Still Kickin’ … and Still Being Kicked!

Believe it or not, we are now 30+ weeks into this pregnancy. I *still* have moments every once in a while where I look at my belly, shake my head, and can’t believe it! I suppose I better get over that … soon!

As for physical baby preparations (apparently we’re not quite there yet, mentally! Ha!) we’re *just about* ready. We’ve dug out all of Goo’s little bitty clothes and bought a few new ones (of course) and have all of his gear out and ready to go. We still need to disassemble and wash the car seats (and the cars, for that matter) – but we’ve got plenty of time for that. I also don’t have a hospital bag packed or those bottles sterilized, but I’m sure I will, shortly. (Mostly because the bottles are sitting in a big tub on my kitchen counter, and the tub is driving me a little nutso).


The crib has been assembled:

See, T, that super expensive crib bedding was worth it, right? *ahem*

Our new, beautiful cradle from Great Grandpa Riley is ready to go …

And we even have a few packs of itty bitty diapers ready, because I’m imagining in January, we’re not going to want to run out every 5 minutes, like we did with Mr. July.

Speaking of Mr. July – he’s as brilliant and adorable as ever. His new thing is singing “Happy Birthday to You” to everyone he talks to, regardless of whether it’s actually their birthday or not. He’s also loving “Ring around the Rosie,” although he tends to get impatient and “all fall down” way before he’s actually supposed to. Goof!

He’s talking up a storm these days … he’ll say “I’ll be right back!” when he leaves a room, “Oh no! What happened?” whenever he hears a loud noise or sees a crash or disturbance of some sort, and says “Hey Mama, what’s that sound?” at least once a day.

Halloween this year was … interesting. We bought Goo a hilarious DJ Lance costume from Yo Gabba Gabba, but he insisted on being Batman. Aaah well, maybe Goo #2 will like DJ Lance, too … or we’ll just have another costume laying around for dress up. J I thought we’d have another year or two of having a say in the costume selection – little did we know …

Trick or Treating at mom’s work was super fun, Batman ran up and down the hallways of the building, even running across a room to give a woman who looks like Grandma ‘Tine a big hug. (Thankfully, said woman wasn’t freaked out by this at all and now claims that Goo is her “honorary grandson.”) Actual trick or treating, on the other hand, was a total disaster. We started at Goo’s daycare, and things were going really well until we suddenly had a major meltdown. We’re not sure if he caught a glimpse of something “scary” outside, or what exactly happened, but suddenly Goo really, really wanted to go home. We’d then planned on walking around our neighborhood with our neighbor kids and pulling the boys in the wagon. At the VERY FIRST HOUSE, a boy of about 10 opened the door in a skeleton costume and a scary mask. Queue meltdown #2. We made it to two more houses, neither with any “real” success before we completely gave up and went home.

We did have fun, though, seeing all the neighbor kids out and about. Last year, which was our first year in our new house, we’d gone to DL on Halloween weekend, so we weren’t home. And at our old place, we hardly EVER had trick or treaters. This year, we went through all of our candy, as well as all of the neighbors candy, and had to turn out lights and hide for a while! Next year, we’ll be better prepared!

Goo-Speak

This morning:

Goo: Ohhhhseeebe!

Me: Ummm …..

Goo: Ohhhhn seeve!

Me: I don’t know what you’re saying buddy, sorry!

Goo: Ohhnnn TV!

Me: Oh, you want me to turn on the TV?

Goo: Good job, Mama! (Actually it was more like “guh jaw, mama!” – but I got that one the first time) J


Happy to see he’s hearing that positive reinforcement. Ha!

Bell Pepper Babe

With all of the excitement surrounding Goo’s second birthday, I’ve been slacking in Goo #2 updates. Goo #2 is doing really well – he or she is about the length of a bell pepper these days ….

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-18-weeks_1107.bc?intcmp=timeline

I am starting to feel the baby move now, which is really fun, and thankfully, the 24/7 nausea seems to have lightened up quite a bit. I’m down to one 4mg pill in the morning, down from 8mg every 6 hours (and still getting sick in between). All of our checkups have been perfect (*knocking very loudly on wood*), and we see the Dr again on Friday for another. Unfortunately, since we do want to know the gender, the Dr. has decided it’s best to wait to do our “big” ultrasound until 22 weeks, darn him. I guess it’s easier for the techs to see when the baby is that much bigger …. So – 5 more weeks, and we’ll be able to start buying pink or (more) blue! At this point, we still don’t really have a gut feeling or a preference about what we’re having. Another boy would be fun for Goo, but a girl would be fun, too – since this is most definitely (sorry, grandmas) our last bio baby. We’re not ruling out the idea of adoption in the future, though – so either way, we’re really just hoping for a healthy babe. :)

 

Mr. Casanova

This year, we tried a new photographer here in Fargo – Hadley Photography. Did we try her because had Goo been a girl, his Mama really, really, really wanted to name him Hadley? Perhaps. Was it a good move? Absolutely! We LOVED LOVED LOVED his pics, and had a super fun shoot.

