23 weeks and 23 months!

Well my friends I am pretty peeved at myself for not realizing sooner, when these pics were taken, that at the same time I am 23 weeks pregnant with baby boy #2, my sweet lil prince William is 23 months old! Welp, cant always be perfect right? ;) 

Also, its certainly not my first realization that with two children some things get forgotten. I have been looking forward to my doctor appointment today, I haven't been in 5.5 weeks since we found out it was a boy at our big ultrasound so I was ready to talk about my baby boy. My appointment was at 9:30 this morning so during a crazy morning at work when I glanced down at my clock to see it say 9:38... I know I have something I need to do, and it literally took me minutes to realize, grab my purse, and run out the door!

Ahh, never a dull moment that's for sure. Good news is all is well with baby and myself, I got measured for the first time today and I measure right at 23 weeks, heartbeat 159bpm. I have a few more appointments with my doctor and then I will see a new doctor, the one who might deliver me. After Will my doctor stopped delivering, and we agreed today it'd be best for me to finish the end of the pregnancy with a delivering doc. I'm fine with all this considering I'd never met the woman who delivered Will and all was perfect.

23 weeks

Total weight gain: Up 7-8 pounds! 

Continuing symptoms: Back pain, bad at night, can barley lift Will, and moving furniture and things we do on a nightly basis are getting unbearable. I invested in a heating pad for work and I sit with it on my back a few times a day. 

New Symptom: None really, light headed if I get up too fast. But really I'm feeling great! Taking full advantage of that now! 

Maternity clothes: Pretty much everything is maternity, except some tops. Its too cold to keep wearing dresses without leggins and I only have a couple "leggin appropriate" dresses 

Sleep: some nights good, when its good I sleep like a rock, other nights bad, doesn't matter what wakes me up, baby, Will, Boomer, Luke, once up it takes hours upon hours to get back to sleep and by that point I have to be up anyway! 

What I'm eating: normal stuff, trying to limit sodium but last night I slipped up and let myself have Chinese takeout, sodium city! 

Cravings: Still sweets.... still wine. 

Movement: We have a kicker, or a karate boy, whatever he is this boy likes to move, we can actually see my stomach move now which is kinda cool

Special Pregnancy Moment: The fact that Will lifts my shirt and says, "Hi baby!" "I love you" "brother" melts my heart every.single.time. 

Also, seeing the nursery START to come together is fun :)

Onto the many face and personality's of a 23 month older brother....

A little catch up!

Wow, I feel like I'm saying this a lot and I'm sure I wont stop anytime soon but things have been busy! Between a computer crash for me at work and Luke transitioning to the new position and working from home we've definitely had our hands... and heads full! But when things get busy life does anything but slow down! Weve been doing well with dada at home, Will doesn't quite know where Luke is which helps, and we take turns in our new "office" when I need to do work on Wednesdays.
Williams second birthday is around the corner so I've been trying to get my head in the game for that, though 5 months pregnant and in total denial my first baby is turning two has me a little flustered.
Nesting has been in full force for quite some time now and getting a nursery painted turned into getting four rooms painted, we'll shop for Will's furniture soon and slowly start the transition.
We started another round of swim lessons, I dont know how much he learns but he loves it and with the cooler weather its something great to do. Trying to do as many things for "just Will" as we can before January.
Speaking of which, with the holidays quickly approaching I feel like this baby is going to be here before we know it! Kinda scary! It will be fine, I just hope time slows down a little. I go back to the doctor Friday so I'll do a pregnancy/baby update after that.
Will graduated his little library class we go to on Wednesday mornings. Since he'll now be two he's supposed to go to the 2 year old class but its on Mondays. So sad, he loves it, when I pull into the parking lot he starts saying "I dance, I dance."  he loves to go see his little buddies and sing and dance.
Anther hobby were still BIG on, "I cook, I cook" ohhh dear I can only think of so many things this boy can cook, and if he even sees me cooking he has to help! Dada may or may not be a little concerend with a son who would rather cook and dance among other things.
And in BIG news...... William went peepee on the big boy potty!!!!! After his bath Saturday night he was telling me he had to go so we tried ad I was barley on the 2nd page of a book when I heard the sweet sound. PEE PEE!!!!!! We quickly got the jellybeans for a reward and had a little dance party! I don't know if it will continue, its early. But its definitely a step in the right direction!

Big momma, and will ready for first of round two swim lessons

floating

Enjoying a Fall day, the weather here has been just gorgeous!

relaxing with dada, and some other buddies.

