33 week update

I had another ultrasound this morning and baby girl is still breech. She looked so cute in there, sucking on her thumb and wiggling around happily. She has the cutest little button nose!

I am PRAYING that she flips over the next 6 weeks. I really, really, really do NOT want a c-section. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking about approaching this labor & delivery naturally. My failed epidural with my first delivery really slowed things down. We will see!

I was falling asleep last night and just marveling at how wonderful this pregnancy has been. I feel great, still very active, and I'm loving the baby rolling and moving around in my belly. It makes me so happy. I'm really enjoying these last few weeks of us being a family of three (and occasionally feeling REALLY sad to be losing this time forever!). Amelia rubs my belly with lotion every night and plays in the baby's nursery every day. She is SO excited for her baby sister to get here.

But I'm in no rush... unlike my first pregnancy (I was desperate to go into labor asap!), I just want things to go slow and take their time and progress naturally. And enjoy these moments, they are so fleeting.

Snowmen play-doh

Perfect way to unwind after a long day of work! Amelia said, "ooohhh I
love it, it's SO cute!" she sounds like a teenager half the time :)

Ravenous

I have been soooo uncontrollably hungry the past 3 days! I'm trying my
best to not go crazy with it. Vegetables have had no appeal for me,
unusual. I'm still eating a ton of oranges & grapefruit, but my true
love right now is rich, gooey foods. Pizza dripping with cheese and
sauce. Nachos smothered in sour cream. Hot cheesy ham sandwiches.
Luckily I keep none of that at my house so had to settle for a lean
pocket and bowl of spaghetti tonight. Sigh (the pizza was from a
family date we had the other night... I'm thinking it will be repeated
soon!). My stomach is still growling despite an entire day of
eating... Oh and some hot fudge is sounding tasty too...

Shower fun!

This week has completely flown by! H has been home all week, so we've enjoyed the time having family dinners every night and doing more organizing/cleaning (we are both in full-on nesting mode- our house is pretty dang clean and organized!). I've also had a VERY long week at work (I've had some issues with students and grading and course development... very stressful).

And of course, I've been preparing for the shower I co-hosted on Sunday. It was a blast. I also made the best batch of buttercream icing I've ever made, this time by doubling the butter (which the recipe has always called for, but I am too calorie-terrified to add 2 sticks of butter!) and adding whipping cream. Yum! I did a white batch and a pink batch.

4 girls (fellow military gals) came over for baking/decorating on Saturday night. We stayed up until almost 1 am baking and laughing hysterically and eating too much food. It finally woke up Amelia, who wondered into the living room with the sleepiest look of confusion on her face. So cute. She wanted to be part of the party :)

Delicious buttercream cake:
On Friday night, another friend of mine and her 5 year old came over for a playdate and crafts- the craft of the day was this diaper cake! Not bad for our first attempt :)
The shower spread... completely understandable that I gained 2 lbs over the weekend (OOPS).

I was exhausted by the time I got home last night and was in bed before 10:00. I wish this week was more low-key, but we have a million things going on (playdates, finals week for me, 3 holiday events this weekend, my brother visiting, etc.). Gotta love the holidays!

Tuesday

Tuesday & Thursday are my days off (usually- unless I have faculty meetings or exam weeks) and I LOVE them! Amelia and I start the day with chocolate milk/coffee respectively while watching Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry. We leisurely have breakfast and do stuff around the house. Today we relaxed by our little Christmas tree while playing Playdough:
We've been so productive all day. So far today, I've:

• Paid all our bills and balanced accounts.
• Wrapped most of our Christmas presents! This took forever thanks to the eager helpfulness of an excited 3.5 year old... love it.
  
• Wrapped baby shower gifts and finalized menu for shower.
  
• Read the entire new PostSecret book (which I then wrapped to give to my brother for Christmas- a yearly tradition).
  
• Watched Santa Claus 2 with Amelia- again.
  
• Worked for awhile on developing my online courses (my "other" teaching job).
  
• Had a million Braxton Hicks contractions while doing all this... ugh!!
  

Speaking of Braxton Hicks, I hope this means that baby girl will come early (anytime after 36 weeks)- and easily! As long as she flips around out of her breech position, we'll be ready to go after Christmastime, yeah!! (She is still snuggly nestled in breech, kicking away at my bladder happily!)

100% calorie-free sweetness

The wonderful Amber has absolutely the CUTEST etsy shop! I *love* personalized gifts, and wanted the perfect baby gift for my friend's baby shower I'm hosting this weekend. Amber was kind enough to send that perfect gift for her new baby (named Ada1yn, as you can see): She also sent an adorable little brown hat for our new baby girl, but I'm not revealing her name to the blogging world just yet. You'll see this hat in it's full glory in about 6-8 weeks, I promise :)
All her products are VERY reasonably priced and adorable. Like I said, I love personalized gifts and it's a great way to keep the holidays thoughtful- and affordable. How cute are these stockings and hats?

Thank you so much, Amber! Check out her shop for the perfect Christmas gift for loved ones (or yourself!). So so cute!

Thanksgiving Pictures

This was one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever! This was the first year we didn't have Thanksgiving at my family's farm (usually we eat at my aunt's farm, which is next door to my parent's). There are usually a million people- family, friends, extended family, neighbors, etc. and it gets incredibly stressful and hectic. This year, we went to my brother's in Boca and just had my immediate family (Mom, Dad, H, Amelia, myself, siblings) and it was WONDERFUL! We spent the day watching the parade, taking long naps, taking walks around Boca, and relaxed the evening away while browsing Black Friday ads.

My brother & I woke up at 6:30 and enjoyed a cup of coffee by ourselves while prepping the turkey and cranberry sauce. Mr. Kitty kept us company :)
The turkey turned out perfectly!
I also made a caprese salad.
The spread- YUM!
A strange addition to our meal- sauteed shitake mushrooms (my dad grew them!):
My peas & asparagus casserole:
My brother's amazing, delicious creamy mashed potatoes.
My 31-week pregnant belly after enjoying all that food:
Scalloped potatoes:
Whole Foods bread:
Brrr! A rare Florida chilly evening (yes, those are Gator crocs):
The big Christmas tree outside my parent's hotel (Amelia LOVED it!):
Perfect Happy Thanksgiving!

