Day 2 at the Beach

Sunday was a pretty fun day. We started off the morning with Will playing in the condo and on the balcony.

He loves his monkey blankey. We now have 3 because they tend to get lost for a day or two.

I just love these big baby blues.

After hanging out for awhile we went to Tacky Jack's Tavern for brunch with some old friends of the Sharps. They have twin 11 year old boys who are so cute. I wanted to get a group picture but we had to make an early exit due to some 'I need a nap'-crankiness.

Will and his Daddy had fun watching the fish while waiting for a table

Aunt Sara and Uncle Andrew chilled in the shade

Will got a second wind when we got back to the condo and refused to nap. We finally gave up and took him to the beach. Whew. Taking a toddler to the beach is not very care-free. It is actually quite a bit of work! He enjoyed the sand and laughed at the waves, though he preferred to stay pretty close to an adult rather than run free. I bought him this life vest because I was scared to have him next to open water. It is not an infant vest with a head support but he is so big this one fit better. I figured it was better than nothing plus it provided UV protection.

Hey! I found a shell!

Too busy scooping sand to pay attention to the camera

I had to take a picture of this tent. Friends had told me how great these infant pop-up tents were for some shade. I looked at them but found this one on ebay and it claimed to be compact and easy to set up, plus it was bigger than the baby pop-up ones and cheaper. I almost bought it then found it in Target for about $8 cheaper. Score! It provided UV protection plus is big enough for adults to sit under as well. So we get to the beach and had never messed with the thing before. It was compact but the set up was not so easy! I bet the people around us had a nice laugh watching us try to figure this tent out while the wind blew at what must have been 20 mph. Thankfully my mother-in-law was with us so we had extra hands and Will was content to be in the stroller watching us and the waves. We finally got it set up and then had to turn it away from the ocean so it wouldn't blow away! We ended up not really using it so the whole thing was a waste. Lesson learned. I bet it would be great for the park or something though, and now that we know how to set it up, it will only take a few minutes.

We got back to the room and got Will cleaned up and he finally took a nap and we went to the pool. Sunday evening we took some family pictures on the beach (will post those later - they deserve one of their own!) then we left Will with his grandparents while we went out to eat. We were seated by a family with a very tired little boy who was quite whiny (it was about 9:00pm). We were thankful it wasn't our child disturbing the peace! On the way back from the bathroom the mom eyed my belly and said "Ours will make you change your mind!" I told her we already had a 15 month old and gave her a knowing smile. Then I got to thinking - what did she mean? Change our mind about having the baby? Keeping the baby? I guess it was her way of apologizing for her whiny child, but it was kind of funny!

Day 1 at the Beach

We were lucky enough to go on a vacation with Brad's family to Orange Beach, Alabama. I had never been there or to the beaches close by and was looking forward to my first trip there. We planned to leave Friday morning but unfortunately I was either the late, back-up late or on-call nurse Monday thru Thursday and didn't have a chance to get ready to leave. I was really thrilled when Thursday afternoon came and I watched as my coworkers left at 2:15 while I stayed another 4 hours doing endo procedures. I joked with another late nurse that at this rate, we wouldn't leave until 2:00pm Friday! We were finally packed and ready to drop the dogs off at the vet just after noon Friday. Brad put the dogs in the Tahoe and the engine would not crank. Seriously? When jumping off the car didn't work, we called my dad and he came to check it out. His battery guage showed that our battery was dead. Good news! But when they got to the store, their battery guage said ours was good. Bad news. We took our chances and bought a new battery. The car cranked and we left our driveway at 2:00pm, just as I had jokingly predicted. Poor Will was a trooper after not having a nap all day and conked out just 1 mile out of town. He didn't wake up until after Hattiesburg! After a long Chik-fil-a dinner in Mobile, we finally arrived at The Caribe at about 8:15pm. So much for being there around 3. What a day! Thankfully the rest of the trip was smoother.

Saturday was a great day. After having some breakfast in the condo, we took Will to the pool. He loved it! They had 2 huge pools with 3 tiers each. One pool had a zero entry tier with little fountains in it. His favorite thing was throwing the ball with Daddy and filling up and pouring water from a found pitcher. He also enjoyed sitting on the waterfall wall and just playing in the water.

Aunt Sara and Uncle Andrew sunbathed while we played

We had an awesome condo. I forgot to take pictures of the inside but it was perfect. We each had our own bedroom and bath and the kitchen, dining and living room were all open and overlooked a large balcony with several floor to ceiling windows. Will had fun running up and down the hall, through the kitchen, dining and living room and back and forth on the balcony.

