A GreatHouse Wife

I have so much this year that I am thankful for.

My wonderful, hardworking, supportive, loving husband. He is always there for us & always working hard so we can have the life we want. He never gives up with what he wants. He has pushed me to follow my own goals with grad school & is just an awesome dad to Greyson, & I know he will be just as awesome with little miss.

This silly blueberry loving, giggly, loving, smart little guy! He brings so much love & laughter into our family & is constantly teaching us what's really important in life. He helps us slow down & learn more about ourselves every day. He is such a crazy mix of both of us & some days I am just amazed at the things he does & has learned for a 2.5 year old!

And of course little miss! Although she isn't here yet & we don't know her, she is very much loved already. She loves to dance when mommy is listening to Christmas music or ready for bed, she liked grape juice & keeping mommy awake all the time.

Our family who has always supported us no matter where we end up. The military has taken us to faraway places & we can always count on them to be there with us through thick & thin, helping us & doing all they can for us.

Our wonderful house that we've been given the ability to buy & make our own in these last few months. We spend so much time here, working, living & making memories that will last a lifetime. I am already excited for the new memories we've made & that I know are coming in the future.

And of course great friends, both near & far. We've made friends in so many places who are now all over the world. We may not talk every day since we are all so busy, but we have so many people who've been by our sides in good times & bad, shared laughs & cries, and just created a lasting impression on our hearts.

It's been a great year with lots of changes & even bigger ones headed our way. We are all geared up to enjoy our first winter, Christmas, New Years & so much more, including birthdays & babies, in the coming months.

But for now, nesting has begun & I am fighting every urge to put together little Miss's furniture to work on a loooong paper I've been putting off far tooo long. It's freezing outside so movies, coffee & theory papers are in the forecast for the day.

Hopefully I will make the time to get a bump picture & make an update many weeks late.

Happy Saturday!

We have cars on trucks on trains and so much more around here! If it has wheels, it's awesome in Greyson's book these days. Whether big or small, if it moves & has wheels, he has to have it in his hands 24/7.

I rarely leave the house anymore without at least 2 matchbox cars on me because when things get crazy, they can instantly calm him down. Of course, he has his favorites & wants to always keep them in his pockets, since we showed them that they fit perfectly.

He is so obsessed that he can point out many kinds of construction vehicles every time we see one, which is often since we live in a new development & they're building new houses in the lots behind ours. So our breakfast conversations go a little like this: "Mommy! Look at that digger! He's in the dirt! Where's bulldoze'?"

Oh & can't forget about cars. He has to touch every car we walk past in a parking lot & knows probably 5 or so car brands just by looking at them!

Needless to say, he is a full-on boy loves trucks kind of guy. He has some more coming his way when Christmas arrives & we just know he is going to love them.

The final leg of the countdown to Halloween is here! I cannot believe it is over already & it is November! I can't complain too much - I love the holiday season & all the goodness coming very soon!

We went to Boo at the Zoo at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo this year! It's not a thing they do in Germany so we've never been able to go & since daddy was going to miss legit trick or treat, we had to go! So we got Greyson all ready & despite his unamused look, he loved being Batman!

He loves his pumpkin bucket & was so thrilled to carry it around. He said "Trick or treat" to everyone at the tables & was very grateful for every piece of candy.

And of course one of his showing his muscles, like daddy taught him to do before we went!

And in case you needed validation that toddlers are awesome, Greyson & his little friend Hunter who joined us rocked out when we were all done & got a little crazy with their muscle showing!

And of course, we rounded out October with Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. We joined our friends & their group of friends with 8+ kids and ventured up & down the streets gathering candy. Greyson was so excited to wear his costume again & excitedly went up to every house.

He kept up his "trick or treat" saying skills & was so polite with his "Thank you... Hap'a Hal'weeeen!" once leaving every house. And he felt the need to check out his loot after every single house. It took a lot for me to get him to leave each house, but the promise of more trick or treat worked!

So the moment we've been waiting to share is finally here with adorable pictures!

It's a Girl! Yep, baby Greathouse #2 is a girl! Found out at my appointment on Tuesday & anxiously had to keep the secret until I could tell Greg since he wasn't able to make the appointment with me. That didn't stop me from buying an adorable set of onesies at Target upon leaving the doctor's office!

So happy she cooperated this time around! I have had a feeling for awhile, as have Greg & many family members! It hasn't quite set in yet I don't think! I am beyond excited, but all I've known is little boys recently so it's almost weird to know for sure that this little one is a girl & things are going to be so crazy!

