Twenty-seven weeks!

WHOA, two posts in one day, I am a maniac. I blame the rain and the fact that I can't leave the house without getting immediately drenched. This is the last week of the second trimester. What the?? Where has the time gone? I bounce back and forth between wanting to have the Seahorse here right now, and being totally okay with waiting another three months. Or ten. ;) We are far from ready. (Although we have a car seat! And a crib! And the start of a very cute wardrobe!) Her room is still very much our office. I'm in denial about losing my sewing space. Not that I'll have time to sew anyway, right? Setting goal now, make time to sew! She should be used to the sound of a sewing machine by now, she'll sleep through it, right? RIGHT?

I still feel mostly really good! I've had such a good second trimester, I'm a little scared that I have payback coming my way. Heartburn and indigestion are my biggest peeves right now, but my doctor gave the big okay for me to take Zantac, and it works wonders. The acne is still going full force, but whatever. I'm getting used to it. My back has started to hurt a little (long car rides are my nemesis), though I think it may be partially my fault. I've started running little one mile runs up and down the hill near our place. LOL, ONE MILE. Better than no running! It just feels so good to run! During anyway. After, I pay for it. But I just got a belly/back support band to wear while running, so I'm hoping that helps. We're signed up to run the Turkey Trot 5k with our adopted Temple family, and I am determined to not walk the entire thing! I will trot, if only minimally!

I had a riotous week last week with hormones. I don't know what the heck was going on, but I was just a mopey mess all week. I was just so sad! For no real reason. I was just down in the dumps, feeling very alone and nervous and just unprepared for life. It sucked, but I seem to have moved on from that, this week has been fab so who knows. Hormones are weird. That's what I tell myself when I'm feeling blue. HORMONES, they suck.

But seriously, being a weenie and complaining about my small ails aside, I feel so good! Moving around has gotten more awkward and challenging (At what point to you give up on shaving your legs? And when do you start asking for help tying your shoes?), but I can still do pretty much everything I want to! And everything is going smoothly for the Seahorse as well. Checkups are a breeze. At my last appointment we scheduled my glucose tolerance test. I'm super nervous! Partially about drinking that nasty drink that is taunting me daily from the counter, and partially because I'm scared I'll fail! Diabetes runs in my family big time, and I loooove desserts and carbs. But I've been trying to eat healthy for that little lady I'm growing. Halloween has been bad because candy. And candied apples. Oh my gosh, I am obsessed with candied apples! I wont disclose how many I've eaten, but it's a lot. HEB sells them and puts them right by the door as you walk in, it's so bad. Keep your fingers crossed for me on November 16th while I drink that nasty business and hopefully avoid puking. I do not want to fail!

I've been thinking more and more about the reality of another human being part of our family soon. Honestly, I know everyone says it's going to be so hard and it's going to be gross and I'll never sleep (I've never slept anyway, so no biggie there) and I know it will be, but you guys, I am so excited. I'm so so so so excited to meet this little human and see what she's like! I think about doing day to day things, and big things, plus one small being and I'm just like EEEEE! I think about Brendon holding her and playing with her and I almost die. Y'all, the Seahorse LOVES his voice. If anyone can get her to party on command, it's him. She wakes up almost every time he talks to her. Actually, I'm not sure if she ever sleeps. But she loves him, I know it. I can't wait for her to meet him on the outside! I don't know if I'll be able to handle myself. He's going to be wrapped around her little finger so fast. Which is good, because she's going to deprive him of a lot of much needed sleep during a very busy time of his residency. I'm a little worried about that.

