Thursday, September 26, 2013

2nd Time Around - 39 Weeks

To quote my Dr. this week, "Another week and you're still pregnant!" YEP. That's right. 39 weeks, due a week from last Monday and I'm "still pregnant". I'm huge and really uncomfortable at this point. These pictures are awful but true to life! I really look this tired.
Representing the Cardinals!
 I did have some practice contractions/cramping this weekend. I thought it was the real thing but it went away. It did leave me almost unable to walk Sunday morning so that's awesome.

Holy baby bump!
I really expected to have this baby by now. So did my Dr. He said he was surprised I haven't gone into labor yet because most people go earlier with their 2nd one. Thanks for the encouragement, doc! I've really tried to maintain a positive attitude with this pregnancy but I am just D-O-N-E. Ready to be done being pregnant. There's just so much I can't do this big and uncomfortable. It's really hard trying to take care of Steven like this. But Hubby Steve has been really great lately letting me nap and trying to do things for me so I'm really appreciative of that.

Today, I heard the story today of a blogger that I follow who had her baby at only 26 weeks. The picture of the baby is SO sad. He is only 1lb 9oz. I don't know the situation or what happened but that is terrifying. So I'm really grateful to have a healthy, full term baby. Also, this weekend I had a really sweet moment with Steven. He woke up from his nap from a bad dream or something and was crying for me. I just held him for a bit and he asked me to "rock him in the chair". Which he never asks me to do anymore. I used to rock him to sleep in that chair all the time when he was a baby and it was just a really sweet moment. I rocked him back to sleep and then just held him for like 20 minutes thinking about how much I love him and how lucky I am to be his mom and have this sweet moment with him that I probably couldn't have had if I had a newborn right now. So those are two positive thoughts for the week. :)

In other happy news, my cousin, Kris had her baby last week. I'm so happy for her and Zach. They had a baby girl, Emelia Grace and she's beautiful.


Such a cutie!
I can't wait to go see her. They live about 2 hours away so I think I'll wait till I have Logan to go out there. (Won't that make for some super cute pictures?)

So I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude this week but hoping we will get to meet our little guy very soon! 

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Eckert's Apple Picking and Fall Carnival

We had beautiful weather this weekend so we wanted to do something outside to take advantage. We thought about the zoo, but we got there all the time and I wanted to do something different. We've been meaning to get to Eckerts to pick apples this season and they were having a Fall Carnival going on so we went to check it out.
 
A funny story about that is Steven overheard us debating where to go and said he wanted to go to the zoo to see the animals. We go to the zoo all the time and just went like 2 weeks ago and I really wanted to check out Eckerts so we told him we would see animals (they were having a petting zoo) but that we were going to pick apples. We thought he was fine with that explanation but as soon as we got out of the car at Eckerts he said, "Where'd the zoo go?" ha ha!
 
 But anyway we got to Eckerts and started at the kids Carnival. It had some super cute little rides. It seemed like it was really geared towards littler kids which is nice. Steven was great. He listened to us and rode the rides, took his turn, etc.
 
He rode this little rocket car thing. He loves those types of rides.
 
Wee!
                                                        
They also had this little baby ferris wheel thing. It only had about 5 cars on it and he said he wanted to ride it so we let him try. He was such a big boy! That would have really freaked him out a few months ago but he really enjoyed it I think.

                                              
Steven did look a little uncertain at first and I was a bit worried he would freak out and we wouldn't be able to get him out of it. But he didn't cry at all! In fact he smiled, waved and blew us kisses when he went around. ha ha!
           

Big boy!
                         

They had an area with lots of animals you could pet and feed. Unfortunately we didn't have any change to feed the animals but that didn't slow you down. You found some food on the ground and even mooched from another kid or two. LOL
  
A really cool looking alpaca. Mommy wasn't fast enough with the camera.
  
Steven and super prego mommy. And some sheep.
We finally did get to the business of picking apples. You had a good time grabbing them and snacking on apples as we went.

