To say the last two weeks have been busy would be the understatement of the year! Last weekend the first of my two brothers, Philip, got married, and this weekend my other brother graduated from Texas A&M with his degree in Aerospace Engineering (more to come on both later). We're super excited for them both, but we're also super worn out! I've been working on this post for a while now, but just haven't had time to get it finished up and posted - and now you know why!
EASTER 2016, AKA BUNNYGATE Whether we wanted it to be or not, the theme for this year's Easter holiday was BUNNIES. Every year we go to Brenham for our Santa Claus pictures, but they also take portraits with different themes all throughout the year. At Easter time, they actually bring live bunnies for the kids to take pictures with. Up to this point, I really just thought Emma was too young to handle this, but this year while driving home from Corpus, I spontaneously decided to call them and schedule a time. I thought it would make a nice mommy/daughter outing for the two of us. So we got all fancified and made the trip to go check it out. Emma was enamored with the bunnies and really didn't want to wait her turn. But she managed and even got to have two bunnies for her picture. I don't know how he does it, but Scott always manages to get her to take perfect pictures (I can't even get her to stand still and look at the camera)!
My out takes from the side
Not too sure at first - these bunnies move
But she loves bunnies!
And here's our professional picture, courtesy of Brenham Portrait Gallery
Now, if this had been the end of our bunny saga, things would've been great. But the week before Easter things went a little haywire at our house. It all started the Monday of that week when Lizzy was just going crazy about wanting to be outside and sniffing around in the back flower bed. I wouldn't let Lizzy out that often because she tends to seek out trouble - like getting bit by a snake or stung in the eye by wasps and such, and with Kevin working in Corpus, I wasn't about to let her out of my sight.
Store bought bunnies
vs. real bunnies
On Tuesday though, that all changed. While Emma was at school and I was out running errands, the maids were at my house cleaning and decided to let Lizzy out into the backyard instead of locking her up in her kennel to clean the kitchen. Lizzy pretty much conned them by continuously jumping at the back door. As I'm picking out stuffed bunnies to put in Emma's Easter basket, one of the managers of the cleaning company called me to tell me that the maids hadn't been able to get Lizzy back in the house and that she had been digging in the back flower bed. The manager was able to get her back in finally, and upon further investigation, she found that we had a nest of baby bunnies in our backyard! Not what I wanted to hear...sigh. If you know anything about our house, then you know this isn't the first time one of God's creatures has decided to make our home its residence. We've had kittens, stray dogs, a turtle, birds, and now bunnies. It's a veritable Noah's Ark over here some times. When I got home and found my nice little white dog all covered in black mulch, I was kind of at a loss of what to do, seeing that letting Lizzy out into the backyard was not going to be a viable solution. So what's a pregnant lady with a toddler and no husband around to do? Call her brother!! The more we went back and looked at the nest, the more bunnies we found. At first, I thought there were just three baby bunnies, but our final count came to six! They were all snuggled in the whole every which way and layered on top of one another. Since they already had fur, we deduced that they had already been there at least a week, but they weren't ready to leave the nest yet. So we decided to fence them off and leave a few holes big enough for the mama bunny to squeeze through but not Lizzy. We knew the mama bunny would only come back at night so that she wouldn't attract any kind of predators to the nest.
Building our bunny fence
View of the nest from the front of the flowerbed - it's easy to overlook
View of the nest from the back - how many bunnies do you see?
We finally got them all taken care of and made sure that Lizzy couldn't get back there (no matter how much she tried), and for all her efforts, Lizzy got a nice, big bath! I have to say once they were safe, having the bunnies in the backyard was pretty neat because Emma loved getting to go back there and check them out every day. And maybe, just maybe, I felt a little motherly instinct towards protecting them.
Since it was Easter weekend, we left our bunnies to fend for themselves and headed up to the farm in Giddings for Good Friday fishing and to hang out. We met Kevin up in Giddings since it takes the same amount of time to drive there as it does to Houston. Our weekend was pretty laid back with some fishing, cow business, and Easter egg hunting. Emma was super excited to go fishing with her daddy. So much so, that we actually had to take a quick trip to Walmart to buy Emma her own fishing rod. Now fishing with a toddler isn't just relaxing fishing - it's casting and reeling, casting and reeling, casting and reeling - repeat ad nauseum. And of course, Emma wanted to do it all herself, so the trick was to get out of the way so you didn't get hit up side the head with a plastic fish. We had lots of fun and laughs though, and it was a great way to spend the weekend.
