25 weeks

15 (+/- a few) to go! All is well so far - baby is a kicker (especially at 5:30 in the morning), likes it when I eat donuts, and Benjamin (sometimes) likes to say "hi babeeebe". We're doing well over here! :)

portraits

The free 8x10 picture people coupon called to me again...so we went on Saturday morning. As we walked into the studio, Benjamin cried...I guess all the photography has traumatized the child. ;) He calmed down when the photographer gave him several smiley face stickers, but still wasn't extremely excited to be there. Still, I think they got some good shots, I was happy anyway! After the photos, we dropped Benjamin off at Phil and Joanie's house so we could go see "Indiana Jones" which we both enjoyed! Here are the photos I liked best:

to do.

I was just thinking of the things that need to be done in the next 7 weeks or so, and thought I'd make a list. That way I can cross things off as they happen. And you all can know what's going on!

• sell/rent our house (I wish I could control that one...)
  
• find a place in CA to rent
  
• determine exact moving dates
• get medical records for Benjamin and I
• buy plane tickets
• pack all our stuff. and give away/sell stuff we don't want to move. or haven't seen in the 2 years we've lived in this house. :)
  
• go to 3 or 4 more OB appointments here (including the oh-so-fun syrupy glucose tolerance test in 2 weeks)
  
• choose insurance and make a doctor's appointment in CA (recommendations, anyone?)
  
• be sad about leaving all our dear NC friends behind (I probably won't be able to cross that off. You'd all better keep in touch. Or I'll fight you!)
• plan photography for two weddings I'm shooting for friends the first week of August (since I'm crazy like that. You'd all better be praying that baby boy stays put until at least August 11th!)
• pray for Tim's new job
• try not to be stressed out about the above list. or making new friends.
  

Shouldn't be too terribly tough, right? And now, a cute photo of our son, who cracks us up daily with his singing of "EI-EI-O" ;)

world turtle day

Happy World Turtle Day, everyone! We celebrate that daily in our house, as this particular turtle is very important here:

on being two.

I can't say I wasn't warned.

For the record, I still think I am the luckiest mom of a two-year-old. Benjamin is sweet, calm, pretty relaxed about most things (except strangers and dogs, apparently). I hope this calm attitude continues.

However, the eating situation is about to make me a crazy person.

My child used to eat just about anything: grilled cheese, hot dogs, green beans, corn, cantaloupe, bananas, watermelon, strawberries, apples, grapes, various canned fruits on the go, etc. Now, our choices consist of fish sticks, assorted pastas (mac & cheese, spaghetti, spaghetti-os - if those count as pasta - occasionally ravioli, etc), corn, peas, applesauce...and not much else. They say that it will pass...but for now, I keep trying to get the child to eat what we're eating for dinner with all those tricks (put something you know he likes on the plate along with the new food, etc)...usually it ends up with him eating what he likes and then saying "all done ______" (fill in the blank with whatever new food I attempted to give him). Oh well.

Some photos from yesterday:
I was trying out a new "vintage" action, and like the effect.
(laughing at dad):
showing off his muscles:
the belly, 22w6d. All is well!

mom's day photos

Happy Mother's Day!

to all our favorite moms, from Benjamin: