Baby is taking care of me :-)

Well, I had a cold a few weeks ago and have been battling nausea ever since. At least I haven't succumbed to the nausea that much. But the week I was sick, I lost 6 pounds and ever since I've been eating very lightly. I keep telling Brent that even though I started overweight this time, I feel healthier this pregnancy. It's really weird. So when I went in for my appointment they were shocked that my weight was like 12 pounds lower than the last time. They understood but wanted to make sure I wasn't dehydrated. I've been drinking plenty of fluids so not to worry.

Baby was not very cooperative today. The ultrasound tech kept jiggling my belly I guess to get the baby moving. It didn't work very well. Here are the ultrasound pics from March 5th and today.

New doctor, new procedures, better informed!

I love my new doctor. I seriously don't think I can say that enough. I got a call this afternoon and they let me know that from my tests they discovered that I was positive for the Group B Strep stuff again. Brownie Point #1 because my previous doctor didn't do that test until I was almost 36 weeks, it may have been a little bit earlier than that but definitely not this early. Then they said that they are going to call in an antibiotics prescription for me to take now and then I'll have more via IV during labor. Brownie Point #2 because even though I tested positive for it last time, my labor went so fast that I never got antibiotics so little baby Brendan was at risk for catching colds big time in those first 6 weeks of life. And finally, they told me that my progesterone level was 28 and that 12 means a healthy pregnancy so I'm really healthy! Brownie Point #3 because I was lucky at my last doc to have my blood pressure reading read back to me. I like being an informed patient especially since I have a nurse for a husband who can explain anything to me I don't understand.

So everything is looking good. I'm feeling good even though I'm exhausted! And our first ultrasound will be March 5th. Now we're just trying to find time to work on Brendan's "big boy" room and decide whether to buy a bed for him or use the bottom part of the bunk bed I had as a kid. The bed we have is white and the chests that go with it are in the baby room where they will stay, so we'll have to buy that stuff anyway. Tough to decide. Cause then you have to choose between fun race car beds or something more practical that he might take to college with him or for his future house.

Brendan's going to be a big brother!

So I haven't decided yet if I'm going to start a babybean2 blog, but probably not since I barely keep up with this one!

But yes, it's true, we are expecting Baby Bean #2 on October 18, 2010. At least I'm fairly certain of that date. I couldn't remember THE date the docs needed to calculate. I had it written down and forgot to look before my appt on Friday. But babycenter.com has the same calculator they use and October 18 is what it came up with. So we're kinda hoping this baby decides to come early so we can have a 10/10/10 baby! I just hope the baby isn't 10 lbs 10 ozs, ouch! Wouldn't that be crazy though? Whichever kids is born at 10:10 (am or pm) is gonna be famous too.

At first I really wasn't thinking "this is a boy" or "this is a girl", I was just thinking, I feel different from last time. In the last day or so though I've started thinking boy. Last time I knew from the beginning. I won't reveal any potential names yet, even though Brent has told all of our Houston area friends exactly what the boy's name will be. Lol. We've actually talked about some girl names. And one that I really liked won't really work with Halon as a middle name and Bean as a last name. It ends up with too many n's in it. I would love to pass down my middle name and even though it was a man's first name a long time ago, I'm not sure I want to give it to a son. The Bean family has mostly boys in it. In fact my sister-in-law is the only blood-related girl in it! (To my knowledge anyway, lol.) We've also discovered that our grandparents have twins in their line. The two boy names we really like would be soooooo cute as twins but I'm really not sure I could handle that! And I think we might lose a babysitter or two if that happened!

On to Brendan news...

He is adorable. Recently getting him to sleep has been so much easier and nicer and completely against what the Sleep Lady book would recommend. Lol. But he wakes up so much happier, usually.

His word list continues to grow too:
Balloon
Ball
Cheese
Lala (not a word but it means The Lorax, lol)
Up (this just means the movie right now, not the direction)
Mickey

He's still loving his Mother's Day Out program. He now has 6 kids in his class including 1 girl. Poor thing, hope those boys aren't beating up on her! Brendan keeps making beautiful art projects for us (with lots of help from Ms. Linda I'm sure!).

And now, finally, here is a slideshow to catch up on some 2009 pictures. I am going to do a separate post to catch up on the professional pics. A slide show just wouldn't do them justice :-)

End of the year rundown

Okay, my end of year resolution is to get caught up on pictures tomorrow so I don't start the new year behind! I can't believe I haven't posted pics on here since August. Shameful!

