DVR Reminder

I have a very important programming note for all of you Amazing Race fans. Listen up!!!! When you set your DVR to record the Race, I recommend that you set it to record at least one hour extra. The reason for this: Football will more than likely run over each Sunday. This will push 60 minutes to start late. Trust me on this one. You will thank me. I am an expert. I am SOOO excited about this starting back up!!!!! I love love love it!

Another thing: Just say NO to the halloween candy aisle. I just ate way too many "snack size" packets of Reese's pieces. Do they really consider one little bag enough for a snack?

Last thing: "puffy cheetoes" plus a two year old makes for a very messy two year old face, table, shirt, fingers, and Mommy (but Mommy had a few herself.)

Hooray for the weekend!!!!!

The name game

So now that we know this baby is a girl we have started thinking about names. We still don't have any picked out.

Ethan comes up with a new one every day. First it was Jen. Then we told him that obviously would not work so he modified it to Den. Since that is not even a name we told him to keep thinking. The rest on his list are Madeline, AlexA (with a long a on the end), Alexa, Zoe, Brooke (named after one of Reece's friends), or Charley (have no idea where he got that one).

So needless to say I am open for suggestions. Since our last name is really a first name it is hard to go with. Anything that ends with a 'y' sound seems a little too cutesy and I'm not too sure of the 'c' or 'k' sound at the beginning of the name. My mom said that we should go with something common...like Berta. HA! NO chance.

Ok, I'm opening this up for ideas. Discuss...

Staying home

First of all, thank you SO much for all of your kind comments on here and on Facebook about our baby girl news! We are so excited.

I did also seem to stir up discussion about my previous post about the Fruity Pebbles. I had people that I didn't even know read my blog say something about it. I know I grossed a lot of you out (including Scott) with that one and I am sorry. Just be glad there were no pictures, ha!

I have been home now for two months. I have to say that is has been the BEST two months ever. I didn't know what to expect being a stay at home mom. Here are some observations I have made in these two months:

-There is really no obligation or motivation to take a shower as soon as you wake up. I never thought I would be one of those moms that I used to see on my way to work wearing a ballcap & sweats dropping off my kids at school. I used to think "good grief get up and get ready, lady." Whoopsy, that's me now. Don't worry, I haven't missed a shower one day, some days they are just a little delayed.

-Holy cow how much trash can one family have? I literally take our kitchen trash out two or three times a day. Where is it all coming from?

-I'm afraid our dishwasher is going to go on strike from being run every day. Now that we can't eat out a million times a week I have to load and unload every day. This is very new to me.

-When you are home all day you have this guilt looming over you that you are supposed to be cleaning and organizing and making sure everything is perfect. I am not a fan of this.

-You get to experience your kids' funniest moments. Reece, for example, fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor the other day at 10 in the morning. He was playing, playing, and then laid down and went to sleep. I had to take a picture. That will teach him from getting up at 3am and trying to get in bed with us!

-It makes for an extra LONG day when your hubby works late.

-No matter how hard I try to fight it, I can't resist a nap. Each day I tell myself that I will NOT take one, but once Reece is in his bed sound asleep and the house is quiet my body just seems to head for the couch. My mom has actually started saying "are you sleeping" when she calls in the afternoon. That's bad.

-When I get on the computer to get my work hours in Reece gets ticked. He comes over and tries to close the laptop and says "NOOOOO, close it!" What a bossy boy.

-The Backyardigans are NOT my friends. That is the one movie I can turn on & Reece will sit and watch so I can get my work done on the computer and they absolutely drive me NUTS!!! This is a big statement coming from me because I watched (and enjoyed) the Wiggles for about 3 years with Ethan. I don't know what it is about the Backyardigans but they are more than I can take. Is anyone else with me on this one?

I really have loved being at home. It has been so great.

My maternal instincts

WERE TOTALLY OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The "baby whisperer" was right again.

I have to say that I am totally in shock! I told the ultrasound tech (who is SO fabulous) that we already have two boys and I know for a fact that this one is a boy, too. Scott, of course, sat there sticking with his feeling that it is a girl. She was doing all of her measurements and then stopped and looked at me and said 100% girl. I about freaked!!!! I'm not sure if I let out a squeal or not, but I just burst into tears. We are so so excited and more than anything so thankful to see that she has all of her fingers and toes and organs and looks great!

Ethan stuck to his guns this whole time in saying that it is a girl. He was so excited when I told him after school and had to say. "Hey Mom, I was right and you were wrong." I wonder how many more times he will say that to me in his life.

My friend Andrea (who has two girls) responded: "welcome to the world of hair bows". WHOA! This freaked me out a little. I don't even have hair myself! I haven't put a ponytail in for about 10 years. I have made some low quality attempts on my nieces, but they were not great. My poor little girl may look rough! I do, however, remember how to french braid.

Needless to say we are excited and ready for this new chapter! Thank you to everyone who has been calling, texting, and emailing today to find out the big news. It has meant so much to me!

Big hugs!

Pregancy Service Announcement!!

I have a very special message for anyone out there that is pregnant or will be pregnant again. I had a traumatic experience today and I want you all to be prepared if this ever happens to you.

WARNING: Is this gross? Yes. Is this too much information? Yes.

Reece and I had just been on a lovely trip to Target to buy baby gifts. There is nothing better than shopping for babies, especially at Target. I had remembered that I had forgotten one thing so I had decided to stop at old trusty--Dollar General before I went back home. Then something happened.

Something I had experienced before. Something that hasn't happened in about 3 weeks that I thought was long gone. Queasy. A little dizzy. Sweaty. I immediately scrapped the Dollar General trip and floored it to get home STAT!

I let out just a little cough and SPLAT! Fruity Pebbles all over the dashboard. Fruity Pebbles all over radio, the gearshift, my pants, my shirt. I start to panic. Since I was almost to my house I was on a street of just houses. I couldn't pull over in someone's driveway and vomit. I had to grab the quickest thing I could find before the next "surge."

The diaper bag. As many times as I have complained about the fact that Reece is still in pull-ups, I couldn't have been more thankful than at this very moment. Yes, I grabbed the diaper bag and let it flow.

It was an ugly ugly experience. The lesson of this story is to BE PREPARED. Stick a barf bag nearby. You never know when this will happen to you!!!!

The funny part of the story is that Reece in the back seat would say "Bless you Mommy" every time I would cough or gag. Then he saw me with his bag and said "OHHHHHH, you got my bag!!!!" If only he knew. I'm so disappointed in Fred and Barney. They have been so good to me since childhood.

Our pool runneth over...

Well, not actually, but it's going to happen SOON if it keeps raining. I have been watching it for two days and with all the rain we have been getting it is almost to the top!! You can't really tell in the picture, but it is about 3-4 inches higher than the water level usually is. Crazy!!! I think Gustav is going to wash us all away here in Arkansas!! I think it will stop within the next day, but I don't know if I have ever seen it rain this much for so long.



In the middle of all this rain Reece started at his new pre-school today! It is at a church nearby and will only go for two mornings a week, but I know he is going to LOVE it!! He couldn't have been more excited to take a backpack "like Ethan!" He didn't even realize his backpack is Ethan's hand-me-down from last year--HA! Poor second child. I am now glad that I only wrote our last name on it so it doesn't look too pathetic. Here's his picture before we left the house (and got soaked).

Ok, I just realized that he is wearing the same shirt that he had on in the picture from Ethan's first day. Since he loves Mickey Mouse he chooses it every time it's clean. I know I am cheap but I promise he has more than one shirt. Not to mention I bought that one BRAND NEW for him, no hand-me-down there. But it did come from Wal-Mart. HA!