Family Updates

Its been almost a whole month since I blogged, but so much has been going on. First of all, on April 16th we found out that our newest addition will be a BOY!! I was super shocked at first but we are so excited. I think it will be so much fun for Caleb to have a little brother. Plus you have to admit, we are pretty good at creating little boys.

Here's our most recent picture of the little guy:

Also on April 16th we put Caleb in underwear and haven't looked back!! That day he had 0 accidents in his undies! as well as the next 3 days with 0 accidents, over the week at school he had a couple accidents but nothing to bad. I can't believe I pretty much have a day-potty trained 26 month old!! I'm so proud of him. We haven't even attempted to night train him yet, in my opinion he is much to young to be night trained.

Every day Caleb is surprising us with new accomplishments, between counting and knowing a lot of his alphabet to the silly things he says. Its so much fun to be a mom, I really can't wait to have another one to brag about.

Easter 2010

Caleb had a great day today, we started Friday with painting eggs, the eggs did get painted but so did Caleb as well as mommy and daddy, I think they turned out great though (ignoring the fact that they all broke in one way or another).

Sunday we got up and started the indoor easter egg hunt. Caleb had lots of fun finding all 18 eggs filled with goodies (some healthy, some not so much).

And when I opened the front door I spoted one of my mini tulips had bloomed! What a great day for a first spring bloom.

Another Contest

I am really trying to win one of these bags, can you tell??

Have you seen all the beautiful new products & contest for pro photographers on http://www.DesignAglow.com?

Another Great Contest Giveaway

I am seriously in love with these Camera Bags, and every time I come across a contest that is giving one away I have to blog about it.

Not only are they giving away an awesome bag, they also have AWESOME Camera straps, in which I am in dire need of. I am going to buy one today if I can decide which pattern I want!

http://phatstraps.com/phatstraps-giveaway

Also Check out this link: www.fidofashioncollars.com don't have a bag don't feel left out you can buy cool dog collars at this place!

A time out to brag about my C

I haven't been the faithful blogger that I want to be but Caleb truely amazes me every week so I thought I'd take a second to brag about him.

He now counts to 10! yes can you believe it, it was last week or maybe 2 weeks ago when we were counting with him like we do so many things, blocks, grapes, fingers, really anything that's around. We count while we put on his shoes, we count while we drive in the car, we just count a lot. Anyway last week while Tony was playing with him and while I was preparing dinner, I hear them in the other room, Caleb has been counting to 3 now for a long time, but this time Tony said 4, and Caleb said 5, and it went like that all the way up to 10. He won't count on command but he can do it and its amazing.

Another small thing that he's doing now is making the correct sounds when he plays. Yeah this sounds strange but its so cute, when we play with cars or trucks, its a vrooom vroomm; when we play with trains its chugga chugga choo choo; with animals its the appropriate noises. These 'soundtracks' have always gone on at our house, the difference is before it was Tony or I making the noises, now he'll play by himself and make the noises.

You think that's a lot, well what about this one... He is speaking in 3-4 word sentances, that is understandable by not just mommy and daddy!! I guess I had taken this one for granted b/c he has been doing it for a while now, but my mom mentioned on Sunday when we were over there, that WOW he was using words together, and words like a, the, in stuff like that is usually learned much later than the stock main words. Its really great.

Another favorite activity of C's is playing on the computer. Yeah I know very brave of mommy to let him play on the computer but he's really learning it quickly. We go to www.nickjr.com and let him play the games on there. He isn't quite savy with the mouse yet, and sometimes opening Microsoft Word is where he has tons of fun.

I actually have a picture of C on the computer at his little desk, he loved it. Unfortunately I was lazy and the pictures are still on my camera. Maybe I'll download them tonight and add it to the post.

Oh and a small pregnancy update: I'm doing great, I am starting to outgrow my regular clothes and am finding maternity clothes more and more comfortable. One very exciting thing was at 15 weeks (last week) when not only I felt the baby kick but Tony got to feel the baby kick. That was pretty awesome!

Thanks for reading!

Loving Two

This brought tears to my eyes.


Loving Two

I walk along holding your 2-year-old hand, basking in the glow of our magical relationship. Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited. And I wonder: how could I ever love another child as I love you?



Then he/she is born, and I watch you. I watch the pain you feel at having to share me as you’ve never shared me before.



I hear you telling me in your own way, “Please love only me”. And I hear myself telling you in mine, “I can’t”, knowing, in fact, that I never can again.



You cry. I cry with you. I almost see our new baby as an intruder on the precious relationship we once shared. A relationship we can never quite have again.



But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty. I’m afraid to let you see me enjoying him, as though I am betraying you.



But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness, finally to genuine affection.



More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine. The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.



But something else is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just we two. There are new times – only now, we are three. I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.



I watch how he adores you – as I have for so long. I see how excited you are by each of his new accomplishments. And I begin to realize that I haven’t taken something from you, I’ve given something to you. I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you.



I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong. And my question is finally answered, to my amazement. Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you – only differently.



And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I now know you’ll never share my love. There’s enough of that for both of you – you each have your own supply.



