Happy Halloween!

I love that Halloween is on a Friday this year. There will be no rushing through the festivities so we can get the kids home and in bed by a decent time.

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For the past 2 months Ayden has said that he wants to be Batman for Halloween. Yesterday when I picked him up from school he announced that he no longer wanted to be Batman...he wanted to be a policeman. Well guess what. He's a pirate. That was the only costume left in his size at Target last night.

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I'm leaving at 2pm today for Ayden's school party. I really want to go to Jameson and Ayden's parties, but once Jameson sees me in the building there will be no getting away from him. Ayden's class does the trick-or-treating at 2:30 and then their party is at 2:45. Jameson's class has their party at 2:30 and trick-or-treating at 3:30. I'll join Jameson for the tick-or-treating. He's dressed as a chicken. He makes a very cute chicken.

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I wanted to bake the 35 cupcakes for their parties but didn't get around to it with daddy working late Tuesday and Wednesday. I ended up buying cupcakes from Publix last night...I feel guilty.

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We're taking Mimi trick-or-treating with us tonight before she picks Bumpa up at the airport. I love it when she's along because I'm normally too busy making sure my kids don't get run over so I don't take too many pictures. She's always there with her camera ready...thanks Mimi!

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Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Almost There

There is a possibility that baby Ava will be making her appearance even sooner than expected. Our darling daughter is in the "head down" position and has been that way for the past 3 weeks, only now her head has dropped lower into my pelvis. This is something that normally doesn't happen until 36 weeks (I was 32 weeks on Monday)! I've been experiencing some discomfort down there (pressure and sharp shooting pain) so I'm supposed to limit my walking, crouching and bending. I'm also still having about 6-10 contractions a day.

The good news is that Dr. Korotkin estimated her weight to be around 4 1/2 pounds on Monday and she's developing well. If she keeps gaining a half pound every week, she'll be at Jameson's birth weight (5lb 7oz) at 34 weeks. That's when I see Dr. Korotkin for another ultrasound. I also see Dr. McSwain (OBGYN) next Tuesday and then I'll move to weekly appointments with her. Right now, my new goal is to make it to 36 weeks (11/24). Looks like we may have a Thanksgiving baby instead of a Christmas baby!

I'm doing my best to take my doctor's advice, but when you have 2 other children to take care of it's not always easy to walk, crouch and bend less. The Chamber is kindly letting me park behind the building so that I don't have to make the 4 block walk to the parking deck. I'm trying to bring my lunch every day so I don't have to walk through CNN. Other than that, it's business as usual.

So please cross you legs (ha ha ha ... get it?) and pray that I can keep this sweet angel safely inside of me for a bit longer.

Boo at the Zoo!

Boo at the Zoo was more fun than I had expected. Mimi and Bumpa were such troopers and totally got into all of the activities they had for kids. As usual, it was a fun family trip!

The boys got to meet two of their favorite characters...

Curious George

and Scooby Doo

Daddy and Jameson snuggled while waiting in line for the choo-choo train...
and Ayden killed time by sucking on a Tootsie Pop.
I liked the juggler.

What are your plans?

The fact that we even have plans for the weekend is a good indicator that I'm working myself out of my funk. After our initial meeting with the coordinator at Babies Can't Wait on Wednesday and Ayden finally getting his glasses last night, I feel like progress has been made.

We bought the movie Transformers this week at Target and Jason and I have decided to implement Friday movie night at our house. We're going to eat popcorn, suck down some gummy worms, drink mass quantities of hot cocoa and watch a movie with our two munchkins!

Saturday morning 4 of the 5 divas are meeting at my mom's house so we can take a class together at Archiver's. This will replace our normally scheduled Scrap Club meeting on 11/2. After class and a nice lunch, we'll head home to our families.
Saturday evening we plan on taking the boys to Boo At The Zoo. We've never actually been to the zoo yet. Pretty pathetic. When we think about going, it's either too hot or too cold. Somehow when the weather is just right, we forget. Duh.

