a hat vote.

I have a little fascination with crocheted hats - for girls and boys. If you recall, I bought my littlest nephew, Sprout, a blue crocheted hat to wear in the hospital. It's basically the cutest thing ever. Regardless of the gender of our little one, (s)he will definitely be wearing many hats - especially since (s)he will be born in October.

But if our baby Punkin is a girl, well... she will have many hats. From Etsy, of course, because it's the cheapest! Well, I suppose that crocheting my own hats would ultimately be the cheapest. And, on that note, Mark does want me to learn how to crochet. But until (if?) I learn, I'm sticking to Etsy.

Today I came upon four little hats. So cute. So sweet. So edible. Won't you help me pick out your most favorite one? Leave me a comment, or tell me in person (Facebook) which hat you like the best. She (if it is a she) will have to be stylin' in the birthing center, don't you know?

A:

from THIS Etsy shop
I love that little flower, but Mark says it's "goofy"
..As if..
(He'd better get used to flowery, frilly things!)


B:
From THIS Etsy shop
Love the overall look of this hat
and the white ribbon adds a nice touch!


C:
From THIS Etsy shop
Orange for our October Punkin!
We all know that orange is my favorite color...
but is it best for a newborn girl? You decide.


D:
From THIS Etsy shop
This one is Mark's favorite.
The bow is definitely sweet, but it's white.
Which does look good on newborns but hard to keep clean.

So cast your vote and tell me which hat you would love to see our little one in! I love all four. Aren't those babies just... delicious? Nothing sweeter than a baby girl in a little hat. Mark wants me to check out books at the library and begin crocheting a blanket for our baby. Is that even possible? I know no one who crochets, other than my friend Brittany in Kentucky. And I still don't even know the difference between knitting and crocheting. Hehe. I just stick to Etsy ;]



Now let's hear it! A, B, C, or D?

15 weeks! (and 5 days)

How far along are you? 15 weeks 5 days

Total weight gain: 2.5lbs

Sleep: It's okay. I sleep on my back a lot, which is very odd for me. I can no longer sleep on my stomach at all because it's very uncomfortable.

Best moment this week: Being able to cook supper and not get sick!

Movement: When I lay down on my back, I can sometimes feel a little "thump thump" at random intervals. And it isn't every day. I've felt it the past two days, though! Sometimes when I'm sitting on the couch, I'll feel like a little pinky finger poked me from the inside. Just one prod, though, and then it stops.

Labor signs: No way!

What do you miss? Eating or drinking whatever I want, sleeping comfortably, not having to get up to use the restroom during the night, not throwing up at 9:15am, not being soooo sensitive to smells, not feeling the urge to cry at church each week*

Weekly wisdom: Um, I still don't have wisdom. Haha.


*Yes, I cry every week at church. It's absurd, and there's no reason for it. If I see a child at church, I want to cry. If someone gets baptized, I want to cry. But especially if a child is baptized.. Sheesh! I'm like an emotional wreck sometimes!

At 16 weeks.. (2 days from now), Punkin will be..

-The size of an avocado
-4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces
-Legs are much more developed
-Head is much more erect
-Eyes have moved closer to the front of the head
-Ears are close to their final position
-The patterning of his scalp has begun, though locks aren't recognizable yet
-Growing toenails


Our pregnancy is just moving right along now!


I would just like to add that this entire blog post has been written with my nose stuffed inside my shirt. I'm so sensitive to smells. And there is some kind of smell in here that is not jiving with Punkin. At all. Mark "can't smell it," but I can. This pregnant nose is going to be the death of me.

rambling!

I'm heading into my 16th week of pregnancy. Today, I feel pretty good. Yesterday I threw up; my nausea is very random and unpredictable. But all is well, and one week from today we will know for sure if I am carrying a beautiful little girl or a handsome little boy.

I have really only ever been around little boys, with the exception of one special little girl. I am used to dinosaurs, playing rough, and "playing cars." So the idea of playing house with my (possible) daughter is bizarre to me! I also can't imagine buying shoes to match outfits, hair accessories, purses, and the like. But I am so excited to know with certainty if a son or daughter is in our future!

