So What Do We Think? Take After Deo or Not?

Turns out Deo and my instincts were right; we are having a baby GIRL! It kind of freaks me out still that our doctor said, "I'll give you 98% assurance it's a girl." That's a big 2%! I know it's never 100% anyways, but hopefully I can get past the 'what ifs' in the next 4 months.

I didn't realize how excited I would be to have a little girl. But I am SUPER excited now it's official (confident to the 2nd standard deviation). We both told the doctor beforehand we would be shocked if it was a boy. Yes, there are benefits to having another boy, especially since they'll be sharing a room for the time being. But all those are now thrown out the window that I can buy cute little dresses and outfits; let's face it, the selection for girls is just way better (1 rack of boys compared to an entire floor of girls).

Well, you can decide for yourself if you hope she takes after Deo....

Early Christmas Present

My hubby and I went cyber-Monday shopping and purchased a new camera....Canon Rebel T2i! It finally came in and I couldn't wait to start playing around with it. Here some of my amature photo taking and editing results...just playing around trying to figure out all the neat features.

Heartburn is the name of THIS game!

So it's been awhile so I thought I'd give a pregnancy update. I had my last doctor appointment which we did the some more blood draws and testing and so far so good. We heard the heartbeat again which is always nice and relieving to hear. I'm also feeling lots and lots of movement now, which is really really low in my pelvic area (which I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing or doesn't really matter). The baby is quite active in the morning and evening and Deo's even got to feel it move. I try to get Trey to feel it but he just insists on sticking his finger in his own belly button and say "baby" instead.

As far as symptoms go, I'm feeling pretty good. Pretty much once I got out of the 1st trimester the extreme nausea faded and I started to get an appetite back. I haven't really had too many cravings for anything, except I want very potent food (hot, spicy, salty). Anything sweet is kind of off-putting and I think that's why I want very savory items because everything I eat tends to taste really sweet and starchy. I'm still pretty tired but I'm not feeling nearly as fatigued as I did early on, although I do pretty much crash out at about 9:00pm every night and on the weekends sneak in naps when I can.

The only other major symptom I have is extreme heartburn! No matter what I eat, when I eat, how I eat, I get heartburn. I feel like my stomach is in my throat (which is probably is) and have crazy heartburn all day. I hate Tums and Pepcid (the chalky texture makes me gag) but I'm throwing them like there is no tomorrow with no avail.

What else is weird is that I haven't really had any of the other symptoms as I did with Trey (yet). With Trey I had crazy acne (I felt like a 16 year old boy who worked at McDonald's) and had crazy upper back pain. I get a little lower back pain if any this time and my skins has actually cleared up pretty nice this time around. The other odd thing I noticed is that with Trey, my hair was so nice and shiny all the time and with this one my hair seems straggly and frizzy.

I've only gained about 5 pounds which I'm happy about, although my belly is quite larger at this point than it was with Trey. It's also kind of sad that I'm still fitting into my regular clothes that I wore for the year after Trey was born. I'm actually fitting into some clothes now that I couldn't fit into after Trey. I think that's just telling I gained a lot of weight with Trey and didn't do a good job of losing the weight until after about a year when I went on Weight Watchers. I know the weight will come though so I'm not worried!

I think that's about it. We will find out the gender in mid-December and I'm still trying to decide how I want to find out. I'm thinking of waiting until Christmas but we'll see. I'll be sure to let everyone know once we find out.

Spooktacular Halloween!

I had such a fun Halloween this year. It's fun to see Trey starting to get into it and he was such a good throughout all my kooky stuff I wanted to do. I apologize in the advance this blog is a little picture heavy but I feel like there is so much to cover. I also apologize that our camera's flash broke so we're having a difficult time getting good pictures. Maybe for Christmas Santa will get us a new camera!

