Where have I been?

Well I haven't been anywhere or doing anything, I just haven't had much to write about lately. I have some sort of writer's block. If I think about blogging like I did last week after a trip to the Apple Pork festival then I somehow never sit down to do it and the days pass quickly.

Just had a few updates I thought I would go ahead and jot a few things down tonight. Tomorrow Kenley has a birthday party for one of her friends from the sitter's. It's out at the Rader Pumpkin Patch so I am looking forward to it!

Today I also had my 34 week appointment at the doctor. I hardly wrote down anything and the doctor barely said anything about the baby's heartbeat or how I'm measuring. We were busy talking about wether or not I can travel Monday for my mom's surgery and how I'm doing as I near the end of this pregnancy. My blood pressure was nice and low and my weight was at 205lbs. I'm just about the weight I was last time when I delivered Kenley and still have a few weeks to go (hopefully). My doctor did go ahead and check me since she really thinks I'll go early. I'm dilated just a fingertip but my cervix is still firm so she thinks I'll be able to hold off until the next appt which is set for 10/11 (my wedding anniversary) and I'm interested to see where I'm at then. That was the last appt I had with Kenley. I also got my flu shot today so I'm good to go.

Other news on the baby front, I think we finalized our names. I'm very excited about them and now we just have to wait and see what Baby Brockman is so we know which one we get to use :) We have also been getting things around the house ready. We brought up the baby swing and rearranged the playroom for the pack n play that I'll use downstairs. It's so weird to think that even if I go full term I only have 38 days left AND if I deliver around the same time I did with Kenley then I have about 2 weeks. YIKES!

I want to do baby poll and I'll get around to it one of these days.  I'll try to post more pics from the weekend and the big birthday party tomorrow.

Until then....

Weekly updates

Well it's been a pretty good week around here.. Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to.

On Wed we got our sod so the house now looks "complete" and we don't have a dirt yard anymore :o)

Clay has been watering and the cooler weather has been nice, although it did seem weird to water the other morning when it was like 41 degrees. Kenley wants so bad to run and play on it but we have to stay off of it the first few weeks (other than to move the sprinklers) so that the roots can take hold. The yard looks HUGE now that it's so green.

On Friday I had my 32 week dr appt and all went well. She threw me off a bit when she told me to take it really easy for the next 10 days as I needed to get past 34 weeks. WHAT? I'm pretty much expecting to get to 36 or 37 weeks at least so I definitely have NO plans for a Sept baby. Interesting... I know there is no guarantee I'll go early again but I really am hoping to go as long as needed to fully cook this baby up and ideally I would like to go sometime after Oct 17  which is 37 weeks and considered "full term" by the book.  I was just a few days shy with Kenley but she was a good size, healthy, and passed her tests so we were happy.

Also  on the baby front, we did some shopping on Friday and got a few things. We stocked up on some diapers (both newborn and size 1) and found the going home outfits. We ended up getting two this time (1 boy and 1 girl one) since we didn't see anything gender neutral that we liked. Of course we will take the unneeded one back after baby arrives and we know what he or she is ;o) They are both comfy looking striped sleepers with cute feet and something on the butt. The boy one has Puppies and says "Handsome" while the girl on is Monkeys and says "Mommy loves me."

We also finally made a bit of progress on the name front Friday. We finalized our BOY name (we think.) We still don't have anything on the girl list that we feel too strongly about so I'm still looking thru the book and throwing out whatever I can. Feel free to leave your suggestions on the blog for both first and middle names on the girl side as we could use a little help.

Today was low key and we did a little shopping at Kohl's to get Kenley some heavier shirts for the fall/winter and Clay some new pants.  Tomorrow we will have company for a bit as my godparents are stopping by on their way back to St. Louis from Peoria to see the house and Kenley.  Should be a nice day.

Hope everyone else is also having a good weekend.

Conscious parenting

Not sure this post will make any sense. I can't seem to find the right words to express it the way that I want. 

