Pregnancy is a joyful experience, however, it does have it’s challenges. One quirky complaint I now have that I have never read about in all those pregnancy books I devoured with my first pregnancy is body odor. Yeah, I’m reeking. I am not a very malodorous person (normally), but apparently my body chemistry has changed recently, and man, the funk is in the air. Of course, I have maintained my personal hygiene by showering and applying DO, lotion, and sometimes perfume, but now that doesn’t seem to be working like it used to. This is really making me self-conscious. I’m not sweating profusely, so I don’t need a prescription strength antiperspirant. My diet hasn’t really changed, and I have had to temporarily give up foods that I love like garlic because of the intestinal issues it has given me during my pregnancy. So, bottom line is that I stink and it is all MK’s fault.:) Oh well, I’ll be stinky mama for a little bit and have a healthy little girl in the end. But for the time being, I’ll scrub the pits more, slather on the DO, and douse myself in smell good stuff.
We’re home now…got back on Thursday evening. We had a great vacation, but as always it is nice to be home. The details of our trip included a long weekend to Jekyll Island with Mamaw, Big Daddy, and Uncle A with a family reunion at the end of the trip. Then just the three of us headed to St. George Island where Granddaddy and Granny F have a house they so generously allowed us to stay in. This was the first time EK had been to the beach. Well, okay that is not entirely true; we went to St. Simon’s when she was 6 weeks old, but I don’t think that is really worth counting. The question everyone asks is, “How did EK like the beach?” All in all, I think she enjoyed herself, but as with most toddlers her attitude for that day would dictate how much fun she had. Our first beach experience at Jekyll with the three of us was AWFUL!!! Some of it was partly due to our poor planning and some of it was due to EK being exhausted and acting downright ridiculous. I was not aware, as maybe you knowledgable reader might be, that the tides at Jekyll can be extreme. High tide=no beach! I had never experienced this before. I had looked at the tide charts and took notice low tide was approx. 5:30 am and 5:30 pm. So high tide is roughly 6 hours after, around 11:30. To me that meant that the water would be up on the beach more mid-day, but I thought there would be some beach. That morning we got up around 8 and started preparing to go to the beach; eating breakfast, putting on the swim diaper, applying copious amounts of sunscreen, preparing snacks, gathering towels, shade cover, and sand toys and loading up the car. For most people this would not take all that long, but for a slow moving pregnant mama with a hubby that takes a little while to truly wake-up and a toddler to add to the mix, we didn’t get to the beach until 10:20. We emptied the car of all our stuff, and loaded down like pack mules we made the trek across the beach parking lot and down the broadwalk. We found a nice little “campsite” and began to settle in. This is when the mayhem begins. EK starts asking for a snack. We assured her that once we put up the shade cover we would accomadate her request. Not what she wanted to hear. She usually is somewhat patient (well at least for an almost two year old), but not so that day. The asking turned into demanding followed by an all out meltdown. We’re talking alligator tears, snot flowing, and wailing like a banche. We finished with the shade cover, and I tried to appease our little one with snack, but her threshold had been reached. She was semi-calm eating her snack, but any little wrinkle in her universe would just set her off again. During all this exhaustive and ridiculous behavior, Hubby and I are noticing that the water is getting closer and closer rather rapidly. We finally decide to admit defeat after 20 minutes of prep time on the beach and only 5 minutes of “relaxing” and began breaking down and packing up. By the time we got back to the broadwalk the tide had already come in far enough that the last two steps were submerged in water. We loaded into the car our stuff, our wimpering toddler, and ourselves; looked at one another and just started laughing. There was nothing else to do but laugh. Yeah, it was one of those moments.
We didn’t make it back to the beach at Jekyll; we were having too much fun with other things on the island. Big Daddy and Mamaw rented two street legal golf carts we cruised the island in. We visited the historic part of Jekyll which was beautiful and enjoyed some icecream. We visited the 4-H nature center called Tidelands and saw all kinds of critters like sea turtles, crabs, fish, snakes, and baby crocs. Then we headed to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, learned some cool stuff and took a look at their sea turtle hospital. Yes, there is such thing as a sea turtle hospital. Who knew?! As I mentioned earlier, the long weekend wound down with the family reunion, but that wasn’t the end of the fun. The boys headed for putt-putt and the girls hit the pool. We met up with the guys at hole 15 and while they finished EK played on the super-cool playground there. After a stroll on the beach that night with the crew in search of sea turtles, we ended all the festivities with a drag race of the golf carts in the empty beach parking lot (note: a winner has not yet been determined).
So even after that traumatic experience on Jekyll, we did have a number of good times on the beach at St. George Island. Turns out EK really enjoys looking/finding seashells, digging in the sand, and boogie boarding with Daddy. She even overcame her weirdness of having “dirty” feet. By the end of the trip, EK was walking barefoot on the beach and at one point she stopped and put sand on them herself. 
While on St. George, we took a little more relaxing approach to our days. We went to the beach multiple times (without the worry of high tide), window shopped in Apalachicola, visited the state park on the island, watched movies, ate some tasty seafood, and Hubby went fishing.
