New Lessons

Wow...it's been an entire MONTH since my last post, I guess things are pretty busy around the Pearson home! I wanted to take a minute to list a few reflections from the past 31 weeks of pregnancy.

• The first trimester is EXHAUSTING and even more so when you are a pregnant mommy who stays home most days with an active 18-24 month old. What happen to the days of napping in the afternoon or sleeping in? Will those days ever happen again?
• My maternity clothes from only 2 years ago are so "last year" at this point. I feel super untrendy, but don't care enough to spend the money on a new maternity wardrobe. I don't plan on being prego again in the next 2 years so even if I did get clothes, they would be out of style by the time I get ready for baby #3.
• The second trimester "high" was great because I felt like I could do any and everything. With this pregnancy I did LOTS of sewing and feel good about most of my projects. Lots of my home "to-do" items have been taken care of.
• Kate has finally started pointing at my tummy and saying "Baby Elle!" She even hugged and kissed my tummy last week when I was holding her...and I didn't even tell her to do that. She is going to be a sweet big sister. She also pointed to Josh's tummy and said "Baby Jesus!" Needless to say he has purchased a workout machine to put in the garage...
• My belly is getting so LARGE that I feel like I can't breathe, it's hard to sleep, I can't sit Kate on my lap to tie her shoes, and when I pick Kate up to give her a hug, her feet stick strait out from my belly.
• Baby Elle is much rougher than Kate...she kicks HARD and much more often. Wonder what that will mean?
• This third trimester has been noticeably more tiring. I wear out easily and feel like I need to sit and get a glass of water a few times a day. Also my brain has gone to mush and I can't remember ANYTHING or concentrate for very long. I'm having a hard time even making small decisions. I heard on the radio that your brain shrinks during pregnancy and doesn't go back to normal for 12 after birth...I can testify to that! I feel it!

So there ya have it! I am ready for my sweet baby to get here soon. I can't wait to hold her and see what she looks like. It will be fun to see Kate interact with her and to watch them grow up as good friends (I hope). I am thankful for a healthy pregnancy, but I am honestly ready to not be pregnant anymore. Only 9 more weeks to go!!!

Pics from Fall

So here are some pictures from the Pumpkin Patch at the Dallas Arboretum, the Belton Pumpkin patch, and our church's fall festival. We trick-or-treated with a group of friends...but mommy forgot her camera. Kate loves fall and yells "PUMPKIN" everytime we drive past our Rockwall Pumpkin Patch. She was "Little Red Riding Hood" but refused to keep the hood on, so she just looked like a german waitress for the most part. She doesn't really know who Little Red Riding Hood is, but it as one of the cutest costumes in the $15 section at Target, so this practicle mommy decided to go with it!! Her dress said "2T" but it lied...it was much smaller, but we made due as to avoid spending anymore money on this crazy holiday. Enjoy our fall pictures...

This was fall festival at our church...she loved the pony ride the best!

Here she is at the Belton Pumpkin Patch where she painted a pumpkin and played in the hay with her cousins Carter, Garrett, and Gavin!

Love this face...these are from the arboretum. We went there with Cousin Cohen and fam!

Hope your fall season was as blessed as ours. I am excited about moving into Thanksgiving and all the yummo food that comes with it!! This pregnant girl takes full advantage of the "eat for two" mentality!!

LSAT Scores are in...

After a LONG wait of about 4 weeks and then a LONG day on Friday as we awaited the posting of the scores, they are FINALLY in!! Josh took it this summer and scored a 165 out of 180 which put him in the 92% nationwide. That means that only 8% of people did better than him. Not bad, not bad. But, my competitive hubby couldn't sit with that and immediately registered to take it again this fall with confidence that he could do the same or better, given a second chance.