Perfect meal

After a long day of traveling (and a 2 hour nap when we got home!), we
enjoyed our delicious leftovers, yum!!! One of my favorite things
about thanksgiving- leftovers. Then we watched Santa Claus 2 and put
up our Christmas tree. Happy!

Ughhhhh

We've been eating soooo much the last few days! I've been trying my
hardest not to go absolutely crazy (for example, splitting this
delicious burger joint delicacy with H instead of scarfing it down by
myself) and eating as much fruit as possible. I think I've consumed
10-12 oranges and grapefruit in the last 5 days, I can't get enough!

Happy thanksgiving!

We're starting the day with a big, solid breakfast. My brother made
delicious cheesy eggs and spicy sausage. Paired with a quarter of a
big Whole Foods pumpkin muffin and fresh fruit perfected the
breakfast! I'm ready to browse the ads and finish cooking (pies &
cranberry sauce finished already!). H will be here in about 3 hours so
we can be thankful together.

Grilled mahi tacos

Yum!!!!

30 weeks pregnant

Grow, belly, grow! It's hard to imagine that I have another 10 weeks to grow... eek! Almost all my pants and bras are way too tight to be comfortable (and I'm wearing a sports bra 90% of the time now).
Amelia & I have been hard at work making holiday-themed artwork projects. We did pumpkins last month and now some turkeys this month. Amelia has so much fun and takes it so seriously. She drew the turkey on the left all by herself :)
Another one of her very, very favorite activities... playing with her dollies and putting them down for naps. She feeds them bottles, wraps them up, changes their diapers, etc. Hours and hours of fun.
Contributing to my baby belly... fresh fruit. Once again, I cannot get enough of it. My mouth may be on fire from eating a grapefruit, an orange, an apple and a kiwi already today, but you better believe I'll have another orange before bed tonight!
Amelia even loves the pomegranate seeds! I don't love the huge mess they make, though.

We're enjoying our family this week, my parents arrived yesterday and we've been putting in some serious time fishing off our dock. Love it!

Dinnertime view

Cute little key deer outside pizza parlor!

More random bits

• Amelia is totally obsessed with Christmas! We've been coloring Christmas trees (she likes for me to draw her a big, empty tree, then she'll spend a good 30 minutes "decorating" it) and snowmen. Yesterday, we colored while listening to Christmas music (insert happy feelings here!) and she just hummed and sang to her little heart's content. Except for when the Jackson 5 came on... she looked at me with a pained look and said, "Mommy, that hurts my ears, owwww!" LOL... it kind of hurt my ears, too.
• Speaking of Christmas, B&BW Winter candle is one of the BEST smelling candles EVER! It smells like Christmas trees and fireplaces and snow all in one. Mmmm.
• Amelia told me yesterday that snow was pretend like animals that talk. Ha! I had to explain to her that although it's 80 degrees here, other cities have REAL snow that little kids could play in and build snowmen. She nodded thoughtfully, then asked if Santa would bring her some snow for Christmas. Oh the cuteness!!!
  
• I have been in a major nesting phase lately. After we got the baby's nursery all ready (oh, the sweet little tiny clothes!), we cleaned out ALL of Amelia's toys and gave 2 huge garbage bags to charity. Next I'm going to tackle our pantry for a food drive our church is sponsoring.
  
• My parents are arriving today and we're heading up to my brother's house on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. I cannot wait to get off the island and hit up a Target and the mall! The MALL! With Christmas decorations and a Santa for Amelia to visit! I forget how secluded we are down here in the Keys, people are in their own little worlds and it's often like the rest of the country doesn't exist. This is my last chance to finish Christmas shopping, because I will be too far along to travel after Thanksgiving and everything costs a million dollars down here.
  
• We got our Christmas cards in the mail yesterday- CUTE! Mary Kate took the pictures and I'm really happy with them.
  
• I'm hoping to go see New Moon with a girlfriend tonight after my parents get here. Excited!
  
• Morgan posted about a Moby Wrap giveaway on her blog, and it's suddenly all I can think about- even dream about! We only have a few things left to buy, baby-wise (highchair, which can wait, and diapers, etc. and I'm just spacing out all our purchases).
  
• I babysat my friend's 3 kids on Friday night while they went to a big military dinner thing- they got back at 12:30 (the kids were all sound asleep on my living room floor) and I was exhausted! I can't do late nights like that anymore- I had to take a 2-hour nap with Amelia yesterday, and I still slept for 9 hours last night. I'm storing up for when the baby comes.
  
• I had a lovely hour alone at the gym yesterday... it's getting really hard for me to get a good workout in, thanks to Braxton Hicks contractions that start the instant I step onto the treadmill or elliptical. I did a slow mile or two, then weights on my upper body... I'm feeling it already this morning. I'm definitely not in the shape I was last year at this time. I remember how HARD it was to get back in shape after I had Amelia, and I'm not looking forward to doing it again (not to mention that I was still carrying an extra 10 lbs around from her!). I've gained less this time around, but there's still time for it to creep up on me.
  
• I think I've asked this before, but does anyone know of a good site to print out your blog? I tried Blurb and can't get it to work correctly and gave up. Any other recommendations?
  

Lunch date

I have a wonderful friend I swap babysitting with. She has 3 of the
sweetest little kids (amelia adores them!!!) and they all just happily
play. Amelia hung out at her house this afternoon while H & I enjoyed
a leisurely sushi date. Yum! (mine was all cooked, no worries). If
only we hadn't been arguing about him abandoning me for an 8-hour
fishing trip yesterday... Oh well, you can't have it all.

Almost done!

I have been working on my Christmas list for a couple of months now, buying things here & there to fit in our budget more easily. And I am happy to say that I am almost totally done!

