Fall is here!

I loooooooooooove fall. I'm a little disappointed that I'm not feeling 100% in order to truly appreciate it. We have plans to take Layla to a few pumpkin patches and obviously trick or treating, but pushing 9 months pregnant is making this really tough.

I SHOULD be resting today. I really pushed way too hard this weekend and have ended up with lots of cramping and general yuckiness today. But I had to spend a couple minutes outside getting some shots of L helping Daddy with some leaves and sticks. I can't relax inside knowing this little penguin was having the time of her life!!

 

The blog is distorting these pictures for some reason...so you can't appreciate them in TRUE form. But just know she looks absolutely adorable in that hat and had such a good time helping Daddy take sticks to the road. I just love her to death!

Detroit Zoo- Revisited

We are trying to make our last few weekends as a family of 3 special for Layla. This weekend Bryan decided to take Friday off and take us to the Detroit zoo one last time this year.

Honestly, this zoo isn't my favorite. After a 2 hour drive, Layla didn't even realize we were at a zoo until we finished the 15 minute walk to the back of the zoo to see the good animals. LOL. There is A LOT of walking here...our plan was to take the train to the back and walk up front hitting up all the good animals. Turns out the train doesn't operate on the weekdays in October so I was one exhausted Momma by the end of this trip.

Once she realized we were at the zoo (haha) she had a great time. It was windy and chilly so she stayed in her stroller most of the time, but it was a great time to go because it wasn't crowded at all. We got to see almost all the animals on L's list and a few more! Here are a few pics of L enjoying the zoo:

I think her favorites were the monkeys and alligators this time. Look how close we got to see this baby chimp!!

And that's all the pics we took. I was too tired to hold the camera and Bryan was busy pushing L around. Oh well! After the zoo we took what we thought would be a quick trip to Ikea to get a few things for Jack's room. It ended up taking us 3 1/2 hours to get home (normally takes under 2)...the curse of the Barton's continues to strike every time we travel. Maybe Jack will be our good luck charm? If not, I'm never leaving the house again. :)

House update...exterior is done!!

Well, ALMOST done. We just have one more coat of paint to put on the front door...but I had the time to take pictures today so this is as close to done as we are going to get for the moment. Man that sounds good...D-O-N-E!

Here are a few of the before pictures I took last year as things were in progress:

And the afters:

Wow wow Wubbzy right?! I am SO proud of us...this transformation was a lot of work. We painted the entire house, hung the gutters, tore out and replaced all the landscaping...mostly by ourselves. We had some help from my Grandpa along the way (THANK YOU!).

There are 2 things that I'm looking forward to next year- the door being done and the "right color" (it looks brighter here than it will be without the second coat), our landscaping becoming more "full" and to not do a SINGLE thing outside besides fill in the mulch this spring and then mow the yard.

I can't even express how good it feels to not have the ugly house in the neighborhood anymore. We have worked so freaking hard, and it is so nice to have a house that feels brighter and more like us. :)

Now we move on to Jack's room! It is almost done so stay tuned!

Freaking dogs

Let me take you back to a time when I was about 6 or 7 months pregnant with Layla and I cried at work because I was telling a coworker how I didn't think I could love anything more than I loved our dogs. Fast forward 2.5 years to today and you'd see a MUCH different side of me. I'm constantly reminding myself how old they are (8 and 6) and wondering how many more years I'm going to have to put up with them.

Don't feel sorry for them. They are mean, loud, don't appreciate anything and have mental issues that I can't even begin to describe. We've done our best to give them the best doggie lives that we can. We used to take them for walks (until Oscar's paw pads decided to fall off), give them treats (until Oscar needed surgery and $40 for an 8 lbs bag of prescription dog food because of bladder stones) and hugged and kissed on them so much (until they both decided it would be so much fun to roll in squirrel poop and eat it). They jump on the table to grab food if we turn our eyes away for 1 second (and I do mean 1 second).

Moose barks his loud pitch, ear piercing bark at everything. He's relentless when he wants to go out or feels the need to eat. He's a sneak and a liar and he chases squirrels.

Oscar also barks at everything and won't stop. His whine is the most annoying sound in the world. His breath smells worse than death and he knows that he can get away with growling even with the bark collar on. He is not the best with Layla and growls ALL the time.

So why in the world do we continue to put up with their crap? Because every morning Oscar cries at L's door until I let him in so he can lick her and play under the covers. Because Moose wears the same St. Patrick's day necklace everyday without complaining. And honestly, because they take care of the goldfish crumbs off the couch.

And because Layla loves them and loves taking care of them. And since I love her more than anything in the whole world (yes, even the dogs) we'll let those wild beasts stick around.

