I was watching A Baby Story this morning, and the woman didn't gain one pound while pregnant. In fact, she lost weight. At 9.5 months, she weighed 112 pounds. That is ridiculous. It made me very jealous. In my dreams I will weigh 112 pounds after Layla gets here.

I don't think I can watch that show again. All the mothers-to-be they follow have family all around them. I hate that we won't be in the same state as our families when I go into labor. If we're lucky, one of our parents will be here when she arrives. I miss my family. This past year has been really difficult on me not having family anywhere near us. I want my kids to have the kind of relationship with their "extended" family as I have with my Aunt Judi. I cannot imagine life without her. I hate that our parents, brothers and sisters have to go months without seeing Josiah. And that we have to go months without seeing them. It really sucks. I don't know how people who live this far away from their family for their entire lives do it. I am so glad we will be moving (hopefully) at the end of next year. This year and next will go by fast, right?

Getting Low!

Josiah LOVES dancing! And I mean loves! He will listen to music all day if I let him. I know I shouldn't play him half the music I do, but dance music is so much more fun to listen to. I bought this monkey at Target when we were buying decorations for his birthday. He still hasn't tired of it. I don't know where he learns half of the moves he got, but they are so dang cute! Check it out for yourself... 

Quick questions for pregnant women

I have 2 1/2 more months left in my pregnancy. I am starting to get uncomfortable with this huge mass protruding from my stomach. And my back is starting to hurt a lot after I've been on my feet for too long. I want to continue working out (I have been kickboxing, taking step class, swimming and walking 2 miles) these last 2 months, but can't continue what I'm doing... other than swimming of course. Any suggestions? I'll take them all!

Josiah's sweetness

I asked Josiah to kiss Layla today (he knows she resides in my belly), so he did. Several times. Then he hugged my belly for a good 5 minutes. Not an hour passes and he comes up to my belly and kisses it 10 times, hugging it in between. 30 more minutes go by and he does it again. I really hope he is this sweet to her when she actually arrives. He just has such a loving heart. We are truly blessed. Thank you Jesus for our precious gift!

Colorado

July 7-11 I was in Colorado with my mom, my BFF Laura, and her mom Gayla for Allison's wedding. We had such an amazing time. The weather was un-freaking-believable. 70 degrees every day with light rainfall each day. The 4 of us stayed at a friend's parents' house in Evergreen. Talk about breathtaking! They live in the highest house on the mountain, which means this was our view: 

 I got to spend Thursday with Allison and her family. I hadn't seen her since last June so I enjoyed every second of it! Friday and Saturday were filled with wedding stuff. Being pregnant, in high altitude, driving up a VERY curvy mountain 2 times a day made for a very uncomfortable, vomity (yes, that's a word) time, but it was worth it getting to watch my oldest friend get married. I also got to spend lots of time Laura, my mom and Gayla too! I miss them so much! I needed girl time like you wouldn't believe. I have a couple of close friends in Nashville, but nothing compares to the history and relationships I have back home.

Chris took very good care of Josiah while I was gone. I missed them like CRAZY!!! It will be a long time before I leave them again for that long.

One for the road

Who wouldn't miss this guy??

 Already a Rough Riders fan! We look forward to attending MANY games when we move home.

 Yes, sometimes we give him chocolate for dinner...

He likes to eat mommy and daddy's feet. I don't know where he gets it.

I sure am going to miss my boys while I'm in Colorado for Allison's wedding for the next 5 days. I haven't been apart from Josiah for more than 24 hours, so this will be interesting. I am prepared for crying and the longing sensation of wanting to be with my family... and I'm only going away for 5 days!! Pray for me.

