The polls are finally closed, and we've come to a decision on what to name this baby! We have a really hard time agreeing on names. We had picked Noelle's name by the time I was 25 weeks, this time I am 28 weeks, so not too shabby.

If the baby is a girl, she will be named Reagan Olivia. Reagan is a name we liked, and it means "little ruler." Olivia means "peace," so hopefully those two will balance each other out! We got the name Olivia from a character on Law and Order: SVU. I was named after the Bionic Woman, Noelle's middle name Jordan is from the main character on Crossing Jordan, so we're keeping up with the tv name theme.

If the baby is a boy, he will be named Evan Joseph. Evan made it to our top 3 without us knowing the meaning, but when I discovered it meant "God is gracious" (as compared to one of our names that meant crooked nose) I was sold. Joseph means "God will add," which is exactly what he is doing in our family and we feel blessed. Also, Andy's dad's middle name is Joe, so it's a nod to him as well.

So we won't know for sure until sometime around October 13, but at least we will be ready! I figure if I can't know the gender, I'd at least like to know the names. Just 11 weeks to go! Here's a picture of what I look like at 28 weeks.

When I was growing up, I never wanted to go to school on Monday. I had a stomach ache or a headache or some other kind of ailment pretty much every Monday morning. I hated school, for the most part. I wasn't challenged, I didn't enjoy being with the other kids, and I just wanted to stay in bed!

Now that I'm a mom, I feel the same way. I don't want to go to work on Mondays. I always wake up wishing it was a school day for Noelle. I just want a chance to recoup from the weekend, get the house back in order, and SLEEP. Especially being this pregnant, it takes a lot to roll my big belly out of bed and get going. Andy said the other day that it's too bad I don't like coffee because I'd be a good candidate for its wake up power. Maybe I should try a little harder to like it, because I doubt that me and Mondays are ever going to get along.

It always amazes me when kids "learn" to be sneaky.

The other night, Noelle was having a rough time going to sleep. She kept calling for me and calling for me with these silly requests. "My blanket is on the floor.", or "I can't find my picnic basket." or my favorite "baby doesn't have her shirt on.".

Anyway, I finally got really fed up with her and told her not to call for me again unless you're scared, or hurt, and to just go to sleep!

Next morning, what do I hear? "Daddy...I scared. I'm scared Daddy" in the happiest, most cheerful voice you've ever heard.

Kidsitellyou!

I didn't take any pictures today. Deal with it. :)

2:45 AM - Noelle is crying, this is the first time she's woken up since we put her to bed at 7. I go in and she says she needs medicine for her stomach. I take care of her and head back to bed. Not too long after, she starts calling for Daddy and it sounds scarily like her calling for him in the morning. Awake and chipper. I finally go in and tell her Daddy and I are SLEEPING and she needs to go back to sleep. Lots of crying, asking for the hall light to be turned on. I finally turned the light on around 3:30 and she got quiet.

8:00 AM - She wakes up! We were actually starting to get a little worried. We're very impressed, and I'm especially happy because it was my turn to get up with her this morning.

9:30 AM - We leave for church, a little early so we can stop at Target on the way. Noelle enjoys running around looking through the dollar bins.

10:20 AM - We drop Noelle off in her class. She brought the invitation from Sky's birthday party with her to show her friends. She loves it because it has princesses on it.

12:15 PM - Andy picks Noelle up from her class, and she has the run of the church for a while before we head out to go eat lunch. We stop at Las Palmas on the way home to eat some good Mexican food. Noelle orders her own rice.

1:40 PM - Back home, and time to take a nap! She falls asleep right away.

4:30 PM - Wake up - almost 3 hours! Her lack of sleep is finally catching up to her, maybe.

5:00 PM - Our friends the Daugherty's arrive to reclaim their fish we've been watching while they were out of town, and to pick up their share of the CSA veggies. Noelle is very sad to see Nemo go. Sorry, though, we will not be getting a fish of our own.

5:30 PM - Watching Little Bear while Andy and I make dinner.

6:15 PM - We enjoy swiss chard pie and strawberries for dinner, Noelle says, "This is really good!"

7:00 PM - Andy goes through the routine to put her to bed, but then she says she needs to use the potty. He needs to get to work so I offer to take her. It turns out to be a stalling tactic, but I can't deny her trying. I just bought a new pack of diapers today and I'm vowing that they'll be the last ones I will buy for her. She's ready, it's just a matter of biting the bullet and jumping in!

7:30 PM - She's finally in bed, hopefully she'll fall asleep soon.

8:45 PM - Or, you know, she'll keep talking for hours. She just wanted me to make her last "week in the life" post a little bit longer, I guess. I hope you enjoyed it!