The lifesaver has been these photo books from Snapfish, which I am making for the 3 sets of Amelia's grandparents. They take awhile, but look amazing and are such a great keepsake! While I was making them, I decided to go back and create a photobook for every Christmas since Amelia's arrival in 2006. So fun! I hope to get them out every year at Christmas and look at them as a family, especially after we add in baby girl #2 next year!

So sweet!

Two of my girlfriends down here threw me a little surprise baby shower at lunch today. Just us girls, some Mexican food (YUM!) an adorable diaper cake and some gift bags filled with the practical things we really need: diapers, wipes, breastfeeding stuff, baby wash. Love it! So sweet and so thoughtful.

We had an ultrasound this morning and baby girl is getting big (3 lbs) and is still in the breech position- hoping she flips around soon! Her kicking and thumping on my bladder & cervix is getting kind of uncomfortable. My OB said if she stays breech, we'll do a C-section at 38 weeks, but I'd love to avoid that at all costs. It's terrifying to think that we have as little as 6-10 weeks to go ("full" term at 36-40 weeks). The holidays are just making everything go by even more quickly!

Random bits

• About 10 weeks to go with this pregnancy... where the heck did the time go? We spent the entire day yesterday cleaning and organizing the nursery. The crib is set up, clothes are folded and unpacked, and I'm starting to stock up on diapers & wipes in preparation.
  
• I feel like I'm in a major cooking slump. I try to cook really healthy meals, but nothing sounds good lately and we end up with a frozen pizza and a salad on more nights than we should.
  
• Speaking of healthy foods, I cannot keep anything UNhealthy in my house or it will be gone (see salt & vinegar post below). Except ice cream... it usually ends up with freezer burn because none of us eats it.
  
• Amelia has been such an amazing little girl lately. She is so well-behaved (most of the time- she still has her moments) and is sooooo excited for her baby sister to get here! She talks about it nonstop and loves kissing my belly.
  
• It's 78 degrees here today- we've had the windows open for 4 days straight and AC off, and I'm really hoping it helps with our $400 utility bill. Yes- $400. It's ridiculously expensive to live in the Keys!
  
• Our #1 biggest expense is groceries, though. We love fresh fruits & veggies and it just kills our bill. Went to the store today for chicken, strawberries, pears, apples (honeycrisp!!!!), whole wheat pasta, avocados, milk and cheese... $90. Sigh.
  
• I'm starting to notice some swelling at the end of every day, but still trying to go on my daily walks and stay active. I swear that's why my labor was so fast last time (but with my last pregnancy, I had the leisure time to spend an hour a day at the gym... not so much this time!)
• I am CRAVING a chocolate malt milkshake from TCBY. Unfortunately, the closest one is 3 hours away... *sob*
  
• I am so excited to host Christmas here this year! My sister is even bringing her boyfriend and his family, should be fun. She is super-cute and creative, so we're going to have some delicious meals and pictures.
  
• I'm planning a baby shower for a friend here and want it to be perfect! I wish I had a ton of money to spend on it, but I'm trying to keep it affordable. Wish MK was here to help me make the cake!
  
• I feel 100X happier with my life lately (than I did when I wrote my depressed post a few weeks ago). My job is pretty satisfying, my friend "group" down here is solidifying, we can afford groceries and rent, and we even have a few solid babysitters to call when we need it. Phew! Of course, we are moving next summer, so we'll be starting all over. Awesome.
  

Note to self:

Do not stand in front of mirror in nearly-full sunlight and stare dejectedly at rapidly growing stretch marks. After eating half a bag of salt & vinegar chips.

Girl's Day

After another delicious breakfast & lunch (avocado, tomato & hummus on a pita again! perfection!), Mary Kate & I headed downtown to a little cute independent theater to see the adorable Audrey Tautou in Coca Avant Chanel. Audrey Tautou is one of my absolute favorite actresses (I LOVE Amelie and need to add it to my movie collection ASAP!) and I really love French movies. I took a few years of French classes and practiced it when we went to Paris in 2005, but unfortunately don't get to use it much. I'm always surprised how much I remember! The movie was cute and it was interesting to see Coco Chanel before she became famous... what an interesting life story! We headed for the gym (pic taken on the treadmill, stolen from MK) and got in a nice little workout (arms & shoulders after the elliptical) before enjoying the sunset on the beach. It was so breezy and beautiful and PERFECT!!
I enjoyed the ocean and sun setting and we took a ton of beautiful sunset pictures. I now have a new favorite belly shot to show Baby Girl #2 when she gets here! (yes, I know I'm huge!!)

We stocked up on more healthy food at Publix and came home to enjoy some DELICIOUS curry chicken and salad before watching How I Met Your Mother (LOVE that show!) and Grey's.
It was a perfect day and made me miss MK a million times more than I already did! I can't wait to live in the same town as her again one day so we can enjoy these little daily moments together. I am so lucky to have such a terrific best friend!

(and yes, I cried a few times after she left this morning... stupid pregnancy hormones!!)

Delicious visit with MK

Mary Kate & I have been making the most of our visit together! I stocked up on a ton of healthy (and delicious!) foods before she got here.

I made her some of my favorite cranberry relish (2 bags of cranberries, 8 oranges, 3 apples pureed with a little bit of pomegranate juice). You can sweeten it with sugar, splenda, or OJ if the tartness is too much for you (which it is for H). I call it antioxidant soup. :)
Yummy breakfast:
One of the most delicious lunches EVER! Avocado, tomato and hummus on pita.
MK & I had a "date" at a cute little restaurant downtown- the meal was absolutely AMAZING!!! Our appetizers were seafood bisque, roasted garlic, and- hands down- the best crabcake I have EVER had. It was wrapped in rice paper and avocado and served on top of a fried heirloom tomato. So, so, so, so good!!
Then we split the stuffed lobster special- YUM!!
Dinner was a raspberry mousse, also delicious!


Good thing we walked all over town earlier- it was totally worth it! Yum yum yum!!

Celebrate!

