'lil monkey 16 weeks

Time for another update of our lil monkey! I think I have a bit more of a belly this time around, which isn't anything unusual. At least in this house I have lots of mirrors to watch it grow over the next few months. Not much is new or exciting for this update. Our 16 week appointment isn't until next week, and I think I went through another sinus infection :( I'm definitely ready for this winter to be over. Well I guess there is one exciting thing to report...we got our announcement pictures back! Still can't "share with the world yet" but they are fun for me to look at over and over until then!! Here's a few for you to enjoy...

How Far Along: 16 weeks
Best Moment This Week: Getting our announcement pictures
Have You Told Family and Friends: We broke down and told Reid's mom and sisters. So all that's left is my family (coming mid February) and Facebook, lol
Miss Anything: A cold cut sandwich
Movement: Too soon, although I could have sworn I felt something about a week ago in the middle of the night
Food Cravings: Still on the lemon/lime and smoothies
Anything Make You Sick/Queasy: Better with the queasiness but salmon and chili are still the two things that sound completely unappetizing
Gender Prediction: Since this is labeled "prediction" I guess I better admit I think this one is a girl
Looking Forward To: My trip to Texas to surprise my parents with the news, and shortly after that the gender reveal!
Fun Fact of the Month: Trying to teach Carson to say "baby" and show him where baby is
Comparison to Carson:http://reidntara.blogspot.com/2012/12/baby-j-16-weeks.html

'lil monkey 13 weeks

Well, here we go again! Last time we kept our pregnancy a secret for 7 weeks and we have topped that for sure this time (to some extent). On November 2, 2014 I took the all important test and here we are! This time around I knew for sure I was pregnant, and even had a negative test 2 days prior but my gut told me it was wrong. With this news in mind, we opted to change up our insurance plan, and delay our first visit 'til after the first of the year. With Carson, my "dates" did not align so I knew this kid would be the same, so I went in to my appointment with absolutely no idea how far along I was. I thought the least amount would be was 10 weeks, and most 12 and I was still off! 13 weeks and one day was my first appointment. Unfortunately this poor child eerily resembled a monkey on our sonogram images, so we have named him/her "monkey" til we find out the gender (plus we got crap from friends about Baby J being too close of a name to that stupid blue and red bird that drives all us purple cat fans crazy!?)

So who knows? Only a few good friends, some moms from my moms group and all of Reid's office knows about our pregnancy. I'm planning a trip to see my family mid February and I got Carson a big brother T-Shirt to surprise them! If we don't see Reid's mom prior to that, we will probably Skype her with Carson wearing his new shirt. I've also got a picture session lined up later this month with a fellow mom who is starting up her own photography business!

I've already gone back and read my 12 week post with Carson and boy has this pregnancy been different. I feel like I've gained so much weight (even though according to the doc it's only been 2 lbs) and I am showing a bit already, especially in the evenings. It was so hard hiding my belly from my parents when they were here for Christmas. I just hope they thought I gained a few pounds from all the holiday treats. I have been non-stop nauseous and to top it off Carson is bringing home lots of germs from daycare. I think I was sick-free for one week in December :( I've had the flu, a bad sinus infection, and numerous colds. But one of the worst was a horrible few days of nausea that started Christmas Eve and lasted for 3 days. That meant I did not enjoy any of the delicious foods we had for the holidays! I was lucky to even take bites of it all.

So I'll end with my first update questionnaire...

How Far Along: 13 weeks
Best Moment This Week: Finally making it to the doctor for our first appointment and getting pictures of our 'lil monkey
Have You Told Family and Friends: Only one family member (a cousin in Ft Collins) knows and a few friends. We are waiting to tell our parents in person
Miss Anything: Feeling well! Sickness has been the story of this pregnancy for the first trimester
Movement: Too soon
Food Cravings: Anything lemon/lime
Anything Make You Sick/Queasy: Just about everything, but if I could force a few bites it got better
Have You Started To Show Yet: Baby likes to pop out a little in the evening after a full day of meals
Gender Prediction: I strongly prefer a boy, but would be happy with whatever God gives us
Looking Forward To: Our pregnancy announcement pictures later this month
Fun Fact of the Month: I'm shocked I made it through both Thanksgiving and Christmas without spilling the beans to our parents
Comparison With Carson: http://reidntara.blogspot.com/2012/11/baby-j-12-weeks.html