So here's some highlights of Baby Bean 1's year:

We started the year with 2 teeth on the bottom and now we're at 14 for sure, possibly 15 and 16. It's tough to get him to let me look to see if the bottom canine teeth came in yet. So that's 4 and 2 molars on bottom for sure and 4, 2 canines, and 2 molars on top for sure. Crazy!

Brendan started out the year crawling, was standing by February, and started walking two days before his birthday in June. Now he's running everywhere. This morning in fact he was playing with one of his new toys at Grandma's house and running all around the big circle her living room, dining room, and kitchen makes with it.

I can't remember if he was clapping at the beginning of the year but I'm pretty sure it was close to it. We've gone from that to talking and now to singing! Here's a list of things he says now in no particular order and hopefully I've remembered them all:
Mama
Dada
Kitty
I got it
It's good
All gone
Say
Sing
Again
Step
Roar (more of a noise than a word)
Mmm (which is when something is good or when he's mooing, lol)
Ice cream
Fishy

He started singing this little song recently that I have no idea what it is. But it goes like this: "Da da da-da-da, Da da da-da-da" and so on. It's absolutely adorable though.

We got rid of the pacifier shortly after Brendan's birthday and the bottle. I was adamant about not wanting real milk in bottles and I think that helped a lot. I also think it helped that Brendan drank out of juice boxes before he would use sippy cups.

We've gone through a lot of sleep ups and downs through the year but the Sleep Lady book has been invaluable as a guide. I still have never read it all the way through but I still need to be reminded of my bad habits from time-to-time and that's really good. The one thing that has remaind consistent is sleeping through the night except when teething. I'm probably gonna regret that statement but oh well. The toughest part has been getting him to go to sleep. It takes forever some nights.

Brendan started Mother's Day Out at the end of August and has had a runny nose, cough, or both ever since. We can't seem to shake it. Doesn't seem to bother him too much though. He loves going to school and coloring and playing with his buddy Brady and singing songs with Ms. Linda. It's been really great for him.

Brendan's cousin was born in November. Brendan loves baby Blake. Now if we can get him to stop stealing his toys and pacifier, we'll be doing better, hehe. It'll be great when they can play together.

Brendan's favorite activities right now are: reading books, singing, running away from people as a game, peekaboo, talking, and watching Mickey Mouse and Handy Manny. His favorite movie is Up. I have never seen a toddler watch an entire movie, it's so weird. His favorite food is grilled cheese I think. His favorite dessert is ice cream (see above word list, lol).

I think that pretty much sums up his year. It has gone by so fast. 6 months to 18 months have been so much fun. We are incredibly blessed with a wonderful little boy.

New Year's Resolutions: Start reintroducing vegetables (oops!) and get back to church.

Edelweiss and a few other things

So, as promised... I'm gonna do my write-up of how Edelweiss is a perfect metaphor for the relationship between parents and their children. Hope y'all enjoy.

First the lyrics:

Edelweiss, edelweiss,
Every morning you greet me.
Small and white,
Clean and bright,
You look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow
May you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss,
Bless my homeland
Forevermore.

(For the record... I know the last line is just "forever" and not "forevermore". Somewhere along the way it got added when I sang it and I like it.)

Now analysis:

The first five lines, I think, are about children waking up in the morning and how every day is a new day for them. The "small and white, clean and bright" part alludes to their purity. The "every morning you greet me" and "you look happy to meet me" part always makes me think of Brendan (at least when he's had a good night's sleep, lol). He will stand up and smile and talk to you the second you walk in his room.

The next three lines are about growing up and education to me. You want your child to grow up, get a good education, a good job, etc. But I think there's more to that. When your child becomes an adult, I think all parents want them to continue to grow through learning and travelling.

Finally, the last three lines are about them moving away. You know they will move away some day, some maybe far off, but some nearby. I think all parents long for their children to come home and "bless their homeland forevermore".

Anyway, that's my 2 cents about why Edelweiss is the perfect lullaby. I always think about that when I sing it too.

Brendan is so funny. He makes us laugh all the time. For example, all the cute things I posted about last time when I read to him at bedtime, he's started doing during the daytime. I'll look over and he's doing the charging motion from the rhinocerous part of his jungle book. So I'll say "he charges fast with his strong horn" and he giggles. And his Papaw taught him to raise his arm up like he's an elephant lifting his trunk up (though it's just him raising his arm straight up for now), it's really cute.