As you’ve probably imagined, Hadley Photography is named after the photographers little girl, Hadley. Hadley is 2.5 and the exact same size as Goo. When we arrived to the photoshoot, we were surprised and delighted to see that Hadley came with. Hadley’s mama apologized profusely, citing last minute babysitter issues, which we completely understood. When Hadley’s mom got her out of the car and set her down, Goo walked right up to her with outstretched arms, going in for a hug. Hadley gave Goo a funny look, but they ran off to play together anyway. They had such a fun time during the shoot, we credit lots of the giggling, happy pics to Goo’s new friend.

Goo and Hadley got along so well, we even got a shot of the two of them holding hands.

Say it with me, people … Awwwwwwwww …..

When we went to leave, Goo surprised all of us by walking right up to Hadley and planting a big wet one right on her lips. Apparently, Goo has moves. T and I laughed all the way home, and then got a little nervous, thinking about a teenaged Goo having that much confidence … yikes. Wish us luck – looks like we may need it!

Overboard? Naaah …

To celebrate Goo turning 2, we had two parties, one at home, and one in Devils Lake over the 4th. As expected, Mr. Magoo was spoiled silly with new toys and gadgets, and many wonderful memories. Unfortunately, Goo’s mama was having a lost-camera-charger-issue during this time, so I wasn’t able to get many snaps at the first party. I did swipe a few from “amma,” though – enjoy!

Goo and C, and "Amma" M, trying to avoid being in the picture...

Cars cake, of course. :)

By the time party #2 rolled around, the lost-camera-charger-issue still hadn’t resolved itself, so I made a point to ask my awesome neighbor to be our official party photographer. She got some great shots!

Goo and Miss T in the bouncy house

Goo and his BFF daycare buds - so glad they could come!

During gift opening, Mr. C couldn't see, and thought any old lap would do. Those are my grandparents he's hanging with. :)  

Goo and Mama, and the beginning of a baby bump :)

Go ahead and admit that you're jealous of my crafty grandma (and my super cute son and little sis)!

My *favorite* pic of the day - "Amma" D trying to cool Goo off by dumping water on his head, which he obviously LOVED. haha ... poor Goo.

Side Note/Parting Thoughts: Yes, that’s a 20 foot bouncy house. Yes, great-grandma J made every little person who attended the party their very own Batman cape. Yes, we were accused of going overboard, and no, we don’t care. Really, how many times do you turn 2? And why do we have this big backyard if we can’t invite 50 people over? 

The Big 0-2!

I cannot believe that Goo will be 2 in 10 days. Where did the time go? He is SO MUCH FUN right now – this is such a goofy age. Here are some of Goo’s latest “stats:”

• Goo repeats constantly. He’s got a great start on his vocabulary, but we’ve got a ways to go. In the meantime, he tries to tell us what he wants, and if we don’t get it, he’ll physically pull on our shirt/arm/legs to show us what he wants. He certainly knows how to get his point across!
• He’s still in 2T/3T clothes, and has been now for almost a year. I didn’t think he’d ever slow down, but as he’s stretched out and become more and more (and more!) active, he’s stayed pretty steady, waist-wise. :)
• Goo’s fascinated with Batman, Yo Gabba Gabba!, trains, and horses. He loves this video, and could watch it for hours. The cute thing about Batman is he’s picked it up solely from the “big boys” at daycare, he’s never seen a cartoon or movie. He has 4 Batman shirts and wants to wear them every day. We do let him watch Gabba and “toons” periodically, particularly at night, when we’re trying to get him to wind down (always easier said than done)!
• He loves horsy rides, any and all forms of chasing or being chased, and wrestling daddy and Henry whenever possible. He’s a busy, busy boy and we honestly can’t take our eyes off of him for 10 seconds. If we do, we find sippy cups in the garbage, lipstick in the toilet, and toys in the fridge.
• Goo loves to talk on the phone. His Grandmas (or “Ammas,” as he says) are very good at entertaining Goo via phone, and have both figured out how to get a “Laaa You, Amma” out of him, on command. He also likes to talk to Cammi, which is super cute.
• He has gone on the potty a couple of times, but doesn’t show any real interest in learning at this point. We’re not pushing it, we just bring it up periodically, and humor him if he wants to try. Slowly but surely, we’ll ease him into it …
• Goo’s gotten 2 haircuts, the first of which was in Devils Lake in February, and just recently, by Grandma D.

