28 weeks/7 month belly picture

Two words: I'm huge. That's it...that's all there is to say! Hahaha. Below is a picture of me at 7 months with Ryder and then the next one is me now.... only slightly bigger, right?? Makes me worried about the next three months to come. How big can one become when they're pregnant is my question! Maybe I shouldn't ponder things like that because I might not like the answer :)

Nursery Pictures!

One of my best friend's sisters came over yesterday and did Josie Anne's nursery! Jenna's sisters, Megan and Nikki, worked hard all day long to get it done--and I think their efforts were well worth the 12+ hours of work :) It wasn't what we were expecting at all, but we absolutely LOVE it!! It's very whimsical and what I love about it is that it's girlie without being an explosion of pepto bismal pink.

A picture of the dresser/changing area

Above is a picture of the window and below is a picture of the crib (and the chandelier!!)

A pic of the bookcase and crib and tree (that Nikki hand painted)

And here's a little work of art right when you walk into the bedroom. A "J" for Josie girl :)

Sorry for the lack of posts...

our computer will no longer charge, so it has a date with best buy geek squad. writing blog posts on your phone is a tad hard, so i'm just throwing a little warning out there to those of you who have asked me where i've been...my posts will be few and far betwen for a few weeks i'm sure :( i'll try to post when i do get the chance randomly though! if you don't hear from me, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!

6 month appt and hang cheeks

I had my 6 month appointment yesterday (better late than never, right?). Things are going well. I slowed my weight gain down (thankfully!) and my blood pressure is normal. When the OB measured my belly, she did say "whoa, you really grew since last time!" Yeah, duh, don't you think I would know that of all people?! She also asked me if I've been feeling the baby move each day, to which I replied yes! She definitely moves WAY more than Ryder ever did. So while we were on the topic of the moving baby, I asked if it was normal to feel like the baby was kicking me "down there" ....BOTH front and back side. She asked me to describe it a little more, which I did and I will spare you the details (you're welcome). She said that means the baby most likely flipped and she is breech now. She asked me if I am feeling very sharp pains yet down my crotch or in my....butt (for lack of better words), but it's not painful, just uncomfortable. She said to not be alarmed, but as the baby gets bigger, I will feel that the weird and uncomfortable "butt kicks" will be more painful and sharp. Super duper, can't wait. Other than that, everything looks great like I said and I'll go back in at 28 weeks and do the dreaded glucose testing....blah.

On another note, I was playing with Ryder today and I noticed that one of the pictures I took of him he still had his "hang cheeks" that I love so much. When he was younger, his cheeks literally hung lower than his chin/jaw bone and I LOVED it. I haven't seen it in awhile, but I noticed the picture I took of him playing today when he was looking down at his toy....he still has the chubbs mcgee thing going on! It's kind of hard to tell in this picture. I should have made the picture bigger so you could see it, but I'm too lazy to go back and edit it/fix this post!

Have a great rest of the week!

Winter Fun

This morning started off with our first driveway shoveling session. We bundled Ryder up (and mom and dad!) and headed outside. It's so funny putting Ryder's boots on because he thinks he can't walk for a few seconds before he realizes that...ahhh yes, he really can walk with these giant 'moon boots' on :) He LOVES walking through the snow and kicking it so it flies up. He also discovered how fun it is to hit the branches of the pine trees and watch the snow fly into the air. One thing he discovered he didn't like was falling face first into the snow and getting his first white-wash! He fell and looked up at us with a completely white face/head and just started screaming. hahaha it was quite the sight to see, I picked him up, dusted him off and started to head inside (assuming he was done with being outside)...but he actually wanted to stay outside and go back into the snow! Isn't this the look of a brave boy?!? I think so ;)


Then I had my 4th annual Haskins' cookie decorating/santa exchange day at our place. There were 12 of us girls who all showed up (the group just keeps getting bigger! Which is way better than getting smaller) We ate a lot of food, decorated some amazing looking cookies--just ask me, I was probably the best cookie decorator out there (wink wink), and had a good time with friends. Here's the group shot infront of the tree (minus Jennie H because she went home sick)

6 month Belly Picture/Christmas is coming!!