Our homecooking plan is going great! I have a list of recipes that I'm eager to try next week -- Recipes that my mom has always used, but I've been "afraid" to try. Because, you know, nothing ever turns out as good as what your mom makes. Well, maybe not your mom, but my mom cooks like a southern dream, so it's hard to come close to her abilities!

We've decided on a name for a girl. We think. Pretty sure. If you recall, our son's middle name would be named after our West Highland Terrier. Our daughter's middle name will be named after Mark's most favorite candy bar. Both are very normal, beautiful names, so don't think I'm weird or anything. His/her first name is being kept under wraps until their birth day.

I've begun scrapbooking my pregnancy, which is extremely fun for me! Combining crafts with photography is wonderful. I will take photos of my pages with Mark's iPhone tonight and let you get a glimpse of Punkin's scrapbook. My greatest fear in life is growing up and not remembering anything. Such as, "I can't remember how I felt during pregnancy." Or, "I don't know when you took your first steps.. and I can't remember your first words." Not like I'll have Alzheimers or something, but I'm scared of forgetting the little things in life.

So, I have a little obsession with photographing everything (as you can see) and scrapbooking the big things in life. I also have a little fantasy of my children swooning over my scrapbooks in their older years and passing them down to my grandchildren. Isn't that just so cute? I, for one, would love to look at my grandmothers' scrapbooks from their lifetime. If they had scrapbooking around back then. How cool would it be to have so many photos and mementos from your parents or grandparents? So that's my driving force in scrapbooking.

I would like to scrapbook each year of each child's life. But if I have 2 children, that's 2x18, which is 36. And 36 scrapbooks is a tad extreme. Not sure how I'll ever work that out, but I want my children to have mementos from their childhood that they can always keep.

Tonight we will be trotting off to small group. No big plans for the remainder of the week. My trip home is inching closer and closer. I can't believe that when I go home, I'll be 21 weeks pregnant with a significantly larger belly than "normal." Excited is an understatement. I am sad about leaving Mark for 11 days, but my military wives certainly know that 11 days is no big deal in the grand scheme of things. He and Piper will be fine, and I will be snuggling a brand new baby.

Am I for real getting another nephew in less than 6 weeks? It hasn't even set in. And, frankly, the fact that we will have a baby with us in less than 24 weeks is unreal too!!

And this has concluded the most random blog post ever. Talk about rambling!! :)

Walmart/commissary throw down!

If you're a military spouse, you've undoubtedly wondered which is cheaper -- Walmart or the commissary? We've been wondering this since we first arrived on base. We just assumed that the commissary had cheaper milk and meat, and we chose our grocery store based on whatever we felt like going. Or whichever was open, since our commissary sometimes has weird hours.

Well, today Mark and I decided to officially find out which store is cheaper. I brought a piece of paper with me to the commissary and recorded the prices of various foods [such party animals on Saturdays!]. We bought nothing and headed to Walmart to compare these prices. When we found a cheaper item, we bought it. And then headed back to the commissary for their cheaper items.

We didn't check everything, and we didn't compare ground beef or milk or fruits and vegetables. We just chose a few things that were on our current list. The BLUE price represents the commissary price (get it? like blue for Air Force blue. Hehe!), and the ORANGE price represents Walmart.

Here's what we found:

Tomato paste: .58 ~~ .38

Ramen Noodles: .19 ~~ .28

Big Pack of Ramen Noodles: $2.79 ~~ $1.82

Campbells Soups (cream of mushroom/mushroom, etc): $1.29 ~~ $1.26
(note: Great Value at Walmart is as low as .78 -- a great find!)

Canned Corn (or similar veggie): .64 ~~ .73

32oz Hamburger Dill Pickles: $1.99 ~~ $2.28

Loaf of bread: $1.49 ~~ .75

Packaged ham: $2 ~~ $2.98

Nitrate-free Turkey dogs (aka healthy hot dogs): $1.25 ~~ $.150

Cheese Bratwursts: $1.79 ~~ $2.98

8oz Kraft Monterey Jack Cheese: $1.25 ~~ $1.96


I bolded the items that were cheaper at the commissary for your convenience! So the verdict is in: WALMART WINS!


Obviously, we did not compare the prices of any fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, or milk. I'll be doing that next week. I'm nearly willing to bet my socks that Walmart has cheaper fruits and veggies, however! So basically, in my experience, Walmart is cheaper on everything but meats and cheeses.