The festivities started off with an early Halloween party at Trey's sitters. Two of the little boys will no longer be at the sitters so Angelique wanted to throw a costume party while all the kiddos were there. Since it was a week early, and we didn't have Trey's costume yet, we rummaged through his drawers trying to find something. Luckily, I remembered we had bought Trey a little British Soldier pajama set while we were in London, so add a golf club muff and voila...our little British Soldier. No one really got what he was and all the other kids kept saying he was a fireman...but I thought he was cute nonetheless.

Next we carved our Jack-o-lanterns. I was surprised by how much Trey got into it. He loved the squishy pumpkin guts (probably a little much as he started flinging them around by the end of the craft. We usually try to find perfectly round and orange pumpkins, but this year we went different and tried to find goofy, odd shapes. I think they turned out better than usual!








The next thing I wanted to do was do some type of baking. I don't really like to bake all that much, but I've really been missing doing some good old fashion family time in the kitchen together. I have fond memories of doing cookies and cupcakes with mom around the holidays so it always is a fun I try to do. My friend gave me some cute little cupcake decorations so Trey and I made yummy gluten-free cupcakes (so Daddy can have some yummies too) and had fun icing and sprinkling them.

For dinner I wanted to do something fun. Initially I had wanted to plan an entire haunted Halloween themed dinner but then lost the gusto after doing the cupcakes. So I decided we would go with Monster Heads with Brain Chili.

Finally, Trick-or-Treat was upon us. Chucky (Trey) headed over to the Thompson household to pick up Wonder Woman (Ella), a Mad Scientist (Cole who was asleep so I didn't get any pictures of), and a Charliesaurus, (Charlie). We went to a local toy store, Mrs. Tiggy Winkles, for a costume parade and games. It was a little overwhelming for Trey but I think he had fun and started to put it together that he would get candy out of the deal. The kids trick-or-treated through the plaza and then headed back to the store for apple bobbing, pumpkin bowling, and face painting. After that we headed over to the Sam Hughes neighborhood for the remainder of the trick-or-treating. Sam Hughes does a really good job of decorating their houses and having spooky, haunted lawns to walk through to get your treats. Trey did great at the first few houses, complete with saying "treeeeat", "thank you," and waving good-bye. Then he got tired and wanted to be held all the time. We made it up and down about 3 or 4 streets before he was about done. Oh, and there was even a house that had a telescope set up and you could look through it and see Jupiter which was pretty cool for us adults!




By the time we got back home, it was about 8:00pm. Our neighborhood was jumping! There was cars and kids everywhere. The sleep Trey perked right up once the trick-or-treaters started coming by and I think he liked this part the best out of it all. He got all excited screaming, "candy" whenever there were kids at the door and had fun putting the candy in the kids bags. In the half hour that we gave out candy we had given out 3/4 of our goods. Not too shabby. Not too much later...our little Good Guy was tuckered out. All in a day's work!

Now and Then

NOW (at 13 weeks):

THEN (at 13 weeks):

NOW (at 19 months):

THEN (at 7 months):




NOW (at 3 ft tall):

THEN (at 2 ft tall):

Pretty Obvious

So I realize my clues were pretty obvious. We are pregnant again!. We are 12 weeks along this journey, although the baby is measuring 13 weeks. We went yesterday for my 12 week check-up as well as the Ultra Screen. The technician performing the Ultra Screen seemed shocked that the baby was so large thought I was for sure farther along than 12 weeks. I reassured her that my first pregnancy was measuring 2 weeks further along and Trey ended up coming 1 day before his due date, but was almost 10 pounds. Once I told her that, she was like, "Oh, OK." So you'll probably just have another big baby.

So back-tracking a bit, we actually found out pretty much as soon as you can find out. Like with Trey, I was thinking I was farther along than what I really was (still very confused about how it all works out but oh well). We had some concerns early on since I was having pretty heavy bleeding almost through 10 weeks (TMI). My doctor had me coming in about twice a week to do blood work and ultra sounds and everything kept coming back like a normal healthy pregnancy. We saw the heart beat at about 8 weeks and then again just this week (and heard it). So I guess so far so good. I realize you are never "out of the woods" but things are starting to feel more "normal."