The first picture below is a picture of when I was pregnant with Ryder at six months and the second picture is me pregnant this time around at six months. (seriously...I CANNOT believe I'm already six months along this week!)

It's starting to get harder to get up and down off the floor with Ryder/pick him up etc. And it's only going one way.....harder! But one good thing about my growing belly? It makes a good pillow to read books on :)

As I've mentioned before, I LOVE Christmas! I was so excited to put the tree up and have Ryder get to see the lights and decorations for the first time (last year doesn't count because he was too young). It was really fun, he was so freaking adorable as he "helped" decorate the tree. He helped "stretch" the lights out before we put them on the tree:


And then he realized that it would be more fun if he continued to put non-christmas decorations in the tree. Here he's putting a toy in the tree...

And here he decided to put a kitchen towel in the tree. The tree has only been up ONE day so far, so I'll be curious to see what other "decorations" he puts in the tree over the next month!

And I had a wonderful day (thank you MOM for watching Ryder!!!) finishing up my Christmas shopping with my girlfriend, Jenna. Yes, you read that right...it's December 1st and I'm D.O.N.E. with all my shopping :) And, because I'm a crazy psycho lady I also managed to wrap them all and get them under the tree after Ryder went to bed tonight!!!!!!! (this makes me insanely happy)

But it's good to have all the Christmas stuff up because Sunday is the 4th annual cookie decorating/gift exchange girls day at the Haskins' household!! Can't wait!

I need to stop watching Criminal Minds

It's one of those shows that sucks you in...most of them are disturbing, but you can't help but watch anyways. Kinda like a fat person on a bike. You don't want to look, but you just have to look! Anyways, last night's episode kept me awake for quite some time. The episode was about an adorable little blonde curly haired girl who was abducted by a man, kept in captivity for 7 years before she finally committed suicide when she found out she was pregnant with this man's baby at age 15. I know, really super uplifting. Regardless, I watched it anyways and now wished I wouldn't have. I laid awake thinking about how we will now be having some adorable blonde little girl and then I stated thinking...I couldn't imagine anything like that ever happening...and so on and so forth. Anyways, that got me to thinking about how Joe and I need to take ourselves out of the phone book so we're unlisted. And how once our little girl comes, I should probably stop doing this blog thing because anyone can read this. Literally anyone....which I never really thought about before. At least with my Facebook page, I have it totally private and secured. So as my mind is spinning out of control, and my little girl was kicking the crap out of me like she always enjoys doing at night now, I thought...settle down...you have MANY years ahead of you to be a worrier about your kids...no sense in aging myself with panic before she even gets here....

On a happier note: Christmas is coming!!!!!!!! It is my most favorite time of the year because I LOOOOOVE buying and giving gifts. Joe makes fun of me when he sees how pumped I get when I go into my word document and cross someone off of my list. I love starting early and am proud to say I have 6 of 14 people completely done and I have ideas for most of the others already!!!!!!! woo hooo. I'm a dork. I even have a couple wrapped already:

We also finished getting our Christmas lights up on our house too. We turned them on tonight and brought Ryder into the sitting room and looked out at the lights before bed. He totally was going crazy over them, it was so cute! He was pointing and going, "ooooh". Whenever we'd be in the living room and then say, "Do you want to go look at the Christmas lights??" he would be off like a flash of light back to check them out. It's so fun to see him get into it. But it does make me a little nervous for when we put up our tree....that might be hard to keep him away from!!

5 month belly pic comparison

Although these pictures might look fairly even, I think it's the angle the picture was taken at this time that makes it look that way because I am definitely bigger now than I was at this point last time. Either way, I said I would keep people posted on belly pictures. The first picture is of me pregnant with Ryder and the second picture is of me this time with our little girl!

