various things

We are officially a few days away from the third trimester.  Twenty seven weeks has snuck up on me.  Not because this pregnancy is super easy and flying by, alas it's not, merely because life is just full.

I passed my glucose screen yesterday {by the skin of my teeth} and Dr. Alverson said he'd start seeing me every two weeks from now on.  I laughed --a little-- because he's basically been seeing me every two weeks since 20 weeks anyway due to these silly Braxton Hicks.

Reese went with me to my appointment yesterday and he was pretty much a dream.  It was the last day of our Spring Break so we rewarded ourselves with prizes when we were done.  Spring Break has been especially bittersweet this year.  I think it's knowing that this is my last real break with Reese before the babe arrives. In theory I should have three weeks at home between the last day of school and the baby's arrival, but I'm certain 37 week pregnant me is going to be a mess.  100% certain.

At the beginning of the week we took our favorite five year old on a mini vacation to ATL.  There is nothing Reese loves more than staying in a hotel.  Seriously.  There's a Fairfield Inn less than five minutes from our house that he asks to spend the night in at least once a week.  I found a room at the Omni for a steal a few months ago, and other than that we didn't really have a plan for Sunday/Monday.  We wanted to go to Ikea and I really wanted to avoid the aquarium, but otherwise we let Reese take the lead on what he wanted to do.

We started with lunch at the Varsity on Sunday and then headed to the ATL Children's Museum.  To be completely honest, the museum wasn't our favorite.  Reese and I experienced the McWane Center in Birmingham with Cassie and Penel this summer and comparatively this was a letdown.

It wasn't very expensive {I think  $11 per person} so the fact that we were only there an hour or so wasn't that big of a deal.  We headed to our hotel next.  The Omni is directly across the street from Centennial Park and connected to the CNN center-- a prime location.

This pretty much sums up my hotel loving baby.  He ate a snack and rested from that position {and later returned to that chair to watch the lights come on in the city- priceless} before we headed to Centennial Park to walk around.  There had been a marathon earlier in the day so the park was mostly clear of homeless people, a rarity in ATL.

Monday morning Lofton went down to the CNN center to grab coffee, yogurt, and Chick Fil A -- i.e, the breakfast of champions for our crew.  We got dressed, checked out, and hit Ikea right when it opened.  I, impressively, had a list and even more impressively pretty much stuck to it.  We got a bookcase for the babe's closet, a few curtain panels for our back bedroom, new duvet covers for a "big boy room" upgrade, and a couple other odds and ends {umm, $2 wine glasses?  I'll take six more, please}.  Then we zipped over to the zoo.

Reese has a love/hate relationship with the zoo.  As in he loves it "in theory" but when he gets there he's kind of "meh" about it.  Such was the case again.

There were some high points-- seeing the baby pandas and baby lions.  But also some lows "Mama, why does it always have to smell like.... the zoo?!?" Luckily Lofton and I were fully aware of this pre-trip.  We went in knowing our tour would be quick.  The Beasley's can see an entire zoo in an hour and a half-- tops.

Before getting back on the road, we hit one more place-- Flip Burger.  It was yummy and Reese's krispy kreme milkshake was amazing.  And it was at this point that I started to get a little sad our trip was over.  Lofton felt the same.  Lots of changes on the horizon for these musketeers!

The rest of Spring Break passed with cold weather, rain, and chores-- and on our one clear day a picnic! Monday we are back to the grind.  Nine more Monday's to go until summer....

nursery plans

The boys are at small group tonight {and I'm stuck at home with my "germs" as Reese kindly told me} so I thought we'd do a little nursery update.

Reese's nursery was bright.  Very bright-- with lime green walls, traditional crib bedding from Pottery Barn, and a green chenille rocker.  At the time it was just what I wanted.  My tastes have evolved a bit in six years, though, so we're moving in a less baby more classic direction.

The first step in creating the nursery, however, involved creating a room.  Our house is a very long ranch style with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.  Plenty of space for us and we easily could have used one of the existing bedrooms for the babe.  For various reasons, including we like having a room with a bathroom for my parents AND the room's location at the very end of the house, we opted for a different plan.

For the three years we've lived here we have brainstormed how to better utilize the long space at the front of our house.  In 1958 it was used as a formal living room and dining room.  There was an addition to our house in 2005, though, that added a giant family room {open to the kitchen} and a huge master bedroom.  We used the front space as a dining room, alternating our table from one side of the room to the other.  It just never felt right.  And we'd eat dinner at night and talk about what we could do to change it.

One night, before the babe was a blink, Lofton jumped up with an idea to divide the space into a bedroom and reconfigure the other side into a dining room/foyer.  The plan for the dining room/foyer is currently on hold, but the bedroom idea has worked out perfectly.  The only obstacle was the fireplace which you can see in the photo above.

That took some pondering, as well, but I couldn't be happier {or more impressed} with Lofton's plan.  Bookshelves.

Really fantastic bookshelves. He built those! The detail is seriously amazing.

