Needing Mommy Advice!

Ok my dear blogger friends... I am in some dire need of some advice or your comments in general! First off, we're getting closer and closer to Reagan being here..... which means I should be getting all of the rest I can, right?! HA! Wrong! I have a terrible cold/sinus infection and have been so busy with Clayton's party... plus the things that I am about to ask you about!

Second time moms... did you notice a big change in braxton hicks contractions between your first and second? With Clayton I barely felt them. I pretty much only had them at the very end of the pregnancy before it was time to go be induced. With Reagan I am already having them and yesterday they became much stronger and more frequent. Not enough to be real contractions, but a definite sign that labor is on the way (who knows when!). I just wonder if it is normal to notice them more your second time, or for them to be stronger your second time.

Ok, now, my second issue is that Clayton has been waking up at night recently. From the time he started sleeping through the night (about 4 months old) until just a week ago he has slept nearly 12 hours a night like a little angel. I had a pampers email sent to me about what he should be doing during this time and it actually talked about how when babies become mobile they start to freak out about their independence and need Mommy/Daddy time in the middle of the night. The past few nights it has been 4am, 5am, and 4:30am. All three times we had to take him downstairs and put him in bed with us. He also took a bottle to go back to sleep which he never does. So, I don't know if it is growth spurt or seriously needing us. Last night, bless my mom's heart, she was trying to take care of him for us and he freaked out worse until I took him downstairs to our room. Could have been the change of routine...

So, anyone have any good advice for me? I'm going crazy! I need sleep! Between contractions, Clayton, the cold, and having to pee, I am going to fall apart! Thanks for the help in advance! ;-)

Almost One!

In 9 days my baby boy will turn a year old. That is INSANE! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone. I don't know if it is the pregnancy hormones or just the feeling of being a mommy, lol, but I am so sad yet happy to see him grow up! Clayton is walking all over the place now. Really the only time he crawls is when he is already sitting and wants to get to another toy... makes sense! ;-) Other than that he is walking around like a pro! He already has a few battle wounds - two bruises right now on his forehead! Oops! Poor baby has been fighting the worst cold since Saturday. Luckily he is feeling better, but is still so dang congested. I wish they made cough syrup for babies!

Everything is just about set for his birthday party next Saturday! My parents are coming in as well as Uncle Adam and his girlfriend Merissa! We'll have a full house and it'll be so much fun! Clayton's party is a music theme and it is very fitting for his personality! Here's his invitation! Darren and I took his pictures and then had a lady on Etsy make the invitation. Then we printed at home and saved a bunch of money! They turned out awesome! I took out our pertinent information, just in case any weirdos find the blog, lol.

In other news I had my first weekly OB appointment on Tuesday! I was dilated almost to a two - hooray!!!! But, he still said I was high and thick, so she's definitely not coming any time in the real near future unless something crazy happens. I'm still thinking - what in the world am I going to do with two babies?! I am thankful that my mom will be here again for a month to help out. THANK GOODNESS FOR MOMMAS! We're excited that Clayton will be in good hands while we're in the hospital with Reagan! My prediction is that she'll be an Easter baby. That would be a week early, so we'll see! My original due date based on calculations was April 10th. Easter is the 8th so that's not too bad! I bought the cutest little onesie just in case!

Can't wait to share all of the details of Clayton's birthday party and his 12th month of life! Oh my! =) And, of course, I'll keep you all updated on Reagan's progress!

Getting closer!

We're in the final countdown! Since I can count on one hand the amount of weeks we have left until Reagan's due date, I have decided this is the final countdown! We are trying to finish up the nursery this week - key word there is TRYING. My wonderful mother-in-law and I have been sewing (ok, I lied, I have been watching her sew) the bedding this week, and we're almost done! Just need some more ribbon to finish off the ties and it'll be good to go! Darren and I finished up some craft projects this weekend and last night, so now we just need to put together some more furniture and get to decorating! Yahoo! I'm really hoping to be finished by this weekend because next weekend I'll be frantically trying to get the house cleaned and ready for Clayton's birthday the following weekend. Holy crap... my baby is going to be ONE! That's another story!

In the haste of trying to plan everything I realized that we were forgetting a key element - having a plan for when I go into labor. For instance, if I go into labor at 3am who will come sleep at our house with Clayton? Or, when would we like Clayton to be brought up to the hospital in the first place? I came up with a great list of if's and just need the responses now. Oops! ;-) At least I made some plans! I got an email from parents.com and it talked about how baby number two comes faster.....


And, of course, the light at the end of the tunnel: second labors tend to be faster -- much faster -- than first ones. Exact numbers are hard to pin down, but Dr. Alvarez says that in his experience labor is about half as long the second time. And though no one likes to think she's lost vaginal muscle tone, you'll be happy to know that it'll help baby slide out that much easier. "Pushing time is much shorter for second-timers -- between 30 minutes and an hour," Dr. Alvarez explains. "Which is why we have a rule here: never turn your back on a woman who's already had a baby or two."

