World of Wurdemans

36 week appointment

2012-01-26T15:11:00.002-05:00

I made it to my 36 week appointment! I think Alex is going to hang around for a while longer. Maybe he's seen how Robbie is with the cats and he is afraid to come out and face him. :) As ready as I am to meet Alex (and not be pregnant!), I'm happy that he's hanging around as long as he needs to. I don't want to rush anything and I figure babies know when the time is right, even when we disagree! I still want him to wait until February, but that's Wednesday, so it's right around the corner. Plus I'll be 37 weeks on Monday and that is considered full term, so even Monday would be a good day.

Everything is checking out ok. My blood pressure is good, Alex's heart rate was in the 140s, and I'm measuring 37 1/2 cm. I really thought I would measure around 40 cm. I didn't realize how big I had gotten until I saw the pictures that my mom took last weekend. Lisa and I both agree that I am carrying Alex the same way she carried Kayleigh and Brian, way out front!

I asked the doctor if there were any visiting restrictions with Robbie and she said there aren't. Obviously I don't want Robbie in the room when I'm in labor, but I'd like to see him after Alex is born and before I go home, especially if I stay as long as I did with Robbie. With Robbie I did take advantage of the extra night and I don't know if I will do that this time around, but we were in the hospital 5 days. I can't imagine not seeing Robbie for 5 days!

I don't know what it's like with Matt's family, but I have to keep telling my family that just because I call them doesn't mean I'm going into labor. Yes, that call is coming in the next few weeks, but don't jump to conclusions whenever you see one of our phone numbers come up on the caller id! :)

Alex's heart beat:

Robbie's 15 month appointment

2012-01-24T17:25:00.002-05:00

Today was Robbie's 15 month appointment. Robbie weighs 25 lbs, 12 oz and is 32 in tall. (I'm not sure how accurate his height is because he was squirming so much!). That keeps him in the 75th for both, which is what he has been in pretty much since birth.

It was hard because every time the nurse or doctor walked in Robbie started crying. It's almost like he knew what was coming! I was afraid he was going to grab the stethoscope from the doctor when he was listening to Robbie's heart and lungs and scream into it. I asked the doctor if that had happened before, and it has! I don't think there was any way that the doctor was going to look into Robbie's eyes. He did try, though. I'm glad the doctor was able to look into his ears because Matthew noticed Robbie was pulling on them Sunday. Of course it could be hair tickling his ears or teething.

This was definitely the hardest appointment when it came to the shots. I made Matt hold him, but I took Robbie when they were done. It was only 2 shots, but still it's no fun. The doctor said next time will be better when it's only 1 shot. I don't know if Robbie agrees with him or not! The only good thing that came from all of the crying was that I saw his bottom right cuspid coming in.

It looks like Alex is going to stay put for a while longer. I kept thinking I shouldn't have schedule my 36 week appointment since I didn't make it with Robbie, but I guess I'll be going to it Thursday. My mom Bible study group is doing a lunch for us next Friday and I told them I'd try not to let Alex come before then! I can't believe next week is February. I really wanted Alex to wait until February to be born and I think he just might!

Working Vacation

2012-01-21T20:27:00.006-05:00

My parents wanted to come up for one more visit before Alex came. When my mom asked about coming up, she said they wanted to come while it's just the "3 of you." I said it might not be the three of us. She asked who else was coming and I said Alex!! He's not here yet, so don't think you missed anything, but if Alex follows in Robbie's footsteps, he'll be coming Tuesday. :)

My parents drove up Friday in time for dinner. It's nice that they were able to come early because the last couple of visits Robbie was in bed before they got here. They wore him out because he slept through the night. (He hasn't been sleeping well this past week). After breakfast we all got to work. Matt washed the van so my dad could wax it. While Matt was doing that, Dad and I hung two shelves in Alex's room. That was quick and easy because I had already marked out where they were going, so Dad just had to drill and hang.

Mom wanted a picture of Alex, so I made sure you could see him. :)

Finishing up

When Dad went out to wax the van, Mom and I hung the pirate ship I ordered from Etsy. The hardest part was making sure we hung it straight. It turned out so well!

Peeling off the backing

Finished product

Pirate ship, changing table and diaper stacker

Monkey changing pad cover

Last week Matthew hung the comforter over Alex's crib. It's cute and I'm glad we're able to use it as a decoration since Alex can't use it for a while

The pillow in the glider was given to me as a graduation present from the mom of the kids Lisa and I used to babysit. We probably babysat them for 4 years. It's hard to believe that the oldest is in college and the twins are seniors in high school. They will always be little to me!

After lunch Mom, Robbie and I went to Books A Million to get a baby book for Alex. When we got there we found out that the store is closing, so all of the books are 20% off. I wouldn't say it's a super great deal, but it's still better than paying full price. We did find a baby book, plus I bought Robbie a couple of books he can have in the bath tub and a Little People book. I was surprised that Matthew and Dad were awake when we got back. I tried to put Robbie down for a nap in his crib since he fell asleep in the car. He didn't want to be alone so Dad went in to rock him for a bit and they ended up napping together. I'll admit I took a nap, too! Sometime Matt scrubbed down the porch chairs. I didn't know he had done it until he said he needed to put them away.

Robbie is now 15 months! He loves to read books and he is getting pretty good at pointing to different objects. Last weekend he got his top two cuspid teeth. I have heard that babies have a hard time when the cuspids come in, but Robbie didn't seem overly bothered by it. Of course, that's when he stopped sleeping well, so maybe they do bother him!!

Matt said that we need to stop taking monthly pictures of Robbie because it's too hard to get him to cooperate. While I agree, I'm not sure I'm ready to stop trying. Robbie is just too interested in the camera to be still and smile. Here's what I got:

Hey, you have the camera!

Is it my turn to hold the camera?

There, I pet Shamu.

How can you say no to this face??

I can't say that this has been a relaxing weekend for my parents, but they helped us get a lot done!!

Robbie videos!

2012-01-16T20:03:00.002-05:00

Now that Robbie is walking we are using it to our full advantage. I can tell him to go to his changing table when he needs a clean diaper, he will go to his chair when it's time to eat, and after bath time he will go to his room to get his pajamas. It was even cuter when he first started walking because he would walk with his hands in the air and it reminded me of the kid in "Where The Wild Things Are."

It's a short video, but it's cute:

Robbie also goes to the door when Matthew gets home. Sometimes he heads to the garage door when he hears the garage door go up and sometimes he goes to the front door instead of the garage door (or vice versa). Usually he says "dada" the whole time. I guess he was just showing off and saying "mama" today. I won't complain! :)

Alex's Ultrasound

2012-01-13T14:09:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we went in for an ultrasound of Alex to check his size. If Alex was big the doctors would want me to have a c-section again. Luckily Alex is looking good and healthy, though on the larger size of average. The ultrasound technician measured him at 6 lbs, 7 oz and thinks he will be about the same size or a little larger than Robbie when he is born. Of course that estimation depends on if he comes as early as Robbie, too! Alex is head down looking toward my left side and still "high up there". I'm not quite sure what that means except that he hasn't dropped into birthing position yet. I wish the technician talked more about what she saw and was doing, though. I think she measured the belly first, a leg (femur?) and then his head. She did say that Alex looks like Robbie and that he has a nice round head. (That almost made me want to have a c-section just to keep his head nice!) I wish Alex was moving around more just so I could see him move rather than just feel him! Of course he waited until after the ultrasound to start moving around! The doctor seemed pleased as well. My 36 week appointment is scheduled for January 26th. We'll see if we make it that far!

Ultrasound video:

The nurse didn't do a Doppler of Alex's heartbeat because we had the ultrasound. I missed hearing it. :(

More visitors!

2012-01-06T21:35:00.006-05:00

Just when we thought the last of our visitors had come and gone, Lisa called and asked if she and the kids could come over for a visit. What a nice surprise! Kayleigh was still on break from school so they came Tuesday and Wednesday. It's harder for us to get together with Kayleigh in school, me not traveling, and both of us running out of rooms in our houses!

They got here right at lunch time and we pretty much sat down and ate after saying hello. Robbie had his first peanut butter sandwich. Kayleigh and Brian had honey on their sandwiches. We were going to to PB&J except we had no J and went with the honey instead. Robbie loves being with his older cousins and it's fun to watch them together.

The kids had fun checking out Alex's crib.

For dinner I made Mexican Lasagna. Matt doesn't like it because of the ricotta cheese, so I don't make it just for myself. Matt and the kids had quesedillas, so everyone was happy. The kids had some time to play after dinner before getting a bath and going to bed. Kayleigh did great sleeping in our new guest "bedroom".

Wednesday morning we headed to the mall to play in the play area. It was probably the coldest day so far, so we weren't planning on doing anything outside. Several of my friends had the same idea, so I knew other moms and kids that were there. While there were a lot of kids I wouldn't say that it was overly crowded. The nice thing is that all of the moms watch out for all of the kids. Unfortunately there was only one slide and it seemed like either several kids wanted on it or no one wanted on it. I guess that's just how it goes. Robbie did try to escape a couple of times, but didn't get too far!

Robbie checking out the airplane

Having fun running around

Kayleigh jumping on the baseball

Brian going up the slide...

and down the slide

Robbie liked this car, but it was pretty slippery (or maybe it was his socks). Those legs next to him belong to Kayleigh.

The play area is conveniently located right next to the train station. Lisa and I had talked about the possibility of us taking the kids for a ride and the deal was sealed when the conductor said that parents could ride for free. It was pretty tight with all of us and all of our stuff, but we enjoyed the ride. Kayleigh was surprised to see cars inside of the mall. We decided that they either belong to some of the workers or they need fixed.

Robbie didn't care to have his picture taken.

Lisa and the kids left after lunch. It's sad to say that we don't know when we'll see them again, but hopefully they'll be back over after Alex is born. I'm not sure where we'll stick Erik if he decides to come with them next time! :)

Mom asked us to get a picture of the 3 cousins together. This was as good as we could get!

No Good, Very Bad Day

2012-01-03T11:39:00.006-05:00

Poor Robbie had a rough day yesterday. He loves to play in the bouncy seat, but yesterday when he was climbing out he feel and hit his cheek on the end table. Ouch! Luckily it wasn't worse than what it was. There were some tears, but he was fine after a few minutes.

The line on his cheek is the bruise. :(

He later used a toy to climb up onto the love seat and he tumbled off shortly after. He also fell out of Matthew's gaming chair. Yikes! Luckily we don't have too many days like that!

Let's talk about some better days! Jim and Jean gave Robbie a monkey towel for Christmas. It's bigger than the infant towels and much thicker. The best part is getting Robbie out of the tub, putting the towel on and watching him walk to his room for bedtime. The towel has a tail on it, which makes it even cuter!

King of the monkeys! (He's too tired to be taking pictures, can you tell?)

So cute!

We let Robbie try Publix potato salad a couple of weeks ago. He loved it! Unfortunately he had a reaction to it. Luckily it just made his cheeks red where it got on him. And we all know what a messy eater he is, so it was all over him!!

Yes, I'm messy!

I love potato salad!

See the red cheek?

After a late trip out shopping, we came home and started getting Robbie ready for his bath. I noticed when I took his onesie off that some Cheerios came falling out. It still took me a few seconds to realize what was on his back.

^^They are marks left by the Cheerios.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:17:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year! I always wonder where 365 days have gone. Last year was a good year finding out about Alex and Robbie turning 1. It's hard to imagine what our lives will be like soon with two little ones running around. I know Robbie is going to be a good big brother, but Alex is going to have to be tough (and if you've seen how Robbie "rocks" the bouncy seat, you know what I mean!). Matthew and I did stay up and watch the ball drop. I had to make Matthew stay up, though. He wanted to go to bed at 11:52! Is it just me or did the ball drop used to be more impressive? Maybe it's another one of those things where I was younger and the ball seemed bigger. I also wanted to see how Dick Clark is doing. I think he looked better than he did last year, but someone needs to tell him to lay off the spray tanning!

Back to last year. Barbara, Mimi, Gramps and Uncle Mark came up for a visit Thursday and Friday. They got here in time for lunch and Matt suggested going to The Loop. I was secretly excited because one of my friends was in town for the day and had invited me to lunch at The Loop. I declined since they were coming in town. Matthew didn't know and there are multiple Loops in town, but we chose the same one they did. Not only did I see my friend, Dawn, and her daughter, Tabitha, but my former personal trainer, Josh, was there with his daughter, Isis, who is 2 years old. I haven't seen him since before Robbie was born and Isis was just a baby. Josh also has a 9 month old son, but he wasn't with him.

After lunch we came home and let Robbie nap before opening Christmas gifts. Yes, we still had one more Christmas! Robbie has a lot of new cars and a road rug to play with them on. The rug is currently in the family room, but I think it will get moved into his room.

While I ran to Publix to pick up dinner, Matthew, Gramps and Uncle Mark put together Robbie's new swing set. It's toddler sized and perfect for him. He likes swinging the most.

Ready to climb up the steps

Down the slide!

How many men does it take to strap in Robbie?

I like to swing!

Friday Matthew bought Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast and we heated up some mini-quiches. I wish we hadn't had the quiches because now Matthew knows why I like them so much! :) We did lunch at Sonny's and then went to a park for a little while. Our guests left shortly after that.

Saturday we bought a few remaining items for Alex's room. We're almost ready for him to come! I wanted to have it all done yesterday, but that didn't happen. We have a running list of what needs to get done and we are slowly getting everything crossed off. We are definitely more ready for Alex than we were for Robbie, though! Matthew hung the new curtain rods and diaper stacker. I might rewash Alex's sheets because Robbie has been playing a lot in the crib while we work. It's nice that he doesn't mind being in the crib, but it also makes me nervous because I think he could get out if he wanted to because the mattress is on a higher level in Alex's crib than in Robbie's. Robbie enjoyed playing with Alex's new baby soother. We decided to do that instead of a mobile. The soother lights up and the fish move around. It will play classical music or ocean sounds. It came with a remote, so we could turn it on without having to go into the room. We went to a consignment store that I had gone to a few months ago. When I was there last time they had video room monitors very well priced. I was afraid that they would be gone when we went, but there were still 2 there. I plugged each end in to make sure it worked and it works perfectly! It's the same brand that we have for Robbie, just a different model.

Curtains and valance

Changing table and diaper stacker

Crib soother

Our to do list

It was nice to start the new year off going to church this morning, though I was sad when Matt told me that there wasn't going to be Sunday School this week. We have been going to service lately and not Sunday School and I was looking forward to seeing our friends. I'm sure they will be there next week!

32 week appointment

2011-12-29T10:19:00.002-05:00

With so much going on, it's hard to believe that it's only been 2 weeks since my last appointment and I'll be back in 2 more weeks for another check up! Everything is going well. My blood pressure is good and Alex's heart rate is good. The nurse said that Alex's heart rate is 136, which surprised me because it has been in the 150s. She said that their heart rate can be anywhere between 130 - 180 and there are many factors that can affect the heart rate. I imagine that it's lower because he was sleeping. He didn't move around and made it easy for the nurse to find his heartbeat and not have to search for it. I know he was up late last night because I could feel him moving. I thought he was going to karate kick his way out last night!! A couple of kicks really hurt. I told the nurse that at my last 2 appointments they had a hard time getting a clear sound of the heartbeat and she said that it's because my placenta is toward the front, so that is why the sound of the blood going through the placenta is so much louder than the sound of Alex's heartbeat. It's nothing to be concerned about, it just explains it.

