"Ain't No Ham Like Birmingham"

A week or so before Spring Break arrived I talked to Rebecca about taking the kiddos to the lake house for a few days. I figured I probably needed to get Suzy out to do something fun since it would be her last little school break as the only child. I have really tried to do as much with her as possible. Rebecca's kiddos, Samuel and Evie, are some of Suzy's favorite people. They would be the perfect travel company. Of course, we cannot go anywhere without our Laurie. Everyone needs a Laurie in their life. She makes our life so much easier. I promise without her and KK I would be lost! We finally ironed all our plans out after I spoke with a friend of my mine (Lindsey) that lives in Birmingham. She gave me a list of fun things to do with the kiddos. Birmingham is only an hour or so from the lake house, so a quick little day trip is what was on our agenda for that Tuesday.

We got to the lake Monday afternoon. We unloaded the car and the kids headed to the dock immediately. Laurie, Rebecca, and I sat on the bank and just watched them play. The weather was beautiful and the stress of the trip had totally subsided (I had a slight hormonal and exhaustion induced meltdown the previous Sunday). A tremendous weight had been lifted off of me and I was so grateful that we went through with our journey. Tuesday morning we packed the kiddos back up and headed to Birmingham. Samuel kept repeating the quote, "Ain't No Ham Like Birmingham" the whole journey there. I have no clue where that came from, but it has stuck in my head.... I don't know what we would have done without iPads on that trip. They kids were entertained by them and only asked if we were there yet 100 times instead of a 1,000.

Our first stop was The Science Center.....

Evie on the bed of nails.... She looks pretty comfy, doesn't she? 

The bubble station was my favorite thing they had there! The kiddos loved them too!

Suzy has always been a lover of bubbles, so this was right up her alley.

Evie had her heart set on seeing some dinosaurs while we were at the center. I had no idea if there were/were not any there, but we luckily ran across some! Her day was made!! 

Sweet kiddos even got to dig for dinosaur bones! 

After The Science Center, we headed to a popsicle place that Lindsey recommended to us. They make fresh popsicles. The best part of the little place was that if you didn't like the flavor you ordered you got to swap it for another flavor (free of charge)! Suzy ended up with a raspberry. I have no clue what Evie and Samuel ended up with. Suzy's was yummy! I had to finish it for her ;)

The sunshine was too bright for Eves.

She was loving her Steel City Pop!

We ended our day with a quick trip to an awesome park we found. The kids were exhausted on the way home, so we opted for a Chick Fil A dinner before heading back to the lake house. They played the rest of the afternoon while the grown ups recuperated. We headed back home Wednesday morning AFTER having some of Chef Troy's famous pancakes! I swear I have to have pancakes from Talk of the Town every single trip I make to the lake. It wouldn't be a complete trip without them.

Nails, Piles, and Messes

Suzy has been driving me bonkers lately. Not that I don't love her more than life, but good golly..... She and her daddy can destroy a house faster than anything I have ever seen! I do not keep a spotless house like I once did before Suzy came along. Things are always scattered about and there is always laundry to be done or put away. My house may not be showcase quality 100% of the time, but I always try to devote one day to cleaning up really good and a couple afternoons to doing small chores. We have zero carpet in our house and a lab and corgie that live inside. I sweep A LOT! Scott is not much help when it comes to keeping the house in tip top shape. I don't complain about it though, because he does do laundry and he cooks every single night. I will gladly clean if he will keep doing those chores. He and Suzy both know that we will have frozen pizzas or popcorn shrimp every night if I am in charge of cooking. While I am cleaning, Scott is usually in charge of watching Suzy. I had gotten the living room completely cleaned one morning... I mean it was spotless. I moved to the kitchen and by the time I finished the kitchen Suzy had created this masterpiece on my coffee table in the living room. She did this while her daddy was sitting in his recliner six feet away watching golf....

I went to Kyoto with the girls one night for dinner and socialization. I dearly paid for it once returning home. This was just one of the messes that I walked into the house to find. We let Suzy paint all the time, but I always clean it up. This was just left out for me to take care of I suppose?? She does NOT clean up after herself. We have got to do better about making her do that!! 

