This ones for you

Baby R!  Okay I am not sure if you remember way back over a year ago, but at that time is wedding central.  I would blog about that and well stalk blogs that had cool wedding ideas and give aways.  Gone are the days of wedding time..but now our days are BABY, BABY, BABY!  I recently have been searching for good mommy to be blogs...

Thus I must introduce you soon to be moms or ladies who would like to start thinking about babies to a blog.  I was introduced by a friend of mine, because she lives close to this blogger.  Thus finding out I was pregnant I have become the biggest fan of her page.  Her blog is Keeping it Simple and well she is a recent new, first time, mom!  Thus she is now blogging about things she loves to use, wished she had never bought, and so much more.  I promise I have been loving all her post.  I guess because she has tried all the newer products and can give a real time review is why I love her site so much!  I mean come on there are a billion things out there now a days.  It's so nice to see what another mom liked or did not, and the reason why!  GO NOW and check her site out...

Oh and did I mention she just had a giveaway for the new boppy lounger!! 

(I would have place a pic here but BLOGGER HATES me tonight!)

Guess who won their soon to be baby a Boppy Lounger!! WHOO WHOO!!  I can't wait for our little guy/gal to be chilling in their lounger all happy as can be!  Thanks Keeping it Simple Baby R is super jazzed!

Watch me grow!

Pregnancy Highlights:

Not my best pic...but it will work!  

Oh and look how excited Winston is!  He always wants a picture when the camera is out,
 hope my kid is as well trained as my dog! 

How Far Along: 17 Weeks

Size of the baby: currently it is the size of an onion!   About 5 inches long and 5 ounces, the weight of a turnip. 

Total Weight Gain/loss:  not sure...we don't have a scale! But I am sure it is not pretty!  I'll try to weigh at school this week. 

Maternity Clothes:  I'm at that random stage! I have had to pretty much move to maternity shirts due to my larger girls, YIKES!  I can still fit into dresses for the most part and 2 wonderful pairs of shorts. :-)

Gender: SURPRISE!! We are not going to find out till Baby R arrives in January! 

Movement: August 2nd I felt the "pop"  feeling all my books talk about! (it's like a bubble pops in your stomach)  Then two days later I felt it again and have once more since then.  However, it is not consistent or hard...so you still wonder if it is the baby or not.  I'm going with the fact that it is! 

Sleep: This week I have been back to crazy dreams.  I'm sure it is because school is about to start and I have been stressing about that.  However, if I don't have a crazy dream that wakes me up I sleep great.

What I miss: Of course my Sonic Dr. Peppers and this week hot dogs! Not sure why but I could really go for a nice ball park dog with relish, mustard, and ketchup.

Cravings:  Not much this week...I seem to be almost normal.

Symptoms: Well since I have been kicking back all summer my feet are not use to the all day walking and standing.  Poor things!  I begin the day with ankles, but after working in my room all day they seem to disappear. 

Best moment this week: As far as the baby goes...for sure feeling that pop sensation in my stomach...weird but neat all at the same time.  As far as family goes....having my mom here to help me start registering for baby items.  If I don't now I will never have time once school starts!  

Goodies Galore!

I have been meaning to post this...but seem to get tied up with other things.  Or wait maybe it is my forgetfulness that keeps getting in the way! I swear every day I lose more of my memory, how can that be! Just Friday I was busy working in my room on something when I wanted to clean off the poster....but by the time I got my Clorox wipe I forgot what I was going to do with it....ahhh sorry I derailed a bit here.

Okay so one to the goodies part!  My mom spent the week with my sister and co in Florida about 2 weeks ago.  Well thankfully I am the half way spot on the drive, meaning mom has to stay with me for the night!   On her way home she brought some goodies from my sisters house back for Baby R and myself.   There were many wonderful things but one that really pulls at my heart.

