Fun Weekend

Saturday morning Josh came downstairs and said, hey do you want to go to St. Louis? I said sure. So after we got everything ready we drove the 3 1/2 hours to St. Louis just to have a fun weekend. Charlotte is staying with Grandma and Grandpa so we don't usually have the opportunity to just go away for longer than a morning and afternoon. We had fun going shopping at the Galleria mall and Plaza Frontenac. Josh drove by the Smart Car dealership because he is really wanting one of those eventually. Josh and Hayden got Cardinals hats and Josh was thrilled to finally have a hat that was comfortable. Saturday night we went to The Cheesecake Factory and we waited over an hour for a table, which turned out to be nice because Hayden was asleep by the time we were called.

Mommy and Hayden

Josh took some pictures of Hayden and me because we realized that we don't have that many of the two of us together. It's easy to just grab the camera and snap pictures of Hayden or Hayden and Josh.

Rub a Dub Two Boys in the Tub

The night of the infamous spitting episode Josh decided to give Hayden a bath in the BIG tub. He definitely had more fun playing with his boat and toys with more space.

Hayden's New Toy Box

When Grandpa Denny and Grandma Debbie came to visit they brought a toy box that Grandpa made for Hayden. It is definitely big enough to hold all of Hayden's toys.

A Sweet Gift

Josh came home from work yesterday with a white box wrapped in a pink bow. He had gone out and picked out a pretty dress, headband, and little booties all by himself. I married the sweetest guy on earth!

We're Expecting....Again!

In August, Josh and I are expecting a baby girl, Ava Elizabeth. We just had our ultrasound today and so far everything looks good, but we'll hear the official results tomorrow. I had planned on announcing a while back, but I didn't get any pictures at that quick peek of an ultrasound so I wanted to wait until I had some pictures to add to the post. We are now 18 weeks along and expect our baby girl to arrive sometime around August 15th or so. We are due Aug. 21, but at our first appointment the Dr. said we would probably schedule the csection for the week before.

I had a suspicion that this baby was a girl, but really wasn't sure if it meant anything. There have been a lot of things that have been different this time around, but if you talk to anyone you're bound to hear a story of someone that had completely different pregnancies, but turned out the same sex as before. For me, I wasn't as sick. Smells still bothered me, but not nearly like they did with Hayden. I'm much more emotional/irritable this time vs. with Hayden I'm not sure there was a day I was in a bad mood. I don't have the heartburn like last time. Oh I still will munch on a few Tums at the end of the day, but I'm not having that bottle tied to me at all times. By this time with Hayden I was in pain from the heartburn and was needing something stronger. I had some serious fatigue at the beginning of this pregnancy, but with Hayden I didn't notice feeling tired. This time there were moments where I felt I could not walk up the stairs. Caring for a baby is tiring in itself, but this was not the same.

It's a Girl!

A cute 3D pic of Ava's face

All curled up. Her arm looks a little strange, but it's actually coming out towards the camera.

Ok. Enough pictures.

"My Baby Boy and Me"

A poem I found on my birth board:

It's 3 am, they're all asleep, and no one's here to see, as we rock back and forth, my baby boy and me.

His little head is feather light tucked up against my chin. I hold his tiny hand in mine and stroke his baby skin.

The house around us creaks and groans, the clock hands creep around. He snuggles closer to me still and makes his baby sounds.

I love these quiet hours so much and cherish every one, storing memories up inside my heart for lonely times to come.

All too soon he'll be grown up, his need for mama gone, but until then I still have time for kisses and a song,

Time for quiet hours like this with him cuddled in my arms, where I wish he'd always stay, protected, safe, and warm.

And yet I know the day will come when his tiny little hand will be much bigger than my own; he'll be grown into a man,

But until then he's mine to love with no one here to see, as we rock back and forth, my baby boy and me.

The Difficult Task of Feeding Hayden

Lately Hayden has been rather difficult to feed. He does ok in the beginning and then decides, hey it's really fun blowing raspberries with a mouthful of food. He really just started doing it more often when Josh started feeding him his meals this weekend because I have the flu. I got hit with influenza b, which is the milder of the a and b strains. The b strain has been going around the area the Dr. said. It started out with what I thought were allergy symptoms of sneezing and nasal congestion and then I later developed a mild fever of 101 and chills and body aches. I went to urgent care and they confirmed the flu. The fever didn't last very long and went away along with the chills and body aches and I'm just left with a bad cough and congestion. The Dr. prescribed an inhaler and some pills for the cough. I've thrown up a couple times just due to coughing really hard. Now all around my eyes are spotted a lovely purple. It's hard being so sick this month since I didn't get sick one time all the while we lived in Florida. Anyway, I decided to get out of bed for a little bit to get some video of Hayden, which is a good thing because I needed to pre-treat both Josh and Hayden's clothes and clean up while they both hopped in the tub.

Happy Easter

Yesterday Hayden went to the mall with Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Denny and we stopped to see the Easter Bunny. I think Hayden really liked him. He was trying to grab things off his costume.

Charlotte wanted to play too!

Wild Man

Hayden has been bouncing like crazy in his exersaucer lately. It is really funny to watch him. I think he really likes the loud noise it makes when he goes crazy.

Happy 9 Months Hayden

Hayden had his Dr. appointment for his 9 month check-up and he is 23 lbs. 12 oz. and 30 inches long. His head is 19 1/2 inches around. No wonder he wears 2T hats! No shots this time, but just a finger-prick to check for anemia. He didn't even flinch, but really liked playing with the band-aid. His latest "trick" is waving to the baby in the mirror. I think he's going to be ready for his first hair cut soon if not already.