Baby Jesus

I put a very tiny nativity in N's room this weekend. It's high on a shelf, and I'm talking TINY! This morning getting out of his crib I showed it to him and told him it was, "mama Mary, daddy Joseph and baby Jesus."

Tonight while putting him to bed we opened up his baby bible and it flipped open to the page of Jesus' birth. I again started to say, "look N, it's mama Mary, daddy Joseph..." And N jumped up and pointed to his shelf. I thought it was the cutest thing that he remembered they were up there. :) it's precious how big he's getting. Can't wait until he says 'amen' after our prayers.

Thanksgiving, girls and check ups.

We had a great Thanksgiving! The day before we went to the doctor and saw a healthy little pumpkin on the ultrasound screen. It was such a relief! We closed our eyes and the tech wrote on a sheet of paper what the baby was. We wanted to find out with my whole family. I don't know that it was worth the wait, but my nieces sure enjoyed it. :)  Here they are carrying around the box with the balloons in it. They opened the box really, I just helped them with the tape. N just hung out in my lap, he hasn't caught on yet.

I was shocked it was pink! I cried, but probably would have cried if it was boy or girl because its just a fun exciting thing. Ben is super nervous, and I think N will be a wonderful big brother. He's learned to say 'baby' but only because he knows there is a 'baby' (himself) inside my phone because we show him video clips of himself sometimes and he LOVES it. We also have a nativity with a baby in it as well. So maybe in 4 or 5 months he'll be excited we'll have a real one too!

 We survived the shock by breaking out the guns... Ben clearly got my best side here, just far enough back that you can't see the baby bump and I just look weirdly wide.... lol. It would have been cuter if he wasn't scared I'd accidentally shoot him I'm sure. I shot 3/4 of my shots on target! Ben did too... don't break into our house. And no, I'm not shooting at the swing set.

 N took breaks loving on the stinkiest, sweetest dog in the house (there were only 5 to choose from after all).

 And our favorite word of the week, "ball".

N had his 15 month check up a little late (almost 17 months) and weighed in the 35th percentile at 24lbs. I can't remember his height, but it was the 75th percentile. Doctor was happy with thed amount of words he says and said our current goal is to keep him out of the ER. I think that's a good goal! I'm in :) I just wish he could eat peanut butter, but we were told to keep waiting until he's 18 months...

 Clearly he's getting ready to be a big brother to a baby sister... pink fairy wand... pushing a baby around. (In his defense, my mother has A LOT of pink toys and this has wheels, as do trucks... so he was saying, 'vroooom' while pushing it around. The baby was already in it.)

Our ultrasound went great too! Tech said she got to see a healthy heart, brain, kidneys and stomach, as well as 2 feet and 2 hands. Praise the Lord!

I am so thankful for the Lord and the peace he provides us. There've been a few things going on outside of our family that have been trials lately, but when you get to see healthy children it puts everything else into perspective. The Lord and the family he provides for me is all that matters. All other things will fall into place according to His will and I am so thankful for that.

We've been visiting a new church for about a month now and I think we're starting to feel at home again. We certainly miss our old church, but we couldn't continue to drive the 45 minutes there. We moved so we would have a community for our kids one day and I think that is something that we have to work on and seek out. So we're still in step one of finding that church. Hopefully new friends will come next because I think that is what Ben misses the most. He was close with our neighbors and loved going over to their houses to cook out or work on cars and he doesn't have that here. I pray God will set those relationships up for him soon.

16 months going on 17 weeks

I just really want to sing: "I am sixteen.... going on seventeen...." I remember singing that and thinking, wow, 16 is so old! HA!

Anyways....
N turned 16 months old this past week. 16 months still seems so young, but he amazes me at how much he can do.

 

Like sit in his toolbox!

