"Pupper" love

Alli loves "Pupper". Pepper is very tolerant to Alli rolling all over her and today was no different.

Dining Room Changes

Our dining room/breakfast nook has always been a forgotten area in the house. The official dining room (according to the builder) is technically the front room when you walk in from the front door. We don't like that as a dining room so we've always used the breakfast nook. We've always wanted to do something to set it apart as the "dining room" but don't have a traditional room to do a lot of the nice things you can do in other house. So we thought it would be a nice touch to do a faux board and batten like what we did in our 1/2 bath. Eventually we will do crown molding in the whole downstairs but for now we thought this was a cheap and quick fix that would help set the eating area apart.

BEFORE

FRAMING the board and batten look

AFTER
We really like how it turned out. I don't have it pictured here but we also did this to the mini sections of drywall to each side of the pantry door. So now this has totally sectioned off our "dining area".

Next on our to do list is the Kitchen Remodel:
Tile back splash
New sink
New Faucet
Install garbage disposal (house came pre-wired for disposal but didn't have one installed)
Replace awful overhead light
One day down the road switch out our white appliances for black/stainless look to match the dishwasher we got on a super deal last spring.

Focusing on being thankful

I'll start this with a few pictures from our fun today. Ben found this play tent at Burlington while I was shopping for maternity clothes today. We had a feeling Alli would love it and we were right.

The blanket we put in for padding turned into Alli's blanket for "night night".

The final two smiles sum up the focus of this post. We've had quite a few things going on this week that could cause distractions, be taxing or bring us down but we've made a point to focus on the positive and be thankful. One of the most taxing things on me lately is that Alli has officially become the 2 year old that I hear most mothers complaining about. Alli's always been a good sleeper...she's 99% of the time well behaved and I'm so thankful for that. I posted back on Monday about Alli realizing she can now get out of her bed and open her door. This new found freedom has switched some thought process in her brain in regards to her sleep and the routine we "used" to have. This is where I have grown frustrated.

For the last 4-5 nights we've done our normal routine which usually put Alli in the mindset of bedtime and even though she might not want to go to bed, she was ok with it. Now this routine means nothing. As soon as Alli knows we're getting her ready for bed, the waterworks begin. Alli becomes extremely emotional and wants nothing to do with it. As soon as we say goodnight and shut the door, Alli gets out of bed and tries to come downstairs. We played this game the first night but the second night we had to lock her in her room to get her to realize bedtime is bedtime. She gets mad for about 5 minutes but then settles in and goes to bed. I don't like locking her in. So that second night I went back and unlocked her door after she went to sleep. Well this only resulted in Alli coming into my room in the middle of the night thinking it was time to get up. I had to snuggle with her for a minute and then get her back to bed. My sleep is broken enough as it is pregnant that I can't handle it. So we've had to leave it locked all night. Between the battle at bedtime and Alli's broken sleep, we've had an abnormally cranky toddler to deal with. Today was by far the worst. Alli whined all day long and I knew it was a result of no sleep so I couldn't be mad at her. It was so nice and refreshing to see her smile and laugh when she played in her tent. It made me smile and be thankful for such a wonderful little girl. She is a blessing and no matter how cranky she or I can get going through this stage, I'm trying to remember this and handle this stage with patience.

"ok, night night, bye bye"

Today was a day for a few firsts for Alli. Ever since being in her toddler bed, Alli has remained in bed until we come get her. This holds true even if she has been lying awake in bed for 30 minutes playing with her stuffed animals. Ben has been home the last three days and it has been wonderful. I think it played with Alli's mind though and she expected daddy to be home again today. I heard Alli wake up around 7:15 and got out of bed. I went to the bathroom to get my contacts. While in the bathroom, I hear a loud bang. The dogs didn't bark so I just chalked it up as a strange noise and went on. Shortly after I hear my bedroom door slam closed. Now this can happen if the door isn't shut all the way and the A/C or heat kicks on. But I knew that door was closed because I hadn't opened it yet. So as I'm thinking "who in the world is coming into my bedroom", in pops Alli's little head. I was shocked (yet relieved at the same time). So I told her good morning. She then asks me, "daddy?" I told her, "No baby, daddy is at work today. You are home with me today." She then says, "ok, night night, bye bye" and shuts the bathroom door. I couldn't help but laugh to myself. Then I called out to her and she opened the door back up. I asked her if she wanted to stay up. She then said no and tried to shut the door again. I followed her out and she ran down to her bedroom. When we got to her bedroom, she shut me out and went to lay on her bed. I turned on her monitor to watch her for a minute. She tucked herself back in bed and laid there for a few minutes. I guess she decided mommy was enough for today and got back out of bed asking to play. Ben and I both got a good laugh out of this this morning and we thought we would share. I told Ben that the days of Alli staying in bed were over. She did well going down for a nap so we'll see what she does when she wakes up.

