Las Vegas Showtime

We started the day taking a picture of Harrah's. Las Vegas is hands down a giant grown up Disney World. It is theatrical, spectacular, and created to impress on the outside and the inside.



Inside of Cesar's Palace are giant goddesses.


Talking god fountains.


And of course the replica of the colosseum with a perfect Roman sky to match.


We played slots at every casino we entered.


Poseidon sent us luck as we left.


The Bellagio was even more spectacular with the indoor botanical Dutch garden.



Chihuly ceiling sculpture in the lobby.


And of course the infamous fountain show. We saw the classic shows but we were most impressed with the tribute to Michael Jackson.



A quick visit to Paris to see all the amazing replicas.


In the evening we watched and danced to blues at BB Kings.


Saw the Treasure Island Siren show with grand finale of fireworks.



Luckily we caught the parasol flower color light show at the Winn. We enjoyed another indoor spring garden here.


We finished off the night with the volcano spectacular at our very own Mirage but I missed the picture, so instead we have the self portrait of us with the strip.


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Longest Flight Ever

For our anniversary, for our second baby moon, for a nice trip for my folks, for spring break we decided to go to Vegas. Our connecting flight was through Miami which should have been my first red light when I booked it. Nothing good ever comes from the Miami airport.

The stars didn't quite align for Lydia to take nap which I just assumed she would fall asleep on the plane however there is a difference between a 14 month old on a plane and an 18 month old. A lesson well learned today.

I will also admit that I thought Nevada was in a different time zone which did slightly throw off the timing of things such as I would've never had us arriving at 1 am our time. All things being equal...

Lydia fell asleep in Miami and as we board our flight the airline attendant in hopes of simplifying our experience hoovers over the stroller waking her up. Having slept a total of 5 minutes she started crying and didn't stop for at least an hour. In her entire life she has never cried that long. We were desperately waiting for the plane to take off so the lights would be dimmed and the movement would put her to slept but apparently our plane didn't have any phalanges and it took too long to figure it out because my fairly go with the flow daughter could not stop crying.

Thank God Lil' Kim's doppelgänger was sitting next to us and as I apologized she just said "Girl Don't worry because I have a baby too." that's all she uttered and then put on her glasses which must have taken her to a magical land of oz because she fell asleep as if her luxury coach seat was set to the perfect sleep number. The rest of our neighbors were less understanding.

I noticed through the screaming that Lydia was wet. It was clear because I was all wet too. I changed her right there and then. It was either something else or a diaper malfunction because the diaper was dry. However when the steward came by asking for trash and I had done the magic mommy wrap plus put it in my 2oz water cup he threw a mini fit. Demanding that I should've creating a more suitable barrier between him and a perfectly dry diaper that was wrapped tight inside of a plastic cup whose only additional germs were his when he gave it to me. In my passive aggressiveness I began to day dream leaving several diapers in the seats filled with various items that would cause actual repulsive responses but I did in fact resist.

My folks sat behind us which was both a blessing and a curse. On won hand it was nice to pass Lydia off for a while and full grandparent entertainment. While she was crying I could adapt the "what is wrong with that kid" look for a minute. But the negative is that Lydia, of course thought she could just jump from side to side as she pleased.

It was an exhausting flight. Lydia fell asleep about 30 minutes from our initial decent and sprawled over us which solidified the fact that from now on she will need her own seat. Based on her 18 month well visit she is 25 pounds and 34 inches tall. The doctor predicted she would be 5'7". When I squeezed out to use the restroom the baby in my belly started to move around as if to say "finally I have some room!" Lydia did look super cute laying on our laps.

To top everything off, when we landed after we taxied over half of las Vegas everyone pops up per the norm to get their overhead items and the guy next to me actually after 6 hours of insanity with a screaming toddler attempted to battle me for which side of the row was to exit first. I about went Cuban ninja on him.

Las Vegas looks spectacular. It took Lydia very little to go to actual sleep and they have real cribs here at the Mirage which helps for her comfort. I had Charlie horses all night which was led to this early wake time but I'm thankful for the chance to blog. I look forward to a morning buffet of some sort and a day exploring the wonder of Sin City!

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Gender Bender

Yesterday I received the most miraculous news that I in fact passed swimmingly all 4 tests of my glucose testing which really had me walking on clouds because based on previous experience it seemed like such an unlikely result. G2 heart beat was strong and pumping loudly. My midwife and I chatted lovingly because she is amazing, then I made the appointment to have my 20 week ultrasound and find out the gender of baby Gaurkee II.
I can't believe it but in just about two weeks we will know whether this little one is a girl or a boy. People always ask which one we are hoping for and to be honest we are both honestly excited for either. On one hand we are set up for a girl. We have saved a ton of clothes just in case we had another girl. We have girl toys and girl decor and we are girl ready. All the women in my life that have sisters, gush at the thought that Lydia would have a sister close in age so they can be the best of friends growing up in between pulling each others hair out.

On the other side, a boy would be nice. We have absolutely love the experience of having a daughter and it would be fun to have a son as well. We each could have the relationships of mother daughter father daughter/ father son mother son. Lydia could also be the best of friends with a brother and they can learn things from each other from an alternative perspective.

Which would be better a sister or a brother? A daughter or a son?

