I feel like the pregnancy is going by really slow but I know it will start to go by fast after I get to the mid-way point which is merely 6 weeks away. This week I have started to feel better. I'm not 100% but I have noticed I am less nauseous and keeping food down. I am still taking medications but hoping I can stop taking them in the next week or two. With Gray I started to feel better about 15 weeks so I hope it will be the same with this one.
I really have not spent much time preparing for this baby. Obviously a majority of the preparations will come later, but aside from the constant sickness, I have not thought too much about the fact that we will be adding another human to our house. Although this weekend Shane and I did have the discussion about purchasing a stroller that holds two kids, as opposed to one. Not something I had thought about before but definitely something we need to think about.
We do plan to move Gray upstairs this summer into a "big boy" room. Shane is going to build him a bed that will be low to the ground and use one of the double mattresses we already have. I don't see a need to go out and buy him a new bed that he will most likely sleep in for just a year. With a bigger bed, it will give us a place to sleep with him on the nights he may be adjusting to his new room and when he is sick. I am not sure how much I will decorate his room, although I did find a quilt at Pottery Barn Kids I really like (see picture below). I don't really like "theme" rooms so I will most likely keep it simple like his nursery. I will just decorate using these colors and try to find ways to add some decor to his walls.
Easter
Grayson had a great second Easter. I was not sure if he was ready for all of the festivities that came with the holiday but he didn't seem to have an issue picking them up. On Friday morning his school had an Easter egg hunt. I had not planned on going, but after logging in to check on him about 15 minutes before the hunt, and seeing a bunch of parents there, I figured I might as well drive up there to help him out. He was super excited to see me when I got there. We walked out onto their playground and I pointed at an egg, told him to pick it up and put it in his bucket. He paused, then picked it up, slowly moved it over and dropped it in his bucket. As soon as it hit the bottom, he lit up and was off and running to the next egg. At this point, a monster had been created and he was off to the races. They had alot of eggs for the kids and Grayson had no problem filling up his bucket.
I'm ready to go, mom!
Already figuring this egg hunt thing out.
I see you little chicken egg...you're next!
Gray and his loot I call this look his "creepy look". He's been looking at us like this lately and it freaks me out!
Friday afternoon we drove down to my parents house for the weekend to relax for a couple of days. They are always so accommodating and make us feel comfortable and welcome. Mom had asked if I had any special meal requests, but I still wasn't sure what I could eat so I went with my favorites. The food never disappoints when we are there and we never go hungry.
We took a couple of rides on the golf cart, played with bubbles in the driveway, Gray rode his tricycle and got carted around in his wagon, took pictures in the bluebonnets and had a special visit from the Easter bunny after his nap on Saturday. We headed home Sunday morning so Shane could get some work done in the yard and I had some much needed work to be done around the house. It was nice to get away for a couple of days and watch Gray be spoiled. He was so well behaved while we were down there so it made for a more enjoyable trip. Each day he continues to amaze us but his manners and sweet temperament always warm our hearts.
He sort of figured it out. Going down hill helped.
Grammie pulled us around all day!
She would stop abruptly and he would laugh so hard.
Bubbles!
We could not tell who enjoyed the bubbles more, Gray or Aspen.
Riding the John Deere with Grandpa
Checking out his gifts from the Easter Bunny Ok, he may be a bit spoiled, but this kid deserves it!
Let the egg hunt begin!
Naturally you must dump out all of your loot ....
And then lie in it and roll around.
He will always be a boy
We have to take our annual photo in the bluebonnets
Someone will not fit in the basket anymore!
I'm not sure if we have anything exciting coming up. Work is busy for me the next couple of weeks with a few events and Shane is starting to wind down the school year and wrap up his PSAT classes for the spring. My next appointment is in two weeks. We might find out the gender that day but it could be the end of May before we really know. Yesterday we did make one exciting trip to get Grayson's passport for our vacation this summer to Belize! We began planning the trip before I was pregnant but was not going to let that keep us from going. Shane, Grayson and I are headed down there for a week with a couple of our friends. We are staying in a condo at a resort on this island called Ambergris Caye. The only mode of transportation on the island is golf cart so we will have our own to get around all week. I am really looking forward to seeing a new place and Grayson getting his first stamp in his passport (the first of many to come)!