A couple weeks before her due date, and then in February after she's born, Brendon will be commuting to Austin. And that stresses me out a little, because I'm totally scared she'll try to show up early while he's over an hour away. But really, it will be fine. I live two miles from the hospital. I'll just call the VA and scream in panic, SEND ME A PHARMACIST, I NEED A RIDE! Kidding. But pharmacists are, truly, some of the nicest folks. I bet someone would come rescue me. ;) But, hopefully the Seahorse shows up around her actual due date and all will be well. The part I'm real worried about is that she'll be a newborn while Brendon's having to get up soooo early to commute down to Austin. And that is just no fun. I don't mind being deprived of sleep, because I can nap while she does during the day plus I won't be using my brain to you know, make decisions that affect people's health (aside from the Seahorse!), but he's gotta go on business as usual. That boy's life is stressful enough! I know it will be fine, he can handle anything, and I know it will be worth it. But that wee little part of the future stresses me out the most, haha. But it's not forever. I think it's only six weeks in Austin, and it's not everyday of the week. We can do it! And that's a while from now, so... we'll worry about it then. :)

Life in general has slowed down slightly. Our weekends are no longer spent traveling at the moment, so that's nice. We've spent two weekends in a row here in Temple! I feel like that's never happened? Things are still crazy busy, which I never pictured when we moved here, but it's so good. And Temple/Belton is growing on me?? I found myself in Austin the other day thinking, gah I can't wait to get back to Temple. And then I was like, SAY WHAT? It's weird. I don't want to stay here forever or anything, but I dislike it less? I don't know. Sometimes I'm also like WTF IS THIS THE DARK AGES while living here, so who knows. I'm just kind of content. And that's nice.

OKAY, so that was a super long update. Twenty-seven weeks! And two days! Wrapping up that second trimester! Thank you to whoever reads this nonsense. I've been getting some FANTASTIC support from friends over the internet, and I cannot tell you how much that means and helps. Y'all are some winners. Thanks for keeping up with and mentally supporting our little life. And one more photo, because you don't have a basketball for a belly that often!

Jurassic World Halloween

Happy Halloween! A little early! You guys know I love Halloween. I love dressing up, and I love making costumes. It's a perfect match. But this year was a little weird because I am pregnant. It just makes Halloween costumes a little more challenging. A pregnant Disney Princess would be a wee bit awkward, no?

But over the summer when we saw Jurassic World I made a goofy Facebook post saying that for Halloween Brendon was going to be Owen and I'd be his chief velociraptor, Blue. So after coming up with zilch for costume ideas I said, what the heck, lets do it! And believe it or not, this is the first coordinated Halloween costume I think we've done in a loooong time. If not ever! Usually it's just like, "Well I'm making this for myself, you can be whatever you want!" ;)

Forgive the quality of photos! It gets dark so early these days, and we only managed to get one photo outside from the shindig we went to last night before the sun disappeared.

Brendon's costume was really easy. We found the blue shirt at a thrift store and I made the vest out of a huuuuuge suede long sleeved button up we found at the thrift store as well. I cut off the sleeves, took it in about 1000 inches, altered the neckline/lost the buttons and plackets, and made a bunch of little pockets on the front. Basically took it all apart and started over. I tried to mimic the real deal as much as I could. Just suede instead of leather. I actually really enjoyed making that vest? I want to say it was my favorite part of this whole project, my costume included. Weird!

LOL, I spy a Greg, trying to get some attention!

My costume was a whole different bag of worms. Everything is made out of poly knit stretchy fabric, because stretchy is my best friend these days. The dress is a really simple pullover shift dress, New Look 6298, and I just added a big ribbon as a belt because I needed some sort of waistline. For vanity reasons. I made gloves (Butterick 5370), which was a nightmare. As in way more work than I planned on putting into gloves. But it was a learning experience. The pattern I chose wasn't just normal gloves (like two hand shaped patterns sandwiched together), but historical fancy gloves. With gussets (bands of fabric) between each finger. It was insane. But I made them, they fit... like a glove... HA, and I hot glued blue felt claws onto them. Rawr!

THE HEAD. Omg, what was I thinking? I made this up as I went. Just totally winged it. And it mostly worked. I used all kinds of velociraptor photos as references, even a skeleton! This baby has the correct amount of teeth and everything. I started with the middle strip of the head piece and just added to it, sculpting the head. I channeled my inner art school student. Design 2 was all 3D wasn't it? I remember having to carve a piece of popcorn out of a 18"x18" or something cube of styrofoam. Those were the days. Bleh.

