Settling into our New Digs

So it's time to report on our big move, which happened almost three weeks ago now. We said goodbye to our very first house, which was our first major purchase as a couple and the home we moved into as husband and wife. We had our first child there and really launched our family life within those walls. It was a good house to us for seven years, but townhouse living just wasn't for us anymore. And our family is growing, so it was time to move on.

Enter -- "Moving Day." After weeks of packing and anticipating our move to a single-family home (and OMG, the stress!!), we completed two closings and a move all by 4 p.m. in one day. We couldn't have done it without the amazing help and coordination on behalf of my dad, who managed the movers while we were away at the closings, made countless trips back and forth from the old house to the new house while lugging our junk in his "Beast"/Excursion, and who also pretty much single-handedly cleaned the old house from top to bottom before the new owners moved in. We are so grateful he was able to make the trip to help us for a few days, because I don't know what we would have done without his help. Lucky for us the closings and move went smoothly, and we spent our first night in our home surrounded by piles of boxes.

We've made great progress in comparison to the photos above and we pretty much only have boxes left in our basement (which is going to be a massive job that I'm choosing to ignore at the moment). In an ideal world where we had lots of leftover money, time, and didn't have to worry about a pregnant mama, we'd be doing some major painting, landscaping and finishing of our basement. But, such is not the case. So we're living with most of the paint colors for the moment (or the next few years) and just making our current furniture fit. We're trying to do little things on our own (like powerwashing the house and deck, re-grouting the master shower, and replacing the countless window screens that have holes in them), so fingers crossed all those projects go off without a hitch (because we are soooo not the handy type). We're loving the relaxing atmosphere of our new surroundings, and Maribelle is absolutely loving the backyard, or what she refers to as "the park." 

We'll post updated pictures soon as more of our rooms are completed!

Day of the Dad

This little girl and her Dad ... oh, the fun things they do together.

He plays his guitar and sings silly songs, while she dances, jumps and shakes her booty (and sings into anything that closely resembles a microphone).

They water the flowers together and play in the dirt.

She rides on his back while he gives train rides.

She loves, loves, loves to color with him: "Hey Daddy! I know what we can do ... let's color!!"

They play hard and love hard ... the perfect Daddy-Daughter combo.

Up Close and Personal with Baby M II

Last week we had my 20-week ultrasound and got to check in on Baby M II. I've been telling Jeremy that this baby is much more active than Maribelle ever was at this point, and Baby M II  proved my point the minute the ultrasound tech flipped on the screen. Once the shadowy image of the baby came into view, we could see that Baby M II was practicing a little thumb sucking, and was repeatedly trying to find his/her mouth. It was so amazing and adorable to watch, and I'm pretty sure I fell in love right then and there. It just blows my mind that all of that was going on right there in my belly. It truly is such a miracle.

With the stress of taking care of a two-year-old, everyday life, selling our house, moving, etc, etc, I've felt a little disconnected from this pregnancy and have found myself MANY times just plain old forgetting I'm with child (and then I walk in front of a mirror and my growing belly quickly reminds me that SOMETHING is going on in there). But the magic of the ultrasound and the amazing detail that we could see and witness just made everything sink in and seem much more real. In a few short months, we're going to be a family of four!

Lucky for us, my OB office uses 4D technology as a regular feature of the 20-week ultrasound, so we got the added benefit of seeing Baby M II in greater detail than a normal ultrasound. Take a look at this sweet face!

I know, it's slightly creepy and the umbilical cord floating there just makes me nervous, but is this not the most amazing advancement in ultrasound technology?!?! It's even more detailed during a third trimester ultrasound, but as long as my pregnancy progresses normally, we won't need any additional ultrasounds.

In terms of baby details, Baby M II's heartbeat was around 150, and he/she was measuring slightly ahead, which is great considering that I've only gained two pounds so far the entire pregnancy. My doctor has encouraged me to consume more calories, so I've been doubling up on dessert daily (probably not what she meant, but I'm taking liberties with this one). All vital organs were accounted for and measured appropriately, so all looks well in there!

The Godfather

Yep, that's Jeremy -- Godfather to our niece, Gracelynn Elizabeth, who was recently baptized and met the rest of her extended family after her first plane trip from Texas to Ohio. Gracelynn was nothing but smiles during the entire ceremony and seemed to thoroughly enjoyed all of the attention. Congrats and God Bless to Josh, Misty and Baby Gracelynn!

The ABCs of Packing

Amongst the chaos of boxes, bubble wrap and endless hours of packing (how did we get so much STUFF?!?), there are moments of unbelievable cuteness, thanks to our little Belle, who has grown fond of choosing the largest boxes in which to catch up on her reading, or, you know, to take a quick breather.

