Life as a single mother....kinda

Well, Chris has been on business all week in Orlando. I'm not gonna lie, I don't know how single mamas do it. I don't even have to go to work! Yikes. I did a good job of planning activities to get us out of the house this week, but I am still craving adult conversation by the time he gets home (which this time, is tonight!). Monday Anna-Kate and I went to the zoo with her friend Campbell and my friend Wendi. The Atlanta zoo is smaller than I imagined it would be, but honestly, had all of the "important" animals that Anna-Kate knows and wanted to see. She loves the elephants, giraffes and zebras (though kept getting more excited about the birds in the trees...) and the lions! The "daddy" lion kept roaring really loud and she had the biggest grin on her face!. We saw pandas and kangaroos and went in the petting zoo to pet goats, pigs and sheep. Every time she petted the sheep she screamed "BAAAA!!!!!" It was hilarious!

Tuesday we went to Mana and Papa's house to play and for dinner. I know they enjoyed seeing her, and she was sweet and played so well there (and outside on Papa's grass). Wednesday she played with her friends in the nursery at church while I was at Bible study and then that afternoon we went to Kangazoom with our playgroup. She had such a good time!

The weather has finally turned gorgous!! We have been playing outside and going on long walks every day. Great excercise for mama and Anna-Kate loves being outside!

Her language is just exploding, I am so impressed. This morning she heard Copper barking so she trotted off to find him. She came back a minute later and said, "mama, ca-ca's a tair". Sure enough, Copper was sitting on the other side of the gate on the stairs. :) With a growing vocabulary comes a strong will and the ability to know exactly what she does and doesn't want. Hmmm. It used to be so easy, now she knows when she isn't ready for a bath, because after bath time is bed time. :) It really makes me appreciate her though, because she is generally a really obediant kid. I watch other kids her age and compare (Iknow I shouldn't, but I do..) and I am so proud of her! When I say come here, 9 out of 10 times she comes, and that 10th time she comes after I tell her again (as she knows consequences will follow, but whatever).
After naps we are going to Adam's house to play. They've been out of town the last week, so Anna-Kate is dying to play with her friend! Then we'll go out to dinner. Before Chris left I had him grill me enough chicken to eat for dinner every night. If I look at another piece of chicken I think I'll lose my lunch--I'm over it, so we are going out to Carabas with the Crabbs tonight! Tomorrow we are headed to Macon for the weekend to celebrate Daddy's 60th birthday!

17 weeks pregnant and counting!

I got on a pregnancy tracker today and realized I am 43.8% of the way through this pregnancy. It is kind of shocking to me. I feel bad that I don't think about this baby 58 out of every 60 minutes in an hour like I did for Anna-Kate, but I am just too busy keeping up with a little one and her activities to do so! We are in a playgroup, and I am part of a Bible study, on top of seeing friends for playdates-we have a packed schedule! :) Last Thursday I went in for my 16 week appt. I told Dr. Tate that I wanted to know the gender of the baby and he needed to find it for me. :) We looked a long time and he did a lot of poking and shaking of my belly to get baby to move. He said if he was going to guess, he would guess girl, but that he was not certain enough of that to write it in my chart. So, we'll have to wait until October 2 to find out for sure. One thing I have realized is that this baby seems to be a lot more mellow than Anna-Kate was in the womb--maybe I'll have a laid-back child! Ha, who would have thought?! There isn't a lot new going on-we are gearing up for Chris to be traveling the last couple weeks of September for work. Anna-Kate and I will head to Macon for a few days. Then, the first weekend in October our family will be going to Destin, FL for a long weekend. I am really excited about that! Anna-Kate had such a good time last May, and I can only imagine how much more she'll enjoy it this time! I'm going to try to attach a video of Anna-Kate playing in Copper's kennel. We'll see.... :) Here goes:

Chris was getting Anna-Kate ready for church this morning and sneezed. Instantly, Anna-Kate replied, "bess eww dada". Chris said he looked at her and said, "say bless you again" and she just looked at him. To me, that means she is just learning manners as a way of life, not as a thing to be prompted to say. I'm proud of that girl!
This weekend has been so nice and relaxing! Chris had Friday off, in addition to Monday, so we have been really enjoying the family time! Friday morning we went to kangazoom, a huge indoor play area for kids with those big blow up jumping things. Anna-Kate had a ball! Here are a couple of pics. The first is she and me going down about a 20 foot slide. She loved it:

Next is her and Chris in a maze thing:

Finally, her in a tunnel:

Saturday I ran some errands and met Allison and a couple of girls for lunch at the Swann House in Buckhead. It was alright-as I don't do mayonaisse I spent most of lunch queasy as that's all I could smell in the whole place!

Update on the paci situation

Praise the Lord! Anna-Kate has done such a great job of adjusting to sleep time without her paci. The first few naps were really rough, as was the first night, but she is now going down no problem, just like before--and completely back on schedule! I am so thankful!

Chris gets both Friday and Monday off for Labor Day, so I'm hoping we will get some really great family time. We have plans to see the Bourne Ultimatum on Friday night with friends (we got a sitter) and to grill out Monday with some other neighborhood friends, so it should be fun!

