Christmas is Coming, The Goose is Getting Fat!

Jamming with the Brother Band

Making sugar cookies with Mommy

Playing with Austin's cat "Toots"

Showing off his new winter boots:)

First time having a biter biscuit

It's been a while since I last posted. Seems like the holiday season has already been a blur of one activity after another:) Austin and I have been busy making gifts for family, Allen's been busy working non-stop, Austin got potty trained, Connor's been sitting up unsupported for the past 3 weeks and talking up a storm and still teething like mad, oh and did I mention we were weeks from closing on a house in Clarkston (that we LOVED) and then last week we found out Allen's work might be moving down by my parents! Good thing we found out prior to closing, we had to withdraw our offer and thankfully will most likely be getting the $1000.00 down we put on the house already. And pigs really must fly because we finally had someone come look at our house and they want to put an offer in. Nice timing huh? We don't know where we are going to live now and that's when we get a potential buyer! Well at least Allen still has a job:)

We are so proud of Austin, we started potty training Thanksgiving weekend and he was such a pro! We don't even have to remind him to go anymore, he does it all on his own. We've even been on 4 outings and he hasn't had one accident! He wears pull-ups at nap and bedtime and a week ago he told us he didn't want to wear them at nap anymore and he has woken up dry every time! He loves his big boy underwear so much that most days he doesn't even want to put clothes on so he is able to look at his underwear all day long. I love it! Recently Austin has been telling us he loves us all the time. He'll just come up to us lay his hand on us and say "I love you Mommy" or "I love you Daddy" he even does it to Connor. Such a precious little man.

Connor has been sitting up by himself for almost a month now and is very much into grabbing for his big brother's toys, which Austin is none to pleased with:) Connor is loving frozen yogurt and teether biscuits because of his sore gums, he attacks the yogurt when I pull it out of the freezer and I gave him a shot glass full of apple juice today and he was licking his lips non-stop! He'll be starting his morning cereal this weekend so we'll see how that goes. For some reason lately, Connor loves hanging upside down, I don't know what it is but even when we have him laying on his back on our legs talking to him, he will bend and scoot back until his head is hanging over our knees and just lay there for a long time, he's very silly. I can't believe that little bubba is 6 months old this week, he'll be crawling before we know it.

I probably won't be posting another blog until after Christmas so we hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas filled with lots of love and fun!

Thanksgiving Weekend

To Much Together Time:)

Chewing on anything he can get his hands on!

Gingerbread Train that Austin and Daddy built

Austin the builder helping Daddy put the wall up downstairs

Sitting straight up in his bouncy seat!

Submarine Commander

As the cold weather looms and dreams of Christmas are constantly on Austin's mind, we've been trying to find ways to be creative and not get on each other's nerves! A couple weeks ago Austin and I looked at all the empty diaper and wipe boxes and piles of paper towel tubes we saved and decided to build a submarine one day while Connor was napping. It was pretty awesome and Austin had a blast playing in it for days before it eventually fell apart. It had 3 look-out holes and room for Austin to get all the way inside. Lately we've been working on some crafty Christmas gifts for Daddy and other family members.

Austin is really enjoying helping me bake lately too, we bake muffins and banana bread together and cake mix cookies, of course his favorite part is licking the spoons when everything is mixed together. Today Austin was working on making and ABC placemat for the dinner table and I think we might make a number placemat next week. He hasn't been to interested in art projects lately, which is sad to me because I love them:), but he's REALLY been into dramatic play again and role playing.

Connor is rolling right along, literally! He rolls all around the floor and when he is on his belly he can rotate around 360 degrees. On Monday he sat up by himself, unsupported for a whole minute! It was great! And he babbles a mile a minute, I think he's going to be a talker like his big brother and Daddy:) And he pulls himself straight up to a sitting position when he's in his bouncy seat! We can't leave him for a minute:)

I had an interview last week with Oakland Family Services for MSRP (Michigan School Readiness Program), it was a 4's Preschool Teacher position. The interview went great and I really liked the program but something changed with the person leaving the position and they needed someone to start in a week. I don't know whether or not they would have offered me the position but I told them that the job would no longer be an option for me, especially needing to find daycare for the boys and having adequate time to transition them. But they said they would keep my application on file for future positions. Hopefully something else comes along that will better suit the needs of our family.

Allen put the wall back up downstairs so now we can market our house as a three bedroom and hopefully that will help. Allen has been at work a lot the past 4 weeks. He gets home at 7 or 8 pm most nights and goes in on Saturday and Sunday. You can tell it is really starting to wear on Austin that he doesn't get Daddy time. He's been acting out a little and really sassy with us. I feel bad for him because I know how much he wants to be with Allen and that there is really nothing we can do about it right now. But over the weekend Austin and Daddy did get some time together, they even built a gingerbread train one night and Austin was in heaven!

