6 Weeks and Counting

I have to admit that I haven't really wrapped my mind around going from having one child to two children, but I am ready to be done being pregnant! Done I tell you! I am so grateful that this pregnancy has been easier physically than my first, with less nausea after the first trimester, and a little more energy. Also, I haven't had to deal with so much swelling, high blood pressure, and some of the other complications I had last time. A huge blessing since Gabe likes to keep me running. I was worried that I would have to be on bedrest or just feel sick all the time and not be able to give Gabe the attention he needs- but things have been good that way. Not so great have been the emotional ups and downs I've had with this pregnancy. I wasn't expecting that. Fortunately, I have an understanding husband and a sweet son, and that keeps me plodding along. But did I mention that I would like to be un-pregnant sometime soon (as is safely possible for the baby, of course)?

We have been sick (again) with the whole cold/ cough/ ear infection thing. BJ hasn't gotten it so far, and I'm hoping that he continues to be able to fight it off, because Gabe and I have sure been miserable with it. Gabe is a lot better today than he was, but today is probably my worst day yet. So it can only go up from here, I hope. Blech.

As I mentioned, Gabe has been very sweet- tempered (for the most part) lately, even while being sick. It warms my heart that he is so affectionate- giving and wanting in return kisses if he gets an "owie", or if he gets in trouble- he knows how to work the system, because it melts our hearts, and it is hard to be upset at something naughty (how naughty can a 1 1/2 year old be, anyway?) when you are getting baby kisses. Gabe frequently grabs our hands, just to hold, or he puts them on his back or his head for a little back scratch or head rub. Also, when I ask him where the baby is, he signs "baby" and pats or points to my belly. When I say "That's right, we love the baby, don't we?" He kisses my belly. Cute. He has recently learned how to blow kisses too, which I think is adorable.

I think Gabe is a pretty typical 20- month old boy; his favorite things are cars and trains (both real and toys), balls, dogs, and other animals. He likes to make the sounds for each thing. We have been trying to teach him to say please when he wants something, and sometimes I will ask him "What do you say?" and he will usually sign "please". Earlier this week though, he wanted a cracker, and I said "What do you say?" and he said "Mooooooo!" Lots of laughing. He has become a lot more communicative, responding yes or no to our questions, signing the things he wants, and sometimes saying the word, or a combination of those. For example, yesterday he wanted me to reach a toy that was too high, so he said "mom-my!", signed "help", and guided my hand to where the toy was that he wanted.

 We love Gabe so much, and although it is hard to imagine loving another child as much as we love Gabe, I believe we will find that our hearts will expand to contain all the love we have for both our sons.  It should be an interesting and fun adventure!  I'm ready to hurry up and get on with it!

Every day Gabriel

Gabe is developing quite a personality. He does things and says things that surprise us almost on a daily bases. For a brief example of this, I'll relate a couple of stories that had Rochelle and I laughing.

In the morning, as I get ready, Gabe often takes interest in what I'm doing. As I get dressed, he's usually watching, as I brush my teeth, if he has anything in his hands he often puts it in his mouth and mimics my actions, but the thing that really got us was how interested doing hair he was. I use pomade for my hair, it comes in a little round container with a screw-off lid, and the substance is kind of a oily waxy substance that you need very little of. So in the morning as I do my hair, Gabe often stands about a foot or two away from me and just stares at what I'm doing. So occasionally, I'll take a tiny dab of it and spruce his hair up too. Usually after doing this, he gets a big smile and he walks as tall as he can to go show mom his hair as he runs his fingers through it repetitively. One day, Gabe had a cold, and Rochelle and I had been using vicks to help him breath a little better, but we had accidentally left the jar open and in his reach. Rochelle was in the office, and suddenly Gabe comes in with a huge smile, and smelling very strongly of vicks. Evidently, he saw the jar, and took a not so little dab out of the middle of it, and rubbed it into his own hair. He didn't mind one bit the smell, but oh it was hard for Rochelle to hold Gabe at all until he got a bath.

