Mabel now asks the cashiers for a "ba-oon" everytime we go to the grocery store.
I can't believe it's March, time has flown by! I've got a lot of random thoughts to go with a lot of random pictures from the past couple of months so bare with me on this post. I'm also a basket case of hormones these days so it should make for an interesting post.
Aside from a few days of cold here and there, the weather In Sedona has been amazing! Spring has sprung and we've been logging a lot of outdoor hours.
Mabel loves the park. She loves seeing all the kids and dogs. Our favorite park has lots of grass to run around on.
I introduced Mabel to mid-afternoon ice cream, right out of the container, sister jumped right in.
During an afternoon walk we stopped to take some sweet pictures on some cool steps we found. Here are a few of my favorites. My favorite pictures of Mabel are always the same. I love that she still has the same sadly sweet stare she had the day she was born.
Grandma Joyce came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. We all went to Sunday brunch at L'auberge and Mabel ate a weeks worth of food. It's so nice when family comes to visit, we get lonely out here.
For Valentines day Sam did a good job so I have to give him some credit. He had our favorite Ice Cream you can only find in Kansas City shipped here for us to enjoy together. I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful. The man knows the way to my heart is through my taste buds. While Sam's Mom was here we actually got to go out for dinner alone, for the first time in a long time. Sam and I don't get out much without Mabes, but we make the best of our time at home and actually prefer it that way. However once in a while it's nice to get away for a few hours and it was just what we needed.
Mabel caught a bad cold that lasted for about 5 days. That week there was a few jammie days and lots of snuggles. I hate when she is sick but I am also so grateful for how lucky we've been thus far. When she is sick all she wants to do is be held, which secretly makes me happy, and is much more difficult when you are 9 months pregnant. I guess I better get used to schlepping around 2 babies :) She is back to her silly sweet self again.
Mabel recently discovered Mother Goose. She has this book of nursery rhymes sitting on her top shelf, I thought I would save for when she got a bit older. One day she pointed to it and said "dat" so I thought I would read a few to her. 90 some pages later I still had her attention and it's her new obsession. Peter Piper is her favorite, she attempts to say it but it comes out as "puta..pita...pata...puta".
She is speaking so well. She attempts to say so many new words each day. "Alma" and "Coo coo" (Elmo and cookies) are the cutest. Cracker, cheese, apple, milk, book, pickle, tea, and please are a few more she has added to her vocabulary. I am starting to lose track.
Speaking of Elmo, Sam took Mabel to meet the real deal at a screening for the documentary, "Being Elmo" during the Sedona Film Festival. I opted to stay home so they could have a special Daddy and Daughter night. Sometimes I forget that they need there alone time once in awhile.
We've been busy yet RELAX has been our motto for the past couple of weeks. I don't know how that works but it makes sense to me. I am officially in nesting mode where the laundry is always done, the house is always clean, and the fridge is always stocked. I'm even doing odd things like paying bills long before the due date :) I've really been trying to savor these last moments alone with Mabel because all to soon, we'll have a sweet baby brother hanging out with us.
We are totally ready for his arrival and I am not sure what Mabel thinks about it all. Sometimes we feel like she knows something is up and other times she is completely oblivious.
She was not too thrilled when we told her the swing was for the baby but happy as a clam when we set up his crib in our room.
She even got to test it out when we had 4 hour power outage the other night which conveniently happened right in the beginning stages of our bedtime routine. It was so dark and she was a little freaked out so we wanted to keep her close by. A power outage was not something we were prepared for mind you, Thank God Sam just happened to come home a bit early that night. It's now on our list to make a "power outage kit" and keep it in an easily accessible spot. All we had was our phones, 2 almost burnt-out, scented candles and Mabel's toy flashlight.
It's a bittersweet feeling, I am so excited for this little guy to come, yet a little anxious about how my girl is going to fare. For the past 15 months she has been the center of our world, the apple of our eyes. Now very soon she will be sharing the spotlight. I know she will be the sweetest big sister, don't get me wrong, but I also know we are in for a huge adjustment when we come home with a new baby. For the first time in her life, there will be times in the day when she will have to wait or my attention will be on baby brother, so it hurts my heart a little to think she could ever feel sad or left out on my account. I'm also so anxious about the hospital stay. I have never spent more than a few hours away from Mabel let alone a few nights. I'm that crazy Mama who gets up no less than 2 times a night to check on her, make sure she is covered up, and didn't lose her snugglies or stuffed pink pig. Hopefully the time in the hospital will fly by as it did with Mabel. And as far as our adjustment period, I'm sure there will be tough days in the beginning, but I also know it's all going to work itself out in time.
Mabel attempting to eat with chopsticks, she actually did alright.
Lately, during a lot of our moments spent together as a family, Sam and I end up imagining our future. We try to picture scenarios of what our life will be like this time next year when we have our, not 1 but , 2 babies running around the house, eating at the dinner table, playing at the park, fighting in the car etc.
When we were in the final stretch with Mabel we had a whole different set of fears. After her arrival our confidence as parents increased each day and we jumped at the chance to do it all again. If I had to explain our experience looking back, I would compare it to a roller coaster you are scared out of your mind to ride. First you wait in a horridly long line thinking of all the bad things that could happen. Once you finally make it through the line, you take your seat, and do your final gut check as a total stranger buckles you in. There is no going back now. All of a sudden you are off on this crazy ride that shakes you to the core, you are terrified and excited at the same time, it's wild. Then after a spilt second it's done and you breathe a sigh of relief that you survived and wonder why you were so scared to begin with. As your feet hit the pavement your first thought is but what else? I want to do it again. And here we are, almost done, doing it again.
