Cheese

Connor is having fun exploring all the new things in the house that come along with the baby. Yesterday he took one of my gel nipple pads and said, "Cheese!" and tried to lick it. In his defense, it does look a little like his fake food. Gotta watch that kid ALL the time!

Evan's 1st Dr Appt

Evan went to his first dr appt yesterday at 4 days old. While waiting
in the waiting room he decided to fill his diaper. Then we got him to
the room and got him changed and he was hungry. Luckily we got all
this taken care of before the dr came in. Evan weighs 8 lbs 13 oz
which is only 2 oz shy of his birth weight. This is great but it
usually takes 2 weeks for a baby to regain his birthweight not 4 days!
He was 8 lbs 6 oz the night before we left the hospital so he's either
been seriously chowing down or the scales are a bit off ... Probably both!
The dr thought he loooked a little yellow but they checked his blood
levels and he's fine.

Connor is doing really well. He's not too interested in Baby but
that's ok. Grandma Betty and Grandpa Joe leave tomorrow so the amount
of attention he's getting will be drastically reduced. But Daddy
will be home for another week so hopefully we'll continue the smooth
transition.

BTW Evan slept in the pack and play while we ate dinner. He's much
easier than Connor was at this point. Let's hope it continues!

Home Again!

Here I am at 6am on Thursday morning getting ready for the surgery. I did much better during the surgery/recovery this time around, but ended up getting motion sick and throwing up when they wheeled me through the hospital to my room.

Evan getting his first bath. Look at all that dark hair. Where did this kid come from?

Nora was an ENORMOUS help! She met us at the hospital on Thurs. morning and waited until we needed her to come sit with me in recovery. She even held the bucket while I puked! That's friendship! She came back later that night and brought me a Frosty and fries and then again the next morning to bring coffee and tacos! We wouldn't have made it without her! Thanks!

I took my Boppy to the hospital and it was the best thing I had I think. It held Evan and helped me nurse. I think it's been within arm's reach for the last 3 days. I think I need to get a second one so I have one upstairs and one downstairs!

I made it out of bed!

Our first family photo! Connor wasn't really interested the first day but he did touch Evan the second day. Now that we're home he wants to watch diaper changes and gets worried when he hears the baby cry. He's warming up!

Waiting to go home!

Not wanting to wait to get fed! Kind of a common theme these days! Evan heard that Connor used to eat 16 times a day in the first weeks so Evan has been working on surpassing that number. Poor Mommy!

Ready for the car! Let's go meet those dogs!

Grandma getting some baby time! Grandma Betty and Grandpa Joe stayed with Connor while we were in the hospital. Connor got LOTS of attention and had lots of fun with them!

Evan Michael

Evan was born at 8:02 am on Sept. 24th. He weighed 8lbs 15 oz and was
20 in long. He has lots of dark curly hair and is quite the eater.
Both Mommy and baby are doing well. Connor got to meet his baby
brother but wasn't really overly interested. I'm sure once we get home
and they get used to each other, they will be inseperable!

Police Visit

Today Connor and I took a tour, with our MOMS Club, of the Pflugerville Justice Center. We saw a small detention area, a courtroom, and lots of offices but only about 3 police officers. One of the police officers gave each of the kids a stuffed animal. They were all very nice. Connor could have cared less about it all though...maybe next year!

In this picture Connor is going into the juvenile detention area...obviously he's been drinking!

Davidson's Descend

My Aunt Nancy, Uncle Roger and Cousin Lisa came down for lunch today. Roger & Nancy are in the DFW area visiting Lisa for the weekend so they thought they'd make the "short" drive to Austin. It was great seeing them and hopefully we can get the whole family together soon. It should be fun in a few years because we'll have 3 little boys (my 2 and my cousin Mike's 1) with in a year and half of each other wreaking havoc on everyone!

Wordle

I found this cool site...you can post any kind of text and it puts the words in descending size order according to frequency. www.wordle.net

Tooth #11

Connor is 19 months old and got another tooth yesterday! Yeah!! #3 of the the 4 up front on the bottom that he should have gotten a few months ago. Hopefully #12 is not far behind. He's been a real pill though lately. We're hoping it's just teething, but I'm thinking maybe it's the "Terrible Two's" warning us of their impending doom. He's REFUSED to take a bath the last 3 nights! He screams and cries and acts like...well, like Sophie with her ear meds! He's not going to bed too easily either. We had quite a fit today after he squeezed his juice box all over both of us...repeatedly...and I told him he had to sit at the table to drink the rest. That fit included screaming, kicking and banging a hand on the table! I tried to remain calm and just wait it out. I knew he was tired so we went up for a nap (and put the juice box away for later)...which caused more screaming, stomping and banging on the door. Maybe I should be glad that I'm going into the hospital next week and Grandma and Grandpa get to deal with him!

