*Pat on the back*

Warning: I am indeed about to brag.  So look no further if you hate that kind of thing.

You know that little blogger named Ree Drummond?  Author of Pioneer Woman?  Well, she does photography contests every month or so in her photography section and once in awhile I’ll enter a photo.  I know I’ll never be picked because there are literally thousands of entries, many of which majorly exceed my skill level.

Well, today that changed! After posting she was doing a “silly”' contest I knew which one I wanted to enter.  She picks groups of favorites and then after 5 or so groups, she picks the winner.  I know I probably won’t win but it was sooo exciting to see my photo up there!  Scroll down and you’ll know which one is mine! 

                                                   http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2011/08/your-silly-shots-group-1/

Ing

Wow.  We’ve been busy.  Busy moving, driving, packing, shifting, cleaning, sweating, reunion-ing, playing, swimming, sweating, unpacking, nailing, arranging, driving, driving and more driving. 

Phew.  So forgive my lack of online presence.  And after not touching my camera for a couple weeks, I finally busted it out to capture some moments in our wonderful, spacious, beautiful BACKYARD.  One of the first things I noticed when we moved in was the beautiful light coming into our yard in the evening.  I looove it.

 

 

We find out in a week if baby is boy or non-boy. I can’t wait!  In the interim, the husband will be throwing faux fast balls to our five and three year old.  The five year old can hit ‘em out of the park…er…yard.  Not kidding.  Boys shmoys.

Kindy

   

Posing to make sure I get all the key elements of her outfit in the photograph:  “Make sure you get my shoes and my backpack.”

No tears.

No holding back.

No anxiety.

No extra hug and kiss.

She’s ready.  *sniff*

I scoped out the others.  She’s definitely the cutest one there. 

Deets and Pics

For the curious peeps…

I am due end of Januaryish. 

First trimester=MISERABLE.  I saw more of the inside of our toilets than of my own children.

Second trimester=getting better but still getting waves of grossness. 

Feeling baby move!  In love with it!

Nervous?  Oh yes but each day I feel more confident.  couldn’t say this 10 weeks ago

Names?  Zilch. 

Girlies know and are very excited.  Diva told me my tummy was getting bigger today!  Made me smile. 

And now..what’s a post without pictures?

Cousins on Daddy’s side visiting for awhile. We love them.  Cousin Big B is not pictured because he was busy puking on his mommy. 

 

In her mother’s defense, she did not know her daughter was rockin just a diaper.  Remember?  She was covered in throw-up. 

Whatever the wardrobe, these girls are the cutest.

Beautified

Playing in Mom’s makeup.  8-11-11

Pierced

I allowed two strangers to punch holes in my daughter’s body. 

Doesn’t it look beautiful?

In the zone.  She’s gonna rock childbirth. 

Right after they finished. Not one tear.  I think I need to hire strangers to brush her hair.  I’m seriously confused by her pain tolerance.

Too little for piercing, but she enjoyed watching! 

Maybe

Baby?

How your baby's growing:

15 1/2 weeks old: Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

Keeping fingers, toes, eyeballs crossed that this little apple is in for the long haul. 

Will find out boy or girl in a few weeks.  CANNOT WAIT!

 

San Fran

Thanks to generous parents, we were able to visit San Francisco this past week.  It was so much fun.  We were sooo excited.  Especially Diva.  She couldn’t wait to visit the “Big City.”

We cruised the wharf a little the first night.  The first thing we noticed was the cool weather.  The cold weather.  The fog never let up the entire four days we were there.  And we loved every minute of it.  It was a nice break from the 102* heat back home. 

The next morning my little family  went out alone for a bit while we waited for the rest of the crew to wake up get ready.

 8:30 am.  Who wants some crab?

We passed by this local eatery and Miss M yellled out, “That’s like Mommy!”  For sure.

Alcatraz.

 

We enjoyed watching these amusing sea lions slug around on these docks.  They are pretty famous on Pier 39. 

Did I mention it was cold?

    

Later that day we visited the Aquarium of the Bay.  The shark and sting ray tunnel was a big hit.

  

 

Of course, what would a trip to SF be without good ol’ Golden Gate? 

We even walked across it.  Well, halfway at least. 

My one gripe about Frisco?  The insane amount of people.  Everywhere you go, houses are stacked together, people are milling about.  I’m shocked we didn’t hit somebody with our car.  It was crazy.  We ended up doing a lot of walking.  A lot.

   

For the most part, Diva was an excellent little walker and rarely complained about how much of it we had to do, until the last couple days when her poor little feet started aching. So we took advantage of the muscle and rode on the shoulders of uncles and Grandpa.  Thanks to them for being so obliging!

 

There was some rather interesting street entertainment.  Later, when asked what her favorite part of the trip was, Diva said it was “giving money to the gold robot man.”  She’s easy to please.  Miss M loved the skeleton guy.  He was weird.

Yum.  More crab.  There were crab places on every corner.

A lot of what we did revolved around food.  Naturally.  We ate some delicious stuff whether it was Tony’s Pizza, Ghirardelli chocolate, ice cream sundaes, french toast, crab chowder, grilled salmon, gelato…etc.  It was all good.  Munchkin’s fav was the hot chocolate. 

 

   

So generous with her smiles.  Love it.

We paddle boated in Golden Gate park.  This little one despised her life jacket.  Before^

After-

But Diva loved it!

   

If you ever go to San Fran you have to visit California Academy of Sciences.  It was awesome.  Even though we were up to our eyeballs in people. 

Whatever you do, do not call the underwater sea creatures “weird.”  The worker standing next to you will be offended and will correct you to say, “interesting.”  Oh well, I still say seahorses are the weirdest things ever. 

Albino alligator.

My brother lives in San Francisco and really helped us out on what would be fun to do and see and eat.  He attempted to bring us up to Twin Peaks (I’m pretty sure that’s the name) to check out the view.  Unfortunately the only thing we viewed was fog.  And lots of it.

On a clear day we would have been able to see all of downtown San Francisco, as well as the bay and Alcatraz island.  All we got was a white wall.  Oh well.  There’s always next time.

San Francisco is a beautiful, eccentric city.  We were lucky to be able to check out the sites and sounds and smells.  Thanks Mom and Dad!