I Love These Boys!

Luke spent most of the day outside with his Daddy yesterday. It was so very cold so I got him all bundled up with a hat and mittens and then had to take his picture. Now he just needs a Red Rider BeeBee gun!

Cole has really been smiling and talking a lot lately. I can almost always get him to smile for me. But his favorite people to talk to are the bears that hang from the top of his swing. He will swing for 30 minutes looking up at the bears, smiling, laughing and talking the whole time. He just thinks they are so funny! Here he is in the middle of (an apparently) hilarious conversation...

Tagged!

Ok, so I was tagged by both Josie and Janette and apparently that means you are supposed to post the 4th picture from the 4th album on your computer. Well, the first few were of people that no one would recognize on here so I kept going to the next album until I found one that might be semi interesting. So here it is...


This is from 2001, the year before we got married during the miserable days of being in a long distance relationship. Will had driven from school to meet me at my Grandma's house in Dallas.

So, now Im tagging anyone and everyone who has not yet been tagged. Lets see some interesting pictures people!

Boy Likes To Eat!

Cole is now 6 weeks old and growing with incredible speed! This picture doesnt quite do his chubby cheeks the justice they deserve but I thought it was a cute one anyway. He has to hold his hands together so they don't fly away!


We went to the doctor last week for a check-up. She said that he looks great and was very impressed with how strong he is. He weighed 12 lbs 6 oz and was 23.5 inches long. He is in the 93 rd percentile for both. I am starting to see some smiles and hear some cooing. Yesterday he smiled at Luke while he was in his bouncy seat. He is still having tummy trouble which keeps him from sleeping well at night so I am still pretty exhausted most of the time. Other than that things are going well.

A Good Night's Sleep...

I don't remember what that feels like! That's really the only part of the whole baby experience that I don't handle well. Cole was sleeping pretty well in the beginning but now we are dealing with some tummy problems (gas!) that either keep him up or wake him up before it's time to eat. Other than that we are all adjusting well. Hard to believe but he is 3 weeks old now...

At his 2 week Dr's appointment he weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz and measured 22.75 inches long. He was in the 65th percentile for weight and 97th for length. Im anxious to see how much he has grown at his 1 month check up!

Cole Vincent

Arrived Monday, September 29th at 8:46 pm. He was 8 lbs 5 oz and 22 inches long. He is eating and sleeping well and Luke is absolutely thrilled with him.

No News Is Good News, Right?

Im not so sure that's the case when you're 38 weeks pregnant and counting! But the sad truth is that I have nothing new to share lately. At my doctor's appointment on Monday I was still dilated to 3cm. The tummy is still growing so I guess that means baby is still growing-that's a good thing I supppose. 3cm is still more than I was at this point with Luke, I guess it's just disappointing to not have anything new to tell. On the other hand, it looks like I will probably make it to October which will be nice because we have so many September birthdays in our family. Also, Im feeling a lot better now than I was 2 weeks ago. Not having the aches and pains as much and Im sleeping a lot better.

I have been getting out all the baby equipment this week. I set up the swing, put the bouncy seat together and set up the pac-n-play with the bassinet in our room. I've got most of the washing done and the infant carseat all strapped in the car. Meanwhile, Luke and I talk about baby Cole a lot. I showed him pictures of himself when he was a newborn and told him that Cole will look a lot like that since they are brothers. We talked about how tiny he will be and that he will sleep and cry a lot at first. He seems pretty excited about it all right now. The other day at lunch, Luke pulled his shirt up and started putting chips on his tummy saying "Here you go. You want some chips?" I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm feeding baby Cole some chips." I said "Baby Cole is in my tummy, that's why it's so big!" To which Luke replied " No, he's MY brother!" We are big in the 'Mine' phase right now!

Hopefully, the next post will be a little more exciting. For now, we'll just keep waiting patiently. I am enjoying my last few days of (mostly) uninterrupted sleep.

Progress

Yesterday I had my 35 week check-up with my doctor. She checked me and said that I am already dialated to 3cm! I had been feeling quite a bit of discomfort the week before so it may have been because of that. She also said that I am about 50% effaced and that the baby is at a -2 station, though she said these two things dont really mean that much if its not your first baby. She told me she felt the baby's head and right when she said that I felt him move! She said as soon as she touched his head he popped back up away from her! I asked her if I should maybe expect him to come early and she said "no, you could easily stay here for weeks". Im still a little skeptical though. With Luke I progressed steadily each week, dialating to a 3 at 39 weeks and then I was at the hospital in labor at 40 weeks. So, Im not going to expect him early but I am preparing myself- just in case! She said everything else looked great. Im feeling ok except that Im not sleeping that well. My back seems to hurt every night, no matter what position I try. My blood pressure is still very low- 90/50 so I guess Im handling the stress ok! Im due back next Monday so I will update more then.

