35 Weeks

I have officially arrived at the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy, and I am counting down the weeks until I see with my eyes the feet that have been pounding on my ribs. :) I remember with Riley thinking, "the last few weeks of pregnancy really aren't that bad, in my opinion." Yeah, I was a little sore, but nothing like I am now! If I sit for too long, it takes me a while to get moving again. Oh the joys of the body stretching, the baby sitting on nerves, a sore back, etc. However, I keep reminding myself that it will all be worth it in the end!

If all goes as planned (and when does it ever when babies are involved?!), I will go in for a c-section on Monday, December 5th. I am praying hard that my blood pressure will stay normal and I won't have the complications I did with Riley-bug. So far I haven't had issues with swelling like I did with him, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

Baby Ella is right on track with her growth. I took Riley with me to my last appointment, and I wish you could have seen his face when he heard her heartbeat. It was precious! The rest of the day (and even a few days after), he walked around telling people, "I heard Ella's heartbeat!" He was so excited! I can't wait to see how he reacts when he gets to finally see her in person. He already has such a sweet love for his little sister. I know he's going to be a fun, yet protective, older brother, and that makes my heart smile! Before you think him too perfect of a child, know that he certainly has his moments where I can tell this baby thing has him a bit scared. He frequently crawls around the house saying, "I'm a baby!" He has also upped the severity and frequency of his lovely 2-year-old tantrums. So, I'm well aware that adding another member to our household is going to be a HUGE adjustment for him. But, I think once he gets passed the initial shock of his territory being invaded, he'll embrace her with open arms and realize the value she'll add to our family. Here's to hoping this happens sooner rather than later! :)

The Bramlett Bakery

The past two years I haven't been too concerned about what Riley would wear for Halloween because I knew we could put him in whatever we thought was cute and he wouldn't care one way or the other. For instance, for his first Halloween (2009), we found the most adorable giraffe costume. 

 And then last year (2010), my sweet mother-in-law sent this lion costume. Couldn't get any cuter!

This year, however, I knew would be a different story! Mr. Opinion and Strong-will has made himself known, and I wasn't too sure what he would "approve of." I figured he would either be Elmo or one of the characters from the Cars movie. But, when I started looking at costumes and how much they cost, I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of buying a costume.

Daniel came home one day and said, "I've got the perfect idea for Halloween!" I was a bit scared to hear his idea (he can get a little crazy sometimes with his 'ideas'), but I said, "Ok. What is it?" He replied with, "You dress up as an oven with a bun it, I'll be a baker, and Riley can be a loaf of bread!" I thought this was pretty clever - had some apprehensions as to how we were going to come up with Riley's costume - but agreed this was doable and we'd do our best to make it happen. So, I present to you the Bramlett Bakery...

In case you can't read it, my shirt says, "Bake: With Care" on the left and "Timer: 5 weeks left!" on the right. I googled "Bun in the oven costumes" and found a website showing how to make my costume. I modified it a bit (was supposed to be a huge box covering my body) so I could help somewhat with Riley.

For Riley's costume I just bought a brown pillowcase from T.J. Maxx, cut out the head and arms, and used some good ol' gold puff paint. It reads, "Nature's Own 100% Bramlett"

The back says, "50% Daniel, 50% Laura, Ingredients: Love, opinion, fun, strong-will, humor, tantrums, compassion, and grace of God."

Heading to the town's Trunk or Treat

At our church's fall festival...we won 2nd place in the adult costume contest!

I was a little worried that I was going to go to all the trouble to make Riley's costume and then he'd refuse to wear it. Thankfully, the episode of Sid the Science Kid we'd watched earlier in the day talked about costumes and dressing up for Halloween. I was able to remind him of that and got him excited about his costume. Thank you, Sid, for helping us with this process!

Can't wait to see what our two little ones will be next year! A friend asked if I was going to save the box so I could wear it again next year...HA! I said, "Um no! No more buns in this oven!!" :)