Sawyer's Big Weekend

This weekend was "Sawyer Weekend", a special two-day treat for Sawyer as kind of his last big hoorah as an only child. While we had planned on not telling him about his exciting weekend until Saturday morning, we caved and told him Friday night. He kept saying "i cannot believe it!".

Saturday, we left around 10:30 a.m. and went straight to a Halloween store so we could pick out his costume. This was not part of the original plan, but we had time to kill before his 1 p.m. jump time at SkyZone so we figured we could kill two birds with one stone. While he'd been saying he wanted to be something scary "like a werewolf or ghost", he ended up making a bee-line to the ninja turtle costumes. I was so proud.

He was a ninja turtle for his first Halloween, but this time he will have mask, real shell and weapons for the whole effect so he is pumped. I of course had to try on the mask.

After a quick bite of pizza, we went to SkyZone where I think Josh had just as much fun as Sawyer did. They were so active and bouncing all over the place that I had a really hard time getting any pictures, but between jumping off the walls, running from trampoline to trampoline, and jumping into the giant foam pit, both my guys were super tired an hour later. 

super tired Joshua

We grabbed some FroYo downtown after SkyZone, checked into our hotel, and then Josh and Sawyer decided to cool off in the indoor pool. After a quick swim, we went to Kanki, a Japanese steakhouse (since Sawyer said he wanted to "watch the magicians cook on the table"). Sawyer was so tired he almost fell asleep while eating.

Sunday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel then headed to Marbles Kid Museum. Sawyer was so overwhelmed by the nine available exhibits he didn't even know where to start. We decided to lead him towards the Around Town area first. In this section, kids could pretend to be farmers, veterinarians, fishermen, EMT workers, grocers, and even more. Sawyer especially loved the farming and vet sections.

  

Then we moved on to the Splash exhibit. Here, the big guy got to play on a giant pirate ship (of course), a submarine set up like a marine biologist lab, and a water area with boats and sea creatures.

if only I could get him to "swab the deck" at home

We headed upstairs to see the other exhibits and started in the IdeaWorks area and Sawyer had fun racing cars against Josh, using an actual drill and saw on real wood and building with some giant legos.

The Moneypalooza exhibit was next where there are green plastic balls everywhere that are supposed to signify money. Here, kids learn about how money is earned, spent, and saved. There were opportunities to earn money like making and delivering pizzas, pet-sitting, and having a lemonade stand then you could shoot the green balls you earned into a savings area.

We then hit Kid's Grid (an area where kids can "control' electricity) and Power to Play where you can exercise on their kid-friendly equipment and "lift weights".

this was his "it's so heavy" face

While Josh & Sawyer had a blast, I sadly was not feeling well. My blood pressure started climbing last week and my feet have been swelling horribly. About halfway through the museum, I had to find somewhere to sit and just watch my guys have a good time. My feet and legs were so swollen I could barely tie my shoes.

Because I felt so gross and since Sawyer and Josh were already pretty tired, we decided to skip out on visiting Pullen Park and head on home. As one last treat for the weekend, we went to Krispy Kreme or the "doughnut factory" as Sawyer calls it, to see them making doughnuts (and eat a few too). They were already done making them for the evening, but Sawyer still got to enjoy a drink and a hot, regular glazed doughnut.

I am so glad we were able to give Sawyer two days just for him and to celebrate him being an awesome kid. He of course has already requested we have another special weekend like this next weekend.

so many wins.

This weekend was full of winning moments. Not only did my ECU Pirates beat Virginia Tech, but I also had 2 baby showers and finished up my last craft for the nursery!

Bright and early Saturday morning (aka at 7am when Sawyer decided to get up), I finally got to work on re-covering Sawyer's old pirate bumper using this tutorial. I have been putting off making the bumpers because I was so scared to actually cut huge hunks from the fabric I ordered, I bet I measured each strip 10 times! No pics of the finished product yet because I ran out of the stupid ribbon I was using for the ties, so come back tomorrow for a full nursery & name reveal.

Saturday afternoon we went to Raleigh for a shower with our tailgate crew. Saturday also happened to be the ECU vs. Virginia Tech game, so even though the shower was supposed to start at 2pm, we ended up not opening gifts until 4:30-ish because we were so busy watching the game!

too busy watching the game for shower business

I did get some great gifts from our friends though and it was wonderful getting to watch such a high-stress game together. We managed to not get any pictures because we were so caught up with the Pirate win!

Sunday we had another shower, this one was at my church hosted by two of my best friends, Dana & Hope and Dana's mom, Mrs. Teresa. While we were calling the shower a "sprinkle" since we don't expect much with this being our second baby and the same gender as our first, our church family, family & friends were too sweet and loaded us with gifts! I spent several hours in the nursery last night putting away diapers, wipes, outfits & bottles! Forgive the quality of the pictures below, they were stolen from Facebook or taken with my horrible phone camera (note to self: stop forgetting your actual camera!)

my MIL, Vivian (with my niece Karlie), Hope, Mrs. Teresa, Me, Dana & my mama

Hope feeling me up putting on my corsage

so much food

the whole driver-side backseat was filled, even with the seat folded down! #blessed

seriously.

Now that we've got the nursery basically done and all the stuff we could possibly need (save for a few things I need to pick up thanks to some awesome Target gift cards) we are ready for baby. Well ready, but not wanting him to come out for at least 7 weeks!

