October 4, 2010: Life in sloooooooow motion...

While this is supposed to be a September recap post, I just can't help but comment on the pace of our life lately. Even though Liam continues to grow and change every day and Ziggy is getting closer to her due date by the minute, my day-to-day, minute-by-minute life has almost come to a complete halt. This is largely due to one very independent, very stubborn toddler who demands to do EVERYTHING "by myself". Now when we potty-trained I knew this would give Liam alot of self-confidence and independence. But I think we have created a toddler monster :)

I know it sounds very helpful to have him want to pick out his clothes, dress himself, put his shoes on, get in to the car seat by himself, buckle himself, read his books by himself, etc...I just never realized how much longer this independence would take. It's not that he's not trying so hard to do all these things, it's just that getting out of the house (getting dressed, going potty, putting on shoes, picking a toy to take, getting into car/car seat, and buckling) can literally take us 45 minutes! Now Nick is pretty efficient and likes to do things on a very timely manner. I admit I am not the most efficient person, but that's more due to procrastination :) But Liam...he is just a dawdler. Is that even a word? But he does just that..dawdles throughout every task. I would say this is new territory, but I have seen it before...he is so his godfather, Uncle Alex! Oh well, I am hoping this is just a phase, and if not, I guess it's not the worst trait. Maybe one day we'll call him thoughtful and perceptive instead of just a slow-poke :)

Okay now on to our September adventures! Now that the weather is finally a little cooler we've been playing outside a lot more. Liam loves the train park....they have miniature train station, gas station, firehouse and bank, a life size train car to play in, and a maze that Liam loves to run through. When he's not running through the maze, he's chasing little girls (that we don't know) and kissing them in the corner of the maze!! After he did it, he ran over to tell me "I give girl a smooch." Urgh, chase and kiss already?! I'm not ready for this stage...Anyway, here he is on two different occasions at the train park.

With the cooler weather, we also get to enjoy hot chocolate together...play soccer in the backyard...

and snuggle which watching cartoons on cold weekend mornings :)Nick had a fun month as well. He went to the Cowboys/Bears game with our family friend Dan. They had box seats and field passes and such an awesome time!Nick also went to LA and Vegas to visit friends and have a boys weekend on the strip. This isn't the first time he's run to Vegas right before we have a baby...his 'babymoon' :)

Liam also had another fun visit from Grandma Debbie. We took her to the pumpkin patch where Liam got to feed goats, pet a horse, run through another maze (he really likes mazes apparently), and play in piles of pumpkins!

We also went to my favorite new tea room where Liam had a HUGE Halloween cupcake....but it was so yummy and luckily he loves to share :)

Since we were in the holiday spirit, Grandma also brought Liam a special treat...her pumpkin painting kit!! It's her tradition in Houston and since we won't be there to do it this year (too close to Ziggy's due date) she brought it to us! Liam loved painting his pumpkins and loves showing them off to everyone who visits.

My friend Kristy had her baby girl Sophie this month as well. She and I have been pregnant together this whole time, and our babies were due just a couple of weeks apart. But her little one decided to come very early! Since her arrival was unexpected, we had her son James stay with us for the night while they were at the hospital. It was Liam's first sleepover (other than Pres of course)! They played so well together and when we put James to bed, Liam said "Time to go night-night James, give Liam a hug". It was hysterical since that is exactly what we say to him every night. Maybe he's already feeling big brotherly :) Anyway here's a few pics from the boys' sleepover...

Visiting with baby Sophie has made me so baby crazy...I can't wait for Ziggy to get here!! Everyone has been helping us to prepare for her arrival. Rachel threw me a baby shower with our friends, which was so sweet and fun.

After the shower, I came home to Ziggy's nursery being painted by Dallie and Nick! Nick also painted her dresser, moved her furniture in and hung the curtains. Then Mal and Amelia came by to finish the decorating, hanging her pictures and such. Finally Mal and Debbie washed and put away all her clothes in her dresser and closet. Literally we are totally ready for her to be here and couldn't have done it without all the help!

