Cute saying

Yesterday we went shopping for the new mattress and box spring for Melanie's big girl bed. She loved sitting and laying on all of them to "test them out." She cried when we left without it saying, "My big girl bed." Later on she said the cutest (and I must admit pretty smart for a 1 year old) thing, "Oh my gosh, I can't wait, my big girl bed." Can you believe she said all that? I just laughed and told her yes, for her birthday. So smart :)

When will it be Christmas?

Never did I think Melanie was going to be so into Christmas. She is obsessed. She loves all of the decorations, clothes, presents, songs, EVERYTHING! We were driving and at the intersection of Grayson Parkway and Grayson Highway they have every light post as far as you can see decorated with the silly holiday things the city puts on the light posts. Melanie says (it is dark outside) "Dad, look, Dad, look, AMAZING!" She loved the decorations. She is so excited that we have wrapped presents for her at the house. She thinks they are all for her. She wanted to unwrap them and I told her no, not yet. She said, "In 2 hours?" I had to explain the answer to that was no also. Last year I made the mistake of waiting too late to buy her birthday and Christmas clothes and the stores were starting to put out summer clothes....WHAT? Who wears summer clothes January 1st? Anyway I wasn't going to make that mistake this year. So Clint watched Melanie and Aileen, Becca, and I took a girls shopping outing. We purchased lots of things but I got Melanie all of her "event" clothes. I brought them back and she LOVED her "Christmas clothes." She carried them around on their hangers forever and finally hung them in her closet herself. She also thinks my pitiful mantel decorations are "wow." So we took her stocking down and let her practice taking stuff out. Clint is teaching her the Christmas songs we sing at my work that unfortunately he has had to memorize over the years. So, enjoy the picture of my child in her Christmas morning outfit practicing how to use her stocking. I think she will be set by Christmas!

Thanksgiving

I still have problems with some of the captions so at Clint's parents it is Melanie and Rodney's brother Jerry along with Brian and Dawn.
At one of the houses it is my mom's mom (also called Ma) and my mom's brother Ronnie and his wife- he did a super job aggravating Melanie as he did me (all in good fun of course!)
At the other house it is my dad's parents (Granny and Pawpaw- Melanie was trying so hard to keep all the names and family ties understood) along with my dad's brother's Ricky and Wally.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We started off at Clint's parents. His mom a DELICIOUS spread of food. Clint's uncle Jerry was able to make it which was nice because we don't see him often. After that we took a road trip to Chattanooga to see both sets of my grandparents and my parents siblings. Melanie was super. She slept all the way there and all the way back and had no problem sleeping in her pack and play (which we hadn't used since our beach trip this summer) in the same room as us! She warmed right up to all of the family members after only a few minutes and was so cute and lovable to everyone.

She is still doing excellent in her big girl bed- however she does know she can get in and out as she pleases. But she really doesn't get out until the morning- which is fine with me. She can get out and play and give us a couple more minutes of sleep.

Baby Petunia is growing- boy is is growing (at least I am so I hope it is also!) I will be 23 weeks tomorrow. This pregnancy has flown by compared to Melanie. It is quite the wiggly baby. I thought it was suppose to sleep way more than it is...hmmmmmm... I hope this is no indication of future sleep patterns! So far it is in the exact same position Melanie was in. With it's feet in my upper right under my rib cage and arms down in my lower left. I remember feeling Melanie's little fingers down in my lower left stomach but I can't quite feel fingers yet. I feel like I am carrying this baby lower than Melanie.

What a Big Girl!

On Friday we decided to take the front wall off of Melanie's crib- essentially making it a daybed. I was petrified at what might happen. We put the kid proof door knob thing on the inside of her bedroom door and wished for the best. Well she loves it and does great!!! All weekend she stayed in her bed as if she didn't know she was allowed to get out. She would call for me in the morning and when I would come in her room she would then get out. Yesterday I saw her little feet (under the crack of the door) go over to her nightlight to turn it on after I laid her down. Then, yesterday after nap I heard knock on the door and she was knocking for me to let her out. I was so nervous but she is doing great. I think she will be super in her big girl room in January!

