Vacation 2010- Myrtle Beach, SC

We had such a blast on our vacation this summer! It really didn't even get planned until two weeks before we headed out. My parents own a timeshare and are able to get access to different resorts for a week during the year. We knew that we wanted to use one of those resorts, rather than renting a hotel room because we'd have tons more space, plus a full kitchen, and washer/dryer. We stayed in a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom condo and it was WONDERFUL!!

My parents weren't able to join up with me, Ryan, and Karys on our first couple of days because they had tickets to see Sarah Palin in Tyler on the first day of our vacation so they didn't join up with us for a couple of days. Ryan, Karys, and I started our drive to Myrtle Beach (a 17 hour drive...without stops) on Friday, June 25, at 4:15 in the morning! I took the idea from a friend, who told me that for long car trips, they kill it on the first day so that the second day's travel isn't as long. We headed to Atlanta, GA, where we had made a hotel reservation for that night and didn't make it there until around 7:00 p.m. (It was supposed to be a 10.5 hour drive!) The next morning we got up (not nearly as early) and headed the rest of the way to Myrtle Beach. We would've gotten there about 2 hours earlier than we did, except that there is one main way to get into Myrtle Beach once you leave I-20 and it goes through this small town that has like 2 stoplights that backed all the traffic up for a long time! The part of the drive we were on was supposed to be about 20.5 miles, according to our google maps directions, and it took us about 2 hours to travel that distance. It was so frustrating!!!!! Karys was an absolute trooper in the car. She really didn't fuss about being in the car for such long periods of time. That first day when we left so early in the morning, we figured we'd just put her in the car and she'd fall back asleep. Nope!! She stayed 100% awake until after lunch, just like a normal day!! Thankfully, she was happy so we didn't care! This first picture is on our drive that first day. She was playing with all of these toys, and then just fell asleep with everything still in her lap! :)

One of Ryan's sisters, Misty, and her family live in North Carolina, about 2 1/2 hours away from Myrtle Beach. She and her kids were able to come stay with us on our first night in Myrtle Beach which was great because we don't get to see her very often. The first night we got there, we went to eat at Cracker Barrel and then got the kids in bed. The following day we headed out to the beach! We didn't end up taking any pictures at the beach until our last day there because we really didn't want to leave an expensive camera just laying around. Although I will say I like the atmosphere at the beach. It seemed to be safe, in that everyone just picked a spot for their belongings and no one messed in anyone else's stuff. But I didn't want to leave anything too expensive out there just to test that theory! After we got back from the beach, Karys took a 4-hour nap! I knew that the lack of sleep the day before would eventually catch up with her!

On Tuesday, my parents were finally able to join up with us, but not until the afternoon. In the morning, we headed back to the beach. Let me just say that Karys was only sort of a fan of the beach. Going in the water was not fun for her but being in the sand walking around she did find enjoyable. :)

I think all but one day were in Myrtle Beach we went to the beach. We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium one evening. Here are a few pictures from that:

And one night we went to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. I don't have any pictures from that because photos weren't allowed during the show so we didn't bother taking our cameras inside. It was a really fun show...kind of like going to Medieval Times but with a Civil War theme. We were still served food that you could only eat with your hands and during the show were split into the North and the South and were supposed to cheer for our side during the different competitions they had. Karys LOVED watching the horses especially. She did really well during the entire show. :)

On our last night in Myrtle Beach we did take a camera to the beach because we had to get at least a few pictures! Here they are:

These last two pictures are from our trip headed back home. We ended up taking longer to get home and spent the night in two different hotels. One of those nights was July 4, so here's Karys in her cute 4th outfit. The lei was given to her by the lady at the front desk of the hotel. :)This picture is from our last day. Karys decided to catch herself a ride to the car!Can't wait for next year's vacation when we'll have an almost 3 year old and a 6 month old baby! :)

Baby #2's First Pictures

Today was my first sonogram with Baby #2. It's so weird to me that I felt like I'd already done this before so I knew what would happen today. In some ways I did, in some ways it was a little bit different. First of all, when I had my first sonogram with Karys I thought I was almost 9 weeks pregnant. Then the sonogram showed me to be quite a bit behind that (8 days) so my due date, which I thought was going to be July 18, turned out to be July 27. In the long run, that wasn't a big deal, but when you're really trying to get through the first trimester, an extra 8 days feels like a really big setback! This time around the due date that I calculated online was January 9, and my sonogram was showing me to be measuring for January 11. So I really am as pregnant as I thought I was! I was totally prepared to go in today and get a due date closer to the middle of January. So I think this was a nice surprise. (Although the later in January the baby comes, the closer Karys will be to being exactly 2 1/2. Probably doesn't make much difference!)