So far this pregnancy has been the complete opposite of Trey's. I've been super sick since pretty much the day this baby started growing inside me, but have just started to turn the corner into feeling OK to eat, although I still have my days where the thought of food in general makes me want to hurl. Nothing every really sounds good. I've been trying to good about eating healthy options especially since I'm not eating a lot. I've been eating a lot of fruit and peanut butter toast. I've been extremely fatigued and have had very little patience with my family (which I feel horrible for). I'm already starting to show although I've actually lost 5 lbs since I became pregnant.

Deo and I are convinced it's a little girls since it's been difficult from day 1, (she's preparing us early), but who knows. We'll find out the gender just before Christmas which will be fun! Oh and due date? April 24th, 2011, which is actually Easter this year. I'm excited to have an April baby (Trey's March, this will be April, and I'm May). That also means Trey his sibling will be 2 years and 1 month apart...which is kind of crazy. It doesn't seem that close in age when you hear it like that, but right now it feels like they are on top of each other. I always wanted our kids close in age but now I'm not so sure why.

We are very happy and excited about this new journey in our life. It's weird not really having to buy anything for this new baby so it feels like there is not a lot to prep for. We'll just take things as they come and roll with the punches and hopefully by next Spring we'll be welcoming our new baby boy or baby girl into our family!

Blue's Clues

To play Blue's Clues we gotta find a paw print!
And that's our first clue!
Then we put it in our notebook!
Cause they're Blue's Clues, Blue's Clues!

We gotta find another paw print, that's the second clue
We put it in our notebook
Cause they're whose clues? Blue's Clues!

We gotta find the last paw print, that's the third clue
We put it in our notebook
Cause they're Blue's Clues, Blue's Clues!

You know what to do!
Sit down in our Thinking Chair and think...think...think!
Cause when we use our mind, take a step at a time
We can do anything...that we wanna do!

Butterfly Effect

It is always amazing to think how the littlest things in life can have a huge affect on the present day and future lives. Actions from people we knew once upon a time or not even know at call can drastically impact your life. I was thinking about this phenomenon today as I went out to lunch to celebrate my hubby's birthday.

The mere chance that Deo and I even met is remarkable. Being from Ohio, I always have to answer to question how I got out to Arizona. The short story is my brother was dating a girl in High School. Her parents owned a house here in Tucson and traveled here a lot and her two older brothers attended the U of A. As my brother and his girlfriend entered their Senior year of High School, they both decided they were going to attend the U of A together. My brother and his girlfriend left and all was dandy. During my Spring Break in High School, I visited my brother at the U of A and I was sold. Coming out to Arizona in March from Ohio...anyone would be sold. It was warm and sunny and beautiful here. I realized that if I stayed in Ohio and went to school, I would get a job in Ohio after graduating, and end up staying there forever. What other time could I go and live in another state for 4 years of my life? This was Phase 1.

Phase 2. When I visited my brother back in High School, he was living at Babcock. He had friends at Palm Shadows which is right next door and once occupied by the U of A as dorms. I thought they were so that they were little apartments. I could have my own bathroom and kitchen and wouldn't have to share an entire room to 3 or 4 girls. So when I made my housing choices, I picked Palm Shadows. At Palm Shadows some people from Washington who all went to the same High School. One of these friends, who didn't even live at Palm Shadows, was Ricky. Ricky and I became pretty good friends.

In the beginning of my junior year (1st semester of the Business Cohort), I pretty much lived at the computer lab with my groups. Ricky had changed his major to Business and was trying to catch up on some classes by taking them at Pima. He was taking Business Math at Pima. One late night at the ILC (computer lab), I was working with my group and trying not to doze off. I was scanning the room and noticed Ricky 3 levels down sitting with a group. I sent Ricky a text message, "hey look up." He looked up and laughed as we waved to each other. I received a text message, "I'm here with my Business Math group. Do you think any of the guys are cute?" I squinted my eyes hard. It was late, I was tired after looking at the computer all day, and I didn't even have my glasses on. I noticed Ricky was sitting with 3 other guys; one in a white t-shirt, one in a gray sweatshirt, and one in a bright orange sweatshirt. I started to text, "oh yea...the guy in the gray shirt" when I got interrupted by my group member wanting an answer from me. Distracted I never send the text message. After I paid attention to my group for a few minutes, I pulled my phone back out and for some reason beyond me decided to text, "oh yea, the guy in the orange shirt." My phone vibrated, a message from an unknown number, "hey, this is the guy in the orange shirt." Needless to say, the guy in the orange sweatshirt was Deo. Phase 3 complete.

