Life As Mom

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

Trey got stickers for Valentine's day. This is what happened to Ethan while I was holding him and talking on the phone for one minute. I was wondering why he was laughing... I guess it tickled!

New Photos

2012-02-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

Pulling My Hair Out Kind of Morning

2012-01-29T11:29:00.000-08:00

I just about pulled my hair out at church today! It was one of those days that started great but after a few rash decision and rushing around, it just got worse. We haven't been taking Trey to church to keep him from getting sick, but today we did. He was an angel! I mean seriously, I could hardly believe this quiet, still little boy who kept whispering "I love you, Mama" into my ear the whole hour long service was mine. Then Pj had to leave to run some work errands and I had both Trey and Ethan for the church luncheon and meeting. Big mistake! Big, big, big mistake. Turns out Trey was so good because he was so tired. And Ethan was tired too. And there began the screaming, kicking, throwing of food, running around like crazy, talking loudly during the meeting.... And so I ended up leaving the luncheon early, not having had a chance to eat much of anything myself, with two screaming kids while the pastor was "trying" to lead the congregation meeting. I just wanted to hold up a sign as I walked out saying, "Yes, I'm the mom who has no control of her children!"

So I got home, plopped them both in bed (Ethan took a bit longer since he was really, really tired and upset), and now I am googling ways to control your two year old with no success. So if you ever had a 2 year old or you have a 2 year old now.... please don't judge... just help me with ideas on how I can get him to obey! Sometimes I feel like he controls me;-) In fact, the other day we were out and he did something he wasn't supposed to and knew it (I forget what exactly) and before I could say a word he looked at me and said, "I bad, Mama. Timeout!!" LOL, what do you do with that??

Thankfully, last night was a good night for Ethan. Drum roll please.... he slept the whole entire night without a feeding!! I don't know if this has EVER happened. He went 9 hours! It was amazing. I woke up wondering if he was okay... he was. I don't know what happened... but I hope it happens again tonight! It would have been smart if I had gone to bed when he did at 10 last night... but I didn't get in till 1am since I was waiting up for Pj (who had to chaperone a school dance, poor guy!). Maybe one of these days I'll have more sense!

So if you have any words of advice, any blogs, websites, books, whatever for dealing with a crazy 2 year old, feel free to send them my way! Or, if you have a straight jacket that is toddler sized you don't need... feel free to mail it to me (that would work too);-)

All this being said, I love my boys very much... even if my hair is turning prematurely grey!

Bath Buddies

2012-01-27T19:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight I decided to save time by bathing the boys at the same time. So Trey was in the tub and Ethan was in his infant tub on the floor of the bathroom. It worked out pretty well... and there was double the water on the floor! Anyways, I thought it might be fun to hold Ethan in the big tub with Trey to splash in the deeper water. He loved it! He was just kicking like crazy and Trey thought it was hilarious and started laughing... which made Ethan start laughing.... and pretty soon both of them were kicking and laughing at each other so hard their faces were turning red. I wish I could have videotaped it... it was the cutest, funniest thing ever!! Maybe we can get them to do that again some other night:-)

I love my boys:-)

Bye Lilbit

2012-01-27T06:20:00.000-08:00

This is our last day with Lilbit. We decided a week or two ago that it was time to give him away because he was biting/scratching at Trey and also just the chaos of having a dog in a condo with two little kids. Anyways, there have been many times lately when I've been so angry and ready to lock the dog outside... but at the same time he has been with us ever since we got married. We bought him a few weeks after we got married and he was only 6 weeks old. Now he's 5! We'll be taking him tomorrow morning to a lady who belongs to the Maryland Dachshund Rescue Mission. I feel like this is the best option. They are very careful about who they give dogs to for a adoption and obviously people contacting them will specifically want a dachshund. Lilbit also really needs surgery for a hernia and we just can't afford to do that. So this way he can get the care he needs. I'm sure he will end up with a good new family. As crazy as it has been lately, we will miss him and I'm sure we will be tearing up tomorrow morning.

Good memories about our dog... always cuddled with us, licked our face. When I was pregnant he would always stay by my side especially as if he was protecting me. He and Trey were buddies and played fetch and chase all the time. He would lay at Ethan's feet when Ethan was play on the floor. He had the funniest howl! We had lots of fun trips to the park with Lilbit and it was always fun to watch him run around without his leash, his ears flapping. He wouldn't stop running... but he always just went in circles and stayed with us (for the most part;-)). Most of all we will miss how he always wanted to cuddle with us!

Here are some pics of Lilbit... I guess a little farewell tribute to him!

2012-01-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

I really should be getting dinner ready, but both boys are sleeping (yes, still sleeping at 5pm) and I'm enjoying the peace and quiet on the couch with a warm blanket and hot tea! What else have I been enjoying? A week without sickness (well, people sickness at least... the dog is another matter I won't discuss)! I didn't realize until it was over how tired and worn out I was until it was over and I'm praying we stay healthy for a long, long time... although with a toddler into everything I know that probably won't happen. Thankfully Ethan has remained pretty healthy through all the colds that have been in our house. Its Trey who gets them bad, poor little guy. He's a trooper though!

Ethan had his 4 month checkup last week! I can't believe how fast he is growing. He's now over 16 lbs and 25 inches long! Believe it or not, that's only 75th percentile on the growth chart though. He looks huge however! People think he looks like a linebacker and a Cabbage Patch doll:-) He is still a really happy, mellow kid. He loves watching Trey. He just loves people watching in general. He doesn't miss a thing, but he's still content to just sit in your lap and look around most of the time. However he is starting to get really frustrated that he can't move on his own. He also gets really frustrated when he can't get to his toys (or can't pull them down from his playmat). He makes this boyish little yell that is so cute I always laugh. It's adorable! I'm also starting to see a hint of brown in the middle of his eyes I think, but we'll see. They still look pretty blue! I think the hair coming in is a light brown/dark blond (like me:-)). He's still got alot of hair, which is nice... except for the back of his head where it gets rubbed off from always being on his back. Tummy time is coming along! I had a breakthrough the other day when I realized he actually doesn't mind it as much if he isn't wearing anything but a oneside... I guess he gets more of a grip on the carpet... who knows! Whatever works;-) He's trying to scoot. I think he will start trying to crawl before long... this kid wants to move!!

Trey is changing so much right now as well! He is speaking in pretty crazy long sentences these days... sometimes I feel like I'm holding a conversation with another adult (no, I exaggerate;-)). He keeps me laughing all the time with the things he says and does. His favorite toys right now are Mr. Potato Head, his choo choo train set (complete with train tracks and a tunnel), his puzzles, and playdough. Favorite TV shows and movies are "Veggie Tales" (still), "Barney" (sigh, still), "Toy Story" movies, "Lion King"... however we are branching out into some other things. Pj's parents bought him "Your Baby Can Read" set for Christmas which involves dvds, a word book and flash cards. He loves them and I'm amazed at his memory! The first step is word memorization and it is working so far. My brother bought Trey Curious George matching cards for Christmas and he loves those as well... I can show him a card for one second and he'll remember it and find the other one right away. His memory is far better than mine;-) I feel bad for him because we've isolated him a bit this winter partly to keep him from getting sick and also when he WAS actually sick. But now he is getting out once a week with Susie/Nana to go to library time for toddlers and get new books each week. And on Tuesdays I take him and Ethan to Mainly Music at Mt. Airy PCA for dancing, music, snacks and playing with other kids his age. He loves that! I think Ethan does too. Its fun for me to actually talk with other adults as well;-) I can't wait till spring though... I miss walks outside and playing ball in the park with him. And this summer I won't be pregnant, yay!!!!!

Lately I've been going a little crazy with organizing our home. Its amazing how cluttered it can get with stuff we think we need but then don't use for years. And I'm just as much to blame as anyone else. I have a hard time letting go of those jeans I hope to wear again someday, or those cute shoes that hurt but are to cute to throw out, or the toys the boys aren't playing with that we don't need. But I've made a goal to go through each room and starting getting rid/donating things we don't use in a year (unless its for good reason). My closet was the biggest task, but cute bins from Bed, Bath, and Beyond fixed that problem and helped me organize the shelves in there. I love how it looks in there now. I also raised Trey's bed up with the held of bed stilts or whatever they are called and can now fit a bunch of things under there that I couldn't before. We went through all the toys and I put Ethan's in a pretty good toy box out in the living room and all the rest are in Trey's "den". And then to hide all of our DVD's and organize them, we bought some DVD boxes from IKEA. I need to get a few more though! Lastly, I organized our pantry the other day with some extra racks for cans and small items that kept falling over and some plastic containers to hold sugar, flour, etc.... oh its so much better. I can actually see what we have in there now. In all this, I've realized something about myself... I definitely feel alot calmer when I know everything is in its place. In other words, I've turned into my mother who I always made fun of... which is perfectly fine to me now (she labeled and organized everything growing up). My house may still look cluttered, but its getting to be a controlled clutter atleast now;-).

Another project I tackled this past week... I wrote out a bunch of recipes for my recipe book that have been for the longest time either on my computer in a file, or printed out and stuffed in their to "someday" be copied neatly onto a page and covered with plastic. Yay for meeting goals!

Pj had a nice little break this past weekend... we had him home for 4 days! It was a nice relaxing weekend with not much going on. He's got a busy few weeks coming up... a couple of school dances, his classes, etc. But we're seeing him alot more than we did in the fall which I'm so thankful for! Still... I can't wait until summer when school is out and we have him home with us all the more.

That's it for now! This is all I've got so far for 2012 in terms of pics... Ethan sucks in his two fingers when he's sleepy:-)

2011-12-29T18:15:00.000-08:00

2011 you went by so fast! I can't believe there only a few days left. This day last year I found out I was pregnant with Ethan. Now he is almost 4 months old!

And I can't believe how fast December flew by too. I wish I could say it was uneventful, but it wasn't. We are all still recovering from the stomach bug and also bad head colds that made their rounds throughout the family (thankfully Ethan didn't get the stomach bug since he has a vaccine for it though!). Ethan has has a particular difficult time with this cold though and is recovering from his first ear infection, poor kid! So Pj's two week break has pretty much been spent either taking care of the kids while I was sick or being taken care of while he was sick. Oh well! Atleast he could be sick at home:-)

Despite the sickness, we have had a really good time together. Trey has really enjoyed Pj getting him out of bed each morning. We got him a little train and train track for Christmas that is remote controlled and he LOVES it. Every morning he wakes up and asks for his choo choo train. He also loves playing with his Mr. Potato Head... it was a hit! Ethan is still my happy chubby baby. He is making all sorts of sounds now and even while he was sick, he never failed to give us smiles:-) So sweet!

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and went to their candlit service at their church, which was alot of fun. Trey sat with his Aunt Sarah the whole time and was the perfect child. He shocked us! Later that evening Pj and I attemtped to have a nice evening with wine, cheese, crackers, opening our gifts to each other and watching "It's A Wonderful Life". We got as far are the presents, but then spent the rest of the night taking turns with the sick kids who kept waking up crying. LOL! It was a memorable night... let's leave it at that! But thankfully everyone slept in the next morning and we didn't start opening presents till 9:30ish. Trey knew exactly what to do this year... even attempted to open Ethan's gifts too;-) He had alot of fun! Later on in the afternoon we went over to spent Christmas Day with Pj's side of the family and a Christmas brunch. It was just a really fun, laid back Christmas... lots of good memories!

Unfortunately we we're able to go to the beach house this week because of Ethan's cold and ear infection... just didn't want to be that far away from the doctor with him being so young. Kind of sad... its the first year we didn't go down for the New Year since we got married... it'll be weird being around here for New Year's Eve.

Pj and I have gotten alot projects completed while he's been home on break. We did alot of painting in areas of the house that needed it most... looks alot better in here! I reorganized our closet and bought some bins to help keep my clothes from falling over constantly. I organized the bins in our living room too with Trey and Ethan's toys. Threw alot out. Actually counted my shoes and am embarrassed to say how many I have... its amazing how things accumulate. I am actually looking forward to Monday so I can put all the Christmas decorations away and get things cleaned up in here. Christmas decorations are only nice before and during Christmas... afterwards they are just a pain to have around I feel like!

Here are some pics... that's pretty much all in terms of updates on us!

