14 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 14 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby B is the size of an apple

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Have no idea.  Go to doctor next week.

Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing my normal dresses (which I prefer) but wear maternity shorts and pants.  Don't like anything tight around the waist.

Gender: Can't wait to find out!

Movement:  I think I felt the baby this week when I was laying on my side!

Sleep: I sleep pretty good!  Just a little tired around 2 or 3pm

What I miss: jogging, but I am walking every day instead.

Cravings: tons of fruit, egg sandwiches, orange juice

Best Moment this week: wondering if I really felt the baby

Canaan Valley Resort, West Virginia

Situated in one of the most scenic and tranquil settings in the Mid-Atlantic – with unlimited recreation and family-focused activities - Canaan Valley Resort in West Virginia is a four-season destination providing the perfect escape from the pressures of daily life. Fifteen miles long by three miles wide, Canaan Valley is the highest mountain valley east of the Rocky Mountains, with a base elevation of 3,100 feet. Canaan Valley Resort is nestled on a plateau overlooking the valley, offering sweeping views of the surrounding peaks.

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Last weekend we headed for Canaan Valley Resort which is owned by the West Virginia State Parks.  It's 3 hours from Arlington and the best part is that you are up in the mountains so the temperature is about 10 degrees cooler!  We went for 2 days and 1 night.   I would use the term "resort" loosely because this place is much more relaxed and "campy" than say a Four Seasons.  There are tons of hiking trails, mini golf or a round of real golf on their beautiful course, indoor/outdoor swimming, a nature center, tennis courts, chair lift to the top of the mountains, tubing, etc.  It's also very popular in the winter and would be a good place for William to learn to ski.  All in all, it is a great family destination with breath-taking views of the mountains.  And the leaves were turning too which would make even Norman Rockwell jealous.

Road trips through VA are one of my most favorite things of living out here.  It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL to drive through the countryside on  the dirt back roads.  You pass through some OLD OLD towns, some ghostly and some that you know were adorable during their hay day.  The buildings are falling down, the architecture is incredible, and the farmland stretches as far as your eye can see.  It's just fun for me to daydream about living in the 1800s in one of these tiny towns.  Anyways, we drove through Moorefield, West Virgina and the town was having their heritage festival to raise money for the Moorefield school and it's band.  So we stopped.  We bought a fresh squeezed lemonade, a few fried oreos, and toured the home spun craft fair in the gym.  We hope our $5 contribution helps out the Moorefield Yellow Jackets!

William was desperate to participate in the tractor display too.  So, we let him climb all over them for awhile and he pretended he was a Moorefield farmer.  

Once at the resort we settled into our room and geared up for mini golf.  Dan was in charge of keeping score but failed at this duty.  Of course William loves mini golf and got a real kick out of watching his ball roll down the various traps and pop out onto the turf.   

We also went for a short hike along the trails in the hopes of spotting the resort's resident beaver.  We didn't see the beaver, but we did get to see his dam.  

Dan found a fun little spot for dinner Saturday night.  We drove into the neighboring town of Thomas for a family fun night at The Purple Fiddle.  The Purple Fiddle Cafe, Brews and Stage is a family-friendly and non-smoking music venue and deli-style restaurant. They are located in the old DePollo General Store in the beautiful Allegheny mountains. Every week, and always on Friday and Saturday nights, the Purple Fiddle presents professional, touring acts. The music lineup is diverse: old-time, bluegrass and traditional bands, rock n' roll, jazz, funk, reggae, old-country, blues, Celtic, folk, and even Latin bands.  We grabbed a bite for dinner and got to hear the band practice for their show.  However, we left before it really got rockin'.  

We woke up on Sunday and had a great breakfast before heading back home.  We did make a pit stop at the Dolly Sods for a quick little hike and a moment to take in the views.  William made a few paper airplanes (see picture above) and was excited to launch them in the great outdoors.  Our little get away was great fun and the perfect place to spend a relaxing weekend.

The Barron Family is hot off the press!

I have been stewing over the possibility of turning our blog into a personal book.  I did a little research on it, and then met a girl who had published her blog book with great success.  I got to see it up close which made all the difference! So, I decided to try it out by publishing the first "year" of my blog - April 2008 through December 2008.  

It came in the mail today and I COULD NOT BE MORE PLEASED!  It's wonderful and such a treasure!  I so happy to have a permenant record of our little life with William.  I am so impressed with the process that I am going to order 2009 and 2010 soon.  

Eastern Market and Navy Museum

Saturday morning Dan had the brilliant idea to head down town to Eastern Market, a D.C. flea market, to feast on their famous blue buck pancakes and explore the Navy museum.  So we headed out early because the line for blue bucks can be 30 minutes long if you get there after 8:30ish.  Luckily, we were there in time to wait only 15 minutes.  Totally worth it.  Delicious!