Seriously, Scott is one of a kind. He pulls his weight around the house and has helped me out tremendously since I have been pregnant. There have been many afternoons that I have had to come home and immediately lay down for a little while. He will pick Suzy up, enter the house quietly, start supper, wake me up to eat, bathe Suzy, tuck her in, and then clean up the kitchen from his cooking. Suzy and I are super lucky girls to have him back at home with us! 

Scott may not be the best house cleaner in the world, but he could definitely win the Best Snorer in the Universe award. Suzy started sleeping with me a couple nights a week due to his snoring habits. This was not my idea.... He suggested that he sleep in her bed and that she sleep in our bed. I sleep so much better when she sleeps with me. She makes some racket and moves around a lot, but she doesn't hold a candle to the raucous her Daddy causes.

Monday afternoon I came home feeling so crummy. My feet were swollen, my lower back was hurting, and the pressure of Sally was killer. I had all intentions of coming home and lying down for a spell. Suzy quickly changed my mind by begging me to go with her and Scott to play golf. She got a set of golf clubs from Santa and will go play golf any day of the week that Scott will take her. We cruised up to the course and she immediately hopped out of the cart, grabbed her driver, and a ball. She then asked for a "nail".... I had no idea what she was talking about! Scott informed me that she calls golf tees, nails. She is a hoot to watch play. I hope she grows up to love golf as much as Scott does. We need her to be good at it too....scholarship money is always nice! 

Him helping her didn't last long. She decided she didn't need his help and could do it all by herself. It took like 2 hours to get through 4 holes of golf. 

While at school Thursday a kiddo asked me if I was having a baby. I see the kid every single day. He is on the 3rd grade hall and is in one of my classes. His class and I have had conversations about Sally. Where has he been?! This is the shirt I had on.... It did show off my bump, but not that much more than my usual duds. 

33 weeks and 196 lbs

My feet are really starting to swell by the time I get out of school. They look like they are about to bust out of these little flats that I have. They aren't nearly as swollen in this picture as they usually are. I have a pair of flip flops under my desk that I keep in case they start hurting too bad. 

I am terrified that Sally is going to come early. After my doctor's appointment Wednesday I am even more scared that she may be here sooner than I had anticipated. I have started getting ready for her to make her arrival. I have to have all my paperwork and such in order before I leave. The new IEPs that the state requires are a nightmare. It took me 2 days to write 2 IEPs this past week. Lord have mercy, they are going to be the death of me. This is what my desk looked like for 2 days.... I used every single document that was on it to write one single IEP too. Madness. My goal is to have them all finished (I have 9 kiddos to write them on) by 3/21. I want them completely done so I can get back to my classrooms and take care of my kiddos. 

My house has piles of stuff scattered around it too. Mom and Memaw helped me get Suzy's stuff down from the attic. We went through it last Saturday and started washing it all. It is all clean, but it's all stacked around the house like this..... Her crib is even full of stuff to be put away. 

Yetis and Petits

Well, I turned 31 on February 18 and celebrated up until yesterday. I love a birthday. I think they are so much fun to me because it is a day that is solely devoted to YOU! The best part of my actual day was when Suzy woke up. She walked into the bathroom where I was getting ready and so excitedly said, “Happy Birthday”! She was so excited to tell me and she seemed pretty thrilled with herself that she actually remembered all by herself (I think everyone around her reminded her that my birthday was coming up). Those two little words melted my heart and the hug that followed just sent me into a big fat pile of mush. I woke up later than usual on the morning of my big day and had to hustle to make it to work on time. When I arrived, I had two sprinkle donuts, a Diet Coke, and a gigantic Pixy Stick waiting for me on my desk. I went in to Mrs. Ivy’s room to do something and Molly King had a prize for me from her sweet little fam (Renee, Jeremey, and Lilly Grace). I opened a new Yeti tumbler with my initials on it. I absolutely loved it! Molly informed me and the entire class that it was $40, so I guess I should probably take good care of it. NeeNee would have died if she heard her. It was hilarious! I love that they are still at the age of no filters. I didn’t even have to stay at school that day. We had a field trip to The Orpheum and the kiddos ate lunch at Tom Lee Park afterwards. It was the best field trip that I have ever been on. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. When we got back from the field trip I had a bunch of little balloons on my classroom door that Mrs. Ivy’s class made for me. They are still on my door. I love them! I think I will keep them up as long as I can.

