Thumb sucker

Yesterday afternoon I had my 18-week ultrasound for Baby Amys and am delighted to report that our baby is absolutely perfect. The spine, organs, limbs and every other teeny-tiny bit and part is developing wonderfully and we’re right on schedule for it’s April arrival.

And because I’ve been starting to feel it’s little kicks and punches in the past few days, I was so pumped to be able to watch the little bean in action and see the feet that have been poking me. We even caught a glimpse of Baby sucking it’s thumb:

Not the clearest picture, but the torso is on the left and you can see the profile of the head on the right, and above it is the arm and you can barely see the hand reaching to the mouth. Ah, my healthy little thumb sucker. Better start saving for braces.

Ruby the ferocious beast

For the past six months, every time we would let Ruby out into the front yard she would run to a patch in front of our flower garden and hunt and dig for a few persistent moles that started inhabiting our property. And every time I would catch her in the act, I would yell, RUBY! NO! Because she would dig, dig, dig these awful eyesore patches out of plush, green yard.

Well now the grass is starting to brown and the flowers are dead, so I’m less likely to blow a gasket about her digging. And yesterday, after all those attempts and furious, sneaky digs, my ferocious seven-year old chocolate lab FINALLY got her kill. And Chris said that when he found her with the mole, she was batting it around, half-dead, in the yard and being all, Yeah THAT’S RIGHT, Mr. Mole. This is MY YARD. Property of the RUBES.

Don’t worry animal lovers, Chris put the fat little rodent out of it’s misery before she could get too Jack Bauer on it. And when he told me about the bloody scene after he disposed of it, I was all, What? I wanted to see her with her kill. And he looked at me weird and said, Um. It was pretty gory stuff. Plus, with you’re hormones, you were crying at a Disney World commercial last night. I didn’t think you would have gotten excited about a dead animal. Well, I’m excited enough to blog about, my friends. Good job, Killer.

In which we’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of pleasing the princess

So last week my friend Katie and her kiddos came over for a playdate. A Princess playdate to be specific, as Katie’s two year old, Delaney, was also Cinderella for Halloween. And because Taylor starts every morning asking, Can I wear my princess costume please?, I asked Katie to also dress up Delaney so we could get another use out of the sparkly, blue costume before the bottom is completely frayed. Oh, and also so I could get a few cute pictures of the Cinderellas.

And other than Princess Delaney, Katie also brought her two adorable seven-month old twins, Dan and Mackenzie. And while I was playing with Dan and Katie was holding Mackenzie, I held up the bouncing baby boy and had the following conversation with my daughter:

Me: Hey, Taylor. Did you know that we are going to have a baby like Dan and Mackenzie soon?

T: Yeah. But just ONE.

Me: Yes, that’s right. (As I thanked Jesus under my breath) Now, do you want a baby brother like Dan, or a baby sister like Mackenzie?

T: (Without hesitation) I want one like her. (Pointing to Mackenzie) NOT like him. (Pointing to Dan)

Me: Well, Dan is super fun too. Brothers are a lot of fun!

T: NO, Mom! I want one like HER! (Pointing to Mackenzie)

What a good hostess I raising, huh? And even though Katie and I laughed it off a bit, when I told Chris about it and we asked Taylor again if she wanted a brother or sister, she emphatically chirped, SISTER! I wanna GIRL like Mackenzie.

Oh, and don’t think we didn’t turn on our super-enthusiastic parent voices and start talking about baby brothers. Taylor, did you know that both Mommy AND Daddy have little brothers? And they’re the BEST. We LOVE our little brothers. To which she would just shake her head and say, No. I have a SISTER.

So basically we have five more months to convince Taylor how much fun it would be to have a brother, only to possibly come home from the hospital with a sister. And because Chris was the one who graduated with the psychology minor, I’m gonna put him in the driver’s seat with this one. Good luck, Dad.

