Happy Halloween!

We carved our pumpkins this weekend.  Here's a sneak peek of what our front step will look like tonight, while we're out trick-or-treating!  We have a full day of celebrations, starting with dressing up for school this morning!

Matching in their undershirts :)

So happy her daddy is taking care of the pumpkin "guts"

Getting creative with the drill...Sally's pumpkin says her name

The Craigmile Pumpkins

If you look closely you can see Reid and Sally smiling

a bright flash :) Thanks Nana and Grandpa for the Halloween jammies...they even glow in the dark!

Hard to get a good picture without too much of a flash...

Happy Trick-or-Treating!

Blown Over

Being silly the other night before bed {for some reason at dinner Sally thought it was so funny to call her fork, forkie.  That's why we keep saying it}:

Happy Weekend!! Can you believe next week is already November?!

Check out Katherine's Birth Story Here!!

Bonus Baby

I remember thinking how easy my sister had it when she was anticipating her second child and we were preparing for our first.  She had everything, all of the essentials, just had to dig a few things out of storage.  All the while, Reid and I were busy registering, painting the nursery, rearranging rooms, getting rid of clutter.  Spending lots of money on the essentials: crib, mattress, car seat, stroller, breast pump...granted we were blessed to receive very generous gifts at our Baby Showers, but we still had to fork over a lot of dough for baby number one.

It's nice the second time around.  You know what to expect.  There's still the excitement of a new baby, but not nearly as much unknown.  I'm sure we will be in for a lot of unexpected surprises.  The biggest being the baby's gender, but overall, it's a bonus baby.  We don't have to worry about the decision of going back to work and finding day care, instead we can worry about how the Big Sister is going to adjust.

We've been having a lot of fun daydreaming about baby #2.  It's also been fun looking back at old videos of Sally to try and remember just how little she was and how very far she's come!

Is this really possible??

Sally's jammie size now, compared to a 0-3 month onesie.  Did she really fit into that at one point?! Where has the time gone?!

 We've gotten a few fun "toys" to get ready for this baby.  The biggest one showing up at our door last week:

I took my sister's advice and ordered this stroller.  It's been so fun to play around with.  We got to test it out the other day.  I'm in love...

We received an early baby gift this morning.  I'm excited to try this on Reid tonight {it wouldn't fit just right on me quite yet, you know, with the bulging belly}:

Sally got one too, although, she was more excited about the princess bag that it came in!

So, all in all this baby #2 is a bonus baby, and we cannot wait to meet him or her!  As Sally says: "Mommy, I think it's time for baby to come out now so I can hold her." {she insists it is a girl} At least 4 more weeks before that happens please, we have some lungs that need some developing!

Play Dates

We love our morning play dates with our friends!

Eating lunch at Jack and Finn's House

Snack time and a break from sharing...Elmo

Will You Accept This Rose?

Sally and I hosted a girls night last week to celebrate Carrie and Tyler's engagement.  Little did we know, Carrie had surprises for all of us.  She had individual roses for her bridesmaids and flower girl {can you guess who that will be?} with a note attached asking to be in her wedding.  What a neat and thoughtful way to do it.  We happily accepted the offer!

Sometime between August-October next year we will be celebrating another wonderful marriage! We're so incredibly happy for the two of you and so honored you asked Sally and I to be a part of your special day!  Happy planning!

It's a Girl!!

Katherine Elizabeth Nash made her appearance early Sunday morning at 2:34am. We’re so glad she’s here. Can I also say how much fun it is to have the added surprise of not knowing the gender?! It just makes it that much more exciting!

It was a close call for her delivery. I knew I was “on call” this weekend if Baby Nash decided to come. I had my phone on me at all times with the volume turned all the way up. I received a text at 12:45am saying “text me when you get this. We may need you tonight.” I responded immediately “I’m ready whenever you are, just let me know.” Since I was already up I went to the bathroom (loving having our bedroom downstairs and being next to the bathroom during this pregnancy!). When I got back to my room the green light was flashing on my phone for another text. “Come Now!”

I was at the Nash house by 1:30am, and they were out the door not a minute later. Little lady was born at 2:34am!! I’m sure my sister will post Katherine’s Birth Story on her blog, so I’ll be sure to link to that when she does.

It was so great to meet her and enjoy the joys of a few hours old baby. Love her chubby cheeks! It will be fun to have Sally “practice” before it’s her turn to be a big sister. She’s very excited and will tell you all about her new cousin if you ask her! Can’t wait to snuggle her again soon!

He's getting excited to be a Daddy again

Singing twinkle twinkle

There's nothing like the snuggle of a newborn!

