Happy Birthday Austin

I can't believe he's three today! Time flies when you're having fun! Because Daddy has to work tonight, we celebrated Austin's birthday last night! He got his presents from Mommy & Daddy and got to blow out the candles on his birthday cake! We ended up getting him a sandbox and toys for his birthday. He has a sandbox in Michigan but we forgot to pack it when the time came. He really likes playing in the dirt with his tractors so we thought the sandbox would be a great gift! Besides, what do you get a kid who has everything and doesn't really need anything!

Fresh air & backyard friends

The weather was so nice today that Austin and I got outside to get some fresh air. Austin played with his tractor while I cleaned out my car and went through some of his baby things. We went this morning and got a mattress for the crib so I was trying to find the crib sheets so that I can put one on the bed until the baby's bedding arrives in the mail. I also got the pack and play set up in our bedroom so that she will have something to sleep in when she gets here. With all the company we're going to have she'll be sleeping in our room the first few weeks. After that she's in her own bed! I'm hoping that less noise means longer spans between feedings at night!

I thought everyone might be interested to see what our new backyard animals are! When we lived down here before it was cows, now it's deer! Austin and I walked out back several times to try and get some good pictures of them and they didn't seemed phased that we were there. Or that the neighbors dogs were barking at as. They are usually out back in the mornings and between 5 and 6 in the evenings. They were out there for a long time this afternoon. It's been rumored that people feed them apples. I've been meaning to get some but I seem to forget each time we go to the grocery store! The bottom picture has five of them in it, but there have got to be at least a dozen out there.

A day late

Well my doctor’s appointment update is a day late and once again I don’t have much to information to share. I did find one thing exciting this week; I’ve only gained a pound in the last week! I have been gaining a lot more than that every two weeks so it was pretty exciting when I found out I’d only gained a pound. Of course my appointment was first thing in the morning (and I hadn’t had breakfast yet) instead of in the afternoon, but that shouldn’t matter right? The baby’s heart beat sounded great. She even decided to settle down a little so Dr. L could listen to her heart beat! She was bouncing off the wall while I was sitting in the waiting area. It’s actually getting quite fun to watch her try to get comfortable in there. She doesn’t have too much room to move around in there anymore so when she really decides that she is uncomfortable my belly really rolls from one side to the other! Dr. L said that she is in a head down position and is on her way down, however she hasn’t descended as far as I thought she had. Of course with as many trips as I’m making to the bathroom lately she’s got to be getting further into position each day! So, I got the “Everything looks good, I’ll see you next week” from Dr. L like I get every time I’ve had an appointment. We’ll see what next week brings!

Speaking of next week…I can’t believe that my baby boy is going to be 3 years old on Thursday. It seems like I was just in the same situation with him, eagerly awaiting his arrival! Of course I was a little heavier and a lot more uncomfortable, but it was all worth it! 3 years old, I still can’t believe it! Has it really been that long? He told me tonight that he is not a baby anymore; he is a “big boy!” So not only do I have a doctor’s appointment on Thursday, but so does Austin. He has to go for his 3 year check up. I think this will be the first “well child” check up that he won’t have to get any vaccinations. He shouldn’t have to get any more until he’s 4! We’ll see if he’s reached the 30 lb milestone! Here’s a cute picture of him doing a breathing treatment! Gotta love the wild hair-do! We finally got it cut last night!

Where are we?

I feel like we're not in Texas anymore! We've been experiencing some winter weather lately and the reaction around us is proving to be absolutely hilarious! I have found that with the threat of snow, everything closes! Yesterday they were sending people home early from work. Of course that was after they threw grape size water softener salt tablets on the walkways to "melt" the ice and prevent anyone from falling. This morning there are a bunch of school closings and delays. I myself included in the delays as I just received a call telling me that I don't have to be to work until 9:00 a.m. this morning. All because there is maybe 1/4 inch of snow accumulation on the roads! Needless to say, they'll be getting the sand out on the roadways this morning! Here is the link to one of our local news station's website. Check it out for a good laugh if you are part of our family from Michigan!

http://www.kwtx.com/

They also have delayed the opening of Fort Hood yesterday and today. Yesterday morning it took me ten minutes to get in the gate on post to take Austin to school, only to find out that they were not accepting children until 9:00 a.m. Oh, I was mad. They are also delayed again this morning, not accepting children until 11:00 a.m. So lucky Austin gets to stay home with Daddy again this morning! They've been spending a lot of quality time together lately!