We also wasted no time (and by "we" I really actually mean me...) on getting the bedding. I picked up the bedding today, picked out the furniture last night online that will most likely be ordered after I post this, and I've been in contact with the same girls who did Ryder's nursery. They said I just need to pick out the bedding and the furniture and they will take care of the rest. I'm so excited I could tinkle in my pants because they did such a good job on Ryder's room, I can't wait to see what they have in store for this nursery :)

And we found out we're having a.....

GIRL!!!!

She was very shy and we almost weren't able to see the sex today, but she finally gave up when I flipped on my side and moved her around a little bit. She also hid her face the whole time as well, so we couldn't get a good look at her face either. She is shy I guess! Obviously it would have been wonderful to have another boy, but we are soooo excited to be having a little girl!! Our little Haskins family is complete :) I'm also happy to report that everything else looked great at the ultrasound: she has all four limbs and the heart, kidneys, and spine all look normal. I'm measuring right on my due date. Things are good!!

I know many people have already seen these Halloween pictures on my facebook page, but for those of you who aren't on facebook that check out my blog here is Ryder as a State Trooper. I have concluded that seeing a little person in an adult/man outfit is pretty much the funniest thing in the whole world :) See for youself:

He loved when the door bell would ring when trick or treaters came to the door. He'd get up from whatever he was playing with and run over to see who was there. He wouldn't get too close, of course, but he just had to see what was going on! Our neighbors came over with their little girl who is three months younger than Ryder. She is one serious spitfire! She was bouncing off the walls and running around, throwing her body all over the place...all the while Ryder just stared at her with the biggest eyes in awe. She loves giving kisses and hugs and she kept coming over to Ryder and trying to get him to sit still so she could smother him with some lovin'. At first Ryder was NOT having it, but as he warmed up to her, he ended up liking it. In fact, she cornered him at one point and they were hugging and she was trying to plant a big fat kiss on him and after she ran away Ryder turned to Joe and me with a big goofy grin on his face and did the sign language sign for "more". Seriously the funniest thing ever. Total boy, all the way!

Well, I better get going so I can go check out girl bedding!!!!!!!!!!!

Current favorite activity

Here is a minute and a half video of Ryder's favorite Fall activity. He LOVES to go into the backyard and pull leaves off of the trees. Unfortunately the leaves are all gone officially now and we have to find new activities. My favorite part of him doing this? When he tries to put the ripped leaves back into the tree....doesn't work very well ;)





I am also very excited because we officially ordered the dresser, which will be here in a couple weeks. And we picked out a crib and are going this weekend to buy it. And the PINK and WHITE bedding is also bought (yep, all girlie girl...all the way!) The nursery will be done over the Holiday season/winter break by Jenna's two older sisters and when it's done, you can be sure I'll be posting pictures!

Also, a shout out to my brother-in-law, Logan Haskins---> Happy 30th birthday this week!!!

Ryder's 18 month appt

Today we had Ryder's 18 month doctors appointment. We just love our pediatrition because she's so soft-spoken and gentle, which makes Ryder really calm. He let her listen to his lungs and heart and look in his ears and eyes without any peep. I can tell he really likes her and is comfortable with her, which in turn makes Joe and I comfortable too of course. The only time he got a slightly panicked look on his face is when she un-fastened his diaper and checked his balls :) He kinda looked at her and then looked at me like, "Hey, this lady has her hands you-know-where, Mom!!" Anyways, he only cried less than 30 seconds with his shots and I'm happy to say we don't have to go back until he's 2! I told our pediatrition that we'll probably just combine his two year appointment with the new baby's newborn appointment. Kill two birds with one stone, I guess!

So his stats are as follows:

Height: 32.5 inches-->55% (at 15 months he was 60% for height)

Weight: 30lbs-->90% (at 15 months he was 28 lbs and was 92nd percentile for weight)

Head: 50cm-->95% (at 15 months he was 48 cm and was 90% for head)

Let me also remind you that my head only measures 54 cm....he's got the big Haskins' head for sure!! But I love his big head...part of his charm I'd say ;) So the pediatrition said he's a big boy and there was nothing to be concerned about and that he looks great! Oh, and she also said that he has the "most perfect cheeks"---and she's right!

Yesterday Ryder had another ECFE class, and I tell you, he gets better every time we go there. He never once tried to lead me out the door this week, and during the second half of the class where the moms all sit together and chat and the kids are supposed to play...I'm happy to report that my child never once sat in my lap! He was off playing with the other kids or sometimes by himself, but either way it was without me by his side. Of course, he would come check in with me every five or so minutes---just a quick tap on the shoulder, a smile and off he'd go again.

And then we had my grandparents come down Monday morning and they stayed through Tuesday morning. He was in SUCH a good mood all day Monday, I was so happy that he was good for them and playful with them. It usually takes him quite a long time to warm up to people that aren't in the "safe six" (mom/dad, and both sets of grandparents), but within 20 minutes of them being here, he was playing and interacting with them. I was happy about that. He even had some snuggle time with Great Grandma on Monday afternoon after his nap, and with Great Grandpa Tuesday morning when he woke up!

I'm sad to see this week come to an end because this weekend is my weekend to work, and the start of my longer stretch on (boo!!) But, I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

Hodge podge

Lately, we have not seen a lot of this:

I'm not kidding, it has been the loooongest three, almost four weeks of our lives. Sorry to throw the Johnson family under the bus, but after a family function on my mom's side we all picked up a nice little cold---which was the culprit of the "disasterous month". After about a week of a no sleep and crabby, sick-with-a-cold-baby...we found out Ryder's cold turned into an ear infection. Awesome, but at least there was an end in sight after we got some antibiotics (or so we thought). After battling the never ending cold (which I have learned with a children who can't blow their nose,s colds seriously last f.o.r.e.v.e.r.--->right all you moms out there??), his ear tugging stopped and he slept somewhat better for a few days. Less waking up in the middle of the night etc. That was until this last weekend after we finished all ten days of the amoxicillin, Ryder busts out in hives. Yep, allergic to the antibiotic. Great. If anyone has had hives, you know how much fun those are. And to top it off, I am 99% sure Ryder is now cutting his 2 year molars on the bottom. More good times. The hives were pretty much gone today and we are looking forward to a better week.

One of Ryder's favorite activities outside lately has been "helping" mom sweep out the garage. I'm getting nervous as the weather gets colder, because I start thinking "what the H-E-double-hockey-sticks are we going to do all winter???" Suggestions appreciated!! I know it's going to be nice this weekend so we'll be doing as much outdoors stuff as we possibly can! And I know this next picture looks like he's crapping his pants, but really he's screetching and yelling with excitement over the garage doors opening and closing. I never knew how entertaining that could be....

Happy baby! Have a good rest of the week everyone!!

16 week belly pictures

Yep, like I said before, your body more than remembers what to do the second time around. Below is a belly picture from when I was 4 months along with Ryder. And the second picture is of my belly at 4 months in round #2. Now, I'm not saying I'm overly ginormous or anything, but there is a definite difference. But I've been told that it eventually evens out and you don't look overly huge later on...we'll see if they're right!

Anyways, I'm excited for the week and weekend ahead (minus Thursday night, when I work....). Tomorrow is Ryder's ECFE class. Third times the charm?? Hopefully he'll do even better than last week; he gets better every time! Wednesday I'm going shopping for some maternity clothes. I'm banned to basically sweats (I suppose I'm mostly in those anyways...so what's the difference??) but for the rare event I'm in regular clothes, I will be needing some pants that I can actually button/fit into :) And then Friday after I get off work we're heading up North to the Haskins' cabin. It really is pretty up there in the Fall and Joe gets to do some hunting with his dad and Nick, his mom's cousin, who is in from California. So it should be a nice, relaxing and fun weekend. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week and their weekend as well!

