Monday, April 26, 2010

Grandma Joanie Comes to Visit



Last week we Devin's mom came to town. We did so many fun things and Eva just loves her Grandma, even though she only sees her every couple months. Eva's been a bit shy and clingy lately so it was nice to have a break b/c she latched right on to her Grandma Joanie and didn't let go! We ate at Weezie's for crab cake burgers and The Hill Cafe for grilled meatloaf. We went to the zoo and cleaned up at a community yard sale on the way. I got a fisher price play kitchen for $3! The Richmond zoo is a quirky little thing but I love it. It's pretty tiny but there are a ton of animals and they live in small areas so you can see them all up close and you don't have to walk very far. The giraffes just hang their necks out over the pedestrian bridge and munch on your food as you walk by. We took a Sunday drive through the Shenandoah Valley and had a fabulous Trader Joe's picnic. Can't get much better than that. We also went to Maymont Park and walked the gardens, petting zoo and mansion. We also went to the Botanical gardens that was in full of tulips and gorgeous glass sculptures. We had a fun week and love it when Grandma comes to town. We just wish we could live a bit closer.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Preggs...

Yes, it is true. We are expecting baby number 2! I'm about 16 weeks along with an official due date of October 5th. The first trimester was rough as usual but thanks to a twice daily dose of B-6 vitamins I weathered the storm much better than last time. I'm starting to show now, I guess. Let's just say I'm finally at the point where I can say, "that was definitely not there before." Up until now it's been hard for me to tell. I'm determined to keep the weight gain under 25 pounds this time. I lost track with Eva. I swear I gained 3 pounds a day during that last week. (Hello, early induction! Yes, this time I will probably go with the epi.)




I haven't gained any weight yet thanks to Eva I'm sure. She walked the dog with my dad every day when she was in Vegas so now I can't get away without taking her out in the morning. Luckily I have a great walking group to keep me motivated. After the walk I spend the rest of the day trying to keep her out of the house so she doesn't destroy it. I really have to keep moving or this kiddo goes stir-crazy. Luckily, there's always something going on- there's literally over 30 stay-at-home-moms from my ward that live in my neighborhood. I know this is normal for Utah but on the East Coast it's a rarity. So we run home to change in time for whatever the morning activity is. Usually someone has sent out a mass text with a park location, museum or something of the sort. We'll go there, come back for lunch and nap, then head out to play in the "field" where all the kids run around and play with abandoned toys and the moms chat. Then we run home in time to start dinner before Devin gets home. And with all this there is still time for my house to become a disaster zone. I need a yard.

2nd bit of news: We are moving this summer to a place with a yard! Devin's co-worker has a town home in the neighborhood just down the street from us that is opening up in July. It is the perfect location and the timing is right-on with our current lease. So we'll get that yard and another bedroom for the new baby. And we're still close enough to our friends that Eva's social life won't suffer. It's fun to start dreaming about decorating again. HGTV no longer is ignored.

3rd but of news that probably isn't newsworthy unless you're a grandma: Eva finally has shoes that fit! This kid has blocks of wood instead of feet. They are so wide that I had to put her in shoes that were way too big. Then she was tripping all the time and falling flat on her face. I took her to Nordstrom and we tried on every pair of shoes, even the Striderite Wides. Nothing fit. In comes the Crocs. The only pair of shoes that fits my poor little baby. But now she can run and run without tripping. It's a beautiful thing. If only they made church Crocs.



Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Saaaaaaa-waaaaaaaaah!!!

Pictures from Eva's stay with my parents. Grace, Ryan, Grandpa and Eva.



I'm really agonizing over this new camera decision. I love the Cannon Powershots but I just feel burned by my last one. In the meantime, I'm missing all of life's little moments. Right now I wish I could use the video portion. Eva does so many things to crack me up. She loves to go in the corner and sit in the chair by the bookcase, pick up a hymn book and sing at the top of her lungs. She used her newly honed skills at church today and put on quite a show. She starting to talk quite a bit now. I think "thank you" is the cutest word to teach a baby. After I put on her pj's last night she looked up at me an whispered, "tank you, mommy." Talk about heart-melting. She somehow picked up on my first name and now yells, "Saaaaa-waaaaah!" whenever she's serious, seriously mad or looking for me in public. And then there's the "so-wee, mommy!" (sorry) as she barrels into me with her stroller as she speed-walks it through the hall. All in all she's becoming our little parrot and I'm loving this little stage.


Thursday, April 1, 2010

El Fin

Many of you are probably thinking by now, "are these Mexico pictures ever going to end?" The answer is, yes, (sniff, tear) this is it. I will stop torturing you and myself with Mexico pics. The bad news is my camera is dead so I may not have anything new to post for a bit. But to wrap up the trip recap as well as my therapy blog sessions... the last couple days we spent at the resort, visiting beaches, shopping and revisiting favorite restaurants. I'm still salivating over the hot chocolate at Cueva de Changas. Oh man, it was marvelous.



Hot chocolate, fruit and yogurt crepes with honey and granola, mushroom and cream cheese crepes with creamy tomatillo sauce and pico de gallo. Hello brunch!






My thoughts exactly...

One last stroll for Devin and me on the beach... I think we look even better from behind. Adios!

Xcaret


One day we went to Xcaret. It's this amazing eco park with all sorts of fun things to keep us busy all day. They had animal exhibits, aquariums, ruins, beaches, pools, snorkeling, dolphins, sharks, shows, cenotes (underground rivers to swim in) ... It was totally worth the money.


Swimming in the underground rivers...


Swimming with dolphins... although we didn't pay extra for this experience you could float your little tube right up to the outer dock and watch. You were about 5 feet from all the action.






More Playa

Tacos al pastor at El Fagon. We couldn't get enough of this place.

The beach at Playa del Carmen.
Xpu-Ha beach, our favorite. The snorkeling was amazing and hardly anyone knew about this place. It was perfect.
Picnic under the palms, doesn't get any better than this...

Chichen Itza

No trip to the Riviera Maya would be complete without a trip to Chichen Itza. These ruins were huge. It took us about three hours to walk through this ancient Mayan city. The history of this place is rather gruesome and truth be told, it was really cool but I was happy to have "been there, done that."


Devin's favorite: The ball court. I for the life of me can't figure out how they shot a ball through that circle using their hips. Seems pretty impossible to me. But I'm sure they figured it out pretty quick since the game was quite literally a life or death situation. And Devin thought watching the Cubs lose was bad...