The Makings of a Play Area

Having a wiggle worm child (as I've mentioned numerous times on this blog) means she really likes to explore and isn't one to just sit still. Well ever since she was little Larry would work out while I was at work and put her in this little Octagon area. It was really only good when she wasn't mobile, it just barely fit her.

I've also been thinking it would be nice to have an indoor play area that she could play in when it's too cold to be outside. Something that she doesn't get access to all the time so it's a fun little area. I even got to where I made a silly little puppet theater out of a big box (no money needed for that other than to buy whatever came in the box haha)

Pretty ghetto...I'm thinking I need to decorate it

Luckily Larry must have read my mind because he started buying some foam mats to make into a floor and a gate area. I convinced him to move her little roller coaster down there with her ball pit so she'd have some thing to play with and then he decided to add a rug underneath the floor tiles since we were planning on putting this in the basement (for when he works out), but that flooring is still concrete so she could use some extra padding.

We do have a gate around it and rugs under the mats...
I just forgot to take those pictures apparently

I'm so excited with how this turned out. I'm hoping to eventually put in a play kitchen or table or something for her. I'd love to add books, but she just tears those up for now so we'll wait on those. The only other issues we have with it is making sure she can't reach the movies, because she loves to pull those out as well. But other than that she seems to be loving playing in it. We take her down once in a while during the week (I try and do outdoor nights as much as possible after work, but the weather is getting colder and I know once it snows it might be more difficult) and she just has a ball. She seems to love pulling apart the letters and the inside parts and chewing on them....the life of a teether!

So anyways, I'm just pretty proud of our little play area we created and I hope that she continues to love it and will share with her sister once she's old enough to play in it with her haha.

7 Months (Weeks 28 - 31)

Compare/Contrast: This pregnancy has been SUPER uncomfortable. I feel like I'm as big as I was at the end of my last one so the thought of getting bigger is...frightening (haha). 

I did get my first cold for this pregnancy (around 29 weeks). I got one with Cara, but it was in the beginning (like right before we announced it around 15 weeks-ish), and she has a GREAT immune system so I'm hoping me getting a cold means it helps them build their immunities.

Turns out around the glucose test time is when movement patterns seem to change. I can't tell if this time around it's due to the glucose test (or being the similar time frame) or our flying to Georgia. She had different patterns in her movement right after we got back. By the end of the week she was moving more like normal, but maybe it's just all because she grew a bit around that time frame. Speaking of, I can totally tell when she grows! I get a day of super discomfort and then it's like she settles into a new position and everything feels better. It happens every week too. Kind of crazy how I can feel it this time around.

Towards the end of this month I started to get first trimester symptoms all over again (some nausea, VERY sensitive nose, and exhaustion like you wouldn't believe). This never happened with Cara. In fact, after the nausea went away (around 16 weeks) the rest of the pregnancy was a breeze! This time around it's getting more and more uncomfortable and I'm dragging a bit. Luckily only a couple more months to go now.

Oh and the leg/foot cramps!! They are SO insane this time around. I swear I only got them once in a while with Cara (IF that), but this time, it's like 1 a night, more often there have been two or three times I get them at night. I have to JUMP out of bed to walk them off. One night I got one so bad it took a good 30 second before I could even flatten my foot out to walk right and it still took a minute or two before I could climb back into bed. I'm thinking I'll have to ask my midwife about it next time I go in.

Best Moments This Month: I passed my glucose test!! This is very exciting even though I don't think I have diabetes issues, but I was getting light headed very easily that the office was saying could be a blood sugar problem so that made me a little nervous.

Football season started at the beginning of this month and watching my Packers has been awesome! Cara gets a little into it and it makes me get so excited to have Minion watch the games with me when she's here! Superbowl should be REALLY fun :)  

I also ordered our double stroller that is compatible with our infant car seat and it was even cheaper than I budgeted for (SCORE!) so I'm SO excited to cross that off the list. The last big purchases we have are her dresser and a possible 2nd pump for me - my original one worked well enough, but I've heard the Medela and Spectra have better reviews so I'm thinking I want to buy one of those to try and keep my original as a backup just in case.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Getting closer to the end...with how uncomfortable this pregnancy has been (specifically at night) I can see how people hate going over their due date. I'm holding out, but oh man!

I'm also looking forward to getting more cleaning and organizing done. I started the weekend before out Georgia trip and even though I had major body pains from actually doing something, it felt so good to have those rooms done. I have a room assigned to each weekend day until we get closer to the end.

