Hiccups

I remember when I was pregnant with Henry he had hiccups in utero off and on, but NOTHING like this baby. He has a strong case of the hiccups at least 3-5 times a day. And always first thing in the morning. It is such a crazy sensation and I can tell he is getting bigger every day because the hiccups are getting stronger. WILD!!!

Happiness Is...

• The smell of Dreft Baby Laundry Detergent wafting through the air as I launder all of the baby clothes.
• Laying around on a lazy Sunday morning with my two favorite boys.
• An early picnic lunch planned at the park with KFC on the menu.
• Temperatures in the high 60's in February! I think Spring is on her way and my spirits are instantly lifted. I am a whole different person when it's warm outside :)
• Having in-laws who are oh so handy with a paint brush, screwdriver, hammer, and anything else involving home improvement. And who love us enough to spend their Saturdays helping around OUR house.
• When Henry wakes up on his own, grabs his milk out of the fridge on his own, crawls in my bed and falls back asleep for another hour.

Henry and D

Back in our potty training days we had to come up with all kinds of creative ways to entice Henry to use the potty. One of the ones that stuck was the promise that once he was fully potty trained he would get to spend the night with his Uncle D...all by himself. Well, that time has come and tonight was the night. Daniel has a great house and has been so excited about having his nephew stay with him. And Henry has been "geared up" to say the least! I mean, he was bouncing off the walls before D picked him up tonight at 6:30 and quite frankly driving me crazy!

Daniel and Keller took him to eat Mexican and we just got word that he is all tucked in and on his way to night night town. I just hope he stays asleep and doesn't give D Dogg too many shout outs in the night!
Thank you D and Keller for taking good care of our boy and making his first sleep over so much fun!

The Bump, 34 Weeks

Superman Love

Henry received Superman for Valentine's Day from Mimi and Pops and as with all of his Super Heroes (aka: Super Rios), he fell instantly in love. I went to check on him one last time Sunday night and this is what I found. He had tucked him in right beside him.

Happy Valentine's Day...

To my two sweet loves!

Snow! Snow! Snow!

The last time it snowed in Charleston, SC was in the year 2000! So, as you can imagine, the excitement around these parts yesterday was out of control! I made the mistake of telling Henry that it might snow yesterday and he asked me no less than 250 times if, in fact, it was doing just that YET!!! I had to sadly reply, no sweetie, not yet over and over until around 7:50pm. At that point Brad was on his way home from work and the two of us were cuddled up in my bed reading a book. I heard a bunch of commotion outside from our neighbors and looked out the window and lo and behold it was coming down! Big, beautiful white snowflakes!

So, we jumped up, put on our makeshift snow clothes and ran outside. My boy was amazed as this was his first time ever seeing snow! We stayed out for about 45 minutes and I finally got him to come in for bed at the promise of getting to play in it in the morning.

And that he did with his Daddy! They threw snowballs and tried to build a snowman, but it was melting really fast, so that was kind of difficult.

The pictures above are from this morning and the ones below are from last night!

My camera has this cool snow setting that really picked up the big flakes!

I guess we'll have to wait another 10 years to see it here again and that is just fine with me! I love seeing it once in a while, but glad I don't live somewhere where this is a common occurrence.

Priceless Conversation

H: Mommy, when I go to heaven can I pway wif Buster?
M: Absolutely sweetheart!
H: Why does God make the rain and snow?
M: To water the trees and the grass and the plants.
H: When I go to heaven I'm gonna fank God for making the trees and the grass and the plants.
M: I think that is a great idea!
H: Mommy, do they have snacks in heaven?
M: Oh yeah, the best snacks you've ever tasted in your life!
H: Can we go to heaven now?
M: No, baby, we have so much we have to do here on earth before we go to heaven.
H: Wike, work?
M: Yes sweetie, and so much more.

I really like what my son is learning his first year of school (and at home of course)!

Valentine's Day Program and Party

The Two's Class at Henry's school put on the CUTEST program for the parents today. They had all of the parents sit in a big circle and then the children filed in with their little "Love Bears" and found their mama's and daddy's. Henry was so excited to see Brad and Pops and Me and I was nearly in tears (as I am a bit emotional this last trimester). They sang about 10 songs that they had been practicing over the last few weeks and it was so sweet.

This is Henry and his best friend Luke dancing in the middle of the circle. Henry LOVES Wuke and talks about him constantly at home. We even got to go to his 3 year old birthday party on Sunday and it was precious to see the two of them together. All I can say is "poor Ms. Barbara and Ms. Cheryl" b/c these two are WILD together!

