Pony Rides and Petting Farm

Last week, Miles and I headed out to the wild blue yonder in search of a petting farm for a meet-up with our mommy and me group. I misread the directions a bit and it took us about an hour to find the place (after driving out in the country quite a ways, realizing we weren't in the right area, back-tracking and trying again, also involving numerous phone calls to my mom to look up the address as my phone doesn't get the greatest coverage in the middle of nowhere). We only ended up about 45-60min late, but still had a good time. Next time, we know where to find it!

When we arrived, we found an abundance of farm animals to feed, pet, and ride. Miles was a little tentative to feed and pet many of them. We saw llamas, goats, a pot belly pig, 50lbs tortoise, ducks, horses and ponies. Miles finally warmed up to the idea when one of the gals got out the baby goats to feed.



They were adorable and soft little things! I likened them to puppies, which warmed Miles right up. He enjoyed feeding them grain.

The littlest goats did not go hungry that day!

Isn't it just adorable! Miles kept saying he wanted to hold them and give them hugs :).

Notice how short his pants are here? I swear he grew an inch in the past couple weeks. Suddenly all his 2T pants are high-waters. Thank goodness the sun has started to come out and shorts are becoming a more appropriate choice or I'd have to go out and buy him new pants, which I'd rather not do until fall.

After a while, Miles grew tired of feeding the goat by hand and him have at it with the whole bucket!

We wondered around some to check out the other animals.

Chickens, goats, and llamas all living together! Who knew?

We ended the visit with a pony ride. I didn't think Miles would actually want to ride the pony once he sat on him, but he did. He kept telling everyone that he "drove a pony"!

He got about half way down the driveway and asked to turn around and go back.

Overall, it was a good visit. We'll definitely be going back next time, and now we know where to find it!

Lake Adventures Part 2

Finally, I'm posting the second part of our lake adventures. For some reason, Internet Explorer is freezing up when I try to load pictures directly from my computer to blogger. I just figured out that I can upload them to Shutterfly and use the url to upload to blogger and it works perfectly (well, minus the white boarders). So, get ready for a few catch-up posts!

After the fishing and swimming, Miles really went swimming in a pool in the yard. It was a mix of hose water and hot water from the bath tub. He had a great time!

After the pool, Miles enjoyed some time getting dry on the deck.

This was all followed by a bath (to get the sunscreen off!), dinner and bed. All in all, it was a great day!

Side-by-Side

I thought it would be fun to do a little side-by-side comparison of my two pregnancies thus far. It is kind of fun to see how they differ visually (how am I carrying, how big am I, etc). Please forgive the poor quality of the photos taken with Miles and the dirty mirrors. This pregnancy, I have chosen to forgo the bare belly shots (which I quit doing early on anyhow) and enlist my husband to photograph me to get my face in the shots. So, no bare belly, but a head and face (I know you're disappointed, sorry!).

Also, with the ultrasound pictures, the ones of Miles were actual digital copies of the scan. The ones of Isla are pictures of my printouts. That is why hers are so fuzzy in comparison to Miles'. All pictures are Miles on the left, Isla on the right. Lastly, the months are estimates and are usually in four week increments (roughly).

Enjoy!

Yard Work

We've finally started to spruce up our yard for the year. You'll have to imagine with me a back yard full of knee and waist high weeds, grass, and other growing plants. A front yard full of same weeds, much less grass, overgrown bushes and dead rose bushes. Sounds lovely, right? Oh, and add a broken sprinkler system to it all!

I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by the task of cleaning up the yard this year. Ben, with a borrowed weed whacker on wheels, took care of the back yard weeds last week. It took him two hours, and our yard isn't that big! This Sunday, my parents came up to help us fix the sprinkler system that our dog broke (he chewed through the wires and multiple sprinkler heads). They also came ready to work on the rest of the yard!

I was so happy :). My mom weeded the front and prepped one of the front gardens. They brought a weed whacker, and Ben weed whacked the front (instead of mowing). We swept, raked, and used a blower on the front walk and driveway. My parents also brought with them 10 red geranium plants and a hanging plant for the front. After Sunday, I was feeling pretty motivated about sprucing up our yard. My parents will be back one more time to help us replace some sprinkler heads and a broken valve from the sprinkler system.

Yesterday, I ripped out some bushes in our over-grown front garden and cleared out the garden area between two pine trees. Today, I went shopping with my Mom for some more red geraniums. We got 19 more and I planted them this afternoon. It looks so much better!

Here are some "after" pictures. Sorry, I didn't take any "before" pictures...too embarrassing!

And yes, we know we are still lacking some grass in the front. As soon as the sprinkler system is up and running, we'll be seeding!

Clothes

I've gone on one little shopping spree since discovering that little Isla is in fact a girl. I thought I'd share with you my adorable purchases.

This first sleeper is one my Mom got somewhere around 10ish weeks, maybe earlier. Obviously before we knew it is a girl. It will be great for the first few weeks!