Here's the breakdown for today...pics are here

6:10am - "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" Why on earth does she wake up this early? I know that she CAN sleep in because she used to wake up at 6:45 - 7 every morning so something must have changed. Note to self: Must tape aluminum foil over windows to simulate total darkness.

6:20am - Noelle lets the dogs outside with me every morning. Lately she's been very crabby when she wakes up, see entry above for reason, even though I KNOW she's still got to be tired.

6:25am - Noelle gets stickers as a prize for helping me with the dogs and puts them on paper. She loves everything about stickers; they're some of her favorite things.

6:45am - Noelle eats breakfast while I do laundry. I gave Jaime a "1 week of free laundry" coupon for our anniversary. She decided to cash it in this week.

7:00am - Noelle plays in the living room while I eat breakfast.

7:45 - Noelle asks for "a cat video" while we're in the office. I had already told her she couldn't watch a show because we're getting ready to go visit our "farmer friends". Youtube.com is the greatest invention for entertaining children...within seconds I find thousands of cat videos and we're watching one. 10 minutes later we've watched 2 "funniest cats" videos and one "funniest dogs" video and then it's time to leave.

7:58am - We head out to pick up our CSA produce from our "farmer friends". Lately that's been the Saturday morning routine for Noelle and I. We get up, eat breakfast, and then go pick up our "groceries".

8:20am - Noelle enjoys helping me count our veggies, and weighing them. Cher and Eric (the farmers) have learned our names and greet us as we walk up. As we're leaving, Noelle asks me to roll down the window so that she can say goodbye to them. It's cute.

8:55am - Back at home and Noelle plays in the living room while Jaime gets ready. Kate Truss is coming over at 9:30 for play time so we've got to get ready.

9:30am - Kate gets here and the girls start playing. They get along surprisingly well considering they usually fight over everything.

10:30am - While the girls are playing in Noelle's room, Jaime and I both notice that Noelle is a hidden instigator. Noelle would do, or say, something to Kate. Kate would start whining and Noelle would instantly start "shhh"-ing Kate to keep her from tattling. Instantly thoughts of Noelle doing this to younger siblings spring to mind.

12:30pm - Jason and Shannon Truss come to pick up Kate. We pass some time after they leave by reading, or playing.

1:15pm - Getting ready to head to a pool party for one of Noelle's classmates from Parent's Day Out. Should be fun.

5:15pm - We just got back from the party. We weren't quite sure what to expect but we ended up having a good time. This little girl, Sky, and her family live in a very wealthy part of Nashville and so the party was quite over the top. Gourmet eats and drinks for the adults, along with a real life snack truck in the back yard. An in-ground pool and lots and lots of people. Noelle wanted to swim, but both Jaime and I forgot our swim gear. So at first I sat on the edge of the pool with Noelle and let her play on the steps. Finally she wanted more than just swimming on the edge, so I bit the bullet and jumped in with my shorts. We stayed just long enough to see Sky blow out the candles, eat some cake, and then we left. Noelle was cracking Jaime and I up on the way home because she was so tired she wasn't talking straight. This child is going to bed EARLY tonight for sure.

6pm - Jaime and Noelle have been laying down watching TV, resting. Now they're having smoothies before bathtime.

6:15pm - Bathtime for Noelle...trying to wind down the day and get her drowsy and ready for a LONG sleep. As she's walking into the bathroom, Jaime starts laughing and proceeds to tell me that she shared a straw with Noelle for the last part of their smoothies. Noelle says in a rough whispery voice "don't drink after me mommy...my sick" even though she's not sick...silly billy girl.

6:45pm - Finally it's bedtime and a well-deserved rest for mommy and daddy. Luckily it's my turn to sleep in tomorrow morning.

7:00pm - Noelle's asleep by 7pm for the first time in 4 or 5 months.

Today's pictures here.

6:30 AM - Wake up. I have to get up too, because we have a special morning planned. We eat breakfast, have some playtime, and try to keep Noelle occupied while we pack up our things.

8:20 AM - We all pile in the car, along with a cooler full of snacks and drinks, towels, and a change of clothes.

9:00 AM - We arrive at the Harpeth River for a canoe ride! Rain is in the forecast, but we decide to press on anyway.

9:45 AM - We're finally in the canoe, heading down the river. The sun comes out pretty early into our trip, so at least we don't get rained on. The water was really low today which meant Andy had to get out several times and push the canoe over the rocks. That worked out well, though, because it gave us plenty of opportunities to stop and get snacks out or let Noelle play and watch fish under the water. It was a tiring trip, but we all had a great time.

