Blowing Bubbles

Recently we had some phenomenally nice weather (right before the temps plunged literally 35 degrees overnight) and Karina wanted to blow some bubbles.  Her preschool teachers had given each of the kids a small bubble wand in a test-tube like thing for Halloween.  Karina thought it was awesome.  So I pulled out a bottle of bubble mix we had and this crazy huge wand Bill had bought her months ago (and which laid on my dining room table untouched) and took her outside.  You would have thought I had just roped the moon for her, she had so much fun!  We used up all the bubble solution and I had to try to quickly mix up some homemade stuff (not as easy as it sounds).  She must have played for 2 hours.  AND the best part?  I have pictures! 

Halloween Parade Pictures

These are pictures from the Halloween parade at Karina's preschool.  I don't have more because literally every picture has her friend M in it, holding her hand, so I just gave you a little selection.  They were so cute together though!

Halloween at Preschool

Karina goes to preschool twice a week now, as some of you may remember.  I love her preschool and I am so happy we decided to put her in.  She is becoming more social, learning lots of things, and most importantly having a lot of fun.  She's really shy (like I actually am) and didn't seem to have a clue how to play with other kids, so having her in school a few hours twice a week has been helping.  She is very proud of herself for going to preschool.

They do lots of neat things there, like painting and craft projects.  She's always bringing home something cute and clever.  The school is accredited, so everything they do has a learning basis, although that is not primarily why we enrolled her in preschool.  Still it's good to know they are thinking about the projects and not just playing around. 

It's so hard to leave her still, even though she loves it and goes right in without even saying goodbye to me most days.  I used to hug her and tell her I'd see her after the Teddy Bear song, but now I don't even get to do that!  She's ready to go.  She has a friend from church who also is in her class and they have become closer since being in class together.  When M sees her at church or Musikgarten, she wants to hold Karina's hand and hang out with her.  I love it.  Karina is still adjusting to it I think, but she definitely enjoys M's company and told me one day that M was her best friend.  Very cute.

This past week the Tuesday/Thursday classes had their costume parade.  All the kids dressed up in their costumes and paraded around the outside of the playground fence for parents and other classes to see them.  Karina's class went on Thursday.  She and M were both Cinderella, although I don't think they conspired in it at all.  M was planning to be Cinderella for a long time, and I don't know what brought on Karina's desire to be a princess in the first place.  Way back when I was giving her suggestions and ideas, I really thought she'd want to be a ladybug or a car, but she said princess and stuck to it.  Then one day it wasn't just any princess, it had to be Cinderella.  I searched for a Cinderella dress but they all seemed kind of cheap or expensive, or cheap AND expensive, until one day I was in Toys R Us and went through their regular dress-up section.  I found the most beautiful dress--blue and silver, like Cinderella, with flowing sleeves and some details on it.  And it was cheaper than most of the Halloween dresses!  Score!  I had Karina try it on and she loved it!  Then she informed me that she needed glass slippers.  Got some cheap ones at KMart and she wore them to Grandma's house the first day I showed them to her!

I have pictures of the parade to share with you, but of course, they are on my desktop and I am in bed on my laptop writing this.  But I promise I will put them in a new post tomorrow or Monday for you all to see. 

I just have to say another good word about her teachers.  She has a teacher and an assistant, and we call them both her teachers.  There is also always a parent helper in the classroom, so 3 adults with a maximum of 10 kids is good.  Anyway, Tuesday the kids were all going to the little pumpkin patch there at the church that's connected to the preschool, but Karina had woken up with this bad cough and I couldn't be sure she wasn't sick.  I thought it was probably allergies or the remnants of the cold she'd been fighting all weekend, but I figured if I sent her, she'd end up being sick and miss Thursday, the parade, and of course if I kept her home she'd be fine (which she was, but that's okay).  Anyway, she missed the pumpkin patch.  I figured they might pick out a pumpkin for her and have it on Thursday but no--they took her over there during playground time and let her pick her own!  I just thought that was so thoughtful and kind of them, and I just love her teachers.  Mrs. W and Mrs. C, you rock!!!

Pictures, I've got pictures!

Here are some random pictures from the last couple months.  I hope you enjoy!
First, here I am in all my 28 weeks pregnant glory.  Bill was on the floor when he took this so I'm sorry it's such poor quality.

