Pre/post big boy haircut!! And a 22 month update.

On the steps last weekend, cute as a bug with a head full of hair.  Seriously, this kid can grow hair like no other.  I'm not surprised as B and I both have very thick hair, but his grows faster than either of ours does!!

Another mop top image.  In this one you can see that all his side hair is longer than his ears!!

And......here's the after!  He went from 22 months to 4 years old in the wink of an eye!!  I love the cut but kind of want it all glued back on b/c he looks TOO old!!

Sitting at his new table and chairs in the (not quite finished) playroom.  (Can't wait to finish it and show you- it's turning out super cute!!)  I just think it is amazing how a haircut can take him from toddler to big boy so fast!

As for his 22 month update, his vocab continues to grow in leaps and bounds.  His favorite letter is W and he can recognize it even in adult books.  It's so cute to hear him say W.  I love it.  He also is saying "okay, mommy" or "okay daddy" all the time.  Screwdriver is his first 3 syllable word- he talks about tools all the time lately with all the work we're doing in his room and the playroom.  His favorite thing to do is "make" (bake) and he recognizes flour, sugar, eggs, and oil.  He loves to watch the Kitchen-Aid go "wound and wound" and loves helping to pour the ingrediants in.  He also loves to sing.  Wheels on the bus, twinkle twinkle, if you're happy and you know it, ABCs, Bibidi Bobbidi Boo, etc.

He has the occasional toddler tantrum and HATES putting on his shoes in the morning.  There are definitely frustrating parts to raising a toddler, but I know we are a lot luckier, so far, than other toddler parents, so I can't complain too much.  He still cries for a few minutes every night when we leave him in his bed, but he sleeps through the night very well and can settle himself in the middle of the night if he wakes up.  He is doing GREAT in his big boy bed and knows that that is his bedroom now instead of the nursery.  I'm so glad we've moved him early to help him adjust to well before the baby comes. 

Here he is running outside in the yard yesterday.  It was in the high 70s and gorgeous.  Amazing for March 18th in Michigan!!  He loves to run, especially since B has been going outside to run more and more.  He wants to be just like daddy, I tell you!  He also got a little toy "dolf" set from my parents a few weeks ago and loves that it's just like dad.  He can't use both hands, nor can he hit the ball correctly, but it is darn cute!!  He can't jump yet, though he's getting better at it.  I feel like ALL his energy in the past few months has gone into his verbal skills (and a lot of fine motor skills too).

Favorite foods include cheese, fruit of any kind, milk, smoothies, noodles, frozen peas (yep, straight out of the freezer- talk about an easy snack!), carrots, cereal out of mommy and daddy's bowls, pork, crackers and pretzels.  He has snuck into the lazy susan in the kitchen to get out handfuls of pretzels and then will take them into the family room to eat them.  It's funny.  He also loves any kind of "dip it"- ketchup, hummus, syrup, etc.

LOVE this picture.  The light is great.  I also love that he has Bear with him.  He just loves his bear and it is such a cute thing to see him try to kiss him and hug him and push him on the bike.  He definitely is showing bits of compassion for people and toys which is great.  I just wish our mailbox weren't in the background of this picture!!  Sweet baby boy!!  Can you believe I'll have two of them in two months?!?!?!  Praying for one just as sweet!

Getting excited....

The past 4 days I have gotten to hold lots and lots of babies.  Babies at work, friend's babies, babies at a party, babies, babies, babies.  I'm not going to lie when I tell you that I am now just itching to hold the little guy that is taking up real estate in my tummy.  All these little ones are just so snuggly and cute and fit so perfectly in my arms.  They just look at you with those big eyes and smile and coo and are SO sweet. 

Right now I can't decide if 7 1/2 weeks is too long or too short before his arrival time.  Part of me wants it to be longer to get more done and to love on SYT just a bit longer before his world is changed and the other part of me is just crazy to get him out and have him with us in our family.  I want him fully developed and big and healthy, so 7-8 weeks would be perfect.  And I know that the time between now and then is just going to fly by. 