It's a long video, but you can really hear his heartbeat.

The doctor measured me at 35 cm, so that is much bigger than I should be at this point. He isn't concerned and said that it could just be Alex's position. In 2 weeks I get to have an ultrasound to check his weight and position. That will be a fun appointment!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T19:48:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas! We had a fun day today! Robbie was up on the earlier side of normal (6:15), but I figure that's sleeping in on Christmas. After Robbie had breakfast we opened presents. I love that Robbie was more into opening his presents compared to just a couple of months ago when we opened his birthday presents. We weren't in a hurry, but Robbie went through the gifts pretty quickly. He has enjoyed playing with them today (as well as gifts that he has already opened from Grandma and Abuelo and Grandpa and GiGi). Matthew and I gave Robbie a ride on fire truck and Robbie has had fun pushing it around.

We went to church this morning. There wasn't any child care, so Robbie sat with us. We sat in the back and several other families with young kids had the same idea. We brought plenty of Puffs and Cheerios to keep Robbie's mouth full. :) I like to say that he agreed with the pastor a couple of times. Toward the end of the service a few of the kids started talking to each other. It was really cute. I'd say that Robbie did well overall, but next week he'll be back in the nursery!

We had a light lunch because we had a big dinner planned. Matthew cooked a ham, made REAL mashed potatoes (that's a big deal considering our mashed potatoes usually come from a box), corn and rolls. We also had a bottle of sparkling grape juice. It was all very good.

Robbie Skyped with Patrick, Mariruth, Caitlin and Will, and with Nana later. We let him play a little while longer before getting him ready for bed. He was so tired he could hardly keep his eyes open while we put his pj's on him. Robbie gave both Matthew and me good night kisses! It was my first kiss from him, though I think Matt has already gotten a few. Best Christmas present ever!!

Circling his first Christmas present

Found a good place to start

What is is?

Getting off the rest of the wrapping paper

Pushing the buttons

Taking off!

Playing with his cell phone from Uncle Nick and Aunt Robyn

Showing off his new forks and spoons from Uncle Patrick and Aunt Ruthie

Is Simba my gift, too?

Checking out his new car from Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Chat

Our Christmas present from Robbie

Footprint snowman

Footprint Christmas tree

Footprint Santa

Robbie and his new truck

Visit with Grandpa, GiGi and Aunt Brittany

2011-12-24T21:15:00.003-05:00

Jim, Jean and Brittany came up for a visit yesterday. They got in town around lunch time, so we met them at a restaurant for lunch. Robbie tried to include the entire restaurant in our conversation. Luckily there weren't too many people there, so hopefully they thought it was cute, not annoying!

Robbie fell asleep on the way home, so we had a chance to visit while he was napping. Later that afternoon we drove down to St. Augustine. It was fun walking around, and our "guests" hadn't been there in a long time. The city decorates with a lot of lights. I was sad that I forgot to bring the camera. After dinner we walked to the Lightner Museum because the gardens and building looked nice with all of the lights. We saw a bride, though we couldn't figure out if the man she was with was the groom (he looked a lot older), and a couple get engaged. It was a beautiful place for both a wedding and an engagement!

Whether everyone was ready or not, Robbie was up before 7 this morning. I thought I'd let Jim and Jean have grandparent time with him while I slept in. :) Jim has taken it upon himself to go to Panera to pick up bagels for breakfast whenever they come visit. He's done it so often he knows what bagels we all like! Since Robbie didn't want to nap we headed out to Babies R Us. Jim and Jean bought Alex his bedding and sheets. I'll take pictures when it's all set up. We also found a toddler swing set that we bought for Robbie. Then we drove to the west side of town and had lunch at a restaurant that Jean's friend suggested. There are some cute stores that we browsed and Robbie got to pet some stuffed dogs. You would have thought they were real dogs, but it's so cute!

We came home and opened presents. Robbie got some new books, a cute monkey bath towel (I'll have to get a picture of him in it!) and a toy car garage. It's fun watching Robbie playing with the garage, though he also thought it was a new seat for him. I said he was acting like Godzilla, because he was stepping on it and if there were little people in the cars you would probably hear them screaming.

We had a good visit and look forward to seeing them again when Alex arrives!

Visit with Grandma and Abuelo

2011-12-22T19:51:00.004-05:00

Since we aren't traveling for Christmas this year my parents came up last weekend to celebrate with us. It was warm to be celebrating Christmas, but I don't think it's going to be any different on Sunday.

My parents drove up Friday. The only bad thing is that they missed seeing Robbie before he went to bed, but they were ready to play Saturday morning! After breakfast we drove up to Amelia Island. Matthew took the scenic route so Robbie could get in a good nap. It didn't quite work as we planned because Robbie didn't sleep the whole time, but we got to see a part of Florida that my parents hadn't seen before (and I think I've only driven through one other time). There was a very small farmer's market that we walked through and mom and Robbie each got a banana. We walked around the city for a while before deciding on a place for lunch.

After lunch we stopped and I bought some fudge. My dad found out that the owner (I think he was the owner) was going to make some fudge, so we stayed for the show. The fudge was poured on a marble table and he moved it around to help it harden. He would also toss ribbons of fudge in the air. My dad asked him why he did that and he said because it's fun!

Grandma, Robbie and Abuelo

Taking a stroll

The fudge on the table

Fudge ribbon

Can you see fudge on the ceiling?

After dinner Robbie (ok, Matt and I) opened his gifts from my parents. He kept trying to play with the toys before they came out of the box, so I know they were good gifts!

Mom made French toast before church Sunday. Afterward we filled up on free samples at Costco before coming home to tortilla soup that had been cooking in the crock pot. They didn't stay too much longer, but some people had to work Monday.

We pretty much have the furniture in place in Alex's room. There's still plenty to do, but it's getting closer to being done!

More furniture for Alex!

2011-12-20T20:38:00.003-05:00

Matt and I went to a consignment store tonight to look for a Christmas gift for Robbie. After going to a couple of consignment stores and seeing the toys they have and the good condition they are in I figure it's better to get them there and pay less for them. We ended up not finding what we were looking for, but as soon as we walked in we were greeted with a changing table that matches the furniture we bought for Alex. It's not in perfect condition, but it's pretty close! There were two identical changing tables, so we even had our pick. (We chose the one with the drawer that actually opened.) After walking around a little bit I saw a glider and ottoman. The wood is darker than the furniture, but I'm not complaining. We saved $90 on the changing table and anywhere from $125 - $225 on the glider depending on what brand it is. (There isn't a tag for me to tell for sure, but it's a great deal either way!!)

The glider, ottoman and changing table (that Matt didn't have to put together!)

The glider and ottoman

The changing table next to Alex's dresser

The glider may end up in Robbie's room if we switch it with the recliner that is in his room. I remember when Robbie was first born that I slept many nights in the recliner and that may happen again when Alex is born.

Robbie is 14 months old!!

2011-12-20T07:35:00.003-05:00

Robbie turned 14 months yesterday. (I kept saying he was turning 19 months since the date was the 19th.) He is starting to walk a lot more. We have decided that we need to put shoes on him whenever we go out so we can let him walk more. Turning is still difficult for him, so he usually walks to a wall or piece of furniture and then turn. While he talks a lot more, almost everything is "da da" or "ba ba". He will say "no" when he doesn't want something (usually food). He definitely lets you know his opinion, especially when he's tired and cranky. He has been sleeping great, though! I almost hate to say that and jinx it!

Robbie at 2 months

Robbie at 14 months

Not a good picture, but look how long he is!

Big smile and dimples

A short video of Robbie.

Single Digit Weeks!

2011-12-19T10:55:00.002-05:00

I am 31 weeks pregnant today. That means only 9 weeks left! I'm so ready to meet Alex, but we still have plenty to do before he arrives. I'm not too worried about getting it all done before he arrives, though. We have what we need for the first few weeks, so if we're not ready we still have time to get things done.

30 week appointment

2011-12-15T21:45:00.002-05:00

Today I went in for my 30 week appointment. I can't believe we are 75% of the way to Alex's due date! I am trying hard not to think about him coming early like Robbie did, but it is always in the back of my mind. I am more likely to have an early delivery since Robbie came early, but, of course, every baby is different. So I just keep thinking "February 20" and not "January".

The doctor's office is right next to the hospital, so I got there early to pre-register for the delivery. I picked up the paperwork at the hospital 3 weeks ago after my last appointment. I thought all I had to do was drop it back off, but there were other consent forms that I had to fill out. Good thing I got there early!

I forgot to bring my camera to video the heartbeat, but it was pretty much like the last visit. You could hear the heartbeat, but it wasn't very clear. Alex's heart rate is in the 150's, which is good. He did move around a couple of times and made the nurse work to get a good reading.

I was surprised when, after a short wait, the nurse came back in to tell me that the doctor I was supposed to see was called to do a surgery. She said it would only take 20 minutes and I could wait for her or see another doctor. I opted to see another doctor since Matthew was at home with Robbie, so I couldn't spend all morning waiting for the doctor to get out of surgery. (Maybe it did only take her 20 minutes, but I wasn't going to bet on it!) Dr. B measured me at 31 cm, just a little big (I should be 30 cm because it's supposed to be 1 cm per week of pregnancy). She also mentioned that my glucose level was 114 and anything below 135 is good. (I didn't ask at my last appointment and apparently that disappointed a lot of people!) While the doctor isn't concerned, she still had me schedule an ultrasound in 4 weeks to make sure Alex isn't too big since I don't want to have a C-section this time. I'm excited about seeing Alex one more time before the delivery.

I will go back for another check up in 2 weeks and then 2 weeks after that (4 weeks from today) will be the ultrasound and a check up with the doctor. The usual prenatal plan is to go in again 2 weeks after that and then once a week until the delivery. I never made it to my 36 week appointment with Robbie, so we'll see how far I get this time! :)

Alex's dresser

2011-12-13T18:43:00.004-05:00

Matt attempted to put Alex's dresser together last night, but we had other things that needed to get done, so it got put together tonight. We haven't figured out exactly how we want Alex's room arranged, so the dresser and crib probably aren't in their final place, but at least they are ready to be used!

Are all of the pieces in here?

Checking out the hardware.

Are the instructions here, too?

The frame is done.

The back is on.

The finished product.

It might seem like Matthew did all of the work, but I did do the last screw in the crib and dresser! :)

Alex's crib and silly Robbie

2011-12-11T18:31:00.006-05:00

We have been slowly moving stuff out of the guest bedroom/office to get it ready for Alex. We bought the crib and furniture when my parents were here a few weeks ago and picked it up after Thanksgiving. Matt put the crib together this evening. He had a little helper, too! It seemed to go much quicker than when we put Robbie's crib together, but they are a little different and this time we had practice!

Testing the strength of the wood.

What part do we need first?

We don't need this.

The screw goes here, Daddy.

Never enough supervisors!

Half way done!

Mattress springs in place.

It's finished!

Robbie testing it out.

What do you mean this isn't my new bed?

Yesterday at lunch, Robbie was banging on his tray with a pen so I decided to give him a fork. He stabbed a few pieces of avocado, but still needed help getting them into his mouth.

This isn't how you do it?

Got it!

Let's try again.

I got another one!!

Robbie drank a lot of milk today (not complaining!) and figured out a way to get around with his sippy cup.

Look, no hands!

I can crawl with it, too.

He was also doing laps in the family room with his walking toy. Unfortunately whenever he would see the camera he would get distracted.

Thanksgiving and Robbie walking

2011-12-04T18:45:00.013-05:00

I realize that it's December and Thanksgiving was a week and a half ago, but I didn't know where the camera was and pictures make the blogs so much better! :)

We headed down Wednesday morning a little later than we had planned, and made it to Mimi and Gramps' house after lunch. Unfortunately we couldn't join everyone for lunch because Robbie's stomach doesn't last as long as ours. Mariruth (Matt's sister-in-law) and Will (nephew) flew down Tuesday night, so they and Barbara met us at Mimi and Gramps'. We visited with them for a couple of hours and then headed to Barbara's. We hoped Robbie would take a nap, but I guess he had too much energy from being in the car all morning. Later we met up with Mark for dinner. Monett and Gary were going to come, but Gary had to work late, so they didn't make it. After dinner we went to my parents' house because we were sleeping there the whole trip.

Thanksgiving was a big day for us. We had lunch at Mimi and Gramps' house with all of that side of the family. There were 19 adults and 3 kids. (Patrick and Caitlin, Matt's brother and niece, drove in Wednesday night.) I think Mimi and Gramps are going to have to build a bigger house if we are all going to fit in there much longer! :) Lunch was late for Robbie's schedule, so he had a sweet potato appetizer before the main course. He really liked the turkey.

Mimi and Gramps have a place on their wall for pictures of their great grandkids. Alex's spot is ready and waiting!

Robbie eating sweet potatoes with his make-shift bib because we left his at my parents' house.

Robbie and Caitlin "wrestling".

It's hard to get a good picture when youngins are involved!

After lunch we went to my parents' house. Mom was just leaving to pick up my grandma when we pulled in. Grandma got to spend some time with us and Robbie before my brother and his family arrived. I know my mom feels bad that we have the same thing for lunch and dinner, but I don't. It's one of the few times a year I get turkey, so I have to get my fill of it!! They also had a Honey Baked Ham, so Robbie had that for dinner. My niece, Mia, is so good with Robbie. They played a lot together. Robbie is getting more fun now that he can do more, too. :)

The cousins playing together.

Reading with Abuelo.

Sitting in the rocking chair.

We spent Friday with Matt's dad and family. Patrick, Mariruth and the kids spent the night at their house, so they were there, too. After breakfast we went to the kids museum. I think I would have had fun there even if we didn't have kids! They had a lot to do and I don't think we saw everything. I know I didn't anyway.

Shooting water with Daddy.

Putting the ball in the track with Aunt Brittany.

The different buttons would make the animal sound.

Of course he's not happy, someone's taking his picture and there's a fire to fight!!

We had lunch at the museum and then went to the playground outside. It was a different playground that didn't have the traditional equipment (swings, slides, etc), but it had a lot of fun other options. There was a 3-way see-saw that Matt, Jean and I got on. Someone there brought his pig, so we went over to check her out. From there we went to another playground that had swings and slides.

Checking out the pig.

Happy to be swinging.

Checking on Will.

After the park it was just a short walk to where there was a Christmas tree lighting and festival. We walked around for a while and took our picture in front of the Christmas tree.

All of us.

Grandpa, GiGi and the grandkids.

Jim and Jean wanted to take us to a Chick-fil-a that goes all out decorating for Christmas. It was pretty amazing. They had lights that were synced to music, a "snow" machine and Santa was there. Will did the best with Santa, but probably because he had no idea what was going on. Caitlin wouldn't even go near him and Robbie cried when I tried to put him on Santa's lap.

The best picture with Santa.

Saturday morning my mom and I headed up to visit my grandma. We walked down to one of the lounges that has 3 big fish tanks. Robbie liked to look at the fish, but he really liked playing with the decorative sea shells that were on a plate on a table. Most of them ended up on the floor, but he also shared them with me, mom and grandma. Grandma gave him some crackers when we were leaving and gave him a ride on her walker. He gets so spoiled! :)

Catching a ride with Nana.

A mouth full of crackers.

