Stories of a Stay at Home Mom

Big

2012-01-29T21:43:00.000-06:00

I am big.

38 Weeks with Charley

36 Weeks with Jay

Santa Claus!

2012-01-27T11:48:00.001-06:00

This Christmas season Jay was totally obsessed with Santa Claus!

My mom got some little fisher price characters and he still carries that Santa Claus all over with him (yes, still as in yesterday!). He can say it pretty clearly "SacaCaus". It's pretty cute.

So this morning we got his Bible out to read like we always do (don't get too excited- we mainly look at the pictures). We always look at the same few pages and talk about what's going on on each page. Jay has his favorites and can tell you about the page in very simple language (Jesus, Adam, snake, etc...).

This morning my sister was over and he took the Bible to her. He opened it and flipped through a few pages. He got to his FAVORITE page- Noah's Ark. He pointed out the elphy (elephant), sheppy (sheep), and the bird. Then I pointed to Noah and said, " Tell JJ who this is!"

Without missing a beat he yelled, "Saca Caus!" ha! He usually answers "Nonah"! All our hard work- gone! Just kidding!

It was hysterical though and when you look at the page it's not hard to see where he's coming from....

37 Weeks... And waiting!

2012-01-26T23:38:00.001-06:00

So I had my 37 weeks appointment today. I am 37 weeks 4 days. I am only 1 cm dilated. Wha??? I feel like EVERYone else I know at this point was/is either 3 cm dilated or has already delivered. But I wait...

I vaguely remember this type of progress with Jay. So I went and looked back at old blog posts and found this info...

At 36 wks 6 days I was 1/2 cm dilated

At 37 wks 6 days I was 1 1/2 cm dilated

By 38 wks 6 days I was 2 1/2 cm

I delivered at 39 wks 4 days.

So far with Charley

36 wks 4 days 1/2 cm

37 wks 4 days 1 cm

.... What's going to happen?!?

Your guess is as good as mine!

But in the meantime, it just means I get to spend more time with THIS cutie!!! Ps- the Something About Mary hair he is sporting is actually SNOT he rubbed in his hair after a sneeze. Gross. But I still love him! :)

Noooo!

2012-01-23T21:36:00.002-06:00

I got my first stretch mark...

I have made it through 77 weeks of being pregnant without one. Why now?!?!?!?!

:(

36 Weeks!

2012-01-19T21:49:00.001-06:00

I have had this post written for five days with hopes of taking a belly pic. Alas, no belly pic so I will post this and hope to take one later...

Holy mother- I am 36 weeks pregnant!

I am so so so ready to meet this little chickadee!

I had my 36 week appointment on Thursday (even though I was 36 wks 4 days). Dr. M said everything is looking great. I even got an ultrasound of my precious little girl and she looked fantastic. I saw her sweet face looking RIGHT at me, confirmed she is indeed still a girl (phew!), saw a little bit of hair, and got some measurements! They estimate her to be 6 lbs, 9 oz, but I'm not holding my breath on anything. They guessed Jay was about the same size and thought he would be around 9 lbs at 40 weeks but he was only SEVEN lbs at 40 weeks, so clearly they often overestimate!

Anyway, I had my check and there is basically NO PROGRESS! Agh- saddest news I've ever heard. I was secretly hoping they would say I was 5 cm and needed to go be admitted now, but no such luck. I'm 1/2 cm dilated (aka nothing really dilated at all- doc just told me that to make me feel better) and 50% effaced... I was just about the same place with Jay at this point, so I shouldn't be too surprised...

I gained a fair amount of weight over the past 2 1/2 weeks because I'm all of a sudden totally retaining water. I stayed unswollen (is that a word? No?) for much longer in this pregnancy (thank you cold weather!), but all of a sudden I woke up Saturday morning with a swollen face and hands and feet... Thanks body!

BP was still great, everything else looked great...

On to week 37!

Friends Forever... Always Will Be There

2012-01-18T23:24:00.000-06:00

Who can name the show that song is on?!?!

Have I mentioned how much I truly love my college friends? Like, a lot. I met these girls on bid day and they proved to be the absolute most incredible girls I have ever known. We met as 18 year olds and grew up together. We had so much fun in college, made even more memories after college, and are now getting to raise our babies together! Who would have thought???

Some of the group (there were 13 of us in college) were in town for Mary's wedding! It was a fun little reunion! We had the girls that were in town and not in the wedding over for lunch/playdate Saturday morning. It was so fun to see everyone's cute kids and catch up with them and their husbands.

Here are some of the kids...
Courtney Devine Robertson's boys- Jack (3 1/2) and Wyatt (15 mos)
MINE! Jay (16 months)
Erin Eubanks Crowell's kids- Cullen (2) and Claire (4)
Cara Clemson Jagger's little boy- Grayson (6 mos)
Christina Francese Thompson's little boy- Davis (2 1/2)

Notice all the boys???

It was so fun to see all these wonderful girls and their sweet sweet kids. We don't get to see each other nearly enough! Our group lives all over- Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, London, Bellville, and Boston. Needless to say the group visits are few and far between!

We had such a good time celebrating Parker and Mary (and maybe being a little star struck over the Bush twins that were there!). The wedding was gorgeous, Mary was a beautiful bride, and the reception was a blast!

Some of the group!

Jill is due in April and me in Feb!

There is so much I could write about these girls! I have the best memories with them and my heart just fills up every time we get together. I can't write anything sappier than this because I'm 9 months pregnant and emotional... :)

Bed and Love

2012-01-15T22:12:00.001-06:00

Jay slept in his big boy bed for the first time ALL night last night!

Not sure how I'm feeling about this!!!! :)

He's been going to sleep in his big bed (I lay down next to him and we say our prayers and I either sing or tell him stories as he falls asleep). Then I transfer him to his crib (in the same room). Well, we went to a wedding last night and my mom and sister put him down. Mom put him in his bed. When I got home I was going to go up and transfer him, but I figured I would just wait it out to see what happened...

Well, he slept the WHOLE night (no wake-ups- for the first time in about 4 or 5 days since his cold came back!) and woke up at 6:30 this morning! He sat up in bed and I saw him on the monitor. He just sat there and called, "Mommy." It was perfect! No getting down, no falling off the bed- NOTHING!

Super super exciting- we are trying it again tonight! I'll keep you posted...

On another quick note- he has started calling me mommy- not just mama anymore. MELTS. MY. HEART. I don't think I've heard anything sweeter in my life. Sigh...

He's also started becoming a little clingy when we see people we don't know very well. I will be holding him and he will start playing with my hair (another LOOOVE of mine!) and pat me and tell the person "Mommy." Like he's letting them know I'm his mom. I love it. What a sweet sweet boy. I can't get enough of him!

2011 Wrap Up

2012-01-11T22:01:00.000-06:00

So I know I'm late- like a week and a half late- but we've been a little busy... For my own personal enjoyment, I wanted to document 2011... How much things have changed in just a year!!

January- We started a month of Jay being sick. Seriously- great way to start the new year. That was a hard month. I got little sleep and Jay didn't feel good on and off for the next month and a half! Jay started sitting up and we started feeding him solids. January was a little slow for us... Sorry...

February- Jay was still sick most of the month. He started really showing his personality. First trip to the zoo (!!!), first trail ride (!!), and lots of fun memories made. Again, kind of a slow month on excitement. Such is the life as a stay at home (nursing) mom (whose baby refuses a bottle) I guess... :)

March- Jay went to his first Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo! Andrea and Mike came to visit and hang out, Jay started crawling and feeding himself... Mommy is able to be out for a little longer stretches of time due to the HUGE amounts of solids Jay consumes now! Yay!

April- We started Gymboree, Jay got his first tooth and started pulling up on EVERYTHING! The Moriartys from Wisconsin came to visit and we had a TON of fun with them, Jay's first Easter, and Mommy turned 29. Did I mention that birthdays aren't quite as much fun when you have a child to take care of all day (and the day after your birthday)? I'm not gonna lie- I was too tired to do anything- we just went to dinner at Chuy's with the fam. Lame-o.

May-Michelle came back from Spain!!!! First beach trip, Jay says his first word other than mama or dada (it was BA for ball), first Mother's Day for me... annnnnd we got pregnant. Little did we know...

June- Found out we were pregnant (Mommy had a slight heart attack and only cried for a few months), visited Anthony's parents in Texarkana at their new home, Jay just took off talking (his word count exploded!), first Father's Day

July- We took our first weekend trip AWAY from Jay (eeeek!!), celebrated our four year anniversary, told everyone we were pregnant!, Jay's first haircut and boat ride, Michelle got engaged and I was able to be there for it!, Jay became a one-nap-a-day kid!

August- Jay's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!! (so much fun!), felt Charley Kate move for the first time!, tried to stay out of the INSANE heat and drought that was all of Texas, Jay officially weans himself a few days after his first birthday, Jay starts walking!

September- Jay's first plane ride and first trip to Iowa!, find out we are having a GIRL!!!, Jay started school one day a week

October- Family trip to Hawaii- most amazing vacation!!!, Jay's first REAL Halloween- total success by the way!

November- Anthony turns 30!!!, We put a contract on a house!, We put our house on the market, have two Thanksgivings, and start to get REEEEALLY busy!

December- Sell our house, celebrate Anthony's 30th party in Dallas with friends, Jay spends the night with Grandeb and PawPaw for first time, celebrate Christmas, MOVE, ring in the new year with friends that just moved back to Houston!

WHAT A YEAR it was for us!!!!!

I can't imagine there being anything different. What a perfect year! The hard times, the fun times, the crazy times- it made 2011 one of the best yet (though I say that every year!). Thank you LORD for our blessings!!

Ella Kitty

2012-01-08T22:22:00.000-06:00

I was anxious to see how everyone was going to do with our move. Let me tell you what I was dealing with...
-a 16 month old
-a husband who is VERY OCD and likes his routines, stuff in place, and likes to be all settled (read- unpacked) the first day
-a dog who is used to having a doggy door and now won't
-a cat who is also used to having a doggy door and now won't

Needless to say, I knew I was going to handle this big move the best of anyone (I LOVE changes like this!!!).

Well, the first few days this is how those family members were doing:
-Jay woke up the first two nights without knowing where he was- therefore called out for me in the middle of the night. I quickly waddled up the stairs, grabbed him from his crib, and snuggled him in the big bed in his room. He promptly fell asleep and slept later than normal. Not bad! Other than that, he had a BLAST during the day playing in all the spots! Success if you ask me...
-Anthony proceeded to unpack like a madman. Thankfully, I have a husband who helped a TON (even though I had to move lots of things because it just didn't make sense where he was putting stuff- oh men...). After the third or fourth day when we had almost every box unpacked, he was pretty good to go. Success.
-Tex. Poor baby. He panted and paced for about five days. The doggy door thing was no big deal. He would just wait by the back door if he wanted to go out. Otherwise he was just nervous. You could tell. Poor guy. About the fifth or sixth day he finally settled into his new routine. He's doing AWESOME now. The food on the counter during those five days- not so much. Argh!
-Ella. Oh boy. She took it equally as hard as Tex. She meowed NONSTOP the first night. All night. I kind of wanted to kick her. Kidding (kind of). Anyway, we also had workers in and out of the house for the first week. The loud noises (think nail guns, sanders, saws, hammers, etc..) scared her, so she would go into hiding until everyone left for the day around 6. She would slowly wander down the stairs and then sleep snuggled with us at night.

WELL.... Monday night I went upstairs to put Jay to sleep. She was downstairs earlier and was in the middle of us as usual. Once I came back down Anthony and I hung out on the couch, then headed to bed. The next morning we both noticed she didn't sleep with us, but we didn't have time to look for her because the workers were there and we knew she would be hiding. By that night, though, we realized she never came out. I don't know if she slipped out the door when Anthony was taking stuff to the garage (yes, this is exactly what happened but I don't want to blame Anthony), but she was gone. All week. We drove by the old house, we looked on the streets just in case she had been hit, we drove through both neighborhoods calling for her, we asked neighbors, workers, etc... She was gone.

We were sad. Anthony was actually the saddest of us all. He took it VERY hard. Thursday night Anthony set her food outside of the back door. The next morning the food was almost all gone. I explained to him that even though we are in the city, there are still possums, raccoons, other cats that might eat the food and not to get his hopes up.

Fast forward to Friday night. Around 11 he went outside to take the trash out and call her again (he did this every night and morning- poor thing). Guess who was ON TOP OF HIS CAR JUST HANGING OUT?!?!?! Ella!!!! After FIVE days of being gone, she just appeared!!!!! We brought her in and I thought Tex was going to have a heart attack! He whined and whined and ran around the house! Anthony was so excited! Ella, on the other hand, just meowed to get back outside. Little turd... :)

Anyway, we are SO happy to have our kitty back. Apparently she is NOT a fan of the move and showed us her true feelings...

PS- I'm really tired and in desperate need of my bed. So I'm not going to reread this. Sorry if it doesn't make sense or flow or if I've used etc... too many times (I know that is the truth!). I'm over it :)

So Much to Say...

2012-01-02T22:07:00.000-06:00

I have so much to post about but I'm truly so exhausted by the end of the day that I have no energy! Between moving and staying busy with Jay, there is just not much left to give at the end of the day!

I also haven't uploaded ONE picture from Christmas- which I'm so bummed about... I will get there, I promise!

The house is looking GREAT! Anthony and I made a TON of progress over the weekend! We moved Friday and unpacked Saturday, Sunday, and today. We only have a few boxes left to go, and most are decoration-type boxes. We are still having some work done on the house (new floors, painting cabinets, etc..) so we can't get everything out just yet. But we can live in the house which is wonderful!

Two things before I pack up for the night...

1) Jay has done FANTASTIC with the move. The first two nights he woke up around 3ish and I trekked it all the way upstairs to the opposite side of the house (whose bright idea was it to buy a two story house?! ha!) to comfort him. He just wasn't sure where he was. Since he has a GINORMOUS room, he has his crib and bed (and a lot of toys and furniture!) in there. So I grabbed him from his crib and snuggled him in the big bed. He slept great of course and so did I. There is just nothing like snuggling your baby to make you sleep well :) Anyway, last night he slept the whole night through and did great! So proud of him!

Everyone has been doing a great job with the change EXCEPT for Tex! Poor dog has been a WRECK! He just paces all over and pants. When we leave he gets into the food or things that he normally doesn't. Ugh! Hopefully he will get it together soon! Ella hid the entire first day and meowed the entire first night. She is perfectly happy now and has already found her new "spots" to sleep!

2) We went to our old house today to drop off some keys and do one more walk through to make sure everything was in order for the new guy. I SOBBED! Ha! I walked around our sweet little house and thought of all the great memories we made there. I was doing ok (note, just a FEW tears) until I walked into Jay's room and just started sobbing! Oh my gosh- I couldn't get control of myself! It was RIDICULOUS!!! Apparently moving while you are pregnant is harder than you think emotionally! hahaha Glad I can laugh about it now....

Anyway, we are in and loving our new house. I love all the extra space and trying to remember where we put everything. I do love our sweet little starter house- it will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart!

It's All Ours!!

2011-12-29T14:33:00.000-06:00

It's ALL OURS!!!! We closed on Tuesday and got the keys and the house is officially ours!

We were set to close last week and after being postponed a few times (thank you dumb mortgage company), we FINALLY closed Tuesday afternoon!

The next morning the workers went STRAIGHT to work- ripping up floors, taking off cabinets, redoing lights, etc... Luckily we don't have a TON we wanted to do- it's pretty move-in ready. However, there were a couple things we wanted to put our personal touch on before we moved in. When you come visit, know that the upstairs bathroom hasn't been touched- and will eventually! Think 80's jets in the tub, blue/green floor, brass fixtures- oh yes, it's a gem. :)

Anyway, tomorrow is MOVING DAY for us, so LOTS of prayers would be appreciated! We have some fantastic movers coming for us, but it will be a busy day and the start of a LOT of changes for Jay, Tex, and Ella! Hopefully they will all acclimate quickly!

Come see us! :)

Video Update

2011-12-22T22:17:00.000-06:00

I decided I would upload a couple videos for those family and friends that like to watch them yet don't live close... None of them are super exciting/crazy, but it just kind of showcases our days and what goes on...

Plus, when I post these that AWFUL 32 week picture post will be moved down one more slot. What was I thinking posting that?! UGH...

Happy Christmas Eve eve eve.... :)

I LOOOOOVE this one!!!! Jay is putting his pappies (pacifiers) on the chair and saying bye to them. I am OBSESSED with his little voice and his southern twang (pappay)! Eeeek, I could eat this kid up! Oh, and excuse his bare butt :)

Jay LOVES his cousin's dollhouse! He loves to put people and animals in and out and walk them up and down the stairs. He also likes to make the daddy slide down the roof and says, "Weee!" This particular day of playing he liked putting the people/animals inside the door and saying bye to them. Love that sweet voice!

This video of playing with the dollhouse (yes, I'm aware it's typically for girls, but he's doing a LOT of creative play here so I will NOT object!) shows Jay knocking on the door and telling the people to "Come on!" just like trick-or-treating on Halloween!

And the last one for today... Benefits of having an older cousin with fast toys- they can tow you!!

32 Weeks!

2011-12-19T11:05:00.000-06:00

Oh goodness- I'm in the single digits! 32 weeks sounds REALLY far along! Eek!

Nothing major has changed- my lower back is KILLING me now. I have never had such terrible back pain (other than back labor- WORST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD EVER).

Anyway, as usual, it's been hard to think about being pregnant with so much going on... We are packing and getting things situated for the move! Jay is on the go even more so than before. Christmas is LESS than a week away (do I have everything!?). And we are staying busy!

My doctor's appointment went well today. I am growing right on track! Hard to believe there are only 8 weeks to go!

32 Weeks with Charley Kate!

32 Weeks with Jay!

I definitely could have picked a more flattering shirt for my shot with Charley... Unfortunately, we were in a hurry and I was afraid if I didn't snap one today with my sweater off, I would never get one... Anyway, there she is... Now if she'll just hold on until after we're settled... :)

Dirty Thirty!