Holy cow! Ok, I labored for 11 hours with Clayton, and that was after being induced. From the time the cytotec was administered to the time he was out... 11 hours. I pushed for 20 minutes. Soooo.... my labor for Reagan would be 4.5 hours and I'll push for even less?! WHOA! I know that my doc did warn me that it will come a lot faster so I need to head to the hospital sooner since we have a 30min drive. It sure would be awesome to only labor for 4.5 hours! haha! Can you imagine?! We'll see I suppose!


In other pregnancy related news I have had a few braxton hicks but they have been while walking, so I don't count them too much. She is definitely out of room and definitely head down though because she pushes on my pubic bone like crazy. Clayton never did that. Sorry for the TMI but it's almost like having the urge to pee, but it's just painful and tingly! lol... Darren won't let me bend down and pick up Clayton anymore, which really I shouldn't have done to begin with. This weekend I tried to do it and really put a strain on my ligaments holding the belly, so that was a big no-no and can't be done anymore. I'm slowly getting to the point where my stomach is so smushed that I don't eat as much at one sitting anymore. Heartburn is still there but only every now and then, not every day. My legs are still cramping and hurting at night, and I get up to pee about 2 or 3 times every night. Oye!

I am ready to meet our baby girl.... but I am sure hoping she stays put until after the 1st of April! =) I'm reeealllly feeling that she'll be an Easter baby for some reason! We'll see! =) 4/8/12 would be a fun birthday!

Eleven Months!

Happy Eleven Month Birthday, Clayton Scott!

You are only one month away now from your FIRST birthday! Mommy cannot believe how big you are and how fast you have grown up! This month you changed even more! You are becoming such a little boy instead of a baby. Oh, and you know that you're growing up! You have a mind of your own and you wish that you could just do whatever you wanted to and go wherever you wanted to go!

Your major development was that you took your first steps on your own this month AND put a bunch of steps together, so basically you were walking! You took at least 10 steps and even turned a bit! When you're not walking on your own then you are walking behind things. You love pushing everything around and walking behind it. Chairs, your walking toys, your stroller, etc! You have great balance and can stand for a long period of time by yourself. You just need to learn that your feet have to move at the same time as your torso! ;-) Sometimes your upper half gets moving faster than your bottom half and so you'll fall down. Mommy thinks this is because you learned to walk behind things like your dinosaur. Since you lean over when you push that then you lean over without it! hehe.. Now you RUN behind your dinosaur or other walking toys. You really know how to move!

We had some really nice days this month so were able to take you outside. You LOVE to be outside. At lot of times you will crawl over to the door and fuss, wanting us to let you out. Poor boy! We bought you a swing that you love and you absolutely love riding in Pop's "voom-voom". On Valentine's day we were in Midland so we took you to your first park to play. You went on the swing and the slide with Daddy and you thought it was pretty darn cool!

You are more vocal then you have ever been. You love to talk to us, in your own language of course, and you now love to scream. You used to just imitate us when we'd yell (in a funny way, not a mean way!), but now you will just scream to get attention or to just plain make noise! You crack us up with how much you "talk" now. Your favorite word is "deedle". Seriously, you say "deedle". It is so funny! Your tongue goes in and out too when you do it. Your other favorite word is "dada" and "hot". You truly understand the meaning of hot, no, bottle, and voom-voom, haha! When you are playing with your cars you say "vroom vroom!!". You started this when Nana was here visiting at the beginning of the month. Mommy didn't believe Nana at first that you knew what it meant! Your other word, "hot", is said whenever you see a heater. We have had to tell you no so many times and that heaters were hot so that you would not burn yourself. So, now whenever you see a heater you say "hot!". It comes out more like just "t".

One of your favorite activities is pushing buttons. You could sit and push the button on your tractor or, unfortunately, on the heater all day! You also love pushing buttons on books that sing and on your keyboard. Mimi got you the coolest keyboard and you love to play it! You also love to play Daddy & Pop's guitars! We have been playing for church nearly every weekend so we get together a lot to practice. Every time we get the guitars out you crawl up to them as fast as you can and start strumming! Mommy bought you your own guitar that came in just the other day and you thought it was too cool! ;-) You're such a musical baby and Mommy LOVES it!

One of your best tricks this month has been giving us a high five. You used to only do it every now and then when you were younger. Now, the second we ask for one you will give us one! It's a lot of fun! You're really starting to understand how things work and cause and effect. You're so smart! You know that one of your toys will pop out the balls if you put them back in, so you sit there and put them back in over and over after they pop out. You also know that when the water starts running in the bathtub that you are about to get a bath! You LOVE bath time so you will crawl over to the tub as fast as you can and want in! You play in the bath for so long!

You're finally starting to sit still long enough for us to read you a book. You love any book that has flaps to open or music to play. You even love the books that have textured pages. Other than the time when you're eating a bottle or reading a book for a short period of time you want DOWN. You are very independent! Now that you are learning how to walk it is only a matter of time before you are into everything and going everywhere!

