Stoned but Well

I'm kinda tired on tylenol 3 but wanted to update that my dental surgery went well. The dentist has me on the max amount of pain killer I'm allowed to take (which is alot less than what they'd normally prescribe) and since I can't take ibuprofen I'm a little extra swollen. I look like Jeremy's been smacking me around.

Jeremy and Tessa are having good Daddy time while Mommy watches reruns of House in bed. More updates later :)

Flashback

This time last year....

Early Halloween

Yesterday we went down south to visit room 42 and go to my cousin Kelly's Halloween party. Tessa was a Lion most of the day and seemed pretty content in her costume. Everyone at Hayden fussed over her and gave her candy. She was grumpy at first until she noticed how much attention everyone was paying her, then she perked up.

Amanda and Kelly went crazy with their crafty Halloween decorations. There was even a cake that looked like a box of kitty litter. But it was all a little much for Tessa. She spent most of the party glued to my leg. She was especially leery of Kelly's green face paint. I think she's not sure about Halloween but at least she likes her costume. Friday she is geared up to pass out candy with Daddy while Mommy lays on the couch stoned on tylenol 3.

So I get a bag AND candy to put in it? Wow



Mamaw Creech has a great treat for Tessa, a green dinosaur that talks
My favorite costume was baby David's chili pepper

Happy Homecoming

Yesterday we went to Purdue's homecoming and met some old friends there. It was cold and the game sucked but we had alot of fun. Tessa stayed with Erin, one of her most favorite babysitters, and they went to the children's museum. Reports are they had a great time and she's a perfect baby ;)

Mom and Dad were going to the bookstore so I asked Mom to snag me the biggest Purdue sweatshirt she could find so I could layer it over the sweater I was already wearing. Man I love my new giant sweatshirt. I have declared that the month of January I will wear only my giant sweatshirt and stretchy yoga pants with fuzzy socks.

Blythe and Stephany, two of my old pals and roomates. We're old ladies now.



On their way through town, Mom and Dad stopped by to visit Tessa bit and bring her a suprise...a replacement pumpkin for the ones that got stolen! We decided to keep this one in the kitchen and she keeps trying to figure out how to sit on it or ride it, with little success.

BOO-hoo! :(

Someone stole the pumpkins off our front porch last night, how sad is that? Probably some stupid kids in our neighborhood. They better hope I don't find them out cause I'll come after them!

Apple Works

Our MOPS group went on a little field trip yesterday to an apple farm. It was pretty darn cold but we had a good time. Did you know they will no longer let you pick your own apples due to health code reasons (think salmonella on tomatos). Lame! We also didn't get to ride the wagons because there were a bunch of school groups monopolizing them.

But Tessa was happy just to see the petting zoo. She was so wired up about the animals, I could only capture the one good picture above cause she was running around like a crazy woman saying 'moo and baa', but she was a little afraid to touch them. She did stick her face in the fence to give the goat a kiss but I told her that was a bad idea.

This is Tessa with her little friend from church who is only one week younger than her, so they go way back.

Tessa's a little bit obsessed with animals right now and this is her favorite book cause she can stick her face in and pretend to be one. We also watched a kids show yesterday with zoo animals that made her very happy. She really freaks out big time when she sees a horse on tv. Maybe we should get her a pony for Christmas and stick it in the backyard? ;)

$20 hopefully well spent

I got one of these today, a pregnancy support belt. I've been having more back trouble this pregnancy than last. I can only assume it's from lugging a 25 lb toddler around. Someone suggested getting one of these, so I'll give it a try. It's a compression belt, you wear it really tight (under belly) so it sorta holds you hips and back in place.

Feels good so far, we'll see.

I also need to drag my big yoga ball out and start sitting on it again. That thing really feels great on your back.

** no that's not a picture of me, haha. You're too kind to think I'm that skinny **

18 Month Check-Up

Tessa had her appointment today and is looking perfect as usual :) She had her last immunizations and is done until (can you believe) Kindergarten!

We decided to go for the flu shot this year after discussing it with the doctor, and I assume that was a good decision. I know there's alot of controversy around immunizations but it's still such a grey area I guess we lean toward better safe than sorry.

Her stats are:
-25 lb, 60th %tile for weight
-33 in, 90th %tile for height
-19 in head, 95th %tile
Tall and skinny with a giant head as usual.

Doc is happy that with her vocabulary. We were watching it at her 15 mo appt cause she wasn't saying much other than 'Daddy', but she seems to have had a word explosion lately (if only I could capture some on camera)

We made her next appt for April when she turns 2. Wow that seems like a world away!

Updates

Yesterday on the way to church our car (Scarlet) died and wouldn't restart. It was nice how the display panel said 'please pull over safely now' before dying, so considerate. So Tessa got to take her first ride in a tow truck and we got a rental for the week while Scarlet is in the shop. No word yet on what is wrong with her.

Also the insurance business is all cool with my dental surgery and it's scheduled for next Thursday, the 30th. So I'll be pretty miserable for Halloween but that's okay. Tessa will be mostly handing out candy with Daddy and may go to see a few neighbors, but no real trick or treating at this age. I'm just happy to get it over with sooner than later.

Happy 18 Month Bday

Today was Tessa's half-birthday, meaning she's officially 18 months old. Wow!, so hard to believe. I thought by this time her toddlerness would be driving me crazy, but I find that she just gets funnier and cooler every day. I especially love her learning more words and animal noises.

