My Hubby, My Hero

Way to save the day...this morning at a bright and early 5:30 a.m.--actually it wasn't bright, it was still quite dark outside--anyhoo, the darn dogs started up again. They didn't stop. So, J marched his little self over to the neighbors house to let them know people were still trying to sleep and this behavior from them every morning was ridiculous (my words). Man those people are some early risers: he walked up and the woman (a single mom) had a car full of kids and they were pulling up TO the house from being out! At 5 friggin' thirty! Jason has this amazing way of confronting people and getting the job done without making them feel attacked or defensive. It is a gift. So, he and Neighbor Lady had a convo about the dogs. She said, "Well, they have bark collars." Unless these things are some stupid invention to make them bark, then I don't think they're doing their job, dear neighbor. Keep 'em in the house, Lady. So, all day they have been inside. Ahhhhh. So nice. I hope they whiz all over her floors as mean as that sounds. I feel badly for the dogs, they don't get much attention so at least they'll be warm in the house. We'll see if this continues or what not.

After J came back home we were both wide awake. And hungry. Jason said, "Do you want doughnuts?" and since I always want doughnuts I said, "Well, yeah". So he went to the grocery store for doughnuts for me and Mr. E, a bagel for himself (borrrr-ring!), and some Starbucks to help with our extra early rising. Yum. What a treat. Easton woke up briefly calling for me at 6:00 but I left him be and he quickly went back to sleep and Jason and I enjoyed a rare weekday (or any day) breakfast for two. Easton actually ended up sleeping until 8:30 when I had to wake him up for Kindermusik! He didn't get his doughnut till we got home.

So...back to yesterday. We did end up taking Blitz to the vet. Two vets. First, I had to lock Blitz in the bathroom so I could go get his kennel without him figuring out to hide from me first. Then I shut myself in the bathroom with him and the kennel. There was a struggle. The toilet paper holder got knocked off the wall by someone's big ol' behind--it was not Blitz's. Finally I get the cat into the kennel and pack both him and Easton into the car. Fun. Blitz is not enjoying himself but Easton was. He really liked it when I'd mouth meows at him and pretended it was me and not Blitz. So, we get to the vet that Jason told me to go to. Well, we only got as far as the parking lot when I realized "This is not where Blitz goes." So, had to call Jason to tell him to call the correct vet. We needed an appointment. However, they were able to get us in in 40 minutes from when I called. Not too bad. Since we were all already in the car I decided to take Easton to the cool park in 55 degree weather with no coat. Blitz stayed in the car for those 15 minutes.

I kept telling E it would be a short trip to the park but he doesn't understand that so much. He was mad when we had to leave but he cheered up once he remembered Blitz was in the car. We get to the real vet and things are going well. I can't believe how good Blitz and Easton are both being. At one point I plopped E down on a bench in the exam room with a copy of Dog Fancy magazine. That worked for a short while then he got down to crawl under the bench, stand on top, and explore other things within reach. Oh well. The verdict with Blitz is that he seems fine physically and it might be that his tummy has been so upset for months from eating my windowsill garden. He prefers chives. D'oh! Why did that never occur to us? I dumped out my herbs last night :( and we'll see what happens. We opted out of the $110 blood test for now. It is a competition between Easton and Blitz to see who can puke the most often. I hope Deucie can hold his stomach as cleaning up so much yak is getting real old.

Well, when we got home I had to take care of a few things: emptying the trash and diaper pail, disposing of my herbs, putting the kennel away so I left E in the care of a trusty sitter: Sesame Street. Guilty as charged. He's in a relatively child proof room and I'm never away for long. I can see him as I move about doing my tasks--unless I have to run upstairs. Anyway...I came back from my quick chores and found he had done this to himself:


My mom came by later and wanted to take us to dinner. Okay with me!! While we waited for J to get home Easton and Gramoo went to play in Gramoo's new car. That is one of their "things" together. This time Easton actually got to sit on her lap while she moved the car from our driveway to the street. It was so cute to peek out the window and see him trying to steer.

We headed to the Outback for dinner. We had just gone on Saturday to celebrate the news that we were having another boy in a manly way. On that Saturday visit Easton took a particular liking to our waitress. He had never acted that way towards a stranger before. He was totally flirting! Well, she wasn't our waitress last night but she remembered us and came by and jokingly warned our waitress, "Watch out for this one...he's a charmer" and as soon as Easton saw her he remembered her and started acting the same way. He reached for her hand and held it and then he even reached up for her to pick him up! So she held him and sat at our booth briefly. It is quite clear that he fancies her. Big time. To his credit she was pretty cute and sweet.

Anyway, fast forward to today again--we did Kindermusik and Easton was perfect. It seems it didn't take him long to get the hang of sitting still when we're supposed to and all the rest of it. He is great at waiting turns, he never yanks stuff away from anyone and he loves helping clean up when we're done with an activity. What strange toddler behavior!

Here is my little man today in his festive Halloween shirt that he also wore last year:



We save so much money on baby clothes. Most everything he wears is borrowed from my mom's friend's kid and the other stuff he has is a lot of things from last year! Then, Baby Deuce will likely be able to wear them all as well since he'll be arriving in the same time of year as Easton did. Crazy! We are lucky in that department. However, we don't have much of our own stuff so I really hope we can borrow things again. Not just clothes either. Last time we had a borrowed tub, swing, and tiny bassinet we kept in the kitchen. Eek! Somehow everything works out though, eh?

Anyway, here's the little shirtless cowboy today:


I think that's gonna do it for me. As if it wasn't long enough. :) Have a good day, friends!

Feel Like I Just Blogged

Well, hopefully for y'all I won't have much to say today since my last post was just last night. Easton did not wake up in the night again. Whew!

This morning we went to Circle Time and read firetruck/fire man stories. The 'brary is right next to the fire station. Mama likes firetrucks. Especially since I'm not "allowed" to like firemen anymore :) Easton got some stickers at the end and then he colored a picture of a dalmation with a fire hat. He did a good job, especially sharing the crayons with his neighbors.

Here he is riding his pony properly this morning:

And just hanging around:

And Mr. Serious with the interestingly colored eyes:


Jason and I went over some basic genetics recently, basic because that's as far as I got in college genetics. Anyway, I have no clue where E's eye color comes from. Or hair color for that matter. My knowledge of genetics explains neither. His eyes were a beautiful blue for most of his first year of life. A little too late to "change" color if you ask me but alas, they did change and they're really cool. His hair used to be quite coppery, people even called it red (Grrrr). Now it's kind of a light brown with the same auburn in it. Hmmmm. Both the eyes and the hair have to come from J's side though. They've got all the fancy colors over on that half of E's tree. My side has the simple easy-to-understand colors (and therefore genetics). Oh well. Keeps things interesting.

Is it okay to say I have some slight "finder outers remorse" regarding already knowing the sex of baby Deuce? I like knowing what I'm growing, don't get me wrong, but at the same time I LOVED not knowing with E's pregnancy. I hope the rest of my pregnancy doesn't drag on or anything now. I think our hypothetical "next time" I'll push for not finding out ahead of time. I wanted to try things each way but I think I preferred the not knowing. I love surprises. And since it's another boy I can safely say that I don't think it's made "planning any easier". Plus we still have to settle on a name. Hmph.

Oh, I have fun news I forgot to share yesterday. Easton can say his name (sort of) now! We were at Gymsters and they ask, "Who came to play today?" and all the kids (or usually parents) say the name. I asked E, "Can you say Easton?" and he pointed at his chest and said, "Eay dee". Like Eastie. But complete with the pointing at himself! So he knew he was talking about himself. Until yesterday he would usually call himself, "me" with the pointing. I think that's actually backwards from most kids but since when has E been "normal"? He understands "me" and "you". Like, if you say, "for you?" he'll point at himself and confirm "me!". And now he's added in his name. Fun! Click here for some video.

Well, this afternoon we MIGHT take Blitz to the vet but we might save that for later on too. We've been worrying about him a bit and it's really time to get him checked out. I have to wait for my mom to stop back by or call though. Hasta luego!

Whoa, We're Halfway There

I tried uploading a little Bon Jovi to the blog to commemerate the occasion but alas, no such luck. So, at just 19 weeks 3 days what do I mean by halfway? Well, I'll tell you blog fans: it's exactly halfway to my currently "ideal" C-section date. I want it to happen at 38 weeks 6 days. They won't let me go much later than that--39 weeks falls on a Saturday and that's about as late as they'll go. So...here's hoping I even make it that far. I could be changing my tune if I get to the uncomfortable sleepless parts of pregnancy. I honestly look forward to the opportunity to bitch about all the things other pregnant women get to bitch about seeing as how I missed out on all that the first time around. Oh the things we take for granted, eh?

