Blurry Weeks

The past few weeks have been a blur!!

The major issue: We had a long weekend for President's Day and relaxed around the house to recooperate from Zach's long season and my volleyball filled weekends. Monday we went out to lunch at Applebees. I ordered a southwest chicken pasta with spinach leaves- it was AMAZING and ate the whole thing. Zach had the Fiesta Chicken with rice and he seemed to like it. Skip to volleyball practice that night- I felt fine until the ride home. I started having major pregnancy symptoms like cramping, acid reflux, etc. All things that I never really had that bad with Aidan's pregnancy- I was MISERABLE. I got home at 10-went straight up to the shower and then laid down in bed. By 11 I was running into the bathroom to throw up. We thought that might be the end of it, so Zach got me some cheerios and some water. Within the hour that was gone too. Pretty much every hour on the hour I spend a little time in the bathroom throughout the night- so I took the next day off. Poor Zach has gag-reflexes that made him almost start gagging from hearing me. Food poisoning while pregnant was awful for me and everyone else in the house. Every since then, I still feel like I am catching up.

Zach is starting to enjoy the quiet life, since basketball is done for now and he is able to get home every day around 4:15. We are both able to ride to school together (except for days that I have to go straight to volleyball) and save some gas money! I have been having a really hard time on Mondays and Wednesdays (vball days). I really do regret volunteering to coach this year, considering that I am driving around an hour each way to get to/from practice and I only get to see Aidan in the mornings when I meet up with Dayna. Come the time that I get paid for it, I might not regret it- but it is definitely too much on my plate right now; however, it is like genetically in my body that I am incapable of quitting something if I told them that I would do it. Good news though, is that since Zach's season is over he is able to get Aidan home early and play with him all night, so even though I am not there, he does get quality daddy time.

Last night Aidan fell asleep on Zach after playing so hard when we got home. For those of you who don't really know him, he NEVER does this. He will only fall asleep in the car seat or in his bed. He is always too afraid he is going to miss something to ever fall asleep in a different place, but Zach wore him out! And yes, he has jeans and no shirt on- we like to instill white trash in our children at a young age :-)

More in Aidan news, our goal was to try to transition him to a big boy bed in March. AHHH! It IS march! I'm not so sure he is ready, but we might try naps in there and see how it goes. But, I am NOT buying another crib so we are going to figure something out. Lord knows the child can physically climb out of his crib, but he has no desire to. He just sits in there and talks to his Illinois pillow and his blankets and stuffed animals. We will see....

He seems to have already figured it out though. I was upstairs with him doing laundry and he was playing in his "big boy room"- I walk in to see what he is doing and he is just laying on his bed with his head on his pillow talking to his toy truck.

We are finally starting to figure our routines in our house out- we did a MASSIVE cleaning on Sunday and got soooo much done. It still feels like we haven't fully moved in because not everything is perfect yet, but it is getting there.

Hence the reason why we needed a major cleaning. Hurrican Aidan destroyed our living room.

Christmas Morning Aidan Style

Miska Mouska Mickey Mouse! Aidan is an avid Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan so Zach found him a little toy that talks to him. These are some Christmas morning pics!

Loving his stocking

Go Tigers!

Not sure why I forgot to rotate this one. But he apparently liked the baby food in his stocking.

More presents than Zach and I got ALL of Christmas :-)

Helping Dad with the wrapping paper

Too many toys!

Zach got a John Mayer DVD for Christmas...they both really liked it....

Jabba the Hut

Keeping up with the Darlings

To catch everyone up since I haven't been on in a while...

In between reading about our boring lives I have at least put in some cute pictures! :-)

Aidan - "Seriously? Are you kidding me with this crap right now?"

A Halloween unhappy pic.

We tried to put him in it again, but it is already too small!

Shawn:

Currently hitting a wall with the master's program. I was mislead when I went into my adviser's office last spring and was told that I could transfer in my last two education courses- WRONG! I have now been told otherwise so I am scrambling trying to get directed studies organized through Cameron so I can at least graduate in June.

Just started club volleyball practice and am excited but also a little uneasy about the time that I have committed. I am already being pulled in ten different directions and complain that I don't see Zach and Aidan enough- so why did I sign up for this??? But it is going to be a lot of fun, and if it is too time consuming this season, then I won't do it next year. BUT at least I can say I tried it. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I think, and I will be able to do it in the future too.

Loving life and everything in it right now. I have been so stressed in the past weeks trying to finish my classes for the semester, trying to get ready for exams in the middle of December for Heritage classes, and trying to balance it all- but our family is having so much fun right now. We are constantly doing something- visiting family, playing games, going out to dinner/parks/museums. It has been a great October and November and I am loving every minute of it.

Can't wait for Christmas to get here- and yes it has already exploded in my house- and yes I will put pictures up soon. (especially since I don't think I have put up any at all of the apartment)

A little happier in the bat outfit.

Zach:

Basketball has been going well for him. Right now he is 1-0 with his JV team. They beat Tucker a few weekends ago in an awesome overtime win! It was a very exciting game! Afterwards, he told me his legs were sore from standing and tensing them up the whole game. haha. The Dunwoody Varsity team is off to a slower start- they are 1-3 right now, but they are really young and have played some pretty good teams. They are going to be an amazing team next year and the year after that.

He just started a new section of his masters and is taking three classes right now-which is a lot for the program he is in. He got 2 A's in the past two classes and couldn't be happier! He said those might have been his first A's in real classes since high school. He is working so hard on it right now!