It was a gorgeous fall day today so we headed down south to North Vernon. It was a really nice and relaxing day. Jeremy blew off some steam by riding the 4-wheeler through the harvested corn fields (and other assorted ditches), while we hung out on the porch and relaxed. My favorite part of this time of year is Mamaw's persimmon pudding which is hard to describe, but simply delicious. Tessa had her first today and liked it.

this pic is really just to show off her pigtails

Just for fun, an updated pic of Peanut

ZZZZZzzzzz

I guess I snore when I'm pregnant. I did last time and I'm starting to again. I only noticed because I woke myself up a couple times, haha. According to Jeremy I've been snoring for a couple weeks. Oh well, I guess he has to get used to it!

Here's a little excerpt from Babycenter who suggests sleeping on your side but that won't help because I always always sleep on my side anyway. The other remedy?...birth :)

"Snoring is relatively common during pregnancy, although no one knows exactly how widespread it is. It tends to be more of a problem in the third trimester. In one study, almost a quarter of women reported frequent snoring and another 25 percent reported occasional snoring by the last week of their pregnancy.

While you — and your partner — may be less than thrilled about this new development, take heart: There's a good chance you'll stop snoring so much after your baby is born.

Swollen nasal passages may be at least partly to blame for your midnight melodies. Higher levels of estrogen during pregnancy contribute to swelling in the mucous membranes lining the nose and can even cause you to make more mucus.

What's more, the amount of blood in your body increases when you're pregnant and your blood vessels expand, which can lead to swollen nasal membranes as well. (Congestion from other causes, such as a cold or allergies, can cause snoring too.)

Also, the heavier you are to begin with and the more weight you gain during pregnancy, the more likely you are to have trouble breathing during sleep, because of the extra tissue in your neck and throat."

Oh I like that little jab at the end about how fat women are more likely to snore. Thanks for that babycenter.

We're Famous

My stroller aerobics class was in the paper. I'm just glad I wasn't in the picture...people should really be warned when reporters are coming cause I definitely didn't look photogenic. But here are a couple of Tessa's little friends : Daily Journal Article

New Flash, I'm Fat

As if you couldn't tell. Well Peanut and I had our 24 wk check up today and I've gained 8lbs since last month. In total I've gained 25lb, and doc advises me to slow down on the weight gain. I would only like to gain about 10 more but at the pace I've been going I'm going to over-achieve!

He asked me if I wanted a referral for a dietician at the hospital and I said no....I lost 50 lbs on weight watchers, I know how this works. I can pinpoint one of my big problems, eating out lunch. Since we are out on the town Monday, Wed, and Thurs mornings it's often tempting to pick up lunch on the way home which is usually not very healthy.

So I went to the store and stocked up on frozen lean cuisine lunches, much to Jeremy's shagrin and he's pretty much against all processed food. BUT...having something easy and quick to come home to for lunch will help alot (not to mention he's usually not here anyway!) Tessa can have avocado sandwiches or leftovers. She's not a big lunch eater and is actually pretty happy with just yogurt and a banana. It's me that's always starving!

I don't want to be too strict on my dietary rules but posted these new rules on the fridge: 1 x per week eat out lunch, 1 x per week ice cream, 1 x per week real popcorn, 2-3 x day refill my 32 oz water mug.

So there you go. Peanut is otherwise great. BP is fine and so his Peanut's heartrate. Tessa went along with me and stared a hole through the doctor during the exam. My doc's new nurse actually used to be our pediatric nurse so she remembers Tessa from the time she was a newborn and commented that she still has the same serious look on her face as she always did.

Men!

After dinner I asked Jeremy to hose down the highchair for a 'power wash'...it gets kinda crusty sometimes. Instead of using, say, a towel to dry it off or letting it air dry, he whipped out the leaf blower. That's Jeremy for ya.

New Videos

I managed to catch a couple great new videos of Tessa. The first one here is of her with her new snack cup. She loves to torment the dogs with it cause it has a cover that she sticks her hands in but they can't quite get their snouts in. The minute I gave it her she started throwing cheerios and running. So cruel.



And here she is today after tubby time. She likes running around with the towel on her head and would get mad when it fell off. Don't worry I was watching to make sure she didn't hurt herself.


By the way Peanut is really on the move these days, kicking me all the time.

The International Sign For....

......I'm done eating and am ready for my bath

Tessa's finally been talking alot more lately. Her favorite new things to say are no and uh-oh, and making animal noises. I've tried many many times to capture her animal noises on tape but she's too in love with the camera to focus. Her best ones are quacking like a duck and raising her hands up and going 'ooh ooh' for a monkey.

Also everytime the dogs get on a barking jag (every 4 minutes?) she runs to the window and says 'doggy, side'...and of course only I would know she's asking me if the neighbor dog is outside, which usually gets the dogs very excited. I think that's a sign she's pretty brilliant.

But the one thing she absolutely refuses to say at all costs....Mommy. Oh well.

Pumpkin Pickin'

What a nice fall day. This morning we worked on trimming the yard...I wish I would have gotten a picture of Tessa 'helping' sweep up leaves with her baby broom

Then after naptime we went to our favorite pumpkin farm down in Martinsville to collect our 6 pumkpins (us, Tessa, Peanut and the dogs) Tessa was a little confused about the pumpkins and there's no way I could get her to look at camera.

We're topping off our fall day with a baked chicken and mashed potatos. Yum yum.

Farm Blog

Mamaw started a new blog about the farm with lots of great photos. How cool is that?

http://www.woodsbranchfarm.blogspot.com/

Rubber Shoes for my Pregnant Feet

I swore up and down that I would go down as the only Hoosier mommy to have never eaten a Big Mac or own a pair of $40 rubber shoes.

Well I'm still good because while I did break down and buy a pair of rubber shoes, I refused to pay full price and got them on Ebay for only $30. But yes I am now the owner of my first pair of Crocs.

I'll admit they are pretty comfy and sorta cute too, and don't even have the holes. I'm hoping they'll be good for my occasionally swollen feet.