Almost Christmas already!

Where is the time going? How can Christmas be two days away? How can Sam already be 2.5 weeks old?

We are all home and adjusting pretty well to being a family of four. Nate is proud big brother and is always asking "Where's Sam?" And then when he finds him (usually sleeping in his Papasan chair) he'll announce "It's Sam! It's Sam." over and over again. He likes to give Sam hugs too. We have to remind him to be gentle and not squish his little brother.

Nate has also decided he is not a big boy any more, he is just a big brother. Apparently, you can't be both.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to write a better blog update after Christmas while Ken is off work until the new year. Happy Holidays and enjoy a few new pictures.

Big brother holding his little brother.

Sam's mug shot for the Christmas cards. (It's hard to get a cute newborn picture, isn't it?)

Sam hanging out in mom and dad's room.

Sam relaxing after a hard day.

Baby is here!

My first Christmas gift is here! Samuel was born at 10:11pm on Friday, December 5, 2008. He was 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 20 in. long. Unfortunately, I did not get to the hospital in time for my second Christmas gift, and epidural. I was fully dilated when we arrived at the hospital but at least Sam was not born in the front seat of our car. Nate just came back in the room so I'll post a longer story later. We are all doing fine and looking forward to going home tomorrow.

A visit with St. Nick

Quick appointment update first. I saw my OB yesterday and despite this baby being even lower than last week, I'm still around 1.5 cm so no change. I have another appointment scheduled for Monday when I will be past my due date and if there there is no baby here by next Wednesday, I have a c-section scheduled for 11:00. One way or another, baby will be here by this time next week.

This morning I decided to take Nate to the mall to see Santa and play on the playground there. So we head out and in the car Nate and I practice what he'll say to Santa. (By the way, Nate has refused to talk with Santa or sit on his lap since his first Christmas when he was a month old.) I told Nate that Santa would ask him if had been a good boy that year and Nate could say "Yes" because he had been good lately and was doing a good job of listening to mommy and daddy. And then Santa would ask him what he wanted for Christmas. Nate replied that he wanted "Lights. Rudolph lights that would shine in the dark." Okay, not sure where that came from because he'd never mentioned it to me but I'll go with it. We get to the mall and trek over to Santa Land. As we approach, I can see Nate freezing up. So once again this year, I am saved the expense of a $20 5x7 of my boy with Santa. We ended up going to the second floor where Nate could look down on Santa talking with other kids. We probably watched him for at least 15 minutes but I couldn't convince Nate to go talk to him.

On the playground where I explained to Nate that he would have to take off his shoes if he wanted to get down and play. After watching the other kids play for about 20 minutes, we left the playground with his shoes still firmly on his feet. I guess we are just raising a cautious son who is not one to dive into new situations. (Especially ones that involve removing his shoes.) So we went back to spy on Santa for another few minutes before we left. Maybe next year will be the year Nate finally talks with the jolly old man.

Still a one child family

New baby has not made an appearance yet so Nate is still the only baby, er big boy, in the house. He had his three year check up last week and was 39" tall (75th percentile) and weighed 31.5 lbs (50th percentile). I was so pleased with how he behaved. He let the doctor listen to his heart and check his ears and eyes without a fuss. He also answered all the questions she asked him. He somehow knew the "right" answers like he does eat his vegetables and always brushes his teeth twice a day. (I corrected him behind his back.) The only thing he wouldn't do is hop like a bunny. He's been jumping since he was like 15 months old! I'll say it again, I really can't believe he is three years old already!

Quick cute story about Nate. For his birthday, he received a goldfish he named Pick. (He names everything Pick. We're not sure where he picked that name up.) After feeding him the other night, Nate told me that Pick was talking to him. I asked Nate was Pick was saying and Nate just opened and closed his mouth like his fish. He said that Pick was just a little fish now and can't talk but when Pick grows up and is a big fish he'll talk and say "Hi Nate".

I have my 39.5 week appointment tomorrow. One way or another, I think a baby will be here in a week!

Overdue update

Nate with his Jack-O-Lanterns.

