One Month From Today.....

Is my due date! AHH!! September 8th will be here in no time! My parents are keeping Alex tonight and some of tomorrow so we are off to buy paint for Carson's nursery. Alex is getting all of her big girl furniture (it's black- yay!) delivered tomorrow, so we will have a busy weekend and hopefully I'll have pics to post soon!

The Sickerus: The Greatest Show on Earth

As much as we miss daddy while he is gone, it sure does make our Friday, Saturday and Sunday fun! We have been really capitalizing on our quality fam time when he is home. We both agreed these are our last few weekends to really get out and do some fun things, so this weekend we decided to take Alex to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner and the Circus.
Here are two cute pics of Alex and Nathan at Rainforest. She told us at dinner, "I love eating in da jungle!" We were thinking about how much different it is now with a 3 1/2 year old. She's such big stuff. We enjoyed dinner with our little friend.

The Circus, or "sick-er-us" as Alex calls it was a BLAST! We had great seats...third row right in the center, so Alex was able to see everything. I think I watched her more than the actual show, but trust me it was entertaining. The best was watching her shove popcorn, cotton candy, ice cream and a snow cone down her mouth (no, not all at once) and watch the show at the same time. We were all on a serious junk food high!

There were all of the usual talents-- elephants, tigers, trapeze artists, etc. The highlight of the show for us was the "puppy talent show." There were all kinds of little dogs; mainly poodles and poms, but there was one Yorkie just like our pups at home. Alex was so excited because she thought "Macy" (our puppy) was performing at the circus. Of course "Macy" was the only disobedient dog-- she was barking and not minding and went the wrong direction on the ladder, and the trainer was running after her the whole time. We are sure this was all a part of the act, but we were cracking up! The best part of it all was when we got home....Alex saw Macy and said "Macy, you did a great job at the Sick-er-us today." Are you kidding me?! She is TOO much! I'm sure you had to be there, but it was hilarious!

Happies

Yay, more happies!

1. In an attempt to cut down on the caffeine (which I've done really well with so far) I discovered a new hidden talent at Starbucks-- Blended, iced, green tea, with three honey packets. Okay, clearly nothing is going to compare to the Frap, but with 1/3 the caffeine and all of the benefits of Green Tea, this is a much better choice. And it's $2.00. Yea Starbucks!!

2. Expandable pants-- maternity pants are the best! Why don't we wear these all the time? Seriously..no buttons or zippers. Easy access :) HA! No really though the only benefit to the tight pants is that you actually feel full, so that helps with portion control.

3. Pregnancy. Yes, even in the 9th month in August (105 degrees today) it makes me happy! I am cherishing all of the kicks, rolls and feeling in your belly that only a mommy can describe. Nathan said jokingly last night "okay, look at me and look at you and tell me you want to be a woman right now." As crazy as it seems, I do want to be. It's such a gift to get to carry around a little miracle with you. It certainly gives you a feeling of importance. It makes the little things seem very insignificant. Enough with the sentimental talk :)

4. People Magazine. It's my guilty pleasure. Thank you Nathan for the weekly escape!

Not so happies ;)

I can't help it.
Things that are miserable about being prego (yes, this negates the sweet things I just wrote in happies):

1. Getting to the point that you can't see your feet. Not cool. You stub your dang toes all the time. And if you know me, you know about my "baby toe" issues. NOT FAIR!!!

2. Outgrowing maternity clothes?! That makes you feel extra pretty ;)
It's like they make these clothes for only 7 months of pregnancy. What about months 8-9 when even the expander isn't expanding enough?!! Is there a special store for the "really, really big months?" Bitter.

3. Sleeping. I am standing up at times now just because that seems to be the only way to get comfy. Good times!!

4. Strangers inappropriate comments. Pregnancy apparently gives people the easy access to come up and tell you everything there is to know about childbirth! I was at Brookestone today and the sales rep (a male, late 50's) said "now you aren't going to have your baby in the store right now are you because I have a lunch break in 20 minutes." Thanks.

5. My child loves to lift my shirt and share with EVERYONE that I am having a baby. "Oh and watch-- it moves," she says. Actually it's really cute! Just had to put this on the list b/c I wish she would just keep the belly in.

6. The belly button. Enough said.

Happies!

One of my friends, Allison, posts "happies" every Monday. Happies are just random things that she loves. Don't know if I'll be a weekly "happies" blogger, but here are a few things that make me REAL happy:

1. Starbucks-- yes, I am prego. Yes, I drink caffeine. I am working on it, but you know there other things higher on the list that take priority ;) I did SO good with Alex and never had caffeine. So, my current fave is the Caramel Frappuccino. See, that is just love. It has 90mg of caffeine and you can apparently have up to 300mg's of caffeine a day while prego. I don't think I've come remotely close to tapping out :)


2. Blue Bell Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
There is a pattern here-- lots of fattening foods :) I wonder why Carson is kicking me to death?!?! Hmmmm

3. So You Think You Can Dance-- the best dance show eva!! Not really loving any of the girls, but Twitch & Joshua are my current favorites. I am bitter that Will got kicked off. VOTE PEOPLE!!! I never have but think it's time to step it up this week after Kherington & Will :(

4. Afternoon naps-- they are rare, but I've been indulging in an afternoon nap once a week at least. I know this is a limited time offer.

5. Salt. I like it. It makes me swell. Deal with it. And I like the Sea Salt. That's for hard core salt addicts.

6. Baby wipes-- are the best invention ever! I don't know how I survived without them! Now that my tummy is a "catch all" for everything, it's nice to have a wipe stashed for those embarassing spill moments.

Carson's Baby Shower - July 20, 2008

Can I just say I have the BEST friends and family in the world?! Last Sunday was Carson's baby shower. I had the most special day-- I really felt like it was the first time I could stop and celebrate the little man's arrival! With Alex being sick during the 1st trimester of my pregnancy, keeping up with her in general, and Nathan traveling over the past 5 weeks, it's been tough to just stop and take it all in. So, this was just an awesome, awesome day! 7 of my dear friends (including Erin who is family too) set up a beautiful cake, family pics, wonderful food, etc. The best part was seeing everyone of course! Rachel and baby Elijah came all the way from Austin which meant the world to me. Several Baylor girls hiked it from all over the area. Both of my moms were there too which was SO fun. I truly have the best moms in the world! Thank you Deb for driving all the way here just to be with me! Carson racked up all kinds of love. We have everything we need for his nursery now and got a ton of adorable clothes and other goodies. We just feel incredibly blessed and now we are ready to meet the little guy. Well, not really ready...but we are closer.

Randoms

Here are a some photos from the past few weeks. We made a trip to Little Rock for Deb's birthday and ABCDE (My brother and sister-in-law and the kids) all joined along with Nana, Granddad, Tyler, Lily and baby Logan. It was a total zoo! My favorite pic is the watermelon shot with Dru. He asked me if I swallowed a watermelon, so when I saw one sitting on the counter, I thought...photo op.
I hope you can see just how much fun we are having this summer!

Alex, Katie and Kaitlyn at a swim playdate

Our little Belle

Daddy & Alex share summer bonding time on the trampoline

The Darby Grandkids

The watermelon pic!

Ghetto princess

Alex loves playing dress-up