2011-12-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

December has flown by so fast! We've been busy wrapping present, baking cookies, and watching Christmas movies. Trey has been really good about the Christmas tree this year... only touches the ornaments every now and then (and has only broke one). He loves all the Christmas lights people have put out on their homes especially. When we are driving around at night we hear him say, "Ohhhh Cis-mas ights! Soo pretty!" (yes, pronounced like that too). It's really cute! He loves to sing Jingle Bells and Silent Night and he's pretty good at it too! In fact, singing has been one of the new fun things that Trey has been doing lately. He makes up his own songs alot, but his favorites to sing are "Jesus Loves Me", "Winnie the Pooh" and "Jingle Bells". The other day I heard him singing almost all the words to "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" from the Lion King movie (his new favorite movie). He has an crazy memory... and he definitely didn't get that from me!

Ethan's personality is really starting to come out now! He makes all these cute little squeals and grunts and coos. When he is mad or hungry, you know it. He doesn't cry, he just makes angry grunting sounds... our little piggy:-) But most of the time Ethan is just a really happy, laid back baby. He doesn't cry much. He eats every 3-4 hours and will go 6-7 hrs of sleep each night too. If his stomach is full, he just will lay around on his play mat and tackle his toys. He loves to sit in our laps and talk to us and smile... loves to watch TV too. We loves people! He loves to watch us eat. He seems to really want to move around on his own now too... which makes me think that maybe he will crawl early. He did already roll from his stomach to his back too once! He is trying REALLY hard to roll the other way now as well.

Pj is home for two weeks on his school break right now and we've been busy painting (yes, even though the stomach flu seems to be going around our home)... which we've been meaning to do for over a year now but just haven't had time or energy. Its amazing how a fresh coat of paint can make our house look so much nicer! We plan this weekend on spending Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Pj's family and then on Monday driving down to the beach house in Corolla for a week of relaxation. We're so thankful for this break! Trey has especially been enjoying all the Daddy time!! That's it for now:-) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all:-)

2011-12-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

Wanted to post a few pictures! Ethan will be 3 months old tomorrow. Wow, time has flown by so fast! And Trey is shooting up too... I nearly cried when I saw him all dressed up in the suit below... he looked so old! I am so thankful for my boys:-) Enjoy the new pics!

2011-11-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

This has been a busy month for us, which is why I haven't posted anything in a while! But I'm going to try to update as well as I can since the boys are sleeping right now.

Trey turned two on the 6th! I can hardly believe it. We celebrated by having a bunch of his little friends over to our house for lunch and cupcakes and playing. He wasn't sure about that at first (having to share his toys and the craziness of it all) but ended up having tons of fun. The next day we had our immediate family party (grandparents, great-grandparents, cousin, aunts and uncles) at Pj's parent's home for a bbq and cake and presents. By the time his real birthday on Sunday rolled around, we were all so tired we slept the day away! I've been looking through his baby book this week and its amazing to see how much he has changed since that day we brought him home from the hospital!

Poor Trey has pretty much been sick the whole month. He had the one cold which led to breathing problems. He never really recovered fully from that before catching another cold which gave him a bad ear infection. Today is the last day of his antibiotics for that so we're just hoping and praying he stays healthy for a while now! We made the decision to keep home from church for a while atleast because it seemed like every Tuesday after being in Sunday School he would start getting sick. I'm also being really careful to sanitize everything. Normally I wouldn't mind a cold hear and there but the poor kid gets so extremely sick when he does get one.

We had a fun Thanksgiving with both sides of our family. We had the big meal with Pj's family and some of his relatives from PA that we don't often get to see anymore. That was so much fun! Then we drove over to my parent's home for dessert along with most of my siblings. It was a long day but worth it and the boys slept VERY well that night and the next day! Its been really great too because Pj has a few days off for the first time in ages so we are enjoying time with him that we usually don't get. Trey especially is enjoying having his Daddy around (and awake;-)) to wrestle with and play trains with.

Lately Trey has spent his time reading books to himself, playing imaginary games with his stuffed animals and look action figures, building his train set, finger painting, playing with playdough (or "pee-oo" as he calls it). He loves to run and play ball still. Often when he gets spurts of energy he will just run back and forth in our hallway with his ball, chasing the dog, or just running for the sake of running. It's so hilarious to watch!

Ethan is growing so fast too! At his 2 month appointment he was over 12 lbs and 21 (and something) inches tall. He is a very very chubby little baby! He is 2 1/2 months old now... but is already starting to wear some of his 3-6 outfits. He has very long arms and legs and a huge tummy! It's so funny to see him in the bathtub... just rolls of chubbiness... so cute! Speaking of which, he loves the bath... he will splash around and laugh and smile. He also loves when we sing to him. I have a few special songs that I only sing when he's upset and they usually always calm him down and make him laugh. He is a pretty mellow, laid back kid. He loves to lay on his playmat and bat at toys or sit on someone's lap and watch everything that is going on.

I could go on, but that's it for now. Trey is awake... and so Mommy time is over;-) Enjoy the pics!

Busy Weekend

2011-10-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

We had quite a busy weekend! On Friday night our old church Shady Grove PCA had their annual costume and game party to take place of Halloween. Trey dressed up as Buzz Lightyear (of course!) and Ethan wore a little white and orange striped sleeper with a pumpkin hat. They were really cute! Trey wasn't feeling great, but had fun playing the games and winning candy, most of which he ate immediately (he LOVES Twizzlers). Ethan was awake nearly the whole time... we're noticing a trend of this in him when we are around people. He seems to really enjoy faces and voices too much to sleep!

The next day we had a our first snow storm of the year... yes in October! Crazy!! I think we had 1-2 inches... not much but enough to keep us inside and cozy most of Saturday. We carved our pumpkin, which Trey loves. He calls it his "punkin face". Then Pj and Trey went outside to see the snow and Trey enjoyed making and throwing his first snowballs. But he surprisingly didn't like the hot chocolate afterwards... oh well!

That evening Pj and I took my parents with us to hear some beautiful music at the Strathmore. We had such a good time getting out without the little ones but also the music was just amazing! We has seats close to the stage and so when the pianist was playing a piece by Liszt, we could see how fast his fingers move across the keys... pretty unbelievable.

Unfortunately Trey's cold got alot worse late that night and we ended up having to take him to the ER because he was throwing up, wheezing and having some labored breathing (which has happened before when he has had a cold). He's doing alot better today and they sent us home with another refill for his inhaler. Apparently he might have a light case of asthma that is brought on when he gets sick. We're happy it was not pneumonia. They checked him out and did an x-ray just to be sure!!

Ethan has been pretty chill lately! He's starting to coo alot more and he laughs and smiles alot every day. He seems to love people and will stay awake for hours just happy and content if someone is holding him. But he also enjoys laying on his playmat alot longer now and will smile at his toys and bat his hand at them. However, he still hates tummy time so I have to make sure he's already in a REALLY good mood before we try that.

I have to run... Trey is asking me to make a block house with him. Here are some cute pictures:-)

Brothers

2011-10-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Things Are Better Now!

2011-10-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

The last post was a little bit on the down side, so I figured I should follow it up to let you all know things are much better this week! I never ended up needing to give Ethan medicine. I'm not sure if it was the changes I made in nursing him or if it was side effects from his vaccination... but that afternoon he ended up being just fine. We've had some moments here or there were he has been really gassy and fussy, but other than that things have been good. Unfortunately I ended up getting mastitis over the weekend, but I caught it quickly with antibiotics and recovered quickly from that, although that was not how I had hoped to spend our 5 year anniversary!

In other news, Trey is doing really well with potty training. I am not going overboard yet with it, but he sits on it after each meal and before nap and bedtime. We've had a few successes, but mostly he just "tries"... which counts too! He gets four M&M's for trying and six if he successfully goes! It's pretty exciting to think we might be down to one kid in diapers soon. I was going to use Pullups for Trey, but ended up taking them back. Once we get a little further along in what we're doing now, I'm getting him some underwear. But we're definitely not there yet!!

Also exciting, I bought some preschool curriculum books for Trey. He already knows many of his colors, numbers and alphabet, among other things... but I want to keep building on that. My mom was great about teaching us all the basics before we even got to preschool (for those of us who went... which I guess was just me and my sister Sarah;-)). I'm hoping to do the same for Trey! We'll see how it goes. The hardest part is not his ability but his attitude. So I'm just making it fun and light and teaching him skills using lots of his toys and when we're coloring and painting, etc.

Ethan is starting to be awake more and will lay sometimes for 20-30 minutes at a time by himself on his playmat looking around and making cooing sounds. I can't tell you how nice it is to hear a sound from him other than a cry;-) He still sleeps alot though. He also sleeps really well at night still. I'm starting to think about when and how I will introduce him to sleeping in the bedroom with Trey... but we've still got time before I have to worry about that. I'm hoping to get him sleeping through the night first so he doesn't disturb Trey.

He's still a huge baby! He's wearing 3 month clothes now for the most part and some 0-3. He's grown really long as well! I just can't believe how big he is... the doctor is going to be shocked when she sees him in a few weeks. I have a feeling he's well over 11 lbs now.

Our 5th anniversary was a little crazy with my infection and just craziness with the boys, but thanks to my inlaws, we were able to leave the boys with them and go out to Mr. Airy Tavern for dinner. It was short, but we had a good time! And Pj brought me home some beautiful roses:-) We are hoping to do our original plan of an extended dinner and movie afterwards maybe next month... here's hoping nothing goes wrong again;-)

That's it for now!! I have ironing and dinner prep to do while both boys are sleeping and then hopefully can get a nap too!

All Better

2011-10-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to quickly update you all that Ethan seems almost all better and we didn't even have to use the meds the doctor gave us for him. It ended up to be a nursing issue that was a quick fix! And so thankfully my house looks a bit more like the two pics below now;-)

The Good Days... and The Bad Days

2011-10-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

I suppose you blog about the good days... and you blog about the bad days. This was a bad day. Actually, the past few days have been really bad days in Mommyland. I seriously got to the point this morning where I just put my head and my hands and tried to hide for 5 seconds from it all. Ethan has been crying nonstop pretty much for the past three days. It's been awful! If you see me and I have black circles under my eyes, my shirt is on inside out and covered in baby spitup and I'm not sure where I am... that's why. Thankfully we have an amazing pediatrician who, even though she had a half day today, she stayed late just to see my boys (yes, both of them!). We found out that Ethan has bad acid reflux and Trey may be developing an allergy (or I should say his existing minor allergy is getting worse) to the dog. Sigh! What I had forgotten in between babies is that around 4 weeks babies something happens with the development of the insides of babies (I am too tired to research this to better explain) and acid reflux can become a problem. I'm glad it was this and not a bad reaction to his vaccination on Monday like I was afraid of. Anyways, Trey and Ethan are both in bed now (yes, Ethan is actually sleeping without me rocking him constantly in an upright position... asleep in his carseat but whatever works;-)) and I'm about to once I write this all out (writing is my therapy... it helps me get everything out and then I can nap peacefully;-)). Anyways, I was supposed to finally go get my hair cut and highlighted and have my first big "me" time since Ethan was born... but that is postponed till tomorrow. Being a parent certainly is not an easy job! I'm so thankful that not all days are like this. And I'm thankful for Trey's humor and how he makes me laugh when I want to cry. As we were coming inside and up our condo steps, I suddenly realized that everything I was saying he was repeating, including when I laughed at him for copying me... then he laughed too. He is so cute and sweet! I love my little boys:-) And another positive note, all this nursing on demand the past few days and constant moving to rock Ethan has allowed me to button up my old jeans again without difficulty... so I suppose you take the good with the bad;-)

If you think of us, please be praying for Ethan to feel better and for this medicine to work. The poor little guy has been in pain all the time the past few days and he is probably worn out even more than me for lack of sleep and constant hurting. And pray for Trey's eye... its still pretty swollen and itchy from where he and the dog were wrestling. Part of me kind of hopes the allergist we see tells us to get rid of the dog... but I know my boys would not like that;-)

One cute story I'll leave you with... I wish I could get the video on here but it won't work (I'll post it to Facebook though). The other night I caught Trey laying next to Ethan on the playmat stroking his head and talking to him... it was sooo adorable! After I stopped the video, Ethan started crying and I told Trey he was okay, that his belly just hurt. So Trey kissed Ethan's belly and said, "It's okay Baby Etin!" How sweet is that:-)

Funny Trey Stories

2011-10-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Funny story (although disgusting and horrifying at the time)! I gave Ethan a bath yesterday morning and Trey likes to help. We put the tub on the kitchen table and Trey sits next to me on the chair. He likes to play with the water but I told him no because Ethan had pooped in it everywhere. I got Ethan out and took him in the bedroom to put his clothes on and hear Trey run to the bathroom, run back to the kitchen and then "splish-splash" sounds. Oh no! I rushed into the kitchen only to find him dipping his toothbrush into the gross poopy water and then brushing his teeth with it!

