Birthday Week Kickoff........Top 10!

I thought I'd start Austin's birthday week off with a 'Top 10 List' of my favorite things about our little guy, whether they're characteristics or little moments that we have shared. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't hard to narrow it down to just 10! I know I gush about him quite frequently on this blog, but I just can't help it! And I cannot believe that he will be TWO on Saturday!

#10- I love how you have made so many friends at school. It seems you have become a bit of a teacher's pet. You love to hang out with one of your former teachers and help her clean her room at the end of the day and she treats you to cake or extra snacks. And you love to go with your current teacher to get the snacks from the kitchen, take the dirty rags to the laundry room, etc. But my favorite part is when I drop you off or pick you up and you say hi/bye to your little friends by name and give them a hug. Such a social butterfly already!

#9- I love how you're like a little monkey, literally. Monkey see, monkey do. You watch us say or do something, and you can immediately mimic it. This is particularly convenient when I want you to say funny things. Lately, when your Daddy passes gas, you immediately yell, "Daddy, you tooted!" and laugh. All it took was to say that one time, and you were hooked. And you're the coolest kid in town when instead of giving a high five, you give knuckles. :)

#8- I love how lately you like for me to raise up my shirt, you raise yours, and we rub our bellies together and you laugh hysterically. I haven't decided yet if you actually know that a baby is going to come out of my growing belly in about two months, but I have faith that you will be a great big brother. I see how you play with Brady and love on him, and even though he's just a dog, I know you'll be great with Chase.

#7- I love how independent you are. From the very beginning, you were never one of those babies who cried if I left your sight for just a moment. Now, you're great at playing on your own, just roaming the house (which is finally 95% baby-proofed) and entertaining yourself by coloring, reading your books, or riding your bus through the house. This makes it so much easier for Mommy to get dinner started in the evenings, so thank you! But your growing independence makes me a little sad at the same time.

#6- I love how you know when it's the weekend. When I finally arrive in your room to get you out of the bed, you shout, "Nonuts!" (donuts) and 'Chocky Milk!" You have obviously picked up on our weekend routine around here. I'll also throw in here how you love to sleep, almost as much as I do! I thank God everyday that you're not one of those kids whose up at 6am on Sundays. I can usually get you to sleep til 9am or so, sometimes even later. :) Any kid who lets Mommy and Daddy sleep in on the weekends can eat all the donuts he wants!

#5- I love how you think the vacuum, broom, Swiffer, and dust pan are the best toys ever invented. I've never had a toddler yell at me, 'Mommy, need to caccuum!" so much, as you go to the closet to get it out. And you seem so content Swiffering the kitchen floor for a good 20 minutes. Oh, you are going to make some woman very happy one day! But until then, I should probably start paying you for completing your chores around the house.

#4- I love to watch you with your Daddy! He definitely lets you be 100% boy when you're with him, too. And as I watch you grow, you act more and more like him, along with looking more and more like him. You've become kind of a mini-me of him. Even with those little Fred Flintsone toes that he has 'blessed' you with. They're cute on you now, but by looking at your Daddy's, they won't stay that way forever. :)

#3- I love how when you don't want to go to sleep, you always talk me into rocking you in the glider in your room. I cherish this 'special time' we have, since I know you really don't even need to be rocked anymore. But my favorite part of this routine is how you proceed to brush the hair out of my face and say, "Pretty Mommy!". Melts my heart every time!

#2-I love how after Daddy and I put you to bed at night, you proceed to yell "Love, Love!" at least 5 or 6 times even after we've shut the door. "Love, Love!" is mine and your Daddy's special way of saying "I love you" (picked up from a Ben Stiller movie, nevertheless) and we're glad you have picked up on it!

#1-I love how the moment I saw you in the operating room for the first time, you had me wrapped around your little finger. We had waited so long to meet you, and it was truly love at first sight. It doesn't matter how bad a day I have, your bright smile warms my heart and makes everything else seem so unimportant. It's true what they say; a child changes your life forever.

Hello 3rd Trimester!

Finally! Although I feel like I've been pregnant forever so far, I'm 2/3 of the way there. I had my monthly checkup with Dr. Sudela yesterday. Total weight gain 6 lbs., so we're happy on that front. We got to have an ultrasound and take a peek at Chase. He is 2 1/2 lbs. now, and is measuring a week ahead so far. We weren't able to get any really good pics, because he was facing towards my spine. My blood pressure has been getting a little elevated lately when I'm up on my feet and running around too much. But I've been keeping an eye on it at home with my own monitor. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before it gets too out of control and bed rest is in my future. :( At least let me get my Christmas shopping done first! I start going back every two weeks now, so I'll be seeing alot of the doc.

