22 Months Old!

Hi Family and Friends!

I'm just two days away from becoming a BIG brother and I can't tell you how excited I am!! While I may not understand the whole concept of "baby sister," I do know that mommy's belly is big and that baby sister will have her own room. I like to go in there. I open and close the drawers of her dresser, I throw all the diapers out of the basket, I press the button on the swing to make music, and I know that she will sleep in her crib. I'm going to visit mommy, daddy, and my baby sister in the hospital on Thursday. Besides becoming a big brother, I want to tell you about some new things I'm doing because I've had a pretty exciting month:

•  Mommy said she's going to mark my first word as "choo-choo." Forget mama and dada, I like trains! My second word? "MOW" for lawnmower. I say it every time I see or hear a lawnmower (or any loud noise I think is a lawnmower). I've actually tried putting two syllables together and it sounds like I'm saying the full word (kinda like "mow-mower"). Mommy and daddy get so excited when I try and talk. I can't wait to see what my next word will be!
  
  
• This is a BIG update: I finally got new teeth!!! Up to this point, I had six teeth - four on top and two on the bottom. And I got all six of them at the same time when I was 15 months old. We've been waiting ever since! Mommy was changing me last week and she noticed two new molars had popped through - one on each side! She was soooo excited and couldn't stop telling me how proud she was of me. Supposedly, teething can hurt, but she said I took it like a champ! This week, I have a molar trying to cut through on the bottom and I'm not taking it like a champ. It has made me extra cranky and fussy, I broke out with a little rash around my mouth, I can't stop putting my hand in my mouth, and I don't feel like eating. Becoming a big boy is tough work!
  
  
  
• Speaking of eating, I am on quite the dairy diet. All I want to eat is cottage cheese, milk, yogurt, and mini wheats cereal. I could eat cottage cheese every meal if my parents let me. I love to feed myself a whole container of yogurt...I don't even spill on my shirt anymore! Oh, and I still love bread...who doesn't?
• Mommy doesn't like it when I throw food off the highchair. But, that's one of my new hobbies right now. I know sign language and how to say "all done," but what fun is that? I'd rather see how far I can throw my food when I'm all done. Too bad my kitty Max doesn't eat human food off the floor.
  
• Airplanes are still the coolest thing in my world right now. And lawnmowers.
  
  
  

  

  My reaction to hearing a lawnmower at the pool.

• When I go to mommy's doctor appointments, I sit up on the table next to her while they check on baby sister. The doctor uses this little machine to find her heartbeat and then all of a sudden I hear a loud "boom, boom, boom." Now when we are at home and mommy asks if I want to find baby sister's heartbeat, I make a fist with my hand and rub it on her belly just like the machine the doctor uses =)
  
• I have spent a lot of time lately in the water whether it be at the pool, the splash pad, or with the hose in my backyard. I like to splash around and pour buckets of water on myself (or anyone within reaching distance). Don't I look so cute in the pool?
  
  
  
 

• I've been telling mommy and daddy for awhile now when I go potty by patting my diaper. They thought it would be fun to get me my first potty just to have in the bathroom for practice. I'm not interested in full-blown potty training yet, but I really like my new seat. I go and sit on it a couple times throughout the day.
  
• I like to stomp on ants and smush roly poly's between my fingers.
• I have nice friends. My friend Maddox just told me he's moving to California which is a bummer. I play with him the most. The bottom left picture is me giving him a "hug" - aka leaning my head against his back. The top picture is my friend Jackson. He lives in Rhode Island and was in town visiting while his aunt got married. We play so cute together because we are the same size and only two months ago. I'm trying to talk his parents into moving back to Indiana. The bottom right picture is my friend Elijah. He was born four days after me! We thought it was so fun being on our daddy's shoulders!
  
• My family tells me that I have really come out of my shell in the last couple months. They say I am babbling more, laughing more, and definitely smiling more, which means you can see my CUTE dimples! Mommy has noticed all my "toothy grin" pictures where you can see all my teeth! I have always been a happy boy, but my sweet, funny personality is definitely shining through.

