Valentines Day and 10 things I like about Spring...

We celebrated Valentine's day a bit different at our house this year. Rachel doesn't really understand the concept of holidays yet, but I wanted her to have something special for Valentine's Day, so I took her to Color Your World at Easton on Saturday while Duane was having lunch with a friend. That's where we worked together to create Daddy's Valentine's Day gift. (Picture to come when Daddy has received said gift, as it takes 7 days to finish.)

Because she was so well-behaved and it was a decent day for walking, I took her to Build-a-Bear in the main part of the mall. VERY CROWDED. I let her pick a bear and we waited in the agonizingly long line so that she could stuff her bear. She really enjoyed pushing the pedals to stuff him. I let her get him a headband to wear also, but we skipped the accessories otherwise, because she tends to undress her dolls and stuffed animals no matter what they are wearing. She seemed very pleased with her bear, but as we waited in line to pay, she had a bit of a meltdown. She wasn't screaming or crying -- she just wouldn't stay next to me, so that when I pulled her back to my side, she pouted and laid on the floor. (Might I add that if you see a mom in front of you with a grumpy toddler who keeps wandering off, it is NOT polite to try to move up in line ahead of her while she herds her child back into line. That does NOT help mom's disposition.) So by the time we left Build-a-Bear, I asked Rachel if she had fun and she said no. That broke my heart to hear, as the whole goal of that store is for the child to have fun creating their own stuffed animal (otherwise I would have bought a pre-made bear in the store for one-third of the price!).

We continued our Valentine's Day festivities on Valentine's Day. As a child, my favorite treat on Valentine's Day was a heart-shaped donut from Jolly Pirate's. My mom used to buy them for us on Valentine's Day (they also make eggs for Easter, shamrocks for St. Patty's, and pumpkins for Halloween). So I have carried on the tradition, it seems, because I buy them for my family on Valentine's Day. They are delicious and filled with so much cream! The texture of the donut puts all others to shame.

When I got home that evening, I received my gift from Duane. This year, I strongly hinted to him that I wanted some jewelry. I only have a few necklaces that I will wear, so I wanted something to show off. He delivered big time! I love my new necklace. I have worn it every day this week! It is made of white sapphires and rubies. He did such a good job picking it out -- I think he should get me jewelry more often!

Tuesday night was our official Valentine's celebration. My mom watched Rachel while we went to dinner at Red Lobster. We wanted to avoid the crowds from Monday, but we still had a 20-minute wait to be seated! It was worth it though. The evening was really nice. It gave us a real chance to sit down and talk without being interrupted every few minutes, and the meal was delicious.

The weather the rest of the week has been pretty wonderful. It is in the 60s now, which is unusually warm. I am not going to lie, I like cold weather. I don't complain about snow (though I do complain about ice) or cold temperatures (unless we hit 0 degrees). I like defined seasons. Summer is too hot for me, I love autumn as it cools off (though sometimes that isn't until November!), winter is nice because I get to wear coats, and spring is lovely (except for the rain). But I prefer to ease into each season and not be jerked back and forth between warm and cold. I guess I shouldn't live in Ohio. So this warm weather pocket has been very nice and I am trying not to focus on the fact that I am destined to be jerked back into cold, then warm, then cold another few times. So I have created a list.

10 Things I Like About Spring

10. Opening up the windows in the house to let a cool breeze come through.

9. OSU Spring Game! I really want to go this year, and I think it is Easter weekend, which is jam-packed with events for us. We'll give it a whirl though!

8. Not having to bundle Rachel in a thick coat, hat, and gloves when we leave the house.

7. Being able to wear jeans and a long-sleeve shirt and not be too hot nor too cold.

6. Sitting on our deck with Duane, watching nothing, talking, sipping coffee.

5. Tax refunds! I usually like to have this done in winter, but this year it will likely be close to spring :)

4. Easter! I think Rachel will get into the egg hunting this year!

3. Going up to the lake with my parents and getting out on the boat for the first time. Sometimes this doesn't happen until May, but I have a feeling it will be sooner now that they have their lakehouse.

