halloween and some friday night lights

this boy is such a ham^^^ Look at those cheeks stuffed to the max of kettle corn. 

We went and checked out the halloween hot air balloon event. It's definitely on our list to go again next year. Bring a big blanket and food and wait for the show. As soon as it's dark you can line up and go trick-or-treating at each of the hot air balloons. We didn't bother standing in line, instead we stayed cozy on our blanket, ate our kettle corn, and watched the hot air balloons light up. 

Lincoln was pretty mesmerized, which made Ryan and I mesmerized watching Lincoln's reaction. Even though that last picture I have of him and Ryan in front of the balloons makes him look not-so-thrilled... he was. 

We decided to take him out trick or treating this year since he was old enough to walk around and actually score some candy for his parents. Unfortunate thing for Ryan and I..... Lincoln was not a fan of going up to the doors and getting candy. We practically had to shove him up there. He eventually got the hang of it but by that time his pumpkin pail broke. The stash he got was decent. Ryan and I would have been happier for more, but next year we'll have to do a little more coaching beforehand if we really want the jackpot. 

Oh, and crazy me decided to make costumes for all three of us. I figured I would do something easy, and it was... but I was regretting it last minute since I postponed making them to the last day. But they were super easy to make and I thought they turned out pretty decent. I went for the skeleton costumes since I had seen some pregnant mama's sporting the costume with the baby on the belly. Naturally I had the boys match me. Except Ryan had a burger and soda and Lincoln had candy. :)

We ended our Halloween  by 7 and went with some friends to a high school football game. High school football is a pretty big deal here in Texas, I guess. Ever seen the show Friday Night Lights? "Texas Forever!"

lady bird for this old bird

It's almost 2015 and I'm playing major catch up on our little blog today to get all the 2014 events documented. I have about 15 minutes before Lincoln wakes up. We'll see how much I get done.

Soooo..... I turned 27 in October. And, let's just say, this was the first year my birthday was no so wonderful. The week after, yes. the week before, yes. But my actual birthday... terrible.

 

I started having extremely sharp pains around noon. I had just put Lincoln down and went to go lay down myself. I would get these shooting pains in my upper abdomen that I figured would go away with rest, but they didn't. I was laying down for almost 2 hours unable to really move with out getting pain. I started to get really worried thinking something might be wrong with the baby. So, what does any panicked mother in pain do? Call the doctor. They wanted me to come in as soon as possible. The only problem, I literally could NOT get myself to get out of bed. I was in so much pain I couldn't move an inch.

I was calling Ryan at work like a mad woman. His cellphone service is super iffy and it drives me crazy trying to get a hold of him. Luckily, I found the number directly to his office and finally got a hold of him. By that point, I was hysterically crying telling him he needed to come home and help drive me to the doctor's. He was home within 20 minutes.

Poor Lincoln had woken up and was patiently waiting for someone to come get him out of the crib. There was no way I could have, so it was a good thing Ryan made it home so quickly. Ryan gave me a priesthood blessing and slowly helped me to the car. By the time we got to the doctor's the pain was  starting to go away. Typical. Ugh. They attributed it to my gallbladder and scheduled me to get an abdominal ultrasound done the following morning. Such a relief that baby was A-Okay.

We got home late afternoon and I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Ryan made me some food and I barely ate much when I started getting the terrible pains again. Like someone was getting a knife and stabbing me below my ribs. Ryan looked up some natural remedies for gallbladder pain and made me this disgusting apple cider turmeric lemon concoction and put me in warm bath. I was in excruciating pain from 5pm to almost 8pm when I finally decided to call the doctor and make sure this was normal to be in such pain for this long for a jacked-up gallbladder.

Well, they had me go to the hospital to make sure.

On my birthday. 

8pm at night when I should be eating the personal sized cheesecake Ryan had bought me.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right with the baby and if birthday celebrations were to be postponed, well then that's quite alright.

I barely managed to drive myself there. I insisted that Ryan stay home since Lincoln was already asleep. I told him if something came up and there was a problem, that we could call someone to come over and watch Lincoln so he could come meet me.