So now you know! Walmart also has the Great Value brand, which is extremely cheap. I currently have the Great Value brand of Fruity Pebbles, and I can definitely tell a difference.. in a bad way. But it was less than half the price of the name brand, so it's worth it, in my opinion!

Walmart will be seeing more of me in the future!



PS. I would just like to add that this list of food is mostly for lunches. We don't live on hot dogs and Ramen noodles. I promise. And the deli meat is for Mark. We really do eat real, normal foods!

fooooood!

I might be a smidge biased, but isn't my Hudsie just adorable? Omg, excuse me while I kiss those chubby little feet! Hudson's favorite thing in life is to go outside. Just yesterday, he went to the door, put his jacket on, and laid on the rug to wait and go outside. Isn't that just adorable? He can get kind of.. demanding about it, but it's still so cute!

In other news, M & I aren't eating out for the next... long time from now. We have enough food to prepare 10 full suppers (I went through all my ingredients in the entire house). I have this new idea that I want to make some kind of chicken-rice-mushroom soup thing. That sounds really good to me.
Tomorrow, we're having soft chicken tacos and cheesy rice. Made by Chef Shannon. Walking into the kitchen only kinda makes me gag now. I'm getting much better.

I've decided that if I stock up on condensed soups and various canned products (beans, tomatoes, vegetables, etc.) then I can make some seriously healthy, cheap food! Now that we own a grill, and it's warm (finally!), we are big into grilling. But I'm still interested in casserole-type dishes. Those are my favorite!

I have a serious aversion to anything involving my crock pot. Don't ask - but nothing ever sounds good to me that involves a crock pot.

Anyway, I'm excited about one month of avoiding eating out. I know we tried this before, and we failed, but now we're serious. Plus, now that we have a grill, it's so much more fun and attainable! I just need to go to the store for a few ingredients - including pickles. Hamburger-sliced dill pickles are totally freakin good. I ate a whole jar in two days last week. Oops! Luckily, they are 0 calories. And nevermind the sodium. Sodium smodium.

;]


Oh, and here's one more photo of my little one looking cuter than any button I've ever seen. Oh my gosh, I really want to slather him in kisses from his most favorite (and only) aunt Shannie!


Have a great weekend! :]

genetics.

It's always fun to imagine what our baby might look like. Will (s)he have curly hair like me? Or straight hair like Mark? Light brown hair or blonde hair? Will (s)he inherit Mark's pretty blue eyes or my brown ones?

You know, I didn't really get my curly hair until I was about two! But the trichohyalin gene has to come from both sides, so I'm betting that our child has straight or wavy hair! :)



Little baby Markie! Look at how little and blonde. And with hair that can be parted! Adorable!



Toddler Markie. All I can do is giggle to myself. And think What on earth is that Santa's Helper wearing? Boxer shorts?!


As for me....

ah! I want to dress my daughter in this outfit!!!


little blonde, straight hair!

and don't worry, my curly hair came so fast that my mom didn't know what was up!

Boy, I can't wait to see our little one in October! We find out the gender for sure in eleven days! I'm so excited to see our child kick and swim around on the ultrasound. Hopefully we can get some clear shots of the face! I am soo excited! Mark came home yesterday and said that he is "ready for our child to be OUT!" Can you tell that we love our little baby? :)

my fun little day!

Today was a great day! Yesterday, I felt awful, but today was so much better! The morning sickness is totally hit-or-miss with me. So this morning, my twin, Amanda, and her sister picked me up, and we headed to the mall! What a fun time. We shopped all around, and I managed to escape with only buying one baby item -- and it was on sale! Gymboree just has the cutest clothes. I can't resist them!

After that, we lost the car. No, really! It was hilarious. Over here, we park in parking garages when we go to the mall. Isn't that crazy? We walked all around and finally realized that we were on the wrong side of the parking garage. Ha!

Then we zipped by one of our favorite baby boutiques, which is always fun. And I had the most delicious guacamole bacon burger at Red Robin. Yummo! They just get better and better every time. Our baby really loves any Mexican-ish food. Guacamole, salsa, tacos and burritos are among my favorite things right now. I can't get enough! My Air Force wife friend, Erin, says I am the "most Mexican eatingest thing" she's ever seen! That quote reminded me so much of something my mom would say -- I just had to include it. Bwhahahahahaha.

