Hmm 2's and 5's what's that a card game?? Nope, it's actually how old Avery is 2.5 years old and how far along I am in this pregnancy 5.25 months. Strange huh? Exactly one day apart from each other.

My 2.5 year old is doing amazing these days. She is loving going to the library to get books and videos, wanting to pretend and make up songs all the time, and she actually ate pasta for the first time in her entire life. I know I know what kid doesn't like pasta, well mine I guess. (See future posts on the pasta eating.)

Here's a cute video of Avery singing her favorite Church Nursery song, Baby Bumble Bee....



As for baby we're about 90% sure we've decided on a name (if she really is a girl ;) ) but have decided not toshare the name with anyone until she's finally here. Sorry folks we thought it'd be a nice surprise. Little baby is very healthy and growing so much. I've been feeling her move for about 10 weeks here and there and now I'm feeling her every day through the day. Joel finally felt her kick the other night, hooray! I think this is my favorite part of being pregnant, feeling little one move around even if I am being abused *LOL*

• Preheat oven 325 degrees F.
• Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high until foamy.
• Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter.
• Stir in morsels and nuts and spoon into pie shell.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm.

Is taking over!! I combed Avery's hair out after a day's worth of braid (plaits) and brushed it out and wowzers it is getting really really really really, (did I say really?) long, as you can tell. Even with it combed out it's actually still a little longer than that when it's pulled straight.

Now I'm just imagining what kind of hair my next baby will have.....hmmm....



Tell me about your funniest kids hair moment.

So the baby is officially a girl. Or is it???

Joel, Avery and I went to the ultrasound appointment and got to see our little one during a much anticipated visit. This was the day we'd find out the gender of this little one growing inside me. We saw all of the babies body parts, head, arms, legs, feet, hands, and the technician said the baby is growing at the perfect size for how far along the pregnancy is. Hooray!!!

We got to see the little one with their arm propping up their head, just like their Daddy and sister. My two love to sleep in the craziest of positions.


During our check of body parts and health the tech went to check out the gender for us since we absolutely wanted to know. This little baby decided they wanted to play shy. With it's feet crossed AND the umbilical cord in the way this baby made it very hard for us to see anything. Since the baby was in a very difficult spot in my womb it was even worse. So we decided to check other things out in hopes the baby would change position, during the course of our visit I laid on my side, did pelvic thrusts (yes that's right pelvic thrusts,) and the technician apologetically but painfully prodded my belly with the equipment, trying to shake the baby around so we could get a peek.


Eventually we all got a very brief (if you ask me, not so convincing) look at the baby parts and we sort of concluded that it was a girl. The technician said no test is 100%, which I think they all say, just in case. When I asked her if we should tell people the gender she said, "Yes, go ahead and tell people it's a girl."

Really?!?! I was convinced it was a boy. I'm also the type of person that likes to know things like oh the gender of my baby for sure, or at least more than a quick glimpse. Even the photo of the ultrasound is very questionable. So, I'm in search of a 3d/4d ultrasound to confirm.

Either way though we have a beautiful healthy baby that is very active rolling around and kicking throughout the day and we are very blessed. We have started to look at girl names and will not be sharing the name with anyone, we decided it would be fun to keep that a secret until the baby is born :) How exciting. So we'll update again after our next ultrasound but for now we're going with girl.

Well she's either a Love Bug or a beautiful pink butterfly, I'm not sure but whatever it is she's suuuuuuuuuuuper cute! Avery had a blast again this year trick-or-treating. She was so excited to dress up, not to mention I was happy getting 40% off her costume, just for being patient :)

Avery loved saying, "trick-or-treat," and opening her Dora bag for candy. My favorite part was when she thanked the candy givers and just stood there. I think she may have been waiting for more candy, hilarious! We enjoyed our family outing and even survived a small sprinkle while we were out. Surprisingly we were out for about an hour, maybe it seemed longer because I'm pregnant now, or because it was dark out, but it was a lot of fun seeing the neighbors and having them dote on our little girl too ;) What mom doesn't love compliments on their kid??!?!



After our round of trick-or-treating Avery of course dumped out her bag of goodies and ate two yummy pieces of Halloween booty. One of our other favorites of the night was handing out candy. Avery helped Joel give the kids candy.

Complete side bar: Why do kids these days feel like they don't have to dress up for Halloween or wear their regular clothes and say they're a thug, or a kid?? What happened to creativity or even the cheapo costumes with the plastic masks? ARG!!! Pet peeve.

Anyway for the lovely children who decided to stumble upon our doorstep lacking Halloween type apparel, we decided that this year they would need to do a silly dance if they wanted candy. I felt like a judge on So You Think You Can Dance. Some of these kiddos really went all out, I think I even saw a moon walk. Is it sad that I would prefer dancing to costumes...hmmm I need to think of a way to franchise a holiday where kids dance for candy, sponsored by Hershey, and Mars ;)

All in all I think this year so far has been the best Halloween for Avery. Since I missed posting here are some pictures of our carved pumpkins and yummy roasted pumpkin seeds.

Sorry everyone, I wanted to have this post up a lot earlier, but we've been a little sick here at the Bullock household. Especially since our ultrasound is tomorrow.

Nonetheless, I thought it would be fun to post a few wives tales and see how they compare to my pregnancy to see if we can "predict" what I'm having....

From catapult to fork lift there are many ways to pick up a pumpkin, but none as cute as displayed by little Miss Avery.


