Baby Boy Arrives!

On March 9th, we welcomed Brady Kenneth to the family. He was born at 7:25PM, weighed 9lbs 8oz., and measured 21 1/2 inches long. After a long day of laboring, our happy and healthy baby boy was born via Cesarean section. Despite the tiring day, Mom and baby are doing wonderful.

Here are a couple of photos from his first day of life...

Still Waiting...

Since I was induced 10 days after my due date with Abi, I was warned early on that I would probably not deliver until at least my due date with this pregnancy; but I still thought that there might be a chance. Well, here we are 4 days away from my due date and still no baby boy! My doctor did agree to induce me on my due date (as long as it is not too busy at the hospital) so we are crossing our fingers that Monday will not be a popular day for women to give birth.

Abi is becoming quite interested in baby boy - especially now that we got his room, cradle and car seat set up. She often asks me what the baby is doing - "Mommy, is the baby sleeping?, "Is the baby moving?", "Is the baby crying?". I think she believes that my belly button can be used as a telescope to see the baby - she often puts her eye up to it (as if she is looking through it) to see what he is doing. Upon looking, she usually confirms to me that he is sleeping. She also uses my belly button as a microphone to speak to him. It is truly adorable! She likes the 'idea' of having a baby brother and being a big sister but the true test will come when he actually arrives and reality sets in that he is here to stay!

Hopefully we will have some good news to share soon so stay tuned...

Ta Daaa!

These were the first words that came to my mind once Josh finished painting baby boy’s room and we got the room back in order.  This could be due to the fact that every time Abi is coloring, she picks up the paper, shows me her work of art and says, “Ta Daaa!”.  In any event, the room is done (at least the wainscoting and painting) – thanks to Josh’s hard work over the past few weekends.  I still have some decorating to do but we are off to a good start.  Now I just need to get the car seat installed, finish the laundry, pack my hospital bag, pick up some last minute items….

              

Happy Valentine’s Day!

We had a busy weekend, which not only included celebrating Valentine’s Day but Abi finally got her big girl bed (thanks Grandma and Grandpa)! We also managed to find some time to play outside and Josh got some of baby boy’s bedroom painted. Now we just need to decide on a color so we can finish up!

CELEBRATING VALENTINE’S DAY

PLAYING OUTSIDE

ABI’S BIG GIRL BED

We were a bit worried about the change from the crib to the big girl bed but Abi did great! I checked her video monitor about 5 times throughout the night to ensure that she was still in bed and not roaming freely around the house. She actually stayed in bed the whole night and in the morning she called out for us to come get her. When I arrived in her room, she said, “I’m stuck”. My first thought was that she was tangled up in the sheets. However, when I took a closer look, I discovered that she had her arms wrapped up behind her in one of her Cabbage Patch doll’s sweaters. As you can see from the pictures, she sleeps with many stuffed animals and toys and one of them was her Cabbage Patch doll. Apparently, Abi thought that the sweater might look better on her so she took the sweater off her doll and was trying it on when she got stuck. Guess it didn’t fit over her head! Hopefully she won’t get too daring and venture out of bed in the middle of the night in the next few months ahead…

The fiw her new bed…

Abi seeing her new bed for the first time

BABY BOY’S ROOM (IN PROGRESS)

35 Weeks and Counting...

Or maybe I should say, "34 Days Left" although that strikes a bit of fear in me. Overall, I feel good (other than the being completely exhausted by the end of each day). Our little guy is constantly moving around which is fun to feel and often gives me a needed reality check, as I have been feeling a bit consumed with all of the "to-do's" which continue to pile up each day. I am not sure if I should blame this is on "nesting" tendencies or perhaps my husband's love to always do things at the last minute. My guess is both.

We have been busy converting our office/den/catch-all room to baby boy's room (and yes, we still don't have a name. Hopefully we will do a bit better on this round and he won't need to wait until day 3 before a name is chosen although no promises!) Over the past month, we built a desk in the upstairs hallway, managed to clean out/box up the contents of the room, moved out all the furniture and started the process of putting up wainscoting.

As I usually do, I forgot to take the "before" pictures of the room but here are some current pictures of our work in progress:

In addition to preparing baby's room, we have been researching/touring preschools for Abi. It is hard to believe that we are already at this stage but she is very excited about the idea of going to school. Although I feel like I say this at every age, this is a really fun time as her imagination is starting to come to life. She is constantly making Josh and I laugh at the things she says and does.

Here is a recent picture of Abi pretending to be a robot. It is funny until she starts running into furniture -

Learning How To Ride A Bike

Abi has been a bit slow to accept or get excited about her new bike.  After several weeks of just looking (and admiring) her bike from afar, Abi decided to hop on the other day and actually sit on it.  This was a big step for her!  I forgot that riding a bike doesn’t just come naturally – we first had to convince her that she wouldn’t tip over and fall off.  Then, we SLOWLY pushed her across the floor as she put on the brakes every 3 seconds (this was a bit trying on Dad’s patience!)  The below video is from a few days later when she took her first ride.  SO EXCITING!

Bad Dog

Last night when we came home from dinner, Abi ran in the house and headed over to her new bike (which is still sitting in the family room).  Suddenly I heard her say, “What happened, Mommy?” As I looked over, I realized that something was wrong.  The cute little tassels hanging from the handlebars were missing.  Upon further investigation, I came to the realization that Sadie had eaten the tassels – not just chewed them but completely devoured them – they were gone - not even a thread left.  I couldn’t believe it…Typically, Sadie isn’t a destructive dog (other than a little incident when she was 9 months old where we lost a few rugs, some magazines and an expense check).  Perhaps she is just getting back at us for not taking her for walks lately. 

As I was lay awake last night, listening to Sadie’s stomach trying to digest the tassels, I fear what the morning might bring us… brightly-colored purple and white piles of vomit???  Oh lord, Josh might be on clean-up crew for that one!

We awoke to a peacefully sleeping dog and both of us got ready to head to work.  We closed all the bedroom doors (to ensure that at least part of the house would stay safe) and said some prayers that we would come home to a clean house. 

When we got home, we had a few small piles but not too bad considering how much she consumed. Here is a picture of Abi’s bike after Sadie’s “snack”:

BEFORE:

AFTER: 

Poor Abi – she just keeps asking, “What did Sadie do to my bike?”  It’s a good thing that she doesn’t seem to be holding a grudge.