Just Keep Swimming

In the beginning of the summer, which weather wise for you non-Floridians is late April/early May, Aubs wanted nothing to do with the water. We were kind of shocked by this because last year she had loved it. I guess the 6 month gap where we didn't take her in at all really screwed up her confidence.

The ocean was her first big "back in the water" milestone. As soon as saw her friend of equal stature Kingston go in, she was all for it too. You can tell by my post last week that there is no keeping her out of the water once we are at the beach. We were actually there today and I can barely move now because I was jumping waves holding her in the water. Not a smart move when you're 8 months pregnant. Now I know what to do and where to go if I want to make myself go into labor a couple of weeks early.

The pool was a different story. She was not having it at all. We pretty much had to drag her in screaming and then when we finally got her in her would cling to us like there was no tomorrow. By clinging I mean actual marks around our necks from her gripping on so hard. We were pretty unsuccessful about getting her to go in until last weekend. Out of nowhere she started letting go and trying to swim on her own, well with floaties but you know what I mean. She also decided that it would be fun to jump off the high part of the patio by the hot tub into the pool. Needless to say we have been in the pool almost everyday since last Friday.

Alphabet Sensory Tub

Aubrey is an absolute ace with her alphabet. She can sing her ABCs and identify every letter. She knows the sounds that most of the letters make and she is now starting to associate letter sounds with words. Last week when my husband came out of our bedroom in the morning Aubs shouted, "D for Daddy" out of nowhere. We do a number of activities that involve the alphabet but one of the most fun is our alphabet sensory tub.

I was cleaning out my cabinets a few months ago and found that nearly a whole container of Quaker oats had expired. I felt bad just dumping them out and then remembered seeing oats used in a sensory table on a blog somewhere. I had been meaning to put some sensory activities together for Aubrey so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. We don't have a sensory table so I dug out a huge Tupperware that I use for Christmas cookies and pretty much Christmas cookies alone because the Tupperware is that big. I put in the oats and felt like it wasn't full enough so I used another container of unexpired oats to bring it up to a level I was happy with. Why do I have two large containers of oats? Beats me, I was probably food shopping and thought that oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (my favorite) sounded good. I then decided to up the ante and add magnetic letters to the mix.





Aubs loves playing with this. Here are some of the activities we do using this sensory tub:

~ Have child find letters and tell you what letters they are
~ Talk about the sounds each letter makes
~ Name words that begin with each letter pulled
~ Name the colors of each letter
~ Group letters according to color or have them find all the letters that are a specific color
~ Help them spell out small words or their name by finding each letter one by one
~ Find letters in the order of the alphabet
~ Just have fun with some plastic cups and sand shovels digging around in the sensory box.

Fit for a King

On Saturday we went to Kingston's second birthday party. Kingston just happens to be one of Aubs' best buddies. It was held at Chuck E Cheese and everyone had a blast. Well almost everyone- Aubs was good to go until Chuck E.Cheese himself made an appearance. Girlfriend was terrified.


The photographic evidence of Aubs terror. As soon as Aubrey spotted the oversized mouse she bee lined for Kristen (Kingston's Mama) and held on to Kingston for dear life. I made sure to snap a few pictures before I grabbed her and I am so glad I did. I mean seriously is this not the best picture ever?

More Birthday Fun


Watching Daddy shoot hoops


Racing with Raiden




Aubs tends to usually be the only girl around. So far she hasn't seemed to mind. One of the cuties in this picture also has a Mama who blogs. You should pay her a visit over at The Spoon Mama.




Birthday boy blowing out his candles


Linking up with The Paper Mama & Jenni from the Blog

32 Weeks and a Giveaway!

Did you notice the cute sticker on my belly? Well I'm actually kind of misusing it but I figured since I am 8 months, why not? The sticker is actually from a set of 13 fun stickers that are made to stick onto a onesie to record your babies first year of life month by month in photos. This genius idea is from a company called Picky Sticky.

I love this idea because you can stick it on any shirt or onesie that you already have. Babies seem to hover in one size or completely skip over another and with Picky Sticky stickers you don't have to guess what size to order or make each month in. You can just wait until your ready to take the picture and grab something out of your current stash of clothes to take your little one's photograph in. It is so easy and I can't wait until my new little girl is here to use them. Are you expecting or do you know someone who is expecting? If so, you can win a set of Picky Stickys at the bottom of this post.

