Sleeping & Molars

So, he's sleeping in his crib, for the moment anyway. We'll see how long it will last! Dan noticed this morning that one of his two-year molars has popped through, and I assume the others are probably not far behind. This might be part of he reason he's not been sleeping great and waking up whining at night. There's always some sort of solace in being able to blame sleep problems on teething. :-)

(P.S. This pic is of him finishing of a McDonald's shake we shared. Got milkshake?)

Flutters

Yesterday I feel like I was definitely feeling some kick and flutters from the baby. For the last week and a half or so, I sometimes think I feel something, but it's always hard to know. Yesterday I definitely felt some movement, which is exciting. It's one of my very most favorite things about being pregnant. I looked back to my journal from the first time, and at 18 weeks I wrote, "definitely feeling movement," so I'm not too far off from that, just a little earlier. I go Friday, February 9 for the big ultrasound, so stay tuned!

Playmates

We had another play date with my college friends. There's quite a group of little ones when we get together now! Pics below are Kaitlyn, Gabe and Samuel and the bottom pic is Kaitlyn holding her sister Michaela, Gabe, Samuel and Christine. It was a bit of a challenge to get them all on the couch at once! We had a good time playing and look forward to our next get together!

Hibachi

This weekend we went to Rockford to celebrate Joyce's 50th birthday. We thought it would be fun to go for dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Shogun. Below are a few pics from our adventure. As you can see, the boys were a little nervous around the fire, but I think they still had a good time. Henry was really laughing when our cook was tossing the egg around (even after breaking one)! And Patrick did a great job catching the flying shrimp!

Sleep Time Trials

The catching up continues. So, ever since Gabe was sick at Christmas, he really won't sleep in his crib at night anymore. This means he's sleeping with us, or one of us is sleeping with him in the extra bedroom. He's also been a little bit sick the past week, nothing major, just really runny nose and cough, but no fever. None of us are sleeping really well, and he's actually at a point where he really needs to be cuddled also. It's actually very sweet, because he'll put one of our arms underneath him and say "hand" and pull the other hand over the top of him so we're basically hugging him and that's how he falls asleep. However, it's not always comfortable for us and he's getting to a point where he really needs that to sleep, which isn't a good situation.

So, I think we might start transitioning him to a big boy bed or just convert his crib into the "day bed" version where we could kindof sit by his bed and at least get him to fall asleep in there. I just really want him to get back on track before baby #2 comes, otherwise NONE of us will be getting any sleep. :-)

Happy Feet

So, I'm catching up on some posts while I watch the season premier of American Idol. :-) I can't believe I forgot to post that we took Gave to see his first movie at the theater. We took him to see Happy Feet the Saturday before New Year's. He actually was really into it...there's lots of singing and dancing which held his attention. But, he was still on the mend from the virus he had all week and about half way through the movie he turned over on me and fell asleep! He slept through most of the second half and woke up about 10 minutes from the end. It worked out OK, though, because we didn't know if we'd be able to stay for the whole thing and we were able to watch the entire movie. It was cute, a little political in some ways with the underlying messages, but in general pretty cute. Maybe we'll try another one sometime.

One more thing...now everytime Gabe sees a penguin in a book or on TV he calls it "happy feet."

16-Week Check-Up

I had my sixteen week check-up at the doctor this morning. Everything checked out fine and we got to listen to the heartbeat which is always fun. They haven't told me what the heart rate is yet (I also haven't asked), so I can't speculate whether it's boy or girl, but I don't really remember how that wive's tale goes anyway (I think faster is girl and slower is boy?). My blood pressure, etc. are good and I've gained 5 pounds so far. Hopefully I can keep the weight in check! I also got the order for the ultrasound, which they told me not to do until a couple of days before my 20-week appointment. :-( I was hoping I might be able to jump the gun a little bit if they gave me the order today, but no such luck. :-) I'm definitely anxious to find out what the baby is, which, as my doctor said today, is probably going to jinx me when it comes time to find out. We'll see.

Hammer Time

As you know, Gabe got the Elmo tool bench for Christmas and has really been loving it. Yesterday he was standing at the living room window looking outside for "birdies," and he noticed a couple nails in the trim. After asking "what's that?" and my responding "nails," he ran and got his Elmo hammer and started pounding away at the nails in the trim! I just thought it was cute that he made the connection. He's surpurising us more and more lately with things that he says and does. He's also starting to be a little more opinionated about things, and I'm sure it's just a taste of the "twos" coming up! Still nothing major, though...no tantrums or all out screaming or anything like that. Just more demands and protests when he doesn't get his way. :-)

Surprise!

At least that's what it was for us! Most of you know this already, but Dan and I found out a couple months ago that we are expecting another baby, due July 3. Although we weren't planning it just yet, the timing is good and we're very excited. As with my pregnancy with Gabe, I have been pretty sick this time around again. I'm currently about 14 1/2 weeks, so I think the sickness is tapering off a bit, but it's still been a little rough. A friend shared with me a remedy she heard about taking Unisom (the sleeping pill) with B6 (vitamin). I tried it and it does actually work, so I'd recommend it to anyone else struggling with nausea. My doctors readily approved it, which made we wonder, why didn't they tell me the first time? They were like, "oh yeah, that's an old midwive's remedy...it's perfectly safe!" Anyway, we'll keep you posted as things progress. We're planning to find out the sex at the ultrasound, so just five and a half more weeks until then! Appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and kind words that have already been sent our way.

Christmas Pics

Here are some pics of our Christmas. The first is Gabe in his Christmas jammies we got him. The top button was missing, which is why they look the way they do. I get him jammies every year and give them to him the night before, which is something my mom always used to do that for us. The second pic is him opening his giant Curious George from us, only to be disappointed that he didn't do anything when he pushed on his belly. The third is him with his new Sesame Street Sing and Giggle Tool Bench (that was the big gift we got him). The last two are from my parents' and Tim and Sandi's. We had a great Christmas, and Gabe is back to normal, thankfully, after a very long week of being sick. Hope you all had nice Christmases, too!