Sophie looooved it. She thought I was making her a big pillow!

The eye! I made little slightly puffy eyes out of felt and embroidery thread, then kind of shaded some red and orange onto them with sharpies to give them a little more dimension. They looked like coins from Super Mario at first.

The teeth are made from felt and I lined the inside of the head with red. Kind of looks like a tongue hanging out in that picture! I sewed a cheapo baseball cap into the inside so it would fit onto my head. The bill goes into the mouth to give the head a little more support.

The bottom jaw was the trickiest part. I made a sort of triangular jaw shaped tube, and then ran a coat hanger through it for support. I stuffed the back of the head, sewed it all shut, and called it a day! Oh and I added a blue bow. Since technically Blue the raptor is called Blue because she's covered in blue accents. I thought about painting blue onto the fabric, but that seemed too over the top. For a velociraptor hat...

Finished product! I am pretty happy with it. For it being a giant dinosaur head. I don't know how many times while making this costume I was like, "NOPE, eff it. I've got cat ears, I'll just be a cat." But I stuck it out and finished the damn thing. And now it's sitting in my living room as a cat bed/toy.

Human-raptor love is kind of weird. But you don't have to understand us!!

We wore these costumes early this year because our apartment complex was having a little party. (Brief note here, this is the nicest place we've ever lived. The people who run this joint are so awesome. They throw parties and events at least twice a month for everyone. They are so involved with all their residents, it's amazing. There's a very definite sense of community here, which is something we've never experienced at any place we've lived! Kudos to this place!) And we have like zero plans on Halloween now because of all the impending rain, so we wanted to make sure these saw the light of day. I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out! I think Brendon made a perfect Chris Pratt. Starlord next, or what?

So boom, there are our costumes this year! I definitely missed making something pretty for myself. Sewing with cheap grey stretchy fabric isn't quite the same as sewing with pretty colors and textures. I'm already planning on sewing myself a pretty dress to recuperate. Ha! I have problems.

Have a very Happy Halloween you guys! I hope you have fun celebrating, in whatever way you do! And if you're getting a deluge of rain like we are, stay safe and dry!

And for some Halloween throwback, here are a few of our costumes from the past! All our Halloween selfies from last year, Halloween 2013, Snow White 2012, Ace Ventura 2012, and Marie Antoinette 2011. AND JUST WAIT UNTIL WE HAVE THE SEAHORSE! Oh gosh, it's going to be a blast. Especially when she's tiny and get's no say in her costume. Mwahahaha!

California 2015 - the last day!

Oh man, I have drug this out haven't I? Sorry/deal with it. :)

Our last day in Cali we flew out during the evening, so we had some day time to play with. We hadn't actually SWAM in the ocean yet, so this was our goal. And it was the perfect day to do so! The sun was out and it was nice and warm! We played in the water for a while and then Brendon got bit by something? I don't know, he stepped on something that he swore bit him and he hauled ass out of the water. It was hilarious. He did have a little cut on the bottom of his foot, so something did in fact get him. Whether or not that something was alive or not is debatable. He got back in later with my dad to attempt body surfing. I don't know how successful they were, but it looked like they were having fun! Lynne and I just laid on the beach and soaked in the sun. With SPF 100000 on of course.

Those stairs!!! Dang, workout central.

This photo reminds me of this photo I painted in college:

Daaaang, throwback! I think I took this photo in 2008 and painted it in 2009. Bet y'all forgot I went to school for all that jazz, huh?

Baby bump, out in full force and as vampiric as ever.

This was a really good trip you guys. Extra relaxing and extra fun. We are so grateful to have gotten to go! Big thank you to my dad and Lynne for spoiling us rotten (seriously) and for my step-gma for letting us stay at her timeshare. And to Brendon for taking time off work to come play in the sun with me. It was a much needed trip and escape from the day to day humdrum. Plus it was a blast and I don't think I've gone on a vacation with my dad and step-mom since... that photo up there I painted! It was pretty wonderful.