The Sweetest Thing!

I just had to post because Austin said the sweetest thing yesterday. I was in the kitchen making dinner and Connor was in his bouncy seat on the floor behind me and Austin was talking to him. I turned around to watch them and Austin was bent over Connor kissing his head and saying "Connor, you're my family, you are mine" and then he looked up at me and said "Mommy, Connor is my baby." Oh.......my heart just melted and tears came to my eyes, even now as I think about how precious that was and how wonderful my boys are.....these two little men are my whole reason for being.

Halloweenie!!!

Halloweenie as Austin calls it, was a sugary blast of fun! Austin was an awesome firefighter and Connor was a cute pumpkin. Daddy dressed up as a pirate and Mommy was a witch;) We took both boys to our neighbors houses and then Daddy and Connor came back home to pass out candy while Austin and Mommy went trick or treating together. Austin really got excited about trick or treating and ran from house to house. After each house he would say "one more Mommy!" And he wanted to go inside each person's house after he yelled trick or treat and they answered they door!

It was a jammed packed weekend. Grandma and Grandpa and Moesie came over on Saturday morning before trick or treating and Austin and Connor were showing off all their tricks:) Connor can roll completely over now! Austin was doing his fancy dancing for everyone and eating enough candy to fly him to the moon!

Sunday Nana, Aunt Anna, Uncle Jeremy and Nathen came over to visit. Austin had a bit of a rough time, all the sugar and excitement finally caught up with him and having to share toys with Nathen was a little to much for him this weekend. I ended up having to take him up to nap and he was asleep within minutes. Connor was his happy little self, cooing and blowing raspberries all day. After everyone was gone and Austin woke up we headed outside for some much needed fresh air and had a great evening playing and laughing.

No Such Thing As The Perfect House........?

Oh, it is quite the roller coaster ride trying to get rid of our house and finding a new home. We lowered the price on our home another $10,000 and still no one is even coming to look at it, let alone make an offer so I think Allen is putting the 3rd bedroom wall back up this weekend. It's just so defeating because we put so much work into this home over the past 7 years and to know we are going to lose so much on it.....it's just sad. We've already started the short sale process, I'm praying we don't end up having to foreclose.

Looking for a new home is a whole other story. We have seen close to 40 homes by now and I need to let go of the fact that no house is going to be perfect, especially in our price range to get into the area we want. I just need to focus on getting into a good neighborhood with great schools, and eventually, down the road, we can make whatever house we purchase the home of our dreams. I just think I'm still stuck on that house in Oxford we didn't get and now every house I see I am comparing to that house which isn't helping.

Enough of that dribble, lets focus on the most important and fun news, Austin and Connor:) We've begun and stalled the potty training process with Austin. I've been reading this book called "Stress Free Potty Training" (yeah, right) and you answer a series of questions to figure out how to best work with your child's unique personality to potty train him/her. So they said for 2 weeks have "practice"scheduled potty times during the day in which your child tries to go but is still in their diapers. This actually went quite well, most of the time Austin would pee and twice he went poop. Well after the 2 weeks we switched to underpants exclusively, using pull-ups at nap and bedtime only. Austin loved his new undies and every 25-30 min. I would have him go sit on the potty and try, we even made sure to bring his travel potty into each room with him to minimize accidents. Well to my surprise Austin thought this whole process was extremely funny and he would sit on the potty like I asked but never go and then a few minutes later he would be standing two feet from his potty laughing and peeing all over the place. And he would never initiate going to the potty on his own, even though we talked about what our bodies feel like when it's time to go and you could tell he knew when it was about to happen. This continued for 3 or 4 days and after talking to some great parents who have been there and done that, we decided to stop the potty training for a few weeks, take the pressure off and try again later. Austin's newest thing is asking us what everything is made of, from food to toys, you name it. He is a very curious guy:)

While all this has been going on, Connor has been teething like mad. I feel so bad for him, he is constantly chewing on his fingers and fists. The orajel doesn't seem to help and with Austin we used to put water in the nipples of his pacifiers and freeze them but Connor doesn't like that either so I'm getting out the mesh bag teether's tonight that you put ice cubes in and see if maybe that will work because he sure doesn't like any of the other zillion teether's we have. Connor loves sitting up now. He can only do it on his own for a few seconds but I can prop him up in his boppy and we got the highchair out last night and he LOVES it! He is getting really good at rolling up onto his side from his back and he almost gets all the way over but not quite:) A couple days ago I finally cut that long tail of hair off that was growing down his back! I didn't do too good of a job and Allen was laughing at me and had to try and fix the crooked look I had going on.

