Fishy Faces

Luc's company hosted a wonderful family day at the downtown Aquarium this past weekend.  We had a great time exploring as a family of three!  Although my body wasn't up for the adventure, I was glad went because I know our days of being a trio are numbered.  Caroline had a great time on the Shark Adventure train and Luc had a great time lugging her around (haha). 

The event started at 1:00, which is usually Caroline's nap time.  Luc and I were hoping she'd fall asleep as soon as we left the house, but she waited until we were 5 minutes from the venue.  Of course.

Fishy faces!

It cracks me up that with most things in life, she's fearless...but not on a Merry Go Round.  She refuses to ride on the animals.

Waiting for the Shark Train!

Still waiting on the Shark Train.  The wind picked up and carried with it some nasty odors.  Someone around us had not discovered deodorant yet.

The no deodorant culprits. 

Sharks!

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This shark pops out at the end of the train ride!

Fishy Faces!

Photo op with a bird. I love how to bird handler is posing for pictures.



The Aquarium had a white tiger. Very cool!  Someone on the other side of the glass was making him a little angry.







 

2 weeks until 2 years!

As I was checking my Ellie countdown calendar this morning, I noticed that Caroline's birthday is exactly 2 weeks from today.  I can't believe our sassy pants will be hitting that major milestone in 14 short days.  She's been a wild mix of love and temper lately, with a large dose of sweetness mixed in.  Caroline will do and say the craziest things that'll leave your jaw on the floor. For example, this morning she woke up insisting on wearing her Dora shirt.  Mind you, the first thing on her mind is usually milk and Mickey, but for some reason today was going to start differently.  I told her that her beloved shirt was dirty, so she walked over to her hamper, dug it out and proceeded to bring it to the washing machine.  Bound and determined?  I think so!  It's still in the washer because I was able to divert her attention elsewhere, but I'm sure she'll remember it later and want to use it as an afternoon outfit. 

Speaking of outfits, you should see all of the adorableness that graces our mailbox on an almost daily basis (Sorry, Luc!).  I *might* have gone slightly overboard on the whole sister outfits thing.  Let's just say that Caroline and Ellie will have a fun summer looking like the cute sisters they are.  Thanks to my Mom and the Facebook smocking sites, our girls are prepared for just about anything.  Now, if I could just get in gear and put it all away before Ellie gets here!

I'm a couple of days short of 35 weeks, but I feel like I'm 45 weeks pregnant.  I have Braxton Hicks from about 3:00 pm - 11:00 pm on a daily basis, spattered with a few real contractions between.  I'm starting my weekly OB visits tomorrow and I think she's going to begin doing weekly ultrasounds to check Ellie's size.  Not because she's tiny, but because she's HUGE!  My belly has grown considerably over the past few weeks and there's a slight concern that Ellie is going to be like James - almost 11 pounds at birth.  Don't worry - I won't let it get that far.  I'm not giving birth to a linebacker!  Although Ellie's due date is May 15, I'm hoping to make it to the end of April.  I'd love for them not to have the same birthday! 

I'm going to do my best to slow down with the nesting in hopes that the contractions stop.  Who knew scrubbing grout isn't a good thing?  I can't possibly bring home a newborn to a kitchen with dirty grout!  Or a porch covered with pollen!  Or a room that isn't perfectly finished...because, you know, newborns will remember those things.  I still think nesting is God's cruel joke on pregnant women.  He gives you the urge to make everything perfect, yet bestows on you a giant belly and the energy of a tree sloth.  It's just mean!  Thank goodness for husbands.  And two year olds that are pretty good with a Swiffer.

Here are some pictures that sum up our lives lately:

Sassy pants!  I just love that face.  This photo captures our typical morning - snuggles, coffee and Mickey.

She loves ice cream, so it's no surprise that she loved Tutti Frutti.

This slightly scary photo is a picture I took of our monitor.  I might look like she's screaming, but she is actually singing at the the top of her lungs...instead of taking a nap.

