1 month Rewind

Sydney, as of late:

• Will only eat brown M & M's.
• Starts any tasks with an "I do it" demand.
• If she can't do it herself, says "Help me, help me, help me" in a little mouse voice.
• The sicker she is, the more blankies, or buddies, she requires for sleeping.
  Thinks its thrilling to eat in a "big girl chair" and not her booster seat.
• When drinking from an open cup, if she tips it too fast & its spills, she gets very sad and starts crying while saying "I made a big mess" (picture her bottom lip fully pushed out).
• Says "Go Hide" when she's hiding & wants you to find her.
• Her word for "fork" is insanely obscene & used in public restaurants (replace the "or" with "uc").
• Loves to watch videos of herself on my phone.
• Has my morning mantra memorized so when I'm dropping her off, she says to me "I be nice. I share with Nick. I tell Paula I peepee on the potty. Okay."
• When leaving, or when someone else leaves, says the following "Dood bye. See you later. Asta myiana." (spelled as pronounced)
• Refuses to brush her teeth 50% of the time.
• Eats an entire banana when I grocery shop & she sits in the car-cart (they are the first thing we pass & pick up), and then usually another one on the way home.
• Likes to help me cut coupons from the newspaper.
• Combines & shortens long words (belly button=bellytin, Debby Lally=Delally, Hickory Dickory=Hicky Dicky, you get the idea).
• Is daytime potty trained, but has started to say "NO!" when asked if she needs to go potty & its not always true. She always says her panties are "nice & warm & dry" when I check on her.
• Insists that her baby brother's name is "Peanut"which sometimes sounds like his genitalia.
• Won't walk outside on snow because its "sippy".
• Has discovered the Wiggles.
• Will kiss Jeff obsessively if he makes an Elvis lip.
• Thinks its funny to run & hide while I'm trying to dress her. I don't think this is funny.
• Had her first time-out at Paula's 2 weeks ago for hitting Nicholas on the head w/ a toy.
• Likes to take her interactive babydoll & beat it against the wall (yikes!). The doll thinks this is a clapping sound & will start to clap which just reinforces the beatings (sorry, Peanut).
• Opens every book & starts reading with "Once upon a time there was a mommy bear, a daddy bear, and a baby bear"

Bad News/Good News

Bad news first: Today DHL laid off 600 employees. I was one of those employees.

Good news: I have more time to play with my favorite 2-year old, decorate baby brother's nursery, and find something that I truely love to get up in the morning & do.

Bad news: There wasn't much of a package offered to those of us who got cut. I'm not sure if anyone would really hire a 6-month preggers lady.

Good news: I could possibly be at home till Labor Day kissing my kiddos & organizing our sock drawers. (bad news if we can't keep paying our bills!)

Wish us luck!!! We're writing a new chapter in the Jeff & Brenna saga.

Baby Brother Peanut

On Wednesday I had an appointment w/ my OB to check our progress. I think the appointment lasted all of 5 minutes, which I'm totally fine w/ since I don't really have questions much this time. I already know that if my hernia pops again (which some days I think it has) that they cant' fix it until 6 months postpartum, and that the ugly vein in my leg will have to wait as well....so there's really no need for my complaining about them.

I weighed in (not my favorite part) and I think I've hit the 10 pound mark for gain this time already. I gained 27 w/ Syd total and was pretty happy w/ myself and I'm hoping to stay close to that mark again. I turned 23 weeks and I just can't believe how fast this is going!!!!!

These picts are from 1/2/08, when we found out he was a "he". I'm just now getting them scanned & into my computer (big surprise there).

As of now, we're not scheduled to have any other ultrasounds. My doc said she's trying her hardest to build a case so that she can find an excuse to have my insurance pay for at least one more. I do the glucose test next month, so they can't do one then. Maybe we'll get lucky and get to see him in April. If not, we might do the 3D one again & just pay for it out of pocket-it was lots of fun last time.

Yep, here are the family jewels. There are 2 things as a fetus & an infant that are totally open to the public that totally aren't when your an adult: your private parts & your weight gain. In fact, most parents are pretty proud of both.

He still measured big according to the height of my uterus (I didn't ask how big). She assured me that she didn't think I'd have a 9 pounder (whew!) but that would definitely help give her an excuse for more ultrasounds.

So, we're doing well. He's very active & I just find it so funny. I love that his whole world is me right now & that I'm the special one that gets to feel his every movement. It took me a while to start buying blue clothes w/out lace & frills, but now I can't stop buying polos, swim trunks, dress shirts & slacks, and sports wear (like he's a little jock already). Jeff is already making plans to start taking him to the gym at age 12 to start working out. I guess you could say we're pretty excited & its starting to set in.

