The Holidays......

Ok so I have some catching up to do (ok alot actually)........let's start way back to Halloween. Here are my precious boys in their costumes:

Nathan had a really fun Halloween starting with going to Chick-Fil-A and a Fall Festival at First Baptist Georgetown with his friend Luke. When we got home we took him to a few houses on our block and he loved getting candy in his Elmo bucket.

Moving on to Thanksgiving......

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year with Jake's parents, sister and cousin. My mom, youngest brother and grandma got to come down as well. We had a great time and Nate had a blast going around saying "Happy Giving"! Here are some pics:



And finally Christmas.......

We had Christmas Eve dinner at our house with Jake's parents and sister and opened gifts that night. Nathan loved opening gifts and everything was "wow coooool". :-) My mom and brother came down on Christmas and we had an Indian food feast at Jake's parents house that night. Nathan definitely made out like a bandit! He loved saying "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays"!

Alphabet

Wow.....I didn't realize it's been almost 2 months since I have posted anything! I will say that our camera was messed up for a long time and wouldn't upload to our computers so that was a big reason for the delay. We ended up buying a new camera and hopefully this will last us longer than the previous two cameras have. The boys are just growing up too incredibly fast. Here' s a little video of Nathan repeating the alphabet back to me.......no comments on my inability to get the alphabet straight while saying it slowly without singing the alphabet song. haha

Goofing Around

Nathan has been such the little entertainer lately. He loves to be the center of attention and here's a few pics of him goofing around:


Nathan has found a new use for the little tub you get at the hospital for bathing babies:

Here he's saying "PEACE OUT":
Who knows......haha

Introducing Andrew Joshua John.......FINALLY!

We'd love to introduce our new (well, ok, our 1 month old) beautiful baby boy to the world........

Andrew Joshua John was born on 9/2/08 at 8:55 am and was 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 19.5 in long. We were scheduled for an induction the morning of 9/2 and went into the hospital the night before for some "prep" work, but Andrew decided to come on his own and my water broke before any of the "prep" work got started. It's funny how things work out because the exact same thing happened with Nathan. We went in the night before a scheduled induction and he came on his own as well. Both my boys were great at timing their arrival so that we could avoid a late night rush to the hospital and were able to plan our families being around for help. :-)

It has been a little easier adjusting to having two kids than I anticipated, but I know that is due to my wonderful husband who has totally stepped up and pretty much takes care of Nathan and to my in-laws living 3 miles away. Now if I could only get a little sleep........

Nathan loves being a big brother and loves to give his little bro hugs and kisses and he likes to tickle his feet. Here are some pics of the boys together (and a few more of Drew):

37 Week Update

I had my 37 week appt this week and found out that I tested positive for Group B Strep Infection. While it's not harmful to me, it could be harmful to the baby during delivery so I have to have IV antibiotics during labor/delivery to reduce the risk of spreading it to the baby. Having said that, my doctor and I decided to induce on Sept. 2 so that I can come in the night before and start the IV antibiotics to ensure that I get all the medicine necessary to protect the baby. So I will go into the hospital at 7pm on Sept. 1 and start the IV antibiotics and they will induce me at 6am on Sept. 2. This is a pretty common thing so we aren't worried about it, as long as we get the appropriate amount of antibiotics during labor. It's exciting to know that Andrew will be here in a week and a half though! :-)

Hiatus

So for the past several weeks, I seemed to have take an unexpected hiatus from pretty much everything outside the world of Twilight. I have been completely consumed (probably in an unhealthy way) by the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. For those of you who have not heard of it, it is a 4 book series about a romance between a vampire and human. Yes, I said vampire. They have made a movie from the first book in the series, Twilight, (hopefully all the books will end up on the big screen) that comes out on 11/21/08. I don't know how I'll manage the next 3 months till it comes out, but I'm sure with a newborn on the brink of arrival I will. :-)

Anyways, here are a few things that have happened in the past several weeks that I haven't posted on yet (I wanted to post pictures, but my camera is messed up right now and won't upload to my computer):

1. Jake's 35th Birthday
We had a little get together to celebrate Jake's bday on July 30. I decided that I would test out my cake decorating skills and make his cake. I found a golf bag cake pan at Hobby Lobby and just couldn't pass it up. It was kind of small so I made cupcakes as well (I decorated the cupcakes to look like putting greens). It turned out to be quite an undertaking considering Nathan decided to be incredibly difficult that day and not nap all day. I finally got it done and I think it turned out pretty good for my first time. I wish I could post pics of it, but if you are on Facebook, you can see pics there.