16 week appointment

Nothing too exciting to share, but I thought I'd share anyways since family/friends keep track of the Haskins happenings on this blog.

I had my 16 week appointment today, and all is well. I'm gaining weight nicely (if there is such a thing), but not too much weight or anything, so that's good. My blood pressure is great. I was a bit annoyed because when we listened to the heart rate, the OB "guessed" the heart rate was in the 140's--but she was doing it by ear and not really calculating it since she "forgot her watch" today and the baby was moving around so much you couldn't hear it very well anyways. Either way, I know it's just an old wives tale, but we must be having a little boy! Our 20 week ultrasound appointment is on November 1st., so only time will tell.

I was thankful that Joe was able to jet out of work briefly to attend the drs appt so he could entertain Ryder while I was busy with the doctor. And it was a good thing that he was able to come because about 30 seconds before the lady called my name to come to the back room, Ryder so conveniently took a big, stinky dump....I was happy to leave Daddy to clean that one up :)

Baby movement

I'm sure most mommas out there agree that your first pregnancy is waaay different than your second one. It's because you are so focused on taking care of your busy toddler that you don't have a chance to really think about being pregnant. In fact, since I've been feeling better in my second trimester and am no longer sick, I seriously sometimes forget that I'm even pregnant! (except for that growing fupa gut I have going on...)

But I now have something special to remind me that I am indeed pregnant and not just having this crazy expanding body: baby movement! I felt movement with Ryder sometime between 16 and 17 weeks last time, but this baby I felt at 15 weeks. It's always at the same time every night when I finally sit down and kick my feet up after Ryder goes to bed. It makes it seem more real and brings a smile to my face every time :)

Today we had Ryder's 18 month photos taken with our favorite photographer: Paula Charchenko of Paulie Marie Creative photography. She's done all of Ryder's pictures since his newborn photos...and she's AWESOME. We went to this adorable little farm in Eden Prairie for a mini photo session (who can get an 18 month old to do pictures for longer than a half hour anyways, right?). Here's just one sneak peak photo that Paula posted on my facebook wall--a teaser if you will. I can't wait to see how the rest look! I will post them as soon as I get them back.

Doesn't he look like SUCH a big boy?? Crazy how time flies. Speaking of time flying, tomorrow I have my 16 week appointment. And that means that I will schedule our 20 week ultrasound there tomorrow---which is when we find out if we're having a boy or girl!! Woo hoo!

Our weekend fell flat on it's face

Joe and I were very excited coming into this weekend. We originally were going to head up North so Joe could do some hunting, but plans changed and we decided to stay home---so we had NO plans (and were very excited about it). We decided were going to bum around all weekend since it was supposed to be so nice out. Friday we were going to do nothing. Saturday night we were going out for our 3 year anniversary that is coming up on Tuesday. And Sunday the new plan was to head to the apple orchard. But alas...I have found out that I should never look forward to weekends like these, because something always happens where we can't enjoy it like we planned. (Or maybe this is what I've learned: you can't plan crap when you have a kid because it never works out--yes, that sounds more accurate)

Anyways, the story goes like this...Joe and I have a cold all week. Ryder seems to magically miss out on it during the week. Friday we head to our favorite place to eat that we can bring Ryder to (Ruby Tuesdays--we go here a lot). He was in such a good mood all day, the weather was gorgeous, he was great at Ruby Tuesdays, and he went to bed like a perfect angel. Since I worked the night before and we were both feeling like we needed a good night's sleep from being sick all week, we were in bed at (don't laugh!) 9pm on Friday. And you know what?? I was SOOO freaking thrilled! Until Ryder woke up screaming bloody murder at 10pm and was snotty, congested, feverish, and inconsolable (for almost two hours, no joke). He fell back asleep after midnight and then was up doing the same thing again from 4am to 630. Fell back asleep...aaaaand....awake for the day at 730. YAY! So saturday is pretty much shot because we were all sleepless and Ryder was miserable and fussy and clingy.

