9/29/12-- 32 Weeks and Emily's Baby "Sprinkle"

Today was a big day. I am now 32 weeks pregnant, and we also had Emily's Baby "Sprinkle" (a mini baby shower that you have for baby #2). It was a really nice time! My good friend Beth Pistolis threw the "sprinkle"at her house. She's been so great--loaning us baby furniture, making adorable letters for Emily's room as a gift, and now a shower!

Most of my good friends from here were able to come: Beth P., Leah H., Christi W., Moira H., Laura and Norah B., Carolyn P., and new friend Leann B.We had a nice time enjoying some yummy (and adorable) goodies, got to chat and catch up some, and opened gifts. My mother-in-law also had some surprises up her sleeve ;) Along with the baby bedding, she had also rushed and finished Emily's curtains and changing pad cover in time for the sprinkle and sent it to Beth's house. She and Bruce also surprised us with a baby rocker (glider). It was so generous and special to have "one of a kind" stuff for Emily's room. 

A little update on Ashley as well. She has been going through a rough phase. She has been in major "mommy mode", where she has been whiney and very clingy with me and also seems to only want mommy. Even when "dada" has her, she still reaches for me and cries.
I'm not sure if it's just part of a normal phase (since I know kids can go through this), if it's a result of starting school up 1x/week--(she had a hard time the first two weeks, but seems to be doing much better now), or if it's because she senses change with the baby coming. She definitely understands the whole baby thing now. There's been a lot of change with switching rooms, bringing out some of the baby things, seeing my belly grow, talk about baby Emily, etc. A lot of it she seems to enjoy though--she has been having fun going into Emily's room and playing with the baby seat, carseat, old baby toys, etc.
Well whatever it is, I hope it's short lived. I hate seeing her get so upset. Other than that she's doing great though.

30 Weeks

Today I am 30 Weeks. Crazy! Only 10 to go, give or take some. The time is just flying by. I am kind of sad knowing this is my last pregnancy (unless God has different plans), and that some days I am so busy that I don't get to "take it all in" as much as I'd like. But there are times I am still enough to enjoy the kicks and movements which I always love to feel.

Yesterday I went for my doctor appointment. Everything is right on track and baby is doing great. 

Below are pics of me today at 30 weeks.

As for an Ashley update, Ashley is continuing to grow and learn. She suddenly looks taller to me, and is thinning out into more of a "kids body" rather than baby's. 

One new thing Ashley recently did was walk around the lake. She walked from our house, down to our lake, all the way around and back to the house with minimal carrying. It's about a mile total. We were amazed. She loves to walk and explore. In fact, when we'd try to pick her up to give her legs a break, she'd cry and say "down, down" because she wanted to walk. 

She has also started to really like the show Barney. The show is kind of annoying for adults, but I have to say that it's a really great show--it's educational and also teaches very good messages. She will ask for me to put it on, and sings and dances to it.

Ashley has been having fun doing creative activities. She loves to color and play with stickers. Yesterday we did a sensory project where we played with dry rice and pasta. It was messy, but we had lots of fun. She also has fun cleaning. She will pull out one of her wipes and wipe down the table, floor, etc. It's cute.

Ashley has also been climbing more. She pulls herself up on the couches, the chairs at the dinner table, coffee table (even though I discourage her to climb/sit on that one).

Now that the weather is getting cooler (comfortable), we have had lots of outdoor fun at parks, outside in the backyard, walks, etc. She seems to really love playing outdoors.

She also started doing this cute thing where you'll ask her a question and she'll say "noo" in this cute tone.

Ashley has also been going through a picky phase with food recently. We have always exposed her to a variety of foods, and she'd basically eat whatever we ate from the age that it was safe. She used to eat lots of things, but these days there are quite a few things she refuses to eat. It seems to be getting better though.

Well that's all for now, enjoy the new pics.

 Ashley sitting at the table like a big girl

 9/15-- Daddy and Ashley's 1st Clemson game!

 Ashley looks pretty excited!

 30 Weeks!!

 Having a blast at the play area in the mall

 Fun at the playground

 I know it's early, but showing off Ashley's new hat I ordered...She and Emily will have matching ones

 9/15 Fun at the playground

Labor Day Weekend Fun

We had a fun weekend. Our good friends Jim, Jen, Lily and Emma came up to visit from Ga. We tried to squeeze in as much fun stuff as possible during the time they were here.

We met our other good friends, Christi, Matt, Eli and Katie for lunch after the Children's Museum. We went to the airport cafe where they had good food and you could watch the planes land and take off (the kids loved it). Jen and Lily's birthdays are both in August, so we got a cake and had a couple of gifts. We took it easy the rest of the day since Lily had been sick in the car--wanted to make sure it wasn't anything too serious, then we took a stroll downtown one night, played in the park and fed the ducks.

The next day we went up to Skytop Orchards for apple picking. It is a fall tradition that I have come to love. Now that we live down south I absolutely love the fall. Up north I wasn't a fan--the leaves were gorgeous, but the cold weather came quick and I knew it was a long cold winter ahead. Down here the fall is quite comfortable--a perfect cool day, still get the leaves changing, and there is an end in sight with cold weather.

However, in the past we've typically gone apple picking in October, but a lot of the apples are on the ground by then. So we went this weekend, and it was a great kick off to fall events, although it didn't feel too "fall-ish" since it was still quite hot out. We had been having really nice weather in the low 80s, but it had shot back up to low 90s over the weekend. Thankfully since we were up in the mountains, it was about 8 degrees cooler up there.

Jen and I also snuck out and went to a couple stores for a little bit later that day while the girls napped. We had to duck out of the rest of the activities because my body was physically done by then.

The next day we had a playdate and hung out. The kids had a fun time together as well.

Here are some pics from the weekend....May add more at some point when I get a few more.

I also turned 28 weeks this past Sat (day these pics were taken). Wow!