I'm DONE!!

Done with my midnight snack of Rolaids and a glass of water,

done with cramping legs

and a huge belly

no energy

and no more sleep,

Done with this pinched sciatic nerve in my back

and already having grown out of 90% of my clothes less than 2 months before D Day.

Done with swollen feet

and hands

and face

(although if I would drink more water it would help, so that's really just my fault).

Really done cringing everytime I step on a scale;

wondering if my post-Brychan body will ever come back

(let alone my pre-Brychan body!).

BUT

I am having SO much fun laundering, sorting and organizing baby clothes

and wondering if this little boy will be as big as Brychan

(or if I'll get lucky this time).

And I'm still loving watching Brychan love on his baby brother

and hoping that love will stick once brother is actually here and not just in Mommy's belly.

Still enjoying trying to put the boys' room together with

a toddler's help

and dreaming of a normal pair of jeans!

And no, I'm not really done. I still have 7ish weeks left. At this point I'm really hoping the last 7 weeks will go much faster rather than slower!

Playing Outside

We spent another nice chunk of time outside this afternoon, so I decided to grab the camera. I love being able to spend this time outside with Brychan. Lately, it seems to be the place where he is the calmest and happiest (he hasn't been napping the last few days resulting in some horrendous tantrums. I've yet to figure out a solution!). He is very observant when we're out there...he hears every airplane, bird, dog and neighborhood car or truck and then makes sure I notice them too.

He sat on this brick in our tiny patch of weed-grass playing with a stick for a good 30 minutes. He is so serious about playing!




I am looking forward to a long winter of days spent like this. And hopefully, someday I'll get all these photos put in a scrapbook for real!

NOW I remember...

Why I love Arizona! Fall has arrived. No more 100+ days. Low to mid 80's are now our highs with the evenings and mornings cool enough to turn off the a/c, open the windows and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Brychan and I spent over an hour outside playing this afternoon; we were able to stay out until he was ready to come back in (saved me from dealing with a fit!). I didn't have to watch the clock to make sure we didn't stay out too long, didn't have to worry about him getting over heated or dragging water bottles out with us...just Mom and Bug playing outside for as long as we wanted.

It was HEAVEN!!!

Conference Weekend

We were so lucky to have Grandma & Grandpa Stander come visit for a few days around conference weekend! We kept very busy with all sorts of fun things, some of which are documented below.

Reading a story with Grandma

Eating at In-N-Out Burger

Reading a story with Grandpa

Decorating our toes with sorting blocks (Brychan was insistent that those blocks stayed on his toes. He got so upset when he tried to stand up to walk and they just kept falling off)

And LOVING our GIGANTIC PUMPKIN!!! This is courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa's garden. Some of you might remember last year they held a pumpkin party that we attended and ended up with a ridiculous number of pumpkins. This year we obviously didn't get to go, and we didn't end up with a ridiculous number of pumpkins - just one HUGE pumpkin, two normal sized pumpkins and a variety of squash. Daddy could hardly carry it in the house! We tried keeping it outside, but Brychan just wanted to sit on, climb all over and marvel at his beautiful pumpkin, so we ended up bringing it inside. Brychan can now say "pumpkin" quite well!



We also got to go shopping for new toys, paint the boys bedroom, go for a walk with Grandma, eat LOTS of yummy food and spin Grandpa around and around the living room until both he and Brychan were dizzy. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa - we had a blast and can't wait for your next visit!

Day at the Zoo

Each Wednesday in September, the Phoenix Zoo was offering 2 free admissions. Luckily, we had today open so we could take advantage of it! The weather was perfect (high 80's) for our trip and since we went first thing in the morning, ALL of the animals were out and about. We had so much fun!

This was by far Brychan's favorite. He kept meowing at it until I reminded him that big cats growl. Then he kept signing cat while growling at him.

Brychan loves giraffes and was very excited about seeing them, but once it came to actually feeding them, he wasn't quite so sure. I had fun, though!




Brychan loves elephants. Unfortunately, he only got to see the backsides of the elephants at the zoo. But. These statues might as well have been the real thing - and I really think he did think they were real. He would not sit on that baby elephant by himself for anything!! We have another photo of him "tickling" the elephants ears and he is standing as far away from the elephant as he possibly can, stretching his little arm out to touch it.

At the petting zoo. Brychan was very hesitant to pet the goats, but once he realized they were much like his dogs, he was okay.

This was my first trip to this Phoenix Zoo (there is another one closer to our house) and I was very impressed! There were so many things to do that we just ran out of energy to do or were closed today for construction (Oh yeah. The Construction also had ALL the water fountains AND bathrooms closed for the day. That part was not so fun for pregnant mommy!). Can't wait to spend another day soon!

Kitty Love

I apologize that there are two videos, but they were just so cute I couldn't decide on which one to post. Brychan has a very intense love for kittys. I don't know why or where it came from. He's only ever pet two kittens - both of which happened this month. The first time: he and I went for a morning walk. I had heard a cat meowing, but didn't see it. Next thing I DO see is my son frantically trying to jump out of his stroller signing "cat". I caught him and he pointed to the cat, which I picked up and let him pet. He was SO sad when we left that cat that David and I decided to take him to PetSmart that weekend for their adoption weekend so Brychan could see some more cats. Since then, he has learned to say "kitty" (if you listen hard you can hear him say it in the video) and he meows like it's the saddest, most pathetic cat you've ever heard. Way too cute! I am NOT a cat person (which is why I have a dog) and I am very allergic to them. Well, at least I used to be. Don't know how severe it is now. Anyway, my son's intense love for them is making me think twice about never owning one. THAT IS NOT AN INVITATION FOR OVERLY ANXIOUS AND SYMPATHETIC GRANDPARENTS OR AUNTIES TO BUY MY SON A KITTEN!!!! We will be sticking to the stuffed variety for now.

A little side note on the videos: while waiting rather impatiently at the doctor's office yesterday, David pulled some kitty videos up on YouTube for Brychan to watch on David's Blackberry. Brychan now seems to think that the Blackberry is his own personal "kitty box". He brought it to David this afternoon asking for kittens. Geesh! How did our parents survive without all this wonderful technology?!? :)

Little Mouse

This afternoon we took a little trip to Costco. Brychan LOVES Costco!! We got a few samples, got the groceries we needed and even got some frozen yogurt for the ride home. Brychan started fussing on the way home trying to get into some muffins we bought. I offered him some of my yogurt, which he declined, and he kept fussing about the muffins. I promised him a muffin once we got home and then ignored his fussing.

Evidently, "once we get home" was not quick enough. When we did get home and I went to get him out of his car seat, this is what I found.

The little turkey totally helped himself!! He was not very patient with me taking this photo either...he wanted to finish his muffin NOW!