Showed with love

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my friends?  When you live this far away from family, your friends play a totally different role in your life.  Yesterday four of my dear girlfriends threw me and Ansley a baby shower so that we could get a little "pink" in our lives.  Now, having had two sets of baby showers, I can say the clothes for the girls are much more fun!  I am thrilled that Lacey, Joannie, Jennifer and Deanna took time out of their busy lives (and these girls lead super busy lives) to shower me with love.  I have to brag on them for a moment.  They put such time and detail into the little things, from the beautiful diaper cake, to color coordinating the flowers to match the nursery, to each making delicious appetizers.

They even hosted the shower at my house, knowing that it would be easier to me not to have to transport the goods all over town. We were joined by several of my other good friends. These girls are ones that I know from the differernt areas of my life. But I love the fact that when we were all together the conversation was free flowing and it felt like everyone was included. Plus, after years of blue, dinosaurs, trucks and all things boy, I was able to feel....girly again! Here are a few photos of the shower, mostly so I can remember things as time goes on!

Example of cute girly things.  With Liam the closest I got was a little blue lamb costume that Eric refused to let me dress him up in.  He said it reminded him of The Christmas Story too much!



Several of my friends handmade their gifts and I was just floored by their talent. I love the fact that I can explain to Ansley the significance behind these items.



More great loot!

Surrounded by some of the most important people in my life.

Liam hanging out with my friend Sheacy's daughter.  She is by far one of the calmest, well mannered children I have EVER met!  I think we were all a little floored by her lady like behavior at the shower!



When we asked the kids to take a picture together, Liam wasted no time in grabbing little Kate's hand!

 

Jen, me, Lacey, Joannie and Deanna.  And of course Liam couldn't be left out of the picture!

Thank you to all the girls who were able to join me on this special day!

Fall

This fall has been really warm in terms of the temperature.  It has made it nearly impossible to actually get into the spirit of the season.  But we are finally experiencing some cool weather.  Hallelujah!  I say that and today is in the mid-70s.  But I will take what I can get. 

Obviously I have fallen delinquent on updating the blog again.  I will blame the several weekends of work that I have had in a row.  However, in between work and our normal schedules, we have hit up multiple fall festivals. So many that Liam has become accustomed to asking when we are going to the next bounce house. Being the "Mother of the Year" that I am, I have forgotten to take my camera to many a festival, but here are a few things that we have done the past few weekends.

Pumpkin patch near our old home.  We took Liam to go pick out his own pumpkins.  Until we saw the prices.  Yikes!  A medium sized pumpkin was like $35.  We opted for a cute little gourd that was about the size of my fist instead. 



They had a kid friendly hay maze.  Liam had a great time following Eric around in their attempts to get out. 

 

Success!  Cue Chariots of Fire music.

 

Liam picking out his favorite pumpkin and touching every other one along the way.



Dress rehearsal for Halloween.  Who knew how difficult it would be to find an age appropriate Halloween costume for a toddler boy!  The ones I found were either too mature or too cutesy.  And I can't be ruining my boy's street cred.

 Eric and I have really settled into our new digs (although we still have a lot of stuff to do around the house).  But we are loving our new neighborhood.  I think Eric said it best, "It is a little piece of Americana that I didn't know still existed."  A few weeks back we had National Night Out and a lot of neighbors gathered outside to meet and eat popsicles (temps in the 90s).  We have been enjoying going to the several parks around and playing with Liam.  It is great to see all these kids playing in soccer games and meeting other parents around our age. 

Our neighborhood has a flag program where the HOA lines the streets with large American flags for every patriotic holiday.  For the 4th of July they have a parade where kids ride their bikes and wagons, and dress up their pets in red, white and blue.  It is just really fun to be part of such an active neighborhood. 

One of our favorite things to do this fall has been to go to the Creek II Creek festival in our neighborhood.  Our neighborhood is technically made up of three "creeks." So they started this yearly party where they bring in live bands, food vendors, bounce houses, etc.  The afternoon that it was held, the temperature was perfect and we took the opportunity to go walk around, sample some goodies and play with Liam.  

The Creek II Creek Fall Festival in our neighborhood.

The boy loves his bouncey toys.

If I weren't almost 9 months pregnant I would have been right behind him!

Sheer joy! We went back in the line for this one about 5 times.

Enjoying the view from above.

Liam's school had a trunk-or-treat where he was able to get his feet wet on practicing what he needed to do for the big night.  This is been the first of his three Halloweens that he has actually gotten the concept of what he needed to say in order to get candy.  Heck, last year he wanted nothing to do with candy that was put in his basket and would promptly empty out his plastic jack-o-lantern when anyone would try to put treats in there. This year was much different.

