This Lucky Little Life

First "Official" Haircut

I won't go into detail about the first "unofficial" haircut. The one that took place in our bathroom with me attempting to straighten out her mullet and which prompted my mom to ask if one of her classmates got into the scissors and attacked her head.

This version was much more successful and gave us all a shock at how well Lila took to it. She was very serious, sat in the salon chair by herself, didn't fight the drape (is that what that's called?) and was totally still while the stylist gave her a quick trim, or cleaned up what her mom did to her a few months back.

A Week Without Our Girl

It's Friday and Lila's been gone since last Saturday when she and Grammy took off on a jet plane to Florida. Lila barfed on herself 10 minutes into the flight. So thankful mom was with her and not me. I think I would have just hauled us on the next plane back to Raleigh instead of getting on the connecting flight in Orlando. But mom let Lila run around in a diaper and a sweater in the airport waiting for their next flight, mom not one bit mortified as I would have been.

And after a week of sleeping late, taking naps, eating dinner out, getting some shopping done and spending quiet time with D, I'm so ready for tomorrow morning when she and mom arrive home! And I seriously have NO idea what we did with all our time before having a child.

I know Lila's having a blast with her grandparents, what with daily swims in the pool and continued instruction from mom after our week of swim lessons last week, shopping, playing with her "Florida" toys and maybe even catching some cartoons on cable.

She's gone to Florida without us before, but never for such a long time and I cried like a baby on Sunday and tried to convince David that spending $400 on a plane ticket might make more sense than me staying here, tempted to shop for baby boy stuff all week. Clearly, hormones were a raging, as that hysteria hasn't set back in since.

I pressed on what with my list of all that I was going to get done this week. Ha. Week is over and that list has few checks by it. But I'm okay with that. I'm rested (sort of, and despite 24 hours of Braxton Hicks yesterday and a trip to the doc to confirm I was NOT in labor), my nails have been professionally painted, I've had lunch with good friends every day, the house isn't any more clean than it was when they left and there's a pile of new baby boy clothes still to wash.

Mom was so nice to send daily pictures and videos. Here's Lila one day in the pool - looking all grown up! 19 more hours until she's home!

34 Weeks

Wow,  how this pregnancy has flown by.  And now that we're getting close to the end, and all the things that were cute little symptoms a few weeks ago - heartburn, sciatic pain, forgetfulness and indecisions, constant hotness (talking temperature here, I'm not THAT vain) have all worn out their welcome.  

And as much as I enjoy being pregnant (or after a long night of back aches and bathroom breaks, maybe I should say as much as I don't hate being pregnant) this time around has been SO different. I think it's mainly due to chasing an almost-two-year-old around and with her out of school now and me home with her most days - it's exhausting!

Notable differences - this little boy has for sure bruised my ribs with his wild antics in the womb. Nothing like Lila's sweet rolls and few and far between gentle kicks in the ribs. I'm not sure what kind of indication this may be for his personality, but if his strength is any indication of his size, I'm fearful we've got a 10-pounder in the making. And considering David was 10 something, (help me here, Peggy!) it could happen. Please pray that he's not that big!

I'm craving fruit this time around like crazy - especially watermelon as of late. And sorbets and popsicles and Icees. Not ice cream and shakes like I did with Lila - although I have indulged in a few Chick-Fil-A shakes and now that they have a peach one out I'm going to have to stop by.  I think it's because I'm busy with Lila and don't have as much time to sit on my ass and eat and because I barfed daily for the first 14 weeks and barely ate a thing, I am no where near as huge with this pregnancy as I was before. Which means I was GENORMOUS before, because I'm feeling pretty large and in charge right now.  I do have six weeks left to pack it on, but am hoping to keep this weight gain well below the 40lbs gained with LT!

Although I may not be gaining the weight I did with Lila, my boobs are absolutely out of control this time around. And I document this because I feel like a science experiment, am totally uncomfortable with them and wonder if we should contact NASA or someone about their explosivenss. I have to wear tank tops under most dresses and tops that I wore with Lila to keep the ladies in check and it's annoying now that it's hot out to wear two layers. (I bet my father really appreciated this paragraph. Hi Dad!)

Coffee has played a much more important role this time. Just as with Lila, the smell made me barf in the beginning and I took a hiatus, but as soon as I could keep food down again, daily coffee was a must have. David does dilute my cup with a little more milk than before, but there's no way I could get through a day without the caffeine. With Lila it was more of a every other day cup or so, not the necessity it is now!

I'm sure there's a million things I'm forgetting about how this pregnancy is different, but I think that's just part of being the second pregnancy and I'm over feeling guilty about it! I'll just remind this baby that Lila got shipped off to childcare at 9 weeks when I went back to work and I'm going to have him all to myself. And I can't wait!

Hot Dogs on a Hot Day

I wish I took a picture of the after. Tucker's was clear to the rind. Hank's looked the same as here.

Family Traditions

At the beginning of every summer my mom's side of the family and all my cousins - I think there are 12 of us, our spouses and all my cousins' kids - there's a lot of them - get together for the Carter family cookout and camp out at the ponds where my mom grew up, where some of my aunts and uncles live, and where I spent a large part of most of my of summers growing up.

It is such a fun day, and even more so now because of Lila and I'm so thrilled for her to have this little tradition, to be around such huge extended family, to laugh and play with all my cousins' children! And one day when she's older and begs to camp out with the rest of the kids (and their parents) we will David and the kids will pitch a tent and actually spend the night! For now we'll enjoy a day of swimming in the pond, hayrides, chickens, cows, hot dogs and fireworks and go home to beds and air conditioning.

This was the first year for swimming in the pond. My uncle Jimmy has put in an amazing beach, added  a bunch of sand so it's perfect depth for kiddos and has it outfitted with floats and a slide. We were not prepared for swimming and hopefully that'll help explain a familiar face looking like the white trash relative brought to the party in just her diaper. A regular diaper that oozed crystal insides every time she sat  down on the slide. Someone had pity on her and let her borrow a blue shirt (so she looks like a white trash boy) and someone else shared a swim diaper once hers got so heavy it started falling down. Not that it mattered one bit to Lila!