It's funny, two weeks ago I had no thoughts whatsoever about holding him, loving him, newborns, burp clothes, sleepers, nothing.  Now I'm like a crazy woman who cannot fathom life without this sweet boy that I haven't even met yet.  Just less than two months and I'm going to be a mom of TWO!  I just feel so blessed, blissful, and excited.  My heart is filled with joyful expectation.  Ahhhhh.............

Oh, and BTW, still no name.............

Spring is here????

It was an absolutely gorgeous day here.  Sunny AND warm (it was over 60 degrees!!), this is so not  typical of early March in Michigan.  I didn't even have to wear a coat from work to my car! 

The rest of the week is supposed to be just as nice.  They're even predicting a 70 degree day this week.  I'm just astonished.  Usually we still have snow, ice, winter jackets, and turtlenecks in March.  Instead I have green shoots peeking up in my gardens.  Wow.  I'm not sure if I should just enjoy it and be happy, if I should be anticipating a huge crazy snow storm in the next few weeks, or if I should be crazy worried about global warming. 

For now, I'm just going to enjoy it and put Spencer in his first short sleeved shirt of 2012!!  I hope all of you are also enjoying some nice spring weather this week.  Here's to a long family walk one night after work!!

Philippians 4:6

Be anxious about nothing,

But in everything by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving,

let your requests be known to God

Philippians 4:6

Pregnancy can cause your mind to do crazy things.  Weird dreams at night, pregnancy related forgetfulness, crazy emotions due to hormones, etc.  I definitely have experienced all of the above symptoms while pregnant.  My biggest "pregnancy symptom" however is worry.  Now, I know this has everything to do with my job and the children I see every day in the hospital and in the clinic.  It's amazing how many terrible things happen during normal pregnancies and knowing too much is always scary.  There are so many things that could go wrong while in uetero, and, trust me, I have envisioned all of them.  The baby kicks or jerks too much?  For sure it has a seizure disorder.  The baby doesn't kick enough?  Something terrible is going wrong.  I worry about autism, cerebal palsy, tumors, an abnormal newborn screen.  It's absolutely ridiculous how many scary things I can come up with.  (I was this way with prenancy #1 too)

NONE of these things are things I have control over.  Being a healthy pregnant mom cannot stop weird things from happening, which is why I worry about them.  And, as everyone can understand, it's hard to not have control over things. 

I saw the above verse the other day and realized that this is EXACTLY what I need to remember.  Anxiety and worry are going to get me nowhere.  All they lead to is stress and mental discomfort during a time of excitement and preparation.  God knows this baby, God knows our family, and God knows that no matter what we are blessed with, it's not more than we can handle.  Instead of worry, He is asking me to pray to him for emotional/mental comfort and to let Him take care of this pregnancy and my sweet baby boy. 

I do have to say that since I have done this, my anxiety level has decreased significantly.  I'm not going to say that there aren't moments of worry ever, but I can say that this pregnancy is very healthy and until something bad happens, worrying about the things that COULD happen is a waste of my time and must be incredibly frustrating to God that I am not putting enough faith in him.  So, I've let him take over my worries and I just pray to him.  I do this for all of my friends (who have had SO many prayers answered), so why would I think that He would ignore my petitions? 

I hope that the above verse will give at least one of you comfort today as it has me.  Thank God for God!

Brain Dump....

1.  B was gone for 4 days last week in AZ for a conference.  He was able to play golf which he was so excited about and he thought the conference was very good from a work perspective.  He also was able to get a few hours (split up over a few days) of beautiful, sunny vitamin D which all of us Northerners cherish. 