31 months old

Taylor turned 31 months old this week... Meaning the countdown to her turning three and becoming a big sister is only five short months away. And while I’m so ready for her to meet the baby that is cooking in my belly, I am not at all prepared for my baby girl to turn the big three. Ugh. That sounds so OLD. And while my Taylor-tot has always been a big sized girl, lately she’s really starting to look and act like a big grown-up girl.

So last month was super busy for us, between Libba’s visit to Asheville and our fantastic voyage back north. And because we live so far away from all of our families, it’s always a treat for Chris and I to watch Taylor bask in the attention of her grandparents, aunt, uncle and extended family members. The girl L-O-V-E-S to perform, and when you’re the only grandchild-niece-nephew on both sides of the family, the audience is always begging for more.

Taylor also showed her growing maturity level by handling all the new faces and places like a pro. Last year at this time, she would have clung to my chest and whined when introduced to so many strangers. But this trip she was passing out hugs and politely accepting treats from everyone in the room.

And other than being spoiled by grandparents and indulging in Halloween candy, another constant in our lives this past month has been Cinderella. Oh, Cinder-elly, Cinder-elly. Between watching the movie NONSTOP the entire 18-hour trip from Wisconsin to Asheville, wearing the costume until the bottom has started to fray and constantly humming, A dream is a wish your heart makes... That Disney Princess has hijacked our family. Hijacked us with cuteness.

Someone that hasn’t been affected by all the Princess Taylor cuteness, however, is Miss Ruby Blue. Yes, our four-legged daughter has taken quite the emotional beating from our two and a half year old the past few months. My day is constantly peppered with Taylor shrieking, NO kisses Ruby! or Mom, Ruby touched my leg, or GET OUTTA MY FACE RUBE! Pretty harsh stuff. So Chris and I have been making an extra effort to get down on all fours and give our furry friend as much over-the-top affection in front of Taylor whenever possible. Because when Baby comes this spring, I need harmony between Rubes and T. Or at least no more loud hysterical outbursts because the dog looked at my toddler’s snack.

And, of course, we’ve had our share of melt-downs this month. None that stand out or were recorded for posterity. But they happened. And they were awful. And they left me wondering how I’m gonna handle these tantrums while holding a newborn. So only five more months of talking Taylor off the ledge while giving her my full attention. So I guess we better have a giant supply of gummy snacks available after baby comes. Donations welcome.

So. Last month was busy but wonderful. And every time I sit down to write down my memories milestones, I think, Didn’t I JUST do this? Time’s going fast, bloggers. And I only have a few short months left before I’m dividing my attention between my precious girl and our new addition. And that’s what I keep reminding myself every time I feel sidetracked with housework and other obligations. I need to take every second I can find between now and April to savor all that is my beautiful Taylor. To snuggle her squishy body, smooch her cheeks and tickle her until she laughs so hard she can’t breathe. I think this is going to be our most favorite month yet.

16 weeks pregnant

I had my 16-week appointment this week, and am very happy to report that all is perfectly wonderful with the baby in my belly. Taylor tagged along with me, and she was able to help Dr Simmons hold the microphone when we heard Baby’s heartbeat. She is already taking on the role of the helpful big sister, and I’m crossing my fingers that she’s this enthusiastic about Baby when it arrives.

I also opted to get a quad-screen done, which is a test that I had done when I was pregnant with Taylor. And for those of you unfamiliar with this test, it’s an elective procedure that’s performed early on to detect any sort of chromosomal disorders in the fetus. And I’m overly happy and relieved to report that all the blood work came back negative, which means Baby’s perfect. And in two weeks we’ll be able to see the little peanut swimming in my belly during our 18-week ultrasound. And even though we are waiting for the big push to find out whether it’s a boy or girl, I am so excited to see it’s little arms and legs grooving inside of me.

And even though I know the Baby is moving around inside of me now, I have yet to feel any kicks or punches. Well, I may have. But I’m pretty sure those movements were a result of the armadillo eggs I ate at Rubles a few weeks ago. And because I haven’t been feeling any movement, and because I have been feeling SO MUCH BETTER, it’s hard to even remember that I am pregnant sometimes. Other than the fact that I have to keep my jeans fastened with a rubber band.

