A Dinosaur Birthday Party

Taylor asked me months ago to have a dinosaur birthday party with a dinosaur cake. I wasn't really that surprised considering his love of all things prehistoric. We had the party last night at my Grandma's house and it went really well. We were hoping to have the party outside since there's a lot more room in their backyard, but the weather just wasn't cooperating.

We had a big potluck dinner with lots of yummy food, then Tay opened his pile 'o presents and then we had cake and ice cream. The cake was the most stressful thing I worked on for the party. I found this little clipart T-rex a while back that I loved and used it for the inspiration for the cake:


And here's how the cake turned out. I was really happy with it and got lots of compliments, the best one from the birthday boy. Taylor was so excited about his cake and every time someone came over he had to show it to them:


Taylor got totally spoiled this year (as usual) and we came home with a car full of dinosaurs, dragons, guns, tools, and his big present from Mommy and Daddy - a new bike! I can't wait to teach him how to ride it.


We had a great night and it was so much fun to celebrate my munchkin's third birthday party with everyone who loves him.

Great deal!

My friend Nicole posted this on her blog and I thought I'd pass it along because it's a GREAT deal for parents and teachers. Go here and type "interactive books" into the search box. They have velcro storybooks that are originally $15-$20 and are now on sale for only 99 cents! There are 13 different books and for that price I purchased one of each. I'm so excited to get them! Also when you check out, use the coupon code AFF20PJ for another 20% off! (When you order, be patient because it takes a minute to process--but it works.)

Can't beat 13 velcro books for under $8 plus FREE shipping!

Heartbeat.

I had my 11 week appointment with my OB today, and to say that I was nervous is quite the understatement. I've tried not to let the miscarriage I had last year affect how I felt about this pregnancy, but it's been hard to suppress that fear in the back of my mind. I knew once I heard the heartbeat I would feel better, but also worried about how I would react if the doctor couldn't find it.

Well, my worries are gone! Not only were we able to hear the heartbeat today, but it was so much louder and stronger than I was expecting it to be. It was one of the most amazing sounds I've ever heard and I held back tears as I looked at my husband while we listened for the first time to our little one's heart beating.

I'm so relieved and so hopeful.

This is really happening. We're really having another baby.

Three!

My sweet little monkey is officially three years old! I can't believe how fast time just zooms by and I'm grateful for every day I have to spend with my Taylor.

He is such a good kid and is so kind and so smart. Sean and I call him our little genius boy and he astounds us every day with the things he knows and the words he says (his current favorites: "plunge" and "interesting").

Taylor loves all things boy: cars, heavy machinery, guns, and especially dinosaurs. This little munchkin knows more dinosaur names than I do and he's always wanting to learn more about them (next time you see him ask him how the dinosaurs died; he'll keep you entertained with a detailed story of a large meteor [he pronounces it "meat eater"] crashing to earth).

The thing I love most about my Tay bug is that he is very loving and caring. He can't stand injustice and will always (or, almost always) share and make sure that no one is being treated unfairly. He's very polite and always shows those closest to him how much he loves them. I've had a rough month or so with this pregnancy, and Taylor is always very understanding and does what he can to make my days with him easier.

Happy Birthday, Taylor! I absolutely adore you.

The ups and downs of pregnancy...

The past few weeks have been one giant emotional roller coaster for me. I think God gives women this supreme gift (or curse) of forgetting how hard pregnancy is so that we'll do it again. Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy and excited to have a new baby; I just can't remember childbearing being this wacky.

Here's just a taste of what I've experienced in the last month or so:

- Worse nausea than I ever had during my last two pregnancies
- A raging case of the stomach flu, which just added to the already present nausea
- The inability to button or zip my jeans, resulting in some really creative outfits and many breakdowns after trying on everything in my closet.
- One word: acne.
- Hours of crying over really dumb/unrealistic/silly things.
- Frustration with people who don't want to talk about or acknowledge my pregnancy until I'm past my first trimester because of what happened last year
- Worrying too much about gaining weight/getting fat/being unattractive to my husband

Good times. I don't want to just complain though; this is something Sean and I have wanted for a very long time, and there are a lot of great things about pregnancy too:

- Having a nice long break from "that time of the month" (sorry to any guys reading this, but it's true!)
- Getting a little belly bump that I can show off
- Taylor telling me all the time that he "loves the little baby" and that he'll be "a very nice big brother."
- Sean rubbing my belly and talking to the baby
- Finally having days when I feel good and can get things done, even if it's only to prepare for the inevitable bad day coming soon
- Being in a rock-solid marriage and knowing that my husband loves and adores me and is excited to be a daddy again

So things aren't all bad, and I know I'll feel even better about things once I'm finally out of my first trimester and nausea is a thing of the past. I'll be 11 weeks on Friday, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh, also on Friday I will officially have a three-year-old. Where does the time go??

Stomach flu

I woke up this morning feeling more sick than usual. I won't go into the gory details about how the day progressed, but I finally ended up calling my doctor and asked for some anti-nausea medication which my step mom very graciously picked up for me. I took a pill, had lunch with Taylor, then laid down with him for a nap. Unfortunately I woke up feeling just as bad. A few minutes later Sean got home and was feeling just as crummy as I was. Again, I won't go into gross detail, but let's just say that for the rest of the day we've been either laying down in the living room or laying down on the bathroom floor. This is definitely some kind of stomach bug and I'm just praying that it passes quickly. We are both so miserable and poor Tay wants us to play with him so bad but neither of us can.

Good times around the Nichols household.

This morning, as seen by Taylor

I was feeling super nauseous and tired this morning and laid in bed resting while Taylor stood over me and took pictures of everything in the room. Here are some of the ones that turned out best (and nevermind that half-asleep, slobby looking woman in the bed):

(Click image to see it larger. If you dare.)