2.  It's HARD to be a single parent.  One night it took Spence over an hour to fall asleep, he was crying, I was crying, I burnt my dinner, I broke a pyrex baking dish all over my kitchen floor which took me forever to clean up, I was frustrated being on different time zones than my husband whose days were packed with meetings, seminars, cocktails, and dinner, I was way behind on my to do list, work was (and is still) insane (thank you winter viral season), and I wasn't sleeping well in general.  I definitely cried myself to sleep that night, those big gulping cries that make you not be able to breathe from all the snot you're producing and make you have a red, blotchy, ugly face.  Yep, that was me.  It was not pretty.

3.  I woke up the next day feeling much better and realized that sometimes we just have days when we need to let it all out.  It was one of those days for me.  And that is totally okay!

4.  We really didn't get to celebrate B's 33rd bday b/c of the craziness of that week though I did make him some downright delicious whoopie pies to take to work when he got back.  They were a hit!! 

5.  My mom and Ralph are coming down this weekend to visit.  It was my mom's birthday this week, B's last week, and Ralph's in two weeks, so I am in the process of making a Boston Cream Pie for dinner tonight and I'm taking them all to dinner tomorrow.  I feel bad about the totally joint celebrations, but sometimes you just have to roll with what works best.

6.  The painter finished up our family room (all pebble white), our basement (tan with pebble white trim), and Spencer's big boy room (3 walls of pebble white with one wall of blue).  It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint, even if it is white, can do for a house.  Worth every penny, I swear!

7.  The carpenter is installing the built-in in Spencer's new room tomorrow.  We've been waiting for a month for this and it's finally here!!  We've got most of the rest of the room done and should be well on our way to finishing this weekend.  I will definitely take pics and post them once we're satisfied.  I still am on the hunt for a bedside lamp. 

8.  We have a crazy busy March ahead.  Including 19 days straight of work for me (working two weekends in a row plus my normal full time schedule).  There is lots of good in the month too with visits from friends and a trip to Columbus at the end of the month.  I'm just praying we can get our long "must get done before the baby comes" list done on top of everything else.  It's going to be tricky.

9.  B and I are already counting down the days til Easter weekend.  Not because we gave up ice cream and candy (it's really not too bad, though I woud love a black jelly bean or a piece of licorice right now) but because that means it's also MASTER'S weekend.  I'm already wondering what Ian Poulter will wear, if Luke Donald will play well, what Tiger will do, and if my "husband" (aka Lefty, aka Phil) will win.  Spencer is starting to really get "dolf" right now and will cheer if we cheer for good shots, wants us to turn on the tv to watch it, and plays with daddy's clubs in the family room.  It's fabulous.  We'd love to have a Master's party this year, but with our crazy busy March and a 36 week pregnant momma, I don't think we can pull it off.  There's always next year, right?

10.  It's supposed to be 50 degrees here today.  Rainy and 50, but still.....  I guess I'm ready for spring, but I really felt like we got gypped this winter with lack of snowfall, warmer temps than normal, and more mild days than ever.  It's weird to think that spring is coming b/c I don't feel like we went through winter at all.  It's just not as refreshing to have spring come since we didn't "suffer" enough this year.  I know so many people are happy about this winter, and I know there is still a chance that March will be a snowy, wet, cold month so I shouldn't talk too much about this for fear of people thinking I'm truly crazy :) 

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!!!  I hope it's as wonderful as you all are!

31 weeks

Apparently, I will NOT win blogger of the year.  I haven't posted in weeks and really have little excuse besides trying our best to get our house ready for this new little one to arrive.  We've been working on projects most nights and every weekend in hopes that all will be done and organized prior to May.  We're definitely getting there but with work, dinner, normal coming home at night stuff, playing with Spence, etc it leaves us little time in the evenings to get much done, so our weekends are jam packed!

As for this little guy, he is doing well and I am growing to prove it!!  He is currently measuring about a week and a half ahead of schedule.  I'm not shocked with how big Spencer was.  I'm guessing he will be a big guy too (which is GREAT!).  He is much busier than I remember Spencer being with his kicks, jumps, twitches and punches.  B says that occasionally in the middle of the night, he can feel him moving around like crazy while I'm sleeping!  I have no doubt he'll be an active one once outside the womb too!