We're also discovering that in a lot of ways the first year is MUCH easier than the second year. There was a Christmas party last Thursday that me, Brent, Nana, Papaw, Aunt Krystal, and Uncle Brandon were all invited to. Brent asked Krystal what she was doing with baby Blake and she said she was bringing him. We got to thinking about the house we were going to and the fact that it was definitely NOT toddler-proof and made arrangements for Brendan with his Grandma and Grandpa. There have been several occasions like that where we have chosen babysitter over possible epic meltdowns. He's turning more and more into a toddler and looking less and less like a baby these days. The biggest toddler thing is throwing fits. Ugh! He's also developed a new noise that's almost like whining that I'm not too fond of. One of the hardest things too, is not laughing at things that, if they continue, will not be funny in the future. Gotta work on that, big time!

Brendan is not eating as well as he used to. Probably due to all these teeth he's been getting! He's getting a little better now. We were looking at his 12 month pics the other day and he has thinned out a lot. Hopefully we won't get a scolding from the pedi at his 18 month appointment. He pretty much has a list of maybe 10 foods we rotate through. Time to reintroduce some veggies I'm thinking. We've also been eating out a LOT recently so it's been mostly chicken nuggets/french fries/quesadillas/grilled cheese/(insert other common kids meal items here). Not good... Partially our fault and hopefully we'll fix it soon (go see post on weight loss blog, lol). The one thing that has been nice is Horizon yogurt that has fruit and veggies in it. And Brendan loves that stuff. I really wish we could get him to eat pasta of any kind. Reminds me of my brother. He hated spaghetti forever. Not sure when he started liking it actually. Pizza is hit and miss for now. Again, probably because of teething. Pizza isn't exactly easy to chew.

I promise to post pics and videos soon to get caught up. This is getting a little ridiculous! At least you can see cute, recent photos on Facebook now and again.

Bedtime Cuteness

Our bedtime routine has been pretty much the same since I stopped breastfeeding Brendan. So we've done the same stuff for about 9 months now (wow, that's really hard to believe!). I change Brendan's diaper, put on his pajamas, we go upstairs and brush his teeth, we go in his room, he flips through his books while I set up his room (turn off light/turn on lamp and closet light, turn on fan for noise, and plug in vaporizer), we read his books, and then I sing/rock him to sleep.

When I put on his pajamas, he almost always runs over to the stairs. I always have to tell him to go tell Daddy goodnight and give him a kiss. Usually I end up having to take him to Daddy. I let him crawl up the stairs which usually takes forever cause he pauses to wave at Daddy a few times. Now he goes straight to his bathroom when I say let's brush your teeth. I used to have to brush his teeth for him (which is quite a challenge!) but now he does it himself. And he hands the toothbrush to me to rinse off when he's done. It's funny because he really chews on the brush more than actual brushing.

He also now goes straight to his room when I say let's go read your books. This is where the cuteness is adorable. We have about 12 books up there that we rotate through 4 at a time. 4 is a good length and we're talking mostly short board books. I've discovered that when I get bored of a group, Brendan usually is too. I also recently started being a little more interactive when I read his books. There's one book that talks about taking a bath when getting ready for bed and it says "with soap all over, scrub, scrub, scrub" and I'll rub Brendan's belly when I read that part. In the last month or so, Brendan has started doing the motions with me! It's adorable. I think one of my favorites to read to him is a book called In the Jungle. It's a book Brent bought at a book fair they had up at the hospital. There's a different animal on each page and it either tells the sound they make or an action that they do. On one of the pages there is a Rhinocerous and it says "it charges fast with it's strong horn, thuddery thud" and I always make a motion with my arm like I'm running. Brendan started doing that the other night! He really loves that book. Not sure which is his favorite though. Here are the books (that I can remember) that we rotate through:
Goodnight Moon
A book about Thumper... can't remember the name
The Going to Bed Book
Moo, Baa, La La La! (This one and the bedtime one are both by Sandra Boynton whom I highly recommend! We also have her Fifteen Animals book which reminds me very much of Dr. Seuss's Too Many Daves.)
My Dog Clifford (I think that's the name)
The Hungry Catepillar
The Busy Spider (Brendan really hasn't seemed interested in these Eric Carle books.)
In the Jungle
Eight Silly Monkeys (He loves this one too!)
We have another bedtime book that has animals with fur to touch, can't remember the name.
Guess How Much I Love You (Again, not interested at all)
Hey Diddle Diddle (He loves this one, probably cause I sing the song when we get to the last page)

That's all I can remember for now! The Fifteen Animals book I mentioned resides downstairs for daytime reading along with Eating (a free board book we got from the pedi's office), a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book that's just like the episodes (it has a wheel to turn to choose a Mouseketool), Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear (another Eric Carle book, but he likes this one), and I'm pretty sure there's one more but I can't remember what it is.

