ME's Fall Fun Trips

Fall has officially become my favorite season. I always thought Spring was, but I just love the colors and all of the happenings that go on this time of year from watching College Game Day (yes, I love college football even though I don't understand it all, and Kirk Herbstreit!), the crispness in the air, and the festivals and decor. Plus, October is the month of mine and Drew's anniversary (we just celebrated 5 years a few weeks ago) and now the birthday of our beautiful son! I'm excited that ME is old enough to enjoy all of this with us now, too; however, I haven't been able to take her to any of the fun events that have gone on because I've been either in the hospital delivering a baby or homebound with Benjamin to avoid the flu, so ME's wonderful grandparents have taken her on several outings so that she won't miss out.

Playhouse Disney

On Friday, September 25, VeVe and D-dub took ME to see Playhouse Disney. I'm totally jealous that I missed out on seeing Mickey Mouse, but I know that she had loads of fun!

Arkansas State Fair

LaLa and Grandy picked ME up from daycare on Wednesday, October 14 (one of the few non-rainy days that week) to take her to the fair. My parents said that as soon as ME walked in and saw the rides, she said "Wow!" and that she loved seeing all of the animals. Her favorites were the pigs. Here are a few fair pix:

Riding the merry-go-round with LaLa. After the rides were over, she would look at them and say "More?"

" I want in there!"
She milked a cow and realized that milk was on her finger!

"Look, Choo choo Papa. I'm riding a 'choo train'!"

"Mmmm...dot dog!" I can't believe that I was a big preggo and could have enjoyed all the fried food, but would have been too tired to walk around! Is there really fried butter?!?!

ME's first class field trip

On Monday, October 19, her daycare went to the puntin patch (pumpkin patch). However, every child had to have a parent go with them. Again, since I had just gotten out of the hospital, my parents took her. It's been raining so much here that all of the pumpkins were wet or dirty. Do you think that this bothered our OCD child?

Get this dirt off of me! Notice that she insisted that her jacket be on and buttoned, too!

Giddyup puntins!
ME and LuLu (Louis).

I just love this face!!!

ME and Cade trying to pose...real cooperative right?

I had to show this face. This is her "No!" face that we've seen a lot this past week!
"Peep-eye!" Forget about the pumpkins and pictures...I've got a tree to climb! Reminds me of the tree me and my cousins used to climb at my grandparents house. :)

"These puntins are making me thirsty!"

The big pumpkin was hers that she picked out, but someone stole it off of our porch a few nights ago. :( The little one is the one that she picked for Benjamin. She has to bring it in off the porch everyday when she gets home from daycare and has to show it to him and say...

"Look, a puntin!" Very sweet!

Thanks, Dandy and LaLa!

Church Fall Carnival

Our church had their annual Fall Carnival this past weekend. I stayed home with Benjamin while ME went with Drew and VeVe. Sadly, I didn't finish getting all of her costume pieces ready, but she had her "Big Sister" scrubs, so she went as a doctor. I think that's fitting seeing that her initials are M.E.D! She must have had a great time because she was zapped before she even got home!

Are kids born to already know how to pick out candy???
She's so sweet that she had to get a treat for Dixie...a tennis ball!
ME fishing. Do you think she won anything?

"MMM...dot dog!" Are you catching on to what she likes to eat? :)

Drew and I are so lucky that we have ME and Ben's wonderful grandparents here in town with us to help us out! I know that ME appreciated all of the fun times with you guys, too!

Benjamin's 1 week checkup

Today was my first outing with both ME and Benjamin. The only place we went was to see the doctor for Benjamin's well-baby checkup and to get a flu shot for ME (which she didn't cry at and all she said was "Boo boo!"). I've been most nervous about being in the parking lot with both of them, but I think God was definitely with me as well as the rain in making sure that ME stayed close by. Besides the pooring down rain, it wasn't too bad, except that I left my wallet at the doctor's office and had to go back.