Because we had a babysitter lined up (Thank you Paul and Amy!) and it was to celebrate our anniversary and honestly, we needed a little break from a crying baby--we went out to eat/to a movie. It was nice, but it was hard to enjoy knowing Ryder was at home feeling so bad. Anyways, Saturday night Ryder would randomly wake up and whine/cry but nothing like the night before. He was pulling on his ears and was running a temp, so we took him to urgent care after a much needed morning nap today. We got an antibiotic for his ears and we thought, since he seemed to be feeling better, that we would still attempt to go to the orchard to take his mind off of him feeling so crappy. This is how it went:

Here is a picture of the happiest he was the whole time we were there. (And that would not be very happy...)

In fact, he prefered me to get out of his face....see below....

So Joe and I pretended like we were having a blast instead. Can't you tell? :)

So we just chalked this weekend up as a loss and decided we will no longer plan any fun weekends anymore because every time we do, something like this happens! haha. Oh well. I'm glad Ryder is feeling a little bit better, that's all that matters. Oooooh, one more funny story. When the pediatrition came in at urgent care and was talking to us and trying to assess Ryder, she kept laughing at him because he was giving her the biggest stank eye you have ever seen. She actually said, and I quote, "I see a LOT of stubborn children, but no one as stubborn as him in a long time!" Welcome to our world, lady ;)

A real, live adult

You know, I really never get used to the sting of being a real, live adult. I mean, I've gotten used to the car payments, mortgage payments, and bills-bills-bills (oh yeah, not to mention a baby)...but the "extra" costs of things---- like new tires on a car (which Joe got today)...DANG it that hurts!! I mean, you already had a freaking set of tires on the car...but you go ahead and pay up the wazoo for...the same damn thing. Woopdie do, I already had tires. This is the time I wish I was 16 and my dad just took care of it and I never had to think anything of it. Uhhhhh, anyways...enough complaining.

Alright, so I'm 15 weeks this week...and apparently the baby is 4 inches long/2.5 ounces right now (about the size of an apple). REALLY!!?? I swear I must have this GIANT ten pound grapefruit-sized baby in me. It is true what they say: your body remembers what to do the second time around (understatement). Starting next week I'll start taking pictures and give you guys some comparison shots from pregnancy #1 and pregnancy #2.

Oooh, and a lot of people do know this already, but we are very excited because Joe's brother, Logan and his adorable wife, Amy Grace are having their first baby! They are due THREE DAYS after us!! Isn't that crazy?!? Amy Grace actually has a blog herself....although she hasn't written in a long time. So by me posting a link to her blog, maybe she will take my hint and start updating us on how her pregnancy is going (wink wink, Amy Grace!!). Here's her blog.

As for the little man in my life---man he's fast! Here's a picture of him 'feeding' himself some cheerios before bed the other night. One split second turn of the head, and this happens:

Well, I suppose that's one way to make the cheerios easier to get at!

First day of school!!

So it's not really school school but it's ECFE (early childhood family education). Like I said my last post, it's a "class" for 12 to 24 month olds and it's basically time to get together with other kids and play.

So today was the big day. We got to class and the first half of class was mommy-child playtime with everyone in the big room. The teacher said to "follow his lead and let him lead you to what he's interested in". Okay....so I put name tags on us (which he promptly tore off and wouldn't wear) and set him down. He stares at the other kids and moms playing, looks up at me like, "are you serious?" He takes my hand and abruptly turns us around and leads us to the door. HAHAHAH. He was like, we're outta here, Mom! But once I brought him back in and we started playing with trucks, he was fine. We moved around, played with blocks, climbed on the climber set etc. The youngest child was 12 months and the oldest was 24 months. Ryder was one of the youngest of the 12 or so kids there, and most were 21-24 months. He wasn't really into playing with other kids (shocker), and he wasn't that thrilled when I was zooming cars back and forth with another little boy (also a shocker). But he did better than I thought he would. He wasn't the naughtiest either! There was one little bully that was pushing and kicking kids and even took a rain stick toy and cracked a kid in the back of the head with it (glad I wasn't his mom...she was a tad embarrassed to say the least!)