And as far as my weight goes, I really haven’t gained that much so far. Which I know has a lot to do with the fact the only things I could consume for the first two months were applesauce and grape-flavored Gatorade. And while I was a bit worried about my weigh-in this appointment, being that I ate my way through eight states and housed an entire pan of Special K bars, the scales must have been jacked at my doctor’s office because it had me LOSING a pound this past month. Which I wasn’t going to argue with. Especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner.

No unusual cravings so far. At this point with Taylor, I was devouring egg salad sandwiches and Fritos at an alarming pace. But I’ve been trying to stick to a relatively healthy, normal diet so far. The one thing that always sounds good to me are pickles. Call me Snooki. And I know it’s so cliche, but the pregnant mama can house a whole jar of pickles in record time. It got so ridiculous that I just conceded and bought the restaurant-size tub of Clausen Spears for our fridge. And tonight when I was ordering my sub sandwich for dinner and informed the teenage boy behind the counter to not be stingy with the pickles, he shot me a weird look and I responded by pointing to my stomach and saying, My Baby wants pickles.

And now that my appetite and energy have returned, I have been getting back into my daily workout routine. And even though I’m not pushing myself through half-marathon training anymore, I’ve been trying to keep my body in shape with spinning classes, cardio and swimming laps. For the first two months, working out sounded pretty close to torture, but I drug myself to the gym just to get out of the house at least twice a week. And the ONLY thing that my body would tell me it liked was swimming laps. So I’m pretty sure I’m growing the next Michael Phelps in my belly. Or a mermaid. Either way, I’ll love it unconditionally.

And even though I still get tired pretty easily, I am no where near as exhausted as I was during the first trimester. Still, I am habitually taking advantage of Taylor’s daily two-hour snoozefests to lay down and either read or nap myself. I’ll have the rest of my life to catch up on housework and laundry, and I know I only have a few more months left of scheduled quiet time before our world is turned upside down.

Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to get my hands on Baby and try to put it’s newborn cheeks in my mouth, but I am all too familiar with an infant’s unpredictable routine and know that I need to savor these next months as much as I can. Wow. Two sets of cheeks to devour. I can’t wait.

The shortest longest roadtrip ever

With Chris switching careers in 2009, it was almost impossible for us to find any big openings of vacation time in the following year to make our annual trip back up north to visit our families. So when we landed a ten-day window of opportunity late last month, we jumped on it and planned an impromptu vacation up to my parent’s farm in Iowa and his parent’s house in Northern Wisconsin. We didn’t have a ton of time to contact the locals and set up big meetings, but we were happy to get to see some familiar faces that we hadn’t been able to look at for the past few years. So here it is, Bloggers, my official post on our ten-day, 2,630-mile roadtrip back to our homes. Get comfortable. This is going to be a long one.

So let’s just start with the drive from Asheville to the farm. Three-and-a-half humans, one chocolate lab and our Envoy packed to the brim, we left town at five in the afternoon to start our journey to Northwest Iowa. Our directions had us in the car for 18-hours, but the last time we drove home through the night, it only took 16, so for some reason I was thinking we could make it in 15. Ah, shame on me. Just those quick thoughts swirling in my head must have tempted the Universe, as we were stopped in standstill traffic three times within the first two hours of our adventure. Torture.

But, THANK GOODNESS, for the portable DVD player. For real. I don’t know how people traveled with toddlers before them. In the 18-hours, on the nose!, it took us to get to the farm, Miss Taylor only got out of her carseat twice. Once for dinner north of Knoxville, and once for breakfast in Waterloo. I couldn’t have asked for a better child in the car. To which we rewarded her with an endless supply of gummies and kids-meal toys, not to mention she got to watch Cinderella on a constant loop the entire time the car was running. She was in heaven. And I’m pretty sure if we would have turned around in Indianapolis and driven straight back home, she still would have thought it was the best trip ever.