It's been an interesting, and rough, couple of weeks. Like I mentioned in my announcement post, I have been fairly sick but things seemed to just get worse. I found myself incapable of keeping most food down and throwing up about 3-4 times a day. I spent the better part of last week in bed because it was the only place I seemed to find comfort.
Last Tuesday I went to the doctor and explained my troubles. He decided that I should probably do home health care and get an IV as well as this zofran pump that dispenses medication into my system for 24 hours a day. This was a better alternative than being admitted to the hospital. It had to get cleared through my insurance first which took a couple of days. On Saturday morning, a nurse came to the house to hook up my IV and also the zofran pack. I was ok with the IV, but my doctor did not warn me enough about the zofran pump. It is basically this small plastic catheter that goes into my stomach with a long tube that connects to a the pump which is the size of a large pager. The pump is then connected to a bag of medication (zofran) which is an anti nausea medication used for cancer patients and pregnant woman. I had a fashionable red fanny pack that the pump and extra tubing could be easily carried in. For the first few hours, it wasn't a big deal, but when I needed to be somewhat mobile (go to the bathroom, get something to eat, change rooms) it was alittle difficult to haul the IV pole in my left hand and the pack with my right hand. Did I mention it was attached for 24 hours? I had to attempt to sleep with this thing in bed next to me and remember to grab it each time I got up to go to the bathroom or fear ripping this port out of my stomach. Luckily the IV bag was only hooked up for 8 hours so I was able to sleep without that attached to my arm but the IV port was still in my arm for the next couple of days so I could keep getting IV fluids.
The port in my stomach became very painful. On Sunday morning, I had to remove the port from my stomach so the nurse could watch me insert another one on my own. I took it out and noticed this huge, red welt on my stomach that was extremely sore and tender. After dealing with all the pain, and now this painful red welt, I decided I could not put the port back in my stomach. I hated being so incapacitated. The IV was easy to get around with, but the pump really restricted me from doing too much. I was unable to pick up Gray or really interact with him and I couldn't sleep or sit in certain positions. Originally I was supposed to wear this thing for an entire week, but I just couldn't see myself going through that. The nurse came out to check on me and I told her my decision to discontinue the pump. She told me to go ahead and continue the IV for the day and see how I feel. At this point, I felt pretty good so I think getting hydrated with the IV and a good dose of the zofran gave me a good boost.
This morning I still feel really good and the home health care company called to discharge me. At this point, I will just continue to take my oral anti-nausea meds and see how I do. I have been able to keep all of my meals down since Saturday so I feel like I am making progress.
As for the baby causing all of this drama, he/she is doing great! I got a sonogram on Tuesday and he/she looked healthy! At the end of the day, that's all that really matters to me. Being sick and miserable is a small price to pay if it means we can have another happy, healthy child.
Baby Bybee #2 (12 weeks)
Hands in front of face
Shane has been a great husband and father lately. I really have to give him props for being the primary caretaker the last couple of weeks. I have been fairly incapable of taking care of Gray too much on my own so he typically has him in the evening hours while I lie on the couch and watch them play. Gray makes taking care of him super easy. He's such a great kid and really helpful. Any chance he can get to help you carry something, he takes it. We have even noticed lately how well he picks up after himself. He puts his toys away before he goes to bed, closes doors, and pushes in chairs at the table when he gets down. He's super sweet, too. He will randomly run up to you, give you a hug or kiss and then go back to what he was doing. He's picking up on so much that we love to test him and ask him questions to see what he's learned. It really is amazing to watch him develop. It's hard to believe he will be 18 months in 2 weeks!