Anyways, the second half of the class was "mommy circle time" or some kind of crap like that, while the kids had a snack and played together on the other half of the room. I put Ryder at the table with all the other kids and gave him his sippy cup and his kix cereal and headed to circle time. I could see him across the room and I was trying so hard to listen to the other moms blab about themselves and their kids and not laugh at Ryder. He was looking around at all the other kids eating their snacks and drinking their sippy cups. He was trying to copy what they were doing...he looked so confused as to what he should be doing. After about five minutes he started looking up at the other teachers/adults that were with them and he was searching for me. Finally he spotted me across the room and he screeched, ran across the room and through the mom circle and dove into my lap. While the rest of the kids played together, Ryder sat with the moms (he was one of three kids who decided they were not going to leave Mommy's side). With about ten minutes left to go (after he had been lying practically in the middle of the circle staring at me all worn out and overly stimulated) he started to cry. He came over to me, laid his head on my shoulder and wept. So I decided it was time to leave a few minutes early because he had had enough :)

Like I said, overall I think he did WAY better than I thought he would do. I had two fears: the first was one that he was going to be the bully (which he wasn't) and the second fear was that he would cry the whole time and want to leave (which he didn't). So I'd say it was a successful first week of school!!

When we got home, I couldn't help but notice he was very happy to be back at home with just Ryder and Mommy together. He will have a rude awakening when this baby comes in March and interferes with that! haha.

We must be crazy to do it again...

Yes, he is adorable-->


But he can be incredibly sassy, just look at that devious smile--->


But really, how could we not want another one??? It happened sooner than anticipated (sound familiar...i.e. Ryder) but hey, we could not be happier to let everyone know that the Haskins' family is expanding!!!! We are just over 12 weeks right now and are due March 22nd. At our 12 week appt our OB said that I will be a scheduled c-section this time so we can avoid the fun of an emergency c-section again. The good thing about being scheduled? a)We know the day it's happening b) our OB doesnt schedule it until 11am so we won't be rushed in the morning and c)they take me at 39 weeks so I don't have to worry about going a week overdue again!!!

This pregnancy is a little different than with Ryder because I have a prescription for an anti-nausea medication--thank the Good Lord! If some of you don't remember, I was quite sick with Ryder and lost a lot of weight my first trimester, but this time I'm doing fairly well. I'm glad to be entering into second trimester now and (hopefully) start to get some energy back and feel more "normal"---as much as you can when you're preggo.

Some people who already know we're pregnant ask us what we think the sex will be. Up until our 12 week appt I had this feeling that we were having a girl (maybe because if we had a girl then we'd be done! hahah)...then we found out the heart rate was 154 (exactly where Ryder was for his HR the whole pregnancy). So now I'm totally leaning towards a boy. Everyone says that the heart rate doesn't neccessarily mean boy vs girl, but I'm definitely thinking it will be boy #2 for us! I just laugh thinking about how I will have two of these running around:

We're very excited and to be honest, slightly nervous. Ryder and his little brother will be 23 months and a week apart. Quite the adventure we'll be taking on here ;)

Finally walking (sort of)

So we are still very wobbly, and if he slows down or gets distracted...down he goes (the bruise you will see on his head in the video is proof of one of his many falls!) But it's pretty funny to see your child walk like a drunk man. I swear, he gets more fun by the day! The only problem is, now that he knows he can (kind of) walk, it's all he wants to do....all.day.long. He knows it's faster to walk holding your hands, so he always wants you to get up and help him march back and forth and back and forth. He crawls over to you, climbs up on you and almost pulls at you so that you will get the idea that, damn it, he wants to walk now!! haha. And when he's walking on his own and falls then he gets ticked (as you can see in the video) because again, all he wants to do is be up and moving around! Let's just hope that he will get much better at this sooner rather than later. It will make my life so much easier (and probably harder too all at the same time!)

