A Two Year Old

There's a two year old who walks these halls.
A two year old who tests the strength of the construction of our house with the volume her lungs project.
Who runs on the tile and occassionally slips when her socks do not provide enough grip.
A little lady who twirls on the rugs and asks to play "Rosies" no less than 15 times a day.
There is a two year old who has spilled milk and stained our couch with yogurt covered handprints.
A two year old who adores her dog and tells strangers all day how "Ralphie is good boy dog too".
Who hides her toys in cabinets and four hours later recalls exactly where they were.
A little lady who emphasizes "I do it myself" and insists to start at the beginning if you try to help at any point along the way.
There's a two year old who tries to stretch bedtime by asking "I watch Mickey?" "Read books, mom?" "Dad, lay down." and the sweetest diversion of all "More kisses, Daddy."
A two year old who asks for time out and prefers to eat her meals alone in the time out room behind closed doors.
Who calls her dad, Daddy Boy.
A little lady who tells her Momma to "Holda Me".
There's a two year old who is strong-willed but sensitive.
A two year old who shows so much empathy it makes me want to be a more caring person.
Who loves to snuggle and tell you how she's "cozy".
A little lady who is perfectly mine.
There's a two year old in this house that is mine. All mine.

A Very Sweet Surprise.

I woke up Tuesday morning in a funk. I may or may not have gotten into a disagreement the night before with someone and unfortunately my body always takes a long time to recover from such things. I felt naseuous and tired and wished that it had never happened. I knew the day would look up because it was Tuesday and Tuesday is one of my days home with Rivers. She is so much fun right now and so well behaved and I treasure every moment. We had just started our morning routine of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for her and checking my email for me. I was getting pretty quick and heavy handed with the swiping and deleting on my iphone when I swiped an email and just before I pushed the delete confirmation button a little voice in my head said STOP. The title of the email read "Gilt & The Honest Company Diapers" and the first line of the email was visible and read "Megan, Congratulations!" Over a month ago I had entered a giveaway on Gilt.com for a year's supply of free diapers. I never win such things and usually I hate to even give my email address away but I LOVE these diapers and was feeling risky that day. So when the little voice in my head stopped me, I was half hopeful that I won something and half-concerned that I was now privy to extra spam mail. When I started to read the email, I could not believe that it in fact said "Megan, Congratulations! I'm writing to inform you that your name was selected as the Grand Prize winner in the Gilt and The Honest Company Diaper Sweepstakes. The Grand Prize is a one-year supply of diapers furnished by The Honest Company. This prize has a retail value of $959.40."

............................................Say what?

I was so excited and so conflicted. My emotions wavered between @)*$)*)@($ Yay! to questioning if this was a scam. I kept reassuring myself that I did in fact enter a contest to win such a prize, unlike those  unsolicited emails you get from someone in Africa saying you are entitled to a lot of money. I quickly forwarded all paperwork to Dave to look over and he told me everything looks fine. We will have to pay taxes on the prize since it is over $600 in a value so I had to provide them with some personal information so that they can issue me a 1099. A fraction of me is still concerned I will be subjected to total identity theft within the next few months but at this point the majority of me is excited.

With Rivers I had always paid a little extra for diapers for an eco-friendly biodegradable brand of diapers by Nature Babycare that I really love. We sampled The Honest Company diapers with her and while I found them totally adorable they were more expensive than the Nature Babycare I purchased off of Amazon. I am so beyond excited that I will get to dress another baby's bum in eco-friendly diapers that are so adorable. I cannot wait for my little man to get here to see him in these:

Feeling so very blessed and very grateful! I am usually not the person who wins such things but if there was any prize I would want to win, I think this would be near the top!

Take Two: Pattern Review: Vintage Simplicity 7817

After a long drought, I finally felt inspired to sew for myself again. I have started three other maternity dresses that were not going to look as I imagined so I abandoned them all and gave up for a while. Even though I had not yet worn the other shirt I made from this pattern I knew I liked it enough to give it a second go around. I added piping to the collar to help break up the crazy pattern of the fabric and I love the result! I was sincerely shocked by how well my seams lined up keeping the diagonal pattern. The shoulders are less broad this time and I added an inch to the length to accommodate this ever swelling belly. I'm very happy with how it turned out and definitely happy to add a new wearable top to my closet. Especially when considering it cost me less than $10 to make!

I found out yesterday that I am officially gestational diabetes free this pregnancy. I am so surprised as I had not been feeling great but I am so relieved. I am so happy to know I will get to experience going in to labor on my own. Getting induced wasn't the worst experience but it brought on immediate wild contractions and I'd like to know what the crescendo is like. I still have the mind frame of a pregnant woman with diabetes and feel guilt everytime I look at something sweet to eat. It might take awhile for me to lose that and maybe I won't. The latter would certainly help my waistline more. 15 weeks remain-it would only be 14 if I was to be induced, so I am happy for the extra time. I am sincerely alarmed by how fast this pregnancy is happening.

New Orleans.

We were invited to a wedding in New Orleans on November 3rd and while wavering on whether or not to attend we ultimately decided that in a few short months it will be infinitely harder to get away for a weekend with two little ones in tow, so we booked the tickets and invited Oma Dachtler. I was anxious about travelling with Rivers, even though she had already been on five flights before. We recently went to Yosemite and it was hard on her to be off her schedule and out of sorts, I was worried this trip would be more of the same. I couldn't have been more wrong. She was an absolute delight the whole time and was so excited to get out and explore the city. My mom purchased a harness backpack (oh the things I said I would never do when I have kids) but it worked marvelously and allowed Rivers to feel independent while we knew she was safe and unable to disappear. We went to the Louisiana Children's Museum, Oma took her to the zoo, and we all went to the aquarium. It was such a lovely trip and I was so thankful that my mom and Rivers were there.

Brunch at The Court of Two Sisters. Boogie is sampling some bread pudding in this picture.



At the New Orleans Aquarium. She was so brave in trying to touch one of the stingrays in the petting tank.

In other news, I am about 24.5 weeks pregnant and my belly is bulging. I am honestly concerned as to how I'm going to make any more room for this growing gentleman but there is nothing I can do but sit back and let it happen. I had my repeat gestational diabetes test yesterday and am waiting on the results. I have not been feeling that great so I'm feeling inclined to believe I do have it again.

Pregnancy Stats:

How Far Along: 24.5 weeks

Size of baby: Rutabaga

Total Weight Gain: 13 lbs

Gender: Boy

Movement: The last few weeks the movement has slowed down but I think I have been too busy and too tired to pay attention.

Sleep: We are coming off a week of Rivers having croup and only sleeping through 2 of 7 nights and a vacation to New Orleans. In other words, I'm tired!

Cravings: Nothing in particular at the moment.

Best Moment this week: Agreeing on two names with Dave. I'm not sure which we will pick but I am so relieved to know we have two we are both happy with. Also, the nursery has been painted and the wallpaper goes up Monday! I'm so happy to get started on this fun process!