I am still ever so in love with California. I don't know if it tops the mountains (it doesn't), but it's up there on my favorite places to be. One day I'd love to see northern California. San Francisco! Or Monterrey! I have a feeling I'd adore it, cooler temperatures are my best friend.

That wraps up our bout of traveling for a bit. Well, I guess the wedding we went to in Houston this past weekend was the end. We have another trip planned at the beginning of December, but until then I think most of the craziness stays near home. Which is okay with me! Although the itch to travel is never far away. Maybe we can squeeze a few more getaways in before the Seahorse arrives. ;)

California 2015 - Disneyland!

OKAY. This is going to be a looong post, so mentally prepare yourself if you feel like tackling it.

Somehow, by some magic, we managed to go to Disneyland twice in a years time. Just barely, but twice. Buuuuut, I think it was meant to be. We were there last December. We were watching the holiday fireworks show at the end of our one very long day at Disney and I was close to tears because I didn't want to leave and I didn't know when we'd be back, and Brendon hugged me and told me that he'd take me back soon. AND BOOM, look what happened. To be fair, we are very fortunate that my parents and step grandma asked us to come to Cali. That's the only way this happened. And because Brendon is the best husband to ever be a husband. But still. Meant to be, right??

We were staying a little north of San Diego, and Disneyland is obviously in Anaheim. Which is a good hour or so north. But we got up extra early and made the trip (we were one of the first cars into the parking lot) because I cannot be in California and miss out on Disney. My dad and step-momma played on the beach all day while we crazies went wild at Disney. We stayed aaaaall day long, and by the end of it we were beat. But it was worth it. We only did one park this time, because trying to do two in one day just isn't fair. We saw most of California Adventure in December, so we just did Disneyland this go round since we didn't get to see it all before. And this time we saw it ALL!

Last year when we went we got to see Disneyland all Christmas-ed out and this year we got to see it spookified! Pumpkins galore! It is also the 60th anniversary celebration so we got to see some of that magic as well.

And because I am an uber nerd and love a good theme, I made us Halloween outfits to wear. So we could match Disneyland, duh. I made Brendon a simple button up shirt with crazy pumpkin fabric and I made my dress (a highly altered version of the Hazel dress by Victory Patterns) out of spooky fabric also. We both got lots of compliments, but oh my gosh people lost their minds over Brendon's shirt. Strangers came up to him all day long and told him how much they loved his shirt. One of the cast members actually followed us out of a ride to ask about it. It was insane. I was like, but but but... I made my dress too! Note to self, brighter colors get noticed easily.

We broke a ride! Not us, personally, but Autotopia broke right after we got on it. Like they shut down the ride and made everyone get out of line. We had some good timing, we got to finish the ride! But dang, last time we were there the Pirates of the Caribbean ride broke and we were stuck on it for like 20 minutes. What luck we have!

I LOVE THIS RIDE! And that man. It's a Small World forever, y'all.

We got to ride soooo many rides this time. Last time we were only able to ride a few in Disneyland, we spent too much time in California Adventure. I couldn't ride the crazy rides this go round because preggo problems, which was a bummer but we still rode a TON. There are a billion kid/pregnant lady friendly rides, and we rode almost all of them. We missed a few, plus we've still never ridden a bunch of the crazy rides (the Matterhorn! Space Mountain! Thunder Mountain Railroad!), so we STILL have things to go back and do for the first time! I love that! And I say the first time, because we might have done these things when we were kids but we can't remember so it doesn't count. :)

Storybook Land! Super cute. Tiny models of magical lands from the films. Adorable.

The Teacups! I will never ride this. I think my dad and I rode it as kids, but as an adult, pregnant or not, this ride is nightmarish. Going in circles? No thanks! Cute ride though.

Mary Poppin's penguins! Eeee! We ate lunch at the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, which was very vegetarian friendly, and dinner at the Carnation Cafe where we had a veggie burger and a reeeeeeally good chocolate milkshake. I love chocolate shakes.