I have the cutest kid!
I think you really enjoyed apple picking. We picked a few but didn't need to pick a ton (its also pretty expensive) So instead we walked through the orchard for a bit just chatting and you were talking about it like a little chatterbox.
Daddy helped with the high up ones.
Aren't my boys the cutest? I say yes!

Sweeties!
So that was a really fun and beautiful day at Eckert's! We had a great time and I hope we can make it back with Logan in a month or so to pick a pumpkin!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Fun Stuff Lately

We've been trying to squeeze the last bit of fun out of summer around here. So we've been doing some fun stuff outside when its not ridiculously hot. We went to the Botanical Gardens with Steve's family a few weekends ago when Willow was in town. That was a fun day! We got there right when the gardens opened and it did get hot a few hours later but we had fun. We mostly hung in the children's garden. It was a lot of walking for this super pregnant lady outside of there.
 
Good looking group!
Steven and Willow always have a blast together. She loves to boss him around. He loves to follow her around like a puppy. Good times. They had so much fun in the splash pad!

I think this is right before they both stripped down to undies. LOL
They had a lot of fun with Jordan and Kim. Steven really enjoys spending time with them.

+
 
After hanging around the gardens for a while we went to lunch. Jordan and Kim suggested a place on Cherokee called Melt. It was way too hip for me to know about but I'm glad they keep me young. ;)
 
It was a cute place. They have all sorts of waffles with sweet and savory toppings. They had a big area with video games and a chalk board so it was perfect for the kiddos. Steve got some weird buffalo chicken waffle. I stuck to sweet and got caramel apple. It was delicious!
 
                                       

The kiddos has a blast. It's always so nice to be able to get them together.
 
Goofballs
We also spent some family time recently with the Gooden side. We went bowling with my parents and Steve, Amy and Hannah. It was really fun! It was Steven's first time bowling so that was super cute. I think he really enjoyed it.
 
Getting ready to bowl!
Steven used the ramp and the bumpers. He did pretty well. I think he enjoyed it and he got like a 69 or something! That's a solid score for a 2 year old ;)


Grandpa helped :)
Halfway through he decided he liked Hannah's shoes better than his bowling shoes. She was really a good sport about it. It's always nice to hang out with them so I'm glad we got to do it!
Well if you're going to wear them, do it right!
 
In other news, Steven moved to a new daycare recently and it's been going pretty well. He had a great start and then I think he realized he's not going back to Stephannie's and that bummed him out. He really loved it there. So we had a few rough days but I think he's back on track now and he enjoys going there. Well they did professional pictures the other week (which I had no idea was happening because Steve does the drop off/pick up and he's oblivious to the 50 signs they had posted I guess).
 
Anywho, so I happened to pick him up on the day the proofs came in and OMG I laughed out loud when I saw them. What a ham we have on our hands!! Doesn't he just look hilarious? Like too big or something?
  
Cheeseball!
                                                 
I can't believe he posed so nicely for the photographer and gave a genuine smile. Not his classic "cheeseburger" over-smile. We didn't order any but you sure bet I took these pics of the proofs. Hilarious!
 
Sorry this one's blurry.
So that's some of the stuff we've been up to lately! We were just enjoying the end of summer and some time with family. But we are ready for fall (and the new baby!)

Thursday, September 19, 2013

House Selling Update

Our house has been on the market a few months now so I thought I'd give an update on how that's been going.

                                                      


Meh...that pretty much sums it up. :) We were really excited and gung-ho about selling when we first started. We did a TON of home improvements in only about 3 weeks to get the house ready to go on the market. We got really excited by doing all that and the house was looking great! We had a few people interested right away but no offers or anything. Then we had a few open houses, which are a huge PITA in my opinion. You gotta clean clean clean and that is not easy with a 2 year old running around! Plus we had to get our dogs and kiddo out to have the open house and that was a huge pain too. We had a few people come to our first open house but nada at the second one. So we decided to take a break from that.

