Words and Video Updates!

Cason is so fun to be around and is always making us laugh.  He’s also learning all kinds of new things and likes to say them a lot.  Since my last post, here are a few:

Words

• Baby – he learned this at the babysitter since she has a baby
• Layla – babysitter’s dog
• Buttons – unfortunately this comes out as “butts”
• Keys
• Neanie – we are working on the other grandparents but the “grand” part is hard
• Bye, Bye

Animal Noises

• Monkey – “ah, ah, ah”
• Lion – “rooooar”
• Cow – “moooo”

Actions

• Spinning in Circles
• Walking backwards
• Better dance moves :)
• Waving hi/bye at the right time without being prompted
• Blowing Kisses
• We had to raise his basketball goal… and he can still dunk on the new level.  He’s getting so tall.

And some video’s to document these things. 

First, the words.  Some new, some just his favorites.  And some kisses too.

Then some silly time over the weekend.  The first few clips are from way past his bedtime.  He get silly crazy when he’s up late, but its so cute and he’s so happy that we can’t put him to bed.  Too bad he won’t sleep in the next day when we let him stay up.

And last, dancing to his current favorite band/commercial.  This is Foster The People in the Nissan Commercial.  He stops whatever he is doing when he hears this come on… and he also dances to these songs in the car when Ryan plays the CD.  (You might need to turn it up for the first part to hear the music, I guess the TV wasn’t very loud.  It gets louder toward the end.)  Thank goodness for DVR so I could just keep replaying it.  You’ll see he doesn’t like it when the guy starts talking…. kills the mood, ha.

Team Pink!

Thursday was a big day in our house.  10 weeks without seeing a picture of the baby we finally got our chance.  After my last appointment, I thought I’d have about 2 weeks before my anatomy scan ultrasound.  But, the office called on Monday and wanted me to come on Thursday so I said YES! 

The doctors office had a huge TV screen on the wall where I could see everything and Ryan could watch the actual monitor on the machine or the TV.  Within the first seconds of the ultrasound the technician asked if we had any guesses and I said “Not really, we just think boy since that’s what we have now.”  He immediately said “Oh, its a girl” but in a very non-chalant way.  We weren’t sure if he was serious because he’d really only had the machine on for 5 seconds.  He kept scanning taking all the measurements and saying “she” and “her” and I finally said “Wait, so you are serious, it’s a GIRL?”.  He said, oh yes, it’s a girl.  And showed us again.  No boy parts.  Ryan asked “Are you sure?” and again he said, “Yes, 100% sure. You don’t want a boy with these parts!”  Ha, funny.  The doctor came in and looked and definitely agreed that there were no little boy parts, only girl parts.

So yes, that’s right, it’s a GIRL!!! 

Here are two “spread eagle” pictures, with a comparison to our ultrasound with Cason.  It’s quite obvious that there’s something different this time!  :)

We had not told our parents that our ultrasound was that morning so we could really surprise them.  Wednesday afternoon I called a bakery in Jackson and got them on board to fix up some Petite Fours for my parents and got my friend Ashley on board to pick up and deliver.  Wednesday night I baked cookies and iced them in half pink and half blue for Ryan’s parents.  Once the doctors appointment was over, I filled a little box with pink cookies and off to the office Ryan went to surprise his parents.  I then called the bakery and Jackson and told them PINK and started making calls to Ashley to arrange the delivery!!! 

I had to do some maneuvering to make sure my parents were both together for the delivery.  I was so anxious I didn’t want to wait until 5 so I tried to get Dad to go to her office.   Mom ended up being off work early due to the MSU game being on TV that night so I told my Dad… “You and Mom need to be home at 3 pm, don’t ask questions, just be there.” He was a good boy and didn’t ask questions and didn’t tell mom anything… until 2:45 when she tried to leave the house. He vaguely told her she just couldn’t leave and she was all a mess trying to figure out what was going on.  At 3, Ashley showed up at my parent’s house and Dad told Mom to call me.  He still didn’t know what I was up to, just up to something.  Mom called, so confused, and I said “Mom, just open the box”.  She did and there was lots of squealing on the other end of the phone.  Ha!  I wish I could have seen her face but there was no way I could keep this news until the next time we are together.

Ryan reports that there was an equal amount of squealing in his office.  He called his parents to the conference room and they just thought he wanted to show him something on the most recent house they are pricing.  Then he gave them the box and they were a little confused since they weren’t expecting this kind of news and super excited when they saw the pink cookies inside.  After three boys of their own and the one grandson, Ryan’s mom is just a little excited about finally having a girl.  I just can’t wait to see what this little girl does to Ryan and his Dad.   They don’t know what is about to happen to them. 

