Fall Fun

October is one of my favorite months of the year because of the weather and the festivities. This year wasn't exactly as action packed as normal (or I would have liked) but we tried hard to get in a few of our favorites.

One beautiful and very warm October Saturday we met up with friends at The Big Orange Pumpkin Patch in Celina, Texas. First up- feeding the animals.
Then we moved onto the barrel ride. Last year Karen and I partook but I barely fit and I wasn't pregnant like she was. This year Aaron was the only adult rider with Harper. It was a long ride due to some tractor troubles but they LOVED it (exhaust and all).

Olivia was a bit more willing to remake their innocent love picture from last year. Another one for the wedding slide show. ;)

Relle Clan, McWilliams, Mitchells, Kirby's, and Kika & Babu

Pumpkins.

A dangerous picture to take-but cute to look at.

After the pumpkin patch where we snacked on hot dogs and root beer we headed to the McWilliams for a "camp out" to make up for the camping trip that was cancelled due to my current state and other logistical errors. Smores by a grill fire were fun and tasty!

Before heading home Karen climbed into the tent and read camp books to the kids that I brought from my classroom from our camp unit.

So much fun and will be repeated-although won't replace our trip to the cabin in the woods next year.

Halloween finally made it and again like the pumpkin patch the weather was unusually warm for this time of year. Back at the McWilliams backyard we all met up for some playing and hot dogs before changing into our costumes and heading out to Trick or Treat.

Everyone including Lucy geared up and ready to go. Wow I was a BIG pumpkin!

The kids were so cute this year running up to the houses, knowing exactly what to do, understanding what they were getting and looking forward to snacking away, and being able to stay up and have the energy to make it to more than just a few houses.

Our little LSU Tiger!

Jack's face shows how hot he was and how miserable I was...so the Relle Clan called it a night early, headed home, and then later I headed to the hospital because this pumpkin pushed herself too far which pushed my blood pressure WAY over the cardiac limits for my monkey heart- but all was well thank goodness.

And for a side note- I already have Noah's Halloween Costume for next year (2 of them actually-don't ask) so hopefully it fits because it is super "stinkin" cute. :)

The pictures say it all...

Little Bit

OK...so LONG overdue here is an update on Little Bit (or Big Bite you will find out below)

I was literally going crazy with the gender prediction from Dr. Gore. He is known to be accurate, friends have found out earlier in the pregnancy than we did, and the pink was starting to get out of hand so I set up an appointment with an entertainment sonogram business to get an official determination. Sorry the profile sonogram pic won't rotate.

For 25 minutes (was only scheduled for 10 minutes but the sonographer was training an intern so they played around some more with Little Bit) we had Kate Adeline that was going to love her bedding, scrapbook and supplies, and the boxes of clothes donated from the McWilliams.
Then last step was for the intern to find and measure the heart rate and she spotted something none of us had seen up to that point. That's right....not Kate Adeline..but Baby Boy Relle#2...we think, but not 100% so again we leave unsure, but leaning more towards blue from the picture but confused for sure!

Here is a little 3D shot of his/her face....still young and skinny for good 3D shots, but neat none the less. And to date there is no hair so that is veins and open skull making the mohawk appearance.

20 weeks

Jack loves his baby brother/sister

Here we are at Dr. Gore's Frisco office to have a follow up sonogram and fetal ecogram to make sure that Little Bit doesn't show signs of his Mommy's monkey heart genes. And to get the much awaited for gender confirmation because well....it was time to officially know whether to think pink or blue.

And as the traced turtle shows....It's a BOY! Dr. Gore's sonogram, nor his office presence was not up to my standards so there are not many shots from the session. Little Bit's heart and anatomy looked great so we headed out with confirmation, honestly a heavy heart that my pink Kate Adeline items have to be returned and a few stored (wink, wink), but happy that everything was looking great for our little man. Jack is going to be a great big brother and will have a best friend for life!

25 weeks

26 weeks

At our last appointment with Dr. Campbell Little Bit was not active and had an unstable heart rate on the doppler so we had a sonogram to make sure he was doing alright. Turns out that he was breech so it made sense that the kicks weren't as strong as usual (cause he was kicking my back), but he was just perfect and I'm so glad that we were able to have the opportunity to watch our sweet boy while the sonographer did a full check up on him.