Oh and my next appointment! It's set for Oct 1 (for 32 weeks) and I should get another ultrasound. They want to double check my placenta (it was a smidge close to my cervix at 21 weeks and they want to make sure it didn't get closer) and possibly re-measure her growth since my uterus has been consistently 2 weeks ahead and I'll take all the chances to see this little girl! I also get the TDAP shot (yes I'm looking forward to a shot).

That Time We Went to Georgia (And Florida) During a Hurricane! Pt. 5

Our last day in Florida I was so ready to be home! We woke up to a cockroach in our bathroom and bugs on the counter in the kitchen area (I've mentioned this hotel was awful right?). Since we didn't have time for an activity in the morning we were just going to sit in the hotel, but by 8:30/8:45 I decided it was time to start packing and get out ASAP. Cara totally lounged on the bed, eating animal crackers and watching cartoons. After a while we were all so warm I took her pajamas off and let her run around naked while I finished packing to help cool her down (this will come up later). We finished up around 10:30 - and with checkout at 11 I guess it was good I started earlier than I planned - got Cara dressed in her outfit (rather than footie pajamas since she was still warm) and got out of there. I'm glad the lady checking us out didn't ask how our stay was, it would've been hard to lie about that place!

Cara's makeshift "room" in this hotel

Luckily the drive to the airport was fairly quick, we just had to stop for gas for the rental car, but the check in and security line were HORRENDOUSLY slow! Maybe I was just antsy to get home, but it felt ridiculous! I decided we should get lunch at the airport to avoid being hungry (I get panic attacks when I think of needing food or water and not having any access to them). The only places to eat were Sbarro and Chili's (womp womp). The peeps at Chili's ignored me so I went to Sbarro to order a pizza and some breadsticks for the three of us to share (which some lady came up to me laughing and said that was such a pregnant order...I thought it was a normal combo, but just another reason I was antsy to be home - where no one makes comments to my face haha). I took Cara to get changed and noticed she was SUPER hot to the touch at this point, like almost burning me hot, and I started to get really worried. She also wouldn't eat any of my hot food so I stopped off at a market place to get some cantaloupe, orange juice, and a yogurt parfait for her, which she'd only eat tiny bites of each thing (but she did drink quite a bit of OJ so that made me feel a tiny bit better). I felt so bad for her, she obviously had some weird bug and I felt bad that we had to make her fly feeling so crappy. We got on the flight and her eyes started rolling back, which made me freak out since she normally doesn't go to sleep like that, but Larry was convinced she just needed a nap and was that tired. She slept a tiny bit on the plane from JAX to ATL, but the announcements kept waking her up so it wasn't a good sleep. When we got to ATL she was SO hot, hadn't eaten a lot, kept trying to fall asleep - it was just an awful combo of whatever she was fighting and I was doing my best not to panic and freak out more and just concentrate on keeping her cool, letting her eat whatever she would, and getting home (it's amazing how this mom instinct kicks in and you'll do ANYTHING to keep them from feeling bad, even if it means you're uncomfortable). We had a longer layover there and decided to let her walk around (with Larry) to get away from his body heat and then the craziest thing happened: my oldest friend in the entire world, Jasmine, happened to see Cara and, having recognized her from the pictures I've posted, talked to Larry about who she was and how she knew them. So he comes over to tell me she was over there and was coming by to say hi once her boyfriend got back. I said "screw that, I'll go to her" and went to say hi and we caught up (and of course had to take the selfie pics for proof haha). Like what are the odds? I haven't seen her since our wedding (5 years ago) and it was YEARS before that and then we run into each other at the airport?? And when I say oldest friend, I'm saying I have absolutely no recollection of when we met, we just have always been friends, since like the diaper days. We met at our daycare way back when and have just always been in contact. It was the best end to this friends trip I could have asked for!

By the time we got on the plane to get home I was officially on "keep Cara cooled down, that's the most important thing right now" mission. I couldn't take her temperature and her diapers were very dry, which felt like not good signs. I was looking up things on Google to see if I could find out what could be wrong with her, but nothing fit (which actually made me feel better because then I thought it has to be just a simple bug that needs to get through her system). The last flight we finally got some cool air blowing on us and we were able to get her comfortable enough to take a couple small naps and watch some movies on the screen, she was at least content. The landing into SLC was VERY bumpy and freaked me out a little (I'm not a nervous flyer, but I was nervous with Cara and wondering if we should've booked a different flight so the sudden drops after going through dark clouds REALLY shook me). I was SO happy when we finally landed, got to our bags, got to our car, and drove home. Cara fell asleep almost instantly (I think finally being back in her car seat on a quiet, long ride home was just what she needed). We stopped at the new MOD Pizza by our home for dinner (it was a little pricey, but overall tasty), which Cara still wouldn't eat much of, but she really wanted to walk around so we let her do that while we took turns eating. We went home, gave her some Tylenol (I was able to get her temperature when we got home and it was up to 99), some milk, a nice bath, and put her to bed.

