Road Trippin': Fort Worth & Fashion Shows

We recently took a road trip to see my sisters up in Fort Worth. Cameron took one for the team and road with a car full of ladies so that Tim could get some work stuff accomplished and meet us later on Saturday.

Our first stop in The Fort: a quick college tour for what my sisters hope is a future TCU Horned Frog.

The water fountain was definitely a favorite, but I'm not sure if that's enough for him to get in to this school though! :)

After a yummy dinner full of girly chatter, Cameron put on his macho-pants and found his way through DSW while the girls did some shoe shopping. Thank goodness there were plenty of mirrors for him to check himself out and keep him happily entertained.

Cameron is hysterical in a hotel room. 

He instantly goes to the phone and wants nothing more than to use it. It's almost automatic that I unplug every phone in the room the minute that we walk through the door. 

The ladies + Cameron ventured to the zoo to soak in the morning sunshine before Tim came up.

(Thanks Aunt Janet for taking this photo - and letting me steal it from your facebook!)

Cameron was so excited for some male companionship when Tim got there on Saturday! I may be his Mama, but Daddy is by far his best friend!

Other than the quality time with the ladies of my family and to see my sisters, it was really important to be there and support my sister Sarah in her hard work at her sorority's fashion show. I never participated in a sorority when I was in college so a lot of it comes as a bit of a mystery to me, but watching Sarah in action was amazing and so special.  Sarah has a huge heart and she strives for excellence in everything she touches.  I'm so glad that I got to be there to witness her accomplishments and hug her afterwards, even if my enormous belly did get in the way a bit!

Sarah is on the left, and this is a horrible pic -- but my camera-phone-zoom wasn't very helpful.

Lexie (baby sister) also took part in the fashion show by modeling. I don't know if she appreciated my funny comments as she walked past or not, but I love that genuine smile and her 'sure, I'll do it' attitude!  Did you know that she likes baking and crafting -- oh and don't forget long walks on the beach! :)

Side note Gushing Moment: I'm huge but look at these women -- I'm so lucky to call them all family and friends. We stand by each other, raise each other up, laugh together and love one another.  It doesn't matter what's going on or who's got what kind of drama we're there for each other. We listen. We Hug. We Love.  There's such a bond between the women in my family and I'm not sure if everyone is lucky enough to know and experience one like ours.  

I know that my Sisters have sorority sisters that they trust, love and share things with too (and I'm happy that they have that)...but I've got my Sisters and I can promise you that there's no comparing the pride and love we share in each other.

A final pic of Cameron soaking in some fun with Tim while the ladies were at the fashion show.

This Time Around: Volume 5

Size of baby:  honeydew melon

Baby's size & weight:  18", 5.25lbs

Baby's development:

Nugget's major organs should be nearly complete. The kidney's are developed and liver is functional.

Maternity Clothes:  Hate. So ready to get rid of these bad boys!

Gender:  Surprise!

Movement: alien-like!  There are nights where I'm fighting back for my own space in my ribs and stomach. Children really aren't very good at sharing.  Not to mention the fact that this kid looks like it could jump right out of my stomach if it really wanted to.

Sleep: sucks. I know that's an ugly word, but I hate falling asleep on the couch at 8:15 and then waking up to really go to sleep. Then I'm up again at about 3am tossing and turning until the alarm eventually goes off.  (Sometimes Tim will even tell Nugget to go to sleep when he can feel the baby moving in the middle of the night.)

What I miss: being able to work out. being able to get move easily. adult beverages. oh and walking without waddling.

Food cravings: ice cream/frozen yogurt and my favorite salad from Thundercloud.  (I don't know that these are cravings or just things that I love the most right now.)

Symptoms:  dry patches of skin in the most random places (well hello knees, when did you decide to voice an opinion on dry skin?), leg cramps, little hints of what might be considered contractions - I think it's more of Nugget just teasing me though, 

Cameron is:  eating pickles with me, wondering why I can't lay on the floor with him as easily as I used to and even though we discuss babies he has no idea what is coming.

Tim is: Tim! He thinks it's hysterical when Cameron tries to show people my belly in public and tries to egg it on. I secretly think he's a little excited about getting more one-on-one time with Cameron once Nugget arrives.  I hope they don't do all the fun stuff without me though!

What I'm looking forward to: Seeing my sisters this weekend and spending some quick QT with my Grandmother and Aunt!  More importantly though, I'm ready to get this show on the road. I feel like I could bowl my stomach right down a lane at this point.  No need to feel rushed Nugget, but this Mama is ready!

