Rebekah the Cheese

Sensing a theme here?

Oh Baby

Ya know, I thought I remembered how things were for me when I was pregnant with Rebekah, but let me tell you, my mind conveniently forgot some things. You see, I remembered that Rebekah would kick me all of the time in the ribs, and that it would get to the point of giving me charlie horses or muscle cramps in that rib area, but I forgot how it actually felt. This baby has been kicking me in that same spot for the past few weeks and all I can think is: really? Already? I'll have to deal with these feet in my ribs for over two months? This baby is very very active and strong. He (or she, but you know what I think) hurts me sometimes while stretching or moving about. I forgot about that too. I remembered that I had to go to the bathroom often, but now that it's hitting four times per night I am realizing that I also forgot how annoying and tiring it was. I am so excited to meet this little one, I just wish it were already mid May so that the baby was here. I really am getting anxious and excited for these last 7 weeks to be done. I find myself trying to make up excuses to do things for the baby already, like reorganizing Rebekah's closet and dresser to make room, buying wipes and Newborn diapers, cleaning the house like crazy, de-cluttering and selling anything I don't think we need, etc. I know full well that I still have plenty of time to get things ready, I guess I just want to feel like I'm doing something to connect me with the baby in some way. I think another reason for this is that since I can't set up a boy or girl nursery or buy specific things now, I'm trying to do whatever else I can. I'm trying to hold off for about four more weeks before I make Nelson head up to the attic and start bringing things down for the baby, washing the clothes, and setting up the crib (we actually don't know exactly which room to set up shop in for the baby yet, so perhaps I should spend my time figuring that one out.) Man oh man, waiting in these last two months is not going to be easy. I've never really thought of myself as a particularly patient person, after all.

Six months and a bit. I am a lot bigger now.

Spring has Sprung!

The weather has been so nice the past few weeks (aside from the rain this week.) I love this time of year here. In my opinion the best time of year in H* is during March and April and I finally had family here to enjoy it. My gorgeous sister Molly came at the beginning of March and then my brother Jonathan and his family came for a week and a half during the middle of the month. They worked their travel schedule so that they would be here to see the rodeo. We had it all planned out and on the day that everyone was going I once again got a stomach flu. (I never get sick, so what's up with 3 stomach flu's in 1 pregnancy?!) They all had a blast, so I was very glad of that. I have one brother who lives here and his kids had never been to the rodeo and they really loved it, too, so that was neat for them to be able to experience something new as well.


Molly and Rebekah

So after my family all left, Rebekah and I headed back home (we were staying at my brother's house with everyone else.) It was sort of strange to go back to a quiet little house after being surrounded by so many kids day in and day out for a week and a half. Thankfully I had a lot of paperwork and book keeping to do so I wasn't just sitting idly around, missing everyone. I think Rebekah even missed the quiet and calmness of our regular lives because she had started to tell me that she wanted to go home. That has to mean something when a two year old would rather be at her own rather boring house than at a house with 8 cousins, a pool, trampoline, playground, tractors, a game room, etc.
So back to the nice weather we've been having. Last weekend Nelson was mowing the lawn (one of my favorite chores, but I'm too pregnant to do it right now) so Rebekah and I decided to help out by doing some weeding (seven months pregnant, and on my hands and knees weeding. Perhaps not the wisest decision for my back, but I survived.)
Here are some pictures of "Princess Rebekah" weeding with her Hello Kitty gardening tools and new gardening gloves.

Do you think that perhaps this little princess obsessed child may also have a thing for pink???

Rebekah the big girl

Rebekah has made a few transitions in the past few weeks. Two weeks ago she officially started wearing underwear and then this past weekend she got a big bed. She had been in a toddler bed since last August but I decided that the sooner we switched to a twin the better so that she wouldn't associate her mattress with the baby's crib. None of that - "the baby took my bed", please. I was also dead set on having her be potty trained well before the baby was born. I know that she may still regress, but seriously there is no way that I will willingly have two kids in diapers. When we got back from our Christmas trip at the beginning of January I immediately started the potty training. At first Rebekah was reluctant to use her potty, but slowly the sticker chart and treats started to work their magic. After a few weeks she started going more often, then everyday, then more than once a day. I decided one morning that it was underwear time and she's done excellent ever since. She even decided that she didn't want a diaper for nap time and so far so good. It's been very easy, actually. I can tell that she really understood the concept of underwear and using the potty and she gets really excited to get up on the big potty all by herself now. Good job Beks!

Rebekah and the Rodeo

I just wanted to share something cute from Rebekah this morning.
We were planning to go to the Rodeo this morning and last night Rebekah knew that she had to go straight to sleep or she wouldn't be able to go (we've been having a few sleep issues since she got her new bed. She just gets too excited in it to sleep.) So this morning, instead of coming to our room when she woke up, like she usually does, she immediately starts yelling "Can we go to the rodeo, momma? Can we go to the Rodeo, momma?" I promise you this continued for five minutes. She would not respond to my calls for her to come to our room, she just kept on yelling about the Rodeo. Let me tell you she was so excited, she could hardly wait for me to get ready this morning. Nelson even commented on how excited she was. She even offered to get dressed, as opposed to getting upset that she had to change out of her pajamas like every other morning. (Rebekah loves her pajamas and would only wear them if I'd let her.) She is so cute and funny!
At the rodeo she was thrilled to see all of the animal, especially the brand new piglets. I had to drag her away from those little guys. She also really enjoyed the cows and the pig races. After we saw all of the animals she went on a few rides, which she also enjoyed. In fact, she had so much fun that she fell asleep on the walk back to the car. What a day!

                                                       Petting the animals at the petting zoo.

                                                   Checking out the cows and livestock.

                                             

                                                          Goin' country, ridin' a tractor