7 weeks to go!

Thankfully my growth has slowed way down! Hooray! I did my measurements and weight today and I am 3 pounds lighter than I was right now with Clayton and my waist is a half inch smaller. I still think it is because she is sitting higher than he was. In my comparison picture, which seriously never gives an accurate comparison, it looks like my belly slopes more before the bump with Clayton than with Reagan. Who knows! ;-) I am still having horrible nights, in fact they've been even worse the past few days because Clayton has been running a fever. Last night Clayton and I snuggled in the guest bed upstairs all night. He woke up just about every hour and I would give him his paci and he'd go back to sleep. Luckily we're almost positive he's just teething. He has no other symptoms other than being fussier than normal.

I've been trying to get things done ahead of time for Clayton's birthday party, since I'll be pretty dang huge at that point! ;-) I'm glad to say that everything is almost ordered! We just need a pretty day here in the next week or two so that we can take some pictures of him! I still can't believe that my baby is almost one... WOW.

As you could see in my last post, Reagan's nursery is really coming along! We worked late at the office today so we didn't get anything done at home, but hopefully we can work some tomorrow after CCD. This weekend we're heading to San Antonio for our last trip pre-Reagan. We haven't seen my dad since Christmas and so we decided to make a last minute trip down there to see him. Plus, Darren wants to celebrate his birthday in style! lol... We're going to have dinner on the riverwalk somewhere. It'll be Clayton's first trip downtown! Still crazy to believe that the next trip we take will be with TWO babies! I can't even begin to imagine how much stuff I am going to have to pack. I think we need a bigger vehicle!

Ok, now for the picture! The plaid sure makes me look huge... but then again so did the print in Clayton's pic! I think my face looks a lot larger this week... yuck. I have been noticing some swelling, oh joy. BTW, don't I look like two completely different people now that my hair is short?! And it was curly today so it looks darker than normal. Crazy!

The start of Reagan's nursery

We started on baby girl's nursery while my mom was here a few weeks ago. Of course though, progress had halted after she left! Oops! We've been a bit busy! However, this weekend I had a major nesting streak and so we got a lot accomplished! There is still SO much to do.... sew the bedding, make the cornice board, install cornice board and curtains, put together bookcase/bench, paint canvases, cover lamp, hang decorations..... etc etc.... Hope you enjoy some sneak peeks of her nursery!

I made the lettering above her bed! That is her bumper fabric behind the letters!

The lamp will get a makeover!

My loving husband told me the new knobs "made the dresser". Love him!

Mom and I modge-podged scrapbook paper on all of the outlet covers in different prints/colors!

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will be done and I can post the final review! =) If not then she might beat us to the punch, haha! ;-) 33 weeks tomorrow and it is FLYING by! Can't wait to meet our baby girl and have her here in our arms!

Baby to Toddler in a blink of an eye!

Suddenly, as if time didn't move fast enough already, my sweet baby boy turned into a very opinionated and wild toddler. Gone are the days of my little baby quietly playing with his toys or napping/going to bed on a perfect schedule. It's so funny, and sad, to me how fast he changed! Even his appearance is different! He looks like such a little boy now! He is learning all kinds of new tricks and, as I said in his monthly post, developing quite the personality. He wants to be outside all of time time, even though the weather is not that nice yet. He gets mad when you bring him in from outdoors! Last night he took the most consecutive steps yet - 5 in a row! We were able to get most of it on video on Darren's phone but it's terrible quality which makes me sad! Before last night the most he took was 3 and that was at daycare so we didn't get to see it. I love that he is growing up and becoming his own person, but I also am so sad about it! An example is that he can now drink his bottle without assistance from us. We just prop him up and hand it to him and he'll drink the whole thing. However, I can't seem to put him down! I don't want to just prop him up and let him eat! I want to feed him! It's my 5-10min guaranteed snuggle time and I treasure it! I never thought that I would be the type of parent who gets sad watching their baby grow, but man, it's killing me! Luckily, haha, I only have two months until I have another baby to hold and snuggle. But, Clayton will always be my FIRST baby. He'll be my "baby" forever!