My fancy new cup from the Kings.

Aren't my balloons the cutest! 

Suzy has dance on Thursdays, so we didn’t plan a big family dinner like we typically do for birthdays. Laurie, Suzy, and I met KK, Oakey, Scott, Mimi, and Melissa at El Charro after dance to have a quick bite to eat. Those turkeys really surprised me with a new Yeti cooler and an Amazon gift card. I had not expected that at all! I have been telling them that I wanted a Yeti bag cooler for my “push present” when I have Sally. I wanted it stocked with cold adult beverages. The only thing that I have really craved that I cannot have while pregnant is the taste of beer. I have even gone through several six packs of O’Doul’s. Well, now that I have my cooler all Scott has to do is find the beverages…. Surely he can handle that!

I am going to have to put my name on my cooler somewhere in a very fancy font or something. I can see Scott trying to take on the golf course every weekend.

We finished celebrating my birthday last night at Mimi’s. Our Papa’s birthday is February 18^th too, so Mimi fixed a massive meal and had everyone over for dinner and cake! Suzy and I have a tradition that we always make the cakes for everyone, so we made Papa’s cake for him. Mimi got me some petit fours from Mrs. Sara because they are my all-time favorite. The cake and petit fours didn’t disappoint. Everyone left full, fat, and happy.

Mrs. Sara Embrey never disappoints when she bakes! They were soooo yummy!

I got my kitchen painted last week, but promised Scott that I would pay the painters with money I got for my birthday. So, as soon as Memaw and Papa handed me my envelope it was gone! I didn't mind a bit. The kitchen was a project that I was chomping at the bit to have completed. The previous owners had it painted a pretty yellow color, but they also had the trim, old paneling in breakfast nook (bottom of the wall), and all the doors painted the same yellow color. I couldn't get over not having shiny white trim. The painters repainted the yellow to freshen it up and all the trim and doors are now pretty and white! It is sooooo much better in my eyes. Painting trim and doors the same color as the walls may be a new trend or something, but I just couldn't jump on that bandwagon. The kitchen and dining room have been the only rooms in the entire house that we have repainted. Mrs. Calvert had wonderful taste in colors. Heck, I still used the yellow she had originally picked for the walls. 

Where you see white at the bottom of the wall in the nook used to be yellow as well.... EVERYTHING WAS  YELLOW! 

Everywhere that you see white used to be yellow!

Here too! Used to be allllll  yellow! 

 

Reality Sets In

My waistline is getting larger by the day, my feet look like sasquatch feet by 4 pm on a daily basis, I go through cases of toilet paper weekly due to frequent bathroom trips, I rarely get a full night's rest, my boobs feel like they are in knots, my back hurts periodically, I eat Tums like candy, and my belly button has just turned into a very shallow pool in the center of my stomach. I have even been feeling Sally's movements for weeks, but for some reason I just realized that I needed to start preparing for a baby to enter our home. I went to the doctor 12/29 and found out my due date was even sooner than the original prediction. Dr. Harper told me that Sally should be here 4/19. On my way home from Oxford I stopped by Cotton Treasures to look at some fabrics for baby bedding. I left there with my heart set on a fabric collection that I was very surprised I had picked out. I sent SheShe a message to let her know that I had made a decision, but that I needed some help coordinating them and deciding what needed to be used where. SheShe agreed to meet me at the store the following day to nail down a final plan. After about an hour of playing with different fabrics we spotted a fabric that I had been eying since I started looking at bedding options. I had not noticed it the previous day, so I was thrilled to see it. Within five minutes we had picked out coordinating fabrics to match "the one" that we stumbled upon that day. I bought the fabrics and sent them home with SheShe. She has been sending me sneak peaks of all the little pieces that she has assembled thus far. I have the bedskirt, bumper pad, and crib sheet at home on her bed now. We are still missing a few pieces (quilt, curtains, and twin bed skirt). I cannot wait to get it all assembled.

This is the picture that started it all. I pinned it before I even knew I was having a girl. I love the yellow fabric and the coral with it. 

We didn't do the exact fabrics as pictured up. We found the coral with the floral pattern added, and the green and cream as a coordinate. 

