Shower Time

Denise and Laura hosted a baby shower for me on Saturday at Denise's house. Everything was so pretty. The colors were pink, purple, and light green. They served chicken salad, fruit, cheese ball, homemade mints, nuts, punch, and of course petit fours. They were awesome!

I wanted a smaller shower since this is our second baby and our kids are going to be so close together. I felt bad about asking for a bunch of gifts since we had Sawyer such a short time ago. I also hated to invite a lot of friends and family from the Van Vleck area because it's such a long drive. I didn't want everyone to feel obligated to be here.

I was kind of nervous about having a shower three weeks before my due date. I kept thinking that I was going to go into labor while enjoying a petit four! I had some pretty strong Braxton-Hicks and lower back pain, but nothing came of it.

Mom and Velma came up for the shower. Mark and Darbi came into town too. Lorne's Aunt Mary and his cousins Ashley and Cristie were also there. I was bummed because Priscilla, Kristy, and Laura had to cancel at the last minute. One had a funeral, another a stomach virus, and another morning sickness. It was just bad timing I guess, but we still had a great time. We played the shower games of guessing my waist size, a word scramble, and guess the baby food flavor. Ashley won the waist size game, Laura the word scramble, and I won the baby food one.

Mimi and Nana are both very excited about the little girl making her appearance.

I was so glad that Mom was there for my shower. I took a picture with Darbi, too but we must not have gotten one with my camera...bummer!

Aunt Mary, Cristie, and Ashley were so nice to come down for the shower.



Laura and Denise are such good friends!

Sawyer had a blast playing with the balloons we brought him home from the shower.

We're Making Progress!

I had a prenatal appointment today and I am so excited! Oh yeah, TMI alert! I can't believe that it's already time for those!!!! I am two centimeters dilated and 50% effaced so I am feeling really excited and nervous! I never progressed this far on my own with Sawyer. The problem is that she is oblique breech. Dr. Watts did a quick sonogram and she is kind of curved and her head is facing down and turned to the left. I remember that Sawyer was breech for a long time, but he had moved to head down by 36 weeks, so I guess we'll have to play it by ear. She said that if I go into labor and she is still breech I will have to have a C-section. I am thinking happy turning thoughts and hoping that she will put on her blinker and turn left. Maybe I should watch a lot of NASCAR. That should do it! They are the turning left experts!

My doctor said that I am past the Cervadil stage of induction so that won't be a problem this time, thank goodness. I am trying to avoid an induction and that extra night in the hospital at all costs. She said that I could go to 41 weeks if she doesn't come by then. I had Cervadil, Nubane, an epidural, and Pitocin with Sawyer. I am trying to only have an epidural and go into labor on my own this time.

I'll close with some pictures of Sawyer:

Sawyer loved eating his pudding! Of course he had to use an adult-sized spoon too!

I'm trying to let him eat more chocolate now that he is getting older.


Sawyer is enjoying writing with a pen and pencil and coloring more and more.

Sawyer put this colander on his head the other day and kept saying, "hat."

Sawyer is Twenty Months Old!

Sawyer was very busy during his nineteenth month. The greatest change has been in his speech. He has definitely become more vocal. His newest words include mop, broom, wawa for water, claw (there's a story there), done, down, uh-oh, wow, book, no, baby, shoes, socks, uh-huh, woo hoo and rock (as in a rocking chair). Of course not all of these words are entirely clear, but we can tell what he is saying and I think that is the most important. He is still signing thank you and please, but he has started saying please more and more.

One day before naptime Sawyer and I shared a coversation that went a little like this:

"Sawyer, are you ready for a nap?"

"No."

"Would you like to go upstairs?"

"No."

"Do you want to go and see George (his cuddly bear)?"

"No."

"You don't have any idea what I'm saying, do you?"

He shakes his head and replies emphatically, "Uh-huh!"

It was one of the funniest moments I've shared with him up to this point! He understands, he really understands!

I was so proud the other day when I showed him a red ball. I asked him the color and he replied "red." My excitement was short-lived when I showed him a yellow ball and he said it was red as well. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely proud of our little guy, I just thought it was funny that every time we ask him a color question the answer is red. He can also say blue and yellow, but usually only after we have said it first.

He has discovered Lorne's electric razor in the drawer in our bathroom. He likes to take it out and shave his face. He not only shaves, he also makes the appropriate sound effects while he is shaving. He also enjoys shaving our faces.

He no longer wants to sit in his high chair for an extended period of time. He eats a few bites, drinks some of his milk, and says done and down and proceeds to take off his tray. He usually hands me his food, plate or bowl, and cup beforehand. We are trying to teach him to hand us these items instead of hurling them across the room. It works out about half of the time.