We have some changes coming up in terms of day care. For the last 14 months or so, N has been staying with a lady. Its been great, but she recently took a 2nd job and pick up has gotten a little hectic. She usually drops him off to me at school in the afternoon, but since she has to work 4, that means any time I have a meeting and Ben has to work normal hours, we have no child care. Thankfully the secretary (lady who runs our entire school really) has been kind enough to watch N during those times. N LOVES his nanny. She spoils him and loves him like her own. BUT, we knew next year we wanted him in a program with other kids and a curriculum.

We got on a waiting list at the new church we've been going to and were happy. Then we found out the 2-year-old teacher is not someone that we want teaching him since we have a not-so-good relationship with her from a different area of our lives. Well... back to square one.

I began praying like crazy that God would tell us what to do. 

We went and visited a different church program that has been referred to us by many people. We liked it and they explained the waiting list: Now that we are on the waiting list, she'll send us an email about the secret day in January when we get to show up in the middle of the night to hopefully get a spot in their program. N's spot is most likely going to be open, but the spot for the baby is the spot we would be competing for. Literally she said people usually start waiting about midnight.... UGH....

Ben asked if there was a chance we could get in before that wonderful day. She said.... hmm.... maybe....  Turns out, someone was possibly moving. There was one other person on the waiting list though so we'd just have to wait and see.

Thursday we got the call that N can start on Dec. 4!!!! WAY sooner than we expected, but we get in and are guaranteed a spot for baby!! Hooray! N's nanny is going to work with us transitioning him to day care by starting him off 2 days a week then 3 then eventually 5. I'm being a crazy person about it. I am SOOO nervous for N. He's going from one-on-one doing whatever he wants to a room full of other one-year-olds and a new teacher. He has to sleep on a nap-mat.... not in pack'n'play. That may be the part I'm the most anxious about. The child loves his sleep, but I'm pretty sure he needs those bars to contain him to sleep. We'll seeee!!!

Wow, that turned out to be a lot longer than I intended.

What we've been up to?

I'm 17 weeks pregnant! I can feel baby 2 moving around in there now. We find out in a week and a half what the little munchkin is! I painted N's new room this weekend. From a way-too-bright minty green to a calming 'Hush' by Benjamin Moore. What a great name for a baby's room :)

 

MUCH BETTER!

 

For some reason his grandmothers feel the need to keep him up way past his bedtime when he spends the night with them which leads to him doing this most of the next day. 

 

Such a boy. Riding his 4-wheeler shirtless and backwards.

 I felt the need to document his bedtime while I was taking pictures tonight because he will be our only little one for just a few more months and I'd hate to forget how much fun we have. This kid LOVES his bath.

 Here he is 'reading' his favorite book before bed. He actually is just fascinated with staring at the kids in this book. Even upside down apparently.

He will do ANYTHING to get that paci when he's had enough and is ready to lay down. He knows he only gets that paci if he's in the bed (or in my arms on the way to the bed).

Paci in. We sing a song, say our prayers and he's so ready for bed.

 These are from this week. He was given some hand-me-down tools including this cute little toolbelt that he LOVES to wear. Then Ben brought home his old childhood tractor. It needed a little work getting the peddles working again, but for something that is probably 25 years old, its pretty cute. N thinks its fabulous.

 N is as fun as can be. He can say: Ball, Uh-Oh, Moo, Ruff-Ruff, Shoe, Juice, Bye-Bye. Granted some of those only come out when you catch him off guard because he does NOT like to do anything on command. Stubborn little pumpkin. He's a ham though as you can see below:

 

See you soon....when we know what our little pumpkin 2 will be. I currently think its a girl. ONLY because my skin is so terribly broken out, which is the complete opposite of N's pregnancy. I decided with all my medical knowledge,  it must be extra estrogen. Makes sense right? I'm excited either way though, I really would love for N to have a brother and N's been so easy I'm thinking it must be a boy thing :) But if its a girl, it will be an all new adventure. We'll see very soon.  I just can't wait to see it as a baby instead of that teeny little bean. I pray it is healthy and doing great in there.