Moments in time

Okay I'm once again going with a random assortment of pictures for the post. :) I think my iPhone is really to blame for this because I used to never have a camera on me and now I'm finding that I take way more pictures and end up with a couple of really cute ones. Ones I'll want to remember forever.

Elleny and Henry playing at the library before story time. I love what a kick they get out of each other. 

One of the many pictures I have of Henry on his tractor that Grandma Linda and Papa Tom got him for his 3rd birthday. In the background you can see his motorcycle he got from Grandma Shirley and Papa Kenny for his 2nd birthday, which is still getting quite the use too! How lucky to have two vehicles at age three! :) Oh and Daniel bought him this hat the other day and it's been getting quite the use too! He looks so grown up in it.

At a construction site that we stopped at in our subdivision while out on a walk the other night. He loves looking at the big trucks and climbing on their big mounds of dirt that they had created. I love that this picture captures 1. his container of walnuts 2. his pajama pants that he wanted to keep on and 3. his winter coat that he sometimes choses to wear despite the 70 degree weather. :)

Balancing a book on his head, Henry's training for the circus. Tight rope, here I come!

Daniel and Henry on top of a hill while out on a walk. I like seeing their size difference in this picture cause I'm sure in one more decade or so it'll look a lot different. Henry went for a three year old check up a couple of weeks ago and was 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height.

Watching a program on TV about woodworking. Daddy-son time that a mommy could only capture.

The view from up here lately. Lots and lots of belly. The baby is still growing perfectly and is 36 2/7 weeks today. I'm hoping for a delivery soon, but am waiting till our friends, Matt and Ember, get back from vacation on Friday since they are our emergent Henry caretakers until Daniel's parents can drive up from Iowa. We're so lucky to have so many people on call for us. :) Pictures from Daniel's phone soon (we both take so many!) Enjoy the beautiful weather!!!

Baby #2 photo shoot!

My friend, Ember, came over and took some pictures for me the other day to capture this pregnancy and growing belly. :) She had also taken Henry's Christmas card picture. We joke that we exchange her camera talents for my knitting and sewing talents. I feel like I'm getting a pretty sweet deal because I can't take pictures of my family myself and I'd pay a couple hundred at least just to get the pictures she captures. So thanks Ember for the priceless pictures! I absolutely love this one above of me and Henry (oh and baby). :)

The pregnancy continues to be pretty uneventful with lots of movement from this baby, mostly in the evenings and at night. The only complaint I've had about this pregnancy is heartburn and now that I have 3 bottles of TUMS in varying places throughout the house I feel much better. With all the calcium from the TUMS, this baby is going to have titanium for bones! :)

Henry's been asking lots of questions about baby and is mostly concerned with how it will get out. We watched a video on YouTube a couple of days ago and I think he gets it a bit more now. He's so caring and kept asking "Is she sad?"and "Does she hurt?" Then the baby came out and was crying and again "Is she sad?" I couldn't be more proud of his ability to empathize. 

He's also been talking about what he's going to do with baby when it comes out and amongst the activities like hold, rock and talk to the baby is "spin the baby." He told this once to Daniel and then told it to both of us. So I asked him more about spinning the baby and what does that mean. He says cause "spinning is so fun and makes you happy!" His heart is in the right spot. :)

Henry was born at 38 and 4/7 weeks gestation and I'm banking on this one coming a bit early too. I'm sure this will backfire when I'm still pregnant at 41weeks. :) I'm 34 weeks tomorrow and it's exciting to know we're so close to meeting this baby even if it doesn't come until 41 weeks. Daniel might be the most excited to hold the baby I think. I get to feel all the kicks around the clock, but he's dying to hold the baby in his arms and finally feel all the kicks around the clock too.  The hope is that he will take a month off from work and I will take 3 months. I'm looking forward to the family time without work as much as I'm looking forward to the baby coming. It'll be a nice fall for sure!

Write more soon with pictures of Henry I took the other day. They don't compare to Ember's picture taking abilities, but they have a cute subject. :) Enjoy the weekend!

Food for thought

Watched this at work yesterday at a meeting. Been thinking about it since and thought I'd share. Warning: it may induce tears or sobs, but it's worth it I think. Be empathetic today.

