Scenes of summer

Our summer is flying by with a flurry of activities along with the joy of just hanging out outside (when it's not 100 degrees anyway). I know I will have many more things to post and talk about but for now, here's a few images of what we've been up to lately.

25 weeks

So here's the belly at 25 + weeks. I opted to crop my head out of the picture as taking a self portrait while maintaining a less than ridiculous face proved to be too much of a challenge. Other than some mildly uncomfortable reflux and some varicose veins that would make my grandma proud, it's been a pretty good couple of months. I haven't horked up my lunch in weeks and am probably at the most energetic part of the pregnancy. I still (and always will) think I should be able to do way more than I can actually accomplish but I really can't complain. Also, Tyson has finally stopped telling people there's a dinosaur in my belly. Cheers.

Still living in the land of dinosaurs...

Jason's mom, step-dad and sister traveled all the way from South Dakota last week. In addition to completing almost all of our 'before baby to-do list' in the house (painting walls, stripping the deck, some serious deep cleaning etc), we also made the 100 mile trek to Chicago for a day. Our first stop was the Field Museum which housed a very impressive dinosaur exhibit. You can imagine what kind of reaction we got from our dinosaur obsessed child.

Even being chased by a flying Pteranodon didn't deter him from plugging along.

Meeting T-rex Sue was the best part of the whole day...and other than a brief attempt at stealing Sue's tooth from an elderly museum employee, all went pretty well.

After wearing ourselves out at the museum, we headed to the Shedd Aquarium.

Of course, nothing truly lives up to a full sized t-rex (or your grandparents and aunt buying all kinds of fun at the dinosaur gift shop) but there was some pretty neat stuff there as well.

Best parts of the day= spending a really fun day with family.

=going to places I've never been (always up for new stuff!)

=watching the person I love most in the world have the best day in the world.

Two hundred plus three

Today marks my 200th post (coinciding with continuing coverage of Tyson's 3rd birthday). This little blog started out as a way for me to share pictures and stories for Tyson's grandparents/aunts and uncles to enjoy since we live far away from all family. Then my screaming ball of fury was born and it morphed into a place where I could write freely about how hard it was to have a really fussy kid so far away from home. For some reason, I could write about my struggles with much less guilt than verbalizing them. In short: this blog kept me from losing my shit.

Life is loads easier now so until the next little nugget is born, I can breathe easy and use this as a medium to brag about my 3 year old. I am a mother after all and bragging is what we do.

touche unknown author...touche

The Cake

Sooo....my child is three. I swear last week he was a screaming infant with the inability to nap and now he's, well, a BOY. An energy filled, motorized vehicle loving, dinosaur obsessed, extremely verbal BOY. I used to think the parents that were sad on their kids birthday's were a bit crazy. Now (along with everything I have ever thought about parenting prior to actual children) I realize what it's all about. I'm thrilled that Tyson is getting older and more independent but saddened at the realization of how fast this is all happening. If things continue at this speed, it feels like he'll be graduating tomorrow. I'd better start embarrassing the crap out of him today so I can squish in all the parental issues he'll need to tell a therapist before he moves out right?

Anyway, onto a fun topic. We had a birthday party for the little guy yesterday. My pregnancy nesting morphed into the need to bake his cake, even though a trained pastry chef lives next door (crazy I know). I found what I thought was a relatively easy dinosaur cake and got cracking. First we started with two 9" rounds.

Then I set out to a little carving. I thought I could find a template to print but turns out I had to try it on my own.

It's starting to take shape (PHEW!)

After a quick crumb coat (yeah, I said crumb coat...who's been watching a little too much Ace of Cakes? This girl!) and some time in the freezer to set, I could finish things off.

After another coat of icing and some candy decorations this was the end product. For my first attempt and a cake that had to resemble something other than an actual cake, I think it turned out okay!

Random update

Okay, so once again here I sit trying to explain why I have been such a crappy blogger. What can I say? Life is nuts. Some things that have happened are very good and some are inexplicably horrible. I will more than likely chat about the horrible stuff later but honestly, I'm not really ready for it (I am still pregnant and the baby seems to be fine so take that thought right out of your head).

Tyson is still the precocious little guy he's always been. Example: after having what I thought was an absolutely wonderful tantrum free day I was patting myself on the back thinking that our discipline (that has been soooo challenging lately) was really starting to work. "What good parents we are!" I thought. Then Tyson drops this little nugget. "Mom, you really did good today at saying yes instead of no. (pats me on the arm) You're getting much better." So...he's two...and apparently really good at training his mom. I am so screwed when he's a teenager. I'll leave you all to ponder the wisdom that comes out of my toddlers mouth and include some random pictures of the past couple of months.

Because sometime underwear is the best toy ever...

And sometimes your husband takes the pictures...can't tell who's in it but the living room looks great! (I'm pretty sure he doesn't know where the zoom is).

Sometimes pure bliss is as simple as watching your husband and son cuddle.

And sometimes going on a "dinosaur hunt" with your friend while wearing any kind of dress up clothing you can find leads to the best day ever.

A new kind of insanity

Our version of Valentine's day is probably a bit different than most (I realize it's not even close to February anymore...stick with me, it gets better). Instead of mushy cards or flowers and candy we decided to get the Insanity workout. So this workout arrived in the mail and we both excitedly geared up for our first session...

and promptly got our asses kicked. Holy hell this workout is...well, INSANE! Jason has been a very good little physical therapist and exercises religiously. I lasted approximately 1.5 weeks.

And then this happened. Instead of working my butt off in hopes of that six pack I parked it on the recliner and opened up a bag of chips. Yes, I realize that I should be exercising during pregnancy but my MD specifically said low impact...and what has less impact than my recliner? Nothing.

So here's the run down of the first 12 weeks...

My due date is October 22nd. The buttons on my pants are hanging on by a thread and tomatoes are a sure fire way to make me vomit. It's been a bit of a rough road as I am much more sick this time around (or am really getting good at blocking things out) but we are thrilled.

Here's to a whole other kind of insanity.