Updates

I could think of something to write about every day this week...I was just too tired to do it:)
Jay has been blossoming like crazy. He learns new things every day and we are constantly amazed. So far this week he has:
-really enjoyed dipping pancakes in syrup

-learned to say his first 3- syllable word: App- le- sauce

-has been singing the first line of the ABC's pretty well (although when I try to record it he doesn't do as well.

-has been wanting to "hep" (help) with everything including supper every night. Last night he helped by taking a small bite out of each one of the ham and cheese buns I was putting together before I put them in the oven. The night before he poured the ingredients in the bowl and put blueberries in the pancake mix for me. He even enjoys pointing to his favorite foods in the grocery ads.

-he gets pretty upset when he can't "hep" with the "wah-hee" (laundry).

-his favorite thing is still going outside to play. Most of the time he wonders like a lost puppy dog, but our street isn't too busy, so I try to keep him on the sidewalk headed to the park.

-his favorite snacks are mini teddy grahams, anything with chocolate (which he doesn't get very often), and fruit: grapes, blueberries, strawberries, bananas.

-He is definitely getting an attitude (the babysitters notice it too). I think he is going to be a temper tantrum kid (oh yippee!) Yesterday when I wouldn't let him take a box of cereal upstairs he screamed. I put it up on a higher shelf, turned the lights off and walked upstairs assuming he would follow me. He did...with a different box of cereal in his hands the whole way!

-he loves to sing and dance. His car seat be-bop is pretty hilarious.

-he THRIVES when he is with other kids. He learned how to say "abi" (the babysitters daughter) and says it over and over. Even when he was sick this week he sadly begged "bye-bye?" as his eyes were watering through the sickness.

-We got out the Wii for a bit to play, and Jay loved holding the remote (and occasionally swinging it).  I was impressed when he actually returned one of the balls in tennis.

-Monkey is still his favoritest pal:) He takes him anywhere he will be napping and it seems to work pretty well.

ME
-I on the other hand have been feeling a little bit better. Still feel sick in the morning (I wake up between 1-3am to take my pill), but overall a little better.
-I have been getting heartburn more and more. This week it kept me up for a few hours in the middle of the night :(
-I am keeping busy finding ideas for Jay's new sports (with the colors of Orange and Navy) room, and trying to decided what kind of a theme to use for the baby/office room.  I really liked an argyle theme, but when we struck out finding material that I liked for curtains, and the painting of the wall looked very time consuming, I'm not sure if it will work or not. I am kind of proud of the crazy find we got at Hobby Lobby for 90% off last week.  An orange helmet/christmas tree. Before:

After:

-I am also on the lookout for a swing that goes front to back or side to side, with a wall plug-in, that does NOT have a tray that comes down between the legs. That will be my main splurge for this baby (unless I can find a good one on Craig's list)
-I have a new diaper bag picked out, but I am waiting to buy it for a little longer. I know I can justify spending tax return money on it, so it is incentive to get my taxes prepared and done:) Of the 4 that I picked out, this is the one that John and I agree on: JJ Cole Mode Bag
- 24 weeks! I am getting more and more excited for baby, but I am trying to focus on enjoying Jay right now:)

Jay Translations

Jay translations:
Da-dah or dah-dur- Cracker
Neee- cheese
Wah-he- Laundry
Mie- mine
Huh hiii- Hut hut hike (when he is holding a football)
Up- (Throw me up in the air)
Yeah?- (do it again)
Choo-choo- (anything involving a train)
Uhh-uhh (while bopping his head)- I want to play the pumpkin game on Starfall.com
Uh-oh-( uh-oh)
Nac or naa- snack
Cour?- can I color?
Mil- milk
Ni-ni- night night (or nap)
Those of you who know him best...anything I missed?

baby #2 the sneak peak

Enjoy!

22 weeks

So I am 22 weeks now (23 tomorrow). I feel BIG, but I also know that because I am eating every couple of hours to help myself function I am ok with that. Since I have not done regular updates with this pregnancy, here are a few pictures and the rundown on how I am feeling (based on what my blog-friend Julia does).

Size of baby: at 23 weeks it is a Papaya, I can’t remember what 22 weeks was already.

Cravings: Sugar...a bit more this week. I expecially love cinnamon rolls, BBQ chicken, and rasin bread.

What I love: knowing that I am fat because I am pregnant, and not because I am just fat. The people who are especially nice to me if they notice I am pregnant (holding doors, letting me cross the street).

What I'm looking forward to the most: Figuring out the nursery and Jay’s new room with balls.

Worries: Today my stomach was really tight a lot (maybe Braxton hicks contractions- not sure) but I think it was because I was on my feet a lot yesterday and I had a long day. I’m going to take it more easy the next couple of days. Other than that, no real worries.

What is different this time around: We get to think more about the name, especially the middle name. Last time we used the family name and Jay is the FIFTH. This time we have a little more freedom. I am bigger this pregnancy and I am also functioning WAY better. Even teachers at school have noted that I am a lot happier this time around.

Symptoms: Still sick in the morning (taking a nausea pill), and the stomach tightening today, otherwise a bit of tiredness, and some back pain but mostly at night because I get sick of switching from left side to right side

Sleep: I go to bed before 9:30 most nights and sleep pretty well-except for switching from left to right side because my back gets sore.

Movement: I started feeling movement at 19 weeks and I feel it very consistently-especially after I eat when I sit down. It is fun! I don’t make John keep his hand on my stomach this time, so he hasn’t felt it yet…but he will.