We went downtown today (after a quick beach break) to celebrate the
men and women who serve our country. H was in uniform and he saluted
the uniformed people marching by us in the parade. Amelia happily
waved her flag and Mary Kate & I caught candy from the parade
participants. Felt so proud of my husband and all veterans/active duty
today!!

Way to start the day!

MK got here last night, yay!!! We stayed up late chatting and amelia
woke us up early with glee... "it's a morning day! Let's watch
tom&jerry!" we started the day right with tons of arts and crafts (MK
hit the motherload of art clearance and surprised Amelia) and a
healthy breakfast. Yum! Happy day.

Goodbye, candy

It was nice knowing you... I bagged up all this evil, sugary deliciousness and donated it all to the men of the USM!litary!

Best decision ever. They are hungry guys (they work hard!) and we certainly don't need it around here. I know I'm pregnant, but man... even my scrubs were tight this morning!

Long day thoughts

I absolutely love having Amelia home with me right now. We've had so much fun and every day is filled with activities and good times. Plus I love saving the $350/month we were spending on childcare- money has been t.i.g.h.t!! I feel that I'm finally able to devote my time to being a mommy... no more studying and only working 2 days a week is perfect!

HOWEVER. I forgot how frustrating it can be to not get a moment to myself, ever! Especially with H's weird work schedule... there are many weeks when he gets home late (after her bedtime), leaves super early, etc. Those days have me collapsing on the couch at the end of the day, exhausted and irritable and ready to cry when I call him at work and he is laughing and playing cards AGAIN with the other guys on duty while he waits for his shift to finish. He busts his butt at his job, I'm not delusional, but it's still hard to be the primary caretaker 85% of the time.

Some days, I just want an hour to myself to go to the gym at my leisure (without being racked with guilt over all the other things I need to be doing). I want to wander around the grocery store without Amelia complaining or begging for crap off the shelves. I want to go on a long walk in the ocean breeze on my own (tonight's walk consisted of a temper tantrum, Amelia skinning her knee after a rather dramatic hop out of her stroller, and screaming half the way home). Sometimes it would be nice to have a huge green salad for lunch and not have to make food for anyone else! but myself! And then I could go lay down for a long nap and then go get a pedicure.

Sigh.

I'm just frustrated because it's been a really long day. My stomach seems to have doubled in size overnight and I'm suddenly so uncomfortable (which makes chasing Amelia very difficult!). I ate too much crappy food today and I'm feeling it now- plus I'm either starving or uncomfortably full (no happy in between). So I feel like a huge whale. My back hurts. My house is messy again even though it was sparkling clean this morning. I feel guilty for being short-tempered with Amelia at the end of the day. I feel guilty for even wanting alone time!

At the end of the day, though, I would NEVER trade this time. Amelia & I are so close. She just snuggles up to me randomly throughout the day, rubbing my belly, kissing my arm over & over, and says, "I love you, Mommy, I missed you!" (even if we haven't been apart!). She is the sweetest little doll and I adore every second with her. Even if it means I can't make it to the gym as often as I'd like or take leisurely naps in the afternoon. Instead, I get mornings filled with painting and coloring, silly giggles over mac-n-cheese lunches, the sound of Smurfs and her play noises filling the house, and rushed showers where she points out how huge my belly and boobs are. Love it!!!! I really, really love it.

***Update:***

• 10 hours of sleep later, I'm feeling a million times better.
  
• After I wrote this post, Amelia went to one of my girlfriend's house for 2 hours to play with her kids- we were both so happy and the kids had a blast! I got a little work done around the house and some papers graded.

There is a happy medium, I just need to find it. What do some of you other mamas do for alone time?

Halloween

We had such a busy Halloween this year! We went to 3 Halloween festivals with friends in addition to trick-r-treating. Needless to say, we were all exhausted by Sunday and spent the entire day lounging around the house and watching movies!

The first festival was pumpkin carving on base. The second was this crazy Halloween carnival in town with a haunted hayride, flame eater, cotton candy, etc. We went to this one with some local semi-new-friends who have a 3 year old girl and are expecting their second daughter in a couple of weeks. The third carnival was at our church and was huge! Carnival games, a bouncy house, trick-r-treating at all the little booths, praise/worship music.

I should mention that it was in the high 80's all week... ughhhhh....

In addition to celebrating at fall festivals, we had some Gator-friends over for a KW-pumpkin painting party! The 4 kids (and 4 adults) had so much fun painting! They took theirs home, here's a picture of ours displayed:
I found my coconut growing into the ground and kept the roots on for some special effects :)

H & Amelia brought me home flowers the other day to complement my Halloween decorations, sweet :)
H's birthday was Monday and we celebrated with the friends we had our pumpkin painting party with. What this picture doesn't show is the fact that I put the icing on while the cake was too hot, and by the time we came back inside, the icing and sprinkles had melted into an enormous pile on the counter! The kids had a blast cleaning it up.
And finally, the BIG DAY: Halloween! Amelia was so excited she could barely stand it! We had chili dogs with friends before heading out to trick-r-treat.

We made the mistake of promising to meet up with too many groups of friends and it got hectic. Also, the particular friends we met with for dinner have very... high-energy kids and Amelia tends to be on her absolute WORST behavior around them. She kept running everywhere in crazy excitement and fell down a few times, scraping up her hands and knees. H ended up getting really stressed and kept yelling at her and I was doing my best to calm everyone down... ugh. Next year, we will pick ONE family to go with and leave it at that.

Other than that, it was a lovely night and Amelia was absolutely, 100% overjoyed. She sleepily asked me on the way home if we could go again for Halloween tomorrow!

It's hard to believe that next year, Amelia's baby sister will be here to celebrate with us! I can't wait!

Growing BIG!!

27 weeks- I've had a dramatic growth spurt in the last few weeks and I can really feel it. I've gained 3 lbs (could be too much salty food, but is probably due to massive amounts of Halloween candy I've been consuming, oops). It's getting uncomfortable for me to sleep at night and I am flipping back and forth every hour or so and waking myself up. Other than feeling huge, I feel great and still have a lot of energy (but have been completely 100% slacking on the gym!).

I can't believe I still have 13 weeks to get BIGGER. Eek!