I can't wait to write about all of his new developments in his 11 month post next week! Until then you will just have to wait to see all of the crazy things this kid does now-a-days! ;-) Here's a photo to get you by.. hehe

Working Mom

This week's SUYL on Kelly's Korner is about Working Mom's. I felt the need to put my two cents in when it came to this topic and tell my story!

I have self-titled myself both a working mom and a stay at home mom. You see, I am very blessed, but at the same time I feel disadvantaged. My son is 10 months old and since I returned from maternity leave at 4 weeks postpartum he has come with me to work almost every day. I am very fortunate to work for my husband's family's company as a business manager. I handle the day-to-day accounts receivable, accounts payable, taxes, etc. It is a great job, right up my alley since I am an Ag Economics major with a minor in business. I work 8am to 5pm (sometimes later) every day. We live in the middle of no where (we're 30 minutes from a grocery store), so daycare options are limited. There is a daycare in town and my son is able to attend every Tuesday and every other Friday. So that is why he is not at work with me every single day of the week. Since the daycare is full though and we cannot find someone to stay at home with him then of course he comes to work.

I love that I bring my son to work with me, and I love the fact that my job allows me the opportunity to do so. However, at times it is incredibly stressful and tiring. That is why I have titled myself both a working mom and a stay at home mom. I am both the manager and the babysitter. It's really hard because a lot of times I feel as if I am failing as a mom because I am not able to give him 100% of my attention. There's been countless times where he's pinched his fingers in something, or picked something off the floor and stuck it in his mouth... just things that if I wasn't working I'd be able to watch for. Then I think that I am also failing as a manager. There's no way that I can give 100% of my attention to the job either. It's almost a lose-lose situation. I realize that many people will be furious thinking that I am crazy for complaining about being able to take my child to work. But really and truly, it is HARD. I love my son so much and I am so happy to see him every day, but sometimes I just wish that we had somewhere to take him.

Now we have another baby on the way, due in April, so things will become even more complicated then. There probably will not be an opening at the daycare until at least August, so we will need double duty on the kids until then. Not sure what we're going to do...... and that scares the crap out of me! We've talked about moving from our small town to the neighboring town and commuting to work, just so we could try to have the kids go to a daycare in town. This is pretty much our last resort though because it would suck!

I had a friend ask me why I didn't just stay at home.... well, two reasons. 1) Financially there is no way that I could quit my job. There's no way that we could live on just my husband's salary. Not that I make sooo much money or anything, but it allows us to pay our bills and live within our means. I'm sure that we could make things work on just his salary but it would be very very difficult. Our daycare is very affordable, so dropping daycare really wouldn't help all that much. By the way, did I mention that I also take online classes for my masters degree? Tuition is a witch with a b to pay for! But that's a whole other topic! 2) I love my job and I love working. I am a very type-a person. I thrive on doing things well and always pushing myself to be better at something. Hence the masters degree. DO NOT GET ME WRONG - I am not saying that there is anything wrong with being a SAHM, but it is just not for me. I need the work environment.

I know that this post was pretty horribly organized and horribly presented, however it is just a jumble of my thoughts on being a working mom. I don't know what my ideal situation would be either and that is frustrating. I really don't have any good advice either for being a working mom..... Please feel free to lend me your thoughts and suggestions! =) Thanks for reading!

30 Weeks.. already?!

I only have 10 short weeks to go until Miss Reagan's due date... Holy moly! Time to get busy! My mom flies in tomorrow for a week, so we (er.... my mom and hubby) will be painting, putting together furniture, decorating, sewing crib bedding, etc etc! Whew! We'll be busy! And by we, I mean they! ;-) I'll supervise and play with Clayton!

