Sunday, October 25, 2015

It's a...

...GIRL!

(I realize I am the worst blogger in the world for waiting five days after my appointment to post this.  I have a bad habit of assuming that everyone who reads this blog is only is a family member or friend, and that they already know the news.  I'm sorry!)

We found out Tuesday we're having a girl!  They don't tell you much at the ultrasound, but everything seemed just fine, as far as her being healthy.  I go in for a regular OB appointment this coming Tuesday, where they'll officially give us the results of the ultrasound (I don't expect there will be anything to discuss though).

Sydney and Lorelei are thrilled about having a baby sister (Lorelei was especially worried about possibly getting another brother out of the deal).  Bubby is oblivious, but I'm sure subconsciously thrilled that he will be surrounded by women for the next 17 years (hehe)!  I truly believe it takes a special man/dad/boy/brother to live with so many women -- Ford will make a great husband some day!

I didn't have a feeling either way regarding gender, but I think I would have been more surprised had they told me we were having a boy.  Truth be told, it would have been easier logistically to have another boy, because we have all the clothes and he and Ford could always share a room, but God knows how to plan families better than we do, and we are extremely thankful for a healthy baby girl!

As far as names go, we have no idea what we'll name her.  We had a boy name picked out (not because we had discussed it a lot, just because there was really only one boy name we both liked), but girl names are a different story.  Sydney is especially involved in the naming process this time -- she has some solid (albeit popular) suggestions.  Lorelei has suggested Elephy (as in "elephant," but ending in "y") and Hilda.  Feel free to suggest names in the comment section!

I think we will be super annoying one last time and keep the name to ourselves until she's born.   That probably means keeping the name from Sydney too (will we be able to evade her suggestions for the next 18-ish weeks?), otherwise she'll probably jump on this blog and let everyone know.

Here's the video (40-seconds long) of us telling the kids the gender:

I hope everyone is having a great weekend -- happy Sunday!

Monday, October 19, 2015

Baby Update (THE ultrasound and belly pictures)

It seemed high time for another baby update, even though I don't technically have any updates.  I will share the last two belly pictures with you though (18 weeks and 20 weeks...I forgot about the 19-week picture):
18 Weeks
20 Weeks
20 Weeks
You may be starting to wonder if all I wear is pajamas.  Rest assured I do actually get dressed each day, but we take belly pictures on Thursdays, and since Chet doesn't come home until dinnertime, we don't usually get around to it until the kids are in bed (or until RIGHT before we go to bed).  Hence, the pajamas.  And glasses.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9:30 a.m. is our big 20-week ultrasound, where we will indeed find out the baby's gender.  You would think that the more babies one has, the less nervous one would be each pregnancy, but not so for me. Please say a prayer that all goes well at the ultrasound and we find out we have a healthy, growing baby!

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Weekend Update

(The following two paragraphs were written October 2nd and 3rd -- proof that sometimes I start to blog, but don't always finish.)

I was planning on writing a short post Sunday afternoon...but that was last Sunday, and here is it, 6 days later on Saturday morning (an embarrassing 10 days since my last blog post).

It's fairly chilly in northern VA this morning (50 degrees), and even quite chilly in our house (we had to turn on the heat last night).  I love an excuse to wear cardigans in the house though.  I bought this one in July during Nordstrom's annual anniversary sale, and it's the best thing ever invented.  I wore it yesterday too, when it rained all day long.  In my fact, my exact outfit yesterday was the cardigan (with a soft, long shirt underneath), leggings, tall-ish socks, which I wore over my leggings, and rain boots.  It felt like I was wearing pajamas (I pretty much was), and  unashamedly ventured out into public in this get up.  Needless to say I love the current comfy, drape-y fashion.

(Okay, back to real time, October 18th.  Sorry it that was a little confusing, timeline-wise.  I especially wanted to include the longer paragraph above, because I am currently wearing the same cardigan as I type this.  I should probably wash it eventually.)

My plan was to go through my iPhone pictures and use those to catch you up, but it turns out I've been a terrible picture-taker lately, so please don't prepare to be impressed.  Just prepare for a bunch of randomness that may make your brain hurt.