And while he's been constructing, I've been doing what I do best-- planning.  I've picked out a wall color, fabrics, and some accessories.  The wall color was a struggle.  Originally I wanted a light, blue gray {SW quietude, the color of our dining room}.  We painted some on the wall and I was kind of blah about it.  Then we tried lighter shades which I just hated.  So on a whim I had Lofton pick up some darker test pots and just like that we had a winner.

Benjamin Moore Black Pepper.  I love dark paint in a bedroom.  Our bedroom is really dark {Martha Stewart Plumage} and it's one of my favorite rooms in the house.  Plus, the nursery has so many light elements: the white bookshelves, a white crib, and an ivory upholstered chair.  I think that the dark will be balanced perfectly.

Lofton painted the first coat today and I'm smitten. I tried to snap a picture with my phone, but there is currently a teeny light source in the room.  Finding a replacement is on the to-do list.  As is crib bedding, art, a lamp, and all those other things babies really need like clothes and diapers.  At least we have a plan, right?

the blizzard of 2014

I can count on one hand the number of days I've had off due to weather.  Not anymore, though, because tomorrow will be day three of this week.  It's a little mind boggling.  Equally so when I walk by the window and catch the white abyss that is still our snow covered yard.  We live in Alabama, y'all.  This is nuts.

 I was sitting in my principal's office Monday {not in trouble!} when she got the news that Tuesday we'd be taking a snow day.  I squealed just like my kiddos did when I told them the news.  Not because I actually thought there'd be snow-- I didn't, just because I really enjoy a day off.  I stopped by the grocery store to grab a few onions and a hunk of cheese for tomato soup and laughed at the hoards of silly people buying milk, bread, batteries and beer.

Monday night, after watching the news, it became apparent we'd be experiencing some type of winter weather.  I still wasn't overly concerned.  We've heard those forecasts before and seen nothing.  I did, however, negotiate an earlier hair appointment for Reese.  Because I have priorities and he looked like Albert Einstein.

Tuesday morning Lofton headed to work and I lounged around until Reese and I needed to leave to get his hair cut.  It was cold and raining, but again nothing alarming.  The alarm began when I came out thirty minutes later and my car was frozen solid and it was still raining. Only now it was frozen rain. I did what any smart girl would do and called my husband and asked him to come home.

The day unfolded from there.  More and more icy rain, a husband that couldn't come home from work, and a little panic starting to creep in.

Obviously we're fine.  And finally the rain turned to snow, which was happily welcomed by a certain five year old. We are, though, counting our blessings that we have two furnaces.  The one in the back of the house isn't working and it's a brisk fifty degrees back there.  Reese piled in for a slumber party last night, which as you can imagine meant Lofton and I got very little sleep.  It appears we will be suffering a similar fate tonight.

All this to say, Winter Storm Leon is certainly one we won't forget.

16 weeks

As I read back over my blog I feel a little guilty.  I'm neglecting to capture this second pregnancy and now here we are -- four weeks shy of halfway through!

Let's get to the big news first.  It's a...

Truthfully, we would have been happy either way.  I do think I'm a pretty jam up boy mama, though.  Reese would agree.  He also really wanted a brother.  All afternoon he's bounced around talking about all the things he can teach his "little brother."  I'm a puddle.

The only reason we thought it might be a girl is because this pregnancy has been really different.  It's hard to know why-- I surmise it's the increase in age {31 as opposed to a spry 25, yikes!}, but I also know our lives are a lot fuller now with work and church and a five year old.

The sickness has been brutal, but this week I seemed to have turned a corner.  I'm so thankful for that.  The exhaustion has passed as well.  Although I'm definitely tired at night and go to sleep easily, my pregnancy insomnia is the real deal.  I had it with Reese, too.  I'm awake most nights between 1:00 and 3:00, sometimes earlier. The headaches aren't as frequent, but they still hit me about once a week.  If I'm at work I take two tylenol, turn off the overhead lights, and drink a diet dr. pepper.  It's not a perfect fix, but I can function.  At home, I take the medicine my OB gave me and go to bed.

As far as weight, I started tenish pounds lighter this pregnancy and then lost a few in the first two months.  I'd be willing to bet my first born that I've gained them back in the last month, as my pants are getting a little snug.

The strangest thing to me about this pregnancy is really the lack of time I spend thinking about it.  It's not that I forget I'm pregnant, but it isn't our sole focus like it was the first time.  Lofton and I are both really excited, but also a little anxious about the change in our family dynamic.

And finally, the room is in progress.  We have walls and a closet, plus the fireplace is gone.  The fireplace is being replaced with a custom bookshelf.  That husband, he's a talented one.  The green paint will not be staying.  We also have a crib {thanks Emo!} and a rug.  Reese's old glider is going to be reupholstered and we need to find a dresser. We may use Reese's dresser because it's the right height for a changing pad and then find him something new.

Obviously the best part of it all is this --

A healthy, growing LONG legged little boy. Now for a name...

gratitude

Reese and I spent New Year's Eve morning at the dentist.  The hygienist, a friend, always schedules our next appointments while we are there.  Let's be honest, she knows I'll forget to call.  Six months out, she said, is the last week in June... and then she stopped and laughed.  I guess you won't be coming in the last week of June!

