April 2013: Babymoon, Big Girl Bed, and Waiting on Baby

In April, Philip and I took the opportunity to get away one last time just the two of us.  Since I like to breastfeed for the first year, we knew it would be awhile before the chance would present itself again.  We strongly believe in purposefully investing in our marriage.  One way we do this is by taking a night or two to travel together without kiddos from time to time.  When we first left Caroline for such a weekend, I felt guilty.  Then we received what I consider to be superb advice from a very godly couple that we know and admire.  They said, "One of the best things you can do for your parenting skills is to invest in your marriage."  Admittedly, this was much easier when we had one kid.  Thankfully my parents live close by and are willing to spoil spend some time with our girls when we ask them to. 

This time we went to Chattanooga.  We love to visit this city!  It is a great place for a family to spend the weekend or just a day.  We have in the past visited the Aquarium, walked around the downtown area, visited the shops and park along the river, experienced a fairly cheesy dinner theater, and enjoyed several great restaurants.  This time we hit an attraction that I haven't seen since childhood, Ruby Falls.  The story of its discovery is interesting, and the hike through the caverns was a lot of fun.  After that, we spent some time walking around the River Walk area (way more time than I thought I could handle at 8 months pregnant, although I did have some mega swollen ankles and leg cramps after).  We got some extraordinary pizza (best gluten free crust I've ever had) made with local ingredients at Lupi's Pizza.  I highly recommend them if you are in the area.  Superb service and food.  We ended the evening with a visit to a local (not-so-gluten-free) bakery, where we made up our own sampler box of mini cupcakes. 

One big event in the Ryle household was the combining of the big girls into one bedroom.  Luisa moved from the crib in the nursery to a big girl bed in Caroline's room.  They were so excited to get to share a room!  The transition was exceptionally smooth.  We were unsure if Luisa would stay in her bed, or talk to Caroline all night, but she settled right down.  In the mornings, they get up and play in their room until a lamp in their room comes on (set on a timer for 6:45).
 

Both of them trying it out

Big Sis tucking in Little Sis

So excited to be a big girl!

The newly vacated nursery then got a makeover.  We painted the walls grey, and my mom and I began working on the bedding for the baby of unknown gender.  I chose navy and lime as the main colors, and planned to throw in hot pink if it was a girl.  I'll do a full nursery reveal later (it still lacks finishing touches).

All four of us were getting excited to meet The Baby.  The pregnancy was going very smoothly.  I was leaning a little more toward thinking I was having a boy.  I could tell the baby was bigger than Caroline had been, and much stronger.  These kicks were actually painful at times, unlike my first pregnancy.   Caroline really wanted a brother this time, and his name was to be Freddy.  (A baby sister would be Sally.)  I really enjoyed not knowing the gender!  It seems so counter to my planning nature, but I would totally go that route again.

One month to go!