I go back to see my doctor in 2 weeks. I was scheduled to go next week, but the nurse said that she wanted me to get the appointment pushed back another week so that when my dr. checks the baby's heart rate she'll actually be able to hear it externally.

Both of my pictures look pretty much the same so I'll post the "better" of the two. This was also different from my first sono with Karys. Her picture actually looked like a grain of rice. This time, that grain of rice is starting to morph. Although it still doesn't really look baby-like yet! The sono tech showed me where the head was and where the arms were starting to form. The head is toward the right and the arms are starting to come out of the middle of the "peanut" shape. :) Oh, the baby's heart rate today was 164. I had a dream the night that I found out I was pregnant that the baby was a boy. But Karys always followed the "higher heart rate = girl" scenario, so I guess we'll see what happens! :)

Big Sister Coming Soon!!

I can't believe it, but my sweet little Karys is going to be a big sister!! We just found out this happy news last Friday and I think it's taking me some time for it to really sink in. Honestly, I can't let too much of it sink in yet because then my mind wanders to all of the questions that stress me out! (i.e. How do we fit everyone? How do you parent a newborn and a toddler at the same time?) So for now I'll just be excited about being pregnant again because it was honestly fun the first time around, and the fact that we're expanding our family.

And now, for more details. :) This time around is already different than it was with Karys, enough so that I had to google my symptoms to see if they were possible pregnancy symptoms. I'd share a little more about them, but it's possible that male family members might read this and there are just some things we don't need to know about each other! :) But I will say that I've had to deal with some morning sickness, although it doesn't make me throw up.

So anyway, last Thursday I googled my symptoms and discovered that I was very possibly experiencing early pregnancy symptoms. This past weekend we had my sister spend the weekend with us so on Friday morning I got up early to work out (and take a test). I was pretty sure I knew what my test was going to say, so I wasn't too surprised when the two pink lines started appearing immediately. In an effort to not wake up anyone else in the house, I opted to take the dog for a jog as my workout so I left a note in the bathroom that said "SURPRISE!! Let's see who finds this first" and put the test with the note. I left with the dog, in hopes that when we got back both Ryan and Julie would be on the couch and would jump up when I got home and run over to me all excited. But I returned with the living room dark and empty like I'd left it. ;) However, a few minutes later my sister emerged from Karys's room saying that she found the note first. And later, I just took the message into my room and told Ryan that he had missed out on getting to know first. :)

At this point, I will be honest and say that I was surprised by this baby as I was with Karys. However, with Karys we weren't expecting to start trying for a baby any time soon when I found out I was pregnant. This time we're just a few months earlier than I was hoping for. My plan was that I wanted to have another baby in the spring of 2011. It looks like we'll be having a baby sometime around mid- to late January. We have lots of family birthdays in January (just like we had when Karys was born in July), so I'll be hoping that this baby doesn't end up being born on a day that's already "taken" (my mom's birthday is the 10th, my cousin's husband is the 11th, one of my nephews is the 19th and another is the 21st). I like for everyone to have their own special birthday.

When I found out I was pregnant with Karys, it was the day before Thanksgiving which meant we had a big holiday coming up that we got to tell everyone. This time it was two days before Mother's Day, which meant that we would see my parents on Mother's Day and be able to tell them in person in a special way. We went with an idea that Ryan had as our way of telling them. We had them take a picture with Karys, just a regular picture, where we told everyone to say "Cheese":

Then the next picture, Ryan told Karys to say "I'm going to be a big sister!" The idea was that my parents would have a shocked look on their face and then Ryan would snap their picture. However, they kept this fake smile on for the picture, and THEN looked over at me, asking, "Is this true?"Everyone is really excited...my parents and sister couldn't wait to post the news to facebook, and were disappointed that I made them wait until later Monday evening so I had a chance to call some people that I didn't want to have just read it over facebook.

One of the things that is different this time around is that for several days now I've been dealing with my heart beating much more forcefully than usual. It's super-annoying because, for example, as I'm sitting here typing, it's doing it and it feels like I'm stressed out or nervous. But nothing about typing on the computer makes me feel either of those emotions!! I'm going to visit my MD tomorrow to see what she suggests/recommends.

My first sonogram is scheduled for June 1st, and my first visit with my doctor is June 8, so hopefully after those dates I can get a more accurate due date. I had a dream Friday night that the baby was a boy so I'm gearing myself up for that to be the case. I didn't grow up with a brother so I feel a little inadequate when it comes to raising/living with little boys! I guess we'll see what happens!

