Last week of September 2013

Not much of a narrative going on lately with the posts...mostly a jumble of pictures.

It was a sad day - Costco is no longer going to sell these almond coated chocolate dipped ice cream bars at their food court.  Peter loves them (and I enjoy have a few bites of his).  Costco is still a part of our Sunday afternoon routine - shopping with a snack...can't be beat.

I made cookies - how sad is it that me doing some baking is so rare that it gets put in the blog?

My little Johnny Appleseed

Playing dress up with Landen during the day - this was his silly face

Jumping/dancing around

I mean, come on...isn't that seriously a cute kid?!

Caught him in the act

Sweet face

The boys - ready to go for a drive in the toy store

Morning iPad time

Unhappy face

Happy face

Ready to paint!

The artist at work

Finished product - Art, by Maxwell

I figure I will take pictures of all of his crafts as a way to "keep" them but then I don't have to keep everything.

Peter and I went out for a date to a wine/sweets tasting.  The sweets were made by our favorite pastry chef - Tida!

The sweets were not only beautiful but crazy yummy as well.  I don't know about the wine, since I couldn't have any.  It was fun to be out for a little bit, alone, with Peter even though I didn't feel too hot.

Peter took Max on his morning run with him

He has started laying like this on the couch.  Apparently it's more comfortable than sitting or standing.

It's funny how Max says things out of the blue now.  For example, we were tickling him at bedtime and he usually says "stop, please" when he wants us to stop.  One night this week instead of say "stop, please" he said "that's enough".  Peter and I book looked at each other like, did he really just say that??  And then starting laughing because that's a pretty unexpected thing to heart.  Another thing he said randomly was "I'm scared of witches".  Huh?  Okay.  It's just really enjoyable to see his personality develop and get to hear what he's thinking and how he processes things.  It is really mind boggling that he's a little person and we created him.

3rd week of September

Here's some of what we were up to the third week of September.

Max enjoying watching Uncle Derek dance on DWTS

We had our first prenatal visit with my doctor.  First chance to hear the heartbeat!

The face of a preggo - not feeling too hot!

Baby's first picture

I have no idea (unlike with Max) when this baby was conceived or when my last period was.  I figured it had to be a week or two before the cruise.  Due to the baby's measurements, the baby's due date is April 25.

Max playing in the water with Uncle Joe

Surprise, Uncle Joe!

Max thought it was hilarious

Peter went for a run in a torrential downpour.

He poured water out of his shoes!  

We went to the park with Tida, Jessica, and C.  Max went down the slide for the first time willingly by himself!  (I think C is a good influence - she loves the slide!)

Family pic (again, Max's totally-natural-not-awkward-at-all "cheese" face)

He really enjoys making silly faces.

A funny thing happened with Max his week.  Out of the blue, he counted to eight in Spanish!  It a minute for me to understand what he was doing.  I guess that means he must be watching too much Dora, the Explorer...

September 15 - Our family is growing!

(This post was written on the 15th of September - I've been holding onto it that long until I caught up to this point in my blogging)

I've known I've been pregnant for nearly 2 weeks...here's the story

I thought I was pregnant before we went on our cruise.  You will laugh at what made me think I was pregnant - - -  but, I got a leg cramp.  Just one.  You would think that's not a big deal... But, the ONLY time in my entire life I have experienced this was when I was pregnant.  Nothing else made me think I was pregnant but that one thing was enough.  So I took a pregnancy test the day before we went on the cruise (August 9th).  It came back negative.  We weren't crushed because it felt like a long shot and we had talked about really trying to get pregnant once we got back from the cruise.

So we got back from the cruise, and after a few weeks, I started taking the Metformin medicine that I believe helped me get pregnant the first time by helping to control my P.C.O.S.

Then came Labor Day weekend.  I didn't feel so hot.  I had cold like symptoms. (Which didn't surprise me since I tend to get sick after big projects get completed at work and Labor Day marked the end of my time on the extremely intense and demanding Field Intelligence Team.  I find that I push and push myself to ensure meetings go off smoothly, big projects launch smoothly, etc. and my body lets me and then once it's done my body steps up and goes, "okay, now that it's over I'm going to take over and ensure you slow down by getting sick."  And I had been working 60-70 hours/wk for months.)  So I wasn't caught off guard by the cold.  I WAS caught off guard by some nausea.  Maybe I just had the flu?  But I didn't throw up and the nausea didn't stop.  And then I had some food cravings and aversions.  I wanted penne pasta in tomato sauce.  Peter was so kind and went to the grocery store and got me ginger ale and some microwave pasta.  BUT he got some with chicken in it.  I had to pick the chicken out.  At that point I thought, yup...it's very likely I am pregnant.  I couldn't do chicken when I was early on in pregnancy last time either.  Peter also bought a pregnancy test at the store.

On Tuesday September 3, I took the pregnancy test.  It was positive!  WHAT?!?!  I went into the bedroom and told Peter.  He was pretty happy.  Max was in the bed and looks over and goes "pregnant?"  whoops...  Better watch what we say.  We have a 2 year old who might unknowingly spill the beans before we are ready.

