Chuck e freakin' Cheese

We decided to celebrate Finley's birthday early this year just in case Sam decided to come early or late or somewhere in between. We'll do a little something on her actual birthday. If you'll remember from an earlier post, I had a really cute fancy tea party birthday all planned for Finley's 3rd birthday until she informed me she wanted an animal party at Chuck e Cheese. I felt I had no choice but to arrange a party at Chuck e Cheese instead. I got some animal invitations, an animal cake, a monkey outfit for her to wear and we headed over to Chuck e Cheese. If she could express herself that well I'm sure she would say it was the best day of her life. She had a BLAST!!! She was red-faced and exhausted when it was over. That's the sign of a great party right? I was really impressed with the staff at Chuck e Cheese. The one in Huntsville was recently renovated so it was really nice and clean. She has been obsessing over her party ever since. The Chuck e Cheese balloon is buckled into my backseat. She wears her birthday medal everywhere we go and instead of singing the "Gummy Bear" song, she now sings Chuck e Cheese to the gummy bear tune. It was a great day!

Time's a wastin'

Well, since I'm due in 3 weeks (eek!) I figured I better get started on some of the projects I planned to do for Sam's room. This chicken wire frame was something I saw on a blog and luckily the blogger had a tutorial. I will use it to hang pictures, cards, his birth announcement etc. I really like the way it turned out.



The glider we had in Finley's room is being picked up to be re-covered later this week and my changing table is on its way.

It's funny how different things are this time around. Here is a picture I took of Finley's nursery on December 31, 2008 (she was due April 2, 2009)



Clothes, blankets, towels, bibs, burp cloths were all washed in Dreft and put up, pack and play was set up in our room complete with diaper changing station. We were ready!

Here is a picture of Sam's nursery taken on February 10, 2012 (I'm due on March 23, 2012).



Oh well, we'll get it done :)

Ginastix (gymnastics)

My Mom got Finley an early birthday present this year...gymnastics class! Finley LOVES going to gymnastics. She talks about it all day on Monday, she wants to wear her leotard all the time, she can hardly contain herself while we're there and she cries when we have to leave. I really wish the class were an hour long because she isn't satisfied with 30 minutes. I tried to sign her up for another class so she could go twice a week, but they were all full :( She is a lot more coordinated than I thought she would be and it's so fun to see her interact with the other kids and her teacher. She is a good listener and she is great at following directions which is surprising since she refuses to do what I say when we are at home ;) For now, we are all very happy with her extracurricular activity. Yay for Ginastix!!!

Potty training

I was trying to wait until Finley was closer to 3. I even thought about waiting until summer. I've heard my friends who have girls say the closer to 3 they were, the better. Summer would have been good because we could be outside in dresses. I know Finley is ready to be potty trained, but I wasn't quite ready to start. The other night she absolutely insisted on using the potty and wearing her panties. I felt like I had no choice, but to go ahead and let her. I was afraid if I denied her any longer it might backfire on me. So on Monday morning we went to Target to get a potty and some treats and when we got home, the clothes came off, the thermostat went up and we had a talk about how tee tee goes in the potty. I gave her a lot of juice, water and popsicles (like it says in the 3 day potty training system)and put the potty in the playroom. She only had 3 accidents all day. I thought that was pretty good! Unfortunately, the next day she had school so I put her diaper on her and told her teacher that we had started potty training. She said she would put Finley on the potty often. When I went to pick her up the teacher said she didn't go potty, but she stayed dry the entire time. A little less than 4 hours. When we got home, she took a nap so the diaper stayed on. Wednesday, we had a friend come over to played and then went to get lunch so the diaper was on. Thursday, school again, same routine as Tuesday. Today, we are home all day and she has had 2 accidents, but she did poop in the potty so I made a huge deal about it (even though is was disgusting cleaning that thing out) and she was really excited. We already have plans for Saturday so she will have to wear a diaper half the day. I know we are supposed to stay home for 3 straight days, but I honestly don't know when we would be able to do that so I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing and try to stay home all day Sunday and Monday. Wish us luck, please! :)

Valentine's Project

Last year I saw a really cute idea for Valentine's cards for kids on a blog, but Finley wasn't in school so I really had no reason to make them. I tucked them away in the back of my brain and pulled them back out this year. They turned out so cute! I thought getting the picture with her arm in the right place and her whole body in the frame so it would fit into a 4x6 would be more difficult, but it took me all of 20 minutes to get the picture, edit it, print them, cut the holes and stick the suckers in. Success!