First hair cut!

As many of you know, one of Ryder's nicknames is "Bad Hair". I mean, really I love his hair--because it's so crazy and wild. But because he had a bald spot on the back of his head from when he only slept on his back and didn't move around in bed, the hair in the center-back of his head is shorter than it is on either side of his head. So we finally decided to trim his hair so it would be even at least...he was starting to look like a raggedy homeless man. No really...seriously in this picture below, he looks like a homeless man "living under a bridge" to quote my Mother-in-law!!! bahahaha (she meant than in an endearing kind of way, FYI)

So here are two before shots:

It's kind of hard to tell in this picture because a)he wouldn't sit still so we could take a picture and b) we combed it out so it would be more straight and easier to cut, but you can see the straggly hair.

Here is the small pile of hair we snipped off. I say we, but really it was actually Joe who volunteered to cut it. I let him---just in case it was bad then I wouldn't have to look at him every day and think of what a bad job I did. So Joe did it, but actually he did a great job!


He would NOT sit still (can anyone really make their 16 month old sit still for a picture?? If you can, please let me know your tricks!) so here is a side shot. See, we still left it longish so you could see some curls/waves, but it's just even now.
And here is the best straight-on shot I managed to get.

So we're all trimmed up, and looking so handsome. Just in time for when he starts his ECFE sessions this Fall (That would stand for Early Childhood Family Education). I registered him today for Tuesdays this Fall at the local elementary school. It's 12 to 23 month old kids--for an hour and a half that basically will get him more used to being around other kids his age, in a more structured environment since he is mostly just with adults all the time. That should be interesting to say the least!!

Weddings, a sleeping Cubbie, and Jcrew

A couple weekends ago was my best friend's wedding--and it was also the first wedding I've been in besides my own, of course. It was a huuuge wedding party (27, including the bride and groom) but it was SUCH a fun time! What was even better was that I knew all nine bridesmaids really well--many of them since we were just kids. Friday we did the typical: mani-pedi party and lunch afterwards with all the girls. Then the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I was skeptical that we would all get our hair and makeup done on time on the Big Day-but all 12 of the ladies getting their hair/makeup done were completely ready to go by 10am!! Can you believe that? We headed to the Church to do pictures before the ceremony. The bride and I managed to get a snap shot in quickly before all the professional pics started:

The five girls in the bridal party that weren't part of the family had some time to kill while all the family pictures were going on. Things got a little crazy in the library of the Church, let me tell you ;)

Amanda "playing" the piano for me :)

Silly Manda ;)

Pretending to have a "serious" model/leg shot...we failed!

The ceremony was beautiful and Jon and Jenna never stopped smiling the whole time. And I was also surprised that Jenna wasn't crying the whole time either...she held it together pretty well! Then the party started on the party bus....

Mr. And Mrs. Juris!!

Trying to fit everyone infront of the bus for a group pic was difficult!

The bride and me

And the party continued at the reception. I felt very honored to be part of Jenna's day! Congrats to Jon and Jenna!!!!!


On to less fun (but still oh-so-important) things. I feel comfortable enough after almost a week that we are back to a normal sleep schedule with Ryder. We got back on schedule, increased the size of his bedtime snack...and things fell into place! Thanks for all the advice all you Moms (and non-mom friends!). I appreciate it!!


And the last comment I would like to make is this: I wish Jcrew would stop sending me catalogs because it makes me want ridiculous things like black Italian leather knee-high boots that are a only $325. Ahhh, if only working part time (and not having normal, realistic responsibilities) could afford such luxuries!!!