This pregnancy has been really tough on me.  I can’t say that I will miss being pregnant.  In fact, I am very excited that this is my last month of ever being pregnant!  I have been under an immense amount of stress over the past few weeks.  Realizing that I only have a few more weeks to ensure that my students are ready for second grade has my blood pressure rising.  I hate that I have to leave them for the last few weeks of school, but my family has to come first.  This past weekend was even more stressful as I had to say goodbye to a student who bravely fought cancer for the past 14 months.  I grew very close to her and her family and it has been one of the hardest weeks of my life.

When I found out that April is Stress Awareness month, I knew I needed to do something little for myself.  Taking time to de-stress is important.  A lot of the time I let things build up inside me and then I just snap!  I wanted to make sure that I try to calm myself down and forget that last night we had water dripping from our ceiling and running down into the basement.  So what is a better way to de-stress then with a nice sundae?

I recently went to Walmart to shop for everything I needed to make my family a great tasting sundae using TCBY frozen yogurt.  You can see pictures and read all about my trip on my Google+ page (I would love to add you as a friend while your there).  I knew that I would need supplies to make three different sundaes.  My son loves M&M’s, I was craving Oreo cookies, and my husband is becoming a health nut and so he would want some fresh fruit.

I remember TCBY when I was a child.  I was happy to see that they have gotten a facelift.  It took me by surprise at the grocery store, but after I tasted it, I knew it was the same as my childhood.  I also love that frozen yogurt is so much more healthy for you than ice cream.  After all, who can relax and de-stress thinking about how bad the ice cream is for you?

I made my son some vanilla bean with some M&M’s after dinner.  The verdict:

It was love at first bite… of course!

I love to relax in bed with my computer and a snack.  Here I am this week, 36 weeks pregnant:

I love relaxing without makeup on, in my pajamas with my TCBY.  I can honestly say that this was the highlight of my weekend.  I wish I didn’t have to go back to work tomorrow, but I do know that I have a little bit more frozen yogurt in the freezer to help relax after the long day!

Be sure to follow TCBY on facebook and Twitter for updates and more information on some fantastic frozen yogurt.  And be sure to take time to relax this month!

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are 100% mine.

I had Spring Break this week (thank goodness) and wanted to switch our room with the kids’ room.  We live in a very small house with only two bedrooms and ours was the larger room.  Since the kiddos need to share a room until we move, we wanted them to have the bigger space.  I thought a week was plenty of time to do it…  I guess I didn’t account for my moody behavior and lack of motivation!

I am not a very pleasant pregnant women these days.

Yesterday I burst into tears when my husband asked me to put my shoes away.  And then I was mad at him for hours afterwards.

My back aches constantly.  I can’t sit in one spot for more than 5 minutes.

I can’t breathe.

I waddle.

At my doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, I learned that I am going to get one more ultrasound.  While most women would be excited about this, I was a little bummed because I feel like there is something else besides this fibroid that I should be worried about.  I mean, I have had about 8 ultrasounds this pregnancy.  My doctor keeps assuring me that everything looks great, but I still wonder.  I think I am paranoid.

After this one, I am done being pregnant.  I am grateful I can have babies, but this is it!

Then I look through TJ’s baby pictures and I am reminded why I am doing this:

Rant Over!

Note to Readers: This conversation did take place on Friday.  It is a true story and I am not recreating anything for the purpose of drama! 

Man: “My goodness, you must be due any day now!”

Me:  “Well, actually I have 2 months left.”

Man:  “Really, how much weight have you gained?  You look like you can go at any moment!”

Me:  (Starting to see where this conversation is headed and not liking it one bit!)

“I have gained only about 20 pounds.”

Man:  “How much did you gain with your last pregnancy?”

Me: “Over 40.” (Not that any of this is your business, but I am trying to be polite)

Man:  “You should monitor yourself. My wife only gained 30 with our triplets.”

ZING!

I decided to eat lunch in my classroom instead of the lunchroom and cry over my egg salad sandwich. I know many women who struggle with image issues at 8 months pregnant, I never thought I would be one of them!  A huge thank you to my husband who listened to my crying on the phone and said that the man was a *&@#!

Not that I am proud of it, but sometimes I have to take the long way home or hit traffic on purpose.  My day is long.  It starts at about 6 in the morning as I get ready for work and then wake TJ up and get him ready for preschool.  We leave the house at 7, I drop him off and get into work at about 7:30.  My students and I are together from 8 until they get on the bus at 2:30.  I then have an hour to prepare for the next day (or have a meeting, which is seeming to happen a lot these days).  Then I tutor students in grades 1 and 2 until 5:30.  Basically I am with kids from 7 until 5:30.

