The zoo

We've been trying to make the most of our sitting-around-waiting-for-orders time, and since fall finally decided to come to Florida and the weather was pretty pleasant we decided to go to the zoo yesterday. It was a pretty small zoo, and definitely a little overpriced for what it was, but we still had fun. We got T one of those little kid leashes, so she wouldn't have to be in the stroller, but she wasn't too interested in wearing it. Pretty much any time we put it on her she insisted on being held. She also insisted on pushing the stroller when she wasn't riding in it. We definitely were NOT allowed to help her steer.



They had a little petting zoo area, with goats, sheep, llamas, and pigs. Oh, and they had tons of chickens and turkeys just wandering around freely. T liked the goats, and when we got to the sheep she kept saying 'baa' to them.





She liked the giraffes until they got a little too close. Then she started leaning away and telling them 'bye'.


One of the nice things about it being a smaller zoo was we were able to let T just walk on her own for most of it. There weren't a ton of other people there so she loved being able to do her own thing. She walked on her own until we got to the monkeys. They had some siamangs that were putting on quite a show, swinging around their cage and stuff, and the male was SO loud! He was whooping and screeching a ton, and it really freaked Tressa out. She started saying 'bye' to them and crawling back in her stroller. After that she was happy to just ride for the rest of the zoo. We took a break to play on the slides and ride the train. T kept trying to bail over the side of the train, so that was pretty awesome.





While we were waiting for the train, I thought Teresa might want to ride this zebra. I was wrong. Mean parents that we are, we made her stay on for the whole ride. I mean, we didn't want to just waste our fifty cents!



I'm gonna blame it on the fact that this was towards the end of our visit, and she was pretty tired.

And, in case anyone is interested, here's a 21 week belly shot. I can't believe we're already more than halfway done! This pregnancy has gone way faster than T's, thank goodness!

The Duck Herder

Tressa loves ducks. Especially the ducks outside our apartment. We occasionally go outside and give them a little bit of cereal or other little tid bits of food, and they can't get enough. She loves to throw the food herself and insists on being in the middle of them. We were a little hesitant at first, as the older ducks were very aggressive, but the newer, younger group seems to be a little more easy going and patient. They were still bold enough to eat the cereal right out from between her little feet though. Here are a few pictures from our latest outing:


T loves ducks!


A little too close? Not for me! That cereal looks tasty, though.


I don't know if she's following or herding. :o)




Hey! Get back here!

So much for Mother's intuition.

Because I was so completely sure that we were going to have a boy this time! Seriously, I could not have been more surprised when we found out today that we are having another little girl! I knew Teresa was a girl pretty much as soon as I got pregnant with her, so I thought I had a pretty good track record of guessing the gender. And I was really feeling boy this time. My confidence faltered a little when the heartbeat was 156, cause I know girls usually have a higher heartbeat, but I was still shocked when we saw the proof. That means Marc wins the bet :(. But, I'm super excited, we were hoping for another little girl, I wanted T to have a sister, and now we don't have to buy as much new stuff! Not that I won't still buy her a ton of stuff, I'm sure...it's been hard resisting all the cute little baby clothes at the store lately, so I'm glad we know now!

This pregnancy has been so, so much less miserable than Teresa's. I felt much sicker the first three months this time, but I definitely didn't throw up as many times, which was awesome. I'd rather feel like death all day as long as I don't have to actually throw up! And I've already been feeling a lot better and less exhausted the past week or so, and with T I was crazy sick for the whole first five months. So, that's been a nice blessing. I haven't had a ton of cravings so far, unless you count the time Marc brought home Wendy's chili for lunch and it was the best thing I'd ever eaten IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE. And then I couldn't stop thinking about it all day and I made him bring me more for dinner. He was smart and brought enough for the next day as well. Luckily that didn't last very long, though. Unfortunately pretty much everything else I've gotten a craving for are from places in Utah, so that's been kind of a bummer.

Teresa will pat my belly and say 'baby' over and over again, and give it kisses when we ask, but I don't think she knows why she's actually doing it. She probably thinks it's weird that we keep referring to my tummy as a baby now...

The only down side to it being a little girl is that we were pretty much set on a boy name, but have been having the hardest time picking a girl name! We have the list narrowed down to about 14 now, and I'm thinking we'll probably have to actually see her before we choose one for sure. Unlike with T, where we had her name chosen practically before we got married!

The internet doesn't lie, right?

I just took a bunch of different gender prediction tests online and they all say we're having a girl. Hmmm...I really think it's a boy, so one of us is wrong! Hopefully we will find out on Thursday! So if you have any guesses, now's your chance....

It's true what they say...

It's true what they say about children being quiet meaning they've gotten themselves into mischief. I found a very quiet Tressa behind the couch with half a box of pancake mix spread out around her. At least this time it was something easy to vacuum up (which turned out to be her 'punishment' too - she's absolutely terrified of the vacuum. Which I didn't know, I guess we don't do that as much as we should...).






She's not being cheeky here, she just loves to stick her tongue out, especially when the camera comes out!



And, just because I can't get enough of her snuggling her bunny. It took T forever to attach to anything stuffed or soft, so now that she finally has a special stuffed animal I just think it's the cutest thing. She sleeps with him and only carries him around when she's tired, this is just after a nap.

Labor Day Weekend

We decided to head to New Orleans for Labor Day weekend. Turns out it's only about three and half hours from Pensacola, so we took advantage of our last four day weekend here. Marc's parents were able to meet us there, and we had a really fun time. (We also figured it was a good practice run to see how T would do in the car for that long, since we'll be driving the 15 hours up to Maryland soon. I'll just say, we're not too excited for that road trip now.) Anyway, it was pretty crowded, seeing as it was not only Labor Day weekend, but gay pride weekend as well, but we had fun. We ate lots of yummy Cajun food, and did a ton of walking and sight seeing.

We ate some yummy beignets at Cafe du Monde, which is supposed to be pretty famous. Marc's grandparents spent a lot of their courtship at this cafe, so that was pretty cool.


This was at breakfast. It's a pretty common sight around our house. She will stick her tongue out at you until you do it back, and then she laughs. She's pretty serious about it too, if you take too long to notice her she gets right up in your face until you do.



T's favorite part was Jackson square, mostly because we let her out of the stroller to run free.










We took T to a big toy store there, she had a ton of fun there. It's funny how some gender roles are just so natural, the first thing she did was pick up a baby doll, then she headed straight for the play kitchens. She was hugging the doll to her with one arm and just totally busy 'cooking' with the other. This was only her second time with a play kitchen, and it's looking like we'll definitely have to add that to her Christmas list.

We came back Sunday after church, and then Monday we took T to a park on base. I really wish we'd brought the camera there, because she just had the best time. We were the only ones there and she loved climbing all over and going down the slides. Turns out she's quite the little daredevil, it was fun to watch. Also, sadly, on Monday I totally broke one of our picture frames. The ironic thing was that just the week before I was looking at it and thinking how sad I would be if it ever broke. Weird. Anyway, it was nice to have a few days off, and now we're just counting down the days til Marc is finally done with his training. And crossing our fingers that the Navy doesn't change his graduation date again.