Fun Day

 We had a pretty fun day today. I had a doctor's appointment this morning...which was not part of the fun. Joseph was pretty good though so after we were done there, we headed to the Newport Aquarium. I figure that it was probably the last outing we will have with just the 2 of us for a while. He had a blast and mostly just wanted to look at the sharks over and over and over and over....you get the picture.

 

Other than that, my doctor did tell me that my induction date will probably be the 23rd if I haven't had James by then. It's always good to have an end date. 

Anyway, time to watch some Olympics. I love watching them, but I do get irritated by how many commercial breaks there are....and I stay up way too late.

James' Room - The Frankfort Edition

 Hi long lost friends!! It has been A WHILE! So sorry, but don't get your hopes up....I don't know that I am back fully yet, but I REALLY wanted to show y'all James' room that we fixed up here at the house. I painted the mural and stuff at my parents' house which is soon to be our house. When we will fully move, I don't know, but I wasn't going to paint a mural here when we would probably be moving in the next year (or 2 years). I repainted this room last year anyway when it was our office/fitness room and it still went with the bedding, etc that I wanted. So, here is a little tour of the newest nursery.

The bookshelf. I got the idea off Pinterest of course. I bought a cheapo $15 bookshelf and mod podged fabric to the back of it and then Michael spray painted it yellow.

 The name plate. I painted the letters and attached them to a small board. I found the ornaments at Hobby Lobby and they were pre painted. I attached them with ribbon to the back of the board with hot glue (of all things). I used eyelet screws to attach the hanging ribbon and hung it on a nail.

 I am proudest of the mobile. I think all total, I have maybe $2.50 in supplies in it. The main structure is an embrodery hoop that my mom got at a yardsale. Michael cut it in half which left me with 4 arcs. I only needed 3. The balls are just wooden 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 inch balls that I got at Michael's. The ornaments are made out of felt. I just kind of cut my own pattern. There is a moon, a saturn like planet, a space ship, a star, a sun, and an alien in a space ship. They are filled with some poly fill and hand stitched closed. I started working on this quite a while ago!! Everything is connected with good old fishing line and it is hung from a hook on the ceiling. It will be easy to move it up as James starts being able to pull up and sit up.

Another view of the bookshelf

We got the swing out of the storage building and next thing we knew, Joseph was in it swinging for all he was worth! Luckily, he still isn't over the weight limit. 

Other than that, I finally pre registered for the hospital and got my bag packed. The due date is 2 weeks from Sunday and as miserable as I am, he can wait until then. I'm in no hurry.

I will try to post pics of the mural I painted in what I am calling the "official nursery" soon.

Just a quick post

It's another boy! We had the big 20 week ultrasound this morning and we will be welcoming another male into the family. I won't lie....I wanted a girl really bad. I'm ok though....I guess it wasn't meant to be.... And please no comments on how I can just try again. As of now, I have no plans to try again. I don't like pregnancy enough to try again just in hopes that that time it will be a girl.

Anyway, we fly to Montana tomorrow. I didn't think today's preparations would be that bad since Michael was going to take the rest of the day off after the doctor appointment, but then he got called to West Virginia. So I'm left doing massive laundry and packing for all of us. UGH! On top of that, I have to get the house cleaned! I'm taking about 30 minutes to myself and then I guess I'm going to get back at it.

Joseph's Super Fun Birthday Week-Part 1

 I love birthdays!! They are very important to me and I think every one should be special. I also think it should be celebrated for an entire week. Last year Joseph had RSV and he was only turning one, therefore doing fun stuff was pretty limited. This year is quite different....and the weather has been fantastic. We started off on Monday at the Louisville Zoo. I had never been, but it turned out to be a pretty nice zoo. We were there for 3 hours and didn't even see everything. Here's some pics from that trip:

 Tuesday, we had a MOPS meeting and then stopped at the park on the way home.

 Once we got home, I let him get his new fire truck and play outside for a while.

After his nap yesterday, we went to Petco to see the fish...Joseph loves the fish. I even got a betta to bring home. Joseph named him Dory. I did get him all set up until after Joseph went to bed and I was so excited to see his face this morning when he saw a fish in the bowl, but poor Dory was dead. So, we will get another one and try again this afternoon. I've got the water warming up now. I've never had a betta die that quick. 

Today, Spice had a farrier appointment so we started our morning off at the barn. Joseph liked picking the dandelions.

 Spice enjoyed getting to go out to pasture after her pedicure.

After a change of clothes, we headed to the Salato Wildlife Center.

After checking out the wildlife, we headed to Sonic for a slush and then home for lunch. It's been a good week so far!

Angry Pregnant Woman

Snow Day

I haven't blogged in a month. 

I haven't wanted to blog in a month.

I don't really want to blog now.

However, I feel I owe my reader(s) an explanation. 

You see, I am not one of those glowing, happy pregnant women who bask in the idea of growing a new being in their belly. I wish I was...I want to be one of those people.

Instead, I am a moody, VERY easily irritated, bloated-feeling, uncomfortable, blah, angry pregnant woman. I was the same with Joseph. And in much the same was as my first pregnancy, there are certain people/things that I was perfectly happy with before and now can't stand. This blog has become one of those things. I think it's because it has started to feel like an obligation. I'm obligated to give my followers something to read. The last thing I need in another obligation. I started this blog because it was fun and I wanted to write. I really didn't care if anyone read it. It's not fun for me right now. I'm not ending the blog by any means, because I know this feeling is temporary. However, don't look for a lot of posting over the next 5 months. I will try to put some up here and there, but only when I feel like it. 