We're all set for Halloween, I can't wait to post the pictures next week!

Uncle Matt's Wedding & Spicer Orchards

Chilly Weather Arrives!

Ready to head outside, you can see Austin's hand trying to PULL Connor outside!

Daddy's best garage sale find ever! Austin loves his house:)

Well, it appears as though the cold weather has arrived:) Austin has been hanging out in the garage with Daddy, helping him get it organized and playing with the shop vac! Connor has been just cracking up at his brother lately. Austin could just be sitting there and Connor will be staring at him and start laughing, it's really cute, he loves his big brother.

I got another "diagnosis" for my recurrent health issues. After years of going to a zillion specialists, x-rays, ultrasounds, tons of blood work, 2 colonoscopy's, a bone scan, you name it and I probably had it done, I was told the blood work showed a lot of inflammation in my body and I tested positive for arthritis? It's not osteo, because the bone scan came back normal and it's not rheumatoid because that came back negative. I don't know. First they tell me it's lupus, then its chron's, then irritable bowel, then sclerosis, now arthritis. I'm not really sure what to believe. I'm just tired of feeling lousy.

We got some disappointing news last week. We've had a bid in on a house in Oxford since July and it's a short sale so it takes a long time. Last month we were told the seller accepted our offer and threw out the other 2 offers on the table so we were just waiting to hear from the sellers bank to ok our offer. Well apparently the sellers stopped paying on their house at the beginning of the summer and when that happens the house is turned over to the sheriff's dept and goes into redemption. Meaning the sellers only have so many month's to get it sold as a short sale before it goes into foreclosure. Well the redemption period is up this week and we have not heard from their bank and I guess the seller's lawyer has advised them to foreclose. Which would mean if we still want the house we would have to wait for it to come back on the market as a foreclosure and then start all over again and probably get into a bidding war. It's unfortunate but it looks like we're moving on.

It should be a busy week around here. Wednesday Austin get's his flu shot, Thursday is Uncle Matt's Wedding Rehearsal and Friday is his wedding, Saturday Daddy and Austin are going to the theater to see Thomas: Hero of the Rails (it's Austin's first time at the theater) and I think we might be going to get our pumpkins on Sunday. Busy, Busy, Busy:)

Spooky Time Fun

Austin eating the spooky jell-o

Oh No! I'm tipping:)

Having a good laugh at Mommy!

Making candy bracelet's with Mommy

We've been all about Halloween at our house, or at least Austin has! Austin and Daddy put up our Halloween village over the weekend and this week Austin and Mommy got the window clings up and our other Halloween decorations. Austin has been running around wearing his dinosaur costume from last year and using his pumpkin flashlights:) We made spooky jell-o this week too, we made orange jell-o and put gummy worms inside. Austin thought it was great! Austin wanted to be a firefighter this year so I ordered him this cute fleece fireman jacket that came with a hat and Dalmatian dog and it was only $12. It got here yesterday and he has not taken it off since! He even wears it to nap and at bedtime! I have to turn his ceiling fan on and go in after he is asleep to take his hat off so he doesn't sweat too much. I wonder what he'll do when his firefighter boots arrive!

Austin has started speaking German! When we were in Germany last year we bought these truck board books and Austin took them out last week and wanted me to read them to him. I told him we could look at the pictures and talk about the trucks but he would have to wait until Daddy came home because Mommy can't read German. We started the book and he let out with this German phrase, which I have no idea how to spell, but it basically amounts to saying construction workers and then we turn another page and his says "pflug" which was the word for the drilling truck on the page! I couldn't believe it, kids really are little sponges, what a smarty pants!

Connor has been laughing up a storm lately. Today Connor and I were chasing Austin around the house while he pretended to be Curious George and Connor was letting out these huge belly laughs! Then I started singing that song that was on the Madagascar movie, you know that goes...."I like to move it move it, you like to move it move it, we like to move it!" and oh my gosh he thought that was funny! I've been putting Connor on his side and he's been able to roll onto his belly and pull his arms out from underneath him and when he's laying on his back he uses his legs to push himself all around his playmat. He can't seem to sit still:) And he loves playing peek-a-boo with a blanket thrown over his face and then he grabs it and pulls it off, laughing:)

No luck with our house so we have decided to go ahead and try the short sale. We gave all the paper work to our realtor and hopefully with our drastically reduced price we'll get some interest. Allen is ready to throw the wall back up downstairs to make the 3rd bedroom again, he really thinks this is what is deterring potential buyers and he may be right.

