19+ weeks

They are right, you pop out much sooner with your second+ baby.  I am 1 lb lighter at the point in this pregnancy than I was with Sully, but I look like I did when I was 24-25 weeks with him.  Yikes!

A few more days and I am half way!!

I am contemplating some decisions at this time.  Mostly first world decisions, but decisions nonetheless.

Next week is my 20 week ultrasound.  I am thinking we probably will find out the sex.  I am DYING to know what this babe is!!  But I told my hubs that he can make the final decision as to whether we find out since I basically strong-armed him into finding out the sex the first time.  He keeps saying, "Yeah, we will probably find out," but I wish he would just commit to, "Yes, we will definitely find out."  I am eager to know!

The name decision...don't even get me started on that.  It was some sort of miracle that we were able to decide on Sully's name.  But agreeing on a second name?  Sounds impossible.

Then there is the decision of the color of the nursery.  The room is a celery color now and I HATE it!  I already bought some chevron patterned curtains that are cream and brown (they are neutral and would go with anything).  So now I am trying to decide on the room color.  I LOVE color.  So painting the walls a neutral is probably not going to happen.  I also like saturated colors.

It is gender neutral, too.  Even though we will likely find out the sex, I don't 100% trust that we will have that sex given all of the people I know that were told they were having a girl or a boy and went on to have the opposite.  So I would prefer that the room have a gender neutral base and I can add accessories depending on the gender.

Finally, I have been thinking long and hard about trying for a VBAC or having a repeat c section.  I have made a decision and feel very strongly about it.  Unfortunately, my doc is not really on the same page.  Although he says that ultimately it is my decision and he would support my decision, I know he disagrees with my decision right now.  And I would really like to have his full support on it and I don't feel like I do at this time.  So I guess more thought will go into this decision for now...

The most wonderful time of the year...

It's no secret that I love fall.  Everything about it is my favorite, the weather, the sports, the colors, the food, the decorations.   It is the whole package.  As if this was not enough, it is the prelude to the Christmas season, my second most fave time of the year.

Here is this years fall vignette.

You can see last years fall vignette here.

 Who doesn't love a chalk board sign?

I finally decided to do some outdoor fall decor as well this year.

 I plan on picking up some pots for these mums.  I just haven't gotten there yet.  Oh yeah, do you see the next project for spring?  That trim needs a paint job bad.

 Do you see the photobomber?  I didn't catch it right away.  Sneaky snake.

Last week I made my first batches of pumpkin muffins and chili of the season.

 When I am cooking, Sully likes to torture Turbo.

 I wish I could say that I make a mean chili, but the fact is that the hubs is the chili maker in the house.  He is way better at it but I could not wait for him to get home to start making it.  I needed some stat!

It was good, but not as good as his.

Hope you are all enjoying you fall!

Death at 60 mph

Warning:  If you don't like looking at dead animals, you may want to skip this post.





For the rest of you, in case you were ever wondering what a deer looks like when you hit one going 60 mph, let me show you.

I seriously thought I decapitated the poor thing but I guess I just snapped its neck.  I have never hit a deer and the whole experience has made me feel ill.  We were 2 hours away from home and I was returning by myself to a wedding where my hubs was partying it up when this poor doe came dashing out of a corn field right in front of my husband's car that I was driving.  I called my Mom and Dad and brother and then the police and then the insurance company.  Lets just say that the customer service of my insurance company was subpar and I spent approximately 50 minutes on hold waiting to talk to some one there who would call a tow company as the vehicle was not driveable (cracked and leaking radiator).

I felt like a first class jerk and I didn't want to have call my hubs and tell him that I wrecked another vehicle of his.  When we were dating in college I was driving his car and was rear ended at a stop light, the car was totaled.

He was very understanding and less annoyed with me than I probably would have been with him if our positions were reversed.  Luckily, the air bags did not deploy and it was not a significant jolt that I needed to go to the ER and have baby checked out (I did get checked out on Monday and baby is all good).

I would recommend that if you ever hit a deer or are in a serious accident, don't do it on a weekend.  We were unable to get a hold of any auto repair places on Sunday so our car was not towed to a shop until Monday and the insurance adjuster was not there until today.  The good news is it is not a total loss, it is fixable.  Only $6,400.00 in damage plus the tow charges.  Thank God for insurance!  We will only have to pay $500.  

