Happy Halloween!

Here is our pretty little witch! You can't see most of her costume in this picture but I'll post another tomorrow. She is so excited!!! Tonight we are going to a Halloween carnival at her school. I'll post more pics of that too. BOO!

What a big girl!

We got our first overnight snow last night so Michael and I were out in the garage looking for her snow clothes and stumbled across this little outfit.
It was my cheerleading uniform from the one time I was a cheerleader back in 1984 (4th grade, approximately 9 years old)! It is a little big on her but it sure is cute!!!
Here's a cheer for you all: "Good, Better, Best. We'll put you to the test! The better you are the better we'll be. We're the BEST!!!" GO CLAYTON COWBOYS!!!! Can you believe I've remembered that all these years?!? I remember our routine for half time too, it was set to the song from Footloose "Let's here it for the Boy." Ahhh, the memories!

Witch's Night Out @ Gardner Village

Tonight I decided to take Michael Anne by Gardner Village on a whim, thinking it would be fun to walk around the shops for 30minutes or so looking at the Halloween displays. Boy was it fun!! It turned out to be a huge event, it was the annual "Witch's Night Out" and there were witches everywhere!!! Old witches, young witches, even a few baby witches and some warlocks too. There was even a scary grim reaper but I shielded Michael so she couldn't see him.
Some of the shops had cool free stuff like a fake witch finger with a long red fingernail and spider rings. Michael's favorite shop had an older witch sitting in a rocking chair telling stories and jokes. Michael loved her and her pet toad. The witch lady who told us her name but all I can remember is that her initials spelled H.A.G., said she had had a husband but preferred her toad instead. Here's one of her jokes that Michael Anne memorized almost instantly..."What do you call a witch at the beach? A sand-witch!" Hah! Here's another and my personal favorite..."Why did the demon and the ghoul hangout together? Because a demon is a ghoul's best friend!"
After a while we got some dinner there, a delicious bread bowl of potato soup, which we shared while sitting on the grass during the witch parade.
It was such a fun and relaxing Mommy & Michael evening! I loved every moment of it and she did too. I think we will make this a yearly outing, just the two of us, oops..I mean the three of us! Unless grandmas, aunts and girl cousins would like to come along...that would be great too. (actually there were plenty of little boys too)
We stayed from about 6:00 to 9:30 it was so fun!
Here is a picture of Michael Anne in her witch hat and her favorite witch, HAG, the storyteller.

I just couldn't wait any longer...

Friday night Derek took me into work with him and we went over to the ultrasound dept. and they slipped me in for a quick look at our baby!!
I was so excited because waiting until Nov. 1st just seems like forever away! It was pretty cool to finally see the little tike. It was so fun to watch it move all around and to see its little heart beating away.
Here are a few pics. of the baby. Isn't it the cutest thing!!



And


It's a GIRL!!!

In case you can't tell, the arrow is pointing to a lack of boy parts. Some have mistaken the arrow for a boy package.

When I told Michael Anne that she was right, that the baby is a girl she started jumping up and down saying "The baby is another one of me! It's a girl! I knew it was a girl!" She surely did know, but there was no sign of twins. She seemed okay with that since she'll get her baby sister!!

We are thrilled and excited to start thinking about names more. It is so fun to have another baby on the way.

Was it the cold medicine?

Well, our little Michael Anne has been a wonderful angel at school! Her teacher has given her outstanding reviews and today commented that she can't believe the difference in her behavior.
I'm wondering if she got a week's dose of some of that recalled cold medicine! Whatever it was, or wasn't, I am so thankful that she is doing well. She is a real sweetheart and she makes our lives so full and fun and meaningful. She is a good daughter.

Yeah! She did it again!!!

Here is a picture of my Good Girl!!!
After a great report from her teacher, Michael Anne earned a chance to go to the dollar store with mommy & pick out any one thing she wanted most of all. She picked clay and is at the present moment enjoying herself immensely! I'm so proud of her. She is making great improvements and is so thrilled to make her parents happy...let's hope & pray that this lasts through the next 17+ years!

These are the Days of Our Lives...

So lately we've been trying to keep Michael Anne in school. She goes to a Montessori preschool and they almost kicked her out! She is a good girl, as three year olds go, but she's too clever & knows how to play games that aren't so fun for her teachers. Thankfully she behaved VERY well yesterday. We had to bribe her with going to Red Lobster for dinner. She loves to eat macaroni & cheese with a crab claw! It is hilarious. :) Now we're working on long term good-girl behavior. She does really good school work but has a hard time with napping and rascaling the other kids while they are sleeping! So, Mom & Dad joined us and we had a really fun night with her as the center of attention, which I need to give her more of.

Today we are going on a little outing between Gen. Conference sessions to Gardner Village to see the Halloween decorations and have a tasty sampling of fudge from their candy shop. It will be fun.

My belly is getting bigger these days. My belly button is beginning to poke out too! It's pretty fun to be pregnant, aside from being sick a lot. Monday I stayed home from work because I was so sick. Derek took me to the insta-care to make sure I wasn't getting too dehydrated. They hooked me up to a few bags of i.v. juice and added some anti nausea meds. Unfortunately I had an allergic reaction to the nausea medicine and began jerking all over. It was weird to feel out of control. So then they pumped me full of Benadryl to stop the reaction. It was a fun time...I'm okay now though.

I can't stand waiting to find out if this is a girl or boy! Michael thinks it is either a girl or both, one of each. Who knows, but I WANT to know so badly that I've tried to enlist Derek into getting one of his ultrasound buddies to slip me in for a quick look at the baby's gender. So far it hasn't happened but I keep the topic alive as much as possible! Otherwise, I'm scheduled for the regular 20 week ultrasound on Nov. 1st...so far away!!!!

Some of my friends like to wait for the "Congratulations, you have a ______!" at the birth, but as for me I need to know asap. I think it helps me feel closer and more connected to the little life inside of me. That and I do have a bit of a problem with getting stressed out over the unknown or unplanned, yeah, I know that's kind of a problem when you're a mom since so much is inherently unplanned!!! Anyhow, I'm anxiously awaiting the big news. Half way in or at the end it is still a wonderful and amazing surprise!!!