He finally gave in and let me have a REAL Christmas tree this year and even helped me put ornaments on it (well, he put hooks on the ornaments so that I could put them up- but close enough....)

Aidan sleeping on his tummy.

He never sleeps like this so it was picture-worthy!

Aidan:

Eating everything in site right now- even the high chair and water bottles!!! He is eating two small jars of baby food, a little rice cereal, and a little bottle at each meal. In between bites he likes to lean forward and suck on the high chair tray.... really??

We have entered the phase of not being able to eat with our plates right in front of us. He will sit in our lap and reach for everything on the table and anything that goes to our mouths (including our water glasses/bottles- he will suck on the side of them)

He is having some problems sleeping lately- I believe we are entering the teething era so Baby Orajel here we come!

He is rolling all over the place to get where he wants to go, sitting up (sometimes with a little help) and is pushing up onto his knees. I am afraid we are soon to see some crawling- but hopefully not until Christmas break so I can for sure be there for it.

He was 18 lbs 4 oz at 5 months so we are also about ready to get into a new car-seat. I am sooo not ready for that one- I still need to buy a cover for the next car seat that we already have.

SOOO- there you go! That seems to be it in a nutshell- for now!

Date Nights!

Zach and I have started to make an effort to devote one night a week to date night. We had lost our desire/time to keep this up once Aidan got here but we know that we need that time. So, as much as it kills me to be away from Aidan, our marriage is getting some recooperation time when we have "us" time.

A few weeks ago we went to Six Feet Under and then to the Fox to see Ron White perform

Six Feet Under = AMAZING! Get the shrimp and grits!

Aidan staying with Deanie for a few hours and is sooo happy about it!

The Fox

Ron White was hilarious- but the best thing might have been people watching. The clientele there was well.... interesting. Haha.

As of late we have also started doing a couples devotional every night before we go to bed and make sure to do some sort of activity together. We usually play a few games of rummy or maybe stratego. It is nice to carve out some time for each other. Before, we thought we never would have the time since we are so busy- but we do have the time- we just have to plan better.

The Peace of Westphalia

Almost 3 years ago, I brought home a little puppy to live at Zach's apartment while we were in college. Cutest little thing in the whole world. He was a 3 month old rescue and scared of his own shadow.

With that little smooshy face, how could you not spoil him rotten?

But now, he is almost three and still acting too much like a puppy. He gets into things all the time and he has it has turned into a strain on the marriage. Zach was never a big fan of dogs in the first place- he just never grew up with one, so it's not his fault that he sees dogs as "dogs" and not as mini-children like I always have. So when MJ is inside all day and gets into things it turns into "it's me or the dog." Zach's solution: outside dog 24/7. I am pretty sure my heart would break into a million pieces if I had to make him sleep outside. I'm sure he could handle it (maybe), but I'm not so sure that I could!

Never again will you see Zach holding MJ like he did when he was a puppy
1st of all he is too big now, and 2nd of all Zach is not a big dog "lover"
This picture was totally staged and Zach had no choice

Our marriage is too important to let MJ be the catalyst for a fight so it was necessary to find some sort of peace agreement and compromise.

And never again will you catch MJ in the bed.
Oh the things they can get away with when they are puppies....

So, back to the title- I'm a history nerd and the Peace of Westphalia was the first of the real peace treaty of the modern world. Before that, wars and treaties were decided based on religion. This treaty ended the 30 years war and was decided based on what was best for the state and had nothing to do with religion- so a total reconstruction of communication and diplomacy.

So now, Zach and I have started with our whole new reconstruction of communication and diplomacy by actually stopping the continuous dog fights and coming to an agreement- crazy talk!

So here's the fruits of our peace treaty- massive doggie jail (not a derogatory phrase- that's just what we have always called his kennel)- so now he has the whole kitchen to himself.

He is outside all day and comes in at night when we are home and stays in the kitchen. He has his bed and toys in there now. It is an easy floor to clean, and there is not much he can get into unless he learns to open the cabinets by himself (which I really wouldn't put it past him to figure out- he is a little doggie genius when it comes to figuring out how to get into trouble).

The weather has been great until this morning. A huge thunderstorm came through so we had to leave him in the kitchen. I think he was a little disappointed- He has really enjoyed being outside for a majority of the day. He has his dog house and bed out there with water (although he prefers to move aside all of the nice wood chips that Zach put out and sit right in the dirt- awesome- did I mention it's great cause the kitchen floor is easy to clean?!)

It was important for me that MJ begin this transition as soon as possible so that he doesn't associate his new digs with the new baby. So hopefully by the time baby D gets here, MJ will be fully transitioned. The first couple nights he barked and whined 'cause he wasn't at the foot of our bed- but the past few nights have been great and he has been really quiet- even when I get up to go to the bathroom.

So hopefully the puppy wars are over. Stay tuned....

Proof that My Husband Lives Here + a PregPic

I came home the other day to the house looking like a bachelor pad and it made me laugh. Zach recently got a projector and apparently the wall is just not good enough. So, he found two coat hangers and a sheet out of the closet (it was news to me that he even knew how to use a hanger!)

At least he is creative right?

Xbox controller and headset. Blanket and pillow. And, somehow a flip-flop on the coffee table? Hey, at least it is clean! He vacuumed the other day and took out all the trash and boxes so I can't complain.

31 weeks 3 days
I feel like the energizer bunny in stomach size- not in energy. It just keeps going and going.