 

My next update will be as an official big brother! I can't wait to tell you all about it. I hope you'll check the blog often because mommy said she's going to try and post lots of pictures of baby sister!

 



Last Bump Update - 38 Weeks!

 

This post marks my last bump update before we meet sweet baby girl! SIX more days!! I had a great check-up yesterday and all signs are pointing towards our scheduled date of June 26th. Her heartbeat was nice and strong and Dr. Stowell even laughed and said, "she's blowing out my speakers" on the heart rate monitor! The water works were flowing yesterday as he kept saying "this is your last appointment, I can't believe how fast it's gone, are you ready to have a baby next week, etc." I could feel the tears welling in my eyes and all I could mumble out was "I don't know why I'm about to cry" and he just laughed, patted my knee, and said, "honey, because you're going to have a baby next week"! I know he sees emotional pregnant women all.day.long, but geez - I thought I was going to make it through this whole pregnancy without crying in front of him (because I literally felt like I cried every single time I saw him while pregnant w/ Ethan - haha)! And it didn't help that all the nurses kept saying, "you're so close - next time we see you you're going to have a baby - good luck"! It is so surreal - we've had this C-section scheduled for months now and had June 26th circled on our calendar and now it's only days away!

Although I feel a whole mix of emotions at this point, I still feel very calm heading into everything. Her pending arrival is so different than Ethan's. Before I had Ethan I wasn't a parent yet...I didn't realize how capable you are of loving a tiny little munchkin that can bring so much joy into your life. Now we've had almost two years with him and it literally just gets better and better. Know that I know that kind of love and joy, I am just so ready for her to be here. I'm ready to love another tiny baby like that! I've heard so many soon-to-be second-time parents say they struggle with "how will I love my second child as much as the first?" I've actually never worried about that and have a completely different perspective...again, knowing what my heart is capable of feeling towards a child after having Ethan just means it will be multiplied with another baby. Eric is so stinking cute and already knows he's toast...he knows having a little girl is going to completely change his life. He even made the comment the other day he knows he'll be the one to spoil her rotten, not me =) Life is going to be extra sweet with this little blessing!!


How Far Along: 38 Weeks, 1 day!


Size of Baby: Average size for babies at this stage in development is about 6 1/2 lbs. and around 19 1/2-20 inches long (ps: we are sooooo excited to see how much she weighs!!!)

How I'm Feeling: I keep telling everyone I feel excited and emotional - that's the best way to sum it up! I've still been able to walk 1.5-2 miles about six days a week which is awesome. Most days, I feel really great, but I can tell I have "hit the wall." I feel just a little bit more uncomfortable, a little bit more out of breath, my heart is beating so dang fast at all times, and sometimes all I want to do is just lay down. The extreme of emotions is wild too. One minute I'm exhausted and just want to sleep - the next minute I have the raging energy of a hyena. One minute I'm laughing with my son - the next minute I'm crying because it was so sweet of Eric's co-workers to throw him a baby shower last week. One minute I believe people when they say "you'll know what to name her when you see her" - the next minute I'm sweating bullets thinking what if we DON'T know what to name her when we see her. One minute I tell myself to not buy any bows/headbands until she's born so I can see how much hair she has - the next minute I'm on Etsy searching all over the place for the "perfect" newborn bow/headband...one that's not too big and won't overshadow her sweet face (yes, I bought two new headbands specifically for the hospital). One minute I think Plan A will play out and we will meet her June 26th - the next minute I think my water is breaking and I'm going into labor. These finals days/weeks are just hilarious - all I can do is laugh at myself and how ridiculous I am sometimes. But, oh well - they are all real emotions and I love every second of it!

Cravings: Know how I always talk about "splurging" in these last couple weeks of pregnancy? Well, I've yet to actually do it...my idea of splurging was getting low-fat brownies, a junior size milkshake, etc. Threw all that out the window yesterday at Jiffy Treat and got a medium s'mores blizzard which included chocolate bar chunks, graham crackers, marshmallow fluff, and I even add Reece's cup. Wowzers, it was delicious! I might have to go get another one before next Thursday =)

We have a wedding on Saturday, cookout with friends on Sunday, appointment at the hospital for pre-op stuff Tuesday, and a couple other things that will keep us busy until little sister arrives! Looking forward to enjoying our last weekend as a family of THREE!