By the time I got checked in to a room, I was shaking. I couldn't even sit or lay down on the bed. I was still in so much pain. They strapped my belly up to the monitors to make sure baby was fine. He was. What a relief. After 30 minutes, I had the sudden urge to throw up.... which I hadn't done since my first trimester. I'll spare you the horrific details.. but it was BAD. I hadn't thrown up like that since....ugh. I don't even know. But remember that drink Ryan made me?? Imagine throwing up those flavors.

But guess what?!?! I suddenly started to feel better. And the nurse said I was getting color back in my face (so apparently I looked like death beforehand?). The doctor and I went over my diet and after telling her I hardly ever have fast food or anything greasy or fried... she blamed the dairy. What?!!? Since when is a tub of cottage cheese a week too much? That's one of my main pregnancy cravings. But if it meant not having these issues, I will never have dairy again!!! or at least the rest of the pregnancy.... or in my case, I eliminated it for like a month and now I just have very little.

Anyway, my 27th birthday in a nutshell. But then it got better. And my hubby took me out on the lake and paddled this dairy-free pregnant mama all around. :) His reward? I gave him my cheesecake that I could no longer eat.

salt lick

My awesome parents came to crash the ol' Shideler homestead the end of October. It was the perfect weekend to have them because they were able to help jump start my birthday celebration week. They took us out to dinner one night to Salt Lick, which is pretty much the place to go for BBQ here in Austin. They don't mess around there. It's some pretty serious BBQ-ing going on.

I would have liked to get more pictures of the place, but Lincoln was a terror and we had to rotate eating so one of us could take him walking outside the courtyard. (And when I say "take turns" I really mean my mom and I. Do you think I could have pulled these men away from their food?)

But how could I ask this face to be on "Lincoln duty"? He was so happy!!



My parents are pretty generous when it comes to birthday gifts. I mean, seriously, the gift of meat sweats and food-induced coma???????..... that's real love right there.

 

And one last pic of the night, just because these pictures are always funny.

Dad asked me what button to push..

 

"The one on the..."

 

CLICK!

 

Lovely.

 

 

galveston

 these moments right here, captured in these pictures, are one of the happiest of my life. 

we had a little weekend trip down to galveston, which is just over 3 hours from here so it was a perfect little weekend getaway. 2 days crammed of beach, food, beach, and food. 

and can i tell you how much this boy loves his daddy??!! Like crazy. Ryan and I both agree this was the best part of the trip was hearing Lincoln laugh hysterically as daddy chased him around in circles. Something small and silly was simply melting this mama's heart. 

All of us laughing on the beach, the boys chasing each other while me, myself, and my growing belly sprawled out on the towel watching the show-- yep, one of the happiest moments in my life. 

and we'll end with a blurry family photo. I love this one. :)

boys rule!

Wow... I'm back to posting baby bump pics?

It's pretty funny, mainly because it's true, how the second child doesn't get as much attention as the first did. A little sad, but let's face it, Lincoln requires like 99% of our attention. Taking weekly bump pictures like I did with Lincoln? Yeah, that's not happening.

Although, baby boy 2 does have all of our attention (shared with Netflix and popcorn) after Lincoln goes to sleep each night. Naturally, that's when he's most active and kicking and punching and somersaulting in the belly.... I feel as if it's his way of saying... "Okay Mom and Dad, focus on me!!!! Look how hard I can kick!"

When I was pregnant with Lincoln, parenthood/baby/pregnancy talk is what consumed our lives. It's exciting because you're experiencing something for the first time. And although this pregnancy isn't exactly how it was with Lincoln, it's still exciting, but in a whole new way that's special on it's own.

It's special because I know how much happiness and joy has come into our lives with Lincoln, and to know we have been blessed with another baby.... I can't even imagine life getting better than it is now, but it is! And for that, I'm excited for our second boy to come join this house of shenanigans with us.

Dallas & Fort Worth Weekend-- the things we do for our kids........

5 day Labor Day Weekend. WHOOOOWEEEEE!