30 Weeks

I hit 30 weeks yesterday and I am a little bit in shock about it. This pregnancy has just flown by and I can hardly believe that in 10 weeks (or less) Sawyer is going to be a big brother! I haven't done a "pregnancy update" since 20 weeks, so I figured why not do one today?

How far along: 30 weeks

Baby's size: Apparently the size of a head of cabbage, however with this whole sugar issue, he might be a little bigger than most.

Weight gain: 7 pounds. So, this is weird. At the beginning of my pregnancy I lost a lot of weight between sickness and my fight with Gary the Gallbladder and now I am having to watch my carbs and sugars even more closely because of my border-line gestational diabetes status. So while this time last pregnancy I was holding strong at about 30 lbs heavier, I'm just now starting to slowly add some poundage.

Lunch
disclaimer: I'd already eaten about 12 pieces of broccoli and 4 slices of apple before I took this pic, I promise I'm not starving myself or this baby.

Stretch marks: Oh yes. Like I said before, I had a plenty with Sawyer on my stomach and they haven't gone anywhere so I can't tell if there are new ones there or just the old ones showing up more.

Sleep: What is that? Getting comfortable and actually falling asleep hasn't been going so great since about 26 weeks. Then I frequent the bathroom at least 3 times during the night, so yeah....

Gender: baby boy

Best moment this week: Sawyer has really enjoyed feeling the baby move all around and actually seeing my belly go all crazy, his new favorite thing to say is "Rocky (which is what he insists on calling the baby, but is not baby's actual name) is having a party in there!" It makes me so happy to see Sawyer getting excited about being a big brother.

Looking forward to: TWO showers this weekend and a special weekend we are planning just for Sawyer as his last kind of "hoorah" as an only child haha, you'll hear more about that later!

Food cravings: Anything super sugary. I think this is just because I know I shouldn't eat candy but I have wanted gummy worms, Skittles, Tootsie Rolls and all kinds of candy. And now my mouth is legit watering...

Weirdest food I ate this week: I ate a spoon full of sprinkles. Like cake decorating sprinkles. I saw they were only 3g of a carbs for a tablespoon and I sure did measure exactly that and savor the sweetness.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really, if I get too hungry I still get nauseous but other than that, I'm good!

Labor signs: Nope, thank goodness. Hold on for at least 7 more weeks little nugget!

Symptoms: My hips have been bothering me big time lately if I sit too long, so I have been really trying to get up and move every hours at work. And the swelling in my ankles and feet has started, but nothing too crazy.

Workouts: Does chasing after  3-year-old count?

What I miss: Not having to pee every 10 minutes. Between my high blood sugar, hormones, this giant baby mashing my bladder, and drinking around 100 oz. of water a day, I am making constant trips to the bathroom. The admin assistant in our office suggested just moving my desk in there.

Things that suck: My nose has started spreading across my face, which I do not like. Also, people making dumb pregnant comments. Word to the wise - never comment on a pregnant woman's size. Ever. How hard it is to pick up Sawyer sucks too, he is so tall and heavy that I just don't have a lot of room to hold him!

Things that don't suck: Having Sawyer & Josh kiss both me and my belly every morning when I leave the house. It makes me tear up almost every time.

Hump Day Happies

Just a list of some happy thoughts on a dreary Wednesday!

• Sawyer brought home some of his artwork from preschool home yesterday and I got all teary-eyed looking at it. I can't handle how cute he was being so proud about his schoolwork. He is getting so big, I mean look at this picture, the one on the left is from Oct. 2011 and the one on the right is from last night in the same clothes basket. 

• As I mentioned last month, I didn't do so hot on the 3-hr glucose test (after failing the short, 1-hr one) so the doctor put me on a low carb/sugar diet. Well.... when I went back for a checkup, my blood sugar was super high and he told me to cut down even further. Here is where the happy part comes in. I thought he said I could only have 20g of carbs a day which I was extraordinarily puzzled over because I had no idea how I was going to cut down that much, I was basically setting myself up for failure every day. Then this morning when I was looking over my sheet from the appointment to write down my next appointment date on my calendar, I realized he said 20g of carbs per meal. Praise the Lord!

• Mrs. Kris, the preacher who helped marry Josh & me, and used to preach at Josh's parents' church has the best devotional journal that she posts a picture of every day. She not only writes down a verse or thought from her quiet time but also turns every page into a work of art. Check out the ones below, or follow her on instagram.

• This weekend we have 2 baby showers! Our tailgate crew is throwing one for us on Saturday and then Sunday my friends Hope & Dana and Dana's mom are throwing me a small one at church. I was so surprised to even have one shower since this is our second baby and since we already have a boy! Despite having all the big stuff we need like a diaper genie, wipe warmer, car seat and etc. we do need all the other baby stuff like diapers, wipes, bottles (Sawyer's were so gross when we got them from storage), and bath stuff. We also are going to need some clothes for this little nugget since the sizes will be off with the seasons. 

• I've already gotten a head start on some Christmas shopping/gift planning! With baby due in late November, I wanted to make sure we had all of our shopping done before he arrives to avoid any last-minute issues. Sawyer is still obsessed with Paw Patrol on Nick Jr.  and has been begging for more Paw Patrol toys (which are just now being produced) so I started pinning and planning out what to buy when. His big item this year from us is going to be a new tricycle, so his list isn't going to be too lengthy. 

I hope you have a happy hump day!