Calling for the ducks

early morning suson visit after spending the night at mimis

lol

"i cook!"

will did most the work minus the mixing and our banana muffins turned out surprisingly well!

touching his toes at library class

feeling the cold apple

singing happy birthday to Will

fun at mama michelles house, noodles!

after this... Will took one of the biggest falls yet. I thought we were going to the hospital, but all is OK.

snuggle bunny

He's learned I dont carry him a lot esp upstairs so he is here snickering while I'm trying to lure him to bed...

victory photo texts went out after pee pee on potty!

Little Will moments

My little man is growing and changing so much every.single.day. He simply amazes me with all he can do, he has always been active and right on {or ahead} of track, but he is just a completely different child than he was 5-6 months ago. I love that he can do and understand so many new things, trying to soak up all the fun William time I can in the next 4-5 months. 

- Wills big thing is to do things himself, of course! But a new one is "I cook!"   "I make!"  then he proceeds to scoot a kitchen chair over in the kitchen and stand up to help do whatever it is we are doing. Makes boiling a pot of water and some things a little difficult, but he loves it! 

- With all the new babys at least once a week or weekend we are off to meet a new baby, and deliver a meal or present. I dont know if he "gets" that there's a baby in my belly although he lifts my shirt up all the time and says "Hi baby sister... brother" {he was sure it was a girl too!} When we go see the babies he doesnt care too much but if I am holding them he will come up and give a gentle touch or kiss, I love that he is so gentle. 

- MICKEY. Yup, were on the Mickey kick again, it changed for a while super why, little einsteins, clifford. But now its all Mickey all the time. We dont let him watch a lot of tv, but he does get to if he's sitting and eating good (horrible habit we started) and watch a show before bed. Ohhhh TOODLES this momma is sick of Mickey! 

- We started a 2nd round of swim lessons (more posts on that later) and when that is over in Nov I think I'll do a session at little gym, getting lots of fun activites in now before were stuck inside the better half of the winter. 

- Were not potty training yet, but he's super into it! He talks about it a lot and sometimes gets upset if he sits on the potty and nothing comes out.... I cant wait till something comes out were gonna have a PARTY! 

- Will is talking in 2-3 word sentences, and I love it, we can have lil conversations! One thing he loves to do is dance! He definitely dances like no ones watching, last night I went in his room where I heard some sort of dance party going on and when I came in Luke sat down in the glider for a minute. Will right away grabbed his hands and said "UP dada, stand UP!" 

- I am happy to report that since tubes Will has not had ANY infections, he has even had some colds/allergies that used to result in ear infections. We also have him on a regimen of claritan in the morning and singular at night and it seems to be working wonders on his allergies! Minus the 2 stomach flu bugs I'm a happy momma!

- Will is learning about emotions he likes to tell me if people are happy, sad, sleeping etc... he says he's scared a lot. Not sure where this is coming from, its actually kinda cute. He has also learned to say things hurt, his feet, his neck from the tags of shirts. I dont like that he hurts but glad he can tell us! 

- The boy is obsessed with having pockets! He loves to find change and put it in there, he says "my monies" the other day the sitter texted me and said after Luke dropped him off he pulled a wine cork out of his pocket! And in the laundry I've found all sorts of thing floating around, guess its just another mans pockets I'll have to empty....lol.

Eating dinner like a good boy

Visiting Colleen and Ross's new baby girl, Will used to hate pictures now he wants in them all!

"I Cook!"

All ready for swim lessons!

a nice day at the park with Eliza, I love how protective he is of her.

"trying" with a wine magazine of course.

Softball started back up again which means lots of mommy/Will dates....

and snuggles!

Meeting Baby Hudson

my new nephew Hudson!