Also, I was really driving myself nuts trying to keep the house spotless "just in case" someone came over during the day or that evening or something. That was not stressing me out and that's not healthy! Plus, as time went on, I really had to start getting stuff ready for the new baby and keeping a house spotless really wasn't gelling with that plan.

It was good that I decided to chill out too because people stopped calling. Our real estate agent said it's been slow towards the end of the summer the past few years. She said things typically pick up in September and toward the end of the year so we decided to just wait and see what happens. Well September and the end of the year is when this baby is coming! So who knows what will happen.

We also had one other notable thing happen recently. Steven found a teeny tiny jar of BLACK car touch up paint in our junk drawer one day when weren't looking. It took him about 2 minutes alone to create this mess directly on our hardwood floors, walls, door and rug.

Yep, that happened.

This is what I thought when I saw it. OOOOOOMMMMMMMGGGGGGGG!

OMG is right!
It took Steve and I about 2 hours scrubbing to get the paint off the hardwood and probably another hour to get it off the door. Oh Steven also walked in the paint and then down the hallway to our room to show us how he "painted". Unfortunately the hardwood took a beating getting the stain out and we will probably have to reseal or refinish them at some point. And the rug was a goner. I wasn't too upset about this because we've had that rug for over 4 years and it was definitely showing some wear and tear. I ordered a new one from Target online and I really am happy with it. Here's the living room now:

     
I think it really goes nicely with the curtains :)
                                                 
So besides that tragedy our downstairs fridge decided to quit on us recently. We thought about replacing it and I kind of freaked out on Steve about it so we went to buy a new one. But we ended up canceling the order after talking to our real estate agent about it. We still have one working fridge and a deep freeze and she advised that if we moved soon we would want to buy a fridge that matches our new place. So we will wait on that a bit and see how we do.

So that's it really. Nobody's really interested in our house yet, which is fine we aren't in any big hurry to move. The longer we stay put the more money we can save. It would certainly be nice to have a bigger place with the new baby coming but the idea of moving with a newborn is not exciting to me at all. So we are just keeping the house on the market for now and if someone wants to see it we will show it to them but on our schedule, especially once the baby comes. If something exciting does happen I'll be sure to let you know but so far, nufin. (and that's ok).

Monday, September 16, 2013

2nd Time Around - 37 Weeks

Full term! Woot!! Its so awesome to have gotten to full term. I'm so glad that the baby could safely come any time now without any major developmental complications. So that is a huge blessing. I've heard about people going early with their second babies so I'm glad to have made it to this point!


I'm still feeling pretty good. Having the usual aches and pains that go along with carrying a full term belly around but mostly feeling good. I'm tired most of the time and have to pee every 5 minutes but considering all that I think I'm doing pretty well! The worst complaint I have is its so uncomfortable to lay down. My belly is so heavy and its impossible to move around in a bed normally. Its like having a huge bowling ball attached to the front of you that you can't move with any of your muscles. Its so weird. So that's made sleeping really difficult.

Excited big bro to be!

I have been really emotional lately too. I have been happy/upset/worried/angry all in the same day recently. I've been feeling overwhelmed with some things and that's not fun. I have been stressing about stupid things and I know its the hormones. But its still hard to manage those feelings. I got myself all worked up about things not being ready for the baby. Steve has been super supportive though and understanding. I'm really lucky. But I am happy to report that we've gotten most everything accomplished so I've been feeling much better lately. So that's good!

Steve and I have been getting really excited to meet Logan. Steven is getting excited too. He definitely knows where the baby is and loves to read his big brother books. He's been talking about about big brothers and I hear him using those words in his imaginative play. So those are all positive things! I think the transition will probably be tough but I hope we all can figure it out quickly!

In great news, I went to the Dr. Friday to get checked and was dilated to 1.5 so yay!! That never happened last time so I'm pretty excited. I hope that means things are moving in the right direction because momma's ready!!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Steven at 2.5 Years

The past 6 months since my baby turned 2 have really flown by. It almost seems ridiculous to call you a "baby" anymore since you are such a big boy now!


