Welcome Fall!

With the first day of September tomorrow, that means fall is officially upon us....well at least in my opinion!  That means that I completed decorating for fall and Halloween today and we are ready for all the fun activities that the fall has in store for us.  Pumpkin patch after pumpkin patch, hay rack rides, trick or treating, apple orchards, and of course our Disney trip in three short weeks! :)

Before I get to how we have been getting ready for fall, I thought I would post our new kitchen/dining room floor. It was installed Wednesday and we love it!  Even though every single time Simba walks in here he leaves a very obvious trail of orange cat fur all over, we are very happy with how it turned out!  Kevin, has been spending lots of his spare time painting the kitchen cupboards white. This takes a long, long, long time. With the deglosser, three coats of paint, and top coat (and waiting a day in between every coat to let it dry)!  It will take a while to get there, but we have one top section almost done, so that is great!

Now on to fall.  It's no secret that I love decorating for holidays, and Halloween is no exception.  Here are a few pictures of my favorite things that are up around our house now!

This Mickey pumpkin tree will be our centerpiece on the table, which we don't have now.  Our old one is in the garage from when we got the floor in, and we have a new one coming, but not for another 3 weeks!  It is much more practical for us then a counter height table and has much more seating.  Anyways...I love this Halloween tree, it was purchased last September in Disney World!

The mantle has turned brown and orange with pumpkins, candles, and an owl that Isabelle picked out (and I happened to love!)

A few more random pumpkins and fall leaves.

I got tired of our metal pumpkin wreath that hung on our front door year after year, so put this up instead.  :)  Isabelle wanted the pumpkin wreath in her bathroom, so that is its new home for the season :)

Front porch....I spy two little feet in the door watching me take a picture!

And of course, my favorite, another Mickey pumpkin!

Even the bathroom got a little Halloween makeover!

In other news...Isabelle looked so into watching Finding Nemo today that I had to take a picture.  (Yes for those that knew me as a child, that is my koala I have had since a baby that she now has!)

Every season, we also make something for Isabelle to put on her wall.  We have done Valentines, Easter Eggs, and flowers for summer.  Today we worked on pumpkins! She was so excited and worked very hard coloring, doing stickers, and gluing!

She put them up all by herself!

And while I am on the topic of decorating, we made a slight change in Isabelle's room today, which seemed to make her whole day!  I have mentioned before how she is so into reading, so we made her a little reading corner in her room.  Between the end of her bed and the window use to be a pile of stuffed animals and toys that were rarely played with.  Those are all now in the basement, along with a million other toys, and we moved her bookshelf here with her beanbag.  She spent a LONG time here today and was calling it her "reading corner" :)  It is a much better use of the space and I am so glad she loves it!

This blog turned out much longer then I had planned.....with that, I am off to bed.  Yes, the exhaustion is still in full force!  :)  Happy Fall!

Dallas Center Fall Festival

This evening we headed over to the Dallas Center Fall Festival.  Dallas Center is a town about 5 minutes west of ours.  The first reason we decided to go was because we saw that Abby Cadabby would be there.  Isabelle loves meeting characters that she knows and was very excited to see Abby!  She brought her Abby stuffed doll along with her. :)

Besides Abby, the town had a big carnival.  Isabelle was very excited about all the rides! She rode "Dumbo" first!

She then drove these little cars.  This was the first ride that she has ever gone on all by herself.  She was pretty proud of herself and so excited!

She went in this little "fun house" four times.  What a big slide at the end!

Then onto an even bigger slide with daddy!

And a ride on the pirate boat!

Followed by one last ride on the cars....

She looks like a natural driving this car!

This was a great way to spend our Friday evening!  We hope you all have a great weekend!

Isabelle has something to share with you.....

Our sweet little Isabelle has something to share with you. 

Need a clue?  It's written all over her shirt.

"Look whooo's going to be a Big Sister...Isabelle!"

We are so happy to announce that we are expecting baby #2!!!  The official due date given is April 9th!  Which means I am just over 7 weeks pregnant now.  We couldn't be more excited to add another member to our family.  So far, Isabelle seems very excited about becoming a big sister and talks about the baby constantly.  When I told her the first thing she said was that she didn't want the baby to take her Elly. :)  I explained that Elly will always be hers and she can pick out a new little blanket friend for the baby. :)  Isabelle is also 110% convinced that we are having a girl.  She has made it very clear she wants a sister, and only a sister.  Only time will tell.....and yes we will be finding out the gender when the time comes!