These pictures don't do the room justice but here they are...the walls are heather grey, most of the furniture is black and all her accents are purple and green. A few things are missing like her name on the wall...oh and her crib. Yup, its still occupied in the room next door :)

So I know I haven't been good about taking belly pics. But we recently did a maternity photo shoot to make up for it. Our friend Erin (http://www.brookeshelbyphotography.com/) took the photos and they came out so cute! Of course during our outdoor photo shoot Liam turns to us and says "I need to go potty!" Well we looked around and since there were no bathrooms (and since he's a boy) we did the next best thing...Yes, Liam peed behind our car. Good thing Erin is a mommy too because she not only got a kick out of it, but also took a picture of Liam showing off his work :)

So that's our life right now...spending ALOT of time, patience, and energy fostering Liam's independence while counting down the last few weeks of my pregnancy...if I could only speed Liam and Ziggy up...just a little bit :)

September 28, 2010: You might be pregnant if...

• Halfway through eating your bowl of cereal you realize there is a second spoon sticking out of your bowl.
• When you go to brush your teeth one morning, there is already toothpaste on your brush. (which means, yes, the night before I obviously put toothpaste on the brush and then put the brush away without actually using it)
• You completely forget your child's doctor appointment which was booked 6 weeks ago.
• You spend an hour shopping at Target, get the to the check out line with all you stuff...and then realize you don't have your wallet with you. (THANKFULLY it's found in the car though!)
• You help your child to get dressed only to have your two year old tell you "that not my left foot mama"....yes, you have put his shoes on backwards.
• You always remember your phone/sunglasses/jacket/water/etc only after pulling out of the driveway.
• You put your child in his carseat, get in the driver's seat, and then hear him say "you forgot to buckle me mama". (Good thing my toddler is so smart...and verbal...and such a rule-follower :)
• You get lost driving to a restaurant that you have been to 3 times before and is less than 10 minutes from your house.
• When you pause with a blank look on your face, your child asks "what you forget mama?" because he has been present for all the previous examples and has heard me explain "oh I forgot...." a million times now!

But other than the very mild case of pregnancy brain ;), Ziggy and I are still doing well! We had a rough week last week, with my tummy not agreeing with anything I ate, but am doing better these past few days. At our visit yesterday, Ziggy is still measuring great but has done a somersault on us and is now breech. The doctor's not concerned because she has enough room and fluid to still flip back around so we'll see. I am having alot more Braxton-Hicks again too this past week, so we'll just continue to watch those. I had them with Liam as well and they're not painful so hopefully it won't be an issue.

The nursery is coming along! Nick and Dallie painted the room this weekend and I am so happy with the color. Nick also painted her dresser and hung her curtains. We are working on getting her room set up and all the paintings hung. The only thing that will be missing is her crib which is still being used by Liam :) Liam is talking alot about Ziggy and loves seeing her room and talking about all her things in there. We have narrowed down the names and are trying out our favorites on him. Liam's response to our favorite girl name was "No, I don't like that name. That not a good name. How 'bout Thomas?" Not exactly the response I expected but we were cracking up! However the more we say it, he seems to be coming around although he's really pushing for Thomas as the middle name :)

And it's finally fall in Texas!! True fall weather with a crisp breeze, lots of sunshine, and the tempature is below 100 degrees :) Actually it's been in the low 70s when we go out in the morning...and it might not surprise you that yesterday Liam and I were out in tank tops, shorts, and flip flops when all our friends were in long-sleeves and pants...pregnancy brain strikes again :)

September 13, 2010: Pregnancy and Potty Purgatory

So we officially started potty training this weekend. Liam woke up Saturday morning and began his "potty party". He got to pick out his underwear (between Thomas the Train, Mickey Mouse, and Dinosaurs). Here he is putting on his first pair of big boy underwear!

....and then he gets to pick which potty he wants to use. We decorated his potty upstairs with dinosaurs...a huge T-Rex balloon, dinosaurs lined up along the tub to cheer him on, and dinosaur books to distract him on the potty. Downstairs we made a train bathroom...with Thomas the train balloon, a Thomas potty seat, and train books like the classic "Chug chug poo poo" :). Here are Liam's bathrooms decorated and his expression when he first saw them....(note T-Rex is in his hand...yes he is an integral part of potty-training).

