25 Weeks

Wow, this trimester is flying by. Only a few more weeks left! I have the belly to prove it. I am going to have to watch putting those maternity jeans in the dryer! I'm sure the holidays have really helped me pack on the pounds. I still think I am doing much better than I did with Moses. But I did gain a lot of weight in the last three months so we shall see!

I'm having more and more crazy pregnancy dreams. I get up at least once to go to the bathroom as well. I've had to arrange pillows to help me sleep. I also woke up with a cold on Christmas morning which is just no fun!

Sutton is still a mover and a shaker. He even has had the hiccups twice this week. I had forgotten how funny that felt. Every once in a while Moses has tried to feel for him but I don't think he really knows what he is doing.

We plan on working on the nursery some this week and trying to determine what we need. I've done some stroller research and I think this is the one I'm leaning towards. It's called the Joovy Caboose. It will work with our car seat and it has a place for Moses to sit or stand. What do you guys think?

A Santa Snow!

The snow forecast was right! We got about 8 inches of snow last night and during the day today. I kind of wanted to hit some sales but there was no way I was going to get out in the mess we found ourselves in today. We bundled Moses up twice today to let him play in it. I think he really like it. He went sledding and built snowmen with his daddy.
I learned that playing in snow and pregnancy do not equal a good time. I couldn't keep up and what woman in her right mind that lives in NC buys adequate maternity snow attire? I ventured out to take a couple of photos and videos but kept an eye on my boys from the safety of our living room. It seems the snow will still be with us tomorrow so I have a feeling we will be sitting tight for another day!

Holly, Jolly Christmas

After a night of putting things together and trying to get Moses to stay asleep, this is what the end product was. Please note how pretty the train is in this picture. Even though we went to bed late and I barely slept, I made sure I got up at 6am to get a shower and start getting ready just in case. Brett got in the shower right behind me. I had barely gotten dressed when I heard a little boy calling from his room at 6:30am. I alerted Brett and the grandparents and we got all the cameras ready for him to come out.
He was a little out of sorts but he was very happy to see what Santa had brought. Each of the grandparents contributed a "big" Santa gift this year. The kitchen and train table were both big hits. Brett and I didn't want to get too much more so we kept with tradition and got him three smaller gifts: a baseball glove, a "Mater" lego set, and a Toy Story game. He also had a nice stocking and other gifts from the grandparents.
Here is the train table after he had played with it for like 3 seconds. We are constantly making new tracks and bridges, but we have not duplicated the original like it was. Glad I took pictures!

As for the big kids, we had a great Christmas too. After a big breakfast, we opened the gifts under the tree. I was unexpectedly very spoiled this year. I had figured out that Brett had gotten me one pretty necklace I had mentioned from Bailey's, but he got me something else SO special as well. I had mentioned a long time ago that I wanted a locket with Moses' initials on it and room for another baby's initials. Since we already have a name picked out, Brett had the locket made for me. I was SO surprised.

We spent the rest of the day munching on leftovers, watching movies, and resting due to our early wake up call. With the weather forecast for snow everyone made their way home shortly after lunch. We already miss our sweet family and we are savoring the videos and picture of the best Christmas we've ever had!

Christmas Eve

I think I said this last year, but Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year! I love the preparing and getting ready no matter how hectic it is. I started my day bright and early to get a few things done. It was actually really nice to go out by myself and hit the stores way before they got crowded.

This year, I decided we should do our big meal Christmas Eve night. I wanted us to have plenty of time to relax Christmas morning. It was a GREAT idea! My parents and my grandmother as well as Brett's parents came to spend the night and have dinner. We had a very low key but fantastic meal.

Moses was SO excited!! It just gets better every year. He knew all about Santa and was ready to see what he would bring. We read stories and played for a long time trying to convince him that it was time to go to sleep. Right before bed time, he convinced himself he heard Santa outside. It was hysterical! He kept saying "I here something!" and he would look out the window and exclaim that it was Santa.

He finally went to sleep and we went to work like good little elves. Let's just say it took a lot longer than we thought to assemble the gifts that Santa left us. We ended up going to bed at 1am! Moses didn't sleep well either and Brett had to spend a lot of time trying to get him back to sleep. All night we kept thinking we heard him waking up. More on Christmas on my next post!

By the way, this was Moses' new favorite toy that Grand Mollie brought. Her walker! He played with this most of Christmas Eve. He even sat in it for dinner!

24 Weeks

Whoa baby! Pregnancy belly is here! It's so weird because I look in the mirror and I think I look great for this stage. But I am really getting uncomfortable. I guess this being short thing and maybe just the way I carry. Last night I had to do some major pillow stacking just to fall asleep. I feel TERRIBLE for complaining. I know two ladies who are pregnant with twins right now (27 wks and almost 37 wks) who have it way worse than I do as far as space is concerned.

My appetite has decreased a lot. I'm really not all that hungry during the day. My former coworkers would be shocked to know that I know eat lunch between 12pm-2pm. I used to start getting hungry at 11am! I really haven't been eating as much either. Even my mom noticed that I wasn't eating much. All and all I jus think I'm tired. Brett as been working till 7pm or later and with the extra holiday stuff going on I'm worn out by the time he comes downstairs.

I have had a few moments of being queasy but nothing major at all. I was just a few weeks along with Moses during Christmas and I couldn't do anything! It was awful. I didn't even eat Christmas dinner. I much prefer being tired and a little cranky than like that.

Sutton is moving all of the time now. I think he is going to be long like his brother because I can feel him stretch out at the bottom and top of my belly. He hates to have his space invaded. When I put any little bit of pressure on my belly he kicks. He really hates for me to be sitting I think! He really stretches out and plays around when I lay on my side after a long day.

My next doctor's appointment is not until after the new year (glucose test, BLAH!). I'll be SO excited to be weighed right after the holidays! Then it will only be around three months till we meet Sutton!!!

Christmas Cookies

I have 102993480274 things to do before Christmas Eve when my family starts to arrive. It takes me 50 time longer to do everything lately because of Braxton-Hicks contractions and a certain little "helper." BUT I was determined to do some Christmas Cookie baking and decorating with Moses this week. After promising him all morning while I was ironing that we would indeed make cookies this afternoon, I had to come through when I got him from his nap and he looked at me and said "make cookies!"
He was very patient while I mixed everything and helped me roll out the dough. He is really into shapes right now, so the cookie cutting was his favorite part. He let me do the decorating and he did the eating. We really only frosted a few but it was a lot of fun and much easier than I thought it would be.
Here are a few of our masterpieces. It's super hard to take pictures of a toddler when he has his hands in flour, dough, and frosting!

Hey Santa Claus

Well here it is, Moses' Santa picture for this year! I refuse to wait an hour plus to see Santa at the mall. Luckily, The State Club has a brunch with Santa every year. This Santa is WONDERFUL. He talks with the kids and visits them and is so very patient. And he's so handsome too!

(Note, all my pictures uploaded out of order. I have no desire to fix them. I'll do my best to string together this story.)
In addition to seeing Santa, they provide horse drawn carriage rides around the property. Moses LOVED it and kept yelling "Giddy Up!" and "All a Board!"
I have not been able to get this child to smile for a picture. He might look at me or he might not. He will usually stand where I want him but that's about it. I'm good with that.
If you notice from the first picture, Moses refused to sit in Santa's lap. He wasn't afraid of him at all just had ZERO interest in sitting with him. This is Santa when he first arrived. Moses loved him then. He looked right up at him and said "Where are your reindeer?" I laughed so hard. I guess all the stories we read are sticking. He continued to question and talk to him for a few minutes and I thought would make a beeline to sit in his lap. I was so very wrong. I'm just happy he didn't have a total melt down.
I'm also happy to be making a photograph appearance in my own blog. Big prego booty and all! It was a great brunch with Santa and I was thrilled my parents were able to join us for the experience. Moses is so excited about Christmas this year. I hope to have more Christmasy posts this week!

23 Weeks

More of the same for this week. I'm still carrying "high" and with my height that is making it uncomfortable to sit. I am way more comfortable lying on my side or standing. I'm still having a few Braxton-Hicks here and there which leave me short of breath. That accompanied by my tiredness are my only real problems right now.

I'm feeling really pregnant! I do feel like I am smaller than I was when I was pregnant with Moses. Maybe it's because Bojangles isn't on my way to work this morning and I usually stick with a bagel or something from home. The same is true for lunch and dinner so maybe Sutton will be smaller than his 9 lb 3 oz brother.

I'm still loving some good old home cooking. The very few times I have eaten out, it just doesn't taste good! I had Chick-fil-a, Bojangles, and a nice meal out with Brett last week and none of it tasted as good to me as something we cooked at home. I did make a stir fry last night and the taste of teriayki did nothing for me. It is one of Brett and Moses' favorites though so none was left! I am also still loving my Rice Krispies with bananas and every night before bed I have a glass of orange juice.

I am starting to feel the urge to nest but it is a lot harder to do when you have a two year old! Everything I do, he needs to "help" me with. Messes also drive me nuts but with Brett working from home, the weather being way too cold to go outside, and the many pieces of toddler toys floating around it's something that I am trying to deal with.

Sutton is moving around a lot! He is especially active after dinner when I take a moment to relax. In fact, Moses and I were having a prebedtime movie and snuggle, and I could feel Sutton kicking my belly exactly where Moses was. It seems they have already started to pick on each other!

Deuce Deuce!

Hello Twenty-two weeks! What does that mean? It means Sutton has begun to put pressure on my lungs! Well, my uterus is anyways. I usually could care less about being short. I think there have been very few times in my life I have wanted to be much taller. Pregnancy is one of them! There is just no where for this growing belly to go but up in my rib cage. I am much more comfortable lying or standing than I am sitting. I do get winded quickly as well.

That is really my only problem with pregnancy right now. I am feeling really good. I sometimes get hit with a little nausea or tiredness but not nearly as often or as bad as a few weeks ago. I can promise you Moses and Brett are the most excited to have me "back." The house has been put back into order and is staying clean. Moses has a much more present person taking care of him and playing with him. But the biggest thing is that in nearly two weeks there has only been ONE DAY that we have eaten out. I'm talking breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I personally think that deserves some sort of award....pregnant or not!

As far as cravings, I think they are mostly because of the holidays. I'm obsessed with Harris Teeter's Apple Cider. I did a happy dance when I spotted it in the store last week. We've been eating a lot of comfort food, chili and soups because it has been SO cold. I'm also loving a bowl of Rice Krispys for a snack...and well the treats aren't that bad either! I think my weight gain will go way up in the next few weeks. (I currently do not own a scale.) I am able to eat a lot more now that I am feeling better.

Baby Sutton is very active now and I can feel him starting to stretch out. He's still waiting until I slow down or I'm trying to eat to start his little party up. Every time I go to the doctor he makes it difficult for them to find him. They are always remark how active he is. Sounds like he's taking after someone else in the family already!

A Moses Update!

With all this pregnancy talk and being sick I have really neglected updating on Moses. He changes so much every day! He is really becoming a big boy. He still loves a lot of the same things. Thanks to his daddy, he is still a big NC State fan. We had one week back in November when he went to two basketball games and a football game in one week. He will say "That's the Wolfpack! Go, go Stake!" No that is not a misspelling, he says stake! The band will play the fight song and when they are done he'll yell "Try again!" That's what he does whenever he wants you to do things over and over again
Probably his favorite thing to do is play. It doesn't matter what! He loves play grounds, running in circles and driving trucks all around the house. He still loves his potato head and anything that he can build. I think school has instilled a love of puzzles in him. He will do the same one over and over and over again. In fact he treats most toys like puzzles. Something to put together and then take a part and rebuild.
The thing we are enjoying the most is Moses' ability to communicate with us. His vocabulary is just SO large now. You can really carry on a conversation with him. I love when he wakes up in the morning and comes in our room and says, "Whatcha doing Mommy?" He's always asking us to "Come sit!" so we can play with him. Just last week he started asking the question every mother dreads, "Why?" It was like a light turned on and he needs an explanation for everything. Luckily I was talking to Brett's Aunt Melissa and she gave me a GREAT response to this inquiry. I just look at him and say "Why do you think?" It works SO well. A lot of times he will answer me with a pretty good response or he will think about it. He also says the sweetest things. He will tell me I look pretty or he things the Christmas tree or a bouquet of flowers is pretty. His manners are also great. Please, thank you and excuse me are used all the time. Although anything using an excuse me is sometime said while laughing.

Moses is still loving school. He is so excited to go and talks about his friends. His loves his teachers and they love him too. He can recognize almost all his shapes and can count to 6 (7 - 10) gets a little muddled. He will count objects as well. The alphabet is not going as well. He'll say A, B, C sometimes to begin the song but he'll always answer A or B if we ask him what a letter is. He sometimes refers to them as his "Baby C's." His memory is also great. He still talks about things that happened months ago.

As far as his love for Buzz Lightyear and "Super Goof" they have only grown. He will count and yell "Blast off!" He will also tell us that he is super speedy and super strong. He is also loving robots and trucks and loves to make noises to help act out the trucks driving.

After rereading this it seems Moses is just total boy which is true. But he is a sweet one! I am thinking that he will be a great big brother and teach his little brother all sorts of things!

Leaves!!

I am way over due for a Moses update on the blog. But for now, enjoy him playing in the leaves on Thanksgiving.