I have to mention how proud I am of my friend Rosie. She has started her own online business selling cloth diapers (everyone should try cloth, we did it with Austin and are about to start with Connor, it's so easy). You have to check out her website, it's www.greatlakesdiapercompany.com
She has really inspired me to think about starting my own small business, not an online company but something I can offer directly to our community in the Child Development field. I've been going through some ideas with Allen and getting some advice from former co-workers so we'll see what happens. But check out the site and if you know any new parents tell them to take a look, she has some great deals!

Riding the Sick Train

Big Brother Kisses:)

Austin riding the train he made using his toy bins

Look at that Chunky Monkey!

It seems like this has been the sick house lately! Connor got some viral thing and had a lot of issues with BM's for 12 days, then Austin got it, then Connor somehow got pink eye, although I don't really think that's what it was, maybe it was just a blocked tear duct because it went away within 1 day of using the drops from the doctor. And I've been having my joint issues again, can't seem to get any agreement from the doctor's on my "issue." But we're all doing much better and enjoying the last days of summer.

We broke the contract with our realtor and signed with a new one already. We are going to try and get approved for a short sale and see if we can get some people into this house. I know if people just come and look we will get some positive response and perhaps and offer!

Connor is growing so fast:) He has started rolling from his back onto his side and yesterday almost completely onto his belly until he got stuck with one arm still underneath. He rolled from his belly to his back a couple weeks ago and scared himself because he flipped over so fast! And he has started sleeping for a 7 hour stretch at night!!!! Yea! Now he usually only wakes up once a night, although Austin has now started waking up in the middle of the night and asking for Mommy, not to sure what that's about.

Austin is having fun counting EVERYTHING and asking Mommy and Daddy to count with him. He has some counting cookies that he loves working with, although we seem to have lost the number eight, Austin says a mouse took it! The other day I taped a black piece of paper on the bottom of a large tupperware container and poured salt on top so he could write with his fingers and then shake to erase and start all over again. He thought this was great until he decided to take a handful of salt and eat it! I felt so bad but couldn't help laughing a little as he had drool and salt coming out of his mouth and was yelling for Mommy to help him:)

We've decide to start potty training Austin after his Uncle Matt's wedding in a few weeks. Austin is really ready and has picked out some more underwear because I'm sure we'll need it since we're not going to use pull-up except for nighttime. Should be fun!

Our Boys

Growing, Growing, Growing!

Smiley Baby:)

Jamming on the Porch!

Watching a train movie together before bedtime

Well, there has been no interest in our house since we listed in June...which is a huge bummer because we can't lower our price any farther or we'll be paying out of our own pocket. We have no illusions about making a profit but we want to at least be able to pay what we owe the bank and the realtor's 6% plus I'm sure we'll be asked to cover closing costs. But we have an open house next weekend so hopefully we get some kind of positive response. We've been looking at lot's of house in Clarkston and Oxford (love the neighborhoods and GREAT school districts, plus it's a short drive for Allen to work) and we really wanted to be in a new place by Christmas. It looks like we may end up having to short sale, we certainly don't want to foreclose. I've been looking for jobs to make our move to either of those cities more affordable for us. I just want something part-time because I can't imagine having our kids in daycare 5 days a week. Thankfully there are jobs available in my field. So we'll see what happens.

On the bright side, the boys are growing by leaps and bounds. We took Connor for his 2 month well check yesterday, yes that's right, he's 2 months old already! He weighs 10lbs 13oz and is 22 1/2 inches long. He didn't care much for all the shots but he's doing much better today:) He is smiling a lot and starting to giggle a little and loves to baby talk to the chandelier above our dining room table! And he still has all that dark hair on his head!

Austin achieved another goal this past week. He now puts himself to sleep at night! Whooopeeee! Mommy and Daddy are loving it and we are so proud of Austin.

Austin loves looking through our photo albums and today I took out our wedding album and as soon as I opened it and Austin saw a picture of me he said "My girlfriend!" and then he turned around and kissed me and told me he loved me:) It was so sweet I almost cried. When we got to the pictures of the reception he turned to me all excited and said "ooooooh, that's a party Mommy!" Afterwards Austin wanted to go down to his play kitchen, make a wedding cake and pretend we were getting married!

Non-Stop Weekend

Connor lifting his head up

Austin and Daddy riding the rails at the train festival

Swimming in the pond at Aunt Anna's house

Austin and Connor dancing to music from the Little Mermaid!

What a busy weekend! We had originally cancelled all our weekend plans because Allen was going to be working on Saturday and Sunday but after getting home really late Friday night he told us he wasn't going in over the weekend. Yea!