For lunch, Matt, Robbie and I headed over to Mimi and Gramps. We did a Christmas gift exchange with Caitlin and Will since we won't see them at Christmas. Caitlin pretty much got to open everyone's gifts since Robbie and Will are too young to do it themselves. Sometimes it's good to be the oldest one!

Caitlin and Robbie playing the piano.

Caitlin opening a gift while Robbie plays with the ribbon.

Mom and dad had Jonathan and the family over for dinner. Chat was in charge of dessert both times. Thursday night we had apple upside down cake. Saturday we had a chocolate-covered Saltine dessert that I don't know the name of, but I know I love it!

Sunday we just hung out at my parents' house and watched football. Dad tried out a new recipe on us. I don't know if it was a keeper recipe or not, though. I liked it.

Dad and Robbie in the kitchen.

Robbie took his first steps on his birthday, but usually only takes a couple of steps at a time and not very often. He's been doing it more lately and really likes to walk around holding your hand. Today he started taking more steps more often. These aren't his first steps, but the video is the first one we have of him walking. Matt is taking the video, but Robbie is walking toward me.

Robbie's first haircut

2011-11-22T20:34:00.005-05:00

It has been a long time that I have been saying that Robbie needs a haircut. I didn't want to do it right before his birthday because I knew we would be taking a lot of pictures and I was afraid that he might get a bad haircut. I don't know why we waited so long between his birthday and now to do it, especially with the holidays coming up, but we did and now it's done. I had a couple of friends recommend a children's salon not too far from us. Robbie got to sit in a train. I think the whole time he thought we were going to leave him. He wouldn't even let us put him down to play with toys they had out while we waited. The stylist attempted to put the cape on him, but that wasn't going to happen if Robbie had anything to say about it. Since he didn't like it she just cut his hair without the cape on and we are left to deal with very hairy clothes! The stylist tried to distract Robbie with bubbles and bells, but that didn't work. He pretty much cried the whole first half of the haircut and clung to me as I tried to get him to sit still and not grab the scissors. Matthew was also there to protect his fingers from getting a trim! Robbie stopped crying when the stylist next to us started sweeping up the hair from her client. When she was done sweeping she started blowing bubbles. I think he liked her sweeping more than blowing bubbles, though. The stylist did a good job considering how non-cooperative her client was! I'm kind of sad that we got his hair cut just because he's growing up and I think he looks older now. We did get a little bag of hair and a certificate of his first haircut. I think we had the last appointment of the day, and that's probably a good thing because if there were other kids coming in after Robbie they probably would have turned around and left! We'll be showing off his new 'do to family soon!

What are you going to do to me??

Bubbles!

I'm ready to get out now.

Seriously, get me out of here!!

I don't like this.

What's she doing?

Now she's over there.

Are we done yet?

Now she's blowing bubbles.

Bubbles coming the other direction.

Seriously mom, more pictures?

An after picture.

27 week appointment

2011-11-21T16:32:00.003-05:00

Today was my 27 week appointment. I dropped Robbie off at a friend's house so I didn't have him hanging around (and getting in trouble). I got to chat with a friend who is about 5 weeks ahead of me and had an appointment before me. I also saw a former co-worker, but I didn't figure out how I knew her until after my appointment. It's funny how many people I have seen in the waiting room at the doctor's office.

Anyway, I found out that I passed my glucose test. Yay! I was only a few points high when I was pregnant with Robbie and had to do the 3 hour test. Today I saw the doctor who delivered Robbie. It was the first time I have seen him since my post-natal appointments. My blood pressure is good and the doctor said I was measuring well, but I didn't ask what the measurement was. Usually they just tell me, but that could be the difference between a female doctor and a male doctor. We were able to track the heartbeat, but it was hard to get it clearly on the video. The noise you hear is mostly the blood going through the placenta, but you might be able to catch the heartbeat as well. Alex was averaging in the high 140's, just where it should be. I go back again in 3 weeks.

Matt installed Robbie's new car seat over the weekend. He doesn't fight us going into the new seat as much as he used to in the old seat, so that's nice. I need to figure out how to adjust the straps, but other than that we really like it.

Robbie didn't take a nap this morning because I had to drop him off when he would usually be sleeping. Luckily for me that meant that he took a 3 hour nap! He obviously was hungry when he woke up because he ate a whole avocado and was still hungry. I decided to see if he would eat another unpeeled pear, so I cut one into quarters and cut the core out. He chowed down on it and, to my surprise, ate the whole pear! He was a mess by the time he was done.

Robbie is 13 months old!

2011-11-19T20:03:00.005-05:00

I can't believe it's been a month since Robbie's first birthday. I knew November and December would go by quickly with the holidays, but I wasn't expecting October to go so fast.

Robbie is still only taking a couple of steps at a time, but now he is going to toys instead of just to Matt or me. I want him to walk because I don't want to have to carry him, but I also like that he is contained and can't run away from me.

Tuesday I posted that Robbie has 10 teeth, but I was wrong. He has 12. Later Tuesday afternoon I felt in Robbie's mouth and felt the 1st top molar (top right). I felt the other top molar Friday, but just a little part of it had come through, so I'm not counting it as through until today. He has been a teething machine! I think we're done for a while.

This morning I had cut up half of a pear for Robbie. I didn't think that he was going to eat the other half, so I didn't cut it up. Even though he still had some pear left on his tray, he wanted more to eat and was pointing at something on the table. He didn't want Cheerios or puffs, so I picked up the other half of the pear and that's what he wanted. I gave it to him thinking that he would play with it and it would end up on the floor. He started chewing on it. I was working on a word search, so I wasn't really paying attention, but I looked up and the pear was gone! He ate it skin, core and all! Makes me wonder why we've been cutting the peel off!

Robbie and the pear:

We had a hard time taking Robbie's picture tonight. He kept rolling away!

Here's Robbie at 1 month

Robbie at 13 months

Here's what most of the pictures we took look like

We have an appointment Tuesday evening to get Robbie's hair cut. It's long overdue, but I'm a little sad that the time has come. You can see in the pear picture how long it is. A couple of my friends recommended a kiddie salon, so we're going to take him there. Trust me, there will be pictures Tuesday night!

Double Digit Days!

2011-11-15T08:16:00.002-05:00

I have to thank my father-in-law Jim for pointing out that I am now in the double digit days for this pregnancy. I thought about it last week but I guess I didn't check the counter to see how close I was. I wish I could say that the time has gone quickly, and at times it has, but February still seems so far away!

We had a busy week last week. Matt and I went through a lot of our stuff deciding what was going to go in the yard sale we had Saturday. My parents came up to help out. Mom was in charge of Robbie and dad helped Matt move out furniture and get the tables set up. I posted an add on Craigslist and I really think that helped us get customers. It was a little discouraging at the beginning having several people do a quick glance around and not buy anything, but soon we had buyers. Anything we didn't sell was put in the back of the van and taken to Goodwill. I wanted to sell as much as possible so I was making deals left and right. I probably should have priced everything higher than I did so we could have sold it for what we really wanted rather than pricing it for what we wanted to get and selling it for less. In the end we made about as much as I thought we were going to and a lot more than Matt thought we would.

After we packed everything up we went to Babies R Us to order Alex's crib and dresser. It will be a couple of weeks before they come. I just want to have his room ready by January because we have no way of knowing if he'll come early like Robbie or not. We also bought a new car seat for Robbie since he is outgrowing his.

Yesterday Robbie started taking a few steps on his own. He isn't going very far yet, but I'm ready to not have to carry him. Robbie likes to get behind his walker and go from one end of the room to the other. He also had another tooth break through yesterday. That makes 4 top teeth and 6 bottom teeth! He got his first 6 teeth in just over a month and then waited about 3 months to start getting more teeth. Number 7 came in October 31st and #10 came in yesterday, so that's 4 more teeth in about 2 weeks. It certainly explains his fussiness!

I did the glucose test yesterday. I think the drink has gotten worse over the course of a year because I don't remember minding it as much when I had to do it for Robbie. I go back to the doctor Monday and hopefully get the results then. I don't want to have to do the 3 hour test again.

Robbie and Simba

2011-11-09T22:33:00.003-05:00

Robbie and Simba have a like/dislike relationship. Robbie likes Simba and Simba dislikes that Robbie climbs all over him and bothers him while he's sleeping. The other day Robbie had one of the cat toys and was swinging it around. Simba tried to play with it like he usually does, but Robbie isn't that good yet. At the end of the video the string had gotten wrapped around the stick so Robbie ended up just hitting Simba with the stick until Simba left. It was the first time Robbie and Simba actually played together. So cute!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:23:00.003-04:00

We didn't do much for Halloween this year. Robbie is still too young to go trick or treating. (Just our opinion. We have seen some pretty young trick or treaters!) We didn't even decorate this year. Next year will be different with Robbie walking (he better be!!) and we might take him around the neighborhood, or at least to our church's trunk or treat night.

It was a nice night, so we sat outside to hand out candy. The cats sat in the window wanting to hand out candy with us...or run away! We only had kids come around for about an hour. We had a few large group of kids of all ages and they were all dressed up. We've had some older kids just come around without costumes wanting candy. I can't say I blame them for wanting free candy, but it's disappointing. They were all very polite, too. We have plenty of left over candy. I'm hoping to return some of it (or exchange it for a different kind!). Robbie took a late afternoon nap. I was ok with it because I didn't want the trick or treaters keeping him up by knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell. He went right to sleep tonight. Hopefully he'll sleep in a little tomorrow!

Alex the skeleton.

Waiting for trick or treaters.

Hi Simba!

I'm not doing anything.

How did that get in my hand?

Too smart!

2011-10-31T08:22:00.005-04:00

Robbie is too smart for his own good! Last week he started climbing on the baby gate like he wants to climb over it. He also knows that to open the gate has something to do with the latch. Luckily he hasn't gotten it all figured out!

If I do something with this...

I want over there!

This past weekend Robbie started climbing out the cat door. Matt said he left the room and when he came back Robbie wasn't there. He thought maybe Robbie had followed him, but then he found him sitting on the porch.

http://youtu.be/_kLGedvNlPQ

Robbie didn't climb back through the cat door, but when I opened the sliding door he came inside. I closed up the cat door for now.

23 Week Appointment

2011-10-27T18:06:00.003-04:00

I had another appointment today. These appointments aren't too exciting, but I do get to hear the baby's heartbeat. I love knowing that he is doing well. I feel him moving around several times a day. The doctor measured me at 24 1/2 cm. Generally you measure a centimeter per week, so I'm measuring a week ahead. Guess we should be another week early in our preparations! :) I don't really think it's a big deal at this point, though. I remembered to bring the camera, so here is the video of the heartbeat. The nurse said the heartbeat is in the 140s and sounds perfect, just what I want to hear!

http://youtu.be/iqYVJZPJrj0

The baby does have a name. We've actually known the name for a long time, but we like being able to share the news in person and told a lot of our family last weekend when we were visiting. If we didn't get a chance to tell you when we saw you, sorry, but it was pretty busy at the party.

The baby's name is Alexander Michael! They are my brothers' middle names. I've liked the name for a while, but I don't think it had come up when we were naming Robbie. We are looking forward to meeting Alex!

Robbie's birthday party

2011-10-26T16:36:00.011-04:00

We had so much fun last weekend celebrating Robbie's first birthday with the family. We started the long weekend with Robbie's 12 month check up. He is 24 lbs 5 oz (75th percentile) and 30 1/4 inches (75th percentile). Wow, I can't believe he's 2 1/2 feet tall!! Poor thing had to get 3 shots (Hep A, chicken pox, and MMR), but he really does good. The doctor cleared him for traveling, so we filled up the gas tank and got on the road. Robbie and I took naps on the way down, but Matt said there wasn't much traffic and we made good time.

We went straight to Mimi and Gramps' house for a short visit until Barbara got home from school. We headed over to Barbara's and got to spend some time with her before everyone came over for dinner. Monett made beef stew that was so good. Barbara had to work Friday, so we didn't get to see her in the morning.

When we were up and ready Friday morning we headed over to my parent's house for some play time and a nap before picking up my grandma for lunch. We ate at Jonathan's Chick-fil-a. Unfortunately it was pretty busy, so we only got to visit with Jonathan for a few minutes. Mom was home from work when we got home from lunch. She made a roast for dinner and they were surprised that Robbie ate it. That night my dad and Matthew put together a grill that Matt bought and brought down. We weren't sure of the condition of the grills at the park, so we thought it would be best to bring ours down. Matt, Dad and Robbie had some fun with the grill, too.

The other white meat:

I want out!

We also let Robbie open his gifts from my parents and my grandma. He liked looking at his new books.

Is this for me?

What is it?

Turning the pages:

Reading his new book:

Saturday morning was spent getting ready for the party. Matt and I left Robbie with my parents to bring up to the park later. We got there about 10 to start setting up. It was kind of hard because it was so windy. It also made it pretty cool in the morning, but as the day went on it got a little warmer. Everyone started getting there around 11. Matt had the grill going and was soon churning out hamburgers and hot dogs. It was nice that we were right by the playground so the kids could play nearby. I didn't want to give Robbie a whole smash cake, so we just got him a cupcake. We think he was too full from lunch to really want a cupcake. I'm ok with that! We were so glad that everyone was able to come and celebrate Robbie's birthday. They party was kind of a blur and went fast, but everyone seemed to have a good time. I know we did! I just wish I had taken more pictures, but I was having too much fun talking to everyone to stop and take pictures. We did get plenty, though!!

At the grill:

With grandma/great-grandma:

Matthew, Robbie and me at 1 year:

Robbie's cupcake:

Birthday cake for the guests:

Happy with his cupcake:

I can't get enough of his smile!

Our shelter has been reserved:

Poor Robbie needed a nap after all of the festivities:

After the party Jim, Jean and Brittany took Robbie back to their place while Matthew and I dropped some things off at my parent's house and picked up our bags. We made plans with them to meet up with us for dinner. It was nice getting them together and we had a very good dinner at Bonefish Grill. Yum! Jim, Jean and Brittany got Robbie cute underwater creature musical instruments and new shirts. Brittany is trying to make a Wake Forest fan of Robbie.

We came home Sunday. We weren't so lucky with the traffic on the way home. We're glad that Robbie was feeling better for the long birthday weekend. He did great the whole time. I think he likes visiting everyone as much as we do.

Here is a year of watching Robbie grow!

1 week

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

1 year old!

Robbie is 1 year old!!

2011-10-19T13:40:00.006-04:00

I can't believe a year has gone by already! What a crazy time last year when Robbie came so early. We are glad he is a happy and healthy boy. This weekend is the big birthday party. It should be a nice day to have an outside party, thankfully!

Robbie was diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease Sunday. I called the doctor yesterday because the spots were showing up every where but his hands, feet and mouth. The nurse thinks it's just something viral and since we are seeing the doctor tomorrow for his 12 month check up she didn't think we needed to come in. My mom diagnosed it as roseola via pictures I sent her, which is pretty much like HFM, just caused by a different virus. I'm so glad that he is acting more like his normal self today. Unfortunately he looks worse today. But his temperature was 98.9 when I just checked it, the lowest it's been in a few days.

Last weekend we went to Tallahassee to visit the Eikelands and have Lisa's friend, Jenna, take pictures of us and Robbie. You can visit Lisa's blog to check out pictures from the pumpkin patch we visited.

Here are some of the 100+ pictures Jenna took. Aren't they great??