Buzz!

My little 3 year old is absolutely obsessed with her bumblebee
costume! She loves wearing it all day, every day.

We went to a Halloween festival with some friends last night. Amelia
loved the cotton candy, snow cones, and hay ride- but she did NOT like
the flame-eater. She buried her head in our shoulders. I just enjoyed
watching her buzz around in cuteness!!

Happy with my decision!

After a LOT of research, and consulting a few old colleagues (as well as my OB, obviously!), I decided to go ahead with the decision to get my H1N1 vaccine. I am really happy I did it and I feel very comfortable with my decision. It takes a lot of pressure off of this flu season. Mainly, I'm happy that I'll be passing on the immunity to the baby once she gets here and is exposed to a zillion germs in the height of tourist season down here. My two pregnant girlfriends got the shot on the same day I did (Tuesday) and we all breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. Happy it's out of the way!

******
My MIL called me tonight and said, "I can't believe you, of all people, would get that vaccine." Her voice was serious and DRIPPING in condescension. I asked her, "Why?" and she said, "Well, you're pregnant."

I calmly, and somewhat logically (despite my rising blood pressure), explained to her the risks vs. benefits and how I made the decision. Why would she question it? Because I've already had the vaccine, there's no going back now. My husband HAS to get the vaccine because he's active duty. And she said, "Oh, I heard from someone at church that it's really dangerous, and a guy at a meeting told your FIL that there's tons of mercury in it!" Seriously.

I told her that I made my decision based on CDC guidelines and the advice of my doctors, not from random people I run into casually. I hung up the phone and my stomach was in knots- UGH. That woman is a sweet grandmother and loving mother to H, but she is definitely not a medical expert and I don't wish to hear advice from random members of her church! Ugh ugh ugh.

Fall festival

I LOVE this time of year! I only wish we lived in a cooler climate so we could be bundled up in sweaters (or at least not sweating non-stop anytime we step outside). Our carved pumpkin:

was moldy and rotten by the next day- literally! Yuck! At least we had a blast carving it (and Amelia and her little friends had sooo much fun cleaning out the ooey gooey pumpkin guts).

One great thing about living on a military base (besides hourly patrols, the slowest speed limits ever so the kids can play on the streets, and playgrounds everywhere) is the abundance of family activities. We had the fall festival last week and it was a blast! We painted pumpkins, played "carnival" games, ate candy and other finger foods, and the kids all ran around like maniacs. The pumpkins turned out adorable and they aren't rotten yet- bonus!

We have 2 more festivals this week before trick-r-treating with friends Saturday. Can't wait!!

Perfection!

Amelia & I made these pumpkin cupcakes this morning and they were AMAZING! I tweaked a Tasty Kitchen (Pioneer Woman) recipe a little bit and they turned out perfectly. So, so, so good. Amelia has already eaten 2 and I'm practicing all my self-control to not gobble up the entire platter. (I was going to bring them to a BBQ we're going to tonight, but I can't really bring just 6 cupcakes, can I?)

• 1 can Pumpkin
  
• ¾ cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 3 teaspoons Cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoons Ginger
• 1/2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
  
• 6 Tablespoons Oil
• 2 whole Eggs
• _____
• BUTTERCREAM INGREDIENTS:
• 4 cups Powdered Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• ½ cups Butter, Softened
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixer bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Mix thoroughly, and then add the oil and eggs. Beat on high for 2 minutes, and then add the pumpkin. Mix just until combined.

The batter now looks and smells like pumpkin pie. Grab some cute Halloween cupcake liners and line a 12-cup muffin pan. I used a 1/3 measuring cup and got 12 full-to-the-brim cupcakes.

Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. When they are done, allow them to sit for no more than two minutes in the pan and then remove them to a wire rack to cool.

To make the buttercream, cream together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Then add vanilla and beat on high for 4 minutes.

So hungry

(pictures from NCLEX celebration breakfast courtesy of my parents this past weekend)
The baby must be having a growth spurt because I have been STARVING yesterday. I just cannot get enough to eat! And I'm still drinking at least 64 oz of water a day.

Last night, I tossed & turned. I woke up at 3 am and all I could think about was making some cranberry orange relish today. Delicious. I fell back asleep and had the most vivid dream of visiting an elaborate food buffet. I could picture every single food on my plate... the nacho bar with 7 different cheese sauces and dips, the fruit platters laden with exotic fruits I've never seen (including green goldfish shapes made out of deep green melon), the warm honey wheat bread covered with melted butter... I could taste it in my mouth.

It was seriously one of the most vivid dreams I've ever had. I was wide awake before the rest of my family and in the kitchen, making banana bread and coffee with a huge smile on my face and a grumbling stomach! (still not as satisfying as that exotic fruit platter, but close enough...)

tired of thinking about it!

I am sick and tired of debating the H1N1 vaccine. I still don't know what to do about it, I'm changing my mind every day.

Here's my pro for getting the vaccine: I will pass on the immunities to baby girl when she gets here, right in the midst of flu season when the keys are inundated with tourists and flu usually takes over the island. Also, it will protect me since I am pregnant & high risk. But my main reason is to protect the baby, since she won't be able to be vaccinated against the flu until she's at least 6 months old.

My con: it's a new vaccine with unknown repercussions. Is it really "the same" as the seasonal flu vaccine? How do we know?

I am sick of debating this in my head and listening to people around me debate it (I stay out of it, since I haven't formed an opinion yet). A part of me wishes I could just hole up and stay away from sick people until it passes. But that's impossible, obviously... I'll just get back to feeling confused until we actually get some vaccines in! Luckily, the island is currently vaccine-free and still waiting on shipments so I still have some time to make my decision...

Anyone out there already had it? Any thoughts? (keep the thoughts even-tempered, please!)

Arts n crafts

Amelia and I love making little art projects to send all the
grandparents! I think I enjoy it as much as she does. Today we made
pumpkins and fairy tale scenes for Halloween.

Celebrate!!

