Gulf Shores Spring Break 2012

Highlights:
*Spending time together as a family
*Lots of Fresh Seafood
*Riding Bikes
*The boys learned how to boogie board
*Getting a tan but in Leroy's case a sun burned.
*Warm and Sunny weather for the most part but we did get bad rainy weather towards the end of the trip.
*Logan got stung by a jellyfish
*The kids buried each other in the sand
*The water in the gulf of Mexico wasn't too cold or too warm
*We tried new dishes and I discovered that soup made with crawfish is super yummy!
*Walking to the bathroom multiple times is a great time to star graze...lol!
*Playing endless hours of Go Fish, Phase 10, & Old Maid with the kids
*Riding a bike while pregnant is interesting especially on the back country trails...talk about bumpy!
*Shell Hunting
*Building Sand Castles
*Holding baby alligators
*Flying a kite on the beach
*Roasting marshmallows and making smores
*Grilling
*Best of all, just being together without any distractions. Fun, Fun, and more Fun times!

Baby Rag Quilt

Seriously, the easiest quilt to ever make. This is my very first attempt making a rag quilt and it couldn't be easier. I picked up some flannel at the Associate store plus my friend gave me a bunch of flannel. I started off researching different types of blankets you can make using flannel. I came across this website that had all of the step by step directions on how to make rag quilt. I spent about three days on the quilt. So, easy to make. The quilt looks so much better in person. It's seriously so soft. I can't wait to wrap up our new baby girl in it. I might just go ahead and make another one but bigger for Leah. I still have a ton of flannel leftover. Plus, I'm going to start making my own cloth wipes for the baby. If I can save a little bit of money that's all that matters. I'm slowly working on completing more projects for the new baby. I just finished sewing about six new outfits for Leah to wear on our trip to Gulf Shores. I can't wait to see her in them at the beach. I'm currently on my sewing kick. I will probably burn out on it and do something else by the end. Anyways, isn't the quilt adorable?

Baby Rag Quilt

Backside of Quilt

Upclose look

Monday Craziness

I literally spent hours on the computer this morning trying to find a hotel for our big spring break trip to Gulf Shores. Unfortunately, Leroy doesn't have enough days left over that he can use towards our trip. His manager was nice enough to give him an extra day but it's still not enough time off. The poor guy is going to ask his manager if he can take a half a day so we can leave around 1:00pm and drive for seven hours to get to Mississippi by 8:00pm. We really don't want to be driving late at night thru Louisiana. If you haven't been thru that route, all that I will say it's super rural and very backwoods (if you know what I mean) not at all the place to stop and rest. I wanted to stay in Vicksburg but I couldn't find a decent hotel anywhere. Leroy's co-worker suggested we try a little bit further out and try Clinton. Well, I finally found a decent deal for Holiday Inn Express on Priceline. I thought great, indoor pool and free breakfast plus it's a newer hotel. So, I went ahead and booked a room for one night. Well, it turns out that I didn't check the fine print. Also, double check with Priceline. I didn't realize it at the moment but the reservation was for only two adults. We're are family of five. Huge problem. I double checked the hotel website not priceline. They only allow four people to a room. I started to freak out. Priceline doesn't give back money. So, I decided to do something about it. I could freak out and panic or I could take a deep breath and called Priceline. The guy that I talked to was really nice. The guy called the Holiday Inn and added the kids to the reservation. He also told me that there would be no extra charge. Yippee, I got over my phone fear and dealt with the situation. I'm really proud of myself. So, one more thing I can cross off my list of things to do for the trip.

The second thing that happened was tonight at Leah's first soccer game for the Spring season. Landon's old coach from baseball from Spring season. Oh boy, he made me feel so guilty for not signing up Landon for baseball again. He told me that Landon was a solid player with a really good strong arm. He told me that he was looking for his name and he didn't see it. He asked me if Landon was on the waiting list to join baseball. Of course, I told him that Landon decided he didn't want to play baseball again but he's trying soccer this season. I told him that he didn't have a good experience playing Fall baseball and he didn't like all the sitting around in the dug out or standing around in the outfield. Well, his son was on the same Fall team as Landon and he told me that the coach was favoring all the kids on the team that were on the traveling team. He said he hope that next year, that Landon will want to play baseball again. He really felt that Landon had a good future in baseball. Oh boy, I personally wanted him to give it another try but of course told me not to push the issue on him. Anyways, it was really nice of his old coach to approach me but at the same time it I felt slightly guilty about the whole thing. Arghh, conflicting feelings but Landon is happy playing soccer but if he does change his mind maybe he will play baseball again sometime in the future.