Unfortunately the slideshow maker website that I usually use is no longer up and running, so I have to post them all like this. I guess it's not a bad thing, it just makes the post seem really long and it's a little harder to caption the pictures.

Baby movements!

2011-10-12T21:55:00.002-04:00

I've been feeling #2 moving around for several weeks now and wondering when he will be strong enough for Matt to feel him. Tonight at church I felt movements and put my hand on my belly and I could feel him with my hand. When we were home watching tv he started moving around, so I told Matt to come over and he could feel him too! It took #2 21 weeks and 2 days to get strong enough for Matt to feel him. Now I wonder when Robbie is going to notice.

It's hot in here!

2011-10-12T13:26:00.002-04:00

Last night Matt thought that it was hot in our house. Apparently Robbie thought the same thing today. I don't remember why the refrigerator door was open, but it was. Robbie opened the bottom drawer and started putting his animal magnets in the drawer. He was getting them off the fridge himself, but I wanted to make sure that he kept doing it so I could get a video. He did end up putting the cow back in the drawer. I left them in there for Matt to find when he gets home. :)

Robbie graduated!!

2011-10-06T18:50:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the last day of Robbie's sign language classes. I can't say that he's fluent, or that he even learned all of the signs that they taught us, but I know that it will come with time and consistency. At the end of yesterday's class they played "Pomp and Circumstance" and handed out diplomas. It's a good thing that they laminated the diplomas because some of them would have been destroyed before they even left the building. Robbie was so excited to get his that he kept waving it around. (Yes, Robbie's diploma would have been one of the casualties.) They did take a class picture. Hopefully it will get emailed to us.

Here is his diploma:

Look what we caught!

2011-10-05T15:23:00.002-04:00

We had a very mini birthday party for Robbie and Wesley when we visited the Sagers over the weekend. We brought home the birthday balloon. Robbie likes to play with it and sometimes it looks like a bob in the water when you go fishing. Here's what was on the end of our line:

Half way!

2011-10-03T15:53:00.003-04:00

Today marks the half way mark through pregnancy #2. I actually thought about posting this 2 weeks ago since Robbie was 4 weeks early. Hopefully #2 will bake a little longer. I'm trying not to worry about #2 coming early. There's really nothing I can do about it. Matt and I have said that after Robbie's birthday party we will start getting everything ready for #2, so if you want to come up in November or December and help us move and build you are more than welcome. Just give us a heads up so the guest beds are put together. :)

19 Week Check Up

2011-09-29T14:26:00.003-04:00

I had another check up this morning. I forgot to bring my camera to take a video of his heartbeat, though. :( The nurse found the baby's heartbeat very quickly, which is unusual, but good. Robbie used to move all around and make the nurse's job harder on her. Baby's heartbeat is good and strong and was in the 150's bpm. The doctor measured me and I'm measuring right at 19 cm (it's generally a cm per week and I'm 19 weeks). She also looked over the ultrasound and said that he looks great. She said he measured in the 55th percentile. I didn't even know that there were percentiles for babies that young! I go back for another check up in 4 weeks. I've been feeling the baby moving around a lot more. I can't wait until Matt can feel him moving, too.

The other night Matt was making us a steak for dinner. I guess Robbie wanted to see what cow tasted like, though he went about it differently than we did.

Robbie likes to dance when his toy plays music. It's so cute because he'll look to make sure you're watching, even if his back is to you. I've been trying to get a video of it for a while, and he finally cooperated and kept dancing even though he saw the camera.

Unfortunately while I was uploading this video he got behind his walking toy and started pushing it around. He's been doing this for a couple of days. I'll have to try to catch him doing this later.

Messy Eater

2011-09-27T15:58:00.003-04:00

There is a reason I usually get Robbie undressed before eating: he's messy!! Obviously there are some foods that aren't as bad as others. Avocados are at the top of the messy list! I'm glad that Robbie likes them, though, because they are so good to eat. I had to document the mess he made, though. I think he was finger painting the tray with the avocado, too. I'm positive his onesie would have been much worse if I didn't put the bib on him, but not much!

Avocado all over the place!

Look at that face!

Good thing avocado washes out of clothes.

Baby #2 Ultrasound pictures

2011-09-20T21:03:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately we don't think that the technician did as good of a job taking pictures of #2. In her defense, she did say right away that she was having a hard time because my bladder was so full. Again, I just followed their directions and drank 2 8-oz glasses of water before the appointment, so what do they expect?? I'm going to post the two best pictures (in my opinion) separately and then all of them in a slide show.

I really think he's sucking his thumb!

He's definitely a boy!

Here is the slide show of all of the ultrasound pictures:

Robbie is 11 months old!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-19T19:25:00.004-04:00

It's hard to believe that 11 months have passed since Robbie was born and that he will be a year old in 1 month. I miss baby Robbie, but he is so much fun at this age, too. Besides being able to turn on the TV, he has learned to turn on the Xbox. Now when he stands up in front of the TV he'll start laughing because he knows that Matt or I are going to get him. I posted a video earlier of Robbie turning on the TV, here's a video of him waiting for me to get him.

I love how he focuses in on the object that he is crawling toward, and he'll crawl faster if he really wants something. He has started dancing with one of his toys (the one that's like a table). Robbie sleeps through the night all the time. Usually he'll sleep for at least 10 hours, 11 if we're lucky. I know some kids sleep for 12 hours at night, and I really wish Robbie did, because I still think 6 is early. (He usually goes to bed between 7:30 - 8 and gets up between 5:30 - 6:30, though sometimes it's earlier and sometimes it's a little later.)

This past weekend we gave him chicken again and he really liked it this time around. I definitely want to give him organic meat and milk. I'm sure we won't do it forever, but I do worry about all of the hormones they give the food animals and how it affects our children.

When getting dressed he sometimes helps put his arm through the sleeve or he'll pull the shirt down over his face. He doesn't do it all of the time, but it's nice when he does. He loves getting up into Matt's gaming chair. It makes me nervous sometimes because he'll face the back of the chair and I worry that he'll fall backward. Luckily he hasn't yet. I usually let him get down, though it's not always successful and sometimes ends with tears. Robbie can open dresser drawers and likes to pull the clothes out. It's never very many, though. Last week I had his clothes folded and in his basket in our room and he pulled most of the clothes out. Fun for him!

Here are the monthly pictures:

Here are some more pictures we took tonight.

We just got our new scanner. I'm sure we could have sent our old one to Canon to get it fixed, but I guarantee it cost less to get a new one. With that said, we'll get #2's ultrasound pictures scanned and posted soon.

Oops!

2011-09-18T15:03:00.004-04:00

How could I forget to post this video? For those of you who remember this:

You'll love watching this:

Sorry it's sideways!

Our Saturday

2011-09-17T20:10:00.002-04:00

Matt and I talked last night about going to Babies R Us and looking at beds for #2. We both agree that the finishes need to be the same because the boys will end up sharing a room someday. Unfortunately the only bed with the same finish is the same bed that Robbie has. Matt wants their beds to be different and I'm ok with that. We also saw some cute bedding. There is one that I really like but Matt isn't sold on it yet. I have some time to convince him! :)

On our way to shop, Robbie was dancing in his car seat. Matt was listening to sports talk radio, so there wasn't any music, just the music in his head.

After going to a few stores we went to Cruisers for lunch. Cruisers is famous for their burgers, and it was pretty good. Instead of giving you a mint afterward you get a Tootsie Pop. Matt let Robbie have a taste and he really liked it, so he let him try it again. I'm so glad we had Matt's camera to catch it.

Then I decided that getting it on picture wasn't good enough, so I took a video. Robbie was not about to let go the second time!

Where's Robbie?

2011-09-16T16:11:00.003-04:00

Robbie's toy somehow ended up behind the curtain in the family room. For a while, Robbie was trying to move the curtain out of the way, but I think he just got frustrated with that and decided to join his toy behind the curtain.

He also learned how to climb into Matt's gaming chair. You'll see that he stops to rub his eyes because he didn't take a long nap this afternoon. He climbed up again later and I let him get down by himself. It wasn't a complete disaster, he just needs a little more practice.

Matt's scanner at work didn't scan the ultrasound pictures very well, so we're waiting until we get our new one to post those pictures.

Baby #2

2011-09-13T21:06:00.002-04:00

To say that I am surprised that baby #2 is a boy is an understatement. This pregnancy has been so different than my first one that I was convinced that we were having a girl. I did say that with the two babies so close in age a boy would be great because the two would play together. I'm no expert on babies, but I do know that boys and girls play differently. Matt knew this baby was going to be a boy, so he wasn't as surprised as I was.

The baby looks great. He is pretty much measuring right on schedule, but we know that babies don't always follow schedules! The technician said she had a hard time because my bladder was so full (you can see it on the screen) and I wanted to say "Then why did you tell me to drink so much water before the appointment?" She is very nice, though, and talked to us during the entire appointment. She is also the same one that did Robbie's sonogram, so I knew she was good. At the end of the appointment she let me go to the restroom while she finished up with the paperwork and DVD and gave it to Matt. She knew how ready I was! :)

Remember, there's no sound on the video.

The first measurement is the head. The second measurement is the belly. The third measurement is the femur. Around 3:40 you can see the babies heartbeat. The black hole you see after that is my bladder! Then she starts pointing out the male part. She zooms in because I told her my mom won't believe the baby is a boy. :) Around minute 5 you can see him kicking his legs and at minute 6 you see his arms moving by his face. It looks like he might suck his thumb for a little bit. You can see his mouth moving, too. I can already tell he's a cute one!

Baby Movements?

2011-09-11T19:34:00.002-04:00

One thing I wish I did better when I was pregnant with Robbie was record how far along I was when certain things happened. I can always go back and figure how far along I was, but it would be easier if I wrote it the first time!

With that said, I am 16 weeks, 6 days and I have been consistently feeling movement in my tummy. I'm pretty sure it's the baby, but I really don't remember how it felt when Robbie was moving. I have thought a few times before that I have felt something, but it would only be once and then not again for days. I have felt the same thing for long periods different times today. I know it's going to be a while before Matt can feel the baby moving. I feel bad that Matt can't feel the baby as soon as I can, but it's one of the few good things that pregnant women have.

I hope you haven't forgotten that Tuesday is the ultrasound and we should find out the gender of #2. I know I haven't forgotten about the appointment!!

Videos of Robbie

2011-09-09T13:17:00.003-04:00

It's kind of hard to explain what Robbie does, but I can say Aunt Lisa used to do it when she was younger. Lisa used to do it when she was mad, but Robbie does it all the time. I think he does it because we think it's funny and, of course, I think he's adorable no matter what he does! :) It's a rapid nose breathing thing and Robbie makes the cutest face when he does it.

Here's a picture of the face:

And a video of him doing it.

Robbie learned how to turn the tv off a couple of days ago. He thinks it's great. Luckily he doesn't turn the cable box off, so we can rewind if we need to.

You can see all of his finger prints on the tv:

OTO_ID_5650413340849079090" />

And a video of him doing it.

Here is Robbie at lunch. I'm pretty sure he's talking to himself in the mirror, but it's cute when he's talking and gets his arms going.

Here's a video:

I took this one a few days ago. He's playing with the back of his toy and making a very annoying sound.

Here's a video of it:

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T20:05:00.003-04:00

I know I'm not out working any more, but I still love weekends and spending the day with Matt. Plus it means that he's home to help with poopy diapers! :)

This picture was taken Friday, but I'm including it. Robbie is still trying to figure out this toy. You'll see that he can't take the block out the same way it went in.

Saturday we drove down to St. Augustine. The weather was beautiful! We walked up and down St. George Street and hung out in front of the fort. I don't think Robbie was crazy about sitting in the grass, but he did like to pick it. We did leave with a bag of taffy. Yum! After enjoying our time in the historic district we headed up to the outlets for lunch and shopping. I couldn't resist getting a onesie for Robbie that says "Hug Magnet." It's really cute, but it's a 12 month onesie and has long sleeves, so he won't be wearing it for a while.

I love how Robbie crosses his feet!

After church Sunday we came home for lunch. Matt wanted to be more productive, but I said we needed the day of rest and we could labor on Labor Day. We rested. :)

After lunch today, we decided to go to a few car dealerships to look for a minivan. After our last visit to St. Pete we knew we had pretty much outgrown the Corolla. We set Robbie's birthday as the deadline to get a minivan. I knew a new minivan was not going to be in our price range and I had to come to terms with buying a used car. I know new cars aren't a good investment, but I like knowing how well (or not) the owner has taken care of the car. The first dealership we stopped at had 4 used minivans. Two were older than I wanted, one was a Kia, which is popular in my family, but the back was very cramped and the last one was a 2007 Toyota Sienna. It was the only one that I would have considered looking at. I took it for a test drive (Matt and Robbie stayed behind) and loved how it drove. We decided to see how good of a deal they would give us. They gave us a really good deal, so it's now ours! Matt had to give up his truck, but he knew that was going to happen. We're pretty sure the van won't fit into the garage, though, and that makes me sad, so we'll talk about the van's finer points. It has leather interior, a DVD player, a GPS, bluetooth hook up (I called my mom from the car!), 4 disc CD player, automatic doors, a lot of storage in the back, and a button in the back that puts the rear row up and down.

Here are some pictures:

Sorry the pictures are dark. I couldn't find our camera and really thought it fell out in the restaurant in St. Augustine. Obviously cameras can be replaced, but the pictures and videos on the memory card are priceless!

Hope you had a great Labor Day!

15 Week Appointment

2011-08-31T18:53:00.004-04:00

Today was my 15 week appointment. The appointments are 4 weeks apart, so it's not that I had to be there this week, but that's the week it fell on. I thought my weeks started on Tuesdays, but they start on Mondays. That means that in 2 weeks when we do the ultrasound, the baby will be 17 weeks and 1 day, the same age Robbie was when we did his ultrasound.

It was a very short appointment. I heard the heartbeat and talked to the doctor, but that was it. Everything is going well so far. It's always a relief this early on to hear the heartbeat since I can't feel the baby moving. They don't start measuring me until 20 weeks, so they might not even do it at my next appointment (I'll be 19 weeks).

Here is the video of the heartbeat. It's not much to look at, but it's the sound that counts! :)

Here are some pictures we took of Robbie yesterday.

I forgot to post this picture of Jim, Matt and Robbie from Sunday.

Robbie's Baby Dedication

2011-08-28T19:15:00.002-04:00

Today was Robbie's baby dedication at church. It was actually the 3rd time they had a baby dedication service since he was born, but the first one was only a few weeks after he was born and I wasn't up and about yet, the second one was on Mother's Day and I knew that was going to be a crowded service and then we finally decided to do it this weekend. It was nice because the church staff finally realized that they needed to have more baby dedication services because they were just too full. There were 18 families this weekend, including us. I was in a Mom to Mom Bible study group with two of the moms also participating.

I told my aunt Barbara that it's really less of dedicating babies and more about the parents making a commitment to raising their children in a Christian home and teaching them about God. I know the pastor said some nice things, but for the life of me I can't remember a thing he said. That's not much different than our wedding day, though, and I can't blame that day on baby brain! :) We were probably on the stage for less than 10 minutes, which was good for the older siblings so they didn't get restless. After we walked off stage we took a group picture, dropped Robbie off at the nursery and then joined my parents and Matt's dad for the rest of the service.

