quick update

These were from my pregnancy with Melanie when I was at about the same time frame.


I went to the doctor today and everything is looking great. I only gained one pound and the baby is measuring right on schedule now. So, though I feel huge and feel like surely the baby is coming early everything is progressing just like it should. The doctor said the baby is definitely head down, way down, which I could have told her. Sometimes when I am walking I have to stop and wait on the baby to move, because, for lack of a better description, it feels like the baby is trying to come out. She continued to say if I dialate early like I did with Melanie they could possibly induce around St. Patrick's Day (the 17th vs. the 23rd) but I am not sure I want to do that. I don't know but I think I just want to let it all take it's course. I have no desire for a long arduous labor when I could possibly have another easy one. So, we'll see. Clint and I are going for our childbirth refresher on Saturday b/c I want to have this baby without drugs if possible and so I am "rerembering" what exactly is going to happen. But, everything is great and it is a wiggly little thing for sure!

Latest Petunia Pics

8 1/2 more weeks!!!


So cute!


Look how thrilled Melanie is :)


The profile of 31 weeks pregnant

Melanie is getting very excited about the new baby. We have the crib back to being a crib, all of our generic baby clothes are hanging back in the baby closet and all of the infant toys are scattered about the nursery. I don't think Melanie could possibly remember having any of the toys but she claims certain ones are "hers." We went for our hospital walk through this week. Holy Cow!!! If any of you came to visit me at Dekalb the first time around (or especially when I was in the hospital last year) you were probably thinking..."hmmmm, not entirely where I would want to deliver a baby." But, let me just say, if you had my set of doctors you would follow them ANYWHERE!!! I can't say enough good things for my set of doctors. I have pretty high expectations but if you don't make me angry I will be quite loyal (ask my hair dresser whom I've gone to since I was 4). So, since my doctors deliver at Dekalb I happily followed along. But, the new Women's Pavilion that they have built since Melanie was born is AMAZING!!! It is such a beautiful building with such attention to detail. I cannot wait to deliver there- I told Clint it may make me want to have a 3rd...he didn't laugh :) So, I am very excited about it all. It is making it seem closer and closer to reality. We go for our child birth class next weekend (just a refresher...I would love to try and deliver without drugs again and this reminds me of all of the "calming" and "breathing" techniques to use- we'll see). I also go for my 32 week appointment next week so we will see what has changed if anything. My home scale broke so I have no idea where I am weight wise...the home scale says I lost 10 pounds....I don't think so. All in all things are going great. It is already time to enroll Melanie for NEXT school year and I had to send off my registration $ for grad school (which begins in August) so it seems like time is flying by- it won't be long before Baby _______ is here!

A Fun Snow Day

Wahoo!!! So much snow. We played in it for a LITTLE while before we got cold and there is only so much to do. Though we had we call a lot of snow it wasn't really that much snow but still fun. Enjoy the pics!

Dr. Appt, Gymnastic Graduation, SNOW!

Posing with Nanna


Getting stamps when they are finished


showing off her medal


Working on beam skills independently


Working on forward rolls on the balance beam with Mr. Paul


Climbing with her friends Joshua and Jillian


She loves the bars!


posing :)


Balancing a beanbag on her belly


It was actually sticking!


It's snowing!

I had my next doctor's appointment on Monday. It went great. Surprisingly I haven't gained any weight, however the baby is continuing to grow. I am still measuring 1 1/2 weeks ahead but the doctor said that is not indicative of delivering early unless my cervix shows signs of progressing once they start the exams (not until the last month). Other than that everything looks great. Hooray!

Melanie's gymnastics semester finale was on Monday. They got to have family members come watch and received medals. Melanie was excited to see Nanna, Pawpaw and Pops there. Mamaw had to work and Clint was in Dallas. It was very cute. We have signed up for the next semester and a couple of her good friends are also in that class so we are excited to start. Just another props for the Little Gym of Snellville. I have been overly impressed with them- especially the owner Mr. Paul who has been teaching Melanie's class since the original teacher, Ms. Melissa, left.

And...it snowed this week! Holy cow- we couldn't believe it! Since Clint was out of town it was just Melanie and I so she ran around in the backyard for 10-15 minutes getting very wet (and it was super cold) and then we came in. We didn't play when it was really sticking b/c it was dark by then but maybe next snow day- sorry Melanie.

Clint was out of town this week on a business trip to Dallas. More power to all of the single parents or parents of traveling partners. It gets a little boring just being here and playing with the kids the whole time. I can only make so much small talk and play "Kitchen set" so many times without a little adult interaction- I kind of feel like I am back at work- just without a para pro. The good thing about Clint being gone was not worrying about what I would cook. I ate cereal for 1 week straight and LOVED it!!! Melanie is super easy and will eat a turkey sandwich and peas and think it is delicious. But, we were super happy when Clint made it home last night.