I've had good intentions on the nursery, but haven't made much progress to show for. The crib is put together and the dresser is in there. No decor is up yet. But I've been sorting through ALL of Austin's old clothes and getting them washed so I can see what all we have......ALOT!!

My great co-workers are throwing me a 'Baby Supplies' shower on 11/17, so I see alot of diapers in my future. Then my friends/family shower will be on 12/5. So much going on!

On a side note, we did Austin's 2 year photo shoot at the park this past Sunday, and I can't wait to see how the pics turn out!

Happy Halloween!

What a difference a year makes! Last year at Halloween, Austin wasn't walking, we pulled him around the neighborhood in a wagon, and he had no idea what was going on. This year, he totally got the concept! I had been brainstorming the past few weeks on what he should go as. I went back-and-forth between a skeleton costume I had bought him and just putting together a Handy Manny outfit. Of course, two days before all the festivities started at his school, I decided I needed to put together Handy Manny! I bought him some work boots, did some iron-on magic on a shirt, painted a toolbox, and pulled out his tool belt. All done! He was the cutest Handy Manny I had ever seen!

Last Thursday, Austin's school hosted a fall festival where he got to ride the ponies, a choo-choo train, and play games for candy. He had a blast! A couple times, it took him a minute to recognize his teachers in their costumes.
Then on Sunday, we ventured up to our neighborhood Halloween party, which ended up being more geared towards older kids, but he enjoyed the bounce house obstacle course. Then it was trick-or-treat time! He was the most polite trick-or-treater, ever, saying thank you after receiving candy and then saying bye! He even got brave towards the end and walked up to doors by himself as we waited back a few feet on the sidewalk. So proud of our little boy!

Party Time!

False Alarm!!

I often wonder why I can't have a normal pregnancy. Maybe if I had easy pregnancies, then I would be willing to have more children. But that's obviously not the case here.

I woke up yesterday morning feeling kinda 'off' and not well. I got sick, but that's not really a surprise these days still. Then I laid down for awhile and felt a little better. So, I decided to do some chores around the house and just started feeling really lousy. I noticed that Chase had changed positions and significantly dropped. I no longer had a 'perfectly round' belly, but was carrying very low. It felt completely weird, his movements were still there, just in different areas than before and not as strong. If I tried to stand or walk for longer than ten minutes, I felt an awful lot of pressure like he was just going to fall out of me. Back to the couch I went to lay down. It seemed to ease up if I sat or laid down. While sitting down at dinner trying to enjoy my delicious homemade chili and cornbread, I started to feel some cramping. That's it, I had to call the doc. The on-call nurse called me back, asked some questions, and recommended that I go up to L&D at the hospital to get checked out just in case it was pre-term labor. I'm usually not one to freak out, but since I never went into labor with Austin and had a scheduled c-section, I'm no expert on what labor feels like. Yikes!

So, CiCi came to the rescue to watch Austin while Jordan took me to the hospital. Going back up to the 2nd floor at Lake Pointe just brought all the memories back. Got to the room, peed in my cup, and got my gown on. The nurse came in to hook me up to the monitors. However, Chase didn't want to cooperate, and they couldn't get his heartbeat on the fetal monitor. It was hard to stay calm, but I could feel some movement, so I knew in my heart he was fine. But my pulse was racing as we waited. While we waited for the sonogram tech to come, they hooked me up to the monitor and I was having some mild sporadic contractions. WTH?! It was way too early for Chase to make his arrival. I mean, I know the Duggars had their baby at around 26 weeks, but I would rather not have to deal with the stress of a preemie. The sonogram revealed that Chase was just fine, but was really low. He was measuring right at 2 lbs. The nurse checked my cervix for any signs of pre-term labor, but all came came back good. The ultimate diagnosis was that I was dehydrated, so after filling me with fluids, the contractions stopped. I was told to take it easy and stay hydrated. Whew, that was a close one! So, no more chores around the house or anything like that. I'm hoping that everything goes well from here on out, because I don't want to be dealing with bedrest or anything just yet.

In the meantime, Chase is still laying pretty low. Extra pressure on my bladder, yay! I definitely can't stand or walk long distances right now. Next appointment with the doc is next Monday, so we'll see what he says.

Pumpkins, Bellies, and Wine, Oh My!

Jordan and I took our 'babymoon' down to Gruene this past weekend and had a great time. It was just pretty relaxing, with not much of an itinerary. We visited a wine bar that we usually pay a visit to while down there, and enjoyed a bottle of wine on the patio. I'm usually not one to partake in alcoholic beverages while pregnant, but I did enjoy a glass of wine. It was delicious, but made me very sleepy. :) We did a little bit of walking around, hitting up our usual sites, enjoyed lots of delicious food at the Gristmill and Gruene River Grille, and listened to some great music. The bed & breakfast we stayed at was great and very authentic.

