I Heart Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!

We had a really great weekend of Halloween related activities with Miss Mars...she is just so much fun and so stinkin' funny that I can't get enough of her.  Smarter and smarter everyday...she's turning into quite the chatterbox, and into little miss independent.  We have a stubborn one on our hands, sad but true.  On Saturday morning, we headed off to Marley's last session of fall swimming lessons at the YMCA.  Travis asked her in the morning who she wanted to swim with that day, and her response was, "Daddy!"  Good choice, Mars...momma was not feeling like stuffing myself into a swimsuit that morning!  Girls got my back!!  She was kicking and swimming and splashing up a storm, having so much fun!  Loved the lessons and we'll be back for the next level come early spring! 

We headed to the 50th and France Pumpkin Festival after swimming for a bit of trick-or-treating.  It really was more like Marley bull-dozing people on the sidewalk and trying to touch other kids costumes, which was fine, but she ran out of steam really fast!  She's probably a bit too young for the whole trick-or-treating stuff, but it was fun to get her out and about...and I may be biased, but she was the CUTEST COWGIRL ever!!!!

Marley had a Halloween party at daycare today.....and it seems that she had tons of fun!  We baked/frosted cookies together on Sunday (what a mess) and packed them up in little bags for her to give to her friends at "school"!!  I guess I didn't realize that this whole making sugar cookies and frosting them process takes, what seems like, an eternity!  I feel like I spent ALL DAY making cookies!  The finished product turned out nicely, though I disagree with the 15 minutes that Martha Stewart told me to bake my cookies for...they were overdone and when Trav sampled them, he looked at me and said, "I chipped my tooth!"  He was only half-joking..........thanks hubby!  This is why I don't bake more often, unless it's bars, but they usually don't require any actual time spent in the oven!!  You'll notice from the photo that I have a little cookie thief on my hands...

Pumpkins galore..........pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bellies, pumpkin carving!  My sister stopped over on Saturday night and suggested we paint my belly into a pumpkin!  I didn't do this when I was pregnant with Marley, though I was 31 weeks along with her at Halloween and certainly could have.  So, I thought, what the heck...........and off to Jo-Ann's we went for some soy paint (good for people, as the bottle states...what it didn't state is that it will not wash out of my favorite pair of black yoga pants which are pretty much my uniform these days).  Just as we started painting my pumpkin belly, Marley insisted on having hers done too...and patience, well, she doesn't have any, so auntie painted Miss Marley first.  I was pleased with the end result!

 

Our pumpkin carving session on Sunday night was really more about Marley acting like a silly girl with daddy...we had to side-line the actual carving until after she went to bed!  They are so cute together though and it amazes me how much she just ADORES him!!!!  I mean, it doesn't amaze me...I knew he would be a great father, but I just love the way they are together and LOVE even more how much they love each other!

 In pregnancy news...we’re nearing the finish line and I’m definitely feeling BLAH!  I’m just plain exhausted…much more so this time around.  Sick of my aching lower back.  Sick of flipping from side to side at night, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.  Sick of being out of breath, which in turn makes me feel like a big pile of crap.  Even more sick of stuffing my big ol’ belly into my car and struggling to buckle up.  It’s getting to the point where I almost HATE anything tight on my stomach, and let’s face it…..all my clothes are tight at this point.  I get uncomfortable just looking at my maternity jeans, you know, the ones that have the full belly panel.  That panel just screams, “If you wear these, your tummy will be itching all day long!”  Nothing like the feeling of stretching skin!  Just the other day, I decided to break out my furry Ugg boots.  These ones happen to have laces that you have to wrap around the boot and tie……..and let me tell you, BAD CHOICE!  I spent 10 minutes getting the boots on and was sweating, to the point I had to go stand outside (in the 40 degree weather) to cool down a bit before continuing my “getting ready” routine.  As I was driving to work, I realized I was going to need Trav’s help to get the stupid boots off at the end of the day.  Probably won’t be wearing those again anytime soon.