The third thing, my tailbone is killing me. It felt perfectly fine over the weekend. I even went jogging and rollers taking on Saturday and felt fine. Today, I get out of bed and I'm in a lot of pain. My friend at church told me that she had the same tailbone pain from delivering her big baby. She went on about how much more pain she was in during each delivery of her other kids. Great, I didn't think about it but of course my labor and delivery will probably be super painful because of the ligaments being all stretched out. Oh, it's so fustaring.

The fourth and final thing, I forgot that tomorrow I have a dentist appointment. I haven't been in over a year plus it's so painful to have your teeth cleaned when your pregnant. I'm not looking forward to the visit plus I have to go to Landon's parent teacher conference at 3:00pm and pick him up from Brunco Run Club at 3:15pm. Granted I will be at the school but still it's going to be stressful if his teacher is running behind schedule. Another fun full day of craziness.

Ten on Sunday

1.  Soccer season has started for all three kids which means I'm going to be one super busy soccer mom. Landon decided he didn't want to play Baseball again which is fine by me. It's way too competitive in our area. Landon had his first practice on Thursday night and he played really well. He managed to get a real good workout because the next day he was complaining about his legs being sore. Logan still thinks he is the worst soccer player on his team which isn't even true. I'm really sad that he feels that way about himself but the little guy is constantly in Landon's shadow. A classic middle child problem. Anyways, we're working with him on that problem. He needs to stop comparing himself to his siblings. Leah loves soccer, of course the past two practices it has been super duper windy outside with super duper cold winds. Even though it was freezing outside she did a great job at practice. All three kids will have their first games this Monday night. The boys need to be in Bentonville for their games and Leah's game is in Centerton. This should be real interesting trying to get everyone to the correct fields at the correct times.

2.  My minivan needs a new transmission. This isn't new news. It's been acting up for a real long time. We are still going to shove off to Gulf Shores in less than three weeks. We will be saying a prayer or two that the transmission doesn't go out on us. I'm sure it will be fine but we are looking for a new replacement. Yesterday, while shopping at Harp's I saw a great deal on a minivan. It's a Toyota Sienna 08 with only 25,000 miles on it. The price is prefect as well. Too bad, the guy didn't call me back. I'm pretty sure someone else already beat me to the deal. I'm still hoping the guy will call me back. I hate to lose out of a good deal.

3. Speaking of deals, my friend Emily called me about a huge clearance sale that Gap is having at the moment. As soon as I got off the phone with her, I made a bee line to the Baby Gap. I managed to pick up two big bags full of clothes for five kids under $85. I managed to pick up clothes for the boys, Leah (isn't this dress super cute), Savannah, plus the new baby. A majority of the clothes only cost me about $1.97. The dress Leah is wearing in this picture is normally $50. 



4.  As you can see from the picture above, Spring has arrived early this year. All of my Spring flowers are blooming. It's getting to be so pretty outside. Too bad, all of this mild weather will equal huge bug problems.

5.  Leroy is working hard on getting the garage cleaned out so we can get the camper ready for the big trip. We have been slowly working on moving the toys back into the Sunroom. Leah and Logan this morning were up early and playing with their old toys. I just love it, when the kids entertain themselves. Plus, Landon was in his bed, reading a book.

6.  Yesterday, the kids were invited to a roller skating party. I'm so proud of all three of my kids. My kids have been skating enough times they can all independently skate on their own.  Leah looked so lonely out there skating by herself. I decided to go ahead and get myself a pair of skates. It's a little bit weird to be six months pregnant and rollerskating but I managed to not lose my balance and I didn't fall down one time. Logan wants to go back every Saturday to go skating. He decided he wanted to try out inline skates for the first time ever. He keep on trying to use them like quad skates which resulted in him falling down alot in the beginning but he was a pro by the end of the skate session. I'm thinking now, the boys might enjoy having their own roller blades. The could roller blade around Lake Bella.

