Blackberry Picking

Sophia found a kitty to love!

She and Isaac square off for a battle of the buckets

so cute...sharing the berries

Yes, Mom?

running through the berry bushes!

Lisa, Isaac, Sophia and I returned to The Berry Patch yesterday for a morning filled with blackberry picking. Sophia was thrilled when I told her about our activity and she immediately remembered her blueberry picking experience and talked about the buckets, the bushes and all the dogs and cats that live at the patch. Plus, she was so excited to see Isaac and talked about him all the way there! However, upon our arrival, it seems that they were already "picked-out" for the day...um really...it's only 9 am??! Apparently they had a very busy Labor Day Saturday and people were picking unripe berries so they didn't have enough ripened and ready for us that morning. Nonetheless, we had trekked all the way there and were determined to pick something! So we made the journey to the far patches and managed to find a few, and we really do mean a few, berries here and there. The kids had fun, which was really the main thing, and they managed to eat as many as they put in the buckets. Literally, I think we came home with about 20 blackberries, 1 blueberry muffin and a blueberry cobbler. I figured I may not have any dinners frozen for when the baby comes, but I sure can have a blueberry cobbler! I have my priorities, dammit!

Renaissance Festival

First time aboard a llama!

checking out some new-fangled porch swings!

making herself at home with the goat

baa baa everywhere!

kissing the singing fox puppet!

We figured we might as well make it a festival weekend...huzzah! The Renaissance Festival is a fairly big tradition here in KC and for our family it dates back to our childhood. As a family we used to go at least once a year and would have the grandest of times! My dad being my dad was so into all the acting, shows, costumes, etc. His excitement would always make it so much more fun for the rest of the family and some of my clearest and fondest memories of my childhood are from the Renaissance Festival. As an adult, Dad and I kept up our tradition and would frequent the festival each year. Most of the time it was just the two of us and we'd drink Black and Tans and roam the grounds going to see all of our favorite performers. This year was the first year I've been back since he died and it was a bit emotional for me. Although, I had some mixed emotions I wasn't quite expecting. Sophia had an absolutely wonderful time, something I must admit I didn't even think about cuz I was more worried about myself! ;) But I was so happy to see her being entertained, having fun and getting involved that it made me both happy and sad. Happy for obvious reasons, and of course sad because I missed my dad and remembered how much fun we had there. I tried to catch at least a little bit of every show that we would have watched and I dreamed of drinking Black and Tans, at least! I laughed at all the corny jokes and giggled a little extra on the inside when I knew it was something he would appreciate. There is one in particular I keep thinking about even now, hearing in my mind Dad's little chuckle as he repeats it to himself. The anniversary of his death and his birthday aren't too far away as we near closer to Baby and I have to say it does make me a bit melancholy to be going through more life changes and knowing that he won't be here to partake. It gets easier, as does everything, with time, but this time of the year is a bit harder for me to take.

However, I shan't go too far off target because in my state of pregnancy I can really fall off the cliff with too much emotion, so let's move on to how much fun Sophia had! Hopefully the pictures capture her joy and excitement of the day! It took her a while to warm up to the festivities as she was bombarded with fairies and fairy dust and wand making just upon entrance. Once she got her groove on, though, she was set to go! Our first activity was riding a llama, which I must say I really can't believe she did! She LOVED it! I walked with her but she happily bounced along atop the llama, petting it, waving to Daddy, etc. At the end she said bye-bye llama, petted it and walked away. We also listened to some pirate music, which was hilarious because she bopped to the tunes about run, whiskey and shots and when they stopped she kept hanging around and asking them to sing one more song! Should I be worried?? We also hit the petting zoo where Sophia befriended a lazy goat who took to sitting by the entrance looking for hand-outs. She just sat down right next to it and fed it and talked to it. She then went after the sheep who also surrounded her and loved her back, or maybe it was just the food! One of our final stops was the singing fox. The fox sang various kid tunes, accompanied by a guitar playing fool! At the end of the show Sophia went to put a donation in the pot and declared she wanted to kiss the fox. The fox put on some glossy red lips and puckered right up for her! This same, very sassy fox, also heckled Charlie throughout the show, it was too funny! I'm not sure what he did to deserve that, but he was a good sport! I guess I'll have to take her to some puppet shows soon, because she really thought that was fun! All in all, the three of us had a very full day (and weekend) and were happy to spend it together. We ate much, laughed and played as a family, and that can't be beat!