Our game last night was good. Broncs won! And despite the constant drizzle we stayed the entire 4 quarters. J had ponchos for us so we stayed dry and we were able to stay pretty warm, especially with the help of some halftime hot cocoa. The worst part for me was the hike back to the car still in the drizzle. Oh well. I didn't get to sleep till after midnight which is unheard of for me these days and then...

Mr. E decided to wake up calling for me at 2:00 a.m.!! I heard, "Mama? Mama! Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" He got into a mad cry real quick. Yuck. I rushed in thinking something was wrong. He seemed fine. He calmed right down when I was with him. Then I left. He got mad again. I gave him awhile and went back a second time. It was much easier when he'd wake crying in the night before he knew my name. Now it's so heart wrenching to hear my little baby desperately calling, "Mama! Mama! Da-Mama!" After about half an hour of him being awake with 2 visits from me he went back to sleep. Whew. Because it was freezing being out of bed. He must've just been checking that Gramoo was telling him the truth when she put him to bed saying Mommy and Daddy would be back later. She told the truth. We were there. I'm hoping that doesn't continue. He's been calling for me a bit before he goes to sleep a lot these days too. Ick.

Today we made it back to Gymsters. It's E's first day out of the boot! Easton had fun being a show off for the teacher. The teacher was talking to us (me and E) before class as Easton zipped along a balance beam. He said something about "stork stands" and since Easton doesn't know what those are I just told him, "Stand on one foot" and he did. But before he'd do it today he'd always look to make sure Mr. Ken was watching him. Goober. There was only 2 boys in the class today--E included--(both in gray). There was about 6 girls and every one of them had pink on. Goodness.

I tried to get Easton to nap with me today and he was very quiet and still-ish for a half an hour but he wouldn't go to sleep so I put him in his bed and he went to sleep and I went back to my bed and went to sleep too. Ahhhh. After last night I needed a nap for sure.

Here's my little nudie-patootie this morning attempting to strip. Doesn't he know it's practically snowing?


Easton's Gramoo brought Lauren's old hobby horse for E. My aunt actually made it: painted the face on and all.



And an action shot from a super fun bath tonight. The E was being CRAZY!

Thanks for Playing!

Wow, so many guesses! Yay! So many anonymous ones too but those don't matter because only 3 (well, 4) of you were right:

WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY BOY!!!
This is a spread eagle shot, basically as if you were changing a diaper at eye level. You can click it for "help".

The Maws, Molly, and McLaughlin get the credit for guessing right! Way to go!

I have to tell you, even I would've predicted, like, 10 seconds of disappointment at the news of not having a girl. However, once she said, "I can tell the gender" I looked at the screen and shouted, "It's another boy! I can see his penis!" And I was so so thrilled. We both were/are. I was instantly so excited over the family that God has planned for us. He knows what He's doing--there's a reason I'm not in charge. Easton's gonna have a little brother and my goodness are they ever going to get into trouble, but still be the best of friends. How perfect! It's going to be so fun! I'm way more excited than I even thought I'd be.

On the way home we practiced saying things like, "I'm taking the boys to the game" or "My boys love the water". Tee hee! We're gonna have boys!

I really can't believe we didn't find out the gender accidentally with Easton. Seriously, it was so easy to tell during many parts of the ultrasound on Friday. Little Deuce would kick his legs or turn and there his little willy would be, bobbing along in the water. There was no question what we were seeing. I think maybe with Easton because we'd warn them we didn't want to know the gender they might have stayed a little more zoomed in. They'd have us look away during "dangerous" times when they had to look at other "structures". However, Jason remembers seeing basically what we saw on Friday and wondering if it was what he thought it was (with E's pregnancy) but we weren't ultrasound experts back then like we are now. :) You really do learn a lot with repeated ultrasounds. Unfortunately.

The ultrasound tech said to us, "You know if I was able to have children I always thought two little boys would be perfect." Ouch. I squeezed J's hand as in, "we really are lucky, aren't we?" I mean, the fact that we were even able to get pregnant is truly miraculous. God is good. And now He's blessed us with two perfect little boys. Forget about all those times in high school or whenever that I said, "I'm going to have a boy and then two girls." What was I thinking? This is even better than my "plan" although I do wonder if I'll ever be blessed with a girl someday. Or even a 3rd child--we'll just have to wait and see like with everything else.

Anyway, we had a fun weekend. We went to the Railroad Museum on Saturday (I'll share pics later, there's a bunch) and then on Sunday we had breakfast with Moosie. Tonight Jason and I are heading to the Broncos Monday Night game. Brrrr. It might snow tonight but nevertheless it is still very cold today. Eek! It's hard to layer when you're pregnant. Too bad I'm not one of those "always hot" preggos.