Wow - I guess that busy weekend turned into a busy month. Halloween was alot of fun. Nate did really well trick or treating this year. (Last year he wasn't so crazy about his lion costume and needed to get that first sucker in his mouth before he would go to more than one house.) This year he was excited to put on his samurai costume and go out with his cousins to get candy. I didn't get many good pictures from that night because he just wanted to get out and start trick or treating. After the first few houses, he really seemed to get the hang of the whole thing. He would get so excited and run to the next house saying "Maybe this house will have candy too!". Nate lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes before he announced he was done. He ate a few pieces of candy that night and never asked about it again. Daddy and mommy took care of for him in the end.

My birthday was fine. Nothing much to write about. I'm 31. Who-hoo!

We celebrated Nate's third birthday on Sunday, the day before his actual birthday. It was a beautiful day and all of our family was able to make it to our house for his party. He went down for his nap and I decorated for his party. Nothing too fancy, just some streamers and Backyardigan table cloth on the table. My sister had brought over a few helium filled balloons for his too. He ran downstairs after I got him up and announced "My birthday is here!" (Apparently a birthday is a very physical thing fro Nate because we left the decorations up and when he got up the next morning, he was so excited because his birthday was still here.) We were able to grill out and then open presents and eat cake. When everybody left, Nate was so sad because all his "friends" were gone. (He considers family his friends too.) Ken and I took the day off work on the third to spend Nate's actual birthday with him. We went to the zoo and out to Red Robin for dinner. It was so nice for just the three of us to spend the day together. Everyone says it but I really cannot believe it was only three years ago that he was born. I had no idea what an amazing person he would grow up to be. And I can't wait to see who he still becomes.

Picture from the pumpkin patch in mid October.

The day we got Nate's pie samurai costume in the mail.

Trick or Treating.

Happy 3rd birthday Nate!

Newbie at the spa

Christmas 2006 I received a gift card to one of the largest spas in the area. I have put off using it until this past weekend. (And the only reason I used it then was because it was going to expire at the end of the year.) Spas just make me nervous. I'm not an outgoing person and generally avoid new experiences. I just feel like I don't belong at a spa. But I decided to suck it up and make an appointment for a pedicure and a pregnancy message. The pedicure was so great. I love the way my toes look. At least I think I do since I really can't get too close to them at this point in my pregnancy. It's too bad that it's too cold to wear sandals now. I might actually have to consider another one come summer time. The message was a little awkward at first but really, how could it not be relaxing. The pillows she used so I could lay on my stomach cracked me up. But in the end it was worth it. All in all, it was a good day. Thanks Ken for watching the Tater.

Update on potty training...one accident in the past two days. Apparently the Halloween craft time at the sitters today was just too much of a distraction. But the big new is that Nate has poo'd on the potty the past two nights. I think he's starting to get the hang of this.

Update on Bug...this kid is growing and I still wish I could keep him/her in there longer. I love being pregnant and even though I can't wait to meet this little one, I already miss the fact that they won't be with me 24 hours a day for much longer.

Big weekend coming up. Trick or Treat Friday night and we are celebrating my Dad and my birthday. (His b-day is October 31 and mine is November 1.) Sunday is Nate's birthday party with family and on Monday Ken and I are taking the day off work so the three of us can do something fun on Nate's actual birthday. It's a cliche to say it, but I can't believe my baby is almost three years old already!

Potty Training - Part II

Update for Potty Training Day 3: 1 poopy accident and several pees on the pot.

For the most part we are depending taking Nate to the potty on regular intervals and not relying on him to tell us when he needs to go. But he did wake up this morning with his practice big boy pants (aka a Pull-Up) only slightly wet and didn't fuss when I made him sit on the potty first thing. We even got a pee! My sister Carrie watched him during the day and said he woke up from his nap dry and eventually went pee on the potty after sitting there crying for several minutes. (She also said she met someone as stubborn as her.) My other sister Mindy watched him in the evening and she got the poopy accident. Apparently Nate didn't even mention it to her after the fact, she just smelled him. When she asked him why he didn't come get her when he had to go, he told her that he forgot. Hmmm, we might have an issue with this eventually. But tonight after he was in bed and Ken was laying down on his bedroom floor "just for a minute", I heard Nate tell Daddy that he had to go pee and low and behold, he came downstairs with a dry Pull-Up and went pee on the potty. Maybe he is getting a hang of this thing after all. My mom and dad are coming over tomorow to spend the day with Nate and give him some more one-on-one attention. Keeping my fingers crossed for another good day!