Six months out?  The last week in June?  No time for a dentist appointment, I'll be having a baby.  Crazy right?  We picked a random day at a random time the last week of July.  It's weird to think I have no idea what our schedule will be like.  I have no idea what a lot of things in our life will look like, to be honest.  That probably explains the lack of sleep I've had the past week or so.  Pregnancy insomnia is real, people.  The vortex of worry is also real.

In case you haven't picked up on it, I'm a worrier.  {ha. ha}

That's why my word for 2014 is gratitude.  The past two years I picked present and intentional.  Both similar in motivating me to soak up more of my life with the boys and be more thoughtful and direct with my words.  I'd like to think I did both of those things pretty well.  I enjoy picking a word to guide my year because I do well with focus.  It centers my thoughts and gives me a purpose.  So gratitude it is and I'm going to start now...

Gratitude for my sweet five year old boy.  He challenges me daily with his words.  I feel like I say constantly, "watch your tone" because he genuinely forgets he's five.  He also mirrors his mama :) But he is so sweet and he loves us so much.  Yesterday was a shower of hugs and kisses all day long as he bounced from toy to toy.  It's easy to forget those things when I'm tired and he won't eat anything but yogurt and peanut butter.

Gratitude for my husband.  The one who washed his own clothes with a three musketeers candy bar in his pocket.  What a surprise when I opened the drier Monday.  Seriously though, he takes such good care of us.  He brings me coffee every morning {and crackers from weeks 4-10}, makes the bed, takes care of making Reese's lunch, and so much more.  He is my very best friend.

And finally gratitude for my job.  My fourteen kiddos can exhaust me like no other and they are quite an eclectic group this year.  But there are only fourteen of them.  And they are sweet, at least to me, almost all the time.  I'm also grateful for a boss who is compassionate and understanding, who listens and is thoughtful.  I was super apprehensive about working for a woman, but so far so good.  Obviously the beginning of the school year is going to bring some challenges-- namely that I won't be there.  But I'm going to try not to worry about that right now.  Maybe March?

extra merry

I intended to blog about Disney. I have lots of cute pictures and stories to tell because it was truly a magical trip. But it's probably not going to happen.  At least not anytime soon.  I'm exhausted, friends.

Because apparently growing a human is really hard for me.

We've known since October so sorry you're a bit late to the party.  Reese is over the moon about "our baby."  And every single time he says our baby I get weepy.  I blame the hormones.

Also blaming the hormones for the all day nausea which turns into hours of vomiting each night.  And the splitting headaches.  Ouch.  I was sick with Reese, but it has been nothing compared to this go round.  I'm on my second medicine regime and these meds basically knock me out.  So yeah, my options are either vomit or sleep.  I'm a lot of fun to hang out with.

We are most certainly not complaining, though.  This pregnancy didn't come as easy as Reese, so we are going to happily vomit as long as it lasts.  I think Lofton would agree it was a longer and harder journey than we anticipated, but also a really great one for us.  We've learned so much in the last year about God's timing and God's plan.  Let's just say sometimes it's different than ours.

Right now I'm trying to balance work with rest with being a mama and a wife and oh yeah Christmas.  I'm overwhelmed and ready for this week to be over.  I need some Reese time.  I'm increasingly aware that our days as a duo are coming to an end and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anxious.  But he really is so excited. He told me tonight that he's going to practice his ballet because if our baby is a girl she'll need me to teach her.

So I'm going to leave you with that.  My five year old teaching himself ballet on the off-chance he has a sister!  Happy news and happy holidays!

soccer and pumpkins

We leave for Disney in a few days.  I knew that would be a blog worthy post, so I thought I might should get to recapping the last month before I get too far behind.

Our October has been dominated by soccer.

With Lofton as the coach I am, by default, team mom.  I take my role very seriously.  Just kidding. I do attend all the games, though.

And I also got in a minor {okay, major} verbal altercation with an opposing team's coach.  She was cheating. And insulting my husband.  It was ugly. I may have used the phrase "pot calling the kettle black" and told her to get back on her side of the field.  Not my finest moment.  But funny in hindsight.

Tomorrow night we play our last game and I am not sad.  Not one bit.  Although the kiddos are pretty adorable.  They are also unbeaten.  See that blond little boy on the left?  That's Warner.  He's a beast on the soccer field.

Last weekend we carved our pumpkin.  Reese was so excited... until he realized what is actually inside the pumpkin.  Evidently pumpkin guts aren't his thing.

So basically Lofton and I spent two hours carving pumpkins while Reese played football in the yard.  They looked phenomenal-- mine had polka dots and Lofton carved a Mickey Mouse vampire into the other-- but I didn't get a picture because the heat got them after approximately one night.  Bummer.  Wednesday was the big trick or treating night in Opelika.  Reese went to five houses.  At the first house {friends of ours we attend church with} Reese burst into tears when he got four feet from the door.  The pressure of ringing the doorbell was too much.  So we did it together.  And after five houses, all people we knew, he was done.  Lesson learned?  Halloween is not our jam.

And with that November has arrived and Mickey Mouse awaits.  

We are beyond excited.