Tuesday, March 31, 2009

What a weekend!

Last weekend, Preston and I met some friends in Chicago. It was a blast. There were other kids for him to play with and other mommies for me to play with. :) One thing we did that was so much fun was visit the DuPage Children's Museum near Naperville. Preston absolutely loved it! There were tons of cool exhibits and it totally tired him out. When we hit the hotel later in the afternoon, he got to swim, too, which he also loved. I was nervous about how he'd sleep in the hotel, because we shared a suite with my friend Aimee and her little guy, Brayden (who got along famously with P) but they both did great in their Pack and Plays. It helped that they were in separate rooms, but we were both amazed at how great they slept for naps and bedtime. I drove home in a white-out blizzard with a pretty fussy boy on my hands, but the trip was worth it... we had a great time!!









Also, I am starting to feel the baby move some, which is so exciting! I think I've been feeling it for a couple of weeks, but I figured it was early for 15 weeks, and wasn't sure. It's not kicks or punches yet, but swimming and flutters. It's funny because it brings back so many memories of being pregnant with Preston. I love it- it's my favorite thing about this pregnancy so far! :) I'm including this picture below so that you can see what is happening to my belly. It's not a staged belly shot, but you can get an idea. I'll get on the ball and start posting some real belly progression pics soon. By the way, I have no idea where Preston is in the pic... yikes.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

15 weeks!

We've reached the 15 week point in this pregnancy and had a great appointment with Dr. Schwartz today! My blood pressure was low, 101/70, which is normal for me, though. The baby's heartrate was 156, so according to the old wives tale, is on the lower side and could mean it's a boy! We will be finding out the gender at our next appointment- 4 weeks from today on April 22nd. We are so excited and cannot believe we find out in less than a month. Where is the time going?


Also, I meant to mention previously that Preston took his first trip to the ER a couple of weeks ago! It was one of the scariest moments I've experienced being a parent so far. He is a climber, and has figured out how to climb up onto the couch and our chairs, and as he was practicing this fun new skill recently, he sat down on the ARM of the chair and went right over hitting his head on our hard wood floors. It was awful. After lots of tears, soothing and cuddles, I honestly thought he was ok- just shaken up, but watched his eyes for dilation, etc... Until he vomited. So we called his doctor's office who said to get to the ER right away. I flew to Lutheran Hospital and Kevin met us there. He had a chest XRay and a CT Scan, and all check out ok. They did find something uncommon on his CT Scan, which we followed up with a neurologist about and thankfully turned out to be nothing. But - long story short, it was a difficult couple of weeks after this fall! (There has been much less furniture climbing since.)
Here he is sitting in the doctor's office at our follow up appointment. Such a big brave boy!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy Saint Patty's Day!



Preston turned 19 months old today! Just amazing- where has the time gone? His vocabulary is exploding and every single day he is doing something or saying something that we didn't know he could do the day before.
Can I just brag for a minute? We were on a walk the other day (I was pushing him in the stroller) and I asked him if we should sing the ABCs. He started singing, "D, C, B, Y...." So, obviously not to the tune, but still letters! He points to many things in his books and says the name of the items, can identify sun, stars, the moon- (even when it's out at 4 in the afternoon while the sun is shining!) He can identify colors, (although orange and blue seem to be his faves.) He can help us count to 10, and he is speaking in 2-3 word sentences and still is obsessed with anything to do with trucks; identifying all kinds of vehicles- cars, trucks, taxis, buses, garbage trucks, mail trucks, dump trucks, bulldozers, diggers, and mixers!

Here are a couple of videos of us reading before bedtime. Be sure to pause the music on the left of the screen so that you can hear the audio.






Preston's Grammy Dawn came to visit today and the weather was so beautiful and warm we went to walk around Jefferson Pointe and do some shopping. She hooked Preston up with a ton of new summer duds. (By the way, Old Navy is having great sales on kids clothes!)





Helping Daddy rake. Preston loves being outside more than anything right now- usually spurring a tantrum when it's time to come in.




Loves banging away on this at Aunt Kim and Uncle Bill's!


Rub a dub dub, two men in a tub! Bath time with cousin Jacob!


In PREGNANCY news, we are doing great! I'm now 14 weeks and feeling good, other than some occasional nausea and gagging, and the run of the mill pregnancy exhaustion. I am so thankful to be past that all-day-nausea feeling! I can't believe how much bigger I am already this time than what I was with Preston... starting to wear some more maternity clothes and am going to have to pull out my clothes from last time, too!

Monday, March 9, 2009

belated blog

Ok, two months in to my new years resolution and I've already broken it. I meant to update the blog here at the very least once a week and it's been two! Yikes- sorry... getting back on the wagon with a catch-up post.

MEET ELLIANA!!!
Elliana is our new niece and belongs to Uncle Christopher... isn't she darling?? She is the sweetest thing and a very happy baby as we discovered when we got to babysit a couple weeks ago. Preston was interested in her, but not enthralled. He did ask to hold her, though, and even leaned over and gave her a little kiss. Precious.




A few weeks ago, we met with the Metzger, Byers and Spencer families for a play date in Elkhart. Britt, Michelle and Erin are my three dear friends from high school. Well, elementary, school, actually. Between the 4 of us, we had 8 children...wow! But seriously aren't they the cutest 8 kids you've ever seen? Preston had a blast and so did the moms... what a special day to all get together for so much fun.





We've been doing a ton to try to stay busy indoors until the weather breaks, but have finally gotten lucky this week and last as I've started to feel better physically and it's also warmed up a bit. In the meantime, we've made lots of trips to the library- and on one particular visit, Preston had me cracking up. He loves to play with the kitchen there and this day, he marched around with a little coffee cup then would stop and stand still for a second- hand on his hip, he'd stop and take a "drink" of his coffee. I think he looks like he's waltzing into the office on a Monday morning, looking for his copy of the New York Times. HA!



He also got some new art supplies lately.. a little messy, but he's having fun.



In other news, I am feeling so much better and even though I am tired, I'll take that any day over nausea. The baby is now around 3 inches, and comparable in size to a peach. It's toothbuds and both fingernails and toenails are formed. At this point, most organ development is completed and the little bug just gets to focus on growing big and strong before September! :)