Aside from learning to imitate us, Gabe has also learned to love animals, especially dogs. He has a stuffed dog that he just loves. It's currently one of several animals that he can make the sounds for and one of the only ones that he says the actual word for (although the word sounds so much like many other words he says, it can be hard to distinguish). One night, Gabe wasn't particularly excited to go to bed. He was whining and crying a little as I put him in his crib. He didn't go down with any difficulty, but he was letting me know he wasn't happy about it. But to try to console him, I decided to leave him his stuffed dog in his crib, and so I grabbed it and put it down in front of him. As I put it in the crib, as soon as he saw it, he said "wuff", and was silent from that moment on as I left and closed the door behind me. I guess sometimes all he needs is a little puppy love. ;-)

Progress and mama!

We have been busy almost every night working on our lists of things to do and other various projects, and we have made some good progress!  We have de-junked a bunch of clothes, random craft supplies, and too- old- to- use electronics equipment, given furniture away, gone through every bedroom and closet in the house and organized/ repacked everything, redecorated our master bedroom, and BJ and Charles built shelves for our storage unit.  Whew! It has been exhausting but it feels great to have more room and to know where everything is. 

While the menfolk worked on the shelf, I made some wall hangings for our bedroom, out of styrofoam and fabric.  I think they turned out pretty well for making it up as I went!  And all I did was use hot glue, styrofoam, and cardboard- no sewing.  I blogged about how I did it here.

 
Gabe has been growing and changing quickly.  He still uses signs, but he babbles a lot and many of his words are becoming more recognizable.  He still loves to make animal and car sounds.  Most exciting of all, in my opinion, is that he has started saying "mama"! It sounds more like "muhmuh", and he still calls me "baba" sometimes, (he actually called me "dadda" when I picked him up after work yesterday), but he will repeat "mama" if I ask him to!  That makes me happy.  We have enjoyed being outside for the few days it has been warm enough to spend time out there, and we are looking forward to the weather warming up so we don't get too stir crazy!  Also we are looking forward to warmer weather and the end of flu season and cold season.  Gabe seems to catch everything, and if he does, it inevitably turns into an ear infection.  So Gabe is on antibiotics again for the 3rd ruptured eardrum in just a few months.  Boo.  Gabe's pediatrician says there is nothing we can really do to prevent him from getting them.  I have heard some good things about chiropractors helping babies and children who are prone to ear infections.  Anybody heard anything about this?  Anyway, here are some pictures from the past few weeks or so.

Plans!

We are all feeling much better this week, thanks for all the concern expressed.  Today is the first day I really feel like my sinus infection is gone, and it is great!  BJ and Gabe are healthy now as well. 
We have been working a bunch on decluttering and getting organized around here.  We I have a 3-month plan (I just love lists, what can I say?) of the things we are trying to get done before the baby is born. 
Done so far:
I have a large, ever- growing bag of things to go to DI.
We have gone through our books, including old textbooks, to determine which ones will be given away, which ones we are using right now, and which ones can go in storage for a while.  We consolidated the "keepers" onto one bookshelf, then we boxed up four 18- gallon sized Rubbermaid containers full of books.  We are getting rid of the large bookcase that all the other books were on.
I repacked some things in storage including our Christmas decorations to make more space.
We downsized to a smaller, and more child- friendly proof television and entertainment center.
We have installed dimmer switches for our lights in all the bedrooms to conserve electricity.  We'll be doing that in the rest of the house soon.  

A few things we are working on now or will be soon:
Clearing every non- essential gadget or appliance off the kitchen counter and coming up with an organizational system to prevent junk build-up.
Going through all our closets and cupboards, giving stuff to DI, or boxing it up for storage. 
BJ will install a ceiling fan in our room, but probably not until this summer.
BJ is also planning on building shelves in our tiny storage unit outside so that we can better utilize the space.
I am working on meal planning ideas and revamping my recipe binder to be more helpful.  We recently came up with a grocery shopping list system that has helped somewhat in meal planning and preparation.  It is an itemized list of our most commonly purchased items, that we circle as we run out of.  I posted about it (and included the list for people to download) on my other blog here.

Gabe toddles around, "helping" as much as he can.  He has become very interested in helping put things away in buckets and containers, and pushing laundry baskets up and down the hall.  He pats his chest proudly when we say that he is a "big boy helper".  He has been very interested in little babies, although he still points to himself and signs "baby" sometimes.  He is finally starting to sign "mommy" when he sees me, and today he started saying "nananana" which is the closest thing I have heard to "mama".  I know it isn't banana because he calls bananas "lala"s.

