sentiMENtal moments

Harper playing with her Grumpa!

When I found out I was going to have Harper I was unbelievably excited! I knew that this little girl was going to be so loved by all of her family and friends. I never really realized how it would touch me to watch her grow up and endure in the love that is all around her. I also knew that all the women in my family would gush over how adorable she was and all the cute things that she does. However, I never realized that what would really hold a special place in my heart is seeing the men in my family interact with her. She is the first grandchild to be born on my side of the family so it has been an adventure for all of us. As you can see from the photo above my step dad, Mike, is one of Harper's biggest fans. I have said this before but she is definitely a daddy's girl but the same thing goes with her Grumpa (or as she pronounces it Bump-pa). Now don't get me wrong she loves me and her Mimi but what I think she loves about Josh and her Grumpa is that they don't treat her like a little prissy girl. They will rough house with her and she just adores it. She loves to be thrown around on the bed, held upside down, thrown up in the air and to be treated not as delicately as the women tend to treat her. I do not know why but watching her interact with the men in the family sometimes brings tears to my eyes. Harper knows how to break down that manly wall they have and to let their massive amount of love for her shine through. It makes me so thankful to have these men in my life. I know that Paxton will receive the same love but at the same time it will be different. The interaction of a great grandpa, grandpa, dada, uncle, whoever with a little girl is one of the sweetest bonds I have been able to witness. I am so thankful for all the men in her life that will teach her to be strong, independent well rounded girl who can do whatever her heart desires.

Cozy cold weekend

H playing a little victory tune after the Chiefs beat the Bears!

Saturday morning cuddles

This past weekend was filled with lots of warm clothes, good food, football, and cuddling! This was our last weekend together as a Pluid family of three at home just us. So on Friday night J & I got a babysitter and went out for a date night! The big deal about that is that for the first time since Harper has entered our lives I allowed someone other than myself, Josh, or my mom to put my sweet little angel to bed. I know, I know, you probably think I am crazy, but it is one of those things that I just love being the last one to give her a kiss, say our prayers, and lay her to sleep. She typically goes to bed at 7:00, so in the past we would just have a sitter come around that time and then we would go out afterwords. She is a really great night time sleeper so we were never worried about her waking up once we were gone. However, I realized that it just might be time for me to step back from being a control freak and let a baby sitter do their job and have some actual interaction with my child. We had our baby sitter come over around 6:15 and I explained my process of bedtime to her (because of course it is the only correct way to put her to sleep and Harper wouldn't have it any other way......right?) and Josh and I left the house, with our child awake, to go out for a date.

Poor Josh could tell the second he got home that I was a tad (okay maybe a lot more than a tad) nervous about it but I know deep deep deep down in my heart somewhere I do want her to be an independent girl and to not always need her mama (sniff sniff). I did ask the sitter to text me once Harper was down just to give me a little peace of mind that things were going alright.

So, Josh was geared up to go out for a fancy steak/fish dinner and to really treat me to a nice night. But, being 35 weeks pregnant, with not many super cute clothes to wear, I was really wanting to do something more low key and just to really enjoy our time together. We ended up at this pizza restaurant called D'Bronx here in Overland Park and it was OH SO YUMMY!!!!! Giant slices of pizza, a delicious salad, and tea that tasted like the candy Peachy O's. J was unaware of this yummy gummy candy treat I was comparing my beverage to...maybe he will get some in his stocking for Christmas =). Anywho, since dinner did not take super long we decided to go and make a second stop for him to get a beer and myself some dessert so we could continue on our evening of fun. Where we ended up for date night part II was at Jack Stack BBQ and we actually sat up at the bar and just had the best time. There was not any major sporting event on so I truly got the full attention of my love and we shared the most yummy 3 kinds of chocolate brownie with ice cream on top...Oh my was it delicious! After we ended our time out, I took the baby sitter home and turned on the video monitor (a new purchase we have had for only a few weeks & what was I thinking waiting so long to get one?! They are freaking awesome!) so I could see sweet Harper snoozing away, not phased at all that someone else put her to bed and that mama & dada were away for the night. A bitter sweet moment to be honest.