2. I don't think I have mentioned this before, but Jake's parents are moving to Texas from Minnesota. They found a house a few miles from us and closed on it last week. Their furniture is getting here next week and his mom is moving down on 8/29. His dad, however, doesn't officially retire until the end of september so that is when he will move down. His mom is coming early to start getting things unpacked and to help out with the new baby. We are excited to have them here and are happy that the boys will be able to see them anytime they want instead of just a few times a year.

3. I had my 36 week appt last week and found out that I'm already dilated to 1 cm, 75% effaced and the baby is at a -1 station. I know that is a foreign language to most of you, but to those mommas out there, you know what I'm saying. haha I know that I could stay this way for the next several weeks, but it just brought on a wave of panic thinking that it could be any day now cause I still wasn't fully prepared at home for Andrew's arrival. Needless to say that I came home and washed all the baby clothes, got the remaining baby stuff out of the attic, went shopping for baby stuff, etc. We are ready now, but next week will be a bad week for his arrival so I'm praying that he waits till at least after 8/29. Next week we have to take care of the movers for Jake's parents, his sister will be in Minnesota and we are having Jake's cousin from Minnesota visit. I know he's gonna come when he is ready and I have no control over when that will be, but I have faith that whenever that time comes God will take care of all the details. I just get anxious about what we're gonna do with Nathan and making sure he is taken care of while I'm in labor....but it will all work out.

4. Just in the past few weeks, Nathan's vocabulary has just taken off. He talks ALL the time. We don't always understand what he is saying, but he loves to have conversations with himself and his stuffed animals. He is learning his alphabet and can say every letter, but "W". He can't quite say that one yet, but that's a tough one. He doesn't know his numbers yet, but I'm amazed at how quickly he's learning his alphabet so I'm sure numbers are soon to follow. I think he's going to be a very sweet big brother. He will go up to the baby swing and bassinet and say "Baby Drew" and he will give my belly hugs and kisses. We'll just have to watch him when he throws his temper tantrums cause he will just throw himself all over and/or any object that is in his hand. (yes, we are working on taming his temper)

Well I think that's about it for now. :-) I have my 37 week appt tomorrow and will post a pregnancy update after that. Hopefully I can figure out my camera issue soon and I can post some pics.

Home Improvements

Jake has really been into watching HGTV lately and has been coming up with all these ideas for improving our house (which I am not complaining one bit) :-). We finally were able to get a few things on the list taken care of last week, crown molding and painting. Eventually we want to get a deck in the back along with alot of landscaping, all stainless steel appliances and granite countertops (just to name a few). Here are some before and after pics of our latest projects:

Before Pics:

The living room:

The foyer/dining room:
The kitchen:
After Pics:

The living room:
The foyer/dining room:

The kitchen:

Birthday Fun

Sorry I'm a little behind on this post, but we went to a fun birthday party a few weeks ago for Nathan's good buddy Owen. We had so much fun! His birthday was everything Mickey! Nathan had a blast. There were so many kids there and by the end of the day, all the kids were pretty much stripped down to their diapers since it was so hot outside and they had so many fun activities to do outside (like swimming, painting, a playhouse, etc). Here are some pics from the fun day:

4th of July Festivities

We had such a wonderful 4th of July! We spent the day at the James family annual 4th of July BBQ in Belton. The day started early with a fun parade that Nathan loved! Nathan and his buddy Luke rode down to the parade in Luke's wagon and Nathan just stood there for much of the parade just waving his little flag and saying "hi" to all the people in the parade.

After the parade we went back to the house where we enjoyed the BEST BBQ ever. The food was so good! Of course I tried to put Nathan down for a nap, but he wasn't having it. There was just too much activity going on and he was having too much fun to sleep. Surprisingly he was a very good, happy boy all day despite no nap. Well I say no nap, but around 2 he was swinging in their little car swing outside and was so tired he started doing the whole head-bob move so I held him while he took a little nap for about an hour. Here are some pics and a little video of all the fun activites he did.

Here's a little video of him sliding down the little pool slide. He LOVED it! Every time he went down the slide, he had to stand up and clap for himself and make sure everyone else clapped for him too. What a ham!

Thank you SO much Jim and Sharon for having us over for such a fun afternoon and for the awesome food!! We can't wait till next year!

30 Weeks and growing

I realized that I hadn't really posted much about my pregnancy or posted any pics of me and my big belly. I can definitely say that this pregnancy has flown by and we can't believe that Andrew will be here in 2 months, but we are getting excited. I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore cause this heat is rough and it's getting physically challenging trying to carry Nathan and rocking him is getting uncomfortable too. Anyways, I'm gonna try to just spend the next 2 months enjoying being a mom of 1 kid and enjoying the sleep that I'm getting cause that's gonna soon be gone.