I scheduled our dermatology appointments for 8 AM this morning so after she was down we decided to call it a night (traveling days can be SO exhausting). Waking up so early this morning wasn't as challenging as I thought and Cara seemed to be feeling a bit better so it was a good start to the day. She played and babbled a lot today, but wouldn't eat much still. Luckily I think having a real nap in her crib (rather than a stroller or car seat or airplane) really made a difference for her. We were going to let her play outside a little today, but when we went to get groceries for the week the air was SO bad we decided to just let her play with her regular toys inside. It helped that I needed to unpack and get things cleaned up inside anyways (which I've decided the 6 day trips are the best because packing and unpacking was SO easy).

At the Dermatologist - we looked so silly I HAD to get
A pic haha

Now that laundry is done, groceries are bought, and we're getting back into our normal routine I'm so happy to be home. The trip was such a fun one, it was so good to see old friends, make a new one, be in this mommy village with them, and just have fun! I feel bad that Cara got a little bug and isn't feeling the greatest (but to be fair she licked a lot of things she shouldn't have so it we're lucky it wasn't anything serious - her fever is now down to the low 98s so she's definitely on the mend), but to see all the kids together and get to introduce her to my friends was great! We got to try so many new things and I'm glad I got this opportunity for a last trip for this pregnancy and the year. And I'm so glad there wasn't any sign of a hurricane near us. Now my mission is to finish cleaning the house and get things ready for this little minion to make her appearance (10 more weeks now)!

That Time We Went to Georgia (And Florida) During a Hurricane! Pt. 4

Well world, we made it through another HOT day in the south today :) We started it out decently, I woke up pretty early so I decided to hurry and get ready and be really quiet to let Cara and Larry sleep as much as possible (luckily her burn didn't make it a bad night). Finally when they had to be up I went downstairs to see if I could get some disposable bowls or cups or something (for the oatmeal we bought) and I saw they had some yummy looking muffins as well. The oatmeal and muffin worked well enough and Cara seemed to like it with her milk so it was a decent breakfast, provided by us.

 

A rare occurrence: Mom is letting the TV
Be on while eating breakfast

 

After we were all ready Larry and I beat Stace and Sam to the Boba Tea place. We decided to try different things, but neither were very good. Larry got a mango smoothie, and I got some weird fruit concoction. Larry's was better than mine, but the boba balls were not my favorite. Mine had some weird stuff in it and I ended up chucking it without finishing it. I felt bad, but apparently I will not be a "boba tea" person.

After everyone got there and we got our drinks all drank (it was probably a more chaotic morning than those workers were expecting haha), we made our way to "Doing Your Dishes" to paint some pottery. I originally thought it would be a fun idea to do piggy banks for both the girls, but since it was my first time I settled on an ice cream bowl. Larry did a plaque with Cara's handprint and name on it. Cara got to color with markers and seemed pretty content. Poor Stace was very busy with three boys painting their own plaques so she didn't get to do her own. I feel bad and looking back I wish I had been able to help her so she could've done one. But they all turned out so good and it was a good first experience. I might have to find one of these back in Utah to do the piggy banks at.

While we were there Stace ended up asking the people there (a few more people painting and the lady working there who helped us) if the bounce house we had thought of would be good for all the kids. They all ended up telling us about a place called MOSH (Museum of Science and History) and it sounded like it would be good for all ages so we decided that would be the better plan. When we got to the parking for MOSH it turned out they only had one row of parking, but the brewery next door had the rest of the lot and it was $5 for all day parking for that if we weren't actually going to the brewery. This was annoying, but Larry paid for both cars since it was close to the museum and we just didn't feel like driving around more to find parking. We decided to hit up lunch before going to the museum and ended up at a place called Southern Grill. It had some of the best food I've eaten, but the ordering was a little chaotic. Luckily we got our own room to eat in so the kids could be as loud and crazy as possible and it didn't bother the other people. It also had a door and ceiling fan that we cranked up since we were all sweating a good bit (we had to walk a bit to get to this place).

After we finished lunch we finally headed over to MOSH. This place was SO cool! They had animal touching areas (Cara got to touch a snake!), lots of buttons for the kids to push, and 3 levels so Cara got to practice her stairs quite a bit! With our admission we had to get a movie ticket, so we picked one about astronauts since we thought the kids would like that the best. It was so close to nap time, but Cara wouldn't sleep...until we go into the movie. She barely made it a minute before she passed out (so luckily she got a good hour long nap between the movie and then being put in the stroller afterwards). We let the boys play in the kids area while we checked out the gift shop and then just relaxed a bit. I want to find a place like this back in Utah as well!