Freaking dogs.

29 weeks...3rd Trimester is HERE

It's getting  a little bit real now that I have feet in my ribs...we are actually going to have a baby. I remember thinking that 29 weeks was a magic number when I was pregnant with L. Babies have a 90%+ rate of survival when born this early...she had a fighting chance. Little did I know that an early birth would be the last thing on HER mind. Haha.

So here we are at 29 weeks and I feel like like I have a bit of relief. I still want to see him, hold him and hear that cry before I'll feel 100% but the fact that he COULD make it just makes me feel better.

I've been having braxton hicks...something I never had with L. I honestly didn't have a single contraction (that I could feel) until after they broke my water. I am generally MUCH more uncomfortable this time around. My legs hurt, my butt hurts, my csection scar hurts, my back hurts...the only thing that doesn't hurt are my eyelids. I hate this part of pregnancy, but I see this as motivation to WANT him to come out...something I'm sure I'll appreciate as I'm laying on the operating table praying to God that I feel absolutely NOTHING.

It's hard to believe I'll only take 2 (maybe 3 if I'm feeling motivated) more belly shots before Jack arrives. So much do to...so little time! Here we go:

BOOM SHUCKA LUCKA...I don't even know what to say about the difference between the last two pictures. I'd say I've really "popped" but I think exploded might be the more proper term. This is what I looked like at 34 weeks with Layla. I've come to the conclusion that I'm just going to embrace the fact that look like the Goodyear blimp and will have a cupcake (or two) for lunch.

Layla's new favorite thing

The hot air balloon event is in Midland this week. Last year we tried to see a few with Dad and Cindy but didn't get the chance because it was too windy. This year we were determined to see them!

We were going to go out yesterday but it was rainy and windy and L didn't take a nap. No nap again today and I didn't think we'd ever get to see them! But we went out to eat and on our way out of the restaurant Layla's face got really red and she started to cry/scream and make other weird noises. I didn't know what was wrong with her, it kink of scared us at first. Finally she pointed in the sky and what do you know...a bright blue hot air balloon was floating by just a few blocks from us! She was SO excited she had no idea what to do with herself. It was hilarious.

So we decided to take a little adventure and follow the balloon to see where it would land. We had GREAT seats and got to see a ton of different balloons. Best part about all of it? L's reaction was to die for (I can't remember which one is the best video...I'm thinking #2 but they are both great):

Hopefully we'll get to see some more tomorrow. But I'm sure we'll be talking about this for months and months!

Family reunion

I can't believe how fast time is going. It seems like we just started planning this trip a few weeks ago and it is already over. :( We had SUCH a great time with my Grandma and Grandpa Lucky, Mom, Brock and Jessie this weekend. We are so happy that everyone could make it up/over here to see us one last time before Jack gets here. Here are a few pictures from this weekend's festivities:

We took a walk on the tridge one evening. As soon as we got to the other side L wanted to pick flowers.

I can't tell you how much we laughed this weekend. We had so many pranks, dance parties in the dark and just silly moments. 

Layla loves when Grandmas comes to visit...as usual Mommy was left in the dust this weekend.

The crew in Frankenmuth to go on a gnome hunting adventure. We had to find 10 gnomes hidden in the shops to get a prize. We we so excited about the hunt, had a blast and couldn't wait to find out what the prize was. We ended up with a pinwheel that didn't work...we are talking dentist treasure chest quality prizes here. But we had a blast and the laughs were worth it!

Another family pic with Mommy and Jack in it this time. 

 This time we tried Zehnders for lunch. It was pretty good!

We also took a fun trip to Dow Gardens. We spent most of our time in the water feature washing bubbles off our hands. L got splashed in the face a few times...

She got it pretty good this time! LOL

 A great pic of Mom and Brock

...and with Mommy and baby Jack too!

The highlight of that day? Layla getting to drive Paw Paw's scooter. No really, she drove and he just kind of held on to her. She kept saying "faster faster!!!"

On our last night Layla helped Uncle Brock make marshmallow poofs. She had the best time dipping her finger in the butter and sugar.

Hard at work! 

The trip went WAY too fast but we had a lot of laughs and memories. I know Layla loves having family here, she has the time of her life when visitors come. I'm not really sure what we are going to do now...we have literally had visitors every other week since July. It is sad to think that we might not see most of our family again until after Jack comes, but I just keep thinking about our to do list and then I realize we need some weekends to catch up and get things ready! I can't believe we only have 11 more weeks (as of tomorrow) as a family of 3. Time flies when you are having fun! :)