At 30 weeks with Clayton I had gained 25 pounds (haha!!), I was super tired, had to pee all of the time, and was addicted to reeses. I'm 5 pounds heavier right now - OOPS! I blame it on the fact that my "girls" are bigger this time around! (BTW, I just looked up my measurements and my breast measurement is the same... darn! haha! I am however a whole inch larger around the waist! WOW!) Also, I never lost all of my Clayton weight so I started out heavier. I'm still tired and still have to pee! My leg cramps have already started unfortunately. The other night I woke up crying because I had a horrible cramp. I think I scared poor Darren half to death. He was sweet enough to wake up and rub my calf for me! My heart burn has sorta subsided... depends on what I eat. But, it hasn't been as bad as weeks 27-29. Little girl has really amped up her movements. She especially likes when I smush her, haha! For instance, laying on my side with my legs tucked up... she'll go crazy! She still is pretty calm though compared to her brother inutero! I need to bust out the huge maternity pillow because I'm starting to get uncomfortable at night. Plus I find myself rolling onto my back which is a big no-no at this point. I've been fighting yet another sinus infection - my third one this pregnancy - which has been draining me of any extra energy I might have. I need to clean house but I don't have the energy! I washed clothes and they are still sitting on the kitchen table! Oye... Hopefully I'll feel better soon!

We can't wait to meet our baby girl, but we sure are hoping she decides to make it to at least 39 weeks! That way I'm not going into labor at her brother's 1st birthday party! ;-) Although, wouldn't that make for a memory?! haha! We already had a scare of having an April Fool's baby once, hopefully we don't again!

And now the comparison picture, that never really gives an accurate comparison, lol...

Ten Months!

Happy Ten Month Birthday, Clayton Scott!

Wow, double digits! We can't believe that in two short, and we're talking short, months you will be one year old! You have grown and changed even more this month. You are becoming quite the little boy now! Although it makes us sad to see you grow up so fast, it is also a lot of fun! Each day it seems you learn and imitate new things! Our favorite new "trick" of yours is when you give us kisses. They are the sweetest thing in the whole wide world! We will ask for kisses and you will lean in, with your mouth open (hehe), and give us a kiss! It just melts us! Your favorite kiss-recipient though is still your Mimi. You just think she's so beautiful and kissable! ;-) You even give your stuffed animals kisses when we prompt you to! We're going to start working on having you kiss Mommy's belly so that we can get some pictures before little sister is here!

You have mastered the art of walking in your walker! You can maneuver that thing all over the office! You make k-turns, u-turns, you name it! Don't worry, you'll know those terms in 15 years when you're learning how to drive! You can haul butt in your walker and it is really cute! You just cruise around from office to office looking for someone new to play with! Without the walker you are still trying to grasp the concept of walking, but you're getting so close! You are quick now when you're moving along an object, such as the coffee table. You also can walk with us just holding onto one of your hands, so your balance is really quite good. You can now stand for at least 15 seconds at a time before you lean and grab onto something. You are hesitant to walk between things though if you don't see something to grab on to. You're getting there though!

Over the Christmas holidays, right as you were turning 9 months old, you learned how to climb the stairs. Since then we have bought and installed a baby gate at the base of the stairs so that you can't go climbing on your own! We have followed you a few times and let you crawl up them. You think it's pretty fun, and you are pretty good at it!

Another one of our favorite "tricks" of yours is that you now know how to spit out your paci, and you know that when things are yucky you make a spitting noise. When you're done with your nap we lean you over the pack-n-play and you spit out that nasty paci! ;-) You also let us know when you've spit up because we hear you making your spitting noise, haha! It's pretty amusing! Another noise you love to make is saying "pop". You don't truly enunciate the "o" but you have the motions down. Pop thinks you're saying his name when you do it! ;-) Maybe you are! You imitate a lot of the noises that we make and the movements we make with our mouths. If we run our fingers over our lips to make noise then you will as well. You're very cute!!

You still love to open things and get into things. Our kitchen is now mostly baby-proofed so that you can't open drawers and cabinets that have bad things in them! You love to open our drawers at work too. Some days you "help" Irene file her papers! Ok, no, you just take them out and make a mess. We don't mind though because you're cute! haha!