After church we went to Rosy's, our favorite Mexican restaurant. Robbie fell asleep on the way to the restaurant and didn't wake up until we had finished eating, though that's better than waking up as soon as we got our food!! I guess the waiter enjoyed our company because he didn't seem in too much of a hurry to bring us the check. The restaurant wasn't full, so I didn't feel too bad about taking up the tables. After lunch we came back to the house for a little while longer. Mom and Dad left around 2:30 and Jim headed home around 4:30 (after we made sure the Rays beat the Jays!). We enjoyed having them up here and I know Robbie likes playing with his grandparents.

Baby Gate

2011-08-21T18:22:00.004-04:00

Matt and I decided that we needed to put up a baby gate to keep Robbie from crawling into the kitchen, dining room and living room. We're pretty sure he's not thrilled with his new boundary, but we know he'll get used to it. Eventually we'll move the cat food out of the office (future nursery) and into the kitchen or living room (future office/guest bedroom).

What is this doing here??

I can stand up all by myself!

And now I'm sitting.

Alright, Simba, how are we going to get through this?

Robbie is 10 months old!!!!!!!!!!

2011-08-19T20:37:00.002-04:00

I can't believe another month has come and gone. I really can't believe that Robbie will be a year in 2 months!! We just don't talk about that.

Robbie is now crawling all over the place. I really don't see him doing the army crawl any more. And he is quick! He sees something he wants and just goes after it. I kind of miss the Robbie who would stay in one place. At least he's not walking yet! Actually, he will take a few steps if he is holding your hands and it's usually when he's been standing up for a while and he wants to move, but he's not sure of how to sit down. He will walk toward something that he wants...mainly a cat. Simba is really good with Robbie. I think he's just getting used to the abuse. Sometimes Robbie gets close enough to Juliet to touch her, but it's a quick touch, if anything, before she's running away. He pulls himself up on just about anything. He likes to pull himself up on the toy box (there are usually toys on top), the entertainment center, couches and his stand up toy. Robbie is talking like crazy now and I love it! The most fun is hearing him talking to himself after waking up. One of Robbie's favorite things to do is open and close doors. It's still mostly the bathroom door, though he now knows that he can open the entertainment center door.

We have started taking sign language classes. It's once a week for 10 weeks. I did miss last week, but I can make it up later if I want to. I think Robbie has started signing "all done"/"all gone". It looks more like he's waving, but yesterday I saw him do it at lunch, so I decided to see if he was finished. I tried to give him another grape, but he turned his head away. This morning at breakfast he kept waving whenever he had eaten all of the grapes on his tray. (I do try to vary what he eats, but we are going to the farmer's market tomorrow and are low on food for him.)

I noticed today how long Robbie is. Every once in a while it looks like he's had a growth spurt without us noticing and then he looks a few inches longer. I know babies don't grow that fast, but he seemed bigger today.

More talking at breakfast

2011-08-19T08:58:00.003-04:00

Here is Robbie using his excited voice at breakfast. I could just listen to him all day, it's so cute!!

If you are wondering how he got his hair to stick up like that, it's a mixture of rice cereal and grape juice from the grapes he was eating. I still haven't fixed his hair because I think it's cute, too!

Bathroom Fun

2011-08-18T20:25:00.005-04:00

I found Robbie in the bathroom again. I kind of miss the old Robbie that would stay in one room. I also found him in the office playing with the cat's food, but I didn't take any pictures of that. Robbie has been talking up a storm lately and I got some cute videos at bath time.

Pictures taken this afternoon:

I found my toys!

No, I wasn't playing with the toilet paper!

Robbie talking on the potty. He gets so excited when he sees Simba:

Robbie "reading" on the potty: (The potty does start playing pee pee music, but it was a false alarm.)

Robbie talking in the tub:

Robbie still likes to blow raspberries, though I do discourage it when he's eating!

Baby #2

2011-08-16T09:05:00.004-04:00

If you aren't on Facebook then you wouldn't know that today is the day we decided to spill the beans about Baby #2. Most of our family found out when we saw them over the 4th of July weekend. My parents had to wait until they opened their anniversary card July 6th.

We found out June 19th, Father's Day. We weren't trying for another one, but we weren't preventing it, either, and we were surprised with a positive pregnancy test. I had skipped my cycle the month before and was disappointed with a negative pregnancy test then. It was during the weight loss competition and I called the OB office to talk about it and the nurse said between all of the working out, losing weight and nursing Robbie I had probably (and did) just skip a month. Maybe that should have been a sign to be more careful, but for some reason we still didn't think it would happen so soon. (We were really thinking October when Robbie was 1 year old.)

We had an ultrasound July 6th, so we know there is only 1 baby (unless the other baby is a REALLY good hider!). The baby's due date is February 20, 2012. I'm trying not to think that this one should be 4 weeks early since Robbie was, but it's hard not to hope for another short pregnancy.

We will find out September 13th what we are having. I have been thinking that #2 is a girls because I've had different symptoms this time around (more tired, nausea), but the last appointment threw me. At the last appointment the baby's heartbeat was 170 bpm at 11 weeks and Robbie's heartbeat was 170 bpm at 10 weeks, 4 days. They say you really can't determine gender based on heartbeat, though. We will find out the gender when the baby is 17 weeks, and we found out Robbie was a boy when he was 17 weeks, 1 day. Let me know what you think we're having!

Here is the video of the first time hearing baby's heartbeat. You can see how excited Robbie is to hear it.

Ok, obviously Robbie is more interested in his bottle than hearing the baby's heartbeat.

Vacation!

2011-08-15T08:50:00.003-04:00

Last weekend Robbie and I flew down to visit family. I was really nervous about how Robbie would do on the flight, but he did great! Matt was able to get a chaperone pass so he could go all the way to the gate with us. My dad got one as well and met us when we landed. We flew Southwest, so we didn't have assigned seats. We were in the 3rd row by the window with no one sitting next to us. It was nice to have 2 seats (not that we needed them), and the lady sitting on the aisle was nice. Robbie liked playing with the tray. As soon as the plane pulled away from the gate, Robbie leaned back and got comfortable and then fell asleep. He slept the whole flight.

Pictures from his first flight:

Sunday evening we were invited to my friend's parent's birthday party. We have been friends with Jana since 3rd grade when we transferred schools. I love that we have kept in touch. Jana's sister, Julee, and her husband did a cute video to get the party started. They had Sonny's for dinner and Robbie had his first bite of meat, turkey! I think he liked it. We're going to start giving Robbie meat soon.

Party pictures!

My sister and her kids were also staying with my parents. I love getting together with family. I have cute nieces and nephews and they are so good with Robbie. Brian took time out from the fun to read Grandma a book:

Apparently I wasn't supposed to see this, but I caught Mom and Dad red handed:

Since Lisa has already blogged about our week, head over here to read more about it and see more pictures. I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do because Lisa usually had her camera ready. The week that we were at my parent's house, Robbie got a lot better at feeding himself and crawling. He is also taking more steps when you hold his hands. I miss the old Robbie that would stay in one room. Life is getting a lot busier with him moving around!

Matt drove down Friday and made it in time for dinner. Saturday we headed over to Matt's mom's house for a visit. That night we went to his aunt and uncle's house to celebrate Barbara's birthday. They have a little dog, Bailey, that loved to lick Robbie. I don't know how much Robbie liked it, though!!

Sunday we headed over to Matt's dad's house for a visit before heading home. After lunch we Skyped with Matt's brother and talked to his niece. We also got to see their new baby boy. Unfortunately, Jean got a phone call that their dog had passed away. They had taken Maggie to the vet the day before. Maggie was a sweet dog and will be missed.

Bananas are squishy

2011-07-31T08:03:00.002-04:00

And fun to play with! We are trying to let Robbie feed himself, and usually we just give him Cheerios. This morning he had a banana with his cereal and we gave him pieces to eat by himself. He usually picked them up and squished them in his hand before sucking them off. Or he just finger painted his tray with them. After the banana was gone we gave him some Cheerios. It's funny that they were stuck all over him because of banana "glue".

Robbie usually just plays with his food, but he was actually feeding himself, so I took a video.

Robbie did get a bath after breakfast! :)

Potty Time

2011-07-29T14:18:00.004-04:00

My friend Amber talked me into "potty prepping" Robbie. She is going to start with her son soon, and I guess she wanted a friend to go through it with. Xavier is 4 months younger than Robbie, so she hasn't started yet. I'm not going into this thinking that we are going to have Robbie potty trained any time soon, but I want him to get used to sitting on the potty so it won't be scary later. Matt and I have noticed that Robbie goes to the bathroom right before we put him in the tub. I don't know if it's the sound of running water that makes him have to go, but the first night I put him on the potty before bath time, he went! When I tried it again last night he didn't go, but he did fall off. I was sitting on the floor next to him, but I wasn't really watching what he was doing. I looked over to see the fall. He got a bump on his head, but it didn't look too bad this morning. I know that with boys you just have to get used to bumps and bruises, so I didn't get too worked up about it last night. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the baby Tylenol last night because I imagine the fall gave him quite the headache, but he slept through the night. (We heard him at 5:45, but went back to sleep for almost 45 minutes.) I have also noticed that Robbie poops during breakfast, so I put him on the potty this morning when I thought it might be time, but Robbie decided to wait until nap time to do the deed. Like I said, I'm not trying to hurry anything, but if I can avoid a poopy diaper I will!!

The cute potty we got. The seat can be removed and put on a big toilet as a toddler seat and the top will fold down so it can be a stool.

Matt said that this picture will be shown at Robbie's wedding.

Pictures of Robbie

2011-07-26T08:44:00.003-04:00

Yesterday morning Robbie was getting up on his hands and knees in the crawling position and I wanted to take a picture of it. Since I had the camera handy, I ended up taking a bunch of pictures, so I figure I'd share them. Even though Robbie gets into the crawling position, he just flops down when he actually wants to move. Sometimes the flops sound painful, but he doesn't seem too fazed by them. I'd also like to mention that he doesn't stay naked all day, but when I get him up in the morning I don't dress him right away so I don't have to worry about him spilling breakfast on himself. Yes, that is what bibs are for, but this is just easier. I'll dress him sometime between breakfast and his morning nap.

This morning Robbie discovered the kitty door that goes from the family room to the porch. Luckily he hasn't tried to crawl through it, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. In the video you can see Juliet on the porch wondering if she'll ever be able to come inside and Simba comes over to see what Robbie is doing.

I have no pictures of this, but Robbie slept through the night last night!! I was thrown off being woken by Matt's alarm, not Robbie crying. We both asked each other if we had gotten up with him last night, but neither of us had. I didn't even hear him cry last night. Hopefully this isn't a fluke, but his new sleeping habit.

Robbie's 9 month check up

2011-07-22T13:45:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we took Robbie in for his 9 month check up. He weighs 22 lbs, is 28 3/4 inches long and his head is 46 cm. He is in the 75th percentile for all of the measurements, so he's not as big as some people think he is. Luckily he only had to get 1 shot, the last Hep B shot, and didn't even cry. The doctor was great about answering all of our questions, mainly about giving him new solid foods. We were told that we can give him any vegetable, meats except seafood, and fruits that aren't citrus.

I scheduled the appointment right at the beginning of nap time, but luckily Robbie was great the whole time. His nap when we got home wasn't as long as it normally is, but that's fine because I was worried about him not sleeping last night. The doctor suggested we come back in August or September to get his flu shot and then hopefully we won't be back until his 1 year appointment.

Squirting, Scooting and Squealing

2011-07-21T09:04:00.003-04:00

Robbie didn't want his bottle after breakfast, so I set it and him down to play. Robbie found the bottle later and gave himself a squirt.

After he had fun with his bottle and I cleaned him up, he was off to find other things to play with. I mentioned before the he has started squealing and you can hear it in the video. You can also see that he gets around without actually crawling.

Robbie is 9 months old!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-19T22:05:00.003-04:00

Robbie is 9 months old today. I have been thinking all day about how pregnancies are supposed to last 9 months, but mine (Robbie's?) only lasted 8. Robbie has been a great addition to our family. He smiles all the time and loves to play peek-a-boo. He can pull himself up in his crib. I had him sitting in his crib the other day while I put away his laundry and I turned around and he was standing up! I keep telling Matt that we need to lower his crib mattress, but we still haven't done it yet. He loves the exersaucer and jumperoo because he can stand up. I'll put toys on the couch and sit behind him while he stands and plays with them, too. He will take a few steps if you are holding his hands, but he's definitely not ready to start walking. Robbie still isn't crawling, but he gets around. We have talked about moving him up into the next classroom at church, but our friends have advised us to wait until he's better at getting around. I'm fine with leaving him in the nursery and they like him in there. Robbie's new thing to do is scream. He does it when he's happy, though he did it randomly in the car the other day. It's cute and I'll get a video of it soon.

Robbie eats 3 solid meals a day. We usually do cereal and fruit for breakfast and then a veggie for lunch and dinner. We are going to talk to the doctor Thursday at his check up about adding dairy and meat. He would probably have a larger palate if I were better about starting new food with him, but I'm not. He likes bananas, peaches, applesauce (though Matt questions if he likes it), carrots, peas, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. We gave him yellow squash a few times, but he really doesn't like it, so we've taken it off the menu.

It's crazy, but Robbie has 5 teeth now and he just got his first tooth on his 8 month birthday. Four of them are top teeth and one on the bottom. The bottom one is my favorite because you can see it when he's smiling. You can also see it when he's crying, but it's not that cute then! I did see that his other bottom tooth is almost ready to come out. He has had a rough few nights lately and we know that means he's teething. I wish I could say that he's sleeping through the night, but he's not. Now that we are giving him formula, Matt can get up with him at night. That has been a huge help to me! I also have not slept through the night, but at least when Matt gets up I go back to sleep quicker.

I've taken Robbie to the pool a few times this summer and we've gone to the beach a couple of times. Matt said that Robbie is starting to get a pretty good tan. I didn't notice it until a play date with our friend's baby and Robbie is definitely darker. Target had summer stuff on sale, so we bought a little pool, a sprinkler toy and beach toys. Obviously he's not ready for them yet, but it's nice that they will be on hand for next year.

I can't believe that he's lived 3/4 of a year already. We'll be planning his birthday party soon. I have seen birthday boy outfits at Target and Babies R Us, but I've been good and not bought one yet. I don't want to rush these next few months thinking about his birthday. We're loving having him around and watching him grow.

Monthly pictures:

A few more pictures we took:

A week of fun!

2011-07-11T08:47:00.002-04:00

Matt and I had a little down time before Lisa and the kids came over for the week. They drove over Tuesday and stayed until Friday. We had a lot of fun going to the beach and a splash pad. Matt missed out on most of the fun because he had to work. We are looking forward to seeing them again in August!

If you want to read about our week, head over to Lisa's blog and check out the pictures, too!

Saturday was our 6th anniversary. We have friends that have offered to trade off babysitting so neither of us have to pay for a sitter, so they watched Robbie for a few hours while we went out. We went to Stonewood because Matt was looking forward to a good steak. I like their onion soup and had a blackened chicken pasta dish. I told Matt to save room for dessert. I had chocolate cake and he had apple pie. The whole meal was delicious! We walked around Barnes and Noble after dinner to help digest all of that food.

