i'm here for the party and i'm not leaving till they throw me out

Just wanted to share a few more images from the party. You know, for funsies.

RAINBOW FRUIT TRAY!! Pretty, right?
The birthday boy with friends in the background: (I swear they looked like a little pile of jumping beans, all hopped up on juice boxes and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.)
Some superhero sprinkler action:
A family shot! YES! Thank you to my friend Katie for insisting. Please ignore the enormous water spot on my super classy tank top - I was lifting kids in and out of the pool all morning. (No lectures about lifting please and thank you. IT'S FINE.)
Post nap present opening:
I think that about covers it.

Superhero Lifegaurd Explorer

June 26.


Nate's official THIRD birthday.


I don't know if it's because I'm all pregnant or what but this birthday seemed more emotional than his previous ones. I went back and forth about throwing him a party and/or who to invite and we finally wound up with a small(ish) group at the house... in the backyard... in the pool... very similar to last year. I sent out (on Facebook - ha! All my prim and proper friends are all aghast!) invites like seriously a little over a week out.


I SWORE up and down I was going to keep it low key. And I think, honestly, that we did (Chic-Fil-A Party Tray y'all).


(But even low-key parties at your own home take some work so praise me as you see fit for doing it whilst baby baking.)


On Wednesday (yes, of this week) I decided, well, hey, I better get the kiddos some party favors. I found these super cute magnifying glasses at a local teacher store and decided they needed capes to go with. (Which makes no sense I know - the theme of the day was clearly not well thought out.)


(LEAVE ME ALONE I'M PREGNANT AND KIDS LOOK CUTE IN CAPES.)


(Side note: Capes are homemade and I could not have done that without my friend Erin and my mother-in-law. "Super easy" cape tutorials found on the internet are, apparently, too difficult for me!)


(Also, the life guard thing is in no way related to the party favors. Do you really think I would pass out SHRILL whistles to a bunch of toddlers? No, I would not. It is, however, Nate's latest 'pretend play' obsession (we only whistle outside dammit!) and he's been wearing his whistle most of the week. He frequently runs around the back yard blowing his whistle and calling out "ADULT SWIM! GET OUT OF THE POOL!")


SEEEEEE HOW CUTE THOUGH?

Exploring for bugs...



What I did not realize is that Karl would teach Nate to set things on fire with his magnifying glass. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM?

So, yea, we have A THREE YEAR OLD.

oh internet we'll never be over

Some days I want to break up with The Internet.

THEN I have a week of GOODNESS LIKE SO:

Exhibit A: This lovely photo tumblr site: http://dearphotograph.com/

Exhibit B: My friend Amy's post about her son's reaction to her emergency.

Exhibit C: (warning: long, lots of cussing, not suitable for, um, many situations): DRUNK KITCHEN cookie bakin'!

....and I remember why I could never stay away for too long!

official: 26 weeks

Lookey! Here's one of those super-awkward and overdone FEET pictures! With my baby belly in it!

So, holy hell, next weeks marks the 3rd Trimester of this pregnancy. (Right? I don't actually remember from my obsessive reading first time around but I'm pretty sure 27 weeks is it. If not, well, it's close, right?)

I best be writing some details down, yes? YOU ARE MISSING IT ALL.

First of all, this baby is bananas. As in, he or she moves CONSTANTLY and for long periods of time. This is new territory for me. Nate was a chill little babe on the inside. (Not so chill on the outside - perhaps I can hope for the opposite effect this time around?)

I've been seeing, um, many people this pregnancy. Since we're aiming for that whole home birth thing, I've sort of been obsessed with fetal positioning (I know, I know, it's early) so I've been doing some well visits at a chiropractor (about which I have mixed feelings but am going to continue with for the time being. I know some of y'all swear by The Chiro, but for me, not having much pain to deal with, it still seems foreign). I've also been seeing my OB and my midwife and (don't hate) a good friend who gives the MASSAGES. (Seriously she's amazing.)

I'm sad to report I really haven't had any crazy food issues this pregnancy. Well other than the fact that I absolutely can not eat chicken. Shudder. The aversion is BAD and I refuse to go near it or prepare it. (Other than heating the occasional chicken nuggets for Nate - though even that makes me gaggy.) There's also a small issue with lasagna as I prepared it SEVERAL times in early pregnancy and the thought of the meat mixing with the sauce is UNACCEPTABLE. So, yea, never mind... some of these things might be sounding a little borderline insane to you.

My only real food CRAVINGS have been toast w/ butter. Like this:AHHHH yep. This picture is pretty much is like PORN to me.

We decided, additionally, to take another 8 week child birth class like we did last time. We had our first class last night and I had the PRIVILEGE of wearing this endearing, awkward double name tag with our due date emblazoned on it. (They were short name tag holders.)

We debated on whether or not we should take the classes - Karl was in favor as he feels that Nate's birth could have gone differently (well he feels our level of panic would have been far greater) had we not taken them last time. We both liked the idea of a refresher course. Plus, you know, we haven't really put a lot of time and effort and energy into talking about this pregnancy and the classes give us the opportunity to do that (for two hours once a week!) AND we get to meet some other couples who are due right around the same time and all have similar mind sets and goals regarding birth.