Chubbers with a grin!

Motherhood.

It might look the same on the outside from day to day. Month to month. Year to year.

But, there are unique and priceless treasures waiting to be discovered in the everyday...

When you pause, slow down, and look inside -Shortstop

Sister Sally

We've decided Sally's going to grow up to be a Nun.  She loves anything that has to do with Jesus.  She's recently found a new love for Mary.  Waaaaaaay back when I received my First Communion, my grandma gave me a statue of Mary.  This same statue sits on a shelf in Sally's room.  Sally talks to her, pets her, holds her hand, gives her kisses...

Now that Sally's upstairs she doesn't have a changing table for her two diapers a day, nap and bed.  She's extra squirmy.  Mom is going on umpteen weeks pregnant and losing patience with her squirmy toddler.  I decided to have Mary lay next to Sally.  Sally laid perfectly still,  you would have thought she was dead. 

Cut to my phone ringing downstairs. I had to run and get it, see, I'm "on call." My sister could be going into labor any minute {Can't wait to be an Auntie for a 4th time!}. Nope, not Jenny, dumb telemarketer...

Head back upstairs to hear a clank, "Ooooh no Mommy." 

Sally was trying to snuggle with Mary and bring her to her pillow and she accidentally hit her head on the wall and it broke off. She was devastated! Surprisingly, she didn't cry.  Mommy almost did, remember umpteen weeks pregnant, hormonal...

Long story short, Mommy fixed Mary, it was a perfect break, nothing a little super glue couldn't fix.  Since this incident Sally has been even more attached with Mary.  She has to make sure every day that she's OK.  There's still a little crack to remind her and the poor girl feels terrible.  There is also a small paint chip on the wall that Sally points out every day.

I discovered the other day that Sally knows the entire Hail Mary prayer.  Word for word.  She does it best in the dark when we're lying in bed saying our prayers.  It's the loudest and most clear, as well as her songs and her other prayers.  Whenever I record she knows she's "on stage" and gets a little shy.  Here's a little bit of her loving on Mary.

Sophia & Jasper

We know we're pretty lucky that our awesome babysitter lives across the street from us.  No having to pick her up or drop her off, just simply watch her cross the street.  Another benefit of this fine family living near us is that they have a total of 3 girls.  The youngest being in 2nd grade.  As they continue to outgrow their clothes and toys, they pass on these treasures to us.  The other day, they shared two horses with Sally.  They're pretty cool.  I think they are part of the American Girl Collection.

Needless to say, Sally was a little head over heels with these horses.  Here are a few pictures when she first "met them"

Extra Gentle Kisses

She thinks it's so great that these are her very own

I love that she was able to tell me that the white one was the Mommy and the brown one was the Daddy.  They even have *ahem* proper parts, if you know what I mean.  Sally and I were able to come up with the name Sophia for the mommy, but we had a hard time with the Daddy name.  We left it to the "out of left field clever one", Daddy, and he and Sally came up with Jasper.

When I was "surprising" her with the horses I brought them out one at a time.  After a few minutes of loving these two she asked if there were more.  She now says, word for word, "No more horses, just these two, but we're VERY LUCKY to have these two."

She makes sure to give them kisses before she goes to bed at night and they're one of the first things she asks about when she wakes up in the morning and afternoon nap. 

I love being able to be a little girl again through my girl and share in her excitement for the simple joys!

Children's Museum

We didn't have school this week due to MEA, so we took a trip to the Children's Museum.  Tuesdays are the day to go, field trip groups aren't allowed to go on Tuesdays, so it isn't crazy busy.

We had a great time!

Checking out what's under each chocolate chip

"Mom, Chicka Tree!"

A told B and B told C...great book for teaching letters!

Dancing like Taylor Swift...

Wheels on the Bus star

A snake! She didn't want to touch it, but once we left that's all she would talk about.  If you ask her about the museum, it's the first thing she'll tell you she saw.

I was impressed with her critical thinking (I know, I'm such a teacher) with the boats.

She totally understood the need for a gush of water to send the boat flying down the ramp and pulling the little red ball sent the water rushing.  She got this excited every time!

Off to get another boat and do it again and again and again and again

Miss Spider

"Cheese Mommy, I'm on a bridge!"

Concentrating

Weeeeeee

A Cup of Tea

After naps, Sally often enjoys a cup of afternoon "tea" with her Mama

The other night we celebrated Daddy finally being home for a night {he's been busy with Grad School and Travel for work}by going out to dinner at Yangtze. To Sally's delight, they did not have typical children cups...

Thanks Pat, for the recommendation, it was Delish!