Finally! Halloween night!

Cat and the Hat

"Daddy, are you sure about this?"



"Don't mind if I do..."



Victorious return, hopped up with sugar and none to happy to take a bath and go to bed.

This has been a really fun season and we have been trying to make a real effort to expose Liam to new traditions like watching Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin and having popcorn and drinking hot chocolate on those rare cool Texas nights.  It makes me excited for the next few sets of holidays that we are going to have and getting to build memories as a family! 

The time my water broke...but not really

For the record, I am only 32 weeks pregnant.  Some might think I am further along and I have had quite a few well intentioned strangers telling me that "the baby has dropped" or that "it looks like it might be any day now" or (my personal favorite) that "it looks like that baby might just drop out of you."  Yes, please.  It should be so easy. 

Today I went on a tour for work of a health institute.  During the presentation, the baby was obviously enthralled by the speaker's voice and reacted by performing somersaults in my belly.  The physician leading the discussion must have seen the Alien moment of my belly flopping all over the place. As I placed my hand over my stomach in an attempt to "quiet her down" or at the very least cover the flop show, the doctor stopped his presentation and asked if I was going into labor.  The well intentioned chap, possibly serious or joking (one can never be sure but there is a 50/50 chance) offered to deliver my baby right then and there.  While he was a psychiatrist he did mention that he has delivered at least 4 babies.  The cheap part of me wondered if he would charge my insurance if he were to deliver my baby right there during the site visit.  But I digress.  I assured him that I was not in labor and hopefully would not be for another 8 weeks.  Not to sound ungrateful I did thank him for his concern and made a mental note to tour more medical facilities as I neared my due date. 

As a nerdy side note, the Kaiser Institute has recently reported that health insurance costs have risen 8-9% in the past year, since the passage of the healthcare law.  Prompting me to recently joke with my OB that she may have to deliver my baby in the parking lot of Kroger in exchange for groceries.  Again I digress.  Blame my mommy brain drain. 

Upon exiting the facility today, I was drinking a bottle of water.  I had taken a moment to stop and catch up with a few of my counterparts from other offices.  I realized that I had not tightened the cap for my water bottle, but not before I had squeezed the bottle against my belly in an attempt to shuffle everything I was carrying.  The result: water, water everywhere: on my belly, down my legs, on the beautiful modern marble floor of the facility.  I, of course, realized my mistake immediately and looked down.  But all my colleagues saw was me look down at a puddled of liquid around my legs and shoes.  It was clear by the fear on their faces that they had suspected that my water had broken then and there.  I quickly explained my mistake but it took a moment for the horror to leave their eyes.  They snapped into action and their concern was that I might fall on the marble so they ran for paper towels. 

And then it occured to me.  What a fantastic way to get a good chuckle.  Or possibly get out of bad situations.  Traffic ticket, squeeze a bottle of water.  Uncomfortable confrontation.  Water.  Doing laundry.  Water.  The possibilities are endless.  In my first labor my water was broken for me.  So I was spared the humiliating stories that so many women face after having their water break in a very public setting.  Even as I write this I realize that this will come back to haunt me.  But for now, I think I just found a new favorite joke to play. 

Drama King

Over the past few weeks Liam has learned a new skill that he is carefully honing: The art of being a drama king.  I can't say for sure where he gets it.  His new task consists of slowly falling off of his tricyle, pulling said bike over himself as he wedges his limbs underneath the wheels, and then calling out for help.  The first few times this happened, Eric and I really thought he had hurt himself and had come running.  Until we saw the smirk on his lips as he realized that it was a potential goldmine in attention mongering.  As we began to watch from different corners of the house, we soon saw the whole shameful act unfold itself.  Now, I am contributing to the issue by taking a series of pictures on my iPhone of Liam and his..."work."  Enjoy. 

Caught in the act...and loving every moment of it.

Listening to my body

This pregnancy had been fairly text book.  I wouldn't say I was experiencing anything too different from my pregnancy with Liam.  Until recently.  I started having carpel tunnel.  My dear friend, Allison, recommended sleeping in wrist supports, which has drastically improved my circulation.  Poor Eric.  I am quite attractive these days what with my double wrist supports, retainer, glasses and big belly.  I am so thankful that man loves me for who I am....on the inside I imagine. 

