Does this pregnant belly make me look GINORMOUS?

So, I have been feeling rather...<ahem> fat, lately.  I know, I know. I'm pregnant. But it doesn't matter because when the stretchy pants start to lose their stretch...BOO HOO!!
I have also been feeling very tired, so tired I need to take a nap at least once a day and go to bed super early, like when the kids do. Around 7:30PM. And don't get me going on how uncomfortable I have been feeling. Especially DOWN THERE. The pressure, the pressure is SO bad. I seriously feel like I am going to drop a bowling ball from my crotch.  My hips hurt, that darn sciatic nerve. I'm walking like I just pooped my pants, if I laugh or sneeze- I have to shove a kid out of my way just so I can make it to the bathroom in time. Kegels, kegels...I should have listened and practiced.
But, with all of the uncomfortableness, there has been the joy in realizing why my body is going thru all the changes. I've been feeling my little baby move more. Like when the kids speak, the baby moves. When daddy reads bedtime stories, the baby moves. When singing Christmas songs with the kids, the baby moves. 

I had just started embracing my roundness when this morning, after dropping Ellie off at school, a mother of one of her classmates shouts "Oh my goodness, are you getting GINORMOUS!! And you still have a ways to go!"-evil laugh. Okay, maybe there wasn't any evil laughter involved. But, there might as well been.

Ginormous. I realize I am pregnant. 6 months pregnant. With only 14 weeks left to to go. But really. Pregnant women do NOT need to be reminded on how big we are getting. Trust me. We know. But THANK YOU. VERY. MUCH.

After that we did a little Christmas shopping and took a impromptu tour of a church we are thinking of joining. It was a wonderful morning, even with the above comment made. So what, if I'm gaining weight, almost peeing my pants, walking like I just pooped my pants and am OH MY DEAR LORD THIS. IS. STARTING. TO. HURT. AND SORRY HONEY BUT THIS IS THE LAST BABY. I only have 14 weeks left to go. 14!! YAY! And would I sound horrible if I wished for baby to come early....so I can say " I only have 13 weeks left to go!!" ???

6 months vs. 24 weeks

6 months sounds SO much better than 24 weeks, dontcha think?? Even if they technically mean the 

same thing = how pregnant I am. 

6 month/24 week pea pod

pea pod giving a "thumbs up"

I am slowly losing my mind

I am! Slowly losing my mind! And or my memory. Hello. I've been up since 3:30AM! Crazy.
With our daily routine, house chores, potty training a three year old (success! I know, he's AWESOME;)- all this would be categorized as having "mommy brain". But throw in pregnancy (21!!!! weeks today) and I think it should have a different title. "Mommy (of 2 & another on the way, I am losing my mind) brain" or something similar. If you come up with a catchy title, fill me in.


Daily routine: Ellie is attending 4K, Monday thru Thursday, from 8-11AM. She is loving it. I am loving it. It's nice to have that little Mommy & Me time with my little man. I'm so worried that with the new baby, he'll suffer middle child syndrome. (it's 4:30AM)

Potty training Pooh went far better than expected. We started on November 1st and he caught on quick. Big sister regressed a little due to the extra attention little brother was getting. But nothing too major. She just wants some of the praises also. Which we're giving. We decided to go a different route than what we did for E. Praises, an occasional Happy Meal and a family night at the movies were the rewards, instead of peek-a-boo dollies (freakish looking miniature Barbies). Also, I did the naked potty training (from the waist down), he had a long t-shirt on to give som privacy. It worked.

Pregnancy: I am 21 weeks today. I am feeling my little pea pod be more active. Joy. I adore feeling little movements from him/her. I have an ultrasound appointment on the 29th of this month. We get to find out the sex but have decided to be surprised. I'm dying to know but will give it my all to not find out. This coming from the girl that would peek at her Christmas gift(s), rewrap and "act" surprise come Christmas morning.

Pregnant mommy brain: I feel so unorganized. I start one project but move on to another. I've been extremely tired (look, it's 5AM). I am getting behind on the laundry. It's like a mountain. I can't find my debit card. And I just paid a few (3) credit card payments that were due yesterday. Thus, the frantically waking up at 3AM because my mommy brain JUST remembered. (mental note to myself: call cc's and explain pregnant mommy brain)

But we're all healthy, warm, tummies fed and we're all loved. I can't whine about mommy brain too much. I am extremely blessed and extremely thankful for what God has given me.