 Karina has one of her pinwheels stuffed down the neck of her shirt.  She thinks it is hilarious.

 I came home from shopping one day and she was outside with Bill and this is what she was wearing.

 Dressed up for the birthday party.

 Playing with E's dress up shoes at the party.

 At last!  She was free to climb on E's swingset!  She can go up the fake rock wall by herself.

 And learned to go down headfirst, too!

 At my church there's a little garden in the courtyard with a fountain.  You have to go out separate doors to get to it, but I let her go out and touch the water.

 Her own style of swinging.

 This is the contraption at the playground that I hate: I am so afraid she'll fall through.  But she can do it.  I stand under her the whole time holding my breath!

I'll have more later, some bubble blowing and a Halloween parade, but for now, you're all caught up!

Amusement Park!

Oh what a day we had today!  Karina and I went to the local amusement park with my friend Kelly and her sons A and N.  It was fantastic but it almost didn't happen.  Our schedules are so crazy and right now the park is only open Friday through Sunday since it's fall.  Then this weekend, Karina seemed to be getting sick.  This morning she was crying because her nose was stuffy.  But she wasn't running a fever, and once her nose cleared up each morning she'd be fine the rest of the day.  So we went and I'm so glad we did!

But you will never believe what I left in the car.  MY CAMERA.  Ugh!  I was so mad!  Luckily Kelly had hers and took a bunch of pictures and I will share some once I get them from her.  I was just kicking myself all day.

The first thing we did was stop at the stables where they keep some horses.  Karina has never seen a horse up close (she did see a pony in Arkansas) so she was pretty surprised by how huge they were.  But she liked them.  Then she and the boys rode Karina's first ride ever:  it was a little horse ride that went in a circle.  The horses were in pairs so she rode next to N who is older and who she just loves to death.  They get buckled in really nice and snug, and then they hold on as the ride goes around and slightly up and down.  I was so scared she'd hate it and cry or try to get off, but she smiled and seemed to love it, so I was quite relieved!  Then Kelly took N on a big roller coaster while A and Karina and I went back to see the horses and then A rode the ride again. 

Next we went to an area where they have a bunch of Sesame Street things.  There are some rides and a playground type area and there's a show in the afternoons.  There are also character meet and greets, and she got to see The Count and Bert.  She was a little afraid but I went with her and she did give them both a high five at the end.  She said she liked seeing them.  The kids played on the little playground for a while and then we decided to go over to another section and ride the teacups.  Karina didn't really want to go on them, but I told her she would get to ride with me.  We chose a cup on the outside that was not on one of the moving platforms (it's a big circle with circles inside that move and then the cups themselves move, if you aren't familiar) and I of course was not about to turn the cup.  When it started up she got scared and wanted it to end.  I just told her to hide her face so she did, and then it was over pretty quickly and she was fine.  She said it was too fast.  She skipped the next ride while Kelly and I planned out lunch, and then we rode a train (a real choo choo train!) over to another section to get lunch.  She loved the train!  We saw some sheep grazing and a place where they're building a new roller coaster, and she talked the whole time. 

We got off at the next stop and got lunch.  Karina had a hot dog, fries, a huge cup of strawberries, and some chocolate cake.  She didn't eat all of any of it (except her share of the cake we shared!) but she did finish the strawberries by the end of the day so I was happy.  N played a silly game of "I'm eating my finger" with her, where he had wrapped his fruit rollup around his finger and was eating the fruit.  She didn't seem into it when it happened, but she remembered it and talked about it later at home. 

We went on the Merry Go Round next, and again, Karina was a little nervous.  She had to choose a horse in the middle of the three rows for safety reasons and of course I stood next to her.  She wanted to go on a purple one, but the little girl in front of us got that one.  So she rode a pink one, and as soon as it started, she got really upset and said she didn't like it.  I just held on tight and reassured her that it wasn't going to go any faster or do anything else, and then poof, it was over.  She said she liked it, but I think at that point she was just saying it.  She did like the horses and petted several before we got off, including a really fancy purple one that was on the outside, that she wanted to ride but couldn't. 

