Busy weekend

We had a busy but WONDERFUL weekend this past weekend. I took Friday off as I had signed Kenley up for a class at the Children's Discovery Museum. It was our first trip there and she enjoyed the class very much. We also enjoyed exploring the museum afterwards. The class was a Happy Halloween theme for October. They read a book and sang some songs. They had some free play time where you could do arts and crafts or play with holiday themed items like a pool of fake leaves or spooky bowling things.

Here is Kenley working hard on a candy corn she made for her daddy.

At the end when everyone regrouped we did more singing and some bubbles and scarves, but Kenley's favorite by far was the parachute. She had such a great time shaking it and then lifting it to see everyone else in the circle.

After we left the museum we went to Toys R Us to do a little Christmas shopping with Grandma B who was in town and had gone with us to play for the morning. We may have stopped at McDonald's for some drinks and cookies on the way, but there was no evidence of any cookies :)

Then on Saturday, we had planned to take Kenley back out to Rader Farms with Grandma and Papa B. She loves that place. We explored even more thouroughly than we had the weekend before at Haley's party. Here we found this pregnant goat. Not sure which one of us looked more pregnant :)

We played in the corn again and even coaxed Papa in for a bit.

We also posed for a few cute pictures with pumpkins!

This weekend she discovered the straw fort and how fun it was to climb up and "capture" the flags. Here she is enjoying one of the views. Good thing Clay could climb up there with her since she was all over the place!

Of course we also had to do the jump pillow again. No trip to the pumpkin patch is complete without jumping on the pillow :) She just loves it!!

Saturday night we also had another first. We actually got to play in our yard for the first time. We ran around and played tag or kicked the ball around. We even went exploring and found some bugs. Here Kenley is trying to touch the grasshopper. 

(Oh and yes, that girl's hair is crazy especially after naptime. I didn't brush it out but let her just look like a wild woman.) Sunday was very low key and no big plans. Kenley got up extra early and didn't take a good nap but we all survived and overall the weekend was just so much fun! 

Amish Science

Clay said those two words don't go together, but tonight we (me and my folks) did some Amish Science. I'm at my mom's camper for the night (for her surgery tomorrow) and we got to talking about the "needle prediction." If you aren't familiar, it's a test where you hold a needle on a string over the pregnant woman's wrist. The needle will move by either making a circle or swinging side to side. If it makes a circle then "It's a GIRL" and if it swings side to side then "It's a BOY." It will also pause at times to indicate the next kid coming and then cue the next gender. So, for example, if it did circle, side to side, pause, side to side.. you would be having 3 kids and they would be girl, boy, boy in that order. I know for fun we had done this in the past and then I'm pretty sure it said the first was a girl... I don't remember the rest, but for giggles we did it again tonight. My needle spun in a circle and then paused before going side to side (then it also paused again and did another circle). Therefore based on this high tech Amish science I'm gonna have a girl (Kenley), boy (this baby) and a 3rd kid that will also be a girl. (Don't really think a 3rd kid is in our plans but who knows.)

Regardless it said this baby is a BOY, so we will have to see if it turns out correct. I think my mom is secretly hoping for another girl, so she did the test again and with the same results.

So what do you think? What will Baby Brockman be? I put a poll on the right hand side of the blog. Feel free to vote!  And in anywhere from 2-5 weeks from now....or approximately 36 days if I go full term, we will find out!!! 

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...