Quick update on the other kid. I had an my 33 week OB appointment today. Only up one pound from two weeks ago. (I wonder about the scales at the office. Last appointment I gained 7 pounds in three weeks on a different scale.) But blood pressure was still really good and I was only measuring slightly big, around 34.5 or 35 weeks instead of 33.5 weeks. But since no one is expecting this Bug to be a tiny 6 pounder, everything seems pretty normal. Ken and I took a tour of the hospital. It was pretty personal since we were the only two people signed up. All we really have to remember is to park in the Yellow lot and go up the the third floor. I'm guessing the nurses and doctors will really take over from there.

Thanks to my family for all their support with this adventure. I don't know how we would be doing it without you!

Potty Training - Part I

Well, we finally took the plunge. We've tried potty training several times without much success and giving up fairly easily. (I looked back in Nate's baby book - aka the bunch of post it notes I have thrown inside his baby book- and there are notes about how he was going poo and pee on the potty in September...of 2007.) But this past weekend we dove into potty training and we're not looking back!

Since we've tried this in the past and did not get very far, I decided that we should try something different. There is a book about "Potty Training in One Day". The basic idea is that you have a big party for your toddler and focus the whole day around potty training. So the night before we started training, Ken and I decorated the bathroom with streamers and balloons, wrapped up the new doll that Nate was supposed to train to use the potty in the morning, got the treats and surprises all wrapped up, and laid out the potty videos and books we got at the library.

Sunday morning we hear Nate start talking so Ken and I muster up all the enthusiasm that could possibly be had at 7:30 am and rush into Nate's room and tell him there is a surprise for him downstairs in the bathroom. Now, the book said as long as you are excited about the doll, the child will be too. Nate tore downstairs and could care less that there was a wrapped present inside for him. All he wanted were the balloons that we had used to decorate for the "potty party". He finally opened the doll but really could care less. I ended up naming the doll Pete for him. We were supposed to start watching potty videos and reading potty books and getting Nate and Pete both excited about being big boys. I was thinking this would be great because Nate loves to watch TV. We had Elmo's Potty Time and Bear in the Big Blue House Potty DVDs along with some potty video from Huggies. Nate unenthusiastically chose Elmo to watch and five minutes into it, he was complaining that he didn't want to watch it, he wanted to watch Blue's Clues. We convinced him to leave Elmo on for awhile.

The next step is that the child is supposed to teach the doll to use the potty. So Ken and say that Pete has to go potty and Nate should show him how to go on the potty. Success! Nate buys into the whole thing about the doll going pee on the potty. After Pete went on the potty, we picked out a sticker to go on Pete's potty chart. Then the treat. The book explains that the child will pick out a treat for the doll and if the child promises to use the potty "someday" then the child can have the dolls treat. So Nate picked out a treat for Pete but then wanted to pick out a treat for himself. We were very, very near tears and a total meltdown as we tried to explain that the treats were for using the potty and Pete has used the potty. I think he had picked his least favorite treat to give to Pete and was looking for a good one for himself.

After another 30 minutes or so of trying to get Nate to train Pete to use the potty, we gave up on the concept. It just wasn't working for Nate. So out came the new big boy pants for Nate and on they went. We spent the rest of the day running to the potty and practicing going. Two big wet accidents the first day and couple of little ones. But there were several successes along with two poos on the potty! Today my parent's came over and watched Nate with about the same amount of successes and accidents as the day before. Tomorrow my sisters are tag teaming since I have a doctor's appointment at 3:30 and then Ken and I tour the maternity ward at the hospital in the evening. We are so lucky to be able to have family pitch in like this with the training. We're hoping to have Nate trained well enough to go to the sitter's on Wednesday or Thursday without too much back tracking.