On another note, yesterday marked the beginning of my 35th week of pregnancy. Only 5 or less weeks to go. I have a feeling that it might be less as it has felt like the baby has dropped over the weekend! Even one of the girls at worked said that it appeared as though I had dropped when I asked her if I looked different! I wanted to make sure it wasn't just me who thought that the baby was lower. Of course with her dropping this means that I've had an increase in aches and pains in my lower belly and my back is bothering me a little more. And no it's not because I'm over doing things, it hurts when I sit at my desk for a long period of time! I go back to see Dr. L tomorrow morning. I'll be surprised if he checks for dilation again, but he might after I mention that if feels as though the baby has dropped. We'll just have to wait and see! Here is some information about what is going on with the baby. I receive a weekly email and I think it's kind of fun to share with everyone!

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and weighs over 5 pounds. In fact, most of her development is complete. From here on, she's mostly concentrating on fattening up. You don't have a lot of room to grow either— your uterus is now about 15 times its normal size.

Well, I better get ready for work. I'm going to try and get there before 9 so that I can beat some of the traffic associated with this mess! Not that there are going to be too many people out there. With schools being closed I can't imagine that traffic is going to be really bad. That and people are too afraid to get out and drive! I'm sure it wouldn't bother me as much if people actually knew how to drive in this stuff and didn't act like idiots! Oh well, after all...we do live in Texas!

Getting ready for Baby Sister

I've been starting to feel like we are not ready for this baby to arrive. Michael is calling it the beginning of my "nesting" phase. So with having today off work, I decided to get some things done around here in preparation for the newest addition to our family. We kept almost everything from when Austin was a baby so it has been just a matter of getting things in the house and washed up. We got the crib put together and we're going to be buying a mattress for it within the next couple of days. I got the swing and the bouncy seat wiped down and also got all the fabric covers washed that go on all of them, including the car seat. Austin was a big helper with everything! He decided that his baby and Elmo needed to test everything out.

He was really good about telling me how things needed to be for his baby. He brought his police car in the house to "drive to work," leaving his baby with Mommy. At one point he instructed his baby to "not go potty in his pants" and to stay where he was at because he was going to work! Too funny, I can't wait to see how he reacts when his sister actually gets here! It will be interesting to see if he acts the same caring way with her as he is being with his baby! I'm hoping to video tape their first meeting so that everyone can see it. We'll have to see how hectic things are at that point so I'm not guaranteeing anything! I am also looking for suggestions for something that Austin can either bring home from the hospital when his sister is born and/or a special something from his sister. If you have any ideas, please leave a comment! I haven't quite put my finger on that special something yet!

We still have not decided on a name yet! She might remain nameless until she arrives and we HAVE to give her a name before she can leave the hospital! Michael and I are set on the names we like and can't seem to pick one or the other. Of course, Austin is no help when it comes to picking one either! I'll probably be taking a couple polls in the next few weeks to see who can guess the date of her arrival and how much she's going to weigh! I think it will be interesting to see what everyone thinks! I know there are a couple of people guessing that she'll be a Valentine's Day baby, but only time will tell...

Appointment Update

My appointment was not the most exciting today and unfortunately I don't have much information to share! My appointments are now going to become my weekly routine however I'm hoping to receive more encouraging information each week as my due date quickly approaches. Dr. L did test me for Strep B today and checked for any dilation. His response after checking for dilation was "hardly dilated" at which point I can't say that I was surprised! I didn't expect to be dilated at this point in my pregnancy but I'm hoping that as February 20th approaches that my dilation will increase. At this point our house is not ready for her to arrive but I'm hoping that it will be within the next few weeks. Look for another appointment update next week!