 

We do have a pretty exciting Spring ahead of us. On April 3rd, we find out the sex of the baby. The very next day we board a plane to Billings, MT. Wow...I know, right?! Michael is being sent up there for work for pretty much the whole month of April and J and I are going up for a week. I'm pretty excited. I've always wanted to go to Montana. Then in May, we are going to Myrtle Beach, SC. I've never seen the ocean before! Crazy, I know. I've traveled all over, but never to the coast. Very cool stuff.

Anyway, now you know what's going on with me. I hope you are having a wonderful March.

Breaking News....

Well, if you are friends with Michael on facebook, it's not quite so breaking...

Joseph is going to be a big brother!

Yep, another Riddell is joining the family. I had my 12 week visit today and heard the heartbeat. I'm due August 19th. The doctor predicted it would be a girl when he heard the heartbeat. I asked how sure he was....he said 50%. :) I am seeing a different doctor this time. The last one stressed me out about my weight too much. He only wanted me to gain 10-15lbs total..and well, I am an over achiever and did that in the first month or so. After that, he was on my back for every one of those nearly 70 lbs that I gained with Joseph. I AM trying to be better about my weight gain this time around.....but dang, I just crave the most unhealthy things. However, this doctor doesn't care...so I think we'll be good friends.

So now maybe all of ya'll who got so whatever about me not posting much in January will understand why.....I wasn't really feeling like it. I was zapped and after chasing Joseph around all day, the last thing I wanted to do when I got a chance to sit down was upload pics and write blogs.

To be perfectly honest, I've really had to come to terms with this new pregnancy. It was not planned. We were going to wait until this coming fall to start trying again, but I guess the man upstairs had other plans. I had big aspirations this year. I was going to run the KY Parks Race Series which consists of 5 or so 5K races at state parks across the state. I could still do some of them, but I wouldn't be able to guarantee that I would be able to do all of them since the last one is right around my due date halfway across the state. Probably not smart to "run" (more like waddle probably) a 5K in AUGUST while 9 months pregnant....esp being so far from home. I was also planning on running my first ever half marathon in October (inspired by my marathon running blog friend), but sadly, I will only be 8 weeks post partum (at the most) at that point and you have to maintain 13 minute miles or better or they disqualify you and make you stop the race. I would struggle with that time now. I was also going to do a lot more riding and I was going to do my best to get down to my college weight before we starting trying to get pregnant again. So, MY plans were shot to heck. I was/am pretty sad about it.

I also had the worries of how I'm going to handle a new baby when Joseph is SUCH a handful. I don't know why I said "had"...I still worry about how I'm going to handle it.

Anyway, I hope you are all having a good week. I hope to blog as much as I feel like, but PLEASE be patient with me. I do still plan to complete my Shaw family cooking challenge...just in case you were worried.

My Book Report - January

I didn't really do much as far as new year's resolutions go. I did decide that I wanted to read more this year. I thought 30 books in a year sounded resonable and also would be a vast improvement to what I normally read. I love books. I buy them all the time....I prefer used paperbacks. I will spend hours in a used bookstore in the bargain section snatching up books for one or two bucks. I have had to rein myself in though, since my books are taking up more than my allotted three shelves. I unloaded quite a few at a yard sale last year....and I've been going to the library more now instead of buying books. But anyway, I thought I would share my progress for the month of January. I didn't do too bad...I read 6 books. One of them was really short though. Here they are (and for good measure, I am sharing some of my thoughts on each book):

1) In the Presence of Horses by Barbara Dimmick
         I only borderline liked it. I didn't like the main character. She really just got on my nerves....always thinking that she should be unfeeling when it came to horses. I never quite understood or cared about where her issues came from. She also had a comment about western riders (she rode english)...that if they needed that much leather to stay on a horse then they really weren't good horsemen. Bleh. And, in the end, it was like the author got bored and just wrapped it up in a chapter....at least that was how I felt.

2) War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
         I just had to read this after I saw the movie. The book is for children and lets just say that it's a lot more toned down than the movie. I really liked it though....even if it is just another telling of Black Beauty...it's like Black Beauty in war time. 

3) Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
         I love all the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I love True Blood on HBO...at least I did before we stopped getting HBO. This is I think the 6th in the series. They have all been good quick reads.
 
4) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 
         I seriously couldn't put this book down. Any time Joseph was entertaining himself, I would pick this book up. I think I read it in like 2 days...and for a mom with a toddler, that's saying something. I CAN NOT WAIT for the movie to come out in March. I had heard of this book before, but with the premise being a televised fight to the death, I didn't think it was up my alley....I was wrong. So good. Best book I've read in a LONG time...... 


5) All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
        7th in the Sookie Stackhouse series.....Just as good as any before it. 


6) The Confession by John Grisham
        I love John Grisham. We went to the same college. I think his books are amazing and they really make you think....sometimes about things you don't necessarily want to think about. This book is not of my favorites, though. It was good, but I found myself skimming at times....just wanting to know what was going to happen....not necessarily caring how it happened. It made me cry a couple of times though. Unlike the last Grisham book I read that was about a wrongly accused man, I really wanted this one to regain his freedom. 


I've already read one book this month. Wow..I know. I also picked up another Grisham and another Sookie book today at the library. They are on the same isle of books and Joseph doesn't usually give me much time to look before he spontaneously combusts. Lets just say that you get some pretty dirty looks when you have a crying kid in the library. I want the next book in the Hunger Games series so bad but it's NEVER in...and the list is soooo long. I will probably end up buying it. Also on my want to read list are The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Help....those are also ALWAYS out. Woe is me...