2. March Madness. I never used to watch much basketball -- definitely more of a football gal. But I love March Madness. I run a bracket every year for people at work and their families and it is so much fun watching everyone's choices, especially when there is a big upset!

1. Taking walks to the park with Rachel so she can play.

Parties, Princesses, and Potbellies...

Sunday was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary! In this day in age, 40 years is quite the accomplishment, so my brother, sister, and I decided to throw them a big bash to celebrate their blessed day. However, we wanted to pull off a surprise party, so we planned the event for Saturday night, and my parents believed they were going to dinner with their best friends.

Stressful though it may have been at times during the planning, it was all worth it when my mom and dad walked through the doors and everyone yelled "SURPRISE!" It literally took my mother 20 minutes to get her wits about her, as she fought back tears and worked to overcome the surprise she felt.

I have to say that my parents not only raised 4 great children (yes, I said 4), they also have some of the most wonderful friends in the world. I have grown up watching them all with awe -- they are all unique and each couple has its quirks, but they all celebrate life in such a way that you can't help but have a good time when you are around them. I have grown up to be the person I am because of the community of friends surrounding me, and as one of my parents' friends likes to tell me, he is honored that the children of his friends have grown up to be his friends as well.

All of these wonderful friends and family members contributed to the party by bringing a dish of food, and we had gnocchi and cake as well. There was so much food left over at the end of the night, we could have left it for the Superbowl party the next day! I can't express my gratitude to those who attended and especially to those who brought a dish of food with them.

My contribution to the party was a replica of my parents' wedding cake. I had to use a 40-year-old picture (see above) to get the design, and it lacked some definition, but I think I managed to make a smaller-scale version of the cake. I was pleased with it, and I am awfully picky about my cakes. And more importantly, mom and dad were happy to see it. They even cut it and relived their wedding day by shoving it up each others' noses!

Meanwhile, Rachel has been her usual adorable self. She received some princess dress-up jewelry and some "clacker" shoes (as she calls them) for Christmas. She looks so ladylike, with the exception of the nose-scratching! She is obsessed with her Leapster Explorer game. I love it because it is educational. She is learning to count, learning to write her letters, and every day she continues to amaze me with what she knows! She is very much a visual learner, and she watches the game do something and then attempts to do it herself. I am so proud of her!

Baby #2 was moving a little bit a week or two ago, but I haven't felt as much lately. I think it will pick up quite a bit over the next few weeks. I go to the doctor for my 16-week check up on Valentine's Day. I am excited to hear the heartbeat again, in the absence of feeling the movement. Duane and I tried brainstorming some names the other day...let's just say it didn't go well. He is looking for a name with meaning, possibly something Italian to represent my heritage. I hated all the Italian boy names and the girl names he suggested weren't what I would prefer. He felt dejected after a while, so he gave up. I will have to try to find some "meaningful" names and make a list so we can narrow it down from there. Luckily we have about 5 months, and we just have to get it narrowed down to 2 names of each gender.

Things with the pregnancy have gotten better. My nausea has faded to almost nothing, my energy is back, and I am popping out just slightly (see 14-week photo to your left). I need to start exercising -- I sound like a broken record about that, but I just can't make it to the gym after work because Duane's car is out of commission and his van doesn't have a back seat, so he can't pick up Rachel.

Speaking of Duane, it appears that he got a big promotion at work! We are thrilled. Nothing is in writing yet, but his Regional Manager announced it on a conference call with all the other regional managers, and apparently they think the world of him at his company. So one of us is being rewarded for our hard work! Maybe he will get a company car so I can get back to the gym...

Experimenting...

I ordered a new lens for my camera, based on the experience of my friend Kim, so I have been taking random Rachel pictures to see if I can figure it out. However, Rachel rarely looks at me when I have the camera out, so I don't know how impressive they are.