Ahh, That Old Familiar Feeling

Now, you may think Im referring to the feeling of being so close to the end of my pregnancy. But you would be wrong- this time around feels completely different! No, the familiar feeling Im talking about is a pleasant Sunday afternoon watching my Cowboys stomp the pants off their opponent! That's right, football season has officially begun and I couldn't be more excited. I love everything about football season from just looking forward to the game after church to actually watching the game to even reading the articles afterward. I know, its a little pathetic. The only unfortunate thing is that Will has absolutely no interest in football what so ever. Im not sure how I forgot to leave that out of the list of requirements for marrying me! So to compensate, I am doing my best to get Luke to love it as much as I do. Today I dressed him in his #9 Tony Romo jersey that my sister gave him and together we watched the second half of the game. He missed the 1st because he was napping. He cheers along with me and yells "Touchdown!" , "Go Cowboys" and "Yea Romo!". Im hopeful that someday soon I will have someone to get just as excited as me every Sunday from September to January!

Little Prayers

Every night after Luke is read a story, he gets into bed and Will or I will say a prayer for him before turning off the light. One night recently, after I finished the prayer Luke said "Luke say prayer". So, I said "ok, now Luke can say a prayer", not really thinking he was going to say anything. He closed his eyes very tightly and whispered "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" then opened his eyes and smiled his little embarassed smile. It was the sweetest prayer I have ever heard! I told him it was a very good prayer and that it made God very happy. My prayer is that God will continue to become more and more real to him.

Licking The Pan

Don't we all want to do this sometimes...

We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast a few weeks ago-the kind with the cream cheese icing you melt on top. Will handed Luke the empty pan and let him go to town. I just thought I needed to share!

We had a fairly uneventful week last week. We started Luke in swimming lessons and I think the best way to describe the first few lessons would be- frustrating. Luke is very independent in the water and doesnt really want to be told or shown how to do something, he just wants to go swim with no one holding on to him even though he goes under over and over. He thinks it's pretty fun to go under! We actually missed the last 2 lessons because I caught his cold from the week before and his cough seemed to come back a little. The lessons continue this week and today actually seemed a little more productive.

On Friday I went on an overnight shopping trip with 4 girlfriends Josie, Jaime, Christy and Valerie. We stayed in a hotel that Josie's husband let us use his hotel reward points to pay for (thanks Joe!) and then we split the gas money so it was fairly inexpensive. We had a great time and did get lots of shopping in. Jaime (whose Rhino Ramblings link is on my page but I dont know how to do the link thing on here) described the trip in a far more organized fashion than I could, so you can go there if you want more details!

So, now things around here are business as usual. Im feeling good and baby Cole (Cold as Luke calls him) is as active as ever. I had a sonogram last week and the tech showed me that he already has some hair we could see on the back of his head down by his neck. She also said he has really chubby cheeks! Sounds more and more like he is going to look like his big brother did. Luke had so much hair he looked like a miniature man!

Goodbye for now... Im getting a craving for cinnamon rolls!

Comings and Goings

Luke came home on Thursday evening with his Mammie. She actually came and stayed for the weekend so that she could spend some time with Will's brother Stephan (Luke's uncle that he calls Joe). Stephan has been in summer school and has missed out on all these family get-togethers. Luke ran up to me when he got out of the car and said "Hi mommy, hold you!" reaching for me to pick him up. He gave me lots of hugs and kisses so I felt pretty confident that he did indeed miss me, at least a little. Though Im not sure he missed me as much as he missed his toys. He spent the whole night going in his room and pulling out every toy he owns into the living room. I guess he wanted to make sure it was all still there! On Friday night we went to the Great Texas Balloon Race and watched the Balloon Glow. Luke was a little scared when they fired up the torches and clung to us asking to "Go to car now?" But once they actually go up and going he was more interested.