Additional Pictures...

The morning of Melanie's birthday she pulled out all of her new dress up clothes- they were so cute. Lots of work for me...and short lived (10 minutes or so) but cute while they lasted. My mom and my grandma gave her an assortment of dressup things that all equaled super cuteness.

My 2 Year Old

Bubbles! Thank goodness for a fenced in backyard- a little relief when you have 3 2 year olds, 1 3 year old and 1 1 year old running around!


Pinata fun


Caydie the kid occupier :)


Baseball...Daddy's sport of the past- has the taught her a little golf on the side?


Grace showing off Melanie's boa


Let the present chaos begin!


Really enjoying the sugar festivities


Happy Birthday to Melanie...


It's a Wiggly 2nd Birthday!


Loving her new bed


Loving her table and chairs


Checking out her new room first thing in the morning


January 13, 2008 (showing you how old she is )


January 13, 2007


January 13, 2006

Can you believe it? Clint and I have a 2 YEAR OLD!!! I can't believe that 2 years ago we bringing home Melanie for the first time. Before Clint and I went to bed last night (a little after 11:00) we were talking about how I wasn't even in labor at that point 2 years ago and not 6 hours later we had a baby (Melanie was born at 4:50 am). I can't believe in 10 weeks we are due to bring home baby number 2. Everyone says you have the same level of feelings for baby number 2 but how can you top the feelings you have for baby number 1- maybe they will be equal :)

Melanie's birthday weekend was perfect (aside for Clint having to leave for Dallas this morning for work). Saturday morning we all woke up and she immediately knew it was her birthday party day. We came down and had breakfast and then I was so excited that we proceeded to show her the new bedroom. She walked in in wonderment! She stopped and admired all the different pieces (her table, her bed, the pillows, the pictures, etc.) She finally got on her bed and looked up and saw all of the butterflies hanging from the ceiling and was amazed. We have it on video and it is so sweet. Our day consisted of cleaning, cleaning, shopping, and setting up for the party. We made Melanie go down for an early nap in order to have her up by the time everyone arrived and we put her down around 12:00. For about 30 minutes we listened to her talk to herself about her new room. ("My new room. Daddy painted it pink. Look butterflies-ceiling. My new room. Blah, blah, blah). We thought she would never go to sleep but she finally drifted off. She woke up and came down to the next level of amazement. The house was "magically" transformed to a party house while she was asleep. She loved all of the Wiggles decorations and the people started to arrive. It was a wonderful party full of family and friends. Melanie loved all of the commotion. The kids were very excited about the cake so we dipped into it quite early in the party. It wasn't as eventful as last year :) Melanie loved it none the less. The presents were also quite different last year. She needed lots of coaxing last year...not this year. Between Grace and Melanie the presents were opened in record time. I don't even know if she realized what all she was pulling out. It was just how quick can we open them all. She (along with the other kids) wanted to play with everything immediately so everyone was in charge of opening and putting together whatever they purchased. That was a SUPER plan that I recommend should be enacted at every party. It sure saves much time for the parents! After that we played outside and with the pinata. My house turned into a war zone of candy, trinkets, goody bags, wrapping paper, toys, toy parts and trash. It was chaos!!!! But it was wonderful. By the time everyone left, and we had gone out to dinner Clint, Melanie, and I crashed! I was quite still on the couch and of course Petunia woke up and was quite active. I think it was thinking...."okay mom, my turn!" It was a wonderful day and I couldn't have asked for it to go any better.

Clint had to leave for Dallas at 6:30 on Sunday morning. He really wanted to wish Melanie a happy birthday on her birthday so he woke her up and sang her happy birthday and then put her in my bed. I hate that he had to miss her actual birthday (and I know he did too) but he was able to spend the whole party day with her. I just made the day all about Melanie. We played with all of her new toys in the morning and went to lunch with my parents, uncle and cousin (who I need to hire to play with Melanie- Melanie is in love with Caydie!), played at my parents for a little while, went to the dollar store and then played all night at home. My neighbor growing up always gave me as a birthday present the dollar amount of my age. So for Melanie she gave her a few trinkets and $2. Melanie and I went to the dollar store for her to spend her $2. It was quite the lesson in budgeting. Melanie first found a (ugly) Valentines Snow globe. She held it so carefully saying, "snow, glass." She was set that this was 1 of the 2 things she was going to purchase. We saw babies, dress up accessories, bottles, all kinds of things...no the ugly snow globe was the object of choice. Then she saw some Winnie the Pooh board books. She decided she wanted 2 of them. So it was quite the ordeal-did she want 2 book or 1 book and the snow globe. After quite the debate (and kicking off her shoes) she decided on the 2 books. Then as I continued shopping she saw a hair accessory set (makeup bag with comb, brush and mirror). The debate began again 2 books or 1 book and hair set. We settled on 1 book and the hair set. She was so cute. As we checked out I paid for my items then she handed hers to the cashier and then without prompting reached in her purse and gave him the $2 (I pitched in 0.12) and she took her bag of items and purse and carried them to the car to show her baby. It was very cute and "big" of her. She then came home and sat at the table with her scissors and clipped coupons with me, played school (flashcards and worksheets...pretend) and proceeded to act like a grownup. She called Clint to wish him goodnight...so sweet. Then she watched John and Kate +8 on TLC and was enthralled with the kids. Hopefully she will never have 8 kids! All in all a perfect bonding day with her.