In other news, I am starting to feel Baby Bean moving around in there. I couldn't tell if it was baby or gas at first, but tonight it was definitely Baby Bean. I am excited to feel that connection already! It will be odd going through the pregnancy without knowing the gender this time -- not being able to call Baby by his/her name. But I can't change my mind because I really want to experience that moment of surprise when he/she comes into this world.

12 weeks down, 28 weeks to go!

I think the first trimester might be the worst trimester in pregnancy. Some women will tell you the third trimester is the worst, because of the swelling, the big belly, the discomfort, the contractions....but I have to say that none of that compared to the my first trimesters. The first 5 weeks are pretty much uneventful for me. I find out I am pregnant and then hope that everything is okay as I anxiously await my first appointment with the OB/GYN. Around week 6, the morning sickness kicks in, which for me consists of constant, ravaging hunger. With Rachel, it was a bit of a surprise, but I learned to carry a granola bar with me at all times, and I was good to go. With this child, I found myself waking up at all hours of the night, STARVING. I would go downstairs and eat a piece of toast and drink some milk, only to find myself waking a couple of hours later STARVING again. I also find myself falling asleep at 8 o'clock every night, but I never feel like I have slept well by morning. I also HATE pre-natal vitamins. They make me nauseated beyond belief.
Now that I am almost a third of the way through my pregnancy, the hormones seem to have balanced out, and I am getting back to a better place. I feel queasy first thing in the morning and after I dinner every night, but even those moments are getting easier to handle.
And with all the crazy eating I have had to do to keep this baby happy, I only gained about 3 pounds at the doctor between my first and second appointments, and the doctor didn't give me a hard time about my weight for once. I am really struggling to be healthier with this pregnancy, which is difficult when you have annoying cravings for tacos and french fries! My goal is no more than 30 pounds, but it would be better to stay around 25, if I can. The baby was healthy at the 12-week check, with a heart rate of 154 bpm. The doctor asked Rachel if she wanted to listen to her brother or sister's heartbeat and she flatly replied, "No."
Oh well, we'll get there.
My energy is starting to come back a little bit, and I hope to get to the gym soon. I aim to be one of those crazy women with the huge bellies going nuts on the elliptical machine. =)
I don't have a feeling about the gender one way or another, but I am excited to start thinking of names in the coming months.
I would also like to send out a HUGE congratulations to my friend Carie Adams and her husband, who welcomed their daughter Norah Lane on January 19th. She is absolutely gorgeous, and I am very happy for all of them. I can't wait to hear all about her!
Hopefully next blog I will be feeling perfect again. The second trimester is definitely my favorite!

Big Girl Bedroom

It took us about 4 months of gradual work, but we finally got Rachel moved into her big girl bedroom last week. The transition was pretty seamless. She slept straight through the night the very first night she slept in her new room. She seems to think she isn't supposed to get out of bed without us, which makes me feel better that she won't be wandering around the house in the dark.

All we have left to do is some of the detail work in painting stencils on the wall. My brother designed some flower and bug stencils for us to use on the walls, and I need to get the paint matched against the bedding, and we will paint those on the walls. I also have some of the wall phrases that a friend gave to us when Rachel was born, and I have been saving them for her more permanent room. And obviously some window dressings. But this is the incredible transformation from a blue room with airplanes to a pink room with flowers and butterflies!

Happy Holidays!

I haven't blogged since we made our major announcement, so in case you don't know, The Wood family is expecting a new member in July 2011! We are NOT finding out the gender until the baby is born, so until then, we will affectionately refer to him/her as Baby Bean. My pregnancy has been quite different from the last one so far. The morning sickness was vicious at first, but it leveled out and has been far more predictable since. So long as I keep the baby fed, it doesn't bother me much. I also am surprised that with as much as I have been eating, and as big as my stomach is already swelling, I haven't gained much weight. I have basically gained back what I lost when I started Weight Watchers a few weeks prior to getting pregnant. I am aiming for a lower weight gain this time, but we will see where Baby Bean takes me!