Three weeks ago (the very original start intended date of this blog post), we had a super low key, but lovely, weekend.  (I think it may have been more lovely for me than for Chet, because I got to get out of the house a couple of times, while he mostly kept the home fires burning.  He had a touch of cabin fever by Sunday evening.)  This year I am singing in our church's annual Living Christmas Tree, and I had rehearsal from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning (September 26th).  After I got home, we stayed in the rest of the day and were able to relax and get some things done around the house.  On Sunday we went to church, but after church Sydney and I dropped Chet, Lorelei, and Ford off at home, and she and I went to the movie theater to see "Inside Out."  Chet and I both could tell Sydney was craving some one-on-one time, and it was the perfect outing to help fill up her little love tank.  Anyway, she and I both loved the movie, but I honestly probably enjoyed it more than she did (it was really well done -- good job, Pixar!).

After the movie we came home and, again, stayed put for the rest of the day.  For the kids and me it was the best way to recharge after a busy week of not being home enough, but, like I said, Chet had a touch of cabin fever.  He might have almost been excited about getting out of the house Monday morning and back to the Pentagon... but I said almost.  (He likes his job, but, thankfully, he likes home better.)

Monday, September 28th, we walked/scooted to school.  We actually walk to school (Lorelei's preschool, that is) most days; I can count on one hand the days we haven't.

Lorelei is thoroughly enjoying her Tuesday ballet classes:



Bubby loves to shop.  He hasn't quite figured out that he can't carry everything in the store at once:

The following weekend, October 3rd and 4th, we were homebound again due to the never-to-materialize Hurricane Joaquin.  The rain started on Friday, and had stopped mostly by Saturday evening, even though I wouldn't go so far as to call Sunday a "lovely day."  Chet and I were proactive about not getting cabin fever, so we loaded everyone up Saturday morning and took them to one of the malls in our area.  Now, there are a few malls within a 15-mile radius of our house, but we chose the second-closest one that is scheduled to close it's doors fairly soon (maybe within a year?  I don't know, the city has a plan to convert it into apartments, but it won't happen before we move away).  The reason we chose this slightly shady mall on the verge of extinction is because, well, it's on the verge of extinction.  That means there's hardly ever anyone there, and our kids can run around indoors without disturbing shoppers (because there just aren't many).  It also has a small indoor play area (geared toward children two and under, but even five-and-a-half year old Sydney loves it), a Bath & Body Works, a Victoria's Secret, and a CHICK-FIL-A.

You guys.  Let me just tell you that there are not many Chick-fil-as in the northern VA area (at least not close/convenient to us), and this mall food court Chick-fil-a is probably the only reason the mall can continue to pay its electric bill each month.

Speaking of electric bill...the mall chose not to turn on the heat that rainy, chilly Saturday, and it was downright cold inside.  Chet and I were shivering and stayed in our jackets, but the kids seemed fine since they were a little more active.  I suppose a mall on the verge of extinction has a meager budget, and turning on the heat for one chilly weekend (when it was only going to warm up again the following week) wasn't a line item.

Anyway, it was still a good outing: the kids played, ran, and ate Chick-fil-a.  Then we went home for naps and stayed in the rest of the day, except for a quick family walk we took after dinner -- in the drizzling rain -- to burn off a little more energy.  It was good to see their miniature-sized rain boots and umbrellas put to good use.

Since we were pretty homebound, Chet indulged me by helping us rearrange the letters on the girls' wall, (Ford's too, I just haven't taken a picture yet), a seemingly insignificant project that actually brings the girls and me great happiness:


Sorry for the bad/inconsistent lighting.  You may remember back in this post that I hadn't yet chosen a way I liked to hang the letters.  My aunt suggested hanging their names on the walls next to their respective beds, instead of together on the same wall.  Here's a little bit of (boring) background: When we originally moved in, the girls' beds weren't bunked, just like they are now.  But I didn't want to hang Lorelei's letters low, because I knew she would play with them (something she would never do now -- a child changes so much in 18 months!).  So I hung their letter on their respective walls, but really high up.  Then, when we bunked their beds, I couldn't use Lorelei's wall to hang anything, since the bunk beds took up the entire wall, so both names were moved to Sydney's side of the room.  But since Sydney's wall also has that window, I had to hang the letters high to make sure they both fit.  But now that Lorelei wouldn't dream of bothering her letters (Bubby dreams of it though), it made sense to finally hang them on their respective walls at a normal height.  Whew!

Another dance class:

Last weekend (October 10th and 11th) was gorgeous, and all of northern VA was itching to get outside and enjoy the gorgeous fall weather.

But first, Friday evening (October 9th) we attended a fun get together at a neighbor's house, celebrating the visit of a family that moved away from the neighborhood (a fellow Navy family) over the summer.

We went to this pumpkin patch Saturday morning and had a great time.