I've been thinking of writing this post for days and this has been weighing on me a lot this past week. It's something I just can't stop thinking of so I thought I'd get it out there. It's the thought of conscious parenting. Parenting in a "fully active" mode and "fully aware of or sensitive to something." 

It's something I noticed in the past, even sometimes before I was a parent. It's those types of parents or caregivers that never seem happy. They never seem to be in the moment with their kids. They just seem angry or frustrated all the time. Now don't get me wrong, I have my bad days. Those days where I just want my alone time or I want Kenley to just take a long nap or play by herself but what I mean by "conscious parenting" is not letting those days get to me and definitely not letting it reflect on my behavior or interaction with my daughter. She didn't do anything wrong and she's too young to understand, so I take a deep breath and think about the little things I enjoy with her and it makes it better. I try to enjoy each and every moment I have cause she seems to be growing up so fast.

What I wonder though is if those parents who don't seem to be in the moment, realize it. Are they conscious of their actions? Of the impact even the smallest interaction or simple word can have on their little one? Do they regret their actions after the fact?

For example, the other day, I read this on a co-workers FB page. "Saddest thing I've heard this week (and that's saying a lot with the 9-11 focus): "Good luck with your teachers today. They'll treat you better than I do." I think it is safe to say we've all had "those days" where you're considering a Craig's list ad for your offspring, but we need to think before we speak. The look on that little girl's face was heart-breaking."  Now I have a fondness for teachers. I agree that teachers often can be a child's 2nd mom or a safehaven of love and support but as a mom I would never even think to say that. Granted I've only been a mom for a little under 21 months but really? Was she kidding? Was it a joke she was trying to be funny. I assume not based on the implied age of the child. What may be a joke to let's say a sassy teenage girl is completely different on a small innocent little girl who's favorite person in the world is likely her mommy or daddy. 

Earlier this week I had a moment. We were running late in the morning and Kenley refused to cooperate with brushing her teeth and then continued to frustrate me when she wouldn't sit still for her piggies. I was on the verge of snapping and my frustration came out in my tone enough to make Kenley fuss and cry. I was immediately ridden with guilt. I took a deep breath, said I was sorry, gave her a hug and a kiss and wished I could take it back.  Since then (and after reading that FB post) I have tried my best to be active in every moment whether its the 100th game of hide and seek we play before dinner or reading the same book for the 15th time. I see the joy in her face and the happiness when she screams "again" in delight and I know that I'm in the moment. I'm making the most of the short time she will be a little girl. I'm doing my best to show her all the love I have to give and how much she means to me. It's times like that I also say a little prayer that I can continue to parent this way thru the years ahead. That I won't have any more of those "snap" moments. Now I know that's probably unrealistic but I vow to try and if they do arise, I hope I can recognize them, take a deep breath, say I'm sorry, give her a hug and make it all better cuz you can't take those moments back. They are forever and that hurts. 

Okay so this rambled a bit and probably made absolutely no sense but I want to leave you with this...it's a request. If you ever hear or see me in one of those moments.. where I seem to be angry or too frustrated or just unhappy to be, please remind me to take a deep breath and enjoy the moment. Remind me that she will grow up too fast and years from now when she is grown and out of the house, I will miss this. After all, love conquers and she is worth it even on the darkest of days she is my ray of sun and she deserves a "conscious parent" to take it all in!

What the heck is a jicama?

Well if you want to learn something new, a jicama is a crispy, sweet, edible root that resembles a turnip in physical appearance, although the plants are not related. Jicama is actually a legume, and it grows on vines that may reach 20 feet (six meters) in length. Jicamas have a unique flavor that lends itself well to salads, salsas, and vegetable platters. Well who knew! (I bet you want to go GOOGLE jicama now to see a picture don't you?...Well I'll spare you the trouble.)

Okay okay, so where am I going with this. Well, I'm 32 weeks prego today and according to baby center my baby weighs as much as a large weird looking potato/turnip crossbreed Jicama which is about 3.75lbs. Baby should almost be about 17 inches long which is why those kicks and wiggles feel like they are everywhere at the same time sometimes.  I have roughly 8 weeks left and it's time to plump this kid up before its arrival into the world.