So this is the last of the three big hurdles I wanted to have tackled with Nate before the baby arrives. The binky fairy took the binkies at the end of the summer. He started sleeping in his big boy bed a couple of weeks ago. And now potty training. Is his third birthday really only two weeks away?!?

Only two more months

So when I started this blog, I thought it would a good place to record my life so I could look back someday and try to remember what is was like at this point in time. So the end of September is here and the baby's due date is is December 5...that's just over two months away. I don't have a blog to look back on to see what life was like 2 months before Nate arrived but I think I remember pretty well.

Two months before Nate was born I had read probably 3 or 4 different books on pregnancy and started reading about what the expect during the first year of life. I had researched all the baby gear and carefully chosen the best while keeping a handle on price. I'd debated and returned at least one bedding set and most likely had the nursery all set with the final choice. We'd decided on a name and everyone knew "who" would be making the grand entrance at the beginning of November. We had finished our childbirth class and taken and class on breastfeeding. I had worried and fretted about labor and exactly how I would feed the new baby. Ken and I ate out as often as possible and saw lots of movies figuring that it was our "last chance" to get out as just the two of us.

Two months before Bug is expected to make and appearance I have reread about 5 chapters of one of my old pregnancy books. (And I think they were all prior to twenty weeks.) I'm haven't researched any baby gear because we still have all of Nate's from three years ago and that was researched thoroughly. (Although at some point I'm going to get new bottles most likely because Nate's Avent bottles are not BPA free and - bad mommy- they were sometimes microwaved to get breast milk up to room temp.) No new bedding for the baby. The nursery will pretty much stay the same and Nate will move into his new big boy room...eventually. His bed was here two weekends ago but it wasn't quite right. The loft couldn't be "unlofted" so they came back this past Saturday to take it back and fix it and it will be back this Saturday along with the dresser we originally ordered too. As for names, we got nada right now and since we don't know the gender, we got double nada. No classes this time but since we will be delivering at a different hospital this time, I think we'll probably try to do a tour sometime before delivery. I have thought about this delivery alot because I am trying to decide if I really want to attempt a VBAC this time or have a repeat C-section. But since I really want to see where I am closer to delivery, I guess I haven't thought about it that much. Ken and I have been able to eat out alone a couple of times this past summer thanks to our generous families watching Nate and we even saw one movie. (Maybe we can get one more movie in during the next two months?)

What's the same between my life now and my life three years ago? I was so thankful for the opportunity to be spending 24 hours a day with the little life that was/is growing inside me. I love you Nate for who you were then and who you have grown to be already. I love you Bug (as you give me a couple of little kicks right this minute) and I can't wait to find out who you will be.

Nate sings! Baby Bug kicks!

Okay, just a quick update. (Life has been busy lately.) As much as love hearing little kids sing, my son just does not like to....until the last week. He'll now sing "Rain rain go away, come back some udder day" pretty much upon request. It is the sweetest song my ears have ever heard. e(I've also caught him secretly singing the opening song to the Backyardigans a couple of times and was laughing until I cried. Maybe there is a reason Nate tells me he can't sing...it really was pretty off key but adorable anyway.)

As for Baby Bug, he/she is definitely getting stronger. Those cute little movements I started feeling just a few weeks ago have given way to kicks and jabs. I keep telling myself to savor every minute because I really do love being pregnant and this may be my last baby but how cow some of those pushes really catch me off guard! I had an OB appointment yesterday and everything is still looking good and I'm measuring just a little bit big. Dr. L said I most likely wouldn't be having a six pound baby and I totally agreed.

Labor Day 2008

Growing up, Labor Day was always a major holiday at our house. I lived in a small town and like many small mid-western towns, we have one "major" festival each year. In my hometown, that festival is Labor Day weekend. Covering both blocks of our downtown, there are rides, games, food, and a stage where local musicians, dancers, and entertainers of all sorts perform. The high school marching band plays at an ice cream social at the old train depot. The local scholarship/beauty pageant is held in the high school auditorium. (No, I never competed but I did go to watch several years.) On Labor Day, there is a long parade filled with antique cars, politicians and trucks hauling local sports teams and classes that were having reunions that year. The best part of the parade was a majority of the participants throw candy to the crowds. I'd come away with just as much candy from the parade as I would on Halloween. As I got older, I remember spending HOURS each day hanging out downtown with my friends, some of which I was just catching up with since school had just started the week before. Labor Day weekend holds a lot of memories for me.

