the demise of the reindeer

Last year Kathryn tried to eat the reindeer...

this year she tried to ride him.

From December

From December

From December

Poor little reindeer. He may never stand the same again.

a little bit of everything

As I changed the background I noticed that there were things missing from the previous posts. How silly of me to forget something so important as updating the blog more regularly for all of you readers, all five or six of you!

So let's start back in November. We went to Rome for Thanksgiving to spend some time with the Payne's. We were lucky that my Grandfather was in Chattanooga visiting the family of his lady friend. Kathryn finally got to meet her Great Grandpa Payne.

From November

While we were in Rome, Kathryn also discovered the great joy that leaves in the fall bring. Our yard as one little tree bush thing and we only get leaves in the yard from our neighbor's two trees that really aren't that big. She had a blast with all the Rome leaves!

From November

She also had her first true Payne experience. I can't say much because it is not appealing to me in the least. But for some reason the Payne's love olives and will fight you for the last one. Granddad had to see if she was a true Payne.

From November

Oh and when we got home, she mastered the art of Mommy's flip flops.

From November

She did wonderful on the trip home. We made a surprise stop in Stone Mountain to eat lunch with Eric's parents before they took off for Israel. We hadn't planned on stopping, but we left Rome a little later than planned. Our stomachs were asking for food right about the exit we would take off of I-20 to get up to Eric's parents. We knew church would not be out yet, so we headed up to surprise them. We had a great lunch and Kathryn got to see both sets of grandparents in one day!

Okay so now on to December. Let's see where to begin. We tried this past Sunday to do a Christmas family picture. It didn't turn out so hot, and not realizing it before I printed 75 Christmas cards, is a little embarrassing. You'll see when you get yours. If you can't figure it out, good! Anyway, here is Kathryn's cute picture that will also be on the card.

From December

My mom came up in November and we tried to get Kathryn's Christmas picture done then. Eric & I had decided not to do a professional family portrait now since in less than 2 months there should be an addition to our family. We figured the family would understand us wanting to save a little money so they would patiently wait for an updated family picture. This was the only shot we got of Kathryn in her Christmas dress.

From December

I have only a few items and people left to shop for. Most of what has been bought is already wrapped. They are sitting behind closed doors. I let Kathryn try to help me wrap one morning. I would get something mostly wrapped and as I finished, she would start unwrapping. So the presents are hidden until I think I can stash them under the tree and she won't notice. So I'm guessing Christmas Eve.

I have a couple of other cute pics from the past week or so, but they are still on the camera, awaiting downloading onto the computer. You'll just have to wait.

my little helper

Thursday is typically my cleaning day... laundry, dusting, vacuuming, mopping, etc. Kathryn usually helps with the dusting, but today she decided she wanted to be a little more helpful...

nap time

Usually nap time is more for me lately than it is for Kathryn. She will lie down but not without some sort of protest. This afternoon we were playing on the floor, which for obvious reasons does not happen very much lately. My back started to hurt so I went and sat on the couch. Kathryn came over and climbed in my lap. I then got a little bit of a hug. She said "nap" and pointed to her room. I did not hesitate to take her shoes off and head to her room. She then said "baby... nap". Baby is her glow worm, or one of the other babies that may be in her crib. I laid her down and with two minutes she was asleep. The was the first time she actually asked for a nap. my precious little girl...

our little flipper

Sorry the lighting isn't great. Our main room doesn't have great lighting and this was with the overhead light and a lamp on.

Every once in a while she'll get the flip going straight, but this is how they normally look.

mid-november ramblings

Tomorrow marks the three months to go and counting... give or take a few days. I've been so laid back this time around with getting things ready. By this point with Kathryn, we had so much done and even had a short list of names. But this time around, it is completely different. Don't even ask us about names. We have a list of "nopes", but we only have a list of these are okay not great. Boys names seem to be so much harder!

We bought a lot of gender neutral stuff for the nursery with Kathryn so we are planning on just reusing everything. That light green goes with blue so no need to buy new bedding. I want to paint the room he'll be in, but I haven't even picked out a color yet... well besides blue, but that is such a broad spectrum.

He is a really active little one. He was kicking a lot yesterday afternoon while Kathryn & I were doing a puzzle on the couch. I put Kathryn's hand on my belly, he kicked, and she giggled and pulled her hand away. So I did it again, and the same thing. I know she doesn't understand, but she'll be glad when he is here and she gets her playful mommy back.

What else... I feel like there was a lot I wanted to get out, but right now I think my head is giving in to the headache. Oh, the acid reflux is back. Not as bad as with Kathryn I don't think, but I, thankfully, haven't had the sickness problems I had with her either. Speaking of, I had Kathryn get the flu shot, but since I can't have it, I'm just really nervous that I'm going to get sick this winter. She's around a lot more kids this year and I'm around a lot more moms with kids. So far I've just had the pregnancy stuff nose and nothing else. I'm praying that is all I get this time.

The next three months are going to be crazy I believe. This weekend we are going to Baltimore for our niece's first birthday. Then a trip to Rome for Thanksgiving. Luckily by Christmas I will be too pregnant to travel far so we are staying home. But I will have had a birthday by then and feel another year older. Eric's job is going to get even busier at the start of the year and his work with one of the local high schools starts back in January through the first part of February.

Kathryn is getting even more active, if that's possible. I think the bigger I get the more she isn't going to like it. She already doesn't like that I can't play on the floor as much as I used to or have her use me like a jungle gym, but it doesn't stop her from trying. She has gotten to her naps not coming until almost 3. By then, I need to it also, but can't seem to lie down myself. I usually end up doing other things... like rambling too much on a blog.

updated doc's visit

I went today for a routine doc's visit. I also had to do another 1-hour glucose test and they checked me for anemia. Both came back great, so thankful for that news! My regular doc had told me when we moved here that by my numbers with Kathryn they would have said I was borderline anemic and had the labor brought on diabetes. Everything else was great. Heard a really strong sounding heart beat.

I didn't think I was far enough along yet, but I'm moving on to doc visits every two weeks. I keep thinking that he's not due until next year, but it is November already. The little ticker on the blog is down to double digits... yikes! I'm not sure if I'm ready for this yet but I've only got about three months to finish preparing!