7.  We're going to have someone come over and paint the outside of our house plus repaint the living room plus our bedroom. I'm way too far along to be messing with ladders and painting. So, we're going to hire this job out.

8.  My little girl is finally enrolled for Kindergarten. I still can't believe it. The time has gone by way too fast. She will be attending the same school as the boys. She will be a bus rider and she can't wait to go to school with her boys.

9.  I'm still pregnant, I have been having lots of pain in my lower back plus round ligament pain. I never had this problem with the other pregnancies. I haven't been able to do to much execrise which is kinda of discouraging. I have already gained close to 18 pounds. I hoping to only gain 30 pounds like I did with Leah. I actually started off at the same amount of weight with her. So, I know it's possible. Anyways, on Saturday morning. I decided to give the run club a try. I decided that I would at least just walk two miles. Well, I decided that walking is so boring. I decided to do a combination of walking and jogging. I managed to go the distance of three miles and did it with very little discomfort. I was so happy at the end. It's the best workout I have had in the past month. The doctor wants me to be as active as possible plus drink tons of water. I don't want to become a sitting vegetable. I'm really worried that if I stop working out all together that I might not start back up again. It's all about keeping up the routine.

10. Well, it's going to be a crazy week. The kids have games on Monday and Saturday plus practice on Thursday nights. Plus, we have Blue and Gold banquet for cub scouts plus enrichment meeting on Thursday night. So, it's going to be a super exhausting week but that's okay! They're only going to be little for so long.

 

Update

24 week Doctor's Appointment

Not to much to report this month.

I gained 3.5 lbs

I'm measuring at 23 weeks

The nurse had the hardest time ever finding the baby's heartbeat. The baby must of been moving all over the place. The heartbeat was in the 140's.

I keep having this really horrible pain area my tail bone area. I haven't been able to run or walk in the past two weeks. The doctor told me that the pain is from delivering such a big baby last time. Leah must of stretched out all of my ligaments around my tailbone. Sitting in one place too long, even hurts after away. I'm really bummed about this. I really wanted to stay active but it might not happen now.

Plus, every time I try to walk on the treadmill by tailbone hurts plus my side is killing me as well. The doctor told me that pain is caused from my growing tummy and it's round ligament pain.


So, overall everything is going well but I'm having to realize that I can't do everything I want to do with my body. I'm just going to have to lazy and accept it.

Also, in three weeks we leave for our big trip to Gulf Shores for Spring Break and I can't wait to spend some time with the kids at the beach.

Plus, the kids want to fly to South Africa to pick up Grandma and Grandpa Nichols to take them with us to Gulf Shores...lol.

Anyways, the weather is so warm and nice at the moment. I just got back from the sand park. I'm completely red and sun burnt. I better make sure to pack some sunscreen. The doctor also told me that pregnant woman are more sensitive to the sun and will more than likely burn badly. I'm currently red...so I might need to stock up on some cream while I have a chance for the big trip.

Getting Ready For The Baby!

The baby is coming soon, so it's time to update Leah's bedroom. The only thing that is left to do is put up the crib which will go along the wall next to Leah's like new crib. We spent about $160 on the dresser which retails for over $800 plus $150 for the bed set. The bed retails for $500! I still can't believe that I talked the lady down on the price of the bedroom set plus the leather couches. Anyways, Leah's room looks so grown up and nice! Once the baby outgrows her crib, we will set up the other bed in the room. We're going to store the extra bed downstairs until it's time to use it. Isn't it beautiful?

Estate Sale Finds!!!!

I'm super cheap and always on the lookout for a good deal.

Well, yesterday after dropping off Leah at preschool. I decided to check out an Estate Sale that was close to my house.

I hit the jackpot

I managed to pick up a Bearrific Dresser with Photo Mirror for $160 and it retails for $1200! The owner of the house is a doctor and they bought this whole bedroom set and never used it. It's in like new condition!!!!!! 

Plus we picked up two twin bed frames with mattresses that were never even been slept in. I paid about $150 for each bed. The twin beds match the dresser! Yippee!!!!!
Okay, the best part. Flexsteel leather couch, loveseat plus ottoman. The retail price is close to $2,000. The estate sale wanted $800. I talk them down to $300!!!!!!

Moral of the story, it doesn't hurt to ask! The worst thing the lady could say was "no" but she didn't!

Once, everything is set up. I will post pictures!