Glad to see "mom jeans" are going to be in this year...

Seriously. This was in my bloglovin' email this morning.

For real? I mean, sure, if I didn't look like an actual MOM. :D

Just popping in...

There seriously needs to be an easier way to blog. I literally have no time right now to do it. Whit has given up his lazy morning routine, his long leisurely naps and any spare time I get right now is spent satisfying my nesting instinct or sleeping myself.

Baby Girl is doing fine at 32 weeks, still no name though. The nursery/guest bedroom is making progress, just our house is a mess. We're definitely in that "it has to get worse before it gets better" phase. I feel sooooo much better than I did with my first pregnancy at this point! Barely any swelling or too much discomfort. Just still the nausea and new stretch marks. :(

Whit is also doing great. He just turned 3 last week and his party (I hear) was quite the success. Not that I would know, I was too busy keeping the kiddos fed, catching up with other moms and trying to keep myself out of the foam pit and trampolines. Potty training was going great until this week. But we have 3 weeks to go before preschool starts, so fingers crossed we make it before then!

Okay, I have to go attempt a mini-workout and put on a bra before the cable guy's window is here. Of course, I'm being nutty, they never show until 5 minutes before their window closes. Then there's packing for the pool, swimming, laundry, washing dishes, organizing something to scratch that nesting itch, maybe a nap?, cook supper, convincing Whit that using the potty is a good idea and doesn't take THAT much time away from playing... Wish me luck.

LOLz

I'm dying at what a terrible blogger I am! At least my real reason for this blog is to help me remember moments with Whit that otherwise I would forget. And that will come in handy since I just bought some fancy-dancy new baby books. Yes, I bought a baby book for my two and half year old. I wasn't a huge fan of the one I bought before he was born and I needed another for Baby Girl, so why not get two new (NICE!) sort of matching ones. If you want a fancy modern baby book for yourself, here's where I bought them. I got a Cosmic Love for Whit and a Little Miss for Baby Girl, since we're only 20 weeks in I have no theme, no name, nothing for her yet.

I just looked back at my last post about the resolutions and this may be one of my worst years for this sort of thing. Partially because we're expecting and the morning sickness was damn near debilitating again. I started the meetup group and it failed spectacularly. I haven't been structured with my volunteer work, but I've been helping out almost every time I can. I'm reading the Bible thanks to an app, and just now starting to read more books thanks to my mom's group. (But I've only read 1.5 books so far :-/ ) The debt is paid off for now and we had an emergency fund built up, until the emergencies started piling up. The clothing making is on hold until I'm back to a normalish size. And the savings project is on track, so we'll see!

What's happened in the past five months...hmmm... We're expecting Baby #2 and everyone is excited, even more so that it's a girl. Whitman went to preschool for the first time and it was a little rocky at first, but I think he enjoyed it. Yesterday was his last day and his teacher told me how much she'd miss him since he's the only one who talks. We have made a ton of strong friendships with other mommies through the mom's group I joined last year and I'm so happy! We visited my in-laws at their new home in Orange Beach for the first time last weekend, and I will have to share those pictures! Wow, so not a lot has happened. Time just flies these days! :)

Resolution Time!

I love making New Years resolutions. I know that's becoming less popular, but I'm a goal-oriented type and love to-do lists. Plus I love buying organizational things, so New Years is like a special holiday just for us type-A personalities! Yippee! 

Here's my list for 2015:

And I already did a little ground work for some of these. I downloaded the Bible app and I'm two days in to the plan for reading it in a year. That one is definitely going to take some discipline! I've done a little research on my meetup group I want to start since I'm unsure about the logistics. I already put into a savings account the first four weeks of the savings plan and we have a little in the emergency fund already.

And part of my plan to get us out of this stupid debt is to stop being so wasteful with our money. So this morning I unsubscribed from nearly all of the retail emails I get. I mean look at this junk!

Hopefully that will help free up some money and some time. It took me about 15 minutes to go through it all. Barf! 

The last things to tackle is organizing/purging/finishing projects around the house and healthy changes. But those aren't resolutions since they're constant battles and already a way of life for us. Just need to get better at the healthy changes and be more consistent. So what are your resolutions or do you even worry about it anymore?

Around Town (sort of): Sci-Quest

Whit and I visited our friends Amanda and Pierce earlier this month in my sort-of hometown of Huntsville, Alabama and caught up before the holiday craziness. We could have a great time just talking for hours, but decided to get the boys out of the house for a bit. And we chose one of my old employers as the place to go: Sci-Quest. I was a tour guide for Sci-Quest for a couple of years after high school and it was such a fun job! I used to do shows for kids about boogers, set stuff on fire, played with liquid nitrogen... it was great work for someone who will always think of herself as a kid. So I loved the idea of talking to Whit about the exhibits like I used to do for older kids and seeing his reaction.

The boys checking out the tornado simulator. Bonus points if you find Ghost Ashley.

There wasn't a ton for kids their age, but there was a lot more than there used to be! That whole room in the background was blocked off for the younger ones with a lot of toys. And of course there's always the river table which is addictive to kids and adults. I could have stayed there a LOT longer.

Yeah, those boogers I was telling you about? Sci-Quest has a whole section of exhibits about Grossology, and we used to do shows based on it. It's based on a book about science of our bodies and can be really interesting... just not for people with weak stomachs!

And the earthquake simulator was a HUGE hit! 

So I have to honest it was a bit strange coming back to Sci-Quest as a visitor. Like visiting your old teachers from high school when you're in college. And to add to the strangeness, it's not in the same location as it used to be. And the new location is so sad compared to what it used to be. I just don't know what happened. I had heard a lot of people I worked with left, including the executive director, so maybe that has something to do with the sad state of affairs. (Although I think my ex-boyfriend still works there. Yikes!) 