Saturday and Sunday we really took it pretty easy. We watched Bedlam and my OSU Cowboys beat Josh's OU Sooners so that was a tad awesome. Then Sunday morning J made me breakfast (due to his team losing) and helped me with some chores around the house. Then the KC Chiefs won Sunday afternoon which always puts J in an extra good mood!!!! It was a great weekend for footballl. Last but not least we headed over to our friend's, The Lurvey's, house and they made us a crazy delicious dinner consisting of steak, potatoes, corn, salad and sugar cookies!!! We had such a great time just hanging out with them, listening to music and letting the kids run around and play. It was a perfect ending to a truly great weekend. I am one lucky girl =).

OH and in T-minus 4 days my family is coming to KC to stay with us.......... YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Can you tell I am uber excited?!?!

27 days to go!

35 weeks..... 4 to go!!

I cannot believe that it is already December! I know everyone says that but what it means to me is that this is the month we will be going to a family of 4! We FINALLY got our date that we will be meeting little Paxton Joshua Pluid on December 29th at 7:30a.m.!!!!! I am so excited and so nervous all at the same time! Having a c-section all over again makes me a bit nervous just for the normal reasons (and the fact that being numb from the waist down freaks me out bigtime). We have a lot of stuff going on this month so I am sure it is going to fly right by! I am very very very very very very ready to not be pregnant anymore but I want to cherish these last days of just being a family of 3 also. Harper is honestly so entertaining and fun I am a little sad that my attention is going to have to be partially taken away from her.

I am so super excited though because Josh and I are going out on a date night tonight (it is our last weekend together just the two of us). Then on Monday I get to see my bestie Katie for a brief period because her and her hubs are driving through KC! That alone is the BEST news I received all week! Then on Friday night my mom and step dad are coming to stay the weekend with us..YAAAAAAAAAAAY..... Then Saturday my grandparents come and join us as well! My grandmas birthday is Dec 10th and mine is the 14th and since we will be staying home for Christmas this year my family is coming up to stay with us and celebrate our birthdays and drop off Christmas presents. I truly could not be more excited!!!!! Unfortunately after that J will be gone a few days after that but it will be some fun mommy & Harper bonding time which will include lots of sugary snacks and cuddling! Let's just all keep our fingers crossed that Paxton doesn't decide to join that fun and try to come while J is gone! Then for Christmas my brother in law is coming to stay with us and celebrate the holidays! SO MUCH FUN! Next it will be showtime with baby Pluid #2 making his debut and lots of family and friends coming our way to stay with us to help and meet this sweet boy. As always I feel like I have so much more to say but I need to go figure out what I am going to wear tonight for my date with my hot hubs! The jacket/poncho that I am wearing in the photo above is not his favorite thing (although it is absolutely my favorite item of clothing right now!) so I will put something on that will appeal to him a bit more =). I hope everyone has an absolutely fantastic weekend and I will hopefully take lots of pictures this weekend because I have been majorly slacking.

OH AND........................ GO POKES!!!!!!!!

How much longer???

Harper at 15 months!!

I had my second Dr. appointment this morning since I have been in KC. I am going to be 33 weeks along tomorrow which means I have another........6 weeks to go! AHHHHH it seems like an eternity! I am not sure my body can handle another month and a half of this baby boy doing his damage. My boobs are huge and resting upon my gigantic belly, I have a cankle on my right leg (due to a sprain not pregnancy), my belly button is literally non existant...its not an innie or an outie, it has become one with the rest of my stomach and is flush against the skin. I am pretty sure we have created a karate kid with the jabs, kicks, and nudges I have been receiving all day and night with this little guy. Harper was breech for so long that she only was able to kick me in certain spots but this guy he likes to stretch out and crazy kick all over my insides. I can even feel him pushing on the sides of my body which is oh so bizarre. Now don't get me wrong I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to meet my little Paxton and I want him to take all the time that he needs to get strong and healthy so he is ready to meet the world but boy oh boy am I ready to hold him in my arms and get him out of my belly!!