On Saturday we went to Anna's house to celebrate Nana and Kylie's birthday's. Austin had a blast! He was running around with the kids, feeding the fish, swimming in the pond and eating lots of ice cream cake:) We all had a really great time and didn't get home until around 9pm. Sunday was the train festival in Owosso. Grandma and Grandpa came with us and we spent the morning and afternoon checking out lots of trains, riding on small scale engines and helping Austin pick out the perfect souvenir! Connor slept like a champ in the baby carrier all day even with all the loud noises from the train horns and whistles. After we left the train festival and said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa we rushed home to refresh our diaper bag and headed out to look at several houses for sale in Clarkston and Oxford. We looked at 5 houses! I had thought we were only looking at 3, which would have been plenty with the boys being with us, but we squeezed in 2 more since the boys were both doing such a great job. And then on the way home they fell apart! I don't blame them, it was a long, long day and busy weekend. We didn't end up getting home until 9pm again.

We have another new addition to our family this week. Allen's sister Amanda had a baby girl yesterday. Her name is Lily and she weighed in at 5lbs 14oz. Mom and baby are doing good and we can't wait to meet Lily!

We're Still Here:)

The Boy's having a loving moment:)

Holding that little head up!

Austin waiting for Daddy to start our fireworks show
on the 4th of July

Taking the new stroller out for a spin

It seems like it has been an eternity since I last posted on our blog. We've finally settled into a routine, sort of:) And Austin has been making great strides in being a helpful and gentle big brother.

The big news around here is that Austin has given up his Daden (pacifier)! Last week during naptime he bit the nipple of his last Daden in half and it had to be thrown away. It was a little rough getting him to sleep that day but ever since he has not even mentioned his Daden or asked for a new one. Allen and I were shocked at this smooth transition to say the least, especially because he was so attached to them at bedtime and he has no other comfort item that he is attached to at bedtime. He continues to amaze us every day!

I can't believe that Connor is a month old already! He still has tons of dark hair that sticks up all over, Daddy and Austin love to put it into a mohawk after his bathtime:) Connor is quite the hungry hippo, it seems like he is constantly eating. He is batting at toys that hang on his playmat and is rolling up onto his side, and he is working out that neck trying to hold his head up!

We finally got our house up for sale again. We will hopefully be having an open house soon. I told Allen that if someone ever calls our realtor and wants to see our house that same day I would die laughing because it is nearly impossible to keep the house clean with an active toddler and a newborn. They would be wading through dirty dishes, piles of laundry, trash full of poopy diapers, trucks strewn all over the floor and who knows what else:)

Connor's Here!

Well, I got pictures up sooner then I thought I would! My 2 boys just happen to both be sleeping and the same time, I should probably be sleeping to but I can't seem to nap in the middle of the day anymore:)

Connor arrived on June 17th at 9:24 am and weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 21 inches long. He has dark hair like his daddy and poops more than any baby I have ever known! I can't believe how lucky we got with 2 such wonderful boys, we are a very blessed family of 4:)

Enjoy the pictures!

2 Days To Go!

Austin and Daddy in the whale pool

Going for a swim

Austin drinking from the blow hole on the whale:)

We're in the home stretch now! Only 2 days to go until we welcome Connor Jackson into our family:) We are so excited to meet our new little guy and hold him and hug and kiss him all over!

We spent much of our last weekend as a family of 3 trying to keep up with Austin as he ran around chasing birds, making sand castles and splashing around in his whale pool. We did have a little scare with a HUGE lump on Austin's head this weekend. On Friday evening I started noticing a lump forming on the side of his head but I hadn't seen or heard him hit his head and he didn't cry and it did not look like a bug bite. By Saturday morning the lump was literally the size of a golf ball sticking out of his head and it was all red, not to mention he didn't want us to touch it. So I called the pediatrician who told us if it continues to grow (how much bigger could it get?) or he develops a fever he has to go to the ER, otherwise wait till Monday to bring him in. Well none of those things happened and by Sunday the swelling finally went down and by then you could faintly see a small pin point in the middle that did look like a bug bite. I still brought him in today to see the doctor and he agreed that it was most likely a bug bite and I also had him look at a swollen lymph node on his neck that he didn't like when I touched. And of course when Dr. Simmert touched the lymph node it didn't bother him at all:) Funny little man.

I had a doctor's appointment today too, my last OB visit before Connor's arrival. Everything is still looking good. I'm sure everyone will understand that you probably won't see another post from us for a while but I will try my hardest to post some pictures of our new little man within the next couple weeks.

