October Birthdays!

Well, now that the month is almost over and we're all out of Birthdays to celebrate (for now) I thought I'd kill 8 birds with one stone... well ok, Celebrate 8 Awesome People with one Blog! There, that sounded way less morbid!

October 4th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLY!
Holly was lucky enough to get her own special post, but then mama got busy... but we'll go ahead and say it again!




October 12th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA BILLIE!
My Grandma Billie - my moms mom - is just about the sweetest, strongest person you'll ever meet! She used to tell me all the time when I was a kid "You can have whatever you want!" I mean - who doesn't love that :) Seriously though - My Grandma is the best! As also previously posted - My mom and I drug her around the Downtown Aquarium as a treat for her birthday! I think she had a good time!

Here's a nice pic of me and my gramma from the wedding :)

October 12th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY OMA!
My moms mom and my dads mom both happened to have the same birthday! Weird huh?! Though she is no longer with us, we still say Happy Birthday to this amazing woman! She was practically my second mom growing up - I spent most of my after school time at their house, especially when her and my Opa moved across the street from me and my mom! I have my Oma to thank for my good looks (I look a lot like her), all of the fun Dutch traditions, my love of Marry Poppins (taped from the TV), Jeopardy and Danny Kaye and my affinity for good music, chocolate and cheese!

Hartelijk Gefeliciteerd Oma - We love and miss you!


October 17th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!
Emily is Rob's oldest cousin - daughter of Lise and Alice - and big sis to Beth and Katy! Emily, like most teenagers is into the whole Twilight thing (well, any literature in general), sarcasm and colorgard! She's usually good for a smile too :)

Since I don't have any recent pics of Emily - I stole this old one from Beth's facebook page! She's the one there in the middle... I wish I know what her costume was... it certainly looks like it has a good story!


October 18th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA LIZ!
Nana Liz is Rob's Dad's Mom. Nana Liz makes the best desserts - including this one she made for her Birthday! Don't worry - she didn't have to make dinner too!



October 25th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS!
Pops (Frank) is my mom's dad! Pops is sports loving, outdoor spending, plant growing, hilarious man! We have Pops to celebrate for my red hair (we're the only two gingers in the family), the family's obsession with turtles, our bad habits of "collecting" interesting things, and distaste for loud noises! My favorite thing about Pops these days is his sense of humor. Growing up I don't know if he wasn't funny then, or if I was too young to get the jokes, or if I just didn't notice... nowadays, I'm pretty much guaranteed a laugh every time I visit him!

This pic is actually from my Aunt Cheri's birthday (September) - but Pops is in there too and he's smiling :)

October 25th - HAPPY BRITHDAY JAYDA!
Miss Jayda celebrated her 2nd birthday this past sunday! Jayda is my cousin Bryan's daughter and specially celebrated because she is the Kelly family's first and only Great Grand Baby (until Edie gets here)! And Jayda was lucky enough to be able to share her birthday with her great grandpa Pops! Its really amazing how fast these little ones grow up! Just last year mama and daddy were unwrapping her first birthday gifts - this year, she did it all on her own, said thank you, and kissed her presents! What a cutie!

Yes, she is standing on the table and thats her Daddy there in the second one!

October 27th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARKER!

Parker is Rob's little step-brother. This year we celebrated Parker's 13th birthday with a nice cozy dinner at Benihana! Thank you for having a birthday Parker so a pregnant lady could get some delicious fried rice! Just kidding... but really! Parker is quite the kiddo. Full of energy, interested in just about every thing and we share a love of Haribo Happy Cola! My favorite thing about Parker is how great he is with little kids. He is always there for his little nephew Logan or his little cousin Tanner. Is always willing to help them out in any way and really enjoys spending time with them! I just know he'll be a fantastic uncle to Edie!

I wish I had the pic from Benihana Wednesday night with Logan and Tanner in it - but I don't... So instead here's a good one from Ren Fest last year... its pretty much typical Parker :)

Ok, Well that does it for October! Happy Birthday Everyone! Lots and Lots of Love!!

Cabbage Patch Kid

FINALLY!!! We've made it to the Third Trimester! :)

I am super excited, super anxious, super impatient, and super nervous!!!

I really just cant wait for Edie to be here. Through all of our recent adventures (I know, I still have some blogging to catch up on) I've wished at every one of them that Edie was already here to share in the adventures with us!