And two pics of our weekend, Easton and Daddy being silly:


And me and my snuggly Sessie-head:


Oh my gosh...I am living in a Testosterone Zone! Jason, 2 boys, and a male cat! Lucky me! :)

All Systems Are Go

First, let me say Jason is currently at a singer/songwriter competition at a venue in Denver tonight. I couldn't go because Moosie has been doing enough babysitting lately and is coming on Monday too. Anyway, J's doing 3 of his original songs and I'm thinking he's got a good chance. My man is talented if you didn't know already. I guess there are 15 competitors tonight and on some other nights coming up. If you win you move on to some finals closer to Thanksgiving. Keep your fingers crossed for him...he would too but it's hard to play the guitar well with crossy fingers. :) Go J!!! Anyhoo, moving on...

Well the ultrasound today was beautiful. Baby Deuce is absolutely perfect and is even "measuring a week ahead". Strange (since I am so sure of my dates) but okay. The baby shows no signs of a cleft lip (the palate inside the mouth is hard to visualize on ultrasound but presumed okay since lip is "intact"). All the organs are there and are the right size and in the right place. The heart was "beautiful" beating at 148 beats per minute (great!). It was the best ultrasound and she was the best sonographer we've had in all our ultrasound experiences through both pregnancies. She was so positive and really explained what we were looking at in detail (like "left ventricle" or "such and such in the brain where the cerebral spinal fluid is"). It was great! I loved seeing our perfect little babe. They estimated baby weighing about 11 oz. I think "average" is 7 right now and a few ounces at this "age" makes a big difference. I also predicted short femurs as J has short legs and E's always measured short on ultrasounds. Deucie's were long: 71st percentile! Hmmmm...maybe taking after me there??? Fun to think about anyway.

Easton and poor Gramoo ended up hanging out for that whole hour in the parking lot! Well, they had some nice grassy spots and a path to walk along with the stroller and they say they had fun. This hospital we went to is very far south from our house--it would've been foolish for Moosie to drive up to our place if we were going that direction. Plus, we could've been tight on time. So that's the option we came up with and apparently it worked well. Easton enjoyed sliding down the hills on a carpet of leaves (he had a pine needle in his diaper later!). He and Gramoo are really enjoying one another these days. And it was fun to show off Deucie's new photos live in person to the big-brother-to-be and the grandma.

Wanna see 'em? Here is a labeled profile shot she did for us:

And a similar unlabeled profile shot with a little hand and arm starting to come up:

Here is a close up of the little perfect fingers (I feel it's obvious which part is finger bones but if you need help click on the picture):


We got a ton of pictures (12, I think!!!) and I won't show you all of them as quite a few are the freaky 3D kind. I'll show you two of those, though. Even though they're kinda weird. Here's the first. It's pretty much straight on the face. Again, click it for my "labels" if you need to.

And, here's more of a profile 3D image. There is a little arm up by the face too. (Again, click for help).


Guess what else?!?! Surprise! We decided to find out the sex of the baby. We'll spill the beans soon but you should take guesses. It'll be real fun (for me). Just leave a comment. I know waaaaaay (okay, like 3) more people read this blog than actually ever comment so you just click the "COMMENTS" word at the end of this post then leave your comment in the text box. Below it'll say "Choose an Identity" and you can choose "Other" and type in a name or "Anonymous" and that's it. Make sure you leave your name in your text comment if you want any credit if you're right :) See, I told you this would be fun.

Anyway, you can't tell the gender (no money shots) in any of the pics I posted so you'll just have to decide if it looks like a boy or a girl in the face and hands. Plus, you can refer to my lovely "This time vs. Last time" comparasion post. We told Easton already (and only him) so you can't cheat and ask him. He doesn't know the difference between a brother or sister anyway. But just for fun, here is the bouncing big brother today, jumping for joy at the news:

(And yay for the new camera catching an action shot so crisply like that!)

Don't be mad that we're not telling our little secret just yet. We were going to make you wait 6 weeks till my next ultrasound could confirm the "diagnosis". Instead we just had both the tech and the doctor each tell us today. 2 people. 4 eyes. I believe it.