I guess I think of it as potty purgatory because we really haven't been able to leave the house. Liam started on a 20 minute timer plan where he had to go sit on the potty every 20 minutes...let me just say you cannot get alot done in between. Not to mention with my pregnant bladder, we were pretty much in the bathroom all day...good thing our bathrooms are so entertaining now :) Anyway even though I thought we would go a little stir crazy from being inside all weekend that wasn't really possible...because Nick had 5 high school friends in town, his old soccer teammates. He was just going to meet them out Sat night but they ended up coming over for the day to watch football. Liam had fun meeting the boys and was really excited when they indulged him in a game of soccer in the backyard!I took a pic of the boys before they went out for the night. It's been a while since Nick has partied with a group of single guys at the club and even though he didn't make it home till 3am! he still rallied for potty training the next morning. We were 'pleasantly' awoken at 6:45 am the next day with Liam calling out over the monitor "need to go bathroooooom". As Nick describes it, he's never seen an 8-month pregnant woman run so fast :) I raced up the stairs, put Liam on the potty, and we were off for a very successful second day! The first day Liam went twice in the potty and had quite a few accidents. But the second day, Liam went 7 times in the potty and only had a couple of leaks. And he asked to sit on the potty without the timer going off too! When we weren't pottying, Liam and daddy watched a lot of football...wrestled on the couch (how CUTE is his bum in underwear?!)...played more soccer and went for wagon rides...not too bad for a weekend spent at home!And even though he will kill me someday...here is my little man in his big boy underwear...helping daddy in the garage no less. He pretty much spent the weekend dressed like this although we did put on a t-shirt for company :) Without the extra padding of his diaper he looks even more gangly...but still too cute in mommy's eyes.

Now today on day 3, I can say that we are pretty much potty-trained (at least going #1). He only had 1 real accident today...and TONS of success in the potty! We even stopped using the timer and he was staying dry for much longer periods today...including during his naptime! I have to say I tried not to have too many expectations because he's barely 25 months old...but he just continues to amaze us! His rewards when he goes in the potty are that he gets to pick a sticker and eat 2 m&ms. He is sooo funny about his reward and totally reminds me of my brother Alex. He carefully chooses a sticker and puts it on his shirt. Then we start "the m&m process". I have dumped them in a ziploc so he can pick out 2 colors. First he sticks his face in to smell them...I'm not kidding, it's so funny and I have no idea where he got this. Then he debates his choices, picking up m&ms to study them before either putting it back of eating it. Sometimes I just want him to pick and be done with it, but he really enjoys drawing out his reward to make it last...who am I to interrupt? :) Here is during his reward process...

When Nick got home tonight Liam's shirt was covered in stickers and he got to brag about all his success. I think he is def becoming more proud of his skill and even told me today when looking in the mirror that "I look really tall, mama". If that's not a two year old version of feeling proud, I don't know what is :)

Ziggy and I had our check-up this morning (Rachy and Pres were nice of enough to step in and continue the potty schedule). Ziggy is still on track, growing great, and (unlike my first pregnancy) helping me to gain a nice and steady, but not overwhelming, amount of weight :) So even though this weekend had it's rough moments, we all survived and are on our way to becoming a diaper-free house...for a very brief period at least :)

September 6, 2010: Ziggy turns the big 3-0!

Yes, Miss Ziggy is 30 weeks now! It's a tough spot because the end is near, but not close enough. And even though I was slow to grow and put on weight in the beginning, I have def caught up by now :) My vice this pregnancy is crepes...darn you Meha! Meha started making these "healthy" crepes made with whole wheat flour and such...they are actually only 30 calories. However, when you stuff them with Nutella and cover them in powdered sugar and whipped cream, I'm pretty sure the calorie count is a little higher. Oh well, I've given up at this point. I know the weight will come off (hopefully) like it did the first time. I'm going to the doctor's every two weeks now. Passed my glucose tolerance test, no anemia this time (yay!), and got my Rhogam shot at my last appointment. That's because I have a negative blood type, and with Nick being positive, Ziggy could be either. Liam ended up being negative like me, but I have to get the shot so that essentially my body doesn't turn on the baby for being a positive blood type. Anyway, thankfully in this day in age, it's no big deal. Ziggy is still a very active little girl, lots of kicking and rolling around. We don't have a name picked out yet, but we have it narrowed it down to our favorite 5 or 6. We do have her whole room planned and most of the decorations picked out, which I can't wait to share! In the next 3 weeks, Nick is going to paint her room and her dresser and then I'll be able to hang her curtains and pictures. Her colors are grey and purple :) and I can't wait to post pics. Which I guess at the same time, I'll have to post some of Liam's room and playroom as well since I haven't put those on the blog yet either. I have done a terrible job of posting belly pics this pregnancy :( I mean, obviously you see my belly in pictures but I haven't been good about tracking mine and Ziggy's growth. I'll see what I can do to remedy that. In the meantime here's some pics of all of us and what we were up to in August!

