Thanksgiving

Last week was Thanksgiving and a much appreciated short week at work followed by a few days off.  Carson "celebrated" his short week at daycare with his very first time-out.  :(  He was sent home with an "Opportunity for Improvement" report.  Apparently, he and a friend were fighting over a toy and Carson scratched him in the face.  :(  Disappointing for sure to know that he hurt someone.  But I'm hoping that it wasn't intentional.  They actually weren't even fighting over playing with it, but rather who would put it away!  We talked about it when he got home and told him that hitting is not nice, etc.  I just hope he doesn't do it again.  He seems to "get it" though because all weekend, different toys would fight and/or hit, and Carson would reply with a "No, no (Batman).  No hit (Megaman).  Time out!".  He would then put the "offending" toy next to the wall in time out.  Haha.  So I guess at least he knows it's wrong.  :)

We went to my grandma's for Thanksgiving.  Just us and my mom.  It was a nice visit though.  I think Grandma gets a kick out of seeing Carson.  He was excited to see "Grandma Rose" and "Grandpa Margaret" (lol).  (For some reason, he tends to call my mom "grandpa" Margaret.  He really struggles getting the "grandma" word out but we're working on it.  We're about 50/50 w/ Grandma/Grandpa.  :)  He was so good though and really excited to eat "TURKEY!"  He had his first experience w/ pumpkin pie and cool whip as well and that was a big hit.

Here he is yelling "Turkey!" in response to "What are we going to eat for lunch, buddy?"

Good thing he doesn't know how cute he is  :)

We got together w/ the Bradstreets Friday night for what probably will be our last get together before Baby Fletcher arrives on the 7th!!  We did take out and pajama night.  Perfect!!

How cute is Mandy???  We're 24w and 37w, respectively.

We decided to take Carson to see an EP tradition this year - the Festival of Lights Parade!  We haven't been for several years.  It's always so cold and we've seen it so many times.  But I was really excited to see it through his eyes this year.  The weather was of course awful.  It rained all day!  But we went to Mandy's mom's house - she lives on the parade route.  She has a get-together each year.  Everyone arrives before the roads close and they do soups, desserts, etc. while they wait for the parade.  We were able to walk out right when it was getting ready to pass by.  And due to the rain, there weren't a lot of people lining the streets, so we were able to stand in the bank drive thru area to stay dry but still be able to see.  Carson loved it!  Every float that went by, he'd turn and look up and say, "More, more".  I wish I would've taken my camera.  Mandy got a couple pics though w/ her phone.

He loves holding the umbrella!

Wet but fun!

Another pic of Mandy and I - not in our pj's this time.  :)
 

 

Sunday, we put up the Christmas tree!  We quickly realized that we need a bigger house and a nicer tree.  Haha.  But it was fun to do it this year with Carson.  We got him a Toy Story 3 ornament this year and he wouldn't let go of his "Woody-Buzz" for at least an hour.  He was really excited to help decorate the tree.  We did lose at least 3 ornaments in the process though.  It was decided that maybe it'd be better if he helped Daddy with the other decorations after that.  Haha.  But he's still talking about how he "helped mommy my Christmas tree".  So cute.  We did our tradition of watching "Christmas Vacation" while decorating. :)

I probably shouldn't post these because I didn't realize how awful the backyard looks, but oh well.  His smile cracks me up.  :)  And I know that we need a tree topper - the bow is temporary.  :)

Cheeeeese!

All of our Petsmart Santa pics of Emma :)

Random quotes from the week:
"Oh dear!"  This one's been coming out a lot lately.  Makes me laugh.
"Mommy, hold hand" - Uh, love that!  We've just sat and watched TV holding hands a couple times.  He's such a sweet boy.
"My house!!" - when we pull into the driveway.  :)

24 weeks

Carson update:
Not too much to report, but I'm trying to be better w/ regular posts.  :)

The last couple of weeks, Carson's been particularly attached to me at night.  It's starting to ease up, but for a while, poor Daddy wasn't allowed to read to him or put him down.  Or I should say poor me.  :)  I don't mind too much though.  I like the cuddles.  But I have to admit, I'm really tired of reading the same two books every night.  Current faves are Trucks (slide and find) and the Sweet Smell of Christmas (one of my very favorites as a child!).  He also has taken to rocking at night again.  He knows how to get me!  :)  Every night, he looks at me and says "Mommy, rock for second??"  How do you say no to that??  So, we've been rocking.  I missed it.  He'll lay down like normal after a few minutes.  Not a bad end to a day!

