Monahans State Park and Baby's New "Bike"

     Well, our company just left and now we're left with that feeling of not knowing quite what to do with ourselves. We now have a little trike for the baby because grandpa felt compelled to get her one this weekend after letting her ride the neighbor boy's when he took her outside. She had never been on one before and didn't give it a second thought, but after riding it, she never fails to notice it when we take her in or out of the apartment! She has also stared saying the word "bike" a lot. So grandpa felt like he had to get her one since he "started something." 

     So, to Babies R Us we went, and left with a nice, new Thomas the Tank engine tricycle that makes noise when you push the buttons. And believe me, the buttons get pushed! Unfortunately, there is no way to turn the sound off, so we just have to tolerate it, or hide the bike. 

     We went to an ice cream party at the home of one of the families we go to church with and had ice-cream, cookies, cake and brownies. They also had a couple of bounce houses set up for the kids, so my husband and I got into one with our little girl and though she was nervous at first, she really started to have fun, but was ready to get out after about fifteen minutes. She was also entertained by the older girls playing around the bounce house next to us. 

     This morning I was dragged out of bed by my husband (not literally, but you know what I mean) in order to go to Monahans Sandhills State Park with his grandparents before they left to go back to Florida. He used all kinds of bribes (more than necessary, but who's complaining?) to get me up and out the door. 

     The park is about 32 miles from home and is just like the name indicates--a bunch of sandhills. The front office rents out these discs (basically like big frisbees) on which people can slide down the hills. Sort of like sledding, only it's sand instead of snow. It would probably be fun to do if I had more energy. Nobody in our group did that today, but if we ever go back, maybe we'll do it next time. 

     When we left the park, we decided to go into Monahans (the town) to get a drink from DQ and decided instead to try out a restaurant called Pappy's BBQ. We're always looking for a good barbeque place. I must say it was not what I imagined. 

     It was a counter service restaurant where you could either buy your meat buy the pound or get a sandwich or plate. We all ordered sandwich plates. I got a sliced chicken sandwich with potato salad and baked beans. The food wasn't horrible, but it wasn't the best barbeque we'd ever had and I think we were all unanimous in saying it wasn't worth going out of our way for. But we tried it. 

Fiddlesticks Farm and Michael's Charcoal Grill

     Well it's been another busy weekend, but maybe not quite as busy as last weekend. On Friday we tried to go to a big yard sale with a friend in Midland, TX. It was supposed to be a big, indoor yard sale made up of donated stuff. The only thing is, when we got there, they were charging $3 per person, including babies! So, it would have been $12 for all 4 of us, and $9 for our family alone. And no guarantee that we would find anything we wanted in this garage sale that was probably made up of donations from people who couldn't sell the items in their own yard sales. So, we decided not to go after all. We ended up going to the mall instead. 

     On Saturday we decided to go out to Fiddlesticks Farms, a family-owned farm, also in Midland. We wanted to find a pumpkin patch our little girl could take pictures in. It was $20 for us all to get in and it's still negligible whether it was worth it, but we did get some cute "fall" pictures. 
     There were a few neat things we didn't get to try because it was so hot. There was a corn maze I would have liked to go into, but like I said, it was hot, and I get so easily tired out lately, so I didn't want to risk it. There was a hay-ride out to the pumpkin field, but we didn't do that either. 
     The farm had a little barn that had cows, goats, chickens and pigs (babies and adults), and you could even pet some of them if you wished. Our little girl really had a blast looking at the animals, so maybe it was worth it just for that. They also had milking demonstrations every couple hours in the animal barn, but we didn't stay for that.
     One of the snack stalls had an "old fashioned soda wagon" with five different flavors of soda. I was really tempted to get one, but it was $6 for a tin mug of soda, and the picture on it was really ugly. If it had simply said "Fiddlesticks Farm" it might have made a nice souvenir to keep, but I just could not bring myself to spend that much on a cup I didn't really like. We did, however, get a bag of kettle corn and it was good and fresh and had that just right combination of sweet and salty. Only problem with that kind of stuff is you tend to eat more than you ought to! 
     Overall, we were there about an hour and half. We might have stayed longer if it wasn't quite so hot. Maybe next year we will try to wait till later in the month (though it may be more crowded) and then we went to get lunch at a local hamburger restaurant called Michaels Charcoal Grill. This was a counter-service restaurant, not a sit-down restaurant like we were thinking when we went in. There was plenty of seating though.
     The food was pretty good and they had just about every condiment you could imagine for hamburgers. We did end up spending more than I honestly care to spend on hamburgers. They do have barbeque too, so if we go again, we will have to try something else. 
     The onion rings were huge, though not the most seasoned I've had. But among the huge array of condiments at the counter, there was some horseradish sauce, so we just used some of that. They also had goldfish and animal crackers and that kept the baby happy until the food was ready. So, it was pretty good and we would probably try it again, but next time try something else. 