This was a cool "build a community" with these colored tiles.
I think it might have been my favorite part

After we were all worn out at the museum, we went to Steak N Shake for dinner. I forget how much I really like this place and REALLY wish we had one in Utah. There was an older guy there who gave us some coupons so we were able to get a free milk shake - yum! After dinner we said goodbye to Stace and Sam, which was sad, but we had such a fun time with them that I'm just so glad we were able to come out (and meet Sam). With this visit I can see how the mommy village is a real and helpful thing (there were several times we'd rely on each other to get pictures, to watch one of the kids while we helped others with something, etc. etc.).

Our one and only picture together and one with all the kids...score!

We headed back to hotel to see that they apparently didn't clean our room. Larry saw in the room pamphlet that there's a charge for that (what??) so that was annoying. We decided since our flight tomorrow morning isn't until 1:30 maybe we could find something to do nearby before that. Unfortunately there were only 2 things. 1 (this alligator farm) was too far and by the time we got there we would only have about 30 minutes before having to head to the airport. and the other (a big cat sanctuary thing) wasn't open because it was strictly on a volunteer basis and there weren't any that would be there for Sunday. I was disappointed, but we realized we could just take our time getting ready (maybe even sleep in??) and packed up and just relax in the room.

So now that our day is done, I look forward to heading home tomorrow morning. I can't tell if it's because I'm ready to be out of this hotel or if I'm just ready to be in MY bed with MY pillows again...maybe a little of both? Either way, I'm heading out so I can get a TON of sleep before an exhausting travel day we have ahead of us! Good night world.

That Time We Went to Georgia (And Florida) During a Hurricane! Pt. 3

Well you know what's good? When you figure out what to expect with a hotel breakfast and so it's not so disappointing the second morning haha. We had another really early morning today in order to eat, finish packing up, and get on the road, but I wanted to make sure we got as filled as possible on breakfast. This time around we got Cara a weird egg thing with a sausage patty thing. I stuck with the waffles, and Larry did more toast and a bagel. They had bananas this time so we got a couple of those with the yogurt...boring details, I know, but I'm glad we were able to eat as much as we did. I had a feeling our Jacksonville hotel would be better so I was excited to say good bye to this breakfast and hotel (and even more belly comments at the breakfast buffet. Including a lady who asked if I was also craving chik-fil-a waffle fries since her pregnant daughter wanted some and when they went to go get some there was another pregnant lady there getting some so this lady assumed every pregnant person craved those....whatever).

We were beating a record for us, we were all ready to leave at 7:45, which I thought was late since we wanted to meet at the zoo by 9:30 and I thought it was a two hour drive, but it turned out to be a little under 2 hours so we were expected to be there by 9:30 (we made it by 9:40). Unfortunately, we were a little too eager to get there apparently, because Stace and Sam were a bit delayed. The good news is this gave us plenty of time to get into the zoo, get sunscreen applied, and let Cara get some wiggle time out (since we knew she'd probably be in the stroller for a good chunk of the day) by walking around this planter edge that was in the shade. Larry was so sweet and let me just sit while he walked around it with her.

Once we were all there and ready to go we explored the zoo that also was a botanical garden so there was quite a bit of shade around it. This was nice since the zoo was so large! We got to go see a dinosaur area with animatronic dinosaurs that roared and moved, which Cara seemed to love! She kept laughing at them, which was surprising for all of us. We expected her to be more scared. We also went to a sting ray encounter where you pet them AND for $2 you got some fish parts and could FEED them! Larry bought like 3 cups worth, one he fed to them, one he shared with me, and one he shared with Stace's boys (although only Ollie wanted to). It was a pretty weird feeling, but such a cool experience. The best part about that is it brought the sting rays up closer to the top of the water so I think Cara actually got to touch one and they splashed us (which was awesome in my book).

After a few more hours of walking and seeing more animals we decided it was a good time to stop for lunch and the splash pad (yes a splash pad IN the zoo!). This was a nice break for me. Stace doesn't like paying for zoo food (who can blame her? It is pretty pricey), but I HAD to eat a meal so Larry and I ate and then went to the splash pad with Cara in her swim suit. Stace and Sam wanted to go see a 4-D "movie" in their theater, but since we had just gotten there we decided to stay behind with any of the kids that wanted to keep playing. Cara seemed to have a really good time with it.