We just got back from Trader Joe's with mom and dad and then made Anna-Kate's first trip to the Varsity! Such happy childhood memories there....and so greasy (I never realized as a kid)!! The frosted orange, hamburger and fries though--yummy! :)

Our weekend

On Satuday our extended family drove up for a surprise brunch for Mana's 81st birthday. It was a really good time--and I know Mana really appreciated it. Anna-Kate was a doll the whole time. :)

Saturday night, we ditched the paci! We gathered them all in a ziploc bag, Anna-Kate threw them away and said "bye-bye" to them. She was fine, I was crying, it was awful and for some reason I was so sad for her! Then came bed time...she screamed like her finger was being cut off! It was awful....I cried again. I felt as if I had taken away her best friend. Every 15 minutes I went in to comfort her. She just held her hand to her mouth like she was holding a paci and signed "please" over and over. Her lower lip was out and just quivering, it was pitiful and it broke my heart. She managed to get out, clear as day, "paci bye-bye?" and then burst into tears. Finally she fell asleep at 8:50 and slept until 6 am, which is much longer than I had feared it would be--yet a far cry from 8-8 that she is used to. The following day we had to work hard to keep her awake until 12 for her nap. She cried for about 25 minutes, then crashed. She woke up a couple of times, but slept until 3:45! Last night, she fussed a bit, no crying and fell asleep 9-7:50. We are getting closer! She cried for 30 minutes again today when I put her down for her nap. I am hoping that each day is getting easier for her.

On Sunday, after an emotionally trying night and less sleep that we were used to-we made ourselves go to church, though half contemplated going to 11 church (but nixed that thinking what that would do to her and her schedule!). We show up and halfway through the service hear our names called to join the church! The church secretary had forgotten to email a reminder to us and we had no idea! Good thing we had gone to 9:15 like usual! :) So, we are official member of Christ Church Pres now, and thankful to be involved in a local body "officially".

Chris' birthday and Anna-Kate's appt.

On the Sunday before his birthday we went with the Crabbs to Dave and Busters for dinner and some good old fashioned games--air hockey, skee-ball and others. We had such a good time! On Monday we got a sitter and went to a really nice Italian resteraunt we had heard was wonderful. We got calamari, salads, I got a shrimp in pasta and he got a veal and mushroom something with a side of pasta. I think he had a really good time. :)

Anna-Kate is becoming sweeter by the day...though I am scared of what this weekend will bring...we are taking the pacifier away on Saturday night. We had planned to take it tonight, but our church is having a dinner on Friday and we couldn't find a sitter so we are taking her with us and will put her down in a pack-n-play--and that would be too hard without the paci.

Everytime she sees a baby, or hears the word baby, she has started holding her arms like there was a baby and "rocking" the baby in her arms. It is so sweet!

She had her 15 month appt. on Monday. 40% for height and weight, so we were glad to hear she is right on target. Her pediatrician said that she was advanced with both her motor skills, and (around 21 months) in her verbal skills--so we have quite the talented little girl on our hands! :)

Fun game

So to rally up some excitement, I thought I'd make a game to guess the baby's stats!
(update:link closed)

I thought since I tend to go so late in my pregnancies anyway, guesses should run the gamut. :) Anna-Kate has started us off with her vote for a little sister!

Pregnancy, the new baby and update on life.

So I felt the baby kick last week--I was only 12 1/2 weeks pregnant! It is such a sweet, unforgettable feeling, and an instantaneous connection with the precious life inside of you! As much as pregnancy, labor, delivery and being a mom in general is hard--I truly believe that God gave women such a huge blessing when He allowed us to carry these precious lives within us. Yesterday, I went to the doctor for a 13 week check up. I was able to see the baby on sonogram, and it is just special! I can't wait to find out the gender--the suspense is killing me! Of the 4 people who have a strong feeling one way or the other 2 are certain it's a boy and 2 are certain it's a girl! I have no strong feeling either way so far, except for that Chris is convinced it is a boy-and he is generally right for some reason, but, I had a dream that on my u/s it was a girl! We'll find out in a few weeks though!!

In Anna-Kate news, there isn't tons new. She is in the process of getting her canine teeth (all 4 at once!) and is having a pretty hard time with them. I will be so grateful when they finally break, then we should be done with teeth until she gets her 2 year molars. Though, I guess with multiple kids, someone is always teething........hmmm.

Chris' 27th birthday is on Monday. It's hard because I truly believe the older we get, the more anti-climactic birthdays get (which is why parents have parties for kids--so at least someone gets to enjoy a birthday). The problem is, when you are still in your 20's you think back to a couple of years ago when your birthday used to matter for something--so it's always depressing. We're too old for anyone to care particularly, (except parents and the occasional friend who sends a card) young enough that we still want to be the center of attention, but too young for the world to recognize the importance of this birthday (you know, 30, 40, 50 or something). Ahh well, I'll try to make it special. :)

Starting out

I find that as Anna-Kate gets bigger, more interesting things happen for one, but I see the time slipping by me! I can't believe her "15 month birthday" is looming, and another baby will be joining our family soon! Time is so fleeting and I want to take the opportunity to record the sweet and interesting tidbits--the joys of my life--while I still can remember the details! :)

On Sunday, the sweetest moment of motherhood thus far happened. I was rocking Anna-Kate and singing "Jesus loves me" right before bed. She put lamby on my shoulder and looked up at me, straight in my eyes. There was one little tear on her cheek. She put her head on my chest and her arms underneath my arms and squeezed me so tight. I just cried! What a moment! She can't say "I love you" yet, but when I tell her that I love her, she automatically says, "mama" and blows me kisses. That's good stuff! These are the joys and moments that energize me for the next day, the things that I remember when I'm tired and just want to be alone. Praise the Lord for moments like these!