Operation Big-Girl Room - SUCCESS!!!

Here is Ivy with her pink flowers - it is all I can do to keep her from picking them.

We took Ivy strawberry picking. We only went for about 15 minutes one evening when Richard got home from work. I picked a whole basket full and Ivy picked quite a few herself!

Here is Ivy's new room before I got any furniture in it. It was white before but is now a light purple... The door on the left in that little hallway is the closet door and the door you can only see a little bit of is the door to the bathroom...

Ivy trying out her new bed...

And here's how it looks now....

We've still got quite a bit to do to it but Ivy is now sleeping in the room. We've added the guard rail to the bed so she can't fall out. I've still got to do something to the curtains so they can be tied back - the dresser is ready we just haven't moved it in yet. I also have a bookcase that I hope to put in there. And of course we still need to put some things on the wall. I'm waiting until my ultrasound on May 10th. If we are having a boy, we'll move some of the decorations from Ivy's nursery - they were made by my Mom. If we find out we're having a girl we'll leave the nursery the same and figure out something new to do in Ivy's room. So for now, that's it!

And Baby Makes 4!!

We're PREGNANT!!! Since I'm 16 weeks into this, I think I've pretty much told everyone by now, but I figured I'd better post a little something on the blog for those of you I don't talk to very often...

I'm due October 1, 2010. But I'm hoping I'll have the baby in mid-September. Why, you might ask? Well, Ivy was born 3 weeks early and was 9 pounds, 3 ounces. Not your typical weight for a baby 3 weeks early!!

I expressed my concerns with my doctor at my check-up a month ago and she said that they couldn't commit to inducing me at this point but that they could do an ultrasound at 36 weeks (or so) and estimate the baby's size. If he/she is looking big already, then we can talk about inducing.

I went to another check-up today. I'm proud to say that I haven't gained any weight yet! I'm still the same as I was when this started. I guess that is one good thing about starting out with a little "extra". Plus, it looks good in my chart, so when I get farther along and I gain 10 pounds between visits, it'll be okay. :) We got to listen to the baby's heartbeat again, which is a WONDERFUL sound.

I go back May 10 (in 3 weeks) for an ultrasound. During that they'll check to see that Baby's organs and everything are developing correctly. And most excitingly, we'll get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl!! I can't wait!!!

Plants and a Haircut...

We went to the Farmer's Market yesterday - it was cloudy and pretty chilly - a perfect day for the Farmer's Market. We almost had the place to ourselves. I picked out a few little flowers for Ivy to help me plant and then I bought some vegetable plants for our garden.

Here is Ivy after helping me plant the flowers...

Here is Ivy next to one of our grape tomato plants... I plan to take her picture next to this plant (as long as it survives!) each week or so to keep track of how big it gets...

Ivy had her first haircut today! I had talked about having her hair cut right around her 2nd birthday but just never got around to it. But then we were driving home yesterday from errands and out of the blue she starts talking about wanting a haircut. She said "I want haircuts." So since she took an early (and WAY too short) nap today, I called up this little children's salon called Peek-a-Do to see if they had any appointments. They had one in 30 minutes so we packed up our stuff and headed to the salon. Ivy had a great time. She got to pick which chair she sat it. And they had a Go-Diego-Go movie on so she was happy. We were in and out in 20 minutes. And since it was her first haircut they gave her a little certificate and put some of her hair in a little baggie for me to take home and put in her baby book. Once the haircut was over, they put the front part of her hair in this silly little rubberband with a pink ribbon tied to it. Then sprayed her with glitter hairspray (I okay'd that since it's bath night) and then she got a lollipop. Overall, it was a fun first haircut experience for Ivy. She liked it and said she wanted to go back.

SNAKE!!!!!

Richard came home yesterday to a snake in the driveway. I had my van over at my Mom's house and came in after him - Richard called me and said "Hey! There's a really big brown snake in the driveway. I've thrown some sticks at it to see if it'll move but it won't move. Let me know if you think it is poisonous when you drive by..." I drive up to it and it bit at my front tire. Then I continued to slowly go by and it bit at my back tire. I though it looked like it had a triangular head, but really, I was inside the van, I couldn't really tell.

Richard decided it didn't matter, it wasn't a good black snake, so he went in and got his shot gun. It took him a few minutes to get it out of it's case, unlocked, and to grab some shells...

He got out to the grass and of course the snake had moved by then, but not far, just into the grass. I was watching Richard out the window and saw him shoot twice. He got it!! Way to go Richard! After the snake was dead, and after some pictures, we came inside and got on the internet to see what kind of snake it was. We've decided it was some kind of water snake - non-poisonous, but still a mean snake. And apparently the bite will "bleed profusely" because of something in the snake's saliva??? So we decided it was good that we killed it. With pets and a toddler running around, it wasn't worth the risk of one of them getting bitten.

Just for reference, Richard is 6 feet tall...it was a BIG snake!!

The snake's belly...we took this to help us identify it...

Beach Trip...

We went to Corova Beach last week. That is on the Outer Banks, the northern-most beach. The road ends and you have to drive on the beach to get to the houses up there. 4-wheel drive is a must! It is so nice and quiet there, even more so since we went during the off-season.

Ivy collecting sea shells...

The lovely "cheeeeese" face...

There are wild horses that live there. They just roam all around. We saw them on the beach, in the dunes, in the yard of our rental house...

Richard inspecting a fishing net that washed up. It was full of dead fish. Luckily, it hadn't been there long. It didn't stink yet!

The back of our wonderful beach house...

Ivy and Daddy fishing off the dock at our house...

Ivy and Paw Paw heading out for a boat ride...

Ivy's first boat ride... It was a quick trip - she wanted Mommy to come along, but there wasn't enough room...

Our big red Suburban on the beach... (this picture is especially for Richard)...

Ivy watching the wild horse in the yard...

Craig used the cast net in the canal behind our house and caught some good-sized Mullet. We had 7 to eat. They were a little bony, but still tasted good!!

What a fashion statement!!!

This picture just makes me laugh...

Ivy playing on the beach with Daddy...

Daddy flying the kite - Ivy liked the idea of flying the kite but really didn't care about it once it was in the air...

This buoy had washed up (I have no idea how long it has been there) but I thought it was kind of cool that it was just there and never moved...

On our way home we stopped by the Wright Bros. Memorial... (mostly to let Ivy run around and burn off some energy before the long car ride home)

Ivy how old are you? "TWO!!!"

And Ivy enjoying MY souvenir... I got to bring home a hammock!