Where Have I Been?

Why haven't I been posting lately? It's not because I've abandoned all of you faithful readers. This is where I've been. Go ahead; check it out. I know you want to.

For the record, this blog is going nowhere. You can continue to check it regularly. Unfortunately nothing will likely change here for you to read. It will stay as a place for you to see all the old pictures and entries, and of course a way for you to find the new blog until you get used to the new address (or update your blogrolls).

Enjoy!

Just News and Pictures

Wednesday night and yesterday, I had my best friend Cathy come to visit. Matt is such a wonderful husband to give us some girl time to talk on Wednesday night. The three of us had fun hanging out the rest of the time, too. Then on Thursday, the three of us--meaning Cathy, me, and Patrick--had fun too. Patrick had lots of fun showing off for the company. He was such a flirty kid. By the time she left yesterday afternoon, Patrick had accepted her as part of the family. I think to him she was just another aunt to love on.

The busy visit obviously wore him out, though--that and the nap he refused to take yesterday afternoon. He broke down when evening came and he hadn't slept all day. After Daddy chastised him (gently, of course) for something he'd done wrong, he was inconsolable. Finally he wandered over to me and just sat with me on the couch. A few minutes later, this is what Matt found:
Not the most flattering picture of me by any means, but I'll take it. It was like a taste of heaven that he chose to finally nap in my arms. I love it when he's a cuddlebug!

For anyone keeping track, yesterday was Thursday, exactly a week after my first progesterone shot. Since I'm supposed to get them weekly, that means I was due for another yesterday. I have to say Matt is my hero. As uncomfortable as he is around needles, he gave that shot like a pro. It actually hurt less than when the experienced nurse did it last week (and that shot can apparently really hurt, based on last week's). It seems he must have inherited some fancy skills with a needle from his mom! (You'd be proud of him, Tricia!)

The other exciting news--for us anyway--is that Patrick's Grammy and Great-Grandpa get to come visit for the weekend. They're not here for the best of reasons (a funeral), but at least circumstances brought them our way. At least Patrick hasn't had that charm turned off long enough to lose it. He's going to have a blast showing off for and charming his great-grandparents.

And finally, the other night we had to get a picture of me as a cliche. I was actually barefoot, pregnant, and cooking in the kitchen. Patrick kept wanting to see what was going on, so I picked him up to watch the water not boiling. When Matt and I realized how funny the situation really was, we had to get pictures.

I guess that's all for now. Expect a few cute weekend pictures early next week. I hope I remember to pull our camera out while Grammy and Great-Grandpa are here.

The Nursery

I finally got around to taking pictures of the nursery after stage one of decorating. For the record, though, we'll probably call it the boys' room as often as the nursery. I don't want Patrick to grow up thinking he still sleeps in a nursery like a little baby.
This is Patrick's toddler bed. It will soon have official toddler bedding on it, in two shades of blue, a lighter blue (but not baby blue) and navy. There will also be something on his shelf to the left--if we can ever figure out what we want there.

And this is Nathan's side of the room. You can see the bedding we finally decided on. I totally love it, and I think we can add touches to Patrick's side that aren't too baby-ish. Again, though, we need help with the empty shelf. We have two ideas for the start of decorations on the shelf, but they won't be enough by themselves--either blocks spelling out their names or little hand-carved trains in primary colors that spell out their names. Eventually there will also be a rug in the middle of the carpet, not that you can see where it will go.

So now what ideas do you have to help fill out the room some, decorations-wise anyway?

First Sentence

I don't know. Does this count as a first sentence?

Every night when we put Patrick down for bed (and again at naptime), Matt and I repeat the same few phrases. There's "I love you" (of course) and "See you in the morning" or "See you in a little while." I always use the last one at naptime. Apparently Patrick's picked up on that one and now says it back to me when I put him down for a nap and sometimes instead of "See ya" when Matt leaves to go back to work after lunch. (Remember we've had to banish "bye" from our vocabulary because he associates it with him getting to go somewhere.)

It sounds a little more like "Seeyalilwhy," but I'm positive today that's what he said back to me before his nap. I specifically asked him to say it to me, and he did.

