Family Fun Day

With Presley only a few weeks away from joining our family, we have limited time as a family of three.

We are all so excited for her to join our family and can't wait to meet her.

However, there is something bittersweet about it.

It has just been the three of us for 3.5 years. Along with the "getting ready for baby" list, we also don't want to miss out on this sweet time with just the three of us. Also, we don't want to get so caught up with the baby, that we forget about our Brady. (I don't really think we will forget Brady, but babies demand a lot of attention and time. Three and half year old's also crave a lot of attention and time, so I want to make sure we balance all that appropriately as we all transition.)



Daddy enjoyed the big boy slides!!!

Caleb was off work today so we decided to go swimming. I had intentions of inviting friends, but completely forgot until this morning. Pregnancy brain at its finest. Mostly due to my lack of giving enough notice, no one else could make it. We ended up having a family day at the pool.



"Take my picture Mommy!"

When we got there it was so cloudy, but the sun quickly came out. The forecast said rain, but it held off until later. We ended up having a very pleasant day with weather in the low 90's with a breeze and occasional clouds, so it wasn't so so so hot.

Brady said, "I love it here!" about a million times. It was nice having Caleb there to play and help watch him. My ever growing belly makes it a little difficult for me to keep up with him. A very sweet lady even gave up her lounge chair for me so I didn't have to continue sitting on the concrete. :) Very sweet and much appreciated!

Swimming with Daddy

We swam for several hours. We all decided we were hungry and tired, so we left to get a bite to eat before heading home. Brady was asleep before we made it to the restaurant.

He woke up and said, "but I am not done sleeping yet". Ha Ha!

He ate and fell back to sleep as soon as we got back in the car and stayed asleep when we got home until early night.

We had a late lunch, so we may have had ice cream for supper. :o I am obviously very pregnant, because this is so out of character for me. LOL!

 This was such a sweet day with my little family. I am really thankful for the time, before our family changes. I think Caleb is also. Of course we all welcome the changes with open-arms, but are very aware that it is a change and things will be different.

I love our family as it is, but I also feel very blessed that God is adding another sweet blessing to our family.

Baby Talk- 34 Weeks

34 Weeks!!!

Only 5 weeks until we meet little Presley. I CAN NOT believe it is so close to bringing her home and to us having a family of four. I am really excited. I thought I would be nervous about adding another baby into our lives, but I am not at all. I am so excited. I know it will be different and busier, but I am so ready for Brady to have a little sister and for this little blessing to join our family.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 34 weeks

Size of baby: size of an average cantaloupe 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up about 18lbs per Dr. My scale says 20 lbs, we will go with the Dr. Ha. I didn't gain any weight over the past 2 weeks at all. I stopped gaining about this time with Brady. I have no room for a lot of food and I am using more energy to get around, so it kind of evens out.

Clothes: Maternity mostly. I can still wear one pair of capri pants(they are stretchy material), one or two long tops, my comfortable pants/shorts, and maxi dresses. However, whatever I wear I feel very large and very pregnant.  A friend gave me some maternity shorts she couldn't use and I LOVE them!I have also started sleeping in Caleb's t-shirts with my pajama shorts.

Gender: Girl! Presley Lynn Barrett

Movement: It is more like a wave of movement rather than kicks. She still hurts me when she makes certain movements. I think she is running out of room, QUICK! She gets the hiccups nearly every day. They are so sweet and cute feeling. Brady got the hiccups often also, but his were big and manly. Really, there is a huge difference between each pregnancy hiccups.

Sleep: I don't sleep well, but I am so tired often. The couch and recliners are much more comfortable than my bed.  The float in the pool was also very comfortable.

What I miss: being able to move around like normal. I am really feeling uncomfortable most of the time.

Cravings: nothing specific really.I am thirsty all the time, but quickly getting bored with water. I have been trying to dress it up with fruit and drink other things too.

Symptoms: Hot, sinus/allergies(although improving), uncomfortable, pressure, BH contractions, and a few other things I would rather not share on the Internet. :) I am getting annoyed easier, it is a problem.

 

Best Moment this week: Dr. appointment, nailing down a date for the c-section, and buying things we need for her before she arrives.

What am I looking forward to: Dr. appointment in 2 weeks, then starting weekly appointments.

This last month is going to go so fast!!! There is only 3 appointments left before the c-section.

A few updates..

• It is hot! In the 90's hot. Brady spent some time in his kiddie pool the other day. He loved it! I was HOT!!! 3 glasses of Kool-aid, a dip in the kiddie pool, and an ice pop later, I had to come inside.

