34 Weeks

Pregnancy: 34 weeks

Weight Gain: ?, my appointment is Monday 

Sleep: I still sleep pretty good, I usually wake up once during the night to go to the bathroom, but I feel exhausted all of the time...I'm ready for some energy and to feel rested, maybe next year?

Cravings: popsicles, ice cream, tomatoes, any sort of ethnic food (Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, etc.)

Feeling: I can't complain. I feel pretty good, albeit exhausted most of the time.

Health: I'm still holding strong, my BP is still good (really good at home, and ok at the doc), I don't really have any swelling yet, so far so good.

Movement: He is still a wild man.  I love watching my belly move but he seriously hurts me sometimes.

Belly: HUGE! I'll find out Monday how much big it is...I'll probably be measuring 40 weeks by then. :)

Symptoms: Acid reflux still and my sciatic nerve pain too. 

What I'm Looking Forward To: Picking out a name and moving Caden into his new room and getting the nursery ready, we're using Caden's bedding and things, but have new furniture.

Next Appointment: ?

I Thought This Was Summer??

This was probably Caden's thoughts since he started "school" on June 15th.  He is going on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9-1 to Children's Morning Out (CMO) at the Presbyterian Church in Newton.  This is going to be a big adjustment because Caden has never really stayed with anyone besides family.

                                                            Backpack on and ready to go!

The first day was ok...he was a little unsure when I first put him down but he saw some school buses and firetrucks to play with and then he was fine.  I said bye quickly and left.  His first day he did pretty good, they said he started to cry around lunch time, which is his usual nap time so it didn't really surprise me.  His teacher said they took a walk outside and then he was just fine.  As long as he can be outside everything is fine. :)  I hope that eventually he will get used to napping a little later.  Jason went with me to pick him up and he was playing on the playground and he did not want to leave, in fact he screamed and pitched a fit.

I'm going where?

Let's go!

His second day the drop off was not so good.  He started crying hysterically, I guess he knew I was leaving, whereas the day before he didn't realize that I was going to be gone.  I tried to get him to play with some things, and the teacher was like you are just going to have to go and he will be fine.  So I did, and I cried the whole way home.  It was water day so I figured that once they got to go play in the water he would be really excited and he would forget that I was gone. :(  Poor baby, it really broke my heart. 

How has he turned into such a boy?  Makes a mama sad. :(

33 Weeks

Pregnancy:  33 weeks (Thursday)

Weight Gain: 20 lbs

Sleep:  I still sleep pretty good, I usually wake up once during the night to go to the bathroom, but I feel exhausted all of the time...I'm ready for some energy and to feel rested, maybe next year?

Cravings:  watermelon, chocolate milk over ice, tomato sandwiches, popsicles, hot dogs

Feeling:  I can't complain.  I feel pretty good, albeit exhausted most of the time.

Health:  I'm still holding strong, my BP is still good (really good at home, and ok at the doc), I don't really have any swelling yet, so far so good.

Movement: Constant and pretty painful at times.  He keeps flipping from transverse to head down position and when he does it seriously feels like he's coming out of my side.

Belly: HUGE!  Like seriously...it is crazy, at my appointment last week, it was measuring 37 weeks, but baby was balled in his ball again, making me measure crazy big!  I had another growth ultrasound at 32 weeks and he was measuring 4 pounds 6 ounces....55% percentile.  I'm sure I'll be having another next month to get an estimate of how big he will be.  Maybe he could be a tad bit smaller than Caden, 8.5 pounds would be lovely...fingers crossed! :)

Symptoms: My acid reflux is out of control, I am still having sciatic nerve pain sometimes, and I have been having some serious hot flashes....maybe its the upper 90 temps we've been having though. :)

What I'm Looking Forward To:  Picking out a name and moving Caden into his new room and getting the nursery ready, we're using Caden's bedding and things, but have new furniture.

Next Appointment:  June 21

Mayfest

Edit:  I realized that I never published this post, I wrote it and then forgot....so it was actually more than 2 weekends ago..more like a month now (May 15) , but who is counting? 

Two weekends ago was Mayfest in Newton.  We went and met up with the Barry's and had a great time!  It was HOT, but we survived, only with the help of some Hawaiian shaved ice though!  Caden was in heaven: he rode a train, got to pet some animals, rode a pony, and did some serious dancing. 