I have this feeling that she is going to come early... or maybe its just that I really really really hope that she will come early! So this month the search is on for Day Care, a Pediatrician, and birthing classes :)

Oh right - about the cabbage patch kid!

Tuesday marked 28 weeks - the official beginning of our third trimester :) Let me say that again - its so exciting - THIRD TRIMESTER!!! See that crawling baby up there - that's less than 90 days!!!

Any way - so babycenter.com compares our sweet little girl to a Chinese cabbage... again with ridiculousness... and I jumped ahead a bit and saw that at 30 weeks - she's just a plain ole cabbage... we'll just pretend that sounds cute and call her a cabbage patch kid :) Who didn't love those?!

28 weeks
30 weeks

She weighs in at about 2.25 lbs and measures 14.8 inches from head to toes. Of course this is just an estimate... November 6 (two weeks) we go in for our next ultrasound and should get a better idea of what her actual measurements are! I've still only gained about 5 lbs over all - so it will be interesting to see how much more we both end up growing over the last few weeks!

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I've always thought it was interesting to hear about other prego ladies and what they crave, what their biggest ailments are and how they cope... I thought it might be fun to share what my biggest 'must haves' have been through the months!




:: Chocolate Milk! - this was probably first on the list! Well, its probably always been on any list - there just isn't any thing else as satisfying or delicious or refreshing as chocolate milk. Schepps Chocolate Milk only though :) Yes, I had some this morning!





:: Zyrtec D - Walgreen's brand though. Like all Houstonians I've battled with allergy and sinus issues my whole life. I don't ever remember hearing how much pregnancy effects your sinuses. I stuck with Sudafed for a while - but it just wasn't doing the trick any more - my doc kept telling me to try Zyrtec... I could kick my own ass for how stubborn I was in not trying this sooner. The little morning sickness I did have was directly related to my sinus issues. Now I take it religiously and I'm sinus pressure, drainage, allergy and puke free :)




:: And now that I have relatively sinus-free life - I can enjoy more dairy products - like sticks of cheese (must be that dutch gene again)!!! These Colby Jack cheese sticks have been a literal every day necessity. The other night, this was my dinner... it's the only thing I'm always in the mood for! I have a bag at the house and here at work! Sargento - I love you.





:: Around the beginning of the Second Trimester the acid reflux/heartburn started attacking... with a vengeance. AM and David recommended the Maalox quick dissolve chewable tablets. It works out because I like the orange flavor, AM likes the yellow and David will eat any thing :)
Although I've gotten past the point of being picky - I just eat them. Sometimes it just doesn't matter what flavor relief comes in!



:: My guilty pleasure. I think my two biggest, most consistent cravings have been Milk and Sugar. Although chocolate milk technically satisfies this in one - I cant have chocolate milk all day long... well, I shouldn't any way. So I sneak little snacks - of my new all time favorite candy. Haribo - I love you too!




:: Last but not least - my rock. Gonna get a little cheese ball and mushy here - but its true. Robert has been my absolute everything. Talk about an absolute necessity - it's him. He is so understanding, and supportive, and sensitive and loving. He takes such good care me and the baby. He even talks to Edie and kisses her goodnight or goodbye! I have no doubt that Rob is going to be the most attentive, caring, fun, wonderful, loving father and husband ever! That is if he's not too busy crying over sappy movies - just kidding honey! I love you the most!!!

SUPER FUN SATURDAY!

:: Aquarium Day with Analee, her husband David - you know "Tall Guy, Wicked Dance Moves", their good friend Christi, my Mommy, and my Grandma!

:: Dinner at Lupe Tortilla with Rob and the cute little mexican BFF Amanda -
I know, I've totally been spoiled with Lupe twice already this year!

:: Game Night with the Landrums and Rob's little Bro - Scott!

Well - the aquarium is the only part that I have pics of so - that's what the rest of the blog is about!


THE DOWNTOWN AQUARIUM ADVENTURE!

:: In the actual aquarium part we saw your typical aquatic type creatures along with a parrot and a tiger! The highlights of the attraction included:

A touch tank

which Analee got up close and personal with!

There was also deep sea diving


A Tiger Attack!