Well, he was RIGHT...he did much BETTER! Friday night he found out that he scored a 170 out of 180 and is now in the top 98% nationwide. That means that only 2% of applicants did better than him which puts him in a great position (we hope) for scholarship opportunities. I am so proud of him and all of his hard work! I know that this is just the beginning of his law school journey, but I'm looking forward to what's ahead. He will get his application into SMU along with all the papers he has to write, and will hear back in January about acceptance. They accept about 20% of applicants (so 80%) get turned down...ouch! He is also applying for scholarships at the school and privately funded opportunities as well and will know something by February on those. He turns 30 in Feb. so we keep joking that a full ride to SMU would be a GREAT birthday gift to celebrate the big 3-0!

Way to go Babe! You are so amazing and I am so proud of you and your hard work!

Kate...

Haven't posted very many pictures of Kate here lately so here a few to show you what she's been up to...besides being the CUTEST TODDLER EVER!! This is Kate at her Gymnastics Class every Thursday night...she started this about a month ago! Her daddy takes her since since mommy works on those nights! She LOVES it and she now jumps off of EVERYTHING and is constantly trying to do forward rolls....I see a little cheerleader in our future!!

This was Kate's first day of school or MDO. She was at a preschool until she was old enough for me to move her to MDO. Now I get to take her to work with me and go see her if I have a break! She LOVES it and her teachers call her the "head of the class." In the second pic she is playing "ashes, ashes we all fall down" with her lunch and backpack...she's got quite the imagination!

Just a cute Picture...

Kate playing with her friend Judah at the playground...they are in the same MDO class and Judah's mommy is one of my good friends! I love the slide picture!

Helping Daddy Cook....

Kisses for Prego Mommy...I love my baby girl SO MUCH!!

CRAZY bathtub hair...

Fun at Amazing Jakes in Plano...

So there's a little bit about Kate...sorry for the delay on getting pictures up!! I'll try to do better!

LSAT Update

Thanks for your prayers...the LSAT went GREAT!! Josh felt really good coming out of it and is hopeful that this score will be higher than his previous one from June! It's all in the Lord's hands at this point so we will just turn in all the necessary paperwork and see what happens with scholarships and acceptance to law school. I think he finally feels that he can take a deep breath and not worry about having to study every spare second.

YAY for having the LSAT over!!!

PRAY PRAY PRAY!!!

As most of you know by now, Josh is re-taking the LSAT tomorrow morning here in Dallas. I just wanted to put up one final post asking for prayers. He will sit for the test tomorrow morning at 8:30, but will bein there until probably 1:00. So, any prayers you want to throw upwardon his behalf tomorrow during that time would be greatly appreciated.He is feeling really good about the test this time. He feels like a lotof the work he did preparing for the June test has stuck with him andwe're both confident of his abilities going into tomorrow. It helps that on his last practice test (hopefully the last practice EVER) last night he scored a 176, which is his highest ever and would place him in the 99% nationwide. So, no pressure, but if he can tap into that tomorrow morning he'll be in really, really good shape.Thank you all for your prayers up to this point and thank you for taking some time out to say a word or two tomorrow morning.

By the way...on the June LSAT he got a 165 which put in the top 92% nationwide. This was a GREAT score, but he decided to take it again since he can't even apply to Law School until the beginning of November anyways. He is also applying for scholarships/grants so the higher his score the better. His previous score takes A LOT of pressure off of this test, but the LSAT is just difficult, pressure or not. Thanks again for your prayers, Ill keep you posted on the results in about 4 weeks!!

You Can't Be Serious....

As I was rushing out of the grocery store yesterday I caught this out of the corner of my eye:

I got in my car and just had to laugh...was that written by a man or what?? From the perspective of a woman who has a toddler and is pregnant, I can testify that Sarah has NO DESIRE to have a boyfriend. Sarah Palin JUST had baby Trig in 2008 and so she too has been pregnant or with a small child (much less her 3 other teens) since having Piper in 2001. I would just love to find a pregnant woman with 4 other kids who even desires to have an affair...you can't be serious! It takes all the energy you've got just to keep up with own life at this stage! Also, apart from all the family excitement in her life over the past 20 years...she was a member of the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996 and mayor from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004. She was elected Governor of Alaska in November 2006 by defeating the incumbent governor in the Republican primary and a former two-term Democratic governor in the general election.