I'm feeling good. I'm not always the most comfortable sleeping (since I don't like to sleep on my side and it hurts my hips and lower back) but I'm surviving.  The multiple bathroom trips each night or the crazy cat waking me up give me the opportunity to roll over and try to get more comfortable or to get up and stretch out a bit.

We took our belly pics today but I don't go back to the dr until Friday afternoon. It should be another uneventful appointment.

Here are the pics from this morning...

A Visit from the Sugas

Today we had some guests to the Hotel Brockman. The Sugas (Laura, Marc and Aiden) swung thru on their road trip to visit. We did a nice little lunch and had some time to visit. I'd been telling Kenley all week that her little Southern Gentleman from GA was coming to visit and the lil' guy didn't disappoint. He was adorable! I'm so glad I finally got to meet him.

After some play time and lunch, we decided to chat outside. (Man I'm looking a little big.. )

Laura and I matched both sporting purple shirts for the day.

Aiden and Kenley hit it off and managed to occasionally share and play together. Kenley isn't used to sharing her own toys at home so it was nice to have another little one around.
I also practiced my juggling skills trying to balance 2 kiddos around the big belly.

All was well until Kenley tried to give Aiden a kiss and he wanted nothing to do with that.

We also tried to round up the munchkins for a mommy and me pic but neither wanted to cooperate (and I didn't pick the best location).

All in all it was a very nice afternoon. The Sugas left right before Kenley's naptime so they could get on the road and continue the journey south to the St Louis area to visit Laura's parents for a bit (with a brief 5 min stop in Springfield for some passport stamp according to Laura.) THANKS FOR STOPPING BY LAURA!!

Shout out to the Amish!! Holla!

Okay so when I decided to use the same nursery set for this baby that we had for Kenley (because I really do love it and I wanted to save some dough since we bought Kenley new bedding and many other things for the new house) I also decided that I wanted to do the nursery a little different to make it feel new. Part of that included hanging up the quilt this time on the wall. For Kenley we used it on the floor for her to play on but I wanted to showcase it this time around. However, the problem was, I needed to figure out how to hang it. I either had to sew a sleeve on the back so I could do a hidden rod or I had to buy rings with clips and hang it from a drapery rod. Both required more holes in the wall that I really wanted to do and more work. Plus I really didn't want to see the curtain rod. So I GOOGLED away on the internet looking for an alternative and found a site with "Amish ideas" for solving problems like this.... the answer....VELCRO ;o) Ingenious! We already use the velcro picture hangers around the new house so it should work perfectly. They suggested pinning the velcro but I decided to sew it on and voila....you have a hung quilt with no holes in the wall and little to no work...

Thank you AMISH ;o) Hee Hee Hee!!

Long weekend of fun

I started my weekend early (see previous post). After a busy Friday, the rest of the weekend was free and open to enjoy. Clay's mom and dad were here for the weekend and we decided to have my folks over for lunch on Saturday too.

So we fired up the grill in its new home on the patio built-in.

 I told Clay it makes the BIG grill we just got look so small but it's nice to have that little area and now Clay can leave it out and connected until we bring it in for the winter.
We had a nice lunch of burgers, pasta salad, chips &dip and brownies and enjoyed each other's company for the afternoon.
On Sunday, we decided to take Grandma and Grandpa B to the zoo. It was a lot cooler weather and it was very enjoyable. The animals were active and Kenley enjoyed most of them.... Of course, she still isn't too fond of this gal...

Kenley  even refused to watch her swim at all as soon as she (the sea lion) got out of the water and barked her hello.  Kenley did still enjoy the otter swimming back and forth and really seemed to take an interest in a lot more of the animals this time. It really helped that they were so active with the cooler weather.
Kenley got a big kick out of the goat at the petting zoo coming out to give me a big ole' kiss too...

but I think her favorite thing from this trip to the zoo was definitely the TURTLES... She asked to go back and see them several times and she really liked the BIG turtle.

