Parent/ Teacher Conference

This morning Chris and I had Caroline's parent/teacher conference at her school.  We also got her school pictures back today.  It looks like she is watching the commercial with the abused dogs with  Sarah Mclachlan- Angel video playing in the background. We practiced all week before her pictures on smiling for her school picture. 

As for her conference Chris and I got a great report.  She is doing good listening, tracing her letters, singing songs, stacking blocks. I knew she knew her numbers from 1-20 because she counts to 20 for us to roll the windows down in the car {a game she loves to play and made up herself}

Ms. Mallory said she loves having her in class. She is well-mannered and says "please" & "thank you". She sometimes likes to play by herself but plays with friends too. Some friends she plays with (now that Harper has moved} are Paisley and twin girls named Belamiy (pronounced bell-a-me) and Brylee. I think Paisley's mom is a teacher at Frendship but I have only seen her once.

One negative thing Ms. Mallory has told me is that Caroline laughs when she sees her friends fall down. How embarrassing that she picked that up from me..... and her aunts.

A couple of pictures from this week:

Our favorite duck park is under construction so we tried out a new one after school.  We brought a picnic dinner and played on the slides until it started raining.

We are getting baby Ali's room together and Caroline loves to play with her "toys". She plays with the bassinet, changing pad, and some of the baby blankets.  Notice baby doll Harper has blue painter's tape on her hands. These are Dr. Caroline Prather's new favorite Band-Aids for all her little patients. 

Daddy helping Caroline change Harper's diapers. She is going to be a GREAT big sister.

Aunt Jacee gave Caroline, Baby Ali and Dondi's little baby Jaden these little lions.  Caroline wanted to put Ali's in her bed tonight. 

21 weeks

How far along: Week 21{size of a banana}

Heartbeat at Last Appointment: 162

Gender:  Sweet Little Girl

Names: 

Ali Noel Prather- Once we found out we were having another baby Chris and I started seriously looking at girl names.  Chris has said this whole time he is a girl dad.  There were a couple of names I liked but they were vetoed almost immediately. He through out a couple but being a teacher made me cross almost all off the list except ALI because I really liked it.

I looked up the name meaning:

Ali : Sublime or elevate to a high degree of moral or spiritual purity or excellence

Picking the spelling was a little tricky. I'm afraid she will not be able to find her name on pre-made keychains in gift shops. 

Middle name: We went back and forth with a few names but settled on Noel.  This is Jacee's middle name and I think it goes great with Ali's name!

Symptoms: HEARTBURN, & Leg Cramps 

Maternity Clothes: Maternity Jeans, & Pants.

Sleep: Ok- Missing sleeping through the night 

Movement:  LOTS! I can feel her all the time. I can't wait for Caroline to start feeling her.

Food Cravings/aversions: Today we went to the South Plains Fair where I had a roasted corn and apple pie.  It was awesome!! Also Chris has been bringing me home hot chocolates from Starbucks- YUM!

Best Moment this Week: Seeing our baby on the monitor.

I found Caroline's profile at her 20 week scan and both sisters have their feet in their face. 

Also Lolly came for a quick visit on Monday- Never a dull moment with these two.

Tonight was LISD night at the South Plains Fair. Caroline was pumped!! We went to the petting zoo and spent most of our time there.  Caroline talked to the animals and squealed with excitement to be right there with them. It was entertaining to hear her talk about the animals driving home. 

Our baby

Chris and I had our anatomy scan ultrasound today and it was revealed to us that we have a healthy baby girl!! She was very active on screen.  She was flipping and kicking and putting on a great show. A couple of times she put her little foot to her face.  The ultrasound tech was really friendly and positive which made for a great experience. She had to be quick to get pictures of our sweet baby girl.

Here is one of the 3D images of her face.

Caroline is pumped!  She will be an amazing big sister.  

20 Weeks! Half Way There!

How far along: Week 20{size of a small cantaloupe}

Heartbeat at Last Appointment: 150

Gender:  Anatomy scan this Friday!
Names: Girl and Boy names set- Hopefully we will see Friday

Symptom: This week baby is trying to break out of belly and making him or herself very comfortable in there. Lots of kicks and movement.

Maternity Clothes: Maternity Jeans, & Pants.

Sleep: Ok- 5:00 am seems to be the time the baby is up and ready to play.  Probably getting ready for the outside world.

Movement:  LOTS!

Food Cravings/aversions: Nothing weird- Soups sound good, lots of pickles on my sandwiches. Also I love drinking chocolate milk. 

Good Moment this week: Caroline is sleeping amazing in her big girl bed! She is so proud of her room. Chris took this great picture of her peacefully sleeping with two sides of stuffed animals protecting her. The bed is so big that she is all over the place. Last step to be a true big girl is lose the paci. She is down to nighttime only but maybe before she goes to kindergarden it will be gone. 

A pictures from yesterday after school 

Making something special for her cousin Jaden's room with  finger paints. She gave herself that scarf- I think with that look people will start to take her serious as an artist.  

Little Artist

Sunday morning I was doing the dishes while Caroline colored.  She was talking about drawing a lion and to "come look mom!".  When I rounded the corner I realized she drew all over on a State Farm document my parents signed and dropped off. The top circles are the lion- I was told by little Picasso the little circles were the ears. I had to contact Lolly and ask for another....