So she has been the Governor of Alaska over the past 2 years, and been with child, raising 4 other kids, giving birth to her special needs infant, and still somewhere had time, energy, and desire to have an affair...I'm not buying this one National Enquirer.

I feel really defensive of her...mabye it's because I feel like she is one of my friends, but I just couldn't let this one pass and not speak up! They also made claims that her son (now SERVING OUR COUNTRY IN WAR) is addicted to OxyContin and that he used Cocaine...they ought to be ashamed or at least move out of America. What a bunch of jerks! Ok...I'll stop, but part of me hopes with all of the economic crisis we are in, that the National Enquirer will go out of business...who buys it anyways (besides my friend Allena...and I hope she stops after seeing this trash)?!?

Digital Scrapbooking 101

I did a scrapbook for Kate's baby book and her first year book. She officially has 2 completed scrapbooks so I am beginning to feel the pressure to get back on the "scrap wagon" for baby #2. I thought about trying digital scrapbooking for this baby so save on $ and give me a few more options. This is my first page ever, with no official training. I just downloaded a kit for free and went to work in photoshop. One page down...about 19 more to go! Whew!

Am I Brave or Crazy?

So in my nesting phase I have started to work on about 4 rooms all at the same time! We need to put the chair rail up in the powder room, the curtains/pillows need to be sewn for the living room, Kate's room needs to be painted, and baby girl's room needs to be painted/decorated. Meanwhile, our office (first room you see when you come in) is in HORRIBLE need of a makeover, but this tired momma doesn't quite have the time or energy to mess with it right now.

I have started reseaching all of the design shows like Divine Design, Design on a Dime, ect. and found out that you basically have to live in CA to get on any HGTV show. So I flipped to TLC's selection of shows that help people overhaul rooms and learned that Trading Spaces is looking for people, so I totally applied!!! My luck I'll end up with Heidi or Doug (both of whom I don't so much care for their taste), but I'm willing to risk it! That is, if we even make the cut!! I submitted our office and my friend Angie's playroom. We live a few blocks apart, but in the same neighborhood. I threw in there that we are both pregnant, I guess in hopes that we can score a few sympathy votes or something. I would never have Trading Spaces redo my bedroom because they always take our the ceiling fan and that is a MUST in Texas summers!

I LOVE This Woman!

I'm not sure how many of you watched Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention last week, but it was AWESOME!! I wasn't sure how to take her and all that the media had put out there about her, but by the time she finished her speech...which was so good...I just wanted to stand up and yell AMEN!! She seems like someone I would have as a girlfriend and do lunch or have her over for dinner. I even find myself getting defensive for her when the media trys to insult her or her record now. I love that she is a "go getter" and not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, even if it's not the most popular thing. I also like that she professes her faith in God and that she understands what being a mother is all about. I liked John McCain before, but I like him a lot better now that he has Palin as his running mate! She will be a great Vice President!!

The Results are In....

The Pearson family is officially seeing...

PINK!!!

Or at least the sonographer was 90% sure. I've never had that number before so I sure hope he's right. We are VERY excited and Kate (and baby sister) will love having eachother. My sister and I have such a special and one-of-a-kind relationship that you just can't understand unless you have a sister. I can't wait for my girls to have that as well!!

She was very active, which we think is the sign of a healthy baby. She was moving all over and measured at about 19 weeks (which is correct) and in the 60th precentile. Kate was always in the 90th after she was born so I'm sure we'll see this baby grow a lot. My sister likes to say that "we grow um' big," and she's right!

Josh is a little scared of future weddings and plans to do lots of shotgun cleaning while they are in the dating years. He can't wait to have another little "princess" in the family!!

We just feel incredibly blessed and can't wait make our home even more girly!! Bring on the PINK!!

