Kitchen Reno to Landlords

It was about a year ago this week I chronicled the ups and downs of our kitchen reno on the blog-o-licous blog. Its hard to believe that is what we were doing a year ago. It is hard to believe that we finally got the kitchen just the way we wanted it and we moved out 10 months later!

Speaking of the old house - well I guess I can say the Rental House - we got it rented. Excellent! Our Realtor who helped us with the new house handles rentals too so we'll be officially landlords on 2/15. I am excited and nervous. Hopefully nothing will go majorally wrong with appliances and the house. Lee is getting the last minute things wrapped up - painting, moving the spa and the Bobcat - so everything is almost a go.

I'll keep you posted on the awesome-ness of Landlord-ship...

Making the FFA proud

Went to check in on E because our avid reader can have some dangerous books in the way of a long night sleep. Apparently she is reading up on her tractors and I think the Future Farmers of America would be quite proud.

Confession - secretly when we buy our family farm I want Lee to have his John Deere green tractor and I want a pink one!

Goodnight. : )

T-Minus 2 days...

Well baby day should only be 2 days from now. We survived not going into labor during the SuperBowl - I even resisted holding a brand new baby on Superbowl Sunday just so that would not land us in the hospital! E was 5 days late and after my doctor appt yesterday it does not sounds like this baby is coming anytime soon. Now if we can just make it through my parents Marti Gras party on Saturday - there is a guest from Japan coming that is how big this party is! - then we'll be good to go!

This is how my conversations of recent have gone...

"How are you doing"
 Me - "Still pregnant"

"How are you feeling"
Me - "Round"

Can you tell I am slightly over this whole being 39.5 weeks preggo thing? My doctor said he would induce me today if I wanted but I told him I needed a medical reason not that I just did not want to be pregnant anymore. So we wait...

Tractors!

Played hooky with everyone from work and went to the Southern Farm Show in Raleigh-world to support the equipment division. E had a grat time checking out the tractors

Entirely too much fun and a nap would not be complete with the NiNi

Belco Resources - How may I help you?

E and Nani racing in the stroller.

Fast Fact - Y - Y - Y, Why do I, do I LOVE Y!

Confession - Last night Lee and I watched one of E's favorite YouTube videos without her. Some of the Sesame Street videos she likes to watch are honestly pretty annoying but this one is definitely worth a watch but watch out the song will get stuck in your head and the Y guy is really cute!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qGHh0_6Xbc&feature=related

Product Review - Baby Thermometers

Okay let's be real here. Nobody likes taking a baby's temperature especially when they are sick and let's here some sympathy for the babies too! So here's my take on baby thermometers.

1. (Pictured in the middle) The Safety 1st thermometer is not worth a flip. The numbers are small and it takes a long time to beep out a reading - which is horrible for mom and baby (and traumatizing for onlooking papas)

2. (Pictured top) The Safety 1st ear thermometer has to be positioned just 100% right to give a decent reading and you have to pull back baby's ear to get it into position - let alone deal with squirmy baby. Also we tried the ear model on ourselves and cannot get it positioned correctly so forget that one too.

Last year when E was sick I was thinking about breaking down and buying an expensive Dr's ear thermometer but I did not want to be stuck with a simialr problem that I had with #2 so I hunted around the drugstore and came around a Vick's regular thermometer. Still in the 10-15 range but not crazy expensive. Going for the cheaper option I gave it a whirl and BAM I found one.

3. (Pictured below) Vick's thermometer - There are a few models. One even lights up green, yellow, or red but I got the simple version. This one is super fast compared to the Safety 1st- done in maybe 5-7 seconds. Numbers are huge and there is a long memory time on the temp.

Only reason I mention this now is E was sick the other day and I was pleasantly reminded of my trusty Vick's thermometer and how much I appreciate it and wished I had found it sooner!

T Minus 9 days!!!

How should I feel now that I am in the single digits of days away from meeting our new family addition? Excited... yes. Nervous... understatement of the year.

Excited...

Lee and I were looking through pics from when E was born up until now and it is crazy how much she has changed and how she has changed our lives. Cannot imagine what another baby is going to add to the mix. Excited to find out if baby is a boy or girl. Excited to watch E and Papa with new baby!

Nervous...

Hmm.... Why?

Have you ever been through labor and delivery??? If yes then clearly you would understand. Its kinda of traumatic - while its happening and I am hoping to go sans medication. I had Stay-a-dol (or something like that with E - is a narcotic that makes you care less but you still feel everything - trust me).

Will this baby be okay? I just want to see him/her and know that he/she is happy/healthy.

Breastfeeding - will this baby get the hang of it as easy as E did? Hopefully with the help/support from the lactation consultant at the Wil-town hospital (who is SO GREAT!) we can get it figured out

Work... hopefully things will go as smoothly as they did with E but the office has been reconfigured so things should be really interesting / Nani will not be there for general support/baby antics/newspaper/forgotten diapers/rice on sleeping baby ... I will miss this... ALOT

Blog Post for Thought for Overwhelmed Mamas...

I saw this blog post and really enjoyed it. Pretty much so true for a mama of one or ten! Especially comforting for me because I am overwhelmed thinking about a another baby (well I really cannot get pasted labor and delivery at this point : ) and knowing there are women out there who can do it and have done is certainly reassuring!

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/to-the-mother-with-only-one-child

Duckies, Patos and patoosh

Three languages. A couple species. One happy toddler. Papa did not have mountains of work to do today do out fam visited the duckies of City Lake this morning before papa and E headed home. I think this was the first time Lee went to see ducks with E. she greeted the different herds of ducks with a wave. There are a couple different species of ducks that live at the lake including ones that can hold their breathe under water for a good 10 seconds as well as some jet black ducks, your typical lake ducks and a massively vicious duck that is twice the size of a goose. There was a cat there that did not even want to mess with that one!

E has been an avid duck watcher for a while now so I bet new baby will learn to likey duckies too!

Scorls and Fever

Sunday night E woke up from her nap with a nasty fever in the 102 to 103 range. We got that under control with ice cold juice and ice cream.

Monday brought a lower fever and eventually no fever but E clearly did not go to MMO. We went into the office for a few and watched Elmo on YouTube then had a major meltdown then came home. One of the great things about the new house is there is much more wildlife in our backyard and E has taken to looking at scorls otherwise known as squirrels and birdies. We sat for about 20 minutes just looking out trying to see all the squirrels and birdies that were around. It was cute!

Monday night we noticed this icky looking rash on her hand. Not chicken pox or anything but still a bit gross. This morning she woke up with more of the same so after a quick grandma consult it was off to the races to the doctor.

I love going to the doctor and having them tell me Oh its viral. So E's fever was likely a response to something viral and the rash is an indication that she is over it. Excellent!

Oreos and Milk

I have accidentally gotten E hooked on dunking her Oreos in milk. She saw me do it and realized her sippy cup would not do the trick so I relented and shared with her. Good teaching moment - sharing and how to make the most of your frostingless Oreo

Toddler going on Teenager

Not really but seriously this is what I find when E goes through my purse - my Chapstick with a massive crater in it from E digging it out! Good thing she has yet to commandeer my lipstick!

House Hunters - MOVED

It's official. The baby can come because we have moved! Big times props to Lee and his mom for making it happen. E was a good helpies and I did not go into labor. Overall very great day. I'll do a pic tour once everything is relatively set but here are a few