Best moments:  Listening to Cameron put words together and getting into fruit more -- veggies are still hit & miss.  Tim doing the "hot dog" dance with Cameron and picking which Disney character to mimic.  Tim telling me I look nice when I walk downstairs to start the day, even though I feel like my belly is taking over my entire self.  Cameron searching for "Mama's Car" or "Daddy's Truck" whenever we're out and about and then again when he finds it!  Hearing a story about Tim's day or telling a story of mine that has a little more meaning behind it and knowing that we will raise our kids to be genuinely good people, no matter the circumstance or what other people think, because that's who we are and that's what Cameron and Nugget will learn.

You Are My Sunshine

I don't have any awesome ideas about Valentine's Day. I don't agree with over-doing it, but I don't like to see it go by unnoticed either. Some recognition and a little extra love is good for the soul. 

At Cameron's age, it's fun to see what the teachers are passing on to my munchkin in the name of "love" and in giving to friends.  Cameron gave his classmates friends a small valentine and a new "valentine" themed rubber ducky. The ducks didn't fit into the friendship boxes that they made, but I thought they were cute and something other than candy!  We dressed Cameron in a funny shirt ("I like you, even though you have cooties") and red pants and treated his awesome teachers to an edible arrangement (YUM) because we love them a little extra!

As far as our Valentine's Day -- eh, I'm 27 months pregnant (no really) and we're not all that romantic. Dinner out was all I cared about. Probably the biggest deal these days is that by the time the weekend comes around, I really don't want to cook.  We turned our Valentine's Day into another reason to spend some good quality family time together throughout the weekend. It's hard when you're so on the go during the week that by the time the weekend comes it's all about soaking in everything we can.

So we soaked in this glorious sunshine on a walk around Town Lake. There's some "awesome" graffiti on that train track that you can't really see that says "I've got Ninja Style" -- which I like to think that I do, especially rockin' this belly these days!

And we played t-ball in the front yard. 

We're still grasping the swing of course, right now Cameron likes to try his ninja skills out and swing one-handed.  He still hasn't decided if he's a righty or a lefty.

Here's hoping that your Valentine's Day showed you some love even if it was you just groovin' to your own beat or finding your "ninja style"!  

Love is around us all the time, it just depends on how you choose to define it, receive it and give it.  

I'll take some t-ball and a walk or a dance party with streamers over a fancy steak dinner or flowers any night!

Laughable Moments

A list of funnies that are lately making me shake my head and say "only our kid":

-- "Mission Ba-Ba" (you know where we were getting rid of the pacifier) has pretty much been handled. He no longer has a pacifier at school and at home he keeps it in the bed with him, but only uses it for security. You should see this thing, I've cut it down so much that there's almost nothing left of it. Now though, he's finding other things to obsess over: he HAS to have a water bottle to go to bed with. It's not that he's drinking it, it just has to be right next to his bed. This is going to be a challenge as we get farther along in potty training. They've told me that at school when he's getting ready for his nap, he takes his shoes off (this is what we do at home, so I guess that's what he figures he has to do there, even though no one else takes there shoes off) and holds on to them as he falls asleep.  Seriously, he loves them so much he won't let them out of his grasp.  I've told his teachers to snap a picture of him asleep and cuddled with his shoes, but I haven't seen one yet.

-- Our weather has been all around nuts. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the last 5 days of ups and downs (77 degrees all the way down to 26 with so called "freezing rain" and canceled schools) are over. I'm ready for the sunshine that I love and crave so much.  Friday, after school was closed Cameron had the morning with Dad and the afternoon with me. I introduced him to popcorn -- umm let's just say he loved it! Tim was a bit upset that he didn't get to participate in this delicious snack time fun!

--Tonight I sent out a text to respective peoples in our family to ask them to vote on if they think Nugget is a boy or a girl...as we got responses we kept track on Cameron's chalk board easel. This morning I decided that we were going to lose the data, so I made a sheet and we're going to keep it on Nugget's door so that we know who guessed right and who didn't.  Feel free to send me your votes...you've still got about 45 days or so. :)

--  Cameron's school has a lot of different "enrichment" activities that they offer on a regular basis:  sign language, music, art...even karate, dance, and sports for the older kids.  Some of them you have to pay extra for and others are part of their weekly curriculum.  Today, Cameron got to try KID YOGA!  His teachers said he did really well and that he was totally into it. I attribute this to my one and only yoga class (remember that hysterical experience?) that I took when I was pregnant with him. I mean, seriously he's got skills!  I can't wait to see his downward facing dog!

-- As care-free and fun-loving as Cameron is, there's so much order that he seeks and maintains. Things that I have never seen a kid do before. He lines things up and knows when things are out of place. He can completely wreck a clean room, and refuse to help clean up, but there's signs of "his order" among the chaos.  If you ever find yourself in our home and see our dining room chairs lined up a specific way, or his cars and trains just so -- it's because Cameron had to have them that way.  He's definitely a creature of habit and a unique one at that, but he's ours and somehow it all makes sense.

((More blogging coming soon -- I know I've been a bit lazy lately.))