Caden does something really cute when he has really been excited or loved something.  He wants us to tell him over and over again about what he saw and what he did.  I think the first time he did this was after we went to the zoo, he wanted us to talk to him about what animals he saw, and how he rode the carousel.  So after Mayfest for several days we would be doing something and he would "neeeigh", meaning he wanted us to talk to him about how he rode a horse.  I would be driving in the car and from the backseat I would see him throw his little head back and "neeeeeigh" and he would keep doing it until I told him all about how he rode the horsey. 

Here a couple of pictures from Mayfest.

Caden when he saw the train coming down the street.

Not as thrilled once he was on it. :)

He loved petting the goats, and kept sticking his fingers in their mouth, ick!

Having an intense convo with Carsyn about the animals.

Riding the horsey!

Dancing in the street. :)

18 Months Old!

How on earth do I have an 18 month old, I mean that is a year and a half....almost 2!  So, this post is a little late but better than never, right?  This may be a post you just want to skip over because it is bound to be long, but these are some things that I want to remember. 

We haven't gone for his 18 month appointment yet but last month he weighed a little over 30 pounds and was almost 36 inches tall....seriously 3 feet tall already! He is way off the charts for his height and around 80% for his weight...in other words he is still really big for his age, which I guess is why people who don't know us usually assume he is 2.5 or 3. 

He just had his very first ear infection last month...and he had one it in both ears and strep throat at the same time...oh yeah and we were at the beach at the time.  He's never really been sick so it was definitely tough on me...not so much on him, I didn't even realize he was that sick until we went to the doc. 

As for things he likes to do, he still LOVES to read and be read to.  He is still obsessed with balls as well...anything and everything that even resembles a ball he has to have.  He also loves to be outside, blowing bubbles, "driving" the car, paying the cashier, anything with wheels (he loves to push the stroller), Super Why, Sid the Science Kid, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Elmo.  Animals are also still a favorite, he loves any and every animal and can do the sound of almost anything. :) He also loves to swing in his swing in the playroom...he usually wakes up and asks for his Yo Yo (yogurt) and then wants to "wing". 

He has started to pick up a new word or two every single day it seems.  He attempts to say everything you tell him, but a lot of the time it doesn't come out quite right. Ha!  Bless it, he tries and always seems so proud of himself. :)  He is just beginning to string some words together, mostly just two word phrases, like "climb up" and "thank you".  It is so fun to see him learning and growing at this age.

Probably one of my favorite things he does right now is he gets shy about things.  Alot of times, if someone out in public acknowledges him he covers his face with his hands and gets this big grin on his face.  Also, if Jason and I dance, or do something silly, he does this.  I can't believe that we already embarrass him!! He also does it every single time that the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on and Mickey walks over the hill, it is seriously the cutest thing ever, I keep meaning to video him doing it. 

Another big milestone has been his move to the big boy bed.  Right before he turned 17 months old, Caden fell out of his crib.  I had put him down for his nap and was in my bathroom getting ready when I heard a huge thud, my heart sank b/c I immediately knew what it was.  I think he had thrown his pacis out and was leaning over the edge to get them and he flipped himself out.  I thought that since he had fallen maybe it wouldn't happen again, but when we put him back in there he flung that leg right over the edge and I knew his crib days were over. :(  So we had a twin bed, passed on from my brother, and he has been sleeping there ever since, he has done amazingly well with it, he will occasionally get out and I have to go put him back in there, usually after he has destroyed his room, tearing everything out of his drawers, etc.  I am thankful with how fairly easy it has been though! 

While every day it seems to get more fun with watching him grow and learn it has also become more difficult, he definitely is strong-willed and pitches quite a few tantrums everyday, he also has started to whine quite a bit, but we are working on it.  We have started using time-outs because occasionally he will hit us when he gets mad because we won't let him do something.  It is amazing how early they start asserting their will!  I am just so thankful to have a happy, healthy boy and I can't wait to see what this next chapter holds! :)

A couple of pictures of Caden doing another one of his favorite things, riding the carousel at the mall.  We usually go eat at Chick Fil A and let him ride, well this particular trip was a little traumatic because the Chick Fil A cow was there, and lets just say Caden is NOT a fan....pretty much everybody in the food court was staring at us because he was hysterically screaming and shaking, it was actually kind of sad. :(  Once he got on his tiger everything was fine though (he always chooses the tiger to ride).