So what does this say about Patrick that he chose this phrase as his first sentence? He obviously knows what it means since he says it to Matt when he leaves to go back to work, and I don't think we've ever said it in that context. I guess he trusts that good-byes aren't permanent and that Mommy and Daddy will come back when we say we will. It can say that he's perfectly content being without us for a short time as well--as long as we're coming back. Can it say that we are raising a trusting and independent toddler? I hope so. I think this sentence puts a checkmark in the right column for our parenting skills. Well, that and the fact that he's never said a curse word in public yet!

What a Weekend!

Patrick's been full of new developments for us this weekend. The biggest milestone was learning how to drink out of a straw. We heard somewhere to try with juice boxes first, and a few weeks ago he successfully drank apple juice from one for the first time. He failed to apply the same idea to a regular straw in a regular drink, though. To Patrick, straws are for playing, not drinking. Then Saturday night we were at the mall getting dinner, and he was almost out of water in his sippy cup. We put a Sprite with a straw--in a normal cup--in front of him, and he knew immediately what to do. He was drinking that drink as though he'd been doing it his whole life. Matt and I were so proud of him, even though this seems like a pretty simple milestone to anyone else. This means he can finally give himself a drink in any form but a normal, open cup. He still seems to want our help, but he no longer needs it. At twenty months, it's about time!

We also saw an even more sensitive side of him on Saturday. Patrick was playing with Daddy's feet while Daddy was lying in his chair and somehow grabbed the toes in a weird way that hurt Matt. Matt immediately scolded Patrick for hurting him, although gently. Patrick looked up at Daddy with those big blue eyes and slowly broke into his pouty face, complete with the quivering bottom lip. I started laughing because I thought he was trying to manipulate Daddy with that face. Then Matt pointed out that Patrick had tears in his eyes. He was debating whether or not to actually start crying. He was so upset, either from having Daddy scold him or thinking he hurt Daddy. At that point, we were both suckered into the face, and Matt reached down and pulled him into his lap. After several minutes of comforting him with his own words ("It's okay, it's okay, Patrick."), Patrick finally leaned into Daddy's chest and snuggled up with him. I watched as his face just as slowly changed back to normal from the pouty face. Finally, when Daddy tried tickling him, he was able to give us a grin again, and then eventually a giggle. It took him that long to recover from hurt feelings. I suspect he's going to be the kid I have to watch everything I say to him for fear of hurting his feelings from one careless word.

On the lighter side of things, he has also found a new fun game, the belly button game. I'll lift my shirt just a little to show some of my huge belly, and Patrick will grin and stick his finger in my belly button (or what's left of it). I'll put my shirt back down, and he'll wait for me to lift the shirt again. If it takes too long, he'll start tugging at my shirt to let me know he's not done playing the game. At some point, I'll eventually reach down to his belly and start tickling him around his belly button, all while squealing, "Belly button!" like I do when he pokes at mine. It's all just another excuse to tickle him, which he obviously loves. I wonder whether the game will be able to continue when the belly button finally disappears altogether, which is definitely in the near future.

Twenty Months

Patrick, Patrick, Patrick...I'm not sure what to say about this twentieth month. It's been an interesting one for sure. As expected, you have finally without a doubt entered the first stages of the terrible twos. You try us and test us at every turn, willfully disobeying just to see how serious we really are about that NO. Then you'll turn around and give us the sweetest hugs. How can I love something so much when it's that insistent upon being disobedient?
I'd say part of it is that smile. You seem to have figured out how contagious that smile is, and you use it at every opportunity to get yourself out of trouble. Sometimes you try turning actions that should receive punishment into games. You pull out a drawer we can't baby-proof, we tell you, "No" sternly, and you giggle as you reach for it again. I laughed and gave in the first few times you tried this manipulation, but I'm on to you now, buddy. I love the laughing, but I'm not giving in to your games. I'd much rather hear your laugh when I tackle you and tickle you until you get the hiccups. We can both appreciate that game.