At my appointment I mentioned that I thought he was a big guy and when the doctor measured my belly she said that he was measuring a few weeks ahead of my due date. If he measures the same way at my next appointment then we will most likely have to go in for an ultrasound to check and see if we need to get him out earlier than expected. So far he is going to be here sometime around the week of the 26th-30th! My little holiday baby boy =). I am a December baby as well so he will NEVER EVER receive a joint gift combining Christmas and his birthday. Oh no he will get the same treatment as if he had a summer birthday and will get a whole day of celebration for the beautiful person that he is!

We had a baby shower this past weekend and it is all starting to settle in that I am going to have another teeny tiny newborn again. Opening gifts of these little bitty newborn onesies, socks & diapers just makes me so excited to have a little cuddly baby around. Harper is definitely too much of a busy bee to really stop and cuddle with me as much as I would like. But she is just SO fun that I don't even want to stop her crazy running around because she is just hilarious! She is really starting to talk A LOT...... some random jibberish but surprisingly many real words. Her being able to communicate with us helps her to not get so frustrated when she wants something! As much as I can get frustrated with our pets these days (barking during nap times, teaching her that it is fun when she drops her dinner on the floor so they can eat it, and trying to steal her stuffed animals as toys of their own) I don't know what she would do with out them! They are pretty much the excitement of her days, besides when dada comes home. When she wakes up in the morning one of the first things she says is "kitty cat?" and looks around for him because he is usually waiting near her door to join in with waking her up. She follows Zoey our dog around all day long poking her and petting her probably more than she would like! She is such a fun little girl and I cannot wait to see what Paxton is going to be like. Maybe this time a little bit of me will rub off on him because Harper is 100% Josh from her looks to her personality....but that's okay because I kind of think he is the greatest anyway. =)

Hope everyone has a great week & I will give an update when we figure out the day of my c-section! =)

Home Sweet Home

So this is the new place!!! I have not blogged in quite sometime due to the craziness of being now almost 32 weeks pregnant and running around chasing my crazy mobile toddler. Oh, and the fact that I was packing packing and packing for a few weeks to prepare ourselves for our move to a new home, in a new town and even in a new state!! Yes I said state! If you know me you are probably thinking, yeah right she would never move away from good ol' OK. But yes in deed my friends, I am now a permanent resident of Overland Park, Kansas.

Josh had a new job opportunity arise that would allow him to get out of retail!! No more weekends, no more night time closing shifts, AND HOLIDAYS OFF?!?!?! I am not even sure what to make of that one yet. I was fortunate enough to have my first retail free holiday season last year but it was not the same with Josh still participating. Yet now we both get to sit back, relax, and enjoy 4 days off during Thanksgiving and a nice 3 day weekend for Christmas!! As long as everything continues to go smooth with my pregnancy then we plan to pack up the family and celebrate Thanksgiving in Oklahoma with our families. However since baby boy is due only 10 days after Christmas we will be staying here and having a small Pluid family of 3 celebration. Just a few days after Christmas we will be lucky enough to see all the family we missed because baby boy Paxton will be joining us and everyone will come up our way (so everyone keep your fingers crossed that the weather treats us nice so our Okie family can drive up here!!)

