gramps

i'm a really lucky girl.  i have an awesome dad.  and what's even more awesome, is to see him as a grandpa.  gramps came to visit this past weekend, and we had so much fun.  he usually comes with gram, but she didn't make the trip this time (i'm not sure how often that will happen anymore, she was a little jealous).  but, i'm so glad that mae was able to have that time with gramps. 

i thought it would take her a while to warm up to him, but right away she wanted to hold his hand, sit near him, play with him.  it was so great.  i love these special moments!

 we had some rainy weather while my dad was here...i'm talking monsoon style.  so we were inside most of the weekend.  we made lots of trips to random stores, here mae and my dad are attempting to play the video games at best buy.  i'm not sure who was better...

mae likes to dip things in sauce...and then just lick the sauce.  i'm not sure how many french fries were actually consumed, but the amount of ketchup was significant...there's tomatoes in ketchup i shouldn't feel that bad about it, right?

of course we made a trip to get some texas bbq.  gramps always does research on where to eat around here before he comes.  he found a new jem.  that i am sure we will be visiting again!

this girl did great in the car.  as you can see she has the perfect set-up with her ipad (sadly, she doesn't say pipad anymore).  

and a few naps were taken in the car.  on her arm you can see her purse.  she did not want to go anywhere without it this weekend.  

this little lady had lots of smiles for her gramps, and we took lots of pictures to send to gram.

she has her moments (like today where we had an epic meltdown that lasted about 35min, or when she's up from 3-5am), like any 2 year old does.  but overall we are blessed with a pretty happy munchkin.

it's so fun to have people we love come to visit.  it makes our time with them extra special.  we're so glad that my dad came to visit.  he's one of the best guys in the whole world. 

the cold

i was told that we would be wearing shorts through november when we came to texas.  and for the most part we did.  this last week however, was seriously cold.  even for virginia standards.  we had some seriously cold nights, and we had to go buy fuzzy jammies for mae because it was so cold!

this was the before the cold front came.  mae has made it her life mission to climb on top of these things.  she still hasn't made it yet, but she has gotten pretty darn close.

 

this kid loves the playground.  she climbs, hangs, and swings on anything she can reach.  i'm glad we made so many trips to the park the week prior to the cold.  because last week, we seriously were inside all week.  one day we walked outside from the car to the mall and mae yelled "yay outside!!".

 

friday was supposed to be warm..er.  but it wasn't.  but this girl could not handle being inside anymore.  after some tears, and some bundling i let her go outside.  she swept the driveway for probably 30 minutes.  and as you can see, we are the only souls outside!  but, it made her happy.

 this kid loves to sing.  whenever we're in the car, or when she's playing she sings to herself.  last sunday i caught her trying on my shoes singing to herself.  i love hearing her sing.  she does a pretty mean version of "happy birthday", and recently has added "row, row, row your boat"

 cody has been great at getting us out and doing something fun on saturdays. it's been a lot of fun for us to do things together, and to explore austin.  this past saturday we decided to head downtown to the capital.  neither of us had been there.  it was really awesome.  you can just walk around and see all the rooms.  which, is totally not what happens when you go to any museum or building in DC.  so, it was a really fun experience for us.

mae loved it too.  i have to say, this girl does really well when we travel, and try new things...for the most part. she's a trooper.

if possible, i think this girl might love pizza as much as her daddy.  friday night is usually pizza night in the baldwin home.  last week, i just made a frozen pizza, and the light in the oven had to be on the whole time so she could watch the pizza cook.  i love when she gets excited about things!  it reminds me to stop and enjoy the simple things.  love her

Pregnancy Update

28 weeks.  sometimes it's hard to believe i'm that far along.  and others, i can't believe i still have 12 weeks of this left!  this has really been the hardest thing i've ever had to do.  this little girl just wants to make sure that i don't forget she's there!

the nausea is almost gone.  i still have bad days, and times of day.  but at least i don't have to take medicine all day every day just to make it through.  there are still things i can't eat or think about without gagging.  poor cody ordered a new smoker for himself for christmas, and all he wants to do is smoke meat.  and i can barely handle typing smoked meat, let alone think about eating it.  lucky for him, my dad comes into town soon, and he'll go with cody so he can eat smoked meat to his hearts content.

i was having some bad contractions for a few weeks, not of the braxton hicks variety.  the real thing.  so they had to run a bunch of tests.  everything is fine.  they're just stress induced.  so i need to stress less (shouldn't be a problem right?), and rest more.  i have a hard time with that one, especially with a very vibrant active 2 year old.  but, i'm trying to take it easy.

this past week my sciatica has been so bad i could barely walk some days.  the other day i was sitting on the floor playing with mae while cody was changing after work, and it hurt so bad to get up i just started crying.  mae kept saying "mama sad", and gave me hugs.  bless her sweet little heart.  it keeps me up at night.  my doctor gave me stretches to do, but even those weren't helping.  so, i've been given a recommendation for physical therapy.  i start later this week.  hopefully it will help!

this little girl is proving to be just as active as mae.  mae kicked and moved a lot in my belly, and if possible, this girl does even more.  there have been a few nights where her kicks have woke me up. 

with everything i've gone through this pregnancy (and apparently will continue to go through), i love this little girl more every day.  i can't wait to meet her. i can't wait for mae to meet her.  i'm so nervous about having another person to care for, but i feel so blessed that Heavenly Father would entrust me with another of His precious spirit children.  this girl is supposed to be in our family.  and i'm so grateful that she will be here soon!

fall fun

all i can say is day light savings is terrible.  mae was finally sleeping in (and by that i mean later than 5:30), but that's over! 

mae loves to line things up.  it doesn't really matter what it is.  and her favorite place to do it is the bench at the kitchen table.

 we love story time at the library.  we usually go at least once a week.  it's great because mae will sit through almost the entire thing now...sometimes.  anyways, they always have fun crafts to make afterwards, and last week she got to make a mask.  she loves this thing.  the day she made it, she would not take it off.  i'm seeing a cape to match in her christmas future.

 again...lining things up.  her baby pumpkins and all the treasures she finds from the yard.

this girl has become a climber.  we still make it down to the lake once or twice a week, just not to swim.  her new favorite thing to do down there is climb the "spida wen".  she loves to climb this thing, and is pretty good at it too.  she's only fallen a few times.  and when i go get her and pick her up, she cries if i take her away from it.

halloween was a lot of fun this year.  we got her all dressed up for our trunk or treat at church, and she loved it.  i'm not sure she really got the trick or treat thing, but she had fun walking around and seeing all the other kids.  on halloween we decided not to take her out.  i was too tired.  but, i think she had more fun when the trick-or-treaters rang the doorbell.  every time it rang she would run to it saying trick or treat trick or treat!  holidays are so much fun with kids!

we set up our tv in our bedroom when i was really sick.  so, sometimes i'll turn a show on for her in the morning while i'm working out or getting ready.  this is how i found her the other day...

whenever i start to bake or cook, this girl has to help.  she gets all the pots and pans she can (and of course lines them up on the bench).  i love it because it keeps her busy so i can cook!

it's actually cooled off quite a bit the past few weeks.  and we are enjoying that it finally feels like fall!  we're getting excited for my dad to come visit soon, i've already got a list of things for him to help me with while he's here!