He also enjoyed climbing up on the patio chairs

Self portrait at 21 weeks, 5 days

Me and my little man (I'm not doing thumbs up here - I was adjusting my strap)

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Will and his Gigi (Brad's mom)

View of the boater's island on the bay to the left of our balcony

residential island to the right of our balcony

bridge to the residential island

Saturday afternoon we talked about going to the beach but never made it. Will took a 3 hour nap (three!!) and I dozed for a couple myself. We were just plain lazy! That evening we had dinner at Cosmo's which was wonderful. I recommend it if you're ever in the Orange Beach area. After tons of yummy food we went to The Wharf to walk around. We took Will for a walk.

He actually liked being on the leash. We did this because he threw a fit getting in the stroller which is very unusual for him. He was a pill for the rest of the evening, except for when we stopped at Bruester's for ice cream (did you know kids under 40 inches get a free cone?) and then he was all sweet, happy and smiley.

Our family of 3.5 at The Wharf harbour

Please Help Yourself

Dear Will,
I realize that you are growing up very quickly. I also realize that since I am expecting your little sibling, I am pretty exhausted and slow in the afternoons. You are hard to keep up with! I may not always be right behind your every step and keeping a close eye on you. I also may not be as enthusiastic as you are about spending the afternoon in the 100 degree heat. So it would thrill me for you to help yourself. Go ahead, open the back door and roam in the back yard for a minute before I realize that you are missing. Just please have both shoes on next time and not just one.

Love,
Mommy

(Note to self: Be sure to lock back door after letting the dogs inside.)

Will's First Haircut

"Hey, buddy! Ready for your first haircut?"

"My first what? What are we doing here?"

"Mommy, I'm not so sure I'm liking this."

"Alright, I'm definitely not happy about it now."

"Well that wasn't so bad. I'll even sweep up!"



And he even gave a half smile and posed with Joanna

I finally took Will in for his first haircut a couple of weeks ago. I had been holding off until I got his 1 year pictures taken. I was debating back and forth on if I should cut his curls. I decided that we would trim the top and his bangs, and if it looked funky, we would cut the curls. We didn't have to cut a single one! Joanna has been cutting my hair for 4 years (please don't judge her talent by how I look most of the time - I don't go see her often enough!). I saw her recently and asked who I should take Will to for his first haircut. For some reason I didn't think she cut kids' hair. But she said to bring him in and she did great! I am so glad I took him to her because I know her well enough to give my real opinion and also trust that she'll do what I ask. It is hard to tell that he even got it cut, which made me very happy. He still looks like a baby and not quite grown up yet!

Top Secret

Sorry these are hard to see. The computer I am on isn't hooked up to work with our scanner.

Tiny little footprints

My favorite picture. The circle in the middle is the belly and to the right is the face. Above the face is his/her arm which was sweetly rubbing his/her head.

Profile shot. It looks like the baby is blowing bubbles but I am pretty sure that is arm/finger bones. Also the odd head shape is totally normal for this gestational age.

Ok this may be hard to see. There is a darker horizontal white line with one angled down from it. That is an arm bent at the elbow with the hand above and to the right. Baby is facing up, head on right side so I guess this is the left arm?

The gender of baby Sharp is "Top Secret". I had a doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon and they did a routine ultrasound. Brad was planning to come with me but unfortunately got stuck nearly 2 hours away on a job and couldn't make it. My biggest fear was finding out something was wrong and being all alone. But, Praise God, everything looks perfect! I had been saying we wouldn't find out the gender but as time neared, I was feeling more weak. My doctor even wrote on my chart last month not to tell me because I told him I was going back and forth on the issue. Don't get me wrong - I would LOVE to know more about the baby I am carrying but the thought of waiting it out and having a suprise on birth-day was exciting.

Since Brad was unable to be there, I decided to get the tech to write the gender down and seal it in an envelope for us so that if we wanted to know once he got home from work, we could find out. Luckily I got the nice tech and not the mean one we had at Will's 19 week ultrasound. (I guess it wasn't that lucky since I asked for her when I booked the appt and when I got there to confirm she would be performing the ultrasound and not the other girl) This lady was happy to oblige my requests. The tech looked at all the vital parts and did the measurements first, then told me to close my eyes while she looked at the 'other' parts. I suprised myself with how easily I kept my eyes closed and didn't try to peek once! She told me the baby was putting his/her hands between his/her legs at first like it didn't want us to look! I really enjoyed the whole ultrasound just looking at and talking to my little baby. Last time I saw him/her it was just a tiny little butterbean! This baby seemed very calm compared to Will and was content to smack its lips and rub its head. We discussed how it wasn't fair for the Dr. to know (he had previously told me he would) if the parents didn't and she assured me she didn't print "those" pictures out so my Dr. wouldn't even know what we were having. As soon as my Dr. walked in, he taunted me with "I know what you're having!" in a sing-song sort of way. This sounds childish, but that was just him. I really love my Dr. He is great! I told him I had an envelope in my purse and could find out if I wanted!

