Happy Halloween!

Mom and Dad in costume

Dave and I went down to the Monster Dash 5k today so that he could fulfill his dream of running a 5k as a hot dog.  He has other very ambitious goals in his life, but it was nice to be able to mark this one off his "bucket list".  Check out Dave's blog for a complete rundown of the event.

When we got home it was time to get ready for our trick-or-treaters.  In our old house, we never had a single trick-or-treater.  In the new house, we were overwhelmed with kids in costumes.  Many of the houses on our street ran out of candy because there were so many kids.  We would see the houses go dark as they ran out of candy.  Scout and Molly had a hard time with all the kids ringing our doorbell, but we used that time as an opportunity to train them.  By the end of the evening, they got much better about the barking.

Mom and "Jack-O-Lantern"

Doctor, Doctor

We had another doctor's appointment this morning.  Everything is looking good.  Baby's heartbeat was around 135 and I'm measuring right on schedule.  I have only had one other visit with this doctor but I really like him.  He reminds me of a young Dr. Huxtable from The Cosby Show.  He is one of my favorite doctors in the practice and it would be awesome if he delivered our baby.  My other favorite doctor at the practice is Dr. G.  He is an older doctor who as been practicing for about 30 years and just really takes his time with the patients.  He is the doctor that we met with when we first got pregnant and he is also the doctor that originally put me on bedrest.  He listens to me and genuinely seems interested in how I'm feeling.  The weird thing about Dr. G (that doesn't really bother me) is that he has hair plugs and he calls my girlie parts my "bottom".  My dream delivery would include "Dr. Huxtable", Dr. G and Stormy (the mascot of the Carolina Hurricanes) all in the room delivering my baby.  I know, I know...I sound crazy...but a girl can dream can't she?!

Here is my "Dream Team"!

Dr. G

Dr. Huxtable

Stormy

For those concerned, I have still not been able to locate my ankles.  My friend Laura of "L-squared" has offered to put up signs around her neighborhood.  I think that's a great idea and I would appreciate it if all of you would do that!

Our next doctors appointment is November 12 and then we go to weekly visits until Baby is born!

Fuh Fuh Fuh Freezing!

Ha!  No, I'm not talking about the weather.  It's going to be in the mid to high 80s (27 C) this week.  We are definitely looking for some fall weather to cool me off!

A couple of weeks ago, we ordered a chest freezer to put in our garage.  It was delivered today!  We can now stock up on food at Costco and have a place to store it. 

My plan is to make a bunch of meals and freeze them so that the last thing I need to think about after Baby arrives is what to make for dinner.  I hope that you out there is Interweb Land will be able to offer some suggestions and recipes for meals that freeze really well.  Please remember, that my very sweet husband does not eat cheese.  It's hard to find many one dish meals that don't include cheese, but I'm sure there are some out there.

Granny Roady is planning on coming down next week for a couple of days and we are going to have a meal prep festival in my kitchen. 

Feel free to comment on this blog entry or shoot me an email with some dinner suggestions and recipes!

Buuurrrrp!

If you'll remember, a couple of months ago, I decided that I wanted to make some burp cloths for Baby.  Well, I made one burp cloth that day with Crafty Sue and then I didn't touch them again...until today.

I finished off another 11 burp cloths for baby and have a dozen custom burp cloths for Baby to puke all over!

Now, I need to get back to my needlepointing so Baby will have a stocking for Santa to stuff.  I'm also thinking about sewing a diaper clutch.  We'll see how that one goes?!

Run, Puppy, Run!

For the past couple years, Dave has taken Scout to the park and let her off of her leash so that she can run.  She loves to run and is usually pretty good about staying close and listening.  When Dave and I both take her to the park, she tends to not listen to Dave but listen to me instead.  We all know that I'm the Alpha around this house and Scout's behavior just goes to show.

Scout and Molly loaded up in the car...ready to go

This morning, we decided to take Scout and Molly to the park for the first time.  As we approach the open field that we have always allowed Scout to run around in, we let both dogs off of their leashes.  Molly took off!  She went flying and refused to listen to any commands-from either of us.  As Molly took off, Dave told me to stay put and he would get her.  He followed her in a walking pace (think bad guy in a scary movie) and Molly continued to run at Mach 4.  I called Scout over to me and she came and laid down beside me as I waited for Molly's hopeful return.  After a few minutes of waiting, I see Molly flying over a hill so I call her to me.  She charged right for me and then continued right past me.  I then called her again and she did the same thing.  Finally, she came to me and stopped.  I snapped the leash right on her and we went off in search of Dave.  When we found Dave, he was ready to try it again.  I thought we had given it a good try and we would try again later...we did it Dave's way.

He took the girls off of the leashes and then started to walk with them.  He was constantly calling Molly back to him but this time she listened pretty well.  Dave had to pull out the "Mean Daddy" voice a few times to get her to listen.  After a bit of a walk, I called the girls back to me and they charged towards me.  Scout usually just runs straight at me, but Molly made things a little more difficult by trying to herd Scout.  It was really cute and the girls had a great time!  We just need to keep reminding ourselves that Molly is still just 2 years old and I wouldn't have dared let Scout off her leash when she was just 2 so there is hope for us yet.