Still no name. Give me a few more weeks and we might be ready...(don't hold your breath).

Popularity of Baby Names

Jeff found this link, and we've found it very helpful in picking out Peanut's name.

We think we've got it narrowed down....but no announcements yet!

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/

For all my friends who aren't registered to vote

For those living in Johnson County, KS:
http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/VoterRegistration.htm

Everywhere else:
http://www.justvote.org/

Sydney turns 2!

First things first....Jeff's gotten a few comments that I'm not "showing" yet based on our blog pictures. Oh, contraire! Maybe I just need to take another picture this week, because even the one below doesn't do it justice. This pict was taken on the 16th, so I should be 19/20 weeks along (I'm 21/22 weeks now). I can no longer fit into my non-maternity pants. He's kicking like a crazy person. We still don't have a name and I'm starting to stress out. If I get desperate enough, I'll post our list & let you vote on it. I told Jeff over breakfast this morning that he was coming home from the hospital "Baby Boy Morgan". We have several more house projects I'd like to get finished before we start on his room, but we've got a good idea of what we want & hopefully I'll have pictures for you in a few weeks of how its coming.
Here's what Pregnancy Weekly has to say:
Fetal Development
Your baby weighs approximately 10.5 ounces and is about 7.2 inches from head to rump and is busy moving within your uterus, surrounded by amniotic fluid. He or she is learning how its arms and legs move, and using its hands to feel its facial features, which you may be able to see on an ultrasound. Most clinics and hospitals offer to videotape your ultrasound for a nominal charge; it's a great keepsake!

Here's another random picture taken this same week. I look much more chubbo here, or as I like to think of it "with child".

When we were in St Louis, we saw Daniel (who I believe would be Syd's 2nd cousin since he's Jeff's first cousin....is that how you do it??) Daniel is 3-4 weeks younger than Syd I believe, but he's like the Jolly Green Giant. Not a big surprise since his daddy is taller than Jeff! Can you see the size difference here? Granted, he's got on good shoes & Syd has on slippers, but still. He's about to grow out of his 3T clothes!!

Jeff got a little x-box Halo action in during our down time. Sydney was practicing right along w/ him, even holding the controller just like her Daddy. (Notice how Jeff's mouth is open when he's concentrating. Syd gets this trademark move from him)On her actual birthday, we did a little cupcake action in the morning. She'd been fevered, so she didn't even eat much of it. She actually didn't eat much for 4 days straight. When I took her temp in her armpit it maxed out at 103, so she was pretty miserable. It turns out it may have been higher than this (I wasn't sure how accurate the armpit was b/c our doc says its not a good reading). On the 4th day of fever I took her in at 99 (based on my armpit reading) and the nurse got her at 101 in her ear. There was like a 20 minute time difference between the readings, so it may have just gone up that much. I got a little nervous because 105 is when you take a little trip to the ER, and if I was 2 degrees low at 103, then we may have needed more urgent attention. Regardless, it was a random virus & just threatening it with a doc visit was enough to scare it away within an hour & it never reared its ugly head again.We had her party on the 26th, and our church was nice enough to let us use the gym so 10 2-year olds weren't running around my house!

(the next 3 pictures were edited because they were too dark to see well, so the colors might look a little funny)
Syd was a little slow opening her gifts. A bit of stage fright I believe. It was a group effort, and luckily she didn't mind too much.If I haven't mentioned it before, we totally think Sydney has a crush on Jason. She always asks for him to come over & play. If we happen to see some of our friends & he's not there, she asks where he is. While opening gifts, she totally insisted on giving him this card, for whatever random reason.She liked this dress so much she wanted to put it on right then. After a little convincing that we didn't want to get it dirty just yet, she conceeded & moved on to another gift.
Really, all the girl needs is a bag w/ some tissue paper. She was equally thrilled by this as she was by any of her more thoughtful & expensive gifts. She didn't even want me to show her what was inside, she just threw it over her shoulder & tried to take off.
Tanner & Brooke decorating cupcakes.
Maddie & Jackie decorating too.
Sydney just wanting to eat icing.

Happy about the extra attention.....
Not so happy about the extra attention.....The stage fright took on full affect when it came time to blow out her candle. Its so funny to me because she blows out all the candles in our house (if she can reach them), and at some of our friends houses too. I guess she just couldnt' handle all the pressure!
It was a great party, because she's blessed with such great friends & family that love her dearly.