Anyway, that's what we have been up to and will probably be working on for some time.  I am trying not to be overwhelmed by it all, but rather to enjoy the progress we are making. 

Sickies

This has been somewhat of a difficult week since one by one we have each gotten sick with a bad, mean cold complete with fever, aches, chills, headaches, sinus pressure, and a perforated eardrum for Gabriel (again).  So, for what must be the 12th time, Gabe is on antibiotics (he's not a huge fan, just picture bright pink amoxicillin stains on shirts, pajamas, carpet, etc.) and we are all drinking tons of fluids, taking naps and continuing to take our vitamins as usual.  It has been hardest on Gabe although he has improved tons; BJ was sick for several days but is now starting to feel much better too; I am a few days behind and since I can't really take much medicine am just waiting to be able to breathe again.  It's hard for me to think of sickness as just part of life.  It seems like we are always fighting something, and it kind of gets me feeling frustrated and wondering what more we can do.  We try to wash hands, use sanitizer, keep things clean, get all our vaccines and stay away from people we know are sick, but with regular flu season just barely starting (yes, it's late I know, we just got out of H1N1 season and RSV season) it seems inevitable that we are exposed to something.  I don't mean to complain so much, but surely other parents out there have felt similarly at times?  What do you do to either stay healthy, or to deal with all the sickness with a more cheerful attitude? 

A normal week

This week has been a pretty normal week.  I had my 25 week prenatal appointment, and everything is going smoothly.  The baby is measuring right on 25 weeks, with a normal heart rate of 154 bpm, and I am not experiencing any swelling or high blood pressure like my last pregnancy.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that continues to be the case. 
BJ continues to be busy with work, occasionally working nights and other random times since he is on call to keep web servers running for his company. 
Gabriel has been his normal cute self, getting in to everything and making us smile.  We have been working with him on identifying people he knows, and he seems to have regressed somewhat in that he will NOT say or sign "mama" and rarely points to me when asked where I am.  He knows how to make the sign, and he has pointed to me plenty of times before, although he has yet to even make an "m" sound.  Lately, though, when asked where his mommy is, he just stares blankly, or turns around to play with his toys.  What am I, chopped liver?  Seriously, I feel like I deserve to at least be properly identified!  I keep telling myself that he will learn it soon enough.  Right?
We are enjoying our day off work today by doing... errands!  Wahoo!  I think it is great that BJ and I have the same day off (not always the case).  By the way, for those who are interested, I have posted tutorials on my craft blog for a shirt to maternity shirt refashion, and a highchair re-cover.  Check it out if you are interested.

18 months old

Our family has been pretty busy this last week, but I didn't want to wait to long before writing about some of the things Gabriel is doing.
Gabe loves to "talk"!  He jabbers all day, with all sorts of gesturing and expression.  He says a few words we can recognize, such as "dada", "aaath" (bath), "dud" (good), "ahhhhffff" (soft), "ki- ka" (kitty cat), "fff-fff" (could be hot, fire, or woof), and a lot of other things that sound suspiciously like real expressions (i.e. he will pat himself on the chest while saying "ahdidi"- I did it?!).  He doesn't verbalize a lot other than that, but he sure does understand things.  He can pick the animal that makes the sound- moo, quack, meow, neigh, woof, and sometimes he will imitate the sound.  He waves "bye-bye" and will run for his shoes and coat if I tell him we are going bye bye or in the car.  He will come hold my hand and pull me to his room if he has a messy diaper and I ask him if he wants a diaper change.  He has also been going to sit on his potty chair (although he doesn't know what to do there yet).  He mimes brushing his teeth when you ask him if it's time to brush teeth. He will run to give hugs and kisses when asked (and sometimes without being asked).  He can point to his head, hair, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, cheeks, chin, shoulders, belly button, elbow, knees, legs, feet, toes, hands, fingers, arms, socks, and shoes.  He will also identify people in pictures, including Jesus, Daddy, Mommy, Gabriel, and occasionally others.
We have been working on better communication when Gabe wants something, and he does the signs for eat, drink, more, please, thank you, bath, mommy, daddy, ball, help, cereal, and baby.
Music and dancing are some of Gabe's favorite past times right now.  He also loves to see himself in the mirror,  "read" books and be read to, shut open doors and drawers, explore any area that is off- limits, help turn off lights, and push laundry hampers and baskets up and down the hall when I am doing laundry.
We are working with Gabe on being gentle and soft when he touches people and delicate things.  He is usually pretty good, but he likes to grab your arm to get your attention, and he sure sinks those fingernails in- ouch!
Gabe is a pretty happy boy, especially when his tummy is full, and he is well rested. We love having him in our family- he adds such fun and joy to our lives. 
Here are some recent photos.  The ones of our family, where we are dressed in red and green were taken before Christmas by BJ's dad Ron, and the ones of Gabe in his Sunday clothes were taken a couple of days ago by BJ.