After the program I went with Henry to his classroom for their Valentine's Party. The moms hosting the party did a great job with mini cupcakes and heart shaped PBJ's. All the children loaded up on cute Valentine's from each other and even made the moms a sweet little heart. I am doing the end of the year party and am open for ideas from all you creative types out there:)

Here is Luke again and little Mia, who I am pretty sure Henry has a crush on. He talks about her constantly also and her mom told me today at the party that Mia often comes home and says that Henry kissed her at school today. Back it up buddy...you don't need to be messin' with the girls this early in life! There's plenty of time for that!

Nana and Papa and Henry

Henry and I went to Greenville to visit with Nana and Papa and Nana the Great for the day and night. It was so great being home and Henry loved spending some QT with his grandparents.

Greenville has a new Children's Museum and it was AWESOME! I definitely recommend it for all you upstate moms. I think the adults had as much fun as Henry did exploring all of the cool things this place had to offer.

There was a simulated Bi-Lo grocery store, a space ship, the human stomach, a recycling truck, and a construction site. There were so many things geared to every age level.

This is Papa and Henry playing doctor with Henry getting a cast on his leg.

And little worker man Henry!

Thanks Nana and Papa for such a fun day!

32 Weeks

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (the size of a pineapple) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

I seriously can't believe I am 32 weeks pregnant already. This pregnancy really has flown by and Manning will be here in about 8 weeks. I am feeling great still and feel like I have more energy than I did with Henry. I definitely get tired and feel zapped at random times throughout the day, but for the most part feel fine.
Manning's most active time is at night around 8-11pm. It looks like an alien is in my tummy and feels like it too. Brad will catch a glimpse of it from across the room and just laugh. I am at what I call the "grunting" stage of pregnancy. It just makes things easier when you grunt. Like simply standing up or sitting down or getting out of bed. I am also getting up to pee about every hour during the night, so that makes for some interesting sleep. But luckily I have been able to go back to sleep rather quickly.
My appetite is pretty hardy and I HAVE to have dessert at least once a day:) This isn't too far off from my non-pregnant self though.
I will say that I am much more nervous this time around than I was with Henry. I guess because I know what to expect with labor and the infant stage. I have a bit of anxiety about how I will handle having 2 children to care for, but I know I will be ok. Henry is so excited about being a big brother and I know he'll have his moments of acting out, but he will be such a big help to me. He loves helping with small tasks around the house (i.e. letting Lucy out and feeding her, putting his clothes away, getting things out of the pantry and fridge, etc.) And Brad is so great about doing small things to make my life easier. I am so ready to meet my little boy and know he will fit into our family like he was always here.
What a lucky woman I am!

32 Weeks Ultrasound

We went for my 32 week ultrasound this morning and everything looks perfect and right on track. They did this ultrasound to make sure the placenta has "migrated" upward and away from my cervix (indicating a placenta previa). It has definitely moved and we are all set for a "regular" delivery. Little Manning weighs approximately 4.5 lbs and is in the 68th percentile. I am measuring a little over 33 weeks so possibly a little ahead of schedule.

Generally speaking I have a little David Beckham kicking around in my tummy, but of course the one time we needed him to flip around he was sound asleep. He had his little arms right in front of his face the whole time so we never got a good shot of his face. But his heart was beating strong and fast, his kidneys looked great, and all of his measurements were right on. Ultrasound really is such a COOL thing! I am always so amazed at the technology every time we go.

Brad and I have both had visions/thoughts that "what if" this little boy baby really is a little girl baby. But, we had the girl check and he DEFINITELY has BOY parts, so we're safe there.

Quick Visit with the Lucas'

Brad and Sarah called yesterday morning on their way to Charleston to see if we wanted to meet up with them last night. Brad had a conference downtown at the Mills House, so they decided to pack up the whole fam and come on down. I was so excited because we haven't gotten to meet sweet little Laney yet and it's been a long time since we've seen Bradley. Brad E., Henry, and I went down to the hotel to visit with Sarah and the kids while Brad did his thing. It was so great getting to love on a little bitty and Henry and Bradley had so much fun playing together.

When Brad was finished we walked about a million miles in the freezing cold trying to find a kid friendly place to eat. We finally got to Jim N' Nicks BBQ and decided it would be perfect. And it was as good as it gets with our rowdy bunch! We had Henry climbing over me to get to Aunt Sawer and Bradley climbing over Brad to get under the table. And Laney slept through it all like a little angel! It was so much fun hanging with them for the night and can't wait till next time.

Thanks so much for calling us last minute! So glad it worked out!