Lorelei was pouting because she wanted to sit next to Sydney in the picture, not Bubby (I don't think she wanted him in the picture at all).  She was also hungry.



Ah, memories.  (Oh, and please pay no attention to the girls' outfits -- especially Lorelei's.  They picked their outfits, and I decided to bite my tongue about their choices when they flounced down the stairs that morning.)



This little thing went around and around...I wish I could have gotten a better shot of Bubby's face (delightedly nervous).


The kids rolled down a little hill in these tubes.  It was hilarious.


Apparently I reached my picture-taking limit early in the outing, because we did a lot more after this.

Saturday night dinner:
I think Sydney is having a perpetual growth spurt, because she eats this much at every meal.  She actually had seconds, the same amount as the first round.  And fruit and dessert.

Bubby looked dapper at church that week, but was unwilling to be photographed after we took away the ever-present pacifier:





What did we do Sunday besides church?  I can't remember specifics.  I actually think we stayed home, but Chet was happy because he had some garage projects going, and kids were happy to play outside in the gorgeous weather.

Actually, yes!  Here's proof of the Sunday project I completed:
Again, bad lighting, but what you see here is a permanently cleared off desk.  It had gotten too cluttered, and it was messing with my nerves.  I'm happy to report it's still clean, a week later.

Monday, Columbus Day, was another day off work and school for Chet and the girls, and we started the day with a family trip to Home Depot, then to the mall (not the same mall as the previous weekend) to return some items.  I believe we stayed home again for the rest of the afternoon, but, like I said, it was fine because we were all content with home projects and playing outside.

I took this picture for my friend Emily, as proof that she's not the only one who sometimes washes an entire day's worth of dishes at night after dinner:
Yikes.  And this was only midday.

I'm going to stop there, because this weekend was Lorelei's birthday weekend (her 4th birthday was yesterday -- happy birthday, Lorelei!), and I'd like to give her a post of her own.

If you've read this far, bless you.  Thanks for being patient with my non-blogging, and for letting me blab for so long in a single post.  Happy Sunday!

Monday, October 12, 2015

15% off your Mary Kay order!

Happy Columbus Day!

I was going to try to be cute by offering 14.92% off your Mary Kay order today, but decided it was much smarter to round it up to 15%.

May I suggest a couple of items?

If you love good-smelling shower gel, I recommend this:

I personally love it just as much as any Bath and Body Works shower gel (which I also really love).  Regularly $20, but only $17 with the 15% Columbus Day discount.

According to my friend Emily, this next product is a "miracle in a tube."  (She said I could quote her on that.)

Recently I've had issues with blemishes (a word I like better than "zits") on my cheeks; big, ugly blemishes that start way down deep and take months to clear up.  When one of these monsters began to emerge, I used this gel -- and am extremely happy to report that I was able to prevent this zit from earning its own zip code (because others before it have -- earned their own zip codes that it).  I agree with Emily that this stuff is a "miracle in a tube."  Regularly $10, but only $8.50 with the 15% Columbus Day discount.

Send me a text or e-mail (ashleywyckoff@marykay.com), comment on this blog, or place an order directly on my site (www.marykay.com/ashleywyckoff)!  Both registered customers and guest checkout orders qualify for the 15% discount today!

I hope you continue to enjoy your Columbus Day weekend!

Thursday, October 8, 2015

I'm back!

I wish I could say, "I haven't blogged in 15 days because we've had super exciting things going on -- we're putting an addition on the house (no matter that we rent)/we got a dog (no way, Jose)/I took up Irish dancing!"  But, no, none of those things are happening; it's business as usual around here, which makes it even more lame that I let 15 days pass without posting.  So here's a quick, random post (my specialty!) to get started again.

It's October 8th, so you know we've been donning our Halloween garb since October 1st:


(Sometimes Bubby dons nothing.)

In case you didn't know, yesterday was International Walk to School Day:
I'm not kidding when I tell you everyone in the school walked.  Notices were sent out far in advance, encouraging everyone to walk, even if that meant driving in, but parking further out than usual and walking the last few hundred yards up to the school.  There were balloons and and pencils and stickers at the entrance, celebrating the "holiday."  It was quite a production.  Did anyone else experience this?

After walking to school, Sydney went on a field trip to the Kennedy Center.  She saw this production:
Our 5-year old is officially more cultured than we are.  (Sydney's school is part of the Kennedy Center's Changing Education Through the Arts -- CETA -- program.  So they will go to the Kennedy Center a few more times throughout the year.  There are only a few schools in the country part of this program, so they are lucky ducks.)

Happy Thursday!