Last week I woke up in the middle of the night with some abdominal cramping.  I thought maybe it was tied into stress and anxiety that I am having at work with several big events coming up, so I decided to ignore it.  But the cramping kept going for a few days.  I consulted my BFF Stephanie to see if she had these similar symptoms during her pregnancy.  We concluded that it was just tied into the round ligament stretching.  It sounds odd to say, but even though it is not my first pregnancy, things start to get fuzzy in my head.  Did I feel these pains the first time around?  Was I as big?  At what month did XY and Z happen? 

After a few days I found that the pain was actually getting worse, paired with small Braxton Hicks contractions that prompted me to finally break down and call my doctor.   Who, by the way, is the most awesome OB in the entire world!  So after it got to the point where it was almost too painful to walk, I called my doctor who had me come in for a looksy.  They did a standard sono to make sure that there was nothing obvious like a tear in the placenta.  Fortunately there was not.  But because my pain was isolated at that time to the right side of my belly, she had me go up to labor and delivery for more tests.  Nothing can freak a gal out more than hearing anything before 37 weeks, "why dontcha go check into L&D for some tests?" 

By this point Eric and met me at the hospital and up we went.  Long story short (and yes, I realize that this story is already long enough) everything was fine with le bebe.  With momma?  The jury is still out.  No appendicitis, cervix is still closed, contractions are still sporadic - which is probably not unusual for a second pregnancy.  Their best guess is probably kidney stones (also super common in pregnancy) or a stretched rectus abdominal muscle.  Unfortunately, there is not much you can do for either thing except take a little Advil and use a muscle relaxer. 

Being pregnant the second time around is a lot harder in so many ways.  During your first pregnancy you can be....well....selfish.  You can nap when you want to, take a nice hot shower, watch your favorite shows with your feet up, etc.  The second time around, you are so busy chasing and bargaining with your first child, working, and trying to keep house that you sometimes notice that your first and last rest of the day doesn't come until that little one is in bed and any minor housework is done.  It helps if you have a great partner like I do.  Eric has really been invaluable during this time.  Technically they don't like you to carry things any heavier than 20 pounds during pregnancy.  But when you have a 30 pound toddler, it is easier said than done. 

So I guess that this was my wake up call to listen to my body a little more.  Even though sometimes I physically feel like I can chase Liam down the street as he wildly drives his bike, or lift him out of his crib and pick up the dog, I need to rely on others for help for the remainder of my pregnancy.  For right now, my belly hurts like I have done a thousand sit ups in a row.  But at least Ansley is still healthy and strong.  And bonus: to add to my already stellar boudoir apparel, a compression band for my belly! 

Rantings of an anxious mother

I am not even sure where my days go.  I get up, get myself and Liam ready, take him to school and go to work.  At the end of the day, I pick him up, come home, Eric and I prepare (usually two sets of dinner), play with Liam, give him a bath and then put him to bed.  After that, Eric and I get the luxury of preparing for the next day - laundry, paying bills, etc.  These last few months before the baby comes, I am trying to squeeze in extra sleep wherever I can.  And I have to say, that I have the most wonderful, generous husband who goes out of his way to make sure that I am taken care of.  So all in all, life is pretty great.  But it is hard to imagine what life will like with the dynamic of our family changing in a few months. 

I am so grateful for the life I get to lead.  But sometimes I get a little overwhelmed with day to day activities and trying to balance being a working mom.  And from what I hear from so many other moms who have been down this road, things change dramatically between having one child and two.  I have been trying to seek out other working moms who have several kids to see how they made the transition and gather any advice they might have.  And I am trying hard not to think about the logistics of readying two little people everyday, one of which will need to be nursed before the day even begins.  Pumping at work....well that is a whole other story.  I am now remembering getting so engorged while at work when I was nursing Liam, that I had to leave meetings just to pump.  And trying to make sure that Liam still gets the love and attention he needs will be a challenge. 

With Liam I was a little spoiled because Eric was able to be at home with me so we were able to tag team it while I was on maternity leave.  But this time around...it will be just me.  These are the times I especially wish that we had family nearby.  Sorry to sound as though I am complaining.  I wouldn't want to be in any other situation than what I am in now.  But I guess I am just having the natural freakouts that come with increasing your family without increasing your time or budget!


Changing the subject (slightly) I am now 29 weeks along. As soon as Eric and I (and I really mean just Eric) paints the living room, we will begin work on Ansley's room. We still have yet to do a whole lot of work to Liam's room since he will be getting a big boy bed pretty soon with a vintage planes themed room.  It is amazing to be just how much Liam is talking.  When I look back to where he was just 9 months ago, and I see where he is now, it is really amazing.  And I have to credit his school with a lot of the knowledge he has gleaned.  This morning we were playing with a counting puzzle and he counted to 5 in Spanish.  I didn't even know they were teaching him Spanish!  And he can count to 20 in English.  I am so proud of my little man and can't wait to see how he continues to develop.  And now for some pictures. 