It seems like when you tell people you are pregnant so many questions come up, so I thought I would just write down a few facts so far regarding this pregnancy.  Plus it will be nice to have to look back on someday....

• Food just doesn't sound good.  I am constantly trying to think of what even sounds good to eat.  Some days are better then others, but nothing tastes good or sounds good.  I do have to be careful with what I eat since I am slightly anemic, but we are hoping the prenatal vitamins and all the iron in those will help also.

• Fortunately I have not thrown up or been too queasy.  I never threw up with Isabelle, just felt nauseous at the beginning, so I am hoping that continues through this baby!

• I am getting up 3-4 times a night already to go to the bathroom.....not fun....but I know it tapers off in the second trimester....before picking right back up in the third!

• Exhaustion.  All day.  All hours.  Sleep sounds amazing at any given time.

• I will be having another c-section.  It makes it so much easier knowing that it will be scheduled at a specific day and time and I do not have to worry or think about going through labor.  Plus I have the world's best doctor who I have been going to for 9 years.  I trust him with my life and feel 120% confident in his care over me and the baby, as I did with Isabelle.  The only downfall I have with a c-section is having to stay an extra night in the hospital.  But I have heard you can check out a day early if you are feeling okay, which is what I plan to do if they let me!

• Fun news is that my sister is pregnant too with her third child.  It is so nice to go through this with her!  And the crazy thing......her due date is April 9th also.  Yes, the exact same due date!  My parents are definitely hoping for different delivery dates! :)

I had my first ultrasound today and doctor appointment due to lots of cramping I had been having.  Turns out everything is just fine. :)  The babies heart beat came in at 159 bpm.   Hearing the heartbeat really made this all seem so real finally.  I know I have been pregnant but I haven't "felt" pregnant and it hasn't consumed my thoughts 24/7 like it did when I was pregnant with Isabelle.  I know this is because I am preoccupied with taking care of Isabelle all day and the only "alone" time I have to really sit and think about it is at night....and then I am going straight to bed!

But hearing the babies little heartbeat brought tears of happiness to me, and I am so excited for this addition to our family.  Up until today I thought we were having a boy, but the second I heard the heartbeat I was convinced it is a girl.  I am not sure why...but I guess we will find out if mother's instinct is right!

Here is a first picture of our little miracle.  The head is on the top right of the image in the black.  As the ultrasound lady put it today....it is like a little teddy graham right now. :)

We go back to the doctor on Sept 10th and are looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again then!  I remember with Isabelle it was truly the best sound in the world and so reassuring to know that everything was okay.

One of the biggest things Kevin and I are looking forward too (besides being parents to another angel) is for Isabelle to be a big sister.  She is going to be the best big sister and it melts my heart when she will randomly come up to me and kiss my stomach or hug me and say "Me love mommy.  Me love baby".  I am so excited for her to be a big sister.

Well, this post ended up much longer then I anticipated.....so with this exciting news....I am off to bed!

A Weekend at Grandpa and Grandmas

Saturday morning Isabelle, Kevin, and I headed over to my parents for the weekend.  Kevin was going to be at at White Sox baseball game all day Sunday and Isabelle has been requesting to stay over at Grandma and Grandpas again, so we stayed the night Saturday and stayed all through Sunday while daddy was away (Kevin came for the day on Saturday). :)  She had so much fun and did not want to go home.  She was asking to stay another night on Sunday but I knew that daddy would want to see his little princess when he got home.  So we will just have to schedule another little overnight stay. :)

Here are some pictures from the weekend!

Lots of playing outside! 

My Uncle Dave, and my sisters family came up Saturday afternoon as well!

Isabelle, Grandma, and I went on a long walk over to the water tower. She wanted to stand underneath it. :)

More playing with cousins....

Sunday we played outside, had tea parties, went out to lunch, and went shopping!

And of course jumped on the bed while singing "No more monkey's jumping on the bed"

We had a great weekend, and with trips to the mall and Target, Isabelle got lots and lots of new fall clothes and a new toy, and some Mickey and Minnie books. She had so much fun and I know Grandpa and Grandma loved having her stay as well. :)  Thanks for a fun weekend mom and dad!