I think back all the time, had my brother not dated that girl in High School, had I not visited Arizona over Spring Break, had I not decided to go to the U of A, had I not selected Palm Shadows as a residence hall, had the "gray sweatshirt" text gone through, where would I be now. I realize you can do this with every situation in life and you could drive yourself crazy thinking about all the scenarios. I ponder, had every one of those events gone differently, would I still have met Deo somehow? The romanticized part of me likes to think yes, although the realistic side of me thinks hell no, I would be living a completely different life. Maybe it would be better, maybe it would be worse. All I do know is I am extremely happy right now with the choices I have made and couldn't be happier with what the butterfly effect has brought me.

Missing September

September has been one of those crazy months for our family. Since we both work around the Higher Education calendar, it is a super busy time at work for both Deo and me. For this means a lot of missing each other and family time. Poor Trey has been having longer days than usual at the sitter, and there's some days we don't even know who is picking him up until an hour before he needs picked up. This week alone has been extra stressful as I had to travel for work, in addition to Deo traveling. Deo's been making the drive to and from Phoenix on almost a daily basis, just so we could at least get the nights together. I feel so bad for our little bubba during this time of year because you definitely see it's taking a toll on him. I don't remember when we last sat down as a family and ate a home cooked dinner (which for us is rare). It's times like this when I wish I could stay at home full-time so at least he Trey has some consistency at home with Deo's travel schedule. The only good thing about it is that it does end. Once we hit October, my schedule will slow (a little bit) and hopefully so will Deo's. I'm excited for Fall holidays and anxious to spend some quality time with my family making memories.

First Movie Excursion

We went up to Northern AZ a few weekends back to visit Deo's parents. Someone (to remain nameless) had the grand idea to go to the movies. I was convinced Trey would not sit through a movie but was reassured if he started to act up, I would not be the responsible one having to miss out the flick. There was a small glimpse of hope as he watched the commercials devoured a hot dog in his own seat. Once the trailers started, however, he didn't want anything to do with it. Deo took him out in the hallway and he ran back and forth for an hour and half. Me? I fell asleep 10 minutes into the movie and woke up for the last 10 minutes. I guess you have to catch up on your sleep whenever you can. It was worth the $9 right there.

Nobody Does it like Mr. Clean.

My kid is a little (OK maybe a lot) OCD about cleaning. I address this compulsion by doing what? Buying him his own cleaning kit of course. He loves it! He sweeps and mops up his play area in the garage all the time. It perturbs me that the cleaning kit came with a woman's apron (hello, are we in the 1950's?) but at least he'll make an excellent husband!

The Bird is the Word!

Everybody knows that the bird is the word. And everybody also knows like father, like son...

...which I guess is true for our son as well!

A Season of Change

So you can tell that it has been super busy as work because I haven't had the time to post anything for awhile. Everything was kicked back into high gear once I got back from London and I haven't looked back. Another Fall semester starts with a new group of incoming freshman and we're ready as we'll ever be.

As the summer comes to end and, for us in Higher Ed, our Fall comes early. We have a lot of new and exciting things to look forward to now. Change is inevitable in my professional, and now (with bittersweet feelings) we will have a change in staff.