• I ordered this diaper bag for baby girl and it came the other day. I had to do a little searching, because it sold out at Target and several places had it way more expensive, but I found it. I am getting excited!

• Saturday morning we took Caleb's parents the Readyville Mill for Breakfast for a late Mother's Day treat. They live less than a mile from it and have never gone. It is such a neat/tourist type place so close to home.

• Saturday night we had a devotional at our house for our group at church. Brady loves when people come to our house. Good food, good company, good study, and a fun game of Scattergories was enjoyed.
• Sunday was typical spent with family and worship services.
• We attended a Memorial Day shrimp/craw fish boil at a friends house. They have a nice pool, so Brady and I spent most of our time there. Actually Brady stayed in the pool the entire time we were there. I did eat and socialize outside the pool for a bit, but not much. I could live in the pool for the next 5 weeks.

          A strange thing about me... I don't really like shrimp, but when I was pregnant with Brady I liked it, it has been the same this pregnancy.

Just some of the shrimp, craw fish, corn, and potatoes. Yum!

• Brady spent the night with Caleb's parents last night, because I had a Dr. appointment today. He was so tired from the weekend and pool, he threw a major fit at there house, including screaming, crying, walling, and chasing after me. He ALWAYS loves staying with them, but HE.DID.NOT.WANT.TO last night. He made it very known. Caleb and I ended up giving him a bath and putting him to bed at their house, then he was fine.  He said repeatedly while crying, "I just wanna go home and sleep in my bed." He never acts like that. He throws fits, tantrums, and cries like all toddlers, but it is never so bad you can't calm him, control or distract him. He was not letting me leave. It was out of control and so pitiful. He was so worn out. It broke my heart, but we finally got him calmed down and he was fine today. :)
• I got to do a little shopping spree today. I was alone, had a gift card to Gymboree, and some cash from the shower. Gymboree had the entire store and extra 30% off. It is fun, but the girl stuff overwhelms me. I just can't seem to decided what to buy. It is all so cute!!!

The pictures are mostly for my mom and sister, because they will want to know exactly what I bought. Ha Ha!

this and the swim suit is a bigger size for next summer.

this one is 0-3 months

• Dr. appointment today went great, I pre-registered at the hospital, and now have all my appointments scheduled until my scheduled c-section. Only 3 more appointments to go. Crazy!!!!

Baby Talk- 33 Weeks

33 Weeks

My c-section has been scheduled for July 2.     

So if she doesn't come before she will definitely be here that day.
We are so ready for her to be here.

  Caleb and I were talking about how soon she will be joining our family officially. We are so very excited. Caleb has already started planning his napping in the recliner with her. I think that is his favorite part of itty, bitty babes. He loves babies and kiddos!!!

I feel more prepared for her this week. Our house looking completely back to normal plus the shower have made me feel so ready for her to occupy her room.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 33 weeks

Size of baby: size of a pineapple

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up about 18-20 lbs depending on the scale. She didn't say how much I had gained at my last appointment, usually she does. It was a little more than normal though. I am sure the oreos, milkshakes, and frappaccino's have not helped. Oops!

Clothes: It is getting to be mostly maternity with a few regular things sprinkled in. I feel like I wear the same thing every day at this point.

Gender: Girl! Presley Lynn Barrett

Movement: Yes! All. the. time. You can see her from the outside. It is so weird! She is a fiesty little kicker.

Sleep: I wake up at 3 am every night, sometimes I am able to fall asleep in bed, but mostly I end up moving to the recliner. Sinus/allergy problems keep me up also. 

What I miss: being able to take medicine for sinus/allergies

Cravings: nothing specific really 

Symptoms: There are several, but the most important one is I am so HOT! Brady was born in December so I didn't notice being hot, but oh my I am so hot. It has been in the 80's and 90's here and I can tell. I am probably going to freeze Caleb and Brady out by the time it is said and done.

Best Moment this week: Baby Shower!!! So fun! Washing and putting away so many pink things.

Going through all the sweet gifts.

What am I looking forward to: next Dr. appointment. Only a few more left.

The rest of the weekend.

The baby shower wasn't the only thing we had going on this weekend.

Friday night, Brady had a t-ball game. This was by far his best game to date. He had 3 hits from pitches and made it home to score runs all 3 times. He has begun to slide into home. It is super cute, except that he is no where near the base. It almost got him out once. He was so proud of himself! He has the best time playing!