31 weeks and 29 months

I thought this would be a lot easier than it was...darn toddlers have a mind of their own.  Who would have thunk?

She might look sweet on the outside, but boy has she been struttin' her independence, Sally that is!!

Peas are Friends

Sally comes up with the craziest ideas and I'm sure they will only get crazier the older she gets.  The other night she took all of her peas out of her bowl and had to make sure they were all touching.  You know, because they are all friends of course!

Here's a quick snapshot of it taking place toward the end...

A quick story of our little genius:

Last weekend when we were in the car, driving home to Alex, Reid and I were in the middle of a conversation and Sally started shouting "Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift!" {Reid loves country. Reid loves Taylor Swift.  Reid has been showing Sally youtube videos of some of Taylor Swift's song}.

Reid looks back and says, "Ok hold on, I'll put one of her songs on."  As I looked at Reid when he was telling Sally he'd switch the song, I noticed we were passing a semi and in large letters across the side of the truck it said S-W-I-F-T.  I kid you not. 

We couldn't believe it, so we were trying to come up with any way that it could just be a freaky coincidence.  However, the song on the radio was Katy Perry and it was in the middle of the song, so it wasn't like she just heard it and thought it was a Taylor Swift song.  Once we passed the truck, Sally stopped shouting Taylor Swift and went back to reading her books like nothing happened. Reid didn't put a Taylor Swift song on, to see if she would demand that he would, but she never said it again the whole ride home.

This week I played the same Katy Perry song to see if she would think it was Taylor Swift and all I got was, "No, Mommy, not that song!"  I also typed the word "swift" in large font on the computer to see if she could tell me what it was.  All I got was "There's an S, there's a T and look, a W!"

So, maybe she's a genius, maybe it was just a coincidence...

Enjoy your weekend!

**notice the fun little buttons I added to the bottom of posts?  An easy way to show your reactions to the post without having to go all the way through to leave a comment, even though comments are always welcomed and loved!  Thanks Molly for giving me the idea!

Brainwashed

My mom was/is the queen of brainwashing us into doing pretty much anything.  You can even ask her and she'll totally admit it herself.   This is one of her motherly traits that has been passed on to me.  It has helped with a lot things, like her transition into her Big Girl Bed.

For a while Reid and I have talked about moving away from good old Froggy (Sally's potty) and getting her to go on the big toilet with the adapted seat.  We were hesitant because we didn't want to lose the good thing we had going and take any steps back.  We talk about it with Sally all of the time, but never push her to do it.  Last night at dinner we were talking about it again and she said, "Ok Mommy, I have to go potty, maybe try big toilet?"

Here's a video 15 minutes after she went...I should have done the video in the bathroom when she wasn't distracted by her prize "Beauty and the Beast," but you can still get the idea of how proud she is. 

She has continued to use the big toilet today. Here's to hoping we're done with Froggy...at least at home.

**Don't forget to enter your guess into the Baby Pool, the more guesses the bigger the Target Gift  Card!

Baby C-Mile #2 Pool

I've added a link on the side for Baby C-Mile #2's pool.  The winner will receive a Target Gift Card...amount will be determined based on how competitive (how many people submit guesses) the game is! The website explains the scoring.

A little background:

• Sally was born 8 days early
• Sally was 8lbs 9 ounces
• Sally was 22inches long
• Sally was born at 5:21pm (labor started at 4:30am)
• Sally's average heart rate was 135-140 during pregnancy.  Baby C-Mile #2's heart rate has been 150-155
• Overall, the pregnancies have been very similar.  If I had to really compare I would say I felt more sick with this one, but that could be because I was home all day and was able to focus more on my symptoms. 
• I feel like I am carrying lower with this pregnancy.  You can use these pictures to compare how I'm carrying...

If you have any other questions to help with your guess, feel free to email me (jack underscore track at hotmail dot com) or submit it in the comments. Good luck!

We had our 30 week prenatal visit today.  All is well.  Heart rate was 153.  I go again in 3 weeks, then another 3 weeks and then every week.  Where has the time gone??

Over the weekend Sally turned 29 months.  I have tried numerous times to get her standard video recorded, but she wasn't big into cooperating.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized she really is showing you her true almost-2 1/2 year old self...enjoy!

Minntonka Orchards

Last week we ventured out to Minnetonka Orchards with our good friends, Mary, Lucy and Annie.  If you have some time, I would highly recommend visiting...especially with this nice weather!

saying Hello to the Llamas

Chasing the chickens

Petting the goats

Following the goats

Best of Friends!

Thanks Lindberg Ladies for inviting us to join you, we had a great time!