When we got back home from the farm, the first thing everyone wanted to do was check on our baby bunnies in the backyard. They were still there, and Lizzy went crazy at the sight of them again and managed to squeeze herself through the rabbit fence. The next thing we knew, baby bunnies were scattering everywhere - under the fence, out the gate, anywhere away from Lizzy. Three of the bunnies stayed in the yard hiding in spots that Lizzy couldn't get to, so we shut her back in the house so that they could all calm down. Our hope was that maybe the mama bunny would come back that night and collect them all. When I went out to check on things Monday morning though, the nest was still empty with no bunnies in sight. Or at least, so I thought. Around lunchtime though, Lizzy was super antsy again, so I threw some shoes on and went exploring in the backyard only to find a baby bunny hiding by the rabbit fencing and a fence post! I managed to scoop him up and plop him in a box. Then, not an hour later I was taking Lizzy out to the bathroom, and she went crazy at the gate in the backyard. When I looked there was nothing there, but when I walked around to the front yard side of the gate, lo and behold, there was another baby bunny! So I scooped him up to and put him in the box. I did one last check around the yard, and everything was clear, but late that afternoon Lizzy was intent on digging by the fence on the side of our yard in a spot where the fence had planks on both our side and the neighbor's. I tried my best to look inside, and sure enough, there was another baby hiding in the fence. Having caught two bunnies on my own already, I called in reinforcements - namely, my brother Philip. He ended up having to take off four fence boards to get to where we could reach the bunny to get it out of there. It was such an ordeal! While I had originally thought I would just keep the bunnies boxed up until dusk before putting them back in the nest, after the day's adventures I decided against that. Instead, we took them over to the golf course and released them into the high grass of the rough where we see bunnies all the time. It was a little sad to say goodbye to our bunny friends, but I had had quite enough of bunnies for one Easter! Since then, we've seen bunnies over in the cul-de-sac by the rough where we let them go, so I'm hoping those are our same babies who have grown up quite well!
Just a box of bunnies
Sibling snuggles
One last goodbye before we let them go
EMMA'S 3RD BIRTHDAY
The birthday girl
Can you believe that little miss is already three?!?! I can't, and I've been with her every day! She's quite the precocious threenager and is growing by leaps and bounds. She's already 3'2" tall and 33 lbs. - I think she's on track to be tall like her daddy. At home, Emma talks up a storm and likes to create mischief, but at school, she's a quiet little angel according to her teachers. Her favorites include playing outside, watching movies, eating cheese in any form, playing princesses, and doing any kind of art. She's mostly potty trained with a few accidents here and there and still sleeps with a paci at naptime and night time, but we're working on both of those. At almost 35 weeks pregnant, this mama is in no rush to rock the boat though. Since she loves to play outside so much, we decided that her big birthday present this year would be a swing set for our backyard. She loves the one that my parents bought for the farm, and we thought having one for ourselves would be a good way to help her burn some of that endless energy. We had it delivered and installed a week before her birthday, and she was glued to the window watching them put it all together. It was a good thing we got it delivered early because it's been just a littlerainy here in Houston lately to say the least. I think her favorite thing to do is swing and spin on the swings. She's just learning how to pump her legs to make herself go on her own!
Her birthday crown from school
Emma loves birthdays. I mean, LOVES birthdays. She doesn't care whose it is either. She loves to sing Happy Birthday to any and everybody. So when we started talking about how her birthday was coming up, she was super excited. When you would ask her what she wanted for her birthday, the list was always the same: balloons, candles, and cake. She just wanted it to be her turn for someone to sing to her and blow out the candles. She's definitely easy to please! Since her birthday fell on a school day this year, we got to have a special snack at school with all her friends. Emma's choice for snack was donut holes and cheese (of course). She couldn't wait to get to school and get her birthday crown to wear. When it came time to sing Happy Birthday to her, I think she got a little bashful about it. It was too cute, and it totally made her feel special!
We continued the celebration that evening too by taking her to The Rainforest Café. Since Kevin wasn't able to be home on her actual birthday, I wanted to make sure she had a really special day. Plus, Uncle Philip and Aunt Ashley weren't going to be able to make it to her birthday party, so they wanted to celebrate with us and give Emma her presents. Emma wanted to get dressed up in a princess dress, so she chose to be Cinderella for the evening. The Rainforest Café was a neat experience for her. She liked looking at all the animals but wasn't too sure about the thunder and rain shower noises that played at times. What she did like though was getting to be the center of attention. Mimi brought her balloons, she got to blow out the candle on her cupcake, and then open presents. It was a quite the birthday fête!
Family Selfie!
But that wasn't the end of the festivities for the week! Kevin was able to come home from Corpus Christi on Thursday night, so Friday evening we had gotten tickets to take Emma to see Disney on Ice here in Houston. Having never been to a show, we weren't quite sure what to expect or if Emma would even like it. But who were we kidding? Emma loves anything Mickey, Minnie, or princess, so she was in heaven. We loved just getting to take her out on a Mommy/Daddy date to do something special, especially since family time is at a premium these days.
