Spring Stuff

We have had some beautiful weather here lately! While we could use some rain, it has been nice to avoid the crazy heat and humidity that usually arrives around this time of year! Carrying around 30 extra pounds isnt easy, but at least I wont be pregnant in the 100-degree heat of Summer! 

Because its been so nice out, we've been able to take advantage of time on our porch, by the pool, eating dinners on my parents' porch, and even our first (very brief) beach trip of the year!

Last weekend we had an impromptu Easter egg hunt at my parents' house.  Whitney has LOVED finding eggs and going on hunts the last two years...she gets sooo excited and can barely hold her eyes closed as my mom and Eric ran around hiding eggs in planters and under tables and near rocks. 

She was saying, "Im peeeeeeking!!!!" 

She's such a happy kid and makes it hard to say no when she asks us to hide the eggs one more time :) 

My grandfather moved to a new assisted-living apartment a few weeks ago, so Whitney was excited to go visit GG in his "new house"! It was a brief visit, followed by a trip to her favorite lunch spot, Chic-Fil-A! 

Yes, my dad and his father are wearing the exact same shirt.  No, it wasnt planned.  Yes, that's more than a little scary. 

Last year, Whitney spent the whole month of April telling us "My birthday comin' up!" and this year isnt much different.  She is VERY excited about her birthday party this weekend, and has been nicely and politely asking us to add certain toys and items to her "birthday list".  I think she asked for a toy in Walmart a few months ago and we must have told her, "We'll make sure its on your birthday list!" in an effort to distract her.  Since then, she has been adding things to her (imaginary) birthday list each time she sees a commercial for a cool toy or plays with something cool at a friend's house.  This list seems to be working and helping us avoid "the gimmies", as she never asks for anything now...she just asks for it to be added to her birthday list in hopes that someone will show up at her party with it.  :) 

My parents have made the month of April (and the other 11 months, really) all about Whitney.  She has already been given all of her birthday gifts from them and Im not sure who is more excited each time she opens something new!  One day a few weeks ago, she opened her new Minnie Mouse bed sheets and couldnt WAIT for me to wash them so she could nap on them right away!

They also went above and beyond and bought Whitney the entire set of Princess dress-up outfits from Little Adventures.  Ariel is a current front-runner, but Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White (an obvious favorite), and Cinderella dresses are now hanging nicely in her closet, alongside some "fancy" gloves and a frilly slip that makes the dresses poofy and exciting :) Whitney got her first Little Adventures dress-up outfit at last year's birthday party from Eric's Aunt Carol, and the poor dress has all but fallen apart.  Bows falling off, seam undone, snags in the skirt. A mess.  But the kid wore the thing far more often than a typical dress-up gown should ever be worn, so Whitney is beyond excited to have ANOTHER new Snow White dress from Aunt Carol, to replace her decomposing dress from her 2nd birthday party. :) 

Whitney's school held an Easter egg hunt the week before the holiday, and Whitney was very excited to hunt more eggs! Most of the time, she doesnt care at all about the contents of the eggs....she just likes the thrill of the hunt :) And she has been loving on her Millhollin bear from our favorite friends in Illinois, the Millhollins :) She makes him sit in her car seat while she goes to school and greets him with big hugs and "I missed you Miw-how-in!" whens he gets back to the car. :) 

Our church had their annual Spring Carnival last Saturday, and Whitney was again thrilled to participate in an egg hunt! We LOVE our church! I love that Whitney prays for our pastor and "my church fwends" on a regular basis, and that she is learning sooo much in her class each Sunday night and on Wednesdays at Awana.  She already has a heart for Christ and stands in amazement when "God healed my booboo!!" after a small paper cut heals.  It was fun to spend the morning watching Whitney run from bounce house to slide to pony rides to face painting....

Her first pony ride was a hit! She was sooooo excited, smiling from ear to ear the whole time!