This past weekend, I took Nate back to my hometown to experience another Labor Day with my son. On Saturday evening, we met up with my best friend and her two little girls and walked downtown. Somehow, the festival seems so much smaller than I remembered. Nate wasn't too interested in the rides (even though he really liked them at the two fairs we went to over the summer) but he did play two games where he won a shark and a dolphin. I bought him some french fries and I had my fried cheese on a stick. (The same fried cheese stand has come for as long as I can remember and sets up on the same corner every year. I will truly mourn the year that it does not show up.) We were only at the festival for around an hour and had covered it all. Was this really the place where I had spent so much time as a child?

On Monday, we went to my parents' house for a cookout and then a short walk up the street to watch the parade. I ate too much, watched Nate play with water balloons for the first time, and sweated through the parade. I loved every minute of it. Seeing Nate wave at the people in the parade and happily munch on a sucker instead of diving all over the street to grab even more candy. (I know that day will soon come because I watched his older cousins racing to grab as much as they could.) Nate finally decided that he could pedal his bike so I walked behind him as he rode his bike around the block that I circled so many times when I was growing up. Even though not much has actually changed in my home town during the Labor Day festival, Labor Day isn't the same as I remember growing up. I thought I might miss the way it was, but really I loved it just as much.

You are my sunshine?

I think we are still dealing with the aftermath of the visit from the binky fairy. Nate hasn't asked for his binky since the day after they were "given to the babies" but I know he's not sleeping as well through the night and his naps are not as long. So my poor boy is pretty tuckered out and bit more cranky and "terrible twoish". This morning he was mad at me because I wouldn't let him watch cartoons before going to the sitters. (I know better than to start allowing that because once those cartoons are on, we'd NEVER get out of the house.) So he sat down on the ground and glared at me and then threw himself backwards and started screaming/crying. I tried to talk to him but it just made it worse so I told him I would be in the kitchen and when he was ready from breakfast, he could come see me. About 20 seconds later, he stomped into the kitchen and announced, "I'm mad at you Mommy. You made me fall down." Yes, he was mad at me because and in his anger he flopped himself on the floor so I guess in his mind, that means I made him fall down.

Tonight, Nate was very mad during his bath because I beat him up the stairs. (His competitive streak will be a whole separate post sometime.) So he cried through his bath and started calming down just a little when he was wrapped up in his towel and I was rocking him in his chair. I started singing "You are my Sunshine" to him because that used to calm him down when he was a little baby and I was feeling nostalgic. He stared up at me with his big brown eyes and I could see him just start to relax. I sang it through twice and finish up with "...please don't take my sunshine away." Suddenly, Nate reaches and grabs the air in front of my face and says in his tough guy voice "I just stole your sunshine Mommy." So of course I act horrified for him and the next thing I know, he's thrown my "sunshine" in his mouth and chewed it up. (I guess he was still a little bit mad with me.) When I asked for my sunshine back though, he did spit it into my hand for me so I guess maybe he really does love me after all.

(And by the way, this is my first night with no Olympics in 17 days....what am I supposed to do with my evenings again?)

I'm Yucky Man

"I'm Yucky Man and you're Dr. Shrinky. I going to spray gobbly goo all over this chair and then you're going to shrink it."

I hear that quote several times a day from Nate. It seems like his imagination is really taking off and one of his favorite things do is pretend to be the characters from his favorite Backyardigans stories. Yucky Man (Pablo) and Dr. Shrinky (Tyrone) are two supervillains who are racing superheroes Weather Woman (Uniqua) and Captain Hammer (Austin) to the Tower of Power to try to steal the key to world. Nate almost always chooses to be Yucky Man and Ken or I get to be Dr. Shrinky. (Should we be concerned that he pretends to be the supervillains instead of the superheroes?) He sprays the gobbly goo and we shrink the objects to be teeny tiny. Yesterday at the pool I think the lifeguard got a kick out of hearing Nate call out that it was my turn to shrink her be super tiny. He also likes to pretend to be a pie Samurai. It's been awhile since we saw this episode but it involved Austin and Tyrone trying to make the Great Pie and ninjas Uniqua and Pablo trying to steal it. There is a "fight" scene where the Backyardigans throw pies at each other with spoons and say "Pie ya" instead of "High ya". Nate and I have had many a pie battle in the last month.