I love you – both. And I thank you both for blessing my life.



Author Unknown

Big News!

Our family is going to grow!!

On December 26th, I woke up to this:



I pretty much knew I was pregnant Christmas day, but forced myself to wait the extra day, just in case I was wrong. Well I wasn't!!

I immediately scheduled a lab appointment to get my levels checked. After the miscarriage I really wanted to make sure things were starting off right. After all this was a huge shock since December was the first month we were "allowed" to start trying agian. At 4 weeks my progesterone levels were at 12.3 ng/mL which is excellent for the first trimester. My Beta number was 1934 also well within normal.

Because I was still nervous (can anyone blame me) I also got an early ultrasound at 6 weeks. It was so early that we were not sure that we would hear a heartbeat, but the Dr. said that if we didn't we would just get another u/s at 7 weeks. Well we heard one!! I think it was at like 115 or something, a little on the low end but the heartbeat probably had just started.



Yeah you can't see much at 6 weeks but I wanted to share it anyway. I scheduled my next appointment for 10 weeks. I wanted to be 100% sure we would catch the heartbeat on the doppler. There is no way at this point that I could go into an appointment and not hear that little heartbeat. At my 10 week appointment my Midwife spent lots of time with me talking about everything. She even wheeled in the portable u/s machine so we could not only hear the heartbeat but see it too. It made me nervous. After all last time I used one of those portable u/s machines I had to see my little baby underdeveloped and without a heartbeat.

But there it was the heartbeat and what is starting to resemble a baby!



My Beta numbers were at 136503, which again is right on track.

At 12 weeks we had our 3rd u/s. It is so nice every time we get to see our little baby growing in there. I was told to come with a full bladder, very specific instructions, 90 minutes before my appointment I had to empty my bladder. Within the next 30 minutes I had to drink 16 ounces of water. Ooops I almost forgot that part and didn't drink them till I only had 2 minutes left. Soon after that I had to leave to pick up Tony from work and go to the hospital for the u/s. Wow I thought my bladder was going to explode. Literally, I am usually pretty good about going all day but when I got there I was dying! The u/s Dr. took a look at my bladder on the u/s machine and boy was it huge!! She let me empty it a little. UMM yeah I won't talk about how hard it is to just empty it part way! On to the pictures!





And finally Alien Baby!



Just for fun when I got home I took my first belly picture. I'm only 12 weeks and my uterus is just starting to poke up to where you can see it, but I don't feel like I'm showing yet. Maybe that's just me wishing. I can still fit in my pants though!





I am 13 weeks now and my due date is September 3rd. Gotta love having a baby on a holiday weekend! Caleb was born on a holiday weekend and its totally the way to go!

2nd Birthday

Well Caleb turned 2 this past week. Where does the time go? I can't believe how fast he is growing up. On the 14th we went over to my parents house. Caleb got treated to a great lunch of toddler favorites, tater tots, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, jello, and some veggies for good measure. After we had some cake and Caleb opened his gifts from his aunts and uncles and grandma and granddad. Everyone is always so generous and Caleb loved all of the presents.

After we finished up there, Tony and I took Caleb to Best Western Sterling Inn. See they have an indoor waterpark and since it was a holiday weekend we decided to get away for an evening. Caleb's girlfriend, Mandy, along with her mom and sister were able to join us Sunday night for a swim in the pool. Boy did they have so much fun. They have a special toddler area with ankle high water and jets and slides and lots of fun stuff.

Here are a couple of pictures taken with the oh so handy camera phone.





don't judge this is day 2 and I didn't bother wearing makeup. Oh and you can see the bruises I got on my knees from crawling around with Caleb.



Oh so if you want your toddler to sleep a lot, take him to an indoor waterpark and wear him out for about 2-2.5 hours! He slept without a peep Sunday night, and then took like a 4 hour nap on Monday.

So Wednesday, the 17th on his birthday, Caleb had to go to school, after all they had class pictures and I wanted him to be in the group shot. I made sure to make it special though. I brought in minibrownies for all the kids, and at lunch time I dropped off a balloon for C.

That night we made him special hotdogs that he had just sampled at Nino's the saturday before and LOVED. They are chicken with apple sausages. And let me tell you he scarfed that baby down. Then he got to open his presents. He loved his basketball net the most.

Finally on Saturday we had Tony's family over for a small get2gether. Actually when I remembered what my neice and nephew had gotten C I was reminded that we actually forgot to wrap like 5 presents for Caleb. Crazy. After they all left, C kept asking for more presents. I guess he thinks presents should be the norm. But don't we all?

PeePee News

I told myself I have to be better at blogging about Caleb this year. So even if my entries are short, I'm going to try to update you on how much he is changing and growing!!