I feel like my uterus is growing lately. Weird, I know. But randomly, it feels like my uterus is stretching and cramping a little. And it's only for just a couple seconds, and then it disappears. No matter how much I read about round ligament pain, I still do not understand what it really is. Shrug. But the sides of my belly are really, really tight, and even Mark can feel a difference. It's very weird!

And on the note of Baby Burrito, here's a video of her (or his) heartbeat yesterday:




Ignore the number on the screen. I use lotion, which isn't as effective, so the actual BPM doesn't register very well. But we can always hear it beating loud and strong!


I had so much fun. It's hilarious how I've found these two twins in my life. One goes to my church and her sister-in-law lives right across the street. And I'm pretty sure no one else would get such a kick out of discussing strollers, cloth diapers, breast feeding, scrapbooking, etc. as much as the three of us! It's too fun! Hehe!

snout-lickin good & recently:

Oh, yes, our dog will eat just about anything. In fact, I can't really think of anything she won't eat. Today, I caught Piper lickin' her chops for something mama had...

Can you guess what?

what's that thing in her mouth!?



it's a pickle!





baby girl loves to suck on pickles!

Ha! She's too funny. She isn't very interested in eating the pickle, but she surely loves to suck out all the juice! And, I know -- it looks like our Piper is bald in those photos. When she's submissive, her ears go flat back, and she looks like a little bald grandma. Hehe!

My mind's been all busy over here. I've (we've) decided to change our prospective (not-definite yet) daughter's middle name. I have an idea of what I want now, but I'm still unsure. Tonight, after Mark is done studying (for CDCs, for your military wives out there), we're going to search baby girl names. There are just so many.


I've also been trying to plan my best friend's bridal shower. I've been trying to come up with games -- any ideas? I'm pretty sure I have one good one. We never played any games at my showers, and I only know of baby shower games. Tips? Ideas?


And did I mention that I will for sure be back home in Kentucky from June 4-16th? For the bridal shower and Sprout's birth, of course! What -- you didn't think I could miss a nephew of mine being born, did you!? No way! Cannot wait to love on my little Sproutolicious!

15 days until our 3D/4D ultrasound. Cannot wait to see our little one again! Hopefully our baby will be awake, active, and completely photogenic. We are extremely excited about it since we will be getting a definite gender call! Yay!


And that's about it! :]

very first home tour!

A couple days ago, AllisonO @ OMyFamily did the cutest little home tour! She invited all her little blog friends to join in on the fun. And I'm always up for fun blogging!

So here we are on a fun blog carnival - where I completed my very first vlog [that's a video blog!]. Mark was a tad busy during the video. We just bought a brand new grill, and he's trying to figure out how to hook up the gas can thingy. So we plan on grilling hamburgers tonight.. That is, if everything's hooked up!


I would've added photos. But.. you've seen pictures of my house before. But now you get my Kentucky accent and live footage of our humble abode! The neat (kind of) news is that we found out we'll be moving around March 2011 and getting a brand new house. A house without bugs. And a house that has a counter in the bathroom. So so so excited!





So - after watching the video, do you think we should use the empty room as a nursery or the storage room? Apparently, our neighbors are noisy at night, and the empty room is right next to them. Which is our only reasoning for making the storage room into the nursery. But I really like the openness and large window in the empty room! Thoughts? Suggestions? Would you paint a nursery knowing that in just a few months, you'd be moving out? Tips and thoughts, please! :)


Oh, and happy news - in the time it took for me to write this blog, Mark finished the grill! So hamburgers it is! With lotsa pickles. No - not a craving - I always love pickles! Now join in on the fun and let's see your home tour!

Once upon a time, @MomNom, @jennandtonica, @emmie_bee,
@heirtoblair, and @ColeEmmett
were talking about home decor on Twitter. 
We thought it would be so great to be able to see each other's homes!
A *bunch* of other tweeps joined in, @Alena29 put together a terrific button,
and #twitterhometour (or #twitterhouseparty) was born! 
Feel free to join us -
add a link to your home tour post (pictures, video, or both!) below.

a list of things I want to do.