- and really though - the tiger literally jumped up on the glass to maul Christi. I was too busy screaming like a little girl to get a picture of the actual attack - but I feel the above photo depicts a fair representation :)

Apparently the tiger didn't think Christi was very Tasty

We ended the aquarium tour with a trip through the gift shop. Now, just about any where you go with Analee and David ends up being something hilarious and the gift shop was no exception.

David found a little shark puppet on a stick type thing and pretty much made his own documentary about it preying on innocent animals... at least he included himself :)

Fully intending to get our $5 worth - we headed outside to check out the rides!

We had all been desperately looking forward to the Shark Voyage Train Ride so that was first on the list!

Seeing all of the unexcited faces coming off of the train ride - you would never have thought it would have turned out to be the highlight of our day!

This guy here caused quite the memories! Apparently he reminded Analee and Christi and David of the guffaw-ing shark from Strange Wilderness. If you don't know what I'm talking about - imagine a sort of buck-toothed hillbilly hearty chuckle... or you can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctiJ_GCuc4U
This chuckle went on literally for the rest of the day... a huh huh huh!

Near the end of the train ride there was a surprise shark attack from mechanical shark that nearly had all six of us jumping off the train! When I say surprise - I mean surprise!! It startled the crap out of us! Now, if the above mentioned noises didn't have us in a silly enough mood already - the ridiculousness of the shark attack really had us going! We pretty much laughed for the rest of the afternoon. I just didn't understand why the other people coming off the train before us weren't at least smiling!

OK - enough of that...

so we ended the day with Ferris Wheel and Carousel Rides :)

and ended up with some cute souvenir photos as well :)

For more pics from the day - http://picasaweb.google.com/melissa.skolaski/AquariumAdventureDay?feat=directlink

All Growed Up

Sorry its been so long folks - every once in awhile I actually have to do some work while I'm at the office and my blog time gets cut.
Completely unfair - I know...

So LAST WEEK! Rob and I went to visit our good buddy - the new home owner - Justin!


He found a steal of a foreclosure deal and after having seen the outside before closing - we finally got to see the inside!

His sweet Mom, Aunt and Grandma are helping him gussy up the place with fresh paint and furniture and some classic Texas-y bachelor-y decorations. You know - Texas shape and boot shape cutting boards on the wall in the kitchen and a duck on the mantle. Oh yeah - and a large TV and a recliner. Really - what more does a single dude need? You're absolutely right - Beer!


Of course he had beer! Although it wasn't a manly beer that Rob approves of - but a form of fermented brew nonetheless.

Congrats Justin! We're very much looking forward to the first house party - if Grandma and Auntie let you ;) just kidding... kinda...

OH BILLY!!!

Little known fact - when I was in Junior High I had a pet hedgehog named Oscar! Super fun little guy!

Kinda bored during lunch today so I google "super cute baby stuff". I mean - who doesn't do that in their spare time?

After a few pics of popcorn, puppies and tu-tus (random?)... we have this:

Are you kidding me?!

I just about fell out of my chair... Maybe I can convince Rob that Edie will need a pet Hedgehog too :)

I think more girls would have watched Sonic if they had cute little baby Sonics too...

You can find more ridiculous pics of this little guy here: http://www.snootypaws.com.au/blog/index.php/super-cute-baby-hedgehog-pictures/

Out of Control right?!

Gig Em

Saturday night we gathered at Papa Skolaski's house for the Southwest Classic.

Highlight of the night - Debbie's Brownies!

Where is that Homer gargle noise when you need one? MMMM... Brownies...

(just pretend thats a brownie there instead)

I didn't really pay much attention to the game - I'm pregnant and there was lots of food :)
I do know that the Aggie's started off winning and then got completely shut down... maybe next time fellas... yeah, next time ...

We still have to show love for our maroon and white though.

Wendel and Debbie surprised us with Edie's first Aggie swag! I'll have to take pics tonight and post them - but there was an adorable little 'Aggie Princess' onesie with pink and maroon dots and a cute little A&M pacifier with a clip that says something funny about TU sucking... or something along those lines. Pretty cute!