Not only does Nate like to pretend to be his favorite characters, he also likes to quote random episodes throughout the day. (I think this is typical guy behavior already. It seems like so many of the guys I know will throw out a movie quote and look at me like I have any idea what they are talking about.) The cutest I think is when he quotes prospector Pablo when he says "Dagnabit".

Nate will also pretend that his hands are tickle spiders named Mr. and Mrs. Spider and they will climb all over Ken and I. The tickle spiders like to drive little cars as well and give them to people as gifts.

And since this weekend, Nate has twice told me about his little sister that is right there next to him. ("Where is she?" I ask and Nate will point to the air right next to him.) He has warned his little sister that she can't play with the phone because it is too sharp and at the pool she was swimming like and alligator like him and wearing an orange bathing suite. I asked what him what her name was and he said it was Baby. I wonder if he knows something that we don't?

Below are a couple of pictures from vacation where Nate was playing Backyardigans with me. (I'm really loving his age right now! Nate is just so much fun to talk to and is a lot more creative than I am.)

This is Nate and his Samurai moves.

Yucky Man spraying gobbly goo on the table.

And this is Nate's superhero/supervillain face. Not sure why superheroes and villains make this face but apparently they do.

Bye Bye Binky Bye Bye

We had an unexpected visitor at our house this week. The Binky Fairy came to visit Nate! We've been talking alot recently about big boys vs babies and how big boys get to sleep in big boy beds and wear big boy pants and how they don't need binkies. Maybe some of it is really starting to sink in.

Two nights ago Ken and Nate were out playing with the flying disk (aka a Frisbee) in the backyard. Nate ran up to Ken to tell him a secret and said "Big boys don't need binkies Daddy." So Ken had a little conversation with Nate in which Nate agreed that he was a big boy and would not need a binky when he went to bed that night. Nate said it would be okay for the Binky Fairy to come a get his binkies and give them to little babies who were crying because they didn't have any binkies yet. Ken calls me outside to and relays the conversation to me. So quick as a flash, I run upstairs and sure enough, the Binky Fairy was there gathering the last two binkies out of Nate's crib and off his dresser. (That Binky Fairy must have good ears and fast wings to get there that quickly after an offer of binkies from a toddler.) A quick debate (and look through the guest room closet) led to the Binky Fairy leaving Nate a cool big boy collection of Cars in Nate's crib to replace the binkies.

I ran downstairs and let Nate know that he needed to come inside and see what the Binky Fairy had left him. He raced upstairs and was ecstatic to find the Cars waiting for him in his crib. We tore into them and he spent about 10 minutes lining them up and in choo-choo train formations.

All was good until right after his bath. The usual bath routine is Daddy gets Nate out of the tub,
we wrap him up in his froggy or doggie bath towel, and he runs into his room to get binky and naughtin. (Naughtin is a burp cloth that he named himself and sleeps with every night.) He just stopped in the hallway and had the saddest look on his face when he realized that there were no binkies in his crib. We managed to make it through the bedtime routine by continually talking up how awesome it was to be a big boy. (You know, big boys can ride bikes and play with cars and go swimming and talk. Yes, the most impressive thing about big boys according to Nate is that they can talk and babies cannot. He tells me this at least once a day.) There was some whining as he settled down for the night (it took about an hour instead of just a few minutes) but there were not tantrums or desperate calls out for binky. That night, we only had to go in to soothe him one time so I considered a very successful day one without binky.

