My Brave Girl

Alexis got stung by a bee yesterday! She had been in the rec room for about five minutes yesterday afternoon when I heard a sharp cry of pain and immediately knew something was wrong. At first I thought she had caught her fingers in one fo the doors on her play kitchen, but then I knew it had to be worse than that. I looked around and saw a bee near her ball pit, killed it, and immediately took her upstairs to wash her hand and research what to do in case she was allergic and would have problems. She was crying so hard and holding her hand out, but she started laughing a little bit when she got to run it under the water. She did NOT like having an ice pack applied to it and I had a really hard time keeping one on so just did the best that I could. She was so great about it, though, but I could tell when the pain would come back because she would hold her had to her stomach and start crying some. It wasn't a fun afternoon for her, but she did really well and was really brave. it was pretty red and swollen on her thumb, where she was stung, for a few hours, but then it started to die down, and this morning it's just a little red. The saddest part was that it was on the thumb that she sucks, and up until last night she would try to put her thumb in her mouth occasionally and then start crying because it hurt! How sad is that to have your course of comfort taken away? I was prepared for her to have a bad night because of it, but she did fine all night - just a little fussy getting to sleep - and she seems not to notice it this morning.

In other cute and unpainful news, we went to Richmond overnight to look at some plants, and Alex sat on the tractor and pretended to drive, which was so cute! She explored all of the plants and picked up handfuls of dirt and got soaked by the hose and had a blast! She also had a huge amount of fun runnung around the grocery store with Nanny and Papaw the next day. The other night at dinner she did the greatest thing and started pulling practical jokes on us. She was in her high chair and we were almost done with dinner when she put her head down on her table and started to look upset and sad. Both Jason and I asked what was wrong, and after a minute she popped back up all smiles and started laughing. She had tricked us! And she did this over and over and over again because we kept asking her in a concerned voice what was wrong, and she kept tricking us! She thought this was hysterical and had a few times when she couldn't hold the smile in while she was pretending to be sad. It was adorable! And yesterday she was sitting on the kitchen floor when she looked at the dishwasher, which is fairly reflective, and she waved at herself and said, "Hi me!" I just laughed and laughed because it was so cute! Jason had seen her do this in the mirror before, but it took me by surprise. She's amazing!

We both have doctor's appointments next week. She has her two year check-up, so I've started a short list of questions to ask, and I have my seven month checkup next week, which will apparently take longer than usual because I have to have a glucose test, which is normal for this time in the pregnancy. I'll also probably ask what to expect when I go into labor and she's born because my experience with Alex was so different. For instance, it's going to be very different to be able to try and feed her immediately because last time I didn't get to hold her for over a week after she was born, and it was longer for Jason. It's time to start to be prepared! I can't believe this is happening in less than three months!

We're also (hopefully) going to be finishing up some work on the house this month. We have painters coming to paint the front of the house next Monday, which should make the front look a LOT better! They're hoping to be able to get it done in one day, which would be nice. Dad is coming to visit next week and he's going to paint Alexis' new room and he's bringing his power washer and we're going to was the back of the house, which needs it. Then, about a week and a half later, Earl is going to come help fix some of our drainage problems in the backyard and help with some landscaping in the front. I don't think we'll be able to get it all done, but we're going to put quite a dent in it. And while there will still be PLENTY of things to do, I think after this is done I'll feel really good about the house. Then we'll decide if we're actually going to do some kitchen renovations like new counters, sink, and dishwasher. (Having a dishwasher with two kids would be AMAZING, so it's something we're thinking about.) May has become a really busy month, and then in early June we're going to Wilson to visit our new nephew who should have arrived by then, but after that I'm staying home for the month before Micah's born. I think it will be really good for the three of us to have some downtime without anything going on before he arrives. Micah's moving around a lot and letting me know he's around, and I'm definitely to the stage of picking things up with my toes and finding it more difficult to be comfortable. However, in all reality, I feel really great! I get tired more easily so do things a little at a time and try not to wear myself out, but it's wonderful to feel so good. My stomach surges seem to have disappeared, and my back hasn't been hurting at all like it did for a while, which is great, and even though I have a few things here and there, I think I'm doing well! Also, on a random note, if you're interested, we have a brief list of some things we'd like for Micah. If you go to my amazon wishlist, on the left side you'll see a section for other of my wishlists, and Micah Nathanael is listed, as well as Alexis for her birthday. Anyway, there aren't a lot of things that we need because we have a lot of stuff, but there are a few things that would be nice if you're interested!