12:30 PM - Back into our car, we head to Vanderbilt to meet a friend who is letting us borrow a bassinet for the new baby. Noelle has a minor freak out, I'm sure because she was tired and hungry like we all were.

1:30 PM - Lunch at Arby's on the way home from Vandy. Noelle charms the staff there as she often does.

2:15 PM - Home and straight to bed. Noelle puts up a little fight but soon she's out. I take advantage of the time to nap along with her.

4:00 PM - Noelle is up from her nap. I'm still asleep, but she and Andy play and watch a show.

5:30 PM - We're off to a 4th of July party at our friend's house, where we start to worry that Noelle might be getting a little sick. She's mentioned her stomach hurting a few times throughout the day, and she won't eat anything for dinner. She's also not really playing much with the other kids. It's possible that she's just tired, of course. I know I didn't feel much like being social after our long morning.

8:00 PM - We are home again, and straight to bed again. Lots of drama involved in getting her to bed, and I'm sure it's not over because the fireworks are starting soon.

9:30 PM - She cries out that she is scared, there are tons of fireworks going off around us, so lots of booms and bangs that she's not used to hearing after bedtime. Hopefully she'll either get used to it or it will slow down as the night goes on! There's not much you can do about fireworks on the 4th!

Today's pictures here.

6:30 AM - Wake up, calling for Daddy. By the time he gets in there, she has turned on her light and has her rain boots on. She goes to play in the living room while Andy lets the dogs out and checks e-mail.

7:00 AM - Bathtime, since she missed it last night. She's in there whining about not liking "that soap." She's been wanting to use our shampoo instead of hers.

7:45 AM - Daddy leaves for work

8:40 AM - We leave for school. They have music class and a flag art project today.

2:50 PM - Mommy AND Daddy pick up Noelle from school - Andy came home early because he wasn't feeling well, so he came with me to school. Noelle was thrilled to see him there. On our way out, she was running on the sidewalk and tripped, hit her mouth against the ground and probably bit her lip. We had to head back inside to clean her up, then went to get a popsicle so we could get some ice on it. Ouch.

3:30 PM - We arrive at the Sprayground, where some of our friends met us to play in the water for a while. Noelle loves the water!

4:50 PM - Home, where we open Noelle's half-birthday present from Uncle Jon and Aunt Mindy. Noelle had a great time playing with her new Aquadoodle and water paint book, and had Andy read her new book about 5 times in a row.

5:30 PM - Dinnertime, we had waffles, eggs, and apples, all of which she tried to eat with her fork. With the apples, this resulted in a little bit of apple in the eye.

6:00 PM - A guy from Sears arrives to give us a quote on finishing out our kitchen. Noelle is supposed to be watching a show, but every few minutes she pops up and tries to talk to Ronnie. She tells him what Dora is doing, tells him about her new toys, asks what he's doing, and just says hi.

6:45 PM - We try to put Noelle to bed. She gets upset because she wants to say goodnight to Ronnie. He is very nice about interacting with her, which we appreciate!

7:45 PM - Noelle calls me in and I see that she has taken the top off her water cup and spilled the water all over her bed, pillow, and animals. I change the sheets, get a new pillow, and remove all the wet toys, and put her back to bed. I think she's finally going to sleep now.

Today's pictures here.

6:30 AM - So much for sleeping in. It's going to be another cranky morning, I think.

7:00 AM - Cereal and strawberries for breakfast, but after Andy brings in his tuna, chips, and cheese (GROSS!) she wants some of his breakfast. She's definitely his daughter in that area. Lots more whining ensues.

7:40 AM - Andy leaves for work, we do the usual watch a show while Mommy showers, have some playtime, etc. At one point she asks me to stop reading my Bible study book and get on the floor to dance with her. I happily oblige.

9:15 AM - Leave for Bible Study. Noelle sees someone in a yard we pass and says he is sneaky. Making conversation I ask if she is sneaky, she says no. "Is Daddy sneaky?" "No, he's a good Daddy. He's a good Andy, too."

12:10 PM - Driving home from church. I heard her say she was ripping a book, so I reached my hand back and demanded she give it to me. I said firmly "We do NOT rip our books." She said "I don't like that attitude. We need to speak kindly to our friends." Ugh. So I told her we have to treat books kindly, too. Also, she thinks we're falling every time we go around a big curve, and today she asked me to tip the car back over, and thanked me when we got past the exit ramp and straightened out.

12:30 PM - Lunchtime. She eats SO SLOW, and I try to hurry her along because I'm tired. She asks if she can play in the grass after her nap. Sure, I say.

1:00 PM - Naptime, I'm hoping for a long one today since she only slept 9 hours instead of 11 last night.