Okay, well onto me...the doctor I saw today was someone we hadn't met before, but still a perinatologist. She said, "Has Dr. Porreco told you about your risks this time?" and I kind of looked at her like, "Duh, but make your points anyway." Then she went on to say that people with my history (specificially of HELLP Syndrome) that are going through the "treatments" I am (aspirin, extra folate, monthly ultrasounds, etc) still have a 10-30% chance of getting just plain ol' preeclampsia again. She made it sound worse than the 10-30% sounds, though. Then she said that most women like me only go 2 weeks past where they made it to last time. Eek! I guess 35 weeks is much more preferable to 33, but still... And she stressed to really watch myself for the Pre-E signs, mostly swelling. Well, Jason and I didn't notice the swelling last time since we saw me every day. So, if you happen to see me or a picture of me and I've got a really fat face with an extra large nose then please speak up. If I'm just looking "fuller" then keep it to yourself, Mom :) Just kidding, but remember Jessica's wedding? Sheesh.

Even so, there are no guarantees about how any of this will go. We've known that from the start. I may not even make it to 33 weeks then again I might go all the way to my "scheduled" (in my head only) C-section date. Something else entirely might happen. I certainly learned that working on L&D. Anyway, we're not feeling pessimistic so I don't want anyone else to either. Just continue to pray for Baby Deuce and this pregnancy.

She did mention one other thing. (Blah, blah, blah--I know!) But, she did say that I have some "dark spots" on the placenta. This just means that it's not as richly filled with good bloody things as they would normally like to see. :( However, she said it's not that much of the placenta, it's highly unlikely it'll get worse, my body kind of already knows what to do from carrying Easton (if you say so, lady), and that the current blood flow from placenta to baby is excellent and nothing to worry about at all. She just said that since she'll have to write it in her report she wanted to mention it to us too. Loved that. All in all none of this is terrible news. Just things to think about if you're praying for us. I'm still feeling quite optimistic.

And to end this extra long post on a good note, the tech told the doctor (before the doctor came in) that, "This woman scans beautifully" meaning that I was easy to do an ultrasound on. I have absolutely nothing to do with that but I still felt proud. I'm a dork. And on that note...Dorky Dorkleton signing off...

Don't forget to comment!

All you "Anonymouses" are really baffling me. Who are you people??? :) Thanks for playing but now you won't get any credit if you're right. Bwah ha ha ha ha!

I actually have NO pictures for you today. Wow...we exchanged our camera I got for my birthday since it kept taking crappy blurry pictures. Hopefully it was just a broken one and this new one will be super. Anyway, due to the switching I haven't taken any photos.

Easton was up before Jason even left this morning so the boys got in a few minutes of quality time while I hopped in the shower before J left. They have fun.

Before long it was time to head to Kindermusik. Easton did pretty well today. His favorite part of class appears to be whenever it's time to put a set of instruments/scarves/whatever away. He loves to put them in the tote and today he added something new by picking up the tote and handing it to the teacher--even before the other kids were done putting in their instruments. Silly boy. Another kid pushed him today :( It was my friend's kid to boot! Easton's face whenever something like that happens to him is just so heartbreaking. He doesn't understand. He has never hit another kid, just me. In fact, yesterday I wouldn't let him climb up on the back of the couch so he conked me on the head. He doesn't do that stuff very often though. Whew. My friend's kid did it to E and another kid just over the 45 minutes of class! He goes to daycare--I think that makes a difference.

After Kindermusik we had to go to the eyeglasses store. Easton bent the heck out of mine this morning so I showed up and the lady said, "Can I help you?" and I simply set the glasses on the counter to let them speak for themselves. She looked at Easton and asked him, "Uh oh. Did you get a hold of these?" and Easton said, "Yeah!" While she was fixing them Easton sneezed and shot an enormous loogie out of his mouth which landed on my belly. Eeeeeew! The lady told me where to find some tissues. I thought it was funny. Kids...

We also hit up Babies R Us to exchange an outfit for a 18 month size!! I've been having to do that more and more lately. They're still a little long on him but the 12 months are going to be too short very soon. Yay! He's only 19 months by his adjusted age so I'll gladly take him being in 18 month clothes. I think that's about "average". Woo hoo!

After an 1/8 of an apple plus a Yo Baby yogurt lunch Easton is supposed to be napping. Yet again he is talking and tapping the crib with his feet. Once he finally fell asleep yesterday he had another great nap. I guess I might just be putting him down too early? I started keeping a "nap log" like the nerd that I am to hopefully figure out more of a pattern. He was nearly asleep in the car and woke up early today--I would think he'd be ready for his nap about now but no... As long as he's happy I don't mind leaving him in there. However, this is a big reason I fear moving him to the "big boy" bed in January. Eek!

