Dear Aaron,

Dear Aaron,

You are out of town. This isn't a new thing. Last February you were gone for three weeks, and I had no qualms. But now, I am pregnant and my hormones are straight crazy. After the 17th tantrum that Grace threw the same day you left, and me making the mistake of thinking "What if Aaron's plane crashes?" then crying into my cheerios for a solid five minutes, I knew that Saturday we were getting the heck out of our apartment. So, we got ready in style (and by we I mean Grace, because I'm pretty sure I wore my gym clothes around).

And then we went to the car wash, because it makes everyone happy.

The weather was gorgeous so I got Grace some new shades.

And maybe marshmallows were on sale for 99 cents, and maybe we ate them while we shopped and drove around.

Then Costco Gas punched me in the face by charging me almost 50 dollars to fill up my car.

We dropped our groceries off, which consisted mostly of DDP, milk, and the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies, and headed to the park. Spring in Texas does not disappoint.

Baby boy is doing well and seems to be growing by the minute.

Grace informed me that she was going to go and make me some water. I asked for vanilla flavored. I love that she is starting to use her imagination.

And then she wanted to swing like a big girl. Our baby is growing up.

In order to counter balance the chocolate chip cookies that we were definitely going to be eating later that evening, we went to Subway for lunch.

We both napped in Grace's room and then had Avery and Joslyn over.

It was fun to eat at a full table.

Grace was ecstatic when she learned that A and J would be falling asleep at our house. I had fun talking to their parents when they got back from date night. We always have great chats.

We were five minutes late for church this morning because I decided to do Grace's hair. Totally worth it.

My car battery was dead when we got in the car to head home from church. Who turns their car's headlights on when it is sunny outside? And then leaves them on? Yeah, me. Thank heavens for Ben and Jessica and their magical car jumping abilities.

We relaxed like champions this afternoon.

We know how to have a good time even when you're gone, but we can't wait to have you back at home. Come home soon.


Love,

Kara (and Grace)

Our Most Epic St. Patrick's Day

Please don't confuse this with The most epic St. Patrick's Day, because according to Pinterest, I am no where near that status. However, for our little family, this year's St. Patrick's day celebration was truly off the charts.

Now, our charts are pretty lame. In fact in 2010, Aaron called me in the middle of the day to remind me that it was St. Patrick's Day. In 2011, I'm pretty sure we completely forgot about the holiday. So any sort of effort on our part would fall into the "epic" category.

Now that Grace is a little bit older she gets excited for holidays. At Thanksgiving we did the Turkey Hunt, where she searched for turkey index cards throughout the house. She has asked to play that game a bizillion times since then, with a gentle reminder from us that we only play Turkey Hunt on Thanksgiving.

Enter St. Patrick.

In late February Target was selling little baggies of chocolate gold coins in the dollar section. I snagged a few bags and on the evening of the 16th we hid the coins all over the apartment. We taped one to Aaron's shirt the next morning and told Grace that a Leprechaun had come and hid coins all over, and he even was silly enough to tape one on Dad. Dora bucket in hand she excitedly began the hunt.

This Leprechaun was of the full-service variety and also left us some breakfast to satisfy our hunger after the intense coin hunt.

Grace was enjoying the Lucky Charms, eating mostly just the charms.

 Thanks to JoAnn's Fabrics and their 50% of St. Patrick's day decor.

For lunch we went dye free and had a green stir fry. Stir fry is kind of an obsession around these parts recently.

 In the afternoon we did a clover necklace craft (seriously, props to major sales at JoAnn's).

We all wore green and went out to dinner at Costa Vida, which has no holiday significance other than we had a free meal and it saved us some green (see how I worked it in there...high five).

 I think it's easy to guess who has the "Favorite Parent" spot in the bag.

We ended the day by reading books at the book store, which has nothing to do with the holiday either, but they were both wearing their green stuff so I tossed it in.

It was really fun to actually celebrate the holiday, especially since it fell on a Saturday and Aaron could partake in the festivities as well. I think we have started a few traditions that I hope to carry on.

Now Easter is on the horizon and I am trying to figure out how I can eat as many Cadbury Mini Eggs as humanly possible without having any caloric consequences....

Where We've Been...

Did you feel neglected? Sorry. I didn't realize how much living life we had to catch up on now that Aaron is done with busy season. Yes, he is done. Hallelujah, glorious day. We've been cramming 2 months worth of activities and To Do list chores into the past three weeks. 

Lunching

Smooching

DDP on tap-ing

Shopping and calling this mannequin "daddy" (still adjusting to having Dad at home), and possibly dislocating said mannequins arm right in front of the manager...

Chick-fil-A for breakfast-ing

Loving on sweet Devrie, and practicing for big sisterhood.

Playing

Soaking up the abnormally gorgeous weather

 Playing inside when the weather isn't so nice. Can you spot Grace?

Forcing Aaron to pose so I can get my manual camera settings right. Begging him to make a normal smiling face. Realizing that isn't really his style.

Belly obsessing.

 24 weeks

 Loving new neighbors

 Reading

Attempting to get Nolan to wear Princess slippers.

Snuggling 

Visitor-ing. Aaron's sister Liv and husband Joel came by for a little visit. They brought a slew of toys and books for Grace to inherit from her cousins.

 Grace was in hog heaven with all of the toys and attention.

 We had a blast hanging out together and I made sure that we got a picture this time.

So, all in all, we have been busy and happy.

 Very happy.

Thoughts on Pregnancy: 22 weeks

Taken at 21.5 weeks

-The baby is high, and my lung capacity is low. It takes me about 20 to 30 minutes in the morning to finally catch my breath and get a good breathing pattern going.

-The double seat attachment for my stroller arrived today. We're now prepped and ready to lug two children around town.

-I feel like my belly is stretching at a rate my skin hasn't quite caught up to. I now daydream about putting lotion on my belly.

-We have started the planning stages of rearranging Grace's room to accommodate a twin bed and the crib. After the pacifier break-up I'm going to hold off on the toddler bed transition. I'm not quite ready for the freedom a bed can offer to Grace.

-Prenatal Pilates is the best thing ever. Especially when it's on a DVD and can be done in my jammies. Although I'm sure Aaron could have gone without seeing me do pelvic curls at 7:00am while he was getting ready for work.

-Braxton Hicks apparently are my constant companion. I get them at least once or twice a day. I didn't have them with Grace until I was 35 weeks. But this time around they started around week 14 and have been going strong.

-I really need to get in the habit of making my bed before I take pictures in my bathroom mirror.

-Baby Boy does not have a name. We created a master list and have since thrown that list out the window. I'm hoping the perfect name magically falls out of the sky and lands in my lap.

-He officially has his first two outfits, lovingly supplied by each set of his Grandparents.

-In a marvelous turn of events, my once acne-riddled face is now supple and smooth. Bless you magic hormones, bless you.