And then, of course, there are the impromptu serenades. Our little girl loves to sing, and one night this week before bath time, I caught her doing an energetic rendition of her ABCs. This is the first time I've ever heard her sing the entire song on her own. Usually she just chimes in at certain memorable parts of the alphabet, so I was glad to catch this on camera (lucky for me, it went on for like five minutes straight).


Belle's ABCs from Gina Moorhead on Vimeo.

Since we've been gone

Soooo,  I'm just gonna come right out and state the obvious. I've been neglectful. We've been missing from these parts for quite a while, and I feel kinda bad about it. However, Mama had to take a bit of a break from blogging to focus on the craziness that has been life these past few months. Peeps, we've got so much going on, it's enough to make anyone's mind spin, Poltergeist style. Finding the motivation and/or the time to blog has been quite a challenge lately, but I'm dedicated to finding my blogging mojo again. So let's play a brief game of catch up, shall we?

* We're moving, ya'll! Yes, our New Year's resolution from two years ago has finally been fulfilled. We sold our house and are preparing to move into our first single-family home in June. It's been at least a year in the making (and, ohhhh, three or four years in the "dreaming"), between completing repairs on our current home, decluttering and getting all the rest of the details arranged in order to put our house on the market. But you guys, we accepted an offer from a buyer within FIVE DAYS of listing our house on the market. FIVE DAYS! I was so glad to ditch the daily cleaning that was required of making our house spic and span for showings. Because trying to keep a house tidy with a two-year-old tornado on the loose pretty much equals mission impossible in my book. So now we're in the packing phase and it's coming along slowly but surely. We're excited to finally have a yard, a garage and a nice quiet street, and the biggest bonus?? The new house has a community pool. That's a major score during the hot and humid Maryland summers! Now we just have to get Maribelle over her aversion to swimming pools.

* School's out for summer. I finished the last class of my master's program and I only have student teaching (and a 25-page Action Research Project, and two Praxis exams, and well, one more student teaching-related class) standing between me and my master's degree in secondary education. If all goes as planned, I will be graduating with my (long overdue) master's degree this time next year. And that's only because I had to push student teaching back to Spring 2012 because our fall is going to be pretty busy. And that's because ....

* Baby M II is due to make his/her appearance in late October! Yep, ya heard. I've got a proverbial bun baking in my oven, and we're so over the moon excited to be growing our little family. I'm about 16 weeks now, and all the sickness and zombie-inducing fatigue has pretty much passed, so I'm feeling good and enjoying it while it lasts. Maribelle is happy to tell you all about being a Big Sister, but seriously, she has no idea what's going on and NO idea what's about to come her way. (The jury is still out on how to refer to our growing bean, so for right now, I'm going with Baby M II, since Maribelle is the original Baby M. Any and all suggestions are welcome.)

This very faint test confirms that a line is a line is a line. It was the lightest of double lines, but I can assure you, it was in fact a positive. I received the fortune during our Valentine's Day lunch earlier that day and decided to go home and test. Sure enough, the fortune was spot on (because, you know, those things are always so prophetic and wise).

Our 8-week-old gummy bear. Proof that I wasn't just nauseous and vomiting for nothing. Clearer pictures will come in a few weeks at the 20-week ultrasound. After a lot of back and forth, and much to the dismay of so many people we know, we're leaning toward not finding out the sex again. We just love keeping everyone in suspense, ourselves included.  

Muaah-ha-ha-ha-haaaa (that's an evil-sounding pregnant lady laugh, fyi).

Spring Break with a Toddler

It's a special treat when your college-age sister decides to forfeit her one precious week off from pharmacy school in order to live it up toddler style in good old Maryland. My sister Jamie spent her Spring Break mornings waking up early to the sounds of Maribelle yelling "Mommy!!!!", her afternoons napping from the exhaustion of entertaining a two-year-old, and her nights memorizing the words to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme songs. A far cry from the Spring Break experiences I remember watching on MTV years ago, but definitely a week of enriching experiences. I mean just look at the fun oozing from the photos below!

Pancakes. And whipped cream. And sprinkles. And the return of Jeremy's slightly creepy mustache = instant fun on National Pancake Day. OH MY!

A trip to a science museum is on every Spring Breaker's must-do list. Carrying an egg like a penguin and "digging" for dinosaur bones provides for hours of fun and first-hand learning!

Did someone say "crafting"??? Whoot! Whoot! Party over here!! We made sure to exercise our creative noodle and made yarn wreaths and painted pottery. Fun overload.

And isn't it every Spring Breaker's dream to gain access to an exclusive club and chill with the owner like long-lost BFFs?!?!? Consider it done. In this case, Jamie scored the VIP treatment in Maribelle's clubhouse/princess castle, enjoying all the Yo Gabba Gabba one person can bear to take. 

Ok, so Jamie's Spring Break was a bit more Martha Stewart-worthy than MTV-worthy, but that's what Spring Break with a toddler will do to your days. However, I don't think either of them minded one bit.