My Dr. Visit and Ultrasound

     Well, I went to the doctor yesterday. My husband had the clever idea to keep the baby out in the van while I went inside and read Twilight while I waited for my name to be called.       

     She watched movies on her dvd player and  actually had free range of the van, so she was fairly content for a while. She finally got fussy enough for my husband to bring her inside for a change. 

     After a total wait time of about an hour and a half, we finally got to see the doctor. I don't think the doctor was necessarily thinking about giving me an ultrasound but we went ahead and asked about it (since I'm at 21 weeks) and he said it was about time for that. So, the ultrasound tech happened to be in yesterday, so he went to ask if she had a free window. He came back and said we could go right now.

     So, in we went. Everything was fine. Baby was holding his hands over his face and kicking his feet. He looked really long limbed, but I'm sure he will plump up before his big entrance. And of course the moment we were waiting for--we found out we're having a little boy! So now we will have our girl and our boy. My husband is, of course, beside himself with excitement. He would have been excited either way, but I think in his heart of hearts, he wanted a boy. 

     Of course, that means we'll have to get a whole new set of clothes, but that's ok. Baby shopping is fun. :-) And I'm sure we'll be assisted by excited grandmothers. 

Just Catching Up

     Sorry I've missed a few posts. Last week was just so busy with our gospel meeting and lots of extra visiting and being out and about. There's been a lot of stuff going on, but most of it is pretty mundane and not really worth blogging about. But I've been pretty tired lately. 

     I'm about halfway through my pregnancy now. I don't feel so sick now, but I've been sooo tired lately. I don't know if it's a pregnancy thing, or just that I'm out of shape. I'm starting to get achy back and shoulders, too. 

     I have my doctor appointment tomorrow. Hopefully we will get to see an ultrasound again (or at least get an appointment for one). I will be 21 weeks and it seems most people on my "birth board" at baby center have already had theirs. It seems 16-20 weeks is the normal window. But no mention of a separate ultrasound was made at my last appointment...so, we'll see. 

     On another note, I got my free artisan pizza from Domino's yesterday. I chose the spinach alfredo/feta flavor. It had a really, really good flavor, but it was a little on the salty side. I think it might have been the type of cheese, but I'm not 100% sure. It was kinda like cheesy bread with a little more flavor. We happened to have a little tub of marinara sauce from the last time we ordered Papa John's, so my husband used that with his pizza. He seemed to like it. 

     Anyway, I just thought I would "check in" and let you all know I'm still here. I may post tomorrow (my usual day) but I may wait till Thursday. Now, I better go try to get caught up on some stuff. Talk to you again soon!

My Long Weekend

     Well, it's been a long weekend and I'm just worn out. Yesterday (Sunday) in particular was tiring. We had a potluck after church (good food and great visiting with everyone) but we didn't leave until after 2. Then we had to go get gas 'cause we were really on empty, so we went to HEB and parked by the gas station, then walked across the parking lot to the HEB store to get a gift card so we could get our 11 cents off at the pump. 

     Naturally the store was packed, so we went to the customer service line, since we were only getting a gift card. While we were in that line, my toddler started leaking onto the floor. Just what we needed. So, I gave my husband the money and took the cart with my toddler in it all the way back to van across the parking. And what do you know? I realize my husband still has my car key, while his is locked in the van, as is the diaper bag (naturally I didn't take it in, since we were just going in for a minute, right?). 

     So I had to wait for my husband to come back out and unlock the car. Then I got to change my baby's soaking, dirty (yes, it was dirty too!) diaper in the back of the van. That's one nice thing about having a van, though. Emergency changing table. Amazingly the mess missed her dress, since was mostly standing.

     However, her dress didn't escape getting trampled and tripped on by her several times throughout the day. There is a netting trim on the underskirt (see pic below) that is just not strong enough to withstand a toddler stepping on it over and over. So, I've decided I'm just going to cut the netting trim off the skirt. I think the dress will look fine without it. Here's a picture of how much of the trim is already ripped away (probably about 1/3). 

     So, we got home close to 3 and had to leave again around 4:30 because we were having singing at 5 before our actual evening services, which start at 6. So, normally on Sunday afternoons I have time to lay down for awhile, but not yesterday. And after church we went to McDonald's with the preacher who is visiting this week and had a nice visit with him. But, like I said, it was a looong day! Lots of good stuff happened, but man, was I tired!