Something else I know both Daddy and I appreciate at least is the cuddliness. I absolutely treasure our untraditional breakfast routine, where you sit on my lap and watch TV with me while you eat dry cereal out of my hand. Feeling the weight of your head against my chest can relax me the way nothing else can, while at the same time bringing a lump to my throat at times. You don't even seem to mind that my lap is changing shape almost daily. It only makes our cuddle time more special when Nathan decides to butt in and kick at you for taking up his space. I have to laugh that the sibling rivalry has already begun (although I may quit laughing about it in a few months).

Speaking of Nathan, you have started to figure out that something is going on there. You're fascinated by the new crib in your room, although I get the feeling you think of it as a huge toy right now. At the doctor yesterday, you couldn't figure out where that noise was coming from when we were listening to Nathan's heartbeat. That look on your face was classic. I'm starting to wonder if you'll ever associate your little baby brother with Mommy's huge belly. (By the way, I got my first progesterone shot yesterday at the doctor as well. Hopefully this means Nathan won't come early like you did. I don't want any of us to have to go through that stress again. Other than that, the appointment went fairly smoothly, and everything is fine.)

Within the last few days and weeks, we've watched your language development take off. Daddy and I are suspecting some of your gibberish is starting to sound more like real words and phrases we say often. We've identified "Bye" (ba), "See ya," and a few other words of farewell. I also love "Ah-dah," your way of saying "All done!" Unlike many of your other words that are simply fun to hear, this one has been very helpful. I no longer guess you're finished with meals when you drop food over the side of your high chair. I know when you're done eating your snack. You make sure to let me know when the food in the microwave is done. I'm constantly amazed at all the diverse applications of this phrase you've found. You're a smart kid, for sure!

I'm hoping you continue using my favorite phrase when Nathan gets here. "Sokay" must be something you hear often from Daddy and me. You've adopted those words of comfort as your own, and we can hear you muttering "Sokay, sokay" over and over as you read your books or sit in your car seat or do other activities alone. I have to wonder if you're planning to comfort your little brother with those same words when he cries. It gives me good insight into your sensitive side that you picked up the phrase, "It's okay," long before saying the simpler word, "No."

I hope you always stay so sensitive to your own feelings and those of everyone you care about, but I also hope that you don't end up hurt because of your sensitive nature. Most of all, though, I hope this sensitive nature eases the transition into the role of big brother. Now that we have your brother's first baby things, it is becoming real to me, and I worry constantly about how you're going to adapt. I know things will be difficult for Daddy and me as well with the big transition, but I can't help but put your feelings first. You are my precious firstborn, after all, and no number of younger siblings can change your place in my heart.

I love you for always.

Mommy

Update

The silly Patrick woke up this morning, not yesterday's fussy, sick Patrick. In fact, the one dose of allergy medicine was all he needed; by the time I could give him more six hours later, he was back to his normal self. I'm glad it was just a short-lived allergy attack, even though I particularly loved the cuddling.

I also wonder if he just hadn't slept very well the night before. He may have stayed up much later than usual while quietly playing with the new addition to the room. We found someone with a truck who brought Nathan's crib to the house on Sunday, and we put it together and set it up in the boys' room on Sunday evening shortly before Patrick went to sleep. He probably saw it as a huge new toy in his bedroom and spent more time playing with the toy than sleeping. By the way, we're expecting the bedding set and some room decorations to arrive in the mail later this week, so I will post some pictures of the room once all that is put together. Maybe you can all help me decide how to finish decorating the room from there.

Patrick has recently decided that since he's such a pro at walking that he's going to switch things up some to challenge himself. Sometimes he'll walk backwards, one tentative step at a time, until he runs into a toy on the floor or something and ends up on his bottom. Sometimes he'll walk around while looking straight up instead of ahead of him. Or sometimes he'll walk with his eyes closed, but only for a few steps at a time. When he walks fairly normally, he works on setting a new speed record, even though he isn't quite up to the point of running yet. But my favorite is when he just walks in circles--not the circles he makes around the coffee table, kitchen island, or halls in the house. Instead he will spin himself in circles, like he's trying to make himself dizzy. Then he walks, or maybe the better word here is stumbles, like a drunk while he tries to overcome the dizziness. Usually he ends up on his bottom again until the dizziness passes. It's all a fun game to him. Whatever keeps him occupied, right? Besides, watching him walk around has started to make Matt and me giggle. It's really quite entertaining.