After they got back from the show (which turned out to be an animal show, rather than a 4-D show), we walked to more cages and saw more animals. After a couple "displays" I had my fill, I didn't realize, but we had been there for 6 hours already! We headed out, but I decided some dippin' dots ice cream sounded good so I had Larry get some while I took Cara to get changed and go to the bathroom real quick. We also hit up the souvenir shop to get Cara (and minion) the typical zoo shirt and a book. Plus I found some animal puppets that I thought Cara would love. It was a good shop they had there! We then headed out to our hotel (sorry these are all the pictures I got for today, we just had so much fun I didn't get my camera out too much).

Now this hotel...it has been AWFUL so far. I've never been so disappointed with a hotel. The check-in was a joke! One of the cleaning ladies came out to say her son had been in a fight and she had to leave so she didn't get to cleaning room 309. Then the front desk lady informed us that was our room and it was the last suite available. I specifically wanted a suite so that we didn't have to share a room with Cara, but all they'd offer was a regular room with two full beds. They said they'd refund us the difference, but since we booked through Travelocity they'd have to let them know about the room change so that they could refund my card. Oh and the breakfast (we make sure we book hotels that offer breakfasts to help fill us, but I guess I didn't do my research as well on this one) was a "grab and go" bar with coffee and granola bars...wom wom! The whole hotel was really dirty and with all that I just had a bad vibe with it. Luckily we're only here for 2 nights, but so far I'm not impressed with this place! The only good part, which isn't because of this hotel, is I was sure I had left my phone charger at the last hotel (like I couldn't find it ANYWHERE), but as I was unpacking tonight I found it, so that was a relief!

We met up at Cracker Barrel for dinner (one of my favorites!) and even though I wanted to buy so much in the shop, I left with just our left overs :) We also hit up the grocery store again to get some real breakfast items we'll need and some milk for Cara. Originally tomorrow was supposed to be our beach day, but since the hurricane made the weather very uncertain we decided to change our plans to meet up for boba tea in the morning (which I'm excited to try. I've never had any, but heard good things about it. Maybe I can be a "boba tea" person haha), hit up a paint your own pottery place, and then a bounce house for the kids.

Another sad part to today is as we were giving Cara a bath, we noticed she had a bit of a sunburn on her shoulders and back and I realized we forgot to put sunscreen on her when we changed her into her swim suit, which showed more skin than her onesie, so now she's got these bright red shoulders and I feel SO bad (and also really hope she isn't in pain all night long).

Luckily we aren't meeting up until 9 so we actually get to sleep in a tiny bit tomorrow - score! Because of that, I'm going to bed now to get as much sleep as possible, so good night ya'll!

That Time We Went to Georgia (And Florida) During a Hurricane! Pt. 2

Okay, you know what's annoying? An alarm clock that buzzes ALL. NIGHT. LONG! And at completely random intervals! Also, only having 4 square pillows on your hotel bed rather than regular sized pillows (and when you call for more they say "no one is here, but if I find them, I'll bring them up" and then you never see or hear anything the rest of the night). Or how about a noise machine you got since you don't have a fan with you, but that's how you sleep at home, but the noise machine is WAY more annoying than anything else....So basically, last night was a rough night! I finally got to the point where I turned off the noise machine and tried to shut the alarm clock up by putting Larry's shirt over it, but then I smelled a gas smell and I was worried the alarm clock would start a fire so I just unplugged it entirely. That helped me sleep a little better, but not having a lot of pillows for support made it a tiny bit difficult.

So this morning we got up for another early morning (which was hard, but there was a lot to do for our last full day in Georgia). We went down to breakfast and saw...a very disappointing site. They didn't have the usual hotel breakfast I aim for when booking hotels, they had frozen waffles you toast in a toaster yourself, and the eggs looked a little sketchy, and there wasn't good fruit out. Luckily we were able to find good enough stuff, we both had a yogurt, Larry made himself a bagel, and I toasted Cara and me some waffles. There were SO many old folks in the breakfast room too, must have been some sort of retirement travel group because they were all together. Oh and they are the worst whisperers ever! I kept hearing "whoa look at that belly!" "Wow, she's so big!". Then these two old ladies came up to me to ask when I was due (and make several jokes that it must be any day now and if one of the ladies there could deliver for me if my water broke). When I told them end of November they went back to their table and I could hear them say things along the lines of "did she say November?" "She must have meant September" "Yeah, but she said November" "There's just no way". Then one of them came up to me to ask if I really said November or September. When I told them November they were just so shocked...again they weren't the best quiet talkers, I could hear them all talk about me. It was a tad awkward. Oh and they all had comments on how they knew I was having a girl. One said they could tell because my face was so full (yeah...that's just my face) another said based on how I was carrying (yeah, that's an old wives tale).