Quick Update for the Week

This week has been a fun week of home projects. I finally had my wallpaper put up in our powder bath room and I also finally purchased all of the fabric I need to make my curtains and throw pillows for my living room. I'll post pictures as soon as I get a chance. The nesting has begun!! I plan to take full advantage of the nesting stage as I get SO MUCH DONE when I feel like this! I wish there was a nesting pill we could take when we aren't pregnant!

Kate also started MDO this week and did GREAT!! We have a dr. appt. today (Friday at 12:30) to find out what we are having...I'll update later today with either a pink or blue message!!!

What a fun week we've had!!!

This Mom is Strong on Crime!

Kate and I ran into Target yesterday to look at a floor rug that I am considering for our living room. She was full of energy and wanted "down, down, down" out of the stroller from the minute we walked into the store. I promised her we would go back to the toy section as soon as I got done with the rugs.

Soon we were in the toys and playing on the doll isle. At this Target, all of the toy isles back up to one main isle where they keep board game and bikes. I was sitting on the floor playing with Kate when a VERY strange man walked past our isle and looked at me with a chilling glare. My mommy danger meter IMMEDIATELY went off, but I decided to keep playing with Kate, and would just keep an eye out for this joker. About 10 minutes later he walked back back by but this time he looked at Kate and then me, as if to see if I was looking at him. I gave him a direct stare back to let him know that I saw him look at my child, and this time followed him into the main isle and said, "Can I help you find something, because you can stop looking at my daughter." He turned and looked at me and then ran over to the book section located just across from toys. I was FURIOUS at this point because he responded with such guilt to my suspicion that he was a danger to my child and me. He never said ONE word to me, just took off. I then went back and got Kate back in the stroller and went over to books where I told him, "You have NO RIGHT TO BE IN TOYS!! I'm getting a manager." I think I sort of yelled at him, but I just HATE all of those stories of children abducted, raped, and killed by sickos like this guy. I just knew in the pit of my stomach that he was danger. I saw him looking at another girl before I began my confrontation with him. After I informed him of my plan to get a manager, he bolted out of the store. I informed the manager that someone needs to be watching the toy section for predators like this man or Target is going to have a kidnapping one day.

I know what I did was not the safest, now that I look back on it, but in the moment I could not help myself. The moment he looked at my Kate something in me went into attack mode. Not sure if it's the pregnancy hormones, or just the over all disgust that I have towards people who hurt kids, but either way I felt justified by his guilty reaction. I think if more mom's were "strong on crime" we could do a lot to save our kids and other kids in situations like these. I have no problem confronting a suspicios person (obviously) at the store, at the park, or anywhere kids play. I make eye contact with strangers at the playground all the time who seem to be there with no children, just to let them know that I am aware of their presence. I just wanted to blog on this topic to remind all of you mom's out there to watch your surroundings and don't be afraid to act if you feel that someone is out of place. You don't have to yell at them, like I did...but at least get a manger or call the police. It's time we moms stopped worrying so much about offending people who seem dangerous, and started risking it to protect our children.


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Bye Bye Passy

Kate has been a faithful passy lover since the beginning. She LOVED it as an infant and then we started trying to only use it at nap/bedtimes when she turned one. This lasted for a few months, but in the past 4 months or so she has wanted it CONSTANTLY. I, being the loving mommy that I am, usually give in and allow her to have it. Finally after a lot of dicussion between me and her daddy, we have decided it's time to stop the passy use outside of bedtime. Let's just say it's been a traumatic 4 days of no passy. My sister always says that girls are drama and boys are distruction and she is exactly right on this one. Kate is VERY dramatic in whining for the "pass" as she calls it. She just sits and says it over and over in this really whiny voice. It goes like this:

Kate: "Paaaaaasssssss"
Mommy: "No, passy...all done passy...we can only have it at night night time."
Kate: (louder) "Paaaaaaassssssss Peeezzzzzz"
Mommy: "You're very sweet to say please, but no no passy right now"
Kate: the high pitch fake cry begins and I try hard to redirect her to a toy, her baby, food...anything.