So we drove up the lane of my childhood home midmorning on Saturday, and were overly relieved to squeeze my parents and brother, stretch our legs and brush our teeth. Back-to-back fried food meals and sleeping in the car is not the best way to lead up to a good first impression, but there we were getting to meet my brother’s girlfriend, Devon, for the first time. And, happily, she didn’t turn around and run. Even after her dog and Ruby got into a fight within the first ten minutes of our arrival. Nothing like breaking up two manic pooches to shake off an overnight, cross-country haul. If I wasn’t pregnant I would have asked for a Bloody Mary with my lunch. But instead I took a two hour nap and awoke completely recharged and ready to tackle my vacation.

And after watching a frustrating Hawkeye loss, we all headed into Holstein for dinner at Rubles. Chris was introduced to Armadillo Eggs during our trip back to Iowa in 2008, and has been detailing them to everyone he knows ever since. For those of you who haven’t been to Rubles, an Armadillo Egg is a hollowed-out jalapeno that’s stuffed with pulled-pork and cream cheese, then wrapped in bacon and smoked for a day. It’s life changing. And follow a few rounds of those with a barbeque sundae, ribs and other tasty treats, and we were set for the rest of the night. And by set, I mean in total food comas. Dunzo. Off to bed.

On Sunday morning I finally got my camera out of my suitcase, and set out to explore the farm with Chris and Taylor. Last August when I visited, my parents had just put in a new pond, which they dubbed Taylor Lake, and it was still filling in. So to see a new body of water with a dock and beach was amazing. I only wish we could have visited during warmer weather and been able to swim. Well, the dogs still swam. But we just opted to fish and enjoy the views.

The boys shooting their guns. I’m pretty sure Chris views the farm the way Taylor would view Disneyland. Endless entertainment.

Ruby the farm dog.

Oh, and Sunday was not only our first full day of vacation, but it was also our SEVENTH anniversary. Yea for us! It’s hard to believe that Chris and I have been a couple for 11 years now, but it’s also hard to imagine what my life was like before him. And it was such a treat to be able to spend our special day with family, and also be able to see one of my bridesmaid’s from the wedding, Emily, and her husband, Mike. Now that they are living in Lake View, which is just a short-drive from the farm, we were lucky to have them stop by for a few hours and a lot of laughs.

On Monday, Will and Devon headed back to Fort Collins. It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with my brother and be able to meet Devon. I am so very proud of him for so many reasons, and I hold him very close to my heart.

The rest of our last day in Iowa was spent visiting my Grandma Young, buying a crazy amount of beef sticks and skinless brats and making a brief stop to see James and Emily, and meet their precious girl, Stella. And what an absolute sweetheart! I could have just put her in my mouth, she was so cute. And Taylor loved her too... A little too much.

Tuesday morning we sadly packed up and said Goodbye to my parents and the farm. It’s never easy driving away... Especially when I have no idea when I’ll be back. And just think – The next time we get back to Iowa, we could possibly be a family of four. BAM. So all of you lovely Midwesterners that I didn’t get to see this trip, next time you see me I’ll have an infant AND be able to share a bottle of wine with you. Double the fun.

So we left Iowa and headed north through the absolute nastiest, windiest weather we had ever driven through. Correction, that Chris had ever driver through. Because with torrential rain, crosswinds of 40mph and a topper on our SUV, no way was I driving. So while Chris was battling tsunami-force winds, Taylor, Ruby and I were watching Cinderella for the billionth time in the backseat. And after white-knuckling it for eight hours, we drove into Greg and Sue’s driveway just in time to stuff ourselves full of Thanksgiving dinner.

And let’s just talk a little bit more about all the food we ate this trip. We’ve already mentioned the barbeque and fast food, now top that with turkey dinner, Halloween candy and a whole pan of Special K bars. Good stuff, people. A total calorie-fest. And even though I was on a major junk food bender, I’m still going to blame my tight pants on being 16-weeks pregnant. Let the holiday season begin!