Luc and Caroline enjoying the train ride at our community Easter event.  I missed this fun affair due to an even more fun trip to Louisiana!

Our one and only Easter picture.  I took this one to show my mom the dress Caroline has on - it's the same one I wore to Easter when I was her age.  It's still in perfect condition and just as adorable.  Why no family pics from Easter Sunday, you ask?  Because C decided to vomit all over this pretty dress and mine about 20 minutes after this picture was taken.  Isn't she a sweetheart?

Silly Caroline!

Caroline was just SO upset that Matt and James were leaving after spending all of Spring Break with them.  She LOVES those 2 boys!

Snuggles on a Sunday morning.  I just love spending those sweet moments with her.

Luc and I took Caroline to the rodeo!  That's my sweet friend, Sarah, showing Caroline a massive bunny.  Katy and west Houston friends - Sarah is a personal trainer who will come to your house to kick your butt into shape.  She's amazing!  I highly recommend her!

C wanted NOTHING to do with that fake sheep.  Nothing.

When you ask her to smile for the camera, this is what you get.  So charming.

My fun trip to Louisiana was to say goodbye to my PaPa's earthly remains.  This is a picture of Rockefeller Reserve in way way South Louisiana.  The entire Maher clan met for the weekend and we had the greatest time saying goodbye to the ashes of 2 great men - my PaPa and Uncle Danny.  This spot holds a very special place in the hearts of our family because of all the good memories it holds. 

Me and my 2 favorite boys at Rockefeller.

Uncle Mike (dad's oldest brother) and Aunt Joy (wife of Danny, dad's younger brother) saying a few works after the ceremony.  Uncle Mike gave the sweetest speech!  It was so good that the gators came to listen (just right of Uncle Mike's elbow).  He has such a way with words, which is probably a good thing being that he's a college dean...

Our attempt that bluebonnet pictures.  Caroline wanted NOTHING to do with this, as you can see from her refusal to put her feet down.  She might have gotten spooked by all of the bees?  Maybe?  Or it could have been the ants.

Buddies.

What's in a Name?

What's in a name?  As it turns out, a lot...

Like I mentioned in my previous post, there are days when I forget that I'm pregnant (side note - not anymore.  I'm uncomfortable and sporting quite the round belly, so I'm constantly aware that I'm pregnant now).  Caroline is keeping me so busy and Luc's job is keeping him pretty occupied as well, so most days little baby Smith isn't high on the priority list.  Poor thing.  I hope she doesn't have 2nd child syndrome already! 

We've been kicking around some names ever since we found out Baby Smith is girl, but nothing was sticking.  Charlotte, Abigail, Claire, Ellie, Penelope, Eleanor, etc.  We liked Penelope from the start, but then silly Kourtney Kardashian had to go and name her baby Penelope, so we crossed that one off the list.  We like traditional names, but Eleanor seemed too old fashioned for a baby.  We decided on Charlotte for a week or so, but gave up on that name as well.  We were waiting for a name to jump out and say "That's it! That's the name!" much like it did with Caroline. 

I guess our list of criteria was just too much:
- no names that can be shortened to a nickname.  Luc and I are both nickname babies and not fans.  Especially me.  Erin Kathleen, but I go by Katie?  That's a lot of stress for a 5 year old to learn to recite before Kindergarten.  I still get funny looks when I tell people my name is Erin.  I tell them to call my mom and talk to her about it.
- no boy/girl names.  It has to clearly be a girl name.  We don't want any Dawson's Creek mishaps like when Joey ended up in the boys' dorm.
- traditional, but not plain.  Our last name is Smith...need something better than Mary.
- it can't be on the "do not name list" I compiled while teaching.  I only had a few from my days at my first school, and my second school had zero names that I would use...thanks to names like Tra'Angle and Diamond.