We are still trying to get you to eat more table foods. You are a picky picky eater!!!! You LOVE grapes and will eat a ton of them, but that's about the only thing that you consistently eat, and eat well. We decided to let you feed yourself one day and you made a huge mess, but you ate a lot more food than you normally do. Maybe you just want to be able to feed yourself! You do like most veggies but surprisingly you hate beans, potatoes, and even some meats. You are still great with your bottle, even though we wish you would drink less bottle and eat more food! You still eat your 7 ounces every 4 hours. One thing that was pretty impressive that you learned this month was that you can drink out of a straw! It's impressive!!

You're currently wearing mostly 12 month clothes. Some of your 9 month pj's still fit and your 9 month onesies fit your body but not your arms. You are only wearing 12 month pants now. When we do put shoes on you (not often at all) we put you in a size 5! Big feet! You're still in a size 3 diaper during the day and a size 4 at night. Mommy needs to weigh you to see how big you're getting! hehe...

Even on your fussy days we still think you are an amazing baby. You are so good and you hardly ever have a bad day. You had a fever for a few days and yet still you were smiling and laughing. We love you so much. We couldn't have asked for a better baby, and we couldn't feel more blessed to have you in our lives. I cannot tell you that enough. We love you so much. You are such a joy.

We can't wait to see what your year milestone will hold. We love you sweet baby! Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

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

Irish Twins

Seeing as I might as well be having Irish twins, and depending on whose definition you use I could actually have them, I decided to do some research from my favorite avenues - blogs. After all, what better things to read then real life experiences? To begin, let us define Irish twins - and by the way, might I add, the phrase "Irish twins" comes from the fact that Catholics, stereotypically Irish Catholics, do not use birth control and therefor end up with children closer in succession. Ah, gotta love stereotypes, and gotta laugh at the fact that I am one! ha!

Irish Twins:
1) Children, born in succession within one year
2) Siblings born within 12 months of each other.

So, whether you believe they are in the same calendar year (which was my original thinking) or just within one year, there you have it! If little Miss Reagan decides to show up early (let's hope not) then we could have Irish Twins! ;-)

I found this on a photographer's blog that I love. She had so many good points so I just copied them all!

1. Recovery Time – Don’t pick up your older baby for at least a week. It is very hard and you will feel guilty but a quick recovery is important. Just try to have help until you are healed. I’ve was overdoing it and it my stomach started to hurt.


2. Bottle Weaning – Don’t worry too much about weaning your older baby off the bottle if you are planning to use a bottle for your newborn. Mia was doing pretty well in her switch to a sippy cup before the baby came but as soon as we got home and she saw Ausha’s bottle she wanted one. Don’t beat yourself up if your older baby isn’t off the bottle by the time she is one.


3. Gated Play Area – This is the most important thing to have prepared before your newborn arrives. Since your older baby is on the move and can’t understand the word no, you need a gated or blocked off area for her to play in while you feed your newborn. We gated off our dining area and it is working perfectly (so far). It’s a perfect spot because we can see her from the kitchen and living room and it is large enough for her to walk around and keep lots of toys in. I also put a chair next to the gate so I can sit close to Mia while feeding the newborn. I imagine this play area will come in most handy when I have a crawler and an 18 month old at the same time. Both will be going in two different directions, so chasing them both around at the same time will be tough!


4. Bouncer / Mobile Carrier – Keep your newborn in one of these in a high place so your older child can’t get to her. Mia has already slapped her a twice accidentally while waving her hands around (in between sweet kisses of course). Plus you can move it around with you from room to room. I put my newborn in her bouncer and place it in Mia’s crib when we are playing in her room. I put it on the dining table when we are in the living room.


5. Pack n Play – Put one of these in the living room to change your newborn’s diapers. It’s high up so your older baby can’t get to her. She can also sleep here too. I have an attachment that goes on the top to put her in that allows me to see her better. We have a mini crib in our room too so we don’t have to move the pack n play from our room to the living room daily. The more places you have for your newborn to sleep the better.


6. First Few Weeks – These have been pretty easy because our newborn sleeps 3-4 hour stretches during the day. This allows me a lot of time to care for and play with our older child.


7. Hormones – In the first 4 days, I was more hormonal than last time. Maybe being pregnant for two years gives you a double dose of hormones? Haha. I cried randomly a few times. Mainly at the thought of my mom leaving! A week has gone by and now I’m fine


8. Baby Bjorn – In case you want to chase your older baby around without leaving your newborn in another room unattended, this comes in handy to put your newborn in.


9. Overwhelming – The first few days (combination of hormones and lack of sleep) are overwhelming. I only felt sad that I couldn’t care for Mia as much as I was before our newborn arrived. 11 months is such a cute stage and I didn’t want to miss one thing. Just being away from her for the 3 days we were in the hospital was hard. When we got home she had gained weight and was standing. We felt like she was a different baby!!


10. Switch Off – Switch off with whoever is helping you with your older baby. Care for your older baby every other day while your helper cares for your newborn. Sometimes I feel like Mia might forget I’m the mom. Silly but true. (I’m sure that goes for any age gapped kids).