You are so independent and capable. You can do so many things by yourself, most things actually. You can get dressed and undressed by yourself now.  (Sometimes you prefer for us to do it for you but you can definitely do it by yourself.) You will go pick out clothes or shoes from your drawers. You can go potty all by yourself and its been weeks/months since we've had an accident. Sometimes you'll even go in the bathroom all by yourself and take care of business before we even know you were in there! You can get food out of the fridge all by yourself too. You love to show your independence. Sometimes you'll go get your stool from your room and use it to climb up on our kitchen counters and get at the food you want. Its pretty awesome watching you develop all those new skills.

Stinker
It's been so much fun watching your personality develop over the past year too. Sometimes you are a very sweet, cuddly guy. You will run to the door when I leave for work in the morning and say "I need a kiss!!" Then you want me to give daddy a kiss and you always say, "Have a good day!". So cute! In the evenings when we watch a movie or read books before bed you want to snuggle with me and sometimes you'll request to "cuddle". I love it! You can be really sweet in your language too saying things that melt my heart like an unsolicited "I love you mommy." or "Do you love me?" or "Do you want to play with me?" You still are very concerned about kids around you if they are crying or upset, which is really sweet.


You also have another side to your personality...you can get very mad and upset if you don't get your way or can't do something you want to do. You still will try to hit or kick us and we have to remind you that it's not ok to do that. (We are working on this!). You'll cry and stomp around and say, "You are NOT my best friend!" It's hard not to laugh at that but you are getting our your frustrations so that's ok. You also picked up some choice lines from Disney movies you like to throw out when you're upset such as "I'll never be like you!" (Brave) and "Stupid idiot!" (Toy Story). Oh what are we going to do with you!

Crazy boy!
                           
You have really taken to pretend play lately. You love to make us "dinner" with your play kitchen or have a "picnic" with your play dishes. You like to put on mommy's necklaces or rings and pretend to "go to work". It's very cute. Lately you've been driving your Buzz Lightyear little motorbike around pretending to go to work and come home. You'll also make beds for us or yourself and go through our nighttime routine putting us to sleep (kisses, songs, tucking in, etc.). Adorable.

You love to be naked. Only underwear is a good compromise.
                                               
You also still love to run around the house like a maniac and pretend to chase dinosaurs, the big bad wolf, lions or whatever else. You turn most everything into a gun/knife or some other weapon and we've really had to work with you on not hitting us or the dogs with your pretend weapons. You sure are rambunctious! You also love to "play sticks" outside which involves finding sticks and hitting the tree or whatever else with them. That's one of your favorite games lately. You also like to play a game you made up where you say, "Mommy you say yes, I say no." Then we scream that at each other and then switch on your command. LOL

Rawr!
You are a little chatterbox too. You will ask us all sorts of questions about the world around you. When we are in the car you'll shout out "airplane!" or "truck!". You'll ask what the people walking on the street are doing or where the airplane is going. You will talk to yourself sometimes and sing randomly to yourself too. You're favorite songs right now are Where is Thumpkin, Old MacDonald, Open Shut Them, and Wheels on the Bus is still a favorite. You really like some of the songs on the Raffi CDs we have, which is cute to hear you singing them.

It's really pretty incredible to listen to you too. You will repeat things we've told you days earlier or put together ideas that we would have never thought you were paying attention to. You will sometimes repeat the conversations your dad and I have which is pretty hilarious.

                                                   

You have gone through quite a few transitions since turning 2. Like I mentioned earlier you've really mastered potty training and that's been great! We also set up a big boy room for you and moved you in there. We needed the nursery for your brother and thought you could use the extra space to play. You also got a big boy bed in there. The transition was a little rough on you and you had some times where you asked to sleep in your old room or in the crib. We had some trouble getting you to stay in your bed at night but lately you've been doing great! We also had to transition you to a new daycare recently due to Stephanie going back to work and closing her in home daycare. It was really a shame because you did so well at Stephanie's and loved it there. But what can we do? You started at First Academy a few months ago and and first it was rocky but now you're doing great!

