Just the 3 of us

We are wrapping up a wonderful weekend - a weekend that we tried to concentrate on fun and being a little family of three.

I had an early morning photography session, then I met Judd and Charlotte at a "rescronk" to eat pancakes. After breakfast, we headed down to Delta headquarters to attend an airline memorabilia show. We were looking for a few last things to decorate the nursery with. Charlotte had a good time pretending to fly to Grammie's house on the Spirit of Delta.

Saturday evening we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather. We picked up some sandwiches and headed to the park for dinner. We had a really nice picnic, then played ball, explored, and Charlotte played on the playground. It was a beautiful evening - the weather was perfect. Ice cream on the way home was a great way to end the day.

Today Judd and I taught Sunday School. After Sunday School, the three of us headed up to Jaemor Farms to pick out a pumpkin. We have gone to Burt's the past couple of years, but wanted to try something new and a little less hectic. Jaemor was perfect! You actually get to walk into the pumpkin patch where the pumpkins grow and cut your own pumpkin. If you don't want to actually pick your pumpkin from the patch, you can pay $3 to just take pictures. We found a great pumpkin and Judd cut it for us. After the pumpkin patch, we took a hayride - and we didn't even have to wait in line! Charlotte spotted the ponies next, so we bought her a ride on a pony named Oreo. She didn't last very long on it, though - she wasn't too sure about it.

We stopped at the store on the way out and picked up some apples, apple cider donuts, and two baby pumpkins - one for Charlotte and one for baby brother.

I couldn't help but get teary eyed a couple of times during this weekened thinking about the changes ahead of us. Of course I can't wait to meet the fourth member of our family - our little man - and I know he'll fit right in. But, I can't help but feel myself holding onto these last days of us as a family of three - a special time that I'll never forget. Just as I'll never forget the wonderful years that it was just 2 of us.

Hair

Judd: "She really needs a hair cut"
Me: "No she doesnt', it's perfect"

I just can't bear to do it. I love her crazy yellow curls - especially when she wakes up in the morning and they are at their craziest and everywhere. I just can't picture her without her hair bouncing around when she moves. It is just about the only baby thing left - so I'm hanging onto it for dear life.

36 Weeks

We made it through our busy weekend. I ended up working at the Oak Grove Young Children's School Consignment Sale most of the night Thursday night, Friday morning, and Saturday morning into Saturday afternoon. This sale was VERY successful for the school - a huge amount of clothing, toys, etc were sold. I was able to shop a little bit and was able to get most of Charlotte's fall wardrobe plus an Ergo baby carrier for the new baby. I was pretty pumped with my finds.

Working the sale was a lot of fun. I got to talk to a lot of other moms from the school and visit with moms from the community that I have met over the past couple of years. For a girl that is used to always being the "new" one in town, it is nice to finally feel settled in a community.

Today, Judd's co-workers through a shower for us. It was so nice to see everyone that Judd talks about on a daily basis. It was very thoughtful of them. I always feel just a little guilty when people want to have showers for us with the 2nd baby. After the shower, we headed over to the Delta Museum to pick up some pictures for that baby's room. It is an airplane theme, and we were able to pick up some vintage airplane pictures and postcards for the walls. Charlotte liked getting a closer look at the big airplane.



This afternoon, Charlotte decided to make her bed on the fireplace. It looked really uncomfortable to me, but she insisted. She ended up watching most of the Wonder Pets in this position.



Tonight at dinner, she decided to say the blessing. This is how it went:

"Nice and slooooooow"
"Nice and slooooooow"
"Nice and fast"
"Nice and smelly"
"AMEN"

No idea where she got that - but it cracked us up.

Busy

The slow days of summer have definitely ended - we have become very busy all of the sudden.

It started a month or so ago when the photography business really picked up. I was contacted by two different etsy sellers to do product photography for their products. I shot the Halloween line and Christmas line for Inkspot Workshop. Please click over and look at the Halloween line - it is SUPER cute and will make you want to throw a Halloween party. I also had 5 family sessions since labor day, 3 of them this past weekend. It is a lot of fun to be busy with photography, but it has meant pictures of Charlotte have been scarce. And, I won't get a 35 week maternity picture up this week. I have loved every minute of the sessions, though - it just makes me realize that I love photography - and especially capturing the personalities of children. To capture that one magical moment is an awesome feeling.

We went to the playground yesterday afternoon and there were 2 little boys playing with their daddy. Charlotte asked where their mommy was. I replied that I didn't know. She said, "She's probably taking pictures of people".

Here's Charlotte taking a picture of me (looks like a natural, huh?)


This week things aren't slowing down. Charlotte's school, Oak Grove Young Children's School, is having their consignment sale this weekend. It is HUGE. It brings in tons of money for the school. I was asked to be on the consignment sale committee - which means I will be there a lot this weekend. I am excited to see how the operation runs.

Judd has been great through all of this. He has been super supportive of the photography, and hasn't complained once about watching Charlotte a little more than usual on the weekends.

After Sunday, life should slow back down. For that I am grateful. I will need a couple of weeks to relax before our lives are hectic again with a newborn in the house, then the holidays. I can't believe we are 4.5 weeks away from the due date. I can't believe our house will have a 4th person in it.

Naps (or lack thereof) - Part 2

She is napping again, most of the time, but on her own terms.

I don't call it nap anymore, I call it "quiet time" exclusively. She gets to pick out a few toys from downstairs, a little snack, and a drink and go up to her room. I read a couple of books to her, then set the alarm clock for 1 hour and 20 minutes. She plays for a little while, but then it gets very quiet.

The first day, I looked in to find her sound asleep in her bed. The second day, I cracked open the door and almost hit her in the head - she had pulled a pillow off of her bed and covered herself up on the floor. This is how she has been sleeping during quiet time ever since.

I'm not sure if this change has something to do with her new big girl bed (pictures of her transformed room later this week) or what - but I'm not going to mess with it. I don't care where she sleeps as long as I don't have a "grouchy ladybug" all afternoon!

Twirly Girl

There was a conversation between Judd and I while I was pregnant with Charlotte. I remember it distinctly - we were riding in the car going down Lawrenceville Hwy and Judd was doing something goofy. He was making up words to a song, and I was cracking up. It was something that he would only do in front of me, never his friends for fear of being uncool - just something goofy you do with people that know you better than anyone else.

Then, he turned to me and said, "What if she isn't funny? What if she doesn't understand our humor? or us?" I hadn't really thought about that. What if she just wasn't funny. There are those people - no sense of humor - they just don't get it. I always have thought of that in the back of my mind. Just a little worried about it.

But, that little baby that we worried about IS funny. VERY funny. She does get it - she gets us. She understands her Daddy's goofy songs - and even lately sings goofy songs back to him. She knows what it is to make people laugh - and loves to be funny. She has funny dances and knows they make me laugh. Last weekend she had me laughing so hard I was crying - twice.

I know one day Judd and I will be completely uncool and embarrass her to death. But, I hope that when she isn't in public, in the house with us or the car, she will always be able to let loose and be goofy with us. It is so important to me that she knows she can just be herself around us. We are so in love with our little goofball.