35 Weeks

Only one more week and I will be full term!  Although given the size of my stomach, I already feel full term.  I get the feeling Beckett feels the same way as he is still regularly attempting to find ways to get comfortable and hurting me in the process.

I had an appointment last week and everything looks right on track.  I go back next Tuesday and begin weekly appointments at that point.  Each week we may get a better idea of how much longer I will be able to go since my doctor will be checking to see if I have dilated at all.  My goal is to keep him in until atleast October 10, as I have a special event at work on October 9 that I need to get through.  This will also give me the next few weeks to prepare for my absence from work.  My current plan is to periodically monitor my emails while I am on maternity leave, then begin working 10-20 hours a week from home after about 6 weeks (emails, phone calls, etc) with a few visits to the office for meetings from time to time.  There are a number of council directed projects that I am responsible for overseeing and my division is currently part of a process called Managed Competition which requires my attention.  After Christmas break I plan to go back full time and put Beckett in daycare with Grayson at Kids R Kids.

Grayson is still great as always and continuing to develop each day.  He seems to pick things up so easily and retains so much information.  The biggest milestone is he went pee pee in the potty for me on Sunday!  He had already done it at school a couple of months ago (and a couple of times since then) but never for us at home.  We aren't pushing it too much since we know the arrival of Beckett could only set him back, but we are letting him use the potty when he asks and encouraging him when we can.

Shane and I had the "guilt" discussion the other night at dinner in that we wish we could have more alone time with Gray before Beckett arrives.  All of my friends have told me this is normal and that the guilt feeling will immediately disappear once Beckett arrives.  I haven't had the feeling as much because of the discussions I have had with my friends, but Shane is starting to experience it.  The best advice I could give him is that we are giving Grayson the greatest thing in the world, a little brother.  I am so excited to see how they will interact and grow together.  Our family is going to go through a big change, but all in a positive way!  For now we will enjoy these last few weekends as a family of 3 and continue to enjoy each minute we have with Gray.

This kid still loves his glasses.  

I love the "attitude" he's giving me in this photo.

Snuggle puppy needed the glasses on this car trip.

A couple of weeks ago I started to let Gray pick out

his own clothes in the morning.  I had just bought

him a new A&M jersey to get him through this season and 

he picked it when getting dressed a couple of mornings!

Obviously I still need to pick Shane's clothes out for him as he seems

to have poor taste!  :)

Aspen and Grayson have really bonded over the 

last couple of weeks.

Someone loves his bubbles!

Gymboree bubbles are by far the best brand

we have found.  We will find bubbles on our furniture 

days after we played with them.

That's a serious bubble blowing face.

This brings a tear to my eye...Grayson

is cleaning!  We had just made cupcakes and 

I was wiping down the counter.  He loves to say

"I try" and then imitate you.  So I handed him the

sponge and let him finish up while I washed dishes.

Dusting the furniture.

I'm not going to complain if I have one more person helping

me clean the house!  This OCD mom is in heaven!

33 Weeks

I have a very casual photo today since it was taken yesterday on my day off.  This was the first Labor Day weekend I have had off in over 6 years and it was really nice to be home, rather than at the pool guarding or managing the staff.  We are merely 6-7 weeks (or less) away from meeting Beckett!  I had my 32 week check-up last week and all is well.  His heart rate sounds great and things are progressing as normal.  Beckett must be hurting for real estate in my belly because I frequently feel him trying to poke an arm or foot through my belly button or the sides of my stomach.  Some of his attempts are pretty painful.  With him being so active, I have been able to put Grayson's hand on my stomach a couple of times for him to feel his baby brother move around.  Grayson is getting pretty good at saying Beckett's name and points to my stomach when we ask him "where's Beckett?"

Aside from purchasing diapers, we are fully prepared for Beckett to make his arrival.  A week ago, my mom and I sorted Grayson's old clothes that I plan to use for Beckett and got them washed and put away in the nursery.  I raised the crib back up to its highest setting and reset the car seat to accommodate a smaller size since Grayson's last use of it almost a year ago.  It has been much easier preparing for #2.  Almost too easy, which makes me feel as if we are missing some major element to this transition we are about to go through.  If we are, I am sure we will adapt quickly, as we have to any other event in our lives.

As for our Labor Day weekend, it was pretty low key.  I did do alittle baking with Grayson on Saturday afternoon.  I love to bake and it has been awhile since I don't have as much free time anymore.  I figured it would be a fun activity for Grayson and I do to together so we made Shane's favorite cookies, Snickerdoodles.  Grayson really enjoyed standing on the stool near the counter helping mommy put all of the ingredients in the mixer.  He was scared of the mixer at first, but once I showed him what it was doing, he was very excited to be part of the process.  He also appears to love him some raw cookie dough, too.

Adding the dry ingredients

Watching the mixer do its magic

Mmmmm, raw cookie dough!