Something had to give, otherwise we'd take home a baby with no name!  Ellie kept creeping back into our minds and so we decided to go with it.  It was a front runner from the start, but we didn't like Eleanor as the long version.  We needed something better.  Then, one day, I was talking to someone (can't remember who) and they mentioned using Elizabeth.  It hit me right then and there - ELIZABETH!  That's it!  DUH!  Why didn't I think of that before?  It's my sister's middle name and beautiful!  If you're the person who mentioned Elizabeth, please let me know so I can thank you with a nice batch of brownies.

So there you have it, folks.  Elizabeth Kate Smith.  We'll call her Ellie from Day 1 and stick with it until she becomes a doctor/lawyer/baker and wants to go by Elizabeth.  Or until she gets called smelly Ellie and needs a quick way to stop it...either way, they are both great names.

She's only got about 8 more weeks until her debut, so I'm glad we got that figured out!  Now, if we can only get the nursery painted...

Third Trimester = Gastric Bypass

So this happened a few days ago.  I've been dreading it/blocking it out for some time now because it causes flash backs to my third trimester with Caroline.  Heartburn.  No sleep.  Being starving and only able to eat a few bites of food.  Not being able to eat anything red, fried or made with butter.  Sounds a lot like Gastric Bypass, huh?  It's caused by a large baby literally sitting on your innards.  Don't get me wrong - being pregnant is loads of fun, but these last weeks aren't exactly my favorite.  Things are a little different this time around because my body has already been through this once before and is prepared to deliver.  Baby Smith is head down (and burrowing, I swear) and kicking like it's going out of style.  I think there's already some sibling rivalry going on because she loves to kick Caroline while I'm rocking her to sleep.  I think it's adorable, but Caroline thinks otherwise.  Aaaaah, aren't sisters fun? 

Although my handy dandy app tells me I have about 12 weeks left, I'm hoping for 9.  And if I'm hoping for 9, that means I better get my rear in gear!  Our plans are to move Caroline to her big girl room upstairs and do some minor changes to the nursery to get it ready for Baby E.  (Notice I called her Baby E.  I think we've chosen a name.  More on that in the future.)  I want to paint the nursery pink and add some pretty shades of green, such as this rocker/recliner fabric I just ordered:

 

I love it!  I was looking for something different and found it at the Baby's First Furniture store in the Woodlands.  They had a big grand opening and I braved the elements (50 degree weather) to be one of the first 100 people through the doors to receive a gift bag.  Not too shabby!  As I waded through hoards of first time parents, I decided that I need to market myself as a baby registry consultant.  Those poor suckers have no idea what to register for.  Cute sheets and crazy pillows?  No!  Save the money and get those totally bland looking mattress pads that'll save you from buying a new mattress when your kid pees through his diaper.  Pretty blankets with lace and fur?  No!  Baby puke doesn't come off of fur.  Get the cotton ones that can be soaked in OxyClean.  Really pretty Kate Spade diaper bag?  Put it back!  If it can't be thrown in the washing machine or isn't lined with plastic, you're wasting hundreds of dollars on something that will smell like rotting formula after 2 months of life.  I need to come up with a marketing pitch and start offering my services this fall.  ;)

Other than third trimester pains, things have been pretty sane here lately.  Caroline started dance/gymnastics and LOVES it.  She's in a class with 3 year olds so she's not as skilled as they are, but I'm satisfied if she has a good time and leaves with a smile on her face.  

We went to the Kingwood Library for the first time last week.  She loved it!  And by "it" I mean the touch screen computers that had games galore.  They had some pretty cool toddler games that kept her distracted while I picked up an arm full of books. Too bad she's not all that interested in her new books.  She still requests the same 3 at bedtime.  Pinky, Boots, and Duckies...Pinkalicious, Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?, and Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings.  She's going to be really good at retelling these books one day!  By the way, thanks to whoever is teaching her letters.  She knows a lot of them and it's not by our doing.  Elmo?  Mickey?  Ladies at the gym child care?  What 22 month old knows "Q" and U is for unicycle?  Our kid!

