Goodbye nausea, hello headaches

I almost forgot about the lovely headaches I get in my second trimester. My first two pregnancies they were the only real constant inconveniences. This time the nausea distracted me from remembering them but this week I have remembered. I am getting at least one a day and sometimes Tylenol and a good nap does not solve the problem. They usually hit around mid-morning so when Timmy goes down for a nap so do I. I am not getting much done around the house again. I hope they don't last the whole trimester. If I remember right, they don't.

Yummy Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

http://www.nickjr.com/recipes/magentas-strawberry-lemonade.jhtml?path=/recipes/blues-clues/drinks/all-ages/

I made this last night and it was one of the best recipes for strawberry lemonade I have tried. I added about an extra cup of strawberries just because my whole family loves strawberries and I think that it made it even better.

Seaside Beach

Ray's brother, Jonathan, came down for vacation from South Carolina. He rented a cute little townhouse in Seaside about an hour west of us. We went out Saturday and spent the day out there. We took the kids to the beach where it was breezy and cool and red flags flying (bad seas) so no going in the water but the kids had fun in the sand.

After a fun day at the beach we got some ice cream bars and enjoyed eating them at one of the outside tables.

2nd doctor's appointment

Today was my second appointment. According to their scale I have lost a pound since last time. I am eating better now the nausea has pretty much subsided but I walk regularly and so I think I am losing fat, gaining baby. They also talked to me about my acid reflux and if I am still having problems at my next appointment they may have me get some more procedures done (a scope) to see if something else is going on. I have been wanting that done for awhile but the military likes to drag their feet with things like that. The next appointment is our second ultrasound. We will not be finding out what the gender is of the baby but we may find out if the baby makes it obvious even to us with out having to have the technician telling us.

Our Easter

When the kids got up Easter morning they got to see what the easter bunny left them in their baskets. Timmy was sick with a bad cold and Sheila was getting it so we ended up staying home from church. I really missed going to church especially since the week before was conference and this was Easter. They will wear their Easter outfits this coming Sunday.

Papa and Grandma came over for dinner and then the Easter egg hunt. Sheila got to find the pink, purple, and orange eggs. Timmy got to find green, blue, and yellow ones.

They enjoyed looking around the yard for the eggs.

Each came away with a full basket of bounty.

Afterwards they wasted no time in finding out what was in those eggs.

And Timmy wasted no time in sampling the goodies.

Afterwards we again went outside and played with bubbles. Timmy promptly poured all his out on the ground.

Britain's Got Talent: Susan Boyle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Yesterday on the evening news I seen a micro clip of this and searched the web to find it. I usually don't look up videos on the internet so had a little bit of difficulty since I didn't hear the lady's name and didn't know if it was UK has talent or Britain's Got Talent or what. Anyway, this proves you can not judge a book by it's cover. What an amazing voice.

Hello Second Trimester, I welcome you

Yesterday I officially started my second trimester. Yippee!!! Over the past week I have noticed that my morning sickness/nausea finally has subsided. Not the acid reflux though. That seems to be getting worse. I am on Zantac for it but that is not working too well. However, since I have been on iron pills I have gotten more energy back and I am not as light headed. I thought it was just pregnancy not that it was my iron. I am also getting my desire back to work on my projects so maybe this week I will dust off that sewing machine or die cutting machine and get to it. I am still catching up on house cleaning that got a little behind for the last two months so the hobbying might have to wait a little longer.

Strawberry picking time

I finally saw a commercial announcing that the local strawberry farm was open and ready for picking. We headed down there this morning to get our 10+ pounds.

We all had a blast picking the strawberries. (It was supposed to rain all weekend but the storm went north and the weather turned out beautiful.)

Sheila liked holding the flag to mark where we ended for the farmers so the next people could start where we left off.

And Timmy, like last year, ate more than he put in the box. At least this year he chose mostly red ones to eat. This first 10+ pounds will go to one batch of freezer jam and the a lot will go for Easter dinner tomorrow. I am making fresh strawberry lemonade, a strawberry banana salad, and strawberry shortcake. In a week or two we will head back out to get another box. And then probably do a third run before they close sometime in May. I usually make 2-3 batches of freezer jam plus freeze a bunch.

Easter Egg Dying

Friday night we dyed Easter eggs since Saturday was supposed to be a busy day for us (it turned out not to be.)

We used two different kits. One was the Dudley dye that I used to use all the time as a kid and I love that dye. The color on the eggs always turns out better. The other one had a glitter kit. I did all the glittering since I knew it would be a big fight/mess if the kids got a hold of that.

Instead of the dipper Timmy used his hand and dyed his hand blue/green in the process.

Both kids had a blast. We tried to color 17 eggs but a couple got cracked in the process.

Here are some of our finished products. Maybe next year we can start teaching them to layer colors. Or maybe the next year or the next year or the next year.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Anonymous...that is how I like to roll.
2. Spring is a wonderful season.
3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for I will be a stronger person if I do.
4. Flowers are what I look forward to most about Spring.
5. Who needs therapy when you have a good book to cry over.
6. Chocolate bunnies, peeps, and cadbury eggs MUST go into the Easter Basket!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dying eggs with my kiddos, tomorrow my plans include picking strawberries at the strawberry farm with my family and making Easter day salads and Sunday, I want to have a nice Easter service at church, enjoy Easter dinner with my family, and watch the kids hunt eggs afterwards!

