Decorating for Christmas

Christmas is magical through the eyes of a two year old. Caroline is really excited this year. Every light, stocking and ornaments was a new adventure.  This year my family has been helping me collect Christmas books so we can read one book a day until Christmas day. 

She was serious about this decorating business 

My mom and dad came into town and took us and Jacee Pacee to Cagles for dinner.  It was great! Caroline doesn't pass up Cagle's beans.  

We finished the tree after dinner. We turned on Christmas music and got to work.  She concentrated on every ornament she put on the tree. All the un-breakable ones are on the bottom / eye level with Caroline.  She keeps rehanging the ones she was in charge of.

Caroline and daddy reading by Christmas lights.

New Christmas jammies 

Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for this year! I'm glad to have 5 days off with Chris and Caroline.

Wednesday I had a baby appointment.  Caroline got to go to this one and sat in Chris's lap during the whole exam. When the doctor listened to Ali's heartbeat Caroline commented that  it was really loud.  I think she was just excited it was my appointment and not hers. Ali is doing great- She was laying sideways and measuring right where she should.  

After the appointment we made a quick stop across the street at a huge playa lake where hundreds of geese were getting a drink.  Caroline had a sandwich bag full of gold fish to share with the geese.  As soon as we walked/ ran up there the birds scattered.  Caroline threw the crackers anyways and seemed pleased with herself. 

After feeding the geese we went to the Science Spectrum and discovered the rock wall. Although she didn't get very far up it was amazing watching her problem solve.  She only looked back once for help but watched an older kid do it and decided she could do it herself.

Thursday:

We went over to Nana, Papaw and Mimi's house for Thanksgiving dinner.   Eating for 2 was amazing -even better was the leftovers.

Caroline ate a whole twice baked potato by herself and about 4 bites of her daddy's. She also discovered she likes Mimi's pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

building a lego tower with daddy

Nana already had her tree up and Caroline loved looking at all her Santa ornaments and all her snowmen or olafs as Caroline calls them.

"Watching" the cowboy game. What a great couple of days it has been!

30 Weeks

30 weeks! Around 15.7 in &  2.75 lb.  {cabbage}

Heartbeat at Last Appointment: 153

Gender:  Sweet Little Girl

Names:  Ali Noel Prather

Symptoms: My stomach is stretching out and it has been hurting pretty bad. 

Maternity Clothes: Jacee got me a pair of awesome Old Navy maternity leggings!  I have been wearing them none stop.  They are so comfortable.

Sleep: Officially not great- just sleeping in spurts this weeks- Heartburn and aches have contributed to this.
Movement: ALL the time - She really likes to play at night when I'm ready to rest.

Food Cravings/aversions: I am really excited about Thanksgiving foods this week.  We will be with Chris's family and they are all great cooks.  Baby Ali you will not be disappointed. 

Here are a couple of pictures from the week:

Jacee, Caroline and I went to Holiday Happening on Friday.  We both got a couple of treasures for Christmas.  This has now become a tradition and I was glad to hang out with her.

Little Gym parachute- "Wheels on the Bus" Her favorite group activity. 

Sunday Nana, Papaw and Mimi watched Caroline while Chris and I went on a date to see The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1.  They all wore her out!

Monday I brought Caroline some left over butcher paper from school and we painted and colored all over it. 

Caroline's imagination is really funny.  Here she is telling me about not touching the floor because there are lady bugs in the carpet.  The funny thing is she kept pretending to eat them- This was her solution on eradicating the lady bugs from the house.

 Playing a little "buitar" with daddy tonight.

Stone Soup

Tuesday Caroline's class read Stone Soup and invited parents to join in. There are 3 teachers in her class at any given time and it still amazes me that they can get that many 2 year olds to do any sort of activity.

The book Stone Soup is about the whole village coming together to share their vegetables to make a delicious soup. Each of Caroline's classmates got to put vegetables in the pot.  Caroline got to add carrots to the soup.  When her name was called she walked really slowly up there.  Chris and I laughed at how shy she was being. When she finally got her carrots she threw them in the pot and ran back to us.

After the story the students went to the cafeteria and ate the stone soup they made. {beef stew and a roll}. Caroline only wanted the roll and apple juice.   I took Caroline home afterward and we played until daddy got home.  

At home Caroline wanted to go outside and play so I told her she needed shoes on..... She decided her Cinderella high heels would work.

Week 29

29 weeks! Around 15.25 in &  2.5 lb.  {Butternut Squash}

Heartbeat at Last Appointment: 153

Gender:  Sweet Little Girl

Names:  Ali Noel Prather

The little onesies are from Stephanie and Nana had them Monogramed with Ali's name on them. There is another  pink one that  Caroline wanted Harper, her baby doll, to wear.  Monday Morning she thought Harper needed a bite of yogurt and spilt it all over the little onesie so it is being washed.

Symptoms: At my doctors appointment Thursday my doctor and I talked about my Braxton Hicks contractions.  The great news was I wasn't dilated! The not so great news is she told me I couldn't  travel if I was still having them .  This certainly puts a damper on our Thanksgiving plans.  My next appointment is Next Wednesday.  She said  IF I didn't have another then she said it would be okay to travel to Startford for Thanksgiving.  I have been drinking water ALL the time and taking Magnesium which has helped with my charlie horse leg cramps.   

 Also at my appointment I passed my one hour glucose screening on Thursday (barely).  They said if I was one point higher then I would have had do the 3 hour.  It felt like a win!

Maternity Clothes: Maternity Jeans, & Work Pants.  I have been wearing a belly band everyday.  It seems to help with my back since my abs are out of commission. I have about 5 work tops that I wear over and over again.

Sleep: Still ok- just want my belly propped up by a pillow
Movement: ALL the time - She is a little gymnast in there.  She has been getting hiccups too which is pretty cute.

Food Cravings/aversions: Mina made some really good banana pudding at Randy's birthday party. She gave me a to-go bowl that didn't make it home because I ate it.  This afternoon Caroline and I  made a special trip to Rudy's to get little banana pudding for an after dinner treat.

Best Moments this Week: We had our first snow of winter on Sunday which means we had an afternoon to play inside. Then we got a late start to school which means we slept in and stayed in our PJ until 9:00 AM. 

Here are a couple of pictures from the week:

church buddies

New "snuggle blanket" Aunt Kelley got her for Halloween.  It is so soft and the perfect snow blanket.

On Sunday night Daddy put on some old country music and showed Caroline how to two-step.  She liked standing on her daddy's feet and dancing but her favorite part was spinning.  She told him "i'm dizzy- do it again!" hahaha so cute.

Monday morning- The roads were really icy and it took me about 40 minutes to get to school but it melted by around 2:00.

Monday afternoon Caroline was making a hand print turkey at school when I got there. Also on Monday Sara and I went and did our baby registries at Babies R Us. It was great using that registry gun together. The only thing I put on there was Pampers and wipes but it was fun walking around with Sara.