The belly: Really stretching out! I think it has been slowly growing this whole time though.

Boy or Girl: A healthy baby boy.

Milestones: The ultrasound at week 20 nice. It confirmed all our thoughts and they said he has long arms and legs. Also Jay knows where the baby is (in mommy’s tummy).

Best moment of the week: I found the ultrasound DVD in my purse and popped it in the computer. I picked a cute song to play while I watched it…and knowing that I was watching our little boy made me SOOO happy. Actually I decided to edit the best parts of it to a cute song so you can see it too. Be on the lookout

stock show with grandpa and grandma 2012

The indoor light show and "fireworks" at the beginning of the show had him mesmerized...and then the animals kept him entertained. He actually sat for an hour and 45 min. Then I ran him around the Colosseum a bit and he sat for longer.

I love how excited they both look!

Jay got to pretend to drive some type of John Deere.

4 generations at the stock show.

the bet

So my cousin who lives in Boston and I had a bet on the game and the loosers of the Patriots and Broncos had to hold up a sign about the other persons quarterback. Although we love Tebow, Tom Brady did win the game for his team...so here you go Jodi:)

shootin some hoops

Jay is kind of obsessed with balls right now. When he found our hoop in the basement he kept thowing balls up at it and hitting himself in the head because it was too tall for him to reach. My solution was to put it next to his bed for some "play time". It is like a playpen with balls.

I love his follow-through in this picture.

skit

My yearbook kids did a skit for an asembly today and at the end they did a Tebow (it fit in with the skit). FYI they were dressed as old people for the skit too.
Here is a picture.

Jay is going to have a little...

brother!
We are very excited. Baby boy didn't show too much on the ultrasound. Here he is hiding his face. You can see his elbow and knee touching eachother.

He did make it pretty obvious in the first few minutes that he was a boy.
Everything looked great on the ultrasound and they said he has long arms and long legs.
Two boys 23 months apart. Sounds exciting and daunting all at once. John is really excited to be a dad to another little boy, and I am so glad that Jay will have a friend and brother to play with because he loves other kids so much. I did tell John we were going to teach them how to play volleyball though:)

The perils of pregnancy

So, although I am doing considerably better with this pregnancy (because I know how to manage the nausea and sickness better) I still am sick.
For example, this morning at 3:40am I woke up because I felt like I was going to puke. Then I got that saliva in your mouth feeling like it is coming. I slowly turned over in bed, reached for my nausea pills. I popped one in my mouth with a quick sip of water and layed as still as I could for 5 min. breathing through my nose and focused soley on not puking. It worked, which I am very thankful for...and then I got to sleep until 7am (thanks to Jay):)

I also get the nauseated feeling during the day if I have not eaten for around 2 hours. I have had a lot of pretzels, crackers, and fruit around for those situations. Between 3-5pm is sometimes hard because I am in the process of finishing up school and picking up Jay and I forget to grab a snack.

On the other hand, my days are so much better than the last pregnancy. I am doing more than just functioning. I am a generally happy person and I can teach to my full ability the majority of the time.

Other annoying things would be that I have not been able to kick this dry cough I have had for over 2 weeks. I also am noticing it is harder to pick up Jay when he is not wanting to go somewhere and squirming.

I am excited to post about the best parts of pregnancy and the news from our ultrasound sometime soon.

jibber jabber

John and I both get such a kick out of this video...

We have no idea what he is telling us, but it seems like a good story:)

The rest of break

Since I am still on break today, I will update with a few things that have been happening.
John and I did a lot of cleaning and organizing early last week which was great because we need to clean up the room for BABY. We find out in a few days if it is a boy or a girl and I am very excited. I think it is a boy because of the heartbeats, but I could be wrong.
Since I am not taking a masters class this semester I am so excited to have more time to myself. This meaning I don't put Jay to bed, do homework for an hour and go to sleep. I even found myself perusing Facebook and Pintrest. Nice. I was inspired to make my own chicken/turkey soup. I created my own recipe and at first it was too watery, but then I found a potato soup mix I got for Christmas, and put about a 1/2 up in. Now it is DELICOUS!

Tonight I am making a spiral ham and inviting the neighbors over. It feels good to be cooking again, because I realized how much money I was spending on take-out and already prepared grocery store food...and because I think I can stomach it better now.

Of course John and I have been cleaning, but Jay's favorite thing to do first thing in the morning is to dump out his large plastic container of toys and lay in them.

I also took out our old SLOW laptop because I wanted to get some music off it and Jay claimed it as his personal computer. I don't mind if he pounds on the keys to play kneebouncers.com free games (where you press any key to get something to happen), so he had a blast.

Because I got a nap almost each day I got ambitious one day and hauled out the potty. We set it in the bathroom and practiced sitting on it without clothes on (but still with a diaper on). We never actually did any more with it but Jay was intrigued. Later that day when I was doing something in the kitchen I heard him playing and assumed he was pretending to do laundry. I was right, but when I found him he had dragged his potty into the hallway and used it as a chair to "fold" the laundry. He usually finds all the socks for me:)

Other than that we have been hanging out with our neighbors more. One has a 3 and 1 year old. The other has an almost 2 year old and they are awesome. We even went to a bouncy castle place together. Jay has a BLAST. I knew going there with 5 kids 3 and under (one was watching a friend) would be a challenge, so I didn't even try to bring my camera.
Back to work tomorrow.