Cinderella's Castle

October 5th

This was by far THE best day of our vacation-for me, at least. The first day was awesome because, well because it was the first day. However, this day was the BEST. Truly magical. We started the day by going to Epcot, wandered around and had an early lunch. Then we headed to Magic Kingdom, Ellie had a reservation at Bippity Boppity Boutique, which is located in Cinderella's Castle, (***note***there are two Boutiques-one in MK and the other Downtown Disney)darling little place for kids. She just LOVED! it. You walk in, give your princess' name (must make a reservation in advance)she gets a "Fairy Godmother in Training" assigned to her. She picks which Princess she would like to be (dress, shoes, tiara and hairstyle). Ellie, of course picked Sleeping Beauty. Afterwards, we walked across to the restaurant, which is also located in the castle. Now, whether you have kids, whether you have (all) boys and/or girls, I recommend you to eat there, at least once in your life, preferably dinner. It was a wonderful experience. You get to have your picture taken with Cinderella. Then, when your table is ready, they announce your name and you are escorted to your table. Kids had their usual chicken tender meal. For an appetizer, I had the assortment of cheeses- OMG! Deeelicious!! Chris had the "Best Beef Stew I have EVER eaten!". For my main course, I had the Braised Cobia over angel hair pasta, also delicious, Chris had the Roasted Beef Tenderloin. We both ordered the Almond Cheesecake, also, delicious. During dinner, four of the Disney Princesses come to each table, we had Snow White, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Belle and Ariel. My kids were in Heaven. But that is not MY favorite part. As we exited the restaurant, we were directed towards the front, JUST as they were getting ready for the fireworks display. We got to sit all the way up front, the best place to sit. The night was just settling in, the music started, the images were being displayed on the castle. Ellie was sitting right in front of me, leaning into me. Chris was right next to me, holding Pooh. Just the four of us. It truly was magical, very emotional night for me. My most favorite night in Disney World.

Pirate Day!

September 29

Waiting to become a Pirate!

Waiting to become a Princess Pirate!

 Since we were going to take
Ellie to the Bibbiidi Bobbidi
Boutique, it was only fair to do
something fun for Christopher.
So the theme for this day was:

               PIRATES!!!!

And the transformation begins...

Wasn't sure if he'd be able to sit still

 They both sat still very nicely.
It was just a hoot to watch their
little faces transform into new
characters. The make-up technicians...artists(??) were really good with them and it was
really fun to hear the kids answer
the questions they were asked.
I'm always around them 24/7 and

extremely patient

love his facial expressions

 forget that they are not only kids
but really, little people, with their
own thoughts and their own
answers.

This is the oath they had to swear: (Pirate Name), pledge
to be a true & honest pirate.
One who can always be trusted
NOT to be trusted, to run from
 any fight I cannot win, to win
any fight from which I cannot run, to plunder treasure with a hearty

he picked out which "face" he wanted

laugh, to swab the deck with a

swearing "the Pirate oath"

this is the most makeup she will EVER wear ; )

hearty hand, to seek freedom
 with a hearty heart, and to sing "Yo ho" in a hearty voice, and to discourage the spurious/ frivolous use of "parlay" in situations of conflict.



                                



                

trying to get him to swear "the Pirate oath"

Pirates Jeanne Treasurehound &Roger Crestpaddler

Princess Tea Party

September 28

I can not express enough, how much I enjoyed doing this with my girl. I would TOTALLY recommend this to any Mama/Daddy doing this with their Princess.

On our way to the Tea Party

Every Princess received a doll, tiara and a charm bracelet

Tea

Cake

Center piece

Princess meal

Drinking apple cider

Queen meal

Ellie with "Rose", story teller

Ellie and her mama

Princess 

Piece of cake!

Ellie with SLEEPING BEAUTY!!

Group picture of all the Princesses

Universal

September 27

Butterbeer!! It was VERY good!

Talking fountain, would squirt water at the kids.

Loved getting wet on this very hot day!

Dr. Seuss

Can you tell by her smile, that she loves this ride?

Big Chris, little Chris

VA-CA-TION!!!

September 26th


Yay!! Our first family vacation (out of State) ever!! And our last before our "Larson, party of four" becomes "Larson, party of five". So exciting! And where would our destination be? Disney World!! For 2 weeks!! 2 weeks in sunny Florida!

