Welcome to Arkansas...

....Let me show you to our tornado safety zone!  :)  Rose and Sandy came to visit for 6 days, and we had some of the worst weather we've had since we've lived here while they were visiting.  So much so, that we spent a lot of time in our hallway, keeping safe from threatening tornadoes.  But, we luckily dodged all the bad storms and enjoyed our visit.  We went out to eat, visiting Yum Yos (a couple times), did some shopping, and spent a lot of time just hanging out at home.  Gavin, of course, showed them all about being a 3 year old boy - they played a lot of cars and trains while they were here!

31 Weeks!

Just ignore the fact that it isn't centered at all...sorry!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 31 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Hamm is almost the length she'll be when she's born.  At this point she'll be adding more pounds than anything!  

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Forgot to weigh myself again until I'd already had pancakes, sausage and coffee, so I wasn't about to stand on the scale then!

Maternity Clothes: Yep, pretty much everything (except sweats). 

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!  When the name is decided, it will be kept a secret until she arrives. 

Movement: This baby seems to never stop moving lately!  She's so active, especially at night and when I'm eating.  I love it!

Sleep: Sleep has been going downhill thanks to the million times I have to wake up to pee!

What I miss:  Being able to give Gavin a bath - it's getting really hard to lean over the tub so Jarrod's been the one to do bath duty lately.

Cravings: Water - drinking a ton lately!  And ice cream!

Symptoms:  The wedding rings came off this week.  My hands are swelling very easily these days.  The Braxton Hicks contractions have also been pretty strong lately.

Best Moment this week:  A lot happened this past week!  Rose and Sandy were visiting, so we got some new things for Baby Sister.  We also toured the hospital where we'll be delivering.  I was pretty impressed with the rooms.  It makes it feel more real!  And, I got an invitation to MY baby shower!  Amy is hosting a small get together to celebrate Baby Sister next week.  It is really great to know that I'll be able to share this special moment with new friends.  I just wish all my friends and family could be here, too.

Pile-Up

Apparently, Gavin enjoyed crashing his trains these days!

The Bump

The ever growing bump.  It's so funny how different people say different things.  I can have someone tell me, "Wow!  You're still so small!" one minute, and then go somewhere else the same day and hear, "Man, you're HUGE!"  :)  It doesn't bother me either way.  I love my baby bump, no matter how large it gets...no matter how heavy it feels...no matter how much it gets in the way at times.

Wordless Wednesday

Yum Yos!

Last week, we lucked out and our friends Amy and Lucas were free during the day so we got to have lunch and some Yum Yos with them!  Amy is a working mom, so these playdates don't get to happen often, and Gavin sure does love spending time with his buddy Lucas, especially if Yum Yos is involved!  :)  

Tornado

We woke up this morning thanking our lucky stars and realizing how lucky we are.  Last night was a bad night of storms here, probably the worst we've have since moving here.  They rolled in just after dinner and it seems like just when we thought the worst had passed, something else would pop up out of no where.  We huddled in the hallway three different times, hiding under cushions and pillows, while Jarrod kept an eye on the radar and the sky.  Gavin was such a trooper, and honestly didn't really get it.  He was already asleep when the worst of the storms arrived so we had to wake him up to get in the hallway.  He never was scared, but did ask a lot if he could please just go sleep on his bed.  How sweet is he?  

The Joplin tornado I'm sure you've all seen took place just 45-55 minutes from us.  Seeing that damage definitely makes you feel grateful!  Please keep all those people in your thoughts as they begin to rebuild.  We have storms in the forecast for the next three days, but we are hoping that we'll deal with wind and hail, and no tornado warnings.  

30 Weeks!

There is a slight shadow in these, but the pics were taken amidst tornado warnings, and I didn't take the time to play with settings and lighting.  Sorry!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 30 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Hamm is the size of a squash right now and weighs in at about 3 lbs.  

