neglected but not forgotten

so that playroom remodel that we started a couple months ago??? ummm...about that. 

it is still coming along.  we have made a ton of progress on it,

but not so much lately. 

in the last three weeks we have been distracted. busy. working too much. enjoying this weather. working in the yard. spending time with family.  

and most importantly enjoying our toddler.

as sad as i am to report that we aren't any further than we are on this project (it really does pain me, as i am kind of a slave driver when it comes to remodel projects) i am happy to say that we are in the home stretch!

this is the fun interactive wall that includes a piece of sheet metal to serve as a magnet board for hendrix to play with.

there is finish paint up everywhere, and the custom built-in window seat and bookshelves are starting to come along.

we still need a pillar installed for the light switches to be nested into. 

and lots of finish trim......

but we will get there.

this little guy is getting mighty familiar with the tools of the project, and he sure loves monkeying around on the ladder.

the orange is bright and fun.  

i can just envision how awesome this space is going to be this fall and winter when we have this little fella needing a place to run around, plus a lil' babe to entertain.  

oh and all the toys that will mean since we have to drag all the baby toys back out!  lol

i hope we are on a roll here and can knock this work out soon.  

i am soooo ready to make the call to have the carpet installed.  

hopefully just a few more weeks.....

pregnancy - take two

For those of you who missed my announcement over the weekend, you can check out the movie we created to tell our family's about our pregnancy here.  And for those of you who were wanting more details about it all, stay tuned.....I will be happy to fill you in!

I will be 10 weeks pregnant (already?!) tomorrow and we couldn't be more thrilled! My hubby and I decided we were ready to add to our growing family around the first of the year, and though we are surprised that it happened quicker than it did the first time around, I think the spacing of two years between children will be just about perfect.

Hendrix was there when we took our pregnancy test, and though he was completely oblivious to what his parents were so excited about, he thought that little stick must have held some significance and he was eager to grab a hold of it! Lol

We tell him that there is a baby in mommy's tummy, and he likes to lift my shirt up to give it kisses, but the other day he lifted his shirt up to daddy and said 'baby' also, so I think he might be a little bit confused by it all.....

He will be a fabulous big brother though, and having him around sure changes the whole dynamic of the pregnancy.  While I think that I have been less sick with this pregnancy than with my first one, I also have far less time to really think or worry about it.  My energetic, entertaining and adorable son requires all most of my attention.

There is definitely a small part of me that is sad there will only be another few short months of him getting all of our attention before things will be drastically changing......but then I remind myself that having siblings is one of the coolest parts of my life, so the changes will only make his life richer.  (though I don't doubt for a minute that it will be an adjustment!)

So let's see.....I have been feeling pretty good, though tired all. the. time.  I haven't had nearly as many food cravings as I have had food aversions.  I have wanted a lot of steak recently.....like more times in the last 6 weeks than probably in the last 3 years combined. lol  

i can't stand the smell of seafood.  

don't eat it in front of me.  

don't even have it on your breathe from earlier in the day when i see you.  

seriously.

I am already having a hard time catching my breathe after walking up or down the stairs....which is so weird because I don't remember that happening until much later on last time.  then again, i didn't have a 27 pound toddler begging "HOL-MA" all the time.

My tummy is starting to poke out there a little bit.

yeah, this is earlier than last time.

i imagine that little bit of extra baby chub that was still left over gave me a nice little headstart on a bump.  ;)

i am still wearing regular clothes, but i am bracing myself for the day that i have to dig out my maternity box.  i don't imagine it will be that far off.

i actually had a minor scare that sent me to the ER a couple weeks ago, and though everything is fine with the baby, it did allow us the opportunity to see the little peanut on an early ultrasound.  

that was super amazing!   

we have found that i might be prone to 'episodes' if i eat too many high-fat foods.  these episodes resemble gallstone attacks, which is really eery since i had my gallbladder removed a year and a half ago.  apparently the hormonal changes in my body from the pregnancy are kind of throwing things out of wack, and my liver doesn't want to keep up.