Busy Weekend

Right before the concert


Arm around best friend Grace


With Nanna at the party

On Saturday Melanie went to her best friends birthday party. Zach and Grace turned 2! She had so much fun at the party. They had a jumpy thing which she liked but was a bit unsure about. The presents however were another story. Melanie LOVED the presents...too bad they were not hers. She pitched herself quite a fit b/c she couldn't open and have the presents. DRAMA!

Sunday we went to the Wiggles concert. Melanie obviously didn't know what a concert was so she didn't quite know what to expect. When we got there she got soooo excited and ran from the car into Gwinnett Arena. She was scared when they first turned the lights off but as soon as the Wiggles came out she was mesmerized! I almost cried. She was in such a state of disbelief that it was actually happening. She loved the entire concert. Her favorite song was Twinkle Twinkle b/c they made the entire arena black and had everyone take out their cell phones as stars. She thought that was so amazing! It was a wonderful experience and even Clint is on board for going again.

Our latest drama however is that Melanie is throwing up and we do not think she is sick. She will gag herself and then throw up. She did it at school on Tuesday and Donna had to go pick her up but she didn't at all seem sick. Then the next day at Mexican she did it again but still never seemed sick. So we don't exactly know what is going on. She is also purposefully holding in her poop. Lovely. She won't push it out on the potty or her diaper. She basically waits until it just falls out of her bottom. She isn't constipated b/c she is still going daily but it is just dramatic and silly. The other day we were so tired of taking her to the potty every 5 minutes that we just took off her diaper and pants and put the toilet in the middle of the den. Eventually she went over to it and pooped. Whatever. Hopefully the gagging and poop strike will both be short lived!

So sweet!

We went to see the baby today. This appointment was MUCH less traumatic than the last. First off, Melanie was not invited. I wore her out at gymnastics and took her to her grandparents. Second, my stomach pains have not been around for almost 3 weeks- hooray! The doctor said they are normally the worst between 12-20 weeks for 2nd pregnancies so hopefully I am all but finished with those. Third, my hernia looked fine on the ultrasound and did not cause the doctor any worries. She assured me that a vaginal delivery would not be affected by the hernia. She also said that surgery is an option but not pressing by any means. She said that I should wait a couple of months after the delivery and see if I am having any problems...if not...don't worry. Fourth, the heartbeat was loud and clear and the baby was quite wiggly. And...fifth, the ultrasound was fantastic. Everything the doctor measured and believe me, it is alot (the heart valves, head circum., bladder, etc.) is perfect. The baby weighs 12 ounces. I think the ultrasound technician could tell if it was a boy or girl- she had to get a pelvic bone measurement and had us turn our heads and not look. But, pretty much the baby kept it's back to us the whole time. If any of you remember, Melanie stayed profile the whole time so I think my babies are smart and don't show their stuff too early. So, enjoy the pictures- we sure are!

Fun Pics

Here are some fun pics from a dinner club at TJs house and when my parents took Melanie to Stone Moutain to participate in all of their pumpkin activities and ride the duck boat.

Trick or Treat

We had a WONDERFUL Halloween! I had a great birthday (even though I had to work). I woke up to Melanie singing Happy Birthday to Mommy...so sweet! The kids at work were so excited for a party also. Melanie was a CUTE cat. She was such a good sport at wearing the costume. She really liked going house to house saying Trick or Treat. She was much more comfortable at the houses she knew though. Next door (Chris and Aileen's house) she walked right in and went to their sliding glass door to find their dog. We took the wagon for the walk but she was so facinated by all the kids and decorations that I think she might have walked on her own. She worked very hard to get a a GIANT orange sucker open and she succeeded and was quite proud. She was facinated by the 27 candles my mom thought were necessary on my cake. We had to light them all multiple times so she could blow them out. Enjoy the pics (though they are in backwards order)!