The Kid's Room

It feels so weird to type/say "the kids" but alas! Poppy will be here in jus three short weeks and so I'd better get used to it.  I thought I'd do a separate post for the kid's room just because I always love to see blog posts about nurseries and children's spaces. We decided pretty early on that we'd have the kids share a room once the baby starts sleeping through the night (she'll stay close to my bed for the first few weeks or months). We really just don't have the space for separate rooms and I like the idea of sharing. They'll have to share a lot through the years, so we might as well start now! 

I didn't really have an end game in mind when I started setting up their room. I've always used a pretty big variety of colors in Rhett's room with the goal of keeping things fairly neutral. I'm also a fan of the eclectic look. With our little Poppy coming, I wanted to incorporate more reds. The results so far have been a touch more masculine that I'd prefer, but I'm hoping to add more touches that will balance it out. If not, I'm sure she won't mind. She's a baby.

 I can't believe Rhett is in a big boy bed! He's been loving it. He's always liked his space when he sleeps and he definitely loves his new bed. The quilt on his bed was Josh's when he was little. I'm not sure if it'll stay in this space or not, but it's a good size and Rhett really likes it.

We decided to go ahead and put the crib up, even though Poppy may not be in it for sometime. We thought it was a good idea for Rhett to get used to it in his space. I'm going to add artwork above the crib (hopefully a poppies painting). The blanket was given to me by a friend at work and is perfect for the space. 

I'm hoping to get Poppy an identical armchair for Christmas this year. Rhett really likes his. It used to be his TV watching chair, but now it's a reading chair. He knows it's his an loves curling up in it. 

 Rhett has been really into reading lately. I often catch him curled up in his bed with four or five books when he's supposed to be napping. It's a good problem to have. We decided not to have toys in his room this year. He doesn't really like playing in his room anyway because he'd rather be wherever I am. It's nice for him to have his books handy though.

I love these Eric Carle prints. I got them as a gift before Rhett was born and I love how much color they bring to white walls. 

We Made it to Florida!

Well, it's been a long time coming (or at least felt that way!) but we're finally all settled into our home-for-a-year in Jacksonville Beach, Florida! I think the move went as well as could be expected with a pregnant woman and a toddler in tow. Josh drove our moving truck and Rhett and I took the SUV the 1000 miles down to Jax Beach. The trip went really smoothly until we were about 100 miles out. We blew a tire on the moving truck, which was just really disappointing when we were so close to our new home. It actually got repaired pretty quickly and Rhett thought being on the side of the road was just hilarious. So things could have been worse, but we were definitely glad to get here and settle in.

Helping put together Poppy's Crib!

This was when we were stranded. He really thought it was funny. 

Finally here! 

Rhett has adjusted beautifully. He was thrilled to see all his toys again and he absolutely loves the beach. He asks to go all day and has so much fun splashing in the water, digging in the sand and collecting seashells (which he throws in the water, of course). Josh has been his primary care giver for some time now and he does seem a little confused now that Dad's not home as much. He asks me a few time a day "Where Daddy go? Water?" (He call the beach "the water". So I guess he thinks Josh has gone to the beach without him). He's happy though and I think he'll really enjoy the year. We will too!

30 Weeks

This has pretty much been my pregnancy style for the hot St. Louis summer. Maxi dress + the same sleeveless denim cardigan. All. Summer. Long. I was kind of dreading being in my third trimester in the summer heat but it hasn't actually been too bad. I like that it allows me to dress in clothes that show off my pregnancy a bit more. When I was pregnant with Rhett in the cold Michigan winter, I was pretty covered up with bulky sweaters and coats.

Anyway...this pregnancy is trucking right along. It's kind of amazing how opposite these pregnancies have treated me. Physically, I'm a lot more exhausted this time around. My hips and thighs are usually pretty sore by the end of the day. I've had restless legs keeping me up at night and just generally feel pretty huge, all the time. But emotionally, it's been a lot easier this time around. I felt wholly unprepared for a baby when I was pregnant with Rhett and as my due date approached, I just felt like it was almost exam day for a test I'd surely fail. That all sounds dramatic, but really. This time I've been very happy and excited to meet our little one! Also, I think I look about a hundred times better this time around, which is much more fun.

I've been getting a bit paranoid about the possibility of a reoccurrence of IUGR, so I asked my doctor if we could do a growth ultrasound. I'll go in this week and see if Poppy is on track. Then I'll just have one more appointment before our move down to Florida! I've got about two months until her birthday and we can't wait!

Preparing for Poppy

snuggling up to some third trimester belly

A pretty common question I've being getting lately is "Is Rhett ready to be a big brother? Does he understand what's going on?". The short answer to the latter is no. He doesn't really seem to have a handle on "what's going on" and we haven't really been pushing much to explain it to him. We keep meaning to buy him a baby doll and do that whole thing, but we haven't really gotten around to it. Mostly, I just figure that it's not really something that's possible to prepare for and he'll figure it out when the time comes. He understands that we call my belly "Poppy" now and he's been very nurturing to it. I doubt he knows that there's a person in there (heck, that's kind of a weird concept for me to wrap my head around). But if we say "Rhett give Poppy a kiss", he's very willing to snuggle up to my pregnant belly and offer kisses. 

Is he ready to be a big brother? On that front, I'm not sure. He's a pretty nurturing person. He loves children. We try to point out babies and big brothers whenever we can. He's seen both Josh and I with little babies and he doesn't turn into Mr. Hyde with jealousy. He's been fairly independent and flexible throughout his little life and I think he'll do ok. I don't want to be naive about it, but I think he'll like having another person in our family. I'm more worried about my recovery from the repeat C-section. He likes to snuggle on my lap, wrestle and climb all over me. We've been working on curbing it, but I enjoy it so it's been kind of back and forth. 

The running joke is that he thinks he's getting a puppy this Fall (cause "Puppy" and "Poppy" are pretty similar). He's been really into dogs lately, so hopefully he won't be too disappointed when we bring home a sister instead of a furry friend!

Vacation!

This month, we were blessed to be able to spend time with both of our families. We traveled to Texas to see Josh's parents and siblings at the beach. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone and to see Rhett playing and interacting with his cousins. He really enjoyed himself. He was sick early in the week and we had to take him to urgent care and get him on some antibiotics. He enjoyed the beach much more after he had a few rounds of meds. 

We also got to spend some time relaxing and enjoying seeing my family in Richmond, VA. I've always loved getting to go to Virginia to enjoy meals from my childhood and sleeping in while my mom watches my kid! My sister took some lovely photos of the week. It was wonderful to see her and her husband, and my brother. We don't get to see one another very often, but it's always really special when we do. 

Boy's World

We're heading to Florida!

Last week we found out that we will be living in Jacksonville, Florida while Josh serves a Vicar at Bethlehem Lutheran Church! Call Day was kind of a blur. I really wasn't as nervous as I anticipated. We've done the moving thing before. We've even done the "we're going to pick a random spot for you to live" thing before. I had had a feeling for months that it was going to be Florida so it wasn't much of a shock when our name was called for the Florida district.

We are very excited to head south! The weather in Jacksonville stays pretty pleasant year-round. We'll be living closer to my family and we'll be living less than a mile from the beach. I'm not sure how feasible it will be for me to get two small children to the beach regularly, but I'd love to  take advantage of it while we're there. There are lots of great opportunities for Josh to serve and for me to be involved at the church and we've heard nothing but wonderful things about the people there.

So far in our four year marriage, we've lived in Nebraska, Michigan and Missouri. Florida seems a pretty obvious fourth home. We will be leaving toward the end of summer and it can't come fast enough!