First we had ALOT of birthdays in August. Besides Liam and Nick, it was also Cameron and Rachy's birthdays! Here's a pic of Liam and Pres eating together at Cameron's birthday dinner. I love them eating at their own table, such big kids...Liam and I did celebrate with Rachy on her birthday. Cameron was out of town and Presley had been sick...like fever-for-5-days-straight-sick...during that week as well. So Liam and I took Rachy a birthday dinner, but we didn't take any pictures cause Rach and Pres were looking a little rough that week...not that I blame them :)

Here's another sweet pic of the cousins at the boys' birthday dinner at Olive Garden. They love to hold hands now, although occasionally Presley is not in the mood :)

And while we're talking about cousins holding hands...here are some pics of the kids playing with our friends at pool...and these playdates usually end with Liam and Pres holding hands to the car :) Here is Liam trying on his new birthday clothes from Kiki...Polo jeans and a Vandy shirt, what could be cuter?! Oh and of course I had to capture his little bum as he was doing his 'model' pose...Here is a picture of the boys I found on my camera. I am guessing it's from a weekend morning when Nick lets me sleep in...I hope he is willing to do this when he's got two to entertain :) We also took Liam to Hurricane Bay, the water park, with Uncle Alex. Liam loved the little splash areas all over and the wave pool. He would not take his eyes off Nick and Alex when they went down the big slides, he was screaming for them the whole time.This month was also our the end of the Snow Cone Lady and Rough Riders games for this summer. Although I didn't get Liam eating his snow cone, I finally got a picture of him visiting the trains that are parked behind her stand (his second favorite reason for going!) We even got to see two "real trains" go past this summer which was such a treat for Liam.Liam has really started getting into the traditions of a baseball game...singing the national anthem, cheering "play ball!", the 7th inning stretch, etc. Now, even though I didn't stand him up during the anthem like I usually do, I had to capture how sweet he looks. He always has his hand over his heart and takes his hat off...To make the last game of the summer even more special...Liam 'caught' a foul ball!! It actually bounced off Tiffany, Dal, and was caught by Alex as it landed in his stomach...then handed to Liam. He was SOOO excited though and we got a pic of everyone involved in the catch.Here's a pic of all of us at the game. Daniel was in town this week to meet us all and seemed to do well with all the chaos that our family entails :)We also went to the Dallas Aquarium with Pres and Jackson. It was very cool, and as you can tell from the pics, Liam's favorite exhibit was the shark tunnel. It was sharks, stingrays, swordfish, and the largest turtle I've ever seen. They literally swam all around you!As always Liam is continuing to do so many 'big boy' things. Here he is on the potty. We aren't officially potty training, just trying to get comfortable with the process. As you can tell, we have alot involved. Liam has a whole entourage that comes with him including 10 dinosaurs, 2 hotwheels, a crab and octopus, baseball, and a few books. I don't know if we'll be able to keep that up, but I am trying to get prepared to set him up to succeed. We have our little toilet seat as you can see, and he now owns about 25 pairs of Mickey Mouse, dinosaur,and Thomas the Train underpants. I've got stickers and M&Ms ready for the rewards. I think we're going to attempt this month to see if he can do it before Ziggy is born. I would LOVE to have him trained and just one kid in diapers, but I also realize that he just turned 2 and I want it to be a positive experience....so we'll see.And finally here is Liam practicing his big brother role by 'feeding' his 'baby'. I know alot of people recommended getting him a doll to learn with but we've just been improvising with what we've got..

As long as he's not trying to feed Ziggy ice cream cones, I think we'll be alright!