On Sunday (weather permitting and assuming Mimi has the time), I'd like to have our family picture taken at Starr's Mill. We go almost every year, but normally Jason is working. Now that things are slower he can't get out of the family picture thing. Ha!

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Somewhere in all of that I need to clean the house, do laundry, run to BJ's for a few pallets of juice boxes, buy Ayden's Halloween costume and Jason wants to finish laying the new flooring in the hallway. Oh, and I really need to unpack the plastic tubs of baby stuff that is sitting around Ava's room right now.

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Oh jeeze! I almost forgot that our wedding anniversary is on Monday!! Jason and I will be celebrating 7 years of wedded bliss. I'm not entirely sure how we're going to do the celebrating part with a 4 year old, 2 year old and a pregnant mommy but it'll probably have to wait until next weekend.

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So what are your plans for the weekend?

He Can See!

We were finally able to pick up Ayden's glasses tonight. Here are a few comments he made after putting them on.

Daddy! I can see betterer now!

Mommy...you look so skinny!

Ayden got chocolate ice cream for dinner after the second comment. Here's our little man in his brand new glasses...

Oops...how did that last one get in there? I was so excited that Ayden was willing to wear his glasses that I treated myself to a little cup of hot cocoa with about a million marshmallows. Any excuse for hot cocoa, right?

Jason said I could quit my job so I did. After next week, I can focus all of my attention on my children, husband, house and cooking.

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We're moving. A very nice couple stopped by last night and offered us $185,000 and we can't pass it up. The house that we've been drooling over out on a country road in Sharpsburg is soon to be ours. 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a full finished basement...who could ask for anything more?

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Rob promised Jason that he would never have to work over 40 hours again. And gave him a nice fat pay increase. I love Jason's boss.

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They invented a new Magic Eraser that works on TV screens. I can finally "erase" all of the adorable scrapes on the TV in the living room. Jameson can hit the screen as much as he wants now...mommy has her own weapon.

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Ayden woke up this morning with perfect vision and Jameson started speaking in complete sentences.

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Clyde has miraculously stopped peeing all over our house. This is a good thing because Jason said he would have all of the new flooring down by the time I get home tonight. Funny, I could have sworn he said it was hardwood but I thought we bought laminate.

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Landmark Christian School just called and they've decided to give us a 3-for-1 deal on tuition. No matter that Ava isn't even born yet.

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Oh my goodness...how could I have forgotten to mention that my parent's house finally sold? I guess that even in this time of economic peril, there are still some people out there willing to drop half a million on a beautiful home. Congrats mom and Peter!

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Who said you can't dream?

Random Tuesday

1. Jameson developed a fever of 103 around 4am on Saturday. It took us all weekend, but his fever finally broke Sunday night. I was convinced that the fever was because his ear infection hadn't cleared up with the first round of antibiotics so I took him back to the doctor yesterday. Ears look great but throat looks awful. We should have the results of the throat culture tomorrow.

2. Ayden's glasses should be in today or tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about them. I look forward to my baby being able to see, but it's going to be a tough adjustment during the first couple of weeks.

3. Ava's room is almost done. Jason got 2 coats of paint on walls Friday. Saturday and Sunday he tore up carpet, laid down laminate, took down old nasty blinds that came with the house and hung up new wood blinds. I'm surprised how good the laminate looks. Now all we have to do is move everything back into the room and make the window valances.

4. Jameson is not doing well with the morning drop offs at Royal Learners. I feel like a crappy mom leaving my baby screaming and crying for me as I race off to work. They told me he had a good day yesterday though and was very well behaved except for a few weepy periods. Everyone thinks he has the face of an angel and is more than willing to take him outside for special walks when he gets "sad". That child sure knows how to wrap people around his little finger!

5. I love that things have slowed down for Jason. He's been working normal days so we see daddy at night and on weekends. It's been a long 2 years of him being at Tyler Perry's beck and call so I'm enjoying every second we have together as a family before things pick up again!!!