I also want to point out that if a deer ever jumps out in front of you, DON'T swerve to miss it.  You run the risk of rolling your car and really getting hurt.  Just keep on your path on the road.  It all could have been much worse and I am thankful it wasn't.

And the final lesson from this experience, if you don't have rental coverage which covers the cost of a rental car when your car is being fixed included in your insurance policy, get it now!!  If you ever need it, it will be worth it.  We don't have it but you can bet we will be adding it ASAP!

Autumnizing

I finally have the energy to do something other than lay on the couch and veg.  And just in time for fall decorating!  I started with the new bookcase wall in the living room.

I started this yesterday.  The Sul is in the "why?" phase and questioned why I was decorating for fall.  The hubs jumped in and said, "Don't worry about it.  You will never understand."  Clearly the autumnizing goes unappreciated by some in my house.  But I don't care, that won't stop me.

I am doing an alphabet wall in the baby room so I had lots of letters that I am doing different finishes on.  I decided to use some of them in my fall decor...

I get the letters from Hobby Lobby.  They are a blank slate and just begging for some creativity.

I decided to do a different finish on all the letters.  I had already glued yarn to the F and cork to the A.  I decided to wrap one L in burlap strips and the other L I glued a bunch of buttons to it since I had jars of them laying around.  Below is what happens when your toddler wants to "help".  They end up everywhere, mostly because he can't help himself and does a big swipe with his tiny but mighty hand and flings them in the far corners of the Earth room.

Here is my finished FALL.

Yes, I probably should have painted the button L white first but I was too lazy.

Here are some of the other fall touches in the bookcase area.

A larger view...

The hubs was not supportive of the football in the decor.  He just didn't know what he was supposed to do when he wanted to play football with Sully outside.  I gave him permission to use it anytime he wants, he just needs to place it neatly back in its place when he is done.  He is still dubious.

Autumnizing is happening in other areas, including the standard area for the vignette.  It is coming along but I can't show it just yet as I need some more pumpkins and maybe some mums to complete the look.  Stay tuned.

Toddler Town 1, Mama 0

Oh Toddler Town has done it again.  Brought me to my knees.  How can one tiny little human make an adult feel so inadequate?  Parenting in Toddler Town is tough most days.

Now, I know that some people out there would give anything to be in my shoes, living in Toddler Town and expecting another bundle on the way.  I know, I have been there.  Which is why I continue to have an internal struggle between posting whiny parenting posts or only posting the positive parenting posts.  But even though I am so grateful for my blessings and sensitive to others who dream of the same fate for themselves, I try to remember that that does not make parenting any easier some days.  It is not all daisys and butterflies everyday.  Parenting a child is tough...and parenting a toddler it tougher.  And today was tough.  So this is a whiny parenting post, you were warned.

Exactly what set off the most recent round of toddler meltdowns is insignificant.  What is significant is the fact that my toddler is contrary to the nth degree.  He is so contrary that even when I get him what he just asked for 3 seconds prior, he suddenly does not want it and is utterly offended by my offering.  So contrary that he screams "NO" in my face two seconds after I tell him that it is not ok to scream in your mother's face while in the grocery store, just to see what I will do about it.

My toddler does not just observe life, he does not just live life, he feels life.  His emotions are so strong, sometimes I wonder if he is the pregnant one with out of control hormones.  He feels all his emotions to the nth degree.  Whether it is joy, anger, fear, happiness, sadness, love...they are all equal and all consuming.  Every cell in his body feels his emotions.  Sometimes I can't help but feel a bit bad for him.  Because he gets that from me.  Come to think of it, he gets most of his undesirable qualities from me, lucky him.  I know what he is in for.  It took years for me to calm my feelings enough so that they did not consume me and eat me from the inside out.  But it can be done.

And of course, like any toddler, he is trying to do everything "by myself" and exert his independence. He is testing his boundries...and pushing my buttons daily.

And sometimes, Mama just snaps.  And when Mama snaps, it is not pretty.  There may or may not be foot stomping and yelling and forced time outs.  There may or may not be banging of dishwasher trays and doors.  There may or may not be cabinet slamming while putting dishes away.  The dog may or may not be scared to leave her kennel.

But boy is it effective.  Some one was an angel the rest of the night.  Don't worry, we made up with me saying, "I love you" and him saying, "Lets be happy.  I am happy now."  And M&Ms.  M&Ms always help.

But we are ok.  We survived another day.  And we will continue to do so.