11. The Walker – Before I had my newborn I was overwhelmed at the thought of chasing a newly walking toddler around, but now I realize it will be easy for a couple months. Since our newborn sleeps so much it will be easy to chase older baby around. When I need to feed our newborn then it’s baby gate play time!


12. Birthday Party - This tip might seem silly but I have found to be a good one. Try to have everything for your one year old’s birthday party prepared before you have your newborn. Because I am breast feeding and pumping I don’t have time to get out and go shoping for supplies, decorations, etc. for her party. I have had it prepared now for a month and my stress level is lower than it would be if I were having to send people out to pick things up for the party without me.


13. Doctor Visits – Ask your doctor to combine your babies’ check ups if possible so you don’t have to go as often. The less you have to get out of the house in the first month the better.


14. Nipple Confusion – If you are using the same brand of nipples for both babies, have two different areas for these in the kitchen so you don’t confuse them. You don’t want your newborn choking on milk because she swallowed some through a level 3 nipple accidentally!

I'm still not sure if that eases my mind any, haha! It's going to be quite the adventure around our house for the next few years... I'm just hoping and praying Reagan will be a good sleeper! ;-)

New year, new (and some old) worries..

Well, I'm into my third trimester now. It seems as if all of a sudden my body said "Oh hey! It's the third trimester! Time to start making you feel miserable!". I hate to complain but I am so tired! Tired from just sheer exhaustion, tired of not being able to bend down easily (yes, already), and tired of heartburn... although it is relatively mild so far and can be remedied with a glass of milk. I fear the next couple of months. It will only get more and more difficult to pick up my son as he grows and my belly grows. It will only get harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning to go feed him. Oye..... My poor husband is probably ready for our little girl to be here just so that he can have his wife back! I haven't felt like myself the last week. Last night I thought I could go to bed at 7pm, and I nearly did. I made it to 9:30 and that was all. To make matters worse Clayton has been waking up at 6am.... not because he's hungry but because he wants to be snuggled. I've tried to let him talk/whine himself back to sleep but I just can't. The second I go get him and snuggle with him he's back asleep. Yesterday morning I fell asleep in his nursery with him, but sleeping in a glider sure does wreak havoc on your back! It is hard to keep up with Clayton too. He's always on the go, always moving, always wanting to play with something new and different. I find myself having to just sit back and watch instead of getting down on the floor and playing with him. I hate that but I don't know what else to do! This to me is one of the biggest drawbacks to our babies being so close together - one baby is going to constantly miss out I feel. I worry that when Reagan is here Clayton won't get the attention from me that he needs. I worry that he will need me and I will be busy feeding her, or who knows what. I just hope that it doesn't cause problems with him behaviorally. He is such a good baby.... I just want to be the best mommy that I can be - to BOTH of my babies. I'm not sure how to accomplish that, but I am going to try my best! Even if that means I don't sleep for the next 18 years! haha!

So, there were some of my new worries.... my old worries that carried over from last year - mostly just finances and babysitters. I'd love to say that we were so wonderful with our money and that we already had a huge savings account for both our kiddos, yada yada... Yeah right!!! Our income comes in and goes out in a FLASH. Doesn't help that formula costs $28 for roughly a week and a half's worth! Or that diapers are 25 cents each! haha! I do bargain shop for everything I can, and use coupons whenever I'm able to, but it's still hard to pay for one - I can't imagine paying for two! I also worry because we still don't have a place for Clayton to go. He goes to daycare once, maybe twice a week, and the rest of the time he comes to work with us. It is getting so difficult since he is, like I said, always on the go! He's into everything. It's hard to keep an eye on him, and it's hard to please him. When he wants to be held, I can't always hold him. I would love to find someone to keep him and Reagan at our house but we just don't know of anyone right now. It's frustrating to live in the middle of nowhere when your options are so limited!!

I've always been a worry-wart, and I am sure I will be one until I am no longer on this earth! I just pray that God will continue to guide us and bless us in the ways he deems necessary. I know that God provides and I just have to trust in His plan and His works. It's just difficult at times!

Ok, sorry for the vent... just had to get some of that off of my chest! Thanks for listening! ;-)

Entering the third!!!!

I'm entering the third trimester of pregnancy #2. That is NUTS! My best friend, who is also preggers, said in her last blog that her current pregnancy is flying by. I have to agree! It seems like with Clayton time just crawled by. Maybe it was the whole anxiety of the first pregnancy, and wanting our baby boy to be here so badly. Not that we don't want our little girl here, it's just that I'm still getting used to the fact that we have one baby! ;-) Haha!

The third trimester for me is bringing on all of those pesky symptoms again. The second trimester was a total breeze.... I think I am a baby machine! haha! So far I have already started the waking up once or twice a night to get up and go to the bathroom and my heartburn is back. It was a pesky symptom with Clayton but was an easy fix. I'm not ready for the leg cramps and not being able to get comfy at night though! I haven't had to bust out the big maternity pillow yet though, so that is an improvement! The other day I weighed myself and I weighed the exact same amount now as I did this same time with Clayton, so that is good news! I started out heavier, of course, so have not gained a lot of pounds.