So far our transition with our new town and our new home has been pretty much seamless. We enjoyed our short 9 months in Duncan, OK and the biggest reason I was sad to go was the fact that I got to see one of my best friends Katie and Harper's BFF Keller, every single day. Not many people get the joy of living so close to a friend and having their kids get to play and love each other! Katie has been a true blessing in my life. She will know things about me that no one will ever know or understand. She has been there for me through some of the most difficult times as well. The day I went to say goodbye to them was definitely the most emotional time I had. BUT, I am now looking forward to having "girls weekends" and meeting up with her with no kids and having a great excuse to shop, pamper and catch up!! =)

So the fun part about being in our new town is that we definitely feel as if it is a perfect fit for our personalities. Josh and I love to go out and try new restaurants and get involved with fun community events. Overland Park has so much to offer with festivities and fun kids events and the simple fact that I could literally walk to Target from my house makes me such a happy girl!! I am pretty sure I have made up for not living in a town with a Target in just the few weeks I have been here. We absolutely love our new neighborhood which has lots of families and young kids. We were drawn to this area because of some friends we knew and worked with in Oklahoma that moved here a few years ago and raved about how much they loved the neighborhood & all their neighbors. I can literally walk to the elementary school, the park, and the pool from my house! We are definitely going to get use out of our little red wagon this next summer.

Well that is all the rambling I am going to do today. I will post more house pictures as I get the rooms all completed and pretty =). I'm trying to get that done as quickly as possible so I can have a few weeks of relaxing before baby boy arrives! Ahhhhh I can't wait to meet him!

The human garbage disposal

24 weeks of growing Paxton Pluid...

Harper is napping away and I was a bit bored and tired of constantly cleaning the house so I decided to take a few photos of the grooooooowing belly of mine! I have not done a great job of documenting as I did round #1. I of course feel HUGE, but when I look back on facebook around the same time I am pretty much the same size which makes me feel a whole lot better =).

I am finally in the state of pregnancy where I do have energy and feel pretty darn good. I have my bouts of emotions here and there and I am definitely becoming a human garbage disposal. This past weekend was basically equivalent to Christmas for my husband because football has begun. I could honestly care less about the game but it is a fantastic excuse for me to bust out the junk food and binge eat because that is what you do when football is on.....right? Yesterday morning I wanted to run to the store to grab a single can of pumpkin because I found a recipe on Pinterest to make homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte's! In this tiny town of Duncanville we unfortunately do not have a Starbucks and so I wanted to make the little fall time treat at home =). Well $80 later lets just say we had enough food to feed ourselves for an entire week...yet I was planning to eat it all in a day!

My meal plan yesterday consisted of:

Breakfast:

A giant cinnamon roll (shared with Harper & Hubby of course!)

Biscuits and gravy

Lunch:

An entire Totino's pizza

Snack:

Yogurt pretzels

Dinner

Ham & Beans with Cheesy Beer Bread

Dessert:

Pecans Pralines and Cream Ice Cream

HOLY MOLY did I really just admit that to you guys?

Well lets just say that I enjoyed every delicious and unhealthy bite of it and did my best to not watch any football =). Paxton seemed to enjoy it as well because he was moving like crazy last night! We were able to see the movements going on in my belly instead of just feeling them, pretty crazy! The best part about the whole shopping trip to the store was that I ran into my pregnancy baby doctor so she was witness to my unhealthy eating habits. Hopefully she does not think that is what my daily food intake is like!

p.s. I just realized that I have gone 24 weeks of being pregnant with out eating a single Oreo. What is wrong with me?!

Holy cow I am raising a GIRL!!!!!

Do not allow this cheesy smiling, tomboy acting, spitting image of her daddy fool you. She is indeed a girl! Today has definitely caused me to realize that I am headed down a road full of unbalanced emotions, tears, and craziness! Yesterday we had such a fun day filled with laughs, smiles, happy baby moments.....today on the other hand is as if a switch has been flipped and the evil emotional Harper has risen. Goodness gracious the tears are coming from literally NOWHERE! I can not leave her side for more than 2.5 seconds without an emotional breakdown coming out of this super cute little 21 pound being. Now its not the cuddling kind of day where she doesn't feel good and wants to be sweet. It is the crazy kind of sad that reminds me that the teenage years are going to be looooooooong! All that being said she is still of course the cutest little thing ever and when I do get those brief moments of smiling or laughter when tickling her it makes all the craziness okay. But just for the record... women are crazy! =).

Well gotta go, the monster has woken 45 minutes early from her nap =).