After a very brief snooze in the car, we were headed to a friend's 6th birthday party at the Family Fun Zone. Whitney had her first pony ride and her first go-kart ride in the same day! I nervously sat on the sidelines wondering why there were no helmets involved and yelling at our friends who were going too fast or getting too close to my baby and her daddy around the curves. I am practicing for all the craziness a son will bring to my life :) 

And because house projects are apparently never done, Eric was on the hunt for something to fix, paint, or re-do recently.  Because apparently painitng Grady's room wasnt enough fun for him :) Whitney's bathroom was cute, but a little on the girly side.  I was fine with leaving it for a few years, until the kids were both old enough to care and decide on a theme that suited them both.  I mean, I knew the theme would be "One Fish, Two Fish" since they are Bass kids, but I didnt neeeeeed the theme to happen before Grady arrives.  He wont even take a bath in there for several months, let alone brush his teeth or use the potty.  But Eric had fun painting the bathroom yellow while I made the shower curtain out of two Dr. Seuss valances and two cheap curtains from Target.  We put the polka dots back up and used the frames from Dallas for our baby shower.  We ordered the Dr. Seuss phrase from etsy and stood back and admired the kids' "new" bath. :) 

Here I am (in our bathroom!) at 36 weeks, 3 days:  

And (wearing almost the exact same ensemble) at 37 weeks + a few days. I am 38 weeks, 1 day today and everyyyyone has been telling me that Grady has dropped.  For the past week, all the moms at W's school, her teachers, our friends, etc all mentioned (exclaimed!) "He's dropped!!" I dont see it when I look in the mirror, but I feel it.  More swelling, more aches, blah blah.  I had a rough couple days with lots of pain and tears, but it was short-lived and I am back to feeling "as comfortable as can be expected at 38+ weeks pregnant".  It looks like Grady should be here by the end of next week! 

At the end of last week, Whitney's class had their Spring Concert.  The "Buzzing Bees" were soooooo cute! They sang several songs and Whitney proudly did almost ALL the hand motions and coordinate moves, even when her classmates refused :) (They are two, afterall!) 

On Saturday night, we got a wild hair and I had a craving for peel-n-eat shrimp, so we called some of our besties and asked if they wanted to take a trip out to the beach with our girls.  Whitney was SOOOO excited to see "my best fwend Avewy" (Avery), and they were so cute watching Tinker Bell on the way to the beach.

After a fulfilled craving at dinner, we let the girls play on the VERY WINDY beach for a few minutes.  Whitney was ALL smiles and SOOOOO excited!! I cant WAIT for our week at the beach this July!

And of course, Doc McStuffins on the ipad ensured all the adults got through their meals with minimal impatience from the two year old girlies :) 

Whitney would've stayed down on that beach all night if we let her.  She LOVES it!

And it was soooo windy, so we only got one sort of okay family pic before heading back to the car for more TInker Bell and the ride home.  LOVE that Whitney has so many best friends who happen to have AWESOME parents we love hanging out with, too! :) 

In Grady news: I spoke with our high risk doc this afternoon.  Dr. B was out of town for a family emergency last week, so we saw his partner who scared me by saying "I'd let you go to 41 weeks before I'd induce..."  Turns out Dr. B has entirely different reasons for wanting me induced between 38 and 39 weeks.  We all know (and FB loves to remind me) that ultrasounds can be off by a pound or more when estimating baby's weight.  Grady measured 7 lbs, 7oz on the u/s last week, but that could be 6lbs or 8 lbs in reality.  The weight has never been anyone's concern.  Grady's head measures 40 weeks+ already, and the longer he is allowed to grow, the higher my risk of c-section.  His head was 10cm last week. When a woman is fully dilated, she is 10cm. Do the math and it makes sense that his larger-than-average noggin just might not fit through the exit.  Since we want to avoid a csection for MANY reason, and there is "zero benefit to mother or baby when baby is allowed to stay in utero past 39 weeks", Dr. B doesnt see any reason to keep Grady inside after next week.  I go to my regular OB tomorrow and am hoping things will look favorable, a term used to decide if an induction would stand good chances of being successful vs leading to a csection.  I have absolutely zero experience to base a guess on, so I have NO idea if I am dilated or not and have no way to guess if I will be 1cm, 2cm, 8cm, or completely not dilated at all. Its a mystery until tomorrow's appointment.  In the mean time, we can be found walking around the block every night, among other techniques to try to get this dude on the move.  ;) Will keep you posted re: any developments! (It still doesnt feel real.....)