A Happy Father's Day

I know Father's Day was yesterday and I'm posting this a day late, but we had a really fun Father's Day. It started out with a great day at church. The message was awesome and left Jake and I in some great discussion for over an hour afterwards. Then we spent the afternoon at the Payton's house as they had graciously invited us over for their family Father's Day cookout. We had a great time and Nathan had a blast playing with William and all his cousins. Afterwards, we came home and I started cooking his favorite meal for dinner, Indian food. We had his sister come over to hang out and have dinner with us and then our friend Keith came over and watched the NBA Finals game. All in all it was a great day with family and friends. I am so blessed with such a wonderful husband whose desire in life is to be the kind of man God wants him to be and wants to be a great Godly example to his sons (and me too).

Being Entertained

Here's a little video clip of Nathan at the Lorenz house in Florida. Reid (the oldest Lorenz boy....he'll be 7 this summer) was quite the entertainer and Nathan thought he was hilarious.

A trip to the Sunshine State

We just spent the last week on vacation in Florida. We had a GREAT time. Nathan was such a good boy the whole week and had so much fun! He was so good on the plane. There were alot of kids on the flight (as I'm sure you can imagine going to Orlando) and Nathan made many friends. He was running to everyone in the airport saying "hi" and as we were getting off the plane he was saying "bye". He was so excited to watch the planes and all the people driving the carts carrying the luggage around. While we were on the plane he just played in our little row and then took a nap for half the flight (going there and coming back). While we were there we went to the zoo, Clearwater beach, Sea World and saw our friends David and Brandie Lorenz and their 3 kids. (David was our old singles pastor and married us) Also while we were there, we celebrated Mother's Day and our 4th wedding anniversary. The resort we stayed at was awesome. We got upgraded to a 4 bedroom condo that was newly renovated. It had wood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and plasma tvs in every room. We were sad that we didn't have any friends or family there to share this place with cause it was so big and so much space went unused. The pool area was really nice too. We spent alot of time there. They had a lazy river and slide and two different swimming areas (one for kids and adults). Nathan LOVED the water. He had a blast at Clearwater beach. He loved playing in the sand and walking in the ocean and collecting shells. The water was so clear and the beach was like powder, it was so soft and white. We didn't plan on doing anything big like Disney cause we figured that he was too small and wouldn't really enjoy it or remember it so why pay all the money for it, but through our resort we got two tickets to Sea World for $10 and found out that kids under 3 was free so we went to Sea World. He loved it! He had so much fun looking at all the animals and watching the shows (his favorite was Shamu of course). He just danced like crazy to the music at the Shamu show. We all had a great time and love taking vacations. Next year we'll have another baby to enjoy vacations with!

Here are some pics:

Lockdown

We have been on lockdown around here for the past 2 weeks, going on week 3 now. 2 weeks ago, Nathan got your standard cold, runny nose and congestion. That lasted a week and as soon as that cleared up, he got a double ear infection and HFMD (hand, foot and mouth disease). I have no idea how he got that since we were not around any kids since he had the cold. I don't know who out there has experienced HFMD with their kids, but Nathan was MISERABLE. He had high fever for a few days with a sore throat and then developed sores all in his mouth and on his feet. The poor little guy couldn't sleep well or eat anything solid. He was pretty lethargic for most of the week. Today has been a good day. He has eaten solid food today and from what I can tell (he hates it when I try to look in his mouth) his sores are clearing up. I think we are definitely on the up swing....which is a good thing cause we leave for vacation in florida this saturday! So needless to say that we are on lockdown again this week even if he is feeling better so that he doesn't catch anything else before we leave. We are both going stir crazy around here! This vacation to florida will be much needed by all of us!

"Pre"- Introducing........

Andrew Joshua John........yep we're having another boy!!!

Sorry the pics are so small. The third one is the money shot. Literally within 2 seconds of the sonogram, he exposed himself. haha We are both really excited and if Nathan knew what was going on then I know he'd be ecstatic to have a little brother. At first I was sure we were having a girl, but in the past month I have come to the realization that we are having a boy....and I was right. I am surprised that I really wasn't upset or disappointed at all when we found out it was a boy. It's gonna be mayhem around here, but it will be lots of fun having two boys. Hopefully they will entertain each other, but I might as well go ahead and get a referee jersey and whistle ready!