Before we left for dinner I felt Robbie's 4th tooth! It's the right middle one on the top. Mom said he's just filling in the gap! I don't think it will be too long before his other top tooth comes in. Unfortunately the whole teething process is making him miserable, mostly at night. I know it's a long road ahead of us! When Robbie smiles you can see his bottom tooth. It's so cute!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T15:14:00.002-04:00

Friday afternoon we headed down to visit Matt's family. Unfortunately we hit a lot of traffic on our way down. It seems like people forget how to drive when it starts raining. Luckily Matt has a smartphone with GPS, so we were able to work our way around the accidents, but it didn't make the trip any shorter.

We finally made it to Matt's dad's house around 5 pm. We sat and talked for a while, and then Jean made us dinner. It was a Publix Apron's meal (balsamic pork chops) and it was good. Earlier that day they had a hockey player come look at their house (obviously it's for sale), and they found out he was coming back again the next day. Unfortunately it didn't get on the short list to come back again. We went to an ice cream place for dessert. It was good ice cream, but the mosquitoes were looking for dessert, too, so we didn't stay long.

Saturday morning we hung out at the house. Brittany was heading out to spend the weekend with some friends out of town and shortly after she left we went out to lunch. It was a good sandwich shop and they have a lot of sauces and dry goods that you can buy, and their desserts looked delicious! The sandwiches are huge, though, and I can't imagine having dessert, too. We probably could have shared sandwiches, so we'll know better if we go back.

After lunch we went to Matt's mom's house. Mimi and Gramps were already there. It was nice that they were able to get some time with Robbie before everyone got there. After playing inside for a while, we put on our swim suits and headed down to the pool. The pool area was set up for a baby shower, but the people there were nice and the kids that were in the pool were well behaved. Robbie ended up taking a nap with Barbara. When he woke up we headed out to the beach. The timing couldn't have been better because Jonathan and Chat were just getting the kids out of the car. We walked across the street to the beach (how nice is that?!) and stayed for a little while. Matt, Barbara and Robbie left early to get dinner for Robbie. The rest of us didn't stay too much longer because we were getting hungry too. When we got back, Monett and Gary and Brigette and Mark were there. Jonathan also recognized Kim because she goes to his Chick-fil-a. It was a nice evening.

Sunday morning we picked up my Grandma and took her over to my aunt and uncle's house for lunch. It's kind of a joke that whenever Matt and I come to town Barbara and Jack leave. Barbara asked what we wanted for lunch. I told her she could serve anything she wanted as long as she made her mac and cheese. We also had ham, fruit salad, corn on the cob and baked beans. Yum! Jill and Ryan were there, too, though Ryan went down for a nap shortly after we got there. It was so nice to visit with them. Usually we're with a much larger group of family and don't get a chance to talk. Robbie was in a great mood and loved the toys Barbara brought out for him. We planned to leave when Robbie was tired so he would sleep in the car figuring it would be sometime around 1:30. It was closer to 2:30 when he started rubbing his eyes. I can't guarantee that we didn't wear out our welcome, but at least they didn't show it! :) We hadn't gone but a few blocks before he fell asleep in his car seat. He slept most of the way home.

I didn't really take pictures this weekend, but here are a few of Robbie's first trip to the beach.

Another tooth!

2011-06-21T08:10:00.002-04:00

Robbie and I were playing last night and he opened his mouth wide and I caught a glimpse of another tooth! I couldn't believe it and called Matt over to ask him if he saw what I saw. Sure enough, it's another tooth! It's the opposite of the first one, not the front and center teeth, but the ones next to them. My niece, Kayleigh, got those 2 teeth in first, too. Brian started getting teeth in the right order (bottom first), so we'll see what our next kid does.

This morning I set Robbie on the floor to play while I fixed my breakfast. Mind you, I did not leave him right next to the nice, neat pile of newspaper, but obviously it wasn't out of his reach!

Robbie is 8 months old!!!!!!!!

2011-06-19T20:15:00.004-04:00

I have been telling people all week that Robbie is going to be 8 months old on Monday. Today, Matt corrected me. Of course I know that Robbie was born on the 19th, I just thought that Monday was the 19th. Today is already a big day being Father's Day and the Eikeland's and Woodson's anniversaries. (Happy anniversary Barbara and Jack and Lisa and Erik!) I couldn't imagine that it was Robbie's 8 month birthday, too.

We went to church this morning and one of the nursery workers told us that he was pretty fussy, which is very unusual for him. Matt felt Robbie's first tooth tonight! We have seen for a while where his 2 bottom teeth are coming, so it was a big surprise that his first tooth was a top tooth. It's the top right, but not the front one, but the one right next to it. I tried to take a picture, but that was very unsuccessful.

Robbie is getting very close to crawling. He can actually get himself forward a little bit, but not often and not far, so he isn't truly crawling yet, but he will be soon!

More pictures: (He's laughing in the first one when he's being "attacked" by Shamu.)

Happy Father's Day, Matthew!

Jonathan's birthday

2011-06-18T20:29:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday was my brother, Jonathan's, 35th birthday, so Robbie and I drove down to help celebrate. The trip down went well, with Robbie sleeping most of the way. I did pass a pretty bad accident, and my dad called to make sure I was ok. Luckily it was on the other side of the road and it didn't slow us down too much.

Saturday morning, mom, Robbie and I went to visit my Grandma for a while. It's always fun showing Robbie off to her friends. We sat on the front porch for a while and one of the ladies fed a squirrel and birds some bread. After our visit we went to Chick-fil-a to see the birthday boy! It stinks that Jonathan had to work on his birthday, but at least it was during the day and he could get together with his friends that night.

After church Sunday, Jonathan, Chat and the kids picked up Grandma and came over to my parent's house for lunch. Mom made a nice lunch, but Grandma was looking forward to pizza. During nap time, Dad, Chat, Robbie and I went shopping. It ended up being Robbie's nap time, too, he just slept in his car seat. We were gone for a couple of hours and when we got back, Mia was the only one up from her nap. Jonathan and Nathan slept a little while longer. Unfortunately for Grandma, we had pizza for dinner and she was already home.

Monday morning I was feeding Robbie breakfast and my mom was doing her hair. Robbie knew she wasn't far, but couldn't see her. It was cute seeing him try to find her.

After Robbie's nap, we headed over to my friend Polly's house. There were 5 adults and 11 kids (with one more on the way). It was so much fun getting together with my friends and seeing their kids. Some of my friends have blogs and some post pictures of their kids on Facebook, but it's definitely much more fun to see them in real life. Kelli's daughter, Avonlea, enjoyed spending time with Robbie in the pool and pulled him around in a little inflatable boat. I wish I took more pictures when I was with everyone, but we all had our hands full watching little ones.

Monday night we all went to Jonathan and Chat's house for dinner. Chat made Filipino barbecue and lumpia. Yum! She's a great cook. I gave Nathan his birthday present early, but Chat told me that they need outdoor toys and a t-ball set was a perfect gift for him. The ball is on a string, so it can't go into the street or lost in a neighbor's yard. Both Nathan and Mia are good at hitting the ball.

Mom, Robbie and I went over to Grandma's one more time Tuesday morning and then I headed home. Robbie slept in the car until the last hour or so. Luckily he was only fussy the last 30 minutes and I was giving him everything I could to keep him entertained.

Here are some pictures my mom took from the weekend:

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-01T21:12:00.003-04:00

We had a pretty fun (and busy) Memorial Day weekend. We went to my parent's old stomping ground (Palatka) Saturday for their blue crab festival. The funny thing is, neither of us had any blue crab! They closed off several streets for the festival and there were a lot of people selling crafts. We walked around for a couple of hours before heading home.

Sunday we headed to see the Eikelands. We met them at Tijuana Flats for lunch. We pulled up pretty much at the same time. I hadn't been there in years and it was better than I remembered it. We went back to their house and Lisa, Kayleigh and I started baking cookies and cake for her birthday party. Lisa allowed Kayleigh to decorate the cookies, but said she couldn't help decorate the cake. We hung out for a little bit after that and then the kids went down for a nap. When they got up they headed to their friend's house for a cookout while Matt, Robbie and I headed to a park with Jenna. Jenna is Lisa's neighbor and good friend. She is starting a photography business and offered to take Robbie's picture to add to her portfolio. She did an awesome job!

After Robbie's photo session we headed to the cookout. The hosts are the parents of one of Erik's friends. They have a pool, so we brought our suits. I think Robbie enjoyed the pool, minus the occasional splashes. Kayleigh was good to tell us when she was jumping in so that she wouldn't splash Robbie. Matt and I headed back early to feed Robbie and get him to bed. After we put all of the kids to bed, Lisa and I cut out and decorated Kayleigh's bunny cake. After the decorating was over, Lisa and I stayed up way too late playing Farkle.

Monday was Kayleigh's 4th birthday. After breakfast Kayleigh opened gifts from Erik and Lisa. Her big gift was a new bike. They had Kayleigh stand in front of the garage and then opened the door for her to see it. She was super excited and jumped right on. The birthday party started at 11. We had pizza for lunch - yum! Jenna came with her kids, Jack and Kate. Kayleigh and Brian play well with them. Kayleigh and Jack are best friends and so cute together! Kayleigh even let Jack help her blow out her candles.

We bought a sweet potato for Robbie to have at the cookout. We didn't give it to him then, so I gave him some for breakfast since I didn't have any cereal for him. He didn't eat it all at breakfast, so I was going to let him finish it at lunch, but we couldn't find it. Later that afternoon Lisa found the tupperware container outside in the yard. Apparently the dogs got it down from the table and took it outside for a midmorning snack!

After the party I went up stairs to help put Kayleigh down for a nap. When I came back downstairs, Matt had put Robbie down for a nap, so we decided to stay until after dinner. I didn't mind the extra long visit!

Here are 28 pictures from the weekend:

Yesterday I saw Robbie's 2 bottom teeth starting to make their appearance. Teething is not fun, but we're hoping to see the fruits of Robbie's labor soon!

Never Quit 5K and Riannah's Baptism

2011-05-26T12:55:00.003-04:00

We had a pretty busy weekend last weekend. Saturday morning Matt's mom and grandparents drove up. That evening was a 5K that we were running and they offered to watch Robbie. There were plenty of people that did the race pushing strollers, but I'm glad we didn't have to do that. The race was on the beach, which sounds worse than it was! It was at low tide, so we were running on packed sand. I think it was easier to run on the packed sand than when I run outside with my trainer and workout partner. Matt had been sick last week, so we didn't go as fast as we probably could have. I finished in 47 1/2 minutes and Matt wasn't far behind me. I'm still happy with that time because it's about 10 minutes faster than the 5K we did in February. Matt got a t-shirt and a sports watch for doing the race. I got a tank top and a sea turtle necklace. We also enjoyed free smoothies from Tropical Smoothie and I got a chocolate covered strawberry from Peterbrook. It was delicious, even with the melted chocolate because it was so hot.

Our swag:

Sea turtle necklace:

Barbara brought up the toy box that she painted for Robbie. It was built by Gramps a long time ago and used to belong to Matt's aunt. We told Barbara that we wanted it to look like building blocks and she took it from there. I think it turned out pretty well! :)

We had to get up pretty early Sunday morning to get ready to head to Chiefland for Matt's cousin's baby's baptism. Before we got to the church we pulled in to a McDonald's to change Robbie and stretch a little bit (we were pretty early). We weren't there long before we saw Jim and Jean walk in. Jean surprised Brittany (who was waiting in the car) by walking out with Robbie. The church was just a couple of miles down the road. The pastor was smart and did the baptism at the beginning of the service. Robbie was quite impressed by the pastor's robes. He didn't last too long and then I took him in the nursery. I didn't realize that Heather had already brought Riannah back, and the two of us sat and talked while the kids played.

After church we headed to Matt's aunt's parents' house for lunch. They had a nice spread for all of us. We got back on the road around 2, which was perfect for Robbie. He slept all the way home.

Robbie is 7 months old!!!!!!!

2011-05-19T16:36:00.003-04:00

Who knew 7 months could go so quickly? I guess if you are a parent you do! Robbie is 7 months old today. Crazy! Unfortunately I had to take him to the doctor Monday and found out that he has an ear infection (just the right ear this time). He still weighs 19 lbs, 4 oz. Size 3 diapers seem big on him, but he's quickly growing out of 6 month clothes. We have clothes out up to 9 months, so we're ready for him to keep growing.

Robbie is doing so well sitting up by himself. He can even look around without falling over. When we go to a restaurant we put him in the high chair like a big boy. As long as he stays entertained, he's fine. Robbie gets into the crawling position, but so far there is no movement. We are building up his solid foods. He gets cereal in the morning and a veggie at night. We've done sweet potatoes, carrots, peas and zucchini. He didn't like the zucchini, but I think it's because it wasn't pureed. By the way, pureeing peas is a messy endeavor! Robbie talks up a storm. Both Matt and I heard him say "carrot" one time. If it was just one of us that heard it, I'd probably dismiss it, but we both heard it. He hasn't said it again, though. Robbie is starting to chew, though his favorite thing to chew on is still his fingers. If you hold Robbie's hands up he will stand up. Robbie is still not sleeping through the night. I think we'll start working on it more next week when he's off the antibiotics.

Did you notice that Robbie is in the same outfit in his 5 month and 7 month pictures?

We're pretty sure that Robbie and Simba are going to be good friends. Simba likes attention and Robbie likes to give it to him. The only problem right now is that Robbie doesn't know how to pet. He likes to grab Simba's fur and tail. For the most part Simba deals with it or goes away, but he did scratch Robbie one time.

The pictures are dark because I was trying to take them without being noticed. I didn't want Simba to run away.

Two more cute pictures:

Mother's Day

2011-05-10T07:32:00.003-04:00

I know I'm a little late posting for Mother's Day, but our days here are pretty busy.

Matt was great Sunday morning and got up early with Robbie so I could sleep in. He made me breakfast while I fed Robbie cereal. Robbie is really starting to like eating solid foods and will grab for the spoon and suck all of the food off of it. It does get messy when he's holding the spoon, so I try to avoid his hands! As I was getting ready for church, Matt set out my flowers and cards. It was so cute that he had Robbie give me my card.

After church we went to our new favorite restaurant, Picasso's. Trust me, when you come visit we'll take you! I don't know if they are normally open on Sundays or not, but they were open and we got a table right away. They had a special menu, but luckily my spinach salad was on it. Matt got chicken and waffles and Robbie was stuck with milk. :)

I was able to go to my step class and work out for a while in the afternoon. There is one YMCA that has childcare Sundays, so I take Robbie so Matt can have some time to himself. We made tortilla pizzas for dinner. It was a very fast, but very nice day. I am blessed to have a great son and an awesome husband!

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms that read this blog!

The reason I'm a mom:

Robbie feeding himself:

I know Mother's Day is about moms, but I know you'd rather see pictures of Robbie! :)

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T08:40:00.004-04:00

Happy Easter!!

We headed down to St. Pete last week to spend Easter with the family. Plus, Nick and Robyn brought the girls down and we were finally able to meet Caroline! We drove down Wednesday night and Caroline and the adults were still up. She was playing on her play mat, so we put Robbie down next to her. Caroline is very petite and Robbie is not, so it's funny to see the size difference even though they are only 15 days apart (Caroline is older). At this stage babies are all about grabbing, so there was definitely ear, cheek and hair pulling going on. We spent about as much time pulling them apart as we did letting them play together! It was still cute, though.

