Halloween and Happenings

This year was Andi's first Halloween experience. I wish it would have been warmer. The wind was awful and it was frigid. Aunt Christie and my mom went with us. She really liked seeing all the kids but we only made it to a trunk or treat at the First Baptist Church. We started out at the Mac but that was chaos so we went in and out quickly. After the church we went around to all the grandparents. She had a huge fit when I put her fairy costume on, which I said she would because it was a dress. She looked really cute though. Once we were able to get her distracted enough and leave, she had a fit at each house we went to wanting it off. We used candy as a distraction. She LOVES Reese cups! She ate a lot of chocolate that night but surprisingly, she didn't get a bad sugar rush. Hopefully, next year the weather is a little better because I will have her and a 9 month old:-)

She loves marshmallows too!

 I was able to get her dolled up in one of the outfits my grandparents sent up. She looked so cute and she actually liked wearing it! Matt was going to take her to Bass Pro when I went to work and he wasn't too thrilled that I had her all in pink. I think she mainly kept it on because she had boots on. She loves boots, she wears them with her pj's, naked, and tries to go to bed in them. It is usually a battle to get her to keep them off.

 She also loves jeans! She is all about jeans and boots. I love her soooo much!

This past week I had my final ultrasound (hopefully)! Everything looked great and I will be able to have a normal delivery. I enjoyed getting to see Benjamin. He looks a lot like Andi did. He is weighing 3 lbs and 5oz. He had little sprouts of hair on his head. He looks like a baby now. I am so anxious to meet him! I gained 8lbs in two weeks time. That has been the going rate. I have gained 30 so far and I have 9 weeks to go. I keep gaining rapidly and I am not eating a lot. The dr. said it is because it is my 2nd pregnancy and it is a boy. She has estimated him to be a 7lb baby, if he keeps growing like he is. So around the same as Andi which is good for delivery. 

The pic is a close up of his face. His fist is up by his left eye which created a shadow so they couldn't get any real good shots of him.

Not a lot has been new with Andi other than her talking. She is saying a lot more now and stringing words together. Somehow she has figured out how to call mawmaw and pawpaw. The other morning I was fixing my lunch for work and she had her phone. I heard her talking and thought nothing of it. I then started hearing voices and come to find out she was talking to mawmaw and pawpaw. She had gotten my phone and dialed them. She apparently called them 5 times and had them on speaker phone. 

We have started doing time out with her for discipline. Surprisingly she stays in the corner. She cries the whole time, but she won't move, even when you leave the room. Threatening her with time out seems to work too, when she won't do what you want. Other than that, nothing new. She is still sleeping in our bed, where she does best. She will probably still be sleeping with us when she is eleven. We just decided we would rather have sleep than fight it out every night, so she won.

Crazy Toddler

This past month has been hectic, so much that I didn't have the energy to post anything. I will start off with the good. Andi has been talking A LOT more now since the pacifier is gone. She is starting to string words together and talks about everything she sees. She has realized there is a baby in my belly and says Ben when she pats it. The funny thing is if she sees anyone that has a bit of a belly, she points to their belly and says baby. She loves the Chevy commercial " Born Free" and sings that song as loud as possible. She loves the song " I'm all about the bass" She really gets to dancing to it. She has had her fun moments but boy has she had some doozies lately. She is a DIVA!! The high-pitched screaming and tantrum throwing is at its worst and she has started dropping her nap.

In my last post I talked about how we were waiting on her toddler bed to get here. Well it came and what we thought would be an easy transition since it was in our room, was nothing but chaos. We first had her bed at the end of ours and she would scream and cry, for 2 hours...I am not exaggerating!!! We would try everything from stories to constantly having our hand on her. She has to have her stomach, then back, then feet rubbed in order to fall asleep. She isn't spoiled, not at all. You can thank aunt Christie for that! Well since the foot of the bed wasn't working we moved her bed to my side so I could keep my hand on her and she would be right there. We even raised the bed so she would be somewhat level with our bed. Every night was a screaming battle because she wanted in the bed. Do you know how hard it is to try and contain a toddler in her bed when you move like a beached whale. When she would finally fall asleep she would wake around 4 and climb over me into bed, and I wasn't going to fight her. Then one night she woke at 11 and cried for 30 minutes, then woke again at 2 and screamed and cried until 4am. While all of this was going on, she had startled Sam so much with her out-of-the-blue high pitched screams that he sucked spit down his throat and was choking. He then threw up on Matt, which Matt was already irritated over Andi screaming. We had to change the bed sheets and Matt was going to move her bed into her room because we were not getting any sleep since she started being in it. He jerked it up and broke the end of it off, so guess what....she won. Now she sleeps with us. Matt fixed the bed, but I don't know if we are ready to tackle that again. Also, she would constantly fall out of and it has rails. She is a crazy sleeper and somehow turns herself around and falls out or literally falls over the rail from her tossing and turning. The ridiculous thing is that at night we say, let's go night-night and she crawls in our bed in her spot between us, pulls the covers over her and goes to sleep. No fighting or screaming like it was even when she was in her crib. All I know is that it takes me forever to get to sleep because I am uncomfortable and then soon as I am asleep she would be awake, so I and Matt will take some quiet, night time even if she remains sleeping in our bed. I am scared she is going to get her brother on a bad sleep schedule because every time she wakes up screaming, he wakes up and goes to kicking and punching like crazy. The night she was up for 2 hours I layed on the couch with her and she was hugged up against me. He went to kicking her and she looked up at me. He was paying her back for waking him up and keeping him up.

