This and That

Ladies' Night

Last week, a few friends and I had a girls' night out at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a lot of fun and delicious (duh!). It felt great to get out with no kids. We all decided this needed to be done a lot more often.

Left side (front to back): Erin, Dani, Me - Right side (front to back): Tressa, MaryEllen, Cidne (all but one person is pregnant in this picture...haha!)

Play Group

Olivia and I get together once a week with friends for play group. Last week we swam at the pool. This was the best baby pool ever! It was only 1-ft deep and was completely gated so little ones can't escape and fall in the big pool. It was also shaded by a canopy. I loved it! Not only did we get to swim at play group, but we also got to eat decadent cupcakes. My friend, Tarin, is having a bake-off with her sister and they have (fortunately for me) chosen the members of our little play group to be the judges. That day's bake-off category was cupcakes. (We didn't know who made which ones...don't worry, they made sure it was going to be fair.) One cupcake was a dark chocolate cupcake with caramel in the middle, icing, and a Rolo on top. The other was a Biscoff cookie cupcake. They were both soooooooo good and it was tough to choose which one to vote on. Unfortunately, Tarin didn't win this round. But don't worry, Tarin, we all know you're the real cupcake queen :)

Pregnancy Update

I'm almost 12 weeks pregnant and look just as big as I did at 20 weeks with Olivia! Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself...

20 weeks and 3 days pregnant with Olivia

11 weeks and 4 days pregnant with Baby E

Insane, huh? Now that I look at them side-by-side, I think I actually might be slightly bigger now than with Olivia at 20 weeks. It also looks like I'm carrying a little lower (but maybe that's just me). Maybe it's a boy. But who knows, it could be a girl. We'll have to wait until October to find out.

We're calling the baby Baby E because we have a boy and girl name picked out that both start with an 'E.' So until we find out the gender, it's Baby E.

Olivia Update

Olivia's personality has definitely blossomed within the last couple of months. Overall, she is a very happy and lovable child, but there are plenty of moments when she throws tantrums. We take the bad with the good and she brings much joy to our lives.

She is growing so much and is an expert in walking, running, and climbing. Unfortunately, the dreaded moment has come when her favorite thing to say is: "No!" She tells us "no" when we take her away from something she shouldn't be messing with. She also just walks around saying, "No, no, no, no, no!" over and over again. We hope to get her out of this phase as quickly as possible.

While we were filling up the tub, Olivia decided to close the door on Paul and she thought it was hilarious. I had to get a video of her giggles. Yes, she's only wearing a diaper and sandals. She kept wanting to put her shoes on, so we left them on until the bath was ready.

Family Update

We're going to be moving in about 3 weeks. No, we're not leaving Atlanta...we're just switching apartments within our current complex. With a second baby coming, we decided it would be much easier to be on the first floor. We also want a sunroom instead of an open porch so we can turn that into a playroom and get Olivia's toys out of the living room. I've been making all sorts of plans as to how we're going to set the new apartment up differently than this one. We're excited!

I was packing some books, turned to get more, then turned back and found this in the box...

Paul has been working at his new job for over a month now and really enjoys it. We don't enjoy the fact that he works 6 days a week (only working 40 hours though, don't worry) and sometimes works until 8 or 9 at night, but we're happy he has a job he enjoys, that pays the bills, and allows me to stay home with Olivia (and soon with Baby E also).

I've just been keeping busy with things around our home and keeping up with Olivia. I'm so grateful I'm able to stay home with Olivia because I honestly don't know how I would do it if I had to come home from work and still work. It'd be absolutely exhausting! It's already exhausting just staying home. Whew! Anyway...

So that's what's been going on lately in the Crolley household. As always...more to come later :)