Marley's on more meds. We finished the antibiotic for her teeth..which have yet to be cleaned and may have to have more before the actual procedure. But now she seems to be having a problem with her back leg. It shakes and sometimes she seems to be favoring it/limping. I called the vet to see what to do and they gave me MORE meds for her. They want to try some glucosomine before doing any x-rays...which require putting her under which is what we're trying not to do for the teeth. So we'll see how it goes and hopefully she'll not get any worse. But that makes 4 meds that she gets at every meal...it's crazy!

Oh and Connor has started watching cartoons! He loves The Backyardigans now...he calls it Pablo which is the penguin character. He actually had a Backyardigan themed birthday party for his first birthday...guess it was just a little too early for him. He carries around a couple of the little characters, along with his little cars, everywhere he goes. It's very cute.

Evan's still hanging in. We go to our last dr's appt tomorrow morning! Then a week from tomorrow at 7am is the surgery! Ready or not...here he comes!

Walk To Get The Mail

Connor and Daddy took a walk yesterday, in the break from the rain, to get the mail. They were so cute walking down the sidewalk that I just had to take some pics. I guess they saw a ginormous turtle on their walk too. It was very successful esp. since Connor took a 2 hour nap when they got home.

Only 10 more days until Evan is born! Yeah! I'm VERY ready to not be pregnant anymore but I'm not sure I'm ready for a newborn, a toddler, a beagle and an aging schnauzer.

Ultrasound

We had a dr's appt this morning. I mentioned that I hadn't really felt him move as much in the last week so the dr sent us up immediately to do an ultrasound. Everything is fine though. He's moving fine and the fluid levels are fine. We just think he doesn't have as much room to make the big swiping moves that he had been making. We actually got some face photos this time even though he's down pretty low (and up high too since he's out of room). They are estimating that he's 7.5lbs already which puts him past Connor's birth weight even though it's 3 weeks earlier than when Connor was born. I have 13 more days until the scheduled ultrasound date which is 6 days before my actual due date. So he should be 8 - 8.5lbs by then. And...I do need to say a big Thank You to Nora for dropping what she was doing this morning and coming to help us out. Because we didn't know we were going to have an ultrasound, we didn't have a babysitter for Connor. But she came when we called and watched him so we could both go in. Thanks!!!

I also got an email today saying that I have been accepted back into TX State for the Spring to finish my graduate degree. I have 5 classes plus my year long internship still to finish. I'm not planning on going back to work anytime soon, but I also a) want to have options and b) don't want my previous classes to expire since it's already been 2 yrs that I've been out. So I'll start back slowly and see what happens.

Tumbling Class

Connor and Shia started tumbling class this morning. They were the first ones there so they had some extra time to run around and try everything out. They had a blast running around and climbing on everything. They even got a uniform to wear each week! They really liked the exploring time, but weren't so sure about the group times. They could have done without the whole follow directions and do what the teacher does time. They kept trying to leave the circle, but I'm pretty sure that's what 18 month olds do normally. They were both hungry by the end and ready to be done and go eat. Mommy got quite a workout too!

Marley was supposed to have her teeth cleaned today, but the vet decided against it after doing some blood work. He found that her red blood count was low and she had no detectable thyroid activity. So she's on thyroid meds now for the rest of her life...along with the kidney pills. She's also on antibiotics and vitamins for the next few weeks. Poor Connor won't get any new toys for a while because we've spent sooo much on these darn dogs! And Marley still needs to have her teeth cleaned in a few weeks!

I'm 37 weeks today which is considered full term! Evan can come any time now and should be good to go. We still have the c-section scheduled for Sept 24th though. My anemia has almost gone away (almost normal levels) with the pills I take twice a day so it shouldn't present any complications during the surgery. I just keep taking them until then...not sure about after he comes. We've gotten all the baby stuff out in hopes that Connor will eventually stop playing with it and let the baby use his own stuff, but I don't see that happening too quickly. I'm just hoping Connor doesn't yank him out of anything so he can get in. We're working on the concept of "share."