But we laugh about it now:-)

Another funny Trey story (have to keep record of these:-)). Let me start by telling you that Trey had been reading (had memorized) this book about two friends who were playing with a toy and it broke and they cried "Wahahah" when it did. Well, shortly after Ethan was born, we were in the car driving somewhere and I was crying about something (blame it on the hormones and lack of sleep). Anyways, from the back seat I heard Trey goes "Mama.... wahahaha" and then he laughed. LOL, we had a good laugh over that... and yes, I did stop crying;-)

1 Month

2011-10-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ethan is one month old now! Hard to believe. He is now 21 inches long (I measured him this morning) and I'm not sure how much he weighs, but I have a feeling he's around 10 lbs. We'll know for sure on Monday at his checkup. He still sleeps alot, but has many hours of awake time now. He loves to be held and cuddled. He seems to be a very thoughtful kid... just likes to look around at everything rather. He loves being bundled up in his blanket, loves looking at Mickey Mouse, still has bright blue eyes and lots of dark hair, although we see some golden hair growing in behind it. His skin is getting lighter, but is still darker than Trey's was. He's a chubby little baby, especially when compared to Trey at this age, who was all skin and bones. For the most part, Ethan is very mellow and laidback. He doesn't like to be alone though and he prefers to be held all the time (which obviously I can't do;-)). He eats every 3-4 hours and at night he has been starting to sleep longer stretches, which a few bad nights here and there. Last night he had a 6 hr and 5 hr stretch which was WONDERFUL! The only problem is that he is a VERY loud baby. We call him Squeaker! He might be deep asleep, but he stretches and moans and squeaks and makes all sorts of noises that wake me up still. I have to run the fan in our room near me so that I don't hear him as easily, lol!

Trey is 23 months old (yes, he turns 2 next month!!!). He is really developing alot right now! I think I said this in the last post, but he can say most of the alphabet... he counted from 1-10 for the first time yesterday... he knows the holes in the moon are called craters and that the red stuff coming out of a "broken mountain" is lava. He loves going with his Nana (Pj's mom) on Tuesday mornings to storytime at the library and getting new books to read. He loves going to McDonalds to get fries and coke. His favorite treat are M&M's. He still adores milk. He loves white grape juice but refuses to call it that... apparently its "apple juice" no matter how many times we correct him. He goes up and down steps by himself, runs like the wind, can play kick ball like nobody's business, and has the most amazing memory ever. I have to be VERY careful what I say because he won't forget. The other day I told him I'd get him a treat if he was good in the store. I thought he might forget... but 1 hr later he reminded me, lol. We love our first little boy... he is getting so big! It's amazing that nearly 2 years have gone by. We will be having a small family Toy Story birthday party next month and pictures to come!

Trey is still doing really well with having a little brother. He says hi to him every time he gets up, loves to come over and pet his hair and talk to him, tells him its okay when he's crying and makes sure I know he (Ethan) is upset and needs me. This morning he was very concerned when he came out in the living room and baby Ethan wasn't there. I had to show him that he was in our bedroom and was okay. Such a protective big brother!:-)

Big news in my family this week... my sister Sarah and her husband Jeff announced they are pregnant with their first! She is due next April (so is about 12 weeks pregnant now I think). I'm so excited for them! I've already started sending her lots of info and leftover baby stuff we have. It's been fun! They are going to be awesome parents:-)

Pj has been working ALOT still. We thought things would calm down, which they did for a big, but he's super busy again. Just alot of events, grading, planning lessons, and every else. He's so great about playing with Trey and Ethan when he comes home each night though, even though he's exhausted. Whenever he is free, we try to do fun things together as a family. Next weekend however we will have a date night for the first time since Ethan was born... it will be our 5th anniversary on Friday. I can't believe we've been married for that long. It feels like forever... and we've gotten so much done in 5 years... 2 kids and a dog, I got my certificate in graphic design, he got his master's from seminary, etc. We're looking forward to going out for dinner for a bit just the two of us:-)

I've been enjoying this beautiful weather and getting out a little bit each day with the boys. It's not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I have to make sure we run errands in the morning of course, just like I did when it was just Trey. The hardest part is just getting home in time for lunch and naps. But Ethan usually sleeps the whole time we are out. I know that will eventually change and it will get harder as he gets older, but I'll take it as it comes! This is my favorite time of the year so as long as I can get out now, I'm good. We had fun today checking out my friend's yardsale in Frederick and then walked around the mall, got cookies, and looked at the animals at the pet store, and bought Trey a Toy Story t-shirt he found at JcPenny! It was a good day! So, yes, I am doing just fine. I still get sore in my incision area, but actually usually that is only from getting in and out of our very tall bed multiple times at night of all things. During the day I'm fine!

Pictures

2011-10-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

Our Little Thinker

2011-10-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

Pictures

2011-09-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Second Week!!

2011-09-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

Today Ethan has his 2nd week drs visit. I was looking forward to seeing how much he weighs because he's been eating so much and getting thicker. Sure enough, he's from from 7 lbs 2 oz to 8 lbs 1 oz in just one week... that's pretty good! He's been feeding for about 10 minutes every 2-4 hours which is awesome... Trey would take and hour to eat and sometimes wanted to every hour or two. Ethan also grew 1 cm taller. Still smaller than Trey was when Trey was born though;-) However Dr. Rahman commented that she thinks he will end up being bigger than Trey once he catches up! Ethan is also able to follow things with his eyes and will try to grab them still with his hands, which is great. He without fail will turn his head when he hears our voices, which is sweet! He is still the easiest and most laidback baby ever... is almost always content. The only problem is that he likes to be held alot and doesn't always want to be put down. Eventually he will have to learn to live with that, but right now I'm carrying him around in the Moby Wrap, which has been a big help to me, especially when dealing with Trey or doing housework.

Yesterday was my drs appointment and my doc gave me the go ahead for regular activity, so I'm allowed to drive, pick up Trey, steps, chores, etc. I just have to take it easy and work my way back to normal. This morning was definitely crazy and part of me wondered how I was going to do this each day. I woke up at 6am and got a shower and then at 7 both boys woke up, Ethan screaming for nursing, Trey calling me for milk and cereal and Barney and the dog clearly needed to go out. And I was still in a bathrobe with a towel on my hair. LOL! Somehow I got it all done, but I wasn't able to get my much needed coffee until three hours later. Oh well! Atleast I got it eventually:-) I love being at home with my boys, but wow, it is hard work. I've decided from now on when I fill out forms where it asks if I work full-time, I'm going to check yes;-)

Pj has been SUPER busy at WCA ever since school started up. He's been pretty much a ghost around here, which I know is hard on him because he misses his boys. But hopefully after this week things will start calming down. He took a half day (sort off... turned out to be more of a quarter day) off today to relax and this weekend he doesn't have much of anything to do too. I can't remember the last time he was this free! So we're planning on lots of sleep, movies, relaxation and family time.... we've been needing this for so long! In fact, as I write, Ethan and Daddy are both asleep on the couch while "Fight Club" is playing on blu-ray (Daddy took no time introducing Ethan to his favorite guy movies;-)).

Trey has been developing so much lately! He surprised me this morning while I was bathing Ethan by singing almost the entire song of "Twinkle Little Star", all the words, by himself to soothe crying Ethan. He also can sort of sing the ABC song. He can name most of the letters now. If he has a bunch of different colored blocks, crayons or pencils, he will sort them by color and put them in a row. He sorts everything!! He uses sentences all the time now, sometimes very long ones... its crazy that we are able to have real conversations with him. That being said, sometimes we have no clue what he is saying! He's been an awesome big brother as well. He always comes up to Ethan every day a couple of times to pat his head and put a blanket on him or brings him a toy. He gets very concerned when Ethan cries and will tell me "Mama, Baby Etin cry!" to make sure that I know and will go over and pat his head. It's sweet! I hope they will be close. Of course, I know they will fight too like all siblings too. But hopefully not too much .

So that's it for us for now. We're slowly getting used to the new life with Ethan! Here are pics with my grandfather and Pj's grandparents!

Ethan Is One Week Old

2011-09-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

This week went by pretty fast! My little one week old boy is fast asleep on his tummy on the couch behind me as I sit on the floor and work on his baby book. He is so precious and wearing my favorite striped sleeper outfit that Trey wore. Enjoy the pics!

2011-09-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

We brought Ethan home from the hospital today. And later this evening Susie brought Trey home. It was weird but fun sitting on the couch watching "Toy Story" as a family of four tonight. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Trey so far has been really sweet to his baby brother. He brings him his baby toys and covers him with his little blankets and likes to pet his feet and give his head kisses. When Ethan cries, Trey gets very concerned and says, "Its okay baby". He also is able to pronounce Ethan's name pretty well now! We missed our Trey very much the past four days. He is singing new songs, saying new sentences and words and has some other things new to us as well... I couldn't help but cry a little bit thinking my first little boy had grown up and while I was giving birth, lol (its the hormones, I know)!

Ethan has had a great day today too. He didn't make a peep hardly the whole way home in the carseat and spent more than an hour or two completely awake and looking around ar the house form his bouncy chair and trying to touch the toys with his hands. He just seemed to be taking it all in. I have to say, we were pretty impressed with his hand/eye coordination too, just like his big brother;-) We've really had no issues with his feeding and sleeping schedule either. He's been easy so far (I'm waiting for that to change at any moment;-)). He feeds for 20 minutes roughly every 2-3 hours and sleeps in between. He cries only when he's really hungry. He has tons of poopy and pee diapers... which is a good sign to us that he's getting the nutrition he needs. We are just so thankful that its been this easy so far. Again... I say that "now"... we'll see if it stays that way. I know there is often a calm before the storm with little newborns;-)

Here are some pics from today!

Note From Katie

2011-09-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hi All! This is Katie... I just wanted to type up a quick note to you all to let you know how things are going and to say thank you so much for all the prayers and sweet words people have sent our way. It's been quite a week! I never gave my birth plan to my doctor which is good because it definitely didn't go the way I thought it would. But in the end, the most important thing is that we are all okay... especially our little Ethan. He is beautiful and we are enjoying having him in our arms! He's a great sleeper and eater... and every now and then he will have some "awake time" where he just looks around at us and the rest of the room trying to figure this world out:-) He looks ALOT like Trey, except his hair is darker and he's smaller and, so far, seems calmer and not as alert. Then again, Trey was a week later when he was born.

As for me, I'm feeling pretty good. Each day I am able to walk more and have less pain. It's definitely going to be a long road to full recovery, so I'm so glad that our family has been and will continue to be able to help out alot so I can get better! We are supposed to be released sometime before 11 tomorrow and I can't wait to go home and just get back to normal... well... the new normal;-) We are up for some visitors once we get home but please do call or email us first just to make sure we are free and up to it. Thanks so much for being understanding about us just having family visiting while at the hospital. We've been trying to take this time to get as much rest as possible, especially me since I lost alot of blood during delivery. But we can't wait to see you all and introduce our Ethan to you:-)

Here is the birth announcement I designed for Ethan:

Ethan's Birth Announcement and More Pics

2011-09-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

More Pics

2011-09-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

More Pics

2011-09-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

Ethan is Here and Mommy is Well

2011-09-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

hi everyone,

This is Pj writing for Katie again. We had a very exciting morning to say the least. The most exciting thing is that around 12:30, baby Ethan was born a healthy 7lbs-4oz. The details surrounding Ethan's making his way into the world are a bit crazy...

As you all probably saw on Facebook, at 10am things were moving right along. They had begun inducing her just a couple hours before and contractions were coming every 2-3 mins, and they were strong contractions. Despite the strong contractions, however, when the doctor came to check on Katie it was determined that she had not progressed beyond being 1 cm dilated. The doctor could feel the baby's head, but the baby still needed to drop quite a bit to get to the "zero" position necessary for birth. In order move things along, she went ahead and broke Katie's water. She also inserted a device to monitor the strength of Katie's contractions in order to know how best to proceed with administering the Petocin.

During the procedure, the nurse commented that there was more blood than usual, but both the nurse and the doctor were not particularly alarmed. When the anesthesiologist arrived to give Katie her epidural, they sat Katie up. At that point, the nurse noticed that the bleeding was more severe than originally thought. The nurse sent for the doctor who arrived about a 1/2 hour later.