Aaand, to pile on here as I was googling Sci-Quest to see if there was a good stock photo of the outside I could borrow I saw that they filed for bankruptcy this week. It sounds like they won't be closing their doors, just rearranging things. I really hope they can turn the place around. I know we did a lot of good twelve years ago and would hate for that to end. 

October/Halloween Photo Explosiganza

Since I'm a terrible blogger and have way too much time between posts I have a bagillion pictures of people who visited, places we went and crafts we half-did. So here's the evidence:

My youngest sister, Jolie, helping build a giant tower at the Barnes & Nibbly. Whit told her "Good job, Aunt Jo!"

Whit NOT HAVING any part of pumpkin gutting/carving. He kept saying it was gross!

My finished pumpkin, thankyouverymuch. :)

Cajun pumpkin seeds!!

There was much play-dohing, now that someone's done trying to eat it. 

Another "I'm not really a Pinterest mom" moment. I had imagined making Whit a BamBam costume for Halloween, or maybe even Charlie Bucket (of Willy Wonka fame). Buuuuut, I saw this on sale at Target and said eff it. But he loved it and so did everyone who saw him in it. He spent most of the month (and still) grrrring and growling at people. 

Mama's way too easy costume: Rosie the Riveter. Lots of denim, red lipstick, pinup hair, bandana, and a "we got this" attitude.

Headed to the Ghouls at Grassmere event at Nashville's Zoo.

 I may or may not have jumped into those bubbles...

Even the faux animals were dressed up

The zoo looked AWESOME! Not that you can tell from the pics because, you know, it was dark. They have the whole zoo decorated with Halloween stuff and lights. And along the path, they give out candy and toys to the kids. In the other half of the zoo there's a haunted hayride, games, food, and a kiddie dance floor....where they played "What Does the Fox Say". I died.

The play I was in ran and was great! One of the best shows I've been in and we sold out a few nights! Everyone got along, there was no drama, no serious glitches aside from a minor shoe fiasco, and I made a couple of new friends. For instance my friend Jeremy, who would kill me if he ever looked at this blog! :D I also learned a lot about myself and where I am in my life right now. I need to remember to write about it so I can remind myself from time to time! 

Then we finished up our last Music Class for a while. If you live near one, you should totally check it out. We loved both sessions we enrolled in. But we're taking a break for the holidays, plus I have too much on my plate right now and I'm having to practice saying "no". This is from our last class which was bittersweet. Whit finally got very comfortable with mimicking patterns in front of the class, and it was our teacher's, Temple, last day. She is off to London to share the Music Class there!

We did a lot of Halloween-y crafts. We made a wreath for Whit's room, ghosts, mummies, pumpkins, spider webs, cookies, all sorts of stuff!

Did I take pictures of the finished project? Well, of course not! There's one of the wreath somewhere, but I'm having trouble finding it... Anyhoo, everything gave Mom some quiet time and Whit some practice.

And then there was Halloween. Which we didn't do much on the actual day since it was insanely cold. All October had been fairly warm, until Halloween. It was near freezing and really windy. So we trick or treated/visited a local nursing home (which you should totally consider, the residents LOVE seeing the youngins. So you're doing some good and getting some candy. ;-) and Publix (which had candy and games, and a kick ass pumpkin carving contest). Then we went to a couple of houses nearby and went home to give out candy. Mostly it was teenagers, which I have no problem giving candy to! I wish I could still trick or treat! In fact, I'm thinking of having something to give out to the adults next year, too.

So there you go! Phew! It has been really busy around here and I should have a post about why. If Whit keeps up his sleeping in habit, I can.

<3

Around Town: Amuse'um

So let me start off by saying, the quality of pictures on this blog are going way way down. Trying to keep up with a two year old has me almost only using my phone. And he moves so fast most of my pictures are of his back, top of his head or blurry. C'est la vie!

I've heard about Amuse'um from Facebook and the women in my mom's group for about a year now, but we've never made it there until last month. We met our friends Amye and Ben there to check it out since the weather had been so miserable that week. And it is... interesting.

It's a fairly small kid's museum as far as those go, but huge considering the area. It's in an old store front in downtown Columbia, which is a 20 minute drive for us. The location was gorgeous with all the leaves changing and I love a good downtown square. You go in, pay your admission (or it's free on Mondays) and just let your kids go. It's one big open room with little areas for different kinds of play. There's a grocery store, a tree house (which thanks to a really steep staircase, was terrifying), a firehouse, a hospital and a vet office (to name a few). Whit LOVED the vet office.

He would give the puppies a bath, brush them, and gave them LOTS of shots. Then he would put the puppies in these little carriers, and give them treats and walk them around the place.

He also really liked the hospital nursery area.

You could bathe, weigh, clothe and swaddle the babies. And even fill out their birth certificate.

And it's hilarious they point out this isn't a real one!

There were also a few things the kids could ride on. Thankfully the camaro isn't one of them! I loved Ben's ingenuity and using a waffle as a steering wheel. Necessity is the mother of invention!

There were also a lot of costume pieces to try on. And a lot of Amuse'um had exhibits geared towards older kids, so the place can keep up with your child. I think we'll be back again once it starts getting too cold to be outside. Which is getting closer and closer :-( We have snow forecasted for next week!

Oh and I just have to share this in case it changes after this weekend's game: my favorite college football team is ranked #1!!! AHHHHHH! Go Dawgs! Unfortunately we play Alabama, who is my husband's favorite team. Which means we can't be in the same house and watch the game. One of us will need time to mourn afterwards!