The doctor said that everything looked good and that Benjamin is right on track for a 1-week-old. I noticed that he's been a little jaundice the past few days, but she said that was normal considering that I'm nursing him, so I don't have to worry about that until another week or so if it doesn't go away. He slept through most of it, but as you can see, he didn't like being messed with.

Benjamin's first well-baby stats:

• Weight: 8 pounds 7.8 ounces (57%)
• Length: 21 inches (78%)
• Head: 14 inches (31%)

Thank God for stickers in a doctor's office! Drew and I both left the office with stickers on our legs.

Quick update on ME at night: she did a much better job tonight and was much sweeter tonight. I think it was because I had to sing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" about 10 times to her.

Does 22 months=terrible twos?

Pumpkin Patch 2009. "I'm 22 months old and... I like being a big sister!"

First of all, I want to thank everyone that has been so interested in how ME is adjusting to Benjamin being in our home. After you read this post, you can decide.

Our sweet, sweet Mary Elizabeth is now 22 months old and is a big sister. However, she is starting to show her not so sweet, sweet side these days. Ask Drew or my parents that have witnessed it first-hand!

One thing that is still the same with ME is that she is a creature of routine. Here's her new routine ever since we got home from the hospital on Saturday...it's like a lightswitch is flipped at 7:30 p.m. and she turns into spaz-child! For a while, she's been running through the kitchen after you countdown "1,2,3, go", but now, she has taken that to the hallway and then gallops through the living room around the couch. Although you may think this is cute like we did the first night, you have to realize that she's also screaming on the top of her lungs and then saying "NO!" several times if we get anywhere near her. I want to know who taught her that ugly word and I would like for you to delete that out of her vocabulary, please! Anyway, after she does that about 10 times, I'm finally able to get her to make a detour to her bedroom to play with her millions of stuffed animals on her bed. Then I turn off the lights, while hearing "NO!" repeatedly. Then she tosses and turns a gagillion times, then gives the bedrail zurburts (or raspberrys). Trust me, it's so hard not to laugh while watching her do all of this! However, tonight she changed up her routine a little more and just screamed, yelled, and threw a fit the whole time. Can we say "Hello, terrible twos?" It broke my heart when she threw her sippy cup at me. I hope this doesn't last long! Luckily, Drew was able to intervene and calm her down tonight!

Now please don't get me wrong...she is still a very sweet and loving princess, but we are just starting to see another side of her at night.Here's her sweet sharing side. She's letting Boots and Dora press the button on her busy gear toy. She likes for everyone to have a turn at whatever she does...including Benjamin!

Words:

"no"=no

"now"=after she puts things back

"back"=when she wants things put back in the right spot

"otay"=okay

"told"=hold

"telp"=help

"tinzie"=her cousin McKenzie

"dot dog"=hot dog
"puntin"=pumpkin

"there it is"

"I'm big sister."

She adds a "t" to most words and she's starting to get more clear on her sentences, too!

Here we grow again...

We are happy to introduce Benjamin Andrews Dees to the world!

Born October 15, 2009 at 7:28 a.m.

Weight: 8 pounds 8 ounces

Length: 20 inches

Head: 14 inches

We are all doing wonderful and adjusting to being a family of 4! Here are just a few pictures to share with you until I get a chance to update more later. Thank you to everyone for checking on us. We are so blessed to now have such two sweet gifts from God!

Quick Update

• Nails done...check
• Haircut...check
• Bags packed and loaded in car...check
• Dishes and laundry done...check
• Caught up on all of my blogging...check
• Induction date and time set...check
• Agreed on a name for Little Peanut...NO check

After a sleepless night due to wondering if every contraction meant it was go time and after sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor for almost an hour today, we have a little more of an idea of when Little Peanut will be here. My regular OB was out of town this week, so the doctor I saw today doesn't think that I will be holding on until Dr. S returns next week. He's predicting that our family of 3 will turn into a family of 4 before the weekend (cross your fingers!!!!). If not, then an induction is set for Tuesday at 4:45 a.m. I just pray that I don't have to be induced for 2 reasons, though.