Carson: 21 Months

A little delayed in getting this wrote, but better late than never! This past Sunday Mr C turned 21 months! He spent his final week of 20 months visiting family in Texas and he did so great! I couldn't believe how fast he warmed up to everyone. This was also the first time he had his own seat on the airplane and boy am I glad we decided to do that. Here's some pictures of our trip...

Arrived at the airport with some big news for Grammy and Grandpa

Playing in Mawmaw and Pawpaw's big backyard

All boys love rocks, sticks and dirt!

Fun with bubbles

Holding a Dallas Cowboys game ball

In the suites at AT&T Stadium

Walking through the tunnel the same way the Cowboy's players do before games

Touring AT&T Stadium with mommy

Working on his golf skills

Visiting the donkey and horse with Grammy, Grandpa and Pawpaw

Playing the piano for Aunt Jackie

Helping Mawmaw push her walker

"Ride a little horsey" with Grandpa

Snuggles for Mawmaw and Pawpaw

Now what has Mr C been up to. He is getting much closer to talking and he babbles all the time. You can tell he thinks he is carrying on a conversation and that everyone understands him. But on the opposite end of that, he does know what he wants and he's getting very frustrated when you don't give him the right thing. It's annoying to us because he just points and makes an "eh" sound, so it takes a few tries to finally get it right. And speaking of not getting what he wants, we learned how to throw temper tantrums recently. So much fun for mommy and daddy. But I'm slowly getting to where I understand his "eh" and we are also figuring out how to "reason with a toddler" to help him calm down. We started working on colors recently and he will repeat blue and yellow pretty clearly. In Texas I swear I heard him say grandpa a few times. Still not much of a meat lover but is a pretty well-rounded eater beyond that. He's a growing boy and is wearing 2T or 3T shirts and just now getting a good fit in 2T pants. He wears a 7 shoe and I found a scale where he topped out at 29lbs.

Carson is a wild, crazy boy who is non-stop all day long but he is a sweetheart. He loves to share and happily claps and smiles when he passes a toy along. He LOVES the outdoors and I be he wishes he could sleep in a tent so he's outside all the time. He is getting much more comfortable with Snyder, but Snyder still likes to keep his distance when he can. Mommy and daddy love you Mr C, even though we need to work on our patience when you push our buttons!!

We Tried It! January

I'm excited for my first blog post about one of my New Year's resolutions. I feel like we cook the same thing over and over again, so this year I wanted to venture out and try some new things. This is a big step for me because I do not like to be in the kitchen or buy all the obscure ingredients at the store, so we will see how this goes. Here's what we were up to in January (and you can also follow along with my Pinterest board).

Pull Apart Coffee Cake
First up was an excuse to use up some Pillsbury biscuits I had. We've always like making something special for breakfast for Saturday mornings, so that's what we went for. Let's just say we should have went on a hike that afternoon to walk off this yummy cake.

Mini Pot Pies
Vegetables are one thing I eat the same thing of over and over again (I'm not a fan of many veggies), so it was nice to make something to incorporate some new vegetables and be able to disguise their flavors a bit. They were also a great way to get my one and a half year old to eat some meat!

Island Pork Tenderloin
I'm not quite sure why, but every time we try to bake pork or cook it in the crockpot, it comes out dry 8/10 times. Well this recipe solved all problems!! This was delicious and leftovers would be great on a salad we discovered when we did the P90X program (greens, cranberries, island pork and clementines).

Spinach Chocolate Chip Muffins
These were shared by a mom from my mom's group as a convenient toddler snack! Well they are that and quite addicting for an adult too, as they are so easy to grab and snack on. Me not being a chocolate person all the time, and with Carson making a mess when I heated these up, I'm excited to try different combinations with these muffins.