Painting fun

Here are some pictures of Austin painting pictures of Thomas! As you can tell, he used his favorite color the most!









I tried to capture the "I'm concentrating so hard I have to stick my tongue out" look but I could never get the picture snapped before he stuck his tongue back in his mouth!

Austin continues to do well with the potty training. Tonight he actually told me that he wanted to get out of the bath tub because he had to pee. Sure enough, he went when he got out! He had a few wet clothes when I picked him up from school today but I've learned that this potty training thing doesn't happen over night. He's bound to have accidents and I'm sure that he doesn't think about going potty all the time at school because he's so busy all day. We're getting there. I just hope that this all isn't wasted energy and he falls backwards in a couple of months when his sister arrives.

Speaking of his baby sister, no she doesn't have a name yet, Tuesday marks week 34 of my pregnancy! I go for my appointment with Dr. L on Thursday and then again each week until the big delivery day! I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable and simple tasks are beginning to take a lot of energy! I retained a lot of water with Austin at the end of my pregnancy and I feel that it's happening again with this one. I've come to the point where I can not wear any socks or shoes at home because my socks are leaving huge indents in my legs! Sleeping at night is providing to be a difficult task because (a) I can't get comfortable (b) it's hard to roll over to gain a new position in order to get comfortable (c) once I get comfortable she thinks it's time to party or can't get comfortable and (d) my body just aches like crazy. I'm interested to see how far I actually make it before she decides that it's time to enter this world! Hopefully she'll decide to be early like her brother! It feels like she's running out of room in there! She has had the hiccups about three times, has constantly been in motion, and managed to get her little legs under my ribs and give them a good kick about 10 times today!

Here's what's going on with her this week:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is probably almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers -- which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born -- are filling her out, making her rounder. Her central nervous system is still maturing and her lungs are well developed by now. If you've been nervous about going into preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that 99 percent of babies this age can survive outside the womb -- and most have no major long-term problems related to prematurity.

Saturday

Austin and I are getting ready to take the Christmas tree and decorations down. I would like to keep it up for a little longer but I feel that it's time to start getting all of the baby things ready to bring in the house. It's so hard to believe that our little girl could be here in less than two months.

I just talked to Michael and he said that they are getting ready for the football game this morning. The game will be on NBC at noon CST. Austin and I are going to watch it to see if we can catch a glimpse of Daddy on TV. He also said that the pregame information can be watched on the internet but it will not be on TV. If anyone is interested in reading his soldier bio, click here. The bios are in alphabetical order so you'll have to scroll pretty far down to read his!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Feeling a little more encouraged

Ok, so yesterday must have just been a day to adjust. With Grandma and Daddy leaving and having to go back to school after about two weeks of staying home, yesterday was bound to be a rough day for Austin. However, when I arrived to pick Austin up at school today he had only 1 bag of wet clothes waiting! Of course he had just had another accident before I got there so we had to change his clothes before we came home. So we only brought home a total of 2 bags of wet clothes today! Yippie! Apparently he stayed dry until around 3 p.m. before he had his first accident! I was also told that the potty targets worked great today. I'm going to have to find some more of those things around here! For those of you who don't know about potty targets, click here. My mom and I happened to find some at Babies R Us when we were there but I don't think I'm going to be driving an hour away every week to get more! So needless to say, I'm not as frustrated today!

I talked to Michael today and he said that he had met some cool people, including Deion Sanders, while he's been in San Antonio the past couple of days. He is in San Antonio for the US Army All American Bowl. One of his friends took a picture of him and Deion Sanders so I'll be sure to post it when he gets back along with some other details of who else he's met. I'm actually kind of jealous because they're shacking him up at the Marriott on the River walk! Of course he said that the River walk has no water in it right now (they drain it once a year or something) and it stinks, but he's got a room at the Marriott all to himself! The game is on Saturday and he will be returning home on Sunday, we can't wait!

Well our dinner is ready! Let's hope that tomorrow is as successful as today was!