After we got ready, we met up with Stace at Wormsloe, a historic landmark with one of those gorgeous Southern entrances filled with a tree arch. It was so pretty, we even got some family pics done with Stace's fancy camera so I'm really excited to see how those turn out. Sam came with us there with her son Finnick (I hope I'm spelling that right). We did a lot of walking around this place (which in this heat lead to LOTS of sweating!), saw lots of crabs and BIG bugs, and had all the kid shenanigans (including dirt, yelling, crying, and even pooping in the woods). We tried to let Cara walk as much as possible, but when she goes the opposite direction she ended up in the stroller quite a bit.

 

 

After Wormsloe we went to lunch at this place called Jalapenos, oh man this was one of the best Mexican restaurants ever! And Cara really loved her quesadilla haha. I let Larry take Cara back to the hotel after lunch and I went with Stace and Sam to her house. We had plans tonight for a girl's night, but we had to be home in time for when Ollie got home from school and to wait for Cole to get home to leave him with the boys. I've been in a huge nesting mode so when she asked if I'd help her fold laundry, make beds, and organize her pantry and craft stuff I was all too ready to help with that! I LOVE organizing. Normally I don't go to people's homes to do it, but it really felt good to be productive like that.

Sam ended up having to take Finnick home because he was getting tired and she didn't have a babysitter for the girl's night so it was just Stace and I. We went to a place called All Things Chocolate for dinner (we both ordered Crepes that were amazing - I also ordered Fries with mine as well - and now I wish I had one of these places in Utah!) and then down the street for pedicures. It felt so nice to get my toenails done all pretty, I haven't had a pedicure since right before Cara was born. I totally forgot to bring my flip flops and to take any pictures, but were caught up in girl talk. I also got comments at that place about how big I was and talked to these two other mom's about their birthing experience. So I left there with my pedicure flip flops on and waited for Larry to pick me up (I let Stace leave since it was getting dark and I didn't want her to drive by herself in the dark). Larry got there shortly after we were done and mentioned they hadn't eaten dinner yet. We made several jokes before this trip about him going to Hooters (we both have never been) so we decided to go there. I wasn't hungry, but I figured I could feed Cara while Larry ate. Let me tell you how ghetto I felt, though, going to Hooters after 7 PM, in pedicure flip-flops, while 7 months pregnant....and then I bought a really cute onesie they had for sale. It was pink and had the Hooter's Owl on it and was too adorable. Plus I remembered we got Cara a cute onesie when we went to Black Bear Diner before she was born so maybe this could be a silly tradition? I felt so white-trash, but the food was actually really good there! I just snacked on things here and there, but I can see why it's so reputable (and not because of their outfits).

Now just picture my big preggo belly and a baggie with a
Onesie for the new baby and you have a good image of
How bad we looked haha

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to pack everything up and get ready for bed. We have another early morning tomorrow - driving down to Jacksonville to do the zoo early in the day and it's a 2 hour drive. So now it's late enough I need to go pass out before I hate how much sleep I'm missing out on.

That Time We Went to Georgia (And Florida) During a Hurricane! Pt. 1

**So with the title of this post I should preface this whole trip by saying I had NO idea there would be a hurricane coming when I booked this trip. I didn't even know it was coming until Monday when Stace sent me a text about the hurricane and we were suddenly on watch with that. We kept hearing it could hit Georgia, then it was more towards the Carolina's, then Stace said she was going to be evacuated (which I figured would cancel our flight entirely), then she actually wasn't going to be...it was a LOT of back and forth and I was just going off of what the airline said. If our flights were still good to go then our trip must be okay, but I won't lie and say I wasn't a little nervous.**

And now on to the regular post...

Oh man was it an early start today! I'll admit after I realized how early our flight was (7 AM) and how early we'd have to get up (4 AM) I was a little nervous getting Cara up that early and how she'd adjust. Luckily I have the perfect child and she did SO well with waking up that early. I thought she'd sleep on the way to the airport, but nope. She just chatted with us and enjoyed being up so early haha. She even was all smiles when we got on the airport parking shuttle to go to the terminal!

Unfortunately, we left very little time for her to wander/explore around at the airport. We found a place to get some food (pizza for Larry, a fruit parfait for me, and some fruit for Cara) and I ran around looking for a water fountain to fill our water bottles (which saved us quite a bit of money over buying expensive water bottles on top of food within the airport) and then by the time we got to the gate they were starting to board. She still hardly cried being stuck on the plane (for over 3 hours even!). She didn't sleep much though, I'm not sure if that's because she had to sleep on Larry this time around (my bump did not leave any room for her to cuddle up on) or if she just didn't feel like sleeping that much or what, but she did okay.