Carson: 20 Months

Saying that your "baby" is 20 months old makes it sound like you don't have that "baby" anymore, and really you don't! So what have we been up to the past month...it was another busy one for sure with all the holidays. Carson had lots of fun opening up Christmas presents. His favorite were the bags with tissue paper. Grammy, Grandpa and Uncle B came out before Christmas, and I had lots of fun playing with them. Then we went to Ft Collins for Christmas Eves, had Jack Stack for Christmas dinner/Reid's birthday, rode the Georgetown holiday train and had a playdate/sleep-over on New Year's Eve. PHEW! Late December also gave us our first snow and we tried sledding which Carson absolutely LOVED!

What else is new? I'm happy to report we are no longer reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" 50 times a day, and have moved on to the shape sorter. He loves this toy and can put all the shapes in by himself. He's even learned a few shape names in the process (pizza pie and circle are the main ones) and tries to say their names. We can clearly make out "gurcle" and he attempts to make words at the triangle, square and cross too. He still chats up a storm but we can't really make out anything. We are working on a few more signs and he now knows "help" and "please." It's sure better than him turning to us and making an "eh" sound whenever he's trying to ask us for something or figure something out. He loves giving me a hug and kiss when he goes "bye bye" for daycare (which he walks around saying right before he leaves) and he proudly says "dada" when Reid walks in the door from work.

We are starting a not fun phase at bedtime (and diaper changes) where he fights and screams every time he goes on the changing table, so hopefully this passes soon. But speaking of diaper changes we bought a potty for whenever that moment might be he wants to try and use it (I don't anticipate it being anytime soon). He is still doing well at daycare and has been doing lots of craft projects lately. Every day when I pick him up, the teacher says, "He had a good day, like always." The other day he was actually sitting down with all the kids and was watching a movie! He has his first chore around the house and that is to give Snyder his hip pills. I think it has really helped Snyder be more comfortable around Carson. Knowing he's a human that can give him things too, and not just a terror who hit/pets him and takes over his personal space, lol! But as I say every month, despite Carson's non-stop craziness making me exhausted by days end, he really is a sweet kid and we are so lucky to have a well-behaved child who eats well-rounded meals and sleeps like a champ. Until next month...

Happy New Years 2015!

Last night we rung in the new year with some new friends and Carson's first sleep over...well until midnight anyways! We headed over to a friends house for a playdate and snacks before putting the kids to bed, and then the adults enjoyed more goodies while playing Cards of Humanity and Telestrations. Not really being a "game" person, these two games were great (side note play Apples to Apples instead of Cards of Humanity for more "clean" language). But I think Telestrations had to be the ultimate winner! Remember when you were a kid and you told the person sitting next to you a word, and you went all the way around the circle to see if the word came back to you the same? Some of you may have called it "telephone," well this is played the exact same way but with drawing pictures on a dry-erase board. It was truly so much fun, who wants to get it for me as a birthday gift ;)

We went in to the night not planning on staying up until midnight but we got caught up in some fun games and we are glad we stayed out. And a special bonus, Carson slept til 9:30 the next day! Then on New Years day we were invited to another playdate and it was nice to get back out and see some moms from the moms group I joined. December kicked my butt with sickness!

So now time for "resolutions." I've never really been true to my past resolutions, so #1 on the list this year is to really, I mean REALLY, try hard! So here we go from there...

1. My MIL got me a sewing machine for Christmas so I would like to make at least 5 things by the end of the year as a starting point.

2. Keep a weekly workout journal/log. I have done this in the past, but always stopped once I did good for two weeks. Then naturally I get off track because I don't have that piece of paper keeping me accountable anymore.

3. To make one Pinterest/magazine recipe every two weeks. I ideally would like to do this once a week, but a goal of every other week seems more feasible.

And while I'm sure I could think of more, you never want to overwhelm yourself which ultimately sets you up for failure! So I'll finish the post with a few pictures of Carson wrapping up his 2014 with some snow. Happy New Years family and friends!