We had 2 birthday parties on Saturday, one was for Luke's friend Gracie. Her mom worked with me at the vet clinic before Luke was born. Gracie turned 1 and Luke had a great time playing at the park. They even let him eat a cupcake early since we had to leave a little early to get to our second party. It was for his friend Ryan who goes to church with us. Ryan turned 2 and they had a little pool with a slide for the boys to play in. Luke, for some reason, was not really interested in swimming which is not like him at all. I think he may have been a little overwhelmed with all the people at both parties. Once we went inside and started eating cake and opening presents he seemed to be himself again! This week has been and will continue to be pretty quiet with us mostly staying home which Im glad for. We have Mommy and Me swimming lessons starting Monday for the next 2 weeks but Im hoping to keep things low key other than that. We have had enough activity to last us a while!

I have posted some pictures of Luke's visit with Mammie and Jagen (a.k.a. Granddaddy. After trying to get Luke to say Grandaddy for about a year he randomly started calling him Jagen. We have no idea where this came from but Luke was very adamant that this was what he would call him! His cousin Layne has shortened it to Jay-Jay). They went to Freedom Fest on the 4th with Luke's Aunt Ye-Ya (Andrea) and his cousin Layne. Uncle Jon plays the drums in a christian praise band called Ornan's Floor and they were playing at the Freedom Fest. Mammie said that the boys had a great time dancing to the music, eating candy and playing!

Here is Luke with his Mammie (and a ringpop)...

Luke getting his hand painted...

Luke with Jagen...

This picture is from Inks Lake, Luke did lots of fishing with Daddy and Jagen...

26 Weeks

Will and I are home now from our trip to Inks Lake last week. It was so fun and relaxing, I really had a great time. I pretty much spent the entire time swimming, visiting and lounging under shade trees right on the lake shore. Luke went home with his Mammie and Jagen on Thursday and Mammie will bring him home this Thursday. Im really missing him but I know he is having a great time and I am getting some things done around here.

I had my Dr.'s appointment today where they draw blood for the glucose test. They also wanted to check my thyroid because it was still high last time. She said that every thing looks good and she scheduled another sono for 2 weeks because they couldnt get a good picture of the umbilical chord last time. I measured 30 cm today so we are still ringing up high. At least its consistent!

Well, Im off to continue being productive while I have no distractions here at home...

Potty Training

Thought I would post a picture first...

I think this one is funny. Plus its a good tummy shot for those of you who havent seen me in a while!

Luke and I spent the better part of this week at home potty training. I think I gave up at least once a day and then quickly decided to stick it out and keep at it! We started on Tuesday using what I like to call the "Jump Right In" method. I had been telling him for days that he was going to stop using diapers and only wear big boy underwear which meant he would need to go on the potty like other big boys. He seemed pretty excited about this. So thats what we did and he went through 8 pair of underwear that first day and only used the potty once! I did put a diaper on him at nap time which he kept dry, so there was some hope!

On Wednesday morning he woke up dry and I think he only went through 3 pair of underwear and used the potty twice. A little improvement. Thursday was a great day! He used one pair of underwear all day and only had 2 accidents. Friday was about the same and he actually looked down with surprise twice when he needed to go but before he actually did go so that I knew to take him. So far today we have had no accidents and he is napping right now. Though I know we have a ways to go before I can feel really comfortable with him, Im very proud of the progress he has made. He seems proud of himself too. Every once in a while he gets upset and doesnt want to go sit on the potty and one day he was so fed up he kept asking me to put a diaper on him! But when he does go he gets very excited, especially when he gets some M&Ms afterward!

We leave tomorrow for our last family trip for a while. We are going to a lake cabin with the other side of Will's family until Thursday. It should be fun and relaxing. After that Luke is going home with Will's parents for about a week. Im looking forward to all the free time I will have to myself and I have lots of plans for getting things ready for Cole. Im a little nervous about being away from him for that long though. I know I will be missing him like crazy! He of course, will have a great time with Mammie and Jagen and probably wont even want to come home:-)

Oh Boy!

Well, can you guess from the title what we are going to have? That's right another Boy! I'll admit I was sort of hoping for a girl but the thought of Luke having a little brother to play with is pretty exciting and I just can't wait to meet this little guy!

I think he looks a lot like Luke. In fact she showed us this picture before we knew it was a boy and I said to my mom "It looks like a boy to me".

We have decided on the name Cole Vincent. Cole we just like and Vincent is my dad's name and actually has been passed down for several generations.

The doctor said everything looks good. Im now 24 1/2 weeks but she said that Cole is actually measuring more like 27 weeks. She thinks he may end up being bigger than Luke was. Since Luke was 8 lbs 12 oz (right on time) Im hoping not too much bigger!