We went tonight to take Goo’s 2 year pics, and are hoping to have lots of cute photos to post, soon. I will admit that the picture taking has seriously slowed since Poppy has come into the picture and has kept Mama on the couch for much of the time. I’m hoping that the morning sickness will let up a bit and I can get back to my normal mamma-ratzi self soon. :)

Last week, my work sent me to Phoenix, AZ for a 3 day leadership conference. The conference itself was an amazing experience, and as usual – they put me up in fantastic digs:

http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/PHXFVDT-Doubletree-Guest-Suites-Phoenix-Arizona/index.do

I’d never been to Phoenix before, and quickly learned that Phoenix in June is similar to Fargo in February – you’re outside as little as humanly possible.
I look forward to visiting again on a family vacation, in the dead of winter.

I guess I'm going to have to change the title of this blog .....

…. because Goo #2 will be joining us in January! :)

Our surprise little blessing, who we call “Poppy,” has currently been baking for about 11 weeks.

Some questions we’ve been asked lately:

Are you sick again?

Lucky me, yes, yes I am. We’ve been to the ER twice and have been medicated since week 6. This: http://www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-true-that-morning-sickness-is-a-sign-of-a-healthy-preg_10323716.bc
- makes me feel slightly better, and we’re *hoping* that because this started a little earlier than last time, that it might let up a bit, but so far, no luck. :(

Will you find out what you’re having?

You bet! We actually had an u/s at 10 weeks to make sure it wasn’t twins (Big PHEW! there), and if they could have seen then, we would already know! Alas, it looks like we’ll have to wait for our 20 week screening, sometime in early September.

Any guesses?

At first, it really felt like another boy, but now, I’m not so sure. T says that he “only makes boys,” but he says a lot of things. We’ll see! Either way, we’re hoping for a happy, healthy baby. We ask Goo if it’s a boy or a girl and he says “yes.” Smart kid!

When are you due?

Ironically, on January 19th. This was also my mom’s due date when she was pregnant with me, although I arrived on the 14th. (I’ve always been an over-achiever like that!) Goo will be almost exactly 2.5 years old.

Will Goo and the baby go to the same daycare?

Yes! Thank God. Seriously – Thank God! Our daycare provider was the second person I told, because we love her SO much and really, really don’t want to lose them. Thankfully, by the time Poppy comes, she’ll have room for our little one. Another super big sigh of relief, there! :) 

Does Goo understand?

The short answer is, not really. He LOVES babies, and I have no doubt he’ll be an excellent big brother. I try to explain it by pointing at my belly, and saying “Baby,” but he just points at his and says “Batman,” so ….. :) Gotta love that Goo! Hopefully when my belly is more of a “baby belly,” he’ll start to understand a bit more.

So …. Wish us luck in our new adventure! We’re so excited and (barring the 24/7 nausea) life is good!

Vegas, Baby!

**I keep writing blog posts, and forgetting to publish them. So - lucky you - you get three in one day! Yay! :)**

Earlier this month, Goo's Dad and I took a mini-trip to Vegas while Goo hung out with Cousin C at Grandmas. In all, there were 7 of us that made the trip, this being the only time we all actually stopped to take a photo. :)



The weather was beautiful, (80 degrees with a chance of FUN, according to Goo's uncle R!) and even though I was battling a sinus infection shortly before we left, I thankfully felt well enough to go. The first day, the girls and I hit up an Oxygen bar, which I'm still not convinced wasn't a total gimic, but we had fun. Here's A & I with our nose plug things ...



We saw a couple of shows while we were there (Dragon! Dragon!) and spent some time at the pool, but in reality, the majority of our 3 days was spent wandering around in the sun and seeing the "sights" - many of which will not be suitable for Mr. Magoo for another 19+ years. :) Here's T and Uncle R goofing around by the fountains at the Bellagio:



Get your life together, boys. ;)

I was thankful that my good friend S got to come - a big thanks to her hubby for hanging out with their 3 yahoo's while we enjoyed the sun!



We had a super fun time but were in a hurry to get back home to Goo, although from the sounds of it, he had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa that he hardly noticed we were gone. :)

Toes

Sometime a few weeks ago, Goo caught me painting my toes. I guess it looked REALLY fun, because Goo plopped down on my lap and stuck his foot out - "Mine?" So - I painted one foot, and kind of forgot about it.

On Monday, I came home from work to T changing Goo's diaper. "Look at his toes!" he says. Thinking that he somehow hurt his foot, (worst-case-sceanario brain), I quickly remove his socks, to find these:



I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. :)

Apparently, Goo's buddy J was getting her toes painted at Daycare that day, and once again, Goo wanted to take part. Our fabulous daycare lady hesitated, not sure how we would react, but he was SO insistent, that they gave in and decided to do it. When they saw that one foot was already done, they figured that was a good indicator that we wouldn't be too worried about it. Ha!

