Introducing ...

Mr. Moose

(a.k.a. Goo#2!)

And no, I didn't buy him the Sioux hat I'm still an NDSU fan!! Uncle R bought the hat for Goo, and it was the warmest hat I could find for the occasion.

 As we all know, I'm horrible at keeping up with this thing, and I imagine with two kiddos, I'm going to be even worse. BUT, this is for them, so better late than not at all, right? :)

Our second beautiful boy was born on Thursday, January 27th at 9:17am. Mr. Moose weighed 9 lbs, 6 oz and was 21 inches long.

Here he is with his VERY proud big brother:

(... the newness has since worn off!)

And with an equally proud Daddy-o:

And again with Big Bro in one of his first professional pics at 5 days old ... love this one!

Mr. Moose was 8 days late ... better than Goo being 11, but still - boys, mom is not impressed. If you ask me when you're older why you didn't get any more little brothers or sisters, this may be why. :)

The Mooses birth story is kind of cute - I'd actually gone in for my 41 week check up on Wednesday morning, and some little stinker decided to sleep through his stress test. After the 4th nurse came in to look at his activity strip, I started to get nervous.

After the stress test was over, they sent me in for a quick ultrasound to see what was going on. The ultrasound tech was pleased, and commented on how our "little" guy had a fat roll on his neck. The Dr. told me later that our guy scored an 8 on a scale of 8, and that sometimes, they just don't like to cooperate during the stress tests (or a multitude of other things). He did schedule me to be induced the following morning at 6:45, since we were over and the baby appeared to be more than ready to go.

So ... I went to work for 30 minutes to organize my things and prepare for leave. I then picked Goo up and took him to lunch for one last mommy/son date before he was a big brother. We also (thankfully!) snuck in one last mommy/son nap ... I imagine that won't be happening again for quite a while! I also called everyone and told them to get ready. Both sets of parents, my grandparents and T's grandma were all planning to come meet baby as soon as he was born. When T came home from work that day, we finished packing the hospital bags, cleaned, and made sure the babysitter was ready to take Goo the following morning. We all went to bed around 9:30 and joked how ironic it would be if I went into labor before 6:45 am ... Sure enough ...

At 11:45 I woke up with contractions, thinking something along the lines of "You've got to be kidding me!" :) When I started timing, they were consistently 3 minutes apart, but were only lasting about 15 seconds each. I called in to L&D, who told me to wait until they were a minute long. At about 1am, I called and woke the sitter up, and Dad brought Goo over in his PJs and put him back to bed at their house. By the time he got back, my contractions were about 40 seconds long, and I decided it was time to go in.

When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse gave me a skeptical look when I told her what I was experiencing, but checked me in and examined me - at which point my water broke. She then made a comment like "I bet you're glad you came in when you did!" Duh.

Fast forward a few hours (and one magical epidural!) and our "little" guy was born at 9:17am. The NICU nurses were in the room (as they were with our first) but thankfully not needed. We got a 9/10 on the Apgar test because it took a while for those fingers and toes to turn pink, but Mr. Moose quickly rebounded and scored a 10 on his second test later. 

Mr. Moose looked so good that we were able to keep him in the room with us for about an hour before they took him away to weigh and measure him, to allow us some time to bond and show off. My parents and grandparents actually made it up in time for the birth, and we all guessed how much he weighed when the nurses took him away. I guessed 8 lbs, 6 oz, knowing he was bigger than big brother, but Great Grandma J knew better - "That baby weighs more than 9 lbs, for sure!" Sure enough - 9 lbs, 6.7 oz, and 21 inches long. (The Mr. Moose nickname makes a little more sense now, doesn't it? :) 

Ticking Time Bomb

I feel like a ticking time bomb. Goo #2 is due in 2 days (yes, 2 days!) which therefore puts me in that “any minute now (or not)” category that I so sincerely dislike. Don’t get me wrong – I couldn’t be more excited to meet this little guy and hold him in my arms, but the anticipation is driving me a little bit (ok, a lotta bit) bananas. It makes my face do weird things like this:

Ha!

With Goo, I actually talked a lot about wishing an elective C-Section was an option, just so I knew when he’d be coming and could plan accordingly. Of course, this option wasn’t offered to me, and in retrospect, I’m very glad it wasn’t. It’s the number 1 lesson to learn when becoming a parent – You’re not in control, Mama. Can’t blame a girl for trying.

People keep asking me if Goo is excited to meet his baby brother, and I have to say – I still don’t think he really gets it. What he does know is that he does NOT like being told not to climb on/draw on/disassemble the baby gear sitting around the house, so I think sharing is going to be a bit of an adjustment. We’ll figure it out, though – he’s a great kid, and I have no doubt that he’ll (eventually!) be a great big brother. He’s even got a new shirt to prove it:

As for me, I’m actually feeling really good. I’m tired and achy most of the time, just because of my general huge-ness and the fact that I can’t get a decent night’s sleep (parenting lesson #2 – functioning on no sleep!) – but overall for being this far along, I’m doing awesome. This does not bode well for the idea of getting any assistance evicting this baby – we have absolutely no medical reason to not allow me to continue to be pregnant for 2  more weeks. So … the bomb keeps ticking, I suppose!

All sarcasm aside – Here’s hoping that my next post will be a beautiful birth story that contains lots of pictures of a healthy, beautiful babe. If you have a prayer to spare, my growing family and I would sure appreciate it!

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?