More Festival Fun & Mommy Worry

Curwood Castle in Owosso

Allen trying on a kilt at the Curwood Festival

Yummy Pancake Breakfast

Almost 38 weeks Pregnant!

One of the good things about living in a rural area is that during the spring and summer months almost every town surrounding us has their own fair or festival and this past weekend was no exception. Last weekend was the Home Town festival in Swartz Creek, before that was our Railroad Days festival in town and on Saturday we went to the Curwood festival in Owosso. The Curwood festival had a civil war encampment, medieval encampment, rides, arts/crafts fair, etc. Austin's favorite parts were going in the Curwood Castle (built in 1922 as a writers studio for James Curwood) and the pancake breakfast because they made him his very own Mickey Mouse pancake with an M&M nose:) Joy the clown even made Austin an elephant balloon animal. Next up is the HUGE Railroad festival 2009 in Owosso which apparently is a nationwide event and is held in a different state each year and then the Montrose Blueberry Festival in August. It should be a fun summer for the boys and I!

Austin and I went to what I thought was my last OB appointment before our C-section next week but I was told I have to come back on Monday next week, 2 days before the C-section to have another check-up. Connor is doing good, still moving around like crazy, especially at night. I haven't gained any weight in the last 3 weeks which is good news for me, it's less weight I have to worry about losing later on. So it looks like 39lbs is my weight gain this time around.

I'm starting to get a little nervous about the C-section. Since it was unplanned last time I had no idea what to expect but this time knowing that I'll be strapped down to the operating table and be able to feel my abdomen being pulled in 2 different directions makes me feel a bit queasy. I'm just praying I don't have to be in the recovery room without my baby for 2 hours like last time.

And then comes the worrying about Austin and how he is going to react to everything and I have to admit I've cried a few times already hoping he doesn't think Mommy and Daddy are trying to replace him and worrying that I won't be able to spend enough time with him because newborns need so much attention.....Since I quit my job when Austin was 9 months old, it's just been him and I and I know this is going to be a big adjustment for him and I don't want him to feel like he's being pushed to the side. I'm really hoping he'll want to help Mommy out with Connor so that he feels more a part of everything. And Austin and Daddy already have a couple special trips planned together for the time Allen is home with us after Connor's birth. I just didn't imagine I would feel so torn and sad over the change in our relationship that is about to happen when Connor is born. Then I feel guilty for focusing so much on Austin and feeling like what if I don't love Connor as much as I love Austin? Which I know is silly, I'll love both my boys more than anything else in this world. I think my hormones are going crazy:)

The Countdown Begins

Austin in his big boy Lightning McQueen underwear!

Only 2 weeks left until Connor's arrival! These last few weeks have just been flying by, thankfully I finally got all the clothes, toys, car seat, bed, etc., washed and put away. Allen has still been working hard on getting the house ready to sell. He spent most of the weekend again doing touch - up painting and working on the basement. Sunday my friend Lisa came over to hang out with Austin and I. Austin thinks she is great! He calls her his girlfriend and before she arrived on Sunday he asked me if he could hold her hand! How cute is he:) Austin took her to see the big steam engine and train car in town and to ride on the little spring horse by the trains. When Austin and I were at the little train park last week I asked him what the horses name was and he replied "Hooty Booty." So now when we go on walks he always asks to go see his "Hooty Booty Horse."

Austin and I were at the store the other day picking up some colored sand for his sandbox, it was his reward for getting all his stars on his responsibility chart (he picked out blue and purple), we walked by the little kids clothes and Austin spotted some big boy underwear that had Thomas and Lightning McQueen on them. He told Mommy he wanted some big boy underwear like Daddy so he picked out the Lightning McQueen set, which also glow in the dark! Austin has been talking about the potty a lot lately and is very adept at taking his pants, socks, and diaper off, shirts are still a little tricky but shirts don't involve potty time so we'll just keep working on that. Anyway, today he wanted to put on the big boy underwear, I was a little weary because I don't think he is quit ready yet and we wanted to wait until about a month or so after Connor is born so that he doesn't have any big potty set backs while adjusting to a new brother in the house. But when he put on the underwear he was all upset because the picture of Lightning McQueen was on his butt and he couldn't see him, so he wanted to take the undies off right away! That's that for now.

We had our Pre-Op / 37 week appointment today with the OB. Everything went well, I'm measuring at 38 weeks, Connor's heart rate was a solid 144, and I've gained 39 lbs this time which is much better than the 58 lbs I gained with Austin:) We have one more OB appointment next week and then Connor comes on June 17th! The c-section is scheduled for 9am so I'm sure he'll be born a few minutes after 9am on the 17th. We can't wait to meet him!!!!

Early Arrival?