That was the major news from November, although we did have a lovely holiday season all around.

Winter came early to Ohio, which I love. Though my dear friend Kim isn't too fond of the white stuff, I enjoy the 3-4 months a year where I can bundle up and see the beautiful snow on the ground out there. I am by no means a hot weather person. It will be interesting to see how I do with this pregnancy, which goes much farther into summer than I did with Rachel.

Rachel actually began to understand Christmas this year, though I had a difficult time explaining the difference between Santa and Jesus. The two seemed to intermingle in my Christmas talk. She loves the lights and the decorations, and she now requests Christmas songs with her normal lullabies (which include Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; the Alphabet Song; the OSU fight song; and Carmen Ohio). She had a great Christmas overall. Santa brought her a lot of learning games, a new Toy Story pull-out couch/bed, a motorized Quad (that goes a whopping 2 mph), and some dress-up clothes. She also got a lot of stuff for her new room, which I am happy to say is almost finished. We have her bed in there now, and she has been sleeping in there the last couple of nights, with no major episodes. The coolest "decoration" she received for her room was a new aquarium with two goldfish, which she decided to name "Dora" and "Boots."

Duane and I both have been off this week with Rachel, and we have really enjoyed the extra time with her. Duane especially enjoyed being able to take her to the doctor with me on Tuesday for her 6-month check-up. She went from the 10th percentile in weight to the 50th! She now weighs 29 pounds and is 34 inches tall. The doctor was really impressed that she knows all her letters and colors. In the car yesterday, I was amazed to hear her counting from 1 to 9...in SPANISH!

For NYE, we decided to stay in and relax. We had the hooplah last year, and although it was fun, it seemed more appropriate this year to kick back and be lazy without all the fuss. Next year we are trying to organize something kid-friendly, since most of our friends will have two kids by that time!

Happy 2011 to everyone! I am really looking forward to a new year!

Scenes from a Two-Year-Old's Life

Rachel got ahold of my small digital camera a couple weeks ago, and it has become her favorite hobby to take pictures of everyone and everything. It is actually really cute watching her, because she will tell you to smile or say cheese, and yet the camera is pointing in the complete opposite direction from you as she takes the picture. Sometimes I try to dive into the picture at the last second so she will get a picture of me, but she usually dives when I dive, so that hasn't worked out too well!

In addition to that hobby, Rachel started her gymnastics last Thursday. For the first week, it was a challenge getting her to understand that she needed to listen to the instructions and do the activities that the instructor was telling her to do. With all of the different activities in the gym, she wanted to do what she wanted to do -- not what the instructor wanted her to do! However, when I took her back the second week (this Thursday), she did SO much better at listening and following instructions. She still gets a bit restless, of course, as most 2-year-olds do when being asked to follow instructions, but I was very happy with how she did. She loves to do anything involving flips and sommersaults. If she seems to continue to enjoy it throughout the next 5 weeks, I will probably sign her up for another session in January, since the weather will still be cold and she will need a good outlet for her energy. I also realized I haven't had many pictures with Rachel lately, so I tried to snap a quick one with her, but she wasn't happy I borrowed "HER" camera.

Looks like we have some ideas for Santa Claus already!!

Speaking of the big guy, I was trying to explain God and Baby Jesus to Rachel yesterday to prepare her for the holiday season. Duane and I really excited this year, because she seems to be able to understand more abstract concepts now, so we are excited to watch her open her presents and realize what she got! However, I don't want the meaning of the holidays to be completely lost on her, so I have been trying to explain the extremely abstract concept of God to her. Not much luck there, but she very much enjoys the choir singing in church, and I am really excited to teach her some Christmas carols!

Today, I am headed to my second Buckeye game of the season with my mommy! We are going down to do a bit of pre-game drinking and then going to cheer on our Buckeyes! College GameDay is down at the 'Shoe this week, so it will be a madhouse, but I am really looking forward to it!!