What else? Maybe we should talk about what We. Don't. Have. We don't have a nursery. (though we did move Nate into his NEW bedroom - more on that later.) We haven't gotten the crib down from the attic. We don't have ANY names picked out. We don't have any clothes - well, we do... but those are all in the attic as well. In boxes. Somewhere. With some other things from Nate's infancy - a swing, a few slings...I'm pretty sure one friend or another has my pump. Honestly, other than the whole Name Thing, I feel like I could go buy a pack of onsies and call it good. Is that ridiculous? I know people say the second baby gets the shaft sometimes, but, for me, honestly, it's just about realizing there was so much of that STUFF I didn't really and truly need to love a little itty thing and keep it alive and well in those first precious weeks.

shirts: we don't need no stinkin shirts

Here's what we've been doing mostly:

When I said I didn't want to be outside much without being around a body of water, I was not lying. I'm pretty sure my skin and hair are constantly rocking the lovely scent of sunscreen and chlorine and sweat. (Side Note: My hair is a serious wreck and I'm getting ready to chop it.) I'm also pretty sure pool water DOES, in fact, occasionally qualify for bath time for Nate.

I ALMOST didn't let Karl set up the 'backyard pool' this year (we also have a "real" pool in our neighborhood we go to) but I have NEVER, EVER been so glad that I relented. He can get nerdy about obsessively cleaning and chemicalizing it ANY DAY provided I can get in it every day until this baby comes out. On my days off we usually pack it up, pack it in to the big pool but on days I work we usually get home around 3 or 3:30 and almost immediately pop into the backyard pool, leaving various articles of clothing trailing across the backyard. I'm still rocking my one-piece from last year but I'm breaking down and buying a maternity suit SOON.

When we're not in the pool, I'm obsessively trying to keep both myself and Nate hydrated:

Currently, this is the wallpaper on my phone:Most of you know my troubles giving up the Soda Sauce (on and off addict) and I've been trying really hard this pregnancy. (And forever.) (BUT DAMMIT I love you Coca Cola.)

Water, water, water. All this talk about being in it and consuming it makes me THIRSTY. (Also, it's confusing to an almost 3-year old that we can drink out of the hose and the faucet but not the pool! Nate now asks if there are 'chemicals in it' every time I fill his glass with water. Do I say yes? No? I mean, technically....)

hey yooooooooou guuuuuuuuuuuuuys

photo courtesy of my darling friend jaime

Life is a bit messy here. Every one is happy and healthy but the rush toward summer has sort of left us all a little spin-ey. We've had a lovely whirlwind of birthday parties and cookouts and work and POOL TIME (hooray!) and a bit of a scare with some more pregnancy issues (all of which are fine). (I'll do a pregnancy update soon but in short: I've been feeling great the last few weeks.)

Nate's been - sleeping issues aside - keeping us laughing on a daily basis. His 3rd birthday is (literally) right around the corner and I (literally) have made zero plans for it as of this moment in time. We keep asking him what he wants to do for his party and he will only say "cupcakes. ice cream." Easy enough, right? But is this the year we invite school friends and other kiddos or do we continue on our family and adult friends (some who have children) path that has worked so nicely in the past?

He's been VERY concerned about several things lately:

1. He simply does not understand why Mommy has to wear a "shirt" in the swimming pool when I make him take his off. I keep telling him "girls wear tops in the pool" and "mommy doesn't want to be arrested" but I'm not sure he's getting it as HE KEEPS ASKING.

2. A few weeks ago (on Mother's Day no less) he wanted to know why farts come out of his penis. Yep.

3. He recently noticed our neighbor's dog, Pepper, only has one eye. Since then, he's been constantly checking his own eyeball count. (Do I have two eyes, Mommy?) This has led to many, many questions: "Does Sarah have two eyes? Does Daddy have two eyes?" (and so on and so forth ABOUT EVERYONE WE MEET).

4. Last week he was giving his 97 year old great grandmother a sweet hug good-bye after a visit and got a little ambitious and 'bonked her with his head.' The head bump resulted in her dentures falling out and, I am NOT poking fun of the teethless, but that CHILDS FACE was priceless as he reached his hands up to his feel that own teethies were securely attached to his gums. Since then, he has often wondered (aloud of course) whether his teeth come out and why Mimi's fell out and, so, we spend quite a bit of time discussing dentures and dental hygeniene in our daily conversations.

Other things of note:

1. He's been SERIOUSLY obsessed with wearing his rainboots lately and basically refuses to wear any other shoes. (We've been over his uh, shoe preference issues before, right? Yea. This kid is weird about footwear.)

2. We ask him what he wants to name the baby. First, it was "Daddy" and, yesterday, oddly, it was "Morocco" (THANKS A LOT MARIAH CAREY.). We talk about the baby often but I'm pretty sure he has absolutely NO CLUE what it all really means.

3. We are getting ready to move him from his room to the guest room (HIS NEW ROOM!). Our THOUGHTS are to do this in plenty of time for him to adjust to the room before we bring a new baby in the house. His current room (though the baby will probably shack up with us for a few months in a bassinet or our bed) will go back to being a nursery/guest room. We're also seriously hoping that by letting him help move and arrange and make it his own that he'll actually want to BE IN HIS ROOM. This is probably delusional but maybe he'll even sleep in there without us having to cajole and convince and lay with him for an extended period of time every night. (And then having him pitter patter into our room and bed at 3 a.m. anyway.) Yea, we're working on it.