So, this is it...

On the way to "Little Kickers" soccer meetup with the moms' group. Annie loved it.

(Cue Huey Lewis)

This is probably the last post I'll be making before the much-anticipated baby number 2 arrives to sideswipe our lives with endless demands and impossible cuteness (just a hunch). I've been relishing every moment with Annie as a single kid lately. Where we always used to get out of the house several times per day, I've been perfectly content just staying home with her and playing with her and letting her tell me what to do (for which she has an incredible gift). We've been baking and eating and cooking and eating and playing and eating. It's like these last few weeks of pregnancy my body has just gone, "Screw it. Look at you. Just pig out." Of course, my stomach is the size of a walnut now because of this massive body taking up residence in my abdomen, so my version of pigging out is more like a day-long mini-meal session. It's almost like I'M the newborn who has to eat every two hours. If only I were satisfied with skim milk.

Annie's been getting more excited about the potential a new sibling holds, but I can tell she's a little anxious about the change. She's been talking about Houston a lot, wanting to go back to her old life, and last night we had a major bedtime blow out where she actually cried herself to sleep after multiple attempts on our part to get her to go to bed by herself. It just killed me. I wish there were a way for me to show her the future so she can see that she's always going to be loved and nurtured and taken care of the same way she was before the baby. Only it will be better, because she'll also have this little person looking up to her, thinking she's God and watching her every move in awe. What could be better? A built-in biggest fan! Well, I guess she's just going to have to see for herself.

We are also eagerly awaiting the arrival of another family member: Nana, or "Nan" as she now prefers. She'll be down on the 2nd for about 3 weeks, and we all are looking forward to showing off Annie's new tricks and culinary abilities and just settling into this cozy nest before one more chick hatches. Here's to hoping the other one doesn't beat her here, and, to safe trips, all around.

More Annie October 2009

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Fallin' in love again

I think I've already made this abundantly clear, but seriously, I LOVE THE FALL. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I had to whip out those slippers one chilly morning and had that sweetly hot taste of mulled cider floating in my mouth for the first time in years. Last weekend we went to Huber's, a Louisville autumnal staple (although it's really in Borden, IN)l. There, we got to take a tractor ride to pick out some pumpkins. She then visited the petting zoo and corn maze, and we had some cider donuts and mulled cider. While she enjoyed the pumpkin pickin', Annie was really excited about the fact that there are now so many opportunities in which to interact with heavy machinery and livestock. In addition to the horse meetup detailed in an earlier post, our mother's group also visited another farm this week where Annie got to be on a hayride and see chickens, cows, and horses. The girl's in toddler heaven.

In pregnancy news, my last appointment showed me at 2-3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. If this was my first pregnancy I would probably have the car idling outside the house at all hours "just in case," but with the second, I now know that this status could last for weeks. Tomorrow, we go to the hospital to take the Labor & Delivery tour. We're taking Annie with us so she can see where Mama will be when she's giving birth. We're hoping the baby holds out until Nana gets here on the 2nd. Me, I don't know if I can wait that long. My nesting is complete, having made the obligatory warehouse store run, cleaning out closets (even though we just moved here), building a shelf in the laundry room, and cooking chili AND soup simultaneously (because it just made sense at the time). I don't know if I can take 3 more weeks of these hormones! By the time my mom gets here, I'll probably have refinished the floors (seriously, the upstairs could use it).

Annie October 2009

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Horsin' around

Today Annie and I got to go on a gathering with a mother's group we recently joined. The kids were brought to a horse stable and allowed to feed and ride the horses. When I say "ride," we're really talking a horse with a kid on it while someone leads the horse around the barn, but still, to Annie, it was *thrilling*. She's been around horses before, but always a little afraid to touch or get on one. Today she took the horse by the reins, so to speak, and rode not one, but two of the sweet equines available, Ella and Socks. Ella was the sweetest of the two and nuzzled us and enjoyed our attention very much. I think that's what won Annie over. After that, she wanted to ride another and feed the horses (something she originally wanted to watch but not participate in). It was really fun for both of us, and settled Annie nicely into her role as Kentuckian.

We've also been busy enjoying fall again. Yay, sweaters! We made our first apple crisp, decorated a leaf picture for school and have generally been just enjoying going "brrrrrr" in the morning when we walk outside. I love it, and given that I'm 8 months pregnant with the body heat of one with twice the blood volume of a non-pregnant woman, I've been enjoying the chill thoroughly.