Note to self: Markers go up one draw higher.

Big Gurl Bed

"I a big gurl mom!"  Caroline tells me excitedly for her accomplishments. Yesterday she said it when we were almost home - I looked back and she had unbuckled her car seat strap. The girl is growing up fast. A bitter sweet moment for me tonight was putting her in her "big gurl" bed.  She has been wanting to sleep in it for awhile but her dad and I have just been so reluctant for selfish reasons. 

The top two pictures are from earlier in week.  When she has been waking up in the morning she wants to lay in the big bed and snuggle under the covers. This week we bought 2 pool noodles to put under the fitted sheet so she couldn't roll out.The bottom pictures are from today.

Last night she woke up with her first ever ear infection around midnight and had a rough fever/painful night. Her daddy saved the night by getting up with her every 3 hours going back in forth from Tylenol to ibuprofen.  

We took her to the kid's clinic and it was confirmed that her left ear had an infection.  The doctor gave us a prescription for antibiotics and these great numbing ear drops. When she was doped up she was back to her old self and then it was like she hit a wall and she just want to lay and sleep. She only wanted to sleep in her big girl bed.  

Tonight we hadn't planned on letting her sleep in the big bed but she fell asleep in there around 6:30 -7:00 waking up for to get some medicine, a cool bath and to see Lolly and Granddad.  I started to take her in to the crib when she was asked to sleep in the big bed.  Her daddy said you can sleep in there but if you get out of bed then you have to go back into the crib.  

This seemed to be all the motivation she needed because she immediately agreed.  It was easy tonight to get her to bed because she doesn't feel good but we will need to make a plan for when she is back to her old crazy self.  Hopefully this is tomorrow- We need a goodnight sleep!

19 Weeks

How far along: Week 19{size of a mango}

Heartbeat at Last Appointment: 150

Gender:  Will know next Friday
Names: Girl and Boy names set

Symptom: Night time charlie horses!  These have really hit me hard this week.  The nurse told me I need to be drinking more water.  I will try anything to not be waking up to to leg cramps. Also Heartburn, Heartburn, Heartburn

Maternity Clothes:   Belly band for all my work pants.  Stephanie and Amy let me have maternity jeans that I have been wearing.

Sleep: Good besides the occasional leg cramp wake up call. 

Movement:  Kicks and movement internally but starting to see and feel kicks from the outside

Food cravings/aversions:   Sandwiches with chips shoved between the bread.

Aversions- I tried to eat tortilla soup while celebrating Sara's birthday and couldn't finish it because of the shards of chicken bits contaminating it but loved the chips, salsa and guacamole! 

Sunday school this week with 2's.

Kristen from my school gave me little girls clothes starting at 3Ts.  Here is a 3T dress that Caroline is wearing!  Hard to believe that is the size she needs now.

 Also Caroline found her lion hat and decided to run around the house tonight and roar at the cat.  Run Pip Run!

Disney Live

About 3 months ago Chris came across Disney Live Pirate & Princesses coming to town and he decided we needed to go! 

Chris got seats on the floor towards the back with no one behind us so Caroline got to stand up and see the whole show.

Highlights from the show according to Caroline:

1.  Caroline really likes to watch Doc McStuffins {a Disney Channel favorite!}The Doc made an appearance at the beginning and Caroline sang her theme song at the top of her lungs.

2.  Mickey & Minnie were the hosts of the evening and were a favorite for Caroline.  She waved and clapped when they came out and then looked for Mickey the whole show. 

3.  Sophia the First had  two bubble machines in the ceiling for the last song and Cinderella made an appearance!

4.  Jake the Pirates had a crocodile and had gold confetti came out of the ceiling.

5.  Her daddy bought her a lemonade in a princess cup. 

Early today:

It has been raining all day so Caroline decided to have a picnic for lunch in the living room. She has been asking to put her turtle tent up for a couple of weeks now and today felt like the day to do it.  Almost every stuff animal that she owned joined her for  lunch.

Here she is stuffed in the back because that is the only place she could fit.

Just wanted this documented somewhere: Caroline has hidden herself in the shower curtain for more privacy when she goes to the bathroom on the little turtle potty. Crazy Girl!

Labor Day Boys Trip

Chris and Gian went to Colorado on a man trip this last weekend and had a great time.  Gian invited Chris and got everything set-up.  They left on Thursday after Chris and my baby appointment and came home Sunday night.  Chris sent me tons of pictures and videos.  {I know I won't do the trip justice} but here are a few pictures from their trip:

Chris in his first day off road Razor.  They started early on Friday morning and were able to ride the whole Alpine Loop. Chris had a ton of hilarious stories from this day! 

Chris and Gian's wheel

Chris coming down the trail

Second day: They took different trails on the Alpine Loop.  The above picture they got out and touched snow in August.  They also saw a ghost town.

Chris took a great video of huge heard of sheep they came up on.  This was Caroline's favorite video he sent.  She watched it no less then 60X. She was impressed her daddy saw all kinds of wildlife.

They also saw a moose!

Chris had such a great time!  On Sunday when he got home we stayed up late talking and he told me all their great stories.  I'm so glad he got to go.