I knew things would be different with the second pregnancy, but ohmygosh I wasn’t expecting to feel this wiped out all that time! Not this soon, anyways. When anyone asks how I’m feeling, my default answer is usually, “old” even tho my aches and pains are still limited, I just wasn’t expecting to feel this run-down. I figured around 34 weeks I would start to do the ol’ “I’m never doing this again” speech, but at 28 weeks I’ve been preaching that for a few weeks already. This past week was no exception as Tim and I dragged my pregnant behind and a toddler eight hours in a car to see the in-laws in Atlanta.

We had a great time, and Conner got to meet his great grandmother and grandfather who drove up from Plant City, FL, but by Sunday night as Tim and I sat at dinner on our date I was fighting to keep my eyes open. The drive back took two hours longer since Conner was equally as tired and was not - REPEAT - was not happy in the car seat. But the highlight of the weekend besides the family time was seeing two of my fave blogger gals and their adorable kiddo’s.

We met for lunch and a trip to the children’s museum in the city and let the kid’s go nuts for a few hours. Of course when you first walk in, there’s this huge ball-thing-a-ma-jig and Conner’s eyes about fell out of his head. Then he saw the hundreds of balls that you put into it and he was quick at work.

There were a lot of really neat play stations, like painting and fishing (equipped with the rain slickers, too), and even a little grocery store they could go “shopping” in. They played for a good two hours before I noticed Conner was just walking aimlessly around the toy train set and knew that his not napping was catching up with him. Case and point: Conner before we even got out of the parking garage.

It was a great afternoon and I had so much fun with you guys and your kids are so great. I can’t wait to do it again!

I used to go into full-on countdown mode the week before Christmas. To me that was always the best part of the holiday, the week leading up to the big day and the anticipation of it all. Conner is still too small to understand this crazy side of mom (among many others), but next year he’ll have a better grasp of Christmas and why it makes me run circles in the living room.

Busy things going on here at the manor. Tim and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend. Woot woot! Five years - it seems like a long time and yet it doesn’t. We already know a handful of friends who didn’t make it that far in their wedded bliss, so we know that five years is a great milestone. We’ve been through a lot since we’ve been married, but I think this year was probably the most trying. We’ve both gotten to see each other at the most broken places of our lives so far, but from those places we picked each other up, grown in grace and wisdom, and seen awesome things come out of it. Some of the most amazing things I’ve ever accomplished I did so with Tim, or had him cheering me on from the sidelines. Tim, you’ve made this crazy life not only bearable, but I wouldn’t want it without you in it. I love you so stinkin’ much.

So how does one celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary? Send the man-child to the grandparents for the weekend and live it up pre-kiddo’s style! My mom and dad graciously offered to watch Conner for the weekend (read that: two! nights!), and Tim and I jetted away to a bed and breakfast at a charming nearby city, and had so much fun. First of all, a new requirement for our next house is a two-person jacuzzi. Never mind the romantic nature of such an invention, but you can submerge your whole body in this so easily and even swim a few laps - it’s huge! We wasted a lot of water in that thing. Charlottesville can be on the yuppy side, but it’s still super charming and tons of artsy stuff to do. Too bad it was in the 30’s and fuh-reeeee-zing, so enjoying anything outdoors wasn’t enjoying at all. But we did a little shopping, did a lot of eating, and did even more cuddling. I missed Conner like crazy, but it was so great to not have the distraction and to remember what it’s like to have a lot of time to just be together.

I keep saying I feel like this is my favorite Christmas so far, and while I do still feel that way, I’m feeling the crunch to get everything done. I usually go all-out with the baking but have really scaled it down this year, mainly b/c I want to keep enjoying the holiday. But my craft table is piling up with half-finished projects and sketches of projects that I have only a week to get done and I’m starting to get a little anxious. Some of them I would love to share pictures, but unfortunately I can not since many of the receivers read my blog. So now I must go be a busy elf, but first I kick my feet up and enjoy a nice chai latte because the boy is sleeping. I will surely miss nap time when he does away with them for good.