2011-12-12T22:21:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we celebrated Anthony and Mike (Andrea's husband)'s 30th birthdays! The boys' birthdays are less than a week apart and it was so fun to throw a joint party!

We had the party in Dallas and it was SO fun! My parents kept Jay (for their first time overnight!) and it was a WONDERFUL treat! We flew up to Dallas- I love that short flight by the way!- Saturday and came back Sunday.

It was a great turnout and a super fun party! Here are some pics of the night...

Getting ready for the party and showing the spread

Stinkin' delicious cakes! We had chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet- a prego's delight!

The Iveys

The Squills

The Parents

The Fam!

Embarrassing Pics...

Football Boys from A&M

...and the Football Wives

(but the girls and boys placement in the pics don't correlate)

I LOVE my Cara! It was so great to see her! xoxo

The pregnant wives!

Natalie-18 wks (girl!), Jordan-20 wks (girl!), Laura-22 wks (boy!), Me-31 wks (girl!)

High school friends...

The Squillante girls!

Singing Happy Birthday!

College Friends!

High school friends' wives!

The party was so so fun! We are so blessed with such great friends and family! Thanks to all who came to celebrate! :)

Christmas Cards!

2011-12-08T21:28:00.000-06:00

I think one of my absolute favorite things about this time of year is getting Christmas cards in the mail! Seriously people- I LOVE them!!

In case you are on our Christmas card mailing list, just a heads up that with the pending move our cards are going to come out quite a bit later than we thought... So just bear with us and know that yours is coming!

Keep sending them!

House Update!

2011-12-07T22:15:00.000-06:00

Whew! What a whirlwind of a few weeks!

As you know (or maybe not if you didn't read the post a few weeks ago!), we put a contract on a house and quickly put ours on the market!

Backstory- we have been looking on and off at houses ever since we found out we were pregnant. We always had in our minds that we would stay in this house between 3-5 years. Well, it's been 3 1/2 now, so we knew the time would be coming. Fast forward to us getting pregnant- picturing TWO kids in this house, and LOTS of toys/things, we knew we could use some more space!

We also knew we didn't HAVE to move! A lot of people raise kids in a house our size (it's 4 bedrooms/2 baths) and it's no big deal. Anyway, we have been keeping our eyes out in case that "perfect" house went on the market. After looking at several houses over several months, we just hadn't found anything we LOVED. Again, no big deal, we knew we could totally survive in this house. It is zoned to a great elementary school, so that wouldn't be a problem (one day...).

However, the market in our zip code is SO HOT right now! Seriously, people are paying UNGODLY amounts of money to get in over here, and houses for sale are on the market on average FOURTEEN days! So if you see one you like, you better be ready to move on it! It was tempting to think about putting our house on the market in such a hot time. But with nowhere to go and a baby on the way, the prospect of moving in somewhere temporarily sounded insane even to us.

Then the week before Thanksgiving I found a house online that I thought looked great, in a fantastic neighborhood, and for a great price. It was above what we had in mind to pay, but as the previous months had shown us, we weren't going to be finding our "perfect" house in our "perfect" area for anything less than that. So I went and looked (I am always the first to look. If it's worth it then Anthony will come back with me the next day). I LOVED it. A lot. Jennifer came with me that day because she had the morning free, and it was great to have her around. I immediately called Anthony and told him he had to come look. He wanted to put it off for a few days, but then I reminded him that if we loved something we had to snatch it up!

We went back the next day and I fell in love even more and Anthony loved it too!

We thought about it over the weekend and put an offer on it Sunday night/Monday morning. YIKES! They countered, we countered back... We had a contract!

Now we had to get ours ready! So we spent the first part of Thanksgiving week getting our house ready (shout out to my mom and Michelle for helping to watch Jay while I got stuff done!). We had pictures taken, teeny things touched up, and we put it on the market on Friday after Thanksgiving! That first day we had a showing (woohoo!) and proceeded to have EIGHTEEN more showings over the course of the week!

After 9 days of being on the market, we got FOUR offers! Then, the potential buyers got into a little bidding war, and we accepted one of them!

We are happy to say our current house is now under option for the next ten days! Not only do we have a contract, but a backup contract signed as well! WHAT A BLESSING!!!!

Right now we are set to close on our new house in a few weeks, then on our house, then MOVE on December 30!!! What a BUSY Christmas this will be!

On one hand, I am SOOOOO excited about our new home and our new adventure.

On the other hand, I will miss our current home SO much. This place is so full of memories! It was our first home together. It's where we brought our new puppy home, then our new kitten, and eventually our first child. It's where we shared LOTS of laughs with each other and friends. We decorated and redecorated a few times. We made improvements. We loved this home. It will absolutely always hold a special place in our hearts. (tear)

So now we pack! We focus on the upcoming move and all that it entails (which is A LOT by the way!). I feel like I have been on the phone non-stop with inspectors, repairmen, contractors, the realtor, moving companies, insurance agency, all of our vendors to switch over to the new house... it's just a never ending list.

But what a blessing to have this option! We are moving from one loving home to the next- something that most of us take totally for granted!

Here is a picture of the outside of our NEW home- we can't wait to have you come visit! :)

28 Weeks!

2011-12-03T22:14:00.000-06:00

PS- I typed this out over a week ago but never took a 28 week prego pic... Bad mama! So, I finally took one last night (at 29 weeks, 5 days) to add... Better late than never, right?

So I know I just recently had a pregnancy post when I started the third trimester, but I can't give up my "monthly" (aka every four weeks) post.

So here I am at 28 weeks! And it feels like I'm 34 weeks! I feel BIG and uncomfortable already!

I am definitely experiencing things earlier than I did with Jay, and I am WAY more complain-y than I was with him!

I feel BIG- my stomach is big and I have heartburn. Yuck.

I have a ridiculous amount of pressure from my belly button down. It feels like she's trying to jump out!

My back is on fire- all over, all the time.

There are other fun unmentionable things that I am getting to experience that I either a)didn't experience at all with Jay, or b)am experiencing them WAY earlier than before!

All of that complaining aside, I still LOVE being pregnant and can't WAIT to meet this little girl (though not yet!)! I still love watching my stomach move, feeling her all the time, and knowing that this little princess will make her debut and be totally and completely loved!

I think it's going to be a LOOOONG 12 weeks left (hopefully not that long!), but thankfully I have a JILLION things going on to keep me occupied and make the time fly!

Here are two comparison pics from 28 weeks!

28 Weeks (slash 29 weeks 5 days) with Charley!

Please excuse the cell phone in my back pocket... My butt is not really square.

28 Weeks with Jay

I actually had my 30 week appointment a few days ago. Doctor said everything is looking great- right on track (a little big of course), weight gain is good (how in the WORLD did I not gain over the Thanksgiving break!?), and Charley is head down (thank you LORD). Hopefully she will stay that way and things will continue to progress well!

I was also supposed to pre-register at the hospital (already!?) and have my every-two-week appointments (again, already??). I can't pre-register though because we are changing insurance Jan 1 AND we will be moving then so I will have to write my NEW address! EEK!

Not Enough Time!

2011-12-02T22:47:00.000-06:00

Y'all, I have wanted to blog so much lately- but have had seriously ZERO extra time to do so! There is so much to talk about (like how Jay has started to say CHEESE when you take a picture of him and the fact that when he sees his reflection in my car he blows kisses to himself- vain much?).

But with having a contract on a house, putting ours on the market, scheduling inspections, bids, and showings, plus helping to organize a marriage retreat for our church and getting together other things, life is just BUSY!!

But it's a GREAT kind of busy. It's just busy!

Not to mention I'm almost 30 weeks now (are you SERIOUS?!) and getting exhausted again. I haven't stayed up past 10:00 in over a week now. My nights consist of putting Jay down, showering/changing, brushing my teeth, and passing out on the couch. For real.

Anyway, some blogs to come soon... Until then, enjoy my little man! :)

Napping with Ella

Again... Reading as always!

I LOVE this picture for so many reasons...

I love that they think they are so big by sitting on the couch watching TV

and I LOVE Jill's face in this one!

This box is a LITTLE too small to sit in methinks...

Here he is saying CHEESE and actually smiling on cue!

Running Man nap pose... I love this!

I also LOVE his little gold toe ankle socks! I HEART my little athlete!

Sensory Activity!

2011-11-28T08:12:00.000-06:00

It's the perfect time of year for some fun sensory activities with your little ones!

We did the easiest "activity" this weekend because the opportunity was there and Jay just loved it!

We were over at my sister's house when her Christmas train set was delivered. She pulled it out of the big box, and we took advantage!

Jay immediately started digging his hands in the box of packing peanuts. Then, he hopped right in! He spent a good 20 minutes just digging and playing and discovering this new texture. He also tried to eat them just ONCE- when he realized these were the kind that dissolved quickly and then stuck to you! After that personal discovery he didn't try again- which made it much easier than me correcting him and telling him not to do it for an hour!

Anyway, he loved the different texture on his hands and feet and body. At one point we actually had 4 cousins in the box playing together. Jay stayed in the WHOLE time, and others got in and out.

After about 20 minutes, I put a bunch of different animals and toys in the box with him. What a great sensory activity! He had to differentiate between textures, sizes, and other attributes to find objects. He got so excited every time he did!

This seriously kept him busy for almost an hour- which is totally unheard of with Jay!!! I took a clip of the end of his playing- he was over showing me what he found, but you get the picture. Also, listen to the chaos in the background! It was raining that day and we had all cousins and sisters/husbands at Jennifer's house. We were setting up trains, baking, watching football, and building a potato cannon. Phew! Through it all, Jay stayed busy and loved this EASY, spur of the moment activity!

In Case We Weren't Busy Enough

2011-11-24T23:07:00.001-06:00

Because we like to pile AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE on our plates at once, we have made our life a little bit busier than normal!

We have a contract on a new house and are selling our current home!

I am SOOO sad to be moving out of this house- I absolutely LOVE everything about it!! But it's time for us to get some more space for our growing family!

This wonderful house has been our home for 3 1/2 years. It was our first house as newlyweds, we got our first dog and first cat at this home, and brought our first baby home to this house. We learned so much in this house and grew up together here. It will always hold a special, special place in our hearts.

If you know anyone who is looking for a wonderful home in the Memorial (west) area, then let me know! Here are a few pictures of our place- and remember we had to take down a bunch of decorations/pictures per our realtor, so know it's usually more decorated than this!

The home we currently have a contract on is WONDERFUL! It's bigger, open, two story, has a pool- everything we've been looking for! It is zoned to incredible schools and is in a very fun, young, cohesive neighborhood! We have inspections on Monday and then hopefully everything else will go well so we can close December 29! It would be amazing to move and have everything ready to go by the time Sweet Charley comes!

Anyway, say a prayer for us that all goes well with the new house, our house sells quickly, and we maintain our sanity through it all! :)

15 Months!

2011-11-22T20:30:00.000-06:00

We had Jay's 15 month appointment last week (see previous post titled Spots).

Other than the discovery of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, the appointment was great!

The doctor was pleased with Jay's progress and looked healthy other than that awesome virus. They said his hernia felt smaller (the internal hole) and the doctor is expecting it to close on its own.

Jay was 33 1/4 inches tall (98%), 24 lbs 3 oz (72%), and 37% head circumference. Basically- just like he's been all along- tall, lean, with a tiny head! :)

I love love love this little boy! He is SUCH a joy and truly the light of my world!

Spots!

2011-11-20T21:11:00.000-06:00

We had Jay's 15 month check up on Friday morning. I'll get into details of that in a different post...

Jay had a HORRIBLE night Thursday night. Probably one of the worst ever. He woke up coughing around 1045 and was up until after 1. He just couldn't get comfortable. I left him to try to go back to sleep in his crib- not happening. I went in and laid with him in his big bed- no way. I took him to his old room and rocked him- nope. He just could not get comfortable! Poor thing! Finally around 1 I brought him into our bed, turned on ESPN, and woke Daddy up for help. I was exhausted. I fell asleep at some point and Jay must have too, because he was up again around 330 and stirred/slept on and off until about 545 when we got up for good. Ugh.

During bath time the night before Anthony noticed a spot by his mouth. He asked if it was a pimple and I told him that it must be a little bite. No big deal.

Fast forward to Friday morning. Michelle and I went to work out and dropped Jay in the nursery. When I picked him up (about thirty min before his check up), I noticed about four more spots around his mouth. Again, no big deal. He's had drool rash before and I was pretty confident that's what this was since he's working on some teeth.

I even made the joke "Good thing we're going into the doctor!" Yeah- ha.

At the check up everything was going fine. I was talking with the doctor when I mentioned the no sleep the night before. That is SO unlike Jay. Even if he's sick he will still sleep- he just needs to snuggle with mommy. The doctor checked his ears which looked fine. Thank goodness.

Then we talked some more when I remembered the spots (Jay had his pacifier in of course so the doctor couldn't see his mouth). I asked about the spots and he looked them over.

Then, Dr. Clarke asked about spots on his feet. To which I replied, "Nope. Oh, BUT, you are going to think I'm an awful mom. I just took his shoes off and realized whatever shoes he had on yesterday gave him little blisters all over. I feel so bad- clearly he won't wear those again!" Dr. Clarke kind of chuckled and checked them out.

He then asked about spots on his butt. Nope. I knew that for sure. I had changed his diaper just before we got to the doc and I knew he was clear. Then the doctor took off Jay's diaper and saw a TON of spots! What?!? They weren't there 30 minutes before!

Dr. Clarke then mentioned Hand, Foot, Mouth disease. What?!?!?!

He checked Jay's throat and there were sores all inside his mouth and throat. Poor baby!!!!!

Clearly, we didn't have drool rash and blisters from shoes- we had a virus!!! Good gravy!!

And guess what?? No antibiotics for this one!! Just a little cocktail of Benadryl and Maalox for the sores and rash with some Tylenol/Ibuprofen for the fever.

Needless to say little dude doesn't look or feel good. That virus came on FAST and we are treating it as best as we can.

So random. So crazy.

Being a parent is certainly never boring...

Who Doesn't Love a Good Mixed CD?

2011-11-17T07:19:00.000-06:00

I know that we have iTunes, but who doesn't love a good, homemade mixed ~~tape~~ CD?? I am still obsessed with them, not to mention I LOVE when others make them because I love a fresh perspective on songs!

Well, my sweet friend from Chi Omega, Amanda Nelson Joiner, is giving away a Mixed Christmas CD! How much better can you get than that? I mean, who doesn't love Christmas music!? And I love that she's not overdoing this by having this giveaway in October. THANK YOU Amanda for waiting until Thanksgiving-ish... you are a smart girl!

Also, you should check out her husband (who is apparently one hot dude)'s new church, Living Stones Church. He is the associate pastor there and they have done a phenomenal job starting this church.

Thanks Amanda for the giveaway!

Why?

2011-11-16T14:01:00.000-06:00

There are some things in life that I just don't get. I am anxious to get to Heaven one day to ask God specific why's (I know there isn't supposed to be an apostrophe there, but it looked weird otherwise)... And I TRULY with my whole heart believe there is a reason for everything and that God's plan and timing are perfect. Still, I just want to know why things turn out the way they do sometimes...

Someone very close to me has struggled with fertility (or infertility- however you look at it) for 5 years. They have gone through numerous treatments, 4 IVFs, and lots of heartache.

About a month ago, this person found out she was pregnant! No therapies, no treatments- all natural! What a blessing! We have been rejoicing and sending prayers of Thanksgiving for about 5 weeks now!

Well, last Friday we found out that she lost the baby. She was 8 weeks and 5 days along when she went in for her routine appointment. The doctor couldn't find the heartbeat. The baby measured 8 weeks and 5 days, which makes the doctor thinks the baby died that day. What an absolute heartbreaking moment.

For those of you who have struggled with fertility you understand this. To get your hopes up after it seems NOTHING works only to find out that it wasn't meant to be is CRUSHING. I can't even begin to imagine losing/miscarrying a child- not to mention losing a baby after you have tried for so long.

So I am asking for prayers for this couple. God knows their names- if you'll just say a prayer for them to not give up hope and to continue to trust in God, I would truly appreciate it.

For those of you with babies, hug them tight. We are so, so blessed.

Another One Down

2011-11-13T21:36:00.000-06:00

Holy Smokes! I'm in my third trimester!! What?!?

Where in the world did this pregnancy go?! How has time gone so fast?

Seriously, I only have about 13 more weeks to get ready for this little girl. Putting it that way, it doesn't sound so bad, but then thinking of it in terms of months and holidays and all that- it's right around the corner!

Last night was a bittersweet night in the Squillante house. We moved Jay into his new room! I am so ready to get started on the new nursery, and excited to decorate a "big boy" room for Jay! I didn't even think twice about moving him, which is why we did it now as opposed to later. I figured the more time to acclimate to his new room the better. What I WASN'T prepared for was the emotional pull I would feel as I passed the empty nursery. Wow. Tears definitely started. Not a lot- but definitely misty eyes as I stopped to pause and look at Jay's "old" room.

I haven't been the type of mom to look back at any stage and wish I was back there with Jay. I think it's because I love every stage of Jay's growth so much, that I am truly 100% content with where he is. I'm also not the mom who looks forward to the next, "better" stage either. I am just truly happy to be where I'm at, and I'm really proud of that. So I thought for sure this new stage was going to be just as exciting. And it is- but my heart had an extra, unexpected tug as I saw Jay's old crib without him in it. :(

I spent A LOT of time in that nursery. I rocked him to sleep every night in that rocking chair, and slept in that chair way too many nights over the past (almost!) 15 months. It is a special room for me that created a special bond with Jay.