Nothing New in Awhile

I always seem to forget to post new blogs. I tend to be bad at posting pics on facebook too. We take pictures quite a bit, but I just upload them to the computer and then forget about them!! That being said, I decided I should put up a couple of pics. This first one is one that Ryan took on his phone probably around a year ago. I noticed it in our Pictures folder on the computer one day and it felt like it had been taken ages ago!! I just can't believe how different things can get in a year's time. When I first looked at this picture, my reaction was that I didn't remember her legs ever looking so chubby...I love it!! :)

And I realized I never posted anything from Easter. Here's my sweet little girl in her Easter dress. :) (And being the money-saver I like to be, I can't post the pic without mentioning that I bought this dress at a consignment store in Mesquite for $5.50!! It's a Children's Place dress.)

She Makes Me Laugh :)

I usually keep Karys's jacket hanging on the chair I unload my purse and diaper bag on. No real reason, just laziness I guess. :) Keeps me from having to hang it up all the time and then get it back out of the closet (although this is what I do with my own coats!!). So anyway, tonight there were two jackets hanging up on the chair. Karys saw them hanging there, pulled both of them down and brought them to me, which meant she wanted them put on her. So as the air conditioner is running to cool down our too-warm house, she's wandering around wearing two jackets at the same time. :) Silly girl!

And THIS is what happens.... :)

...When Karys has to spend extra time in her bed because she wakes up from nap too early!! :)Let me give just a little bit of explanation. This week I've been trying to start eliminating the morning nap from our routine. She was getting to the point that she would either just play in bed for an hour, or she might actually sleep which would mean she wouldn't sleep as long in the afternoon. So I've been putting her down for one nap somewhere between 12:30 and 1:00 with the idea that nap time isn't "over" until 4:00. The only problem I've had is that she has a tendency to "do her business" during naptime, unfortunately. It's not cool because it always wakes her up. So on a day that she's only taken one nap, if she goes to sleep at 1 and wakes up at 2:30 because her diaper's dirty, that's totally not enough sleep for her!! So I'll go in and change her quickly, and put her back into bed knowing that there's like a 90% chance she's not going back to sleep. But at least she'll have had a "rest time" if nothing else.

This is what happened today. She was asleep somewhere around 1ish and woke up around 3 with her dirty diaper. I went in and changed her and put her back in bed. Obviously she stayed awake the rest of the time. When I went in to get her at 4, the first thing I noticed was one of her socks on the floor outside of her crib. This isn't all that unusual. I actually had to look at her for a second before I realized SHE TOOK HER SHIRT OFF!!!! :) Once I realized that, I started laughing hysterically and called Ryan in to see her. He didn't find it as humorous as I did, but apparently he was trying to decide if I was laughing because I realized that I had forgotten to put her shirt on her or if she had taken it off herself. But it was hilarious to me!! :)

This Is What Happens....

....when a 17 month old has to have her food taken away because she was throwing it on the floor, but she wasn't allowed to leave the table. :)

This picture was from lunch today. For months now we've been dealing with Karys throwing food she's tired of eating onto the floor. We've tried so many things to make it stop, but we have a stubborn child. Slapping her hand does nothing for her...doesn't phase her one bit. TAlk about frustrating!! I've told her "no" about this and explained that we don't throw food on the floor so much I think I should just record it and push "play" a million times a day!! Obviously what we've been doing hasn't been working or we wouldn't be dealing with this problem. So we decided to try something new, and hopefully this will work. The new plan is that whenever she throws food on the floor, it's going to mean she's done and her food will be taken away. Then she has to pick up whatever she threw on the floor and throw it away, and if it made the floor dirty, she is given a paper towel and has to help me wipe it up. We just started this yesterday. At breakfast this morning, we did have a "nothing on the floor" meal, but then at lunch, a piece of cracker and a piece of ham, and a cup ended up on the floor. Hopefully if we're consistant it's going to work.

Back to the picture. At lunch, I fixed her lunch and she was already eating while I was fixing my lunch. Then stuff ended up on the floor so I took her food away. (And I'm not being totally rigid with this. If she's barely eaten anything, then she does have to clean up her mess, but she gets another chance. I promise, I'm not starving her!!) However, I still hadn't eaten lunch so she had to sit in her high chair while I ate my lunch. Apparently she was getting bored with not too much to do, so she started playing with her shirt. First it was playing with the sleeves...and then she did what you see in the picture. I have to admit, it made me laugh. :)

If you're reading this and you have another suggestion, I would LOVE to hear it!! :)