Funny story of the game: The coach looked at Brady and said, "Give me a big hit, buddy!" To which Brady replied, "well, give me a good pitch." Ha Ha Ha! We could hear it in the stands and every one including coach was laughing.

Noah wants to play with the boys and girls.

Saturday we had another game at 9 am. The Friday night/Saturday morning games are tough. This game didn't go so well, but they seemed to have fun anyway. My brother and SIL, Cameron and Lauren,  came down for the weekend, so they got to see Brady play. Brady was so excited they came to his game!!!

Funny Story of the Game: One coach told Brady to run the ball to 2nd base. Brady did and when he got there he literally sat the ball on 2nd base, left it there, and then ran back to his position at 3rd base. It was so funny.

Brady and I rushed home to change clothes and take the short drive to my mom's for the shower. Brady spent the afternoon with the boys instead of staying at the shower. I think he had a blast!!! He got a few goodies at the shower as well. So Sweet!

We had a kid devotional to rush to that night. Brady absolutely LOVES the kid devo's and asks weekly when the next one is, so we hated to skip. He had a blast as expected. We left as soon as it was over because everyone was so exhausted! We spent the night at my mom's to cut down on driving and to get to visit with Cam and Lauren as much as possible.

Sunday we said goodbye to Cam and Lauren, went to church, Sunday lunch, and let Brady and Noah play in the sprinkler outside a bit. Brady was so tired after 2 late nights in a row and no naps, so he was pretty whiny. Not so fun. We all came in and put the boys in the bathtub, then loaded up the car and came home.  Brady fell asleep 3 minutes into the drive, slept the entire way home and didn't wake until after 6:30.

Not in a great mood, obviously!

 It was a crazy, busy weekend for the little guy. He did really well for the most part, though!

We were all exhausted, but enjoyed everything so much!

We spent Monday at home. I had lots of tiny pink things to wash and put away. :)

Baby Shower

Saturday, My mom, sister, and a some friends threw a baby shower for Presley. It was a small shower at my Mom's house with close friends and family.

Mantle decorations

Everything was so sweet!

The tables. They were so pretty.

They did a lot of work, but I think everyone loved it and had a great time.

Some of the flowers.

 The shower was at noon and they had prepared a full lunch and served each guest. Everything was so good. We had salad, chicken casserole, steamed veggies, cream cheese muffins, strawberry pretzel salad, chocolate covered strawberries, cake, and whoopie pies with water, lemonade, fruit tea, and iced coffee to drink. I think that is everything. It was really yummy!

My friend Stephanie made these strawberries. They were just as yummy as they are pretty!!!

My sister made these, that tutu is for baby Presley. :)

Mason jars with pink straws. so cute.

My friend used to make cakes as a side business.  She quit doing it as a business once she started having babies. She does a wonderful job and occasionally still makes them for "special"  people and events. She made this one for my shower.

There were about 20 people there. We got so many sweet things for Presley. She is already so loved by so many.  Baby girl stuff is so cute and fun!!!

Me with my grandmother's, mom, and sister.~pictures taken from my sis~

A few of the guests. ~pic taken from my sis~

guests observing opening of the gifts. ~pic taken from my sis~

My SIL Lauren, Myself, Mom, and sister Amy.
These ladies worked so hard to make the shower a success.
Thank you so much!!!

Gift table. The framed dress is the dress my mom brought me home from the hospital in.

I woke up at 3 am(my normal wake-up time these days) with one eye swollen shut! I moved to the recliner and finally fell back asleep around 4 am. I woke again around 6:30 with my eye still swollen. I took a hot shower and took some allergy medicine a NP friend had told me would be fine if needed. The swelling went down a lot, but my eye was still irritated and red. I was so frustrated, because it was shower day. I had bought a new dress and was so excited. It takes a lot to feel good about yourself when 33 weeks preggers; a swollen, red, lazy eye does not help matters.

You can see how one eye is smaller than the other in this picture. This is typical for my life. It is a good think I have a good sense of humor or I would have been mortified. Ha Ha!

waiting to open gifts

By the way, it was just irritated from sinus/allergy problems. It is completely better now, but the sinus/allergy problems are not. It wasn't pink eye, in case you were worried. :)

I am so thankful for such sweet friends and family. They love our family so well. Caleb, Brady, Presley, and myself are so very blessed to have some many people who love and care for us. My love language is by far gifts, so I am always left feeling so overwhelmingly loved and blessed after showers.

I made these pretzels as favors for all the guests to take home.