Step 3: Tah-dah! With all your might lift your pumpkin by the stalk, displaying your enormous strength without dropping it on your precious piggies.

Punkins were a-calling as we near the end of October we thought this weekend would be a good one for our annual Pumpkin Farm Extravaganza. Little did we know that our fun hayride, pumpkin patch scavenger-ing, and animal petting day would be infringed upon by one of the chilliest days Charlotte has seen this fall.

Being from the North and the warmth of pregnancy of course I was fine, but my two sweeties were bundled up and still shivering all the way. Nonetheless we all had an amazing time this year and can't wait to add little baby #2 next year (in hopes the weather will be a little nicer.)

We got our family photo taken, just like last year, on our hay wagon ride. Notice we're scrunched together, not for the photo, rather the nippy wind. We enjoyed the hay ride past the pea patches and the apple orchard and took in God's amazing glory. The beautiful lakes were glistening as we drove up the hill.

We've had a very fun couple of months and a few milestones to boot. Check out our brief update with some fun pictures.

We had a chance to visit Busch Gardens before the weather got cooler and had a fun time riding the train, this time Avery wasn't much for the kiddo rides or Sesame play area, but we had a great time walking around and eating yummy treats.

Avery also has been very excited to meet new babies in our moms group and will be a great big sister.

We have lots of friends who were born in late summer and early fall and are having a blast going to Yo Gabba Gabba, Sesame Street, Blue Octopus, Hello Kitty, and Cars parties. Avery's favorite part? The cake of course!



Aves has potty training down and has gone a couple of weeks being dry, even during nap and bed time. We're super proud of our big girl.


Things to look for are: some fun how-to's, baby updates, our fun Pumpkin Patch trip and more! Thanks for checking in!!

For those readers of you who don't know yet. I (Jenn) have started a mommy review blog. http://www.mommybknowsbest.blogspot.com MommyB Knows Best, I don't know how much that is true but I thought it was catchy.

Anyway I've had written a few reviews on maternity clothes, restaurants, candy and am also excited about more to come including Piggy Paint (with a coupon code), and hopefully some cute handmade hats.

I would love more followers as my blog grows, so if you feel lead please come to my site and click the "Follow" button. Also if you have some products you are dying to know about please message me so I can check them out for you or comment on my posts to let me know what you think of products and places I've already reviewed.

Of course feel free to share with your friends :) Stay tuned for more MommyB fun to come!

Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil
                  1 tbsp A1 sauce
                  5-6 lb beef chuck or round roast
                  (make sure to cut the fat off for more flavorful seasoning)
                  2 tbsp chopped garlic (or less to taste)
                  1 tbsp chopped rosemary (dried is fine)
                  1 tsp salt
                  1/2 tsp pepper
                  1 cup beef broth
                
Rub oil and A1 sauce on the roast first, then add garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper evenly on the roast. Pour the beef broth in the slow cooker and place beef roast in the cooker.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 9 hours, if possible turning the roast over every 2-3 hours to keep the beef moist.

Serve with vegetables and mashed potatoes or break up meat for sandwiches. My biggest recommendation is to cut only the beef you'll be serving and leave the extra in the juices to keep it nice and moist.


              

Another fun part of this trimester is that we get to find out the gender of our little bean. Now if you know us well I'm super planner lady and my husband, well secrets and surprises just kill him. See several of our holiday posts for the phrase "he wanted to open presents early," and you'll know just what I mean.

Not too shabby, go mommy, go mommy, or should I say grow mommy!

Joel and I decided we wanted to start trying a little after Avery turned 2 in hopes that she'll be potty trained and ready for a big girl room by the time the baby was to come.

It was totally worth the cost of going to a fun place. Avery loved it, we had a great experience and they even gave us Avery's hair clippings and a certificate for her first salon haircut. Each kid also gets a card they put in this fun machine and out pops a kids toy! How cool is that!! I think I may start getting my hair cut at Snip-its too!

or posing on her motorcycle at the annual bike show...

Joel's family got the opportunity to come visit us and while they were here we got a chance to celebrate the 4th of July.

This summer we've had a great chance to visit family in New York. While we were there we actually drove the same amount of hours that it takes to get from North Carolina to New York. Wowzers!!!

We had fun playing at the park, going out to meals with family, visiting Waldemeer again, seeing one of my bestest college friends, and getting to see another great college friend get married.

Avery did pretty well sleeping considering it was such a long drive. We had a very fun time seeing everyone and were exhausted when we got back home.

Here are some fun pictures from our trip! We tried to include a little of everything, it was a long long long trip :) Enjoy!

Avery and I were doing one of our many routine grocery shopping ventures yesterday. One downfall to having a Super Target just across the street from your neighborhood!

Avery got some very cute bows and tutus from a great woman who hand makes them. She has a wonderful shop that we just love. Check out Ava's Kloset.

So there's no actual pictures of eating cookies, but they're not as exciting anyway :)

So I got a little crafty and decided to make some replicas of "Map" from Dora the Explorer for party favors for Avery's 2nd birthday.

The time has come, we can't believe our little girl has graduated from a toddler to a "preschooler." We had so many fun plans for Avery's party, maybe a few too many. The rain came down and down and down and gave us no choice but to calm down some of those party aspirations. Nonetheless, we ended up having a blast even with the 40 plus people celebrating inside our home.