Don't laugh at me, but I've come up with a list of things that I want to do. And these things are totally not me. Yet. Thanks to my natural-living, somewhat crunchy friend, Brittany, I've got it in my head that I want to try a few things:

• Making my own detergent: I know, I sound like Michelle Duggar (YAY!), but this is totally doable! Brittany sent me this article, which gives the recipe, as well as step-by-step instructions on how to make it. They even go into detail about savings & compare it to Tide. It ends up working just as well and ends up saving loads (get it? loads? like laundry? HA!) of money. I'm excited!

• Growing tomatoes: I can so grow tomatoes on my back patio. My grandma does it. I envision myself with two pots: one with a red vine and one with a yellow vine. Now, I have no idea what exact breed of tomato I will get. Or brand of tomato? Or whateveryoucallit. But that's what my mom is for. I'll just call her up in a jiffy and get the down-low. I envision myself plucking big, plump, juicy tomatoes off the vine and scarfing them down with a lot of salt. Holy macaroni, does that sound good for what? Baby really thinks that sounds good too. We also love us some lycopene around these parts!

• Sewing. Or crocheting. Or something: I have like no ability to make anything. But I can always teach myself. Right? I could totally check out a library book (or YouTube it. Ahem.) and figure out how to work those little stick things. I mean, heck! I could make my own baby blankets. Quilt my offspring beautiful quilts. Knit booties to die for. I could so do that. I think. Maybe.

• Refining my cloth diapering ways-to-be: I've come to a fork in the road. Do I take the road of bumGenius? gDiapers? FuzziBunz? Or another road less traveled? Who the fudge knows. Everyone has an opinion on CDing, but which opinion is right?! Cloth diapers are a big investment (however, this investment saves over $2,000 rather than going with disposables), so I want to get the "perfect" cloth diaper. Any cloth diapering (experienced) mamas out there? Help me out. Please!

• Hunting for my own game and grounding my own meat: Doesn't that sound amazing? Just think how much money we would save if Mark went out and shot wild animals! Just kidding. I could never do that. But I had you for a second, didn't I? No? Oh.

I know. I sound like I'm turning into some kind of pioneer woman - with knitting and making my own household products. I think the baby is making me do it. Yep, pretty sure. I seriously yearn to be a crunchy mama. Except I'm all for vaccinations and circumcision. But, besides that, I'm pretty interested in the attachment parenting, all-natural ways.

Are there any other nifty natural-living tid bits that you're aware of? If so, do share! This summer, while working on my tan and preparing for our firstborn, I most certainly can pick up a few new hobbies. Right? Encourage me a smidge.

13 weeks! (well, pretty much 14..)

How far along? 13 weeks, 6 days

Total weight gain: 0 - dunno how this is possible, but I weigh myself daily!

Total inches gained: Don't know.

Maternity clothes? Nah, don't need them, but I do love maternity shorts. They are sooo comfortable.

Sleep: Ehh I toss & turn all night. Get up to pee once. The worst part is that I wake up, without fail, at 715am. Even if I stay up until 1am (a rare occurrence), I still wake up at 715am.

Best moment this week: Seeing my family & getting our convertible car seat!

Movement: Nope.. but I can't wait for it! Hopefully only a few more weeks!

Gender: Probably a girl, but it's not a definite thing yet!

Labor Signs: No way!

Belly Button in or out? Haha, definitely in.

What I miss: Not throwing up every day. Being able to eat whatever I want and actually having an appetite. Being able to sleep like a baby. Being able to take Ibuprofen for headaches.

Weekly Wisdom: I am really bad at weekly wisdom. Maybe to shop at consignment stores, because you can find lots of good deals? Oh, and of course scout CraigsList like it's your job.. there are sooo many great finds out there!

Milestones: one day away from my 2nd trimester! with a healthy, strong, loud heartbeat!

~~~~~~~

Morning sickness is still ever-present in the ugliest ways, but I'm hopeful that it will soon be a distant memory. At night, we listen to our baby's heartbeat in bed, and it's such a sweet time. I just scheduled our next ultrasound (literally) for May 4th -- I'll be 16 1/2 weeks, and it will be a 3D/4D ultrasound to confirm the gender! I'll also get a DVD, CD, and lots of printed photos. Can't wait! Just 2 1/2 weeks away! We will also do another 3D ultrasound around 30-33 weeks to see the cute, chubby little face!