Sheila's school Easter party

Today was Sheila's Easter party at school. Timmy was invited to come so he and I went up to the school at the appointed time. First they had snacks of tiny cupcakes, cookie, marshmallow bunnies, pretzels, and capri suns. Sheila ate the sprinkles off of her cupcake, one pretzel , and one marshmallow before she had to be done since all the other kids had already finished and were waiting to go hunt eggs. Timmy finished almost all of his. He fit right in (besides being half their age) he lined up with them, put his basket down with theirs when directed, and followed their lead.

Sheila's class joined one of the other preschool classes for their egg hunt. Here they are lining up to begin.

Sheila and Timmy enjoyed searching for eggs.

Unfortunately they weren't as fast as the other kids and Sheila got 5 eggs and Timmy 4. I had a flashback to an egg hunt I went to when I was 5-6 and everytime I went to pick up an egg a child would swoop in and snatch from under my hand. After several attempts I sat down and cried. My sister gave me some of her eggs. I started to have some of those feelings back when I saw the other kids with lots of eggs and my kids with half as many. But they had fun and seemed not to notice so I told myself not to worry about it although it did bother me. Ever since that experience when I am in charge of an egg hunt I try to make it a little more fair and make sure all the kids get around the same amount.

After the egg hunt they sat down and got to eat candy from two of the eggs.

Still a little upset about it I called Ray when I got home and told him my experience. He told me what I already knew, that the kids didn't seem to mind so I shouldn't either. Then Sheila came home on the bus and I felt a lot better. She came home with a whole basket full of eggs and some other little gifts. She has been sharing with her brother. She is a really nice big sister.

Here are some of her spoils from the party.

And the cute little bunny egg holder she made. (It got smashed when she accidentally stepped on it. I had to glue the eye back on.)

Low Iron

I got my blood test results yesterday. The doctor told me they wouldn't call unless they saw something of concern so when they called I knew it was something. My iron levels are very low so I had to get a prescription for an Iron supplement. Today I went in to pick it up and got a proof of pregnancy as well. I found out that my due date has moved up two days to October 9 so I updated my baby ticker with the info.

Our first day at the beach 2009

Friday was finally a nice sunny day so we headed to the beach in the afternoon. It was breezy and still cold so we did not go in the water, plus the seas were really rough. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand.

Ray built this cool sand castle. One of the spires fell right after I took this picture.

Here he is trying to repair it. Soon after that the surf came out and washed the whole thing away. Poor Timmy got wet and started shivering. I wrapped him in two towels and put him in the wagon and we headed back to the parking lot. We were at the base beach and there is about a 1/3 mile boardwalk plus several yards of beach to walk down before we get to the gulf. We now bring a wagon to haul everything.

I thought I had sprayed Timmy well enough but his shoulders, arms, and face still burned. I didn't spray myself as well as I usually do as well and I burnt my feet (lobster feet) so I couldn't wear shoes all weekend, my legs, my arms, and my face. Sheila only had spots of sunburnwhere the spray missed and Ray just got it on the back of his neck and he didn't wear any sunblock.

Our first camping trip of the year

We headed to Falling Waters State Park in Chipley, Florida Monday late morning on the 30th of March. It is not quite an hour away. It is famous for having the tallest water fall in Florida. We have been to the park 2-3 times since being married but never went camping there. A few days before I reserved a camping spot on line. Upon arriving there we were very impressed with the campground. It is small, only 24 sites plus two camp host so that made it a little more private and intimate. The spot we got was fairly nice and close to the bathrooms but our only complaint was the campfire was located next to the road instead of in the middle of the campsite. We got the chairs out for the kids and started to set up. We got there about 12:30.Here are the kids relaxing while we set up camp. We had to set up our tent and get all the stuff out of the van. It didn't take too long and by 2 p.m. we were headed down to the waterfalls.

Here is one of the sinkholes that are all over the park. They have boardwalks around them so people can walk safely by them to see them.

The waterfall falls 73 feet into a sink hole. They have a walkway down into the sinkhole (about a third of the way down) where you can get pretty close to the waterfall. We were pretty lucky. It had rained the few days before we left so it had a good amount of water falling from it. Last time we came, 2 years ago, about the same time of year it was dried up.

Here you can see the water falling to the bottom of the sink hole. It's a mystery to where it goes from there. The park is located at one of the tallest spots in Florida at just over 300 feet above sea level.

Near the waterfalls is located a picnic area and playground area. The kids enjoyed playing in the playground. It was a nice day outside and a lot of families were also there that day.

The kids enjoyed daddy pushing them on the swings.

That first day was really nice. We woke up the next morning to very overcast skies. After breakfast we took the kids out for another hike. We went back to the waterfalls but this time we took the trail from the campground that also went by the lake. Here is Sheila crossing one of the bridges over one of the many creeks.

The lake was not in very pristine condition. Supposedly there is a beach (now covered in pine straw.) I guess they haven't cleared it out from the winter stuff going on. If it had been a nice day and clear enough maybe we would have waded in the lake. There can be alligators in it so they have a partition off for swimming.

Timmy liked digging in the sand.

Here is another view of the waterfall from a little more up on the trail.

The kids also loved the big old pine cones in the park near the waterfalls. The kids and I played in the park again while daddy went and got the van since my feet were killing me. He came just in time for it to start raining. We got back to camp and put everything out of the rain and then went in the tent. After lunch and a nap it was still cloudy and getting worse. After learning that there would be severe thunderstorms that night and the next day we decided to leave a day early since Sheila is scared of storms and would be between us all night long.