Have You Seen this Woman?

At least around here, you haven't!

It is beyond embarassing to have neglected the blog for so long (imagine me, hanging my head in shame). I see that in the time I have been gone, I've lost a few followers, and probably several more regular readers - and for that, I am TRULY, TRULY sorry! I hope this post begins an earnest effort on my part to make up for lost time, as it would truly be a shame to let more than 3 years of posts, expressions, and documentation of my family's life just fall to the wayside.

Let me give you a little background that I hope will in part explain my absence...

As some of you may recall, I'm pregnant - 21 weeks to be exact (or 5 months, however you want to look at it). When I learned I was pregnant with our 2nd child, I was really hopeful that this pregnancy would be as easy as my first. With the exception of a couple of weeks of fatigue in my first trimester the first go around, my pregnancy with Alexandra was smooth sailing - never got sick, had boundless energy, etc.

This child had other ideas.

For the first 18 weeks or so of this pregnancy, I dealt with nausea around the clock, virtually every day. I never did become physically ill (you know what I mean), but I was in a constant state of queasiness and discomfort. Many around me commented frequently how pale I looked, and it was no wonder. I'm happy to report that this finally subsided, though I still get twinges of it every now and then, including yesterday morning at breakfast. I've felt very run down with little to no energy throughout the pregnancy - of course, that might not be so much pregnancy related as it is attributable to the fact I am a working woman, pregnant, and running after an active 2 year-old!

The final straw has been my thyroid - my OB called me toward the end of my 1st trimester, noting my blood work was off and she asked that I see an endocrinologist. That specialist subsequently diagnosed me with pregnancy-induced hyperthyroidism, which can come with its own host of problems - I will spare you the details. Again, thankfully, my last round of blood work came back with normal thyroid levels - for now. We're just going to keep an eye on it and hope for the best.

So how did all of this impact the blog? Quite honestly, for the first half of this pregnancy, I've just been trying to get through one day at a time. My daily list of necessary tasks involved work, spending time with my husband and daughter, and rest - not in that particular order. Anything that didn't fall within one of those 3 categories (which would include blogging) just didn't make the cut. Once I started feeling better, I found it hard to sit down at our computer and crank out a blog post. I compared it recently to exercising - it takes a while to develop that habit but only a brief hiatus to break the habit and it becomes difficult to pick it back up.

I have missed this, though. I've missed putting my thoughts out there in the world and documenting my little family's life. I've missed reading your kind, funny, and heartfelt comments, full of encouragement and support. I've missed reading other blogs, seeing how the little ones of fellow bloggers are doing everyday. And I must say that I have really appreciated the comments I have received over the last couple of months - despite my lack of posting - from those just checking in to see if I'm okay and to tell me they miss my posts. Ya'll are too kind. :)

So, with all that being said, I'M BACK with what is already a LONG post!

I figured it would be best to jump in the deep end with both feet and just start back up with our most recent adventure. Yesterday, Ryan and I took Alexandra to a farm outside of Louisville for pumpkin picking. We had wanted to go pick pumpkins earlier in the month, but the weather has been utterly bizarre here in Kentucky - some days in October have reached 90 degrees! It is hard to feel in the holiday spirit and pick out pumpkins while you're in shorts and t-shirts, so we decided to put it off until it was a bit cooler.

This farm was great - if you're in the Kentuckiana area and you haven't picked your pumpkins yet, leave me a comment and I'll be sure to let you know where we went, I'd highly recommend it! Very family friendly but not super crowded. They had all kinds of things - face painting, pony rides, a petting zoo, etc. I had really thought Alexandra might be more interested in the farm animals at the petting zoo, but I think there was too much going on (thus, no pictures of her with cute little animals). However, we did crack up when Alexandra approached a rooster and said, "Hi, what's your name? My name is Addazandra!" (Yes, this is how it sounds coming out of her mouth - so cute, I don't have the heart to correct her!).

After the petting zoo, we stopped by the gigantic pumpkin for a photo op.


(Moms of toddlers, I'm sure you feel my pain when I say how VERY DIFFICULT it is to get a picture of your little one looking at you, MUCH LESS smiling for the camera!)

We stopped to admire some festive Halloween decorations ...



...before heading into the most adorable little country farm store where you could probably spend a small fortune on all of the Southern "delicacies" like sweet potato butter, green tomato relish and ketchup, homemade pickle chips, and apple preserves. All of these were canned in jars that remind me of the canning my Mamma has done every year that I can remember.



We managed to avoid succumbing to the funnel cakes (which smelled heavenly), but did end up buying a bag of those pumpkin cremes (You know what I'm talking about, right? The things that taste like candy corn, but better??). I think we have polished off half the bag in a little over 24 hours.

We next tried to persuade Alexandra to check out the pony rides, but she didn't show the slightest interest (off day for the farm animals, I guess!). She did, however, show a remarkable interest in a huge pyramind tower of hay bales that the kids could climb.


She scaled the side of it in a matter of seconds, going up and down, then back up and back down, then back up again and down again - you get the picture. Thank goodness her Dad helped her out - a pregnant woman with longstanding balance issues, as well as easy fatigue, would not have fared well.


We finally got on the back of the wagon for the tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch. Once we got out to the area, Alexandra was off and running.


(Side bar - check out how dry and cracked the ground is, isn't it ugly?! Yes, Kentucky is the "Bluegrass State," but you'd never know it at the moment. I cannot remember the last time we got rain, it has to have been months. Everything is dry and brown - definitely not pretty for fall!)

Alexandra decided to just grab a seat in the middle of said dirt and eat some fruit snacks - hey, picking out pumpkins (rather, watching Daddy pick out the perfect round pumpkins) is hard work!


After selecting the two best pumpkins we could find, we loaded back up onto the back of the wagon to return to the car. Ryan was able to grab a picture of Alexandra and I on the wagon (excuse the quality, it was with my iPhone).


Once back at the house, we decorated our pumpkins with our "Mr. Potato Head" decorations that we have used the past few years. One is a princess, the other a pirate. I love using these - we avoid the mess of carving a pumpkin, it's super easy, and it's cute, too! Alexandra loves them, as you can tell.


I had to include this last picture, despite the fact it is entirely out of focus. Alexandra LOVES to run, and each night she will start at one end of the hallway in our master bedroom and yell, "Mommy, I'm running!" She then sprints toward me (waiting in her room with her jammies) as fast as she can go, giggling her little head off. She then throws herself into my arms. I got this picture as she ran to me in the front yard - it was quick and she was a blur of motion, so I didn't have time to focus, get the shot, and then put the camera down in time to brace myself for her tackle and protect my stomach, too! I still love it though, she's such a HAPPY girl.


Sorry for the rambling post, but I wanted to start making up for lost time! Also, a big announcement in the next post - for those who don't know yet, I will divulge the gender of Baby #2!