Afterwards, we headed to the Navy yard to explore their impressive museum.  I wish we had a much more patient kiddo with us because there was SO MUCH to read and it was very interesting.  William was great, but like any youngster, "you've seen one ship, you've seen them all."  However, don't be discouraged.  We did find an airplane exhibit in the museum and that of course made the trip worth it to Pilot Barron. 

The real  show stopper was the U.S.S. Barry, Navy destroyer.  It is docked out on the Potomac and you can climb aboard for a tour.  William thought this was very cool.  He really liked winding in and out of all the tiny nooks and crannies within the bottom of the ship. 

A great Saturday morning outing for us! 

He is Faithful, Abundant and True

blessed beyond measure.  

an answered prayer.

great joy is coming March 25, 2011. 

Long distance

William and I were riding along in the car today and this was our conversation.

William:  "May May (or Mom Mom on most days), I need to use the telephone and call Jesus."

Me:  "Well that is so nice.  Why do you need to call Jesus?"

William:  "I need to tell him thank you."

Me:  "Thank you for what?"

William:  "Thank you for me!"

WBB makes lasagna

I was banging around in the kitchen when my pint size chef came in asking me if he could make dinner.  Why not?  It was on my "to do" list anyway.  So, we set up shop on the counter top and William prepared lasagna.  His favorite part was spreading the cheese and breaking up the pasta to fit inside the pan.  Job well done WBB!

Chef William and his 4 Step Lasagna Dinner:

Oklahoma adventures

We had a great 3 week trip to OKC to visit our families, friends and soak up some down time.  For as long as we were away, I didn't end up taking a ton of pictures.  It's not like we were running a mile a minute, but since I was on vacation, my camera was on vacation too and unless I remembered to pull it out, I just didn't obsess about snapping a ton of pictures.  However, I will post the best ones I got!

William enjoyed being "home" with his grandparents and all the toys in their houses!  He got to spend time playing with Bubba and Gram (dan's parents) and digging through all of dada's old toys from when he was a little boy.  Yes, there were airplanes in the mix! 

The first Saturday we were in town, my parents and the 3 of us went to Tulsa to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.  It was great!  The museum is the perfect size for ages 3 and up.  William got to fly airplanes on the computer simulator, climb into a fighter jet, push buttons on the air traffic control desktop and so much more.  He LOVES seeing the model commercial airliners so he spent a great deal of time looking into the glass cases at all of the old fashioned American Airlines planes.  Before we left, he bought a space shuttle t-shirt that glows in the dark.  awesome.

We met several of my old friends at the park and William got the chance to play with their kids.  He even remembered several of them which I always find amazing since we are only in town a few months out of the year.  He had a blast running, sliding, climbing, jumping, and digging in the sand.  We also met a friend at the Bounce House for a morning of bouncing our boys!  William LOVES going there and he was delighted to remember Jack, one of his favorite Okc buddies!

One special Saturday, my dad (Pops) took William on a trip to Tinker Air Force Base to tour the hangars full of fighter jets.  One of my dad's patients works at Tinker and he was kind enough to meet them in 100 degree heat for a few hours on the grounds.  My dad said William used impeccable manners while talking to John and asked hundreds of technical questions which John thought was quite impressive for a 3 year old!  Way to go William!  Thanks Pops for making our little guy's dreams come true!  You are the best Pops we know!

We also got to love on our favorite Baby Elin, my brother's daughter.  William LOVES her and Elin just beams when she sees William.  She loves him too.  They are so sweet together and William taught her how to fly airplanes around the house, so this became a favorite activity for both kiddos!  They also played in the hose together and threw a pajama party.  Rockin' times with the tots.

We also spent a wonderful afternoon with Meme.  Meme is William's great grandmother (my mom's mom).  Trivia -I had the chance to pick W's bday (scheduled c-section) and I never hesitated for Feb. 7th because I thought it would be so fun for my favorite Meme and my son to share their birthdays.  So these two clowns are February 7th soulmates!  Meme is 88 years old, an avid swimmer who does water aerobics every morning, loves cookies, has a sharp wit, gets on the floor to roll around with the kids, plays bridge and could give you a run for your money on her energy level.  She rocks and she's 88 years young.  She and my grandpa Mac (90 and equally impressive) are incredible dancers too.  Amazing.  You should really see them in action.

We also went to Hanston Kansas during our trip to OKC.  William got to visit his Gram's birthplace and meet tons of aunts, uncles and cousins whom he'd never met.  This trip will be in a different post with many pictures!  So stay tuned.

To wrap up our vacation, my sister Rachel came into town over Labor Day weekend.  William got to trick her with the whoopee cushion and spend many a moment flying airplanes with her.  Thanks for coming home Rachie! 

