Life Lately

Life as of lately has been super dull and boring.  Hence the lack of posts.  Tyler has been on the job hunt for several weeks now and still no luck.  Each day he wakes up, spends a few hours searching and applying for jobs then goes to his internship, comes home for dinner, and that is basically his day everyday...so any prayers on our behalf would be GREATLY appreciated. :)
I have been swelling and increasing in pain day by day.  I think I have a bit of sciatica because it hurts to walk, sit, stand, basically it just hurts to be awake!  I didn't have this with Emma so its a whole new experience for me! And one I really hope I don't repeat!
Here is my most recent pic.  This is last week before heading to zumba!

 Yes, I know I'm huge!

Poor Emma has had a fever the last few days which finally broke this morning...although she's still not her 100% self.  She's actually been begging to go "nigh night" the last few days which I'm not going to lie, is the silver lining in her being sick. :)   But here are a few recent pics of her.
She likes getting her picture taken.  Well let me rephrase.  She likes looking at pictures of herself so she will let you take her picture but will only stand still long enough to see you "snap" the picture.  So only half the time do I get a decent picture.  But she loves being pretty and wearing skirts, especially tutu type skirts.  She actually lets me get her dressed without screaming or kicking when I put her in a skirt.  Then she runs to her mirror, swishes her skirt around, says "pitty" and then runs to her dad so he can tell her she's pretty.  Its really cute.  Anyway...the pictures.

 My little diva

 Already running to see what she looks like on the camera.

And here is a small video of our new nightly routine.  Emma is so active, so she now started "jumping" onto the chair.  This happens every night after dinner...whether she's sick or not!

Well...until next time!

Making Cookies

To get E to stop crying one day so I could make dinner I introduced her to the step stool to sit on.  Now whenever we are in the kitchen she HAS TO sit on the stool.  Sometimes its very annoying and sometimes I decide to utilize it and have her "help" me cook.  The other day we made cookies.  She helped me stir and mix, but can you guess her favorite part?

Honestly, who's favorite part isn't eating the dough?  (I know its not healthy, but I promise I only gave her the spoon!)

Still Pregnant...

Yes it is true.  I am still pregnant.  I'm constantly telling Tyler I feel bad for this kid because I have not documented anything!  When I was pregnant with E I was constantly posting pictures of my growing belly, posting my countdown to her due date (8 1/2 weeks now with this one!), and we were reading all sorts of pregnancy books - pregnancy week by week and pregnancy day by day books.  So, future daughter here is one of the few pregnancy pictures we have taken.  I feel huge, but i still think i"m smaller than I was with E....even if only slightly.

 (31 weeks currently)

(31 weeks with E)

Too bad the nursery isn't as ready as it was then.  It has become our junk room for the stuff we 

don't know where to put yet!  Oh well I still have like 8 weeks right?  (hopefully!)

As far as pregnancy goes this one has been a lot easier.  I was never as sick/nauseous with this one.  Which was really nice.  I can't really think of other reasons right now, but it just feels easier than I remember!  Still don't have cravings with this one either.  The closest thing I get to cravings (in either pregnancy) is wanting Dr. Pepper with vanilla...and that only happens once the 3rd trimester hits.  But I can always go for Dr. Pepper with vanilla even when I'm not pregnant.  

I do have more intense mood swings with this one.  (Although sometimes I wonder if it is because I deal with a cranky toddler all day and my emotions are shot from that!)  For example, last weekend I had a fun morning going out with a friend. I got home around lunch time, and became depressed because Tyler had used the last of the pickles on his tuna sandwich and that had sounded good tome for lunch.  Pathetic I know.  Poor Tyler, he lives in a house full of estrogen.  I felt bad for him last night.  I was crying over something, E was crying because she's E and in a few weeks he gets to add another crying female to the mix! haha! 

Anyway, things are going well with this baby.  The doctors always tell me they enjoy seeing me because I don't have any complications.  I'm measuring right on target...lets hope I stay that way! 