This is the bed skirt completed :) 

Sally's sweet monogram on the bumper pad.

This is everything assembled on SheShe's baby bed at her house! Isn't it just beautiful. When she sent me the pictures I cried happy, happy tears. I am thrilled with the end results. 

Just a close up of how pretty the fabrics are together. I wish I could tie a bow that perfectly.

Just love it! 

When I went to the doctor the last time I weighed a whopping 191 lbs. I am obviously pretty large and in charge. This makes it pretty difficult to sleep as it is. Unfortunately, Scott snores terribly. He is making it even more difficult for me to sleep. It is so aggravating. There have been several nights that I end up in the twin bed in Sally's room, Suzy's bed, or on the couch. He has made some night time moves too. I need earplugs and he needs a CPAP machine. I bought some handy dandy Breathe Right Strips at Wal Mart in hopes that it would help his snoring.... They are a waste of money. Don't buy them. He still snores. Suzy asked him the other night if he hurt his nose. He responded that he had not. Her next question....."then why are you wearing a Band Aid on your nose?"

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook the other night. It is quite appropriate to my life. 

Belly picture before my last doctor's appointment. 

 I ordered Sally some of her very own stationary a couple weeks ago, too. I love having stationary for Suzy, so Sally had to have her own as well. I received it in the mail a couple days ago and it is perfect.

Ella Sue Turns Four

Suzy started counting down the days until her birthday the day after Christmas. I truly think she was more excited about turning 4 than she was about Santa Claus coming. Every day she would wake up and let us know how many more sleeps she had before it would be her big day. We talked to her about birthday parties and she informed us that she wanted a swimming party. Of course she wanted a swimming party! I mean it was only 30 degrees the day of her actual birthday... perfect swimming weather, eh? We decided that we would send cupcakes and snacks to her friends at school the day of her birthday and have family over for cake and such the following Sunday. Her real birthday party with all her friends will have to come at a later date. We will have all her little friends over to Mimi's for swimming when it is consistently warmer weather.

Suzy and I went to Wal Mart the day before her party at school.  She picked out some fancy bakery cupcakes, Hi-C box drinks, and some chips to share with her friends. Mrs. April took some photos and texted them to me. We are so thankful for Mrs. April and Mrs. Beth. They do such a wonderful job raising her at school!

Sweet little girls! Her friend is Piper Massey. She loves Piper to death. 

Her favorite part of birthdays is blowing out candles. She gets to blow out the candles with the birthday boy/girl at all our family birthday parties. She lives to blow out candles :) 

Her plates and napkins did not match. She picked them out and I didn't care one bit that they didn't match. Whatever! Some things are not worth fighting over. I mean, it was her birthday.... her wish was my command! 

Mrs. Kathy Woolfolk makes a lot of sweets for us. She is a lifelong family friend of our family and we adore her and her family. I sent her a text requesting some type of mermaid cake for Suzy's birthday party that we would have for family the Sunday after her actual birthday. She sent me some pictures of some stuff that she could do and we ultimately decided on cupcakes that were shaped into a mermaid body. Suzy loved it the most. We also decided just to have snacks and some of the family over to celebrate.

Isn't that just he cutest little mermaid ever! 

Suzy strategically placed the candles exactly where she wanted to. When she wanted to put 1 candle in each bikini bra cup I decided that I should probably draw the line there..... 

And the girl chose a bikini bra cup to eat! She thought it was hilarious....

You can tell friends and family that you don't want them to bring any presents to a party until you are blue in the face, but they never listen..... Suzy even opened her present from Laurie several days before her party. Laurie found an awesome 'picking blanket' that was crocheted into a mermaid tail. It has been a huge hit. She got lots of goodies from the folks that came to celebrate with her. She even received new movies in the mail from KK and Oakey a few days after her birthday. She has celebrated for two weeks and loved every minute of it.

Isn't it just the cutest thing ever! And, it's even purple! 

Memaw always gives good presents that involve cards and checks :) 

It just doesn't seem real to have a 4 year old. I want to put a brick on her noggin and make her stop growing and pause time FOR HER. I don't want to pause time for myself, because I sure don't want to be pregnant for an eternity. Right now Suzy is at such a fun age. She is truly hilarious and has such a sweet soul. Scott and I are so blessed.