First Day of School - SUCCESS!

What I gathered from the first day -

1.  Wore his fast tennis shoes so he could climb up the rock wall and go down the biggest slide
2.  Ate crackers for a snack and could have either orange juice or water.  He picked water because he only likes milk and water.
3.  Played with the airplanes and made a real airport and shared millions of airplanes with the other kids.
4.  Cried just a little because he couldn't pick the story for today but maybe another day or the next day after that.
5.  The play kitchen has lettuce and a telephone.
6.  He sat by Mrs. Young and "some girl" at snack time.
7.  He went to the bathroom all by himself.
8.  He had the longest school day of all the schools but can't wait to go tomorrow!
9.  Didn't go to music or library today
10. So glad I brought him some lunch because he was so hungry after playing with all those kids and running around.
11.  Went into the wrong classroom but used his listening ears and got out.

12.  Put candles in his play dough like a real birthday cake.

Grace Episcopal School Open House

Today was William's open house day for Grace Episcopal School.  It's a small private school in Alexandria with grades preschool - 5th.   William is one of 22 kids in the preschool and he'll go every day from 8:30am until noon.  Tomorrow is the first official day of school.

On the way there I explained that today was not going to be a play day at school but rather a day to see the room, meet his teachers, and tour the library, playground etc.  It was only going to last 1 hour and I was going to stay the whole time.  He was fired up and excited to see all the new kids in his class.

When we got there, he raced inside without hesitation and took a seat on a carpet square by his teacher, Mrs. Young.  She asked everyone their name beginning with William and he spoke right up and said, "My name is William Bradley Barron and I love Americans!"  I busted out laughing and explained to everyone in the room that he loves American Airlines.  It was funny, but William didn't crack.  He just said, "yea, I love American Airlines."

Mrs. Young talked to the kids about their day and everything that was going to happen tomorrow.  William remembered that she has a set of airplanes and tons of blocks.  However, all the toys, markers, play dough, books, etc. were missing from the room.  This was on purpose since today was more of a "see the school day" without those fun distractions.  William said, "Excuse me Mrs. Young.  Where are all the books and the toys.  Are we going to play today?  I am ready."  Mrs. Young told him that the toys were gone for the day, but tomorrow they would fill the shelves like magic.  William was totally let down.  He hung his head and made a bee line for me and loudly and sadly said, "Mom Mom, they don't have any toys here for us!"  Everyone chuckled and he cried into my shoulder softly.  I reassured him that tomorrow there would be tons of toys.  The assistant teacher came over and also talked to William about all of the colorful activities that he'd get to do in the morning.  After a second, William put on his brave face and headed back to the circle with the other kids.

We toured the chapel, music room, indoor rec room (big room used for events and play when it rains), and the library.  The librarian sang the kids a song and explained that she would see them upstairs on Wednesdays.  William piped right up and said, "What's upstairs?"  She told him the music room.  Then she said that she'd see the children 3 days a week.  William said, "Excuse me.  What about day 4?"

We returned to the classroom where the kids got their school bags and wrapped up their visit.  I never thought William would be so outspoken!  He was the most talkative kid in the whole bunch.  It was really fun to stand back and watch him follow Mrs. Young's directions and interact with the other kids.  I could see his spirit just glowing and his love for school and friends.  I am so thankful.  I COULD NOT have asked for a better trial run.  To think I was so nervous that he wouldn't like it or concerned that he'd freak out at the door before going inside without me........I am so thankful!  

I will admit it was certainly a proud mommy moment for me.  I felt so fulfilled as a parent just watching William use his manners, holding his buddy's hand, listening to adults, and showing his excitement for what the future holds.   I felt like everything his dada and I have taught him just shined in that moment.  As I always tell him, he is indeed my very best boy.

Back to business

Greetings!  If you are still reading this, we are back in Virginia.  Our trip to Oklahoma was wonderful, filled with family, friends and just some good ol' fashioned down time.  

William and I arrived home this afternoon and Dan left this morning for Europe.  He's attending an energy conference for 8 days in Germany and Spain.  So, I am running the Barron house solo - AND IT IS THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!  I feel slightly disorganized as well as a little nervous.  

This is William's first year at a new school and as it has gotten closer to "game day," I have found myself just praying that he loves it, that we made the right decision to switch him and that his first day is a positive bundle of fun!  Actually, I know he'll  like it very much, but as the mom you just want to protect your baby forever.  I am sure my anticipation is heightened slightly by the fact that Dan is across the ocean and unable to be a part of this week.

Needless to say, I am going to be busy the next couple of days.  I hope to post about our trip as well as the first day of school.  But for now, I need to unpack, find some food, and get reacquainted with my life in DC!  

Stay tuned for updates!