All in all it was a wonderful morning at the zoo and we topped it off with a yummy lunch from Boo Boo's Dawghouse ;o)
Today (Monday) was a low key day. I had wanted to go to the parade but we decided against it. The chillier weather would have frozen my poor father-in-law so we relaxed and played around the house. The guys did a few small things from my "honey-do" list (more on that in a later post) and Kenley and Grandma B colored a great deal. Grandma and Grandpa headed home shortly after lunch and Kenley went down for her nap. The afternoon and evening have passed much too quickly and now it's time for me to head off to bed so I can face another day at work tomorrow. Hope everyone else had a wonderful LONG weekend as well. More to come from this end soon!

Kenley's 1st haircut

 I ended up taking Friday off. I mean what's better than a 3 day weekend? A 4 day weekend!!!
 I had a dr's appt early and decided I would try to take Kenley in for her 1st haircut. I was nervous as I didn't know what to expect and I didn't want her to lose her curls.

Here we are waiting...

We had a bit of a dance party while we waited too but I'm still frustrated with the picture issue on Blogger so I'm not going to share those right now.

When Brittney was ready we went back and decided to try the booster like a big girl, but Kenley was a little apprehensive so we quickly went to plan B where she would sit on my lap.

Here we are in the middle of the action. Kenley did an AWESOME job. She sat nicely and at the goldfish and just listened as Brittney chatted away and told her what a BIG GIRL she was being. At one point there was a little boy getting his hair cut next to us (you can see his dad in this picture) and he (the boy) was just screaming and crying. He refused to let his parents sit and just transferred back and forth from one to the other. I was so proud Kenley was doing so well, but I also felt bad for that little guy.

Here we are finished and posing for a picture with Brittney. We even gave her a hug and a high five so Kenley must have approved of the job done ;o)

 And most importantly... we still have CURLS!!! This is one happy momma!

Now I just have to figure out when she will go back next and how to brush her hair when it's done. I've been doing piggies all summer that I'm not sure how to act with it down.

30 weeks

Just got back from my 30 week appt and it was super short and fast. Weight checked in at 197.2lbs and 110/52 for my rockin' blood pressure. I'm measuring 29-30 weeks (not ahead like I did with Kenley) and the baby's heartbeat was racing again (thanks to the morning donuts..mmmm...do-nuts...). The heartbeat was back in the upper 150s.  Nothing really new to report. Dr. is aiming to get me to 36 or 37 weeks and has instructed me to go to the hospital as quickly as possible since I seemed to labor relatively quickly for my first. Only thing really discussed this time was this HEAT we seem to be getting and I've been given orders to hibernate indoors in the cool air as much as possible and drink more than enough water. We do have a few plans outside this weekend but I'll take it as easy as possible. Made my 32 and 34 week appts and set to keep on trucking forward. Seems weird to say that in less than 10 weeks (unless I go over) we will have Baby Brockman 2.0 ;o) Can't wait to meet him/her!!!!

The Wall: Part 2

After the retaining wall was finished we got the pricing back from the landscaper and it came significantly under what the "bid" had been that we added to the mortgage at closing so we had a bit of a credit. I decided we should spend it and get more professional work done since Clay and I aren't very experienced in the landscaping field. Therefore we decided to do the wall around the patio, specifically for the grill and wind control.We had a few discussions about what we wanted and how Clay and I pictured it and the landscaper got to work. He started last week I think but finished today. (We had some delay getting the gas line in for the grill but all is well.)

Here are the finished pictures (see below) and I couldn't be happier. I think it looks wonderful and strangely enough it actually makes the patio seem bigger. Clay said it feels like an "outdoor room." We are going to have the landscaper also do his magic in between the two walls so that will be all planted and done. We will be getting our sod very soon and then it will look like a yard and not a big dust pit. The rest of the landscaping will wait until the spring but this will be a great start to enjoy this fall.

Oh the "cut-out" area on the one end is where Clay's grill goes. We have to wait a day or two to put it out there so the pavers can settle but it will fit just perfectly. You can see the gas line in the one picture. Now just have to go get the grill cover and we are all set.