The only updates from my appointment are that I’ve started weekly Progesterone injections to try to prevent another preterm labor.  I’m in the “gray area” of it being a no brainer to elect for the injections.  I delivered at 35 weeks and Cason never had to go to the NICU but the doctor can’t guarantee that I’ll make it that long this time.  Maybe I would, maybe I’d go further, maybe I’d make it less.  So, we all decided taking the injections to try to reduce the chance of baby girl being in the NICU was the best choice. 

So… a shot in my hip every week until 35 weeks (right now a home health nurse will come to give me the shot unless I can convince Ryan to do it and save us LOTS of money) and then we’ll probably pay extra attention to my blood pressure until I go into labor.  The High Risk doctor also agreed with my old OB and my current OB that when I have any indication that I’m in labor that I should not take my time getting to the hospital.  When I started having active labor with Cason, I progressed FAST and second babies are often even faster. 

I go to my OB in 3 weeks (22 weeks) and back to the High Risk OB for an ultrasound at 24 weeks, then back to my doctor at 26 weeks (glucose test) so I’ll have lots of doctors appointments in the next couple of months.

17 Months Old

Cason will be 17 months this week.  Hard to believe.  I didn't do a good enough recap of all the things he says and does in my last post so here is some more:

More words:

• "Chooch" -- Choo Choo (Train)
• Clock
• Eyes
• Moooo
• No
• Teeth
• "Wass-ah"/"Wass-is" -- What's that/What's this -- This is a pretty constant phrase, even the things he knows, like clocks.
• Girl -- we think he said this tonight a couple of times after he asked us "what's that" to one of the "Little People" girls
• Ball -- this is the most recent and is normally said in repetition... "Bah, bah, bah, bah"

Thing he does:

• Walks up the stairs using the banister spindles.  Pretty good about walking down the stairs too, just VERY SLOW and easily distracted
• In addition to knowing what "night night" means and running to the stairs, when he gets to the top, he goes through his room right to the bathroom saying "teeth".  He knows its time to brush his teeth which to him means he gets to play with the water in the sink.
• Is and has been for a while completely obsessed with clocks and watches.  He can find the smallest clock in any room or book.  Sometimes he'll say clock but normally its an excited "Wass-ah" with a point. 
• Can identify his hair or your hair and then will pet your head for a while.  Cute!
• Getting really good at throwing things... which is cute when its a soft ball or when we are outside playing with Admiral.  Not cute when its a phone, heavy toy, etc.  I guess this falls under "all boy".
• Can almost climb into his playset himself.  Has figured out how to get in the right position to slide down the slide but with a little help getting setup, can slide by himself.
• He likes to play peek a boo.  This has actually be something he can do for a while.  We used to say "Where's Cason" when we covered his face with a towel, shirt, blanket, etc.  Then we'd pull it down and say, in a sort of high voice, "There he is".  While we were in Jackson in July, on his own he grabbed the menu at a restaurant and started covering his face then moving the menu while making this high pitched noise in the same inflection we always say "There he is".  We did the same thing when teaching him where his belly button.  He still does this today, mainly with his belly button or covering his face and he still wont say "There he is", just makes the high pitched sound with the right inflections.  Cracks us up every time.
• Runs, not walks, most places
• Has a mission in life to pull every toy out of the toy cabinet before playing with anything twice. 
• Loves technology -- computers, ipads, remote controls, phones... anything with a button.
• Dances to the Foster the People Nissan Commercials -- When these come on the TV, he stops what he's doing and starts dancing, runs to the TV to watch.  He and Daddy listen to this CD in Daddy's car so he knows (and loves) the music.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy28I03ml4o
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9bfWo1UsqQ

As before, I'm sure I've missed so many things.  I wish I could just keep a video camera on him all the time.

Sick Cuddle Baby

Cason spent part of Labor Day weekend with a bit of a stomach bug.  He never ran fever and only threw up a couple of times so I think we had it easy, but he was pretty pathetic for about 18 hours as Mommy got lots of cuddles.

By Monday, he was pretty much back to normal and enjoyed playing with his brother in the backyard.

 

Woodlands Children's Museum

Cason and I really enjoy Mommy Fridays when I'm not dragging him to run errands.  Actually, even when we run lots of errands, we still have fun and we normally end up with a great lunch date named Daddy.

A couple of weeks ago, Suz invited us to go to the Children's Museum.  We'd never been and I knew Cason was finally mobile enough to enjoy it.  Unfortunately we were already out and about when we made the plans so I didn't have a camera, just the not so great one on my phone. 

