45 miles an hour while I was at a dead stop. Then my dad was able to donate it  - for another $1400.  Seriously, this car made them money!  But it was amazing, and just seeing its twin made me so happy!

Here is Hudson's reaction to his very first cloth diaper - he had no idea what was happening!

The other day I was in the laundry room and I heard a crack.  Wyatt was crying so I ran out to see what was happening - and I found this.  He decided that he wanted to see what was in the drawer that wouldn't open.  And he was apparently pretty determined.  Because I've never actually seen anyone pull this off before.  Especially a 5 year old!  Fortunately I was able to get the other latch glued back on and it's back together - but seriously, who does this?

Swim Lessons: Week 4!

Somehow it always seems like the summer will be sooooo long, but then it's actually here...and it seems like it's flying!  Don't get me wrong, with my husband's crazy schedule, the days are sometimes long, but the weeks seem short.  We're now less than 5 weeks away from school starting, the season being over at the water park, Reese's birthday, and of course meeting our baby girl fits in the mix somewhere, too!

We finished up week 4 of swim lessons today.  We'll take next week off, and then the FINAL week of lessons for the summer will be upon us!

Wyatt's goal this week at lessons was to pass Station 6.  He has gotten really good at his backstroke and crawl, but I think that the butterfly is getting him!  It's amazing to me how well he's actually swimming though.

Reese started the week with one goal - to open her eyes so she could move on to Station 3 and learning to float.  She loves the water, but she's just so stubborn.

It doesn't help that she has had a new teacher almost every week, so it takes her some time to "warm up" to the new girl!  Ha!

At every single lesson, they put her under, and they check to see if she's looking.  And she doesn't do it.

Meanwhile her brother is under water swimming, and opening his eyes to see his instructor!

At the end of every lesson the instructors ask the kids what their favorite thing about lessons is - and the unanimous answer is almost always jumping!

Neither of these kids have any fear when it's time to jump in.

In fact, Wyatt usually goes back to fit in one extra jump.

On Tuesday afternoon, the kids and I went over to my parents' to have dinner with my mom and do a little bit of swimming.  I thought about getting some change to see if Reese would be enticed to open her eyes to pick it up off of the steps.  The pool was a little chlorinated, so I decided not to try that day.  And then, out of the complete blue, Reese announced that she was going to open her eyes and swim to me.  And she did!  4 times!

For the next 12 hours, all she talked about was how she was going to go to swim lessons the next day and finally get her Station 2 sticker.  I tried to talk her down so that she wouldn't be upset if she didn't get it, but she was pretty determined. 

She walked with her instructor and looked at her and said, "I can open my eyes now."  Then she went under the water and she actually did it.

I saw her teacher look over at another and she said, "Oh!  She actually opened her eyes!"  After she did that, they "tested" her....

And she passed!  She was soooo excited when she ran up to me to tell me that she passed Station 2!  Seriously, I am so proud of this girl!  She can be hard headed and set in her ways, but once she is determined to do something, she gets it done.  Sounds like somebody else I know this week! Ha!

Also, this is the article that I read in Parents magazine last month.  They finally put it online!