Another kids' area with dragons was next, and that was a hit.  There was this very tame boat ride that she went on with both of the boys--they got to ride all together--and she loved it!  She was so excited about that one.  Next they did one with ladybugs, but it was a little bumpy (the ladybug cars went in a circle over some small hills but the ride was very bumpy; she didn't like it much).  She passed on the next ride and ate strawberries instead.  Then the kids climbed around in this other play area that was like a treehouse.  There was a great slide in another section of it, so we went over there.  Karina loves slides but at first wouldn't go on it.  Then she did and she loved it and the kids all went on it several times.  It was a lot of stairs to go up and down though!


Let's see...after that we went over to another section where they had some more great tame rides for kids, like mini swings (she loved them), airplanes (skipped), balloons (didn't like it til N held her hand and talked to her, and then she did like it--they were fake hot air balloons that could hold 4 kids, and they went in a circle and up and down), and a pretzel shop where she and I got some ice cream bars.  By that time, it was late, A and Karina were way past a nap and he was really having a rough time holding it together.  He was so tired, poor little guy!  So we went back to the little train station and rode it through two stops back to the park entrance/exit.  We figured it was a great way to end the day, doing something they all really liked a lot. 

She fell asleep only 15 minutes from home so she didn't have a real nap today.  When she saw her dad to tell him about it (he was at the store when we got home) the first thing she talked about was the train!  We told him all about her adventures, and she had to build the park with her blocks. I'm sure I'll be hearing about it til next summer when it reopens!  She told me she wants to go on the huge roller coasters with her dad when she's bigger (I tell her of course, but in my head I'm thinking, "The merry go round was too fast but you want to go on THAT??").  When I tucked her in to bed tonight, she talked about it some more. 

I'm so glad Kelly went and we were able to coordinate our schedules so the kids could all go together.  I really wanted to go with her the first time I took Karina because of the stroller issues and because I knew Karina would love having the boys there with her.  Plus it worked out so great having N to hold her hand and ride with her.  A is younger than Karina by 4 months, but they go to the park all the time (Kelly lives a good 20 minutes closer to it than I do and the whole family has season passes) so he is used to the rides.  Karina had never been on any rides before and had never been to this park.  It was just such a great day (and the weather was perfect!) but I am wiped out!

Just a couple pictures from the birthday party

Here are a few pictures (I can't take credit for them--I did not take them my friends S or B did) from Karina's friend E's birthday party.  I haven't posted pics for you guys in soooooo long, and I'm just on my laptop (where I do not have any photo editing software, so I literally used Paint.  Yes, that program that comes on every computer) so I apologize if they are super awful.  You can see me in the first one, but you can't tell how huge I am.  In that picture I am attempting to get Karina to eat something, anything.  The rest are just of her playing.  Anyway, here they are for what they're worth!

A Birthday Party

Over the weekend, Karina got to go to a birthday party for a friend of hers from church. E just turned 4, so she's about a year older than Karina.  She is just the cutest sweetest little girl.  Karina has known her ever since she started going to Musikgarten classes, when she was about 6 months old or so. 

It was a Barbie tea party, and she was invited to come in a pretty dress and bring play clothes.  We've been to E's house before so we knew there was a ton of fun to be had in the backyard on their great swingset.  Karina loves the slide, and she learned how to climb up the fake rock wall to get up to the top, so she was really looking forward to going to E's house.

We got her all dolled up, including painting her nails (all 20) purple (yes, really purple; would you expect anything less from my purple-loving girl?) and she wore a beautiful dress that is one of 4 my sister in law had sent her last Christmas and were too big yet.  When we arrived, we were some of the first guests, so Karina got to play outside a little and in E's room.  She got to check out E's play makeup and dress up shoes, things Karina knows pretty much nothing about, being a car/truck girl. 

Once everyone else arrived, the girls were seated for tea (and E told Karina that she should sit next to her, which I thought was really special, since E had a bunch of friends there).  Tea was really pink lemonade, but it was served in a real teapot which I thought was such a cool idea.  Makes me want more teapots, but that's another story.  They had little sandwiches, sugar wafer cookies, cute little cups of fruit, cheese cubes, and some Jello cups.  There was other food too, like spinach cups and some other things for the adults.  Karina tried several of the things she'd never had before, but wasn't crazy about them.  So she had water, fruit, cheese, and one bite of a mini hot dog in crescent roll (I forgot those when I was listing the food just now).  After the food, the girls all put on play clothes and went outside.  Karina was ecstatic.  She was up that swingset faster than I could follow her out the door!  She had the best time playing outside.  The weather was just perfect, mid 70s and sunny with a nice breeze.