Here comes the guilt!

TJ goes to bed at 7:30.

If I rush home I have about an hour and a half with him.

But sometimes I just need the peace and quiet of the car to calm me down.  It is the only time of the day where I am alone.  So… sometimes I hit traffic, or go the long way home on purpose, just for an extra couple of minutes to myself.

Does this make me selfish?

We had a lot of fun playing at the pool the other day.  TJ found some water squirts and had a blast playing with them.  The pool, swimming, and time with great friends… this is what summer is supposed to be about!

What fun things have you and your family done this summer?

My son’s current obsession is trains.  He has a train set that he puts together almost everyday and will play with his trains for about an hour at a time.  He loves his “choo choos.”  When I heard that Thomas the Train would be within driving distance of Indianapolis, I knew I had to take the boys.  So, a couple of weekends ago I took TJ and his cousin to Connersville, IN to see Thomas.

We arrived to Connersville with storm clouds overhead and rain in the forecast. Luckily it never did rain on us and we were able to enjoy the train experience.  After a rocky start to the day (a ticket issue that I thought was poorly handled) the boys were really excited to see Thomas.   

While you wait for your turn to ride Thomas there are activities set up for the kids to do.  We saw a magician, a train ride, a play area and other booths that were set up around the area for the kids to participate in.  There was a lot of kids at the event, but they had a lot of activites available so no one was just standing around at the booths.  There was a large line forming to board Thomas when he arrived, so we jumped in line. Due to our hang up at the ticket counter we didn’t really have time to do any of the activities, but the boys didn’t seem to mind.  They only had eyes for Thomas.

A few minutes after we had our tickets in hand Thomas came up the tracks.  The event was running behind schedule so we got a little bit of a late start (only a few minutes) and we boarded Thomas. 

The train ride was about 20 minutes long.  The boys loved watching out the windows and eating their snacks.  They even got a certificate stating that they rode with Thomas The Train!  The conductor that worked on our car was so nice and talked to us about where we were from.  The kids enjoyed him!  My husband and I wished that the scenery was a little more scenic, but the kids didn’t care. The ride was nice and the perfect length of time.  The boys never were bored and they had a lot of fun.

As we left, the boys kept saying goodbye to Thomas and they were so excited they were literally jumping with joy.  After the long day, I was surprised to find the boys laughing and blowing raspberries at each other in the back seat.  This lasted for about 5 minutes before…

… total exhaustion kicked in. The event was exciting for the boys.  I was happy just watching their faces as Thomas rolled in.  I would highly recommend bringing your family to see Thomas we are glad we went.  To find out if Thomas is coming to a city near you be sure to check out the full Thomas The Train Tour Dates.

My family was provided 4 tickets to Thomas The Train for purposes of this review. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am not sure where TJ fell in love with bikes.  One day he starting telling us that he wanted a TJ bike and he kept saying it every day since.  We were looking at getting him a trike, when our neighbors gave us a little bike with training wheels perfect for TJ. He is a little too small to reach the pedals so he loves to push it around the yard and our driveway.  Ever since we got it he has been telling everyone he knows about his “TJ bike”.  We have to get it out of the shed so he can show it off.

As many of you know, I was really sad when TJ’s big boy bed came.  I loved his nursery and I don’t want him to grow up so fast (I think I need another baby in the house).  When the bed came we realized that we would need to update the nursery and make more little boy and not baby boy.  TJ chose robots as his theme, and I found a lot of cute things to go into the room.

Here is an adorable robot night-light we found by doing a basic search online.

We had a lot of fun putting up these Robot Decals. TJ loves telling everyone that “daddy did it.”

Here is his Toddler Bed that we found on Amazon.  It is really cute and matches his furniture very well.

To dress up the bedding, I found some adorable robot pillows on Etsy that I added to his bed.

The result…

… a very satsified little boy who loves to show everyone his “bee bots” room!

To my dad, my husband, and my father in-law. You are all amazing dads and TJ and I are very fortunate to have you in our lives!  WE LOVE YOU!

TJ and Eli have a love/hate relationship.  For the most part TJ loves to terrorize the dog, and he loves TJ’s food.  I am amazed at how much Eli will put up with.  He is so sweet with his little brother that it melts my heart.  Here is a sequence of events that occurred the other morning.

“Hey there Eli!  What are you doing sitting in mommy’s chair?  You look very comfortable.”

“I know, lets play smother the doggie with froggy!”

“You look good in green!”

“Look at what I have to put up with to get a few treats around here!”