She usually stops after about a minute and is perfectly happy and content until about an hour later and we repeat the cycle. I just want her to learn at this age that when mommy and daddy say "no" we mean it. It's very hard on me to not give in, but the last thing I want is a teenager who doesn't know what "no" means.

I love the passy and I will probably see if our next baby will take it, but it's the breaking of the passy that is not my friend. Maybe next time we will try a little earlier to break the baby of the pass.



j

Josh on the Big Screen

Josh was asked to help make a video for our church. We are doing a sermon series called "Heart Attack" that discusses things that attack our hearts...like greed, jealousy, guilt, ect. He got to make the jealousy video, and you get the privilege of viewing the sneak peak right here on my blog!!



They shot this in our driveway and on our street, and Kate was very afraid of the motorcycle and all the noise it was making. Josh could win an Oscar for his acting abilities here, or he might have actually been a little jealous of the Harley so little acting was needed. This video will be shown this weekend to 10,000 of our closest friends! He did great and it will be fun to see Josh up on the big screens! Way to go Babe!!

Catch up

Playing catch up...that is what I feel like life is about these days. I realize that I was SO tired during the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy that I did NOTHING extra in order to conserve energy for my developing baby and what was left went to Kate and Josh. I am now at 15 weeks and I realize there are little piles of stuff all around my house that need to be gone through and either put up or thown away, my hair is in terrible need of a cut/color, my makeup is to that point where it's either crumbled or I'm scraping the bottom, my car is so messy with toys, cups, kate's shoes, ect., we've been eating the same 4 meals or cereal every week...or just ordering pizza (I'm tired of pizza), and I have over 500 unchecked emails in my hotmail account because I just haven't taken the time to do them.
All that to say I am catching up! The house was gone through this weekend and my cleaning lady (who I love, love, love) is coming on Wednesday, the car is being washed tomorrow, the hair is being cut later this week, and makeup will be purchased as well. We sat down and made a menu of all new dinners (and pizza was not on the list) yesterday and went to the store to get all of the stuff. I feel like I am beginning to get back on top of my life after my 12 week sleepy phase! I haven't attemped to go through email yet, but I'll get there!
That is where I am at the moment. I hope I'm not the only one who goes through these hard spells. It's funny that you can't identify it exactly until you are coming out of it. I appreicate all of my friends not saying anything about my hair, my house, my car, or my lack of email replys...thanks for having grace! My life really is so blessed, and I feel funny that I base my progress on all those material things around me, but I guess I just see them as a extention of what is going on inside of me. I feel so much better now and I hope I can get everything else around me caught up! Here we go!!

Big Girl Furniture

So here is some of the stuff we have ordered for Kate's big girl bed! We got everything on sale...which is always good. We plan to paint her room purple to match her bedding! I can't believe my baby is becoming a "big girl!" Here are all the big girl goodies:

Big Girl Bed: Big Girl Dresser: Big Girl Bedding:

I'm making the curtains based on an idea I saw...I'll post pics when they are done! The bed and dresser will be here on Sat. 8-23 and then we will begin the transition. I'm hoping it goes well (or at least better than the potty training) so that mommy and daddy don't miss too many hours of sleep at night!

Never Too Old to Cheer!!!

Last week I got an email from one of our youth pastors asking if I could help out the youth group by putting together a stomp routine for them to do for promotion weekend this weekend. The cheerleader within me got really excited and then I rememberd that I'm in my late 20's and 4 months pregnant and too old to still be doing this stuff!

Needless to say, I went for it anyways and put together a really fun routine. I spent 3 hours on Sunday teaching 20 youth all the steps and putting it all together. The coolest part was how excited they all were about it and how fun it was to see them think that something I made up at this stage in my life is still cool.

Tonight they will do it for a youth leader meeting as a practice and then the big show will be this weekend. They get to do it on Sat. night and Sun. morning for both youth services.

I'll let you know how it goes...Josh, Kate and I will be there tonight to check it out!!

PS. Jennifer Kohl...if you read this can you leave me your blog address...I can't find it and keep wanting to check on you guys!!