Video: Disney on Ice
After such a late and fun night, it was hard to have such an early morning wakeup call to head to College Station for my brother Stephen's senior fly day. For two semesters, he had been working with a team to design and build their own airplane for their aerospace engineering senior project. We headed out to the old airstrip at the Riverside Campus and set up camp to watch fly day. There was a lot of assembling and testing before anything actually got ready to fly, and they had to official radio control pilots there to fly the planes. It was a thrilling experience each time a different team's airplane took off because there was always the risk of it crashing. All in all, it was a successful morning for Stephen's team. The plane got up in the air, flew its path, and landed minus one errant wheel that decided to come off.
Video: Stephen's Fly Day
(sorry for all the wind noise)
Emma's thoughts on being stranded
After we saw Stephen's flight, we packed pack up quickly to head back home sot that we could have enough time to finish setting up for Emma's birthday party that evening. Fate had other plans though...we made it to just outside Navasota when we got a flat tire. Of course, all we had was a little donut for a spare, so we had to turn around and head back to the nearest Discount Tire in College Station. At least the flat tire happened when Kevin was with us. I'm pretty sure I just would've thrown in the towel and said "I'm done" if it had happened to just me. Two hours and a Chick-fil-a picnic lunch later, we were back on the road headed home to hurriedly get ready. Luckily, Emma fell asleep in the car and let Kevin carry her upstairs to her bed when we got home, so we didn't have to worry about a meddling toddler under foot. Matter of fact, we had to go wake up the birthday girl and toss her in the shower so she'd be ready in time for her guests! Luckily, since we already knew it was going to be a busy day, we had the food for Emma's party catered, so that was one less thing we had to actually worry about getting together!
Emma decided that this year she wanted to have a Peppa Pig themed party, which was easy enough to throw together. We decided just to do a small family party since when we started planning we weren't sure about the date/time due to fly day or how I'd be feeling at 30 weeks pregnant (hint: tired). Plus, when your kiddo really just wants candles and someone to sing to her, she's easily pleased. Emma especially loved getting to have play time with her cousins Christian and Andrew. After a yummy feast of fajitas, she got to open her presents, and then the big deal was getting to blow out her candles on her cake. She could care less about the actual cake (I think she took one bite and just licked the frosting), but she couldn't wait for the candles. I think with all the birthday celebrations and festivities throughout the week, she was thoroughly spoiled and got to have a special time just for her before the baby arrives.
BABY HENRY UPDATE
I know I haven't posted an update here about Henry since 20 weeks, but if you're friends with us on Facebook then you kind of know what's been going on. At my 24 week OB appointment my fainting and dizziness spells hadn't gotten any better, so I ended up getting a referral to see a cardiologist to make sure there wasn't something actually wrong with my heart. After my initial assessment and EKG were fine, Dr. Odhav scheduled me to have an ECHO done and told me to try increasing my sodium intake, which he laughed was something he never gets to tell his heart patients. Now, what he meant was to drink more things like G2, but what I heard was a license to eat more French fries...lol! After having so many pregnancy ultrasounds, it was kind of weird to have an ultrasound of my heart done. The tech told me I had the prettiest aorta she had seen in a while, so that made me feel better about the whole thing. My ECHO results came back just fine - no structural defects, no weakness in the walls of my heart - so it's just good ol' pregnancy taking its toll on my body. Dr. Odhav cleared me from having to be monitored, and I go back this week for one last check up with him before the baby is born. I will have to say though, the dizziness spells and fainting have eased up for the most part and tend to only come on when I'm extremely tired or trying to do too much to fast. I think as I've had to slow down just from being more and more pregnant, things have evened out.
24 weeks pregnant
30 weeks pregnant
33 weeks pregnant
I'll be 35 weeks this Monday, and they're only letting me go to 39 weeks, so the end is nigh! Unless Henry decides to come early, I'll be induced like I was with Emma, which actually works in our favor since Kevin won't be able to come in from Corpus until right before Henry is born. Then, he'll take a week off to be with us before he heads back out to his assignment. Part of the reason I'm only going to be allowed to go to 39 weeks is that I'm considered "high risk" due to the fact that I had high blood pressure for most of my pregnancy with Emma. With Henry though, my blood pressure has been perfect - no meds needed. But I'm not going to complain about having him early - I'm ready! And even though, I look like I'm further along/bigger than I was at the same time with Emma, I'm only up 14 lbs. from my pre-pregnancy weight. There are days I just feel like he's just purposely sticking his bottom out and pushing against the outer wall of my uterus.
Greens are hard to choose from
We've been slowly working on getting Henry's room together. We ordered his furniture a while back, and it should be here by the end of May. The biggest challenge has been trying to pick paint colors that coordinate with his bedding and that actually looks good once up on the walls. As you can see, we've gone through six different shades of green to finally find the right one. On the bottom half of the wall, we're installing bead board that's painted a tan color. Then, there will be a white chair rail and a border separating the two colors. It's definitely not a "baby" room, mainly because we wanted to do like we did with Emma and choose a theme and design that could grow with Henry so we wouldn't have to redo his room as he gets older. Kevin and my dad have been doing a really good job at being weekend warriors and painting. It's coming together quite nicely, and I can't wait to see the final product!