Our adventures in potty training

Warning: This post is a release of pent up frustration, read with caution!

Why is potty training so frustrating? I thought we were doing good until Austin went to school today. It seems that he wouldn't pee in the potty all day and was content to just pee in his pants. From what his teacher explained, he started out by peeing in his pants and not wanting to get his clothes changed. Then he changed his mind and every time he peed in his pants he started to take his clothes off to get them changed. Was he peeing in his pants because he was afraid of the potty at school (he was freaked out by the little potty when I dropped him off) or was it because his teachers were not taking him to the potty enough, or even at all? Is it considered babying your child if you take him to the potty every 30 minutes just to try? Or are you supposed to let them go an hour and then pee on themselves? What does that accomplish? How is it that Austin can wear underwear from the time he gets up until the time he goes to bed at home and have only two accidents, but at school he comes home with six bags of wet clothes? And they were wet! Am I overreacting because I think this should be easy? Where's the easy button for potty training?

Did I mention that I didn't even have to do the hard part! Grandma Richards took care of the hard part when she was here and got the whole potty training thing jump started. We all know that I may have been avoiding it...now we know why! I'm getting frustrated with the easy part!

Daddy & Austin

Who would have guessed…my mom went home yesterday, my husband would leave for San Antonio this morning until Sunday and I would have to take Austin to school today so that I could go to work. But...when we arrived this morning school was closed because of President Bush's orders regarding Gerald Ford. So because we've been working on potty training and things are going really good, I decided to stay home with Austin today rather than sticking him back into diapers for the day and having someone watch him! Wouldn't you know that the one day I have to take him to school (because he hasn't gone in about 2 weeks) that they would be closed?

Today marks week 33 of my pregnancy. It’s kind of hard to believe that I only have 7 weeks left, possibly less than that! Only a little over a month and a half to go! Here’s some info about what’s going on with the baby this week:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and measures 17.2 inches from the top of her head to her heels. Her skin is becoming less red and wrinkled, and while most of her bones are hardening, her skull is quite pliable and not completely joined. This will help her ease out of your relatively narrow birth canal.

Happy New Year!

Myspace Comments

Mommy and Austin

This picture was taken of Austin and I at my Christmas Party for work! Aren't we cute!

Appointment Update

I once again had my bi-weekly appointment with Dr. L yesterday. My weight gain will not be shared this time as (a) it's a little embarrassing if it's right and (b) because I don't think the nurse wrote my current weight down correctly, but I can't remember how much I actually weighed! Anyways, Dr. L managed to squeeze me in between two deliveries! He said that he had delivered 6 babies in the last two days; he's been a busy man! His nurses were teasing him that they should have gotten him roller blades so that he could get between his office and the hospital faster! He asked me how I was feeling and I told him that my midsection had been a little achy lately. He said that it was probably due to being on my feet so much and not relaxing enough. He suggested I get one of those belt things to wear around my midsection to help lift my belly and relieve some of the pressure. I don't think I'm going to that extreme, I think I'll just take it a little easier from now on! I happened to be put in the ultrasound exam room, so when it came time to listen to her heart I got to look at her instead. She indeed has positioned herself head down and I got to see her little face on the screen. Of course it's not so little anymore, but I did get to see her eyes, nose, mouth and chin! I got to see her little chest too when Dr. L was checking her heart beat. He said that everything looked great and he will see me in two weeks. After the next appointment I will start going once a week! That means that my due date is getting closer...I can't wait for this little girl to join us!

In other news...
Grandma Richards has been here since Tuesday and I think she's really enjoying herself! I think that she and Austin have managed to play with almost all of his new toys plus some. We've got big shopping plans for Saturday but other than that we've just been hanging out at home. It's been nice to have her here and I'm sure Austin will be disappointed when she has to go home. He won't have to wait too long before seeing her again as she's planning on coming back to Texas after his sister is born!

8 Months

I made it! I start my 8th month of pregnancy today! I've always thought it was funny that they say women are pregnant for 9 months. Technically a woman is pregnant for 40 weeks, isn't that 10 months?