I am proud to announce my new nephew Mr. Hudson Joshua is here!  He was born early Saturday morning at 5:37 am weighing 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21" long. He's so sweet and just perfect and were all having a great time getting our newborn cuddles in!
My sister went into the hospital Friday night at 8 pm to get induced, we all decided we would go up the next morning to meet the little guy and Crystal was fine with it just being her and her husband there. Well I don't sleep well as it is, and with a new nephew being born any minute, like clockwork I was up at 3:30 and started texting away soon to find out she was at an 8 and my mom was also up anxiously awaiting phone calls we made a split decision there in the middle of the night to go up to be with my sister. At this point Crystal was a little bummed she didn't have her entourage in the waiting room and was happy to have us, so happy in fact that she invited my mom and I to witness the amazing miracle of birth. We made it just in time, they were just waiting on the doctor to arrive, so we snapped some quick pics and it was time to get the show on the road! I dont know what to say about it, it was amazing.... ohhh so amazing, I cant explain the unimaginable amount of love there in that room. At every push I had instant tears streaming down my face for what my sister was doing and the little baby about to meet this world. Now... as amazing as it was, I, myself having to do this in 4 short months had to take a step back and some deep breaths because as amazing as our bodies are, its not always the prettiest sight.
I will never forget seeing his head.... but you see that in the movies they show you at childbirth class, the crazy thing to me was after his head was out (which they just let hang there for a while) he stuck his little arm way out like he was waving to us all, it was then I realized there was a whole body coming out following that head! Crystal got to pull him out and I think I'll have to request that this time as well, it was such a neat thing to see a mother pulling her son from the womb.
I don't know how we do it, I don't know how I did it, but as gross as it is, I cant wait to do it again!

Momma with her sweet new bundle

Luke, Will and I went to go see baby Hudson and the family last night but with all the excitement and the boys throwing a dance party I didn't get any pictures. Plenty to come soon I'm sure. Welcome to this world sweet baby Hudson, you are very loved.

Will making brownies for his new nephew 

Fall's bringing changes!

I don't know about you, but after this scorcher summer I'm so ready for Fall! My yummy scented candles, chili's and soups, pumpkin spice latte's, the pumpkin patch, bring it on! Speaking of which there is a great deal on a 5 dollar for 10 dollar Starbucks gift card today, go HERE to get yours!

I think everyday I know a new baby being born! My friends and family are literally creating our own little baby boom! My friend Colleen had her sweet baby girl Molly Monday and sister gets induced this Friday, with lots of others in between. Saturday after visiting a new baby, Luke and I attended a diaper shower for my friend Meghan... not long into it we got a call from my mom that Will was sick. Home we went with a puking sick boy and dealt with the stomach flu for the next 12 hours...It's just so sad to watch a baby get so sick, and after he throws up he just stands there with his head down and says "I sorry, I sorry"  Luckily he was feeling better Sunday but we laid low around the house for the next two days and got a ton accomplished!

One bit of news I've been hesitant about sharing... Luke accepted a new position with Citi! He will still be doing mortgages and refinancing but he will mostly be based out of home and around St. Louis doing sales. Were all super excited for this much needed change for him... however this change meant more changes in my ever changing home.

I get a bit anxious with so much going on, I was already in the process of clearing out the guest room which will become baby boy #2's room, starting the transformation of a big boy room, and now I'm creating some sort of office space so Luke can work without constant distractions from us. Yes a nagging wife and almost 2 year old can get a little distracting.
So Saturday night with our sick boy in bed we decided to rearrange some rooms in our house, a big desk that was in our living room/ play room we moved downstairs and I think I pulled a groin muscle in the process... don't worry I've been giving Luke plenty of trouble about his pregnant wife helping him move furniture down steps.
With a new office space downstairs, planning a new living room space, lots of stuff on craigslist, and painters coming this week to give bids I'm feeling a bit more organized and Luke had his first successful day of working at home yesterday.

I've been pinning lots of ideas for the baby's room, and I think were leaning towards a grey and baby blue color scheme. He'll get Will's white furniture and I think it'll go nicely. Speaking of him he still needs a name! We have a couple ideas on the board but suggestions are welcome, so much harder naming the 2nd time around! Will is going to have a baseball themed tan, navy blue, and red room and I cant wait to get started on it! Two big things I'll need to purchase I've been researching are double strollers and double video monitors.

We try and work on something new when we have time and soon it will all start coming together!

I am 20 weeks pregnant, 1/2 way there!!! The first 1/2 of this pregnancy absolutely flew by, and I'm a little nervous the 2nd 1/2 will as well. I love feeling this sweet boy move inside me and I cant wait to meet and hold him. We'll I'm excited to meet and hold him but we've got a lot to do in the next 20 weeks!

Will is 23 months old...... that's all I have to say about that. We'll 23 months and amazing. I hope the next month lasts forever because I am NOT ready to have a TWO year old......! 

Okay back to work on this rainy Wednesday. :)

my sick boy got a new bath toy for being so brave

This whole corner and wall used to be covered by a desk!

Monday night... not sure who was more worn out from our crazy weekend