Well, tomorrow is our big fancy ultrasound at the perinatalogist. My mom is coming to watch Easton here at the house (again!) and J will be leaving work early. This is when they check out all the details on the baby like making sure it has a stomach and kidneys and that everything is in the right place and the right size. They also will make sure to check for spina bifida since I "refused" the blood test for it (too many false positives and I'm a worrier as it is). They'll take a close look for cleft palate and lip too. When we had that checked with Easton's pregnancy they did some 3D images. A little freaky but cool. I'm not sure if tomorrow's ultrasound will involve that or not. I'm looking forward to seeing this little babe again. It's definitely growing!

Before I go, I was "tagged" again by Kirsty and I'm supposed to name "seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now." Then I'm supposed to tag 7 others but I don't know 7 other bloggers that haven't been tagged already. Anyhoo...here's my songs:

The Fray's "How to Save a Life"--I'm glad this song is getting some more recognition by "appearing" on Grey's Anatomy

The Fray's "Over My Head"--remember it from my blog awhile back?

Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten"

Edwin McCain's "I Could Not Ask for More"--turn up your volume...that's the song

John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change"

Beach Boys "Forever"--Easton doesn't like looking at pictures unless they're "set" to music so I'll often put on this song while we look at pics on the 'pute

Outkast's "Hey Ya"--Yeah, I know it's been around awhile but when Eastie asks to dance this is usually what I put on. Sesame Street does a clever "Get Up" version of the song of a kid's morning routine. I just love Sessie (that's what I've called it for a very long time)--Sessie is a clever show so I watch it with E a LOT.

Otay. That's the end.

This Pregnancy So Far...

Okay, here at 18 weeks and 4 days this is the side view of me:

And here is the front:

I did not intentionally cut off my head, I just didn't stand far enough away from the camera. Oh well. We're looking at the belly anyway, right? Here I am at 18 weeks last time. You can decide if I'm "carrying the same" or not.


This pregnancy feels a lot the same as it did with Easton but parts are different too. Last time I was pretty sure E was a girl. This time I feel like it's another boy.

I had severe and constant nausea with Easton's pregnancy, this time I had multiple episodes of retching and "required" meds for the severe and constant nausea. The "morning" sickness got worse over the course of the day both times, though.

Last time I had worse than usual acne. This time, not so much.

Last time I got a bunch of unwelcome hairs: side burns, toe hair, ICK! This time I can shave my legs even less than before I got pregnant.

Last time I maintained my usual sweet tooth. This time it's nearly non-existent. I'd rather have a cold piece of fruit. :)

Last time we didn't try the "ring test". This time it went back and forth in a line which I was told means "girl" but different people translate it different ways. Whatever. I don't believe it either way.

Last time the Chinese birth chart predicted a boy. Same with this time.

Last time I got frequent headaches (even before the preeclampsia). I'm getting headaches again this time around.

Last time Easton's heartrate was often in the 150s. Same with this time.

Last time I preferred a boy and thought it was a girl. This time I prefer a girl but think it's another boy. Hey, I'm just being honest here folks. I always hated the "We don't care as long as it's healthy" expression. So, what, if it's not healthy you don't want it anymore? Maybe that's why I had a little sickie, because I didn't say that phrase? Anyway, it's fine if people really don't care what they have. I just lean towards girl. I'd still be thrilled with a boy. Look how much I like Easton. :) Alrighty then...

Enough about me, what's going on with Easton? Well, he had a 2 hour nap again yesterday without waking up at all during it like the day before. Woo! Then, he was down for the night by 7:45 once again and slept for 12 and a half hours. Woo again! Right now he's been in his crib talking and singing for an hour instead of napping. Hmmmm. We'll keep trying.

When he woke up today we went to get doughnuts. Yum. Easton was very excited. He also got to have some juice with his doughnuts (ohhhhh, is that why he's not tired yet?). I bought him this super cool Halloween cup that lights up when there's liquid inside. Neato! Here he is showing his doughnut excitement:

And here he is showing his fancy cup, too bad you can't see the lights:


After breakfast we hit up Circle Time. Today's time had an autumn theme. At the end they all got some sticky foam leaves to tack on a paper tree on the wall of the library. Only the first time did I have to explain not to stick it to the wall, just on the tree. He did fine for all the other leaves. We checked out a book about trains to bring home. We're going to the train museum this weekend. Fun fun fun!