The doctor examined Katie again, and this time was not able to feel the baby's head. Immediately, she was concerned because what she did feel felt like the placenta. After that, things got crazy (and very scary). Four other people showed up very quickly along with an ultrasound machine. The ultrasound confirmed the doctor's fears. The placenta had rotated down beneath the baby. It was a full placenta previa. An emergency C-section was called for immediately and Katie was rushed into surgery. I found out following surgery that Katie's placenta was actually 20 percent separated from the uterine wall. By the grace of God, I am sitting with Katie right now, and she is doing fantastic.

The baby is also doing fine, but that was not a forgone conclusion following his delivery. I could not be in the room because Katie's C-section was so rushed, they had to put her under general anesthesia. I would find out a 1/2 later that the baby was not responsive when removed. The heart rate never dropped in the womb, but when he was removed it took some effort to get him breathing. I am not sure what the nurse meant by that, and I did not ask for details. What I do know is that the expectation was for the baby to be in the nursery upon delivery and that following delivery, he was taken to the NICU.

I was able to be with him in the NICU for pretty much the entire time. He did seem very lethargic, but became more animated as time went on. They ran a number of tests and he passed them all. When I left him roughly 40mins ago, he was sleeping soundly. We expect him to be discharged from the NICU and to join Katie and I in our room in the next 30 mins. I was only able to hold him for a minute or so thanks to the kindness of nurse who needed to give him a bath. Other than that, our poor little boy is still waiting to be held. They avoided letting him be held just in case there were complications that they were unaware of. Apparently, being held can aggravate certain conditions.

We continue to covet your prayers. This has been a hard and emotional day. We do praise God that things seems to be OK at this point. It is a crazy thing to think that if Katie had not had the acute sinus pain that forced us to go to the doctor yesterday, both Katie and the baby may not have survived. It was at the doctors that we found out she had high blood pressure. The high blood pressure is why her OBGYN sent us to the hospital last night with plans to induce this morning. To be sure, God does work in mysterious ways.

Thanks for all of your love and support thus far. I will keep you posted as to further developments. Right now, I am so looking forward to holding my baby boy. It is of great comfort to know that God also has a son, and that there was a time he longed for that son to return to him. We don't always understand why God does what he does, but it is amazing to think that the God of this universe has entered into suffering with us. What is even more amazing is that he is glorified in this. He is glorified by loving his people so much. This is the greatest hope of all.

Enjoy the pics of Ethan below. He did find his thumb! Talk to you soon and God bless!

We are well under way...

2011-09-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

So this is Pj writing for Katie. It is 10:05 and the contractions are strong at 2-3 minutes apart. The nurse should be in soon to check to see if any progress has been made in terms of effacement and dilation. No epidural yet...Please keep praying for a safe delivery!

Hooked up to Pitocin

2011-09-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

I thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes... I ended up getting good sleep last night painfree which was very much needed. Drugs are good:-) I can't imagine contractions and pushing without having had that sleep I needed. So hopefully everything goes well today. They hooked me up a bit ago to Pitocin and just upped it a bit because its working fast and well in terms of bringing on my contractions. I just had a really strong one just now! So that is good because I know some inductions can take two days.

More later... probably from Pj though;-)

Ethan is Coming Tomorrow!

2011-09-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Its been a crazy day... and in the end we discovered that I'm going to the hospital tonight to start the process of being induced. Which means Ethan will be here sometime tomorrow!

I had a really rough night last night and didn't sleep at all due to sinus pain and so this morning I went to the doctor to see if I had a sinus infection and to get some meds for it. Well, turns out a have a sinus infection for sure, but while I was there they took my blood pressure and it was pretty high. They did it a few times and it kept going higher so they sent me over to my OB/GYN to get checked out. It was high for them too so we decided it would be better to get induced rather than risk me getting sick. So they did a sonogram and while Ethan is happy and healthy, the amniotic fluid is kind of low. So in the end, it was a good thing I had that doctor's appointment this morning. It wouldn't have been good to wait till next week! So we're at home right now getting packed and of course I did the dishes and finished folding the laundry, lol. Then we're headed over to say goodnight to Trey who is at Nana and PopPop's and grab my last food before they don't let me eat anymore;-) Pj will be updating this I'm sure... but probably not till the morning. They aren't going to start the pitocin till sometime in the morning... so sometime tomorrow Ethan will be here:-) Please pray for a safe and fast delivery!

Ethan Is Happy Where He Is!

2011-09-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

Just got back from my 40 week appointment... well almost... my due date is tomorrow. No news! I was not surprised of course. The doctor was though... so much so that she did a sonogram just to make sure he was still head down since he's still pretty high up (oddly enough even though I and others thought I had "dropped" this week). He's still head down though, thankfully! Everything else still looks good... weight gain has pretty much stopped at the right spot, blood pressure is perfect, I feel fine other than getting contractions every evening for a few hours (clearly they are not real because they aren't doing anything). He's still very active and likes to kick me till I'm sure that his foot will pop through my skin. Next week, if I make it that long, I meet with Dr. Simmonds, head of the practice, he I like very much and trust completely. We will do a stress test and also determine whether or not to induce. It'll depend on Ethan's size and how's he's doing of course, but I'm hoping to let him come on his own. We will see though!

Here is my 40 week belly shot! Here's hoping it's the last one.... again;-)

Pre-Labor Day Fun

2011-09-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

No Ethan yet! But we've been keeping busy anyways. Pj has to work all of Labor Day this year, so today we spent the entire day just hanging out as a family. We spent the morning at the mall walking around and grabbed some lunch. And then we drove up to the Catoctin Zoo in Thurmont for the afternoon after Trey napped for a bit in the car. We didn't have the good camera, but here is a low quality pic from Pj's phone of Trey and Pj's camel ride. Sadly they don't let pregnant women;-) Trey loved it! And then of course the day was completed by a stop at 7-Eleven for hotdogs for dinner! And if Ethan doesn't come after all the walking I did today, oh well! I've done what I can;-)

39 Weeks... Nothing New to Report

2011-08-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

Back from my 39 week checkup and despite having what I thought was lots of progress this week, apparently nothing has changed. Oh well! Here is the latest belly pic... I am going to topple over soon! But on the bright side, Ethan is getting plenty of time to work on his breathing and swallowing. And my blood pressure is great. Now I just need to walk, and walk, and walk and hope things get started!!

38 Weeks... Nothing Changed

2011-08-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Just had my 38 week drs appointment and nothing has changed she said. His head is still down, but I'm not dilated anymore than I was last week. But I did lose a pound, so that's always nice to hear!! I was surprised I wasn't dilated more after all the pressure he's been putting on me this past week. Oh well!

Trey Growing Up

2011-08-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

My little boy is growing up so fast! I realized that after Ethan is born, I might be writing alot about him at first so this is a good time for a Trey update. I don't know how many people actually read this, but I write them mostly because I'm so bad about keeping his baby book up-to-date. Atleast I can always go back to my blog and print it out;-)

Trey LOVES his etch-a-sketch. It's not even a nice one... just a mini $2 one I picked up at Target one day to keep in the car for trips. But he loves it! Well this morning he drew a bunch of circles for the first time ever! So far all his drawing has been scribbling. I was very proud of him... wish I could save it!

Trey has also been learning colors, shapes, 123, ABC. He can recognize green and blue alot of times, but not always. He can recognize numbers, but doesn't know what to call them. He recognizes all letters, but the only one he can identify are A, B, and C so far. Speaking of "ABC", I hear this phrase ALL DAY LONG. He follows me around with his Etch-a-sketch or crayons and paper and says, "ABC, Mama, ABC!" over and over again until I draw it for him. Then he scribbles for a minute, then it's back to "ABC, Mama, ABC!" I love that he is learning but wow it gets tiring hearing that over and over and over again.

The other phrase I hear all the time repeatedly is just my name, "Mama? Mama? Mama" "What Trey?" "Aerhhfdoahdsfih" "Ok Trey, that sounds good"... two seconds later, "Mama? Mama? Mama?" And this goes on all day long. Sometimes if I pretend I don't hear him calling me he will go on forever and grab my leg. I suppose I should enjoy this while it lasts... eventually I will think its cute and not annoying;-)

I haven't mentioned the new member of our household... Barney. I introduced Trey to Barney one day just to distract him and he fell in love with him. Now that's all he wants. I can't stand Barney, but I have to say the show does a good job in teaching basics. Trey has learned alot and will even sing the songs! I may not love Barney, but I like it alot better than the new Sesame Street! I did get him a little Barney doll and he carries it around everywhere in addition to Duckie #1, Duckie #2, and Bob the Tomato:-)

Most of our days lately have been pretty much the same since my energy level has dropped. We often go for a walk in the morning around town in the stroller... or we go play at the park for a little bit. Then we come home and get the paper and crayons out and draw things, plus work on shapes, colors, 123s and ABCs. We play with the blocks and cars and balls... typical boy stuff. Trey doesn't want to be read to much lately. He isn't reading as much as he used to either, but sometimes I will find him surrounded by a pile of books he reads to his stuffed animals.

A new thing I've noticed these days is that he plays pretend. He will get his farm animals out and set them up side by side and have them pretend to talk to each other. He also likes to arrange his cars a certain way and will make sounds as they zoom across the floor.

In terms of food, Trey has gotten alot less picky! Part of this has to do with our new rule of you eat it or you leave. But he will eat bread with jelly on it (but still doesn't always like peanut butter). He no longer loves cheese and bananas as much as he used to. But he loves cereal with milk on it and yogurt, peas, broccoli, hot dogs. He will eat hamburger sometimes now (yay!). His favorite is shrimp and salmon! And the big thing lately... milk. Seriously that is all he wants. We have been going through more than a gallon a week just the three of us. And the other end has been solid so I suppose he's not lactose intolerant after all like we kept thinking he was;-) I'm glad he asks for milk and not juice all the time!

I had attempted potty training last week when he kept asking where his potty went (I put it away since I didn't think it was time yet). So whenever I went, I put him on his potty... but he didn't seem to care for that. I think I'm still going to just wait until later this year. I've got to much coming way soon to worry about being consistent with that!

That's it for now! I could go on and on about Trey but I need to take a little nap before this day gets crazy! I will post tomorrow after my drs appointment with an update on Ethan!

1 Cm Down... 9 More to Go;-)

2011-08-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Just had a regular drs checkup and was so happy that it was completely positive... no problems, no worries, nothing! I needed that like you wouldn't believe after the past weeks. I found out that I'm 1 cm dilated... which is nothing of course but every little bit is encouraging. Other than that, there aren't any signs yet that labor is coming. Ethan is head down again and most likely to stay that way from now on, but he hasn't dropped yet. But the doctor told me that after your first, everything tends to happen fast right before delivery rather than weeks before and then waiting.

And good news... I'm not on partial bedrest anymore since I've had no problems since I came home from the hospital!

FYI -- tomorrow I'm 37 weeks... aka. full term baby!

Pictures!

2011-08-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

Our Fun 24 Hrs at Shady Grove Adventist!

2011-08-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hi All! Well just when I thought I was going to have a peaceful week without drama, the dog had to go pee on the floor! Yesterday morning Trey and I were playing on the porch with bubbles. It was so beautiful out and I was looking forward to all our fun plans for the day! Without elaborating, the dog was mad and did his business on the floor, as I go clean up the poop part of it, I slipped on the pee I didn't know about, fell straight on my big 36 week pregnant belly and slid across the kitchen floor. So I called the doc and they told me to go straight to the hospital for a non-stress test to make sure the baby and I were okay. So I packed up Trey and the diaper bag and drove there (we met Pj there because he had already gone to work). Well, I was shocked to find out when we had been there for an hour that my doctor wanted me to be monitored for 24 hrs, thus admitted overnight. Agghhh, I was so frustrated! At the same time, we are so thankful we have care for me and the baby too. But its still frustrating that all that had to happen. Ethan was active the entire time, so I knew he was alive... that was good. They quickly assessed that everything seemed okay and I wasn't bleeding and my blood test came back that my blood and the baby's blood had not mixed, which was good. But what Dr. Simmonds explained to me later that day when I saw him is that when you fall on a pregnant belly (especially at this point) it can shake the placenta like a sponge in a balloon (yes, that is the analogy he used even though I don't quite understand it). The shake from the fall can sometimes rip the placenta form the wall causing bleeding that would obviously not be good. So Mr. Placenta just really wants ALL the attention in this pregnancy I suppose.