Matchbox Cars

I bought Connor his first Matchbox cars yesterday. I let him pick out two. He picked a yellow van that he calls bus (we love to watch for the buses going through the neighborhood) and a scraper that he calls truck. He carried them around all afternoon yesterday so I'm thinking they were a hit. Then we got out Dave's old cars to see if he'd like those too. He does like them...not as well as his...but it's fun to see him playing with them. I think he played..off and on...for like 2 hours yesterday with them. Definitely need to add Matchbox race track to his Christmas list!

Vet

We took the dogs to the vet on Saturday to make sure they were up to date on everything before the baby comes. Turns out Sophie has an ear infection and Marley has a gum infection. Marley is going in Wed to have her teeth cleaned and some growths removed (again). She may not survive this procedure, but she also may not make it long swallowing these bad germs. So we're taking the chance and hoping it all turns out for the best. Her heart sounds good and she's been pretty healthy for the last year so we think it'll be ok. On the other hand, dealing with Sophie's ear infection has become a twice daily battle. We have to put ear wash in once a day and antibiotic drops twice a day. You'd think we were trying to light her on fire the way she reacts...and runs. And each episode gets a little worse. We need to the vet, or a sumo wrestler, to come over twice a day to help us do this. Hopefully it all clears up soon and we win the Beagle Battles.

Connor is doing well. He tried to run away 3 times this week, but luckily I was close behind each time. I'm not sure what's going to happen though when Evan comes and I have to chase this child down while dealing with a newborn. Should be some interesting posts to come.

Evan is continuing to grow larger every day. I'm having MUCH trouble sleeping due to muscle cramps, getting up to pee hourly and just plain being uncomfortable. But only a few more days and Dave will be joining me in the lack of sleep so at least I won't be wandering the house alone at night any more. That does make me feel better.

Lying

We've caught Connor "lying" a few times in the last few weeks and today he came up with a new one! Usually his lies have to do with Sophie. The other day he finished his sandwich and I asked him where it went and he said, "Sosie." Which ok...Sophie usually does steal his food, but not that time. Then he hit his head and said "owie". I asked him what happened and again he answered "Sosie." But today's was more complex. We had some workmen here hooking up the tv in the upstairs game room. Connor stayed downstairs but wanted to go upstairs. So he looked at me and pointed to his diaper and went to the stairs. He knew that by saying he needed his diaper changed he could go upstairs and see what the workmen were up to! That is SNEAKY! I am concerned what the teen years will be like if he can make up stories at 18 months. On the other hand...he's got to be pretty smart to lie this early. Should I be proud?

Lately

On Friday we had a sprinkler system put in in hopes of saving our quickly dying yard. Sullivan's did a great job. This is what the front yard looked like in the middle of the process, but without a sign in the front yard, you'd never know once they were finished. It rained the 3 days before the installation and even with water restrictions we are allowed to water due to the work. You should see our yard now. There's actually some green in places we never thought we'd see grass. So hopefully we got this done just in time. The point was to spend the money now and then not have to put the system in in the spring PLUS new sod.

Not sure if you can see, but Connor has the dust buster in his hand. He loves this thing. He calls it "Nean, nean, nean" or "Clean, clean, clean" and loves to have it run. Unfortunately most of the time when I need it, it has no power left because he plays with it daily.

We had pancakes and eggs for dinner last night. He ate two pancakes and all his eggs using the utensils from his new kitchen. Whatever...at least he ate!

I just found him like this a few minutes ago. All his clothes just came out of the laundry and weren't in his drawers yet so that explains the naked, but this new face is another thing. Each time I get out the camera he makes this face. He used to do so well and just smile, but now he makes this silly face and then screams for the camera because he wants to see. Silly boy!

So I try to get him to say something else to get a normal picture.

Right this minute he is being stalked by the dogs. He's got a bowl of goldfish in his shopping cart that he's pushing around and they're following waiting for him to drop some or leave it unattended. No wonder the kid is losing weight and the dogs are gaining weight...he has to fight them for every snack. Don't feel too sorry for him though, he's learned to chase Sophie with a variety of objects that she's afraid of. It makes all of us laugh...except Sophie!

Evan is growing larger every day. Only 3 more weeks and he'll be here. Not sure if I'll make it though. I had a rough night last night. He decided to crawl up and sit on my ribs. It's pretty painful. He should be 7 lbs by the end of this week! I'm going to have to take all the 0-3 month clothes out of his dresser and put 3-6 month clothes in instead!