I carried the envelope in my purse for several hours until Brad and I were both home. I was not tempted even once to open it. Opening it without him just wouldn't be right. But once we got home I was dying to open it. Brad told me no! What I really wanted was for him to open it and read it to me. But he refused and I slightly pouted and told him he wasn't being fair. After all, this whole time he has said we could find out if I wanted, or we could let it be a suprise if I wanted. To me he was going back on his word! Tonight I asked him again if he wanted to open it and he sighed and told me we could if I wanted. So I thought about it for several minutes while he put Will to bed and decided that it wasn't right. We shouldn't open it unless both of us are excited about it. An hour later the envelope was given to a friend (who I KNOW won't open it) for safe keeping until the baby is born. I think it is pretty neat that we will have pictures and an educated guess as to the gender and will have the baby in our arms before we look at it. I am glad the envelope isn't in our house now because I would so want to open it!

'

Beating the Heat

Using the word "hot" to describe the temperature lately just wouldn't do it justice. I don't think I remember it ever being this hot in June in all my summers of living in Mississippi (which has been my whole life). And then I think "Man, it's only JUNE! We still have to go through July, August and most of September before there will be any relief. And I'm pregnant."

I know it could be worse. I'm glad I don't live in a place where there is no air conditioning, ice or swimming pools. Unfortunately we are no longer members of The Club which has a WONDERFUL swimming pool. I am so tempted to rejoin but hate to commit to another expense when we have another baby coming.

The hard part about it is Will loves to be outside. He cries to go outside. But he gets so hot so fast I am not ok with him being out there for too long. So the other day I took him to Renaissance shopping center where they have a nice play fountain area. He loved it. Well really he loved it for about 20 minutes until some older kids showed up and started running and screaming like banshees. I think he would have been fine had they occupied the other 90% of space he wasn't in but they apparently needed every single water geyser to be happy so he got freaked out and started crying. We will definitely be going back there. And next time I won't wear my scrubs so I can get a little wet with him.

The hat didn't stay on for long

Trying to decide which fountain to go to

He liked the water about this height. Wasn't crazy about it when it shot up.

I love his little pot belly

Sweet Babe O Mine

Dear sweet, tiny babe of mine:

I can't believe you have been growing 18 weeks already! We are nearly half-way there! My belly is steadily rounding, but other than that, I can barely tell you are with me. I feel great most days, and I would like to thank you for that. I can't imagine being sick and trying to keep up with your brother. He is quite a handful these days! And quite cute, too. He can say 'baby' and will sometimes make the sign for it or pat my belly. I don't know how he will react once you are here, but I hope he is nice and affectionate to you.

I am starting to feel you move around a little bit, and that is pretty neat! I have my own doppler so that when Daddy and I want to hear your heartbeat, when can (although you like to hide from it). You have affected my tastebuds for sure. I went through a gummy bear phase in April but lately I don't really care for sweets (except for Nana's strawberry pie - you will love it, trust me!). I never thought I would turn down chocolate or donuts, or chocolate covered donuts for that matter, but I have! Most recently I want anything spicy. I wanted a chili cheese hotdog so badly at 6:30am the other day that I think I would have stolen one! I am trying to enjoy as many spicy things as I can before the heartburn starts in the coming weeks.

We have an appointment for a sonogram on Monday and we are so excited to see you! I am thinking we are going to leave your gender a suprise for the day we meet you, but Daddy doesn't think I can hold out that long. Most of my friends, family and coworkers are big advocates of us finding out on Monday. It will be tempting for sure! If I had to guess, I would say you are a girl, but I will be delighted if you are a boy or a girl. We have some name ideas for you, but haven't settled on anything just yet. I know that by your birthday we will find the perfect name just for you.

Daddy and I love you very much and can't wait to meet you sometime this November or December (I'm thinking you'll be here around in mid November). In the meantime I am looking forward to all the kicks and flips and hiccups. Keep growing strong and healthy!

Love,

Mommy