Next week we go back to Midland for another big ultrasound and I can't wait! We can't wait to see our baby girl again! Now we need to start working on her nursery! So far the only thing I've done is pick out the fabric for the bedding and buy the crib. Guess we should get a move on!

27 weeks along!

A great year coming to an end..

2011 was an amazing year for us. We were so blessed to welcome our son into this world, and then find out that we would be blessed with a daughter in 2012! God was oh so gracious to our family. He protected us, guided us, and helped us to grow in love for Him and love for each other. We can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us. We can only hope and pray that it will be as great of a year as 2011 was! Here's to the future! =)

Nine Months!

Happy Nine Month Birthday, Clayton Scott!

This month you have been on the move, non-stop! Crawling, pulling up, and even walking with assistance are your new favorite activities! You are always going-going-going! We are having to use all of our energy to keep up with you, silly boy! You took your first steps behind your push car on December 10th. Since then you have started cruising around the coffee table and you will walk when we hold your hands or arms. For Christmas Pop & Gia got you a dinosaur that you can either walk behind or sit on and ride. This is your new favorite toy as you can really get to moving behind it! You will walk and walk until you get stuck and we have to turn you around. You also love to sit on the dinosaur and be pulled around. hehe... It's really funny and you look like such a big boy!

This month held your first Christmas! You received so many great presents! You love all of your toys and have played with them all non-stop. You love your rocking horse that Santa brought you and you love your music entertainment table from Nana and Papa! You also received a lot of super cute clothes - but I'm sure you don't care about that right now! Mommy loves it though! hehe! You love dancing to all of the Christmas decorations that play music. Pop & Gia have a low-rider car that plays the low-rider song and bounces... you think that thing is amazing! It is so funny to watch you dance to it!

You finally were able to meet your first cousin this month! Little baby Charley is so tiny and you aren't quite sure what to think of her yet! You wish that you were able to touch her and play with her already, but you're just too big and she's too small! At all of our family Christmas events you were able to play with all of your other second cousins, and that was lots of fun for you! You were an absolute ANGEL at all of our family Christmases. We didn't know what you would do around the large crowds, but you were just so good! You never cease to amaze us with how wonderful you are!

Somehow you were lucky enough to experience your first snow this month! It snowed twice this month, and you even had a white Christmas! You weren't quite sure about the snow... after all, it was pretty cold! But you didn't cry or anything! You loved to look out the window and watch it snow! With the cold weather came your first real illness. We had to take you to the pediatrician because you had some sort of sinus infection. Luckily the antibiotics worked wonders, as well as having Nana here as your personal nurse! ;-) You still have not ever been super fussy while you were sick.... we're so lucky yet again!

There is a song called "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth", and you were sure singing it this month! Ok, not really, but Mommy sang it for you! For over two weeks now your top two teeth have been coming in! One is poking through the gum and the other is nearly all the way out. You look so cute with your little snaggle tooth! We can tell that you've been teething because if your toy is not in your mouth then your hands are! Also, your cheeks get red and chapped when you teethe. Hopefully they'll come in soon and stop bugging you so much!

The day you turned nine months old was New Years Eve. You came with Mommy & Daddy to the St. Lawrence New Years dance! You liked the music and liked getting lots of attention from all of our family! Around 10pm you finally gave up and fell asleep so Pop took you home so that Mommy & Daddy could stay and enjoy the dance! We sure missed you when the ball dropped and it changed to 2012 though!

You haven't grown much since last month, but your hair sure has! It is really filling in and is so pretty, I mean, handsome! ;-) You are still wearing 6-9mo onesies and 9-12mo pants. You barely fit into any of your shoes though - not like you really need them though! You are still in a size 3 diaper but we just moved you to a size 4 at nighttime. At your doctors appointment you were 19 pounds, so by now you should be about 20lbs. You're still perfectly average!

You have been eating your cereal puffs so great, and now eat a bunch of other table foods... mostly just breads though. We haven't tried any meats yet because you just don't have teeth for it! We tried a new baby food called turkey and rice and you really liked it! So now you will eat sweet potatoes, squash, and turkey and rice. Picky boy! At least you still take your bottles like a champ!

We say it every month but we are so blessed to have you in our lives. You are seriously the best baby ever!!!! Everyone who meets you tells us how good you are, and how cute you are! ;-) We love you so much! In less than 4 months your baby sister will be here, and we can only hope that she will be half as good as you are! You are the light of our lives and we love you so much!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

Love,
Mommy

Christmas and other things!

Well, the first set of Christmases have come and gone. That's right, I said the first set. ;-) With our big family we have multiple Christmas celebrations. This year we were so lucky to have my mom and my dad both come in to visit. Clayton was very spoiled by both, of course! Not to mention little miss Reagan who made out pretty nicely herself! ;-) We spent our actual first Christmas day as a family at our house. We haven't been at our house for Christmas in, well, forever! It was nice to wake up and come out to open presents in our pj's! We invited over Darren's parents and Granny so that they could come see Clayton open his presents! This year was wonderful too because we had a white Christmas! We had so much snow on Christmas Eve and all of the early morning hours of Christmas. It was so pretty.... but of course it all melted by the end of Christmas day. Oh well - that's West Texas for you!