My sweet niece Little Bear who I love with my whole heart sent a special gift for the baby.  You see she loves, loves, loves baby dolls.  When I say she loves them, well that really doesn't even express the true love there is for each one.  She has named all 37 (that was the last count I can remember) of her dolls and ACTUALLY PLAYS with each one. Click here to see a little view of them!  She is the most creative child I know when it comes to playing.  They will have birthday parties, play school, oh and her all time favorite Jon and Kate plus 8!  She brings them all out and lines them up ready to go....here is the point to my story!

Little bear sent the baby a special gift:

She included a note...thank goodness because here Auntie can't keep up with the names like she can!  I can't believe she was kind enough to send our baby some of her very loved and cherished babies.  

Here is the whole crew ready to be loved on by Baby R!  Of course she will have to come down and makes sure I have them all set up correctly.  When I talked to her on the phone she was so sweet about it, because this really is a huge thing for her to do.  I confirmed that she was okay with our baby using her babies.  "She said yes, Auntie plus when I come to visit I will check on them to make sure they are okay.  But if you do have a boy...I may need to take them back until he gets big enough to really love them."  She melts my heart that girl, who's brother recently has begun loving his baby...read about it here!

 On top of the wonderful box of babies from Little Bear, my sister sent some great goodies too!  She is letting me borrow her Born Free bottles to see if Baby R will like them.  Also she sent some diapers that never got used (that saves some nice money there...promise neither are cheap).

She also sent us our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary gift that is absolutely adorable! I love these two things so much...A) They were hand made!  B) They are our wedding colors and C) They remind us of the beach were we said I DO!!  LOVE them!

I have the best sister and little niece anyone could ever ask for.  Baby R is very luck to have a great Tia and Cousin who share so much!  Thanks Abby and Little Bear!!

What's the story...

Let me set the scene please!  My good friend Katie was here visiting me recently and well we saw something rather odd.  As normal I like to kind of do things with my friends that they don't really have in their town! Ha, with Katie that is not really a problem....she lives in Tyler.  Of course we did the usual eating at places she misses and such.  But then we got a crazy hair to drive over to Allen!  I of course am ALWAYS up for a Coach outlet visit.  She had told me that she was looking at a few purses at the "real" store....so I insisted we head over to see if there wasn't something better and cheaper at the Allen store.  I also had a purse I wanted to trade in!

We were up early the next day making the trek to Allen! From my house it is about an hour and a half....with non work traffic!  I love taking G. Bush over there for various reasons....one I can now pick it up from Arlington (and no on is ever on that portion), and two it is just must FASTER!  Katie and I were of course enjoying the drive chatting about random things. When something odd caught my eye!

I looked and looked to confirm I had seen what I had before alerting Katie.  This is kind of how it all played out!

Me: Katie look at that car....there is a piece of hair hanging from the rear view mirror
Katie: Emily are you sure there is nothing hanging from that mirror on that car.
Me: NO, the mini van on the left!  Look at it.... (of course at the is point we were in an odd spot...so I had to speed up)
Katie: What...that is not A PIECE of hair, he SCALPED some person!!  (lots of laughing from us both)
Me: Why would a 50 year old gray headed man have a scalp of hair on his rear view?
Me: I have to blog about this craziness....but no one will believe me.
Katie: Here I'll take a pic...speed up and pretend to look at the camera.
Me: Okay great idea...(cheesy smile)

Do you see the HEAD OF HAIR he has hanging there??

Okay I know this is not normal...so that lead Katie and I to wonder WHY any person at all would do this?  Why would you place such a large amount of hair on your rear view mirror.  Katie of course thinks it is his souvenir from a recent killing....I love that my friends are so CSI like, like myself! HA I did think about copying down the license plate number just incase it was on the news that night! We followed this guy from Irving all the way to the 75 split off, kind of sad not to see where he was headed.  Then we sent the pic to my sister and brother in law (they were driving home from Florida)....They think he is a trani and that is his girl hair!  I just can't imagine why anyone would do this.  I mean it is so long that it flows around in the air conditioner.  REALLY??  So I ask you this....WHAT'S THE STORY HERE?

