36 Weeks: Busy, busy weekend

So this weekend was a lot of fun and not at all productive! But, I'll take it because it gave lots of time to focus on big brother. Saturday morning Brennan had his first tee ball practice and then we went straight to soccer fest to pick up his pics and trophy from soccer season. In the afternoon we went to try to see The Lego Movie, but alas it was sold out. :( So we went to see The Nut Job instead- cute movie. Although I did fall asleep through the last 20 minutes. My difficulty sleeping at night catches up with me every afternoon. Sunday afternoon, we took B to an ice skating birthday party. He was in heaven!! I'm very behind in prepping for Aiden- but that's what the long weekend next week is for I guess. I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left to get it all together before he's here and makes it all a little more difficult.

I even got a video of his skills.

My little family

These two are too fun together

My boys

Super Reader

I decided it was time for me to brag about big brother for a post. Brennan has become such a fantastic little reader over the past few weeks. I am so proud of him! And most of all- he likes to read! He has a fantastic teacher who has definitely encouraged and nurtured his love of learning. Here's a little clip I took (unbeknownst to him) of him reading his Monsters University book the other day. Although I just discovered it's very quiet. :(

All is well with me. Just still getting prepped little by little for Aiden's arrival in just 4 short weeks. And getting bigger and bigger... 

Lots of folks telling me I'll "never make it" and asking if "it's twins." Love So Florida honesty. But here's hoping we do make it 4 more weeks so my plans to stay home all but the last week of school work out and Mr. Aiden gets as big and strong on the inside as possible. Considering I still have ankles and can still wear my rings- I'm doing awesomely compared to when I was pregnant with Brennan. Plus, my BP is nice and stable- and low. Phew... 

34 Weeks: Baby Shower!!

Last Sunday was my fabulous baby shower to celebrate Aiden's very quickly approaching arrival. I had some great friends there, did some catching up with some girls I hadn't seen in too long, and got some wonderful gifts to help me get ready for Aiden to come. I'll let the pics to most of the "talking"

The very awesome, preppy decor to match his daddy's style

 We have  lots of monogram cups and napkins... look for them again in about a year. ;) 

With my wonderful hostesses. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful friends- especially these two who did so much to make me feel special and help get ready for sweet Aiden. 

33 weeks.. getting prepped!

In the weekends since our trip- we've been crazy busy trying to get all ready for Aiden's arrival in just a few weeks. Considering that we'd done nothing up to this point- there's lots to be done. We've picked out furniture, painted, pulled up carpet/laid laminate flooring, and made some BIG messes!! 

We've also tried to get in all the fun couple things we'll have to put on the back burner for a couple of weeks months. We went to see Billy Joel (What an awesome show! He's a fabulous performer!), saw Wizard of Oz on stage, saw Hillsong United in concert, been eating at all the nice restaurants we like, etc.

The final floor product. It looks so good!

As far as the pregnancy goes- everything is still going very smoothly! The ole blood pressure is still normal, I'm feeling good, and I still have ankles! 

My belly shot...

Day 5: Final day

For our last day in Paris we were limited on activities because lots of things were closed for New Year's day. We went back down to the Eiffel Tower to see it up close. The line for the elevator was probably about 2-3 hours long, so we decided that this view was good enough. Plus, with the wind, we could only imagine how frigid it was at the top. 

After the Eiffel Tower, we went to the Musee d'Orsay- this is my absolutely favorite museum in Paris. Well, maybe anywhere. I'm a huge fan of impressionism and they have the best collection. Unfortunately, there's no photography inside so I have no pics of my favorite pieces. 

The coolest view... Looking out through one of the clocks and there was a perfect view of 

Sacre Coeur on Montmartre. 

Same view from a window down the hall.

We walked down the Champs Elysees one last time. Most stores were closed because it was New Year's Day. (Definitely unlike here in the States.) But I did get my awesome giant cotton candy. 

It was a great ending to a wonderful trip. The next morning, we had a fabulous 10 1/2 hour flight home. We had to fly all the way up over Greenland due to bad headwinds. There was lots of Tetris playing and TV watching- and no sleep. 

Day 4: Epernay & Champagne!

What better way to spend New Year's Eve day than by checking out where some of the finest bubbly comes from- the cellars of Moet & Chandon. When a dear friend recommended doing a champagne cellar tour- I had to research to check out the possibility. And lo and behold- it was a short and relatively cheap train ride away. Yippee! 

A shot from the train. Beautiful countryside...

Epernay is such a quaint, pretty village in north eastern France, right smack in the middle of champagne country. We got there with a little time to spare before our tour. So we grabbed some yummy lunch (more croque monsieurs and fries mmm...) and walked around town. Of course, being in small town France- everything was closed for the lunch hour. Oh well... 

It didn't take much to find the champagne house. 

A statue of the Dom... 

When we went downstairs for our tour- it was rows and rows of bottles. All 3 levels of the cellars take up about 23 km. It was amazing... including all of the magnums of Dom Perignon. 

A chandelier made of champagne flutes... Tres cool. 

Those are some big bottles... 

After the tour- of course there was a tasting! 

After our tour we took the train back to Paris. We cleaned up and went off towards the Eiffel Tower to hunt for somewhere to have dinner. We got lucky and found a delicious cafe/bistro.  In our quest to have lots of "authentic" French cuisine- Mike ordered some escargot. And for dessert, we had French toast- or just toast. It was sooo yummy!! 

After dinner, we walked the few short blocks toward the Eiffel Tower. When we got near, it was crazy- there were police in riot gear all set up. Made me a little nervous- but better to be prepared I guess. Luckily, there were no problems when we were down there, other than the huge crowd trying to get back onto the metro after the new year. 

We found a good little spot right across the street from the tower on the river. All they have at midnight is the lights show that they do every hour every other night, but it was still cool. 

Starting the New Year off :0) 

Love that we got to start 2014 beneath the Eiffel Tower. There were no fireworks, :( but it was definitely a once in a lifetime event. 

Day 3: Eurodisney!!

La Grande Arche de la Defense. This was right outside our hotel. I've been into this arch since high school. Yet, we never went inside to go to the top. Oh well... next time. ;)

Since we got so much sightseeing done Sunday, we had some free time on our hands to figure out what we wanted to do on Monday. After checking out the metro map, we discovered that Disneyland Paris was just a metro ride away. Woo hoo! 

Seeing as how I can't ride any rides, we decided to just walk around Disney Village, which is like Downtown Disney- shops and restaurants. It was sooo cold, but fun none the less. From what I gathered- they have pretty much the same rides as Disney World. As you can see- there's the Tower of Terror. 

We ate lunch at a cute little German themed restaurant. Yummy food- awfully slow service. But, we didn't have anywhere to get- and again it was cold outside- so what the hey!

The restaurant from upstairs. 

When we returned to our room later that evening, we had a nice bottle of wine waiting for us. Can't wait til March when we open it and make our trip last that much longer. 

We just had dinner at the brasserie at the hotel. Like I said, it was COLD! Fun day!