Our little family on Christmas morning

We decided to start a tradition that we would give our kids 3 gifts each. Jesus received 3 gifts from the wise-men, and with all of the family that we have the kids will have plenty of presents. Then they get one big gift from Santa that will always be unwrapped. That's how we did things in my house growing up and I loved it. This year Santa brought Clayton a Rockin Rider horse! It is awesome! It has a seat for when he's small and can convert as he grows. It's supposed to fit him until he's 3, so we'll see! He loves it! He knew instantly what to do to make it rock! So strange! He also knows how to make the horse sing by squeezing it's ear. He plays the song over and over and over! We're glad he loved his present so much! His presents from us were a Reveille pillow-pet, a clap and play puppy, and this music table thing that I thought would be awesome but turned out to be too small. He still plays with it though!

Loving Santa's present!

We will have 3 more Christmases this weekend. Thursday is our Christmas at mom & dad's, Friday is Christmas at Granny's with the Hillgers, and Saturday is Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's with the Frerichs! Whew! We're housing 7 people as well, so we'll have our hands full this weekend! Thank goodness we have a big house!

"Rockin' is serious business, Mom!"

In other news.... non-Christmas related... Clayton is teething so bad. Poor baby's two front teeth are both coming in. He got his two bottom teeth at the same time, and now his two front teeth are both coming in. He really doesn't get much fussier but his cheeks get really flush and he gets off his schedule. Oh well! Hopefully they come in soon! One's through the gum already and the other is almost there! Other news... little sister is now viable! Hooray! I'm 24 weeks along so, heaven forbid, if something did go wrong she should be able to survive. That's such an amazing time in the pregnancy to me. A safety net of sorts! I've been feeling great, besides the pink-eye, or whatever it was that we had. I had an appointment this morning and everything was hunky-dory! Another month and I go for another big ultrasound in Midland to make sure that she is growing ok and nothing else has happened with my stupid placenta, haha!

Can't forget Miss Pearl!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Here's to a wonderful 2012!!!

Feeling Better

Well, it had to happen eventually.... Clayton finally got sick! This kid, thank goodness, has only had one real cold in his whole life, and other than that has been just peachy! I guess with the changes in the weather, the 30 degree days we had, and the wet/snow, he was bound to get sick! It started last Tuesday. We noticed that his nose was running a lot and that his eyes were a little swollen. By Wednesday his eyes were really pink and swollen, but still not producing the gooey stuff that comes with pink eye. We called the pediatrician and the nurse called us in a prescription for eye drops - just in case. Plus we were told to give him a minute amount of dimatap to help with the drainage. Well, several days went by and he was not getting better. One morning he woke up and his eyes were glued shut. We thought for sure it was pink eye, but after over 4 days on the drops he was not getting better. Away we went to the pediatrician..... No pink eye, but it was a definite infection! Poor baby just had a really bad sinus infection that was affecting his eyes and nose. We got a prescription for amoxicillin and he is looking and feeling a million times better now! (Nearly a week and a half later!) We are so thankful that he is getting better! Poor baby looked miserable but was still in good spirits, bless his heart! He still has congestion because he coughs and sometimes his breathing is loud and labored, but no running nose and no swollen/pink eyes! Hooray!

My mother-in-law had told me that babies born in March were the best because the weather is most favorable for not getting sick! He has definitely followed that trend, and for that we are very thankful! I was glad that this was his first prescription - EVER! WOO HOO!!!! Now lets hope he gets 100% better soon! I still haven't done my Christmas pictures because he looked so terrible, lol. Hopefully I can get them soon.... they might be New Year's cards instead of Christmas cards, but who cares! I have an 8 month old baby and I am 22 weeks pregnant... I think I have an excuse! ;-)

My mom has been here since Tuesday night and has been caring for Clayton at our house. I think that is making a huge difference in his well-being too, as he is not exposed to as many germs and what not! We are so glad that she is here! And tomorrow is her birthday! =)

Well, that's all I have for now! Just wanted a recollection of Clayton's first illness, lol... Thankful for our health!!

First Cousin!

Last night Clayton's first cousin was born! Charley Elaine Hillger came in to this world at 6:19pm weighing in at 6lbs 10oz and 19 1/2" long. She is beautiful (from what the pictures tell me!)! We are anxious to get to meet her but it looks like it won't happen this weekend like we had planned. All three of us are under the weather! Clayton has pink eye in both eyes, a cold, and he gave his cold to dear old Mom & Dad. Thanks, bud! Hopefully we'll be feeling better soon so that we can go hold that precious baby girl in Lubbock!

Congratulations to the new parents, Trey and Leslie! Welcome to the world, Charley!

Eight Months!

Happy Eight Month Birthday, Clayton Scott!