6. I had an OB appointment today and I've been assured that my contractions and other concerns are perfectly normal. Apparently after you pop out a few babies your body goes into autopilot mode. The contractions are freaking out my boss but I feel confident that baby Ava won't be making her arrival for at least another 5 weeks.

7. We are completely out of milk and juice.

8. Both Ayden and Jameson need new shoes...you know, the kind that actually fit.

9. Speaking of being able to fit. I took out coats for the boys this morning (it was in the low 40's!) and realized that Ayden's coat is a 3T and Jameson's is 18 months. Hmmmm. I think we need to buy Ayden a new coat so that Jameson can wear the 3T.

10. I downloaded 412 pictures last night from the past 4 weeks. I started editing my Connecticut pictures but had to stop to lay down down with the boys. I had every intention of finishing up the day 1 pictures, but woke up around 10pm with a numb arm and a two year old's foot pressed into my spine. I barely made it to the bathroom without peeing in the hallway and then crawled into my own bed. Maybe after buying milk, juice, shoes and a coat I'll be able to edit a few more pictures tonight.

When life hands you lemons....

...make lemonade!

Ayden - We took our little man to see a pediatric opthamologist on Tuesday. To make a long story short, he's near sighted with astigmatisms which is why is right eye keeps crossing in. Dr. Greenberg said we brought him in just in time...another 6 months and his eyesight would probably have worsened due to the strain on his eyes. We had Ayden fitted for glasses on Tuesday and the lab technician's jaw dropped when he saw the prescription. Ayden's glasses are going to be so strong that they had to send them out to be made. Luckily, his vision should improve over time as long as he wears his glasses.

Jameson - This little guy has been demonstrating some pretty horrible behavior at Marguerite's during the past couple of weeks. Jameson has always been a handful, but apparently it's gotten worse. We love Marguerite very much but her house does not provide the structure and boundaries that Jameson needs. Jason and I have decided to move him to Royal Learners starting Monday where he will join the "younger three" classroom. Jameson is a very intelligent two year old (he knows his ABC's, numbers up to 10, colors and shapes) but we feel like his speech is slightly delayed. We know this is frustrating to him and is probably one of the reason's why he acts out. We're working with a state funded organization called Babies Can't Wait to have Jameson evaluated to determine if he has any behavioral disorders or if he just needs to work with a speech therapist to strengthen his communication skills. I've been pretty upset all week about this. No one wants to think that there is something "wrong" with their child, but it's something we have to consider. The evaluation won't take place for at least 45 days so Jameson will have plenty of time to adjust to Royal Learners during that time.

I'm almost 8 months pregnant and beyond emotional. After a few days of bawling my eyes out, I've finally realized that everything is going to be just fine. Ayden is going to adapt to his new glasses just fine. How exciting that he'll finally be able to see! Jameson is going to thrive in his new environment. He'll finally be spending his days with kids his own age and with rules just like he has at home. Jason and I truly believe this is exactly what he needs.

Speaking of Jason...he has been my rock this entire week. Calming me down when I needed it. Making me look at things rationally instead of basing things on emotion. And he's handled my tears with ease. The Tyler Perry projects couldn't have come to close at a better time. He's able to focus more on family now when we really need him. My mom has listened to me blubber on the phone all week and she has also calmed me down when I needed it. I know I've said it before, but I truly do have the best support system. I love them all and thank them so much for their patience, love and encouraging words this week!

Spaghetti Pie

It's been a while since I posted a recipe! This one is new for us and was a huge hit at the dinner table last night. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1lb spaghetti
1lb lean ground beef
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp crushed garlic (I love garlic so added 2 tbsp)
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce
8oz sour cream
1/2 chopped green onions
8oz package cream cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
3. In a skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef. Drain and crumble. Put crumbled beef back in skillet and stir in salt, pepper, garlic, bell pepper and pasta sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. In a small bowl combine sour cream, green onion and cream cheese and set aside. Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and add the cooked spaghetti. Spread the cream cheese mixture over it, add the meat mixture and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
5. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 more minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

Serve with some garlic bread and voila! This is a super easy dinner that even the kids will like!!