Because DW tickets are so frickin' expensive and because Pooh turned three on September 15th, we decided to hold off on telling him or celebrating on the actual date. We said we would be celebrating while we would be in FL. Don't judge, it's $80 something PER DAY (!!!) for kids 3-9 and $90 something for 10 & up. So no, at the end of our first night, after spending a wad of cash on a couple of stuffed toys, a couple of Disney "Polly pockets", lunch and dinner, no guilt crossed my mind. $80 something per day!! Per kid!! Nope, not one drop of guilt. Besides, he JUST turned three.

I think I was way more excited to go to DW than the kids. There's nothing like being the mama and seeing the look on your little darlings faces as you pass beneath the big Walt Disney World sign. Then, as you take the ferry to Magic Kingdom. Then as you walk along the main street and The Castle...Cinderella's Castle comes into view. Then to see Mickey Mouse and his gang, Peter Pan, Wendy and Hook, some of the Disney Princesses with their Princes perform 'Dreams Come True' on stage, right in front of the castle. Seeing Pooh and Ellie's awe struck faces, Chris and I teared up. Awesome.

YAY!!

Watching the show

Dreams really do come true!

In total AWE!!

First night in Disney World

First night in Disney World

Ready. Set. Fly!

September 25

I really wish I would have posted nightly but getting in late and being too exhausted prevented me from logging on and writing. So I'm doing this off pictures to jog my memory ;)

I was so nervous of flying with two kids- a five year old and a two...I mean three year old. I wasn't sure what to expect. I sought out the advice of Mama Experts in Flying with Toddlers. One lent me her GoGo, which you hook up your child's car seat to and roll it like luggage. What a great idea!
Our flight took off at 6:30AM, we had to be at the airport at least one hour before take off, because of this, we stayed at Grandma Karen's house. Otherwise, we'd be up WAY to early since airport is at least an hour and forty five minutes away.

Everything went smoothly, first flight, connecting flight and the kids did great! Until we landed in Florida. Ellie had a HUGE meltdown that lasted 20 minutes! OMG. 20 minutes. At an airport. If I could, I would have tasered her butt. She wanted a nightgown from one of the little shops. When I explained she would be going to Disney World the next day and most likely be getting something there, she lost it. I knew she was overwhelmed with the flight, lack of sleep and just sheer exhaustion from the whole day. But still, I would have given her a little zap if I could.

Just as I'm getting over her meltdown, Chris has a meltdown of his own. Nothing like witnessing your 41 year old spouse melting to the car rental girl. I looked over at E, who was all passed out in the stroller.

We finally get to the little SUV that we thought would be a Suburban(which is what we requested). E wakes up and has yet another meltdown. It wasn't her suburban. She didn't want this one. She wanted the one in Wisconsin. Took another 10 minutes to calm her down. FYI: when we landed from our return flight home, E ran to her suburban, hugged the back of it and whispered, 'Suburban, I missed you so much'

Other than yours truly forgetting the address to the TimeShare to plug into the Garmin, frantically calling 411 for the info because the Internet was NOT working on our new Droid phones, it was a nice drive to our destination.

Rooms were nice. Nicer than what I had anticipated (I even purchased mattress and pillow protectors). We then went to "Disney Target", a friend informed us that they sell some of the same merchandise as DW but cheaper. So we explained to E, since she is Miss Princess Drama- I want, I want that it's a Disney World store. So, Disney Target was born.

Waiting for our room

"Disney Target"

"Disney Target"

Happiest of days

September 15. One of the happiest days of my life. This is the day we celebrate my little man entering our world.