Touch a Truck!

Ethan has definitely taken up an interest in anything BIG - big trucks, big buses, big bulldozers, etc. I was so excited when I recently found out the City of Bloomington was putting on a fun event called "Touch a Truck." Basically it's an event for kids to come get an up close and personal look at all different kinds of trucks. They had city buses, garbage trucks, big tractors, the bookmobile, energy trucks, a UPS truck, an ambulance, etc. Once there, I quickly realized the event is definitely more so for kids a little bit older than Ethan who can climb up in the big trucks, operate the buttons, etc., but he still had a great time touching and exploring things on his level.

Touch the tire

He cracked me up because it was like he took the "touch a truck" literally and would walk up to a truck, touch it with his finger, and walk away. It was the funniest thing. And boy, did he have his pointer finger ready!! He was a man on a mission!

Look! Big Truck!

I've got my finger ready!

2 More Weeks!

This past weekend, my amazing sister-in-law, Kristen, planned a little "sprinkle" shower up in Indianapolis with some of my girlfriends. Sprinkle showers are just a nice way to spoil mom/baby #2 and stock up on essentials...or all new stuff if you're having a different gender from your first baby! I was so happy to have lunch with my two sister-in-laws, Kristen and Arynn, my two sorority sisters, Jessica and Leigh, and a surprise visitor - my wonderful friend, Navy, who lives down in Knoxville, TN! She was in town visiting family and we were both SO excited when we knew the weekends matched up and she could make it. I hadn't seen her in two years - since my baby shower down in Tennessee for Ethan!! I am very lucky to be surrounded by such awesome friends and it has been a joy sharing this pregnancy with them. I can't wait for them to meet baby girl!!

 

Eric is in New York this week for his last phase of training with his new job. We both were obviously a little anxious about him leaving this close to baby time, but trusted the fact that she will come when she's ready. I had a doctors appointment today and they confirmed she's still tucked away and there are no signs of her coming yet. I told the doctor I was pretty sure she had flipped positions in my tummy. Last night, I felt some pretty powerful movements and then a big "flop" and all of a sudden I felt her tush on the left side of my tummy instead of the right (where she had been before). The doctor pulled out a handheld ultrasound machine and said that indeed she did a little switcheroo! So she's head down, tush on my left side, and her feet are on my right side...positioned perfectly in my ribcage =)

As I mentioned last week, the emotions are at an all-time high and I have found myself to be very "weepy." Pretty much anything and everything can bring tears to my eyes at any given point. The other night, the tears came after putting Ethan to bed because "I just love him so much." Yesterday, it was the fact that all the clothes I had put away in her new dresser now smell like a new dresser...which led to me buying drawer liners and air fresheners at Target today. And my biggest "stress" as of late? What kind of headbands should I buy? Where should I get them? How often should she wear them? Will the headbands stay on? I mean, seriously? Haha! The good news is I'm able to keep perspective, laugh at myself, and realize how absolutely ridiculous I'm being. Most people would probably be worrying about how to juggle two kids under the age of two, how the sibling will adjust, etc. and I'm worried about...headbands. It's almost like the last couple weeks of waiting give you nothing to do but stress over silly stuff like this =)

How Far Along: 37 Weeks!

Size of Baby: Your baby weighs approximately 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches

Development: Your baby is simulating breathing by inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, sucking on his or her thumb, blinking, and pivoting from side to side (one day you feel the tushy on the left side, another day it has swung around to the right side). All these are skills needed for his or her next gig  — starring as newborn. She is also busy putting on a half ounce a day.

