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. :)

Bye Bye Paci!!

Before Austin was born, I struggled with the decision on whether we would give him a pacifier or not. It always bothered me when I would see 3-year olds walking around stores with a pacifier in their mouth. Well, when you have a screaming newborn, it's easy to succumb to the easy soother. However, we restricted his use of the paci to only when he was napping, riding in the car, or sleeping at night. As he got a little older, it was only allowed during sleep/naps. It was always my goal to get him off of this by his 2nd birthday, which is in less than two months. I heard suggestions from others about cutting the tip off so it wouldn't give the sucking sensation anymore. That was my original plan, but the other night on a whim, I just decided to lay him down at bedtime with just Woofie (his constant companion dog) and no paci. He never even asked about his paci and went to sleep no problems. Was this just a fluke?! Well, here we are four days later and still no paci! I'm so proud of my little monkey! I had no idea it was going to be this easy to take it away from him.

He has a name!!!!

After much deliberation and debate, we have finally come to an agreement on this little guy's name........

CHASE COOPER HOUGHAM

It wasn't easy this time around. Jordan had his list and I had mine. Finally at 1:30am the other night, we came to an agreement. Chase has become pretty active these last few days, and Jordan was finally able to feel him kick on the outside of my belly. What a wonderful feeling to be able to share! We've emptied out everything from the guest room and am ready to paint and get this nursery started!

The Verdict Is In!!!

It's another BOY for the Houghams!! I saw that little turtle on the screen long before the u/s tech pointed it out to us, and my heart jumped with joy! Everything looked great and the baby was measuring normal with all the different parts of the anatomy. I'm actually measuring 3 days ahead of my actual due date right now, too. After the u/s, Jordan accompanied me to my regular monthly appointment, which has been a first for this pregnancy. It can be particularly awkward when you have to get undressed at the OB's office and your husband is sitting across the room giving you the stink eye. But luckily today, no need to get undressed, which was perfectly fine with me. Just a prick of the finger to check for anemia, talk about my nausea/vomiting, and listen to the heartbeat. My total weight gain/loss at this point is -4 from my starting weight. It's getting back up there, slowly but surely. I didn't actually gain any weight with Austin until after 20 weeks, so we're right on track with last time. For the most part I feel pretty good. I only have about one day a week where I get sick and feel like crap most of the day. Sleep has become a little uncomfortable because I'm a stomach sleeper, so I'm trying to manage that. I've got a little bump going on and feel like I'm carrying just like I was with Austin.

Ahhhh! I can't believe I will be the mother of two boys. I guess I will get to be the Queen of our castle and let them adore me. :) I have no sadness whatsoever about not having a little girl. I wasn't dead set on having one of each before we quit trying to have children. I always knew I wanted two kids and whatever they were, that was it. I would never try to tempt fate by trying for a third for a girl. At least there will be no weddings to pay for! And I think about the boxes and boxes of baby boy clothes up in the attic that I just have to wash and put in the new nursery. So cheap, since they'll be born in pretty much the same seasons.

Now we start the name game/battle. We can't seem to come to a consensus, so this should be interesting. My plan for the nursery is to a transportation theme with planes, trains, and automobiles. I envision a train track, roadways painted on the wall, etc. I've been browsing baby bedding all afternoon and am getting excited about getting the nursery together!

T minus 1 week til the Big Reveal!!

I'm not what you would call the most patient person in the world. In fact, Jordan would say that I'm not patient at all. I've threatened many times to stop on my way home from work and just pay out of pocket for a gender ultrasound, rather than waiting for our scheduled appointment. But here we are. At exactly 1 week from this post, we will FINALLY know whether we will be having a boy or a girl. And at this point, I don't really have a gut feeling which way it's going to go. Other than my face breaking out like I'm 16 and certain body parts getting rather large, everything else has been the same as it was with Austin. So, whether we'll find out we're having a little Mackenzie, or an unnamed little boy, I guess it's up to God. All we care about is having a healthy baby. Til next week with breaking news!

The Texas heat will cause you to lax on your standards!

Growing up in the country, I saw my fair share of white trash. Kids running around grocery stores with no shoes on, or in just a diaper. Even kids running around naked. Well, I guess I can count me in that group now. With record number of days in the 100's lately, I've kept Austin inside the house 98% of the time. Even going to the pool is too hot. The other night after dinner when the sun started going down, I was playing with him in the driveway. I decided to turn on the faucet and see what he did. Well, it's his new favorite playtime! He started out the first night fully clothed, in shorts and a shirt. The next night, we took off the shirt.
Then stripped down to the diaper. Well, last night he pretty much ripped off his diaper and so he went full monty on us. Luckily, we live on a cul de sac, so we don't see much traffic. He loves to fill up a cup with water and poor it on himself and stomp around and yell 'cold, cold, cold!'. Or he just looks down and says 'peepee' and laughs hysterically. It's pretty entertaining. So, as long as it's still over 100 degrees, neighbors in Woodcreek, don't judge me! :)

Here's to 7 wonderful years!!

July 26th marked mine and Jordan's seven year wedding anniversary. I really can't believe it's been that long already. But we've been married the longest out of all of our friends, so that's quite an accomplishment, especially since some that were married before us are already divorced. I can honestly say that our relationship is stronger today than it was seven years ago. Our journey as a couple has brought us a long way, and reached a new level after becoming parents. So, here's to us babe, and 70 more years to come!