I Think Whitney Reads my Blog...

...because, aside from one completely heartbreaking meltdown at Disney on Saturday, she has been on her best behavior, back to her loving, happy, cheerful, funny self :) Im sure the terrible alter-ego will return at some point in the future, but I am glad to see this isnt a permanent personality shift :)

Her good days started last week when we went just 3 miles up the road to our local zoo.  Our next door neighbor and friend, Summer, has an annual pass that allows guest visitors so she treated us to a fun morning on the zoo playground, looking at the animals, and then Whitney got to run and play at the splash pad (her favorite!)
We met up with one of Summer's friends who has triplets who are just a little older than Whitney, Cortland, and Conrad.  It was fun to see Whitney interact and play with two new little girls :)



Whitney listened nicely the whole trip and surprised me when she willingly packed up and left the splash pad without even a slight hint of a protest.  She was tired and had clearly worn herself out :) 

Im afraid this might be one of the last times Whitney gets to wear her favorite strawberry bathing suit.  Ditching the diapers in June bought us a few more months in her summer bathing suits (no more swim diapers under her suits!) but this cute suit has seen its last days :(

The next day, Whitney was very excited for the fire truck to visit her school! I stuck around to help her teachers and really learned a lot watching Whitney interact with other kids and adults in her school setting.  She was excited that I was staying with her and she makes me so proud to be her mommy :)


She sat so nicely and quietly while the firemen explained "Stop, Drop, Cover, and Roll" ("cover your face" is the latest addition to the gig) and stared in awe while one fireman dressed in all his gear and walked around for the kids to meet him. 

And of course, chapel wouldnt be chapel without some dancing and singing :) Whitney and her closest friend from class, Morgan.  They were so cute dancing together.

Whitney LOOVES her lead teacher, Ms. Kari. In fact, I threatened  promised to call Ms. Kari last week when Whitney wasnt behaving, and she shaped up (for about 20 minutes). She really likes to impress Ms. Kari and we cant say enough wonderful things about Whitney's school and her awesome teachers!

The kids all got to go outside to see the firetruck and watch them shoot the water cannon.  They were all so well behaved and fun!

I was helping corral Whitney's classmates when I looked across the parking lot and saw this :) Too sweet. She was telling him, "My name is Whitney Bass and Im two."

Whitney is directly behind Morgan and completely hidden...but she's there!

The kids thought it was cool to see the water shoot across the parking lot towards their pumpkin patch!

And after all the fire truck excitement, it was time for Whitney's class to hit the playground.  I said goodbye to Whitter and she happily went to the playground with her class.  I got in my car and drove through the parking lot to spy sneak a peek at Whitney in action on the playground.  Im not gonna lie....I cried.  My energetic, happy, excited little girl walked straight to the fence and started picking flowers off the shrubs there.  Alone.  So maybe it was the pregnancy hormones, but I just felt so bad for her.  She didnt look unhappy or sad.  She just looked alone and I thought she might be lonely.  I am so used to seeing her jump for joy when she is waiting for friends to arrive at our house, and listening to her ask over and over and over "when will i get to pway wiff ______" again (naming Connor or Natalia or Faith or other friends we see regularly).  She LOVES playing with friends and other kids her age or older, so I was surprised to see her completely ignore the 7 other kids from her class as they played together outside.  I watched for a while, calling Eric and explaining in between sobs, and we agreed I would talk to her teacher at pick-up time.

Whitney's teacher had called me last week to discuss moving Whitney to the Monday, Wednesday, Friday class. That class has so many kids who are almost three, while Whitney's Tuesday, Thursday class has a lot of kids who just turned two.  Whitney is really into pretending and making up stories and dialogue, and there was really only one little girl who could follow along with that kind of play in the Tues/Thurs group, and Ms. Kari said the M, W, F class has a group of girls who are already three or almost three and who pretend to be princesses and fairies and mommies the same way Whitney does.  She thought Whitney would really click with that group very well, and that she would do well with the circle time and the extra day in class.  Like Ive said before, I had always wanted Whitney to go to school two days when she is two, three days when she is three, and then to VPK when she is four....but I also dont want to hold her back if she is ready for more!