Ok………enough complaining!  Seriously!  I have a lot to be thankful for.  No serious complications with this pregnancy.  Baby is growing and thriving, maybe even ahead of schedule.  At my appointment today, Doc J informed me that I'm still measuring 2-2 1/2 weeks further along that I "technically" am.  She did an ultrasound and confirmed that baby boy is HEAD DOWN (key in order for me to VBAC) low in my pelvis...a good sign, and that he is, as she said before, a BIG BOY!  She basically told me to be prepared because everything is moving right along.  He's dropped and I'm having contractions everyday...but it's still likely a couple weeks away!  Crossing my fingers that I'm not still pregnant in December, but if I go a week late, that's going to be the case!  I’m just anxious and excited…both to meet this little guy and to sleep on my stomach again, though I know sleep is going to be harder to come by than ever in a month or so.  Here's the side view of my baby bump at 36 weeks..............yikes!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

xoxo,

The Severson Clan

TGIF

Tick, tock.  Tick, tock.  I think I’m finally done being lazy…and my need to NEST has set in.  Organizing kitchen cupboards, cleaning hall closets, purging junk.  It’s all I can think about.  And no matter how bad my back hurts or how tired I am (let’s face it, I feel like an exhausted piece of crap these days), I can’t be stopped.  I even stayed up until midnight on Wednesday…folding, sorting, and arranging freshly washed baby boy clothes into his new dressers.  Baby boy was a kicking, moving, jabbing monster that day.  I think there were about 6 hours straight of constant movement, painful at times.  And I don’t know if any of you have had this happen, but when I woke up in the morning and got dressed, my belly was TOTALLY different!  I had gotten used to my high shelf of a stomach, compressing my lungs…forcing me to easily lose my breath during the most leisurely of strolls.  As I looked down at my tummy Thursday morning, I could not believe how LOW my belly was.  I literally dropped overnight.  This never happened with Marley, so it was new to me!  When I got to work, the ladies commented on how low my belly looked……….so weird!!

I had my doctor appointment yesterday, in which I explained to Dr. J that I thought baby had dropped.  She confirmed that he is head down in my pelvis…….a very good thing in my attempt to VBAC.  Marley was so tightly breech that the doctors laughed at her “spring-board” legs when she was born.  Every time they tried to measure her length and stretch out her little legs, they would spring back up like a frog.  Losing my train of thought here, but Dr. J measured me and I’m measuring 2 weeks bigger than I actually am…this really doesn’t mean a whole lot, but she did laugh when I said, “He’s HUGE!”  She confirmed that yes, he is a big boy already and that there is very little room for him in my big ol’ belly.  Tell me something I don’t already know, doc!  As I walked out of her office, telling her that I really hope these last 6 weeks fly by, but that of course I do not want to deliver too early, she said, “38 weeks…let’s get to 38 weeks.”  By that time, I’m probably going to give birth to a toddler!  Joking…only joking.

Time to get cracking on finishing that to-do list and cleaning up my house.  But there are busy weekends ahead…we’ll pick away at the nursery a bit more this weekend, but I’m also hoping to get Marley to some type of fall festival.  We may hit up the MN Zoo and get our pumpkins.  Marley’s swim lessons are going great and we’ll be back in the pool tomorrow for another one!  Can’t believe how much 35 minutes in the water (being held no less) can tire out a kiddo! 

My favorites from our photo shoot with the amazingly talented Auntie Heidi:

Happy weekend!!   

Heart Melter...

Sometimes, getting woken up in the middle of the night can be oh-so-sweet.  While I am happy that my little girl is such a good, independent sleeper, there are times I WISH I could hold her in my arms until she drifted off…like the days when she was just a baby (the days that seem so far away already). 

Last night at about 2am, I woke to the sound of Marley crying on the monitor.  This hasn’t happened in about, oh, 8 months or so.  Instead of giving Travis a shove to get out of bed, I barrel rolled out, made one of my many nightly stops at the bathroom, and walked down the hallway to Marley’s door.  I debated going in, thinking maybe she’d stop, but then I heard her say, “Mama, mama.”  And in I went…

Now I know re-adjusting her in her crib was probably all that was necessary, but I thought…nah, I’m picking her up and we’re going to cuddle.  I lifted her out of her crib, grabbed her blanket and lovey, and she instantly pressed her cheek to my cheek, wrapped her arms around my neck, and fell asleep.  I sat with her in the rocking chair for about 20 minutes…she draped her long legs over my belly (while little brother kicked away inside), drooled a puddle on my shoulder, and every so often she would unknowingly play with my hair.  Before I laid her back down, she moved her head off my shoulder to look at me, and she gave me a big smooch.  My heart melted.  Best 20 minutes spent awake at 2am...EVER! 