I'm a software snob

As much as I would love to know all the in's and out's of CS3, I'm a Photoshop Elements user. It's much easier to use and has many of the same capabilities at CS3. Currently, I have PSE 5 loaded on my home computer but I used PSE 6 at the CPR retreat and fell in love. PSE 7 is now available and already on order via my wonderful mother.

Last night after finally getting the boys to fall asleep, I wasn't ready to fall into bed yet. I really wanted to download all of my CPR pictures to post today but suddenly realized....I only have PSE 5 on my computer. Knowing all the fabulous things PSE 6 and 7 have to offer (like the ability to edit a JPEG in RAW), there was no way I was downloading my pictures to version 5!

I quickly pulled up the Adobe website and started to download the PSE 6 30-day trial. I'm sure mom's PSE 7 software will arrive before my trial expires (all of my fingers and toes are crossed). By the time everything downloaded and I had my pictures copied over from version 5 to 6, it was 10pm. I forced myself to go to bed but will be editing away tonight!!

Back to Reality

Yup. I'm home.

Even though I slept at least nine hours every night while in Stamford, I'm still exhausted. Traveling will do that to a person...especially when that person is 7 1/2 months pregnant. My mom, Chere and Judy dragged my butt all over Connecticut and some of New York. I saw so many fabulous sights and learned a ton about my camera and photography. I have so many pictures to share once I get them downloaded.

Today it's back to reality though. I have laundry to do, bedding to wash and groceries to buy. This morning I got to get the kids in the car and to school/daycare with a nice steady shower coming down. I didn't have enough gas to get to and from work so I had to stop and fill up. I have a dental cleaning this afternoon and tomorrow morning we take Ayden to the pediatric ophthalmologist. Yes, life is definitely back to "normal".

If you need a little pick-me-up and you're a Stephanie Meyer fan...check this out!

17 Hours

17 hours from now, a plane will be taking off from Atlanta heading to White Plains NY. And I'm going to be on it along with my mom and our dear friends, Chere and Judy. After our 2 1/2 hour flight we plan on taking our rental car for a 2 hour drive up the coast of Connecticut to Mystic. On Thursday, we'll be heading to Kent State Park for some leaf peeping. Friday and Saturday will be consumed with photography classes. I can't wait to learn, learn and learn! By 2:30pm on Sunday, we'll be heading back to Atlanta and our families.

I need this time away...
I need to regroup...
I need some sleep...

...because when I get back to normal life on the 13th, it's going to be non-stop until baby Ava's arrival.

Another Ultrasound

Today is a crazy day. Jameson is at home with Mima today because I'm pretty sure he has another ear infection. I made him an appointment for 3:30.

Ava and I had another ultrasound with Dr. Korotkin this morning. She's doing great and we're right on schedule with baby weighing in at approximately 3lbs. Midway through the ultrasound I had to go potty. When I got back I was surprised to receive a 3D ultrasound. I really didn't want to have 3D ultrasound done, but the tech was so excited about it I would have felt horrible saying no. It's just a personal preference, but I really don't want to know what my baby is going to look like before his/her birth. Knowing the sex is enough for me...I'd like something to be a surprise at delivery. Oh well, now I'm the proud parent of two 3D ultrasound pictures that my precious baby girl already has some chubby cheeks. Dr. K also gave me the thumbs up to fly to Connecticut this week so I'm a happy camper.

Tomorrow I see Dr. McSwain for another OB appointment. I really don't want to step on the scale for the weigh-in. Tomorrow night I'll be packing for our early morning flight on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to a couple of days away but hate to leave while both of my boys are under the weather. It's a good thing their Mima is here to make sure everything runs smoothly in my absence.