Pregnant Sleep FlipFlop

10:15 PM Go to bed.
10:30 PM Find comfortable position that usually requires 3 pillows, pregnacy pillows, sheet, quilt, and strategic arm placements. Then read various magazines on IPad
11:30 PM Go Pee.
11:35 PM Go back to bed.
12:00 AM Find another comfortable position this time needing only 2 pillows total. Read more on IPad.
12:30 AM Go to kitchen get small snack because tummy is grumbling.
12:35 AM Go back to bed.
12:50 AM Find yet a new and different comfortable position this time needing just the pregnancy pillow.
1:00 AM  Fall Asleep.
2:30 AM Wake up. Go Pee.
2:35AM Go back to bed.
3:00 AM Desperately can not find another comfortable way to sleep, so flipflop from one side of the bed to the other. My head is now where my feet are and my feet where my head is. All pillows back on deck.
3:05 AM Fall alsleep
4:45 AM Wake up terribly uncomfortable. Sip some water.
4:50 AM Flip back the other way use only regular pillow. Fall back asleep.
6:50 AM Alarm goes off.

Toddler Art Day!

The weather report had originally stated that the rains were coming with an 80% chance of rain beginning at 3am and not ending until at least the early evening. When we woke up this morning it was grey overcast outside so I planned a hunker down sort of day thinking that since the outside was going to be covered with water we could play inside. It was Toddler Art Day!

Sparkle Bottle: I had Lydia fill the bottle about half way with large sparkles and pom poms which she loved. It was likely her favorite thing all morning. Then I filled it up with water and but the lid back on it. She shook that thing silly. The inspiration was from Pinterest.

Paint with Water:  It must have been over a month ago now, I picked this little book up at Target. It comes with a little water brush that you fill up and the end is a brush. As you paint the picture is uncovered. Lydia really liked it but I had to give her a toddler brush to grab because she smooched the tiny brush pretty fast. I can not decide if it's cool or a cruel trick on kids because once the picture dried completely it disappeared again. Great for reuse I suppose.

Play-Do and Pipe Cleaners: At first we tried to just squeeze the play-do but that was short lived entertainment. Then I shaped a couple of pipe cleaners into circles and Lydia thought this was a great idea. She would made little balls of clay and but them in the circles. We made some faces. She just torn up little pieces and filled the circles. Who knew the fun!

Painting: Lydia really likes to paint. Mostly she likes to blend the colors and occasionally taste the paint to make sure it's still good. This time I got a little smart and put down giant white paper that I have which has a sticky end to it, kind of like a giant post it note. This allowed for an easy tradition to finger painting and helped with her bottom brush strokes.

Finger Painting: She was curious on the feel of the regular paint as any toddler is so she put her hands in it. I thought let's finger paint! So I removed the top picture and put some finger paint on the bottom sheet for her. This time I decided to do one color at a time which I think was better. By the time, I got the camera ready this time she wanted the paint off her hands. It's very sticky stuff.

Coloring: Our cousin gave Lydia the cutest crayons. They can be stack on top of each other and some are in the shapes of little animals. I also have the triangle shaped chunky ones for her. She really enjoyed the sorting of things more than coloring at this point, but it gave me a chance to clean up a little and grade a couple of papers.

The traditional art portion of the day now complete we moved on to tents and tunnels. I put up the pop beach tent and set up the bubble machine my other cousin gave us for my bubble obsessed girl. She thought this was the greatest thing that has ever happened. It was handy for me because the bubble soap was contained and not all over the hardwood which can get very slippery. When the bubbles were finished we played with the soap inside the tent for a bit and then went on to the tunnel which was just elaborate peek a boo.

By this point, it was clear that the weather man was very very wrong. Not a drop of rain had fallen from the sky. It is a little cooler out but really beautiful. Feeling like we should get out of the house for a bit, we took a trip to the craft store. I thought that was appropriate and now we have all new ideas for our next art day!

Pour some Sugar on me!

It's that time again for my sugar testing to begin during this pregnancy. I am 17 glorious weeks and because I was borderline the entire time last pregnancy my midwife suggested that I take the sugar tests sooner. The first one is quick. You drink the flat orange soda stuff and you wait for about an hour. They take a small vial of blood and poof two weeks later the nice nurse calls to tell me that it's necessary to go and spend time with the lovely people at labcorp.

Monday is that day. I put it off until the very last minute but I have my next midwifey appointment on Thursday and thus I had to get it done. Luckily, Eliot will be there with me, waiting patiently to share with me the four hour tour of blood suckage. I drink a very large bottle of the flat orange soda and wait an hour, they take blood. I wait another hour, they take blood. I wait another hour, they take blood. I wait another hour, they take the rest of my blood as the ferocious vampires of the daylight that they are and I wobble out climbing into the car hoping to be infused with food at the very next stop.

Isn't it considered cruel and unusual punishment to keep a pregnant woman without food or drink for a quarter of the waking hours? The thing that gets me is that I am unlikely to pass this test. My people are the poster children for diabetes and the inevitability that my genes will somehow fall out of my body for those 4 hours is also unlikely. It will either determine that I have in fact gone into the dark side or that I am once again on the border. The border determines that I will take a sugar test every single visit of my pregnancy from now until I give birth. It also means I will fast each time. It also means that I will have to miss part of the school day so I can go in the mornings and do these sugar shenanigans.

                                                PS: Lydia can now make her own coffee!