Mom and Dad had to work Thursday, though Dad didn't go in until 8. We hung out at my parent's house and then headed to see Grandma for lunch. She reserved the private dining room for us. I think Taylor ate most of Grandma's fruit and she also got half of her cake, though she only got cake because she ate her sandwich. The food was really good. Unfortunately Robbie was getting tired and fussy, so we left early. Mom gets off work pretty early, so she got home shortly after we did. Jill and Jason stopped by with Ryan. I can't believe that Ryan is a year old! We have very cute kids in our family!! Mom made orzo chicken for dinner. It's one of the recipes from the meal plan and we really like it.

Friday morning, Jonathan, Chat and the kids came over to visit with Nick and Robyn and the kids before they left. I wasn't sure when we were going to see them, so I'm glad they came over. The big girls had fun playing together and even Nathan got to join in (sometimes). Mom had Robbie asleep in the stroller, so we sat in the garage and watched the kids play. It was really nice outside. Unfortunately Jonathan had to go to work, so they all left a little after 11. We had lunch and then Nick and Robyn got their car packed up for their trip home. It was such a short visit with them, but I'm glad they came down and we were able to see them for a while.

After Nick and Robyn left, Matt and I took Robbie over to Mimi and Gramps' for a visit. Barbara headed over when she got off work. I left to go take a spin class at Jill's studio and we hung out for a while after class, so I don't feel like I was at Mimi and Gramps' for very long. I did go back and have dinner at their house. I was surprised to see Mark and Brigette and Monett and Gary there, but it was nice to see them again. I know Robbie was passed around and played with a lot with all of them there.

Saturday morning we headed over to Tampa to visit with Jim, Jean and Brittany. We got a later start than we wanted, so we didn't visit at the house too long before we headed to Lowery Park Zoo. We were worried that it was going to be too hot, but it wasn't that bad. We got to hear the monkey enrichment talk and see them getting their food in toys. I never see the animals that active and we think Robbie was checking them out as well. Since it was very sunny and we forgot Robbie's hat Jim bought him a cute one at one of the gift shops. It's pretty big for him, so he'll have to grow into it, but at least we'll have it for a while. Robbie got to feed the giraffe. (Matt held the lettuce in his hand.) I'm not quite sure what Robbie thought about it, but he was a good sport. I also think he liked seeing the manatee when we went to the underwater viewing area. After the zoo we headed back to the house. We thought we'd give Robbie a quick bath to cool him down. I think he liked the sink being his size...until he pooped! That's the first time he pooped while getting a bath. We cleaned Robbie and the sink and then he got his Easter basket. Robbie got a couple of toys, some new clothes and baby food. We took the baby food to dinner with us to let Robbie try it. I'm not sure how much he actually at v. how much he got all over his face, hands, clothes and me! The food is pretty neat. It's in a pouch and we got spoons that screw on, so it's all in one feeding.

We were up early Sunday morning for church. Robbie stayed in the nursery. It was funny to me to hand him over to the nursery workers because I used to be the one watching the babies, not dropping them off! I saw several familiar faces. After church we took some Easter photos and had lunch with Jonathan, Chat and the kids. Nathan was so excited about his Lightning McQueen picture that he had and kept showing it off to everyone. Mia showed us some of her dances from class and gymnastics moves she's learned. Mia also said that she wanted to be Robbie's baby sitter, but she wouldn't change his diaper. I don't blame her! :) After lunch Jonathan, Dad, Mia and Nathan took a nap. Mom did fall asleep while holding Robbie, though I woke her up taking their picture. I felt bad leaving while Jonathan and the kids were still sleeping, but we had Easter dinner ready for us at Mimi and Gramps'.

Matt and I were pretty full from lunch, so neither of us had a big dinner, but we were happy to visit with everyone that was over. Barbara made and decorated cute individual egg cakes with Publix icing. Too bad I couldn't have one, they looked delicious! Robbie was getting tired around 7, so we knew that was a good time to get him in the car and head home. He slept the whole way home, which is nice for us, but he wasn't quite ready to hit the crib when we got here. Matt was nice enough to stay up with Robbie (and catch the end of a basketball game) so I could go to bed. We did "sleep training" with Robbie while we were at my parent's house which just means we let him cry himself to sleep. I never thought I'd be a "cry it out" mom, but the longest he went was maybe 10 minutes. It's still working now that we are home, though I admit Robbie slept with me for a couple of hours in the recliner last night, but that's only because I was so tired I fell asleep!

We had a really nice visit. It's going to be hard tonight now that I have to cook again! :)

Robbie is 6 months old!!!!!!

2011-04-19T17:28:00.002-04:00

I can't believe that Robbie is 6 months old already. Where has the time gone? We've definitely noticed changes in him. He has started rolling over like a champ! Often when I lay him in his crib on his back he'll roll over to sleep on his stomach. He is really reaching for objects and playing with his toys. He also likes to play with napkins and magazines. Luckily he isn't putting them in his mouth, so I don't have to worry about him eating them. He has started chewing on one of his teething toys, he's still drooling but no signs of teeth yet. He loves to grab things: hair, cheeks, noses, Simba's fur. We stopped using the car seat in the stroller and putting him in it by himself. He's really getting the hang of sitting up by himself, though we're not too far away because he tips over easily. My favorite thing that he does is hold up his hands when he wants picked up. It just shows how grown up he's becoming.

We can't wait to see family this weekend. We are especially excited about meeting baby Caroline!

6 month check up and sweet potatoes

2011-04-15T13:47:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Robbie's 6 month check up. He isn't officially 6 months until Tuesday, but we take appointments as we get them. We saw a different pediatrician (same practice, just a different doctor) and we both liked him. One of the families in our Sunday School class sees him and likes him, and I think when Robbie gets older he might like having a male doctor rather than the female we had seen before. Robbie is 19 pounds 4 oz, just under the 90th percentile, and 26 1/2 inches tall (between 50-75th percentile). Robbie had to get 2 shots and an oral vaccine and did great. I brought Tylenol along and gave it to him before the shots which helps a lot!

Matt and I had talked about giving Robbie more solid foods. We already planned to have sweet potatoes with dinner last night, so when I saw that Nick and Robyn gave Caroline sweet potatoes, I thought we could try it with Robbie. It's hard to tell if Robbie liked them or not because he would make a face as he was eating but he sucked them down! He made some really funny faces and we tried to catch them on camera. (I know Robbie isn't wearing a bib this time, but we'll make sure he wears them in the future!)

You can see Robbie making a face, but then he's also eating the sweet potato.

We have a mirror in the car so we can see Robbie. It plays music and when we put Robbie in the car and turn on the music he starts smiling! He usually gets more excited, but he won't show off for the camera.

Back in January one of our neighbors houses caught fire. It was pretty much destroyed. Yesterday they came and started knocking the house down. I took some pictures on our way to Robbie's appointment.

Applebee's

2011-04-13T12:08:00.003-04:00

Matt had jury duty Monday but got dismissed around 11. We decided to go to lunch before going shopping. We had Applebee's gift cards, so we went there. We thought we'd see how Robbie did in the high chair rather than bring in his car seat. Robbie did great, though he did get tired after a while, so Matt held him until our food came. I think we'll put him in high chairs when we go out from now on!

If you did hear, Matt was signing the check when he realized we paid with a credit card rather than use the gift cards. Ugh!!

Today's Episode

2011-04-05T16:05:00.003-04:00

They posted today's episode, so here are my 2 segments.

Fast-forward to 3 minutes 25 seconds and they'll announce me:

My interview segment:

Don't forget to read my blog below.

Kick It Up

2011-04-05T13:57:00.004-04:00

I think everyone knows by now that I entered a local weight loss competition. It's 13 weeks long and today starts week 4. I can't believe we have been doing it for almost a month! The only requirement to enter is that you have to be a mom. I applied and didn't think too much about it after that, but then I got a call that I was one of 30 semi-finalists. I thought I bombed the interview (apparently most of the moms felt that way after their interview), so I was surprised when I got the call the next day saying that I was a finalist.

We had orientation 4 weeks ago and then we jumped right into the workouts. Two weeks ago was our first time in the studio. They introduced all of the moms and let us know that no one was being eliminated that week. We didn't even weigh in that week. Last week was the first weigh in. I said at the beginning that I want to lose 4 ponds a week. I know that will be easy at the beginning and get harder as the weeks go on. After 2 weeks I lost 5.14%, making me the biggest loser of the week. I was shocked because I heard that other moms had lost a lot of weight. I got interviewed on the show and just tried not to sound too dorky.

They opened the envelope on air and announced me as the biggest loser:

I kept saying all week that I don't want to be the biggest loser again until the finals. It was a lot of pressure. My trainer said that other moms were asking what I was doing. It's easy: watch what you eat and exercise. I also didn't want to go home this week, either! I was shocked last week when they announced me as the biggest loser and even more shocked that I did it again this week! I know this might sound bad, but I was kind of disappointed that it was me again this week. I'm going to feel even more pressure. Plus, I thought this would be a friendly competition, but I think some of the moms are taking it more seriously that I am (at least the competition part, maybe not the weight loss).

Second envelope:

I finally remembered to take my camera to the studio this week, so I took a bunch of pictures before we started taping.

Here is last week's episode (I just added the first segment). They announce me around the 3 minute mark.

It takes a day for them to put the video online, so I'll add today's show tomorrow.

Ready for a Big Boy Cup!

2011-04-03T20:04:00.003-04:00

Robbie likes to sit with us when we are eating and watches everything we do. I've let him play with a spoon and he will grab at your cup. I let him hold it to see what he would do and he put it up to his mouth like he knew what he was doing! It will be a while before he really uses a big boy cup, though. This evening I gave him an empty cup to play with, but, of course, he wanted mine!

Visiting Snowbirds

2011-03-31T09:54:00.005-04:00

Robbie and I made a quick trip to St. Pete this past weekend because I had family come down from Ohio and Indiana. My second cousin, Pam, was on spring break and she came down with her parents. They love the beach and it was an even better trip for them since it was in the 30s and snowing back home!

Robbie and I drove down Friday afternoon. I was lucky that Robbie slept the whole way down (and back Sunday). We hit stop and go traffic in Orlando for no good reason and in Tampa. I hate that Orlando has electronic speed limit signs. I would love for someone to explain to me why 4 lanes of interstate traffic needs to have a 40 mph speed limit. I think that's why there was so much traffic because there wasn't an accident or construction. Anyway, I was at my parents for a little while and Mom and I had just put dinner in the oven when Barbara and Jack stopped by for a quick visit. They already ate so didn't stay for dinner. Mom and I made spinach manicotti and it was good!

Hanging out with Abuelo:

I decided to get out of bed around 9 Saturday morning. I figured I shouldn't sleep my visit away! We had breakfast and then headed out to the beach to see Pam, Jack and Joanne. Pam and I took Robbie into the pool. I think it was a little cold for Robbie, but he loved taking a nap with Pam. Robbie loves being with people and is ok with being passed around. We stayed through lunch and then we needed to head home so mom could get dinner ready.

Jonathan, Chat and the kids came over for dinner. Mia was so cute. She said "Robbie likes me because I'm a brown girl."

I had to get up earlier Sunday morning because I wanted to take one of Jill's spin classes. The only one I could do was 90 minutes long. Crazy, but it didn't seem that long. Jill did a good job getting my bike set up and it was one of the more comfortable spin bikes I've used. I had two goals for the class: make it through without dying and not be another mark on the puke counter. I'm happy to say I did both.

Grandma came over for lunch. She loved getting to see Robbie again. Robbie was all smiles. He liked Grandma's diamond ring and she said that he could have it if he got it off. I was going to go over and help!!

We left around lunch time and headed home. Matt's mom came up to spend a few days of her spring break with us. She plays with Robbie all day and left around lunch time yesterday.

One little monkey

2011-03-24T07:48:00.001-04:00

jumping on the bed...

Running Man and Raspberries

2011-03-21T18:48:00.002-04:00

Robbie is getting a lot more active in the jumperoo. We think he's ready to take off running. I'm kind of thinking that Robbie will walk before he crawls. Maybe not.

We went grocery shopping Sunday and Robbie started blowing raspberries. It's his new favorite thing to do.

5 Months Old

2011-03-19T18:19:00.003-04:00

Wow, I can't believe that Robbie is 5 months old today. Time has gone by so fast. I know, I say that every month!! We were at a friend's birthday party and I was looking at all of the kids wondering when they got so big. One of the girls is almost 1 and it seems like I just took them dinner.

Robbie is getting a lot better at standing and sitting up on his own. We're still working on rolling over, but I'm bad about tummy time. We think he might be teething. He chews on his fingers a lot and he's pretty drooly, though not as bad as I have seen some babies. I got him a couple of teething toys. We have tried giving him the teething ring, but he doesn't want to put it in his mouth. The other toy we got is a ball with nubs on it, but we haven't taken that out yet.

Here are some other cute pictures we took:

Last weekend we tried giving Robbie rice cereal. I'm not sure if he doesn't like it or if he just isn't used to it. We tried a couple of times, but I've been too busy this last week to do it again. The first time it was very soupy, so we made it thicker the second time. I think he liked it more when it was thicker.

The videos are pretty short.
Very first try of cereal:

Bath Time

2011-03-17T09:38:00.004-04:00

Last Wednesday we decided to take the sling out of Robbie's bath tub and let him sit in the bottom. He did really well with it, though I'm not sure how much I like it because it would be easy for him to face plant in the water. We're always with him in the tub, but we didn't have to worry as much when he was in the sling. I don't think we'll have to use the baby tub for much longer, though.

Last Friday we needed to give Robbie a bath and just used our tub so our guests could get in the bathroom if they needed, but didn't use the baby tub. Robbie loved splashing around in the water!

Gate River Run

2011-03-13T22:02:00.005-04:00

Matt and I decided in December to run the Gate River Run 5K. When we told Lisa and Erik they decided to join us. Lisa ran the 5K with us and Erik ran the 15K.

Lisa and Erik came over Friday and I met them for lunch. Our original intention was to eat at Firehouse, but apparently a lot of other people had that idea and there was no where for us to sit, so we just got our food to go! Before we could play, though, Kayleigh had to hold Robbie. She is so cute with him! Brian is getting so cute, too. It's so nice that he's able to walk around. He was definitely fascinated with the cats and would squeal whenever he would see one.

After nap time Kayleigh helped Matt and me cook dinner. She measured out the ingredients for the breading for the chicken and helped coat it. I had more planned for her to help with, but she was done helping. I thought about the cute pictures I was going to take of Chef Kayleigh, but I forgot. :( My parents were here for dinner as well. They came up to watch the kids while we were running.

Saturday was an early morning for us. My mom stayed at the house with Robbie and Brian and the rest of us headed downtown for the race. Originally dad and Kayleigh were going to stay, but Kayleigh said that she really wanted to see her mom and dad finish their races. We were told we should be downtown by 7:30 so we would have time to find a parking spot. We were surprised at how quickly we did park. I guess others wanted to sleep in later! We had time to walk around for a little while before lining up. There was a chocolate milk booth where we picked up some cute pink reusable bags and Kayleigh made a sign to cheer on Lisa and Erik. Dad and I went to the GEICO booth and got hats. I'm so glad I got one because it was a sunny day and I didn't think to bring one. There were some inflatable bounce houses and slides and Kayleigh got to go on one before the races and then dad took her back to play some more before heading to the finish line to watch us finish.