Busy Busy

Well, I knew this month would be busy with all of our traveling but I think it has turned out to be even more so than I thought. Though, I have to say that our trips have all gone smoothly and have been very relaxing and fun. And the fun is not over yet!
After being home from San Francisco for about a week we left for Waltonia where we stay in some cabins with Will's family down on the Guadalupe River. On the way, we stopped in at his cousin Alex's Eagle Scout ceremony which Will had a part in and turned out very nice. Luke and I spent Sunday through Friday at Waltonia while Will went home on Thursday. We did lots of visiting and eating but Luke's favorite parts were the swimming in the river and playing with all the animals they have there. On the property were donkeys, chickens, 2 baby pigs, and a mama goat with 3 baby goats that just wander around by all the cabins. Luke and his cousin Layne had so much fun with them.
When we went swimming Luke wore his water wings and decided that he was very independent in the water then. He got very annoyed if anyone tried to help him or hold on to him! He would climb the ladder of the floating dock all by himself and then jump in with everything he had, many times going under and coming back up saying "again!"
On Friday we hitched a ride with Aunt Ye-ya and Layne to San Angelo. From there my sister Kara and her boyfriend Michael picked us up and brought us to my parents house to spend the week with them. That is where we are now and we are having a great time with NaNa and Grandpa. We are planning to be home Friday or Saturday and then leave again the next Sunday for Inks Lake with more of Will's family.
Oh, and some great news... I find out what this baby is on Monday the 23rd, when we get back!! Expect a post!

Still Alive

I know its been a while but I promise Im still alive! I have been waiting until I could post some pictures along with this but for various reasons that is not working out so they will have to come later. We got back in town on Friday evening after a long but exciting week away. Last Saturday we met Will's parents in Dallas to hand Luke off to them. They took him home to San Angelo with them. Then, Will and I flew out Sunday morning for San Francisco. Will needed to go for work and decided it would be a nice surprise to take me along as well for our anniversary. He had saved up frequent flyer miles and hotel points so we didnt have to pay a lot extra for me to come. It was only 10:30 am when we got there(they are 2 hours behind us here) so we had lots of time that day for exploring the downtown area where our hotel was. We went to Fisherman's Wharf and walked along all the touristy piers. We could see Alcatraz from there. There was one pier where all these sea lions come and sleep on the docks and just pile on top of each other making all kinds of noise! We were so tired that night from all the walking we did that we just ordered pizza in our hotel room.

On Monday, we got up early after going to bed at 8:00 the night before (which really felt like 10 to us), and headed to Muir Woods National Monument. Its part of the Redwood Forrest. We roamed around there for probably 2 1/2 hours and took lots of pictures. It was very pretty. Then we drove up the coast and got out at one of the beaches to walk around. I took my shoes off and walked in the water-it was freezing. That afternoon we went for several rides around town on the cable cars and historic street cars which are electric. We also went to the Cable Car Museum which was probably Will's favorite thing. They let you see the big wheels that run the cables that are underground all over downtown. This is what the cable cars grab onto to carry them around.

On Tuesday we drove down the coastal highway to Monterrey. The highway runs right along the coastline and was really beautiful. We saw a couple lighthouses and some people surfing (in wet suits of course). We went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium which was probably my favorite thing. They had huge tanks with severaly kinds of sharks, and other kinds of big fish. I never knew tuna fish were like 200-250 lbs.

On Wednesday Will dropped me off at the airport and I flew back to Dallas by myself with a lay-over in Denver. Will had to stay to get his work done. My sister had driven with Luke to my Grandma's house in Bedford so I met them there. I was so excited to see Luke and he seemed at least semi-happy to see me. He had a great time with Mammie and Jagen and playing with his cousin Layne! We went to a small water park on Thursday that we all really enjoyed and then picked Will up at the airport on Friday and headed home.
Whew, what a long week (and post, sorry) but it was lots of fun.

This Is Getting Ridiculous

At least twice a day I get asked the question "So, do you know if its a boy or a girl yet?". If you are one of these people asking, please know that this is NOT what is annoying me. I am just as anxious to know as the rest of you...no, probably more so. My doctor waits until 24 weeks to do the second sonogram. Dont get me wrong, she has very valid reasons. One is that the insurance will only pay for it if it is medically necessary and since our insurance pays 100% in these cases I wont complain about that. Another reason is that she really doesnt like to do many sonos because they are a little distressing to the baby and she doesnt see any reason to do that if its not necessary. And finally, because she doesnt want to do too many, she wants to make sure that the ones that she does will really count so she wants to wait until she can get a very thorough look at the heart and brain. That, of course means the bigger the baby is, the better. And so, we wait...