2:55 PM - Waking up. A very respectable nap, but I can always use longer. The first thing she says is "Can I play in the grass now?"

3:10 PM - Playing in the grass. This requires her rain boots, apparently.

3:20 PM - It's too hot to be outside, she decides. We come back in, and she gets to the business of being cranky. I decide to pull down all her books and have some reading time. I read my book, she reads hers. Every minute or so she asks me what a certain character is doing in her book or what a book is called, even though she absolutely knows the answers.

4:00 PM - After the 5th time of her asking to watch a show, I agree. Followed by more reading, playtime, chasing Duncan.

5:35 PM - Daddy is going to be late, I'm going to go insane, so we make some popcorn. Noelle says "I love sharing popcorns with you, Mommy." She wants to eat the unpopped kernels, I tell her they are too hard, she tries anyway then spits it out. She says she can't wait to grow up so she can eat the kernels. We've been talking about baby teeth vs. grown up teeth, maybe that's where she got this idea?

6:15 PM - Andy is finally home, Noelle tells him, "Mommy was waiting for you to get home." Noelle and Andy go to get a pizza, the first place they go is closed so they go somewhere else. They head next door to a grocery store while they wait, Noelle finds a random Jell-O packet and runs around yelling "I have the Jell-O!"

6:40 PM - Dinnertime, finally. Noelle says "I love eating dinner with you." "I'm so glad that we're friends."

7:55 PM - Bedtime. It's supposed to be a bath night, but it's too late for that.

8:45 PM - Noelle calls me in because she can't find her water cup. It's next to her pillow, where it ALWAYS IS. Kids, I tell you.

See pictures from our day here.

4:20 AM - Noelle wakes up crying because her teeth hurt. She sometimes lies about this specific symptom because she likes Tylenol, but I doubt she'd make it up at this time.

6:10 AM - Wake up time. She woke up crying, obviously not enough sleep. Not enough for Mommy and Daddy either! She's in a crabby mood about pretty much everything Andy tries to do. I get up after a while because she's crying, plus Andy found a tick on Duncan and needed my help to get it out.

7:15 AM - Breakfast is served, Noelle is still having a fit about everything.

7:40 AM - Daddy leaves, I try to turn on a show to go shower but she asks to sit with me. Since this is the first time she's wanted to be sweet all morning, I indulge her and read while she cuddles up with me and watches part of a show, then I quickly go shower. I pack her a lunch for school, go to put it in her bag, and see a note that water play starts today. I hurry to get her swimsuit on and put on sunscreen, label and pack a towel and plastic bag, we're running late!

8:46 AM - As we're walking out the door for school, Noelle reminds me to bring the camera. One day of blogging and she already gets what I'm doing! I forget my purse and forget to take any pictures anyway.

9:05 AM - We arrive at school, where I remind Noelle to listen and obey. Last week her teacher talked to me about Noelle giving one of the other teachers a hard time and having to be taken out of music class because she kept saying she didn't want to sing that song. While she's is at school, I go home and do a bit of cleaning, go to a Midwife appointment (all is still well), get my hair cut, eat lunch, and relax a bit.

2:55 PM - I arrive at school for pickup, she runs to me in the hallway as usual. Her teacher said she had a good day, so that makes me happy! She loved water play time, as I knew she would. I got a note that she had fallen down on the playground and noticed several scratches on her shoulder. Ouch!

3:05 PM - We went to Dragon Park after school, where Noelle enjoyed playing with a new friend she met named Ezra. He was 3, and they had a blast together. He was too cautious to climb any of the ladders, so Noelle would start to climb one and say "meet me up here, Ezra!" and he would run to a ramp or stairs to get up to where she was. It was really cute.

4:50 PM - We're finally home, where I let Noelle watch Dora while I clean up and take a break. Then I clip her nails, which for some reason she actually requested that I do.

5:35 PM - Daddy is home! Playtime/fussing/getting ready to go to our friend's house for dinner.

6:10 PM - We head to the Carter's house for a sort of Community Group reunion. Noelle had a blast playing outside with all the kids, pulling some of the girls around in a wagon, and having a picnic dinner. The Carter's were kind enough to have babysitters there so we could all enjoy ourselves.

8:00 PM - Noelle is not paying attention as she runs through the house, and she crashes face first into a bench. We all hear it and see a bruise forming within seconds. Poor little girl! She cried a silent cry for a bit, then a freaked out cry for a good long while as I held her. After she calmed down, though, it was like nothing had happened. Straight back to running around the house.

9:10 PM - We finally make it home, and it's bedtime! Just a few hours late, but maybe that means she'll sleep better tonight, maybe even sleep in tomorrow! A Mommy can dream.