Now, it's time to create a new bond with Charley in that room. While I can't wait to get her in that room, I can't help but panic a little bit with the thought of starting ALL over again. I'm truly so excited to meet her and get to know her, but the thought of being up all night, teaching her how to sleep, how to eat, and watching her become more self sufficient is just down right scary.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible talks about how God won't give you more than you can handle. I believe that whole-heartedly. I'm not saying there won't be many times when it feels like it's way MORE than we can handle. But God knows our thresholds and our hearts, and He knows how much we can take and what things will make us stronger and better. So I know while at times I am going to feel beyond exhausted/tired/frustrated/scared/upset, I know that God knows me best and knows just when to encourage me. And that is something I can't wait for!

On a lighter note, I think it's funny because so many people have told me that with each subsequent pregnancy you feel things much sooner than the first time. Boy is that the truth!

My heartburn has started WAY earlier this time, my tailbone hurts, I am just feeling straight up HUGE right now, back ache, etc... However, I look down and see my belly jumping around and am reminded just how wonderful this whole thing is! I love being pregnant! While there are aches and pains, I just love the miracle inside of me! It makes it so worth it. And knowing what I know now about how much I love Jay and will love Charley, I would take 10 times the pain to be able to experience these blessings...

So here are a few pictures from last weekend. Anthony and I went to one of my best guy friend's wedding. I was 26 weeks when we took the pics. Time is just gonna fly now!!! :)

So long second trimester! Look out #3! I'm here... :)

Reading

2011-11-11T08:58:00.000-06:00

So for a long time this former teacher was worried that she had a child that didn't like to read. Because, well, let's be honest, he DIDN'T like it!

All of a sudden, it's his favorite thing in the whole world ever. We spend a good portion of our day reading. Every night before bed we read 5-6 books (the same ones each night). Jay knows where his books are and pulls them off the shelves. Not just to be destructive, but to actually "read" them.

The other day I was getting ready and Jay walked into his room. I followed him and he was playing with his pacifiers on the rocking chair. I walked out and finished getting ready. In the middle of straightening my hair I went in to check on him, and found him sitting in the middle of his books reading. Ahhhh melt my heart! The video isn't anything spectacular- just him "reading" to himself without knowing I was there...

And sometimes in his carseat he will ask for a book while we are driving somewhere. So cute!

And this is our playroom on a daily basis... I pick these books up about a jillion times a day... But it's so worth it!

I love my little reading boy! :)

The Best Friend

2011-11-09T20:34:00.000-06:00

Jay has a serious best friend/obsession/love in his life... and it's his beloved Pacifier- more commonly known to him as Pap-Pap, Pappy, and most recently Packy.

This child is obsessed. You will rarely see him without one.

When he was first born I was sort of against the idea of a pacifier or thumb or whatever until he "needed" it. Meaning, I thought for sure he would show me that he needed it and I would happily give it to him when he needed it and then remove promptly. Ha! How silly I was! I quickly realized the need for a pacifier on Day THREE of his life- right after his circumcision. This was the only way to keep him calm in the following 24 hours when he didn't eat, pee, or poop (yes, it was awful). I realized then how much he would need one.

His first pacifier!

Day three of life.

This was reinforced after about 6 weeks of constant nursing. He needed to suck to soothe himself. And when you have a screaming, high needs newborn, you will let him suck on anything! This pacifier alleviated ME from being the pacifier and worked like a charm!

A little older now (meaning about 4 weeks- still needing that pap pap)

Look how HUGE that newborn pacifier looks in his mouth!!!!

I made a very big effort to only give it to him while he slept at the beginning. I was proud of myself! And he did fine in the meantime. This way I could see his smiles and hear his precious voice. Perfect!

I distinctly remember around 4 months old when I was in his room while he was sleeping. I always go in right before my bedtime to pray and do one final "check" of my baby boy (yes, I still do this- every single night). I heard him stirring and had the overwhelming fear of "Oh no! He's waking up and I am going to have to get him back to sleep! A long night ahead!" However, I saw the most magical thing. He was sleeping on his stomach of course, he lifted his head up, reached around and found the discarded pacifier, and PUT IT BACK IN! I almost cried. He went right back to sleep!

Right around 5 months... Looks like Daddy might want one, too!

As he got older his need for his "safety" blanket (aka his pacifier- not a real blanket) grew and grew. I could quickly see why the pediatrician warned about taking them away between 6-9 months. It was becoming a bad habit. But it was also helpful for this sleep deprived momma who quickly found out she was expecting again.

Here is what happened when I tried to take that bad boy away for a picture. Awesome.

Now Jay has his pacifierS (yes, there is an S on the end) ALL THE TIME. All day. Every day.

Notice the two on the table.

I have noticed that when he is in a scary situation (going to a new place, seeing people for the first time, etc..) he will have 2-3 pacifiers at all times and just rotate them in and out. Once he is comfortable, he ditches those things and doesn't look back! It's hilarious! Think of it as a nervous laugh that adults have at a first meeting, or twisting and ringing (or is it wringing? I'm too lazy to look it up) of hands, shifting your weight back and forth until you are comfortable. Jay has something to calm himself and I think it's hilarious!

The latest trick.

At first Jay would only have MAM pacifiers. Now it's anything goes! He still prefers to sleep with his MAMs, but throughout the day anything will do!

If he can't find one of his pap-paps (I refused to call them pacis or binkies. Sorry), he will walk around the house with his hands in the "where are they" position calling "pap-pap?" or "pappy?" or "packy?" in the highest pitched voice. I LOVE IT.

He also loves trying to get me to shove as many in my mouth as possible at once. The record is five by the way. I ALMOST squeezed six in last night- but it was just too many!

Since he constantly looks for those suckers, I came up with a solution and it's made my life so much easier! His shelves in his playroom have drawers. I have now put EVERY SINGLE PACIFIER we own in this drawer, so he knows where he can always find a few. This was genius on my part. I won't lie!

Many people have asked me why I haven't weaned him of them yet. I consistently (I'm talking several times a week here) have RANDOM people come up to me and tell me that he is old enough to lose the pacifier. At first it made me SO mad that people would just pass judgment so quickly and tell me how to raise my child. Now it doesn't bother me at all. Jay will get rid of them when he's ready. And if he doesn't, then he'll have a mommy and daddy there to help him. But right now, he's an almost 15 month old baby with a little sister on the way. We are about to move him into his new room, throw his world upside down by adding a new baby that needs mommy's attention more than him, and have a baby in the house who will most likely also take a pacifier. So, if you are wondering the same thing- now's not the time for us. I figure if he can go to preschool/kindergarten without a pacifier, then we'll be ok.

I love the quirks of this little boy and how I get to discover more and more of his personality each day. His sweet little discoveries never cease to amaze me!

How Can I Pull This Off??

2011-11-09T08:09:00.000-06:00

I am not a big YouTube-er.... but when I come across a video I love, I have to share it!

Since we are naming our little darling Charley, then I HAVE to figure out a way to get my kids to do this...

This is one of my favorite YouTube videos ever! Ha!

What's in a Name??

2011-11-07T11:30:00.000-06:00

A lot actually! We take naming our babies VERY seriously in the Squillante household! It's something that will be with them FOREVER! It's a lot of times the first thing people hear about someone and I truly believe it's something that defines them forever.

We had a LONG list of girl names and a boy name already chosen before we knew that S2 was a girl. I had one name I was in L-O-V-E with the whole time- and it took a LITTLE convincing to get Anthony on board. I am happy to report that he is a FAN now and I am SOOOO excited to reveal this precious little girl's name....

Drumroll please....

Our little S2 will be called

Charley Kate Squillante !!!!!

I am so so so in love with this name! And I'm obsessed with the bloomers above!! They are officially her first monogrammed item and I can't WAIT to put her in them!

I have loved this name for a LONG LONG time. Anthony has loved the named Katherine (go by Kate). I told him I loved that name too, but after William and Kate/Catherine's wedding this year, I just figured there might be quite the influx of little girls named that. And there is nothing wrong with that, I just wanted something a little more unique! So we compromised and we have Charley Kate! We will call her Charley Kate and sometimes just Charley... A little pet name for her.

I am from the south and my mom's side of the family is from Alabama. Anthony has fallen in LOVE with the fact that often in the south people call their little girls by two names. We have lots of family members who have gone by first and middle names and he loves this idea!

So to seal the deal, while we were in Hawaii, we planned on meeting the boys for breakfast in some little town after their bikeride down Haleakala. My brother-in-law Aaron made the plans and he said he would text us the name and address of the restaurant once they started down the mountain.

GUESS WHAT THE NAME OF THE RESTAURANT WAS????

YUP! That's right! It was Charley's!! I just knew it was meant to be! And at that moment, Anthony knew too!

The tricky part was choosing the spelling! Would we do Charley, or Charli, or Charly? Would we do Cate or Kate? Or would we do Katherine and call her Charley Kate or Catherine? SO MANY DECISIONS! In the end, we decided on Charley Kate and I love it!

So now our baby is named! I've actually been calling her this for a few weeks just to make sure I really liked it. And I do! Yay!

Charley Kate, we CANNOT wait to meet you!!!!!

Nesting!!

2011-11-02T21:09:00.000-05:00

I am in crazy nesting mode... All I want to do is rearrange rooms and closets and get our little girl's room ready and Jay's new room ready. BUT I CAN'T!!!

Ok so the last couple of days I have rearranged drawers, closets, the pantry, cabinets... Yeah, I'm THAT girl.

And in reality, all I want to do is get their bedrooms ready. So this weekend Anthony's parents are coming in town and we are going to get his dad to help move one of the guest bedroom's furniture into the garage so we can set the extra (borrowed from my oldest sister) crib up for Jay's new room! My plan is to turn this particular room into Jay's new room. I will keep the bed in there, but also have a crib, and a dresser, nightstand, and bookshelves for toys. This way, when we are ready to transition Jay into a big boy bed we will be able to easily since the bed will already be in there!

As for little girl's room- we just got her bedding in (yay!!), and will transform the current boy nursery into a little girly nursery! We figured it's easier to keep all of the same furniture and just paint the walls and redecorate as opposed to moving everything big into a new room.

So that's the plan. And I'm ready to take it on!!!!

Wisdom

2011-11-01T21:23:00.000-05:00

I love getting good, helpful advice from people who have experienced things before. I especially like when that wisdom actually works for me! :)

Diaper changes with Jay have always been a struggle. From early on he hated it, then he fought it, then he wiggled and wrestled, and now he just straight up refuses!

I have to literally chase him, pin him down, and do it as fast as possible. In the past once he was down and crying I could distract him with a toy or silly faces or whatever. Now he just cries and pushes my hands off his legs yelling NO NO NO at me. It's a fun time to say the least- especially doing it 4,5,6 times a day.

Enter my oldest sister Jennifer. She had the same problem with her oldest son. She gave me some advice and it has worked AWESOME for three days!

Pull ups.

Jay will step into clothes easily. So now I show him the pull up, he will actually come TO me sometimes (!), and then let me rip off the old one and step into the new one! Genius!!! No more fights and the process is WAY shorter! We still do the regular diaper at night, but the pull up has made it through three days and is amazing!!!

I LOVE good advice! And for any of you struggling with the same issue, try it- you might love it as much as me!! :)

Ps- this picture has nothing to do with pull ups (he's actually not wearing anything in this picture!), but he just looks so cute and old in his hat that I wanted to share!!

Win!!

2011-10-31T22:52:00.000-05:00

Halloween was a TOTAL success!!!!!!!

We met my sister Jennifer's family at their neighborhood pool and ran around and ~~fought off mosquitoes~~ played! We were dressed as an Aggie football player because I was too lazy to come up with anything creative and I knew Jay would be more comfortable in these clothes over anything else. Not to mention he HATES anything on his head- so anything like that was out of the question! Jay had a blast on the playground and playing with the big kids. We met them there last year and it's AMAZING how much things have changed in a year!

Hanging out with Grandeb

My awesome Halloween shirt!

I was so proud of this find!

Last year! So teeny!

The constable came and started the "parade" and we were off!

Getting in the wagon with Jill!

Sweet Minnie Mouse

Heading off!

We came up to a few people on the street for our first candy-getting experience. Jay didn't even have to get out of the wagon for the first one. He wasn't sure what was going on, but was THRILLED when someone put things in his PUNKEE (although he had no clue what candy was!).

Then we came to our first house where we had to walk up the sidewalk to the door. The people were actually outside which was great. Jay had NO FEAR. He just walked right up like he had done it before! So sweet! We even recorded the whole event in video- except ~~Daddy~~ someone forgot to make sure it was recording and took still shots instead!!! You think I would have learned after this same guy messed up the recording of our ring dunking... ahhhh... Some people just aren't good with technology! :)

Meanwhile he stopped for a wagon ride during the long stretch of no-houses. He had his "punkee" with some candy, his football, a pap-pap in each hand, and one in his mouth... He quickly was OVER riding and wanted to walk the rest of the way! He was a trooper!

Checking out his loot!

Silly pap pap 1

Silly pap pap 2

It took him ONE house to get the hang of the whole "walk up, knock, wait, get something, walk away" thing.... He followed his VERY good leader/teacher Jill and learned quickly... Sidenote (this will help understand the following story)- when anyone walks out of a room Jay yells "come-uh" after you and follows meaning, "I'm coming!" When Jay wants you to follow or come with him when HE walks out of a room he yells, "Come Ahn" (sounds like come on). It's one of my favorite things ever! ....

Anyway, the first house he watched Jill knock, then he knocked. Then we told him to wait patiently because the people inside were coming. Well, at the next house he walked up to the door, knocked, and then SCREAMED, "COME AHN!!!!" Oh my gosh, I seriously almost wet my pants from laughing so hard. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen- totally unprompted! I LOVE that kid!!! He continued to do it at each house after that one... Thank GOODNESS no one actually heard him from behind the door! But we all did!

Jill was tired of wearing shoes and tired of riding... I love it!

This picture is so dark, but Jay is actually knocking! So cute!!!

Walking with Grandeb!

Seriously, the night was a HUGE success! I'm so impressed that Jay did so well, picked it up so quickly, and wasn't shy at all! What a gem!

Happy Halloween to all!!

Random Acts of Kindness!

2011-10-28T20:37:00.000-05:00

I cannot tell you how much I love random acts of kindness. I love doing them- I love surprising people and making them happy. I love how something little can make someone's day just a little brighter- I just love everything about it!

Imagine my surprise when I went to get my mail today and realized I was on the receiving end of an act of kindness!

My friend from college, Emily, posted this on her blog a few days ago. I was reading her post, saw the picture and literally said out loud, "Oh my gosh! That's so cute!" Then I remember making a mental note to buy cute things for our little girl.

Enter today. I got my mail and there was a PACKAGE for Baby Girl Squillante with THIS inside!!!!!

How adorable is this onesie?!? Emily made it!!! I have been so impressed with her latest sewing endeavour and secretly pine for everything she makes for her precious boy, Carson! Carson and Jay are about a month apart and she is SUCH a good mommy! He is so lucky that she can make him such adorable things- poor Jay!

Anyway, back to the cute onesie- I am in love! Everything about it is so cute- from the pink and the ruffles on the sleeves/collar, to that PRECIOUS owl! We were Chi Os together at A&M and I just love the thoughtfulness of this gift.

It seriously made my day/week/month... Thank you Emily!!! I am beyond grateful!

Now go out, all of you, and do an act of kindness- you never know how appreciative that person will be!

24 Weeks!

2011-10-24T21:38:00.000-05:00

Wow... I'm 24 weeks pregnant- crazy!

This precious girl is starting to show some of her sweet personality!

Anthony finally felt her kick towards the end of last week. The funny thing is it's almost three weeks later than he felt Jay! She's already showing a little bit more of the calm/less strong side... I like that :)

HOWEVER, this little party animal has been having dance parties in the middle of the night that wake me up! Jay never did that- he played hard during the day and slept at night... makes me a little nervous about how she'll sleep once she's here!

I am NO closer to getting her nursery ready- so frustrating for me!!! I just can't find bedding that I love- and I'm about to just settle so I don't have to deal with the hassle! Hate that!

We are debating the spelling of her little name and will announce it soon. I just love it so much and can't wait to share! :)

I think that's all on the prego update front. Still feeling great- but starting to feel really big (which I know I have a LONG way to go!). Sleeping is just so-so... but that might have more to do with the fact that Jay is working on his bottom molars and he's not sleeping either!

Here are some pics (on time this round!!) of this pregnancy and last...

This time around... 24 Weeks

Pregnancy with Jay... 24 Weeks

Boo!

2011-10-20T17:59:00.002-05:00

One of Jay's new favorite things to do is to "scare" us! He likes to hide behind things and say boo! Here is a video from recently- I think it's sooo cute how proud he is of himself!!

If you listen you can hear him say "boo" when he comes out (from behind his pacifier). You can also hear him say "Go?" when he goes to hide. When someone or something is out of sight we always say, "Where did it/they go?" Cute!!

Hawaii!

2011-10-18T22:57:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness- we seriously had the BEST time ever in the tropical paradise of Hawaii! It was better than I could have expected- even WITH a 13 (almost 14!!) month old! I tried really hard to just sum up the main/high points of the trip. I could go ON AND ON about each and every detail of the trip... So here goes (oh, and there are an insane amount of pictures... I narrowed A LOT!)...

The premise of the trip was celebrating Kiki (my second sister) and Aaron's tenth anniversary. A chunk of the family went- but sadly, not everyone. Kiki, Aaron, and Owen, my mom, the three of us, and Michelle and Scott went. It was a great group and next time we are hoping for the whole gang! :)

The flights there were great. Jay stayed awake the entire first leg (3 hours and 45 min) to LA. We watched some DVDs and did a LOT of playing in our seat. Luckily the flight wasn't full and we asked the ticketing people ahead of time if we could have a row to ourselves. This was awesome because Jay sat between us and we had much more space! Phew!

The second flight was great- not even half full and it was the night flight. We left at what would have been around 8:45 for us and got there around what would have been 2:30 am for us. Jay slept the WHOLE time. And since this flight was so empty we each got a full row to ourselves (and extra blankets!). YES!

We got there and Jay was up for the drive to the hotel and a teeny bit of playtime- about 2 hours total. Then he went down for the night and woke up around 5 am-ish... Which was great considering it was the first night of a five hour time change.