Soap.com

I'm shamelessly plugging soap.com. It's a website that sells various household essentials, health and beauty products. I found it because I was sent a 30% off coupon with a diapers.com purchase. I never pass up a coupon! Especially when it's for something that I need. I'm promoting it because if you spend $39 or more you get free shipping (usually ships in 1-2 business days), their products are about 10-15% cheaper than if you were to purchase the exact same product at a grocery store or CVS/Walgreens type store, and there is NO tax! The Tennessee tax rate is almost 10%, so I figure I am saving at least 20% just by buying their items. What I plan on doing from here on out is purchasing all my household needs (paper towels, kleenex, soap, etc) at the first of the month, for the entire month. That way I won't run out of toilet paper, and more than likely shipping will always be free. The only way I won't do this on a household item is if there is a store coupon and store sale on something I need that will beat the soap.com price.
I just wanted to share this information with you. I have been trying hard to figure out couponing, and sites like these make it a little easier and cheaper :)

Josiah and Layla

We are trying to prepare Josiah for Layla's arrival in September. How one prepares a 16 month old for something like that is... interesting. Chris and I will ask Josiah "where's Layla?" and Josiah will point to my belly. Chris will also talk to my belly very loudly with Josiah standing next to me and Josiah will just laugh. We try and emphasize that Layla is his sister, just like Scott, Mindy, Matthew, Naomi, Carter and Elyse are ours. I'm going to assume he has no idea what we're talking about, but that's okay. Yesterday J and I were hanging out on the couch and I asked him "where's Layla?". He pointed to my belly, like he usually does, but this time said "Yaya". It melted my heart! Of couse I immediately applaused him, sang his praises and kissed him over and over again. With that kind of reaction I expect him to say her name all the time now :) He LOVES being praised (who doesn't, really?). Just thought I'd share that cute story. My son's a GENIUS!

4th of July weekend

I love holiday weekends. I love that Chris gets an extra day with us. And I believe Josiah loves that even more than I do. Like I've said many times before, Josiah is a daddy's boy. Friday after work we went and grabbed dinner at Captain D's (the company that I work for... I'm in the HR department). Josiah had the mac and cheese. Chris took some awesome photos of him eating it, so I'll have to post those later.
Saturday morning Josiah slept in until 915am!! That hasn't happened but 2 or 3 times in the past 10 months. It was awesome sleeping in! We spent the rest of the afternoon at my bosses house swimming and eating hamburgers. Josiah loved every minute of it, and so did we. Now I finally have some color and people might actually believe I'm Cuban.
Sunday we met an old high school friend, Lindsay Roberts, for brunch. It was great catching up with her! I love seeing old friends here in Nashville. It makes me feel like I'm not so disconnected with my Dallas life. Sunday night we went to Logan's Roadhouse. We had 2 filet mignons, an appetizer, and beer for $25! I sure do love coupons and BOGOs. Josiah loved the restaurant! He made several friends with other kids his age. He's quite popular with the ladies :)
Yesterday we just hung out at the house, did some yard work and enjoyed each others company. It doesn't get dark here until around 845pm, so we knew that the fireworks would keep Josiah up, so we tried to put him down at 7. However, we misjudged our redneck neighbors. They started shooting off fireworks at 5pm. Needless to say, Josiah didn't fall asleep until after 1030pm. We went outside to look at them, but they started to scare Josiah, so that was that.
It was a great holiday weekend, but we really missed our friends and family in Dallas. We are ready to come home!! I've come to realize that good friends are hard to find, and nothing beats family. We love and miss you all dearly.

:::A few of Josiah's favorite things:::

 My turtle

 Playing music

 Dancing with my monkey

 Starbucks

 Kisses

 Hugs (specifically with Papu)

 Vacuuming

Shoulder rides

Bath time at the Munselle house

Another Lesson

Although Josiah has done great at non-kid friendly restaurants, he does MUCH better at kid friendly ones. The atmosphere is loud and there are plenty of things to keep him stimulated and entertained. This makes for a happier child and mommy. "Fancy" restaurants are now reserved for date night with the hubs. Those type of places tend to care if your child has explosive diarrhea.

Dear Humans,

Please don't tell me I look tired. I know I do. I don't sleep very well anymore due to the large bulge in my stomach waking me up needing to either go to the restroom or kicking me. If you don't have anything nice to say to a pregnant woman, don't say anything at all!

Sincerely,
Kristine (and the rest of us out there)