KC Irish Fest

Perhaps our last picture as a family of 3?
Stacy and Cody give Sophia a cuddle sandwich

trying out the bounce house

sailing down the inflatable slide

Sophia devouring her meat pie

with her turtle balloon bracelet

Princess Sophia

both girls wearing their crowns

Stacy and Cody, who recently graduated from EMT school (yay!), were working the first aid booth at this year's Irish Fest. We joined the masses for some food, fun, and music and had a great time! This year Sophia was really more equipped to handle the kids' tents and Shelby was such a good helper along the way, as usual! Surprisingly, she LOVED the traditional Scottish meat pie and ate the entire thing without blinking! I have to say I fell true to the pregnant stereotype and my favorite thing, albeit not very Irish, was the fried pickles. Charlie enjoyed some traditional fish and chips and we all appreciated the funnel cakes and frozen custard! It was a lovely evening spent with family! We're trying to get in as much as we can before we're hospital and house bound!

Happy Birthday, Walter!!!

Here's Walt with some birthday cookies and his new bone!

He enjoys anything tennis ball flavored!

On the way to the pet store to get his toy!

He kept trying to climb over the seat, but we managed to keep him wrangled!

Sophia was trying to pose with her buddy

Today Walter turns 5 years old! It's hard to believe that if he were an actual kid, he could be in Kindergarten! Yikes! :) I remember the day Charlie brought him home, he was so cute! He really has prepared us more than anything for having a house full of kids, that's for sure! Even though he's been a bit mis-behaved lately (perhaps he's acting out because of the baby??) we all love him so much! We loaded everyone up in Marsha, Walter's maiden voyage in the back by the way, and headed to PetCo so he could pick out a toy. I haven't been able to find any Frosty Paws, so we settled on some cookies and he was quite keen on the tennis ball covered bone. When we got home all he wanted to do was chew it and all Sophia wanted to do was pet him! He kept running away from her because he thought she wanted to take his toy and she kept running after him saying take our picture, Mom!!

Twins Squared

Mmmmm, chocolate cookies and lemon loaf!

We love to play ball with Auntie Jill!

Assisting Lauren with some paci intake


3 little girls playing so well together!

We had a play date of sorts today with Jill and her sister, who's in town with her set of twins! I was interested to see how Sophia would react to the littlest set of twins (5 months) but she pretty much ignored them! Ha! She did not, however, ignore Lauren and Aubrey...she was too excited to see them and had the grandest of times! Sophia is the youngest in our usual crowd of kids and although I love seeing her interact with the older kids, I am really enjoying seeing her now with Lauren and Aubrey who are younger than her. She did really well with sharing and she and Aubrey played the cutest game of catch! Sophia also followed Lauren around and helped her with her pacifier a couple of times. In her usual Shepherd like form, she made sure she knew where each of them were at all times! Lauren and Sophia also love to hug each other and Sophia even bent over and kissed her on the forehead at one point...it was absolutely priceless! I think we have a good big sister in the making! Plus, it'll be fun to see Lauren and Aubrey interact with our littlest baby at this point too! So thanks to Jill's mom who not only let us play at her house but baked delicious cookies and lemon cake, that Sophia loving referred to as lemon loaf.

What Was That I Said?!

So, remember that little tiny sentence I put in a recent post about eating too much junk food in the last two weeks...that was apparently no joke! I went to the doctor today and as he measured my stomach, at a whopping 38 cm, both of us sort of did a double take. He went back to his notes and indeed...I had grown 5 cm in two weeks...are you kidding me???! He also said that I gained "quite a bit of weight" but since I'm on a strict not-looking-at-the-scale-for-any-reason regime, I didn't bother to ask exactly how much, because quite frankly I don't want to know. He then ended our conversation with these uplifting remarks, "you're a pretty good size." Hmmmm, just not words you want to hear. ever.


My saving grace did come at the end though, as I was making my next appointment, he said, "oh wait, didn't you start the Prednisone?" Indeed I had, exactly 2 weeks ago, he was then kind enough to throw me a bone and say that those pills were probably the cause for a good part of my weight gain. Well thank God for small favors! I will say that I probably should curb by junk food intake anyway, especially since these steroids aren't doing me any favors, and I can't blame it all on the steroids, but to be honest, I probably won't. Even though I know it's counter productive and sort of backwards, because I feel so huge, I just don't care. I figure what's another scoop of ice cream at this point?!


I'm down to every week appointments, which consists of only 3 more appointments before Baby is born! I asked him if he thought I would go earlier than 39 weeks and although he said he didn't think so, he also said that wasn't really a guarantee. Super. Part of me would be ready to have this kid tomorrow, but the other part of me, the crazy part...needs to get through Sophia's birthday and then I'll be fine. I just have to lay low and keep that baby in there for 3 more weeks! We can do it! I've been focusing on trying to be positive and active the last few days and I think I'm doing pretty well. I will admit that my house is suffering a tad bit with cleanliness and laundry upkeep, but Charlie is being pretty understanding about that too. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted about any and all baby news...we're down to crunch time!