Here is the little dude after Circle Time:



And, I took his "mobile step stool" away (his train) because he kept climbing up and getting things he shouldn't or he'd fall off. See, I don't always let him hurt himself. :P Anyway, now he is improvising with other toys:

He's a goob. And a non-tired one at that so I should go. I already checked--it's not a log keeping him up this time.

No Gymsters Today

Well, E's nap yesterday was interesting (I'm not currently having issues getting him down anymore, by the way--whew!). He napped for a "normal" hour and a half or so and woke up calling for me and stuff. I didn't go in right away, waited maybe a few minutes and then I realized he had fallen back asleep! Hmmmm...I keep complaining that the child isn't getting enough sleep and maybe it's my fault for not letting him? We'll see how it goes today as I'm fully aware that could've been a mere fluke. Still...it was nice that he ended up with a 2+ hour nap. Since we've been home we've done a 7:45 bedtime again. It's working fine and I think he does better with that extra 15-30 minutes of sleep.

Once he woke up we did our craft:


Cuddled with a scarecrow decoration:

And tried to share the new chair with Blitz:


We had a lazy afternoon around the house until Daddy got home and the rowdy fun really begins. No wonder he's able to do a 7:45 bedtime with all the crazy activity they pack in their short time together. What fun! His foot boot isn't getting in the way at all (thank goodness!).

After E hit the sack Jason and I settled in for the two hour Bachelor premiere! I really love the Bachelor shows ever since someone (*cough*cough*Jason*cough*) got me into them. :) Last night's was a bit of a yawn but you know we'll keep tuning in till we're hooked. We're also trying Survivor this season for another dose of "reality".

Well, since I was so chatty yesterday I'll just finish with this one last story of another Easton "bonk": He loves to play on our bed and really really loves to mess with the clock, chapstick, glasses, baby monitor on the nightstands. Yesterday he tried (I think) climbing in between the bars of the bed (while standing on the edge of the mattress) to better reach the stuff on the nightstand and ended up Baby Jessica style wedged between the bed, wall, and nightstand--only he was upside down! I rushed to save him since there is no possible was he could've gotten himself out. He was doing a terrified cry. I ended up having to lower him back down slightly into the hole because he somehow had one leg on either side of the bed's poles. As soon as he was upright he stopped crying and we even laughed about it. He's got a tiny bonk on the bridge of his nose and one in his hair. How silly. I noticed he stayed away from that area as we were playing today. Here's the side view of Easton's "well":

And here's the bird's-eye view:


Perhaps I really do let him have too much freedom in learning about the world and his envriornment? Who knows? He's just such a daredevil and the boot he's wearing doesn't allow him to grip with his toes so he's off balance slightly more often. Okay, well, that's it from me.

We're Back--Did Ya Miss Me? (picture overload, too)

Oh great, we leave Easton for 24 hours with his grandma and we come home to find him with teething issues:

Hardee har har. Not really. That was later when we were decorating for Halloween.

Actually, Easton and Gramoo did awesome. I couldn't have asked for better. I am so thrilled they did so well just the two of them. I'm ready to go again! Let's back track a bit, though...

On Friday Gramoo arrived for her "practice" night with us. She didn't come empty handed. Here is E's new old chair. It was Lauren's when she was a wee one.

Easton is enjoying it although he'd rather stand or bounce on it most of the time. Blitz is using it properly. He loves it too. Anyway, on Friday night Gramoo and I did the bedtime routine with E while Jason went and got a haircut. On Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast and Easton was still happy to see his Gramoo there across the table:


After lunch, around E's naptime we decided to head on out. Jason said his goodbyes and then I cuddled E for a bit while standing in his room holding him pre-nap. Gramoo was positioned in the rocking chair to take over. I said my snuggly goodbyes and told him Gramoo was going to put him down for his nappy. He said, "No" but I handed him over anyway. He only cried for a little little bit. I could hear him stop because we were still home packing up to leave. After a few minutes I went to tell my mom we were actually leaving and I saw E was asleep in his crib with Gramoo patting his back. I knew at that point it would go just fine for them. Whew.

Jason and I left and headed for downtown. We checked into our hotel:

It was noonish, though, not nighttime like the picture implies. We went to check out the room. Here is the "heavenly" bed:

And then we grabbed lunch at a nearby deli and browsed the 16th Street Mall.