By now, your baby probably weighs almost 4 pounds and is almost 17 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. She has tiny toenails now, and her fingernails have grown in, too. Some babies have a head of hair already; others have only peach fuzz.

I thought that this information was interesting, considering I'm experiencing some of the symptoms!

As your baby grows, the increasing concentration of weight in your growing belly causes a change in your posture and a shift in your center of gravity. Plus, your abdominal muscles are stretching, hormones are making your ligaments more lax, and your growing uterus may even press on some nerves. All of this can contribute to low back pain and possibly to some pain in your buttocks and thighs as well.

Merry Christmas!

from our family to yours!

Santa made his stop at Austin's house and left all kinds of cool presents. Not to mention all of the other gifts that were under our tree from other people! Thanks to everyone who sent gifts for Austin and the new baby! We didn't get too many pictures with the camera because we were using the video camera, but here are some of the pictures that we did take!

Look at what Santa brought!

Checking out his new Play Doh table

Playing with his new Play Doh table

Watching a new movie

After opening presents we got ready and I started to cook our Christmas dinner. We decided that we would rather have turkey again instead of ham. We had some friends over and I made turkey and everything that goes with it! We're all exhausted! All in all we had a great Christmas. I'm hoping to get the video that we took today on the computer so that I can put a little movie of Austin's expressions when he saw what Santa brought him. He thought that Tickle Me Elmo was funny when he saw what he did! We hope that everyone had a great day! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2006

Decorating cookies for Santa!



Opening Christmas Eve presents!



A Miss Spider ornament and Christmas jammies!



Austin is now off to bed so that Santa will visit his house! He said a couple of times tonight that Santa was here when he heard the door open! Tomorrow morning should be fun...

A little comparison

I thought it might be fun to do a little comparison of pictures taken of myself pregnant at Christmas time. And because I kept my maternity clothes, I have the same shirt on as the first picture! Of course this year I had to take the picture minus Aaron, but you get the idea!

So, here I am 32 weeks pregnant with Austin and 31 weeks pregnant with the little girl whom remains un-named!

And here's Austin 3 years later! I can't believe that he is about to turn 3 years old! Time flies when you're having fun!

My husband so graciously made the comment that my face is not as fat! I feel as though I am carrying this baby different than Austin. At this point in my pregnancy with Austin I felt like I couldn't get a good breath because I was carrying him so high and he was compressing my lungs. With this pregnancy I feel as though I'm carrying her really low. From looking at these pictures it doesn't appear that I'm carrying her as low as I thought!

Breathing treatments

So, after about two breathing treatment sessions of holding him down and trying to get some of the medication in him, Austin decided that it would be easier if he just did it himself. We introduced the fact that the medicine was trying to tickle his nose and it has seemed to work ever since! He can now sit for an entire breathing treatment session if he handles the job himself! I guess we'll do whatever it takes!

Austin had to go back to the doctor today for a follow up appointment. She said that his lungs sounded clear, continue with the breathing treatments to help the congestion and finish out the steroid medication that she prescribed. This morning was the first time he took the steroid medicine and Daddy said that he took it like a champ! The pharmacist suggested last night that we start it this morning with breakfast as this particular steroid tends to keep kids awake after taking it! I agreed, I didn't want to stay up all night! Austin had the luxury of staying home with Daddy again all day today! I think it's off to school tomorrow so that Daddy can go to work on time and not have to wait until I get home. At some point we're going to have to get him back to his routine! It probably won't be for another week or so as he'll get to stay home all next week when Grandma Richards is here to play! Spoiled rotten I tell you!

Anyways, have I mentioned how exhausted I've felt lately? Hopefully I'll start to feel more energized once my house is finally organized! Yeah right...when is anything ever organized! Oh well, I'm off to get us ready for bed! From the tumbling that is going on inside my belly I may not be relaxing any time soon...