She can grow and change and learn all she wants (and I want those things for her), but she’ll always be my BABY!!  I was in love with her before we even met...

--JTS--

Travis and I were discussing last night the fact that, in just 8 more weeks (54 days actually), we will be meeting our son.  When I threw out the number of days, Travis looked at me like, “Really?  Only that many more days?”  Funny how fast time flies.  I’m so BEYOND excited to welcome a little BOY into our lives!  I can’t wait to see how Marley reacts to meeting her baby brother.  And I can’t wait to just smother him with kisses!  It will be a great day, no doubt!!

Although we have not prepared as far in advance as we did with Marley, we’re getting there.  This coming weekend will be devoted to the nursery.  The bedding/décor/paint colors/furniture is all picked out and purchased (for the most part), and now it is just a matter of getting the room cleared out of “spare bedroom furniture”.  Travis is installing all new crown molding and trim in the room, along with a chair rail and new closet doors.  He likes to stay up late to work on household projects, and since I’m really not of too much help (and Marley’s bedroom is right across the hall), we are going to head to my mom’s house for the weekend.  I’m excited to see how everything looks on Sunday when I return!

Baby name…yet another item to check off our list of things to do.  We had 1 boy name and 1 girl name picked out when we got pregnant with Marley.  One would think this name choice would be easy, it was anything but.  I ruled out our original boy name, agonized over lists of new possibilities, and we (or I) couldn’t commit to ANYTHING.  But, while we were on our trip to Ely last weekend, I was writing out names on paper and just looking at them………and then it dawned on me.  The boy name we had picked out before Marley was born, which also happened to be Trav’s #1 name, just kept jumping out.  To make a long story short, I made this whole process way more difficult than it needed to be.  The name just fits and when I see it or say it, I smile, so I feel like it’s the one!

JAX THOMAS 

Jax--we always loved this as a nickname for Jackson, but knew we could never use the name Jackson for one of our kids.  Jackson Severson?!  Too many -son- sounds!

Thomas--after Trav's dad, Thomas Severson.

This past weekend, while Travis was up north working, I drove to Faribault and spent some time with my sister.  Travis and I were supposed to have a family photo session with Casey V Photography on Sunday, but since he was going to be working out of town, I had to cancel.  I was BUMMED!  However, my sister snapped a few photos of Marley and I while we were out on a walk in the Nature Center.  She has a NICE camera and has taken an interest in learning more about photography……..and she’s taken REALLY GREAT photos of her kiddos.  Anyway, she’s working on the photos now and hopefully we’ll have something cute to use in baby boy’s room.  Thank you, sissy! 

And on a random note……Marley LOVES sleepovers with her cousins.  Staying up late, dance parties with Uncle Andy while doing some afternoon cleaning, TREATS, cuddling in Ava’s bed in the morning!  They are all so cute together!  Ky keeps asking when his little buddy is going to come out and be able to play with him.  Poor guy needs a boy in the family……….soon, Kyan.  Very soon!!

My last doctor appointment (on Friday) went very well.  Baby’s heartbeat was 132 beats per minute and he’s very active.  This is the start of my twice monthly doctor visits, and in November I’ll be going every week.  So.  Many.  Doctor.  Appointments.  Ugh!!  And I’ve added a weekly chiropractor appointment to my list of to-do’s (to help with my lower back pain), which has been oh-so-nice, but it’s just hard to manage it all.  One more thing to do. 

Here I am at 31 weeks (taken on our hiking trip to Ely over my birthday weekend):

And here are 2 of my favorite little lady, sporting her newest obsession.....Missoni rainboots.  She won't take them off!