October came and went. Our leaving Massachusetts was bittersweet to say the least and came with its share of difficulties. We are getting settled and, once again, living in a cardboard jungle. Interestingly enough, when I began this blog coming up on two years ago now, I was pregnant and trying to unpack our apartment. :)
Reagan was a flower girl in a beautiful wedding at the beginning of the month.
My last prenatal appointment was the morning before we left MA. I met with my wonderful midwife, Lisa, who was one of the midwives that delivered Caleb. I am sad that I won't get to have Kinley at Anna Jacques with those awesome ladies. Lisa gave me my records with detailed notes, instructions to send pictures of the new baby, and said I was good to go. Although I haven't met with my new team of practitioners, the pregnancy seems to be going well still. I'm getting quite big and so is Kinley. I am able to feel her kicking and rolling much of the day now and Mike has finally been able to feel some of her kicks also.
Here are some of the most recent photos of my burgeoning belly:
22 weeks.
23 weeks 5 days (decked out in my Gators gear for the FL/GA game of course.)
This is the most recent at 25 weeks 2 days. You can see the mountains of boxes in our bedroom in this picture.
Halloween was fun this year even though it took us 3 neighborhoods and driving all the way down to Hampton to Casey's house to find some good trick-or-treating for the kids. This was the first time in 4 Halloweens that Reagan has not been some kind of princess, which was exciting for me! Ha! She went as a playful kitty and was super cute. Caleb was a little red devil and he was also as cute as could be.
They both ended up with their Halloween bags full of candy and had a great Halloween night.
Both of them crashed on the drive home. :)
To rewind slightly, Mom and I had a really awesome trip to Washington, DC at the beginning of the month. After a VERY rough start, we both arrived and checked into our hotel at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort. It was a pretty spectacular hotel. We had a very nice room and after having a delicious lunch at a mexican restaurant, overlooking the Potomac River, we took a Monuments by Moonlight tour of the city. It was great! The Capitol building was truly magnificent. Once I get the "good" photos of our trip uploaded, I will post them. Some of the architecture and the monuments were too pretty for words.
The next morning, we had some really awful coffee at the hotel's coffee shop, haha! I studied and Mom lounged. My exam went smoothly and quickly and afterward, my cousin Jessica met us for a ferry ride across the Potomac to Old Town Alexandria, VA for a ghost tour! The tour was a little silly but so much fun and Alexandria was so nice! I would love to spend some more time there. Once we got back to the hotel we all had chocolate cake and talked until almost 11pm. It was a great day.
Friday was our last day (very short trip) so Mom and I decided to go back into the city and hit up the Old Post Office and the National Archives Building. Both were awesome. The Declaration of Independence left me without words to describe it. I felt humbled to have been in the presence of something so special. Humbling is a very accurate word to describe a lot of the monuments in Washington, DC, whether they are war monuments or dedications to historical figures whose anointed words are engraved in the tons of marble you see. There was so much more that Mom and I wanted to do/see but just not enough time. We are definitely planning on going back sometime in the future.
I got the results from my exam a couple of weekends ago and I passed!! I am, officially, a Certified Professional Electrologist (CPE)!! Now, I need equipment and clients! So, my project now is to write a business plan and figure out how to get funding to purchase my much-needed equipment.
Reagan is loving her new school and is making new friends. She is learning Bible stories, cursive writing, and loves practicing for their Christmas concert. Caleb loves the new freedoms he has in our new house. He loves riding his car and pushing his dump truck up and down the halls and in and out of each room. We are all enjoying being able to spend a lot more time with Mom and Dad, as they are right around the corner from us now. We've been having family dinners on Monday nights after Reagie's swimming lessons (which everyone gets to take turns attending except for me, LOL).
We are looking forward to the holidays and getting to be with family and friends for Thanksgiving for a change.
