Big Girl

Georgia loves shoes, but what girl doesn't! She loves to put our shoes on too, even Larry's stinky boat shoes that are as big as her. I couldn't resist this picture...

And she's such a big girl, in her heels and all, that why shouldn't she get a better seat to play her piano on? She commands attention, sitting on the coffee table in the center of everything! We'll indulge her, for now, since too soon there'll be a little brother to share that spotlight with!

Sarah's Tea Party

Birthday Queen Sarah Grace
Today we were invited to a Royal Tea Party in celebration of Sarah Grace Brown's 4th birthday- what fun we had! Everyone had dress-up clothes- tutu, crowns and jewels for the girls, and princely robes for the boy. The prince and princesses were served tea (apple juice) and lots of sugary treats by none other than Her Royal Highness Sarah. And as if being served by a Birthday Queen wasn't exciting enough, then we all went outside for a fun craft of making wands and little foam picture frames, and later were treated to a royal storybook reading. It was so fun and creative!

Being served tea & sweets in all our finery.

Cookies, cream puffs & petit fors - Oh My!!Thank you, Debby, Matt & Sarah Grace, for including us! We look forward to more Royal Fun to come!
Georgia shows me her princess wave!

Relaxing at the Lake

We enjoyed a fun & relaxing weekend at Smith Lake with Dave & Laura Broom. Thanks for sharing with us!

All Snoogled Up

I have a new bed mate. Yes, my husband knows, and he might be a little jealous. You see, he might want one too!

It's a pregnancy pillow, called a Snoogle, and I'm loving it! I've always been a side-sleeper, which is what's required when you're pregnant, and wasn't a problem for me in my first pregnancy. But, for whatever reason, my body refuses to listen to my mind this time. It's like I'm top-heavy (or belly-heavy) and I always end up rolling onto my back now. My OB told me this is bad. Apparently I'm suffocating my baby boy when I lay too long on my back. Not good! More specifically, my increasingly-heavy uterus presses on the major vein that supplies blood to the baby, effectively cutting off his life-line! Really not good!

So, I've been trying to make do with more pillows propped all around me when I sleep. But they keep falling off the bed, and were also crowding my husband out of the bed, so I decided to try a pregnancy pillow. It's like a long, curving body pillow and wraps under my head at one end, and between my knees and under my belly at the other end. I can wrap it behind me so I can't roll over to my back. Last night I slept the best I have in months! (Although I also stayed up WAY too late to watch the USA take gold & silver in women's gymnastics!!)

If you're pregnant and having trouble sleeping, I recommend you try it. I got mine at babies r us ($52 and worth it! You can probably find it cheaper online)...

Nightie-nite!!

Olympic Fever

We enjoyed a fun weekend with lots of Olympic-watching. Starting Friday night, Larry & Georgia watched the opening ceremonies while I spent some girl time celebrating good friend Jenn's coming baby boy. Larry was amazed how Georgia sat in rapt attention as the opening ceremonies played- her favorite was in the beginning when hundreds of drummers pounded out a rhythm with lit ancient drums. She liked it so much Larry replayed it thru our DVR and she sat & watched it again! She even sat & watched it once more as we played it Saturday morning so I could see it! This is the child that won't even sit for Sesame Street, but Olympic drummers definitely grabbed her attention!

We watched various other events throughout the weekend, including beach volleyball, water polo, soccer, swimming, gymnastics & badminton. The most exciting definitely was watching Michael Phelps and the 4x100m relay team "smash" the French late last night and win gold! We were bleary-eyed this morning from staying up so late to watch it, but it was really incredible!!

Saturday, Georgia showed us her Olympic training at the pool, and then Larry & I got to go on a date night, with big thanks to Matt & Sandy for watching Georgia for us. We saw The Dark Knight, which was very good & we'd recommend seeing in the theater, and enjoyed a leisurely meal at Firebirds, where I didn't have to feed anyone but myself or clean the table! It was great!

Georgia is taking up the competitive spirit of the Games and determined to master the fork & bowl this weekend. She wanted to eat everything with her fork, by herself, and some in a bowl. She's doing pretty well with it and, thankfully, is yet to poke her eye out, which I stay on the watch for!

I also presented her with a new challenge today- sleeping without paci! (For readers without little ones- a very big deal!!) She'd already weaned down to where paci doesn't come out of her bed & I even take it from her after she falls asleep so she doesn't have it when she wakes up, but I decided it was time for it to go completely because she's getting very attached to & demanding of it. I read online many mom's paci-weaning experiences & decided the best route for us was cutting the tip off the paci. (Don't worry, it's not a choking hazard.) That way she can still physically have it, but it doesn't "paci" very well. I did it for her morning nap, and so far- so good. She just looked at it funny like , "hey- this thing is broken!" but held on to it while she learned to settle herself down to sleep. It took her a bit longer to fall asleep, but no tears or screaming! Pray it goes well this week!