1. Who really wants to be somewhere by 4:45 a.m. except morning radio DJ's?
2. And I really don't want to be laying in the hospital for 2 days straight with no progression again!

Maybe if I complete my to-do list mentioned above, then I won't be induced.

Stats: I'm dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced.

I'm still waiting...

...and waiting, and waiting, and...

Yes, this is a flashback to 2 years ago. But this time, I'm a little bit more knowledgeable and refuse to lay in a hospital bed for 2 days with no progression. So, I'm just going to pray that my water doesn't break while at school in the next few days so I won't traumatize the kids. However, I did prepare them with that possibility by telling them that anyone of them (including me) could have an "accident" when in the classroom just as a student did last week in my room.

I had a dream on Sunday night that I was a fat Jennifer Lopez and I went to the bathroom to cry. Once I started to cry, the fat started to melt off my face and then a black liquid started falling from me. I'm guessing that was a preview of my water breaking. Weird!

Anyway, I don't have much of an update except that I'm still pregnant with a small pumpkin this week and we still have no name. Maybe that's what Little Peanut 'is waiting for. :) I go to the doctor tomorrow to get more of an update. If it's worthwhile, I'll let you know.

ME and Choo Choo Papa

You sound like a choo-choo train!

This picture got mixed up somewhere in my computer files, or maybe my pregger brain mixed it up. But I had to post this for my memory (and before I post any new updates). On our way home from Blake and Maxine's wedding in Austin, we stopped in Greenville, TX (the ville is pronounced "vull" in Texas by the way) to have dinner with my Papa and Lil at Cracker Barrel. That was such a great treat for me and ME since I don't get to see them often. After we ate, we sat on the "rock rocks" and got to hear the best sound ever...Papa's train whistle. His train whistle is way better than Boxcar Willie's, although I must say that I'm getting pretty good at my own train whistle (yeah right!). The best part is that now everytime we talk about Papa, or ME sees his picture, she calls him "Choo Choo Papa". Thanks, Papa and Lil for swinging over to Greenville to spend a little time with us and for getting ME the dancing pumpkin dog! We love you very much!

Little Peanut's Shower

A couple of weekends ago, my wonderful friends threw me a shower to help me get ready for our little boy's arrival. I am so blessed to have such great friends and family! Unfortunately, this was also the day for no one's camera to be working very well, so most of the cute photo ops turned out blurry. So here are just a few from the fun day. Thank you to everyone that has helped us and to those that traveled here from NW Arkansas!

My wonderful hostesses. (Lauren, Kerri, Ashley, Anna Carol, Amy, Ashley, and Molly)

I love Fall and the wonderful things you can do with the decor like this beautiful table!

My friend, Sarah, monogrammed this shirt for Mary Elizabeth. ME wasn't quite sure about the bow being on her shirt at first, but then she realized she was "pity" (pretty). Check out Sarah's things at www.makeitintial.com.

I think ME had just as much fun opening presents and helping me get the bags.

How can someone so small need so much stuff?

I get presents, too? ME got a Minnie Mouse doll and 2 Dora dolls. She LOVES toting them around all of the time now! Thank you VeVe, Leslie, Rickie, and Ashley H. for thinking of her, too!


Oh, look a brush! She loves brushing Dora's hair and walking around with the brush.

Happy Bday, Davo

I promise that this blog isn't turning into a blog about ME and Davis, but I know that it seems that way. I just had to show how much fun these two have together. Davis got this Powerwheel from his grandparents, so he wanted to take ME for a spin. By the look on her face, she looks worried about not having a helmet. But actually this was her new way to say cheese for a few weeks.

I assume that Davis had a good birthday. I really don't know, though, considering that my pregnant brain couldn't comprehend the time on the invitation...even after looking at it several times that weekend. I know that the invite said 1:00, but my brain computed that actually to be 2:00. So we got there at 2:30 thinking we were just "fashionably late". But after Davis' Aunt Molly pointed out to me that it started at 1:00, I finally realized why everyone had already eaten and was leaving once we got there. :) At least we got to play with Davis for a little while and celebrate him turning 2 no matter what time it was! We're looking forward to celebrating many more of his birthdays ahead!