"I don't wanna go to pool"

It has become a daily occurrence that Austin says he doesn't want to go to school! I don't know why he says it, but he says it every day as we're going through the gate to get on post and go to school. Of course at the end of the day when I ask him if he's had a good day at school he replies with "yes!" Since we have been so busy lately with moving and everything else, we've had to wake him up in the morning. This particular morning I turned his light on but he did not want to wake up! He didn't have to go to school today as he had to stay home sick with Daddy. It seems that he has the acquired a nasty cold again. We are currently battling a fever, a runny nose, a cough and the congestion associated with it all. Michael took him to the doctor this afternoon and he was prescribed some medication and was instructed to do breathing treatments every 4 hours to help with the congestion. And of course he does so well with breathing treatments...we had to literally hold him down this evening just to get him to breathe a little of that stuff in. I'm not too sure what makes him freak out but by the time it was all said and done, his nose was really running and his head was soaked with sweat! He has now found the comfort of Daddy's shoulder and fallen fast asleep. He wanted nothing to do with me as I was the one who initiated the breathing treatment and tried to administer medication! He has to go back to the doctor on Wednesday to see how everything is going. Hopefully we can get his fever down so that he can go to school.

This week I find myself being 31 weeks pregnant. I have been exhausted lately because of the move and having to unpack everything. I'm looking forward to the long weekend ahead and spending Christmas with my guys. I have a feeling that this week at work is going to be busy! Today we had two people call in sick. And it happened to be another one of the girl's last day at work for a while. We've really gotten to be good friends and I'm going to miss her while she's on her maternity leave. I'm sure she'll be busy at home with the impending arrival of her little girl! So in the meantime, I'll try and function without her! I've taken on some of her daily tasks so I'll be sure to stay busy!

Now for your weekly pregnancy update! Here is some information about the 31st week of pregnancy!

This week, your baby measures about 16 inches long. She weighs a little over 3 pounds and is headed for a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and she's beginning to accumulate a layer of fat underneath her skin in preparation for life as a newborn. As a result, her arms, legs, and body are filling out.

Oh, we also want to congratulate Uncle Ben, Aunt Angie & Riley. They are expecting a new baby next year! Looks like this will also be the last year that Riley is an only child at Christmas time! Maybe they will have a boy this time! We wish them the best and can't wait to meet the newest addition to their family!

Happy Anniversary!

We've been married for 3 years today! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! We're not planning on doing anything special. We spent a couple of hours at the other house this morning getting things cleaned up. For the most part everything is now at the new house. I tried to get my husband to take us out for dinner, but I'll probably end up making Austin's favorite instead! I finally got my washing machine hooked up so I'll be doing laundry for the rest of the evening.

Hanging Ornaments

Austin and I finally got the ornaments on our Christmas tree! Of course you can tell where Austin placed all of his ornaments as they are all clumped together at his eye level. He also had the job of placing the candy canes on the tree and did a really good job at getting those all together too! I think those two things are the best things about our tree this year! I was starting to think that our tree was looking bare without any presents under it until the mail arrived today! Of course what would Christmas be if Austin wasn't spoiled by his Grandparents! And yes, that means both sets of Grandparents...I know one Grandma in particular who is getting really excited about Christmas being around the corner! She's coming to Texas the day after Christmas to spend almost a whole week! Austin better enjoy Christmas this year also, as this will be his last Christmas as an only child! He'll have to share next year and many more with his sister!

It's kind of hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner. The weather today was absolutely gorgeous. While Austin and I were out and about for a couple things this afternoon I wore a short sleeve shirt with my jeans! I had to run the air conditioner in the car because it was really warm if I didn't. Oh, the perks of living in Texas in the winter!

Moving

Let me just say that this week has been interesting. We were able to start moving things into our new house on Monday, so when I go out of work we got a couple of car loads to the new house. Tuesday Michael rented a big U-Haul truck and got almost everything else moved. And after work we continued with another couple of car loads of the stuff that was left over. Wednesday evening when I got out of work I came home and decided that I was going to get my Christmas tree up. The unpacking could wait until the next day. Needless to say, my Christmas tree is up and has lights on it, but I was too exhausted to put any ornaments on! Tonight Austin and I did a load from the kitchen because neither Michael nor I have felt like packing it up or moving it! We've ate out the last three nights because of this so tomorrow I'll actually get to cook a meal here! Of course Austin and I made a much needed trip to the grocery store tonight so we actually have food that we can eat here now! Needless to say, Michael has done a great job getting everything moved this week! I can't lift much so he's been a real trooper!