Saturday, January 9th Caleb peed in the potty for the first time. I was totally taken off guard because we were not planning on potty training this early. I'd rather potty train in 3-4 days and be done with it, and I hear you have better chances when they are closer to 2.5 or 3 years old. Anyway its a milestone I guess so here's what went down :) For some odd reason I decided to ask him if he had to go peepee, and he said yes. Just this alone was unbelievable. A few months ago he went through a phase of liking his potty (never actually going though) but then he decided he didn't like it anymore and it was a hassle. Anyway I guess on Saturday he wanted to go. I took off his diaper and it was dry. So he sat down on the potty and just went! We made a huge deal of it, and I gave him a toy (a small one that I had set aside for his birthday). He was so excited and proud of himself. For the rest of the weekend every 45 minutes he wanted to sit on the potty.

Also lately Caleb has started singing. He's always been a hummer but now he is actually singing words. We always sing him the ABC's before bed, as a new mom I didn't know many lullabys off the top of my head so from the day we brought him home from the hospital the ABC's has always been sung to him. We now he is singing it. He sings it with us and he actually can sing it alone, up to the letter G, its quite amazing and he has a beautiful voice!!

Ok now for a picture!! Even though we cut his hair recently its still long and I like it that way :) We did a soap mohawk in the bath tub. It was fun!

Holiday Break for the A's

Tony and I took this past week and a half off from work, it was great to just get things done around the house and spend some extra time with Caleb. We had a blast did a lot of things and accomplished much. Before I forget everything we did I just wanted to recap to save the memories forever :)

Well on the 23rd we let Caleb open his first Christmas present, you can see that here. On Christmas Eve we went over to Grandma and Papa's (Tony's parents). He got lots of great toys, a few of them being, a tent, a table, craft stuff, a wooden M&D train, tools, shopping cart, and Diego toys.

Christmas morning was a blast, Caleb really loved opening presents and was getting use to all these new toys! Of course after he would open 1 gift he would want it out of the box immediately. One of the bigger gifts from mommy and daddy was his play kitchen. He loves it so much and likes to cook up a storm. We also got him some play M&D food, a holiday elmo, a bunch of books and other little stuff.

After spending time at home we went to Grandma and Granddad's (my parents). He got to see all his aunts and uncles and got even more stuff! Another tent (starwars), a couple Mr. Potato Heads, some clothes, some play food, a soccer ball and goal, a bowling set, and other stuff that I'm sure I'm forgetting. We then went to my Grandpa's house and got to see some more relatives. Then we finally made it home to relax (and put caleb to bed).

The 26th was also a great day! I got to take down the Christmas Decorations and we just spent time playing with Caleb and all his new toys and getting them organized. The 27th Caleb and I went to lunch with some of my friends, one girl was in town from Delaware for the holidays and we always try to have a girls lunch or dinner whiles she's around. Caleb was a good little boy and sat and colored while we all talked and caught up. When we got home we found that Tony had managed to pull up the carpet in the dining room to get ready for Monday.

It snowed all night long so in the morning on the 28th Caleb and I went out and played in the snow, while Tony was getting ready to get to work on the new dining room floor. My sister and her husband came over and the guys got to work while we played with Caleb, it was a nice day in.

On Tuesday the 29th Tony and I took Caleb to our friends house for a play date. Another family joined us and we had 5 little boys running (or crawling) around. Caleb was right in the middle age wise and he had a blast following the older (3 yr olds) around hunting for monsters and dragons.

Wednesday the 30th, we had my Brother and his wife over for a couple hours. I took their son's 3 month pictures and my SIL cut our hair (ok my and Caleb's hair, tony doesn't have any).

While I had my seamless up I also got a couple more formal ones of Caleb in one of his Christmas outfits. These 2 were the best of the bunch, he just wasn't in a picture mood that day.

Later that evening we went over to our friends house for another mini-playdate. Caleb enjoyed playing with their zhu zhu pet collection of toys and all the other fun stuff they had.

Thursday the 31st we went out shopping to pick up groceries and then went to Osaka's for dinner. Caleb loved seeing the "dragon" fire (see playdate above - everything is dragon or monster right now). We had a nice dinner with our friends as we showed them what it was like having a toddler in a loud and busy restaurant (they are expecting their first in April).

After we went back to our house and a couple other people came over to celebrate the new year with us. Caleb tried to stay up late, but that was a bad idea! At about 8:45 he started to turn into a very tired and grumpy toddler. He really didn't want to go to bed though and miss out on all the fun we adults were going to have. Tony and I had bought a ton of stuff to make a bunch of different virgin fru fru drinks and put out a big spread of fruit, veggies, dips, crackers, chips & breads. They were yummy, its too bad I was over-filled from dinner!

Friday the 1st we finished cleaning up around the house and went out running errands to Lowes (future project in mind) and to Tony's brother's house. Caleb got yet another toy, a hand me down, shake and crash - cars and track. Then we went to have dinner at his parents house.

Saturday the 2nd, Tony went to see Avatar (again) with a couple friends, and then we went out shopping for some sweaters for me and some craft supplies for Caleb. Ever since he got his table he wants to do everything on it and that means a lot more craft time. He loves playdoh, paint, and crayons.

Sunday the 3rd (and last day of our vacation) we went to my parents house for lunch/dinner. Caleb was pretty wiped out from this vacation so he went to bed early. Not sure how he's going to feel about going back to school tomorrow, only time will tell.