I should really start from the beginning...or the end of 2007, to be precise. After having a couple of strokes in December of '07, it was discovered that my FIL had pancreatic cancer. We had been trying for our second child for almost a year, when we found out in January that he or she was on their way. We were happy that we were able to share this news with Larry who, due to his last stroke, lost his ability to speak but happily gave us two thumbs up. 55 days after his first stroke, Larry lost his battle and went to Heaven. Ellie was only 19 months at the the time and was very confused, one moment Gundpa Warry was here, in the next, he was gone and everybody was crying.
Because I was going to be 35 at the time of the birth, I had to have extra blood tests, to make sure the baby was healthy. For some reason my blood work came back showing high numbers for Trisomy 18. A condition I had NEVER heard of before. I quickly sought it out on the Internet. Within minutes, I was in tears. I then had to make the appointment to go down to Marshfield and speak with someone in Genetics, discuss "the numbers", have an amniocentesis and decide what to do if the results were positive. If the baby did have this condition, most likely the pregnancy would terminate itself (in a miscarriage), if not, you could deliver a still born or a live baby, only for it to pass away a short time after delivery. Some babies do survive a year or more. I was informed that, if positive, it was early enough, if we choose to, terminate the pregnancy. My husband and I were just besides ourselves. We had just buried Larry, the thought of picking out a tiny coffin...was just unbearable. But, the thought of "terminating" this pregnancy...was just unthinkable. I'm not passing any judgement on anyone who's had to make the decision in this similar situation. We just couldn't or just didn't want to. We decided to leave it in God's hands and take one step at a time. Deep breath in, deep breath out. A lot of prayers.
We had a wonderful family member watch our little girl as we drove in silence, holding hands to the Marshfield Clinic.
As I lay there, having this long needle inserted into my tummy, looking at the screen, we were told that our baby was just fine. Very active, hand opening and closing. C and I both broke down and cried. Our prayers had been answered, our Me Too was alright, he was healthy.
Now, he's a big three year old. Just as healthy. Just as active. Just as beautiful and just as precious.
Today, I made the same drive, by myself, to the same town, same clinic for a similar ultrasound (no amnio) and I received the same wonderful news about baby #3. Healthy, active
beautiful, precious. Full circle kind of day. I cried all the way home, thanking God for all
of the miracles in my life.

2 years old (big fan of Thomas the Train)

Pooh Bear

3 year old boy (huge Dragon fan)

1 year old

9/11. I remember, very clearly, where I was on that tragic day when a two planes intentionally crashed into the Twin Towers, another into the Pentagon and yet another that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. I remember feeling confused, shocked, terrified & just horrified in the notion that another country could hate the United States so much, that they could just plan the murder of so many innocent people. I remember feeling sick to my stomach.

I will never forget the first anniversary of that fateful day or the many others that followed.

Now, ten years later, I still remember. Only now, I have a family, a wonderful, wonderful husband, two precious little people & another on the way. I want to protect & keep them safe from all the evil in this world.

Around here, we're big on giving tight squeezes & sloppy kisses many times thru out the day. But today, I'm squeezing 'till they poop & are drenched from my sloppy kisses.

God Bless the families that lost a loved one on that horrific day. May they feel comfort & peace. God Bless & guide to safety the many men & women that fight for our freedom and this wonderful country. God Bless my family. Please protect & keep them safe from any evil that means them harm. But most of all, God Bless America.

In the beginning...

My husband and I had been married for three years when we decided to start our family. However, it wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. After three years of "trying", by that point, having sex had become a chore, like emptying out the dishwasher (pretty sad, huh?) and a miscarriage (followed by an emergency D&C), we were blessed to have a healthy baby girl. Elena Leigh Maria. Elena is my middle name, Leigh is Grandma Karen's and Auntie Laura's middle name and Maria is Tita Socorro's first name. But Ellie is what we call her and that is her own.

Two years and two months later, we were equally blessed with a healthy baby boy. Christopher Revie Ned. Christopher after Daddy, Revie Ned after Great Grandpa Ned Revie. But because of too many Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin stories to big sister, she decided his name was to be Pooh. And that is what he is lovingly called by many, Pooh. Ask him what his name is and he'll happily say, "I Pooh Bear"

I wish I would have started this when Ellie was just a baby because we have a lot of funny, beautiful and touching memories of her (and of Pooh), I may have flashbacks and write them down from time to time.

One of those memories being how I came up with the title for this blog. When Ellie was just starting to "talk", she just adored her bottle (ba-toe) and would often caress the nipple as in a trance and repeat "Lodi, Lodi, Lodi", so Chris started calling her Lodi Doo, as a fun little (one of many) pet name that was shared between the three of us. One night, as we were cuddling our precious little "Lodi Doo", we were discussing about adding on to our party of three. Imagining a bigger party of our offspring, how we'd say, "C'mon, Lodi Doo", where then the second child would eagerly add, "Me Too!" I always wanted more than two children, I come from a family with three kids. And in the back of my mind and heart, I could faintly hear a little voice whispering, "What About Me?"

We eagerly await the arrival of our third in March 2012.