Seven months down... 2 to go!

Tuesday marked 2 months until Baby Girl's due date (31 weeks, 2 days)!

It feels like it's coming crazy fast.  I've done lots of sewing for her bedding and have made a dress for her too; I hope she'll come home in this dress if she's not too big!  I do miss having all the ultrasounds I had with Caleb because of a calcium deposit on his heart (it went away by 36 weeks)... but that also makes me more excited to see her and hold her! 

I'm still feeling pretty good for the most part.  I am having some swelling, more heartburn, and difficulty sleeping (thank you, third trimester).  I am having even more Braxton Hicks contractions.  I remember having them with Caleb but not like this.  The tightness definitely buckles me over sometimes.  I have them all throughout the day but more so in the evenings.

Baby Girl moves around a lot!  She is so active!  She may be head down sometimes but she's still doing lots of flips and turns.  I've been able to get some of her movements on video.

My blood pressure has continued to be low and still no sign of pre-eclampsia/HELLP syndrome again.  I've managed to stay in the 90s (with Caleb I was in the 120s at this point).  At my 28 week appointment, the doctor ordered baseline blood tests so we have some numbers to gauge things off of if I start to have troubles since I was having blood drawn for gestational diabetes already (I passed that... YEA).

Summer Time Treats... watermelon & sweet corn!

"Got to Be NC" Festival

Monster trucks... tractors... animals... and corn dogs... oh my!

Happy birthday, MomMom!

My mom celebrated her birthday last week.  Apparantly she and I aren't the only ones who really like Bahama Breeze's Chocolate Pineapple Upside Down cake.

A year later this suit still doesn't fit him...

Water Play

Warmer weather means time to play in the sprinkler and with the hose!

Caleb and Maggie love playing in the sprinkler together!  Or should I say "Buddy" (what Maggie calls Caleb)  and "Waggie" (what Maggie sounds like when Caleb says her name).

Mother's Day

It was a lovely day complete with breakfast in bed, lunch at Brio, and a nice looooooong nap!

At lunch the waitress brought Caleb a piece of pizza dough that he could shape; we nade it into a whale.



Ice cream cones... the newest craze at Beach Music!

Welcome to Ella Dean!

We visited new blessing Ella Dean a few weeks ago.  It turned out to be an opportunity to visit the hospital too; he was curious about Ella and kept saying "I want to see her!"  Hopefully he'll be just as thrilled when his little sister is born!

2 1/2 Years Old

Caleb turned 2 1/2 years old on May 4!

He has grown up so much in the past six months!

Caleb weighs 26.5 pounds, measures about 35 squirmy inches, wears size 4 diapers, and 18-24 month clothes.

Caleb speaks very well; I'm so impressed with his vocabulary and sentence structures at such a young age!  It's hard to believe he only had a few words a year ago!  He surprises me so often with what he knows and understands.  He can carry on a converation and for the most part speaks clearly. 

Counting: He counts into the teens. 

Alphabet: He can sing the ABC song.  He doesn't identify individual letters yet but does point out when he sees "letters!"

Colors: Still working on this but it's improving!  It's interesting that if he identifies something as a color he's usually right, but if I ask him what color something is, it's hit or miss.

New Skills: helping to dress/undress, walking up and down the stairs without holding on, starting to see more pretend play, jumping, sleeping in a regular bed (no crib)

Potty Training: Not officially yet, but he sits on the potty and sometimes goes before bathtime. 

Favorites: strawberries, matchbox cars, books books and more books, tractors, ambulances, fire trucks, airplanes, Dinosaur Train on TV

Sleeping: He takes 1 nap for 3 hours and sleeps about 11 hours at night.

Elephants & skunks, oh my!

Beach Music

Beach Music at North Hills started a few weeks ago; Caleb has really enjoyed running around in the kids play area this year!

Started off on a chilly early April evening...

...to a hot early May evening!  That is one sweaty boy having a blast!

I particularly enjoyed his dance moves on this particular evening (about half-way through the video) and how he was so enamored with this little girl that was there playing!

Walking at Umstead

Caleb and Maggie enjoyed walking on the trails at Umstead State Park near our house.  Jenilee went with us as she was home on break from Grad School! 

Cinco de Moe's

Having a little fun while the carpets were being cleaned back at the house!



Here's a game for our readers...

What do you think Caleb was thinking when he did this???



First S'More!

Picking Strawberries Round 2!

Big Brother In The Making

Caleb enjoyed having Cam at our house twice in the past few weeks; his mom and I work at the same school.  He was quite curious about Cam and so good playing with him!  It makes me even more excited for Baby Sister's arrival this summer!

And a little Caleb and Maggie cuteness...
This went on for 15 minutes almost.  They'd lay down on the stairs, get up, laugh hysterically... then repeat!

Twenty-seven Weeks

Six months down... 3 to go!

Yesterday marked 3 months until Baby Girl's due date, 27 weeks weeks along, and almost the end of the 2nd trimester.  It’s VERY hard to believe I’m nearing the end of the 2nd trimester. 

Baby Girl moves around a lot!  It's my favorite part of being pregnant. 

I've had some sciatic pain and increasing heart burn.

The big change over the past few weeks is increasing Braxton Hicks contractions; they're pretty strong at times.  Baby Girl definitely doesn't like them; although the contractions themselves aren't painful, sometimes it feels like she's pushing back against them which can hurt.

My blood pressure was low at my 24 week appointment; no sign of pre-eclampsia/HELLP symdrome.  Hopefully it will stay that way!

Strawberry Picking!

We went and picked strawberries last week with my MOPS group!

Caleb did great picking the "Wolfpack Red" strawberries.

 And then he discovered he could eat them... LOTS of them!  Mmmm mmmm good!

On Saturday Caleb helped make some strawberry jam... delicious!