Sad selfie
Caught this kid taking his dinosaurs for a ride
Playing with the loot from his Aunt Cra Cra's visit to New Orleans
My dad and his mini-me. Now we know where Gray gets his love of tv.
Showing us where his head is. He can point to all major body parts now.
Here is a video of Gray eating with a spoon. He is getting really good at controlling it and bring it to his mouth without losing too much food. Not an easy task to do with peas.
I think I am starting a trend where I go a month between posts. I promise, however, that this post should make up for missing any during the last month because Grayson has some exciting news to share...
He's going to be a big brother!!
All of us are extremely excited to finally share this news with everyone! We are expecting our second child in October! October 19 to be exact. Only 9 days before Gray's 2nd birthday. Shane and I have been talking about trying for another one since the fall but we always knew there would be no guarantee it would happen too easily given our struggle to conceive Gray. Well, God proved us wrong and made it fairly easy on us this time around. My doctor told me after having Gray that my system could essentially "reset" itself so it would start to function the way it should. Apparently he was right.
Baby Bybee #2 at 7 weeks
So I'm officially 11 weeks along right now (well, Sunday will be 11 weeks, that is my "turnover" day). How am I feeling, you ask? Like complete crap. Ever since 5 weeks, I have been really nauseous, throw up from time to time, extremely exhausted and just plain miserable. I felt bad with Gray but it did not hit me until 7-8 weeks and I do not recall it being this intense. My doctor gave me some medication to help with the nausea but it doesn't always help me. I had some medication when I was pregnant with Gray but I did not use it as often as I have needed it this time around. Shane's prediction is that we are having a girl since I have been so much worse this time around. The last couple of days have been better but my nights are still hit and miss. I felt pretty good last night and then out of no where I lost all of my dinner. Hopefully I am nearing the end of the worst and should start to feel semi-normal again, aside from my ever expanding belly.
My plan is to try and take belly shots again this time around for the sake of comparison between pregnancies and to have it documented. I want to make sure I give as much attention to this pregnancy as I did my first, even though it's not so "new" anymore.
11 Weeks
I think I have definitely started to show much earlier with this pregnancy, which I hear is normal. I don't have an 11 week picture to compare with this one because it looks like I didn't regularly start taking my weekly photos until 16 weeks with my last pregnancy. Once I get to that point, I will try to show comparisons.
That's our biggest news of the month. It feels like deja vu from 2012 since this pregnancy is about on the same track as my pregnancy with Gray.
In other news...Gray is continuing to grow and change each day. He seems to talk alot and is really repeating alot of what we say so I think he's starting to learn more words. We love to test him to see what he knows. He can see a cow and say "moo" and a cat and say "ma-ow". We call our cat, Riley, "boo boo kitty" and I swear the other day he goes "boo boo....ma-ow". He continues to sign and is starting to say some of the words while he signs. Especially when he says "more" and "all done". Our hearts are so full having him in our lives that it is hard for me to imagine making room for another one, but my friends all assure me that as soon as Baby Bybee #2 gets here, it will happen naturally.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I will end the post with a few pictures of Gray from the last couple of weeks.
Someone ran into the frame of a window at school.
When I pick Gray up at school, he's always having an afternoon snack. We have to bring the snack home with us and he clings on to that bowl with dear life.
They were doing a sensory experiment at school with a hot bottle. Gray was the only one that would touch it and this is his reaction. His facial expressions crack me up!
The only thing better than one schnoolie...two schnoolies! I think he has an addiction.
I wish I had some really great excuses for not posting more frequently, but sadly I don't. Work for both of us has been rather busy and weekends seem to pass by in a blur. Gray will be 16 months on Friday so I figured I better post a few developmental updates and some pictures. Here are a few things Gray has been up to lately:
Gray is 24 pounds
He is walking everywhere and makes a speed walk/run from time to time (usually when there is food waiting for him on the other end of his path).