I am having a really hard time sleeping right now due to constant dreams.  Very weird dreams, I might add.  Never the same one over and over, always totally new and weird enough to wake me up and having very vivid recollections.  I would say that I wake up 2-5 times a night from dreams right now.  I never have to go to the bathroom (which is nice to not have to get out of bed) but I do often have to haul my belly to my other side and switch positions in order to fall back asleep.  It's definitely frustrating but apparently not uncommon in pregnancy.

I passed my 2 hour glucose test a few weeks ago but also found out that I'm pretty dang anemic.  My hemoglobin is 9.4 (supposed to be above 11).  It was low with Spencer too but only got as low as 9.6.  I'm on an iron supplement on top of my daily prenatal which is fine.  I do one in the morning and one at night.  I'll get my hemoglobin checked at all my visits from here on out and, if it's not improving, then I'll have to have IV iron therapy.  I didn't have to have this with Spence and I can't imagine I'll have to do it this time around either.  They're slightly more worried this time in case I have to have another c-section but I don't have any symptoms (maybe a slight bit of fatigue, but I'm pregnant, working full time and chasing after a toddler, so no more than anyone else in my shoes!), so I'm not as worried.  Plus after I gave birth last time I didn't have problems, so I'm sure I'll be fine this time around again!!  What I think is funny is that I am a true lover of red meat and eat spinach a few times a week, so I would be the last person one would expect to have such bad iron levels :)

We still have not decided on a name but we've been using one more than any of the others, so it's a strong contender.  I'm not having anything monogrammed yet though (and I do have a list of things to monogram already!!).  Simon and Oliver are the names that over and over people are suggesting to us.  I wonder how popular they really are since I don't know any little ones with those names but apparently people think they would go well with Spencer and with our last name.  It's odd how different people from our lives keep popping up with the same names.  Neither are currently our favorites, but maybe they should be?? 

So that's what's going on in the past few weeks with this pregnancy.  I'm glad it's only 9 weeks left but am also wondering how we'll adjust to having two little ones to attend to.  It's definitely going to be an adjustment for all of us!!

Recent maternity purchases

Maternity and nursing sleep shirt

Matching pants (both are on sale!!)

Fabulously comfy set of pjs that I can fit into now and will be able to wear later for nursing!

Hoodie cardigan

Matching pants

I'm going to wear this outfit home from the hospital with a nursing tank.  It's so cute on and will be so comfy to come home in (especially if I have to have another c-section).

Adorable shirt WITH pockets!!

This shirt is so comfortable, it has pockets, it looks great over leggings with a cardigan now and will look adorable this spring too! 

I scored all this on sale and am really happy with these purchases.  I haven't bought much at all this pregnancy, so I didn't mind buying a few extra things now.  I do need to get a few more nursing tanks for this time around as mine are SO worn from wearing them constantly for a year after Spence was born.  If I can find a few cute nursing tops (besides just tanks), I'm in for those as well.  I keep checking Zulily as they've had good deals in the past on nursing clothes.  Anyone else out there love the nursing tops they have or other cute new maternity clothes?

Something all moms should read.

I read this blog post Monday, and while I don't have four kids (yet???  Just kidding, B!!), there are days when one (sweet and perfect (ha!)) toddler is enough to make me think I'm crazy for having another.  Most days, this is not the case, but let me tell you, getting him into the carseat when he is mad and doesn't want to is the worst.  I had zero concept of that prior to being a mom.  Or when he decides he is starving in the middle of the day and there are no more snacks in the diaper bag and he is screaming "Nack, Nack" over and over.  Or when whining takes over your toddler to the point where you want to send him to his room for inappropriate behavior (laughable for a 21 month old!). 