Another first for Alli today was finding more independence. We spend a lot of time downstairs and therefore don't get to play much in her room. This morning I told Alli, instead of bringing some of her toys downstairs, why don't we go and get breakfast, then come back upstairs to play. She liked this idea and when we came back upstairs she immediately went for her toys. I turned her bedroom light on so she wouldn't be afraid to go in and out. I went to get a shower and to my shock, she pretty much left me alone the whole time and played in the her room or in my bedroom. I'm glad to see her achieving independence. It would be nice to be able to work on some crafts in my bedroom while Alli plays in her room.....yay!

Happy Halloween

Alli borrowed this fun red/white tutu from Shannon for Halloween this year. I tried wings on her in the store and she didn't like them on her back so we just let her go with the tutu and just have some fun. Here she is below with some new foam toys we got at the dollar bin at Target. She loves to rough house with these! Watch out puppies! (Seriously considered letting her go as "Alli warrior princess"
Alli really seemed to enjoy getting candy from all of our neighbors. We walked with a huge group of people from our street. It was a fun night!

Happy Halloween!

Boy vs. Girl

Well first I will start with the ultrasound pictures. There were only a couple good ones so here they are.

Face and hand....although hard to see when he was buried away from the ultrasound.

Face

And...the money shot.

I'm not sure how to express my feelings on us having a boy other than I was a little surprised. I'm not sure why. I've had an inkling that this baby was going to be a boy just because of some of the differences with this pregnancy. We are happy either way and it will be nice to have a boy and a girl. As I mentioned this pregnancy has had some differences. I think for my own personal record, I'll post the comparison.

Alli:

• Sick 4-6 weeks (24/7 nausea)
• Gained 17 lbs total
• Normal appetite except when I was sick
• No noticeable food cravings other than milk...couldn't get enough milk
• Allergies weren't bad and didn't get bad sinus headaches
  

Baby Boy

• Sick 1.5 weeks (wasn't 24/7 nausea but just an occasional feeling)
• I'm 19 weeks and already gained 11 lbs
• Hungry all the flipping time!!!
  
• Craving meat a lot - especially burgers...
• Allergies are HORRIBLE and have terrible sinus/migraine headaches that last 2-3 days. All I can take is tylenol and that just doesn't cut it.
  

The pregnancies also share some similarities:

• Both babies were stubborn and buried so deep during the 19 week ultrasound that I have had to return for a second ultrasound for further review. Alli stayed low the entire pregnancy. Not sure if this one will too
• Constant fatigue. They say you lose energy during 1st and 3rd trimester but the 2nd you should feel great...yeah...NOT SO MUCH! I think my Achilles heel is my allergy/sinus problem. I can't be on my normal allergy medicine while pregnant and what I can take just isn't strong enough. The end of summer and fall has killed me in regards to the dry dust and wind blowing around whatever is blooming.

Anyway, so there's the scoop. We are contemplating the name Gabrial. Normally this name is seen spelled Gabriel but in our family history the ancestors name was spelled with an A...so who knows. Anyway we haven't figured out a middle name that works with Gabrial yet. Also, I've determined the middle name cannot start with an A. We don't need our child having the initials "GAS". So there ya go. :)

Bedtime Fun

We love it when daddy is home and a typical bedtime routine for us always includes some fun. The most recent addition to the routine appeared one night when Ben was checking out his sleeping bags in the closet. Ben has a wild idea which looks painful to me but Alli LOVES it. Enjoy!

One of my favorite things at night is sitting with Alli and reading through some of her books. Recently she started reading with me on one particular book "Moo Baa LaLaLa". Alli loves the books by this author and this one might be her favorite. The first time she read along with me just made me laugh so much. So I hope you guys enjoy it too.

Final note...we find out the gender on baby 2 tomorrow...stay tuned. :)