Craft Blog

I just thought I would let you know that I have been and will be posting most of my crafty stuff on my craft blog that I am doing with my sister Marissa. The first half of the posts are actually crafty posts from the last year or so that I imported from this blog, so it won't be anything new, but there are several more recent posts. I will probably still occasionally post some of the things here for those who are interested, or post a link to a certain post on the other blog, in case you're like me and already have a bazillion blogs you check and don't have time/ don't remember to check one more.
Anyway, here is the link: Home Sweet Homebodies

Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve with my family in Oregon, and now we are back home, in the swing of things. We go back to work tomorrow and life goes on. This year will bring a few changes for our family, most of which revolve around the baby boy coming to our family around the end of April.
With each new year comes the potential of a new start, which is so... refreshing. There are so many possibilities. Which is probably why many people make new year's resolutions. Sometimes I let the time slip by, not wanting to set lofty, unreachable goals that will cause great disappointment after going unmet. Other times I feel like I could do anything I wanted to do, and I start the year with the best of intentions, some of which will be fruitful.
This year I do have some resolutions, and some are even specific, though I don't know if they could all be considered "measurable". I won't write all my goals here, but I will share a few:
-Work on eating more vegetables. The recommended number of servings of vegetables per day is 5. That seems like a lot, but if you consider that 1/2 cup of raw or cooked veggies is a full serving, it seems a little more attainable.
-Learn some new recipes. Cooking and baking have never been strengths of mine, and so I have never done a great job of having "real" dinners consistently ready for my family. I would like to feel more comfortable cooking (and therefore cook at least, oh, three times a week- haha!), instead of completely overwhelmed at the prospect of fixing anything more complex than scrambled eggs and toast. That last part was a joke. Kind of.
-Be more organized. I have been working on this one for a while. I think I would specifically like to find a way to keep the office and master bedroom looking neat. I guess that means I will need to do some decluttering and maybe look into some organizational/ storage solutions. We have a lot of stuff, and not a lot of room. I expect that will become more pronounced with our family's upcoming addition. Any suggestions out there on how to save space and be organized when you have 2 under 2 (or 3) years or age?
-Live gracefully. And by that I mean take a chill pill. I tend to want to have every little detail planned out and to know exactly what is going to happen and when. I have started to learn that that kind of attitude is not very healthy for a single person to have, much less a married person, much less with a baby, and, I'm guessing, much less with 2+ children. I want to be able to roll with the punches (pardon my use of cliches, they just work so nicely!) and not be flustered by every little change in plans. My hope is that by just taking a deep breath and accepting whatever comes with the best attitude I can muster, I will be happier, my husband will be happier, and my children will be happier.
I suppose those are plenty of goals to post. I do have a few other goals that are more personal, ongoing goals, but these are the goals I want to add to the mix this year. I do hope that they will bring satisfaction and not disappointment. I plan to print them out to have them accessible to me to read often, and think about my progress.