Our Little Tadpole!

It appears as though Connor may want to make an early appearance. Last night he was going wild moving around. He was kicking his legs up under my ribs and punching my bladder...it was all very enjoyable:) Then around 9pm I started having some contractions, not to long in length but definitely contractions. The contractions continued until about 2am although they were sporadic. I've only had a couple contractions today and we have our OB appointment on Thursday so I'm sure we'll find out if I've even started dilating yet or if Connor was just giving me a hard time:)

I finally finished getting all our flowers planted this weekend and the house looks really nice. Allen's been working hard on getting all the inside touch-up and the zillion and one small fixes done so we can finally put our house back on the market.

Austin has been tearing around the yard chasing birds the past few days! It seems to be his new favorite outside game, "Chase birds Mommy, Chase birds!" Although playing with the hose still ranks pretty high on his list of outdoor favorites:)

We hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Unexpected visit to Labor and Delivery

We've had an interesting week so far. On Monday night I started itching all over, from head to toe. I thought it was a little odd but I waited to see if it continued on Tuesday before calling my OB. I talked to the OB nurse on Tuesday and after consulting the doctor they told me to go straight to Labor and Delivery because they were concerned that I might have a problem with my liver especially since I had no evidence of a rash or any other type of raised bumps on my skin, and if that was the case I would have to have an immediate c-section. The condition is called Cholestasis. So the boys and I went and I had a fetal NST (non-stress test) done and blood drawn while the boys ran around the hospital looking at the fish tanks, ponds and eating dinner in the restaurant. Thankfully everything came back normal, and as usual I appear to be a medical anomaly.

I forgot to give an update on Connor after we had our ultrasound last week. He is measuring fine for weight, about 5.1 lbs at the time and should be about 7.5 lbs when he is born. He is right in the 50th percentile. And he has a lot of hair! I have a feeling he is going to have dark hair and dark skin like his Daddy! It was funny to see his hair waving back and forth on the screen and the ultrasound tech gave us a good picture of his waving hair to keep.

Trucks, Trains and a Birthday

What a jam packed weekend! Saturday morning we went to a kids truck fair at the Shiawassee fair grounds. They had all kinds of trucks, tractors, emergency vehicles, buses....you name it and it was there! Austin had a blast going in all the different vehicles. They also had an indoor fair with booths set up that had activities for kids. Instead of doing the activities though, Austin ran from booth to booth grabbing candy and snacks out of the bowls at each table! That's my boy:) After the truck fair we came back to town for the Railroad Days parade. Austin loved the marching band and is still talking about them. He even puts on big hats and marches around the house.

Saturday after his nap we headed to the Railroad Days fair to check out the kids rides and I couldn't believe it but Austin said he wanted to get on the rides by himself! I was so proud of him and he had a blast on the little train and truck rides. He even wanted to ride on the pony's! He is getting so independent lately, it makes me miss my little baby sometimes.

Sunday we headed to the train depot in town to check out all the model railroads they had set up and to go inside the caboose. Austin did not want to leave the depot but we were headed to a train sale and flea market at the middle school which turned out to be a bad idea. We thought they would have booths with kids trains and toys but almost every booth was model trains for adults, and very expensive ones. Needless to say Austin wanted the big boy trains and was not happy with Mommy and Daddy when he couldn't have them or even touch them. So we hurried out of that place. After naptime on Sunday we celebrated Daddy's Birthday. We sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes that Austin picked out and helped Mommy make and then we gave Daddy our presents. It was a great weekend.

On a side note, Austin has been doing the cutest thing the past couple days. I'll catch him tapping his index finger on his bottom lip and I'll ask him what he is doing and he says "I'm thinking Mommy." Oh, I just want to eat him up! And I can't forget to mention that he also has lots of "Girlfriends" now. When he sees or meets a girl he likes he calls her his girlfriend! He has a girlfriend at the bank and Mommy's friend Rosie is his girlfriend too. And a little girl who visits our next door neighbor has become his girlfriend too. It's started already!

Busy Bee's

Connor was really moving and Austin didn't want to
take his hand off my belly but he also didn't want to
stop eating his muffin!