Two of my co-workers will be starting new careers this Fall and I am super excited for this. This change brings upon a lot of exciting opportunities for each of them and I know they will do great in their new role. But I am selfishly sad to see them leave. I was thinking last night of how lucky I have been to have such great co-workers that have become friends and such a great part in my life. We've experienced a lot together over the past few years that I will miss. I'll miss our fun and goofy lunch room conversations, although I'll probably save money from all the lunch outings to sushi and Thai. They were there for me through my wedding and pregnancy and early mom-hood. We've shared baby showers and birthdays, trips to Vegas, study tours to New York (and in the Penthouse Suite might I add), frustrations with students, long nights at Harvill and the Student Union Ballroom, excursions to Cold Stone on 100+ heat days, yummy cheesy potatoes and wraps from the Union (why is that a lot of our memories have to do with food? lol), and so much more that all carry a deep place in my heart.

I truly do hope the best for you and your families and this only means that we have to hang out as friends and not co-workers! I'll miss you guys. Here is to a season of change for us all.

A Boy and his Rocks

I guess these the Stonehenge stones do have some type of magical power. They can take a man from looking like this...

to looking like this...

Other Notable Differences

Floors levels start with the Ground floor (which makes sense but it always threw me off); I was staying on the 3rd floor of the house but in America it would really be the 4th.

Maybe it's just that I am staying in a old place in a old part of town, but the tub part of the shower is a foot off the ground. You have to step up to the shower and my head pretty much hits the ceiling.

Shoe sizes...I could not find a Woman's size 11 shoe. In fact, I don't even think they make it. I was told that some more of the department stores would have that size but I still have yet to find one. Do no Women in the UK have bigger than a size 10?

Plugs, obviously but it was also surprising to me that they appear upside down, with the 3rd prong pointing up.

Left side default. Obviously, they drive on the left side but everything else in on the Left side too, walking direction, escalator placement, etc. What's odd, though, is that the Underground exits (the turns where you have to swipe out) are on the Right which always through me off.

Toilets. They are just...well..different. They flush differently (and might I say rather aggressively). You pay for public use of one. You call refer to it as "using the toilet" rather than "rest room." Some places even have unisex rooms. Oh, and instead of a roll of toilet paper, I was given a box of "toilet tissue" which is basically a box of Kleenex. They do have rolls in most places, but I am only given the box where I'm staying.

People say "sorry" instead of "excuse me."

People are generally nicer. They are not overly friendly, especially just on the street, but overall people seem friendlier. The exception, however, is at restaurants. I felt most people working at the restaurants were less friendly. I think mostly because they have 2 people working in a place and they are serving all tables. Everything takes longer. They will not just bring you your bill when they take your plates. You have to specifically ask for it. Again, I think because they are so busy with all the tables as most places get pretty busy during mealtime that unless you are asking them they’re not thinking about you.

Live by the tap! Most places charge you for water. They offer sparkling or still. I thought I was doing right by ordering still until I realized that meant bottled and usually cost about 3-4 pounds. I learned very quickly to always ask for tap water!

Restaurant prices are fairly expensive, especially with the exchange rate. When Deo and I ate together, we rarely got out of a place without spending 20 pounds (which is $30). However, prices for other items I felt were actually pretty reasonable. If you went to a grocery store you could get normal items without the hike-up and even with the exchange rate were actually pretty comparable to US prices.

At the cinemas (aka movies), if you order popcorn, they ask you if you want sweet or salty. And there is no butter on the salty. And most of the cinemas serve beer.

Take-away (food-to-go) is mostly always cheaper and a lot of places even offer a lot of great deals for take-away orders. My favorite deal was a 16 piece sushi box for 5.99; can’t beat that! And I found out later that if I would have ordered online I could have saved another 5%.

London in a Nutshell

Seeing as how I am entering my last day in London, I figured I should blog about all that has been happening. I will try not to bore you and keep it short, but we will see how that goes. Maybe if I categorize it will be better. Whenever I try to explain something to tell someone what it's like out here all I can say is, "it's different." Here we go.

