A Long Day...

After running a million errands we decided to take Lauren to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney's Hollywood Studies. Whoa, was it packed with people! Lauren loved when the fake snowflakes began to fall. After the lights, we sporadically decided to go see the parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom. We were hoping we would start something with all of this walking I was doing. As we retreated home I was definitely exhausted and crampy. But, no luck. We just had a great time together anyways.

Decorating the House

Our little helper decorated our tree with us along with all the other Christmukkah decorations we placed around the house. We are even having our very own Christmukkah celebration on Christmas night since the holidays overlap this year. We have a fantastic spread of multicultural foods we are sharing, from latkes to coquito...yum!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

Daddy had lots of fun on his big day - from golfing by day to dinner at night.

One of Daddy's presents from Lauren was a book called, "I Love My Daddy Because..." The day that we went shopping for his gift I had coached her to keep the present a secret. As soon as we got home she ran to Gabe and said, "I got you a present and it's a secret!" Guess it's going to be hard present shopping with her this year!

Red Bug Baby Shower

My amazing 2nd grade team hosted a baby shower for me at work. I get quite embarrassed at personal attention, but this was well worth it. I am so appreciative for my Red Bug family!

What a Procrastinator!

Kendall is a bit of a procrastinator because she just now flipped head down! My doctor did an examination last Tuesday and she is officially head down ready to go. Then he proceeded to say, "if anything happens this weekend..."

UH....? I still want some time!

So, congrats to Kendall for being stubborn and a procrastinator. We love you anyways and can't wait for your arrival.

The Dresser Incident...

Good-bye my beautiful dresser. Good-bye to the memories that you created for us. Good-bye because...........Mommy will never ever see you again! Ok, I can start to laugh about it now with just a few tears. But the other day I was balling over the loss of Lauren's first dresser. So here's the scoop, I was nesting (getting reorganized before the baby) I took it to EXTREME and decided that I wanted to change Lauren's room. So I went to IKEA bought a new dresser, posted Lauren's dresser on craigslist, and sold it within 24 hours. My wonderful husband put together the new dresser while I fell asleep. I woke up and started sobbing for the loss of her old dresser. Needless to say I didn't like the replacement dresser that my wonderful husband spent so much time putting together. I was a wreck. Some pregnant women do the cardinal regret of cutting their hair off when they are pregnant. I SOLD my daughter's dresser. No more nesting for me! Or selling my belongings at least.

Good-bye dresser! I know I will laugh about this later in life.

Happy Turkey Day!

We are all Thankful for so many things.

Preparing for Thanksgiving

While Mommy and Daddy prepared dessert for Thanksgiving, Lauren prepared her own cupcakes. She was very happy to be a chef in the kitchen with us. Mommy was extremely proud of her homemade Apple Cranberry Streusel Pie! Mommy doesn't bake very often (or much at all) but this recipe is a keeper.

I Love Dave Matthews!

and apparently.......Lauren does too!

Mommy and Daddy were watching a Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert on HD net and Lauren was dancing all over the place! She has an ear for good music.

Thanksgiving School Lunch

Every year Lauren's school hosts a Thanksgiving lunch-in with the parents.

Daddy was able to join her for the feast.

Happy Birthday to you!

Oh, my how she's grown! 3rd Birthday

2nd Birthday

1st Birthday

Just Born

Birthday Dinner

For Lauren's real birthday Mommy and Daddy took her to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner.Mommy was thinking of trying the horse ride to get the baby to turn, but see the last rule below. :-(

Another Super Soap Weekend

OK, everyone knows Mommy loves her ABC soaps. Disney Hollywood Studios had their last (do you hear me sobbing), yes last Super Soap Weekend this Sunday. Lauren loves Disney so what better weekend to take her....on her birthday weekend. It was freezing outside! But well worth the trip.

Birthday Princess

One Life To Live Soap Stars

All My Children Soap Stars

Lauren's 3rd Birthday Party

Lauren had a spectacular birthday party at the park!

Thank you to all who came out to celebrate.

It ended up being a humid day, but no rain. Of course, the next day was freezing! What luck.Mommy had to help get the candy out of the pinata because Daddy overstuffed the butterfly. When we pulled her cake from the box, she just couldn't wait to get her fingers into it.

SO she did!
Yummy Cake!
Lauren was so exhausted after her party! Until next year...

Ouch!

Lauren had allergy testing today. They drew two bottles of blood................ouch!

WIll she ever turn?

Transverse seems to be Kendall's position of choice. I was hoping for different news at my 33week OB appointment. So here's the plan...positioning check at 35 weeks, if she's still transverse, then an ultrasound at 36 weeks to confirm and check reasons for not turning. If by then the ultrasound confirms her transverse position STILL, then I can opt for a External Cephalic Version (ECV). External version is generally done around 37 weeks. This procedure is performed in a hospital with fetal monitoring, ultrasound, and IV medications to relax the uterus and turn the baby. The risk factor is preterm labor and emergency c-section. OR I play the waiting game??? If Kendall doesn't turn on her own then I'm going to be up for a c-section anyways.

SO, wish me luck! In the meantime, I'm researching at home ways to get her to turn!

Baby Shower

What a wonderful day. I was thrown a baby shower at Buca di Beppo. I was surrounded by great family, friends and yummy food! Thank you to everyone who came.

Baby Kendall already feels so much love!

Thanks to Renee for being my main photographer. Of course, that's why you don't see her posing in the pictures!

Best Buds

What cutie pies!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

Lauren went to school as a pirate today for her party and then decided she wanted a costume change for trick or treat time.
Bibbidi Bobbidi-Boo ~ Here is Cinderella

We took Lauren to Crane's Roost where businesses hand out candy to the children.

Family Photo ~ Thing 1 and 1/2, A Blind Referee (he's for hire, too...),

and our Beautiful Cinderella

Book Character Day

Today was Book Character Day at Red Bug!

Pumpkin Carving

Lauren carved a pumpkin with Mommy and Daddy. She was a bit hesitant to put her hand inside and feel the guts! Mommy had to show her how it was done and Daddy finished scooping the guts to carve it for her. Every year I do a math activity with pumpkins in my classroom so I am very use to feeling the inside and pulling out the seeds. Lauren liked playing with the seeds. She just prefers keeping her hands out and waiting for us to scoop them to her.
"Yuck"

Pirate Lauren

Lauren attended her best friends Halloween Party. They played games, ate yummy food, and wore their costumes! This year Lauren decided early on that she wanted to be a princess. She narrowed it down to Cinderella. But in the last two weeks she started asking to be a pirate. Bubbie had a pirate costume put away for her birthday so we took it out to surprise her. Just add some boots and the costume was complete."Arrrrrrgg", says the pirate.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we took Lauren to a pumpkin patch at the Altamonte Chapel.

Lauren picked out a mini-pumpkin for her room.

Then, she looked around for a large pumpkin.

The chapel was having a fall festival so Lauren got to enjoy riding her first real horse.

She was a pro! Not scared at all.

Caught in Action!

Lauren told me she was going in her room to play with her doll house. I heard her playing and then a couple minutes later............ I hear a noise in the kitchen. I walked over to the kitchen to find my sneaky daughter standing on her step stool with an open bag of Cheetos (those are currently for Kendall...wink, wink.) I wish I had a camera to catch the look on her face when she saw me standing in the kitchen. She had a surprised face covered in orange! I used a stern (holding back my laughter) voice and asked her if she had permission to eat the Cheetos??? She ran straight to her room and started to cry. Well, she may be a bit sneaky but at least she has a conscience. Don't worry we had a long (3 minute) discussion about this incident after she was done punishing herself in her room.