Big boy room!
Since we are expecting your little brother any day now, we've been doing a lot of talking about becoming a big brother and the baby coming in the past few months. That has been really cute and you've totally taken to the idea of having a little brother. You know where the baby is and what his name is. (Side note, you will say your full name now, Steven Joseph Riegerix, and it is SUPER cute). You sometimes will give mommy's belly kisses or hugs for the baby when we ask you to. For a while you said there was a baby in your belly! ha ha! It's pretty adorable.
 
You are going to be such a great big bro!
We are pretty sure you're going to be all over the baby when he comes. You get really excited about babies we see and a few close friends have had babies that you've gotten to see pretty often. You mostly want to caress their face and give (unsolicited) kisses. You usually want to pick the baby up and hold him or her which is really sweet. I have talked to you a lot about being mommy's helper when the baby comes and you seem pretty excited to do that. I hope it all goes well.

Holding Cousin Micah for the first time.
I've spent a good amount of time worrying about you and the transition from being an only child to having a sibling. On one hand I have been sad for you, that you will lose the 24/7 attention we are able to give you right now. I've been trying to savor all the moments we have together as a family of 3. We were able to take you to the beach in May with my parents which I'm SO glad we did. I hope its a memory you will have for a while. You sometimes talk about the beach now so I know you at least somewhat remember it. We've also been trying to do a lot of things with you this summer, trying to get in those last experiences before your brother comes and we've had so much fun!

Cousin shenanigans!
                                      
But the more and more I think about it, I realize that giving you a sibling is really the best thing we could do for you! You will get to grow up with him and teach him and learn from him and hopefully become lifelong friends with him. So now I'm excited for you! I think you will make an awesome big brother. And I can't wait to see how everything turns out. We love you so much, Steven.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

2nd Time Around - 35 Weeks

Starting to feel like the homestretch of this pregnancy at 35 weeks. Although at the same time I've got over a month to my due date! I've started in on the last stage of planning for labor and when the baby comes. We made a plan with our parents for Steven when I go into labor, I've started getting out the newborn clothes and washing/organizing them in the baby's room, I've been getting all the baby stuff from storage (car seat, etc.). So its really starting to feel like this could happen soon! At the same time 5 weeks is a long way away so I'm really trying to not be in the mindset of "I'm almost done." I think its still probably too early to think like that. I don't want to be miserable thinking everyday that I could go into labor and being disappointed like I was last time.

Pretty sure big bro is shooting the camera here.
So I'm really trying to have a positive attitude but at the same time am pretty uncomfortable. Lots of new symptoms have popped up recently so that's really fun (Not!). The favorites of the 3rd trimester: heartburn, feeling bloated and full all the time, pain in my ribs making it hard to bend over. Good times. I've also started having these stabbing/shooting pains in my legs. Everything says its normal and just a result of the baby sitting on a nerve the wrong way. I dunno what it is but its super painful and I didn't have those with Steven.

Aw! He's getting excited to be a big bro!
 
Also, its been incredibly hot these last couple of weeks. I know I shouldn't complain because we usually have more 90+ degree weather than we've had this year but still its hot now and it sucks.  Ok I'm done complaining.

One cool thing that happened this week was I got to go shopping with my mom. They opened up 2 new outlet malls in Chesterfield and we went to check one out on my day off. Its so nice to spend some girl time with my mom. And, of course, I love shopping. Since I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy and am HUGE, my clothes are starting to not fit, especially my pants. My mom and I were able to pick out a few tunics to wear with leggings (so comfortable) and a new pair of shorts. It seems silly to buy new clothes when I've only got a month left but at least I got them at the outlet.

This week I start going to the Dr. for weekly appointments. I can't believe it! It's really getting close. Can't wait to meet you Logan!