He is talking alot. Some is still gibberish but he knows "ma-ma", "da-da", "ball", "hi", "bye", "ssss" (which is "please", he does the sign for it) and "m-ow" (which is "meow")
He can sign please, thank you and more
He understands more than he can say so we seem to have a better time communicating with him now. It's amazing to be able to talk to him and have him understand what we want him to do.
He is starting to eat with a spoon, and getting better at controlling it.
Some of his obsessions are: fruit snacks, schnoolies (a.k.a pacifiers), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (tv show and books), Snuggle Puppy book, How Do I Love You book, Oh The Places You'll Go book, flash cards (mostly pulling them out of the box and throwing them on the floor), playing peek-a-boo with blanket and standing in the fridge
Just the other day Gray was standing next to our coffee table playing and I realized something. He's a little boy. My baby is no longer a baby. He still likes to cuddle and happily leans in to give kisses (most of the time, but does love to tell me "no" and run away) but that small baby I had has become a little boy. It breaks my heart but I also love watching him grow and learn so much.
I will end the post with some recent photos. Hope everyone is having a great February! I can't believe March is almost here!!
When we have nice weather we love to draw on the patio.
Bubbles!
Drive-in Library?
Painting Valentine's for daddy
Still loves to go to the park and swing
This kid loves a selfie. What you can't tell is he is really sick in these two photos. Grayson had the norovirus last week/weekend. Then I was lucky enough to be the recipient...good times.
Eating a meal can be very exhausting. (See the video below).
Here are a couple of videos. The first is him falling asleep while eating and the other is Gray dancing at school with his best friend. He will dance with Shane and myself all the time now. It's so cute!
Last night I realized it had been awhile since I posted anything. I have taken some photos over the last few weeks but we have not had anything exciting to share, nor have I had the time to post any updates.
Shane is back at school and gearing up for his spring session of PSAT tutorials. What was once his project for his master's degree has become quite a business. He has 80+ students enrolled this spring for his class as well as a class that a friend is offering at another high school. He is in the process of making it a legitimate business which will be called Top Marks Test Prep. I think we finalized the logo but he still has the website and a few other things to finish.
Work has been super busy for me. I am slowly learning some of my new responsibilities while also juggling my old job. This week I should have a replacement hired so I can take some of the workload off my plate.
Gray is still growing and starting to talk more. I took him in for a check-up on his ears last week and the ENT reported they are perfect! He passed all of his hearing tests with flying colors. I am really glad we went through with the surgery and did not wait any longer. It really makes me wonder if his speech development was already delayed with how bad his ears were prior to the surgery.
Since I do not have much to report, I will close the post with the much awaited photos. Most of these photos were taken with my new camera that Shane bought me for Christmas. It's the Canon SL1 which is the lightest DSLR camera on the market. My other camera was still going strong, but I was looking at getting a new one that had a higher mega pixel count along with a few other features. I have been playing with this camera for a few weeks and love it. The coolest accessory I purchased for it is the SD card which has Wi-Fi built into it. I can literally take pictures with my DSLR, open an app on my iPhone and load the photos directly to my iPhone or load them onto my computer. No need to remove the SD card or plug the camera into my laptop. It may seem unnecessary but it has been pretty handy and super convenient.
We introduced Gray to Ranch...and thus created a monster.
Playing peek-a-boo in the curtains.
Green bath! He got bath drops for Christmas that change the water into different colors.
Aspen is his new best friend. We are so glad that Aspen is so patient with Grayson. As you can see below, he is very tolerant.
"Riding" our tricycle to get the mail. His feet are still alittle short so mommy and daddy have to push him.
Milk coma before bedtime.
Gray's favorite toy is this ball popper.
Gray also loves to read books.
I finally took him to get a haircut by a professional. He looks so handsome now!
His first lollipop!
Here is a video of Gray's dance skills at school. I have seen it a thousand times and it still makes me laugh each time I watch it. I'm not sure where he picked up these moves...