Another first - painting.  I picked up some finger paints at Target and decided to let Caroline give it a try.  She loves painting!  I had to teach her that it's more of a stroke and not a stab, but she picked up on the concept pretty quickly.  

She spent a great afternoon celebrating Leighton's birthday - she was all partied out!  She couldn't finish her "pop" and remained asleep as Luc carried her into the house...that never happens.

 Monday morning- I was getting ready and she crawled into our bed.  She asked me to snuggle with her.  How can I resist??  Needless to say, our Monday trip to HEB was delayed.

Her favorite toy in dad's garage - bicycle pump.  Nutty child.

Here's Caroline modeling her latest Grammy outfit from Kelly's Kids.  I love it!  I bought a matching bubble for Baby E.  They are going to be cute, well dressed sisters!

 We went to eat at the newly opened Lupe Tortilla on Tuesday night, only to find that the wait was over an hour long.  We hopped on over to Johnny's Carino's and Caroline ate pasta and smiled for an hour straight.  She loves her carbs!

Sunday night - Luc was trying to run some cables through the attic for our new security cameras.  The last thing I tell him before he heads upstairs is "don't fall through the ceiling".  Guess what I heard not 10 minutes later?  The sound of Luc falling through the ceiling.  My gut reaction was to get up to see if he was OK, but my actual reaction was to grab my phone so that I could call 911 if necessary...or take a picture.  911 wasn't needed, so I took a picture.  Actually, I took many pictures but the first 20 came out blurry because I was laughing so hard.  Thank goodness he wasn't hurt, but it sure did make for a good laugh!  Caroline walked into our bathroom the next morning and was shocked - "Uh oh.  Dada broke?"  Yes, Caroline.  Dada broke.  But Mommy got it fixed.  It looks good as new and we found a new sheet rock/painter to help us out in the future!

We're spending our Valentine's Day evening with my siblings and their spouses at a local restaurant while Grammy and Backe babysit the grandkids.  I'm looking forward to a nice evening out!  We're also going to a nice French restaurant on Saturday - THAT should be tasty. We'll see if I'm able to get some food down before Baby E rejects it.  ;)

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

You better baby your baby

Today was Caroline's first day of dance/gymnastics class.  The first 15 minutes are spent doing ballet and the next 30 are in the big gym doing gymnastics.  Like, actual gymnastics.  As in high beams, rings and uneven bars.  I was shocked!  You want to know what was even more shocking?  Caroline loved it!  I never expected an almost 2 year old would be able to walk across a high beam or swing from rings, but she did.  She even did a forward roll on the high beam (with assistance).  The pregnant lady in me almost broke down in tears a few times watching her do these things.  I thought to myself that there's no way my little bitty baby is capable of doing such big girl things, but I had to remind that same self that my baby isn't a baby.  She's a little girl now.  Ugh!  Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.  Add that to a preggo's emotions and you get an emotional breakdown just waiting to happen.  Lucas is waiting for it to happen because he knows his robot of a wife will repeat Ugly Cry 2012 one of these days...keep waiting, babe!  It's bound to happen before baby #2 comes. 

Back to adorable girls dancing around in tutus - I went to Target and purchased Sweet C her very first leotard and tutus.  Again, almost cried but I held it together!  I hope she loves gymnastics as much as she did today because I went ahead and booked her birthday party at the Little Gym.  For a small fee, the Little Gym provides *everything* but the cake and promises to throw a fantastic party for Caroline and 14 of her closest 2 year old friends.  Being that her birthday and my 36th week of pregnancy coincide, I am more than delighted to have someone else host C's 2nd birthday party.  Only 3 more months until our little lady is a 2 year old.  I can't believe it!