After a little while, E came out and told us it was time for cake.  You should have seen Karina make a beeline for that kitchen table!  It was hysterical!  She was the first one in the door!  E's mom had made a Barbie cake herself, and it was great.  She made it look like a beautiful yellow dress with pink ruffles.  E was so cute while everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.  Her dad told her to make a wish, and she told him emphatically, "NO!"  That was pretty funny, and then she blew out the candles.  Karina devoured the cake.  The adults got to have some too, and it was really delicious.  After cake, they went back out to play for a few minutes and then E was ready to open presents.  When they came in to do that, Karina went straight to the kitchen table.  We had to go get her and tell her E was opening presents in another room.  All the girls went in and sat down in a little row next to her.  I thought Karina was going to cry when E opened the gift from her, because she had wanted to keep the princess stickers for herself, even though that was what she had specifically told me to get for E!  But she was fine, just tired. 

After presents it was time to go home, and E's mom gave Karina her party favor.  This was the most amazing thing:  the favors were tea party Barbies!  She got them on sale a while back, and swears she would have spent double if she'd done a pinata or goody bags, but still, it seemed like such an extravagant favor.  Karina loved it; the first thing she said was, "She needs to meet Green Truck.  She will like Green Truck."  In the car she told me her name was Pink Doll but she later changed it to Alice. 

Overall, it was a really fun time and she was pretty wiped out.  I think it was a special day for E, too. 

I feel so lucky to have friends with children who are so sweet and who are so kind to my daughter.  I hope that this family will be able to stay in our area for a very long time.  I would love to see the girls all grow up together (they have a younger daughter as well, who is about 18 months).  Later I'll let you all know about Karina's birthday party plans and some other things we have going on around here, too.

The worst part about my pregnancy

I read a blog post the other day that had a similar title.  She talked about the horrific pain she had from gall bladder attacks, and I thanked my lucky stars that nothing like that happened to me with Karina and has not happened with this baby.

Then today it hit me.

Pain is not the worst part.

The worst part for me is knowing I have friends and family who desperately want babies and can't have them, for various reasons.

I realized that I am beyond lucky, beyond blessed, beyond fortunate.  Being able to feel this baby and Karina growing and be part of their lives from the very first second is a miracle.  Cliche, yes, but I don't care.  It's true.

I wish with everything I have that I could do something and somehow let my loved ones experience this, too.  I really do, but there is nothing I can do other than offer them my love and support.  It doesn't seem like enough though when I'm one of the lucky ones.

Karina's baby

Karina loves cars, trucks, trains, and planes.  She treats them like little families and there are always mommies and babies and daddies and now sisters.  Sometimes she is their mommy, but usually the mommy is one of them.  She's not too interested in dolls or other "girly" toys, but she is very mothering in her play with her cars and things.  The other day, the weather was finally not raining and it was gorgeous, so she and I took a walk.  While we walked, she told me that her tummy was getting bigger and bigger.  It was because there was a baby car in it.  I asked her about her baby car and then she held her hand out to her tummy and pretended to take the baby car out of her tummy.  She showed me the baby car she had just given birth to, and told me it was named White Car (all her toys are named after colors).  Then we spent the rest of the walk walking to the baby car doctor while she carried her imaginary baby car in her hands. 

Disney on Ice

Sunday night, my friend Marie invited Karina and I to see the Disney on Ice show "Dare to Dream".  We were happy to go, and it was Karina's and my first time at any kind of ice show.  We went to a 5:30 matinee, so that I was hoping to avoid a bedtime drama.  Most of the other shows were at 7pm.  Marie got our tickets, and she scored a super deal--we paid less than the cheapest seats in the place and had row 9 seats!  We were one row behind the $45 seats and paid a third of the price!  That was really awesome.

When we got there, Karina noticed everything, from all the people to the big building to the generator-run lights on the sidewalk.  We found our seats pretty easily, after passing hundreds of stands and booths full of Disney princess products.  I wanted to get Karina a program but they were way too expensive.  Karina liked that the ice had star-shaped lights beamed down onto it.  She also liked finding the speakers high up in the rafters of the building. 