 this is going to require careful food choices, and regular blood work monitoring throughout the pregnancy.   my doctor is really optimistic that it can easily be managed and that i won't have any trouble carrying this baby to full term, as opposed to delivering really early (5 weeks) like i did last time.  

all the same, i am trying to prepare myself for an october baby, just to be on the safe side!

this summer is going to fly by!!!

hendrix has some big shoes to fill.....

come this fall.

he is going to become a big brother about the same time that he is going to become a cousin. ;)

i can't think of anyone else i would rather be pregnant with than my sister-in-law, hannah.....this is going to be a fun 7 more months!

little man

holy cow.

my toddler is growing into a little man.

he is almost 19 months old already, and takes every opportunity he can to express his independence to us. 

while he still makes an adorable subject to photograph......

it is very difficult to get him to sit still.  

and look at the camera?  what for?

he enjoyed trying out his easter outfit....and he really likes the hat.

cowboys wear hats, so wearing one makes him just one step closer to his beloved horsies.  ;)

gosh i love this time of year.  the colors sure are fun to capture in my camera!

happy spring everyone!

going to feed the horses!

hendrix horse obsession is still alive and strong.  he insists that we buy carrots every time we are at the grocery store, just to feed to the horses.  and then he has to hold them in the car on the way there, yelling horsey, the entire ride.

his love for horses has encouraged a love for carrots though, so i can't really complain about that.  i think that he wonders if he can eat enough carrots to turn into a horse...... ;)  we also feed carrots to his rocking horse, and his stuffed horse.  gotta share the love!

he is also getting more and more daring about the horses.  at first he was fascinated but a little frightened by how large they were.  he wanted to be held, and didn't really want to touch them.

now he feeds them all by himself, and sometimes scares me as he seems fearless of their teeth.  

we have to walk around and say hi to all the horses before we leave (which there are currently probably over 20 at the stables on campus, including 6 or 7 baby horses), oh and he knows the difference between the momma horses, the daddy horse, and the colts, and calls them accordingly.   

he is never ready to leave.  while he has gotten a bit better with goodbyes each time, it is generally a battle to get him buckled into his carseat after seeing the horses.  he has mastered the arched back and is very strong.

i am so glad that he is so passionate about something, and really it has been fun for me to learn more about horses.  they never really caught my interest before.

it has become somewhat of a tradition that whenever we have family or friends in town, we take them with us to feed the horses.  it is always fun to share his enthusiasm, and i think everyone enjoys watching him!

backyard bbq

the weather has been absolutely gorgeous and we celebrated that last week by dusting off our grill and enjoying our first outdoor meal of the season! 

We have a screened-in porch and plenty of outdoor seating to make it comfortable to bbq, and it is one of our favorite activites.  Turns out hendrix thinks it is alot of fun too, though somewhat distracting....

He was thrilled to help daddy cook, chatter at the neighbor's dog, climb around on the lawn chair, and play with his corn on the cob.  Eating, well that didn't really happen......maybe after a couple times he will get used to the experience and get down to business! 

I was so excited to eat corn, and it did not disappoint!  

Now that shorts season is here, hendrix is going to have to learn a more graceful way to climb up and down our cement steps, or his poor legs are going to look like this all summer.

Now that spring is really here, i guess we better start thinking about our garden. Wanna fill this little boy's belly up with fresh vegetables this summer!  yum ;)

Happy spring! 

day at the zoo

i took hendrix to the zoo yesterday and we had a blast!

he loved climbing on everything, and checking out all the animals.

we bumped into some friends, and ended up wandering around the zoo with them, but hendrix was never really ready to move from one animal on to the next.  he had to have said "more" over a hundred times while we were there!  he was especially fascinated with the big cats - tigers, leopards and lions.

oh and he really tried to climb into the pool with the sea lions.  

there were lots of different birds along with the big cats, but most of the other animals weren't out yet for the season.  we are most definitely going to have to plan a return trip soon!

this kid loves animals!