Pj was so wonderful taking care of Trey this whole time (keeping a toddler busy in a hospital waiting from for 1 1/2 hrs while I was getting assessed in triage is not easy), getting our overnight stuff, taking Trey to Nana's for the night, going back to work and getting stuff done, and then coming back and staying with me... he should get a metal! I love you, honey:-) I spent the day yesterday doing what I hate most... laying awake in bed and not allowed to do ANYTHING. I read Style magazine and discovered there are way to many ads and not enough articles, but was thankful to finally find HGTV. It was a long day!

Dr. Simmonds, who was on call at the time, is head of my practice and is such a great doctor! I loved him! On his break between births he came in really relaxed with a cup of coffee and asked if I could be his guinea pig for teaching the group of six midwives how to do something in particular on the sonogram machine... so that was fun. I got to see that my little boy decided while he was at the hospital to go from head down to being breech, but then he turned head down again before we left this morning, lol! I also got to see the midwives get really nervous as they had to practice in from of Dr. Simmonds. You never think of doctors being nervous and unsure about what they are doing... so it was a neat perspective to see!

I was released this morning and everything looks good, I just have to try to not do anything except what is necessary until my checkup next week... what else is new, sigh! I'll tell you, this pregnancy is really really wearing on me with all this drama. Adoption is looking REALLY nice after this one!!;-) But just wanted to let you all know what's been going and that we are just fine now but please pray that nothing else goes wrong before (or during) labor... we've had enough;-)

Good News from sonogram!

2011-08-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Really quick update -- the sonogram tech today told me that placenta is 4 cm or more away from the cervix. It needed to only be atleast 3 to escape the dreaded c-section, so all is good! Ethan is head down and should stay that way now. I got to see him open and close his mouth and his hands were up by his face... cute! She estimates he is getting close to 5 lbs! Here is a pic looking straight down at his face. It's a little fuzzy, but you can see the nose in the middle, and the eyes, mouth, forehead:-)

Just A Few Weeks Left...

2011-08-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

This pregnancy has flown by so fast! I'm 34 weeks now and definitely starting to feel all the fun stuff that comes with carrying a big baby around in your belly. The doctor and I think Ethan may have dropped into position, but I won't know for sure until my sonogram tomorrow. Be praying for that the results of this final sonogram are good... it will determine whether the placenta is far enough away to not need a c-section (which I REALLY don't want, if you haven't noticed from past posts;-)). But, then again, as long as we have a healthy baby, we'll do what we have to do.... uh, I mean I will do what I have to do (yeah, Pj just gets to sit there and wait lucky guy!).

I had an appointment today and everything looks great otherwise -- my blood pressure is perfect, weight gain perfect, energy level normal, Ethan's heart rate is in the 130's and he's very active! In fact, he was so active that today I was sitting on the couch talking to my mother-in-law and all of a sudden a foot popped out of my belly. It freaked me out at first! After that we could just see him doing his kicks over and over again. Trey got to feel him kick too. It freaked him out a little bit, but then he got excited. When I ask him where his brother is, he points to my belly. It's cute! Hopefully when Ethan is in our arms he will figure out its the same baby!

Trey has a big growth spurt we think the past few weeks. We were watching him run around today and he looks so tall and lean (not that he was every a chubby baby to begin with), definitely like a toddler and nothing like a baby anymore. Its sad but exciting at the same time. However we are also dealing with tantrums like never before. He is very particular about wanting to do things his way and in his time... which leads to spanks and the time out chair often. Sometimes I feel like I spend my entire day disciplining... but it helps that we see progress in some areas. We bought Trey his first tricycle ($10 off of Craig's List... woohoo!) last week and took him up to the basketball court behind our house to try it out. He's sort of got the idea that you have to push the pedals, but he would rather stand behind and push the bike. But I'm sure by the end of the summer he will get it! He is also starting to learn some of his letters, numbers, shapes and colors. He can identify A, B, and C... but then all the rest of the letters he can't tell apart (other than identifying them as letters and not something else). We're working on it!

Work is starting to get busier for Pj. It's hard to believe students come back in less than a month I think. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but in addition to being dean of students and family, he will be teaching a high school Bible class and a senior thesis class. He's really looking forward to that, as he can use some of his knowledge from seminary (plus he gets an excuse to buy more books;-)).

As for me, I've been nesting big time. Everything is ready.... everything is clean.... meals are being prepared.... lists are being made, lol. There isn't much left for me to do... besides installing the newborn carseat, but there is no rush for that since we know how to do it now. I did work on a project to create some art for Ethan's wall above his crib... which was bare before (pics below). But I've also been getting tired and achy so I've spent alot of time off my feet on the couch rewatching "One Tree Hill" or just whatever I've been in the mood for. I feel so lazy doing that, but it helps that I'm supposed to be resting so I don't feel as guilty;-)

That's it for now! Once I know the results of the sonogram, I will post:-) Here are some pictures!

More Beach Pics

2011-07-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

We're home! We left around 9ish last night and got home around 3 this morning. We usually do this so Trey can sleep.... however it didn't work out that way. He was awake for the first two hours watching a movie and then slept for an hour until we stopped for a Mommy bathroom break and wouldn't go back to sleep the rest of the night. Then we got stuck on 495 in stand-still traffic due to construction for 30 minutes. Our feet are dragging this morning! Thankfully Trey slept till 10ish:-)

We had a great rest of the week at the beach however. When we left we were definitely ready to come home and get back into our normal routine and just be home again. I'll post the rest of our vacation pictures below... there are some really cute ones. The last two days were perfect... low 80's, breezy, sunny! What a great way to end vacation.

Really quick update on Ethan's progress.... I'm now at 32 weeks and everything seems to be going well. I'm feeling energized, managing my weight, getting good exercise and rest. I have my first doctor's appointment this Wednesday with my old doctor's office (yay!). It's within walking distance too so that's nice. The last time we saw this doctor, she was at the hospital checking up on me and Trey after his birth:-) I'll let you know how everything goes... it'll probably be a long appointment so I can give them all my history and discuss what they think I should do next. But only 8 weeks, give or take a few, left before we get to meet Ethan:-)

Beach Photos

2011-07-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

We're on our two week vacation in Corolla, NC (Outer Banks) with Pj's family right now. It's been wonderful! We're fully relaxed, having lots of fun, and Trey of course is having the time of his life what with the beach, pool, staying up late, eating junk food, and having lots of people to play with. I thought I'd post a few cute pictures!

Ethan is great!

2011-06-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks again for all of your prayers for our second big appointment that we had this afternoon with the high risk ob/gyn. It went great -- Ethan has no problems whatsoever that they can see. He just has a really big head and short legs.... which Trey did too. We're so thankful! The doctor was really thorough and he also checked my placenta just to make sure everything was still good. I'm glad he did because apparently while it's not covering the cervix anymore, its still low enough to be in the danger zone. Meaning, if I went into labor today, it would have to be a c-section. However I'm only 30 weeks so by the time I deliver there is a good chance it will have moved away enough to not be a threat. I'll have another sonogram with another high risk doc at 36 weeks.

So we are just so relieved for this good news... its been a very stressful week or waiting! We are going on a two-week vacation to the beach starting Sunday, so we are glad to not have to worry about anything now while we're gone:-)

Thanks again for all your prayers! We again felt alot of peace today and we're not overly nervous about this appointment because we could just felt like everything would be okay. And it was:-)

Ethan's Heart is Fine!!

2011-06-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Thanks so much for your prayers and support... we felt a lot of peace on our way to the doctor's appointment this afternoon. And we were given wonderful news... Ethan's heart is perfectly fine as far as they can tell! I can't begin to tell you the relief we felt after hearing that. In addition to being able to see all the details of the heart, the size is great (oh, and apparently he is measuring 2 lbs 13 oz which is right on track for his age).

So one down and just one more to go. We have our last big sonogram tomorrow afternoon. This one will be with Kaiser's high risk doctor to determine whether Ethan's brain and kidneys are still looking too large or not. But hopefully that will go well too. However please keep praying! We will let you know as soon as we find out.

Prayer Request

2011-06-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note... please be praying for Ethan's fetal echocardiogram at Children's National Hospital tomorrow that everything goes well and that the issues are either gone or very minimal! Thanks friends and family:-) We'll let you know as soon as we know the results!

Just Pics!

2011-06-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you who like to see cute pics of Trey....

2011-06-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

This will be a short post... but wanted to let everyone know that I had my sonogram yesterday and I no longer have placenta previa! Yay!!! In addition, I got to see Ethan again and he is adorable. I don't have a scanner, but took a pic of the pic with my camera, so this is the best I can get for you right now. His heartbeat is in the 130's still. He moves around and kicks constantly. Oh, he's in the head down position which is great since I can supposedly have a regular delivery now. And he's very, very strong like his brother!

The next two are looking straight down at the face... he's kind of tucked in there but you can see the mouth, head and eyes:-)

The sonogram did show some potential issues with Ethan having to do with his brain, heart and kidneys being on the large side and some veins in his heart that they couldn't see, but most likely everything is fine so we're trying not to worry to much about that. So they are sending us to get a more detailed sonogram next week and to see a doctor who can help figure out if there are really any problems or not. I should know next week or the week after once the results are in.

Here are some other cute recent pics of our first little boy!

2011-06-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

I'm slowing down... believe it or not. The past few days (I think the heat has helped), I've spent time on the couch relaxing each afternoon. I was telling Susie the other night that for the first time since I can remember, I watched an entire movie and did not move (Trey was napping). This is very hard for me to do because I often don't finish a movie or song or book before moving on to the next. It wasn't really a very good movie... but atleast I relaxed. The pregnancy is going quickly and I was surprised this week to realize that next week will be the third trimester beginning. Wow! I'm 27 weeks now. Next week I have another doctor's appointment and after that they will be every two week instead of once a month. My big sonogram is a week from Wednesday so be praying about that. We will find out if I still have placenta previa or not!

We received some good news that WCA is switching to CareFirst insurance which means... drum roll... we get to go back to the old pediatrician and OB/GYN and primary doctors we love and miss! I can't wait!! We can deliver at Shady Grove Hospital where we had Trey and maybe we'll even get Dr. Martin again... we'll see. Can you tell we're excited?;-)

Ethan has been making his existence very known to me today! I was at the mall walking around with Trey when all of a sudden he started kicking me so hard that seriously I was in pain! I'm just thankful it wasn't my rib (yet). I believe it was Pj or his brother that kicked their mom in the rib and broke it... I'm hoping that Ethan doesn't do that. Perhaps he hears Trey constantly kicking and throwing around the balls and is practicing to play with him! He is a very active baby like his brother was. He is the worst right before I eat... I suppose because he's hungry too;-)

Trey of course has no clue why Mommy is putting newborn diapers and clothes in his room and reorganizing the closet and putting old toys away. He keeps himself busy most days either building block towers, reading books, stringing beads, watching his new favorite show "Bob the Builder", or kicking around balls (or throwing them at lamps... something we're working on stopping;-)). He still LOVES to go outside and tries to open the front door. He is still trying to put on his shoes by himself but usually needs help. He is talking alot now! He says alot of longer sentences, although only those close to him would know what he is saying most times. He will repeat almost anything we ask him to say. The other night we were at Pj's parents house for dinner and he was patiently waiting with his hands folded for prayer. So Susie said "Dear Jesus, thank you for our food, Amen." and Trey repeated it. Wish I had videotaped it!!

Trey's favorite thing to say is "Hi" and "Bye" to people or objects or animals. The ladies at the mall today got a kick out of this! We've learned that Trey is not afraid of people or animals, any shape or size! This is great, except we're going to have to teach him about dangerous animals and not going up to stranger too! Let's see, what else... oh he still loves the pool and bath. He loves to run! But Mommy can hardly keep up with him these days. Pj and I just love having him in our life. It's true what people say... children make each day more exciting. They notice the little things that we take for granted. So we're very thankful that Ethan is on his way. Three months left:-)

We've been pretty busy here this spring! The spring at WCA is of course full of events, but thankfully the summer should be fairly slow so Pj can relax a little bit! I've been busy the past few weeks designing a commencement program for the school among other design projects. That's been fun! Alot of nights we go to the park for bbq and playing on the playground.

Pj and I got away over the Memorial Holiday weekend for a two night babymoon in DC. We had such a great time! We stayed in Rosslyn, but were close enough to walk to our favorite restaurant in Georgetown for Sunday morning memosa brunch (I just had plain orange juice though;-)). Then we took the Metro down and toured a few museums (I visited every single bathroom about every 15 minutes of course). We had a tasty dinner at really well known burger spot in DC called the Trolley Stop or something like that? It was just fun to get away just the two of us. We didn't even think about Trey much because we knew he was fine and having fun with Pj's family!