Daddy training the pooches to listen

Add caption

Molly attempting to herd Scout

Dave holding Molly so that I can call her and get a good running shot

Molly sauntering toward me.  She definitely doesn't have the speed of Scout.

Saturday Round-up

I picked Dave up from the airport around 10 o'clock last night.  He spent the week in Portland, Oregon for work.  After his long day of travel we had to get to sleep because today was jam packed with stuff to do. 

This morning, we got up and went to our first of two Childbirth Classes.  The class was held at our OB/Gyn office which is really close to the house.  We learned all about what to expect when is comes to the labor and delivery experience.  When to call the doctor, when to wait, what's going to happen when you get to the hospital, what to bring with you to the hospital, etc.  I really enjoyed the instructor and feel like I walked away with a better understanding of what's to come.  As most of you know, Dave and I are planners and we like to be as prepared as possible.  Going to this class helps to put our minds at ease...even if just a little bit.  The unfortunate side is that the other couple in our class is rather annoying.  She mom-to-be is asking all sorts of stupid questions (ones that she should be asking her doctor) and seems really interested in what my opinion is on everything from donating cord blood to how I feel about the name Turpentine for her baby.  Dave, who is usually a very patient person (he married me after-all), finds her even more annoying than I do-so she must be pretty bad!

After class ended we stopped by the house and picked up our coupons and then headed to Buy Buy Baby to buy all of the essentials for baby. We chose to register at Buy Buy Baby because when we initially went to check out the store.  We liked the layout, the merchandise options and the customer service is amazing.  We know that it's not necessarily close to where we live, but we loved the customer service that much!  Buy Buy Baby is owned by the same company as Bed Bath & Beyond so we are able to use Bed Bath & Beyond coupons as well as other competitor's coupons when shopping.  We had a couple 20% off coupons, a 25% off coupon, $25 off coupon and because we were closing out our registry, the store gave us a 10% off coupon.  We ended up saving a ton of money...but in the process we spent a ton of money!  As always, everyone at Buy Buy Baby was super helpful.  We had one girl running all over the store finding things for us and giving us suggestions of better products than what we had originally selected.  When we finally had three shopping carts full of stuff we headed over to check out.  The cashier was great at helping us use all of our coupons and saving us as much money as possible.  Once we handed over all of our money, another girl came and helped up load the car.  Thank goodness we bought the Subaru last weekend!  We would have had to make 15 trips in the Mini to get all of our goodies home.

When we got home, Dave went to work putting some of the stuff together.  Our main priority is the car seat and the stroller.  The stroller came in a tiny box.  It was so tiny, that we asked several people if they were sure the stroller was in there.  Dave had very little trouble putting the stroller and it's components together.  It's a good thing he had all those years of experience working for Toys R Us back in the UK.

The car seat.

Scout helping Daddy

Lots of progress

Stroller with the car seat attached

Mommy modeling the car seat stroller

Stroller with the bassinet attachment

After we finished putting stuff together and putting everything away, we headed out to the front yard to watch our neighborhood Halloween parade.  Many of the neighborhood kids and several of the adults donned their Halloween costumes and made their way down our street for the parade.  After the parade everyone gathered for a block party-complete with pizza, drinks, dessert and a 24 foot inflatable slide.  We LOVE our neighborhood!

Needless to say, we are exhausted from our busy day!  We are hunkered down on the couch watching some tv before heading to bed.

Molly's New Trick

Our sweet Molly girl has developed a new trick. She, unlike her sister Scout, loves to play with balls and is quite content playing independently. Molly has a favorite tennis ball that she plays with all the time in the house. She can pick it up and throw it and then she will go and chase it down and do it all over again. Well, the new trick that she has started doing is that she will take said tennis ball and take it upstairs. She then drops the tennis ball down the stairs and then chases the ball all the way down the stairs and lightening speed. Once she retrieves the ball she heads back upstairs to do it all again. Now, I have tried many times to capture this trick in action with my camera, but as soon as Molly sees me she stops playing. I'm going to need to set up a hidden camera so that we can all witness this. While Molly plays so well independently, Scout is either seeking attention or sleeping. It's funny how our little "fur babies" have such strong personalities.

Since I don't have a video of Molly to share, I will share another video that my friend Mama D sent me the other day:

All Points Bulletin

I'm sending out an APB for my ankles.  They were here last week and when I woke up on Sunday they seemed to have fled the scene.  If you see them, please have them return home as soon as possible.

Showering with Friends?

This past Saturday, our dear friends McBridgett had a baby shower for us in their home.  Dave and I went over and were showered with love and lots of presents by some of our oldest and dearest friends.

The wonderful food

The bounty of gifts

Aunt Kori enjoying her coconut cupcake

Ooohhh, what could it be?

Thank goodness we got a thermometer...Dave was very concerned about that.

