26 weeks, the dryer, and a monsoon

I've now been pregnant for half a year - 26 weeks - 6 months. Only 98 more days to go!
Some information on Nate's growth........

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches from head to heel.

In other news, we've had a banner day. Woke up this morning, started the dryer, it worked for 10 minutes. It wouldn't start again. Now, granted the thing is 20+ years old (it was at Mom/Dad's house when we were kids, I know) so it served us well. Just as I was looking online at Sears, Kelli came to the rescue. She happened to have one in her garage that she could give us. WOO HOO! So, this time tomorrow, my clothes will be clean AND dry!

Caroline rode the bus for the first time today. She was anxious about it this morning but met a friend at the bus stop and hopped right on. This afternoon was a different story. A monsoon decided to ascend upon us right at the time the bus drops her off at our house. She got off at the stop ahead of hers (the OTHER end of the street) and had to run in the rain. By the time she reached me, she was so greatful and thankful I had an umbrella. It was a rough afternoon but nothing that couldn't be cured with a hot fudge sundae from McD's.
According to C, "tomorrow HAS to be better, Mommie!"

Until next time.....

Today was the day....

Today, Caroline started 2nd grade. *sniff, sniff* She has the same teacher this year as she is participating in a "1-2 Loop" class. She has the same teacher, same kids, just a different classroom. Caroline was excited this morning to see all her friends. Sam and I took her into her classroom and said our goodbyes. Sam didn't handle it all that well! He cried. If I had a dollar for everytime he's asked me if it was time to go pick up Caroline, I'd be rich!

Here are 1st day of school pics of our girl:

Until next time.....

Millions of peaches, peaches for me....

Tonight's new food was peaches. Sam tried them and actually liked them! He ate an entire peach slice!!

Tomorrow, he says he wants pears......gotta make a run to the Kroger !

So, this week's new food count is 4. We've tried oranges, grapes, strawberries, and peaches. We are planning on making a fruit salad (yummy, yummy) on Saturday.

Until next time.....

Strawberries....

Well, we tried strawberries tonight. They went over so-so. He didn't like them all that much but then again, they DO taste better dipped in sugar!

Next up...peaches.....

Until next time.....

Checkups....

We went to see the ped today for yearly check-ups. Caroline is 50lbs and 49.5 inches. Does this make her square? :) She checked out just fine. Dr. was happy with her progress and everything looked great.

Sam is 29.5lbs and 38.25 inches. He is in the less the 5th percentile for weight and the 10th percentile for height. Dr. was actually pleased with his growth. He continues to gain weight, albeit slowly, but he's gaining. I talked to the dr. about his food issues. Dr. said to keep introducing new foods and to make sure he has a daily vitamin as well as one pedisure a day for calories. She said that he is just a picky eater and feels like he'll grow out of it. She didn't see anything of a "disorder" type going on.

One funny: Dr. asked Sam if he was going to teach the baby how to eat good foods. Sam told her he would. When the dr. asked, "well, what kind of foods are you going to teach him to eat?" Sam replied, "GERBER!" I have no idea where he got that from. (I'm thinking a t.v. commercial?) That kid is so funny! Never a dull moment around here.

Until next time......

Grape to see you!

So, tonight was grapes. He ate 2 grapes! He didn't care for the taste or the texture, I think, but he ate it! So, we now have 2 stamps and a new Dirt Track McQueen to show for it. Tomorrow, he's decided to try strawberries. We'll see how it goes.

Both kids go to the ped tomorrow for check-ups. I expect them to both get shots. I'll update later tomorrow with weight, height, and shot reactions!

Until next time.....

Great blackmail pic....

Sam is into Elmo again. This time, Elmo is a super-spy. Evidently, he needs these Nikes to be his spy shoes. With Elmo wearing Sam's shoes, clearly the next best thing for Sam to wear is Caroline's dress-up heels! The sunglasses are super-spy glasses and the hat is because he's cool.

I will definitely hang on to this pic to show him when he is an adult...tee hee hee.

Until next time........

Orange you glad?

We've been trying to get Sam to eat more things. Most of you know that his menu consists of yogurt, goldfish, pancakes, poptarts, powdered donuts, chips, pretzels, popcorn, and ANY kind of candy. We decided he needed to add more fruit to his diet. 2 weeks ago, he tried an apple. He liked it, but doesn't insist on having them again. Tonight, we made a chart similar to the potty training chart. For every new food he tries, he gets a "Cars" car. (I have them stockpiled in my closet from potty training last year!) For every fifth new food he tries, he gets a "big" toy. The first big toy he's shooting for is a Wall-E book/magnetic playset. We sat down with him and talked about the chart and what he could earn. We talked about what kinds of foods he could try and he opted to try an orange tonight. Jason cut one up and put it on his plate. He played with it for a few seconds and put it in his mouth. He looked up and said, "mmmm, mmmm, tasty!" He then proceeded to put the wedge in his mouth and chew on it. He picked out a new car, yellow Ramone, and was quite pleased with himself.

Here are a few pics (notice the new haircut!)

Of course, Caroline had to get in on the action!!

Until next time........

Happy Birthday, Nici!!

Hope you had a great day!

Hugs and kisses to you, Max, Hannah, and Baby E2.

Today

Today is our Ninth Anniversary. Wow, NINE years. Enjoy...

The sweetest sound....

I am currently at 23w2days with Baby Babin 3.0. We rented a doppler (not a radar) - an ultrasonic doppler - to enable us to listen and record the baby's heartbeat. We have rented one with each pregnancy and the kids LOVE it. Here is the recording we got this morning....





Have a great Thursday!

Until next time........

Edouard was a big, dull dud!!

This picture sums up Edouard well....(Thanks, Mandy!) - Gaidos is a restaurant on the Seawall in Galveston.

I got up early Monday morning, woke the kids up early, and filled up the van. I, then, headed to Target to pick up a few things and Target was dead - it was me and 5 other customers. What I couldn't get at Target, I went to Kroger. Kroger was a MADHOUSE! You would have thought we had the BIG one coming. I bought necessities like powdered donuts and pop tarts and we went home!! Jason got home a little bit early and put all the backyard stuff in the garage. That took 2.5 hours! Edouard was expected to hit Galveston but took a little turn NE overnight and ended up not coming our way afterall. We got some rain and some wind but nothing catastrophic as the news people made it sound. BP was nice enough to give Jason the day off, though!

Cute Sam story:

I told the kids that the power *might* go out during the storm. Caroline got all freaked out and wanted to know if she could sleep in our room. Sam, on the other hand, got all excited. He asked me if this meant if we could use flashlights. We told him yes. He says, "YESSS!" with arms pumped in the air. Then, he says, "That means we can make shadow puppets on the walls!" We were so sorry to disappoint the boy.

So that is our Edouard story....nothing too exciting.

Until next time.......