Last weekend we went strawberry picking at Baugher's Orchard in Wesminster. I grew up picking strawberries there every year and so it was fun to take Trey there. My family came with us! It was like old times... except it wasn't:-) Trey loved the tractor ride and homemade icre cream and petting zoo. He wasn't one bit afraid of the animals... but I was.

Other than that, nothing much happening over here! I'll update again after our big sonogram in a week and half. Please be praying! I really would rather not have a c-section;-) Here are some recent pics I thought I'd share with you all!

His name is....

2011-05-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

We've decided on a name for our new baby boy that we will meet later this summer.... Ethan Michael. So now its written in stone;-) If you copy it we will just have to not be friends with you anymore;-)

Ethan is just a name we like and both agreed on. It means is a Hebrew name that means "strong, safe or firm." And Michael is my dad's name and Pj's brother's name and so because we respect both of them as men very much, we decided we wanted to name Ethan after both of them! It is also Hebrew and means "Who is like God?" So there you have it.

Trey can only pronounce it "Etin" right now... it's really cute!

Here are some recent pics!

Working on Names

2011-04-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

Well, we still don't quite have a name yet for our next little boy. But we're getting closer! We've narrowed it down two four or five combination, two of them were more seriously looking at. However we're thinking we might wait until he's born before announcing. We'll see! You never know with us.

Alot of you already know, but a week or two after our sonogram, I received a call from the doctor that I currently have placenta previa. This is where the placenta is low and covering or partially covering the cervix causing various complications if it doesn't fix itself. Thankfully I am early enough in my pregnancy that there is 90% chance that this will fix itself by week 28. Also, I found out that only the tip of the placenta is covering the cervix, which makes my chances even better. So it's just a waiting game right now. But until the next sonogram to see what has happened, I am not supposed to lift more than 20lbs, can't run and do anything strenuous along with a few other things. Obviously my first concern was Trey because I still have to carry him alot and he is 26 lbs. But the doctor assured me it will be okay as long as I just try to limit this. So we're working on Trey walking up and down steps on his own alot these days, and he has gotten alot better. The only problem is when we get near the top of the steps of our condo toward the front door, he stops and tries to go back down because he hates being inside these days. I don't blame him with all the great weather we've been having!! We spend alot of time taking walks or playing on the porch. I can't wait till we someday have a yard hopefully!

This past week we had a really nice day in the 80's, so we went to my parent's house for the morning and Trey got to swim in the baby pool for the first time this summer (pictures to follow). He loved it. Aunt Rachel sprayed him with the hose and, though freezing cold, he thought it was awesome. He has absolutely no fear of water, it's so funny! I can't wait to see him go in the ocean this July!!

Trey's little brother is getting more and more active each day. I can now see my stomach rolling around as he kicks and does head stands or whatever he's doing in there! His favorite times to be on the move are around 9 in the morning and 9 at night. I've started cleaning out closets and reorganizing things in preparation for bringing back little baby items. Somehow we'll fit it all in! I'm appreciated all the more the TV shows that show how to better organize.

Last weekend we enjoyed Easter with Pj's family this year at his parent's home. Trey enjoyed the candy, especially the jelly beans. He didn't quite get the Easter Egg hunt, but he understood there was candy in the eggs and horded them as he gathered rather them letting Daddy put them in his basket. He ate them within minutes! It was a very long day and he fell asleep the second we got home... as did Mommy!

This weekend Pj will be preaching at our church. It will be his second time and I'm looking forward to hearing him. He did a really good job last time. I can't imagine getting up there and talking for so long, let alone just two minutes.

This past week or two I've been keeping busy working on a few design projects... a logo for one organization and a postcard for another. It's been fun! I've really been thankful for the timing of these projects too to help distract me while I was a bit worried about the placenta previa and just trying to take it easy (don't worry, I'm barely think about it now:-)).

Well, that's it for now! Here are some photos of Easter and of Trey's swimming day:-)

We're having a boy!

2011-04-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

On Friday I went in for my big sonogram and we found out that we're having a boy! Apparently he is a very wiggly little baby because the technician was having a difficult time getting the photos she needed for the doctor. I'm going to have to go in again next week, which means another chance to see him again. People have asked if we cared one way or the other. Honestly I didn't really care whether it was a boy or girl, but we did think it would be good timing to have a boy for Trey's sake... he needs a buddy! Plus, we have everything we need for a boy and the timing is close enough that this one will be able to wear all of Trey's old clothes for the most part (depending on how he grows;-)). So we're very excited of course! A bunch of our friends are having boys this summer as well, so he'll have plenty of friends his age too.

I have a bunch of cute pictures from the sonogram but will upload them later once I get them scanned into the computer!

So I'm 19 weeks right now... next week I will be halfway through the pregnancy! It's gone by super fast so far. I can still wear all my old clothes for the most part, but I am opting for maternity pants alot of the time now just because they are more comfortable. This baby feels like an active one, just like Trey was, kicking and moving around all the time. So I'm wondering if I have another high energy boy on the way... maybe the two will wear each other out.

Trey will be 1 & 1/2 on May 6th! We've had so much fun watching him grow the past weeks. He says "pease" for "please" now and its so adorable we can never say no when he does that, especially Pj! He says "Daddy" for Pj and "Money" for me (instead of "Mommy"). If we ask him what a rooster makes the right sound, and the same for a cat. He says "yes" and "no" although most times "yes" sounds like "yet"! I bought him this new toy last week that is a string with a bunch of wood farm animals that you string onto it. He loves it and will make me a necklace and bring it over and put it on my neck. His favorite thing to do is take walks and to play on the playground, particularly the slides. He has no fear of slides and will got down head first on his stomach and laugh the whole way!

Since Pj has been so busy with work at the school the past month or two, we had a family weekend last week. Saturday we watched movies and relaxed and then on Sunday we went to the DC zoo. We figured since it was a nice cool cloudy day that no one else would be there, but apparently everyone else and their brother thought the same thing. But it was still fun! We were curious to see what Trey would think or if he would even notice the animals. He loved it! His favorite for the elephants I think. He just seemed so fascinated with everything. We had the stroller with us, but let him walk holding Pj's hand alot of the time since that's what he prefers. He was beaming. I think he felt like a big boy getting to walk like everyone else. It definitely wore him out... he fell asleep two seconds after he was in his carseat! It was a good day:-)

That's it for us for now!

March Update!

2011-03-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

I just had my 16 week appointment this afternoon and everything seems to be going well. I heard the heartbeat for the first time (the first two appointments for sonograms so we didn't get to hear it). That sound never gets old! I had been nervous because at this point in my pregnancy with Trey I had gained more weight, looked more pregnant and wasn't sick anymore. This one is the reverse. I've still only managed to gain 2-3 lbs, I am wearing all my old clothes (although the one pair of pants I know need to unbutton the top button (classy!;-)), and every late afternoon and evening I still feel blah and have to make myself cook and eat. Maybe its a girl? Haha, who knows! We'll find out in about 2-3 weeks though.

We're still working on the names. I've got a list going but to be honest we're not as big about doing everything quickly with this one as we were with Trey... I suppose because we know we've got many more months yet to decide. I think the list for the girl is 5 names and the boys list is about the same, maybe less. But that is mostly just from one idea Pj had and then a bunch of names I found I liked. Clearly we have more work to do;-)

Alot of you knew that we have been looking into getting a larger home. Well we're taking a break on that for a bit longer.. .going to try to save up more of a down payment and just wait things out a little bit longer. There were two homes we had been looking at with alot of interest, but other people got to them first! But I think we'll be okay in the condo until the kids get a little older.

With the spring coming, Pj is going to be getting busies at work, what with graduation, the senior trip, etc. I have a feeling we won't see him much in May! We are looking forward to the Senior Trip though because we are driving down early hopefully with him and then while he goes to chaperone the trip down in Kill Devil Hill, Trey and I will hang out in Corolla with Pj's parents and I think Brett perhaps. I'm looking forward to a warmer beach than last week!

We were down in Corolla last week (as I just mentioned) and it was such a relaxing time for all of us. Pj spent most of the time in the hot tub reading his theology books. We watched alot of HGTV (our favorite!). Trey had soooo much fun playing with Brett and Nana and PopPop. Lots of good food too. And the last day was 80 degrees so we went to the beach and took a walk. Trey absolutely loves the beach! I think this summer is going to be so much fun... although I'm going to need help chasing after Trey. He so far shows no fear of the water whatsoever. Even when it was freezing he ran in last week with bare feet. He loves playing in the sand and digging. He loves just running to his heart's content.

That has been my major issue with him lately! Trey has boundless energy... and I of course have very little;-) We have been taking lots of walks, playing ball alot, and going to lots of playgroups each week when we can. He's a tiny bit shy of adults he doesn't know well who get to close to his face to quickly, but other than that he's very outgoing and sociable. So really our latest changes with him are mostly just dealing with his energy and his endless tantrums. He's also so much fun though... he loves to laugh, he loves to run and up and attack me and tickle my feet. He loves to cuddle in our laps and read books. It's just been so fun to see him grow up!

Here are some new picutes!

Back to the Old Blog

2011-02-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

If I've confused my readers completely (if I have any left), I apologize. I've jumped from one blog space to another until I don't even remember myself with one I'm using right now. So we're back to the original... and I've just changed the name and design a bit. Sorry guys!

We've had alot going on in our home lately! Last week we announced that we're expecting Baby #2. We are 12 weeks along now and wanted to wait atleast until after our second doctor's appointment (which was last week) before telling the world. Things are going really well! We even got a surprise sonogram and were able to see the baby's head and body, beating heart and little legs and arms. They did this because at my first appointment they were a little unsure, because of the baby's size, what my due date was. But now they are pretty positive that September 8th is the right date! Wow, that seems really soon!!

I found out I was pregnant a few days after Christmas. We were down with Pj's family at the beach house in Corolla, NC. I had been feeling off (although looking back now it was probably still too early for many symptoms) and so I took a test and the first was pretty faint, but I knew (as you do after you take hundreds of tests;-)) that it was positive. So I kept quiet about it since Pj was upstairs with everyone. I brought Trey down to my room and under his t-shirt I wrote on his belly with my eye pencil "Big Brother". Then I called Pj down and asked him to help me with Trey. I told him that he had some weird rash on his belly. Pj was very shocked!! And very happy too:-) And Trey was just drinking his bottle without a care in the world. We took another test the next day and then on New Year's Eve we told our immediate family. And they had to keep the secret until last week and did a great job doing so!!!

It's been a rough month for me. Early mornings are fine, the rest of the day I've been struggling with nausea. Thankfully, I haven't thrown up at all! But I did get a bad case of the flu for a week in mid-January, that was not fun! And running after Trey has kept me busy, busy, busy!! With Trey I didn't gain any weight the first trimester. With this one, I haven't only not gained anything yet, I've lost 5lbs and struggling to keep the weight I do gain. I guess having a toddler really does help you get exercise. I'm not worried though. I know it I will start gaining soon! And then I will probably complain (although it's my huge goal to only gain the recommended weight this time and that's it!!). Other than nausea I've just felt tired, of course. No surprise there! But I think all of this is starting to subside, yeah!

In other big news, Pj has officially graduated with his masters. He went through graduation ceremony last spring, but now he has his diploma (well, he still has to go pick it up... but it's there)! It's very wonderful to be able to close that door and focus on other doors (like getting a house;-)).

In Trey-land, we are dealing with alot of developmental changes in Trey's personality... mostly independence. He loves to draw with crayons, to organize small pieces of anything in boxes, to throw balls and see how loud they can sound and high they can bounce (poor neighbors below us!), and climbs all our furniture that he can. He can now eat with a spoon pretty well and is starting to figure out the fork. We go through quiet an ordeal during meals because of his love for throwing food on the floor. Punishment for this is no more food... which he doesn't seem to mind so he not be all that hungry;-). He loves to wrestle with the dog and his daddy and mommy (but mommy is trying to be careful about that right now since he loves to jump on my tummy... probably not good for his sibling;-)). And Trey LOVES to go outside. If I say, "Trey, let's go take a walk!" he races to the front door very excited. Sometimes we just walk around the neighborhood and he looks at everything. Sometimes we go up to the baseball field at the school near us with his soccer ball and he runs without stopping! I'm looking forward to this summer because we'll probably be outside most of the time! It's too bad we don't have a yard or we could just sit in the pool all day... sounds like heaven to me!! Trey is also talking alot more now. He is starting to use some sentences (although probably only a few people close to him would even understand what he's saying), "What is it?", "Where is it?", "I don't want to". The "I don't want to" phrase is usually used when someone asks him for a kiss. He doesn't like giving hugs or kisses very much. But he loves to give high fives and puts all his strength into it! That being said... you can see why I love my life as a stay-at-home mom with my little man! Each day is a blessing:-)

That's it for today! Here are some pictures!