Update and Rant

Just to update...the day of potty training was a bust! She sat on the potty first thing and then we did the pull up and set the timer for 30 min. About 15 min. into she came running up to me saying "pee pee" and so we ran to the potty and pulled down her britches and sat her down to go. Unfortunaely, her pull up was wet, so I think she was telling me "pee pee" as she was going. We got a fresh pull up and started over and about 30 min. in she started yelling "poo poo" and sure enough, she had just gone in her pull up. I decided to keep putting her on the potty and explaining that it goes in there, but she got real tired of the potty and had one of those arch the back fits when I wanted her to sit on it. Needless to say, we put a diaper on about mid-afternoon and set all the potty stuff aside until a later date. I had a feeling she wasn't quite ready, so that was confirmed. I am still reading a lot and learning about it and she continues to tell me everytime she is going in her diaper, but that's all.

Last Friday I had a dr. appt. and we found out that we will have our sono to discover the gender on Sept. 5th! We are so excited! This weekend we went and bought all of Kate's "big girl" furniture so that we can begin transitioning her out of the nursery to make room for baby. We are going to paint her room purple and her furiture is white. It will be way girly and fun...I LOVE having a little girl to do this for! I'll post pics as it happens!

One last rant...last Friday I had TWO incidents where conplete strangers were just giving me (and the world) way too much information. First in a bridal store (where I was helping my sister in law pick a bridesmaid dress) a woman came in and needed some jeans taken up. She looked at me as i was minding my own business and said "These are $300 jeans and just my size...a size 2...but they are just too long." I wondered why she needed to tell me that...was it because I am 4 months prego and OBVIOUSLY not a size 2, was it because I look like I can't afford $300 jeans in my maternity jump suite and pony tail...not sure. Maybe people just need to feel validated or important sometimes, even if it's by a stranger. Whatever the goal, I just smiled and said "We'll it's a good thing you can get them taken up then," and then tired to busy myself. Later in the doctors office waiting room a woman answered her cell phone and proceeded to have an all out conversation about how her company is a multi billion dollar company and she only will talk to CFO's of other mulit billion dollar companies and blah, blah, blah about how important she is. I wanted to go grab her phone and slam it shut and walk off. Not sure it that is the hormones, or just that it had been a long day, but again I wondered why people have to share so publically in order to feel special. Also, do we really care if someone works for a billion dollar company or stays home with kids? If someone's jeans are $300 or from Kohls? I don't think I even care...it really is just people's hearts that mean the most to me and sharing all that stuff shows me a lot about where their heart is. That might be judgmental or opinionated, but it's my opinion and this is my blog! Just kidding.

One last thing...I think it's stupid to spend $300 on a pair of jeans!

Time to Potty Train

Let the FUN begin! Kate and I offically went and purchased the "big girl potty," "big girl" undies, Pull-Ups, Skittles, and some stickers yesterday. I'm going to pick a day next week and try using the potty all day. She LOVES to sit on it now (just like her daddy...haha), but I never pull her diaper down and let her go in it. She just sits for a minute and then likes to flush about 3 times...we'll work on water conservation next. I'm just going to sit her on the potty every 30 minutes all day long the first day while wearing the pull up and if it goes good, we'll try the undies the next day. I can't believe we're getting into all of this "big girl" stuff with my BABY!! She'll always be my baby no matter what! Last night I pulled out her new fun undies with monkeys all over them and Josh just walked out of the room and said he couldn't bear to look. She has just grown up too fast and this is yet another milestone! Wish me luck!!!

Fun Baby Gift...

A therapist I work with recently had a baby girl and I decided to make her some fun girly things to celebrate her new arrival. She has 2 boys and therefore has NOTHING pink or girly in her stash of old baby supplies. I sewed her 2 burp cloths and made 2 girly onesies using some iron on sparkly things that I found at Hobby Lobby! Every girls needs a little pink and little bling in her wardrobe! Girls are so fun!!