Alligator overalls

Stuffed alligator to go with Baby's room

"I hope you like your new baby"- Levi Brown

Marcus explaining his gift for "Reba"

Dave showing his true colors?

mmmm, cupcake

The Mulley Family

Elizabeth and her "Baby Daddy"

Kristen, the person at the shower that I've known the longest

 We are so very thankful to McBridgett for throwing us such an awesome shower.  We truly feel loved by everyone who attended and we can't wait for you to meet our little man!

Introducing-The Shaggin' Wagon

We headed down to the Subaru dealership today to look at cars. We have a Mini Cooper and an oldish Mazda Protege and we need to get something that is a little more family friendly. Neither one of us is a mini-van kind of person and we also didn't want to get a giant SUV so we have been talking about Subaru Outbacks for a while. We went to see what the dealership had to offer and took one out for a test drive.

After several hours, we traded in the Mazda Protege and drove off the lot in a shiny new Outback. It had 16 miles on the odometer when we drove away...by far the newest car I've ever had! The car is pretty fancy and I'm still learning what all it can do, but we are very excited about it.

As is my tradition, the car needed a name. The Mini's name is Stella-after the lead female character in The Italian Job. We will call the Subaru the Shaggin' Wagon.



My trusty photographer isn't available so I'll have to put up some real pictures later. Until then, here is a photo of what it looks like:

Behold-The Shaggin' Wagon

Boobs!

Yesterday, Dave and I went to a breastfeeding class.  We are both planners and we just want to know everything that we can about what is getting ready to happen.  The class was led by a woman that we later decided to call the Nursing Nazi.  She was very nice but she also had some extreme views on breastfeeding and I'm pretty sure Dave and I won't be taking our nursing to such an extent.

We learned about a lot of the benefits of breastfeeding (many of which we already knew), the equipment that we should purchase at some point, and the Nursing Nazi also debunked a lot of the myths that we have heard forever.  We have no plans to nurse Baby until he is in high school (even though Nursing Nazi said that would be a wonderful gift to our son) but we do still want to breastfeed so that we can give our child what is best for him.

Here is the video that she started the class off with...

Showered with Love

Yesterday, my friends Lori and Tracie threw me my first baby shower.  It was so exciting to be with people who love me and celebrate Baby!

The cake and some of the decorations

Katie, Lori and I

Lots of cute clothes for baby!

This was probably the softest thing I have ever touched.

Telling a great story that involves lots of arm motions.

Nicole, Tracie, Diane (I just jumped in the picture at the end).

I'm so grateful to have such a loving group of friends.  Baby sure is lucky to be welcomed by so many amazing women!

Ahhhhhhh!

Our friends, Wolfgang and Barbara gave me a "mother's massage" as a birthday gift and I quickly made an appointment so that I could get a good ol' rub down.  Yesterday, I went out to Skin Sense for a relaxing afternoon.  When I got there, I was escorted to the changing room so that I could change into my slippers and robe and then I went down the relaxing lounge to hang out until Michael (my masseur) came to get me.  I enjoyed some cucumber water while I sat in a cushy chair and tried my hardest to clear my mind and not people watch. 

After a while, Michael came to get me and took me to my massage room.  He asked me a series of questions and then we got down to business.  I've had massages before but this one was different because I couldn't lay on my stomach.  I laid on my side and at one point I was twisted with my knees going to the side and my shoulders facing up.  Michael really worked my neck pretty intensely and I feel pretty sore today because of that.  He also worked on some areas on my back and hips that had been bothering me.  I tried really hard to turn my brain off...but it's not always very easy for me.

After I was done with my massage, I went back to the relaxing lounge for a bit before I headed back to the changing room for a shower. 

Thanks again to Wolfgang and Barbara for a very relaxing birthday present!

My New Trick

Look, Mom...I'm not pregnant!

Oh wait...yes I am!

Big Ol' Head

We had our ultrasound today.  If you remember at our last appointment Baby was measuring about 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule all of a sudden.  The doctor said there were several explanations for that (he was stretched out, he had just had a growth spurt, I could have an excess of fluid, he could just be a giant baby, etc.). 

Well, the ultrasound went well.  Baby was very active and was moving around so much that the technician had a hard time taking some of the measurements.  I am currently 31 weeks pregnant and most of the measurements came in between 29 and 30 weeks...except his head which came back in the 32nd week (typical Roady baby with a giant noggin).  While the technician was measuring Baby's belly, I said, "Dave he's got your slim belly."  To which he replies, "Did you see his head, it's definitely yours!"  I would like to say that I think this means Baby will be really smart, but Dave's head is half the size of mine and he is 100 times smarter than me.  We'll just have to hope that Baby gets his daddy's brain!

The amount of fluid in the sac is perfect, the baby looks really healthy, and he has a strong heartbeat (measured 144 during the ultrasound and around 133 with the doctor).  We also found out that Baby is now head down.  The doctor said that they don't really worry much about the position of the baby until about 36 weeks so I guess he could decide to do another cartwheel.  My blood pressure and iron count were both really good.  All is looking well and we are happy to be in the home stretch.

Baby's foot

Baby's profile