Enjoy the pics of my big girl!

We've been busy

Since the last post we've been quite busy. We knew it was getting time for Melanie's 2 year old pictures so we all 3 had hair cuts. Melanie was great however I did not love the lady who cut her hair. We went back to Snip Its which is fun, cute, and clean and I really like it, however, you don't make appointments so you get who you get. The lady was nice but not overly into kids and she was shaking so bad that I was scared she was going to cut a chunk of Melanie's hair off. She also was terrible at fixing Melanie's hair- I just wanted to jump in and do it myself. We will NOT be going back to her. The hair cut for her was minor- just to shape it up but I am not convinced that it is perfectly straight in the back. Oh well- she can wait a few months until her next cut.

We went this past weekend for family pictures. They turned out well. I was quite frustrated with Melanie's hair b/c she has constant new hairs growing in that don't quite reach and hairdos I create and normally just hang in her eyes. Well I didn't want them in her eyes for the pictures so we were using hairspray every 2 minutes trying to control them...some pictures it looked CRAZY- needless to say we didn't buy those. However in some they were more controlled. I wanted a picture of Melanie and my belly but those turned out weird also. She was suppose to be listening to my belly but it looks like she is trying to take a nap and I am trying to get away from her. We did get quite a few good shots even through this and I really like a couple of our family shots. Melanie does not smile well on command so the "smiles" are not, well, "smiles" but more like she was watching us doing something and her face was happy. But she was very cooperative which is all I can ask from an almost 2 year old.

I went to the doctor last week also. It was my 28 week appointment. I had only gained 1 pound- even through the holidays and the trip to Mississippi. I was not expecting that...I was shooting for no more than 5! I got back the results from my glucose and iron screening and everything is perfect. I am measuring one week ahead again. The baby is head down (for now) and quite active. I talked to the doctor about the fast delivery the first time around and how we are a little nervous about it this time. She said they could always induce at 39 weeks if I have started to dialate to prevent that but I don't think I pick that either. I think I will just take my chances with a possible fast labor again. If I get really dialated (like I was with Melanie (4cm 80% effaced) then we can just go live in Lilburn for a week or so until the baby comes and at least cut out 1/2 of our commute.

I am getting so excited for Melanie's birthday. Mostly just because I can't wait for her to see her room. Clint and I are finishing with the accessories and it looks sooooo cute. I hope she enjoys it as much as we do.

Also, completely unrelated to everything- I am obsessed with my new Roomba that Clint and I got for Christmas from my parents. We named her Helga and I think we run her every other day. It is the coolest thing ever. I recommend it to everyone.

Trip to Mississippi

Well we went to Mississippi after all. Clint's family normally goes after the holidays but Clint didn't think his work schedule would allow for it this year. But, after a bunch of finangaling he managed to get enough time to allow us to go see all of his family. We haven't been since February so Melanie is a completely different child than they all remember. Since she has been doing such a great job potty training we were a little scared about the trip. Melanie has had quite a few completely dry days (sometimes even including nap!) and many days are just involving one accident. We put a pullup under her panties for the car ride there and back just in case and took her little potty with us. She did great!!!! She was dry the entire trip there and back and only had 1 accident in Mississippi (at a Wendy's eating a frosty- I bet she was scared that if she stepped away from the Frosty it wouldn't be there when she got back). The funniest thing was the drive back...we were on the interstate and she said "Mommy potty" and I gave Clint "the look" and he proceeded to pull over to the side of the road and I took out the training potty and Melanie peed on the little potty on the side of the interstate and we were on our merry way :) She was sooooo good on the entire trip. Thank goodness for Nanna who entertained much of the time. Melanie really got into figuring out the relationship between everyone and their names. She would say, "Nanna's big brother Doug" or "Memaw's brother John T" it was quite funny. Melanie had to sleep in our room which we were a little nervous about but after crying for less than a minute in her pack and play she slept in her bed and us in our both nights without any complaints. THANK GOODNESS!!! Clint's parents took most of the pictures but I have just a couple.