I am just going to warn you (and you are all free to judge- but it doesn't really matter!)... I definitely rocked a bikini this trip. I know that some people think it's weird- and that's totally your opinion, but I like seeing pregnant girls who are somewhat fit in a bikini- I love seeing how proud they are of their bumps! So, while it's not for everyone, it was for me this trip and I'm glad I did it! :)

Anyway, we stayed at Kapalua Bay in some villas- two right next to each other on the beach- which was awesome. The location was GREAT and close to a lot of things we wanted to see.

View from our Kapalua Villa

We spent the first day on the beach, we went to church (even stayed for their potluck!), and more beach time after that. I'm telling you- if you ever have the chance to hear The Lord's Prayer, or any well-known church song in Hawaaian- I HIGHLY recommend it. It was the most beautiful thing I have EVER heard! We went to Lahaina for dinner that night. Jay fell asleep before we left dinner (around 730) and slept through the night until about 545 am (he started acclimating REALLY well- REALLY fast!).

First Morning of Sand- he had it EVERYWHERE!

Building sand castles with Daddy...

This was the first day of our trip- don't mind the white back ;)

Mommy and Jay Footprints... Love those sweet baby feet!

Church in Lahaina

Monday the boys woke up and did the sunrise bike ride down Haleakala. Good for them- not my cup of tea! :) We met them for breakfast at a FABULOUS place (more on that later) and then took off for the road to Hana. PS- this was my LEAST favorite part of the trip. We saw absolutely stunning things, but I swore to myself I would never do this again. Jay was a super trooper- seriously, he spent a total of 13 hours in the car and was perfect! Much better than his mom and dad :) The rest of the group loved it- just not me...

Boys before bike ride

Boys during bike ride

Daddy and Jay at one of the waterfalls.

I was SCARED to death- they were literally on the edge!

One of the pretty stops on the Road to Hana

Family on the rocky beach

Black Rock/Sand Beach with Grandeb

The pretty black sand beach

The smoothie hut we stopped at on the side of the road!

Tuesday we beached it up! We went to Kaanapali and it did not disappoint. We played in the sand, ventured into the water (Jay wasn't much of a fan of the water on this trip- the waves and movement of the water scared him), did some stand up paddle boarding (!!), and snorkeled. It was SO MUCH FUN. I have been to a lot of beaches all over the world, and there is just something about Hawaii that is unmatched. The water and beaches are truly breathtaking!

Ant stand-up paddling

Me paddleboarding! SOOOOO fun!

Building on the beach...

A shot of my prego belly (from afar of course!) :)

Cute little sandy crack :)

We took a nap and then hit up the pool of the villas we were staying at before dinner. The kids had a great time even though the water was FREEZING. Jay was a maniac! He is definitely a concrete-loving city boy like his momma! He had a blast in the pool and loved entertaining the grownups!

Wednesday we transitioned from Kapalua to Wailea. We went to Kapalua Bay beach in the morning and it was truly incredible. While we had more beach time, the Fountains and Michelle and Scott went ziplining. They said it was wonderful- I can't imagine it being better than our gorgeous beach :)

Nap time on the beach!

The GORGEOUS beach! And the palm tree shadow in the sand is awesome!

Jay and Mommy kissing on beach :)

I dug a hole for my tummy!

We stopped for some lunch and shopping in Lahaina that afternoon. We took obligatory pictures at the Banyan tree, got MORE Shave Ice (yes, they call it Shave- not Shaved- weird), and got some souvenirs.

We drove up to our resort for the second half of the trip and I felt like I was home. MY CUP OF TEA. We stayed at the Grand Wailea. Seriously, click on that link and just check out the pictures on the homepage. Unreal. This was my third stay at this hotel and it's a place I will ALWAYS stay when we hit up Maui. It is like no other! We actually rented a villa across the street and it was seriously AMAZING.

Family at the Wailea Fountains!

Group shot at the fountains

Mom and Sisters at Fountains

One of the views at the Grand Wailea. Yes, that amazing!

Earlier when I mentioned we stayed in the villas at Kapalua, they were more like condos. Super nice, convenient, but not so much "resort" feel. The Grand Wailea villas are straight up HEAVEN. It was three bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, two stories with an elevator. State of the art kitchen (that took us a while to learn how to use) and grill, fabulous patio, an infinity bath tub with a waterfall spout to fill it, and SO MUCH MORE. Luxury for sure!

Catching the sunset on Grand Wailea beach.

I LOOOVE the silhouette of the little boys!

We had an amazing time and splitting it between all of us was such a better idea than getting separate rooms at the hotel. Plus, we had a close place for Jay to nap, and we could eat in (or out!) as much as we wanted!

Wednesday night we grilled steaks and had a great time with each other. Perfect!

Thursday we lounged at the Wailea pools and beach all day. The pools are a perfect place for kids- something for everyone! We spent the most time at the wade in "beach" connected to the rest of the pool. Jay loved this kind of beach because there were no waves but had lots of sand to dig in. It was perfect! We took the water elevator, played in the lazy river, and just fully chilled out! Amazing!

Thursday was also Kiki and Aaron's anniversary, so they had a little vow renewal ceremony at the property's chapel. They wanted to get married here, but so many family members wouldn't have been able to come (it was about a month after 9/11 and peeps were still nervous- totally understandable!), so they chose to renew their vows here. It was simple and very pretty!

The view of the chapel from the front

Our little family by the chapel

Kiki and Aaron in the chapel!

Then we headed to the LUAU! Anthony had never been to one, and it was so fun to watch! Jay didn't stop watching the dancers the whole time- his favorite was the fire dancer! It was so cute how entertained he was! He fell asleep at the very end... Perfect timing!

Our group at the luau!

We were originally supposed to leave Friday, but after being at the Grand Wailea for a day, we extended our trip one more day. Seriously, it was that amazing!

Friday morning we all went on the Trilogy snorkeling tour (except for my mom- she stayed and watched Jay for us so we could get out alone for a while! THANK YOU!!!). It was a blast and another slice of luxury- the crew feeds you throughout the trip, they totally take care of you, and you get some amazing snorkeling in! We saw lots of pretty fish about 4-5 sea turtles. They were seriously less than 10 feet from us- incredible!

Ant and me under water!

Front of the boat

Napping on the boat!

That afternoon we hung out more at the pool and beach. Friday night everyone but our little family of three went to dinner. We chose to stay in and grill out again. It was just too hard wrestling with Jay at nice restaurants. Plus, this gave us some good family time- and it was SO FUN! Probably one of my favorite nights of the whole trip! On a sidenote- Jay loved the infinity bathtub so much. When we bathed him that night he seriously started falling asleep at the end of his bath. Anthony and I noticed how still he was being, and we looked and his eyes were closed. Hilarious! Don't worry- we grabbed him right away so he wouldn't drown... :)

Saturday was our last day :(

We woke up (after Jay slept 12 1/2 hours!!!!) and went to the Grand Wailea's FABULOUS breakfast buffet. I might have taken the "eating for two" thing a little too seriously on this morning. Luckily, I didn't have to suck in my stomach at the pool and beach the rest of the day, so I was all good! :)

Yummy breakfast- beautiful view!

We hung out at the beach and pool the rest of the day, the Aggies won (yay!), and we just relaxed for a few more hours. It was seriously HEAVEN!

We headed out that night and Jay slept the entire time on both legs of the FULL flights. We got in Sunday around noon, and spent the rest of the day unpacking and napping. And then Jay slept another 12 hours (9-9) Sunday night.

Can our sweet boy be a more perfect world traveler?!!? I think not!

On a sidenote- he seriously did SO well. This was a perfect time to take him somewhere like this because he adjusted so well. We also didn't force him to get on a schedule or do anything out of the ordinary. The first day we just let him nap when he needed. It worked out perfectly and it's definitely something we will remember next time we travel! He was the BEST traveling companion!

Oh, and one more thing... we decided on our name for baby girl... Can't wait to tell! :)

Haven't Seen You for a While

2011-10-16T21:27:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a LONG time since I've blogged!

But I've got a GREAT excuse!

I was doing a little of this last week....

Hawaii was AMAZING! Post to come once I catch up on sleep! :)

The Beginning!

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

So today marks a VERY special day in the Squillante household! Today is the FIFTH anniversary of our engagement!

I honestly cannot believe five years has flown by since Anthony asked me to marry him. It was the most incredible night and I LOVE reliving it!

Friday afternoon I got home from school (I was living at my parents' house) and decided to color my hair. This was NOT unusual for me- I LOVED experimenting with new hair colors. My parents weren't home at the time, and I didn't want to wait for my usual hair lady to have an opening the next week, so I ran up to TGF or something awful like that and picked out a color I liked. A little lighter- kind of a light brunette. As they started blowdrying my hair I noticed it was ORANGE. ORANGE. When I started to panic in the chair the nice man asked if I wanted him to fix it. I said NO THANK YOU and decided to call my real lady STAT on Saturday to see if she could squeeze me in. If not, I could wait until Monday. It was a student holiday and it wasn't that big of a deal to me!

My mom got home that evening and saw my hair. Knowing that I would be getting engaged the next night (unknown to me of course!) she FREAKED out and told me I needed to run to the store and get a box of darker brown to hide it. I was NOT this panicked and wasn't sure why she all of a sudden cared about my hair color. We went back and forth, and after a while (we are both stubborn Tauruses- or is it Tauri?) she won. We went to Walgreens and got a box of some deep brunette color. Should be safe enough. 20 minutes later the box worked and I had some DARK brown hair. Better than orange in my mom's book. Whatever...

The next morning Anthony and I both went to my nephew Jake's soccer game. Just a normal Saturday. Anthony told me the day before that he got a gift certificate to Damian's Italian Restaurant for working on some deal at work. That wasn't abnormal. He asked if I wanted to go with him on Saturday, and I said of course. This was only his second year at the company and he was low man on the totem pole. If we got a FREE nice dinner out we were all over it!

That evening he came to pick me up. I was all dressed up since it was a nice restaurant. Our reservations were early- like 5:45 or something like that. My mom wanted to take pictures before we left. I was embarrassed and said NO because it was just another dinner out. Sheesh mom! :)

We got to the restaurant and were the only ones there! Um, what?? Ant told me they were just opening (true) for dinner and couldn't get one at any other time. Whatever, we were still getting a free meal! We enjoyed a YUMMY dinner together and had a really good time- especially because we were alone in the restaurant!

SIDENOTE (I promise this helps the story to make sense!).... When I was a little girl (four or five) I informed my parents that when I got married they were going to need to rent out the Astrodome for my wedding because I had so many friends and knew so many people that we would need the space. It's been a running joke in my family that whoever married me needed to be prepared to get the Astrodome for the wedding- nothing like being high maintenance at 5 years old!

So as dinner was winding down, the manager came to our table. He said there was some Houston Rodeo committee (another sidenote- I have always LOVED the rodeo and everything about it!) gathering/party at the Astrodome that night and Damian's patrons were invited for free! He even gave us a paper with the info and instructions. He told us where to enter and that we could just drive down and park in there. Score! I love the rodeo and ANOTHER free thing for us to do?! Heck yeah. Anthony was a little hesitant about going (this non-native Houstonian didn't realize how awesome the rodeo was just yet!). He said, "Are you sure you want to go? We can do something else..." I said HECK YEAH we were going! And off we went!

We drove to the Dome and there were parking attendants showing all the "committee/party people" where to park. They flagged us around and we drove RIGHT DOWN TO THE ASTRODOME floor. This was my dream come true! Not only did I LOVE the Dome as a little girl and want to get married there, but I also loved watching the Astros play there, and I LOVED the rodeo! What a perfect night!

As we pulled onto the Dome floor, I noticed there was no one else there. We parked and got out. In the middle of the Astrodome floor was a single, candlelit table and a waiter there.

Then I knew.

Anthony came over to me and I just MELTED into him. He claims to this day that that is his all-time favorite memory of me. I started crying on the spot. At some point he handed the waiter our camera and then got down on one knee.

He said the sweetest things in the world to me (most of which I can't remember) and asked me to be his wife. I said YES!!!! We hugged and kissed and it was wonderful! THEN he showed me the ring! Then I said YES again- woohoo!!

After that we sat at the table in the middle of the Astrodome floor. We kissed and laughed and hugged and prayed. It was the most special, magical moment we had ever had. It was so intimate and wonderful- just the two of us (and our photographer!). I will never ever forget the time we had sitting that cute little table.

After we ate chocolate covered strawberries and drank champagne (I kept the cork!). We had so much fun on the Dome floor. The bases were out from old Astros days and we ran the bases, stopping to kiss on homeplate! We looked at all the banners and just hung out! It was seriously SO MUCH FUN!

When we decided we were finished (and we dragged it out a LOOOONG time), we hopped in the car to head to my parents! I called them right away and told them the good news! They were so excited! Then we called the rest of our family and friends and shared the news! It was so fun!!

We got to my parents and there was a whole entourage of my family waiting there for us! It was so fun to tell the story again and show off my BLING!

It honestly was the perfect night! The fact that my boyfriend took the time to make a childhood joke/fantasy come true was incredible. It was amazing and certainly a night I will NEVER forget!

Some after-info... He works in commercial real estate (meaning he rents out/builds office buildings. It wasn't too crazy for him to actually rent out the Astrodome. He said he just made a few calls and the guy was happy to help! Wild!). He also had his secretary print a fake coupon for Damian's and called ahead to make sure everyone there knew the deal. He wanted us to be alone but didn't want it to be obvious that we would be getting engaged afterwards! Good call! I also felt bad for ordering the expensive steak and other things since he actually paid for the meal! Ha! The manager of the restaurant did a GREAT job of playing up the fake rodeo thing. And my parents and family did a great job of pretending they had no clue and then waiting for us afterwards. I was so happy to have the private moment of the actual engagement, but I was equally as happy to have the most important people to me to celebrate afterwards! Anthony literally thought of EVERY last detail that I would want to consider it perfect. And it was!

Thank you, Anthony, for asking me to marry you five years ago. It was the best YES I have ever said!

Obsessed

2011-10-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

I am seriously obsessed with my little boy. I could sit and watch him play and talk all day long- oh wait, I do!

But really, he is so funny these days! He is getting more and more verbal and I LOVE it!

There are some things that he has recently started doing (and by recently I mean the last month or two- mom of the year) that I have wanted to catch on video. I got a few of the things and I thought I would share! The longest video clip is less than two minutes, so if you aren't a video watcher like me, then don't worry!

Here is Jay reading his Peekaboo book. You can hear him say Peekaboo (or his version of it- pk-a-boo) three times. Adorable!

Here is another one of Jay reading. He sees his Elmo book first and says Elmo. It's pretty clear! Then he finds and pats his Bibles.

This is probably my newest favorite things Jay does. He has started speaking Gibberish non-stop. He is "reading" here (note the book is upside-down). My other FAVORITE (and not so favorite depending on the question) thing he has started doing is answering no to my questions. I mean, legitimately knows the answer is no and says it. HILARIOUS! Until I tell him that it's time to go somewhere or get dressed. Then I get the head shake and the No. Thanks for the resistance- but it's still so dang cute! :)

And more "NO" answers. At least he doesn't think Auntie Michelle is all gone! :)

There are some other things he's recently started saying and doing that I'm still trying to capture on video. He says Uh Oh so clear these days- it's so cute! And he knows when he's done something wrong (throwing things off his high chair, tearing a page out of a magazine, dropping his pacifier on purpose), and he'll say it.. Again, funny for now! :)

He is also OBSESSED with looking in the sky for birds, airplanes, and now helicopters! He says "ahpay" for airplane and he just this week started trying to say helicopter. It comes out as "heckicocka" and is too funny!

And then my newest FAVORITE is how he says "Come On!" If he wants to go somewhere, he will walk out of the room and yell, "Come Ah!" Or if I leave the room without him he will yell it like he's saying "I'm coming!" It's HYSTERICAL and something definitely worth catching on film! One day....

Until next time! :)

I Need to Go Shopping- STAT!

2011-10-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

I took Jay to the zoo for his second time ever last week.

First of all, HE LOVED IT. He has been obsessed with animals for a while now (months!) and can do just about every animal sound there is. We have an iPhone app that I've mentioned before that goes through the animal pictures and their sounds. Jay not only does each sound but then does the next animal's sound before the picture even pops up. I'm not saying my kid's a genius... well, maybe I am... JUST KIDDING! :)

Anyway, this was the perfect time to take him to the zoo. As soon as we saw the elephants, he started doing the sign for elephant and making their sound. Like 100 times in a row. It was hilarious. Same with giraffe (just the sign- do they make a sound??). And same with all the others that he knows. It was PRECIOUS.

We went with my sister and niece Jill and a group of preschoolers from our church. It was SUCH a fun trip and the perfect day for a zoo trip!

There was a LOT of this...

Poor Jill... Good thing the child labor law people didn't see us! But she loved it. She also loved bossing Jay around and telling him when he needed to drink and eat. I LOVE little girls! :)

One of Jay's FAVORITE parts was the petting zoo. Although, you can't really call it a whole ZOO when all they have is goats. Regardless, Jay LOVED the goats. I mean seriously...

And my personal favorite... He is KISSING THE GOAT!!!!!!

I honestly LOOOVE that he takes after me and loves animals so much. He has yet to meet an animal he is scared of. He loves them all. And this makes my heart so happy it could just burst. Seriously, other than my children (ok and the rest of my family, friends, etc...), I don't know if there is anything else on the earth I love more than animals. Maybe Jay will become a vet?!?

If you've made it this far you might be wondering why this post has the title it does. I mean, shopping and the zoo? What do those have in common? Well, a lot if you are as awesome as ME.

As I mentioned above, I have taken Jay to the zoo ONLY TWICE. As I was driving to the zoo on Friday, I felt some oddly familiar. As we parked (or maybe while we were stopped at a light- don't judge), I got my phone out and looked at our zoo pictures from FEBRUARY. Oh no. I was wearing the EXACT same outfit!!!!! Not just similar outfit. But exactly the same. Which tells you a)how lame my wardrobe is, b)how I was still wearing maternity clothes when he was almost 6 months old, and c)how awesome I am. Wow.

Proof....

Zoo in February. Notice how young Jay is!

Another shot so you can get the whole outfit....

Annnnd here I am the other day.

I rock.

Maybe it's time to go shopping. Or maybe I need to get my butt back in gear faster after this next baby.... So cool.... I know...

20+ Weeks

2011-10-02T21:48:00.000-05:00

So here I am... 20 weeks pregnant. Well, that's not true, I'm actually 21 weeks today. But I totally didn't take a picture and lost track of time and was really busy and blah blah blah so I didn't do a 20 weeks post. My bad... But, one week late is NOT bad if you ask me!

I'm 5 months pregnant. How in the world am I that far along?! Good gravy! I say it each time I write about it, but it's gone by so much faster this time because I don't have time to think about it all day everyday. I am thoroughly enjoying being pregnant again... Here are some of things that are going on...

-I feel really great! I'm still jogging/walking almost every day- except my jogging is getting slower and slower. I also can only jog in shorter increments because I just get too out of breath. That, and the fact that little Miss jumps up and down on my bladder while I run... But I am getting out and exercising and I still go to bootcamp a few times a week!

-My energy is mostly up, but I still try to squeeze in a short nap during the day if I can. If not, I am just too exhausted to make it past dinner and be any sort of company for my husband when he gets home. If I can get at least 20 minutes during the day I can stay up until 11:30! Go me!

-I feel EXACTLY the same as I did with Jay. This is why I thought it was a boy again. I'm also carrying the same (not higher, not out to the side) as I did with Jay.

-My cravings are somewhat different this time around. Last time I wanted cucumbers and cake (those who know me well know I am NOT a cake person) and watermelon. This time I want CHOCOLATE ice cream. I have never in my life gotten chocolate ice cream over vanilla. EVER. I actually bought a half gallon of Blue Bell Milk Chocolate. And Dutch Chocolate. Delicious. I also could eat pickles all day long. Real creative, right? Pickles and Ice Cream...

-I have bought zero maternity clothes so far. This time around I know how long I am going to be in them during pregnancy and after, so I'm trying to squeeze into my regular clothes as long as possible. Or just wear some of my maternity clothes from before. Plus, I had ALL summer maternity clothes with Jay. I will need to buy a LOT of winter maternity clothes for this one, and I just can't bring myself to buy winter clothes when it's still in the 90's....

I think that's it really. I am still love love loving being pregnant! I was reading back and by this time with Jay Anthony had already felt him kick. Busy little boy! There is NO chance that Ant will feel little Miss move anytime soon. She is SO MUCH CALMER than Jay so far. I barely feel her on a daily basis, and if I do it's few and far between. I actually started feeling some TEENY TINY kicks the other night from her, but I really have to be concentrating... I will be in HEAVEN if she is a little more laid back and a little less busy than Jay. Not that I don't love that about Jay, I would just prefer to only have ONE of those at a time... :)

And here are my bump comparison pictures... It's really not all that fair because one is 20 weeks and one is 21 weeks. But close enough- right??

20 Weeks with JAY

21 Weeks with LITTLE GIRL!

Definitely bigger this time around!

Happy Sunday! :)

Just an Ordinary Day

2011-09-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

I absolutely LOVE the idea of this post!

Not only do I LOVE their blog on a daily basis (great resources for moms for activities to do with your kids while you are at home!), but I also love this specific post.

They challenge you to remember not only the big, exciting, important days in your life with your kids (or without kids!), but to remember EVERY single ordinary day. Those are the days we will miss the most!

We document the big events- the first steps, the first day of school, riding a bike, etc... But do we remember to just document the regular, mundane days? I know that when Jay is in school full time, I will SO miss trying to figure out how I would fill the time in the afternoons before Daddy got home from work. I know I will be sad when I no longer get to sit and enjoy breakfast with my baby boy because he's "too old for that." I will miss rocking him to sleep every day for nap time, even though some days I just want to go to sleep myself. I will miss the regular, plain ol' days...

This is my challenge to myself and to YOU- don't take those days for granted! There are so many out there who don't get to experience the ordinary days with kids. Those of us who do are extremely blessed! So don't take them for granted...

As posted in the blog A Teacher at Heart, they took pictures every hour throughout a plain ol' ordinary day. I vowed to do the same, and I just LOVED it!

So, here we go....

7:15 am...

Watching morning cartoons and eating a breakfast snack

before our usual Monday morning breakfast together!

8:00 am...

Bagels with Mom

(our Monday morning ritual)

Another shot from breakfast

9:30 am...

Our morning walk/jog after breakfast!

10:30 am...

Playing in the kitchen... our favorite thing to do!

11:30 am...

Lunch at Freebirds with Mommy!

3:00 pm...

Waking up after our three hour nap! (not ordinary!)

4:00 pm...

Playing at Gymboree!

Taking it all in at Gymboree!

5:30 pm...

Little Drummer Boy in the Bath

Love that sweet smile!

6:30 pm...

Laying on Tex taking a break to watch some cartoons while Mommy makes dinner!

7:45 pm...

Playing after dinner before bedtime!

I know there isn't anything super special about these pictures, but I absolutely love looking back over our day! This is a pretty normal day for us (minus the three hour nap and eating out twice!)... I love love love my time with Jay. This is one of the things I will miss the most when our new baby girl comes. Jay is my little buddy and I love just picking up and doing whatever we want. HOWEVER, I can't WAIT to add another precious face to all these pictures throughout our day!

This was a fun assignment and I hope you will join me! If you do, comment or email me- I want to see how YOUR day is! :)

Land of Corn

2011-09-26T19:20:00.000-05:00

We just got back from our first family "vacation" to Iowa this weekend! It was so much packed into a fast and furious weekend that I use vacation loosely (plus, I like to think of vacays as sand and ocean...).

It was a FUN FUN weekend spent with family that Jay has never met in the land of the corn- Iowa!

It began EARLY Friday morning with Jay's first airplane ride! He is OBSESSED with airplanes right now, so walking through the parking lot and airport was just about the coolest thing in the world! He was a TROOPER and very well behaved on the plane! No crying or kicking seats- just antsy. With about 40 minutes left in the flight he fell asleep on me- and stayed that way through the touching down, the de-planing, walking through the airport, getting our luggage, getting our rental car, and walking outside. He only woke up when I put him in his carseat in the car for the two hour ride! Of course.... :)

Sadly, I took no photos of his big moment on the plane... I honestly thought about it but was so tired by this point that I just decided oh well... bad mommy!

We got to Anthony's grandmother's house and it was quite possibly the most beautiful day I have had in a LOOOONG time. It was 62 degrees (CHILLY!!), blue blue blue skies and so sunny! It was a perfect day to let Jay run around outside and work off some of the pent up energy.

Jay rolled in the grass, picked flowers, played in corn stalks (yes, in Anthony's grandma's backyard...), and played with a (BLECH) cricket with his grandpa! It was the perfect time for a 13 month old boy!

Friday afternoon we went and visited Anthony's aunt in the hospital. Then Anthony and I headed to his cousin's rehearsal dinner and Grandma and Grandpa (and Aunt Andrea and Uncle Mike) took Jay back to grandma's. He played and met the family while Anthony and I had a little time out. Unfortunately, we were so exhausted it was short lived. Such is the life... Grandma put Jay down and we got home to visit with everyone else!

Saturday we woke up and it was Jay's (or any other little boy's!) dream day! We went to Anthony's aunt's house and rode on the tractors, combine, train, and mower. Jay was in heaven! Anytime the machine he was riding on would stop he would sign and say more. It was funny!

Saturday afternoon/evening we had Rob's wedding. It was beautiful and we are so happy for the new couple! Of course, I took no pictures AGAIN... ugh...

I was EXHAUSTED Saturday. Ant left at 11 for the ceremony, so I played with Jay and put him down, got ready, woke him up, kept him quiet during the ceremony, tried to keep him calm in the restaurant, chased him around the mall, played on the playground, played with the ducks, kept him from going in the pond, chased him around the grass, then took him the to reception where we waited to meet up with Daddy... Needless to say, I was ready for a BREAK! Good thing Anthony is such a good daddy! As soon as we saw him, he scooped Jay up and let me sit for a while. Phew! I know, I am complaining, but that's a lot for a 5 month prego mommy in one day- and all while dressed in a LBD and heels... Yikes!

We left the wedding right after the speeches and first dance. We were both beat. Nothing like going to bed at 9:30 on a Saturday night... :)

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes and started the hour and a half drive to Omaha. Jay slept for an hour of it- thank you Lord! Then we had to wait for three hours in the airport which stunk for us but was great for Jay. He just played and played. He played so much that as soon as we got on the plane, he passed out- and didn't wake up until we landed. WOW! God knew we needed some rest!

It was a wonderful weekend seeing family in Iowa- and we are so glad to know Jay does great on a plane... :)

How It Went Down...

2011-09-22T23:39:00.000-05:00

Here is the story of our unbelievable day!

Yesterday I started gathering all the things for our appointment today to tell people afterwards! Stickers, hershey's bars, markers... Last night I spent time getting things together to announce that we were having a BOY. I just felt so sure that it was a boy- I seriously got ZERO girl things!

I dropped Jay off at school today (no tears- phew!). I met Anthony at the doctor's office. They called us back QUICKLY. We went in to the ultrasound room. It was our favorite lady- she is sooo sweet!

On a sidenote- I have two friends that lost babies at 19 weeks. One of the sweet mothers lost her baby a few weeks ago, and one lost her twins a year ago. My heart is still heavy for these amazing women, and I literally pray for them daily. Going into our appointment being 19 weeks I was nervous to say the least. When people asked what sex I WANTED, I honestly can say I didn't care. I wanted a heartbeat. I wanted to hear my baby and watch them move. And beyond that- I truly didn't care what it was.

I saw that precious heartbeat. I got tears in my eyes when I saw it beating. We were in the clear!

The rest of our time in there was fun and relaxing! We saw our sweet baby's profile, we saw it moving, we saw the spine, the femurs... we saw it all!

And finally- we saw IT (or lack thereof!)!!!!!!!!!!

that's an arrow pointing- not something else...

I IMMEDIATELY burst into tears! I had NO IDEA! I was sooooo excited! I mean, the tears just kept streaming down my face. I looked at Anthony and he was a little misty eyed. We kissed and I cried some more! :)

We got our pictures and went into the hallway. We saw our favorite nurse (my neighbor!) and Dr. McCloskey and I excitedly told them through the tears! Then I ran to the bathroom and we headed to our room. We saw Dr. M and were in and out in the shortest amount of time ever! It was just perfect!

Anthony and I went to lunch together at our favorite place (Lupes!) to celebrate! We talked names and saving for a wedding and the future fun we will have... OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!! We talked mean girls in junior high and protecting our sweet girl and we talked about NO BOYS ever... :)

Ant had to go back to work and I ran to Hobby Lobby to get some things to announce it was a GIRL! It was so hard not to call everyone and tell them! I got my supplies and headed to my sister Jennifer's house. I met my mom and Jenn there and showed them my gear!

My mom cried and we all screamed! We need another little girl in this family!! After we celebrated we started calling family and friends... I LOVED the reactions! By now it was time to pick my precious little guy up from school.

Then we did Jay's favorite thing- went shopping! (ha! He HATES shopping!) I bought a ridiculous amount of girl clothes. I mean, are you kidding me?! Girl clothes are 1,000 times cuter than boy clothes! This is going to be dangerous! I bought her first bows, Jay picked out some things- it was so much fun!

Then we headed back to Jenn's to tell the nephews. They are old enough to where they totally understand what is going on- and they were both into it! They each had a different idea of what it was. I gave them these... And they loved it!

All in all it was SUCH a fun day! It was so emotional, but we could not be more excited about this precious baby girl! Jay is going to be such a great big brother. He will love this baby girl and she will adore him! We can't wait for this new journey...

To answer some questions...

-We are working on names. I'm pretty sure we have it, but Anthony isn't totally sold yet. He will be... wink wink :)

-We are NOT finished having kids just because we have one of each. I know some people are finished, but Lord willing, we will be blessed with one or two more. YES, that's right... we want a lot of kids!

-My pregnancies have been virtually the exact same. Probably why I thought it was a boy. Minor differences, but I think that's common. My cravings have been different though... mmmm chocolate :)

-The most important issue was the band of scar tissue. And guess what? The ultrasound tech couldn't find it! That's right!! She searched and searched and it wasn't there! PRAISE JESUS!

-Baby is right on track. About 4 days ahead of schedule which is just like Jay! My BP was good even though I was excited- 120/78 which is high for me. I got a flu shot (boo). I've gained only 6 pounds total- which the doc was a little concerned about. HOWEVER, I did this with Jay and then caught up. Also, baby girl's growth is right on track, so there is nothing to say that it's not just what my body does! Her heartrate was 144 (it's been consistently lower than Jay's was)... Everyone is healthy and the appointment was great!

It's going to be SO HARD not to see this sweet baby girl on a sonogram for another SIXTEEN weeks! Ack! But knowing it's a girl makes it so much more real. I love her so much already and am daydreaming of the fun we will have!

Thanks for the well wishes- we can't wait to meet her!

I think that's it!

It's a.....

2011-09-22T16:54:00.002-05:00

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perfect Timing!

2011-09-21T08:41:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging. Sweet little Jay has been SICK- and teething!

He is getting at least one molar that I can feel- and I think that another is coming in on the bottom! So when he had a cold, was fussy, and started a running a fever I chalked it up to those mean ol' molars I have heard so much about!

Well, when his fever spiked to 102.6 (which is crazy because this kid is NOT a fever kid) and he fell asleep on my lap sitting up in the middle of music class (think kids screaming, bells shaking, mass chaos), I figured this was not just teething.

So I took him into the doc where they confirmed it was an ear infection with a blister on his drum, and a red speckled throat. Poor poor baby.

The great thing is- he is going on his first plane ride on Friday!!!!!! Perfect!!

Anyway, they loaded me up with antibiotics and pain meds. Hopefully this trip won't be a total disaster!

Oh, and all of a sudden he is refusing to take medicine! He used to be a champ! Now he just refuses, clamps his mouth shut, and then throws up after!!! What?!?! Who's kid is this??

Anyway, I should be back to normal blogging soon... Especially because we have a VERY exciting doctor's appointment tomorrow!!!!!! :)

A Look Back Part 10- Final Chapter!!!

2011-09-16T15:21:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

July 26

Ok, we have our 12 week appointment TOMORROW (a few days early!)!!!

Not only do we get to see our precious little PLUM tomorrow, but we will tell everyone that we are PREGNANT!!!

I wanted ONE MORE healthy ultrasound and appointment before we made the big reveal to the world! We are sooo excited to tell everyone, and so excited to see how S2 has grown!

YIPPEEEEE!!!! No more secrets- I have almost let the cat out of the bag a jillion times already!

Oh, and one funny story...

I have always LOVED pickles! Seriously, they are delicious!!! Anyway, I helped host a baby shower for a friend at church last weekend. There were some pickles set out to snack on. I might have had 4 or 5 (look, I know they have a lot of sodium and I know they aren't good for you- leave me alone!). Anyway, I would have eaten a few anyway, but add the pregnancy thing and I just went to town. One of the older women who was also hosting noticed apparently and said, "Courtney! Do you need to tell us something!?" HA! I wanted to shout- Well yes I do!!!!! But I didn't! I just smiled and said, "I swear I just love pickles! Ask Courtney!" Thank goodness Courtney was standing right there and could vouch for me (she knows I'm prego!).... Anyway, I thought that was amusing... Typical pregnant chick! :)

Just Some Things to Remember...

2011-09-15T22:02:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted some of the fun things that Jay has been up to!

Here are some of my recent faves...

-Obsessed with finding airplanes in the sky. My mom started this at his first birthday party and he hasn't stopped. ANYtime we are outside he looks up in the sky, points, and says, "Ahpay." If he actually sees one he starts SCREAMING "Ahpay" over and over. If not, he puts his hands out and says, "Happa?" That's his "what happened" question. So cute!

-He LOVES giving high fives and rocks! With high fives he will usually give you four or five at a time and say "hi pie" over and over. When he gives you a rocks he likes to make the "boom" sound (thanks Uncle Aaron!) and says "boof"! This is the way I can get him to not be shy when meeting new people... It's a good trick!

-Jay is all of a sudden completely in love with Elmo! He has never seen an episode, but he LOVES that creature! Whenever he sees one he says, "Alma".... Which coincidentally is also my parents' cleaning lady's name so maybe I should get him to say that when she is around to make her feel good!! :)

-We sing this song called Slippery Fish. It goes in verses from a slippery fish, to an octopus eating the slippery fish, then a great white shark eating the octopus, then a humongous whale eating the great white shark. At the end the whale burps. Between each verse you say, "Oh no! It got eaten by a ___" Jay ONLY likes to sing the octopus part. I sing and he does he arms all crazy like an octopus. For the first time TODAY he did the "oh no" part. He put one hand on his head and one on his chin (instead of one on each cheek), and said, "Ahna". It was so cute to watch! I have sung this with him FOREVER and finally he said that part! So fun!

-In the past two days he started saying "ah gah" for all gone. When I turned the bath water off last night he said it- just the sweetest thing!

On ONE MORE NOTE- we find out a week from TODAY if we are having a boy or girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm a little excited- can't you tell?!?!?!?

PS- Did I mention that there are SIX girls in our Sunday school class that are pregnant? FIVE of them (everyone but me) has already found out what they are having- and they are ALL having girls!!!!! I can't wait to find out if we will join the club or have a little ladies man... Eeeek! :)

And just because I thought these were cute...

A New Talent- Cup Stacking!

Finishing up his nap on Auntie Kiki!

First Ride on the Carousel!

He was squealing- hence the silly face!

FINALLY got him to wear shoes!

A Look Back Part 9

2011-09-13T23:23:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

July 24

My belly officially POPPED out this weekend while we were in Vegas. And no, this was not due to the fact that I ate a lot while on vacation :) It really did come out though and I LOVE it!! I remember when my belly popped out with Jay- I woke up one morning and it was just there! And the same thing this weekend! I was getting ready for dinner Thursday night and looked in the mirror and there it was! Just out there! I called Anthony in the bathroom and made him look- and he could actually see it!

I love my little belly... I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will try to soon!

PS- We made it through Vegas- our first weekend away from Jay! He did great and mommy did great! Plus, the pool wasn't NEARLY as bad as I thought it would be... Being pregnant and being at the pool wasn't bad- I made a MUCH bigger deal of it! Shocker... :)

New Trick!

2011-09-11T13:29:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh- I am obsessed with Jay's new trick!

Every night before dinner Daddy pours himself a Sprite while holding Jay. Jay watches Daddy sip on his drink and then (of course) gets a few sips for himself. After Anthony drinks it, he exaggerates and goes, "Ahhhh" like it's the most refreshing thing in the world. Well, guess who picked that up?! ADORABLE!

School!

2011-09-08T12:43:00.000-05:00

The obligatory first day of school post.... :)

Jay began school last week! He goes ONE day a week from 930-2 at our church's preschool. This is the best possibly setup and I was so excited for him to start. I knew I would miss him like crazy, but this was a great chance for him to get some social interaction and for me to have a day for doctor's appointments!

Ready with all his gear!

Trying to get a looking picture!

First Day Outfit... Typical no shoes...

About to go in!

By the door (and sign!)

Saying hi to his Sunday School teachers!

In the classroom!

Ready to play!

"Oh, you're leaving mom? Ok. Bye."

No tears. No cares. Love it!

Classroom Door!

And the report was...

He did GREAT the first day!!!! I dropped him off with no tears from either of us (I got a little choked up, my mom definitely shed some!). I went to pick him up and he was still napping. The report was a great one- he played, he loved going in the cart to see the "animals" (fake ones painted on a wall), ate his lunch, went down ON A NAPMAT and fell asleep that way (he's NEVER done that for me! So glad he was easy for them!!!!), slept for an hour and 45 minutes before I came to get him. All in all- a PERFECT day!

A Look Back Part 8

2011-09-05T22:09:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

July 19

So we are getting ready for our trip to Vegas. We booked this trip in FEBRUARY (obviously BEFORE we knew we were pregnant!). I had a TOTALLY different trip planned then... Then we found out S2 was coming- and it changed a lot!

One of the biggest differences is that I had visions of this fantastic, toned body ready to lay out by the pool. Kind of like my "coming out" party- I wanted to wear cute dresses to dinner and wear my bikini. Welll.... this bloated, just-starting-to-show belly has a different plan! So I bought a one piece for the pool at Vegas. I mean, I feel pretty confident that I will be the only chick by the pool in a one piece. And it's not like I have some cute, 5 month prego belly to show for it. It's just chunky and bloated and looks like I've eaten one too many cookies (which I absolutely have!).

When I honestly think about it though, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had that gorgeous, toned body I dreamed of. I mean, I like food too much. But at least a LITTLE bit of a toned body would have been good...

I mean, it's DEFINITELY worth it! It will just be different! And I will be self-conscious because no one will know I'm pregnant. I was thinking of channeling Chelsea's blog post and let's be honest.. I will. Thanks for the advice Chelsea!

In the meantime, I will go pack my loose waistband clothes and make sure my Bella Band is ready to go! Those buttons are getting harder and harder to close (unless I want a muffin top- and NO ONE wants a muffin top!).

And I will just remind you, when it comes down to it, I would rather have our sweet, precious Baby S2 and look bloated then have that fantastic body I dreamed of. It's absolutely worth it. :)

One Year Pictures

2011-09-01T08:38:00.000-05:00

My friend Michelle, is seriously so incredibly talented! She was wonderful enough to take Jay's one year pictures for us and I am beyond in love with them!!!!

She can capture such a wonderful moment- and I'm so thankful to have these pictures! We did a short little shoot- about an hour- and it was perfect! Jay had a blast- he was totally hamming it up and walking everywhere!

Thank you SOOOO much, Michelle! We are so appreciative!

Some of my favorites...

Thank you thank you thank you Michelle!!!!

12 Month

2011-08-29T22:16:00.000-05:00

So I am pretty sure I never posted about his doctor's appointment...

Poor boy got 4 shots and blood drawn :(

He is 32 inches tall (99%)
22 lbs 15 oz (75%)
18 inch head (39%)

Our doctor said not to let the percentile of his weight fool us- he's only that heavy because he's so tall. He said he's actually thin (and then I panicked and asked if he was too thin!!) and he told me that no, he's just long and lean. Phew!

I love this boy... sigh....

16 Weeks!

2011-08-28T21:25:00.000-05:00

It's so hard to believe I am already 16 weeks pregnant! The time has just FLOWN! I think it goes by so much faster when you have a baby to take care of- there is no time to think about yourself or your pregnancy!

My bump has definitely popped out more this week! I am feeling pretty great and have a lot of my energy back. I still try to snag a nap when I can- the tiredness certainly hasn't gone away!

Last week I went to Baby Bootcamp and laid on my stomach (like always) to do a particular exercise. Well, I could actually feel my bump and figured it was time to not lay on it on hard surfaces anymore! I can still sleep on my stomach in bed since it's soft, but I can't lay on my tummy on the ground while I'm playing with Jay anymore.

As I posted earlier, I felt sweet little S2 move this week! It was such a fun, wonderful feeling! I can't wait to feel him/her more and more. I like these little flutters every once in a while, but I LOOOOVE those stretches, kicks, flips, etc.. that you feel when the baby gets better. I am SO looking forward to that!

I have my 16 week appointment tomorrow. I know a lot of doctors will let you find out the sex at that appointment, but Dr. M usually has you wait until 20 weeks. She says there is no reason to rush it and that way we are all CERTAIN- which you definitely can't fault her for!

Other big news this week- Jay is officially weaned. And he truly did this on his own- with a little help from my body. For the past couple of weeks he slept through his early morning feeding (for the first time in history of his little life!). I never thought that day would come! It showed me that he didn't need it anymore for food/nutrition, but that it was just for comfort. I still wasn't in a huge hurry to drop it, though, since he recently dropped his before bed feeding. Anyway, he only nursed for a few seconds on each side on Monday (like he did right before we dropped the night feeding). Then on Tuesday he tried to nurse and got NOTHING. I seriously produced nothing! So we tried again Wednesday morning and again, nothing. Both days he was over it really quickly- didn't fuss or pull at my shirt or anything. So Thursday we just skipped it altogether, and he didn't notice. Same thing ever since! And I haven't been engorged at all! Guess my body was finished! I'm just SOOOOOOO glad we made it a year! That was my goal and we did it! Yay us! :)

I had Ant and Jay take a belly picture of me today so we could compare. Forgive the funky shadows and my bed head... This is as good as it's gonna get... :)

16 Weeks with S2

16 Weeks with Jay

I would say I'm pretty much the same size with both babies. And my pregnancy has been virtually the exact same... Maybe that means Jay will have a cutie little brother?! :)

Birthday Post #2!

2011-08-26T16:14:00.000-05:00

Monday was Jay's third and final birthday party!

It was the friend birthday party! The theme was Backyard Splash Party! The invites turned out precious, but I can't figure out how to get a good digital image of them, so I took a picture with my phone... Not great quality, but you get the idea...

PS- these seriously were WAY cuter in person and without the blurring for our home address and phone # :)

Here are pics of the set-up.... You can't do much else for an outside August birthday! :)

Cupcakes!

Kiki baked them and Michelle and I iced/decorated them!

Thanks Grandeb and PawPaw for my new water table!!!!

Birthday banner and ride on toys!

The backyard setup!

Entry...

Another view of the set up...

Sorry for the ghetto hose...

Party Favor Buckets

I didn't get a picture of the food table... sad...

And now what you have all been waiting for... pictures of the actual party!!! :) We had SUCH a great group there- the moms and kids were all so sweet! Everyone had a great time and we couldn't have asked for a better party for our big boy!! :)

I LOOOVE Wyatt! What a sweetheart!

This picture is amazing- Jack is launching into the pool!

Jay loved his new pool!

So did the other kids! :)

Jack thought it would be hilarious to put rings on Wyatt's head...

Ohhhh the life of having boys... :)

More playing

Sweet Norah!

Jill was so sweet!

Sweet William!

Jonah!

Jay and Mommy

Cayden was having fun splashing!

A view of the food table (kind of...)

Grabbing for that cupcake!

Mom- quit taking pictures and let me eat the cupcake!

YUM

He legitimately BLEW OUT the candle all by himself!!

I was SO proud!!!!!

YESSSSS!!!

As Jill would say, "DEWICIOUS!"

Who doesn't love cream cheese icing?

Some of the mommies and babies

A group shot!

Fun to see Amber and Jonah!

Amber is due 6 days before me!

Love me some Board boys!

More chaos :)

Bubble machine was a hit!

Auntie Michelle was a trooper!

Grandeb was, too! What a help!

Meanwhile my kid was eating someone else's Cheetos's off the ground...

Sweet.

It was a FUN FUN weekend and this momma is BEAT!!!!! :)

Oh How I've Missed This!

2011-08-25T20:03:00.000-05:00

I officially felt S2 move today!! I've been thinking that I've felt him/her for the past few days, and today I was sure!

I have missed this- and I had forgotten how different the first movements are than the end-of-pregnancy movements!

I can't wait for many more of these feelings! Love!!

Birthday Fun Part 1!

2011-08-24T21:34:00.001-05:00

Jay's birthday was a BLAST! It was a long time coming with planning/thinking about everything, but it went off perfectly! I wanted a casual, laid back party where people could put up their hair and not stress! :)

We actually had THREE parties!!!!

This post is about the FIRST two parties! Jay's first birthday party was the family party. Auntie Karen and Uncle Steve let us use their backyard for the party. We had all of my family there (except Michelle!), plus Auntie Karen and Uncle Steve and MeeMaw! Anthony's parents and sister and brother-in-law came in, too! It was SUCH a fun time! We swam, grilled out, opened presents, ate cupcakes, ran around, fed the fish, played on toys.... It was so fun! It literally turned out perfectly- I couldn't have asked for anything better (well, except for the weather to be about 15 degrees cooler!).

We SO appreciate everyone coming in town for this milestone! A lot of people traveled for this and we can't say thank you enough! And my mom and sisters were SO helpful- from babysitting Jay while I ran errands all week to helping set up for the actual party, they were AMAZING!

Here are some (A LOT) of pictures of the first party....

Gazebo set up

Mommy and Jay

Our only family photo... Not a great one!

Aunt Andrea and Uncle Mike!

Trying the hat...

No hat it is!

Yummy cupcake

Jay pointing to the icing he got on his leg

Jill was a HUGE fan of the cupcakes!

Some of our group in the pool

Yummmm watermelon!

My FAVORITE picture!!!!! Look at the excitement on his face!!!

I have MORE pictures from the pool party part of it, but I left the cd with pics at my parents' house, so I will post those at a later date :)

The second party was on his actual birthday (Sunday!). We woke up and went to church. We stopped and got the birthday boy a birthday kolache that he SCARFED down during church! He then went to his BIG BOY class for the first time (1-2 year olds). It was SO sweet! He was super happy in his new class, but I know he will miss his old teachers and friends. After church we came home and Anthony's parents gave Jay his Cozy Coupe! He LOVED it!

Then we went to my parents' house because Michelle came in town for the big event! We had lunch and visited and then went swimming with all the cousins! We had some ice cream cake, opened more presents, and headed home! What a day!!!

That night Michelle and my mom brought dinner over and we got everything ready for Party #3... We worked all evening and finished up around 1230... What love from my sweet family!

Next blog... Party #3!!!!

A Whole Year!

2011-08-21T17:53:00.000-05:00

Wow! Cliche to say, but where in the world did this past year go? In some ways it seems like Jay has been a part of our lives forever. But in other ways it seems to have flown by. This has been the absolute best year of my entire life...

A year ago yesterday we were trying to figure out if we were really in labor. Did we go in? Did we stay at home and wait it out? As we checked into the hospital we knew our lives would never be the same- but we had no clue the magnitude that one tiny body would have on our world.

The morning of August 21 God blessed us with the most beautiful, perfect, and precious gift imaginable. This child was born to us and we were entrusted to care for him. I had no idea what I was doing. I was so scared to leave the hospital and the doctors and nurses. But day by day Anthony and I learned how to be parents. We made many many mistakes and learned from them.

The first months were tough. Between healing, breastfeeding, a fussy fussy baby, and learning the ins and outs of caring for a child (not to mention trying to be a spouse), I gradually learned what worked for us and the true meaning of patience. I truly never took those nighttime feedings/rockings for granted- I knew they would be so short lived. I loved our time together. I remember the smell of that sweet little boy in my arms. I memorized his precious face and knew every movement.

He brought incredible joy to me day in and day out. Even the tough days were so worth it! And things just got better! That newborn grew into a giggling, babbling baby. And that baby grew into a busy and curious little crawler. That sweet crawler grew into a bubbly, talkative little boy!

I can't believe all that we have been through, all that we have learned, all that we have conquered. This has been the most amazing time in my life. I am so so thankful for that precious little boy- not one moment gets taken for granted.

What an amazing year it has been! I am so blessed to be Jay's mommy. This is truly the best job in the entire world. I wouldn't change one minute of it for a second!

A Look Back Part 7

2011-08-19T08:07:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

July 11

Have I mentioned how painful it is to breastfeed while pregnant?!?!?

Girls, remember during your pregnancies (especially the first trimester) when certain parts of you grew and were tender and sore?! Well, add breastfeeding onto that and OUCH...

That is all... :)

Small Victories!

2011-08-17T22:37:00.000-05:00

So for those of you who are/have weaned I wanted to share....

Jay is down to ONE feeding a day! Such a victory!

And it was PAINLESS to drop this most recent feeding! About a week ago I was nursing him at night before bed like I always do. Well, back up- about a month ago he stopped falling asleep while nursing at night. I would either rock him or bounce him to sleep after he nursed with his pacifier in. So last week he only nursed about 30 seconds one night and was ready for his pacifier.

The following night I just took him into his room and started rocking/bouncing him. He didn't put up a fight! No fussing, no grabbing, no trying to nurse- NOTHING! He was definitely ready to drop that feeding!

And now it's been a week and we have officially dropped it! I'm not super excited that he doesn't need to nurse at night anymore- but I'm glad that it went so easily. My goal was to wean him around a year, and it looks like we are doing just that on HIS time! I'm so thankful for this process! I prayed and prayed about it because I didn't want to stress him out- and he's been fantastic!

I needed to speed up the process of dropping another feeding because I am feeling EXTRA sore since I'm pregnant. The week before I dropped that feeding it was so painful I actually shed a tear (or two) when he latched on. Too much info? Probably. But whatever, it's my blog... :)

Anyway, those of you who nursed your babies probably understand my excitement!

Happy Wednesday!

Video Proof

2011-08-16T11:13:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I finally got two videos of Jay...

One is of him walking. He only took a few steps in this one, but you get the idea... :)

And the other is of him saying "Uh, uh, uh" when he isn't supposed to be touching the wine bottles. Hilarious!

Love that kid!

A Look Back Part 6

2011-08-14T19:29:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

July 7

GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!

We had an incredible appointment today! This was our checkup two weeks after the last one where we found out about the scar tissue band. Our family and the few friends who know have been fervently in prayer for this little baby and the issue at hand. I have prayed and prayed and asked God for a miracle. And He delivered!

After looking at the ultrasound, the tech and Dr. McCloskey both agreed that the scar tissue band was not posing any danger anymore to our sweet S2. The band has thinned out significantly and has begun to stretch as my uterus has grown. Also, at our last appointment, the band divided my uterus in two equal parts. This appointment it showed it dividing it into 5/6 and 1/6. The baby was floating around in the bigger part of the uterus! This is great because it shows it's not growing over the baby- it's literally getting stretched away! *I know this is really hard to explain- it all makes sense if you see it on the sonogram!!!

What a BLESSING! Dr. McCloskey deemed this now a *normal* pregnancy and said she didn't need to see us until the customary 12 week appointment- and there will be no need for us to see a fetal specialist after that. Seriously- God is good! What a scare we were given a few weeks ago and now we have received the best news possible- that we are just normal! :)

Dr. McCloskey was so excited and said she had been thinking about this so much over the past two weeks. She also said, "I'm so so glad these are the results. Because after the last appointment I... well, I just wasn't sure." She was worried and now she is not. I am SO glad!!!

The great part is we got to see our sweet little gummy bear (or raspberry) moving all over. It was in a spread eagle position- arm buds and leg buds just out wide- it was PRECIOUS! We got a ~~not very good~~ picture to take home. But at least we have one of our HEALTHY baby!

It was such a fun appointment and we were so glad to leave with such great news! Thank you Lord for this blessing!!!

Jay's Happenings

2011-08-11T16:34:00.000-05:00

I know I've been blogging a lot about this pregnancy and S2, so I didn't want you to think I have been neglecting my darling firstborn. In actuality, it's the total opposite- we have been BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Here are some things that have been going on...

-He literally started teething right after Memorial Day Weekend- and that was the last time he had good sleep. It's been what, about 7 weeks since then and we have SERIOUSLY had 6 nights of sleeping through the night since then! NO JOKE! Between getting four teeth and being sick on and off, it's been a LONG summer. Just when momma needs sleep the most... :) But I'm happy to report things are looking better- the teeth are all in, and he's feeling better. The last 2 of 3 nights he has slept through the night (yes, I'm counting those towards the 6 total nights- that's how bad it's been!). C'mon, Jay- keep going!

-This kid can walk across the room- but typically chooses not to. He is fully capable of walking, but I think he doesn't like to concentrate that much, so he goes back to ol' faithful crawling. I think this is hilarious. I still haven't gotten any footage of him walking- I will try!

-Jay has morphed into "destructive" phase. He LOVES to just mess things up! He will go to the fridge and shove the magnets off as quickly as possible- they go everywhere and he laughs! He walks over to his bookshelves and tries to empty every book off! He's hilarious and it's never out of being ugly- just figuring out a new way to play! Little stinker!

-Since he hasn't been feeling well on and off for three weeks, he's reverted back to two naps a day. While I do love the freedom that one nap brings, I SUPER love two naps. It gives me a chance to get things done during one nap, and during the second I usually rest- which has been much needed! It's been great... I'll miss it when he goes back to one!

-I swear he parrots a new word every day! Right now his latest is trying to say hot or cold. When his food is really hot I will say hot. He will try to touch the food and pull his hand back quickly and say, "HA." Same with cold. If the water or ice or something is cold, I will say, "Cold. Brrr." He repeats "CO" every time. So precious.

-My last update is probably one of my favorite things he does. He knows what things in our house are off limits (bottles, plugs, the cable box, etc...). He will walk/crawl over to them, get his hand REALLY close to it and say, "Uh uh uh" just like we do! It's hysterical. Sometimes he'll actually touch- but never pulling things out or pressing buttons. He'll just graze it and make that sound. I just love this. It's so hard not to laugh and smile- but I have to reinforce that he is doing the correct thing by not touching it.

Here are ~~alot~~ some funny pictures of him recently... I love this little boy!!!!

Cream cheese looks delicious...

Oh yeah, the good stuff...

What? That's not normal?

Nothing like a popsicle on a hot summer day!

Who needs toys when you have napkins?!

Morning ritual- playing with cleaning products!

OCD like Daddy?! I think yes!

Such a big helper!

I mean, who wouldn't want his help?

Not so happy about all this mud on me!

Ehhh... it's not THAT bad!

Sick baby... And bumped his head at church :(

Crusty eyes... And that darn scab from the nursery!

Just watching some TV... What's the big deal?

A new favorite place to play!

If only it weren't so hot....

Happy Thursday! :)

A Look Back Part 5

2011-08-10T16:12:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

July 1

So I've had a full week to fully digest the big news we were given last week. I am coming to terms with what the doctor told us and have a ridiculous amount of hope. I am fully trusting in God- He truly knows what is best and what we need. It's in His hands and I am so at peace with that. I'm also very very optimistic this week. Since Baby S2 (did I mention we are calling him/her that?!) isn't in the way of the banding, we have no reason to be worried at this point. As s/he grows we will keep an eye on it then, but for now, I'm just hopeful.

I'm also definitely pregnant. My pants are starting to get snug in the waist, I'm nauseous some days (not all, but a lot!), I'm beyond exhausted (this is also the week where Jay decided he only needed one nap a day. NOT great for this tired, prego momma of a 10 month old!!!), and NOTHING sounds good to eat. Well, some things sound good, but it's pretty much the same stuff as when I was pregnant with Jay: mac and cheese, baked potato, cereal, rice, pizza, and watermelon. The only difference is... I'm craving bell peppers! At least there is something healthy in there! :)

We still haven't told anyone outside of our immediate family. Since we will be monitoring our progress with this little Blueberry, we have decided to wait to tell others. We told everyone at 9 weeks last time- funny how it's different with each child! It's also amusing to me because I am finding out about other people that are pregnant and due within a week of us- and I so badly want to shout- we are too!!! But we will wait... :)

I wanted to update that we are feeling better and very optimistic! I need to start taking belly pics soon- it's certainly not going down any time soon! :)

A Look Back Part 4

2011-08-09T16:50:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

June 23

We had our first doctor's appointment today. I was SO excited to get to see S2 on the ultrasound screen. That's one of my favorite parts! We did the usual tests and then Dr. McCloskey turned out the lights and we saw that precious baby!

It was just kicking it, up on the side of my uterus, with that precious little heart beating away. With Jay we went at 9 weeks, so it actually looked like a baby. This time it just looked like a little blob with a heartbeat. Still cute if you ask me... :)

As Dr. McCloskey was looking around she said, "Hmmm... something here concerns me. See that little ridge (pointed it out on the screen)? I need to get a better look at that." I didn't like where this was going... There was a line that went directly across my uterus. Like it was divided in two.

It turns out, there is something questionable with my uterus. And she wasn't sure exactly what it was. She had two speculations...
1) I have two sacs in my uterus. Which means, either a)I was carrying twins and lost one (VERY unlikely- we have no history of twins in either family), or b)when the baby's cells were multiplying, my body basically confused signals and created two sacs. If it's case b, then my body would reabsorb the "fake sac" and it would be totally fine. OR
2) I have a band of scar tissue that formed in my uterus after the last pregnancy (most likely scenario). I had some major scar tissue issues after I delivered Jay (if you are curious, google granular tissue after childbirth). OUCH. That was miserable. But basically, my body creates scar tissue like it's on crack!

Dr. M wasn't sure what the case would be. She was looking on the rolling cart ultrasound machine which is very grainy and doesn't get a good picture. She had me go down the hall to the ultrasound tech with high tech machine. Both of them were in there looking and Anthony and I were there together.

The tech was leaning more towards the second sac. Dr. M was leaning more towards the scar tissue band. After some debating and deliberation, it was determined it is most likely it's band of scar tissue. While they still can't be certain, that's our unofficial diagnosis.

Which led to the discussion of "what this means...". Basically, this increases my risk of miscarriage. I have to go back to the doctor every two weeks for scans and to make sure I'm still on track. IF (and yes, that was the word used :( ) I make it to 12 weeks, I will be referred to a fetal specialist. This is because as the baby grows, the band can/will inhibit the baby's growth. A lot of the times the band is thin enough and will stretch as the baby grows (thus causing no problems). However, we have to keep an eye on everything and make sure the baby stays safe, has room to grow, and that the blood and nutrients are still able to get to the baby around the band.

Scary.

I cried. A lot. I mean, a lot. My only job right now is to create a healthy, safe place for this baby to live. And I can't even do that. I was scared/nervous about getting pregnant so unexpectedly, so thoughts of GUILT just ran over my entire body. Did I cause this? Today was a tough day.

So now we just sit and play the waiting game. I can't allow myself to be consumed by worry. I have to trust that God knows what is best and will take care of this situation either way. If He chooses to call this sweet baby home early, then I know it will be in better hands than I could ever provide. But I hope He's not ready for S2 yet. I want that baby. And I will do everything I can to take care of it....

Waiting...

Peace Out First Tri!

2011-08-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

I am officially FINISHED with the first trimester of pregnancy #2! Pretty crazy!! And I'm not gonna lie, I'm NOT sad to see it go...

What a whirlwind this past 13 (ok, really 9 because I didn't know I was pregnant for the first 4 weeks) weeks has been! There has been SO much!

Sickness, pure and total exhaustion that I have literally never felt before, happy and sad and scared emotions, food aversions... You name it! Not to mention these last 3 months was when Jay got 4 teeth in at once, two colds, a bout of diarrhea, and went down to one nap! Yikes!

Talk about glad to see you go!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVED my second trimester with Jay- I am praying that this one goes as well as the first. So far my pregnancy has been pretty much identical to the first one. No major differences- except I started showing a LOT earlier. To prove it (and I'm kind of embarrassed to post this picture because I am so big already...):

13 Weeks Pregnant!!!!

Look at the size of that bump!

Let's pretend it's the dress or the angle...

For some perspective, here I am at 13 weeks with Jay!

The funny thing is- I'm DEFINITELY in better overall shape this time around than I was with Jay. My weight is actually lower than my starting weight with Jay, and in typical Courtney fashion, I have lost some lbs during the first trimester. And believe me, it's not for lack of eating! If you saw my diet you might vomit :)

Anyway, onward to bigger (like my belly!) and better things! Bring it on, Tri 2- I'm ready!!

A Look Back Part 3

2011-08-04T16:55:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

June 13

Ok so here I am 5 1/2 weeks along.. I'm JUST starting to notice a few pregnancy symptoms...

Needing to snack every few hours, peeing a lot, smelling EVERYthing (who wears THAT much perfume?!), and feeling COLD!

It's so weird- these all were things I felt early on with Jay. The first sign I noticed when I was pregnant with Jay was the smell thing. OHMYGOSH. Why do people wear a lot of perfume, cologne, nasty body spray?? Seriously, people, less is more! We ate breakfast at Einstein Bagels on Saturday- they were cooking something FUNKY in the back! I almost had to walk out! And let me tell you how fun it is changing Jay's diapers or picking up Tex's poop. BLECH.

Another thing I had during the entire first trimester with Jay was that I was ALWAYS cold! I know I had a post about it somewhere, but I'm just too lazy to go back and find it. Since I was pregnant during the winter with Jay, I was extra cold. I seriously would wear leggings under pants, several layers, heavy coats, and walk around with gloves and a scarf on. At home I would be in leggings and sweats and big sweatshirts and sleep with an extra blanket. I remember telling my doctor and she said that is definitely normal for some women. Well, imagine my surprise when I am FREEZING in June! Granted, when I'm outside during the day I'm HOT HOT HOT. But if I'm inside and should be feeling normal, I am so cold. Tonight I had goosebumps with the blanket over me. Anthony was shocked (he is sitting here on the couch next to me sweating). This is ANNOYING!

Anyway, the other stuff- needing to snack more and peeing a lot- those are typical.

Anyway, that's my look back for today...

New Things I'm Digging!

2011-08-02T18:27:00.000-05:00

So there have been some new purchases in the Squillante household lately and I'm TOTALLY digging them! I thought I would share....

Dyson Ball Animal Vacuum... UH-MAY-ZING!!!!! I have never owned a good vacuum before- and let me just tell you- it really DOES make that big of a difference!! This thing is so light and so efficient and it turns like a gem! Holy Moly! I might just start vacuuming everyday because of it! Ok, let's be honest, I won't... But I won't be as irritated that I have to vacuum... :) Oh, and a bonus? It's purple! Yes!

MacBook Pro- LOVE our new Mac! It took me a couple of years to convince Anthony we needed a Mac. He's a PC guy. I'm just a gadget girl. I like the latest and greatest. I love our MacBook. A lot. It's easy to use and the programs that already come on it are awesome. I'm sold!

New Shag Rug- Yes, that's right, a thick, plush, shag rug. And it's from Costco! This thing is insane! It's so soft- I made "rug angels" on it today. I just laid back and rubbed all over it! We have been wanting a new rug for our playroom. One that really resembles carpet for our hardwood floors. I'm sitting on it with Jay all day long, and it's nice to play in a "carpeted" area every once in a while. This thing ROCKS. We got it this weekend along with our Dyson. We are super customers at Costco now :) We put this rug in the playroom, moved the other rug in the den, and moved that rug in the office. Amazing how changing out rugs makes your house feel SO different. Love. Oh, and we actually got the dark brown one. White in a toddler's play room? No thank you!

So I think that's about it for now with our new purchases... I highly recommend all of the above... Message me with any questions... I'll act like the salesman for these products- that's how great they are! :)

A Look Back Part 2

2011-08-01T05:43:00.000-05:00

Part of the "This is my first trimester and no one knows I'm pregnant but I still want to blog about it" series.

June 11

I am 5 weeks along right now and I have so many emotions about this pregnancy.

I am SO SO SO excited and thankful that God chose us to have another baby. As I said before, I know that not everyone gets to experience this, and Anthony and I are very grateful for the blessing growing in my belly.

BUT... I'm totally freaking out!

Can I love another baby as much as I love Jay? How will I still shower Jay with love while tending to a very needy newborn? Will this baby be as needy as Jay was as a newborn? How do I balance two BABIES? Will I survive?!?!?!

Ok, so I know the last question is silly- a lot of people have babies that are 18 months (or less!) apart. But those questions are weighing heavily on my heart. I am so scared about neglecting Jay or neglecting the new baby. How do you moms with more than one kid (especially so close in age!) do it? An 18 month old little boy is HARD to reason with! He doesn't get the "there's a baby growing in my tummy" conversations, nor does he understand why his mommy suddenly can't play and snuggle and love on him all day long once a new little brother or sister comes along.

Honestly, I already love this precious little orange seed in my belly so much. I am so excited to be a mother of TWO kids! But I am totally nervous. I want to be a good mommy to BOTH of my babies, but how? And how in the heck do I do that and still be a decent wife?

YIKES!

Outliers

2011-07-30T21:58:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading an incredibly interesting book called Outliers by Malcom Gladwell.

This book is all about successful people and how they became successful. It talks about athletes, computer guys, rock bands, lawyers, and even math students from China. It goes into everything that can contribute to success- age, size, birth year, family legacy, upbringing, culture, hard work, and of course- being in the right place at the right time.

I am NOT a non-fiction reader. I love me a good cheesy beach read with a happy ending. Nothing too heavy- just a book that makes me feel good at the end. This book defies everything I've ever "liked" about reading. But I LOVE THIS BOOK.

It makes some incredibly interesting points and truly makes you think. Do I necessarily agree with everything? Absolutely not. But it's neat to see the statistics that back up his points and really think about where these people might be otherwise.

It also looks at the US Education system as a whole and goes RIGHT ALONG with what I believe when it comes to teaching. It talks about lower vs upper classes and how the education system can best reach all kids. It also describes how Bill Gates became so successful and why there were more plane crashes that came from Korean Air than other airlines.

It is truly so interesting and I highly recommend it. It's actually an EASY read- and I think it's one you will like. And if not, sorry... but I'll be happy to debate with you... :)

Already?

2011-07-30T13:04:00.000-05:00

So when I was pregnant with Jay, insomnia didn't hit until the third trimester. I was blessed, I know...

Why oh why can I not sleep now?!?!

The last week or so I have been awake from 4-6 and then on/off until Jay wakes up. I have tried to nap during the day (like just now!) and can only get about 10 minutes- no matter how tired I am!

I need the sleep... I'm beat from chasing Jay around all day and not to mention this growing-a-baby stuff is hard work! My body needs the rest, my eyes are heavy, but I just can't sleep!

Ok, that is my complaining for the day. Otherwise things are great in the Squillante house! :)

A Look Back Part 1

2011-07-28T20:40:00.000-05:00

I wanted to document each step of this pregnancy just as I did with Jay's. While we weren't announcing our pregnancy yet, I still wanted to remember the feelings and emotions I had during the "silent" period. So there will be a few posts of looking back... I wrote these posts as they happened and then saved them to publish later... Here goes...

June 7

Yesterday I found out I was pregnant with Baby S #2 (from now on will be referred to lovingly as S2! Holla!).

I can't even describe the flood of emotions I felt!!! As you can imagine with a 9 month old- this was NOT planned!! Still, I had a feeling that I was pregnant... Without revealing too many uncomfortable details, here is why I just knew... I was not able to be on the pill because it GREATLY reduced my milk supply. Anthony and I had been very careful and knew that a baby at this point was not in our best interests (ha! little did we know!). Actually, Anthony has been asking to have another baby for about 8 months now (yes, Jay is only 9 months... do the math. Ugh). I, however, was NOT ready! Please refer to this post.... Anyway, back to the point. Let's just say that we were less than careful ONE TIME. And I just knew. I even called my little sister in SPAIN to tell her that I was probably pregnant. I figured if I told someone it wouldn't REALLY happen... Well, fast forward a few weeks...

Monday, June 6, I woke up like normal. I was supposed to have my monthly visitor that day. I knew I would be thinking about it all day, so I decided to load Jay up and go get a test before Baby Boot Camp to ease my mind. Once I saw the negative I could move on with my day. NBD. So I take it.... Positive. I might have cried. Like, a lot. Tex was concerned.

The Proof

I called Michelle. I cried to her. I panicked. She was wonderful and reassured me that this was indeed FANTASTIC and that she was happy for me. I knew I couldn't wait until dinner to tell Anthony. So we skipped bootcamp. :)

Jay and I loaded up again and ran to Carter's to get a Big Brother T-Shirt. The smallest size they had was a 2T. It swallowed Jay. I kindly asked the store clerk if they sold them any smaller to which she replied, "Uh, no." I then said, "Yeah, I didn't figure you would. I'm sure there aren't many people as crazy as us." She just nodded and looked away. Awesome.

I put that big ol' shirt on Jay and headed towards Anthony's office. I called him and told him some lie about being in the area and wanted to stop by and see him, blah blah blah. I was afraid he would say, "Come on up to the office and say hi to everyone!", so I quickly added that I looked terrible and just wanted him to meet us downstairs OUTSIDE. Jay and I were waiting for him. As he walked up he started smiling at Jay. I turned Jay's chest to face him so he could see the shirt.. It took him a while (seriously, he NEVER notices this stuff!). Finally, he saw.

He was SO EXCITED!!!! "No way!!! Really?! Oh my gosh! Babe this is so great! I love you! I love you! I love you!!!" It was sweet. I cried again. He then reassured me that we would get through it and it was great and happy and so wonderful. He said this was such a blessing and things were going to be perfect. Between his reassurances and Michelle's, I knew they were right. We were having a baby!!!!!!!!!

We laughed and kissed and said several, "Oh my goodness!"'s..... It was fun. It really was.

I headed home and put Jay down for a nap. I took another test just for good measure. Still positive. :)

I took the quiet time to pray. I knew that this baby was a gift from God. Another special gift that He has entrusted to us. What a big responsibility! I thanked Him for His perfect timing. He knows best. We thought we weren't ready, but God knew better. I also said MANY prayers of thanksgiving for the fact that we were even able to get pregnant. I just feel like each week I hear a new story of someone struggling with fertility. It breaks my heart for them and I know that we are TRULY blessed. My heart was so happy!

I quickly downloaded all of the silly pregnancy apps and read over them. This was all so new again! Then I read that at four weeks the baby (size of a POPPY SEED) has already developed 2 tubes that are forming the heart. These tubes are already pumping and working hard. And I cried. Happy happy happy tears. I had another precious life in me. And this sweet life was already fighting and working hard. What a miracle!

When Jay woke up I told my mom. That evening and today we told the rest of our families. They were all SO excited and yes, SUPER SHOCKED! We celebrated, we prayed, we laughed, we dreamed. It was wonderful.

My sweet baby Jay is going to be a big brother. I am going to have another baby! We will be a family of FOUR. My kids will be 18 months apart! ONE GRADE LEVEL!!!!!!

It's all so surreal.

I'm pregnant!

Say What??

2011-07-27T15:12:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take a moment to show you a NEW(ish) picture of Jay... I LOVE this picture of him for several reasons! :)

Yup... You read his shirt correctly and surely noticed the ultrasound in the picture!!!!!!!!! SURPRISE!!!!!!!!

We are expecting Sweet Baby Squillante #2 in February!!! While it was a SHOCKER to us, we are undoubtedly so happy and excited and can't wait to have a new baby in the house!

Jay and his new baby bro/sis will be 18 months apart- YIKES! I slightly freaked out for a while about still having a baby (Jay) and introducing a new baby to our family, but now I'm so excited and know that God has an incredible plan for this family! Don't get me wrong- it's going to be TOUGH- I know that much! But I also know as these two grow they will be best friends and love having a buddy around!

More details to come but we wanted to share our excitement with the blogging world! I started blogging as soon as I found out I was pregnant (very beginning of June!) and have a series of posts titled, "A Look Back." I will post them in the coming weeks so look forward to those! They include some very REAL, raw emotions and the story of our pregnancy up until this point!

And finally, I leave you with one more picture.... Obviously, some of us aren't as excited as others about this news.... :)

We Made It!

2011-07-24T22:17:00.000-05:00

We all survived our first weekend away! Woohoo!!

Grandma and Grandpa might be the worst off, but everyone was still standing at the end of it!

Anthony and I had a FABULOUS time in Vegas!! We stayed at Aria and LOVED the hotel! We didn't really appreciate how nice our hotel was until we walked the Vegas strip one night- and then realized how great we had it! I mean, seriously, we felt like we had to rush back to the hotel to scrub the DIRTY off... People/places in Vegas are FILTHY! :) I had been before and remember thinking the same thing then, but it just hit me again. You actually start to feel bad for a lot of the people there- trying to look "sexy" in clothes they shouldn't be wearing, guys sporting their head-to-toe Ed Hardy gear (sorry if you are an Ed Hardy fan- I'm sure you are not the type of person I am describing), and most of them there for ONE reason- and it's not a reason their mommas would be proud of! :)

Anyway, Aria was great- our dinners were yummy each night, the pool was fantastic (how great it felt to lay out without chasing a kid around!!), and shopping was wonderful! The only downside was that our gambling was NOT so great... Oh well :) I also enjoyed sleeping through the night... Pure bliss... :)

Here is some photographic evidence of our fun time... I only took a few pictures (and only on the first day)... Bummer!

Dinner the first night

In the limo on the way to downtown...

MUCH cheaper than taking a cab!

College friends!

Plus Tim's Dad, John!

Visiting the Bellagio

Love the Philbecks!

In the meantime, Jay had a GREAT time playing with Grandma and Grandpa! He had LOTS of activities! They went to Gymboree a couple times, ran errands, swung, played outside, went for walks... He kept them busy and they kept him busy! A match made in Heaven! And because they were so busy, we got a lot of these types of pictures...

Everyone had a great time, but I think EVERYONE was exhausted!

It was so good to home and see that precious boy! He was swinging when we first drove up so was just ok when he saw us- he didn't really believe it was us and that we were home! I scooped him out of the swing and took him inside and he would just hug my neck and then push me away and look at me, then hug my neck again. It was the sweetest thing ever! I LOOOOVE that precious boy!!

It was a much needed getaway, but I have never been so excited to come home! Home is where the heart is for sure :)

11 Months!

2011-07-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

Holy Moly!!

My sweet baby boy is ONE MONTH away from turning 1! Yikes!!!

As always, it just keeps getting better and better and better... I can't imagine having any more fun or loving this kid any more than I already do!

11 Months has brought....

-Size 3 diapers... -One nap a day (at least they are long!!)
-Goes to bed around 8-8:30 and wakes up 7-7:30
-Sleeping has been pretty awful the past month... I blame this on the FOUR teeth coming in at once. I have figured out that when Jay gets teeth, they poke through, go back in for a week or two, then slowly come back out... it takes FOREVER! This has been the longest process and this poor baby wakes up EVERY night in pain... and this poor momma hasn't slept through the night in a LOOOONG time! :/-Sporting mostly 12 month clothes. He's now moved on to 9 month shorts (his bottoms have always been smaller than the top- narrow hips?)
-Breastfeeding twice a day (first thing in the morning and last thing at night)
-Likes ICE COLD water out of any straw cup. Does NOT like any type of milk (soy, almond, whole, chocolate) or much juice... Will share a little bit of my morning OJ and loves his Daddy's Sierra Mist!
-Eats all solids really well- but is definitely getting picky. Does NOT like noodles (so sad!) or mac and cheese (whose kid is this?!?). LOVES any kind of meat. Seriously. Such a guy.
-Crawls like crazy with that one leg up. He takes about 4-5 steps every other day, then realizes he is faster (and it's easier) crawling. He seriously has NO interest in walking!
-Stands for long periods of time (like over 10 minutes). He squats up and down a jillion times over and over- this kid can walk- he just doesn't want to!
-He still snuggles me all of the time. I love it. He will wrap his arms around my neck and just HUG. I will never get enough of it!
-Pretty sure takes after his Daddy with his OCD. He will rearrange EVERYTHING. He takes things out of every cabinet and puts them back where he wants them. Same with the fridge. Can I survive with two of those?!
-Still gets rocked to sleep every night. This is by far my favorite time of day. I love nursing him and having that time to be at peace with him. Then I love just watching him nod off. What a special time of day. It relaxes me, gives me a chance to pray, and just watch over my precious baby...
-Still talking up a storm... And is learning new things every day. I know people don't really believe me at how much he talks. But lately we have had several friends over that don't see him regularly and they have commented on how much he speaks. It's truly amazing to me. His new favorite thing is playing with this app on my iPhone (Tapping Zoo- it's awesome!). Each picture of an animal is shown and you can tap on it and it makes the sound. On about 8-9 animals he will say the sound they make without any prompting or pressing the sound. His newest pig- it's hysterical! He tries to do the nose "oink" but it comes from the back of his throat... Sweetest thing!!!
-Still doesn't like to read very much :( Only likes flipping through touch and feel books...
-Does great in the church nursery, Sunday school, gym nursery, and with babysitters now! Woohoo!
-Loves his animals. Says Tex (Kes) first thing when he wakes up- and Tex comes bounding in!
-Has 6 teeth- four on top (see above!) and those precious two on the bottom!-Obsessive about putting lids on things. Seriously, OCD...

I know I'm forgetting a ton, but this is all I can think of now... He's about to have another big first... His first weekend away from Mom AND Dad! Wish us all luck!!!!!

The Big Goodbye!

2011-07-19T21:13:00.000-05:00

So the weekend I've been stressing about is near! THIS weekend we leave for Vegas (you stalkers/weirdos need not come to our house- my inlaws will be there!)!

I am SERIOUSLY getting nervous! I have typed out lists/suggestions for EVERYTHING. Meals, snacks, activities, play time... The grandparents can use them as much or as little as they want, but I figure too much info is better than none!

I hope Jay does well. I hope he's not too much trouble for them! I hope I'm ok... I'm nervous! But we can do it... I will just be stressed until we get a good phone call Friday morning. The first night away is Thursday night. If they can make it through that day and that night, I will feel MUCH better...

Ack! Wish us luck... And say LOTS of prayers for everyone involved ;)

CBR

2011-07-18T21:05:00.000-05:00

Apparently July is Cord Blood Banking Awareness Month!

We banked Jay's cord blood... While I know this is a hot topic and a personal choice, I felt compelled just to put it out there that it's an option (since it's my blog I figured I was allowed! :))... If you are interested in knowing more, shoot me an email or google it.

We chose to use CBR (Cord Blood Registry). For those of you preggers- you can get a $250 discount if you sign up in July and decide to use CBR (and tell them we sent you!). We get a $50 gift card or something towards our next child (who knows when that will be), but besides that we truly believe in this and wanted to share the discount with YOU... Our friends shared with us when we were pregnant and we were grateful for that money off!

So, check it out! :)

Anniversary

2011-07-15T22:08:00.000-05:00

So I'm a bad wife and didn't post ANYTHING about our anniversary yesterday. Oops... :)

Happy four years to my sweet, loving, wonderful husband! My life is so much richer with him in it. We have grown so much over the past 8 years- we have morphed and changed into two MUCH better people. I am so lucky to have him in my life. God DEFINITELY knew what He was doing when He brought us together!

Not only has Anthony proven to be a great husband, but he is an amazing Christian, a leader of our home, the most incredible father, and the best friend I could ever imagine.

When I went to San Diego last week, I missed Jay terribly. But I was so excited to realize that I missed Anthony even more! My heart longed for him to be there with me- to share in that exciting time together. He is my other and better half and I'm truly so grateful for him.

Here's to many, MANY more years together! Cheers! :)

Another Perspective

2011-07-14T03:53:00.001-05:00

In case you didn't get enough engagement story, my sister Michelle just blogged about the engagement from her perspective! She also included more pictures and videos from the proposal!!

Check it out!
http://michellemoriarty.com/2011/07/14/i-am-a-fiancee/

Michelle's Engagement

2011-07-12T11:50:00.000-05:00

I LOVE engagements! I love when two people begin a new life together... It makes me SO happy!

I got a call last November from Scott (Michelle's now fiance!). He just chit-chatted and made small talk with me for about 25 minutes. Jay was little and was starting to fuss, so I told him I had to go. Just then, he dropped the bomb- "I'm ready to propose to Michelle. And I need your help figuring out what kind of ring to get her. Oh, and don't tell ANYONE. Not your parents, anyone. I want to surprise them all!" Oh geez- how could I keep this huge news to myself?!?!!?

I told Anthony of course and then kept everything bottled up. I was so proud of myself!

I did some excellent recon work over Christmas break while Michelle was in town and relayed all the info to Scott. He would get ring ideas and send me pictures, and I would give him a "Yes, that's the right direction" or a "Hmmm... let's think of something else" (and believe me, some of those needed a brand new direction :))! Finally, he told me in April that he was fying in (he lives in San Diego) to talk to my parents. Well, my parents were blindsided by the phone call and FREAKED out. My mom cried for days (not abnormal when it comes to her girls getting married).

Unfortunately, Anthony and I were out of town that weekend. Scott did a great job and of course my parents gave him their blessing. He then told us HOW he was going to do it! I told him right then that I would love to be there for it and I was only a three hour plane ride away (don't worry, he needed people to be there- I wasn't creeping in on their special moment or anything!).

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Scott emailed us and told us he locked down all the details and was ready to go! He invited us out and we had about a week to book our flights and make arrangements.

My big question was- to take Jay or not. While on one hand it would have been fun to have him and make a long weekend out of it, on the other it would have been a LOT of work to wrestle him and deal with him on the plane, and figure naps into the mix... In the end I left him- but I was ready to leave him for the first time? I mean, I've gotten up with him every night since he was born. Don't get me wrong, Anthony has helped many nights- but I've always been the one to hear him, to tend to him in the morning- ACK! I was panicked!!!!!

Not to mention I was having a TOUGH time finding a babysitter for Thursday afternoon. All my options were out of town, at student council camp, working... Oh great! Thursday MORNING (yes, I had to leave for the airport at 345 Thursday aft), I finally found someone! I had never met her- Jay had never met her. Yikes! Not to mention she is only 14. But that was my only choice. And her mom is a friend of mine from teaching so I knew she'd be close if she needed her!

I left Jay asleep, met Emmy, explained in five minutes what the heck to do with Jay, and took off. Anthony was getting home in a few hours and would take Jay the rest of the night- which also stressed me out. I wasn't sure he would hear him. I wasn't sure how Jay would be if he woke up in the middle of the night and I wasn't there (he's been waking a lot lately due to teeth). FREAKING out. Then, Friday the plan was for my oldest sister Jennifer to watch him. She couldn't come because it was too hard to find someone to watch all three of her kids- so she offered to take Jay- how WONDERFUL of her!!!!!! I had NO WORRIES about this part- Jay is obsessed with Auntie JJ and she can put him down as well as I can (better than his own daddy!).

Anyway, we arrived in San Diego, met up with Scott, went over details, wished him luck and grabbed dinner. It was yummy and afterwards I was exhausted. It was 1230 our time and I was in desperate need for a bed. I passed out and woke up at 8 the next morning- and just relaxed! It was fantastic! :)

We all got a yummy breakfast in the beautiful San Diego weather and took off for the big hoorah!

Scott's plan....

He was taking her skydiving. They went together a few times and it's something they both enjoy (ugh- not me). He was jumping first. We were all at the landing site holding a GINORMOUS sign that read "Will You Marry Me?" He was going to be on one knee waiting for her with the ring. They both had videos of the jump so we would see Michelle's reaction once she saw the HUGE sign way up high in the air....

It went off flawlessly!!! Scott landed and waited and as Michelle got closer she yelled, "YES!" from the air. It totally made me cry!!!!!! As she landed on the ground she yelled yes again and ran over to Scott! They hugged and kissed and spun around. It was SOOO sweet!!!!

He has always joked with her that when he proposed he was only going to be able to afford a ring pop, so he actually had a ring pop in the ring box. She laughed and then he gave her the real ring- BLING BLING. The ring was GORGEOUS!

It was a very touching, wonderful day! What a phenomenal way to start a new life together! We all went to lunch to celebrate. It was fun hearing each side of the story and everything that led up to it. The two of them took off for the weekend to Catalina (and island off the coast of Malibu) and we headed straight to the airport. It was a short trip, but well worth it. I am so thankful we were able to be part of it!

On another note...

Anthony did GREAT with Jay, Emmy did fantastic, and Jennifer was perfect! God had everything just right and I'm so thankful!

Scott on one knee waiting! He sees Michelle!!

She said yes!!!!

With her BLING!

In front of their sign at the jump place!

Toasting the celebration!!

Congrats to the happy couple!!!!

Nap Update

2011-07-11T14:06:00.000-05:00

So remember a few weeks ago when I posted this? If you don't want to go back and read it was all about Jay only taking one nap a day for several days in a row. I was stressed that he might be moving towards that but then was also wondering if it had to do with his teeth (he was working on three!)...

Well, here is an update....

He is OFFICIALLY a once-a-day napper!! He has gone down around 1230 for the past two weeks and taken anywhere from a 1 1/2 hour nap to a 3 hour nap! I have figured out that once he wakes after and hour or hour and a half, he will usually go back down if I lay down with him (bonus!) or rock him back to sleep. This is GREAT! I'm not gonna lie- I do miss those two breaks a day, but it really has given us a ton of freedom to do things in the mornings and afternoons in longer chunks (like so many of you told me it would!).

It's still just crazy to me to think my 10 month old is down to one nap! Wild!

Another update- we are actually working on FOUR teeth right now- all four of his top ones! Poor baby. It's been a LONG few weeks from him- but other than not sleeping well at night he's done amazing! He doesn't fuss or anything during the day- I've been so impressed!

Another BIG deal... I left Jay overnight for the FIRST time!!! My little sister got engaged (post to come on that!!) in San Diego and my mom, Kiki, and I flew out. Jay stayed with a babysitter the first afternoon, then Daddy took care of him overnight, then Jennifer took care of him all day Friday. He did GREAT! I actually did well too and totally reveled in the first night of sleep in TEN months that I have not been woken up in the middle of the night (or just worried about tending to a baby first thing in the morning). It was amazing and a definite necessity for this momma! :) The only thing that was hard was that I am still breastfeeding and Jay is still not taking a bottle. No big deal for him- he didn't miss a beat- he ate normal foods and was fine. I, on the other hand, was NOT. I didn't bring a pump (I was literally gone 28 hours). I have probably only gotten truly engorged two times during these ten months (and not even when my milk first came in- I know some of you hate me. But for some reason, I've just never produced a ton of milk). So I thought it would be NO BIG DEAL. And I was WRONG!!!! I have never felt such worse pain in my life. Well, I have. I mean, c'mon, contractions?! But it was pretty terrible. Add to the fact that we were celebrating an engagement and that meant LOTS of hugs all day long- YIKES!

I have never been so happy to walk in my backdoor that Friday night and meet up with my pump. It was the most incredible feeling in the world! :)

So I think that's it for now... Just another few days in the life of a stay at home mommy.... :)

Grandkid Pics

2011-07-09T16:50:00.000-05:00

So while everyone was in town last week, we decided to snap some pictures of all the grandkids together.

Anyone who has worked around children or has them in their lives knows what a ridiculous trial this is... Especially with FIVE kids. Ages are 9, 7, 5, 2, and 10 months... Good times. We had some meltdowns and lots of laughs, but more importantly, we got a couple...

My sweet friend Michelle offered to take them for us, but our schedule was crazy and we just couldn't make it work... I'm kind of glad now she didn't- the chaos that was that day is insane!

Here are a few (and I use that term LOOSELY)...

And an outake to end on... :)

Hate is Not a Strong Enough Word

2011-07-05T15:02:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I discovered two thing my child absolutely DETESTS/HATES/LOATHES...

1) Life Jackets.... His first boat ride was MISERABLE because all he wanted was to RIP that life jacket off... Sorry buddy... Safety first!

He was MUCH better after some snuggling with Mommy :)

2) Getting his haircut! Little dude was starting to sprout a mullet so we had my cousin Lauren (who has her own salon!) chop some of that hair off while we were up visiting... Jay HATED it. Until I busted out my iPhone with animal sounds... Then it was ALL good :)

She's not so bad after all!

Thank goodness for iPhones!

Our Fourth of July weekend was so fun- lots of time spent with family out on the lake and at the pool! And Jay honestly only cried those two times... But they were definitely worth getting pictures of! :)