New Year.... New Blog

2010-02-21T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! We're switching to a new blogspot at Shutterfly.com. Here is the link if you would like to follow us: http://flemingspot.shutterfly.com/. I like the layout alot better, plus I can easily upload videos now:-) See you there!

February Update:-)

2010-02-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends & Family! I've been reminded that its been a while since I've updated our blog.... nearly a month now. Times flies so fast these days... sorry about that!

At this moment we are in the middle of a big snowstorm... expecting a couple of feet. We'll see if that happens. But if it does, we are all set to go... picked out our favorite movies, bought our favorite junk food and most importantly... yes we have bread, milk and toilet paper;-)

At this moment, Trey, Pj and the dog are all fast asleep! Trey has been sleeping really well lately. He's at the tail end of his 3 month growth spurt we think. It was a rough couple of days, but now he is definitely sleeping better. But I think most of the praise goes to the thumb! He knows how to get in and suck when he's tired and cranky... and its been a life saver for us! The days of having to rock him and do squats in order to get him to sleep is disappearing. Most times all I have to do is notice when he's ready, put him on his stomach in the crib and put a blanket on him. He does the rest!

Trey has grown up so much this past month. I know I say that each time I write here, but it is even more true this past month. Physically, he has gotten very chubby and boyish looking... the newborn look is definitely gone. Most of the time he has a goofy grin with drool dripping off his chin as he plays with his toys ferociously or when he's doing his favorite thing... hanging out with people! He's gotten so strong too. Last week I propped him up in a sitting position in front of me... which I do alot. But this time when I let go he kept sitting, propped on his hands for support. I was shocked! He's gotten better and better at it as the week has gone by.

We love the new sounds Trey is making! When he gets mad and grouchy, he makes alot of angry "Booo Bahhh Agghhh" sounds. We know he's REALLY mad when he screams "Mamamaaaa Maaammaa". But our favorite is his laugh... it's the cutest thing in the world. He things his changing table is talking time for some reason. And his favorite thing is when we bounce him really rough and fast or "throw" him up in the air (our hands never leave him though). I'm thinking my little boy is going to want to go skydiving some day though, lol.

Oh, and did I mention he is 3 months old now? Again, its crazy how time flies! Part of me is sad too... I had to pack away most of his 0-3 months clothes. His baby tub is starting to get to little (he's too long for it). He's "graduated" from his playmat and some of his other toys. Before I know it he'll be in college;-)

Oh, lastly, the latest development is that Trey has started noticing our dog. Lilbit couldn't care less about Trey, but Trey is fascinated with Lilbit. He stares at him and laughs and when the dog howls his eyes get so big. He reaches out to pet him too. It's really cute! I hope things continue to go well between the two of them:-)

Well, that's it for now! Here are some pictures:-)

9 weeks: First time he waved a rattle around on his own.

9 weeks: Meeting "Lucky" the dog for the first time.

10 weeks: Playing with Ella Geary (the 4 month old daughter of my best friend)

10 Weeks: Favorite new game... being "tossed" in the air!

10 Weeks: Enjoying tummy time a bit more when propped up on a pillow.

11 Weeks: First time sitting up on his own when propped into the position!

11 Weeks: First sink bath while snowed in at Pj's parents'.

12 Weeks: Sitting in his new Bumbo the day after we got it... the happiness lasted only for a few seconds... he's still learning to love it!

12 Weeks: Sucking on both lips... he does this alot... its funny looking!

2010-01-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

We're at Pj's parent's beach house in Corrolla, NC (Outer Banks) this week and so far its been really nice and relaxing. Pj's family is here and we rang in 2010 the other night (Trey was fast asleep)! Good times:-) We really love being down here, so it will be hard to leave tomorrow. I was able to walk down to the beach the other day and it was crazy how big the waves were. A hurricane passed through a few weeks ago and it looks like it sliced half of the sand dunes away... leaving the walkways dangling. Still haven't brought Trey down to the beach... hope to tomorrow if its not too cold for him. It will be better when we're back here for vacation in July... and by then he'll be crawling around and eating sand;-)

Trey is now two months old. Last week I put him on scale and he was about 11 lbs and 6 oz we think. Not sure what he is now. But he has changed and grown so much! Just this past week he has really started to interact with everyone so much more and will try to talk to us (cute vocalizations of all kinds:-)). He still loves his baths and has discovered how to splash all the water out of the tub and hasn't failed to poop while he is in there yet. I was told he pooped three times last night in the tub! He can push his whole upper chest up and keep his head upright and turn it from one side to another with being a bobble head. He seems to be trying to crawl, but of course hasn't started yet thank goodness. But I have a feeling he will be not long from now... maybe another month or two. We'll see!

2009-12-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

Hi Family & Friends! Merry Christmas to you all:-) I hope that you all had a wonderful time with your families and didn't have any traveling problems what with all this nasty weather. Atleast it wasn't as icy as they predicted!

We really enjoyed our first Christmas with Trey! On Christmas Eve we visited our old church Shady Grove PCA for the candlelit service and it was so nice to see old faces. It's hard to believe we've been away since August (when our church plant, Christ Community Church, started their Sunday morning services). We won't be there again till Trey's baptism on February 28th!

Christmas morning Trey would not wake up... he was a sleepy head:-) But we brought him out for his gifts anyway, even though he didn't see them till later. We then went to Pj's parent's for gifts and breakfast, then my parents for gifts and a mid-afternoon dinner and then Pj's extended family get together for dessert. It was so much fun to be able to see everyone on the same day... even though we were exhausted when we got home. Trey did pretty well too! He was a little grouchy in the afternoon, but had some happy playtime later in the day. His schedule was completely off, so I figured it would be a weird day for him. Thankfully he slept well last night... only woke once for a feeding. I put him back in his crib wide awake afterwards and he fell asleep on his own... I think he's learning:-) Although he sleeps better on his side or belly... but that still freaks us out to let him do that!

Tonight we're headed to Pj's parent's beach house at the Outer Banks for a week or so. We've spent the entire day getting ready... this is our first trip with the baby and its amazing how much stuff we have to take! Thankfully Pj's brother is letting us use their minivan size car... my little Honda Civic can't handle all this stuff. So Trey will get his first trip to the beach... even if he will be wrapped up in thick blankets:-)

The past week or two he has REALLY started showing more personality and communicates more. It's so much fun! He is cooing and making all sorts of vocalizations. When he sees Pj and I he will grin really big and his arms and legs go wild! He loves meeting new people and seeing new places. He's still cuddly, but we can tell he's already starting to become more independent. He would rather have us hold him so he can stand or lay free on his back or belly on the floor to explore. I have a feeling I have a strong willed little boy! Sometimes he will whine and then he will stop for a second, look at us out of the corner of his eye to see if we are paying attention, and when we don't respond he continues whining.

It's hard to believe that Trey will be 2 months old next week! Where does the time go? We are loving every minute with our little boy. I find myself alway taking videos and photos in an attempt to "freeze" time:-)

In other news, I have decided not to return to my job so that I can stay home full-time with Trey while he is young. We decided that would be the best thing for him right now and with our life circumstances it seemed to be what we needed to do too. I will miss my coworkers though! I had a really nice group of ladies that I worked with each day and they made coming to work really enjoyable!

I'm hoping to get my graphic design business going now that things are starting to calm down with the baby. This week I designed something for my old church and it was so refreshing to have something to do besides take care of Trey;-) I had forgotten how much I love to design and use my creative juices! I was scared at first that I wouldn't have the time and that I wouldn't have the creativity anymore... I often feel so drained of energy:-) But its still there!;-)

Pj is working hard right now on his thesis so that he can graduate from Reformed Theological Seminary in the spring with his MA in Religion. He's been reading book after book... I don't know how he does it! He is still involved in leading The Forum, a discussion group at Montgomery College. And in a month or so he will begin working with his brother Mike doing closings. Its amazing the paperwork that goes into that process so that he can do that!

That's it for news for now! Here are some pictures from Christmas:-)

Laughs and Cooing

2009-12-13T21:10:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends & Family! I figured it was time for another update on Trey. The weeks are flying by so fast now. Trey will be six weeks old on Friday... can hardly believe it. He has already grown and changed so much. At his 1 month checkup he weighed 9lb and 10oz. The pediatrician also said she thinks his eyesight and mobility is advanced for his age. I wanted to say to her, you think???!!!;-) We give Trey tummy time each day and, providing he's already in a decent mood, he really enjoys it. He rolls over from his stomach to his back all the time now and will bat at the toys that hang overhead and intently study the lights that flicker. Today he was in a wonderful mood all day (barely slept too) and so when it came time to clean and cook, I just put him on his playmat and did my chores. He kept himself busy playing with his toys and trying to move around. He is able to scoot around quite a bit using his knees and elbows... and so I have to keep putting him back in the middle.

We're enjoying his cooing and other sounds now! Its so sweet. He does this the most in the mornings when we wake up and also in the evening when his stomach is full and he is not quite ready to go to bed.

He sleeps really well at night 5 nights out of 7, only waking once to feed usually (twice at most). The only problem is getting him to bed initially. He fights us on it nearly every single night! As I write this, Pj is pacing back and forth, patting his back, rocking him and putting his soft comfort blanket to his cheek. We do this every night and after about 15-30 minutes of screaming and kicking and arching his back, he well eventually conk out.

So we are doing well... getting alot more sleep, enjoying seeing Trey's personality coming out more and being able to better interact with him. We're loving being parents! It's exhausting for sure, but he is worth it. Time for the next one! Just kidding... not quite yet;-)

More later... I am going to get some sleep! Here are some pictures:-)

Awesome sling my friend Carissa made for me. Trey loves it!

Tummy time and hanging out with Daddy!

Big smiles and laughing!

My best friend Chelsie's daughter Ella with Trey (she is 3-4 weeks older than him)

My mom and aunt (holding Trey)

Picture of the three babies born close to each other at our church, Trey 11/6/09, Elliott 10/25/09 and Juliet 11/1/09.

Our Christmas photo:-)

Firsts:-)

2009-11-28T14:05:00.000-08:00

We had two "firsts" for Trey today! This morning we put him down on his stomach on his playmat for tummy time. He lifted his head and shoulders a couple of times with his arms propped up on his elbows. Then we noticed he was bringing his knees up and trying to get up on them. We were encouraging him to turn his head completely over to face us and before we knew it he suddenly rolled from his stomach to his back! We got it all on video too, yay! We are so proud of our strong little guy. I tried to upload the video here and to Facebook, but its too big:-(

Then later on today Trey got his first real bath! He loved it. Some pictures follow. The only part he fussed at was when we took him out... guess it was cold. And of course, as soon as he was wrapped up in a nice clean towel, he peed all over himself. Oh well!

Sadly, I had to come to terms with the fact that my little man is getting bigger. He is much to long for all of his newborn clothes. I'm curious to see at his 1 month appointment next week how much he has grown since his two week appointment!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T06:36:00.000-08:00

Trey's Great Aunt Donna and Nana (Pj's mom)

As you can see, there were alot of people there!

My parents, Mike & Denise Snyder on the left and Pj's parents, Phil & Susie Fleming on the right!

Trey wearing his outfit that Pj picked out for him for his first big event! His first pair of jeans too:-)

What's the best gift a newborn can give his mother? A full night of sleep. And that is exactly what Trey gave me last night. He was fussy last night but I got him to sleep around midnight. He stirred a bit in the night enough to wake me up and I was shocked to see that it was already 5am! I tried to wake him to feed him, but he was out. He slept until 7:15ish! I actually woke up before he did:-) It was wonderful! And then after he fed and played for 30 minutes or so, I looked down and saw he has fallen asleep again. So I tucked him in bed with his daddy and I'm having fun relaxing and doing whatever I want this morning!

We had a wonderful first holiday with Trey and our families the other day! My brother-in-law and his wife came up with the idea of combining families for a big Thanksgiving meal. So instead of having to choose which family to spend the day with, we were all together. It was alot of fun! And Trey actually hung in there pretty well. We stayed for 3-4 hours and he was held by more people than I can count... but slept through most of it. We finally left when he started getting fussy. The evening was a bit rough just because I think he was over-tired and over-stimulated from the day. But, hey, he slept all night!