I think Brendan has gotten bored of my lullabies though :-( Last week when I didn't have a voice from being sick, I couldn't sing to him. He seemed to go to sleep much easier when I didn't sing. I don't know why I do everything in fours but I sing 4 lullabies too. Maybe I'm overdoing things?! Lol. I sing All the Pretty Horses, Edelweiss (this was my lullaby, need to do a separate blog post about this song cause I think it really has some neat parent/child symbolism), Down in the Valley (my Daddy used to sing this to us), and Stay Awake (from Mary Poppins). I like to sing Christmas carols instead around this time of year. Songs like Silent Night and Away in a Manger.

I'm starting to think about scaling back the lullabies and books to 2 each. Brendan is really squirmy these days rocking to sleep. I used to be able to put him in his crib after reading to him and he'd fall asleep on his own while I was singing. After starting Mother's Day Out though, that stopped working. Now I have to rock him to sleep. Which they tell you not to do. Oh well. I have also felt really guilty lately. It started out as a forgetful thing but now it's turned into a habit. I've stopped turning on the monitor right after I've put Brendan in bed. Now I usually don't turn it on until right before we go to bed which is usually 3 to 4 hours later... oops!

So I was re-reading this before I posted it to check for grammar or spelling errors. I looked up mouseketool real quick to see if I had spelled it correctly and came across something hilarious. According to Urban Dictionary, the definition of mouseketool is: A musical act that became popular by selling their souls to the Disney music label. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Sorry!

I have got to start being better about posting. Even if there aren't any pics to go along with it.

October was a crazy month, so was November. Halloween was fun. Brendan's R2-D2 costume was supposed to be "toddler" sized. However, our son's HUGE head did not fit in the costume without us taking scissors to it. We really should've cut it more than we did, but I was afraid it would rip. So we made him miserable getting him in and out of the costume. We went to a friend's sons' birthday party. That was really fun even though it was really hot outside. Brendan had so much fun watching the older boys run around. We had to quickly move him out of their paths a couple of times! That night we went trick or treating at the parking lot of my parents' church. They called it Trunk or Treat and had cars all decorated and people handing out candy. Poor Brendan couldn't have any of it, but he didn't seem to care. Their church is also where he goes to Mother's Day Out so when we put him down to walk, he sprinted towards his classroom. Silly boy!

Brendan has still been sick pretty much non-stop. I think part of the problem has been teething. He now has a total of 13 teeth! Though now we're wondering if he's having stomach issues because his appetite has been awful the past week or so. I keep thinking this has just been teething but now I'm starting to wonder. He's been miserable too. He cries at the drop of a hat and has had a lot of gas. I'm thinking a low dairy diet might be what we try next. We really do feed him a lot of dairy. Especially when we eat out, which we've been doing a lot recently too. Guess it's time to get more chicken fingers instead of cheese quesadillas, grilled cheese, and cheese pizza, lol. I read that toddlers are only supposed to have 2 - 3 servings of dairy a day.

The Renaissance Fair was awesome as usual. But much more fun since we had a HUGE group who all dressed up! The toddler had fun staying with Nana and Papaw. Probably a good thing because the weather was pretty miserable most of the day. I had started feeling sick Friday before we went on Saturday and by the end of Saturday, I felt really bad. I ended up staying home for the 3-day work week before Thanksgiving.

Me and Aunt Shannon cooked for Thanksgiving (Grandpa and Brent helped too!). And everyone enjoyed it except for Brendan. He didn't get eat much at all cause he was tired and cranky.

So I'm hoping we can fix the poor toddler boy so he can start eating more again. He has been soooooooo fussy. It's sad :-(

Okay, can't end on a sad note. Let's see... Oh! When you ask Brendan "how does Santa go?" he says ho (as in ho ho ho). Too cute! He gives kisses! But now it's become a game. You'll ask him for a kiss and he'll give you a mean look and shake his head no and then he grins real big and gives you a kiss. He really has the coy smile down. It's too adorable. Need to get a pic of it. He even shrugs his shoulders when he does it. Brendan still is not saying a whole lot, at least not where most people understand but every once in a while I'll catch a phrase I say all the time like "I got it" or something like that. Child language is a fascinating thing. Maybe in another life I'll study that. Lol.