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +1lbs over the last week, for a total of 26lbs total now.  I'm curious to see what the doctor says tomorrow about how much I've gained.  Our weights are always so different.

Maternity Clothes: Yep, pretty much everything (except sweats). 

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!  When the name is decided, it will be kept a secret until she arrives. 

Movement: This baby seems to never stop moving lately!  She's so active, especially at night and when I'm eating.  I love it!

Sleep: Sleep has been ok lately.  

What I miss:  Our Juicy Watermelon Margarita drink buckets are coming back for a limited time and I just ordered some.  I can't wait to be able to have one! :)  I don't miss many things, but it will be nice when I can have a drink with Jarrod again.

Cravings: Not really anything in particular - I've just been eating a ton lately!

Symptoms:  My belly button is pretty much non-existent now.  Not poking out yet, but pretty much flat!

Best Moment this week:  Getting some more baby girls clothes and gifts in the mail.  That's always so much fun to open up!  :)

I started making my list of things I want to get accomplished before she gets here.  It includes organizing the closet, organizing pictures, sorting through magazines, working my way through my Adobe Photoshop book, and teaching myself how to crochet again.  Nothing major...  :)  I also started thinking about my diaper bag list as well as things I still need to get to pack for the hospital.  Since I got my new diaper bag, I started playing around with it and carrying it to get used to it.  I threw out a bunch of things from my old one when I was switching things over since I realized most of it had expired!  I want to get some new slippers and a new nightgown to take with me to the hospital, too.  It's so crazy that she'll be here in about 2 months probably!

Final batch of vacation pics

I'm finally through the vacation pics.  Just a few last ones to share...

Gavin and Memaw playing Memory

Gavin with his Great-Grandma

 Checking out the rain at the Chicago airport as we killed time during our delay while heading home on Wednesday.

And, I just a couple things that made this vacation easier -

1. We borrowed this car seat cover from Amy for this trip and it was great!  So much easier for Jarrod to wear this on his back while pulling our other luggage since I'm officially in charge of Gavin while traveling and he handles most of the luggage. 

2. We went the first night and bought a potty ring at Target because we couldn't get Gavin to sit on the potty to poop (sorry...but that's what us moms talk about!)  He was so much more willing to sit on the potty ring than trying to balance his tiny little self on a big potty.  And, added bonus...we cleaned it off, wrapped it in a plastic back and hid it in the car seat cover so we could bring it home with us!  I think it will be traveling with us for a while.

3. These bed rails we bought for Gavin's new bed are amazing!

They are inflatable, and come with a carrying bag and a pump.  We fit them in Jarrod's backpack that he had for his carry-on, as well as the DVD player and DVDs...that's how little room they take up.  And it was nice to know Gavin wouldn't fall off the bed while we were at the hotel.  So easy to use!

Ok - enough about our vacation...we're back to life in Arkansas, so I'll get back to our normal posts now.  :)

Our Beach Boy!

I think my favorite day of our trip was our last full day there.  We were planning to make a 2 hour drive to St. Augustine to take Gavin to the beach and I was so excited!  We've been talking about the beach for a long time and he was so excited.  After our time at the lake on Mother's Day, he thought we'd already seen the beach.  I kept telling him the "big beach" was much different!  He LOVED it!  We only stayed for a couple hours, and we were good about staying lubed up with sunblock and staying under the umbrellas for shade.  I can't wait for our next beach vacation!  :)

Right where we parked for the public beach access, there was a splash park!  Last year, when I took Gavin to the one here, he wasn't a fan at all, but he loved playing in this one.  We let him play for a half hour or so to get all the sand off of him.  He was so sad when we had to leave. 

It was a great day!  Definitely worth the drive.  :)

Wordless Wednesday

A break from the sun

After spending all day Sunday outside, we decided to make Monday a low key day and stay indoors.  We headed to the University of Florida campus and walk through the museum.  Gavin loved the exhibits, especially the Butterfly Rainforest.  I got tons of butterfly shots that I'll share another time....here are the ones of Gavin.