Culture Shock
This has been my first experience oversees. I've been to 2 other countries (Canada and Mexico which I don't know if they really count...maybe I get 1 point combined), and to Hawaii (which I only highlight because it was flying over the ocean. I was scared but figured it wouldn't really be too different. I mean, everyone here speaks English so it wasn't like I was going to Japan and couldn't even understand writings and such. But to my surprise I experienced quite a bit culture shock. I read online that this is actually very typical for Americans because we don't prepare mentally for it like we would if we were visiting some place more foreign to us. That, in addition to me desperately not liking "fish out of water" feeling, I stayed cozied in my room most of the first day. The next day, however, was better. I forced myself out to explore and once I started feeling more comfortable, things got better...a lot better.

Business First
Going on the internship site visits was very interesting to me. I really do feel like I got a pretty good glimpse into the work culture here in the UK and let me tell you...it's different. My first experience was meeting with a group from the FIE (organisation - see I'm turning British already - that is coordinating the internship for our students). I walked into an room where three employees shared this one office, and there was a couch. I was immediately offered tea as I sat on the couch. I pulled out my file folder with notes, full-sized note pad, and pen and waited as the other three ladies pulled up little chairs around the couch with teas in one hand and a little note-card sized note pad in the other. None of them took notes as I frantically tried to write down everything they were saying. I had to laugh at myself as I left the meeting at serious we take ourselves in America. Me with my gigantic office filled with filing cabinets and shelves, my very own computer and printer, our huge board rooms where we schedule very important meetings with very important people with very important titles. I mean come on, I work at a University, I'm not curing cancer here....my head immediately deflated a size.

As I went on site visits seeing a variety of industries from a 2 person staffed independent record label to a American-owned health care agency, I noticed that even their "more professional" industries aren't as professional as Americans. The dress, for instance, isn't as formal. You rarely saw full suits, you saw jeans at even more professionals places, and for some reason nothing ever seamed ironed. My husband walking around the streets even noticed how men's ties weren't tied as neat and were always all wrinkled. When I asked about work hours, I chuckled to myself when they said that some industries, like finance, has to put in long hours of 8a-6p. And it's not that they don't do good work or don't work hard, it's just...well...different.

Biggest Disappointment
Westminster Abbey, which we fondly referred to as W.A. the rest of the trip because we refused to say it's name. It was 18 pounds to get in and the biggest waste of our hard earned money. I don't know why but we just weren't into it. You walk around and look at graves. I had really wanted to see it but just wasn't into it while we were there. I was kind of like, "this is it." Maybe because we refused to pay the additional 4 pounds each to get the audio sets. Who knows. We went to this on one of our first days and it made it difficult for us to spend any money to see something after that because we didn't want to waste more money. We kept saying, "oh I wouldn't mind paying 10 pounds each to go see that if we hadn't spent that money on W.A." Finally, we had to get over our disappointment and more forward. They next thing we paid to see was London Tower and we were so glad we did. It ended up being one of both our favorite things of the trip. The better deal, Westminster Cathedral. I really liked that and it was free (well, a donation to the church upon entrance...cost us 3 pounds and another 2 to light some candles). To pour salt in the wound, we found out later you can see W.A. for free if you attend during a service.

Best Food
Belgian Waffle from the Belgian Waffle Company outside of the Baker St. station. I recommend fruit and ice cream topping.

Frae - organic frozen yogurt company across the street from my house. Three flavors: natural, strawberry, and green tea (I preferred the natural). You could add toppings of fruit and sweets. In the short time we were here, I almost racked up a full frequent visitor card to earn a free Frae.

Thai Curry has become London's home dish. Brick Lance is a street you can find a whole row of Thai restaurants. On a good night, you can walk by and have restaurants bargaining for your business (I'll give you 10% off plus a free appetizer). We tried Rosa's after a few online reviews which was actually just off of Brick Lane. I had a yummy pumpkin red Thai curry. Kensington Arms was also great and very reasonably priced. It's a pub with a Thai kitchen in the back, both of which are always packed. Also, it's like a 5 minute walk from my place so very convenient.

Summation
Well, so much for keeping it short.