~~~~~~~

I might as well give you the low-down on growth at 14 weeks.. since I'm one measly away from 14 weeks!

Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches —about the size of a lemon— and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells.


Oh, and here's one more photo to prove that I'm happy and feeling fine:

Really, really, REALLY looking forward to getting a maternity bathing suit and going across the street to lay out and swim every single day. I'm SO excited! I love laying out - especially with a good book. I'll just pack a big jug of water, get my sun glasses, a towel, and go to it! Oh, and of course swim my little heart out! Right now it's actually cool in Virginia [ick], but the warm weather is bound to get her sooner or later! Yes!

Friday & Saturday

There's nothing quite like logging on to blogger, clicking "New Post," and then having to run to the bathroom to puke. Isn't morning sickness supposed to get better? I thought the placenta was supposed to take over the hormone stuff! Trust me: It's getting worse by the day for me. Somehow.

At any rate, I'm combining Friday & Saturday into one post.

Friday, we traveled to Richmond to visit the children's museum! I love museums - they provide such fun hands-on learning experiences! This museum was for younger kids, so it took on a "play to learn" atmosphere. We saw a dinosaur dig, an air chute, a giant tree house, and so much more:

He says, "I was milkin all I could milk;
I was squirtin it real good."

There was lots of pretend play, which Clayton didn't really like. He thought it was for "babies," even though a good portion of the other children were older than him!

This is C "bored as a dog" in the 6th grade.