So at pick-up time I spoke with Ms Kari and Ms Brandy about Whitney's reluctance to play with the other kids on the playground.  They said that Whitney is VERY social and has a lot of fun in class, and they were hesitant to say she is "bored", but did agree that she might be more engaged and stimulated in the class of older kids, many of whom were in the Tues/Thur class last year and know the routine nicely.  Eric and I are sooo thrilled that her teachers took the time to notice Whitney could blossom more in another setting, and were willing to bring up the topic with us right away.  It was hard to see Whitney disengaged and alone on the playground, but I knew the remedy was already in the works and was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I took Whitney for some ice cream (frozen yogurt) after school and asked her if she wanted to make new friends and go to school an extra day each week.  After some discussion, she decided that she would miss seeing Morgan but she was happy to go to school more and make new friends.  Yesterday was her first day, and she barely even noticed a difference.  Its the same classroom, same teachers (although Ms Brandy was out sick), and a few kids who go Monday thru Friday were familiar faces for Whitney.  Last night at dinner, Eric asked her if she had fun at school and she replied that she "missed Morgan and Ms Brandy" but had fun playing and made a new friend named Hailey. She said Ms Brandy had a belly ache from eating too much ice cream. :)

I think we've made the best decision for Whitney and Im excited to see her continue to grow and learn both academically and socially.  I never thought Id put my toddler in preschool as a stay-at-home-mom, but it has really been such a blessing for her and Im thrilled we chose her school. 

This past weekend, we headed to Epcot's Food and Wine Festival with our neighbors.  The weather was GORGEOUS and while Whitney experienced her biggest and most dramatic meltdown EVEERRR known to mankind, we had a good time.  I got the soup in Canada and some mussels in Belgium but the lines were too long at most of the other countries, so we did a lot of walking and waiting for everyone else to get drinks :) Its a whole new experience to walk around the world at Epcot without a pint of Bass from the UK or a glass of pinot from Italy.  People watching is always fun at any of the Disney parks. We stayed just long enough for Whitney's behavior to prove she was in need of a nap, and then headed home to enjoy a nice evening in with some of our favorite friends and their kids.  

It was a great weekend with beautiful weather, and filled with visits with almost all of our favorite friends :) DOesnt get much better than that!

On Sunday, our pastor announced our pregnancy at church and it was fun to finally be "that girl" who has a pregnancy to announce :) Our pastor told the church a bit of our story and history with fertility treatments and such, and I was reminded that I was baptised in July and ended up pregnant the first week in August (even though we didnt know until mid-september).  Gives me chills and makes me feel good about my relationship with God and the faith I will continue to have in His timing and His plan.  Life is so good! And we had several other families approach us after the service to tell us they have very similar stories and dealt with blood clotting and adoption and a lot of what we have been through.  So amazing how it all works out :)

I havent journaled one second of this pregnancy yet.  Not sure if that's because it doesnt entirely feel real yet, or because Im too busy, or quite frankly because Im too tired to think a whole lot.  There are a handful of pictures of me since we found out I am pregnant, but no true "belly pictures" or attempts at capturing the belly growth on camera.

Until this morning:
I am 12 weeks today, and figured I would take 5 minutes to take some quick self-pics in the bathroom mirror before A) a stalker makes good on her promise to come take pics herself if I didnt oblige soon or B)I suddenly have a baby bump but no "Before" pics to compare it with.

I am technically still the same weight I was on the day I found out I was pregnant at 7 weeks.  I lost several pounds for a while, but now that foods are starting to sound yummy again, I am having no problems finding those pounds again :) So the slight bump in the pics could be all the potato chips I ate yesterday, or it could be baby growing, or it could be a nice combo of both potato chips and baby :)




Ignore the fact that I am still in jammies and barely brushed my hair and didnt even attempt to put on make-up (wait...unless you count yesterday's make-up that is clearly still on my face)....

And onto the latest cuteness at our house.....STINKERBELLE!

Our fabulous friends have been wonderful enough to pass down a bunch of dress-up clothes their daughters have outgrown.  Whitney has loved this Tink ensemble for months, and decided last night would be a great occasion to wear it to Publix with Eric. :) She was very excited about the adventure (and about the cookie she got at the bakery!)

And her face lit up when I showed her the tink bow I bought a while ago. LOVE that my girl loves her bows :) 

So that's the latest and greatest from Casa Bass. We have an ultrasound with the high risk group on Thursday morning, so maybe I'll make an actual pregnancy post afterwards.....we'll see. :) It just doesnt feel real yet, so I am struggling to think about it, let alone write about it.  I feel great aside from being SUPERRR tired and the occasional gagging from smells or food discussions, and I still feel like Im lying when I say, "Im pregnant" out loud.  Im sure it will all sink in with time :)