Boo at the Zoo

Fall is my favorite time of year - Oktoberfest beer, jack-o-lanterns, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin cranberry muffins, beautiful colors of the leaves, and trick or treat.  I've been really worried that I'll miss trick or treat so I convinced my sweet husband to go to Boo at the Zoo so I would have some memories of Halloween and this cute little zebra.

She loved it.  Up past her bedtime, the stars in the sky and "zoo animals" sleeping.  And I am resting better feeling like I'm not missing so much of her Halloween experience after all.

"Ome on Dad"

"I zebra. I zebra."

She loves this gorilla, has to sit by it every time now.

She saw some big kids sit here so she had to have a turn.

Playtime

If they gave licenses for homeowners I don't think Tim and I would pass the test.  After almost 5 years we have finally done some home projects.  In an effort to alleviate my guilt that Abby will feel neglected with the new baby, we changed a useless room into a small "playroom".  A place that Abby can hang out in but is not for babies.

Abby and baby "taking a nap", before we moved the toys in.

Hamming in up in her playroom.

Princess P

My favorite thing about this age is that she narrates everything she does.  She talks nonstop at home, even when she is playing by herself.  Some of our new favorite words and phrases:

-What's this?

-What doing, Cassie/mama/daddy?

-My try

-I wanna have it.

-I'm reading (whenever you ask her to do something she doesn't want to do).  She's really saying leave me alone

- You coming. or Om on.

-I wanna take a bass (bath).

She has been into pretend play for  along time now.  Right now she loves pretending to be a cat or a Cassie, a dog, a T-rex, a baby adigator or a T-Rex.  She'll sit with her little people zoo animals for up to 30 minutes acting out some scenario about a mommy, daddy and baby.  Just in time she has gotten into taking care of her baby including putting her to bed or down for a nap, giving her a drink, giving her a ride or in one interesting moment a timeout.  Hopefully she'll be into helping us out with baby stuff.

Her favorite places to go are the zoo, story time, either one of her grandma's houses and any local park.  I can't wait to be able to walk instead of waddle so we can go to the zoo and park more often like we used to.

I've really been soaking her in these last few weeks.  My big baby girl, love her so much.

39, feels like 79

This is how I feel today.

39 weeks pregnant with a toddler and a husband working mandatory overtime is exhausting.  My hips hurt, my bladder isn't what it used to be.  I feel like I should go check into a nursing home.  I'm just so tired that anything you would say to me today would probably make me cry.

This pregnancy has been much harder on me emotionally then the first one.  No matter what I do I can't get enough sleep because I'm so worried about something to come or feel guilty about something that happened that day.  We have decided to stop giving Abby naps because she can't settle down at night until 9:30-10:00 pm when she takes one.  It has been working great, she sleeps 11-12 hours a night and is usually asleep at 7:30-8:00 pm now.  She now has quiet time in her room for an hour while Mommy takes a nap.  This is the best sleep I get all day.

So how do we fix my night time sleeping?  I just can't turn my mind off.  

-When will this baby come?  Abby was 6 days early so that would be tomorrow.

-Will Abby feel like we don't love her anymore when the baby comes?

-How will the baby's sleep schedule affect my already bad temper when I can't sleep well?

-Will Abby wake up in the night because the baby is sleeping?

-Will this baby sleep through the night before I go back to work like Abby did?

-How will I manage two when sometimes just one is so overwhelming when I'm tired?

-What will Tim's role be in this new scenario? 

-Are all the people that say they will help really going to help?  Will I let them help or be too proud?

-Will this delivery go better?  Will I hemorrhage again?

-Do we make enough money to have two kids?

-Will I ever not be tired again?

-I am so much bigger this time, will I be able to accept my new body after this baby?

I could go on and on but that's just a few of my reoccurring worries.

What was your biggest worry the second or third or fourth time around?