My Poor Baby

Sorry, no new pictures today. Keep reading, and you'll figure out why pretty quickly.

If you know Patrick's story (as most of you should, since you're related to him), you know that despite a lot of things working against him, the kid has never been sick. Okay, he had a runny nose one day when he was really little. He had a cough that lasted into a second day last summer, and I called the doctor to make sure I shouldn't worry. Other than typical preemie stuff, that's it.

So when he woke me up this morning sounding like he was choking, I panicked. I was somewhat relieved to find out he was fine and that the choking was a result of allergies, as the runny nose indicated. It appears as though our baby has his first big allergy attack. It makes sense since I'm sneezier than usual (no jokes Mom and Dad!) also. Maybe it's the weather; maybe it's the dog hair Patrick and I spent a few hours around yesterday (a long story for another day). Whatever it is, it's wreaking havoc on our household today.

Patrick is acting puny and fussy. He's obviously exhausted, a combination of not sleeping well from the congestion and the drowsy medicine he got this morning. But he doesn't want to sleep. He can't decide if he's hungry or thirsty, if he wants Mommy or wants to be alone. He can't settle and get comfortable enough to doze off. Poor kid. All I want to do is pick him up and hold him close until the tears stop.

On the bright side, I feel like a good mommy more than usual today. He has obvious needs, and I can meet them. He wants his mommy, and I can be there for him. I can hold him all day long if that's what he wants (because I'd hate that, you know). He actually fell asleep next to me on the couch earlier, with his head on the same pillow as mine and in my arms. I think that wins the prize as my favorite mommy moment of the last twenty-ish months. Although I wish more than anything that I could just take away all his discomfort and make him feel normal again, I am going to revel in his clinginess while I can and take advantage of my mommy ability to comfort him.

Posing for Pictures

Remember when I used to be able to put Patrick in a cute little outfit, lean him up against the side of that orange chair, and snap picture after picture after picture of my little cutie-pie? Um, not so much anymore. It's much harder to snap a good picture of a constantly moving target. Especially when that target is much more interested in the camera and how it works (can you say Daddy's boy?) than sitting still for the camera. When I get "good" pictures--meaning he is both in the frame and not blurry--they often turn out kind of interesting. I have no idea if he makes these faces on purpose for me or if I just have a lucky trigger finger.
Yup, Mom, he definitely has some genetics from your family in him. I'd say this is a classic Aunt Judy shot if I've ever seeen one. For the record, I don't think he dug anything out that time.

I'm hoping this was a reaction to the flash, but he makes a similar crinkle-nose face often, as a reaction to the bright sun or just to be silly.

Look! His eyes are open, he's smiling, and he doesn't have any fingers up his nose! Success! Never mind that he's lying on the floor trying to get me to tickle him.

He's playing Door, that ever-thrilling game where he opens the door, then closes it, then opens it again, expecting me to act surprised every time he opens the door again. He laughs so much each and every time that I give in and play the game with him for what feels like hours at a time. It may be boring from my end, but if it keeps him that happy, I'm happy to humor him.

Okay, we'll keep the sashaying comments to a minimum on this one. He just moves those arms a lot as he walks, almost like he's trying to wave them hard enough to get off the ground. No air time yet, though. My lucky trigger finger just happened to catch him in this crazy pose.

By the way, don't you love the new outfit? It's a little big on him still, but that just means he'll get to wear it all summer long.

Now a few pictures I posed for. This is me and my massive belly at 24-ish weeks. Looks like Nathan's growing like a weed, doesn't it?

Memorial Day Weekend

I apologize for taking my time blogging about the weekend. I didn't want to blog without pictures, and I haven't had the time and motivation to take care of them both at the same time...until now.

As you may have already gathered if you read that last short post, we did get definitive results at the ultrasound on Saturday. Nathan was being quite cooperative this time--at least in showing off his manliness (he was a bit more shy about letting us see his face). There was no doubt in anyone's mind this time about what exactly we were looking at. See for yourself.