Oh, and on Wednesday morning we woke up to SNOW. And because we left super mild temperatures in Asheville, and because everyone kept raving about how nice the weather was up north, I packed exactly one pair of jeans, one sweater and a bunch of short-sleeved shirts, tunics and leggings. So Wednesday we got to go shopping. Yay!

And before hitting the stores, we stopped at Chris’s Grandma Bernadette’s house to visit with her and all of the other relatives that were there. Bernadette’s house is the hub for all Amys activity in the area. And being that she birthed nine children, who in turn all had big families and everyone pretty much lives within 30-miles of Superior, it’s pretty much an all-out Amys party all day long at Grandma’s house.

Four generations of the Amys family.

We were also lucky enough to have our visit coincide with Chris’s Aunt Adele’s trip, who was also braving the northern temperatures while she was away from her home in Key Largo. And even though we have been fortunate to spend time with Adele’s daughter, DeAnn, and her grandkids while they visited their summer cabin in North Carolina, we hadn’t been able to see Adele since she came up for our wedding. But because Adele is a regular follower of this blog, she felt like she hadn’t skipped a beat in spending time with Miss Taylor. And our sweet T was equally as enamored with her Great Aunt.

And because we were going to be driving all day and night on Sunday and not able to take our princess trick-or-treating, and also because we still had tons and tons of family members to see while on our short trip, Greg and Sue hosted a Halloween extravaganza at their house on Friday night. Giving Taylor one more opportunity to wear her Cinderella costume and eat lots of sugar.

We had a few other princesses at the Amys costume gala, namely cousin Angel’s daughter, Brynn, who was dressed at Sleeping Beauty. And let’s just say the Princesses Aurora and Cinderella got along splendidly at the party. They were inseparable. And unbelievably adorable.

And not just the kiddos got dressed up, as most of the adults put on some disguises as well. And not just of fictional characters, they impersonated other Amys family members. Cousins Rod and Steven came as Chris’s dad and brother. Good stuff.

We even managed to get a group photo of everyone.

And the kiddos even got some trick-or-treating practice too.

Princess Taylor, enjoying the fruits of her labor.

So the party was a blast, and Saturday was spent recovering and eating left over candy. Because, honestly, by that point it was Go Big or Go Home as far as calorie consumption was concerned. Seriously. I was eating the final Special K bars for breakfast as we pulled out of the driveway on Sunday morning. And the drive back down south went as smoothly as it could, 18-hours on the nose, with us finally parking our car in our driveway at 4.30 in the morning on Monday.

And the roadtrip recap reads: 42-hours in the car through eight states during ten days. Many, many family members and friends seen. Lots of food eaten. Enormous amounts of fun had. And now, after that much time basking in the uninterrupted glow of grandparent-attention, one very spoiled little Taylor.

We are very grateful for the time we were able to spend with everyone, and hope that we won’t have to wait so long to see everyone again. But if any of you ever need a break from the winter-cold, we can surely show you a good time down here in Asheville. But I would recommend flying. Or investing in a portable DVD player.

Beeba visit

Taylor’s one-and-only aunt came into town this weekend to visit, take pictures and squeeze her goddaughter’s thighs. And to say that my daughter adores Libba is a huge understatement. In fact, Taylor refers to her aunt as, My FRIEND Beeba. Yes, they have a pretty special relationship.

And even though Lib and I have seen each other at least a half-dozen times this year, this was the first time she had been up to Asheville since last year. So we had to make a few pit-stops at her favorite eateries and soak up some of the sunshine and leaf-peeping while she was here. And, of course, she honed in her amazing camera-skills to take some pictures of Taylor and her bestie, Elliot, in their matching-Cinderella Halloween costumes.

It was a fabulous, short-but-sweet trip, and it wasn’t hard for us to say goodbye because hopefully we will be seeing her again this Thanksgiving when she and Dirk come back up to the mountains. Oh my, Beeba and Uncle Dirky at Taylor’s house for a holiday. That’s gonna be some serious fun.