Our final product

Our only fun adventure was taking Grayson to the Lego Kids Fest at the Dallas Convention Center on Sunday.  Over the last few months he has really taken a liking to Legos and finally figured out how to assemble them.  He was free to attend so we thought it would be something fun we could do as a family.  The exhibit hall was sectioned off into different areas based on the various types of Legos.  One section was specific to Duplo (the bigger blocks for smaller kids) complete with a huge pile and some small side stations for little ones to build objects.  They had areas for you to create art projects using Legos that would be displayed on these large walls as well as a place called "Creation Nation" where you could create a structure and have it added to a giant map of the United States.  Throughout the entire exhibit hall were Lego creations such as superheroes, animals, Disney characters, etc.  Gray loved walking up to them and checking them out.  We rode the DART train downtown (Grayson is a pro at riding the train now), walked through the exhibit for a couple of hours, grabbed lunch in the West End and then rode the train back home.  I think Grayson had a good time while we were there.  Although he was still pretty young for about 75% of the exhibit, I think he enjoyed looking at everything.  It's definitely something we will come back to as he gets older.

Grayson attempting to walk into the pile of Legos

In the lion's mouth

Jake is life size!

Gray loved this little monkey and his hat.

He was also obsessed with this car.

The rest of the weekend we spent some time hanging out at home.  After walking around on Sunday and carrying Gray, I was having issues with my IT band yesterday so movement was fairly limited for me.  I spent most of the day sitting or lying down on the couch.  It's still quite sore, but most of the stretches I need to do are hindered by the massive belly I have protruding in front of me.  Oh well, it's only 6-7 more weeks, right?

I will try to post updates weekly as we get closer, if I can find the time and have anything to share.  September is a semi-busy month for us with Shane and I both celebrating a birthday as well as one of my nephews.  I am sad that this will be the first year I am not able to celebrate my birthday with my grandfather.  He was my birthday buddy for 34 years and I loved making that call to him on our special day.  Shane was lucky and I gave him his birthday present early.  It's a Honda mower he has been bugging me about getting for years.  On Friday, I had to go talk with a vendor we regularly do business with about an event we have coming up and they sell the exact mower Shane has wanted.  They struck me a deal so I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  I'm not exactly sure, but I think I saw Shane jumping and kicking his heels together as he mowed the lawn yesterday...

Everyone have a great September and pray for some cooler temperatures!  Here are a few other photos and some videos of Grayson from the last week or two.

Grayson loves to wear sunglasses now.

Helping daddy patch a *giant* hole in our wall.

Gotta love water leaks.

Playing guitar with daddy

Mastering his foot skills at Soccer Tots

Shane and I like to make up songs and this is one we are 

really proud of.  I taught Grayson the last word and he always 

says it with such excitement.

31 Weeks

Last Tuesday I went back to my doctor for another sonogram to check in on Beckett.  During our last sonogram, he was so active that the sonographer was not able to get one photo of an area of his heart so she wanted to be sure and capture it that day.  He continued to be pretty active but luckily he stood still long enough for her to get what she needed.  He is head down already which is good, but I feel him flip around quite often.  Beckett is currently 4lbs, and measuring to be over 8lbs once he makes his arrival.  We were also told that Grayson was going to be over 9lbs and he came out at 7lbs, 5oz so Beckett could still be pretty average weight.  My total weight gain so far in this pregnancy is only 6lbs.  I attribute the lack of weight gain to the 16 weeks I was unable to eat regularly and possibly losing weight in other areas with all of it now being focused on my mid-section.  As long as Beckett is healthy and growing (which he appears to be), that's all that matters.  My appointments are now every 2 weeks and will pick up to every week when I'm 36 weeks.  Not too much longer!

Beckett had his hand over his face

He was also trying to grab his feet...I can feel him doing that alot

On the home front, we finally finished Grayson's room and moved him up there this weekend!  My little baby is officially a big boy sleeping in a big boy bed.  In true Grayson fashion, he made the transition as easy as ever.  On Friday night, Shane took him upstairs to read to him and planned on spending a lengthy amount of time getting him to stay in his bed.  After our usual bedtime routine, Shane laid with him for a short while and then left the room.  We didn't hear a peep from Grayson until Saturday morning.  He slept in his bed all night!  The next night he cried for about 30 seconds at the door, then climbed in his bed and passed out.  Sunday he even slept an hour later than normal.  Naps are still a bit of a challenge, but something we will continue to work on each weekend.  He seems to really like his bed and his room.  We are trying to spend more time upstairs since it is becoming more of his area.

Here is alittle about his room.  His bed is a full size platform bed that Shane built (he's so handy!).  We used one of our existing mattresses so we didn't have an extra expense, plus he will be able to sleep in this bed for a long time as opposed to purchasing a toddler bed for only a year.  I got the quilt and pillows from Pottery Barn Kids.  The sheets are from Target and Clouds and Stars (they are the quick zip sheets like we had in his crib that you can quickly zip on/off...love them!).  The curtains are plain white curtains from Ikea that my mom and I painted stripes on to match the bedding.  Shane also "built" and installed the shelf over his bed.  It's basically plumbing pipes with a stained board lying across them.  The letters spelling out his name are a string art project of mine.  The dresser is from Ikea.  It's similar to what was in his nursery, only bigger so he can grow into it.  We made a small reading corner for him using some spice racks from Ikea to hold his books.  They are the perfect height for him to grab the books he wants and read.  And the shadow boxes are another project of mine that I had seen in a magazine a long time ago.  I thought they would always look so cute in a kids room.  He likes to point at them and say what's in each one.  