The show has 3 stories, The Princess and the Frog (Tiana), Cinderella, and Tangled (Rapunzel), in that order.  Karina did not like the first one at all.  She was afraid of the frog costumes and some of the effects.  She was so scared she wouldn't even turn around on my lap, where she had climbed.  Finally it ended and Cinderella came on.  She didn't want to turn and look, but I sort of made her, to show her Cinderella's dress and things like that.  As you may know, Karina isn't much of a princessy-girly-girl, but she does like their dresses and the skating was interesting to her.  So finally she watched some and then intermission was halfway through Cinderella.  I took her out to the bathroom where the line was enormous until I spied another Women's room just ten steps down that had no line at all.  Then we stood in line to get food, which was insanely expensive.  Why a bottle of water costs more than a hot dog is beyond me.  But my girl had to eat, and she won't drink anything but water (really, not even juice).  So we went back to our seats, she ate her hot dog in 5 seconds flat, and was fine after that.  She loved Cinderella, and really really loved the Rapunzel one.  They did a lot of high-flying in that one, which impressed me, too, and Karina was just enthralled.  Her little friend loved it, too.  I was so glad that she had finally enjoyed it.  I had never seen Tangled, even though I wanted to when it came out, so I was really into the storyline.  I am going to have to see this movie now. 

After the show, Marie and her husband walked us to our car, and then Karina and I sat in the car talking for a little bit waiting for the traffic to die down.  It's impossible to get out of those places in a hurry, so we just sat there.  Finally I thought I'd be able to back out but there were all these other people cutting in and no one was using any manners at all.  I was very frustrated.  Karina said she was making cupcakes for the other drivers and pretended to give them out and then made me some pretend chocolate ones.  After I pretended to eat it, we were able to move and get into the lane to leave.  Karina was very excited that her cupcakes were the reason we were able to leave!  Then on the way home she told me all about the show and the people who turned into frogs.  Then she started telling me about Lambkin (her special stuffed lamb) and his house and how it's a green house with a green door and porch and a pink roof.  He has a green bike and a pink bike and keeps one inside and one outside.  We got home around 8pm, and I was in no rush to put her to bed because I knew she needed to wind down.  About 8:30 we went upstairs, after she told her dad all about it, and then by 8:45 she finally went to bed.  It was such a fun night, and I am so glad that Marie invited us.  I have to say, Disney really knows what they're doing (except for the frogs--I heard other girls in the bathroom talking about how creepy they were and looked like aliens), and they put on a mighty fine show.


PS Disney didn't pay me or compensate me in any way, shape, or form to write any of this.  It's just a thing that happened to us and I wrote about it honestly.

Little Spider

Take a look at the little lady that was making a home right outside our kitchen window the last few days.

I know the pictures aren't the best, but no way was I going outside to snap her.  She was about an inch across, including legs.  Her web was beautiful though!

And the baby is a......

Some of you might have guessed along with me what gender this baby is going to be.  First, I thought girl.  Then I used Intelligender (an at-home gender predictor kit) and it said boy.  Then I was all confused.  Some people thought girl, some thought boy.  I was going crazy!  Finally I decided it was probably a boy, and started hunting for names and little boy things. 

On the 12th we finally had our big-deal ultrasound, where they look for lots of things, especially development of baby's organs and such.  They also tell you the sex of the baby if you want to know.

So we went in, Bill and I, all prepared to hear what the tech had to say.  This lady is the one who did our ultrasound for Karina, and told us she was a girl.  She's only been wrong 2 times in her career, and I know she's been at it for probably over 20 years. 

So, do you want to know what it is? 

It's.....







a....























GIRL!!!

Yes, Karina is going to have a little sister!  I was so shocked, I had gotten my head all into thinking boy, but I guess my first instinct was right all along.  Assuming this isn't our tech's third mistake, ha ha!  No, I'm kidding; I'm fully confident that she's right.  We have a middle name picked out, we've had it for a long time.  Just need a first name.  It's taken me a while to get back into the girl way of thinking, but I'm happy that she's healthy (oh yeah, that important part of the ultrasound--she looks great!).  Also happy I don't have to buy a new diaper bag because I really like mine!