Other favorite phrases lately (in addition to "Rock for second?") :
 - "I did it!!"
 - "Mommy/Daddy, look at me!"
 - "(Blank) hit/pushed me" - Not sure where this one came from.  Daycare??  Most often, unfortunately, it's been "Daddy hit me" which obviously isn't true!  Makes me sad to think he's overhearing that at school though.  I don't know if it's that, or if he just is at the stage where he makes stuff up.  Maybe a bit of both.  But, Daddy/Mommy/Max, we've all "hit" or "pushed" him lately.  Silly boy.  :(
 - "No problem!"  This was in response to a "thank you" from Daddy.  Made us laugh out loud.  He's such a little person with some of the stuff he says!  Wish I could remember it all.
 - "Go Bears!"  Unprompted.  He LOVES to put on his jersey on Sundays so he can match Daddy.  Well, when he woke up from his nap Sunday, we put his jersey on.  And he yelled "go Bears!"  He's going to be just like Daddy with his love of football.  He always asking to "watch football?".  I'm sure Dad's proud.
 - "I/My need (insert pretty much anything" - his NEEDS are great these days.  Makes me smile.  "I NEED watch Woooooody-Buzz" (Toy Story); "I need moneys" (that's a new one this week - he's always looking for change for his piggy bank!); "I need play playdoh"; "I need crackers".  He needs it all.  :)  And right away.  Haha.  AND he's learned just how cute he is.  If he doesn't get it the first time, he'll repeat it over and over, each time hunching up his shoulders and cocking his head to the side, with a HUGE grin on his face.  Like if he just keeps saying it w/ that smile, everyone will give in.  We normally don't, but it does make us laugh.

Carson also had his first bloody incident this week too.  We were playing downstairs in his tent and all of a sudden, he burst into tears!  I looked in the tunnel and he opened his mouth and all I saw was blood!  I grabbed him out of there and tried to see where it was coming from.  Then, just as fast, the tears stopped and he scooted back down the tunnel.  Blood dripping down his chin.  What a boy!  I finally got him out again and got him cleaned up.  It was just a cut to his lip, but it bled for a while.  I still don't know if he hit it on something or fell and bit it or what.  But some hugs and ice and he was good as new.  He's a tough little boy.  I have a feeling he falls a lot at school.  :)  He had a pretty cute puffy lip for a while.  I couldn't resist getting pics as he sat on the couch, holding the bag of ice to his lip.  We could barely get it away from him.

Speaking of falls, his other pretty adorable thing lately is asking for kisses if he hurts himself.  He frequently will come up after falling or bumping into something and ask me to kiss whatever owie he has.  We get "kiss toes?" a lot.  And a couple time, have gotten requests just to "kiss shirt/pants"  - apparently a superficial "wound" - haha.  He "break" or "bump head" a lot, so lots and lots of kisses on the forehead.  The other day, he fell down on his trains (on his butt).  Whined for a minute, stood up and asked "mommy, kiss butt?"  LOL.  And of course I did.  He always replies with a "Oh thank you mommy/daddy!"  So cute. 

Avery update:
Avery seems to be doing well.  VERY active.  She kicks constantly.  Last week, Lucas finally got to feel for himself (23 weeks)!  I've been feeling it since 16-17 weeks, but every time I've tried to get him to feel it, she seems to stop.  He finally caught her this time.  It was also the first week that I could see her kicks from the outside.  I had a meeting last week and almost laughed as I watched my stomach move around.  I'm sure it wasn't noticeable to anyone else, but it made me smile.  I love the reassurance that she's doing well in there.

Carson has no interest in feeling the kicks, but he seems to understand somewhat that I'm pregnant.  I asked him this week what was in Mommy's tummy and he smiled and said "Baby Avery".  He sometimes pats my stomach.  Then again, sometimes he hits it too.  LOL.  He's a little boy after all.

I know I have a long way to go, but I'm already starting to reach the "uncomfortable" stage.  And I think I'm starting to waddle a bit.   Haha.  It's getting hard to lean over and give Carson his baths.   Lots of back pain and irregular contractions too.  Oh well!  :)  It's worth it.