Most days, I adore being a mom more than I ever could imagine, but there are days.  For sure.  I think this post is the best I have ever read on the journey of motherhood.  We all judge; it's so easy to do.  But what is so important to remember is that everyone, you, I, children, husbands, bosses, EVERYONE has a bad day now and again, and just a little bit of kindness may be exactly what that person needs.  I compliment parents at work often (since I work in pediatrics and it's part of my job), but I don't ever think about it in public.  This is my reminder to myself that everyone appreciates and deserves compliments regularly and that it is always wonderful to hear that you are a great mom or dad and that your child is being very well behaved/respectful/polite/patient/funny, etc.  We're all trying very, very hard to do right by our children.  It's just not always perfect!!

21 months

Buddy, you are now 21 months old.  That is ALMOST 2!!!!  It has been an amazing month for you, little guy.  Daddy and I have been astonished at how much you have learned and the things you are now doing.  You look like you have grown a lot in this picture, though you are pretty on par for your age.  You're wearing mostly 18-24 mo clothes with a few 2Ts thrown in there.  You're a size 5 or 5.5 in shoes and a size 5 in diapers. 

I think the biggest advancement you have made this month is in vocabulary.  You have learned so many new words.  You can name most people in our extended family (you LOVE saying Nick and "Yaya" ie Leah), you love the letter W and can recognize it too, you have most of your colors down pat (yellow, green, purple, and black are probably your favorites), and you adore repeating words after us.  My favorite thing is when I say "i" and then you say "I" and then love and then you.  It's adorable!  I think your favorite thing in the whole world right now is Wheels on the Bus.  We could sing it non-stop.  You also still love the Elmo videos on youtube and the alphabet and number trains on youtube.  You are now saying two word phrases.  This is a milestone you have to meet by the age of 2, so I'm glad it's already happening.  Check that one off the list!  You know that Daddy sings in the choir at church and you love to say "la la la, Daddy" (that's supposed to be Alleluia).  You also love for us to sing Alleluia to you, especially for me to sing it when Daddy is gone.

Running in the hall.

You adore your bear and your milk first thing in the morning.  We have occasionally forgotten bear at daycare and it's rough when that happens.  Luckily your Little Giraffe blanket is also ivory with the same textures, so that will usually get you by.  You also love "woof" (dog lovie), baby (pink baby doll that make noises), and Spot.  But bear is definitely, definitely your favorite!!

Going down for bed has become a little bit of a struggle over the past two weeks.  You've backed up your bedtime from 7:15 until about 7:45 but now you will NOT go down without crying for extended lengths of time.  It's hard b/c you have always been a good sleeper.  Once you are down, you don't wake up, it's just the getting down that is rough.  Daddy and I have often had to rock you completely to sleep after you've been crying for 20-30 min.  We both know this is a horrible habit to get into, so we really need to start a direction with you to get you back to your normal sleeping pattern.

Helping is your favorite.  You love to do pretty much anything we ask.  If we are cleaning, you want to help.  If Daddy is shoveling, you want to help.  If we are in the kitchen, you want to help.  Baking with mommy is one of your favorite activities.  You're so funny about stirring- it's messy, but you LOVE it and you love watching the Kitchen Aid go "wound and wound". 

Lately you have learned that unasked for kisses on the cheek melt mommy and daddy's hearts.  You'll stand behind us on the couch and reach for our cheeks to kiss us.  You also love giving hugs and are so sweet about it.  

I'm really proud of how much you are learning and how sweet you are, Buddy!  We're soooo glad you are ours!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

From our favorite Valentine to you all,

Hope your day is wonderful and full of things you love,

like touchdowns, great food, a sweet dessert, and a few kisses (preferably of the wet, toddler, open mouthed variety!!).

I've got a someone who'd be willing to hand a few extra ones out!!

(PS- see that blue wall in the background???  Sneak peek of things to come in SYT's new room!)