Christmas

Here are some pictures from Christmas in Oregon, courtesy of my dad. I was bad an took hardly any pictures the whole time we were there. We had a great time with everyone there (with the exception of Tayler who is serving a mission in Australia, but we got to talk to him on the phone for an hour) including Marissa and Richard, due to a weather-induced change of plans.
One of my favorite new traditions for Christmas time is the "gifts of the heart" gift exchange. We do this Christmas night, after all the other festivities of the day. All of the siblings draw names and focus on creating a special gift for the person they chose. There aren't any set rules but the idea is that it is something that you spend time and effort on, rather than money. It is very fun to see what everyone does for each other, and this year was no exception. I know I had tons of fun putting a gift together for Marissa, and I think everyone else had a good time preparing and watching each other open these gifts as well. Incidentally, some of the gifts were hilariously funny while still thoughtful. Please indulge me as I share:
Anna gave BJ a fleece "babysitting vest" complete with extra pockets sewed on and stuffed with matchbox cars, board books, snack containers, toys, and even a pacifier on a velcro-removable ribbon.
Collin gave Tayler a recording of some of his songs on the piano (I'm not completely sure about this, because we were not privileged enough to hear it- it was in the mail I think) and a magic tricks kit that he could carry around with him to do for kids he meets as a sort of ice breaker.
Cara gave Anna a beauty advice book, with tips about fashion and beauty tailored for Anna's age and some of the things she already has. She wrote about matching, accessorizing, and face/hair care to look really put together. We all wanted to read what was in that book!
Tayler sent a package home that we got on Christmas Eve, and we opened while we were on the phone with him. He sent an assortment of gifts to everyone. He also included a beautiful pair of hand carved wooden earrings that were representative of the local style for me as a special gift.
Marissa created a custom scent for Collin, called "Eau de Man" (pronounced You Da Man) and it truly was the epitome of manliness. It was made of sweat, pine needles, gasoline, dirt, etc. It pretty much smelled the way Collin smells after working outside for several hours. Too funny.
Richard made some cool earrings for Cara out of buttons that he found at the store. Some of them he even painted, and of course they were safe for sensitive ears. They were definitely a chic addition to Cara's accessories.
I put together a pamper basket for Marissa full of things I made, including scented rice therapy packs for the neck and eyes, a shower cap, a bath mitt, and a manicure kit cover.
BJ made a calendar for Richard, with each month featuring an edited celebrity or superhero picture of Richard. Click here to see what I mean! It was a hoot.
I don't know if we will always be able to continue this tradition the way we are doing it now as our family grows in number, but it has sure been a fun part of Christmas the past few years that we have done it. I think it definitely fosters the true spirit of Christmas.

Ruffles, bows, lace, pink, frills....

...We won't be using them. Haha. We are having another boy. My guess was that it would be a boy, so I wasn't surprised. The baby looks good, and is measuring only 4 days larger than expected, so we will be keeping our due date of April 28, 2010. I think BJ will figure out how to post our ultrasound pictures tonight. We haven't picked a name yet. We have a few that we both like, but haven't decided on one yet. We are excited that Gabe will have a little brother, and it will fun to watch them play together.

Is it a boy, or is it a girl?

We invite one and all to make their guesses in our poll on the right. We find out the gender of the baby on Thursday morning. Is it a boy? Or is it a girl? We're excited to find out what you all think (and feel free to make comments too on this post if you like). Have fun!

Gift ideas that won't strain your budget

I LOVE these sites- what cool ideas! I think some of these projects would make good stocking stuffers for kids. Many of them look really easy and fast to make. You just need paper, perhaps a few other supplies you probably have lying around the house, and a printer for some of the projects.
Fantastic Toys- freebies
Feed Your Soul- free printable art
Free animal sewing cards
The Toymaker- folding paper toys you can make yourself
Gift bags made from envelopes
Make your own gift bows
Let me know if you try any, and how it goes!

My take on the envelope gift bags:

 

 

 

Regular jeans to maternity jeans

http://www.instructables.com/id/How_to_Make_Maternity_Jeans_Using_Regular_Jeans_an/

On second thought, I won't post pictures of my jeans now. It's just one of those awkward, I look really chubby- not quite pregnant pictures. Maybe later...

Anyway, thanks Alise for sending me the link to this project!

Gift Tags

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week and I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on many things I am grateful for. This week I have continued working on different Christmas projects and looking for more gift ideas, and have come across many great resources on some really cool blogs. I thought I would share some of them in a post or two.
Check out these cute gift tags that you can print:


http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com (Top right of the page)
http://nobitingwolfie.blogspot.com/2009/11/tag-youre-it.html
http://www.lollychops.com/ (A favorite of mine)
http://littlepaperdog.blogspot.com/2008/07/big-four-zero.html
http://limegardenias.blogspot.com/2009/11/peppermint-tags-for-you.html
http://aprintaday.blogspot.com/2009/05/downloads-tags-stickers-and-notepad.html
http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/3125/list_45_1.html
http://thepaperseed.com/?p=213
http://tipnut.com/wrap-up/

I have printed several of these with great results! I especially like how some of them look printed on brown craft paper, or various colors of cardstock.