Now most of the time Nate is not much of a morning person. I usually hear him fussing around in his crib for about 10 minutes or more before I know he is ready to actually get up. (I hate the mornings I actually have to wake him up to go the sitter's.) Well, that first morning without binky was a rough one for him. He was more crying that fussing so I went in as soon as I heard him up. At that point, he began kicking and flailing about his crib and crying out "I wanna be a baby! I don't wanna be a big boy!" I sat next to him and tried to comfort him (but of course he wouldn't allow me to actually touch him or pick him up) and finally after about 10 minutes he agreed to come downstairs to see if his new big boy Cars could go fast on his race track.

Since that morning, Nate has pretty much accepted that the binkies are in fact gone. He'll tell people that the Binky Fairy came to took his binkies to give to babies because he a big boy. And it is still taking him longer to settle down for naps and nighttime, but he's going to sleep on his own and sleeping for just about the same length of time. I'm so proud of my big boy but unexpectedly sad at the same time. Ever since he came home from the hospital we've spent the last cuddles of the evening in the glider, looking down at his sweet baby face with him sucking away on that little orange binky. I'll never get to see that again. I wonder if Bug (aka baby #2) will cherish a binky or not?

Here is the last picture we have of Nate with his binky. It was on the car ride home from Myrtle Beach just a couple of weeks ago.

My life the last 7 days

What have I been doing the last seven days? Obsessively watching and tracking the Beijing Olympics. I love everything about them. The events, the athletes, the stories, the hype, the pure competition. (Yes, I blissfully ignore all comments about doping and underage athletes and the fact that professionals compete.) I have always loved the Olympics. There was something magical about Olympic years. (They were also always presidential election years.) Do you remember the winter and summer Olympics used to be held in the same year? I was aghast in 1992 knowing that was the last year for combined winter and summer games. But somehow I adjusted and now I'm actually excited that I don't have to wait four years for the Vancouver Olympics. (They are only a year and a half away!)

I just watched Michael Phelps win his sixth gold medal of these games. (He is amazing. I usually like to cheer for underdogs but can you do anything but cheer your heart out for this guy.) Now I'm trying to stay awake to to watch the all around competition for women's gymnastics. This 12 hour time difference is making for some really late nights for me. Baby just gave me a kick so I guess that means it's time for me to get a bowl of Lucky Charms. (That is what you were telling me, right Bug?)

I'll leave you with a picture of what my future Olympic champion. Look at that strength!

Okay, here I go

Okay, here I go. Starting a blog. What to say, what to say. Oh well, I guess it won't matter too much since there won't be too many people to ever see this.

Who am I? I'm Addie. (Just Addie, not Addison or Adelaide or Adeline. I think my mom once told me that if she had given me a "formal" name it would have been Ada, but I could be making that up.) I've lived my whole life, except for the first 2.5 years which I don't remember too clearly, in Ohio. I grew up in a small town with a small school and a typical suburban life. I went to a state university (Go Redskins! They didn't change the mascot until my sophomore year.) and graduated in four years with a degree in Geology which I have never used and remember little beyond what I learned in the intro class my first year. But by choosing that major, I also ended up with an internship one summer where I met my future husband, Ken . We shared a cubicle for a summer and the rest is history. We were married 3 years and 1 day from the day we met and celebrated our 7th anniversary this past May. Best 10 years of my life. (Which is actually 1/3 of my life now...yikes!). We settled down, bought a house, got a pup, and welcomed the joy of our life, Nate, into the world on November 3, 2005. Life is perfect. (Well, as close to perfect as I think I'm ever going to get.) So since Nate was our experiment and we all seem to have survived and thrived, we decided to give it another go and now I'm almost 24 weeks pregnant with the second little experiment we have created. (Yes, we had an ultrasound and there is ONE healthy little baby in there that is either a boy or a girl. We chose not to find out the gender and even though somewhere in this house there is an envelope that my husband has hidden in which the OB wrote down the gender because she could tell it was either a boy or a girl, neither of us have peeked so we this baby will be a surprise to everyone. Sorry, just had to get that out of the way.) I guess this blog is just to help me keep track of my life and what it will be like the second time around with baby #2. But if you keep reading this blog, I'm sure that you'll see that I'm not always totally sure what I'm doing with baby (I mean big boy) #1.