I was a little unbelieving and about to leave on a work trip so we decided to keep it quiet and take another test when I got back into town.  Needless to say, the test 4 days later gave the same result.  We told Brittany and Joe because they live with us and I wouldn't be able to keep it quiet especially with me not feeling well.

Here's what I've been dealing with in these 2 weeks, besides an awful cold - so unfair since I can't take anything to help with that!  When the cold finally leaves we'll figure out which symptoms were tied to that and which were tied to the pregnancy.

All day nausea but only have thrown up a few times (the nausea isn't as bad as last time...yet)
I'm tired!  I have been going to bed 2 hours earlier than usual.
Some food sounds good but most food DOESN'T.  I've had a lot of simple, carb food and some dairy but veggies and meat just don't sound good.
I am grateful for the cold because my nose has been stuffed most of the time so I can't really smell (or taste)
My old friend, snissing, is back.
Sore muscles
Round ligament pains

I find it interesting because the very first sign I was pregnant last time was sensitive boobs, which isn't the case this time.  Odd.

We have the first sonogram on Wednesday and will find out my due date.  Right now we think maybe April 14, 2014 but I actually think my doctor will push it back further than that.  After that we are going to start telling close friends and family.  I have a few close friends that are pregnant right now and I'm excited to tell them.

Second week of September

A few pics from the second week of September 2014...

He loves wearing sunglasses ("eyeglasses")

Hayden is in Kindergarten which means we get to do "fun" things like go to Chik-Fil-A on school night when a portion of the sales go to his school.  TORTURE!  Too many kids, too many people, too crowded, too loud, too hectic...not sure this is one I need to do again.

Max had fun playing in the play area for a little bit but there were too many kids around.

It's really nice to have your best friends living with you!  You always have someone to play with.

We went out to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate Brittany's b-day.  Max liked the bean dip but not the limes.  I barely ate a thing.

On Saturday morning I took Max to the farmers market and the library.  It was the first time I'd been to a farmers market this year!  I went so often last year.  I was sad I hadn't gone more this summer.

Yumminess from the farmer's market (Closest thing to a homegrown tomato I'd get this year).

Playing with the dot markers

If it's stackable, he will stack it...

Things about Max this week -

• He really loves playing soccer and is getting really good at kicking the ball (he kicks with his left foot - always).  He's always asking to play soccer or run.
• He loves the stuffed bunny rabbit his dad got him for his birthday and he has to have it with him when he's sleeping and then it has to come out of the crib with him when he wakes up
• We let him sleep with a pillow one night.  When I checked on him later in the evening, he had moved to a different part of the bed so I took the pillow out because I was nervous about it being in there.  He ended up waking up at 1:00 am crying and I couldn't get him to calm down until I gave him the pillow back.  I had no idea it would mean that much to him.  Guess it's now going to have a permanent place in the bed.
• As mentioned above, he loves stacking things - books, blocks, toys, whatever
• He loves playing in the water
• He hasn't been a very good eater and so it feels like getting him to eat is a battle
• It's been rough lately with brushing his teeth - he just fights us doing it
• He has no interest in going potty on the toilet when we ask him about it or try to set him on the toilet
• He knows his numbers up to 15
• He's totally a daddy's boy
• He has figured out walking on his tip toes
• He is a fast runner
• We still have to remind him to swallow or he ends up forgetting when he gets focused on something
• He's good at jumping and getting both feet off the ground
• I got him a cheap little toy shopping cart and it's a huge hit - he (and his cousins) love it.  

The first week of September 2013

September started out with Labor Day weekend! Summer is over.  :(  I didn't feel too hot (more to come on that) so we really didn't end up doing anything special.

More pool time

Always with that open mouth.  He can't quite get how to close his mouth when he's in the pool.

Dad and Max taking some silly selfies.

The silly selfies

The suitcases have turned into favorite toys of Max and Landen.  They had a lot of fun playing in them while I was trying to pack for a work trip.

Mr. Handsome

Max sleeping in our bed while I was out of town.  I can't believe he's this big.

While I have yet to get a tomato off my tomato plant, my basil plant has done well.  I made some homemade pesto and gave it to our next door neighbors with some pasta.

Another favorite way to play lately - Max pretends to make food with his cups and spoons and then feed it to us.  Common menu items - "icky juice" (Landen has been calling names and then gets to enjoy icky juice), "chocolate" "pudding" and "jello"

Eat it daddy!

Video - He thinks it's so funny!  Got to love that giggle.

Rarely do you get to see all those teeth!

Enjoying a Popsicle at a neighborhood party.

Happy kid.

Maxwell lately...

• Commonly heard phrases "Hey, watch", "Mom, look" or "Mom, watch"
• He has a good memory that catches me off guard.  For example, he wanted to play with his hammer and I told him that he could after his nap.  When he woke up, the first thing he said was, "Hammer?"
• He does not like having messy hands or boogers coming out of his nose
• He loves sports and wants to always watch baseball or soccer games on the tv
• He is such a little boy who wants to be more and more independent every day