Just Like Daddy...

E is a complete mama's girl who wants to be just like her daddy.  How that works, I don't know, but its true.  Here is what I mean...
Tyler studies a lot.  And I do mean a lot.  After all he is in chemistry.  If any of you have taken chemistry you know how much it sucks.  Well try cramming your semester's (15 weeks) worth of chemistry into 5 weeks.  Then you know how our life is around here.
Anyway, as I said, Tyler studies a lot.  Occasionally E will join him...

 Cute right?
Next...Tyler likes to drink the milk after he eats a bowl of cereal.  "Sweet milk" I've heard it called.  I think its disgusting, but I know a lot of people do it.  E has decided she is one of them.  I caught her one morning do this...

And this wasn't the first time.  She's a lot more eager to do it when Tyler eats with her, but nope, this morning was all on her own!
More please?

 Yup...E loves her Daddy.  But who wouldn't really?

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July (a day late).

 We had a super fun day.  We went downtown and walked around the festival with our awesome friends, the Potters. They had some fun carnival-ish rides the little girls loved.  And the dads. :)

 These are the cute shirts Mandy made (no, I'm not referring to my self in 3rd person) for all the girls!  I did sew on the little stars though (that you can't see)!

Then we had a BBQ and went back downtown to the collisseum and watched a concert put on by and Army orchestra.
Emma confiscated Chloe's hat and had a marvelous time with it!

 Poor thing got pretty sweaty running around in the humidity!  We're still adjusting.  Luckily it did continue to cool off.

Then they had fireworks.  At first Emma freaked out...she REALLY does not like loud noises.  But then just curled up on my lap and watched them until she fell asleep!  How she fell asleep to the loud music and the big booms I don't know, but it was nice to cuddle!
Then we spent the next hour trying to get out of our parking spot and drive home!  Oh well...it was still worth it!
Hope you had a happy 4th too!

"When it Rains, it Pours!"

You know the saying, "when it rains it pours?"
Literally speaking, I like that phrase.  I love a good rain storm.
Which is something I like about North Carolina. It's weather takes that saying literally.  E loves it too because I always let her go "play" in the rain.

 (It was like 4:00 in the afternoon when these were taken...it was just really dark outside)

 Probably her newest favorite past time.

Natural Science Center and the "Hop"

So we've had a lot of fun exploring Greensboro.  There is a lot more to do out here than in Logan.  That is one of the pluses of moving out here!
2 weeks ago we went to a birthday party where they had bunnies.  E kept calling them "Tilly" (my parents' dog).  Right now every furry creature is Tilly.

Last weekend we went to another birthday party and an awesome splash park.  I sadly forgot my camera, but we'll be going back a lot this summer I'm sure!

This week at play group we went to see Mr. Nigel.  He does singing and dancing with children.  It was really neat.  E was skeptical at first, but the last 10 or so minutes started her version of dancing. She was happier than she looks.

Today we went and explored the Natural Science Center.  It was pretty cool!  They had a lot of different exhibits.

They had a little petting zoo where you could pet goats and sheep.  The goats were also called "Tilly!"

 Unfortunately, she not only liked petting the goats, she also liked trying to pick up what they left on the ground - if you know what I mean!

 You can't see it, but there is a big fat hog that E enjoyed looking at and imitating.

 She was also fascinated by the alpacas.  At least I got something to look at the camera!

 The is the closest I've ever been to a Tiger (or Tilly according to E)!

 The lightning screens at the weather exhibit.

 The prehistoric exhibit.

 It made me think of "Meet the Robinson's" with it's big head and little arms! :)

 They also had a children's section that E loved!

 Her favorite was playing in the water! Go figure.

It was a lot of fun!  They add an aquarium this summer that should be cool.

As mentioned in many previous posts, E is OBSESSED with Barney.  Literally.  Her new favorite thing is doing the "Baby Bop Hop"

This is her version.