As we were winding up our mall browsing I was starting to whine about my feet hurting and could we please hop on a bus? Jason said, "Hang on I'm looking for this building we're mapping at work." Okay, fine. Then he said, "Here, let's head this way for a sec" as he led me down a side street. I had to ask, "Why?" and he told me, "I have a surprise for you." Huh?!?! This girl loves surprises. He led me to a fancy spa where he had secretly arranged for us to have a couples massage! Perfection. It was so special and so sweet. They even had a fancy pregnancy bed for me with a cutout for my belly when I laid on my tummy. Mind you, I can still sleep on my stomach at home. But still, it was really nice to have my belly swaying in the breeze. More like poking out the hole like a shy turtle but whatever... It was an hour long and so very relaxing. It was quiet enough to hear the whistler in my therapist's nose. Only slightly distracting because I really hate a whistling nose...just ask Jason. :) Oh goodness, the massage was so nice and they had two cups of tea in a little room waiting for us afterwards. I was so touched by J's surprise. What a husband!

Later we headed back to our room. It had this really cool window seat where we could enjoy our so-so view. We weren't there for the view though, people.

The nighttime version:


For dinner we headed to this Mexican restaurant known for their deceptively strong margaritas. I made Jason have 2 of them. Sometimes I hate to miss out on those kinds of things. Oh well...I won't be pregnant forever. Dinner was great and then we headed back to our room and relaxed and Jason fell asleep earlier than he normally would thanks to the margs. I didn't sleep great. I don't do well with complete silence. We run a white noise machine at home. I figured I could run the bathroom fan at the hotel--they didn't have one. My next option (from past hotel stays) was tuning the radio to some static. Well, the dang thing kept making popping sounds. So I went for silence which wouldn't have been so bad if it was truly silent but with water running in neighboring rooms, hotel doors slamming, the sounds of downtown below like sirens, a train, and occasional shouting all made for not the most rested night ever. Oh well. I did manage some sleep and the bed was nice. And big. I'm really not complaining. I knew what I was in for.

The next morning...my beloved breakfast in bed. Sooooo nice. I had a waffle with blueberries and a glass of juice. J had some other basic breakfast. I'm glad we decided to splurge because the cost of room service is insane. I knew this and that is why I've never had room service before. But, oh! So nice. We had some showers next and wrapped up in their fluffy white robes for some more relaxing in the room. Before we knew it it was time to check out and we set out to buy Easton a present from our getaway. We got him a little moose with a bouncy ball inside. So, it's basically a small stuffed moose with a bouncy ball for a belly--appropriate for him since he loves balls and Moosie was who stayed with him.

Easton was napping when we arrived home so Moo hung out with us till he woke up. She wanted to be the one to get him up from his nap and bring him to us so she could be the "good guy" too. His face when he saw us again was too sweet. He came bounding over to see us. What a happy reunion! Gramoo did a great job. I guess the only time he was sad in the whole 24 hours was when I called at bedtime the night before and talked to him on the phone and that made him cry for 15 minutes afterwards until they kissed pictures of Jason and me. Then he went through his bedtime routine and right to sleep no problem. He's crankier than that for us.

Anyway, now that we were happily reunited Gramoo headed back to her house and we went about decorating for Halloween.

That's E's Charlie Brown shirt from last Halloween. Of course it still fits him. Checking out J's hillbilly teeth:

Inspecting the Spider Whack game...the best Halloween game EVER. When I was pregnant with Easton Jason and I headed out to play in our apartment parking lot for my "exercise" that day. Hee hee!

Playing his Halloween bucket bongos with no pants a la Matthew McConaughey:

A slightly amusing yet strange pose of my boys:

And Easton enjoying his sippy cup while toting his personalized Halloween treat pail on his arm:


Easton loved all the stuff we got out for Halloween. Much of it is toy type things for him, festive rubber ducks for the bath, and decorations for the house and some in his room. Fun!

Today (Monday) is our lazy day. We tried finger painting for the first time today and switched to a paintbrush before long:


I rinsed the brush out to change colors and when I gave it back to Easton I made the mistake of calling it a brush (instead of paintbrush). So, this is what he does with brushes:


Good thing it was freshly rinsed. When he wakes up will be trying another foam craft kit while we continue listening to our festive Halloween music. We've got a whole "Halloween" mp3 folder on the computer. I'm fancy that way.

Whew, sorry for the mile long update. Before I go here are my "neice" and "nephew"

. You can click on them, I think, to get to see a bigger picture of them in San Antonio's "cutest pets" contest. Jack and Bailey are their names and they're on page 18 if you want to see 'em. Okay, I think that should wrap this up...until tomorrow or so...