But it is so frustrating when all the pregnant people around me get to find out what they are having much earlier in their pregnancies! Some of these are ladies whose doctors do a sonogram much earlier like 16-18 weeks and some of them have friends in high places (aka...the sonogram place) that will sneak them in. I have one such friend that is about 6 weeks behind me in her pregnancy and she was told 3 weeks ago that there was a 90% chance she was having a boy. Now, I would not decorate the nursery based on one done at 11 weeks, but at least she has some idea of what direction to go.

I suppose I will continue to try to be patient, its not like I really have a choice. Unless there is a sonogram tech out there, willing to sneak me into the office: ) I guess its better than back in the "old" days when you really didnt know until the baby came out!

Rubber Boots

Luke loves his new rubber boots and wont hardly wear any other shoes. Even when we are going to church he asks to wear them. He gets up every morning and puts them on, even before he is out of his pj's, and goes outside to walk around in them. Thats what he did this morning when he went out to help Will mow the front yard!

The Kids

Well, this week turned out to be not so interesting. It rained a lot and we were stuck inside for the most part. It finally cleared up today and ended up being gorgeous out. Luke and I went to meet our friends Jenny and Bryson and little Hudson at Chick-fil-a for lunch and to do some playing. We ended up seeing 3 more friends there and got lots of good visiting in.

I thought I would share a picture that I took a few weeks ago of 2 of our kids sitting in the back seat of the car. We took some burgers out to the lake one Sunday evening. It was so nice and there was no one else there so we could let the dogs run as much as they wanted. Ruger spent most of the time swimming in the water. You cant see it but Luke is sitting to the far left. Ruger sat in the middle with Chester on the right side and they stayed that way all the way back from the lake. It really did feel like we had our 3 kids sitting back there, especially when they all fell asleep!

Must Be A Boy Thing

This week has gotten off to a slow start. I guess it feels that way because we have been unusually busy in the previous weeks. Yesterday we ran a few errands but then spent most of the day at home. Today Luke went to Mother's Day Out and I went grocery shopping after dropping him off. Then I came home and did some laundry and a few other things around the house. I did take some time to just relax and enjoy the quiet for a while though. After picking Luke up from MDO we came back to the house and I stopped to check the mail as we were driving in. When we came in, he and I both sat down to look through all the mail. He was mostly interested in the Lifeway flyer that had Bob and Larry (VeggieTales) on the front, but then he picked up the Volkswagen car bill that was still in the plain white envelope and said "Mommy's car". Very surprised, I looked at him and asked "Where did you see mommy's car?" To my amazement, he pointed to the VW emblem in the top corner of the envelope! Now, I could see him noticing the color, size or even shape of my car, but the VW emblem... That definitely has to be a Boy thing!

Everyone Else Is Doing It

So it seems that everyone of my friends has a blog and I have been the odd ball out. After much thought and deliberation I have made the decision to start my own. I hope that this blog will serve only to be a source of enjoyment and not frustration as I have a tendency to procrastinate and get behind on these sort of things. With that said, I give you my first post...

Today is Mother's Day and even though this is my 3rd one as a Mom it still feels new to me. Even though Im expecting my second baby I dont really feel like an experienced Mother. And even though I look at my baby everyday and realize again and again that he is not really a baby anymore I still, in some ways, feel like that brand new Mom bringing him home from the hospital. So now Im wondering, when do you start to feel like one of those seasoned Moms who has it all down?

Luke woke up this morning at about 6:30 but Will took him in the other room and closed the door and let me sleep. I slept until about 8:30 and then got up to take a shower and get ready for church. When I came into the kitchen Will had made breakfast and the table was set with drinks poured and everything. It was very sweet and I felt appreciated and loved. At church I stood with all the other mothers again thinking that this still feels so new to me. After church Luke took a very long nap and we ate lunch while he was asleep. When he woke up I made him a lunch and we took it outside to visit with Will who was working on some finishing touches to the playhouse. As I watched Luke play I thought about how different life is now than it was 4 years ago. Even though I was very happy then, it doesnt even compare to the fulfillment I get from watching him grow every day and I really cant remember what life was like without him. I guess I was always meant to be a Mother, I was just waiting for my baby to get here.