Grayson's new room!

Reading corner

Close up of shadow boxes

I also made a few updates to his bathroom by getting a new shower curtain, some new rugs, installing some similar shelves over the toilet and putting up some letters to spell out "wash your hands".  Shane is also going to make a towel rack to replace the chrome one we have that will be stained to match the new shelves.  I think it makes it alittle more kid friendly now.

Shane is getting ready to go back to school next week and things are slowly winding down for me at work.  My new position is still semi-seasonal, but now that the pools are closing, things are starting to pick up at our ball fields so the maintenance side of things will have me pretty occupied.  

Only 8-9 more weeks until we meet Mr. Beckett and only 11 weeks until my precious baby boy turns 2!  

Eating "sketti"

The fork in his right hand is merely an accessory.

He loves walking around in our shoes.  

I need to get a photo of him in Shane's running shoes....it's so cute!

Off to school!

29 Weeks

It is sort of shocking, but with only 10-11 weeks left until we meet baby Beckett, there is not much to report.  I feel like I have more energy but some days I find myself pretty tired if I do too much.  The good news is, I passed my gestational diabetes test so no diet for me!  Shane and I have been spending some time working on Gray's room and rearranging the upstairs living area to make it more of a family room the last couple of weekends.  I'm also working to do a small remodel of the bathroom upstairs to make it more kid oriented since that will be Gray's bathroom, and eventually Grayson and Beckett's bathroom in a couple of years.  Shane can definitely tell I'm starting to nest with all of the things I have been doing/changing around the house.  :)  Once everything is completed, I will post pictures.  We are getting close so it should not be much longer.

Last week Grayson finished his parent and tot swim lessons at my aquatics facility.  He definitely has a love of water and always feels comfortable getting in so that is one skill he has mastered over the last year.  While we were on vacation in Belize, we went to the pool regularly and he would always say, "kick, kick, kick" and practice kicking his feet.  He even started putting his face in the water to blow bubbles so I knew he was ready for class.  Of course once we started class, he didn't want to kick or put his face in the water to blow bubbles.  On the rare occasion we could get him to comply, but usually it took our instructor, Madison, asking him to do something before he would do it.  (Side note: we are raising a future teacher's pet.)  A couple of other things he can now do after taking class is hold on to the gutter and work his way down the wall, climb out of the pool using the ladder and jump in from the side with assistance.  I don't expect him to actually be swimming until he is about 3-4 years old, but I do want to make him comfortable with the water and learn a few basics so when he does start taking lessons without me, he's prepared.  The last night of class Shane came out and took some photos.  What you can't tell in these photos is how absolutely cold the water is.  I waited until session 4 to sign him up because the water temperature is usually pleasant, but we happened to experience a random cold front the last week of class which had the outside temperature in the low to mid 70's and the water temperature in the low 80's.  Luckily the last class is only about 25 minutes.

Gray's teacher, Miss Madison
He loved saying her name.

Doing passes with Miss Madison 

Kick, kick, kick 

 Hanging on to the gutter all by himself

 Climbing out using the ladder

 Jumping in from the side

 "London bridge is falling down...."

 Practicing blowing bubbles

Singing the "bye bye" song.  

He loved being on the mats.

One other project Shane finally completed was getting Gray's swing that Santa bought him hung up on our patio (yes, 7 months later).  After a few different ideas and attempts, he finally settled on these hooks that are used for porch swings.  They just screwed into the beams on our patio and we can unhook his swing and store it in the garage when it's not being used.  It's gotten warmer outside so he's only been in it a couple of times, but we hope we can spend more time on the patio this fall while we're spending lots of time at home with little Beckett.  

We only have 9-10 weekends left until Beckett arrives.  We are hoping to spend as much one on one time with Grayson as we can but seem to have something going on just about every weekend.  I realize how precious our time is with him as an only child and want to embrace it as much as possible.  I'm headed to the doctor on August 12 for another sonogram to see how big Beckett has grown.  I can tell he's starting to run out of room in there as my stomach looks possessed on many occasions when he twists and turns.  My doctor is predicting he could come as early as week ahead of my due date since Grayson was a couple of days early.  We are not planning to induce or schedule anything with Beckett.  With Grayson we planned to induce on his due date, but I don't see the need to rush getting Beckett out.  I feel like it's better to just let him come when he's ready.  My doctor doesn't like going too far past the due date, but we will cross that bridge if we get to it.  It does make me sad that Grayson's 2nd birthday is only 9 days after my due date.  I am going to plan as much as I can prior to going into the hospital, but the actual date and time will be unknown until after Beckett comes.  His 1st birthday was pretty low key and I don't see this one being too much different.  I want to be sure we celebrate with Grayson but I also have to consider that we will have a newborn at home.  I have to take Beckett's needs and our lifestyle change into consideration.  If we have #3, I will need to try to make sure they are more of a spring baby and space these birthdays out.  ;)