Choosing a book over watching the movie: Parenting win!

When we landed in Atlanta (our layover to Savannah) I decided I needed to get food (I was SO hungry) and the first place I saw was a Wendy's so that was lunch for us. I got Cara some chicken strips and I got my regular burger, fries, and a frosty. Larry wasn't hungry. We barely had time for me to eat my burger and Cara to drool over a chicken strip before we were boarding again.

Our flight to Savannah had our biggest scare as parents: Cara's first real choking experience! Oh how I never wished to experience that, but luckily it wasn't AS bad as I always feared. I still had her grapes so I was letting her pick one out of the container at a time. Well at one point she grabbed 4, but it was in the hand furthest from me, so I told Larry to keep an eye on that hand. After a while I heard her make the choking sound (which she usually follows with a big cough) and then no coughing or breathing sounds after, I looked at her and saw her lips were super blue! I smacked her back and then told Larry that she's really choking, not just breathing in pieces wrong, and so he had to give her a little bit of the Heimlich. She ended up coughing up the big chunk stuck in her throat and we threw it away. She cried quite a bit (understandable) and I just hugged her and let her know she was okay. I hated it, but I'm SO glad she didn't pass out or anything! I think we all handled the horrible situation very well. I ended up taking her to the bathroom to wipe down all the stuff she had coughed up and of course cuddled her a little more.

Landing in Savannah, I was SO ready to be in our hotel and get our vacation started. I was so nervous flying would cause me to go into labor (I have no idea why, but it was just another fear of mine) so I wanted to finally sit down and relax a little. We had plans to pick up our car, get to the hotel, get some groceries, and then meet up with Stace for dinner (it is Ollie's birthday so he got to pick a dinner place for us to meet up at). Unfortunately, the car rental place was SO slow! It took a good half an hour to just get up to the counter. Luckily everyone thought Cara was just too adorable (which she is). She even waved for the first time to a stranger on the tram in the Atlanta airport!

So by the time we got our car Stace was already ready to go to dinner so I told her we had to check into the hotel really quickly and then we'd head to dinner. Ollie chose an Asian Buffet-like place, which we always have loved out here so it was really yummy. They didn't have lemon chicken that I normally like or watermelon that Cara normally likes, but we were able to find plenty of stuff to fill us! I even did so good and didn't have any ice cream there (although we did let Cara try a cone for the first time and she definitely liked it).

After dinner we went to Stace's house (super cute place by the way!) for gifts and cupcakes. Ollie got a lot of good stuff, but I think all the boys seemed to love the box in a box in a box in a box gag gift. They were obsessed with saying "Another box!" after each one they opened (it was from Sam - a friend that came with us to dinner). Cara loved running around the house, but probably because it was the first time that whole day she could finally wiggle. She also got a cupcake there and seemed to REALLY love that. I kind of worried having so much sugar and so late would keep her up, but it was a birthday and it's a vacation so why not? After that we had to hit the grocery store and funnily enough Cara completely passed out on that drive. It wasn't too long, but she must have been worn out from no real nap during the flights.

I also have to point out, while we were there Stace showed me the blanket she made for Minion (red, white, and black to match the bedroom décor and all minky material! It was AMAZING!), plus she got some other things: a lovey, some diaper packs for the diaper bag (different colors for each kid so we pack the right size in the right one), some diapers, and then a cute coloring pad for Cara. Cara's favorite thing: the lovey! In fact, we've decided that's for her now and we'll have to buy Minion her own haha.

Cara's "room" area

Using a couch as a separator

After groceries we went back to the hotel to set up Cara's area (give her a room-like feel) and get things ready for the next day and get it all set out. We all also needed showers/baths to wash off the travel from the day. So overall, it was a good start for our trip. No hurricane signs (so far), other than Cara's choking experience we had smooth flights, we got lots of good food and I'm so excited to be here to see my best friend! It's been way too long since we've seen each other in person. Hopefully the rest of the trip goes as smoothly (if not more so haha). My biggest goal is to have new memories of Georgia, I have only been once before and it wasn't the best trip, so this is to make up for that one many years ago.

Labor Day Weekend 2018

Labor Day Weekend this year was a great three day weekend! I was feeling overwhelmed due to such a crazy hectic week I had before hand and we had a few plans for the weekend that I knew would be worth it in the end, but I was worried it was too much at once. I can say now it was all so much fun and not too much at all!