Here is his sweet face. No hair yet, and get this...at one point I saw part of his leg and asked if it was his thigh...NOPE...it was his shine and it was HUGE. I truly think larger than Jack's at 3 and a half. Then I noticed that overall he looked very large for still having 3 months to grow. When Dr. Campbell came out after we were finished she said things looked great and that the weight gain (which I was a bit distraught by-I weigh more now than I did when I had Jack) was clearly from the baby because he is currently in the 75%. Jack has never made it past the 15%...looks like more than just the pregnancy is going to be different with Baby Relle #2.

Things since the last update to note:

Big Bit continues to be way more active than Jack. Day, night, anytime...and I LOVE it!

Weight gain- out of control!

Cravings- I can't get enough water (which has been consistent & continues), peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Jelly Bellies, tea cookies, gourmet popcorn, twinkies (thanks Despicable Me ads), and a few other things here or there...nothing I HAD to have and nothing that last more than after one or two tastes.

Complaints- headaches daily and intense. Only way to get comfort (after trying tons of medicine and tricks suggested by all) is to drink lots of water, crawl into bed, put on the ice pack, and try to sleep it off. Insomnia has been worse than normal (which I never thought would be possible), restroom trips are all to often which doesn't aid in the headache and attempts to sleep, sleeping on my side isn't in my blood, the soles of my feet hurt when walking only a short distance, the area under my right breast is often in pain and so they've told me to avoid straining like coughing or sneezing....um OK, and well....THE TEXAS HEAT!

Nursery- Nothing has been done although the inspirations have changed often. I'll get through the back to school craze and then get to work on it with the help of my wonderful friends.

Names- A few top runners but no commitment yet.

Shopping- I've been picking up things here and there but trying to be very practical. But at the same time don't think he should always have to wear hand me downs from his big brother.

Future plans- work, camping trip, a few showers from work and dear friends, and getting this house ready for another little baby.

As for Kate Adeline....still claiming rights to the name....thinking one day I might purchase the rights to name a star after her so I have my little girl. :) But know how blessed I am that I'll be taken care of by my three wonderful boys!

We've officially reported back to work so the blog updates will more than likely increase as I'm sure I'll be avoiding school work. Last week was 2 days of staff development, this is a full week of staff development, and then the students arrive the following Monday.

Friday at work and swim lessons did me in so I wasn't functioning til around 1 on Saturday. Watters was hosting another ASI Parents Night Out and so we dropped Jack off at 7 and headed to the Bishop Arts District to have dinner with Jeremy and some of his friends. Dinner was great, getting to pick up Jack in Rangers traffic was stressful, and Jack helped us to capture our night on film. Here was his first attempt- he was so determined to get the perfect shot!

Great shot...wish we were in focus and the hodge podge of crap on the coffee table wasn't.

I would say 3rd time was a charm...but there were a bunch more than 3...worth it though...I think he captured the three of us GREAT!

Back to School

Back from the beach and back to school.

Jack's first day of school at Apple Creek Preschool.
Headed out to the car ready to go.

So glad that Apple Creek was familiar from Summer Camp-He seems so small compared to the big building and his lunchbox...but so big in so many other ways.

Jack's cubbie next to his friend Bryce in Room F. His teachers are Mrs. Amanda and Mrs. Heather. He also has assistant teachers. Willow goes to school there part time too!

Not long into the school year Papa and Bebe came into town for the long weekend. Jack was excited to be picked up from school by them and of course to have a Bebe Cookie.

Jack had a surprise on his bed waiting for him-To Infinity And Beyond...

To help celebrate Bebe's birthday Jack and Papa made her a birthday cake with his Easy Bake Oven.

Happy Birthday to you...

We all headed to Lil Sluggers to watch our little Babe Ruth running the bases.

A little one on one with the coach.

Baseball was late in the morning so we were all starving so we grabbed sandwiches and headed to a picnic in the park. From there we hit up a 3D sonogram to check out our Little Bit.

And a trip to Ikea (with the rest of DFW) ended their visit and back to school we go for the long haul til Thanksgiving (or Noah's birth for me).

Jack has continued to love Apple Creek. One (among the many) differences to Watters Montessori is the amount of work that comes home with him.

Cute- He is getting so big!

Love the commentary on some of his masterpieces. I'd be grouchy if I had too many dots too!

It looks just like him- Perfect!

This is my favorite so far because of the deepness of his quote in reference..."I mixed it all up.". Now that is powerful!

First Apple Creek Report

This is the mound of his creations from just the first few weeks of school...love the work, nightmare for an organized hoarder like myself at the same time.