The second issue we are having is keeping her clothes on. She strips down naked and prefers to stay that way. She absolutely hates dresses or anything that is long on her. She will throw a fit then take it off. I have gotten to the point I just let her be naked all day since that is what she prefers. She has started barking at people with the dogs and one day Sam went to pee in the litter box and I caught her peeing in it with him. She really thinks she is a dog. She will chew her food up, spit it on the floor then eat it off the floor, gets on all fours and eats out of the dog dish and drinks from the water bowl. No matter how many spankings or time-outs, she still does it. It is a never ending battle. 

Last week I think I was the madest I have ever been at her and the dogs. I luckily had gotten clothes on her but she was barefoot. I was getting ready to clean and had propped the door open so I could take the trash out. Soon as I headed for the trash the dogs and her took off running outside. I got my sandals and off I went after them. They had ran into the brush in the field. The dogs turned around and when Andi realized she was by herself threw a fit. When I saw the dogs they were coated in 3 types of cling-ons and guess what, so was Andi. I had to strip her down to carry her back. I had them all over me. It took me 2 hours to get them out of her clothes and another 2 to get them off the dogs. I was LIVID!

I have been wanting to take her to a pumpkin patch but since I work on the weekends, it is hard to take her. I decided to take her to one during the week with aunt Christie. It is a neat place called, Rutledge-Wilson Farm and Pumpkin Patch. It is a 200 acre farm that has animals and lots to do. I thought she would enjoy it since she likes the farm animals at my parents...yeah nope. She was scared of almost everything, baby piglets, cows, goats..etc. She would cover her eyes when we would pass by. We finally got her to giggle at the pigs chasing each other. I guess cause it was in an unfamiliar setting, she wasn't comfortable. The child is so cautious which I guess is a good thing but sometimes gets aggravating.

Yesterday I had my 29 week check-up which begins my 2-week appointments. Everything was fine. His heartbeat sounded good and strong. 137 bpm. It sounded like a galloping horse. I am passed the weight and size I was when I delivered Andi and I still have 2.5 months to go. I am ready for him to be here because he is a little linebacker in my stomach carving out my insides. I have so much pressure sometimes in my groin that I think that everything is just going to fall out. He will get to pushing his head or butt against my stomach and it literally feels like he is going to pop out. He has been a lot harder on me than Andi was. After this pregnancy I have decided that I am done. I know I have said in the past I wanted more, but I don't think I can do it, especially having a toddler, wild child.

November 10th is my ultrasound to see if my placenta has risen from my cervix. I will know then if I will have to have a c-section. I have been praying that it has risen because that is the last thing I want to happen. We have planned to have Andi's party November 30th due to my work schedule. I will be soooo glad when I am able to be part-time and not work so many hours. This week I will be working an 8 day stretch, I am probably going to die...lol. 

I was able to travel and see Jenna and her baby girl, Jessalee River. She is a beautiful baby and I am so used to picking Andi up that she felt like a feather. She really is a beautiful baby and it makes me so anxious for Ben to get here. I am excited that they will be 3 months apart and possibly a little romance will begin. Andi got to see Sawyer and they are so cute together. They hugged each other and it was adorable. Hopefully, fingers crossed, Jenna will be moving to Lebanon so we will definitely be seeing a lot more of each other!!! I can't wait!

Bye, Bye Rye

I have a lot of pictures that I have just downloaded off my phone from the past couple of months. The further you get down on the photos, the more recent. I will begin with what this post is about, Rye. Rye is what Andi named her pacifiers and it had gotten to the point that she had to have two at all times. She was becoming so dependent on them, waking at night again, and constantly losing them. 