But with all great vacations, they must come to an end. And to be quite honest I was looking forward to coming home. We took a little detour and had a quick visit with some friends in Macon. But were back on the road within an hour or so; both EK and I had almost had our max on riding in the car. We made it home uneventfully and have settled back to our lovely little life.
Enjoy the pics!
The past week has been CRAZY busy! I’ll try to update you later, but with Uncle JR’s wedding tomorrow, Father’s Day on Sunday, vacation next week, and the regular projects and household chores, you can imagine how hectic it has been and will be for a bit. It’s a good hectic, but hectic is hectic. Needless to say I am very much lacking on the posts and things will continue to be sporadic. Hopefully, when we come back from the beach I can fill in some gaps. Until then, have a wonderful weekend and to all you Daddies out there…Happy Father’s Day!
P.S. Here are the pictures of the sidewalk/front landscape redo that I told you I would post.
We were blessed with some much needed rain last week. When we went out on the front porch to watch the glorious water fall from the sky, EK decided she wanted to check it out a little more. I helped her down the stairs and she walked about halfway down the sidewalk before her return. The rain was cold! She was kind enough to let me get some pictures of her before asking for a towel. Well, we all know by now she is a ham, so a photo op is always okay.
We bought EK a kiddie pool to play in this summer. She wasn’t all that sure about it at first, but has had a blast the last couple of times we have been out there. Today EK found a little “friend” on the side of the pool. She was very curious about her new pet, but kept dropping him and then picking him back up. She was gentle with him and thankfully didn’t squeeze him between her fingers. EK’s discovery was a sign it’s time to clean the pool and refill it.
Here are pictures from our first picking in the garden. If you live by us, you’ll probably be offered some goodies. So eat those vegetables.
Went to my OB today. Everything checked out well. Thankfully, I only gained 2 1/2 pounds this time which brings my current total to 19 1/2 pounds of weight gain. MK’s heartbeat is good and strong and the doc wrote me a prescription for a minor pregnancy complaint I have, so hopefully no more itchiness.
I was a little thrown when doc asked if I wanted to start coming every two weeks or go four one last time. WOW, that was fast! I decided not to rush it and go four weeks one more time. It seems like this pregnancy is flying by now (it seemed painfully slow when I had my head in the toilet at the beginning.)
I am getting excited to meet MK, however, as mentioned in my last post, hoping we’ll finish our projects before she arrives. We got a preview of her cute face at my last ultrasound. EK would only give us her profile, but MK gave us the full frontal. There is something humanizing about a face. In college, the cadavers for my anatomy/physiology course always had towels on their faces. The lab assistance told us it was because once people saw the face it changed the perspective of that person, no longer considered just a cadaver. So even though I have been attached to this little life inside me since the start, seeing her face has strengthened the bond I so treasure.
Okay, to sum up on a less morbid note, I am glad to report things are going well. Hot weather has settled in and the muumuus have come out of the drawer. That’s what’s great about being pregnant in the summer–easy breezy dresses that keep you cool and clothed (there are many times I just want to walk around naked, but restrained myself for the sake of others.) Now I just need to get to the pool!
A few weeks ago I was feeling quite overwhelmed with the number of unfinished projects we had going on around the house (bathroom remodel, the garden, landscape updated, nursery decorating, basement organization) and the impending due date of our second child. I was feeling helpless and like an invalid because much of the work that needs to be done requires more manual labor than I can do while pregnant. I am sure Hubby was tired of hearing me go through the TO DO lists and the deadlines of the above mentioned tasks. Ideally, I wanted everything finished by August 1st, but thought that would be an impossibility. Now, however, I am feeling refreshed and a minor sense of accomplishment that things are on track and seem to be ahead of schedule. Hubby has once again donned the name of “Work Monkey.” That minor sense of accomplishment is vicarious and actually comes from all the work he has done; the garden is completely irrigated with drip hoses and weed-free*, the landscape is complete (pics of that to come), the bathroom remodel is chugging along (plumbers moved the toilet pipe and added plumbing for the second sink and Hubby is about to put the new sub-floor down), and I am slowly, very slowly, working on the basement. Hopefully, I will be able to report in the next few weeks continued progress and check some more things off the list. I’ll keep you posted. (Ha Ha lil’ blog pun there)
*We came to the realization that the weeds were winning the battle of their livelihood and would not be eradicated without the help of some more hands ripping them from allied fertile ground. So Hubby asked two guys he knows from work to come and help. Thank you William and Wilbur for the incredibly efficient and thorough work you accomplished. You don’t know how much you put my mind at ease and how much you saved Hubby’s back. You two are awesome!!!
Today when I was putting EK down for her nap, she asked for a butterfly kiss. I asked if she wanted her kiss on the cheek or forehead. She replied, “Belly.” I told her that I wasn’t going to kiss her belly. Before I could again ask if she wanted her kiss on her cheek or forehead, she promptly stuck out her finger pointed to her rearend and stated, “Kiss bum.” I busted out laughing, which in turn, made EK laugh. I figured that it would be at least the teeny-bopper years before she told exclaimed such a statement. ”From the mouth of babes…”
I saw this bumper sticker the other day and thought I would share. It really tickled me, so hopefully you’ll have a chuckle too.
“All trash, no trailer.”
Hee Hee.