Happy Birthday America

We kept a low key 4th this year since both Deo and I were leaving shortly for our upcoming trip to London (me for work for 2.5 weeks and Deo to visit for a week). We would be leaving the Goongs home with Grandma and Grandpa so we wanted to spend as much time home together as we could.

We hung out most of the day by running small errands before our trip. We did a small BBQ with just us at home and then went to Reid Park to watch the fireworks from the baseball game. It was so nice out at the park once the sun started to go down. We brought a soccer ball (as we have seem to caught some futbol fever) and just played around. Adam, Julie, and their kids met up with us and it was just a relaxing time hanging out the park, watching some fireworks.

It made me appreciate the simple things in life. We don't take a step back and just enjoy each other often enough. It made me appreciate living in this country where we are free to do just that. Happy Birthday America. As much as I complain about you...you're actually a pretty cool place to live!

Trey's 15 Month Weigh In

Trey had his 15 month check-up yesterday. He's staying pretty much on track to where he has been:

Weight: 24.4 pounds (50-75%)
Height: 32.5 inches (75-90%)
Head: 48 cm (75%)


Some other updates on the little Goongs:

Trey has always had a problem where he gets instant bumps, red marks, and bruises whenever he crashes. This was an insta-bump he got from just falling down while running around. He had a unicorn bump the second he stood up and also a busted lip. Poor guy!


I can't stay out of his baby pool with weather like this. Even though we're a tight fit, we have fun cooling down together.

We went up to Phoenix to visit with some family the other weekend and ate at Rustler's Rooste. It's a fun western BBQ place that is very family friendly. They have a big slide kids can play on, a live band on the weekends, and give you yummy fresh cotton candy at the end of your meal.


Again, Trey's obsession with wanting to sit in little cubbies and drawers.

As some of you know, 8 Little Monkeys is Trey's favorite book. He especially loves the part when the doctor tells mom, "no more monkeys jumping on the bed." This is Trey telling his relaying this message from the doctor.

And here is Trey's new trick...jumping. He watches this "workout" Sesame Street video where jumping is the exercise. He loves it and has now learned (kind of) how to jump.

Weight Watchers Weigh-In

So it's been 11 weeks since I've started my Weight Watchers "lifestyle change" and I have to say, it's actually working. I started losing weight right off the bat, but the first month and half seemed slow. Losing about a pound a week, you don't really notice it all that much. Then the second month kicks in and you can really start seeing the difference. That's when all the comments started coming in, too, about how you look like like you've lost weight. Co-workers, family, Trey's sitter; everyone was noticing. Even the neighbor lady sweeping her driveway on my running path made a comment about how the "running is really working." My pre-pregnancy clothes are finally fitting me again which has opened up an entire new wardrobe! I feel like I went on a shopping spree in my closet with all of the stuff I can now wear again.

Here are my stats:
17 total pounds lost to date
down 1 pant size

At first it doesn't seem like 17 pounds is all that much, then a co-worker mentioned to me to think about it in terms of sticks of butter (4 sticks = 1lb) and that made me realize how much it really was. It a little annoying to only see the scale drop 1-2 pounds per week, but I'm confidant in knowing that it's the healthy way to do it and that it usually stays off longer than doing a fad or crash diet. I'm still a little ways from my goal and from my healthy weight range but it definitely feels good to be back on the right track.

What it's like to have 3 kids

A few weeks back, my brother and sister-in-law asked us to watch their kiddos so they could go buy a new car. So we weren't stuck in the house all day with all the kids, we decided to go to the zoo to help them get their energy out and keep them occupied. Adam and Julie ended up taking their new addition, Charlie, with them so we had Ella, Cole, and Trey.

Going to the zoo and being responsible for 3 kids is a whole lot different than just our +1 family. But overall the kids were great. Ella enjoyed walking around and looking at all the animals and Cole and Trey relaxed in the double BOB.

Whenever we get to do fun things like this as a family, I always remind myself how lucky I am that our kids get to spend this quality time together. I have great memories of playing with my cousins and staying at my Aunts' and Uncles' houses for long weekends and I hope we can have that same relationship with our extended family.