I can not wait for our baby girl to officially join our family and use all of her sweet things.

For more pictures and details you can go to my sister's blog here.

 

The World According to Brady...

Time for a few Brady stories. He keeps us on our toes and laughing all the time. You never ever know what is going to come out of that little mouth. :o

We always ask Brady what he learned in Bible class after it is over. Wednesday he replied, "Jesus was washing his friends feet. But Peter said don't wash my feet. Then Jesus said you better let me wash your feet."

 

Brady asked me last week why I was walking like a penguin. He proceeded to laugh hysterically afterwards.

 

The other night Brady said, "When I grow up big, I am gonna smoke just like my Papa!"- That one didn't go over so well. Apparently he spent the next day telling Papa how yucky smoking is and it is what is making him cough all the time.

Brady asked me if we had diapers for the baby, I told him we had some. Brady quickly said, "Diapers- check!" 

He said after seeing a Chuck-E-Cheese commercial the other day, "when my baby is born, Poppi and Sue Sue are taking me to Chuck-E-Cheese and they will let me ride the cars ride".  He totally made that up.

We met my friend Brandi last week for dinner while Caleb went to a concert. Brady sat as close as humanly possible to Brandi during dinner. He looked at her and said, "My daddy told my mommy my game was at the school with the rocket ship, but when we got there no one was there. Then my mommy cried and cried and called daddy and told him to tell us where the ballgame was. Then daddy told us where to go and we made it to the game. " Unfortunately this was a very accurate account of our trip to one of Brady's games one Saturday morning. He has started telling everything!!!

That is all for now. I am sure there is more, but it so hard to remember everything. Especially since he talks non stop all day long.

Where is Brady?

Since we have put the crib up in the babies room, Brady has been obsessed with it and that room.

If we can't find him for a minute, you will usually hear giggling coming from her room.

He is nearly always sitting in her crib.

He is often playing with her little toys as well.

I have a feeling we will have to monitor this very closely once she gets here.

I don't want Brady trying to get her out by himself or climbing in to play with her. LOL!

I hope his love for her sticks around. ;)

Baby Talk- 32 Weeks

32 Weeks

Less than 8 weeks left.

I am getting so excited and ready to welcome her into our family. I have a small friends and family shower at my mom's house on Saturday. I am so excited to shower little Presley with love and gifts. The nursery is coming right along, especially now that our room is back to normal. Yay! Yay!

I am definitely starting to feel ready for her to just get here. I know I am beginning to look further along and more uncomfortable by the comments. They have gone from you look so cute to how much longer???? Overall I feel like it has gone quickly, but I  am quickly entering the miserable phase. I am still incredibly thankful for her and that she can continue to grow and develop properly. :) 

The picture this week is real life. This is how I look daily.  I was cleaning around the house and cooking dinner for a friend. I hadn't had a shower, yet. I had on no make-up and my hair was thrown in a knot. My face and neck are swollen from allergy/sinuses plus being 32 weeks preggo. (Our entire family is battling extreme sinus problems, including Caleb. He rarely ever has sinus probs.) Brady took the picture, because he always wants to take a picture of me. Considering all that, it didn't seem so bad.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 32 weeks

Size of baby: size of a jicama

Total Weight Gain/Loss: up about 16 lbs

Clothes: It is getting to be mostly maternity with a few regular things sprinkled in.

Gender: Girl! Presley Lynn Barrett

Movement: Yes! All. the. time.

Sleep: I wake up at 3 am every night, sometimes I am able to fall asleep in bed, but mostly I end up moving to the recliner. I was looking on facebook today and noticed most of my comments were at 3-4 am. Ha Ha!

What I miss: sleeping and feeling normal

Cravings: sweet stuff and salty stuff, snack type stuff. My appetite has really decreased, but I am hungry all the time. It is a strange combination. I really just want to eat snack stuff and no meals.

Symptoms: so many crazy things, heart burn, dark spots on my hands, leg cramps, itchy skin, back aches,  a little swelling around my feet, hands, and face(my blood pressure is still perfect though, so no worries), and so many other strange things.

I have stopped wearing both my wedding rings. I haven't been able to wear my engagement ring for quite sometime, because the band is thick and it irritates my other fingers if I have the slightest bit of swelling. However, my wedding band is thinner and I have been wearing it alone until this week. I struggled to get it off the other night, so Caleb and I decided I should retire it for a while.

Best Moment this week: enjoying a sweet mother's day with my family

What am I looking forward to: my appointment Thursday and shower Saturday!!!