How I'm Feeling: Excited and emotional are probably the best two words to describe how I'm feeling. I feel giddy thinking about the fact that we are SO close - two weeks away?! Two weeks and we will be holding a beautiful squishy newborn. Thankfully, I'm feeling less anxious about the actual surgery than I was a couple weeks ago. I think I felt more nerves because I actually know what to expect this time around whereas with Ethan it was all a new experience. I told Dr. Stowell about my anxiety awhile back and he reassured me that he will continue to check on me throughout the surgery. With Ethan, after he was pulled out I started breathing funny and couldn't catch my breath...felt like I couldn't get any oxygen. I was so foggy and remember saying, "Dr. Stowell, I'm not breathing right" and I started to cry. He responds, "I know, you're not. It's okay. Just focus on trying to breathe through your nose and out your mouth. It's okay..." He said it's the release of hormones after the baby leaves your body - it sends your body immediately into recovery mode and all sorts of crazy things can happen. He is such an awesome doctor and I trust him wholeheartedly so I just hope baby comes on June 26 and he can deliver her =)

Cravings/Aversions: Apparently I've adopted the mindset that since I'm only two weeks out from delivering baby girl then I should splurge and eat whatever I want...haha! Kinda kidding, but kinda not. I don't seem to have a problem giving myself a "treat" every day =)

My emotional rock! =)

37 Weeks w/Ethan and Baby #2!
**These side-by-side pictures are deceiving because now that we know Ethan was early, I technically wasn't 37 weeks in this picture even though I thought I was...but it's still fun to compare since it's the same dress!**

35 & 36 Week Update!

We are officially three weeks away from meeting our sweet baby girl!! We are so ready, so calm, and so excited to welcome her whenever she decides to make her debut. I honestly can't believe how little time we have left and definitely will miss being pregnant (even though life is sweeter on the other side)! Despite the rough first trimester, painful varicose veins and uncomfortable compression hose, acid reflux at night, and the other normal aches and pains of pregnancy, I really do love being pregnant. Ten months is such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of life and I love having the responsibility of carrying a baby -  something I might only experience two or three times in my life. I love knowing exactly where she is at all times...safe and sound in my belly! Here is a quick update on how I'm feeling:

How Far Along: 36 weeks!

Size of Baby: baby is supposed to be gaining about an ounce a day. She now weighs approximately 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long - about the size of a head of lettuce!

Development: Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath.

How I'm Feeling: Overall, I'm still feeling really great! Don't get me wrong, there have been a couple days of pain and no energy, but I feel like I'm doing awesome this close to meeting baby girl. Ethan and I have been walking two miles in the mornings about six days a week. I definitely try and lay down at least once during the day while Ethan naps - most days I can catch a quick nap for about 30 minutes and feel somewhat refreshed when I wake up. Baby girl's movements have become very intense and last week was the first time we could see an actual body part moving across my stomach...so weird. Dr. Stowell was able to confirm (because of the way she's laying) that it's her elbow/arm and it just protrudes out of the right side of my stomach when she moves. She throws a pretty good jab too! While she's pretty active all day, I can always count on her dancing in my belly around 8pm and then very active from 10-11pm.

I'm certainly feeling the emotional hormones creeping up on me too =) I'm starting to feel maybe a little overwhelmed with all that's about to change. I think I'm good at accepting change, but probably am on the slower side of adjusting to it. Even when it's good change, change is change and it's just different. Life will be different. It's not just me, Eric, and Ethan anymore. I've spent 22 months with just my little man and now it's about to be plus one! I'm sure I'll have a more emotional post on that later, but I have felt a little more 'weepy' than usual lately =)

Cravings/Aversions: Last weekend, I had to have angel food cake with strawberries. As soon as I put Ethan down for bed, I headed to Kroger to pick up my impulsive craving. It lived up to all my expectations! After the angel cake was gone, I moved on to strawberry shortcakes. I literally bought three pints of strawberries in four days. Wow. Another random thing is I never drink Gatorade or flavored water...I actually really dislike stuff like that. Eric had a bottle of blue Gatorade the other day and it's been like heaven on earth. Last time I was at the grocery I stocked up on a couple bottles...but just the blue kind. I did this with Ethan too - spent one or two weeks drinking flavored water which is sooo not like me, but it tasted good at the time!


9 months!

35 Weeks w/Ethan and Baby #2!

9 Months w/Ethan and Baby #2!