He climbed into an ambulance, painted a photo, and had lots of fun with water play. I don't know if he "learned" anything, per se, but play is learn - and he loved it! Afterward, we ventured to the Short Pump Town Center in Richmond. This is a neat "outdoors mall" - best way I can describe it. It's two stories, huge, and each store has a door leading to the outdoors. If that makes any sense. We rode a train around the mall and had fun shopping in stores that aren't found in KY! We ended up stuck in traffic (the story of our lives in Virginia) and didn't make it home until about 5pm. Then we all (including Mark!) went to Red Robin - where, you guessed it - I enjoyed a deeeeelicious guacamole bacon burger! Yummo!

~~~~~~

We woke up at 530am on Saturday to head to Washington DC. It's a 3-hour drive from my house, which isn't too bad. Luckily, we didn't run into any traffic. Now, let me just say: GPS's are basically obsolete in the city. They, like, barely work. Though we had an exact address to a specific parking garage, our GPS would not find it. (Brand new GPS, not a new parking garage). So it took us forever to find a spot to park.

But we finally did! We asked two "local-looking" girls how to get to the Natural History Museum, and we were shockingly close! So we headed there first, but not before running into a big parade. That was in our way. And prevented us from crossing the street (until the policeman let us).

We finally found it and waltzed in. I was feeling fine and dandy. We saw the prehistoric men, a gigantic squid, etc. C was anxious to see the dinosaur exhibit, because that's his favorite thing! So there we were - walking through the bones section, and a huge wave of nausea hit. Like, bad. I had to get out of there fast! I practically yanked Mark's arm and told him I was serious. I tried to sit down in the closest cafe area, but they were cooking something HORRENDOUS (broccoli, garlic soup? I don't know, but it smelled GROSS and made me gag). So that was a no-go. I quickly found a vacant bench and sat myself down and fanned myself. At this point, I was fairly certain that I would throw up right there in the dinosaur exhibit.

But I didn't.

I somehow escaped alive! After C picked out "Tiger Wiger" (sabertooth tiger) from the museum store for excellent behavior all week, we headed out the door and walked toward the Washington Monument. My memory is a little fuzzy here, but we somehow managed to find ourselves at a TourMobile location! This is a little bus that drives you around to all major monuments, and you get off & on whenever you want. For a fee, of course :) This little bus saved our lives!

We saw nearly everything, but we did skip the FDR, Vietnam, WWII, and Korean monuments. Clayton's favorite was "TJ" (Thomas Jefferson). My family really enjoyed the Arlington National Cemetery & the changing of the guards. In high school, my marching band was chosen to represent Kentucky by marching in the dedication of the WWII monument. So... I'd seen a lot of these monuments before. I also liked Thomas Jefferson the most! :)

We snacked on pretzels and coke and walked ourselves to death! I was exhausted by the end of the trip. It probably isn't a great idea to go to Washington DC at 13 weeks pregnant. I was just asking for it! :) But it was so much fun!

At last, we walked past the Capitol building and then headed to our car. After endlessly searching for a restaurant that wasn't packed out the door, we found a trusty Chipotle and enjoyed burritos and guacamole. As usual. On the way home, we made our 3 hours very educational by turning our iPhone into a text book!

We used Wikipedia (our trusty resource!) to learn all about our founding fathers. Yes, George Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson proved to be very interesting - and we learned so many new facts (and put many myths to rest!). C went back to preschool on Monday and told his class that Washington actually had hippo teeth -- I'm so proud! Who knew that his wooden teeth were actually a myth?


Friday & Saturday were so fun! Exhausting, but fun! It has been one of Mark's biggest dreams to tour all of DC, so he finally got his wish. C was eager to meet Obama (I'm so proud that he knows our president by name!), but we didn't spot him, sadly!

We came home at 930pm to find a spotless house. Piper held her bladder/bowels for 15 consecutive hours, and we couldn't be more proud! She's such a champ! She just sat around and watched the Masters all day! Ha!! More photos are on my Facebook page, if you happen to be my friend! :)


And, for the record, I am feeling much better than when I began this post. Yes!

Thursday

On Thursday, we took a drive to Virginia Beach to visit the aquarium. I'd never really been to an aquarium like this, that I can remember, so it was a neat (new) experience! The highlight of the trip was definitely the 3D Imax educational video we saw! I love 3D videos - so fun! Not sure if Clayton had ever seen a 3D video like this before.


The 3D-ness was amazing and it was *really* like the fish were coming right towards you. At one point, they showed two water snakes, and it was as if they were swimming right to your head. We all watched Clayton try to "touch" the sea creatures and hold his hand out to the screen. He kept trying to grab the fish - it was hilarious! He had no idea that we were watching him. Hehe.. so funny to watch!

This past week was spring break in Virginia, so the aquarium was packed. We waited in line forever to "pet" the animals (starfish, horseshoe crab, hermit crab, etc). C assured us that he would definitely pet them.

Well, we finally made our way up to the petting station, and he took one look at the horseshoe crab:


His face says it all. He wasn't going anywhere near that thing! :)

Afterward, we saw all sorts of fish - all so beautiful! We walked past sea turtles, alligators, sting rays, sharks, and so much more.





I really should have blogged each night, because I'm having trouble remembering all that happened. Terrible, I know. After visiting the aquarium, we headed home and walked around the outdoor mall area in my city. We were on the hunt for a Sophie the Giraffe teether for my newest nephew, Sprout. Sadly, we did not find one.

I will say, though, that Clayton really grew to love Piper. He begged me to let Piper sleep with him, but I thought that might cause problems. His behavior was always so good because he was just so happy and excited to be here :)



Tomorrow I will blog about our trip to the Richmond Children's Museum!

Wednesday

I haven't blogged in forever. I'm really sorry, but I've been so tired. My family wears.me.out. big time! We did so much these past few days, so I will break each blog post into each day.

We picked my family up on Wednesday afternoon:



C was so excited to see me! Each time I see him for the first time, he acts like he's too big and grown up. But after 10 minutes, he's always back to his little self! We were starving, so we headed to our favorite place: Chipotle!



We had the "best tacos ever" and then headed to the Virginia Aquarium. We arrived an hour and a half before they closed, so the lady advised us to just come back tomorrow, since we wouldn't have been able to see everything.

So we left. And then our plans were all out of whack, so we decided to go to a mall in Virginia Beach. We romped around and went to a pet store, and Clayton was so excited to be with "Shannie" :)

Truthfully, I'm not sure what we did after that.


But we've had so much fun over the past few days! I can't wait to tell you all about it!

C really has grown up so much since I last saw him. Now, you can tell him a word to write, and he will write & spell it correctly. It's kind of remarkable. You can even say a random word like "zip," and he spells it! He just seems to know so much. I frequently ask him, "How do you know so much?" He answers, "I just do." Ha.

I love him and miss him already. Thursday, we went to the aquarium! Friday, we went to the VA Children's museum and a big mall, and Saturday we went to Washington D.C. This week was chuck-full of activities, and we were always on the go!

Just remembering it makes me yawn.

:)

Excited to share our memories with you! Tune in tomorrow!