SO! We were waiting in line to ride the Mark Twain riverboat, and just before they let everyone on TIANA PEEKS OUT! She's on the boat! And we get to ride with her! I'm pretty sure I said a bad word out of excitement when she showed up. It was so awesome! This was the only character I got to officially "meet", and it was too perfect! Not hectic or crazy or anything. Super bonus and again, excellent timing.

Grinning like a fool. She told me she liked my dress, so that means an official Disney Princess has complimented my sewing. Have I made it??

Congrats for the classiest fall decor Disney. You know how to spook it up right.

The haunted mansion was cool, but the line was insane. We got a fast pass for it. It was basically the same as it was for Christmas, which was kind of a bummer. I want to see the original sometime!!

Tigger! We spotted quite a few characters while there, and although I only got to meet Tiana, it was still awesome to see them out and about! We saw Mary Poppins and Bert (we were stuck in a line, otherwise I would have loooved to meet them!), Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame (creepy!), Aurora, Jack Skellington and Sally, Goofy, and Tigger! Plus basically everyone in the parades. But there's something really neat about finding them just walking around the park. The Big Princesses you have to wait in line for, they're treated like a ride, which I think is not so fun. Although, I'd totally do it if we had more time!

The Castle at night! Heart eyes!!!

Rapunzel's Tower! We love love love Tangled.

Mainstreet USA is a MADHOUSE at night. There's a parade and then fireworks at 8:30, and people started lining up at like 5! It was crazy. We just rolled up and snuck in to a spot, which worked just fine. The Paint the Night Parade is insane. We saw another parade during the day, and it was really good, but this one... Dang! It's kind of like the Electrical Light Parade they had waaaay back in the day I guess? Lots of lights and so many neat effects. It was really something. And then after the parade everyone moves into the middle of the street for the fireworks. Which are hands down, my favorite.

Because it was the 60th anniversary, they went all out. The effects were insane. Lights, music, fireworks, actual characters flying over the castle on wires... I mean, it was so good. Disney knows how to do it, they don't miss a detail. And because they were celebrating 60 years, there were so many throwbacks to older movies. I feel like the Christmas fireworks we saw last year revolved around Frozen, which is cool and they were soooo good, but I adore the older movies. That's what we grew up with! So seeing the fireworks and the show pay homage to the older films literally brought tears to my eyes. They did a little Step-in-Time bit from Mary Poppins, and I lost it. I think there was some Jungle Book? And When You Wish Upon a Star? It was over. All the tears, and I can't blame it all on the hormones. It was just so good. 100% worth the bazillion people crowded in with us, the exhaustion, the blisters, the ticket price! It was worth it all.

The magic you guys. You can't help but love it. Even ol' rational pants Brendon was getting into it. We were driving back home and remarking on how pricey Disneyland is he said, "I forget that it's worth it." WHICH IS A BIG DEAL YOU GUYS. I am obviously a Disney freak and wouldn't think twice about dropping cash on all things Disney, but Brendon, I always figure he just goes along with it all because it makes me happy. Which is so so sweet. But to hear him say that it was worth it!! Gosh! That's far better than any souvenir. Putting that one in the memory bank.

But seriously, we did get matching sweatshirts. And Brendon got a stuffed Stitch!!! He looooves Lilo and Stitch! It's adorable, because I never really thought much about the movie until he saw it and loved it. And I love it because he loves it. So now we have a stuffed Stitch next to our bed, to match my Pascal. BECAUSE WE ARE CHILDREN. And I never want that to change. :)

Such a FUN day. Going for just one day kinda stinks, but it also makes it that much more special. We don't have season passes and we don't get to go for a week at a time, so we've gotta cram a lot of magic into that one day. And we did! And just thinking about how much fun we had is making me grin like a kid. I'm so glad we were able to go and I'm so glad I have a partner who will do this sort of stuff with me (and puts up with my fanaticism). AND THEN WE CAN TAKE THE SEAHORSE. I can't even. It's going to be so awesome. She's going to love it, and I can't wait to watch it all.

Congratulations to you if you made it through this post. I apologize for the length, but you can't cut corners with this kind of stuff if you're me! Here's last year's trip if you wanna check it out: California Adventure and Disneyland!