Valentines Day

I have to say I love being a mom to a boy and having a wonderful husband who can teach Austin how to treat his wife one day. I can't wait to have three boys' love! I must say I will be spoiled. So David and I decided we weren't going to do anything for Valentine's this year of course I follow the rules and he doesn't but I would be lying if I said I didn't LOVE what he got me. Saturday while I was getting my hair done and attending a bridal shower he took Austin to the mall to Build-A-Bear to "build" me a monkey. David had Austin record me a message which sounds something like this: David-"Say Mama" Austin-"Mama" David-"Say Love You" Austin- "Love You". So sweet! I will be honest and say that before I left for work on Monday morning after David had taken Austin to "school" I squeezed the monkey's hand to hear Austin's voice. David then took Austin to the Apple store because I got a new iPhone awhile back and never had a case for it so he let Austin pick one out and he did pretty good. For Austin's Valentine's present we took him to Meyer Park. He loves to be outside so it was a real treat for him! He of course loved it and came home and took a nap in his big boy bed while I painted in Hunter's room. When he woke up we let him paint a birdhouse that will be hung in the tree in Hunter's room. It was like Austin was making a valentine for his little brother. Below is a video of Austin painting the birdhouse. For him never having experience with a paint brush he seemed to know exactly what to do.

Austin adding the heart he kissed and pushing the pedal to add the stuffing to the monkey at Build-A-Bear.

Daddy and Austin checking out the geese by the pond at Meyer Park.

Austin's First Paint Touches on Hunter's Birdhouse

Austin Making Handprints on the House and Painting Himself

Hunter's First Real Spotlight

Well I can't believe that almost two months have past since I last posted something I guess that is what happens when you are pregnant, raising a toddler, and teaching 22 first graders...YOU GET TIRED ALL THE TIME! Haha. I have written about Hunter some on our blog but figured now with having just 10 weeks left he should get his first spotlight on here. Hunter started off my pregnancy with a scare as most of you know when at about 9 weeks I had a huge bleed and had to go to the ER. I never had anything like that with Austin so it was super scary. Come to find out I had what they called a subchorionic hemorrhage. It was a relief but added a bit of scare for awhile because of the complications that can sometimes result in it. Needless to say it went away on its own and everything was smooth sailing until the glucose test. Haha! I went in thinking if Hunter wants to end his journey with a bang I will have gestational diabetes. I had failed the one hour with Austin so was okay with that but went on to pass with Austin...Hunter not so much. I have started testing myself four times a day: when I wake up and then two hours after every meal. I have been recording my glucose levels and EVERYTHING that I eat which has actually become very interesting to see what is in food. Haha. I meet with a nutritionist this Friday so it will be interesting to hear what she has to say. So haven't really figured out what all this means about our little man that is growing inside of me with the "drama" of a subchorionic hemorrhage and gestational diabetes...my thoughts have been he wants to come into this world knowing he has a place and doesn't want Austin to have all the attention. Haha. Well I have attached a photo of Hunter's 3D ultrasound. I must say he is a cutie! So excited about having another boy running around our house.

Pregnancy Hormones

Haha!  I think the title of this post explains a lot!  Lately I have been thinking a lot about when Hunter arrives.  I am so super excited about having another boy!  I must say it makes me really start to think about all the memories with Austin which makes me emotional.  Haha.  David can totally agree with me being emotional.  (Short story-got home from Christmas shopping and wasn't feeling all that great and David joked about not getting any matching outfits (got the boys matching onezies for when Hunter arrives) that said something about Dad on them (they really had none I searched the entire store) and I started crying which caused David to freak out.  Haha.  It's funny now but at the time I was not feeling good and him joking with me was not what I wanted to hear.  Anyways...back to my emotional state of mind and being pregnant I can't believe that our baby (Austin) is almost two!  I just got done scrolling down the side of our blog looking at how he has grown and it blows me away!  He is becoming such a big boy and I love it but miss the baby days...I guess that's why we are having another one.  Haha!  So being a weird emotional mom I thought I could post a picture of Austin when he was little and now so you all can see how much our little boy has grown.  

Our first shots of Austin by his stuffed football!

What a difference 19 months makes!

The first of many diaper genie full trash bags!

One day we won't need the diaper genie...just practicing here :)

First bites from a spoon...not to thrilled.