5 wonderful days of exploring some Dallas/Fort Worth. 

2 of those days spent right here at the Perot museum. Lincoln LOVED it. He was running around and with his little curious mind wanting to try everything, and play with everything, and throw everything....talk about stimulation overload. 

We weren't planning on going 2 days in a row, but someone gave us free tickets to come back for the next day. And when your child lights up like Lincoln did, you'll go to the same museum, to see the same things, the very next day, just to see him happy......until the following situation happens.......

This child of ours can sometimes be that child where you say under your breath, "Don't his parents teach him any discipline?" We do, but he has his days.... or in this case, he has his situations where no matter how sweet he is the moment before, he will flip a switch if someone tries taking him away from the wheel of any motor vehicle device, especially this big blue one at the children's museum. His chubby fingers are deceivingly strong. Go on, just picture me trying to pick up Lincoln so another child can have his turn and Lincoln clawing the wheel with all his might screaming bloody murder. I may have tried putting one of my legs up on the truck to get better pulling leverage....but try as I might, I cannot get that kid to let go. I can be yanking his legs high in the air until he's practically upside down... does he lose any grip? Nope. If anything, he may just rip the steering wheel off with him. 

Sigh. 

We had a few parents, heck, even children, watching the show of mother trying to defeat 17 month old son. He's one happy kid when he has it all to himself. But bless that child who happens to get a spot behind the wheel instead of Lincoln.... you're Lincoln's target now. 

 ^^^^They look thrilled don't they? I told them to tone down their excitement. ^^^

Ryan met up with his brother and friend for a preseason football game: Broncos vs Cowboys. Broncos won, so they were pretty happy about that. We stopped at these water gardens in downtown Fort Worth the next day before his brother and friend left town. 

 And our last stop before heading back home was walking around the stockyards in Fort Worth. We went there first thing in the morning on our way out of town. We fooled ourselves thinking we timed our stockyards trip right-- beating the heat, crowds, and Lincoln's nap time, but we were the suckers walking around the strip with all the stores still closed. DOH! No wonder why we had no trouble finding parking.

We walked up and down the streets, very slowly to kill time, with a few other out-of-towners like us who came too early. We stuck it out until the cattle drive, the "big" event that everyone comes to watch. It was getting extremely humid and hot and I was so ready to head back home, but I really wanted our fussy Lincoln to see all the cattle come through. So we waited and waited until FINALLY, the moment we had been waiting for all morning. 

10 seconds of only a handful of cattle???? Really??? Uuuuuggh.

The things we do for our kids. I'm sure the experience will be one Lincoln looks back on fondly throughout his precious life.  When he's old in a rocking chair and his grandchildren are asking him to tell them stories, he'll speak of waiting 2 hours for those 10 seconds of  watching the cattle come by and how magical it was. HA :) 

say "sheeeese"

I'm so ready for fall. SO ready. I'm becoming one of those people who would be okay if the summer season just went away. I blame it on the fact of not living in Idaho anymore. Those summers in Idaho....sigh. Let's just say my love of summer will never be satisfied until I can have another summer there. These Arizona/Texas summers just take a poor beating on this old girl now.

This past weekend though we had rain, and a whole lot of it. PLUS, we had "COLDER" temperatures in the high 60's low 70's, I know right? Freezing. AND, it wasn't muggy and sticky! We were outside more than we have been all summer. We had the back doors open to bring in the fresh cold air, sat on the porch and watched the rain (mostly just watching Lincoln's rain dancing), and had a little breakfast-dinner picnic without having beads of sweat dripping down our face. Glorious!!!!!!

One big plate of warm french toast for all three of us. Raspberries mostly for the chubby hand that snatched them all up before anyone else had a chance.

And a bunch of blurry photos of us trying to get a family photo that never quite turned out smoothly. Lincoln has an attraction to the camera and feels the need to jump up after it yelling "sheeeese". 

 oh. and this boy turns 18 months in a few days. this is the best age. THE FREAKING BEST. He is pretty dang special.