New Baby Update and Birthdate Planned

Our baby-on-the-way and I had our 31 week check up this morning with the OB/GYN. His heart rate was just right at 148 bpm and still showing great movement. In fact, this little guy can be quite entertaining as you can often see him push outward on one side or the other of my stomach or bump something that he doesn't like resting on his space like a book or hot chocolate. For the past couple of months, he has had some consistent wake times in which he enjoys doing acrobatics, usually from 9:30pm-11:00pm and 5:00am-6:30am; it'll be interesting to see if these are normal awake times after he is born too. He is estimated to be around 4 lbs. now and 17 inches long. We are still working on picking out the right name and hope to have it nailed down before his scheduled birthday of...
Thursday morning, January 7, 2010!

Big Brother Andrew talks about his baby brother and wants to see him, sometimes saying "brother come out!" Andrew loves getting to hear his brother's heart beat at each of my appointments, plus getting to push buttons and ride the elevator up and down while we are there.

As for me, I'm growing nicely as well. I know that I DEFINITELY look very pregnant now, because complete strangers are no longer fearful to make comments and ask about the baby and when I am due. My bp, glucose, thyroid, protein, and iron tests all came back perfectly today, so I am very thankful for that. I am definitely experiencing some of the draw backs of pregnancy, such as fatigue, weight gain, and joint loosening pain, but I am so thankful for only normal symptoms and the ability to continue most of my normal activities...mainly chasing and caring for Andrew throughout each day. Now, I am most nervous about and praying for a perfectly healthy baby and my recovery after my c-section. I had such ridiculous stabbing pain and limitations for weeks and even months after my c-section with Andrew, due to internal adhesions and complications, I am praying for a totally routine and positive experience this time, all around.

As for things getting done to prepare for the new arrival, we have only made a little headway. We got most of the closets and dressers cleaned out in our house to make room. We are planning to keep the nursery, Andrew's current room, for the new baby's room. A couple of weeks after he arrives we will just turn the transitional bed back into a crib and move out the rest of Andrew's stuff.

Andrew will be moving into the guest room and into the big queen bed in there at that time. We have nothing for that "remodel" purchased or completed yet and need to get hopping! We're not going to transition Andrew until a few weeks after the baby is born, so that we have a guest room for company coming to visit, but would like to have everything ready before then since I will be out of commission for a while after the c-section. Also, we hope to be able to get to work on finding and purchasing stuff for the new baby soon. We were so blessed with being able to borrow some of Andrew's things, but no longer have those available this time. So...we're going to get to work on it!

I am so excited to meet this new little blessing that I can feel and see flipping around in there and trying to push the laptop off of himself right now as I type!

What do apple juice, a bath, and the word buzz have to do with each other?

Answer: When Andrew was little and really (I mean really) didn't like having his hair cut, we would promise him a cup of apple juice and a bubble bath while he was whining through the supposed torture. Well, he does better with it now, but the apple juice and bath (or sometimes now a shower) have kind of become tradition. Here are some before and after pictures from his hair cut this morning.

Andrew's Admirers

Here are my cutie weekday girls admiring Andrew as he sings "E I E I O" to them. They have grown up so much in just a few short months. H enjoys her independence now sitting up by herself. R enjoys being able to keep up with Andrew now that she can walk well and mimic some of his words.

Two Years Old

Andrew is excited to be a 2-year-old. He loved getting to celebrate his birthday with family, however we neglected to take any pictures for some strange reason. He and I went outside to play for awhile this afternoon. These pictures are from our expedition through the leaves.

Here are the highlights of Andrew's life:

• He has begun using some complete sentences like "Mommy come look!" "May I more please?" "Andrew do it." "Daddy play chase!" "I need help." "Sit on Andrew." "Watch a show?" He really speaks well and almost non-stop.
• Andrew has begun his prayer life. The following is his consistent prayer: "Dear God...Amen." His little voice is the most precious thing we've ever heard and just makes us melt when he prays or sings.
  
• He likes to sing songs like "Jesus Loves Me," "How Great Is Our God," "Happy Birthday," "Elmo's World," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and "Jesus Thank You." He can sing most of those songs by himself and will "ask" you to stop if you sing it with him.
• He can pronounce almost every letter in the alphabet and sings most of the "abc" song.
• He can count to ten, but not always in order or without repeating a few numbers along the way. He counts objects up to three without fail.
• Andrew is now 35 1/4 inches tall (can you believe he is almost 3 feet?) and weighs 30 pounds. That is the 75th percentile for both categories. That is a big jump in weight. He has not been above the 25th percentile since he was born. He is wearing 2T clothes, 3T jammies, Pampers Cruisers size 4, and size 7 tennis shoes these days. He also has all of his baby teeth. We are through with teething until he starts losing baby teeth to make room for permanent teeth in a few years. Andrew sleeps about 12-13 good hours every 24 hour period now. He is usually at least in his room supposed to be sleeping from 8pm until 7:45am and 1:00pm until 2:30pm.
• His lovey is still his security blankie, which he calls "daddy," and it's definitely Andrew's best friend.
  
• He likes to run most everywhere he goes. He goes from one thing to the next with an attention span of about 2 seconds all day long unless he is sick or asleep. He is still very active even in his sleep.
  
• He still loves to help. He helped me move the wheel barrow and carry firewood today.
• He has transitioned from screaming when excited to yelling, "I cited! I so e-cited!" many times at the top of his lungs.
• His common response when seeing police cars, fire trucks, or ambulances is to start making a siren noise " woooo oooo woooo ooooo" then promptly tell us, "Siren!"
• Andrew is very interested in the movie Cars, trains, airplanes, the airport, being outside and "take walk" time with anyone who will go with him. He also likes to play catch a lot and is enjoying his new toddler basketball goal. I try to get him to say "shoot hoops" and it comes out "shut poop!"
• He really likes to show people his tummy and have mommy tickle his armpits and "count his ribs."
• He likes to have his tongue washed after we wash hands and face before and after meals. His favorite part of "brush teeth time" is when we brush his tongue.
• He's really just so cute that it is hard to describe him properly. You just have to experience it!
• Andrew's current favorite food is bread. Rolls, waffles, biscuits, cupcakes, chips, cookies, goldfish, pretzels. Maybe it is more a carb thing than bread. We're pretty sure that he holds the record for drinking a whole juice box in the shortest amount of time for a toddler, too!
• He was totally obsessed with "puppins" this fall and practically memorized a book about pumpkins. He still asks to drive by the houses in our neighborhood that had the big blow up yard decorations for Halloween.

• He is so much fun to be with and has such a sweet spirit. Andrew is a living example of Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward."
  

We love you so much Andrew and love being your Mommy and Daddy!!! Happy 2nd Birthday little man!

One handsome guy!

Dressed for Church & Teddy Backpack

Andrew was being photogenic after church in his cute little man outfit. Then, he got comfy in his camo pajama bottoms and needed to wear his teddy bear backpack all over the house as we played.

Choo Choo Train Exploring

Andrew has been so interested in trains that we finally stopped and let him explore a train car and engine on display. While we were there, Andrew was amazed as a real train went right passed us on the tracks nearby and even blew its whistle.

Rainy Thursday