So Trey is now three weeks old, as of 6:40am this morning! Its hard to believe next week he will be one month. This morning I was putting a cute newborn footie pajama on him that he's never worn before and was shocked to find that it wouldn't fit him... he's too long for it now. Wow! And the other day he graduated to size 1 pampers... we realized too small pampers might have been the reason he's been leaking so much lately;-) My little boy is growing so fast! It's amazing how you can be so excited to see these changes... and yet at the same time so sad to have to say goodbye to those early weeks. I'm glad we have video footage of him, not to mention more photos than we can count!

Oh, and did I mention that Trey is laughing now? He's been smiling more and more each day, but recently we noticed that often when he smiles the biggest he will make this gurgling sound... like he's trying to laugh but he just doesn't know how to yet. It's so adorable! He will usually do this when Pj is talking baby-talk to him and tickling his tummy. We also know that he is smiling at us now... not just in general. This morning while I was feeding him, he looked up at me out of the corner of his eye. I looked at him and grinned big. And then he smiled back! It doesn't get better than that:-)

Well, that's it for now. My boys are still sleeping... so I might as well get a shower while I still can;-) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

New Trey Photos -- The Second Week!

2009-11-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

First Week of Trey's Life

2009-11-12T14:53:00.000-08:00

Well, the dog is sleeping on one side of the me on the couch... and Trey is on the other side sleeping too... and Mommy has a break to update you all on how life at the Fleming home has been this first week with Trey!

So far, its been a pretty smooth road, with just a bump here and there! We think we've pretty much figured Trey out now... he likes to sleep alot... eats constantly... rarely fusses unless he has a good reason (hungry, dirty diaper or gas)... and gives us PLENTY of poopy and pee diapers. He got me good a few nights ago at 1am changing... right in the face! Today I go to change his diaper and just as I open it, out comes a stream of pee and he decides to take this moment to finish it off with a big poop... but he waited till I could see I suppose. I had to scrub down the side of the pack'n play after that. Good job, Trey! Daddy is so proud of you:-)

So far sleep has not been a huge problem. The hardest part of the day for us is late evening when we're trying to get Trey to go to bed. But once he is asleep after a solid feeding, he sleeps for 4-5 hrs, wakes for one feeding in the middle of the night and then sleeps another 4-5 hrs until morning (7ish).

We're really impressed with his hand/eye coordination! At just a few days of age, he was in his swing clutching at the toys that hang to the side and he got them within the blink of an eye. He has been very alert since birth... will look people in the eye intently and follow them if they move. He loves to look at everything! His favorite thing is to be carried high up on the shoulder so he can look around. Sometimes he will just lie in bed and look at the toys we have hanging there... for over an hour without a peep out of him. He makes lots of great faces, including smiles (or I should say, at this age, "looks of contentment"). We just love having him in our life! It's been great:-) I can't believe he will be a week old already tomorrow morning at 6:40am!!!

Here are some recent pictures!

2009-11-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! This is Katie:-) We're doing well on our second day with Trey! Last night was a bit crazy... but we ended up sending Trey to the nursery so we could catch up on sleep. As heartbroken as I was to do this, I needed to sleep after being up for 24 hrs AND going through a pretty strenuous labor! Today has been much better. We've kept Trey on a 2hr feeding schedule, even if he's happy or sleeping, and that has worked well so far. The only thing that has thrown us off is his circumcision. It went well, but now he's exhausted and sleeping. We expect a long night... all the more reason to stay here and take advantage of the nursery again;-)

Pj has been awesome through this whole process! What a great husband and father:-) I'm so blessed to have him in my life! He took care of me and helped me throughout labor and delivery, massaging my feet even when his hands were numb from it, bringing me water and ice-pops, telling me how well I was doing, holding my legs while I pushed. It's been great! And Trey LOVES his daddy! They are currently snuggling on my hospital bed, Trey fast asleep, watching Animal Planet! We thought our life was great together BEFORE Trey... but its even better with him in it! We love being a family:-)

I'm doing really well so far too! I'll post my version of the entire labor story in a few days, but I'll just say right now that it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! And today I was able to have a shower and put my normal clothes on and just do normal stuff... its nice! I feel like in a few days I'll be pretty much myself, except sleep deprived;-) I love how light I feel too! And shirts cover my belly again... life is wonderful:-)

More later! I need to go rest like a good mama:-) Here are some more pics!

Baby Trey has finally arrived!--by Pj

2009-11-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

We have now been up since 4am yesterday morning when Katie awoke with her first rythmic contractions so we are a bit tired and this post will be short. The good news is BABY TREY IS FINALLY HERE! He was born at 6:40am today, 11/6, and he was 8lbs 5oz and 21 1/4" long. He has been absolutely great even with his long delivery process which involved 3 hours of pushing and finally the dreaded forceps. He has only cried a few times (apparently he does not enjoy baths or the cold like his father does) and he "latched right on" for those of you who know what that means:) Mom is great though understandably exhausted.

Here are a couple of pics to get you through until the full batch can be posted. Thanks for all of your prayers, facebook comments, emails, and support with an extra special thanks to both of our families who were out in the waiting room the entire night. We love you all and that meant a lot to the THREE of us...so weird to say that and really mean it now:)

God has truly blessed us and our family this day. Praise be to our Lord and Savior who gives us these precious moments.

Love,

Pj and Katie

Some hospital pics and update--by Pj

2009-11-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

We were very happy to be admitted to triage at roughly 3:30

Contractions getting really really really bad about 4:00pm

We were moved to labor and delivery at roughly 4:30...Here is Katie and the girls after the epidural...WOOHOO

And to top off the great medication, a popsicle:)

Things are progessing a little slower than we had hoped now. The doctor broke the water about an hour or so ago and we are expecting him to come back in shortly to see how we have progessed.

Everyone keep praying for us. We have a ton of family here in support and me and Katie are in very good spirits--not that I have anything to be in bad spirits about right now.

Shalom,

Pj

The Baby is Almost Here! by Pj

2009-11-05T14:27:00.000-08:00

hey everyone,

Katie is getting an IV right now so I have some time to write. We are 4 1/2 cm dialated, 80% effaced, and contractions are coming every few minutes...OOOOUUUUCCCCHHHH! It is very providential that Katie is having this baby because I would not have made it even this far. Katie is doing great! We hope our baby boy will come quickly....we really want to meet him:)

Shalom,

Pj

Trey is coming:-)

2009-11-05T09:29:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Well, we're pretty sure I'm in early labor now. I've been up since 4:30am. I was having contractions every 10 minutes and then every 5 minutes since 8am. We had a doctors appointment at 10ish. Since then the contractions are still 5 mins apart but definitely getting stronger, longer and more painful... but I'm doing okay as long as this dog leaves me alone (he just wants to sit on my lap and that's definitely NOT comfortable right now;-). I'm home now and resting and waiting!

The doctor said the baby is healthy and strong. Also, good news that I do not have any blood pressure problems... results came back normal:-) I had some bloody show (sorry if again this is too much info for ya;-)) early this morning and the doctor said I am now 2 cm dilated. She did a membrane stretch and sweep to get things going even more (it worked I think... I'm feeing the results now with these stronger and longer contractions every 5 mins). We are scheduled to be induced at 5am on Monday morning, however the doctor said she thinks we'll be in at the hospital in the next 48 hrs on our own! So it seems Trey is on his way... we will see. I can't imagine these contractions are fake;-)

So be praying for us! We'd love to have this little guy in are arms as soon as possible:-)

Stubborn Trey!

2009-11-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends and Family! No baby still:-( Trey is very stubborn... so I guess he takes after both of us... and he's late... so he takes after me in that regard!

We had a drs appointment today and were told I am 1 1/2 cm dilated and still 80% effaced. He's still pretty high up and the doctor thinks he's only 7lb and 12oz at this point. I did lose my mucous plug on Sunday morning, so that is progress. Also the dr did a membrane sweep today to try to get things going (sorry if all of this is too much information for any of you;-)). The doctor seems to think we are only 40 days and 4 days, so that is good. We are scheduled to go back on Thursday and, if he hasn't come by then, we will schedule to be induced sometime over the weekend (probably Saturday if we have the choice). I'm hoping he'll come on his own before then though... tonight is a full moon so you never know;-)!

The only bad thing is that my blood pressure, which has been super low the whole pregnancy, was very high this week suddenly. They made me lie on my left side for a while and then retook it. It was still high, though it had come down some. And since I've been having bad headaches over the weekend and felt a little nauseous they are going to have me do some testing tomorrow make sure everything is okay.

So that's the latest! I guess, on the bright side, at the very latest Trey will most definitely be here by next weekend:-) We're VERY ready for him! Keep checking the blog for updates:-)

Still waiting...

2009-10-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering... no baby yet! Our due date was yesterday, but apparently Trey doesn't care;-) I have another doctor's appointment on Friday morning and if he hasn't come by then, hopefully we'll get some more info!

In the meantime, a friend of ours from church just had a cute little boy named Elliott! We didn't know if she would be having a girl or boy, so we're pleased its a boy so that Trey has a friend to play with in our church plant!

No changes...

2009-10-22T13:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Just a quick update... I had a doctor's appointment today and everything is still status quo. I was very frustrated with this, but she reassured me that even if I had dilated alot that it wouldn't have necessarily meant anything. So it's just a wait and see game now!

They do want me to get the H1N1 shot, which is available today, tomorrow and Saturday for the pregnant women only at the office. They are really pushing it and apparently keeping a list of the preggo women who do and don't. I'm signed up to go tomorrow, but not entirely sure yet if I will. At this point, I don't know if I would pass much immunity on to the baby anyways. The doctor told me that it was mostly for my safety and that the death rate is 6% for pregnant women who get H1N1. I don't know if I believe that statistic either! Thankfully, I'm getting some second opinions from doctors soon through my mother-in-law to see the risk versus the benefit!!

Belly Shots!

2009-10-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

No baby yet....

2009-10-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! I figured I would update you all. No baby yet! We're 39 weeks today... so next Tuesday is our due date. It's been a rough couple of days though. I'm constantly having Braxton Hicks... either with pain/cramping or without... but usually with. I didn't have hardly any heartburn throughout my whole pregnancy until now. Thankfully Pj was so sweet and went out last night to get me some medicine for that which seemed to help a bit!! I feel like Trey's head is between my knees... so that's fun, lol. It's been pretty much impossible to sleep the past few days, so I'm trying really hard to stay on the couch and nap during the day when I can... but if you know me you know that it's hard for me to stay still. I'm trying though! I did finally get a few hours of good sleep this morning... only to be woken up by the dog (in bed with me) throwing up all over the place. So that was fun! I suppose I might as well get used to gross stuff like that and being awoken from sleep constantly;-)

I have another doctor appointment on Thursday so if Trey doesn't come before that I'm hoping that I'll find out we're really close! We'll see:-)

I'm really excited to meet Trey though! It's been a long/fast 9 months and part of me still wonders how on earth a baby can fit in my stomach after holding my best friend's little newborn Ella the other day!!

Also on a positive note, my cousin Christine was really sweet and took pregnancy photos of Pj and I (you know... those artsy ones). She's really talented and they turned out great! Once I can, I'll post them here for you to see:-)

Well, start praying Trey makes his appearance SOON!!!:-) Any one want to vote on what day you think he's going to show up? My vote is either tomorrow or Thursday... but we'll see.

The latest... 75% effaced and a little bit dilated!

2009-10-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Well had a drs appointment this morning and here is the latest... I'm 75% effaced and a little bit dilated. Trey was moving around like crazy that the nurse had trouble getting his heartbeat... which was higher than normal because he was so active;-) It was pretty funny!

And my best friend Chelsie is in labor with her little girl as I type this... pray that it goes quickly and smoothly for her! She was due yesterday... so pretty good timing (of course it is her second too;-)).

More next week... unless he comes before then;-)

50% Effaced & Weight Predicted!

2009-10-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hi All! Just a short update. We had our doctor's appointment this morning and all is well. I'm 50% effaced so far... we'll see what happens. The doctor said with first time babies you just never know... you can be effaced and dilated for a long time and nothing happens... or it can go really fast. So he said it could be today... or it could be 3 weeks from now!

He did say that he estimates that Trey is 6lbs and 2oz right now. Typically babies gain an ounce a day at this point I've heard, so if he's right then hopefully Trey will be just right and not to big as I'm fearing;-) But I'll love to pieces no matter what size he is... although if he is over 9lbs I will never let him forget it;-)

Today is my last day of work! I'm looking forward to resting a bit and getting the list bit of things in order. Autumn is the perfect time to do that... I'm so glad he's a fall baby:-)