Current craving: rice krispie treats. :)

I hit 24 weeks yesterday so here's another "belly pic".

Belly pics

I feel guilty, but I've been pretty bad during this pregnancy about keeping track of everything, including belly pics!  I hope Avery never looks back and thinks that she wasn't just as wanted as her big brother!  Absolutely not the case!  Mommy and Daddy just get really busy!!  I'll try to be better about pics now that I feel like my belly's more of a pregnancy-belly than a fat roll!  LOL.  And I need to find a new background - ugh!

16 1/2 weeks

19 weeks

22 weeks

Maternal Fetal #2

We had our second visit to Maternal Fetal today.  I get so excited for these visits but so nervous too!  Part of me feels like I'm just waiting for something bad to happen.  But I know that's no way to go through this pregnancy or life in general.  This appointment definitely helped ease my mind.  :)  We saw Dr. Gross today.  They did a very detailed sono w/ dopplers to monitor the blood flow (due to my Rh negativity).  She spent what felt like forever on her brain and heart.  It's so hard sometimes because you can't see the screen very well  (even if I could, I don't know what the heck I'm looking at).  And the sono techs just tell you in general where they are, but they leave it to the doctor to say much of anything.  But Dr. Gross came in after and said that all looks good!!  The cysts that they saw previously are gone.  :)  He explained that while those can be a soft marker, the heart is considered a hard marker.  And her heart looked perfect!  He reported:  heart normal, kidneys normal, umbilical cord flow normal, amniotic fluid normal, measurements all normal!  What a huge relief!  She's already a big part of our family and I just want her to be healthy and get here safely!

Her heartbeat was 144.  I'm 22w1d and she's measuring 23w1d (which Dr. Gross said is perfectly normal).  Her arms and legs are measuring long (24w) so he thinks she'll be tall.  She's already weighing in at a whopping 1 lb. 5 oz.!!  Grow baby grow!  ;)

They also checked my cervix while I was there.  One of the "risks" due to my uterus shape is preterm labor.  During their routine questions, we discussed that I've been having occasional contractions (nothing regular at all) (and have been since the first trimester).  I've also had some "pressure".  Both I assumed were no big deal.  She agreed that it's likely normal but they decided to go ahead and check my cervix length while I was there.  It measured at over 4 cm., so very good!  I was surprised, but Dr. Gross is sending in an order to my regular OB to have a cervix check every 4 weeks for the remainder of my pregnancy.  He said I'm not "super high-risk"  :), but preterm labor can come on with women who have no risk at all, so he'd feel best if it was checked due to my slightly elevated risk.  I won't complain though!  I can have it done at my regular checkups and it will be nice just to make sure that there are no issues. 

She wasn't very cooperative during the 3D/4D pics, but here's what we were able to get today!

She's still a girl - whew!

Hard to tell, but she's got her leg all the way up to her face.  She's grabbing her foot w/ her left hand and pressing her lips to her knee!  She's a flexible little one!

Dr. Gross also got a picture at the end of her yawning!  It's kind of hard to tell, but it's her mouth wide open.  The top part of her face is cut off, but you can see her full mouth open with her little chin at the bottom.  :)  He seemed almost excited to capture the shot.  The serious doctor in him though was quick to point out that it was also good because it shows that her lips are normal w/ no cleft lip/palate.  Thanks Dr.!

Mr. Cool

Carson found his sunglasses today and insisted on wearing them while eating his lunch.  :)

Cheese!

Halloween

Halloween was pretty fun this year.  Carson had his first Halloween parade and party at school.  Of course, they were at two totally different times during the day, making it nearly impossible to do both.  But I was able to go into work late so I could see the parade.  Totally worth it.  I'm SO glad that I went.  I got some cute pics and some good videos!

Getting ready for the parade

That night, we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  He insisted on going door to door in his wagon, which slowed things up considerably.  :)  He did pretty well this year going up to people's doors, but he didn't want to go too far.  We did the cul-de-sac and made it a couple houses past ours when he wanted to go back because "daddy too far away".  :)  Once back, he asked Daddy to take him.  Same outcome though - "mommy too far away".  Solid try though.  :)

Not sure what this expression is, but it's funny.