Tossed & turned all night, dreaming about my exam results. Woke up at 7 and checked- nada. Felt sick for the next two hours as I repeatedly checked the licensure page... And then I got the "pass" and burst into tears!! Omg!!! I'm all done with tests (unless I give them)!

My dad made us a delicious breakfast (pancakes, bacon and fruit) which we enjoyed by the fireplace- it was 41 this morning!

My mom laughed at my tears and said, "you're a PhD/RN now!" and I replied, "no, a PhD/RN/M.O.M... And you can guess which job is the most challenging!!" (as Amelia streaked by naked).

Yippeeeee!!! Thank you so much for all your prayers!

Sent from my iPhone

eee!

The test is over- how nervewracking! I was up tossing & turning all night and my heart was pounding nonstop. I actually had the earplugs in during the exam and had to take them out because of the "swooshing" in my ears. The exam was hard-core and VERY tough. For all you RNs out there, it shut off at 75 questions, so we'll see what that means... I should find out in a few days! For now I'm enjoying not having to study and the massive weight off my shoulders!

Please pray!

Tomorrow morning (8 am) is the big day... and then hopefully I will be done with exams, boards, etc FOREVER!!

I would really appreciate any prayers for a calm heart and success at passing this test! Thank you all!

a good cry

I’ve been elbow-deep in all my nursing textbooks for the past few weeks, studying for my nursing boards. I could kick myself for waiting so long to take them! It’s been 5 months since I graduated from nursing school and I just kept putting it off and off... and now it’s here and I’m completely overwhelmed trying to remember the massive amounts of information (especially all the meds). The boards are only offered in major cities (i.e. not the keys) so I’m taking them in G-ville. We are staying with my parents (a little outside of town) and Amelia is in heaven running around their farm.

Of course I’m a great big stressful mess and the 8 (VERY UNCOMFORTABLE) hours in the car did not help at all. Then I made the mistake of stepping on the scale last night (after the long car ride) and almost burst into tears. My feet were huge and swollen and my body feels similarly huge. I’m only 25 weeks so 15 more weeks of being a huge fat cow. Then who knows how many weeks of trying to lose it all...

My mom & I just got into a dumb argument about her inviting too many people to visit this week. My boards are Friday morning (I.am.freaking.out) and I told her (prior to our visit) that I really needed to spend this week studying. So of course all of our extended family and family friends are making plans to come over for dinner, go out to lunch, etc. (which I really appreciate but just cannot handle this week). I finally just put my foot down and said “No! I have to study!” and somehow we ended up arguing about it and I wound up in the back room bawling my eyes out. Like full-on, hysterical sobbing. Not really about the argument... just everything the past few weeks. Stress about moving next year, my husband going on a boat for our next duty rotation, having another baby, my friends all moving away, feeling like a fat cow, taking these nursing boards, etc. Just everything bubbled up at once and I had to let it out. It felt good just to have a nice cry.

And then I heard H in the kitchen with my mom, calmly explaining to her where I was coming from. “Girl just wants to spend time with you guys, there’s no need to schedule a ton of people and visits every time we come back. Yes, she wants to see MK tonight because she’s her best friend, but that doesn’t mean she wants to see all the old family friends at every occasion possible. She wasn’t trying to complain, we appreciate all you do, etc.” He was so calm and logical and completely on my side. It felt so good to have him be 100% my advocate and just looking out for my well-being and I instantly felt a million times better.

It’s crazy how the dumbest things blow up with family members sometimes, but I guess it’s good to get the issues out of the way and into the open. And I loved when H came in the back room and scooped me up in his arms just to comfort me!

Now I’m off to study EKG rhythms and get ready for a MUCH need evening with my best friend!!

New craving.

In addition to peaches and oranges, I've been craving these avocado
and tomato sandwiches everyday. Yum! They are perfect- toasted wheat
bread, fresh veggies, and a liberal sprinkle of salt and pepper. Even
better with a fresh sliced persimmon! Yum yum yum!

On an island...

I don't know if it's my emotional rollercoaster of pregnancy or what, but I have really been struggling with feeling really melancholy lately. We've had so much company lately and I think I'm still reeling from my empty house this weekend.

I know a large part of this is the fact that all 4 of my close girlfriends (and their hubbies and kids!) here moved away in May and June and I've been feeling really lonely. We still have friends we hang out with (we have 2-3 playdates a week and BBQ occasionally with a few couples), but the friendships are so superficial and still in that "getting to know you" stage. Not to mention that we moved to a different area of town that has a lot of retired people and very few young families.

This is one of the toughest things about being a military family. We move around constantly, and so do the people we hang out with. It's part of this lifestyle and I knew it going in. We are transferring next summer (where? who knows! that's a subject for another post...) and I'm hesitant to put the energy into forming new relationships that will only be distanced in May or June! Ugh.

The worst part is... I honestly don't care for many of the people I meet.

It reminds me of this painting my dad used to have hanging in our laundry room, "The more people I meet, the more I like my dog." It's true, we meet a LOT in this transitional lifestyle, and it's hard to like a lot of them. There are a lot of cliques, separation according to husband's ranking/positions, etc. Most of the girls I've met are SO negative and hate being "strapped down" by their families. They hate the keys ("there's no mall!") and they hate their husbands many days (complaining constantly). They whine about taking care of their kids all day and having to clean their homes. I am really extroverted, but when people around me are super-negative, I feel like I absorb that and it makes me grouchy. (Disclaimer: I have met some wonderful friends here, they just happened to all get transferred out at the same time!!)

I just want a few down-to-earth ladies who enjoy life and are happy being moms, and maybe like to have a good, solid conversation once in awhile. People to eat good food with and hit up the beach... I wish all you blogging girls lived closer!

Adventures with Amelia

Last night, around 4 am, I heard the pitter-patter of little feet and opened my eyes to see a sleepy Amelia standing beside my bed. Her bed-head threatened to overtake her silhouette and a bundle of blankets and "raggies" (what we call all her little loveys) were clutched in her little 3-year old arms.

"What's wrong, baby?" I asked her sleepily.