Pictures at the park

Went to the park with Henry the other day and he wanted to play on a big mound of dirt at the top of the park. I think they are doing some construction and have pushed a lot of dirt to one area, which created quite the fun little play area. Henry was pretending it was his house and he was fixing stuff for me. So he would take his hammer and nails and say "Mama, what's wrong with your bathtub?" Then I'd respond "It's just not draining right." He'd cheerfully say "Oh, I can fix that!" and get to work. :)

With him up high on the pile and me down low, it gave me some great photo opportunities. So I took about a million and ended up with a few really good ones. I love how it looks like he's in Vietnam or some jungle. :) And this sunset picture (yes, we were out that night till 8pm playing) is my new favorite. I love his little silhouette.

Write more soon about the baby, who's growing and moving lots. Could be as soon as 6 weeks till we have a picture to show!!! Stay cool in this hot weather!

Five random things from June

I can't believe in 2 more days it will be July! I'm excited because that means we're one month closer to meeting the baby; I'm sad cause it means my first born is now THREE (where'd my baby go?); I'm embarassed cause I've only got one post in during the month of June! So let's quick play catch up and I'll post some randomness here that I don't want to forget.

1. Henry's been very in to bandaids lately. I got out of the shower the other day and he told me he had a bandaid for my booboo. I asked him where my booboo was and he promptly put it over my grossly protruding belly button. He then quickly put another over it and said "Now the baby won't BURST out and get all over me!" with a look of disgust on his face. I'm taking it that I'm starting to look "burst"able and I feel it. Ten weeks to go and I'm sure then I'll really look burstable. :) Still feeling good though. Can't wait to meet you baby #2!

2. Henry's now 3. Let's let that soak in for a moment.... THREE!!! Where did three years go? I forget the months and years but the moments are still pretty fresh in my mind's eye - especially with the help of this blog and my scrapbooks. And I'm so proud of the little being he's become and I can't wait to see what he ends up like. He's energetic, curious,  imaginative, compassionate, empathetic, so loving... I couldn't ask for anything more really. We really love and cherish you Henry - Happy birthday!

3. Lately when Henry wakes from sleeping and we go in to get him, he's gotten his pajamas off and has redressed himself in something for the day. And mostly it's a very interesting combination like a swim diaper on his head or his swim trunks over his jeans. This morning  it was three socks and again this afternoon it was four socks... and that's it! No need for overdressing. :)

4. The downside of this self dressing is the diaper coming off. Found poop in the register in his room tonight. Thought it smelt funny when we came up for bath time and then found the culprit. I just read a funny thing about how toddlers are like drunk people and this would be right up there. If someone does this to you when they're 20, they're just being an a-hole or they need an intervention. He was just looking for an appropriate place to poop once he took his diaper off. And after cleaning poop from his carpet last month, I do have to say I prefer the new spot. Now if we can just make it to the toilet we're golden!

5. Lastly I'll leave you with a cute video of Daniel filming Henry in the sprinklers on a hot day this week. I love the laughter in this. Can I bottle that up somehow? I guess I'll just have to save the video. 

Happy June everyone! Hope you had a good one and that July is even better! 

23 weeks!

Baby #2 update! All is going well. I will be 24 weeks tomorrow and have been feeling great. Lots of movement from this little one. Daniel has been able to feel it even for a few weeks now which is so fun.  I think it's setting in a bit more to Henry that he's about to have a little sibling soon, too. When Daniel was taking some pictures the other day to document my belly growth, Henry came in and I asked him if he wanted to kiss my belly and the baby. Here's what we got:

Right underneath the dress! Why not? :) And on his tippy toes. Too cute not to save and too cute not to post, even though child protection might come pay a visit to our house. If not for the picture, then for the state of disarray that our house is in at the time of the pictures. Don't judge! :) If I waited for the perfect picture opportunity including a clean house, we may not have any pictures of this pregnancy. :) More soon!

Warm weather has arrived!!!

We hit 91 degrees here today and I didn't even mind it. I did turn on the AC but we laid outside on a blanket in the sunshine and it felt great! Made some popsicles for Henry today since he's been on a popsicle kick lately.  These were healthy ones that even had spinach in them and he still ate 4 of them this evening! Got the recipe from this book: Ice Pop Joy  by Anni Daulter and I couldn't recommend it more -- tons of yummy recipes and a whole chapter of recipes with veggies in them! Then I don't feel so bad when he asks for his 6th popsicle of the day.

Henry has loved being outside lately too. Today he played with a spray bottle of water for about 3 or 4 hours: watering bricks, grass, my toes, Daniel's legs, his shirt... just about everything! It's fun watching him play and you can tell he feels so happy outside to be playing again.

That's all for now, but I'll post pictures of my growing belly tomorrow or Thursday! Enjoy the sunshine!