For one, we had Cara's tumbling class Saturday morning. It was only her second class, but she only cried through half of it this time. Granted, we had a few more parents and children in the class and watching so it was quite embarrassing for me (I really hope they didn't think I was torturing her by forcing her to be there), but I was so happy she warmed up to it more. It's a bit hard for me to keep up being so big so Larry had to help out a little bit this time, but I held my own for quite a bit. I look forward to when I can really take her just her and me and keep up with her...after this little minion is born.

After tumbling we went home to change and then headed up to Midway for the Swiss Days festival! I haven't been to this in years since I really dislike the crowds, but I was determined to find some cute Christmas gift ideas. We got up there around 11:45, ate a quick lunch (really yummy pulled pork sandwich and bratwurst for our group), and met up with the family to walk some shops! I realized quickly that midday at Swiss Days is NOT something you bring your family to. It also isn't something you do while 7 months pregnant....in that heat....with those crowds! I did end up finding a lot of cute gift ideas (I only collected business cards to look up the ideas later), but when we got scones around 2:30 and I thought that we had seen all the shops and realized we had only seen half of the shops I called it! We had visited with family, ate yummy scones and watermelon (some of the best watermelon I have ever had...but that  might be the slight dehydration talking haha) and got some good gift ideas...I could officially check that off the list. I told Larry next year I'm coming up solo!



How cute are these signs??



Cara would go crazy for these puppets!!

After that we went home and just relaxed the rest of the day, but by Sunday I could tell I was feeling all the tumbling and walking we had done, my back was the sorest it had ever been. If I hadn't already decided that Sunday was going to be a lazy day I would've made that decision then. All we did was grocery shop, do laundry, do Skype, and a quick trip to Petsmart to get some new sucker fish...really long story, but we needed some to help clean the tank. It was a good day, but I did start to think about how I feel like I haven't had any one-on-one time with Cara just her and me. Larry's been around for it since I was off maternity leave. I felt bad, but realized it's because I got pregnant right as she was learning to walk and since I was sick, unmotivated, and couldn't be around her smell too much I relied on Larry a lot. As I got bigger, had less energy (while she was getting more of it) I was still relying on him. I chose to resolve that by taking her out Monday for a couple hours, just us, and do something fun. I figured Larry could probably use a couple hours to himself and I would love to have documented some time just her and me before our next little girl makes her appearance. I wasn't sure what would be open for Labor Day, but I'd figure it out.



A representation of our relaxing time haha
But also, these two never get along, I had to get proof
That they were next to each other knowingly

This morning I woke up a little earlier than everyone and looked at all sorts of activities on my phone for something to take Cara to. Ideally I would have loved to take her to a place like Kangaroo Zoo (with inflatable slides and bounce houses), but since I can't be in them with her I didn't think that made sense. I thought about something free like Red Butte Gardens (they were doing a free day today), but that would be such a drive and we really wouldn't be able to do much there once we got there. I thought of something with a petting zoo (Gardner Village maybe?), but wasn't sure if the petting zoo would be open today or if it was just a weekend thing. I ended up going with the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Pointe. I had never been there, but have been wanting to go and take her for months and months! I was SO excited! I originally wanted to try and make it something Larry had already seen her at since I feel bad taking those first experiences from him, but too bad, I had made up my mind!

This place, you guys, oh man! My excitement was right where it should have been, I had heard some good things and some bad things, but I'm here to say all the bad things were wrong! It had something for EVERY age it felt like! We were there for 2 hours and still didn't see it all. Cara LOVED the Water Works area. In fact, she loved the weird foam/rubber landscape pit area the most. Like she spent 30+ minutes there. I tried to take her away at one point, but she was so determined to stay she acted like I was beating her to get her to leave it. I finally got to a point where I was able to distract her to take her away and to play with the water part. I should've seen the smocks there as a sign she'd get wet, but I just love to watch her explore new things that I just let it go....yeah, she got SOAKING wet! It was adorable.

The foam/rubber pit she loved more than anything!

Baby Bum!

We figured out the water area (she's only half soaked here)

And of course the books. She LOVES books!

I will say since it's more for kids, it only made sense to pay for one parent ($20 per adult is quite pricey...I'm even more convinced that we

need to just get a membership there to make things worth it in the future), but I loved every second of this place! I can't wait to go back (or let Larry take her if he wants) so she can really discover more and play with more as she grows up. The only down side is after I decided we needed to go home I started feeling some Braxton Hicks contractions pretty bad. It worried me at first, but when I realized what they were and got home to drink water and relax a bit it was okay. We also had a successful dinner tonight, Cara seemed to love every bit (that always feels like such a win for me!).

Overall a very successful, very busy, very fun Labor Day Weekend. I just wish I had gotten more pictures of it. Either way, I love 3 day/long weekends with my little family!