At Gymboree, I purchased the onsie on the left in 0-3mos size for this fall (with a long sleeved onsie underneath). On the right is a romper (sleeveless shorts) and sweater (in 6-12mos) for next Spring/Summer. It was all on clearance and cost $20 for all three, which is pretty good at Gymboree!




I got this adorable romper (it has Cherries on it) from Khol's for $6. It is NB size, so she'll have to wear long sleeved onsie underneath this as well. On the right is a cute pair of jeans from Children's Place for $5 in 0-3mos.




And you can't skip the backsides of them! The jeans have little hearts on the pockets :).

Lastly, I got two 0-3mos sleepers at Children's Place.

I can't wait to dress this babe! Can you tell? Unfortunately most of the shopping will have to be held off till later this summer when the fall clothes come out. More to come at that time!

Lake Adventures Part 1

This past Saturday, we made an impromptu trip to the lake cabin. We've been a few times this year so far, but it was actually nice and sunny this weekend when we went!

Miles had a grand time. He began his day by discovering a fishing net on the front porch at the door when we arrived. He used this "butterfly net" to "catch Big Bird" in the yard. In the movie, Follow That Bird, the bad guys try to use a net to catch Big Bird at one point.

Then Ben and his dad went out on the lake to catch some fish (or maybe it was a little later, but who cares about the timeline?).

I enjoyed the view from the deck for a few minutes.

While Miles got ready to go do some fishing himself.

He named the fish on the end of his pole Floppy :).

We sat at the end of the dock, enjoying the sun, and "fishing".

We even stuck our toes in the water, but it is still pretty darn cold!

Grandma joined in the fun. We all got a little wet when Miles busted out the "butterfly net" to catch some fish.

Then we headed to the shore so Miles could throw some rocks in the lake. A favorite pastime. He's putting his shoes back on in this photo.

The following pictures are him gathering rocks, throwing rocks, and deciding the water is not too cold for a little swim. He managed to get waist deep! He only tripped once, and almost made a faceplant, but was in shallow enough water to put his hands down and save his face. It scared him a little, I think!

We also enjoyed some more time in the sun up at the cabin "swimming". Those pics to come!

21 weeks

How Far Along: 21 weeks (and 1 day now!)



Weight Gain: +16lbs According to the scale this week, I gained 6lbs in one week! 9lbs in 4 weeks(7lbs at the doctor's office). Is that even possible?!?! I remember gaining 8lbs in 4wks between 20 and 24weeks with Miles. Hopefully that big gain just came a month early this time around!



Maternity Clothes: Across the board, though I've been sneaking into a few pair of normal capris with my belly band.



Sleep: I'm still not sleeping all that well. I'm still waking up to every little thing! Still doing ok without any pillows for support, but often find myself waking up on my back.

Symptoms: The heartburn has gotten worse again. It is notably worse from about 3-7 in the morning while at work. I've been eating Tums like it's candy. It does work, though!

Cravings: Nothing really. Not sure what contributed to the weight gain this week :(

Gender: It's still a girl! (as far as I know) :)


Baby: According to www.babycenter.com, my baby is about 12oz now and about 1o.5 inches from head to toe. Her eyebrows and eyelids are now present/forming.


Movement: Isla is getting very active. I've noticed that she is more active in the evenings and at night (though she doesn't wake me up yet...Miles never did). This could be that I don't notice her when I'm more active, but she seems to be developing a pattern.

Things I'm Looking Forward to in the coming week: My birthday is on Saturday, so I guess that is something. We might go out and do some shopping/dinner/movie date night, so that should be fun. Not sure what I want to shop for, but I'll keep you posted!

Half Baked!

How Far Along: 20 weeks (and 1 day now!)



Weight Gain: +11lbs (No weight gain this week! Hoping for not much next week since I have to get on the official scale at the doctors' office!)



Maternity Clothes: Across the board



Sleep: I'm still not sleeping all that well. I'm still waking up to every little thing! Still considering a snoogle, since getting comfortable is getting more difficult.

Symptoms: The heartburn has gotten worse again. Time to invest in a jumbo size bottle of Tums. I think it is contributing to an increase in nausea as well.


Cravings: Nothing in particular I can think of this week. I think it was pretty well rounded.

Gender: It's still a girl! (as far as I know) :)


Baby: According to www.babycenter.com, my baby is about 10.5oz now and about 1o inches from head to toe. She is starting to swallow more and producing meconium.


Movement: Isla is getting very active. There have been a few days, she's been sleepy this week and I've had to stick the Doppler on her. Well, shoving the Doppler into my stomach wakes her up and gets her moving :).


Things I'm Looking Forward to in the coming week: This should be a fairly uneventful week. I have the weekend off and my 20/21 week check next Monday. Now that Isla is half baked, I'm starting to think about making some lists of things I need to do/get together/buy for her!