Outdoor Pancake Lunch and 34 week belly shots

Appropriately, today, the first day of spring, was a beautiful day. Eli and I enjoyed a nice lazy day at home, and we stayed in our pajamas through lunchtime. I find that we both enjoy having at least one lazy day like this per week. It seems like our schedule has slowly but surely, gotten pleasantly more busy. Mondays, Dendi comes over watches Eli for a few hours while I go to an appointment or Yoga, then we generally eat lunch with her. This Tuesday we probably started a new routine of attending the 3-5 year old storytime. That storytime seems a little more appropriate for Eli -- the stories are longer, she alternates stories and seated songs and the children are much calmer. Then, this Tuesday evening we spent with Allison. Wednesdays, we generally see Grammie for lunch at CLT. On Thursdays, we go to the 2 year old story time at the library. Yesterday, we also checked out and read our new books at the library, then walked over to Jumping Bridge Park for a picnic lunch and time to play and throw rocks in the water. Usually on Fridays we go to play group. This week our regular play group was cancelled and they held the monthly MOMS meeting instead. We decided to skip it. So, instead, today we enjoyed a lazy day.

Once again, Eli is in love with pancakes. I think he would like to eat pancakes or waffles for every meal. I relented and made a new batch of pancakes for lunch for both of us. As is our routine, Eli helped me measure out, dump in and mix all the ingredients, then he left the kitchen so that I could "do the hot parts." While I was cooking, our very loud kitty made her presence known, so Eli let her out the back door. Once outside he realized what a beautiful day it was and wanted to stay and eat outside. I told him as long as he stayed on the patio he could stay in his pajamas. Here he is having his outdoor pancake pajama lunch.



After breakfast, he decided he wanted to play in his sand box. I told him he could as long as he got some clothes on. As you can see, Scott had a brilliant idea of using some of his duplicate Bob the Builder Duplos in his sandbox. Not only are they in some ways more fun in the sandbox because they can really scoop the sand, but it has peaked his interest in the ones in his room as well.


After playing for about a half an hour he decided he wanted to mow over some termite baiting stations. He has loved these things ever since he could walk. He used to call them and many other things "nigns" or signs. We used to walk around the house and touch all of them, then we started counting them. There are 17 of them and they are numbered. Finally, the game mutated into mowing to each one, stopping, pointing to them and counting them. The last mutation occured as a tribute to Daddy. Over his February break, while Scott was clearing out our back yard, he did a lot of mowing to tame the underbrush. During one mowing session he inadvertantly mowed over one of the termite baiting stations. At first, Eli was pretty upset as one of his numbered termite traps was gone. We told him the pest control guy would replace it, and now the game is to mow over each baiting station as he counts it.

Finally, here are a few more belly shots. I think I'm about 34 weeks, but honestly everywhere that I check has me at a slightly different day of my pregnancy. So... I'm generally going by my midwife who says I'm 34 weeks.

A Visit with Ms. Allison

Eli and I spent Tuesday evening with Allison. I haven't seen Allison in more than 9 years, and we had a lot of catching up to do. She was in town on business from California for a few days, and was able to squeeze in a night with us. Thankfully, Eli was exceptionally well-behaved which gave us a lot of time to chat. I think it helped that I planned an Eli friendly evening. We went to Piedmont Park and played at his favorite playground. Then we ate burritos, chips and queso for dinner. As you can probably see from the pictures, Eli LOVED Allison. He still gets a little silly grin on his face when he talks about her. He was equally as enamored with her 14th floor hotel room. He hadn't been up that high in recent memory and was intrigued by what the cars, buses and people looked like down below. All in all, we had a very pleasant evening.