He is also learning more and more animal sounds. He can make the sounds for sheep, cow, dog, cat, duck, lion, and tiger. We always figured that he would learn about animals fairly soon since he is surrounded by jungle and zoo animals in his room and through his books and toys. He is really cute about giving air kisses to every animal he sees whether it is in a book, one of his toys, or Rosie. How he knows which words are animal words and which words aren't is beyond me, because non-animals don't get any kisses.

Last week we went to the library for storytime. It is each Wednesday for twenty minutes. They always have a theme and sing songs and read two books. I thought that Sawyer did really well. He didn't seem to be shy at all around the other kids. We went to the park after storytime and he had a blast there. The only problem was that he wanted me to go up and down and all around the equipment with him. I enjoyed it at the time, but my lower back is still hurting. I wish that I had held back some, but I don't think Sawyer would have gone for that.

We had lunch at Blue Goose with Laura and Logan on Thursday. Their house was being shown so they had some time to kill so we went to Willow Bend Mall so that the kids could play. Once again Sawyer jumped right in and played. I hate that they're moving because the two of them play so well. Willow Bend is really close to the hospital so that play area may come in handy when the baby comes.

We had a pretty busy weekend. It seems like they've all been for the past few months. We went to IKEA Friday and found a new dresser for Sawyer's room. I had his clothes in the changing table, but that is in the baby girl's room now so we needed something for him. Saturday I had lunch with Kristy and Lorne painted the guest bathroom. It is now officially a kids' bathroom and it looks so cute! Sunday Lorne and I went and saw Moonlight and Magnolias which is a play about the writing of the screenplay of Gone With the Wind. It was a comedy and it was really entertaining. Crystal watched Sawyer while we went to the matinee. We wanted to go on a Saturday night and have dinner too, but her softball season has started and she's really busy with practice, games, and tournaments. I was just glad that we were able to go out again one last time before the baby comes.

Here are a few pictures of our twenty-month old:

I managed to snap a few shots before he got out of his high chair.

Of course he had to give the bear his monthly kiss.

I'm Back

Lorne set up a new way for me to post pictures so I'm back in business. I've forgotten how to do captions, but I'll try to get a refresher course tonight. I've also posted pictures of the new nursery under this post.

I had a prenatal appointment last week and that went well. It was another quick visit but that's fine with me. I will never complain about having an uneventful pregnancy thus far. I have one more two-week appointment and then it's every week after that. I have gained twenty-five pounds which is more than I wanted to have gained at this point, but I am still proud of myself for not gaining more. It has been really tough to not go crazy and eat everything in sight. My goal now is to really watch what I eat here at the end because this is when the baby is putting on the most weight so I know that a pound a week gain is pretty much guaranteed.

We had another productive weekend. Lorne finished up in the nursery and it looks great! He also installed the camera but it's not going to work out. He went online and ordered a different camera from the one in Sawyer's room and it isn't nearly as good. I think that he's planning on returning it and finding one closer to Sawyer's.

I got the oil changed in the Camry and went grocery shopping on Saturday. I can't believe that we only have five more Saturdays until my due date! I have a huge to do list of things that I need to accomplish before I pop. I get anxious when I think about what I still need to do, but I know that it will all work out okay in the long run.

We went to Jeremy and Denise's house to watch the Super Bowl last night. They made chili and homemade bread so it was really good. I made some chocolate and caramel swirled chip cookies and they were yummy too. Jackie baked some at Christmas so I wanted to try them out myself.

It's Finished and Oh So Pretty!

Here are some pictures of the baby girl's nursery. Lorne painted the wall purple and he and Larry put up the trim and bead board. Velma made the panels. She has also made a curtain for the changing table door and is making a few pillows.

The Ruffles crib bedding set has been discontinued at Babies 'R Us. I found that out when I was there weekend before last doing a registry. Luckily I was able to purchase everything that I was wanting from the set. I had to track down a lamp from the Addison store, but I got the last one so I was in the right place at the right time I guess. They also had the flower wall hangings so I went ahead and bought those now too. Lorie gave me one of the flower prints and I found the other one in the set at Target when I was registering there. I decided to go with the mobile that Denise used for Sophia instead of the Ruffles one. This one plays quite a few different melodies and has a remote. I'm thinking that we may have installed it too soon because Sawyer is enthralled with watching it and doesn't want to leave the room. It's probably better this way since the baby will be an even bigger change for which he will have to adjust. At least this way he gets to spend some time getting used to the new baby's room.