Two weeks ago she had them and lost them both at the same time so I decided it is time to wean by telling her that Rye had to go be with the other babies because she had gotten to old for him. She did alright, had occasional fits crying for Rye mainly at nap time and before bed. A day after she had lost them, Matt and I were at the desk and she was playing with the printer. She pulled down the paper tray and yells, RYE!!!!!!!!!!!!. She had one in her mouth and holding the other up at me. I quickly grabbed them and stuffed them down the back of my pants...lol. She started to throw a fit but we quickly changed the subject. The next night we were in the living room and she was crawling around on the floor. She suddenly yells, RYE!!!!!!!!!! Again I quickly grabbed it and took off. It is funny how when we decide to wean her she suddenly starts finding them. I will say it has been so nice not having to crawl around looking for lost pacifiers. Since she has been weaned she is completely involved in her babies. She has four and is constantly carrying them around, feeding them, and pushing them in her grocery cart and stroller.

Since Rye went away she would not go in her room at night, absolutely hating her crib to where there was no consoling her. Matt had tried to put her to sleep one night and yelled for me to come in her room. She had learned how to get out of it onto her changing table but couldn't get down and it was scaring her. She had been doing it in her sleep as well. She was throwing such a fit that night she was jumping up and down on the table screaming. Her crib is obviously not safe anymore so the only thing we could do was let her sleep with us. I ordered a toddler bed and hopefully it will be here today. After a week of her sleeping with us it is going to be a challenge getting her to go in it and stay. She has been awesome though. She has to have both of us go to sleep with her and I haven't had to rock her at night since she has been in our bed. She will start saying night-night and get us both to go to bed. The only thing I complain about is the lack of room. I have to sleep with a body pillow and she likes to basically sleep on top of me. Our two dogs like to squeeze in between Matt and I so I am crammed on the side. It is very hard trying to turn over let alone trying to get comfortable since it is already an issue without the lack of space. Sometimes Andi will turn sideways and kick me or when she is on me, she sweats which makes me sweat. She is a little furnace just like her father. There are times I wake up and Matt has so much room and I can't even get up to go to the bathroom. It wouldn't be so bad but put a big belly and a child in the mix and it changes things.

Since Rye has left, Andi is talking a lot more. Some of the stuff she says, I have no idea what she is talking about but the fact she is talking more is great. She is singing a lot more too. 

She has learned to dress and undress herself which has been a problem because she doesn't keep clothes on. She is naked most of the time. She also has to choose what she wears and if you pick it out, good luck getting her to wear it. She loves jeans especially with the snaps and zipper. She insisted on picking the outfit she has on below. She chose everything which shocked me how she actually was coordinated in colors. She wanted to wear the jeans with the dress and that was final. 

We have finally turned her seat around. We waited because we wanted her to be at the weight limit. There are so many people I see that as soon as their child is 1 they turn them around. We tend to be a little cautious for her safety. She loves the new view and she will sing and dance now in her seat. She is one happy girl. 

She loves to go for rides, be it on a mower, four-wheeler, or her wagon. She gets so excited to as you will see in the video.

 

 

A huge problem we keep having with her is the dog food, dog water, and thinking she is a dog. She will eat her food like a dog, drink from their bowl and she has started licking us and the dogs. She also pants along with them. I called the dogs in for a treat and Andi was right with them panting and wanting some cheese. I know I am getting paid back for how I was as a child, I will be glad when she outgrows this. Hopefully she will once Ben gets here.

 She tends to be reckless when driving her cart and stroller around. The dogs tend to be victims as well as our feet. Below she liked having her floaty on her head while pushing her cart.

In August I went and visited Jenna. She is going to have a little girl in October. It has been neat being pregnant together, and sharing our belly experiences. We took the kids to McD's and then to a small circus. Andi loved Sawyer and kept loving on him and touching him. She had to be by him the whole time. 

The pics below show how much my belly has grown in the past 3 months. I feel like I am 8 months pregnant. I hope I am able to work up until my due date but the problems I have been having already make me a little worried. A new one has been Braxton Hicks. I had them a couple of times with Andi during the last month but I have already started this time and they are everyday and constant. They aren't painful just really uncomfortable.

Here's a story for you. Last week I went and had a massage. I was wearing the pink shirt in the first pic. I walked and talked with the masseuse, and told her about my discomforts. Halfway throught the massage she told me to roll over, I told her that I am pregnant, which I thought was self evident. She couldn't believe it. She thought I was chubby and maybe drank too many kegs of beer. I don't know what to think about that...lol. 
And now for a camera roll: