Update on baby and other happenings

Just when I thought the last few weeks of pregnancy would be me wishing and hoping ANYTHING would happen to speed things along, this week happened.  I got my wish!

Connor had his 18 month appointment last Friday.  He was fine the whole day, but woke up the next morning burning up!  I've never had that experience before--rushing a little one to a cold bath and trying to stay calm while totally freaking out inside.  They warned me that a fever was likely, but he has never had one that high.  That was also the morning of a baby shower for Landon at our place.  Thankfully the tylenol helped and he was able to go out for a couple hours with daddy while we celebrated his soon-to-be-here little brother.

What a neat idea! Landon has some very personalized onsies :)

They are the best party-throwers ever.  We had such a nice, fun time!

The rest of the weekend was spent giving Connor tylenol and trying to keep him from being miserable. Then Derek started getting sick. :(  He went surfing Saturday morning before the shower and the water was really dirty.  Both he and his surfing buddy got sick.  By Monday night he was in bed with the flu.

Monday morning Connor took a fall and hit his head.  It turned out to be minor, but to rule out a concussion I had to wake him every 2-4 hours during nap and night time for two days.

Tuesday Derek stayed home sick from work.  Connor recovered from his shots and the fall, but wasn't the happiest baby on the block due to both of his top canine teeth coming in.

I started having contraction at around 2pm on Tuesday.  I've had Braxton Hicks contractions since about 18 weeks, so I'm used to them.  I actually almost went to the hospital Saturday night because they were coming so consistently, but after 2 hours, they started to taper off.  Well, they were consistently coming every 4-5 minutes for about 5 hours, so my doctor said I needed to go to the hospital.

I really didn't want to go.  My mom was out of town (and freaking out!) and Derek was sick in bed.  I also figured that I'd be in a lot more pain if I was actually in labor.  But I followed the doctor's orders and Wendy (a dear family friend) came and drove me to the hospital and Shawna met us there.

I am not kidding--right when I rolled onto that hospital bed, the contractions started!  They were every few minutes and painful...nothing like the BH contractions I had been having.  After getting checked a few times and monitored for a few hours, I had only gone from a 1 to 2 cm dilated.  The nurse said she felt bad because there wasn't much she could do.  At 37 weeks, they won't stop labor and they won't speed it up.  She gave me the option of staying but said I'd be more comfortable at home.

I went home and woke up with the same thing Derek had.  The good thing is that the contractions really did slow down.  I'm still having them regularly, but nothing like Tuesday night.

Leaving the hospital at 11:30pm Tuesday night @ 37 weeks

So here we are! Derek is taking medicine for strep throat, I'm gargling with salt water all day (which Connor thinks is hilarious), and we are happy if this baby waits a little while longer!

Oh, and yesterday we transitioned Connor to his toddler bed.  Why not?  So far so good!

My first once-a-month-cooking experience

OAMC.  Once a month cooking.  That was one line item on my list of things to do this week.  In hindsight, I should have probably left it off and instead made a gigantic list of all the millions of tasks included in "OAMC".  For someone who loves to check things off as much as I do, that would have been WAY more fun and WAY more rewarding.

Amidst the chaos

I really can't believe people do this every month, and most of them do it in one day! It took me four days...four LONG days of sore feet, dishes, aluminum foil, DISHES, ziplocs, and more dishes.  Of course I didn't cook non-stop.  I squeezed it in during nap time, bedtime, and here and there throughout the day when Connor was happily entertaining himself.  He was a trooper! And he loved the really off key song I made up and sang at the end of it: "I'm done cooking.  I'm really done!  I'm done!!!  I'm done!!!!"  I think I was on the verge of going crazy. :)

I actually do hope I'm one of those crazy people who will do this once a month.  Next month I'll be 8 months pregnant. I don't know how that's going to work exactly, but if there's ever a good time to fill the freezer with meals, it's when you're 8 months pregnant.  Now I know it can be done.  And I'm sure over the next few weeks when I don't have to cook much, I'll get very motivated to do it all over again.  

Amazing! 12 dinners just sitting there!

Foil...ziplocs...foil...ziplocs...foil...

This is a tiny fraction of the amount of dishes I've washed over the last few days

Connor had quite a fun lunch while I was busy cooking something...I pretty much had to hose him down afterward.

Battle wound

Here is what is now in the freezer:

16 dinners (each dinner is enough for 3 adults)
A dozen cheese/garlic biscuits
10 breakfast burritos
14 bean/beef/rice/cheese burritos
18 whole wheat cornbread muffins
2 servings of pizza sauce
Chicken for bbq chicken pizza
2 pizza doughs
Taco meat
3 things of baked oatmeal

The Boys' Room is Finished!

I am SO glad to cross this "project" off my list of things to do.  It took a really long time and involved a lot of tasks that I wasn't very comfortable doing (I don't consider myself a crafty person and there are lots of "crafty things" in this room).  But I did it and now it's done--with 9 weeks to spare! The end result is pretty much what I envisioned--sort of a bright and colorful ocean-themed room.  It will work for a couple years I hope.

That little guy in the crib is not, in fact, Landon.  But we aren't quite ready to make the toddler bed transition so he gets to stare at Landon's letters for a while longer.  

Couldn't find cute bookends, so like most things in this room, I thought "Why don't I just make them?"  Now I'm very prepared in case I'm ever asked to make little bean bags for carnival games.

I couldn't find toddler bedding I liked, so I used the extra fabric I had  (plus the curtains I made for his last room) and he has toddler bedding!

First time I've made pillows!

Connor's "pirate" quilt

Landon's "sea creature" quilt

I also looked for one of these, but I ended up just making it. 

The crib skirt

This isn't part of the room, of course, but I got really excited about how it turned out.  

Drum roll please...(baby name announcement!)

We kept Connor's name a secret for a few reasons, and it was definitely an experience trying to keep it a secret for that long.  In hindsight, I wouldn't necessarily say it was the best experience, and here's why:

1. Nicknames Connor got while in the womb: Spanky (thanks to his uncles) and Enrique (because I liked spicy food so much while pregnant with him).  Luckily neither name stuck, although my friends will occasionally slip and call Connor Enrique.

2.  It nearly destroyed a couple family relationships when Derek and I stood our ground even though we were faced with RELENTLESS peer pressure to divulge the name (you know who you are!) :)

3.  It was really, really uncomfortable every time someone would ask what we're naming him.  "We aren't telling."  Brief but AWKWARD silence usually followed.

So, we have decided that this baby boy's name will not be a secret!

Connor's little brother is...

(The N looks funny because it's actually two V's I think.)
 
We both just like the name, and we are still undecided on a middle name.

Connor and his milestones

Tomorrow our little boy with be 15 months old.  He really is getting quite grown up.  He loves to read his books, play with all of his musical toys, and explore everywhere and everything he possibly can.  He is so curious! And his new favorite thing to do is climb.

The other day I was in his room hanging up some of his shirts.  I looked behind me and there he was, almost on top of his dresser.  He had climbed from the nursing stool onto the glider and was going after his books on top of the dresser.  For a kid who has been "late" on all the physical milestones, this new eagerness is surprising me.

I was so worried in the beginning when it was taking him so long to roll over.  I think he finally rolled over at 6 months or maybe later.  I was slightly less worried about him not being interesting in crawling, but I definitely still did worry.  Just before 10 months old he started army crawling.  I was a little concerned that he started normal-crawling at 12 months, because that's around the time that most kids start walking.

Clearly he had his own timeline for these "milestones".

I'm happy to say that I finally relaxed about when Connor would start walking.  He took his first steps at 13.5 months, and for the next month or so was happy to take a few steps and that was it.  Just this past week he has started "taking off" and he'll be 15 months tomorrow.

Our little Trojan is practically unstoppable these days!

I have a feeling my days of chasing him everywhere are right around the corner and will last for years to come. :)  And I've learned a valuable lesson: some kids don't exactly go "by the book" but that is perfectly ok.  He is a happy, healthy, and active kid who just wanted to take his time with certain things.

Our Visit to Chicago

Last week we flew to Chicago and spent the week with Derek's parents.  Like last March and last September, Derek's exam seminar for his next test happened to be in Chicago again, so Connor and I tagged along and made a little family vacation out of it.  We flew in on Saturday, and Derek's exam seminar was from Tuesday to the following Saturday.  