Mommy has decided that I am going to invent some sort of machine so that you stop growing up so fast! This past month you have become mobile... and our life has changed drastically! ;-) You started crawling shortly after your 7 month birthday. You first major crawls happened on November 5th. It was so fun to watch you! Once you figured out what you were doing.... watch out! You're on the move! You don't slow down! You now always want to be down and crawling. You love to explore and go from toy to toy. You also love to play "fetch" with yourself. You will hit a toy (mostly a ball or block, but you've even used water bottles!) and chase after it, only to hit it again once you get to it. It's really funny to watch you entertain yourself! You hardly ever get bored and fussy anymore because you are able to change your scenery and find new toys! You do get fussy though when we won't or can't let you down to crawl! Your clothes are now always dirty from you crawling around! You're quite speedy too! You make record time!

Shortly after you started crawling you decided that you needed a new trick.... pulling up! You started pulling up on November 14th . You now pull up on anything you can, including the side of your crib! We had to drop your mattress already because we were afraid that you would climb out! You can pull up and then stand for long periods of time, and you love it! Every morning when we go in to your room you are standing at the edge of your crib waiting for us! It's really cute! It won't be long until your cruising along the edge of the couch - and then - walking! Oye... again, where is the machine to make you stop growing?!

One of your favorite activities, besides crawling and pulling up, is dancing to music! Anytime that you hear music you start swaying back and forth. It is so cute! We love how much you love music and we can't wait until you are big enough to start playing musical instruments! You make your own music for now! ;-) Speaking of your own music, you love blowing raspberries and making a smacking noise with your mouth. Your still not speaking a whole lot (you just blabber dadada) but we're hoping you start saying some words soon! We can't wait to hear you call us mama and dada for the first time! Your other noises are LAUGHS. Oh my goodness you laugh so much! You are so ticklish and you love being scared. We love the sweet sound of your laughter. It brings so much joy to our lives!

You have graduated to the big boy bathtub - no more baby tub for you! Now you just sit and play with your toys. Once we took you out of the small tub you stopped splashing so much. Maybe it's because you have tons of toys now! Who knows! You still love bath time though, but man do you hate getting dressed afterward! We think you'd rather run around in your birthday suit, but it's too cold for that!

"Panking" is still one of your all time favorite activities. Haha! You hit everything!!! You also like to bounce a lot when we are holding your arms and you're standing. You probably learned how to bounce from your exersaucer! Another favorite activity is making a mess! You love to go over to our bookshelf in the game room and pull all of the dvd's off the bottom shelf. Guess Mommy & Daddy need to babyproof some! At least they are not fragile! You definitely like getting into things you're not supposed to. For instance, you love chewing on plugs... not a good habit!

You had some awesome firsts this month - besides all of the mobility changes! You went to your first Aggie football game in College Station for starters! You were such a good baby! You didn't cry or fuss the entire game. You took a nap during the 3rd quarter and when the game was over you were ready to crawl on Kyle Field! That's right - you have touched Kyle Field waaaayyyy before most people/kids have! We think that is really special! So many people complimented on how cute you were and how neat it was that you were there, and plus, crawling on Kyle Field! You're such a good Aggie already!

Yes, this is what you did during your pictures!

You also had your first Thanksgiving(s) this month! We had our first turkey dinner at Opa and Oma's house in San Antonio with Uncle Ross and Uncle Adam and Blakely! It was a lot of fun. You had sweet potatoes! We had another meal on Thanksgiving day at Pop & Gia's house with the family here! And finally we had another meal at Grandma & Grandpa's house where we fed you cereal!

Eating wise you are exploring a lot of new foods, but you are still super picky! You now get to eat the little cereal things called puffs that are made for babies. You also eat some table foods that we know are ok for you like fruits and veggies. You love to make a mess with any food that we give you! You're still picky though and won't eat any fruit that is smushed up into baby food. In fact you hated peaches, pears and bananas when we gave them to you. Your all time favorite food is still sweet potatoes! You still looooove your bottle and drink 7 ounces every 4 hours, pretty much like clockwork! You're very predictable on when you need a bottle or a nap, and we like that!

Mommy and Daddy like taking you to town now because you can ride in the shopping cart and you can sit in a high chair at a restaurant! It makes it a lot easier to cart you around places! You love riding in the shopping cart! We think you like looking at all of the people and things on the shelves!

Appearance wise you still look like your daddy but you have mommy's chubby baby cheeks!  You're finally starting to get some hair too! Woo hoo! Now it doesn't just stick straight up! Your hair is a light brown color and your eyes are still a gorgeous blue! We love it! You're wearing 9-12mo pants and 9mo onesies. You have long legs! You're still in a size 3 diaper - which you've been in for a while now!

You sleep great and have been sleeping from 7:30-8ish to 7-7:30ish every day. Mommy & Daddy are ok with not getting to sleep in on weekends anymore... you are worth it! Some times we can feed you your morning bottle and you'll go back to sleep in bed with us until about 9. That's always nice! =)

You truly are the BEST baby, and you truly bring such an immense amount of joy to our lives. We never knew that we could love you this much! You are so wonderful and we are so blessed to have you as our son! Now, let's hope your little sister is as good! ;-)

Little toot!