I had my bi-weekly appointment with Dr. L today. I must say that I did much better at controlling the weight gain the last two weeks. Two pounds in two weeks isn't bad! Her heartbeat sounded great like always! It's always so interesting to hear their little heartbeats! I then asked Dr. L the question that has been on my mind for a while. "When do we determine how big she is and how big she's going to get!" After I explained the difficult time I had with Austin and how much he weighed, Dr. L thought that maybe we could do an ultrasound at 38 weeks to see how big she is at that point. Considering that Austin weighed 8 lbs 11 oz at 39 weeks, he could have easily been 9 lbs 11 oz at 40 weeks. Dr. L is going to keep an eye on how things progress in the next 8 weeks and if determined by himself or an ultrasound that she's going to be big like Austin, he will induce labor at 39 weeks. Isn't he great! So although I've been completely exhausted lately, I can't say the same about the baby! This girl is a mover. She is getting pretty good at sticking her butt out and making my belly look lopsided. I have determined that she has made her way into a head down position as something is constantly moving at the top of my belly! What I would give just to be able to see what she's doing in there!

So as the countdown to Christmas continues, so will the unpacking! Hopefully we’ll have everything taken care of by Christmas. I’ve decided that it’s not worth it to overwhelm myself with trying to get everything done. Having the whole weekend to get things situated will be nice! Well, I can tell that it’s time to call it a night as my typing is no longer making much sense! One more day of work and then the weekend!

Happy Birthday!

Uncle Aaron

Shaving with Daddy

Austin has a plastic pretend razor just like Daddy and likes to shave his face while Daddy does his. They decided yesterday that Austin needed shaving cream on his face just like Daddy too. Here are some cute pictures!

Gotta love that smile!

Photo Shoot

Austin and I had a mini photo shoot on Saturday for a picture that I could place in our Christmas cards. Although we didn't use this one, I thought it was cute. And yes, that's drool on his shirt! He's almost three and constantly needs to be reminded to swallow because he forgets and drools on himself. One of these days he'll grow up, probably faster than I'd like...

News

Well, we've managed to find a house to rent! We sign the lease on Monday morning and can then start to move things in. Of course I have to get the water and electricity connected on Monday, but I'm hoping to set it up for first thing in the morning. Michael has enlisted the help of a couple of his buddies and they will be moving the big things on Tuesday. As my condition puts me in a state where I can not help move the big things, I will be going to work and hoping that all of my stuff makes it to the new house in one piece. Well, makes it there in the first place is more like it! Someone has a habit of not knowing where things end up if they move them without my help, I won't mention their name but I'm sure you all have a good idea about who I'm talking about...

I will be sending out a mass email with our new address. If you do not receive the email and wish to know what our new address is, you can email me at an8di@yahoo.com. For our security, I will not be posting the new address on the website! We will be picking up the keys for our mail on Monday, so I would assume that it would be safe to start sending to the new address next week.

I am so excited that I'm going to be able to set up my Christmas tree and decorations by this time next week! Austin is going to be so excited that we finally get to put up our Christmas tree. Every time we go to the grocery store we have to go look at the Christmas trees!

Week 29 is here! Only 11 more weeks to go if I go until my due date. Here's some information about what's going on inside her world:

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to accommodate her brain -- which is busy developing billions of neurons. With her rapid growth, it’s no surprise that your baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester. To keep yourself and her well nourished, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, iron and calcium. (About 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in your baby's skeleton -- which is now hardening -- every day.)

Watching a movie

When Austin saw this picture on the computer he stated that he was "Watching Potty Time with Bear." I can't imagine how he would know that, he watches that movie at least once a day! Now if he would only pay attention to what the movie was trying to teach him, we might be a little further along with the whole potty training thing...