Austin stayed with Jordan's parents while we were out of town and had a great time. But he sure was glad to see his Mommy on Sunday afternoon! Once we got home and unpacked, we decided to take him up to the local pumpkin patch to walk around and maybe get some good pics. Well, Austin didn't really want to cooperate with my photo opportunities, and refused to pose or smile in any of them! I may take him back next weekend to try again.

I'm just about 25 weeks now and progressing right along. At my appointment last week, my weight was finally back up to pre-pregnancy, so the doc was happy. He measured my uterus on the outside of my belly, and I'm already measuring ahead. He ordered up another ultrasound on 11/1 to see how big Chase is already. I know my due date isn't til 1/30, but I'm fully expecting our boy to make his arrival by 1/15. I don't know how Jordan and I manage to make such big babies! But chubby babies are the best. :) Chase's crib arrived at the store today, and the dresser should be there by Thursday, so guess what we'll be doing this weekend!! This nursery will finally start coming together!

Just Rambling.....

I thought I would do just a miscellaneous update on all sorts of things. Why? Well, I'm kinda bored. I'm at home for the third day in a row suffering from a terrible stomach virus. I'm hoping to go back to work tomorrow, but still not feeling completely up to par yet.

All Things Regarding Chase

Chase is as active as ever these days! He particularly likes to liven up around 10pm every night. I hope this isn't a sign of what he'll be like when he arrives! But if I try to remember back, I think Austin liked to kick around mostly at night time. It's still an odd feeling, having a little human being rolling around in your tummy. We cleaned out the extra guestroom a few weeks ago, and this past weekend I put paint on one wall in Chase's room. Strangely enough, the color scheme in the bedding I picked out for Chase
matches that of Austin's so I'm able to use paint we already had in the garage. Score! I'm painting the main wall with the crib a dark blue and the remaining three walls a darker tan. I'm getting really excited about the planes, trains, and automobiles theme, especially since his bedding came in this week. And Mom has offered to buy his crib (since she did with Austin and she's insisted on doing all the same things for Chase), so pretty much all we have to buy is a dresser for this kid. Yay! I pulled down some boxes of Austin's clothes from the attic to start going through them. It's so fun to go down memory lane and see how much our monkey has grown. Needless to say, we're pretty much set on clothes for Chase!

Before I got this stomach virus, I was starting to feel pretty good. No more nausea and seemed to have a pretty good level of energy for the most part. But since I've been sick the past couple days, I'm still down 6lbs from my starting weight. Sometimes I wonder how I can still be down that weight when my belly is growing by the minute it seems. My next appointment will be my 24wk checkup next week with my awesome Dr......love him!

What's Austin Been Up To?!

This boy is all over the place!! He has the funniest personality and everyday is an adventure. With the weather finally cooling down, we've been spending alot of time outside playing in the evenings, which he loves. We enrolled him in a program at school called Amazing Athletes that comes once a week for an hour and works with them on different sports activities and coordination. I can definitely tell he's been picking up on a few things! After the first session, Austin's teacher commented to Jordan that the Athletes' director was impressed by Austin's abilities already and could tell we'd been working with him alot. Yay! I'm not saying we're going to have an NFL or NBA star on our hands, but I could tell it made Jordan proud of his little boy!

As you can tell from my previous post, we've completely kicked the paci out the door. Man, am I relieved it was that easy!! His teacher says he's asked about it a few times at nap time, but they just tell him he doesn't have it and he's fine. Ugh, he's just growing up too fast! I have a month and a half til his 2nd birthday, so I'm in full party planning mode now. We've decided on a Handy Manny theme this year, which he's been kinda obsessed about lately. I've got the cutest invitations picked out, all the decor, and the cake that I'm planning on making. I know I'll be cussing myself the night before the party when I'm up til midnight trying to finish the cake, but I'm pretty excited about it. Now all we need to do is his 2-year photo shoot.....I can't wait!

Everything Else!

Next weekend Jordan and I will be venturing down to one of our favorite spots, Gruene, TX, for a little 'babymoon' by ourselves before I get too pregnant. We're looking forward to a little R&R at a local bed & breakfast. There's a Music & Wine Festival going on while we're down there, so there should be plenty to do. Jordan's parents have graciously offered to watch Austin for the weekend while we're gone, but I know I'm going to miss him terribly! But before we can get to Gruene, we get to attend my 10 year high school reunion this weekend. It's going to be a small informal get-together, but I didn't expect much more when you graduate with only 46 people. :)

I can't believe that October is in just a few days! This year has truly flown by. I know we'll have such a busy few months with the holidays, Austin's birthday, and getting ready for Chase's arrival. And I've got to wrap up things at work and get my clients transitioned to another manager before my departure at Christmas-time.

Anyways, I guess that's all the updates I have for now. :)