We love you so much, baby boy! Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mommy

Halfway Through!

I'm already halfway through my second pregnancy. WOW. Double WOW. First off, I feel so incredibly blessed to be pregnant in the first place. Through the roller coaster of the end of my first trimester, I feel very blessed that this little girl is doing so great. We had our anatomy ultrasound a couple weeks ago and everything looked wonderful! She was in the most awkward positions though! She was standing on her head, with her arms and legs tucked in! They were able to get all of their measurements and check her heart/brain/etc, plus confirm that yes, she is a girl! This pregnancy has been a breeze and has been flying by. I feel very very blessed to be able to say that! I think I take pregnancy very well! Maybe I should be a Michelle Duggar - JUST KIDDING!

As far as differences in pregnancies go, Reagan is much calmer than her brother was. And, looking back on things, I should have known judging by how active he was inutero, how active he would be in real life. That kid does not ever stop moving! ;-) Reagan just gives me little kicks every now and then. I think that I am slightly larger this go around then with Clayton, but that was to be expected seeing as my stomach muscles did not have time to recuperate after Clayton! I have had two colds now, which stink since you can't take anything. Plus, I'm allergic to acetaminophen, so I can't take anything for pain. I don't think I was EVER sick with Clayton. Again, super blessed. I don't think I even had so much as a minor cold. But, oh well, I'll get over it! It probably has something to do with the fact that I carry around a germy little boy all day! Hehe...

I do feel bad that I have not done pregnancy survey's with Reagan. I barely even take a weekly picture. I took one when we found out, one at 15 weeks, another at 18 weeks, and now 20. Oops! Oh well! I guess that was to be expected! It's hard enough to keep up with my crawling 8 month old, let alone a blog! It is still crazy to think that we'll have another baby here in our lives in just 4 1/2 more months. We know God will provide!

Which ones bigger? lol

DVR is the best!

My best friend Cristina posted her top 5 DVR picks right now on her blog, so I decided to post mine as well! DVR in our household is a life saver, and quite frankly, I don't know what we'd do if we had to watch commercials. Spoiled much?! Welll... when you have a baby, and he requires 100% of your attention at all times now that he is crawling and pulling up (yes, new development today!), then TV tends to take a backseat... as it should! So, therefor, DVR it is! BTW, I still call it "taping" shows, and my husband gets mad at me. lol... Sorry, old habit!

Ok, although these are not necessarily my all time favorite shows (because Gilmore Girls would be number 1), these are my top 5 shows that I currently DVR (as in the season is going on right now). Enjoy!

#1 - Parenthood

I think I mainly love this show because of my absolute infatuation with Lauren Graham. Ok, that sounds funny, but I love her. And her character is pretty good on the show too. Sometimes, as Cristina said, the show can be boring, but I love the big family life and seeing all of the families stories unfold. I doubt this show makes it many more seasons unfortunately.

#2 - Glee

I'm a huge music fan, so any show that showcases a range of music and does it in a new manner (i.e. last week they did songs from West Side Story - amazing!) has my DVR recording it! Oh wait... this is the only musical show on air? Ok then! It's a little cheesy at times because all of the kids are young and in high school, but that's ok with me! My favorite singer is Rachel, just because man that girl can sing, and as far as characters go - I like Coach Beast! haha! Oh, and Kurt's dad.... ok those are not main characters. Oh well!

#3 - Grey's Anatomy

Oh Grey's... I've been watching you since my freshman year of college (or well, that's what I remember!). Although this show is just about drama and not about medicine really, I somehow still find myself watching every week. Last week's episode was great. I thought my favorite character, Christina Yang, did a great job. It's one of those shows that I get mad when they don't show the previews for next week, haha.

#4 - How I Met Your Mother

I admit, I only started watching this show on it's repeats on Lifetime, or whatever channel it was, but then I really got into it and now Darren and I tape, oops, DVR, the new episodes so that we don't miss out! I really love this show and it's story lines. Funny, serious, sad, whatever it may be. I think my favorite episode so far has been when Lily and Marshall were finding out the gender of their baby.. it was cute!

#5 - Gossip Girl

Ok, I hate to admit this one, but I'm going to anyway.... Yes I watch a stupid teeny-bopper show on the CW. Yes, I realize no Emmy award winning shows are ever aired on the CW... but too bad. It's my guilty pleasure show. Darren hates it and so I have to watch it when he's not around, haha! 

I have to add a runner-up.... it's a new favorite show of mine!

#6 - Pan Am

I really only started watching this show because nothing else was on, and I had seen the previews. Turned out, I kinda like it! It's not a "WHOA I can't wait to see what happens next week!", but it's definitely worth the 42 minute investment in my opinion. I think it's funny that Christina Ricci is on TV now, lol. But, she's cute and does a good job!

OK..... don't judge me based on the shows that I watch. I realize that they are all realllly stupid and a bunch of time wasters... but isn't that what TV is for? ;-) Just be glad I didn't add Say Yes To The Dress! haha!