Pregnancy Update

At 32 weeks I'm feeling good, but really big and uncomfortable. I don't remember being this uncomfortable this soon with Finley. I have gained less weight this pregnancy, but that doesn't seem to be helping. My heartburn is still bad and sleep is just okay. I'm waking up because my hip hurts and I need to roll to my other side. Then, once I'm awake it's like my body says hey you're up let's go to the bathroom. I never had any Braxton Hicks with Finley, but I've had them with Sam. I've also had a lot of cramping. My doc has checked me and nothing is happening. Even though it's uncomfortable, I'm glad something is going on in there. Maybe I'll go into labor on my own this time :) For now, it's just a waiting game...

Last day with Ethan

I honestly can't remember if I ever mentioned that I was keeping a friend's baby two days a week. I've been doing it since August, so surely I've mentioned it. If not, Jessica is a friend and sorority sister who also happens to be Finley's pediatrician. Long story short, she needed child care and I wanted to make a little extra money so we decided I would keep Ethan two days a week. I planned to keep Ethan until Sam was born, but as I got bigger and more uncomfortable and as I realized how little time I had left with just me and Finley, I decided I needed to leave a little sooner. Luckily, Jessica had someone lined up and it was no problem. Finley absolutely loved going to Ethan's house. She loved their dog Dixie and playing with Ethan's toys. As he got older she also loved to make him laugh and help me do things for him. I feel very fortunate that I had the opportunity. I'm hoping it helped get me back in baby mode and that it got Finley comfortable seeing me with another child. She never got upset or jealous when I held, rocked or fed Ethan. Who knows what will happen when it's her little brother and it's happening all the time, but I can hope, right. We are going to miss our Ethan. We have really enjoyed watching him grow. I will also miss seeing Jessica. Since she is Finley's pediatrician and will be Sam's also, we will get to see her a good bit after Sam is born, but it won't be the same :( We love you Ethan!!! You are a sweet little boy and we will miss you so much!

Sam's nursery and Finley's big girl room

My in laws came up to visit and were nice enough to paint Finley's and Sam's rooms for us. Joey and I have painted several rooms in our house, but we HATE doing it and we're not very good at it. I painted Finley's room navy blue a while back (remember I spilled half the paint on her carpet?) and I decided I didn't like it so we painted it pink and then painted Sam's room baby blue. Correction: my father-in-law painted. We did not help at his request. I LOVE the way both rooms turned out. I need some artwork for Finley's walls and her room will be complete. We are also waiting on her furniture to be painted. Sam's room has a ways to go. It's funny...when I was pregnant with Finley, her nursery was completely finished in January (I was due in April). I have a feeling we will be pulling Sam's room together just in time. Poor, neglected second child ;) Here are some pics.

She has an opinion this year :(

I had big plans for Finley's birthday this year... a fancy tea party complete with party dresses, big hats, tea cups and fancy tea cakes. Finley had other plans. Even though I already had it all planned out in my head, I politely asked her what kind of party she wanted thinking she would have no opinion and I could suggest the fancy tea party to which she would enthusiastically reply, "Yeah!" That didn't happen. We were in the car on the way home from keeping Ethan and I asked her what kind of birthday party she wanted. She was very matter of fact in her answer. An animal party at Chuck e Cheese. I was so impressed and proud that she had her own opinion and had communicated it so well that the fancy tea party went out the window. An animal party at Chuck e Cheese it is! In case you were wondering, there are no girly animal party invitations, cakes, party favors, etc. so the party is looking kind of boyish, but oh well. What my baby wants, my baby gets ;)