Of course the other fun part of the night - as usual - is our nephew Mr. Logan Lounder... that boy's cuteness is just out of control. I don't care if he's covered in ketchup, playing with dog toys or drooling spaghetti sauce into his moms water glass... he's just stinkin cute :) oh, and that Papa Wendel is alright too ;)

veintiséis

Yesterday marked the beginning of our 26th week! So excited to be only 2 weeks away from the third trimester - which I'm hoping and assuming is going to fly by - especially with all of the Holidays and festivities thrown in there!

This week Edie weighs a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches long - the vegetable for comparison for the week:

An English Hothouse Cucumber

uh... ok BabyCenter... you guys are nutso.

Also for this week - it says her ears are better developed and are more sensitive. Yesterday morning I treated her to Jam Session of Fall Out Boy during our morning commute! :)

OOH! And I forgot to tell you guys - results came back from my blood test last week - and thank goodness we are Gestational Diabetes Free!!! WOO!

In other baby news from the week - I bought my first piece of Maternity Clothing (thanks again for the gift card MIL Debbie!) Its intended purpose is for the Baby Shower(s). Oddly enough I am still comfortably fitting into my regular clothes... So I thought maybe a prego shirt would make me look more prego for the Shower! We'll see if it works!

Holiday is 6!

Our sweet little pup Holiday - also known as Holly, Holly Bear, Booger, Booger Bear and Boogaloo to name a few - turned 6 years old on Sunday! That's 42 in dog years!

Holly is probably the sweetest, cuddly-est, smartest, funnest dog ever. Yes, ever!

Her favorite food is just about anything that falls on the floor. She also enjoys wood and paper products.

Her favorite toy is her stuffed squirrel.

Her favorite activities include sun bathing, people watching, cuddling, licking, and lap sitting.

She loves everyone - she's excited to see every one and she doesn't discriminate between laps... any lap will do!

And the best part is - she tolerates me taking obnoxiously close photos of her!

Yesterday would have been celebrated with a trip to the dog park - but it rained all day... instead, we kept the patio door open so she could go in and out as she pleased. She very much misses her doggy door...

Saturday she did get to enjoy a play day with her Uncle BJ and Aunt Bailey over at Granny's house and got a surprise visit from her Great Grandma Billie too!

Happy Birthday Booger! We Love you!

H-Town Ink

The plan for Monday night was to go cheer on my little cousin Patrick at his football game with the rest of Kelly family. It typical Houston-in-the-Fall fashion... it got rained out. With traffic, I probably would have been late any way...

Plan B - hang out with the Dudes at Scorpion Studios http://scorpionstudiostattoo.com/ while Tracy worked on Rob's Tattoo!! I hadn't been since the first session - which was probably 8 months ago...

The shop is one of my favorite places to take pictures too because there are lots of neeto things there!


pretty colors!


and Rob and Tracy make the best faces during tattoo sessions :D

Fortunately for Rob - Unfortunately for me - this part of the tattoo didn't hurt too much so I wasn't able to get a real "I'm a man and I'm trying not to show that this hurts like hell" face...


Sometimes I can't tell whether Tracy's expression is a grin to himself about getting to stab people with needles or if its an "I'm doin' work" face...

Tracy also surprised us with a gift for "the Kid". "What Kid?" Rob asks... oh yeah... Edie! It still takes a minute sometimes to remember that we are having a Kid!

We like his taste in shirts :)

A Rutabaga

Today Edith and I celebrate our 25th week!

According to Baby Center.com she is 13 1/2 inches long and weighs in at about one and half pounds! The vegetable of comparison for the week - A Rutabaga!

The Bump.com compares her to an Eggplant. Eggplant I get... but what the heck is a Rutabaga?

Either way - she's definitely growing!

Friday we had our 6 month check up and all seems to be well! She had a nice strong heart beat at 150 bpm and I've finally gained some weight... 4 lbs total over the course of the pregnancy so far!

We had a glucose tolerance test on Friday too... with the family history, its kind of a toss up to see how that one will come back. I didn't hear from the doctor or the nurse yesterday, so maybe that's a good thing. Lets keep our fingers crossed for no gestational diabetes!!

on a sadder note - my absentmindedness strikes again. I forgot to check pockets while doing the laundry this weekend... As I laid out the jeans, I kept finding bits of paper. I thought it was just a receipt or something but upon closer inspection discovered that it was our Blink 182 concert tickets :( Total Bummer! Rob and I keep all of our stubs... and that was certainly the plan for Edie's first show. sigh...