"Mommy, when I grow up big, can I be a mommy like you? Please?" she asked me.

Even in my 4 am sleep-stupor, I could feel my heart melt and I scooped her up into bed with me and gave her the biggest hug I could manage. I needed that moment after a particularly rough mothering day yesterday (filled with a few tantrums and a significant going-to-bed struggle that left me wiped out and snapping at H). I was questioning my abilities as a mother of two (how will I handle it??) and that 4 am moment reminded me that the whole experience is really amazing and the good times REALLY outweigh the hard times!

*********

We've had some fun adventures around our house lately. We've been working on "school" work (learning the alphabet, shapes, etc.) but we've also been having fun!

There's a young iguana who visits us almost every day and we've been leaving him fruit and veggies to snack on. Amelia brought her My Little Pony coloring book out to show him the other day :)
Amelia and H have also been spending a lot of time fishing- they have so much fun! Amelia is really good at it and has caught a ton of snapper and grunt on her little princess fishing pole.
She's not scared of the fish at all (although she shouts, "Ew! You smell like stinky fish, Daddy!" everytime H takes the fish off her hook). She even decided to share a fish with Lola one afternoon after Lola snuck out of the house.
For my mom's birthday, we fried up the little snappers and enjoyed a delicious birthday feast! My family loves the fish fried whole like this, it makes the skin really crunch. To be honest, it's not my favorite (I like the fish grilled) but I will eat it. I love the colorful meal!


I have the day off today, so Amelia and I are going to a playground by the beach that we love before running errands and hopefully taking a long nap together! Love it :)

Yum!

Celebrating my moms birthday tonight... Amelia made the cupcakes, can
you tell??

sick day

I've been waiting for it to happen, especially after the incredibly hectic month we've had. Amelia has missed SO many naps, stayed up late way too many times, and been awoken early in the morning by the rustling of guests.

Two nights ago, she was awake almost all night, whining and crying. Her fever spiked to 102 and she huddled in our bed, miserable. Finally, H got up and watched Tom & Jerry with her so I could get a few hours of sleep (he is the best husband EVER!). He went into work late while I lectured, then I came home and we switched so he could go into work.

(I began making a big pot of homemade chicken soup at this point)

This morning, she woke up around 4 am and crawled into our bed (whining). She woke me up as the sun was rising by throwing up all over my bed and crying miserably. I scooped her up and gave her a bath, stripped the sheets, and changed her into a new pair of PJs. We've spent the morning watching movies (Pocahontas and Meet the Robinsons) and eating popsicles. To be honest, I'm enjoying the break from reality (and the homemade chicken soup, YUM!). And she seems to be feeling better already! Thank goodness... I could really use a full night's sleep tonight.

Happy sigh...

Ahhh... my house is finally quiet. QUIET. For the first time in almost a month... we've had visitors for 23 out of the last 30 days. Lots of fun but completely and utterly exhausting.

This weekend was amazing. One of my happiest memories since I've been in the keys! Estha & I have been friends since we were babies (literally- our moms were pregnant with us together!) and she knows me like a sister. I am actually closer to her than I am to my own sister. I love how she comes into my house, curls up on my big chair with me, climbs into bed with me in the morning while H and her husband made coffee with the kids, and even walks into the bathroom unannounced. We just have that level of comfort and it never goes away.

It is so hard to find friends like that, as I've learned since we moved down here. People come and go and you just lose touch with most of them. And I am lucky enough to have friends like her and Mary Kate and Amy (even if I don't get to see them as often as I'd like)!

We jam-packed this weekend. They arrived Friday night and we enjoyed a delicious dinner together and stayed up late chatting. Saturday morning, we headed to the beach after hot blueberry muffins and fresh fruit. The weather was perfect and the kids had so much fun splashing and playing in the sand. We made it out of there just as a massive thunderstorm rolled in. We headed home to enjoy crispy BLTs (one of my favorites!) and the Gator game.
Sunday morning we had cinnamon rolls and coffee (and more fresh fruit, YUM!) before loading all our supplies into our boat.


We headed out to one of our favorite sandbars and floated around for a few hours until her baby was more than ready to come home. Amelia practiced her swimming and we took a million pictures. Estha and I floated around with our big bellies and enjoyed feeling weightless for a short while! The kids snoozed the entire boat ride back, they were exhausted!

We took quick showers and headed into town for a delicious authentic Cuban meal- YUM! I had roasted pork with mojo and yuca (also drenched with mojo). Soooo amazing. After stuffing ourselves, we walked down by the harbor and got the kids some ice cream. Amelia had a blast feeding the baby, proudly proclaiming, "Look! I'm such a good big sister!"
We even discovered my favorite new playground by the ocean- military only! Love it! The military certainly takes care of us!
It was a long day, but we still had a sunset to enjoy. We packed up the boat and watched the sun set over the ocean.

Breathtaking!

Estha and I stayed up until 1 am talking. It was definitely worth the extreme fatigue I felt when I woke up at 6 am for work this morning (and my fatigued lecturing this morning... I even forgot what time my own class started! oops!).

They left this morning and I came home to an empty house. I'm usually so sad when visitors leave (especially after an amazing weekend like that), but oh my gosh, I am really enjoying the peace and quiet. I'm so looking forward to vegging in front of the TV with H tonight and eating a simple frozen pizza and salad.

Of course, my parents arrive for a long weekend on Friday! But we have a few relaxing days until then.

Tasty

Delicious dinner after a very full day (beach, birthday party,
entertaining guests, super-hyper kids running around). Fried lobster
nuggets, grilled snowy grouper, biscuits, cheese grits, sweet
potatoes, and purple cabbage salad. I am soooo full right now, I don't
even think I can eat our coconut ice cream dessert.

Starting the day right...

Hot blueberry muffins, fresh fruit, and coffee (brought to us by our
Nicaraguan friends! Love them!). Then we loaded the kids in the car
and spent the day at the beach... I am totally exhausted. Now we're
frying up lobster while watching the gators play, hope it's a good one!

Busy busy!