Now we feed ourselves and can't get enough!

A smile that started off so cute...

And of course still is!

Christmas 2009!

I can't believe that we celebrated Austin's second Christmas this year!  At school Austin had an elf watching over him and one even showed up at our house which we think he named Elmo...it could have been named More Milk as they both sound the same.  Haha!  We celebrated Christmas early with my parents since we were headed to Arkansas for the "last" Christmas at Grammie and Caw Caw's where they was another elf.  Man Santa has a lot of those guys!  Austin of course got more toys than we have room for and I am actually thinking of holding off on the train table and set that we got him and waiting for his birthday as he already has plenty to play with plus it might be a good distraction for when Hunter arrives.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their family because we feel very blessed my the family that we have.  As always our parents spoiled Austin and us which made me start thinking...maybe we need to save for when Austin gets older.  Haha!  Below are just a few pictures that we took over the Christmas holidays...enjoy!  

Austin's visit to Santa...very serious as always but no tears!

Austin helping decorate our Christmas tree!

Is that Santa coming down the chimney?

 "Elmo" was even at Grammie's!  Wow!

Austin on Christmas Eve thinking "I wonder when Santa will get here?"

Santa brought goodies!  I'm glad he knew we were in Arkansas and not at home.

  Christmas Day Family Photo!

Opening up all these presents will wear you out!

A Thanksgiving of many "FIRSTS!"

Well let me begin by saying this Thanksgiving was one of many firsts. Haha!

1st FIRST: Since we are trying to get the room ready for our new arrival we decided to move Austin into a "big boy" bed. He loves it! We sleep GREAT in it at night but nap times we go to the other room to sleep in the crib.

Austin helping Daddy put his "big boy" bed together!

 The BIG BOY ROOM is complete!

Austin testing out his new bed!

2nd FIRST: Austin showed us he knows how to climb out of the crib. Haha! I guess since he has his "big boy" room he figured he would expand his horizons and show us some new tricks. He never once tried climbing out of the crib before the "big boy" bed but when he went down for a nap the next day he showed us he can climb and he can decorate. Haha! He chose to go for the winter look by emptying our entire paper shredder all over the ENTIRE room to make it look like it had snowed. I have to admit it was pretty funny! We got the camera and video camera and David recorded us trying to clean which then turned into a paper fight. One of my favorite memories now!

Uh Oh!  They caught me!

3rd FIRST: I cooked my first turkey EVER! I was a little nervous when on Tuesday (2 days before Thanksgiving) people starting concerning me because I hadn't bought a turkey yet and they told me it takes DAYS to thaw. Luckily for me, I went to the store that day after work and they had fresh turkeys so I was all set...OR SO WE THOUGHT! I knew about prepping the turkey and I even got myself a really good recipe that I found online. It called for a bottle of champagne which I was worried about at first but again after talking to co-workers they assured me that cooked alcohol is okay for pregnant people. So everything was perfect: I had made the mashed potatoes, the green bean casserole, fruit salad, stuffing that was in the turkey, stuffing that was out of the turkey...AND THEN...I decided to move the turkey in the oven to cook more in the middle of the oven since the stuffing (out of the turkey) no longer needed to be cooked...BIG MISTAKE!! You can't really drag a 18-19 lb. turkey pre-stuffed in your oven. Does anyone know why? Well two things: the juices may spill out of the oven bag or the foil pan may get a hole. Not sure which happend but something did and then the sizzling began. Let me remind you that my recipe called for a bottle of champagne. I of course stayed by the oven while everyone else was enjoying the company and kept saying "Umm...it's starting to smoke a little bit." Minutes later smoke was coming out of the top of the oven and within minutes our entire house was filled with smoke. It was quite a scene but I reassured everyone over dinner which still turned out delicious that if I hadn't filled the house with smoke we wouldn't have any story to talk about for Thanksgiving because the food is the same every year so now we have a TRUE MEMORY!

4th FIRST: Not sure if this is really a first because it is my second time to be pregnant but finally experienced "sickness" the day after Thanksgiving. Just as with Austin who gave me that joy beginning at week 14...this one came at week 19. I must admit that I am glad I never experienced the constant nagging feeling of it. I just feel sick, get sick, and then I'm done.
Well those were all the adventures of our Thanksgiving this year!