Well I hope you had fun wondering and guessing.  It was fun for me, too, but I am beyond relieved to finally know and start planning and shopping.

Have a good weekend!

No Tears!

Karina did great going to preschool today!  She didn't cry at all, which means neither did I.  She was a little unsure, and she was dawdling over her breakfast, but other than that, she went willingly. 

When I picked her up, the first thing she said was, "Where's my backpack?" (They keep them in the hallway)


We went to Wendy's for a special lunch to celebrate, and now she's supposed to be sleeping, but I hear her in there talking.  Sleep, girly!

I'm so glad it went so well.  And I didn't cry!

First Day of Preschool, Report

Well, as I predicted, everything went fine today.  I was there with Karina at preschool the whole time, which is how they plan it, and Karina did just fine.  She colored, then played with trucks, then it was cleanup and snack time (ice cream!), and then books and we went home.  It helps, I think, that her little friend is in the class.  I know it's nice for me to see that familiar face (her mom) when I walk in.  Thursday will be different--Thursday I leave her in there alone, so I'll have more to report then.  Hopefully we'll have no tears!  Or there will be a LOT of tears coming from ME!!

First Day of Preschool

Tomorrow is the first day of school for kids in Virginia.  That includes Karina!  She is starting preschool.  Bill and I decided about a year ago that it would be good for her to go to preschool for the socializing aspect of it.  I knew of a certain school that I wanted her to go to, because not only is it a great school, my friends have their kids there and the mother of one of my friends is the head of school.  So I felt really comfortable sending her there.  At the time, they had one day a week 2 year old classes, but the teachers and staff decided that it basically wasn't worth the kids' time (or the teachers' time) so they went to a 2 day a week or 3 day a week class.  Karina is in the 2 day class.  I'm not that nervous, which really surprises me.  I thought I would be, but to be honest, I'm really kind of looking forward to it.  She will only be in class about 2 1/2 hours, and the school is far enough from our house that going home will be pretty much pointless and a waste of gas.  Luckily, there are tons of places near the school to shop.  I made a list one night of all the things I can do--by myself--while she's in school, like get a haircut, do grocery shopping, go to the craft store, or Target, or the mall.  There is a ton to do.  Of course, at some point I'll be pregnant enough that I won't want to wander around anywhere, but that's okay, I can still find something to do sitting down, possibly eating a Frosty...

On the other hand, I will miss her!  I'm so glad it's only twice a week (I really wanted the once a week class, but it'll be okay).  I love being with her.  I know a lot of parents who are fed up with their kids, or their kids are obnoxious or something, and I hear about how happy they are that school is starting up again, or they're so happy to get away from their kids.  Maybe it's just not happened for me yet, but I don't get it.  I love being with Karina.  Don't get me wrong, I need my Me time, too, but usually, I'm content to be with her and take her along with me.  So I will definitely miss her, but I think it will be so good for both of us.  We will also be doing Musikgarten again this year, YAY!!!!!  That will be on Wednesdays.  We had a bit of a scare when the teacher announced the class was on Tuesdays.  I told her I had specifically requested the Tuesday/Thursday preschool class so we could still attend, and she was able to work her schedule so that we could still have the Wednesday class.  I am SOOOOOO happy!!!  I love our Musikgarten classes, and if any of you read this are in a position to go to one, I HIGHLY recommend them.  It was the first thing Karina and I did as a class experience, and it was great not just for her, but for me as a first time stay-at-home-mom to get out and be around other grown ups who were in similar situations.  In fact, one of Karina's Musikgarten classmates is in her preschool class, too!

The preschool starts the twos off slowly, so I will be with Karina for the entire (shortened to one hour) class tomorrow.  There will also only be half the class there during our time, and the other half will come in after us.  Then on Thursday, she will go by herself for only 90 minutes.  Finally, next Tuesday, she will be there by herself for the full 2 1/2 hours.  I'll post a brief update after class tomorrow sometime, but I don't know how much there will be to report, since she won't be by herself.  We've already met her teacher and assistant, and they are great, so nice.  So, I think everything is going to go just fine. 

To all the kids out there starting school tomorrow, have a good first day!  Listen to your teachers!  Do your homework!  Pay attention in class!  Have fun!!!