Unfortunately Derek woke up on Sunday with the stomach flu, and over the course of the week the rest of us had our share of sickness, too.  (He was mostly better by the time his seminar started, so it was good he got it first).  I thought I was invincible because I've never had the stomach flu in my life, but I sure did experience it and it was not fun!  Connor threw up once and took a few long naps.  Thankfully that was the extent of his sickness.  The week didn't go as any of us envisioned, but it was still nice being together.  

Thanks to his parents, Derek and I still managed to have some time together (dates are such a treat!).  One of the nights his parents happily watched Connor so that I could drive to where he was and we had a nice dinner together.  And on Friday night I drove to spend the night at his hotel so we could drive back the next day after his seminar ended.  I had the flu most of that day and was a little feverish, but I was determined to take advantage of his parents' offer to watch Connor overnight.  I love our little boy so much, but it's nice to have a break every once in a while.  :)  We had milkshakes and watched a movie.  We are so wild and crazy!

So far Connor has flown at 11 weeks, 9 months, and now 14 months.  This was definitely more challenging than previous times.  Thankfully we had the row to ourselves so he had a little room to get some energy out.  He didn't sleep a wink on the plane! He slept a total of 30 minutes the whole day, and oddly enough it didn't phase him at all.  

Exploring Grandma and Grandpa's house is lots of fun!

Connor in motion...as his shirt says, he does all his own stunts :)

Having a blast walking back and forth from Grandma to Grandpa.  He still hasn't completely mastered the art of walking, probably because he starts laughing hysterically whenever he takes steps.  It's hard to keep your balance when you're laughing so hard!

Our family of 4 (Connor is sitting on his brother)

When we arrived, it was snowing and COLD.  A couple days later, it was in the 60's!  Connor loves the park, and playing with Grandma is very fun.  

We took Connor's picture on this bed in this same spot when he was 11 weeks old.  It was a lot easier to get him to sit still then! :)  He's such a big boy!

Grandma giving Connor his very first Chicago style pizza

The growth chart wall.  He is a lot taller than he was 5 months ago!

Thoughts on having another boy

I'm really only blogging because I don't want there to be a gap between January and March on the list of months.  (Sometimes I'm more OCD than I like to admit).  BUT if there was ever a reason to blog, this is it: we're having another boy!

When I first found out I was pregnant I thought it was a girl.  That lasted for maybe the first trimester.  I was WAY more nauseous than I was with Connor, and don't they say that indicates a girl?  Oh, and I haven't craved spicy food at all this time around, unlike my last pregnancy when I poured Louisiana hot sauce all over my popcorn and had the fire hot sauce from Taco Bell for the first time in my life.  So of course it had to be a girl, right?

Then the headaches started.  That's when I started to be a little less sure.  They haven't been quite as bad as they were last time, but there is no denying that I have them...often.  I also started to just get the feeling that it was a boy.  I don't know.  I think moms just know.  And what made me 100% convinced was my appointment at 16 weeks.  The baby's heart rate was about 140bpm. They say that heart rates for girls are higher and boys are lower.  I told my doctor, "I guess that means it's a boy." He said, "This isn't an indicator at all."  But like I said, I was 100% sure.

So at the ultrasound when the tech asked if we wanted to know the sex, I said yes but that I was certain it was a boy.  Five minutes later, there was no mistaking! There he was on the screen!

It feels a little surreal that I'm going to have two little boys 19 months apart.  From as far back as I can remember, I always pictured myself as a mother with lots of kids.  But I never pictured myself with only boys.  I'm not saying that we're done after this one.  I would still love to have 4 or 5 kids (I know, I say that now).  But as of right now I'm going to be a mother to two boys.  Weird and cool all at the same time!

Here's the growing baby boy (and mama) at 18 weeks (2/21/12)

The more I think about it, the more I love it that this one is a boy.  I would still love to have a girl at some point, but there is something special about having two boys close together.  They'll be one grade apart in school.  They have a built-in play mate.  They can share a room and have bunk beds for a long time.  They'll be best buds.  And as one friend pointed out, I will be in great shape because of all the chasing after little boys I'll be doing. :)

I'm really excited for this new addition to our family.  I can't wait to pick a name and make him a quilt and decorate their "boy room."  I'm so grateful for this blessing.

And this is just because they're cute :)