Christmas in November

I don't normally get into Christmas this early but the bug got me this weekend at the Junior League Holiday Market. I was working at our new Cookies and Cocoa with the Clauses event and called Ryan to bring Cason up for pictures. I'd made him this shirt in my "gained" hour this morning and thought it would be cute in pictures.

Cason was not really excited about the pictures and just wait till you see Santa attempt #1. Haha.

I promise no more Christmas clothes until after Thanksgiving.

25 Weeks

I had a follow up ultrasound at 25 weeks with the High Risk OB and everything looked good.  They said she’s measuring 2lb, 2oz though I don’t know how accurate those measurements are.  Here are the two pictures we got to take home. In the first one I think she looks like Cason.

And here is a picture of me at 25 weeks.

 

I’ve been feeling pretty good after finally starting to go to the chiropractor.  I was so stiff and uncomfortable and after a couple of adjustments, I am much less whiney!  I’m also packing on the pounds… at 25 weeks I had officially equaled my total 35 weeks of weight gain with Cason.  I guess that’s good? 

Glucose Test is right before Thanksgiving and then I start my every 2 week appointments.  I go back to the High Risk OB for growth check ultrasound at 35 weeks.

18 Month Updates

Cason's 18 Month stats per the doctor were 26 pounds (50%) and 34.5 inches (95%).

We decided that we thought the height measurement might be wrong so we remeasured ourselves and got 33 inches so who knows how tall he really is!

The past few weeks have seemed like "explosion" weeks.  Cason's vocabulary has really been expanding and his direction following is getting really good (when he wants it to be).  It's very obvious that he really understand what we are saying and that he is trying very hard to communicate with us more.

New Words:

• Cookie -- he starts saying it when he sees cookies or cupcakes, smart boy.
• Football -- "boo" and "ba-boo"
• Mommy -- normally its "Mama... Ma-meeee"
• Daddy -- same thing "Dada... Da-deeee"
• Happy
• Monkey
• Tree
• Sky -- sort of sounds like "guys"
• Juice -- this is not "new" but now he says it when he wants his cup which is a nice change to the previous whining!
• Apple
• Banana -- "nana", still his favorite fruit
• Boo Boo -- as in a cut or scrape, which he gets lots of because he runs everywhere he goes
• Mo-Mo -- his cousin Modi
• MiMi -- his cousin Helmi
• Go -- most often said toward the TV when football is on but also if he knows we are getting in the car
• Baaa -- sheep noise
• Outside -- "Ow-side" (he understands "inside" but doesn't ever say it)
• Cheese

New Actions and Loves

• LOVES, I mean LOVES the football.  He knows when football is on TV, can spot one from miles away.
• Puts things in the trash can when we ask him to
• Puts things back in drawers, cabinets, on tables, etc when we ask him to... we are working on putting his toys away.
• Often makes sure things, like his cup, are sitting right side up on the floor, table, counter.  
• Likes to close doors -- he prefers certain doors in the house, like the guest room bathroom, to be closed. (He will always close that door if he sees its open.)
• Spins in circles when you sing Ring Around the Rosey
• Likes to help load the washing machine (and close the door)
• His favorite book is Daddy Cuddles followed by Brown Bear, Brown Bear
• Tries to blow his nose when he gets a kleenex or napkin
• Proficient with a fork but prefers his hands
• Doing better with a spoon but still a mess
• His favorite foods have not changed much... bananas, tomatoes, grapes, avocado, scrambled eggs, and pasta.
• Still loves sleep, his bed and his snuggle giraffe.

And so this post has a picture, a couple playing in the driveway after dinner pictures.

 

Halloween Recap

We had a week of Halloween at our house.  We started with the Woodforest Monster Dash events.  We took a few pictures of Cason in his costume.

Halloween Weekend started with pictures at the barn.  Remember these from last year?

Here is a sneak peak of this year:

The group shot is sure to be as entertaining as last year, there were definitely some tears.

But the highlight of our trip to the barn for Cason was the Longhorns.  He immediately started saying "Mooo" when he saw them and was pretty much attached to the fence line all morning.

And finally, on Monday night was the big day of Trick or Treating.  We hit a few houses and Cason did really well.  He only tried to walk into a couple of people's houses and loved getting to pick his own pieces of candy out of the buckets.





First stop was to see our friend Brody... and to play in his golf cart.


Then off to a few more houses to get some loot :)



It was so fun to see how many more kids were out in "The Forest" as compared to last year.  Our little community is really growing.  After trick or treating, we went to some neighbors for dinner and ended up staying until after 9:30!  Our little Monkey was such a trooper and had so much fun.  But he was tired today... he asked to go "night night" before his normal nap time this morning and took 2 good naps.

Here's a link to last year's Halloween post.  Things sure have changed.

Fall Fun

Saturday was the Woodforest Monster Dash 5k Obstacle course.  We didn't run but we did go out and support the event.

This is the first wave of runners hitting the first obstacle, the "Witches Ditch".  Many of the runners ran in costume!


And then heading into the tunnel (I didn't get the name on that obstacle)

Cason decided to do a little running of his own


Then took a little break while we waited on the runners to hit the last obstacle...


...the hot sauce eyeball shot... gross.  The runners were not very happy about this one but I've heard some of these types of events have even worse food items.


There were all kinds of fun activities at the lodge after the race... face painting, snow cones, rock climbing, inflatables, and of course a pumpkin patch.  Cason was pretty tired at this point since we skipped the morning nap.  And, he doesn't like to stay still.  This is the best shot we got IN the pumpkins.


We put him and a pumpkin in the rocking chair on the porch and finally got some smiles when Ryan got the chair rocking.  You can see in the video below that he looked a little spaced out in the first pictures in the chair.  But this picture was all worth it!


Posing as Frankenstein


Ava and her parents met us out there for some pictures.  Cason was definitely flirting with the "bay-bee". And how cute is that tutu???  I can't believe I'm gonna have a little girl to put in tutu's this time next year!


It was a nice morning!  As usual, the Woodforest team put on an awesome event!  Here is a slideshow of an edited set of the rest of the pictures (there may have been 200+ pictures... I was just click, click, clicking hoping to get that ONE good picture).

(Slideshow is high-def... click it to view larger or full screen)

Starting the girly nursery

We started crib shopping right after we found out we were having a girl.  We had sticker shock all over again and went home depressed.  I got an email from USA Baby about their coupon sale over Columbus day weekend so we went back to look at our original choices and then also went to Babys First Furniture to compare prices.  When it came down to it, USA Baby was cheaper and we had a great experience with them for Cason's furniture so I called that Sunday and placed the order over the phone.

They told me it would be 8-12 weeks.

This is what I have in Baby Girl's room right this very moment, I give you the Munire Bristol

And there is a really big dresser in a really big box in the dining room.  Waiting on some more muscle to help it up the stairs (any takers?)

We got the call on Wednesday, after the Sunday order, that everything but the toddler rail was in.

We were in that part of town on Saturday so we went and picked it all up.  We were able to get everything out of the truck without me doing anything except coming up with a brilliant use of one of our wagons as a dolly!

The fabric in the picture will be the bumper and possibly some curtains.  The skirt will be this stripe:

Both from Premier Prints Fabrics, same company as with Cason's.

We plan to paint the walls lavender.

A little of this and that

Just a few pictures that I realized were still on the camera.

Playing with the kid sized wheel barrel

Vacuuming!



Styling in his Adiddas basketball suit.



First "Dough Ball" at Pappasito's