Watch me grow!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 16 Weeks

Size of the baby: currently it is the size of an avocado!   About 4 1/2 inches long and 3 1/2 ounces

Total Weight Gain/loss:  not sure...we don't have a scale!  I kind of like that too, then I don't have to be depressed! Ha

Maternity Clothes: Well I am in the beginning stages...a few tops here and there.  In normal clothes I think people wonder if I am FAT or pregnant... I'm at that random stage!

Gender: SURPRISE!! We are not going to find out till Baby R arrives in January! 

Movement: Nothing yet...I can't wait though! 

Sleep: I'm sleeping a lot better lately, which is wonderful especially since school is almost back in.

What I miss: SONIC DR. PEPPER, instead I settle with a Sonic water extra ice...boo

Caesar Salad...mmmm if only I could have a small bite

Cravings: Nothing new lately, still eating some BLTs here and there.

Symptoms: The newest is my right side hurting, grrr!  Also my poor feet!  Since I have been pretty lazy this summer I haven't walked around all day like normal.  Well man have my feet missed out on that...as after a day full of shopping or working they are swelling up!  Poor things!  

Best moment this week: How about I change this for the week to FUNNIEST moment!  That would be last night as I was searching for something to wear...and my wonderful husband began busting up laughing after I asked how I looked!  He then said well pregnant for the first time! 

Guess I wont ask him for clothes help any more...ha ha! 

KATY PERRY!!

My wonderful tennis friend invited me to join her at the Katy Perry concert this past Thursday night!   Man was it wonderful.  Okay I have to begin this by saying....ummmm well the only concerts I really go to are country!  Thus you can imagine my amazment at the sights that I saw!  You know your typical country concert is pretty laid back.  It's normally a bunch of guys and gals wearing their cowboy boots, hats, and such just enjoying life.  There maybe a little brawl from too much beer drinking....and maybe some two stepping but nothing "too" crazy!

Picture me getting out of the car to see: TONS of people with BLUE wigs on, huge TUTUs, more pink than one should ever see, and so much more!  Just before this I had told Debra I really enjoy people watching and was pretty excited about doing that tonight!  Little did I know it would be a FULL night of people watching.  Of course I don't have any "amazing" pictures because they wouldn't let me take my nice Nikon in...since it had a telescoping lens....BLAH!  So only crappy Iphone pics, sorry!

The night was great I can't complain about much, except the second singer that opened before her.  It was well...not my style of music!  Actually I don't think anyone in our section was enjoying it.  I did get so great people watching done in that time.  I am sorry ladies if this my offend you but, if you are over the age of oh 25 I don't think a tutu is what you should be wearing.  I don't care how much you LOVE the singer! Also I have a small problem with the amount of 10-15 year olds that were dressed like ummm hoochies for lack of a better word. (again sorry if I offend)  I think I saw more mini skirts on preteens that ever in my life....but right beside them were their mothers dressed in the same type of outfit!  So not okay!!  Then you have the grown adult women who were wearing CUPCAKES on their boobs!  Not actually eatable ones, but stuffed cupcakes!  Oh and the nice looking gay guy who made his own shirt about kissing a girl and hurting his boyfriends feelings.  He sat in front of us, and had many pictures taken by others.  A very EYE OPENING experience for me the country gal!

Now lets talk KATY!!!  She did an amazing job!  Again this is where I have to say I should really go to more non country concerts.  This was more like a show to me than a concert.  I again picture one song after another...and the singer singing around 8 songs and off you go!  She had a wonderful show! I still cant get over how different her concert was.  I loved it!  Debra and I enjoyed every moment of it..even the crazy people! If you like Katy and have never been you really MUST go!  Here are the few random pics I got!

Debra and I! 

Lost in....

MY CLASSROOM!!  Thus the lack of blogging this week, yikes!  Well, I have been pretty good for my goal this week.  My goal was to hit my classroom up for about 2-4 hours a day.  You know just taking some small steps here.  I'm not ready just yet for it to be my new home.  However, I thought if I started slow this week then the next two weeks could be pretty easy to work into.

