Happy Halloween!

I can't believe Halloween is over and it's NOVEMBER! Layla had an amazing Halloween. She was greeted in the foyer by a present from Mommy and Daddy first thing in the morning. Filled with some candy, lots of glow stuff (she's OBSESSED), a book and some of those "magic" pills you put in water that turn into animals. Talk about a big hit! 

After asking if we could go trick or treating about 100 times throughout the day, it was time to go to the doctor's office. We got so many compliments on her Halloween outfit (thanks Grandma Barton!):

After we got home it was time for some "quiet time" and then a quick dinner before busting out the costume. She was SOOOOO excited! Here she is posing with her pumpkins:

And giving Mommy some fish kisses (yes, this is how I went trick or treating...NOTHING FITS)

Then it was time to hit the pavement. I promise she was excited. She hasn't napped in over a month so our late afternoon and evenings are REALLY rough. This is as close to a smile as we were going to get but she kept telling us "I"m SO excited...I'm just SO excited!!". LOL

And off we went!

I didn't get any great pictures of her actually Trick or Treating, or of her candy stash. I was so proud of her because she said "trick or treat" and "thank you" at every single house...she was just a little quiet about it. :) 

This morning I went in to get her with a big smile on my face. I said "Layla, do you know what today is?!" and she said "Halloween?!?!". LOL. I explained to her that Halloween only happens once a year, just like the fireworks, but that today was November first. She knows that Jack is coming in "Number" and she got pretty excited. Only 19 days and our little fish will be a BIG SISTER!

Jack's Room is DONE!

Whew! Who knew that even though we had all the furniture that Jack's room would be so hard to do? L's room was easy- pink and frilly. But since Jack has a much smaller room than L did, I wanted to make sure his room was very bright but still boyish. It was between cars and bugs. Can you believe I went with the bugs?! I'm considering this his future training as our household "bug killer" while Daddy is at work. We all know Mommy doesn't do real bugs.

We only have a few finishing touches left. A few pictures of him will go in the frames above his dresser...obviously we'll have to wait until Nov 20th (and Mommy feeling up to doing pics) for those. We also need to find some kind of a smallish/tallish table to go by the chair. Too bad Dr. Seuss didn't design and sell furniture. 

A BIG FAT thank you to Grandma Barton for doing the crib and window treatments. She is so talented! And to my Grandma Lucky who painted the letters, helped with with his pillow and tiebacks and did an adorable (and really good smelling) quilt that I forgot to put back on the chair for these pics. Grandma what fabric softener do you use? LOL. And of course Grandpa for his OCD picture hanging skills. The kids are SO lucky to have their rooms 100% their "own" with their Grandma and Great Grandma's help.

I hope Jack loves his room! If not, he'll have a new one in 2 - 3 years when he moves into his "big boy" room aka- the current guest room. Will the house projects ever stop?! ;o)

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Halloween is just around the corner EEEEEKKK!! I'm so glad that we got to do at least one pumpkin patch this year. My goal is at least 3 next year when I don't have an extra 100 lbs to lug around. The highlight of this trip for Layla was getting her face painted...she was ALL about it! She also really loved the hayride, something Mommy should have skipped. I think I'm still sore from it! Here are some of our favorite pics from last weekend's adventure:

Layla and Daddy have the exact same expressions on their face in EVERY picture I take of them. Cracks me up!

Layla has only seen the mommy and baby turkeys in our neighborhood so she was pretty excited to see this big guy. 

And here she is getting her face painted. She picked out what she wanted (for the record there were MUCH simpler designs but she insisted on this one) let this lady put her in the seat and listened very carefully to her instructions. She was so patient with no whining...it was amazing! 

Here she is getting her first look

Checking herself out in the mirror, she just couldn't get enough!

Then we came home and carved our pumpkins. I was a little heartbroken I couldn't get on the floor and dig out the guts, and even more heartbroken that L didn't want to dig in. That's my favorite part!! But I knew she wouldn't...there is always next year (and Jack haha). 

Again...SAME smile haha

Layla comforting Oscar. Apparently our dogs are afraid of leaf blowers...that were being used 5 houses down. Ridiculous! 

The cutest fish in the...forest?

It is almost here...the most wonderful, joyful and exciting holiday there is...HALLOWEEN!! Layla and I LOVE Halloween. She's totally into it this year...right down to the ghosts and pumpkins.  I had to get a few shots of her in her costume today before Bryan picked up all the leaves. Isn't she the most gorgeous fish you've ever seen in the ocean...errr...forest?

34 weeks!

So I'm running behind AGAIN! I really thought I was going to be good at this but all motivation has come to a halt...all I want to do is lay on the couch, drink ice cold water and concentrate on breathing.

I'm fairly miserable. And by fairly I mean I feel like I'm overdue. Even with my blood pressure issues I was never this exhausted with Layla. Everything hurts, my tummy is as big as I was at 38 weeks with Layla. I took Layla to the grocery store on Friday and it was all I could do to get through it...let alone the rest of the day. Being pregnant with #2 is SO much harder than the first time around. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm chasing L, but I just feel like Jack is bigger and stronger than she was in my belly. He has to weight 15 lbs...at least. And he kicks and punches like a true champion black belt. I feel him all the way from my ribs to my hips at the same time! I'm also having lots of contractions and my swelling is getting worse. I'm praying for 3 things now- a happy/healthy baby boy, no bedrest and for him to come as planned. Too much?

Layla is doing FANTASTIC with the whole big sister thing for the moment. You can see my comments in my picture but she really does seem to "get" it now. We are going to do a hospital tour sometime in the next few weeks and then take her out for ice cream. I'm sure she'll enjoy both...it is such hard work being a big Sis! She knows Jack is coming out of my belly soon, she even looked at me the other day and told me "the doctor is going to pull him out of your belly where I came out". Wow, yes he is. I'm trying to prepare her for my recovery, the baby crying and feedings...etc. I think we might be slightly obsessed with talking about all this and she's sick of it but I really want her to be as ready as possible.

I can't believe we only have 4 more weekends as a family of 3. I am a crazy ball of emotions about this. I can't wait to have Jack here and have our family complete, but I'm scared to death that I won't be able to juggle 2, that Layla will hate me or I won't give Jack as much as I was able to give her. I hate pregnancy hormones and I know it is only going to get worse before it gets better! Nothing a bowl of ice cream won't fix though.

So here we are with a special guest appearance by little miss Layla for week 34:

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. :)