We are teaching you the word "no" and "hot". You mostly know "no" because you will stop and look at us, as if to say "Are you sure I can't have that?". Sometimes you disobey, on purpose, and go faster after whatever it is that you want but can't have! That's your Uncle Ross coming out in you! We realize though that you are too little for true discipline and to truly know the word "no", so we just try to keep repeating so that you will begin to understand. We have to tell you things are "hot" because you will go after the heaters in our office. You're pretty good at this though and will not touch whatever it is that we tell you is hot.

Although your vocabulary is not growing, your noises sure are! You talk A LOT! By talking I mean you say "bababa", "dadada", "tida" and "ha". You growl at us sometimes too which is a new favorite! You think it scares us so you make the noise louder and you get a good laugh out of it! We were hoping you'd have some real words to say by now but that's ok! We love listening to you talk, especially when you wake up in the morning. You just stand on the edge of your crib, talking and shaking the bars, until we come get you. It's funny!

You're still a dancin' fool. You love music and will dance anytime you hear a good tune! You will even dance to videos of yourself dancing on our phones! Because of this love for music Mommy has decided to have your first birthday party be a music theme! Hopefully it'll be a good time for all!

We like to think that you have a really good memory because you remember things, search for things, and know routines. For instance, when we give you the remote you will look at it, push a button, then look at the TV to see if it did "what you wanted it to". ;-) Also, you've been doing this for at least a couple months, you will look for things when you're pushing them around and they go under the couch. You'll lay on your belly to see where it went and try to get it. You probably started doing this at 8 months, but Mommy forgot!

Some of your favorite toys are still anything that makes music, anything that has buttons, and your push toys. You also love your stuffed animals and love to snuggle them if they are on the floor. You also love anything you're not supposed to have, such as our phones, the remote, etc! Typical baby!

Your 5th tooth started coming in just before your 10 month birthday. You have three on top now and two on the bottom! They have been giving you a little bit of an issue lately and you've been running a slight fever and were a bit fussy. But other than chewing on everything you seem to be ok! The new teeth have allowed us to try new foods. You now eat a lot of different table foods. Your favorites are anything sweet for breakfast (you like cinnamon rolls for instance!), peas, breads, carrots, and grapes. We were feeding you grapes nearly every day and you started to poop more - woo hoo! Guess we should keep that up! So far we haven't ran into many table foods that you did not like besides beans... not sure why you didn't like them! Oh well! We're slowly trying to add more protein into your diet, but Mommy is just paranoid you'll choke on things since you don't have molars!

You still love your bottle and take 7 ounces every 4 hours. You now hold your bottle all the time, unless you are just being super lazy! A few times we have laid you down with it and just sat beside you doing something else. You were fine with that! Mommy still treasures bottle time though because I get to snuggle you for 5-10 minutes.

The only negative thing about you right now is that you are slowly developing an attitude! You have twice now laid down on the floor, flat, and cried. It's really quite amusing, sorry! ;-) It is a rare, RARE, occasion though for you to be upset. We hope the temper tantrums stay this short and mild until you are at least 3! hehe... We can hope, right?

Growth wise you have gained weight and have gotten even longer! I don't know any stats since we haven't been to the doctor since the beginning of January. At your 9 month checkup you were 19 pounds, so I would bet that you are at least 20 pounds now! You now wear size 12 pants because they hardly make any in a 9-12mo size. You could fit into some of your 9 month ones, but not many. You also wear 9-12mo tops. Mommy is sad because they stop making "baby" clothes when the size hits 12 months. It is hard to find onesies in a 9-12mo size! Mostly there are just t-shirts! We have been layering long sleeve onesies with t-shirts a lot lately since it has been warm during the day but cold in the mornings. When you do wear shoes you wear a size 4. But, you hate shoes! You're in a size 3 diaper during the day and a 4 at night, but it doesn't seem to really make a huge difference!

You are still the world's best baby, and we still thank God every single day for you. You are such a joy and you make us so happy. We love you more than we could ever even imagine. You are our precious baby boy and we are so blessed to be your parents!

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy! I love you!!!!

Love,
Mommy