There are 3 problems I have arrived at this year while working in my room.  1) I just can't move all the stuff I want.  I am sadly at the mercy of my wonderful custodians.  I need 2 selves and a filing cabinet moved before my furniture rearranging can begin!  2) I'm not as skinny as I normally am....ha ha I know this may be a shock.  However, when I am working away I'll try to fit between a table and some stuff and realize I CAN'T!  It's really weird not being able to do the things one is use to.  I guess I took squeezing through small spaces for granite, Ha!  3) I really have enjoyed my NAPS this summer.  I don't know how I am going to adjust to a full day of school.  Right now I go up in the morning, leave around lunch.  Eat something then take a nice 2 hour nap.  YIKES!!  Wonder if my second graders would mind me adding in a nap time.  I am sure some of those little bodies could use a nap too...

My goal next week....to work longer and try to SkIp oUt on the NAP!  (that is the saddest thing I have ever typed I think) Hope you guys are gearing up for back to school just like me....Slow and steady!   Oh and just for a laugh I leave you with this really BAD quality Iphone pic that Chris took of me on Tuesday night (of course after my 105 degree tennis match...yikes).  He is so funny, he seems to always buy something for the baby!  He picked this up at the Rangers game on Tuesday night.

The shirt says, "My first Rangers TEE"

Watch me change!

I am stealing this idea from another blogger (she is amazing go check her out Kelly).  I think it will be fun to see how things change as I begin to grow.  Plus it is nice to have a count down, right?

Pregnancy Highlights:
(sorry no belly pic this week...but from now on I'll try to remember)

How Far Along: 15 Weeks

Size of the baby: currently it is the size of a navel orange!  

About 4 inches long and 2 ounces

Total Weight Gain/loss:  2 pounds since the beginning
(whew since we just got back from that cruise) 

Maternity Clothes: Thus far NO, however my regular stock is getting smaller

Gender: SURPRISE!! We are not going to find out till Baby R arrives in January! 

Movement: Nothing yet...but should be coming soon

Sleep: Well other than the crazy dreams waking me up, I am doing good.

What I miss: SONIC DR. PEPPER, instead I settle with a Sonic water extra ice...boo
Caesar Salad...mmmm if only I could have a small bite

Cravings: Hand me a BLT any time of day please!  I love them!!

Symptoms: I still need some naps here and there, but really I am doing good! 

That may also be just because it is summer and I can be pretty lazy all day, ha.

Best moment this week: Thursday....I had a check up.
My mom got to join me at the Dr. that was fun!
We got to hear the heart beat, 153 and going strong.

WILW

It has been a pretty low key week, thank goodness!  Not to much going on over here, but I do have a few things I am love, love, loving!!!

LoVe: Tomorrow I go to the doctor for a check up.  I am excited to hear Baby R's heart beat...yet not to excited to see how much weight I have gained. (I blame the all you can eat cruise, ha)

LoVe: Baby R's gifts that were at our door the other day!  My sister is so stinking cute!  She has already made Baby R a super cute shirt.

I am called Auntie...and she is going to be Tia

LoVe: The gift that she also sent to Winston!  He has enjoyed showing it off in style.

 

LoVe: Of course as always I am loving my husband. 

Cruising away

Here are the rest of the pictures that blogger was so nice to NOT let me post yesterday! Enjoy! 

 Bingo, the whole family enjoyed bingo every night! 

 Our cute little elephant that was left on our bed! 

A sweet little family pic! 

OH and our BINGO WINNINGS!! WHOO WHOO!! 

 Dinner with the family

I love this one!  

oh my milkshake that was specially made! ha 

The girls acting silly!  

waiting on the crew to enjoy Nassau! 

Pool and Beach time! 

 Chris with his little sister and nieces! 

being silly!  

the girls ready for the beach 

 well only if Chris could have smiled a little better...geezz

 that's better!

The crew on the way back to the ship 

Chris and I after a morning on the beach...it was great! 

Well, this ends our trip with a little view of the Miami beach...sorry about the baby bump!

Not my favorite pic, but what can you do?