One more post for today

I don't like walking away sounding upset, depressed or miserable. I am non of those things. I sure hope no one got that impression from my last post. It's just that Brenda's story could happen to anyone if we're not careful and slow down every once in a while. My life is super crazy and hectic but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

It's been a while since I've really felt any creative juices flowing through my veins. I take pictures out of necessity rather than for the joy and I haven't touched my scrap supplies in almost 5 weeks. I'm very excited about my Connecticut trip next week though. I get a tingle every time I think about all of the bonding time I'll have with my Nikon D40 while I'm there! All these tingles sort of make me want to dive into a project. Something that combines photography with lots of journaling and minimal scrapping to keep everything clean and simple.

Do any of you keep up with Ali Edward's blog? Besides family and friends, I've been sort of avoiding the blogging world for the past 3-4 months but I've been getting back into it lately. Right now Ali is working on a "week in the life" project. She's taking lots of pictures of her daily routine, work stuff and family stuff. Every day she documents her family's activities for the day. After the week is over, she'll be putting everything into a mini book. She's done this before and I love the concept.

We have a lot going on in our family right now. Both Ayden and Jameson are going through some new phases, daddy is struggling to balance work/home with the Tyler Perry projects coming to a close and we're working on some of our own small projects at home. And then there's me...trying to be a good mom, wife, career woman and homemaker all while cooking baby #3 in my tummy. Lots going on = lots to document! Even if you think your life is boring and nothing changes day to day, Ali makes a point by saying that your emotions may be different so you'll view routine things in new ways. One day you could concentrate more on what's going on at work and less about the family. I truly believe that we all live interesting lives and they're worth sharing.

I'm really liking the idea of just keeping the book itself simple and concentrating more on the photos + words! I'd love to start the week after my trip. It'll be a busy week for all of us so there will be a ton to document. Let me know if you want to play along with me!

It really hit home...

Yesterday I was on such an emotional high after passing the exam. After having such a nice lunch with my mom, I had big plans. I was going to go home and take a well-deserved nap. But instead I ran a few errands and came home to admire Ava's new clothes. I'm never home at 4pm to watch Oprah, but there have been shows of hers that I've DVR'd if I thought they looked interesting. I really had her on just for background noise, but found myself glued to the TV as I watched a woman named Brenda Slaby tell her story about accidentally leaving her 2 year old in the car for over 8 hours. Poor Cecilia died of heatstroke due to outside temperatures reaching 100 degrees that day. I bawled my eyes out for 45 minutes until it was time to pick up the boys.

Before having children, I couldn't understand how something like that happens. I thought it must take one crappy mom to "accidentally" leave their child in the car all day. Now that I'm a mom, I not only completely understand how it could happen, but I'm scared of how easily it could happen. Most mom's today have no choice but to work outside of the home to help support their family. We're expected to have a career, pull our own weight financially, maintain the house and take care of the kids. We're expected to be supermom! I don't know who decided the bar should be set so high, but they should be shot. I can't tell you how many times I've left the house only to return multiple times because I forgot the camera, or I forgot the diaper bag, or Jameson's sippy is still sitting on the counter, or I forgot to let the dogs back in the house.

My routine is what keeps me sane. Without it, I crumble and feel inadequate. Without it, I know that things are getting missed. Maybe it's crazy to rely so heavily on a routine but it's what I need to make sure that things get done. Brenda Slaby had to deviate from her normal routine the day her daughter died. My heart goes out to Brenda, her family and all the other moms out there trying to be Supermom. Keep your chin up ladies!

To read more about Brenda's story, click here.

Pass or Fail?

Well, here it is....

I'm sorry. Are you having a hard time reading that? Let me move in closer for you....I couldn't be happier! I had a horrible feeling during and after the exam that I had failed so imagine my surprise when this was waiting for me out in the reception room.

So how did I celebrate this victory? I chowed down a double cheeseburger and fries with my mom and then she took me to Babies R Us to pick up some more clothes for baby Ava. Oh, and I just polished off this....

You can now call me Jamie Payne, CPP...Certified Payroll Professional!