Baby in a Pumpkin

In honor of "my baby" turning 2 years old (What!?) last month, and the fact that in less than 3 weeks, she will no longer be the "baby," below are some pictures from her newborn photo shoot, courtesy of Arpasi Photography.  

We love you munchkin!  You are going to be the best Big Sister when we welcome home your little sister in a few weeks!

Animals on Parade

At the moment, if my life had a theme song, it would be "All About That Free," set to the tone of "All About That Bass." 

I'm not saying I'm necessarily frugal because we still spend money on what we want to spend money on, but I love getting free stuff, or practically free, and I love taking advantage of all the free stuff Baltimore has to offer. 

One amazingly free thing that we could go to everyday...is...wait for it...the library!  

I know I have written other posts about all the library has to offer, such as Storyville, but there are just so many great things about the public library.

(Now as The Hubby likes to mention, the library isn't technically free because we all pay taxes, BUT you know what I mean!  If my taxes are going to keeping up the library, I might as well take advantage of it even more then!).  

At the end of each month, I log onto the library's website and check out all the events scheduled to take place the following month, and write them into my calendar.  These include weekly Storytimes, but also include special events, almost all free.  

A recent event I added to my calendar was called "Animals on Parade."  The description was stated as "an exploration or animal movements, colors, and sounds, including live animals such as a rabbit, duck or goose, box turtle, and perhaps a toad or snake."

A free animal show?! It went on the calendar.  

I had no idea what to expect but fortunately the library is within walking distance of our house, and it didn't interfere with Little Lady's nap time, so I had nothing to lose.  

We arrived that morning and shockingly, there were only about 3 other kids there!! I had invited a couple mama friends who arrived shortly after, but it was a very small group.  The animal guide proceeded to open up her little cages of animals and talk about each animal, as well as walk around so each child could touch the animals.  It was great!  Little Lady got to touch a huge rabbit, hedgehog, box turtle, toad, bearded iguana, corn snake, and another larger snake.  She was so brave and loved it!

Animals on Parade at one library is good, but Animals on Parade at 2 libraries is even better!! A couple weeks later, a different library in the county was offering the same free demonstration, so we went!  Similar animals, but this time, Little Lady got to hold a snake - and by hold, I mean the snake was wrapped around her and she was holding him up all by herself!  She once again was very brave and adventurous! 

If you have kids, or watch kids at all as part of your daily routine, I would highly recommend all the free programs and activities that the public library has to offer.  We have not been disappointed! - says the village idiot 

Flying with a toddler, aka. FWT

A few weeks ago, we celebrated The Hubby's Golden Birthday - the birthday where you turn the same age as your birthdate.  For this special occasion, he had one request, to go to Dallas, Texas and see our favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys, play in their stadium.  From the moment he mentioned it, I worked to make it happen.  

Fortunately, we have family that live in Dallas, so once I sent an email asking if we could visit (and stay with them), I worked on finding out what game The Hubby most wanted to see.  Once settled, I worked on getting the tickets.  

Fortunately, our family that lives in Dallas, also has connections to getting tickets to Cowboys' games (you are right if you are thinking they are great relatives to have :) 

Once everything was decided, we booked our flights and prepared for an adventure...flying with a toddler, or FWT, as I will fondly refer.  

Now Little Lady has flown before, several times actually.  Her first being the heroic trip that I conquered BY MYSELF to go visit The Hubby in California.  We have also since then flown as a family to Florida for vacation and Little Lady has done great on all flights.  

FWT is a whole different ballgame.  With a baby under 2, you can sit them on your lap/wear them, and they probably still take frequent naps that you can plan your flight conveniently around sleepytimes.  Or at least that's how we functioned previously on a plane.  FWT requires a little more finesse.  Not only do they require their own seat - WHAT?! We paid the same for me to fly to Texas as my 20 pound 2 year old child.  We also had to bring our convertible car seat and figure out how to situate it into the seat.

And yes, we do still rear-face - on a plane, and on the ground in the car.  

It's just safer that way people!  

For our flight TO Texas, we decided to book a mid-evening time, which allowed Little Lady to take her one and only afternoon nap at home, in her bed, and then board the plane for 3 hours of wide awake time!  We realized our error the moment we got seated and she wanted "out."  Thankfully I was armed with half the Trader's Joe's snack aisle many treats.  But seriously, the girl ate snacks and "special" treats for an hour.  It was great.  Then the stewardess came around and we were set with entertainment food for another 30 minutes.  

If you ask Little Lady to this day what her favorite part of our trip to Texas to was, she will answer "the lollipop she got to eat on the plane."  

To specify, our order of entertainment for Little Lady was as follows: 
1. Food
2. Toys
3. iPad

Thankfully both food and toys monopolized the entire flight and we never had to resort to turning on the iPad.  

She happily ate and played and read and colored and anything else I could cram into her little backpack to play with.  

She, surprisingly to me, wasn't very interested in the actual taking off and landing of the plane like I thought she'd be.  

On our flight home, we felt we could handle anything since we had just entertained a toddler on a plane, awake, for 3 hours and though the circumstances were slightly different - we were flying DURING her naptime, the routine was pretty similar.  She ate, played, and then napped for the duration of the flight.  

If I had to plan it again, I would actually probably try and steer clear of naptimes since it was so hard for her to get comfortable in her car seat on the plane.  I know some people might say I'm crazy, but she entertained herself pretty well, and we didn't even have to break out the big guns, aka. the iPad - says the village idiot

34 Weeks

34 Weeks!

There is a big ole' baby in there!

How far along? 34 weeks

Total weight gain: I didn't even bother to take my shoes off when they weighed me at the doctor's this week.  Does that give you a hint at how much I want to ignore this stat... 

Stretch Marks: None.  

Maternity Clothes: Every item 

Sleep: I probably get up on average 47 5 times a night to pee, so while my sleep when I'm sleeping is great, I would like longer stretches of it 

Best moment this week:  Lots of great moments this week! - Taking Little Lady to the zoo twice with our new zoo membership! Going out to dinner with good friends! Lots of fun events lately as I prepare for our Baby Girl's arrival    

Miss Anything? A glass of wine or really any fun cocktail  

Movement: Yes, that I can feel, and anyone that looks at my belly can see  

Food cravings: Icecream - it's dairy right?!?! 

Anything making you queasy or sick? I have a few bouts of that "3rd trimester nausea" some moms have mentioned...

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: Lots of Braxton Hicks, nothing too crazy though 

Symptoms: Oh dear.  There isn't enough room.  Heartburn, back pain, just a couple other annoying things to remind me I am very close to delivering another tiny human  

Belly button in or out? I just don't know 

Weddings rings on or off? Still on!  I have no swelling **KNOCK ON WOOD** in my hands, legs, or feet and I hope to keep it that way!

Happy or moody most of the time? Productively happy 

Looking forward to: Girl's night this Saturday with good friends!  Sans the glass the wine I have been missing :(  

Showing? That show "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" is just outrageous