She doesn't yet have a name! We have a list in progress of ones we like, but decided not to work too hard narrowing down until we found out. So now we have our work cut out for her! I do know, we won't be sharing the name until little miss is born! So stay tuned!

I love both of these pictures so couldn't help sharing both of them! My friend Brooke is such a good photographer! She captured the announcement just as I imagined!

Whoa buddy! 23 weeks already! The last few have flown by fairly quickly along with the whole month of October! Crazy to think it's almost 3rd trimester time!

How far along: 23 weeks

Gender: Just found out today!! Have a cute way to share coming soooon!

Weight gain: 11 lbs. Although that was before Halloween & the mass amounts of candy I snuck over the weekend!

Maternity clothes: Yep! I love comfy clothes & live in my leggings almost always!

Stretch marks: Not yet! & hopefully none at all!

Belly button in or out: In

Sleep: Not too bad these days. I toss & turn a bit. Plus baby is always having a dance party when it's time to sleep which keeps me up longer than I plan

Best moment this week: Finding out the gender!

Worst moment this week: Busy days at work & lots of school work on top of parenting at home alone for awhile is exhausting!

Miss anything: Oh my, wine! So much wine! Especially during these stressful weeks!

Movement: All the time now! Usually when I am trying to sleep but I can't say I hate it!

Cravings: Hashbrowns, apples, peppermint white chocolate.. nothing good for me obviously

Queasy or sick: Not really any more!

Looking forward to: Sharing the gender!

I made the mistake today of walking into Target to grab specific things & saw their holiday decorations all over the place! Oh em gee! The $1 or $3 section had me dying! Good thing I get paid in a couple of days. Very surprised with my self-control however since I walked out with only the things I went in for. Go me! #goingbackforitall

With our anatomy scan coming up tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to put together a list of the common wives' tales regarding gender of the baby. I have feelings towards both genders so I don't have a definitive guess myself, but I'm curious to see what anyone thinks about what we're having!

Morning Sickness: Yes No

Heartbeat: High Low

Cravings: Sweets Salty

Sleeping Side: Right Left

Appearance: Less than normal Better than normal

Clumsy or Graceful: Graceful Clumsy

Frequent Mood: Moody Pleasant

Chinese Gender Calendar: Girl Boy

Headaches: Normal More Often

There is it! The wives' tales point more toward a girl but they obviously aren't always right!

I can't wait to know & share the news!

Share your vote with me & see if you were right very soon!

So the CDC does a Parent Involvement Day every month for the kids. The parents are invited to do some activity with them & just spend time in their school environment. I've only been to a few just because I sometimes do not find out about them until it's too late & end up having to work during it.

But this month, I found out early & was able to request to work in the morning so I was off with plenty of time to go hang out with my little guy! Cookies, apple cider & a pumpkin hunt! They had me at the cider!

So the kids & parents enjoyed some cookies with apple cider for their snack time. Greyson chose chocolate chip but spent the whole time licking off the homemade cream cheese frosting instead of eating the cookie.

And after snack, everyone headed outside to the playground where the teachers & staff had scattered a bunch of little pumpkins all over for the kids to pick out. Everyone was allowed 2 pumpkins & of course Greyson grabbed the first 2 he saw & was ready to go! I managed to convince him to "hunt" for more just because he loves pumpkins.

And of course his sweet teacher took a picture of us to show off one of our pumpkins!

It was such a fun afternoon activity with him. I miss the days when we were home together all day & I could do things like this whenever we felt like. So I try as hard as I can to make it to anything he has going on so I don't miss out on fun stuff, since work & school keep pulling me in separate directions & keep me occupied so much.

So off to enjoy this Sunday Funday watching the Browns play & trying to work on a paper due later this week!

Finally part 2 of our Halloween/Fall countdown! With Halloween tomorrow, I figured I should probably share more! So here's what we've been up to the last couple of weeks!

Parent Day at school! The parents were invited to enjoy cookies & cider then there was a pumpkin "hunt" aka pumpkins scattered all over the playground, for the kids to gather! So fun!

We watched our friends little girl one Sunday afternoon & it was the perfect opportunity to paint the little pumpkins we got at the parent day. I set both the kids up with paints & a pumpkin & let their imaginations run! Always fun watching kids do crafts to see how they think about everything! It was such a fun activity for everyone!

And of course Halloween isn't complete without carving pumpkins! Greyson was so amazed by them & loved watching us carve them up. I even got him to "help" me carve a face in his little pumpkin! And he kept pointing out the pumpkin seeds every 15 seconds! He really liked it & I sort of wish we had more pumpkins to do it again!