Okay so let's talk about me for a minute. I am 8 months along now, yikes! I have lots to do and not a lot of time to do it. I think we have settled on a color for the nursery so we will try to have that painted by the end of the week. When that is done I can pull out all the baby clothes and wash them. The seasons with the girl's sizes will be a little off because Aubrey was born in March and Baby No Name will be born in September. Thankfully because we live in Florida we never really have a super cold season so I can use our warm weather clothes pretty much year round by adding a sweater or leggings/legwarmers. Once we have the baby's room done I will feel more prepared. Not that she will even sleep in her room until she is pretty much sleeping through the night but I don't want to have to worry about it once she is here.

Physically I am doing pretty good- just tired but aren't you suppose to be when you're eight months pregnant? The baby has also dropped down a lot too. On the fourth she was up really high. You could easily feel her butt on one side and her head on the other right below my boobs. The next morning I woke up and wondered where she went. My belly suddenly looked so low. Thankfully we had an ultrasound late that day so I got to actually see where she had gone. Her head is now down by my left hip instead of right under my left boob. The ultrasound went okay but because she was so low, how late I am in my pregnancy and my anterior placenta, we weren't able to get as good as pictures as I had hoped for. Oh well. Also speaking of anterior placentas- is there anyone out there that has had one and still successfully had a vaginal delivery. I'm getting kind of nervous about this. I'd like to avoid a c-section if at all possible.

A couple of baby pics





a Rafflecopter giveaway

When You're Two....

A walk on the beach almost always turns into a dip in the ocean

bathing suit or not



















I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. Sorry I have been a little MIA. I have had family in town and the 4th of July right smack in the middle of the week completely threw me off.

31 Weeks

Yes, I know I'm huge. If I somehow wasn't aware of this I would be because a teacher at Aubrey's school likes to act like I'm the biggest pregnant woman she has ever seen every time I drop Aubs off. The first time I didn't mind but after the fifth I started to get a little annoyed. Not only do I look big but I am really starting to feel it. I've been having a lot of sciatic nerve pain which I had when I was pregnant with Aubrey too but this time it is much worse and more consistent. I think it's because I am getting up and down from sitting on the floor to standing a lot more often this time. Actually I can't think of any reason why I would have sat on the floor last time at all. Now a days I'm lucky if I can go an hour without sitting on the floor.

Sleep has also been pretty bad. I have a hard time falling asleep. We usually go to bed around 10:30 or 11:00 and I'm lucky if I can fall asleep by midnight. Then I'm up about every two hours to pee or adjust my position. I think my brain is somehow trying to prepare me for those sleepless newborn days. I'm okay waking up in the morning it is just around 3 in the afternoon or so that I start to lose all of my steam.

Okay enough complaining- do you want to hear something positive? We are going for a 4D ultrasound on Thursday! I love those things. Yes, they are a little bit freaky but I also think that they are pretty amazing too. We are bringing Aubrey with us which should be interesting. The place is pretty laid back so I think she will be fine. Maybe this will help her connect the dots a little bit too. Now when we ask her where her baby sister is, she lifts up my shirt or taps my belly which I think is pretty cute. I know she won't really totally get it until we bring the baby home and then the baby never leaves but you know, whatever helps.


Check all the other bumps and babies over at Growing Up Geeky.

Skinned Knees

Since Aubs began to walk her knees have been skinned more often than not. She was a late walker, 14 months, but she never toddled. She went from a faster than lightening crawl to a full speed run. Her tremendous speed was also accountable to her never ending blooded up knees. Thankfully it's been a few months since she had her last big fall. She still makes me nervous when she is all amped up though. You know the run I'm talking about, where their lower body doesn't seem like it can quite keep up with their upper body? I know it all too well. Being that we still have these moments, I was eager to try Knee Bees. Not only are they cute but they protect those precious chubby little knees.







She didn't take any spills while wearing them but they looked pretty darn adorable. They are also nice and soft and stretchy. Later in the day when we were hanging around the house she kept wanting us to put her Knee Bees back on.

They are also going to be great to have around when my next little one starts crawling.




Apparently Aubs was in the modeling mood that morning.



Knee Bees provided me with their product to review but all opinions stated in this post are my own.