Look where the arrow is pointing if you're having trouble figuring out exactly what is in this picture.

Even though it was a bit early to get great 3D shots of his face, I wasn't disappointed with what we saw. The people at the u/s place were, though, so they offered to let us come back next month to try again. If there's any way we can make it on the weekend of June 23, you'd better believe we'll be back in Dallas to see our baby again--this time for free! Until then, here's a pretty good idea of what Nathan's face looks like. It's a little E.T.-like right now, but more because of his age than anything else. I added some labels for those of you who have a tough time "reading" a sonogram picture.

I actually have a lot more pictures of the face than this, but I think this one turned out the best, so I'll spare you the rest (and myself the time to upload them all).

In the next post (look right under this one), all the good Patrick pics from the weekend.

Memorial Day, cont.

Warning: picture overload ahead...

Patrick grew up this weekend. I had no idea what a profound effect his relatives would have on him. Okay, I kind of suspected they would end up affecting him, but I figured it would be more on the crazy end of things. Instead, he matured to attempt to meet the level of the adults around him. It's a good thing he's going to have a younger brother and cousins to help him stay a kid around all the adults at family events soon.

He even looks more grown up, thanks to his first salon haircut. I won't go into the torture that is cutting a toddler's hair (thanks Mom for playing bad guy during that), but once he left the salon, he seemed to really love his new haircut. I have to agree. He grew from a young toddler to a miniature pre-schooler with just a few snips of the scissors.
His vocabulary grew immensely over the weekend, too. I can think of two new words he says now off the top of my head and one he learned to associate with much more.

Yesterday when we called Nana, Patrick started waving at the phone and saying, "Bye!" He hadn't gotten the two--waving and "bye"--in sync until this weekend when he went bye-bye several times every day. Now when he thinks of bye-bye, he thinks of going to Nana and Ba-pa's house. Speaking of that, he figured out what to call my dad (Grandpa). He calls him Ba-pa, because that's what he can pronounce that's close. How adorable is that? We're still working on the other grandparent names; even though he has proven to us that he can say Nana, Gigi, and Papa, he won't use them to identify his grandparents yet.

Sorry for all the Nana pictures this time around. He was acting really cute with her--while standing in one place! I took the opportunity to take lots of pictures, which turned out really well.

We got to see that goofy grin on his face nearly the whole weekend. Patrick loved having the task of entertaining the family with his antics and equally loved having each of them play with him as well. That squealy laugh rang through the house regularly any time he was awake. How come you guys can't hang out with him all day every day?

Uncle Nick is quite the accomplished pianist, and he was attempting to teach Patrick the trade. As much as Patrick loves music--and his Uncle Nick--he had fun "learning." Of course, moments before this picture, he displayed his comfort with his uncle by leaving him a smelly present in his diaper--hence the expression on Nick's face.

Patrick also had a lot of fun with his Aunt Jennifer (or Aunt Jill, or whatever nickname sticks for this aunt Jennifer). He wouldn't pose for the camera with her, though. Despite what it looks like here, he smiled a lot when Aunt Jennifer was playing with him.

Of course, his favorite part of the weekend had nothing to do with people. He remembered the cat immediately (kit-ty!), in the short time he saw her before she hid in "her" room from the mean old dog who showed up with Uncle Nick and Aunt Jennifer. That didn't bother Patrick any; the dog was just as amusing. He laughed at every doggy thing she did, like bark or scratch herself or run around the room. He also learned her name almost immediately. It doesn't hurt that it closely resembles "kitty"--Katie. He pronounced it very carefully: Kay-tee, emphasizing each syllable and that t. He has even asked for her since we got home. We may just have to try the dog thing again sometime after Nathan gets here.

We also went shopping over the weekend--naturally--and picked up a few new outfits for Patrick. I think this one wins as my favorite so far. It's a pair of mechanic's overalls (hard to see on the pocket, but that's what it says). They fit perfectly and look so cute on Patrick.

Not that it hurts that the first thing he did after getting them on was lean down next to his car like he's going to fix it. That's my boy!