I read every comment on the preschool post (THANK YOU!). Then I re-read them. Then I sat down and talked to H about it (again). Called my mom. My dad. Listened to a thoughtful message from Mary Kate (who knows me SO well and always knows just the right thing to say!). Prayed about it some more.

I am so happy with our decision to take her out. It feels like a million pounds have been lifted! The school was very nice about it and we left on a good note. Not one regret!!!

************************************************

We've had the best week with family. We've gone to the beach 3 times, explored the island a little more, swam in our little pool, cooked A LOT together in the kitchen, painted, took naps, visited H at work, and we even went out for ice cream a few times. So fun. I almost cried when my MIL left this morning! And who knew, our house can really accommodate 5 people comfortably.

After I sat in the relative silence for about 5 minutes, I buckled down and started scrubbing (and bleaching) my house from top to bottom. My little 4 & 6 year old nephews don't aim that well at the toilet- yuck!! Now my house is pretty dang spotless and I just have a few loads of laundry to fold and put away.

Tomorrow, my childhood friend E is coming to the keys to visit us... all the way from Nicaragua! I cannot wait. She has an 18 month old and is expecting baby #2 a few days before me. We plan on a few little maternity photo shoots, fun! I've been working on meal planning for their visit and this is what I've come up with:

• Friday night: Whole baked garlic chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots, a big green salad, and peach cobbler for dessert.
  
• Saturday: breakfast: blueberry muffins with fresh fruit. BLT's for lunch. Baked parmesan grouper, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and cheese grits for dinner. Chocolate cake for dessert.
  
• Sunday: Cinnamon rolls & fruit for breakfast. Lunch: baked potato soup. Dinner: Hamburgers on the grill, fresh corn, squash/zucchini.
  

Love it! I'm excited to spend some more time at the beach and re-connecting with a lifelong friend.
In other exciting news, not only has there been a few swine flu outbreaks in the keys (like everywhere else, I guess), but there have been 4 cases of dengue fever down here, for the first time in 70 years. Awesome. It kind of makes me want to stay home all the time...

Week 21: Family Time

H's family has been here for the past week and we've actually had a blast with them! (Although I have to admit that I have had a few temper tantrums in private... it's stressful to entertain, feed, and coordinate the entertainment activities of 5 people for a week). But I followed Emily Post the whole time and tried to smile, cook and clean with ease. I really do love entertaining and I love when people leave my house full of good food and happy! We went to the beach twice, walked around downtown, enjoyed a lot of good meals, went fishing a few times, and swam every afternoon.

I've also been working hard on growing my belly. It's been aching for a few days and sure enough, my pants are tighter and I'm starting to get uncomfortable at night. I feel the baby moving all day, every day... she is a little dancer! My scale broke last week so I'm dreading my OB visit in 10 days... hopefully it won't be an unpleasant shock.
I barely took any food pics this week because I was so busy cooking, planning and cleaning up. H fried up some lobster chunks and grilled snowy grouper and black-belly rose snapper (both fresh caught by him that morning!). Yum! Of course, my favorite was the cheese grits.

Side note: my nephews will only eat hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, so we had to make them at every meal. They went through several packs of hot dogs... yuck. (I hate hot dogs... even the smell of them triggers my gag reflex!) I was proud of Amelia for chowing down on fried lobster and cheese grits. When she saw me making them, she shouted, "Cheese GWITS! YAY Mommy!!!" with so much glee & happiness.
Amelia used up the remaining hot dogs fishing off a canal for some snapper. Those snapper are so skittish and hard to catch. I like her shoe choice (it was 94 degrees that day).
Checking out her daddy's catches! Notice the bulging eyes on that big snowy grouper. It's because they catch them from 700 feet of water and the pressure from the rapid ascent makes the eyes pop out. Ugly looking fish but yummy!
Amelia is getting SO good at swimming and snorkeling! She told me she was hunting for "lobbers" (aka lobsters) with her cousins.

It was a really fun week and we made a lot of happy memories. I wish her cousins lived closer so they could play more frequently... maybe our next duty assignment will be closer! I like my SIL a lot and would probably be really close with her if we had the chance to hang out more.

Better than any day at preschool!

We woke up early, made muffins, packed up the car and we're spending
the day at the beach with cousins & friends. Science, social skills,
organization and happy times all in one! Wouldn't trade it for anything!

Preschool Dilemma

Amelia is in an awesome preschool down here. We even got a partial scholarship through the military so we pay $325 a month (everyone else pays $600). She just started last week and she seems to enjoy it.

However, I'm overwhelmed with doubt. I only work 2 days a week, so (ideally) I would like her to only go to school 2 days a week. I mean, she's 3 years old... does she really need to be in school all day every day if she doesn't HAVE to?

But the school has a few strict policies- they want the kids to come every single day and adhere to a rigid schedule. If we arrive after 8:30 (which is easy for us, since the school is FORTY-FIVE minutes away), we have to get a late slip and we cannot talk to the teacher so we do not disrupt her class. Another strict policy is food- absolutely no sugar allowed in lunches (if you pack fruit funs or cookies, they will be wrapped up and sent home), no processed foods, etc. Great in theory but hello, they are 3 year olds! Amelia does not want tofu and celery sticks every day, I'm sorry.

I picked her up early today since we have a ton of company in town (all her little cousins, aunt/uncle, and her Nana) and her teacher looked at me sternly and asked when Amelia would be on a more consistent schedule. I left the school feeling guilty- for picking up my own child!!

I thought about this during the 45-minute drive home. Is it really time for Amelia to be in an all-day, all-week school with a strict schedule? Do their policies really mesh well with our lifestyles? Would I be doing her a disservice by taking her out (this is a really great school with a wonderful reputation)? I know she'd be just as happy with a nanny on the 2 days a week I work, and it would be cheaper/easier/closer for us.

I'm just totally conflicted after spending a great summer at home with her. We had so many great adventures and I'm not ready for that time to end. She'll be in kindergarten soon enough and we won't have the option of keeping her home. We are thinking about taking her out of the preschool and keeping her home with us for another year... I don't know...