At 21 months, Caroline is:

- brushing her teeth and washing her hands by herself
- knows a couple of letters, numbers, colors and shapes...but all of the characters on Mickey Mouse.
- obsessed with buckles
- sleeping 12-13 hours a night.  It. Is. GLORIOUS!
- throwing fits when the car carts aren't available at HEB.  Parents of young ones, hold off on that experience as long as you can because once they ride in the car cart once, it's all they want from that point forward. I've learned that a lollipop will stop the fits and allow me to shop for a good 20 minutes before more entertainment is needed. 
- putting on her own bibs (yes, bibs, as in 4 at a time) and crawling into her high chair for meals
- refusing to nap at Grammy's
- able to navigate through an iPod better than I can
- sporting a new haircut!  We chopped off the baby mullet and cut bangs.  
- asking to snuggle with me and Luc...precious!
- a total backseat driver.  If I break or accelerate too quickly, I get a rude "WOAH!" from the backseat.  Or "GO!" if we've been at a light too long.  I'm hoping she doesn't start yelling out some of the things that I *might* say when I drive...

My second trimester is going very well.  There are some days that I forget that I'm pregnant altogether.  I am quickly reminded of my with child status when she kicks or heartburn rages like a bull through my throat, but for the most part this part of the pregnancy has been really easy.  I've hired a personal trainer (who is fabulous!) to help me get in the best shape before this little one comes.  I really enjoy lifting weights and stretching with her, but I know that it'll get harder as the weeks roll on.  I'm hoping to do mostly yoga and cardio towards the end...all with the end goal of a shorter labor and recovery time come May.  I haven't had many cravings and I can usually ignore any that read their ugly head.  My current one is pie - like a chocolate cream pie - all because yesterday was National Pie Day and it was advertised everywhere.  I'm hoping it'll end soon because this preggo really, really wants some PIE!

Baby #2 doesn't have a name just yet.  Luc and I have it narrowed down to 2 (which is a HUGE improvement from 17!), but we're giving it a couple more weeks until we decide.  My mom has a few outfits to monogram and embroider and I know it's killing her not to know what the name is yet.  We aren't changing much as far as the nursery goes so there's not a lot to do before she arrives.  We DO need to move Caroline upstairs into her new room so I guess we need to decorate that...and buy a double stroller, and bigger diaper bag, and borrow a bassinet (anyone have one we can borrow??), and pick a name...


Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately:

Caroline is still obsessed with jewelry.  I let her stop playing in my jewelry box shortly after this picture was taken because she tangles everything!  Santa brought her a jewelry box of her own for Christmas.

Cheese!  She LOVES to swing.

She's also very fond of purses...many, many purses.

Such a cute little sleeper.  Might I add that her fat baby thighs are gone and have been replaced with little girl thighs?  So sad!

This is a picture from Thanksgiving.  We spent the week with Luc's family, including Miley!

This picture is a little blurry, but she's kissing Minnie.  Our neighbors had this pair on their lawn for the Christmas season.  Caroline had to visit "Mouse" on a daily basis.

Caroline loves Santa!

Cheese!!!  Playing in the tent with James and Matt.  She loves her cousins so much.

In addition to her jewelry and purse fixations, she also loves scarves.  She had to have 3 to go to the gym on this particular morning.  The ladies in the child center just laughed and promised to not let her choke herself.

Silly girls at the zoo!

I finally popped!  I think I was about 22 weeks pregnant in this picture.  I'm a little bit bigger now.

Caroline loves giving hugs!  She'll even pat your back if you're lucky.

She's a crazy driver.  Watch out!

Three cousins at Christmas mass, during Christmas mass.  Caroline had enough after 30 minutes.  She needed cousin supervision, hence the 3 amigos.

My two loves watching Mickey.  She now calls out the "Mystery Mousekatool" before Toodles reveals it.  I'm going to say it's because she's so smart and not because she watches too much Mickey.

Pretty day at the park

It's her favorite!  The lot next to us is finally under construction.  Yeah!

Sweet angel baby...I mean, little girl...