My beautiful Mother's Day gift from Austin

We had a busy but great weekend. Saturday morning we were trying to get stuff done around the house and pulling out all of Austin's baby bins so we can rewash infant clothes and toys and all the other "stuff" we'll be needing in the next few weeks. Saturday evening we went to a friends surprise birthday party and Austin had a blast playing with all the kids. We had a few sharing problems but being a toddler, he's working on it:)

Sunday the boys made me breakfast, hash browns and sausage, and then we all went into Flint to do some shopping and have lunch. After Austin and I took our afternoon nap we had dinner and then Allen took Austin out to do some man things so I could have some time to myself. It was a wonderful Mother's Day. Austin made me a plate with his art work all over the surface. It is beautiful:)

The big news at our house is that Austin is sleeping in his own bed ALL NIGHT long! Yea! He has been in his own bed now for a little over a week. He usually wakes up once a night but it only takes us a couple minutes to get him back to sleep. I still have to help him get to sleep when he first goes down for the night but I usually just have to sit in the rocking chair while he puts himself to sleep. He is on his way to being a totally independent sleeper!

We've been pretty busy during the week lately. The Farmer's Market has opened in town so Austin and Mommy are always headed that way on our walks to investigate the goods, Austin has also started his once a week play group at the YMCA and he loves it, and we usually make a weekly stop at the library especially since they have been having special story hours lately. Thursday this week the annual Durand Railroad Days Festival starts in town and continues through Sunday. There will be tons to do in town, especially all things trains which Austin loves. Friday afternoon Austin and I will be headed to the parade by the highschool. Not to mention we'll be celebrating Allen's birthday on Sunday, he turns 32 on Monday next week.

I have my 34 week ob appointment this Wednesday and we have an ultrasound too because I am measuring 2 weeks bigger than I should be so they want to get a projected size and weight on Connor.

Austin has really been trying to sing songs and it sounds so cute! This morning I was trying to get some laundry done after breakfast and Austin was playing with his trucks when all of the sudden I hear him singing "Life is a Highway!" It is his favorite part in the Cars movie and there he was playing with his trucks and singing the entire first line of the song, "Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long." I wish I had gotten it on video, it was priceless:)

Language Explosion!

Mason and Austin playing with trains

Checking out baby Isabel

Austin pretending he has a baby in his belly

We went to visit our friends Rosie and Travis on Saturday. Austin had a blast playing with their son Mason and we got to see their new baby girl, Isabel. She is to cute and oh, that baby smell, I love it! Today we went out to the garden center to get a new bush and some Ivy for the outside of our house to enhance the "curb appeal" since we'll be listing it again soon. I think we're going to go get all the flowers to plant next weekend. If anyone knows someone who wants to live out in the middle of nowhere let us know! We'll make them a good deal:) Austin spent a good half hour pretending he was "pumper pat" (fire engine) today and spraying the garden hose all over everything, including himself! He was soaked head to toe but he thought it was great.

The past 4 weeks Austin has really been having his language explosion! I've worked with kids for over a decade and I've seen the early toddler language explosion that 2 year old's have, but when it's your own kid, it is so amazing! Some days he is adding 10 or more new words to his vocabulary and when he hears Mommy and Daddy saying a word that's new to him, he'll repeat it right away. And he has started making lots of scribble marks on paper and telling us that it is a story or book he has written! I love watching him, you can just tell his mind is going a mile a minute:)

Allen's Birthday is coming up in a couple weeks so I took Austin to JoAnn fabrics because he loves going down the aisle with all the unfinished wood items that you can paint. He picked out a cool birdhouse to paint for Daddy's Birthday and he started working on it this week and when he was done painting we hid it so Daddy couldn't find his present. I kept telling Austin, "Shhh, it's a secret present for Daddy, so don't tell him yet." Of course the day he finished painting it he ran to the door to greet Daddy when he got home and said "Daddy surprise, Daddy Surprise!" And of course Allen asks him what surprise and Austin tells him "Birdhouse Daddy!" It was so cute, you couldn't help but laugh, he was so excited about it that he was dancing around the house.

Austin has started getting interested in the potty again. He actually asked to try right before bathtime one day and sat on his potty for a good 10 minutes, though nothing came out:) And last week he told Daddy he had to go pee, before bathtime again, and Daddy held him over the big toilet and Austin went pee pee in the big potty! He thought that was so funny.

March for Babies - Team Mason!

On Saturday we participated in the March of Dimes, March for Babies walk on Hines Drive in Livonia. We walked with Team Mason, our little buddy Mason who was born with severe right sided CDH but who is doing great now! It was a gorgeous day and we all had a great time. They had entertainment and lots of refreshments (and bathrooms, which was GREAT for me!) along the way.

We all completed the 6 mile walk, even big old me, in the 80 degree heat:) I did get a little burned but I put enough SPF 70 for 10 people on Austin so he was good to go! Austin did such a great job on the walk, he even walked/ran about 1/2 mile by himself because he wanted to be a big boy. We want to thank everyone who supported our walk and donated to such a great cause. We hope to make this an annual event for our family in support of Team Mason and the March of Dimes.