Meet the Mallow

Hello, Marsha...

...goodbye Rose. :(

yes, all you haters, the giant cup of too many pencils has left with Rose, never to return again!

side view of Marsha

Sophia loves riding in her too!

a glimpse of the navigation and dash

a rear view...and look how much space is left even with the stroller in the back!

So Monday evening we brought the ol' girl home! It has been quite an experience, let me tell you what! Firstly, I think Charlie and I were both surprised by the ease it took to actually purchase this car. Neither of us had either owned a Honda before, and it seems that maybe it's just the way they do business, but it took little negotiating to get what we wanted. It partially left us thinking, "Should we have asked for more?!" But, let's get down to the good stuff here...First off, her name is Marsha the Marshmallow. Wendy helped inspire it actually, as the names I had in mind just weren't "sticking". I feel that she's a girl car and she's big and boxy, like a marshmallow, and although soft and gooey, strong enough to survive a fire! She has many features, in fact, all of the options available! We really stopped at nothing this time! She's fully loaded and here are my favorite aspects:

• Power windows!!! Pathetic, I know, but seriously I was so overjoyed! There aren't many of you left out there who know the hassle of pulling up next to someone when they want to talk to you and you have to either lean over and crank the passenger side down, or motion that you just won't be able to hear them. Or trying to get some air to your baby and having to lean back and wrench your arm to roll down her window when necessary!
• Factory Installed Window Shades: Ya know those annoying suction cup baby window shades that suck?!...well Marsha has them already in the windows. They slide, unnoticed, in between the door frame when not in use, then you just pull up and hang on the hooks installed in the top of the windows...ingenious!
• Trunk Space: I loved Rose, but she had little of this!
• The Seats: Not only are the seats heated, but you can program Driver 1 and Driver 2 so if Charlie drives my car I don't have to spend 20 minutes trying to figure out where I want my seat again.
• Rear Back-Up Camera: Okay, this is seriously awesome! I'm having trouble adjusting to Marsha's size, but this camera really enables me to feel better about not running into any trees or over any small children! I even safely maneuvered leaving the garage and backing around Charlie's car the other day! Woo Hoo!

Here are the things Charlie loves:

• EVERYTHING!: He is such a little kid in a candy store, it's too cute! Of course I am extremely thrilled with the navigation as well, but Charlie is such a boy about all the technie stuff in the car. I kind of make fun of him, but seriously I'm glad he's psyched about it b/c then he can learn all about it and just show me...so much easier for me! ;) He's currently trying to figure out how to sync my phone for voice command while driving, love it! and he's all about learning the navi system as well as the DVD/bluetooth headset stuff. He's already declared that we need to take a road trip somewhere so that he and Stacy can sit in the back seat while I drive and play Playstation 3! We also have a free 3 month trial of XM Radio and that's cool for both of us too...so far I've been listening to all 80s and Oprah Radio...can't beat it!

I was sad to see Rose go, but I am happy about this new chapter in our life. Hopefully Rose will go to a good home and they will care for her deeply! I probably should have left them a note, but you just can't be too pushy. The car salesman gave Charlie some trouble about finally getting around to getting his wife a nicer car and boy, howdy, did he do it this time! Charlie is very excited for me, as he even said that I'm now officially part of the Mommy Club! He said I can roll up to Boot Camp in style with an SUV looking like one of the club! Thanks, Honey, I love you!

On Monday evening, Mom kept Sophia so we could get the car and not worry...here's what happened Tuesday morning when I picked her up:

Me: Are you ready to see our new car, Sophia?

Sophia: Yes!!! (we then walk out to the driveway where Marsha is parked)

Sophia: She stopped in her tracks, looks at it and says, "too big, mom." then I open the back door and she gasps, points to her car seat and says, "Daddy put it in!!"

Me: Yes he did! There's even space next to you where we're going to put Baby Brother or Baby Sister's car seat.

Sophia: Baby Sister sit over there?!

Me: Yes, but what if it's a baby brother?

Sophia: I want a sister

One final funny kid story...this happened yesterday when we met Jodie, Emma, and Isabelle for coffee:

Jodie: Emma, do you like Miss Tori's new car?

Emma: That's her new car?

Jodie: Yes

Emma: What happened to her other car?

Jodie: They traded it for this car.

Emma: They traded that dirty red car and got that? (incredulous voice and face)

That story made me laugh too hard...yes, Emma if it were only that simple!