Beach Trip Cancelled

Well, my wonderful plans of having a small getaway vacation at the beach before baby arrives went kerplunk - same noise the car started making on our way home from work Friday afternoon. We'd been counting down the days to our departure and no matter how many man-hours Zack put into the car that evening or the next morning, it wasn't enough for a stress-free drive to the beach and the NC Aquarium.

Back-up Plan Initiated.

Distract disappointed toddler (who really didn't understand... or at least seemed to settle for the explanation "the car is broken, and it's raining at the beach"), and cheer up mega-depressed-Dad-who-felt-he-failed-his-only-child-even-though-it-was-out-of-his-control... by spending a few hours at Marbles Kids Museum! It had been almost a year to the day since we visited, and we knew she'd get much more enjoyment out of a visit now that she was older.

 Zack informed me that we needed to dress her girlier when we went out... when someone said "Excuse me, little man!" Hey, her jeans have frills and flowers and she has neon pink shoes. PAY ATTENTION people! And we're just supporting our Wolfpack. Sheesh.

 She loved collecting the green balls and made me carry her overflowing bucket around for a long time.

 She drug this poor dog around for quite awhile - Daddy even tied him to a railing while they tried to go down the mega slide.

 Little fish puppets. :)

 Mara sat patiently on this block, with her dog, while Daddy built her an arch!

 The dog looks like he's doing great, right? So full of life and excitement.

 She wasn't AS enthusiastic about all the toys and kids - she seemed to be reserved and was content with watching and listening.

 She really did enjoy herself though... and cried when we left.

 Here's the arch Daddy put together for her to knock over! She loved it.

 There was a basketball goal JUST her height. She missed this dunk... but she made plenty of others. We had to go back here a few times - I think it was her favorite.

 This is about as far up the ladder as she climbed.

 She worked out with some weights.

 Played hockey with Dad!

 Was wayyyy braver than Dad and stood out on these overhangs that were on the second floor.

 No fear.

 Daddy did a minute of woodworking before some old grandma stole his screwdriver that he set down for ONE second while he tightened the vice.

 None of the pictures of me were very flattering... I'm in that big fat wrinkly stage... so here's what you get.

 Daddy looking out the window... Mara didn't want to walk over there. So much for being fearless.

 Daddy lined up all the farm animals for her to play with.

 Even though we didn't make it to the aquarium, Mara got her dose of fish. There was one that looked just like Nemo, which caused great excitement!

 My handsome hubby.

 Isn't this apron hilarious? To keep the kids from getting wet in the splash zone.

 I did stick my arm down there and retrieve some toys for her. This exhibit got crowded quickly so we didn't linger long.

After Marbles, Mara requested pizza for lunch so we got Mellow Mushroom (yum!), got her a 45-60 minute nap before heading to Max's place for his 1st birthday celebration. She still had energy to spare. I was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as we got home.

Just a few cute things to leave you with:

Mara sat Indian style on her bed the other night facing my belly so that she could read a book to baby brother. She also poked my belly and said "Be born, ok?"

She insists that Daddy call her "Mara Bean" since that's his little love nick name for her. If you ask her what Grahampa calls her, she'll say "SUNSHINE!" Sometimes she'll call Zack "Daddy Bean." When I call daycare over lunch, she's made sure the last few times to say that she loved Daddy, too.

Mara picked each of us a flower on a walk the other evening. She made sure she had 3, one for Daddy, one for Mommy and one for Mara. Apparently she picked a flower at daycare and told the teacher she was picking it for Mommy. Melts my heart.

When I brush her hair, I tell her she looks sooo pretty. She was brushing her hair the other morning and came RUNNING in and screamed "MOMMY LOOK! I GOT PRETTY!" I laughed and told her she is ALWAYS pretty to Mommy.

That's it for now!

She makes me younger

Yep, today I turned 29. I am cresting that bridge into my 30s, but the kiddos keep me young (at heart). Today, Mara asked "You want to play with me, Mom?" How can you ever say no to that. So we played "goldfish tea party" which means the Extreme Cheddar Goldfish (with basketball shapes included!) are poured from mini tea cup to mini plate and into my mouth, while I sip on invisible tea that is sometimes too hot.

The weather has been so nice the last few weeks, yet the bugs haven't made their debut, that we've spent quite a lot of time outside. Mara's practicing pedaling on her new bike...

 But practice involves quite a lot of pushing from Dad.

 She just can't QUITE turn over the pedals. Soon enough!

 For your information, we tried to convince her to get a red bike. She said "Put it back on shelf!" and grabbed the pink one.

 This is what happens when she can't move the bike...

My big birthday present (new camera lens!) was handed to me yesterday, and here are a few shots indoors using it!

 Check out her wispy hair! She has Dad's cowlick, but Mom's tendency for frizzies and WILD hair days.

 Here she is, gnawing on a carrot. The carrot usually ends up as spit out mush in my hand to throw away, but at least she gnaws on them for a little bit.

 The back part of her hair just won't lay down.

Anyway, I never shared some photos from the park that I took at the end of January, so here are a few for you to enjoy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope to use my lens a bunch soon, so hopefully I'll have some more pics to post in the near future.

Potty Dance

This cracked me up. This is me filming like her 3rd time through this dance. She's getting the hang of it... but unfortuantely it hasn't translated into anything actually HAPPENING in the potty. She did have Daddy bring her potty in the living room to sit on it (with clothes)... so maybe that's something.

Little Feb/Mar Updates

Hi everyone. Just a few quick pictures before I head off to bed.

We tried big girl underwear a few weeks ago. And then that was all she would wear that evening. We had on 3 different pairs because inevitably... they kept getting wet (and a crying fit would ensue). We aren't really any closer on the potty training thing... but I did document the attempt:

 Cooking in her underwear. Aren't we all guilty?

 

Zack finally assembled her big girl bed (trundle bed, without the trundle part for now) and she seems to love it!

 Show off.

The binky is completely gone now, including night time and in the middle of the night wake ups! WOO HOO!

I'm getting progressively bigger with baby brother. Mara sometimes asks to see my belly, and then she'll kiss it and give it a hug, without prompting. We tell her she's already a great big sister.

We also tell her that our family is going to get bigger and have more love. She talks about how he is growing in Mommy's belly and where he'll sit in the car.

Mara has gotten a few presents recently, including this musical guitar from Shirley and Paw-Paw. She loves playing it.

She's also gotten some gifts from her grandparents and we are very grateful! It makes checking the mailbox extra fun. We do have a webcam now (thank you, Graham and Cheryll for my early birthday present!) and have already video chatted with Kelly/Sean and my parents. Mara's getting used to it, I think!

We got to see baby brother on an ultrasound today, and Mara wanted to come along. We told her that she had to be a good girl and no crying in the doctor's office. She did really well, and seemed happy to see her brother and wave to him on the screen. She may have thought we were bringing him home today since she asked to put his car seat in the car... The time will come soon enough! Baby is now 2 pounds 10 ounces and in the 37th percentile.

Mara got some new shoes last week - awesomely pink. (They come in purple, too, but she chose pink). She is wearing a size 6 now! After I took this picture, I realized she was balancing on one leg (a new accomplishment!)

Here's me yesterday, at 28 weeks.

Mara loves to look at our motorcycles in the shed for some reason.

I took advantage of a little outside time today to grab these for you.

Check out the crazy twig shadows on her face. Haha.

 The shed wasn't unlocked at the time, which we told her, and she said "Daddy, go get the key!" While he was doing that, she did a happy dance. First the smile.

 Then the arm pumps up and down over and over.

Time for some rest! Night!