His newest obsession: Playing with bubbles.

His bubble blowing skills include more saliva blowing than actual air.

Mad when the bubbles run out.

And happy when they are refilled!

Checking out the new neighborhood on his Radio Flyer bike from Grandma and Grandpa Pate.  Best bike ever!

Finally nice enough to be outdoors.

He had been saying "Eat my dust!"  When he says it is sounds really meek.

Monkeying around.

7 months along.  At Lowe's this weekend, someone asked me if I was "walking the baby out."  I was like, "Uh yeah, in three months." And I had another person act shocked that I still had three months.  Like I should be getting ready to crown by the looks of me.  Sigh.

Been hanging around

I have once again fallen into a blogging lethargy.  I love reading friends blogs, but my own laziness has kept me from updating on anything going on in our lives.  The cliff notes version can most aptly be summed up by a byline I recently read in the local newspaper: "Dang it's hot."  But the plus side is that it is starting to get cooler!  I mean, today is only 97 degrees! And I finally convinced Eric is was "late enough" in the year to buy some yummy fall scents from Bath and Body Works for the house.

Plus, the end of this week marks my foray into my third trimester.  Pregnancy is starting to get to the uncomfortable point.  She likes to kick me at all hours of the night, lest I forget her presence.  We also picked a name for the baby: Ansley Claire Pate.  We have had a lot of questions on how to pronounce the name.  It sounds like Anns-Lee.  With Liam we decided to wait until he was born to tell people his name.  I had heard horror stories from people on sharing their child's name only to be told how the name reminded them of someone they hate or rhymed it with a funny word, or told that they should consider another name, etc.  But this time around I am just choosing to ignore any comments that come our way.  We love the name because to us it sounds sweet. 

I am still feeling pretty good, although this time around I have had a lot more numbness in my hands and feet due to circulation.  I am also at the point where I will start going every two weeks to see my doctor.  It seemed really soon to start seeing her this frequently, but my doctor assured me it was how often she saw me during my first pregnancy.  And because I love my doctor, I don't mind too much.  Especially because her waiting room is filled with great magazines like People and Martha Stewart Living.  I am fairly easy to please.

Two weekends ago I went on a girls weekend with the same gals I went to Florida with.  It was a ton of fun, but I forgot to bring my camera so I have very little to show for it.  My friend, Sasha, recently built a new house in Prosper so we all got together to enjoy the pool, long dinners, wine (for them of course - caffeine free root beer for me), and good conversation.  It is a reminder of how important friendships can be in one's life and how easy it is to get so wrapped up in work and family life that you don't take time to foster relationships. 

When I returned at the end of the weekend, Eric and I set out for the annual Central Market Hatch Green Chile Festival!  We bought our usual bushel of roasted hot green chile and spent a long evening peeling, sectioning off and freezing our green treasure.  Needless to say, we have since enjoyed Albuquerque Turkey sandwiches (roasted bell peppers, onions, green chile, smoked turkey and provolone on sourdough bread), green chile pizza at our first hosted little pool party with college friends, huevos rancheros, breakfast burritos and so forth. 
 

For Labor Day weekend we set out to visit Ryan, Jolyn and the kids in Wichita.  The last time we were all together was for Liam's birthday so it was a great chance to reconnect.  

This picture pretty much sums up the terrible twos in our household!  He actually did great on the 6 hour road trip, but we are definitely having to work with him on being so willful!

Wichita actually had a cold front while we were in town so the days were in the lower 80s and the evening actually feel into the 60s.  Ah Nirvana!  Liam slept in a big boy bed which was a relief since we will soon have to buy him one. We had a nice relaxing weekend which included brunch at the yummiest restaurant "Ya-Ya's", playtime at a great city park and a trip to their local arboretum.  And lots of eating.  All the Pate's can really throw down when it comes to good eating. 

Liam loves his cousins and the feeling is mutual.  Their relationship is unlike so many other relationships between younger and older kids.  They want him around, encourage him to join in their games and enjoy showing him the ropes on the things they know.  Jolyn and Ryan have done an amazing job in raising their kids and I often ask Jo for her guidance on raising Liam. 

Liam, Holly and Sam (not pictured Ansley in utero).

Playing in the music garden at the botanical garden.

Posing with Daddy on a summer day. 

The children's garden had all these fun and simple activities like watering the garden with water buckets and painting rocks with water.