SPRING!

We've decided that fresh air is to Goo what crack/cocaine is to a drug addict. One day last week, I got home from work shortly after T had picked up Goo and found a cranky, crabby kiddo. I asked T what was wrong and he didn't know. I asked Goo what was wrong and he immediately walked me to the patio door, pointing the whole way, and said "SIDE!"



Apparently, he wanted to go outside.



Did I mention that this was the same day Goo came home from daycare in Batman PJs? It was super-hero day! I'm pretty sure my daycare wasn't nearly that fun - lucky Goo!



The coolest part of super-hero day was that Goo learned to sing the Batman theme song, which I was finally (sort of!) able to catch on video:



So since Goo now insists on spending EVERY FREE MINUTE outside, I'd like to publicly thank the Easter Bunny for being so generous this year.



Goo and his Auntie C made out like bandits!!

And speaking of Auntie C, did I mention that she is officially becoming "Auntie C?" I've always wanted a little sister ... better late than never, I guess! :)



Goo isn't really old enough to understand the significance of what's going on, but I'm pretty sure if he did, he'd be as thrilled as his Mama.

Picasso, Jr.

20 Month Tricks

So Goo has been up to some new tricks lately, all of them leading me to believe that we'll be entering "terrible two" territory very, very soon. For example, a few weeks ago, I caught him climbing on something he shouldn't have been. Here's how the conversation went:

• Me (in my very best stern mommy voice): Goo, be careful.


• Goo (continuing to climb, scolding himself): Get down (or "geh dow", if you want to get technical)


• Me (trying not to laugh): You're going to hurt yourself ....
  
• Goo (climbing higher, again scolding himself): No, no!
  

*sigh*

Another "situation" we've been dealing with lately is putting down the toys when it's time to go somewhere. This kid never has a free hand - there's always a matchbox car, an action figure, or an ant (from his "Ants in the Pants" game) clutched in his grip. Whenever we leave the house, I try to get it down to one thing to play with in the car, and it's usually a fight. When we leave the car, though, and take away the one toy that's left - it's meltdown city.

So you can imagine my fear when I picked him up from daycare the other day and he ran to me with hands full. I stalled, talking to the fabulous L as long as I could, hoping he'd lose interest. Nope. No such luck. Bracing myself for a battle, I told Goo we'd have to leave the toys at L's. L walked over, asked Harrison for the toys, which he sweetly handed over. Seriously ?!? Since when ?!?

Again, *sigh*

One important thing to remember about raising a Goo, is that you can't take your eyes of them for one.stinking.second. This gets a bit difficult, while trying to maintain a normal life, where things like cooking, eating, dishes, and other housework sometimes require you to divert your attention for a moment or two. I did make the mistake last night of looking away from Goo while I was running his bath .... well, I'll let the picture tell the rest of this story.

*double sigh*

With all of my fake sighing, though, I have to say that this is SUCH a fun age. We've had to re-arrange some furniture to prevent Monkey McGee from seriously hurting himself, and we REALLY have to watch what we say, but we're having a blast. He's sleeping pretty well (except when we travel), and he eats like a champ, as long as 90% of his meal is meat.

Next up is (maybe?) potty training. There's some intensive potty training going on at L's, and Goo is all of a sudden very interested in the goings-on of the bathroom. We bought him a potty chair last weekend, thinking we'd have to do it eventually, and he may as well get used to it, right? You can imagine our delight when 2 days in, he used it! Genius, I tell you. Never mind that it hasn't happened since, we're still very proud. :)

Bad Mom - Super Bowl Sunday Edition

So I've been told I'm a bad mom for not updating my blog more. Shame on me. It's not like I haven't been busy, you know, being a mom, or anything like that. :P

In any case, we have been quite busy since I last updated ... so - here's my update-in-photos ... enjoy!

Christmas - Alternately titled - Yes, I know we all need haircuts.

We celebrated this year with T's family on the actual holiday and mine over New Years. We ended up getting stranded at the inlaws on Christmas day - gotta love life in ND!

My Birthday! Travis took me out for Sushi, while Goo hung out with the neigbor kids ...

... Who we, in turn, hung out with the next night :)

Travis attended a WWE event with his guy friends and brought Goo home a belt!

Goo colored on the fridge ...

The week before last, we hung out with my friend S's kiddos last week for a night ... (here are 2 of the 3, with 2 of my 3 :)

And finally, dressed Goo up, in a dress. :)

We went to a Sioux game (they lost, but we still had fun! Maybe those 2 foot tall drinks helped?)

Finally, today we hung out with our neighbors, who won an awesome SuperBowl party package from one of our local radio stations. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics today, but will instead leave you with one of Mr. MaGoo, playing Band Hero. :)

Aren't picture posts the best? :)