Making some music

Playing in the sand

 

"Chooch" Trains

Turning the gears. This was a favorite, they look like clocks.

 

Checking out the "Shishies"

Go Texans!

Today was the first Texan’s game so he wore his jersey all day.  It must have been good luck because we kicked some Indianapolis Colts booty (we’ll pretend Peyton Manning wasn’t on the injured list). 

It’s pretty much impossible to get a picture of Cason standing still… because he doesn’t stand still. He might SIT still for 5 seconds but only if food is involved. He is on the move.  Here’s the best I could do.

He can pretty much always be found here until every toy is removed from the cabinet.  I’m working on teaching him how to put the toys back but its not going so well.  He must get that from Mommy.

I hope Uncle Eric appreciates the fact that Cason is wearing a football (not basketball) jersey and that it’s the jersey of a wide receiver.  I’d say you have some hope but the first thing he did after getting dressed today was go get Daddy’s basketball from the closet.  :)

18 Week Belly

I’m 18 weeks pregnant with baby #2 and feeling better, eating better, etc.  I’ve finally started gaining weight which is definitely sooner than with Cason. 
We heard the heartbeat last week at our check up and hopefully will find out the gender in 2 weeks.  I have to see a different doctor for the gender ultrasound so I’m waiting on them to call and schedule the appointment.  
I’m feeling lots of little movements during the day along with parts of days where this baby decides that my bladder is a comfortable pillow.  I don’t remember having to pee all.the.time with Cason until much later on.  But some days, I’m going every hour while others I’m back to the bladder of steel I’ve always been so proud of!  (TMI?)
Anyway, here is a picture of my me at 19 weeks with Cason.

And at 18 weeks with #2, looks about the same?

My belly is not this big all day… I think I wake up with practically no belly and this is what I look like by bedtime. I have to be careful how I dress or I’m super uncomfortable by the end of the day.

I felt like a gourmet chef

I got the itch to try a new recipe last week.  When I was planning my menu for the week, I knew I wanted to do something with the pork loin that was in the freezer from a recent sale so I started searching some of my favorite food bloggers.  I always love to try the Foodie Bride's recipes so I tried there first.  She normally doesn't steer me wrong.  I love her Enchiladas, French Dip Sandwiches, Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches, to name a few. 

 Pork Tenderloin with Peach-de-Gallo came up in her list of pork dishes.  The peach pico de gallo sounded like something we'd like and I knew I was going to buy some peaches anyway.  The pork was delicious and we liked the concept of the peach pico de gallo but both agreed we'd like it more as a salsa.  Next time I'll puree some of the peaches/peppers and leave some chunky.

I'd planned on making potato salad as the side because I'm more of a potato-a-holic than ever these days.  My normal potato salad is very simple... potatoes, diced boiled eggs, enough mayo to hold the potatoes together, a squirt of yellow mustard and a couple of spoonfuls of pickle juice, and maybe some salt and pepper, garlic pepper, etc.  But I wanted to try something different and started looking for recipes.  Then I remembered how much I'd been craving the potato salad at Jasper's so I thought I'd Google to see if anyone had a replica recipe.  I was not expecting to find the recipe on Kent Rathbun's website. Jasper is HIS restaurant so this is THE recipe.  Talk about exited.  I had to try it and it was really good.  It wasn't AS good as when I've gotten it at Jasper's but I don't think anything is as good as when someone else is preparing it for you... and when served with a plate of amazing ribs and a nice glass of wine.  But, it was yummy. 

Jasper's Potato Salad. The only change I'd make is that I don't think all that butter is required, probably half would have been enough. And, it probably would have been best to put the cheese, sour cream and butter in the bowl, then start adding the warm, cubed potatoes on top to get it all melted before mixing. I left the cheese butter and sour cream to the end and I had to put it back in the oven to get it all melted.

The whole meal felt fancy compared to what we'd been eating.  With Ryan's "diet" where I've tried to cook a little less fatty and the pregnancy and my lack of appetite, our meals have been pretty much in a rut.  This was a nice change of pace.

Corn on the Cob

Cason has always loved corn.  From the purees he ate as his first foods, to kernels of corn in the frozen mixed veggies he'd eat when he first started table food.  Now, he'll just eat it right off the cob and he LOVES it. 

When the little corn holder would come out of one end and he couldn't get it back in, he'd cry until I fixed it so he could keep eating.  He hasn't quite figured out how to turn the cob, he'll twist his hands forward and backwards but doesn't actually move the position of the corn so I have to help a little.  This was his first time so I only gave him half an ear.  He demolished it.  I think he'd have eaten a whole ear if I'd cooked him one.