Kayleigh and Erik going down the slide:

The 15K and 5K started at the same time, but in different places. Lisa took off as soon as she crossed the starting line and Matt stuck with me, which I loved and appreciated. Matt and I saw Lisa on the part of the course with people going in different directions. Then when we got to the end, Lisa and Kayleigh ran and finished with us. (The 5K didn't have timing chips, so it didn't matter that Lisa crossed the finish line twice.) Lisa ran the 5K between 36 and 38 minutes (she forgot her watch to time herself). Matt and I did it in 54 minutes. I was just hoping to finish in under an hour!

After our race:

We then headed to the 15K finish line to see Erik finish. It was very crowded so Lisa was the only one that actually saw him cross the finish line. We stayed in a less crowded area. Erik beat his goal and finished in 1 hour 11 minutes. Wow! We didn't stay long after we finished our races. I'm glad we got there early to walk around because it was much more crowded after we finished (and we wouldn't have gotten our cute Got Milk? bags!).

We had lunch back at the house then Lisa, Erik and my dad drove down to St. Augustine to look at minivans. Unfortunately they didn't find one that they liked. Kayleigh and Brian colored using a huge art set that we bought at Costco. They did take naps, though Kayleigh said that she wasn't going to sleep. She was wrong! :)

We went to dinner at our favorite fish camp and Lisa and Erik left from there. Mom and dad came back to the house, though we didn't do much. I think we were all pretty tired from the busy day. We forgot about the time change until almost 8 this morning, which meant that it was really almost 9. My parents made plans to visit one of their friends and take her out to lunch, so our morning was cut short, but we had a nice time with them.

Side note: Erik got a medal for finishing the 15K. Here's what I got:

It's a lovely blood blister. To answer your questions:
1. Yes, it hurts.
2. No, I'm not going to pop it.
3. Yes, I know I need a pedicure!! :)

Little Gamer

2011-03-06T14:37:00.002-05:00

Matt can't wait for Robbie to join him! :)

Love it!

2011-03-04T09:29:00.005-05:00

Matt and I noticed this past weekend that Robbie started really giggling. He used to just make a gee sound (rhymes with key, you'll hear it on the video), but now he's got real giggles. I need to keep the camera closer to me, because he was really going before I got it. I'm sure we'll get another, better video, but this will have to do for now.

Robbie also has a big, open mouth smile when he's really happy. It has been tough getting a picture of it, but we finally did!

And here's just another cute picture I took this morning.

Wurdeman Weekend

2011-03-02T14:29:00.003-05:00

Jim and Jean came up Saturday afternoon for a visit. The Borders Bookstore up here is closing, so we headed over there to buy some books for Robbie. While we do have a lot of kids books, we don't have a lot of baby books. We were surprised when Jim offered to buy them, but very thankful. Now Matt has new books to read to Robbie at bedtime. After Borders we went downtown to walk by the river. It was a little crowded, but the weather was beautiful and we enjoyed our stroll. We went to dinner and then headed home.

Saturday we headed to Matt's uncle Rick's house for his cousin Heather's baby Riannah's 1st birthday party. We had lunch and then headed to her uncle's ice cream shop for cake and ice cream. It was a nice visit. We left around 4 when Robbie fell asleep. To our surprise, he slept all the way home. I figured he'd wake up and want to eat, so I was happy to be able to feed him at home.

Here are some pictures from the party:

Thank you for my toy and books Grandpa and GiGi!

On our way to Rick and Cindy's house I took a video of Robbie. When he is sleeping he will suck like he has the pacifier in his mouth even if it isn't there.

Cool dude!

2011-02-25T10:21:00.003-05:00

Check out our little man!

I saw a picture of my cousin's little girl wearing this type of sunglasses (they velcro in the back) and I thought they were such a good idea. Matt and I saw them at Target, so we got Robbie a pair. I don't know how much he actually likes them, but I think they just take some getting used to.

Magic Remote

2011-02-22T16:41:00.002-05:00

Lately we have noticed that our tv remote turns on Robbie's play mat. I took a video as proof in case it never happens when you are over.

4 month appointment

2011-02-21T21:41:00.002-05:00

Today was Robbie's 4 month appointment. Of course, we were dreading it because it meant another round of shots. Poor Robbie, but he did very well. We were proactive this time and brought the Tylenol with us to give him before he got his shots.

We were not surprised to hear the doctor say that he looks "super". He weighs 18 lbs, 8.5 oz (95%), he is 25.75 in long (75%) and his head circumference is 42.5 cm (50%). The doctor was happy that he is in the same percentile range for weight (not that he could go up much higher!!) and he went up in the height range. She said that we can start him on solid foods in the next month or so. I wasn't thinking about starting him on solids until he is 6 months, so we'll see what we end up doing.

The doctor also gave us tips on getting him to sleep through the night and said that he doesn't need to wake up to eat. We have started keeping track of his daily activities, so I do think that it is just routine for him to wake up at night. I don't think anyone would say that they like getting up at night, but at least I don't have to get up for work in the morning. We'll keep working with him. I'm not expecting overnight success, but hopefully soon we'll all be getting uninterrupted sleep.

Here are a few pictures we took this weekend:

Robbie is 4 months old!

2011-02-19T15:19:00.003-05:00

I can't believe that another month has come and gone. Time sure does fly. We are getting out more. I can't say that Robbie is on any sort of schedule, but we're working on it. I would just like to know what to expect from him. Robbie still isn't sleeping through the night. We tried putting him to bed earlier, but he actually sleeps longer when he goes to bed at 10. Sometimes when I put his legs in his swaddle blanket he'll put his arms down for me. Other times he'd rather suck on his fingers, so I'll let him keep one hand out. He will even spit out his paci in favor of his fingers (I'm glad he's using it less and less). I have gone in to get him up and he's had both arms and a leg out of his blanket. I'm not quite sure how he does it! Robbie will hold his legs up when you change him, so that's helpful.

He sits in his Bumbo and likes it a lot more now than he did when we started putting him in it. I'm sure it's because he can hold his head up more. We are just starting to work on him sitting up by himself, but I think it will be a while before that happens. Robbie isn't rolling over yet, though he is definitely making the motions to do it. He will also lie on his stomach for longer periods of time, though he still doesn't like it much. If you get his feet under him in the squatting position, he can push himself up (with back support). He's still wobbly when we stand him on his feet. He is also liking his jumperoo more. We used to have a pillow under it because his feet wouldn't reach, even on the lowest setting. Matt took the pillow away and he can almost get both feet flat on the floor.

He talks a lot now and he can make a "mum" sound, so he's working on his first word! Of course, I'd rather he be saying "dad" so Matt will have to get him!

Robbie is camera shy, so whenever I try to get a picture of him doing something cute he stops. Go figure!

We go to the pediatrician Monday, so we'll get his measurements then. Robbie still fits into 3 month clothes and he's wearing size 2 diapers until we finish this last stack, then we'll go up to size 3's.

Watch me grow:

Waking Robbie

2011-02-09T15:41:00.002-05:00

I had to take a video so you can see the reaction I get whenever I get Robbie up from a nap. The video is dark because I only had the night light on. It would be mean to turn on the overhead light when he just woke up! I also get a good snuggle from him when I pick him up.

Maybe if Robbie greeted me like this in the middle of the night I would be more excited about getting up with him!

Nap time

2011-02-07T13:59:00.002-05:00

This is how we found Robbie when we sat down for lunch yesterday:

And, yes, in the last post we finally took our Christmas tree down. It's nice to have the living room back and the boxes back up in the attic.

Jumperoo

2011-02-01T18:10:00.002-05:00

Matt decided to put together the jumperoo that we got from the Eikelands tonight. Robbie took right to it! He was smiling and playing. Matt has it down so that Robbie's feet can touch while he's in it.

Here are some pictures and a short video:

Can you tell by the red eyes who didn't take a good nap?

We have gmail chat and Skype set up if you want to video chat!

What's missing?

Worth bragging about

2011-01-23T15:09:00.002-05:00

Matt cleaned out and organized the pantry yesterday.

Not worth bragging about: Our Christmas tree is still up and decorated.

Matt was holding Robbie in his lap and noticed him checking out his monkey feet:

Matt making Robbie smile:

Robbie is 3 months old!

2011-01-19T14:26:00.004-05:00

Where has the time gone? I feel like Robbie is more than 3 months old, but not in a bad way (like the time is just dragging on). I think it's because we have been so busy since his birth day with the holidays and traveling.

Robbie loves to smile and he's become quite the talker lately. It's very cute! I think he's trying to laugh, too. He still has fun on his play mat, but he doesn't like the swing or bouncy seat any more. Robbie is really looking around and taking in his surroundings now. As I said in the last post, he slept 7 hours at my parent's house. That has yet to be repeated, but it's only been a few days!! We're still up twice at night, though my dad said that when his second feeding is at 6 am that doesn't count as night any more. It does to me because I go back to bed!

This morning was the first time I saw him look like Matt. Pretty much everyone has said that he looks at Matt and I never saw it, but just the way he had his head turned I knew he was Matt's baby (not that there was ever any doubt!).

We go next month for his next appointment, so we'll get his weight and height then. Robbie is still wearing 0-3 month clothes, but there are fewer and fewer that he can fit into. I've got the 3-6 month clothes out, but I feel like they are so big. The true 3 month clothes are the best, but we don't have very many of them.

Here's a video I took of him watching his mobile. You can tell he's really watching the animals.

A Rice Wedding

2011-01-17T12:59:00.006-05:00

Matt's cousin, Brian, got married to his long time girlfriend, Jamie, this past weekend. Matt's brother, Patrick, and his family came down for the wedding and Matt was a groomsman, so we headed down Thursday to visit with family and go to the wedding.

Thursday we drove to Matt's dad's house. Pat, Mariruth and Caitlin were there as well. We caught up with them after lunch. It was their first time meeting Robbie. Caitlin had fun playing with Robbie on his play mat as well as playing on it herself! We all went to Bonefish for dinner. Yum! Then Matt and I went to my parents house for the night.

Friday morning we got dressed up for a family photo shoot at Sears. Matt's mom wanted to get everyone together while Patrick, Mariruth and Caitlin were in town. Mimi and Gramps joined us as well. Our photographer was great with the kids! Of course, it's hard to get a great picture with 7 adults and 2 kids, but I think she did pretty good. The kids were getting restless at the end, but they gave us some good smiles. I'm very excited about our family picture.

After we took the pictures we walked around the mall for a little while so the photographers could get the pictures together. Pictures were ordered, a CD was made and we headed over to Chick-fil-a for lunch. Caitlin had fun in the playground after lunch and Robbie enjoyed being out of his car seat and held by family. We had to leave everyone because Matt had to pick up his groomsman outfit before the rehearsal. We left Robbie with my parents for the evening. They had my grandma over for dinner. It was only her 2nd time seeing him. The rehearsal went well and then we went to Sea Sea Riders for dinner. The restaurant had a special menu for dinner and everyone liked what they had. I had the Jamaican Jerk Chicken and Matt had the top sirloin. For dessert I got the chocolate tort, but I got to try a bite of Monett's peanut butter pie. Both were great! We left early to get home to Robbie.

Saturday was a nice, relaxing day. We didn't have anything planned, other than the wedding. Matt and I went shopping at Kohl's to use gift cards we got as Christmas gifts. I didn't find anything, but Matt got several new polo shirts. We also ran into Target to get insulating curtains for Robbie's room. Mom ordered Greek food for lunch and we picked it up on our way home. YUM! Robbie needed a bath because someone was too slow putting a diaper on him. Mom knew what Robbie had done when she heard me laughing at Matt. We just bathed him in my parent's sink. Mom said it looked like we were thawing a turkey!

Matt had to leave shortly after that excitement. Mom and I thought we could get Publix gift cards for donating blood, but we walked away with just t-shirts. I got ready for the wedding and mom helped get Robbie ready, but, of course, as soon as we were ready to leave Robbie decided to fill up his diaper! Luckily it all stayed in his diaper so we didn't have to do a full outfit change. We were late for the wedding, but it was so cold outside it was nice to just be inside for the reception. Robbie did great being passed around at the reception. Neither Matt nor I held him much. I left with Robbie around 8:15 so I could get him fed and ready for bed. Matt stayed so he could take his mom home and didn't get back to my parent's until after 10. Robbie must have partied hardy at the reception because he slept for a full 7 hours! I had to double check the clock when I finally did hear him. I hope it's something that he will continue to do!

Sunday we had breakfast at my parent's house before heading to Mimi and Gramps' for a short visit. Barbara and Uncle Mark were there as well. We left there to have lunch with Jim and Jean. After lunch it was time for Robbie's lunch so we changed plans and went back to their house so we didn't have to feed Robbie on the road. We left later than planned, but it was nice to see everyone one last time.

Leaving mom and dad's:

Mimi and Robbie:

Of course, after any trip there's laundry to do. Luckily Robbie is there to help me fold it all:

Ok, he's not much help! :)

Robbie tells a story

2011-01-12T15:46:00.002-05:00

Robbie is becoming quite the talker. I had just been taking pictures of him smiling, so I had the camera ready to catch him talking. When he was talking for a while I started taking a video of it. Sorry you have to hear me! The music in the background is his play mat. (Polly, you should recognize it...or you will soon!) He likes the music and the lights. After I took the video I watched it again and Robbie didn't like hearing another baby!

When I started uploading the video, Juliet started meowing. I'm guessing she was by the garage door wanting to go out even though the cats aren't supposed to go in the garage. Robbie started whining, so I took a video of the two of them. We have been told that Robbie sounds like a cat, so maybe he was just acting like one! :)

Here are the pictures I was taking of Robbie smiling.

World of Wurdemans

36 week appointment

Robbie's 15 month appointment

Working Vacation

Robbie videos!

Alex's Ultrasound

More visitors!

No Good, Very Bad Day

Happy New Year!

32 week appointment

Merry Christmas!!

Visit with Grandpa, GiGi and Aunt Brittany

Visit with Grandma and Abuelo

More furniture for Alex!

Robbie is 14 months old!!

Single Digit Weeks!

30 week appointment

Alex's dresser

Alex's crib and silly Robbie

Thanksgiving and Robbie walking

Robbie's first haircut

27 week appointment

Robbie is 13 months old!

Double Digit Days!

Robbie and Simba

Happy Halloween!

Too smart!

23 Week Appointment

Robbie's birthday party

Robbie is 1 year old!!

Baby movements!

It's hot in here!

Robbie graduated!!

Look what we caught!

Half way!

19 Week Check Up

Messy Eater

Baby #2 Ultrasound pictures

Robbie is 11 months old!!!!!!!!!!!

Oops!

Our Saturday

Where's Robbie?

Baby #2

Baby Movements?

Videos of Robbie

Labor Day Weekend

15 Week Appointment

Robbie's Baby Dedication

Baby Gate

Robbie is 10 months old!!!!!!!!!!

More talking at breakfast

Bathroom Fun

Baby #2

Vacation!

More pictures and videos

Bananas are squishy

Potty Time

Pictures of Robbie

Robbie's 9 month check up

Squirting, Scooting and Squealing

Robbie is 9 months old!!!!!!!!!

A week of fun!

Happy 4th of July!

Another tooth!

Robbie is 8 months old!!!!!!!!

Jonathan's birthday

Memorial Day Weekend

Never Quit 5K and Riannah's Baptism

Robbie is 7 months old!!!!!!!

Mother's Day

Easter 2011

Robbie is 6 months old!!!!!!

6 month check up and sweet potatoes

Applebee's

Today's Episode

Kick It Up

Ready for a Big Boy Cup!

Visiting Snowbirds

One little monkey

Running Man and Raspberries