6th K Cafe

If you're looking for a place to eat after Race for the Cure, then plan to attend 6th K Cafe!
There will be yummy food by Simply the Best, tasty mimosas, and fabulous door prizes (one is a step stool painted by me)!
Fashion show by several local boutiques to get you ready for the holidays.
Free (and convenient) parking available for the race with purchase of ticket.Limited seating so get your tickets now!
October 17th, 20099:00am
Junior League of Little Rock Building
401 South Scott Street
Downtown Little Rock

I carried a watermelon

"I carried a watermelon?" If anyone out there that's reading this is a Dirty Dancing fan, then they can truly appreciate the title of this blog. In memory of Patrick Swayze, I couldn't wait to get to 39 weeks to say that I'm carrying a watermelon. Yes, according to babycenter.com, Little Peanut is about the size of a mini watermelon. I'm wondering what they're considering "mini", because I'm feeling that there's nothing mini about me or Little Peanut right now.

I don't have much of an update except that I am R-E-A-D-Y!!! I go to the doctor tomorrow to probably find out nothing again, but I'm hoping Dr. S will tell me that I'll need to quit work by Friday, or something like that. Everyday that I go to work now, the path from my classroom to the bathroom seems to be moving further and further apart. I don't know why the school couldn't fit a Segway into their budget for pregnant teachers! And I'm really enjoying being told by everyone that I pass in the hallway that I'm really waddling now. Sorry for my sarcasm, but really? Is that why the walls are moving side to side?

OK, sorry for all of the recent blogs, and I know there wasn't much to this one. But I really just had to post that "I'm carrying a watermelon." My due date is exactly one week from today. This final countdown is making me very anxious! Especially since Drew is predicting that I'm not going to have this little boy until the 15th. What do you think? Take the poll on the left of the page!

Going to the chapel in Austin, TX

Over Labor Day weekend, I took a road trip to Austin with ME and my parents to see my cousin Blake get married. I know you're probably thinking I'm crazy seeing that I was 35 weeks pregnant. But between my dad and I having to stop for a bathroom break almost every 1 1/2 hours, it wasn't too bad. Plus, my dad just bought a new Tahoe with a DVD built in for ME to be entertained!

This was our morning "routine". ME and Grandy sat on the ice chest and pointed to EVERY vehicle that drove by.

The rehearsal dinner was at a yummy Mexican restaurant. As you can see, ME loved the dessert! But who really doesn't like chocolate?!?!

You aren't seeing double! This is my Uncle Ricky (aka "Bobo") and my dad. Aren't they cute?

ME tried to convince Blake that she would be a great flower girl by carrying around the dinner's centerpieces.

ME learned to say cheese everytime she saw the camera.

We had such a great time at the wedding and, luckily, it wasn't too terribly hot! It was outside at the Austin Museum of Art. Beautiful setup!

Of course, this was my favorite part! ME helped me place the bridesmaid's flowers around the cake tables before the reception. When she saw Blake's cupcake table, she kept pointing and saying "Mmmm!" ME must be related to me! It just broke my heart that she couldn't understand that we had to wait for them to cut the cake first.


I can't believe that I got these two boys to sit still long enough to take a decent picture!

Boot scootin' boogie...

While everyone was still eating and no one was dancing, ME decided to set the stage herself.

She finally got her favorite dance partner (my cousin Allie) out on the dance floor.

I'm a dancin' machine!

Once ME set got everyone dancing, she decided to take her moves away from the party. I found these two out in the parking lot breaking it down.

We took a break from all of the dancing and finally got to eat dessert!

Aren't you jealous of this look? This is a very special talent that only a few people can do. I'm so lucky that my family has this amazing talent! :)

Thanks, Allie, for playing with your "Booger Bear!" She had so much fun!