A Difficult Week

When I posted last I mentioned that Eli had been unusually grumpy, and we weren't sure why... Turns out last week he was coming down with a stomach bug. It started out so mildly that I didn't even think he was sick. I thought maybe he just ate something that hadn't agreed with him. But, by last Wednesday afternoon, I had to change his diaper every ten minutes for a few hours. Those diaper changes were amid tears, grabbing at his stomach, not wanting me to wipe him, complaining of a sore bottom, and being generally difficult to be around. But, of course he wanted me to hold him all the time too. It wore me down. Each afternoon, I looked forward to Scott coming home, but as is common when he feels bad, he only wanted me. So much for a break for Mommy. It was rough. Not only did I feel drained, but it rained for about five days straight. Therefore, even when he had a brief respite from his symptoms we couldn't go outside and play in the sandbox or mow over a few termite traps to blow off some steam and get a change of scenery. It was no fun. By the weekend he was gradually feeling better, but still only wanted me. I think the combination of being worried about him and taxed by him made me have an unusually high blood pressure reading when I went into see the Allergist on Monday morning. It was within the normal range by the time I left, but Monday night I did some much needed and missed Yoga to help me unwind. Thank God, he's back to his usual chipper self, and has been since Monday. It's amazing how much his temperament changes when he's feeling badly. On Monday, I was relieved to realize how wonderful he usually is to spend time with.

Before last Wednesday afternoon signaled the beginning of his illness, we went for a great walk to the Lake Park. Walking at normal, adult speed it takes about a half an hour to get there. Eli mowed for 40 minutes! I couldn't believe how long he lasted. We didn't quite make it to the Lake Park. He climbed into the stroller for the remainder of the journey. When we got there we had a nice picnic lunch sitting on a bench on the banks of the lake, played a little at the playground and spent the most time, and had the most fun, throwing rocks in the water from the fishing dock. We confused and disappointed many hungry ducks and fish.





While looking across the lake, I pointed out Jumping Bridge Park. Of course, Eli decided he wanted to go play there too. Like a crazy person, I agreed. Walking to Jumping Bridge park takes another half an hour, which was fine at the time. But, I was regretting my decision as Eli snoozed on our hour walk home. All I wanted to do was climb into his stroller and nap right along with him. As my third trimester has been progressing, I've been wasting no opportunity to nap when he naps. I feel much better on the days when I take an afternoon nap, too.

Daddy The Builder and 32 Weeks

What a difference a week makes! Last Sunday we were watching the snow fall, and yesterday it was in the upper 70's -- a beautiful spring day. You gotta love this crazy Southern weather!

The beautiful weather and maybe our impending arrival (possibly a form of male nesting) motivated Scott to build Eli a simple sand box yesterday. Even though the thought of the completed sandbox seriously delayed Eli's nap, he was a little reticent to venture into it once he woke up. He frequently wakes up from nap a little fussy and requires some warm up time. Yesterday was no exception, in fact he's been a little tired and grumpy all weekend. We're not sure why. He finally did play in it yesterday, and then again for over an hour this afternoon. Once again, yay for Daddy!



I can't believe it, but I'm 32 weeks! Only 8 more weeks and we will be a family of four, it's incredible. I'm starting to feel slightly panicky because we haven't done much at all on her room, apart from buying the bedding. But, I know it needs to wait until Scott's next vacation, at the beginning of April. I also know that it's fine, but it's sometimes hard to reason with the strong pregnancy nesting hormones. I went to see Heather, my midwife today, and everything's looking great. My blood pressure was nice and low, and even though I didn't gain any weight since my last visit two weeks ago she's measuring right on the mark. She said her heart beat sounded great and it was in the 150s. Here's a 32 week belly shot.

SNOW!!!

Since Eli was born, it has snowed once a year. Today was our lucky day. It has snowed off and on all day long, and been so beautiful to look at through the windows. It's so soothing to be inside a warm house and look outside and all you can see is trees and steadily falling snow. Scott and I are both appreciative that we no longer live in Truckee. While living there, the snow became a burden. But, here in Georgia, getting snow once a year is magical. Today was the best accumulation that Scott and I have seen since we moved here. Here are some pictures of the snow all around our house.




Eli was content to stay inside "warm and cozy" in his pajamas and watch the snow fall.


Here's a picture of our photographer after he'd gone outside to take our snow pictures.


Then, Scott went back outside to build Eli a snowman. He built him in our front yard, right in front of our bedroom window so Eli could watch the progress. First, he made him a fireman snowman, then after checking with Eli, borrowed Eli's Bob the Builder hat. Then, we had Bob the 'Noman.