Just Chillin By The Pool

Sam has decided his baby pool is pretty awesome.  The water didn't get as warm as I had hoped yesterday, but even with him slowly turning into a popsicle he was having so much fun that he didn't want to get out.  Besides, cold baby just means extra snuggles once we came inside.

The slow introduction.

"No, really.  I'm having fun.  Weee."

"We do again tomorrow, right?"

15 Month Monster

He's growing.  He's learning.  He's hilarious.  He is walking!

Over Memorial Day weekend he went from taking 2 steps at a time, to taking 5, to taking 10 or more.  So yeah, he's kinda awesome.  He also has decided scrambled eggs are delicious, curly hair is fun to play with, and All The Things belong to him and him alone.  He loves to wrestle and uses his head as a battering ram to show you just how much he loves you.  No really, his highest compliment to give is a concussion.  The bulldog, always on the move.

Stats?  Yes.  He weighs 23 pounds 15 ounces, still in the 50%.  Height is 33 1/4 inches, so still in the 95%.  Head size, off the charts as always.  Baby has a huge head.  Dr said he looks great and he's growing perfectly!

Memorial weekend was pretty awesome!  The cookout at Ggma's house was tons of fun and Sam's first chance to really explore the outdoors since last Summer he wasn't mobile yet.  Family was in town from Belgium, Ohio, and areas much closer!  Pretty much it was a 6 hour story sharing free for all while everyone took turns playing with Sam.

And that brings us to today.  It's a Wednesday and I filled a baby pool earlier today so the 90+ degree sun can heat up the water.  If the wasps stay at bay then one little boy is going to be in for a big naked time surprise when he wakes up from his nap!  So far he thinks his baby pool is the living room bachelor pad.  

Photos to come, if we are successful.  With naked time modesty patches, of course.

A Boy & His Favorite Toy

I bought him this a couple days ago to reward him for being a trooper during a difficult Dr visit.

I'm thinking it was a very good buy.

They have been inseparable ever since.  Even taking it up for naps.

And he gets a little jealous if I try to play with it too.

Inseparable.

Library Time aka Mommy Social Hour

For a little under a year now I've been taking Sam to the Babies With Books program at our library.  I love this program.  We sit in a circle with our little, and not so little, babies and do fun things like bouncing rhymes, instrument play, bubble time, and parachute play.  After the program we have about 15 minutes of free play and us moms get to chit chat.  As a mommy who doesn't get out of her house as often as she probably should, I live for Tuesday mornings.

A couple weeks ago, and again today someone broke out their phone to take a few snap shots of the baby extravaganza.  I never bring my camera/phone into the circle because I know I go a bit nuts with the photos and I didn't want to creep anyone out when I'm taking 40 pictures with their kid involved.  But if someone else does it?  YAY!  As long as they share it with the group.

That little girl on the left is Sam's girlfriend.  They always seek each other out.

They share a mutual love of other peoples strollers.

Mullet King

Sam got his 4th hair cut last night.  His mop of crazy hair was just getting to be too long.  It was always in his eyes, in his ears, in everything.  But I still refuse to cut those curls away in the back.  I love those curls.  Those curls that I just can't stop touching and playing with.

Mama, mop hair is cool.  Chill.

Perhaps I should have payed attention to the concerned look Morgan was giving as he held Sam on his lap and I tried to sculpt some kind of hair cut that left those curls alone.  Perhaps.  Because I gave him a mullet.

Why is Daddy laughing?

Where's a mirror?  Why is he still laughing?

YOU Mama, YOU did this to me!

Yes, yes I did.  It'll grow out.  Dork.  (sorry)

Surprise!!!

Turn back time with me.  Think back, kinda way back.  Valentine's Day to be exact.  The hubby and I had been working on a secret project for a few months and Valentine's Day was the big day!  Test taking day.

Word.

That's right, my little friends!  Having Sam seems to have boosted my magical fertility powers and Morgan and I are now pregnant with no medical assistance.  We were shocked, to be sure.  Yes, this is a very planned pregnancy.  But did I really think we would be able to get pregnant on our own?  No.    We were pretty much just messin around while waiting for our tax refund to show up so we could go back to Shady Grove Fertility.  SURPRISE!

Which means I've been a pukey mess.  Which means I didn't get to taste ANY of that wine on that fabulous winery limo tour I went on in March.  Which means I almost outed my own pregnancy at a dinner party when I unexpectedly developed a gnarly morning sickness reaction to turnips.  Which means that April 1st post about how we had a bunch of nothing going on in our lives was a big fat lie April Fools joke!  And most of all, it means Sam is going to have a sibling!

Things are looking good and looking healthy!  April 12th we had our NT scan and the results came back very in our favor for no genetic abnormalities.  Heartbeat has been strong at every Dr visit and ultrasounds show a squiggler squiggling around like a squiggly thing.  Yay!

Profile - head on right half of image.  Might be picking nose.

Entire body, complete with goat legs.  Yes, picking nose.

The NT scan also led to this ones nickname.  Sam was Mongo.  This one is Pencil Neck, because his neck measurement (checking for Down's Syndrome) is like half of what Sam's was.

Mother's Day was yesterday and seeing as we had kept this secret for 4 month already (that's right, I'm 16 weeks along right now!) we told our families about Pencil Neck.  Now everyone is waiting anxiously for early June so we can find out the sex of the baby!  Yup, less than a month away.  DUN, Dun, dunnnn.

Whew!  I do have to say it was fun having a secret.  A special something only a select few knew about before this past weekend.  The shock has finally worn off and has been replaced with excitement that Sam is going to have a sibling!  They'll be 20 months apart and hopefully bestest of buds forever!

8 Days Ago

Eight days ago I got home from Cleveland.  I ended up going on my own because my friend was sick, but it was a great trip regardless!  I mean a great trip.

Kimball has got to be the easiest to care for baby ever born.  Quite often I would even forget that he was asleep in the room as her two other kids chased each other while shouting random (yet correctly used) Spanish words learned from Dora.  Del and Ev seemed to have reached that point in life where they listen and understand commands and needs, which made helping to watch them super easy.  Which will no doubt be great for Aud as Kimball becomes more aware of his surroundings and spends more time awake and needy.

We went to Saturday morning market, we ate way too much chocolate cake, Aud made the most delicious homemade pizza I've ever had, we stayed up too late each night just talking, and I snuggled that baby perhaps a bit too much.  And once her husband got home from his conference Sunday night we even snuck away to go see a movie while the older kids were asleep and Chris could look after Kimball.  It was truly a great trip!

I did miss Sam.  Missed him a lot.  And I was doing really good till Morgan called Saturday night and Sam started crying when he heard my voice.  Oof.  That almost made me throw my bags back in the car and race on home.  But I'm very happy to report that Daddy did an excellent job taking care of Pud and everyone was happy and healthy when I returned home on Monday.  In fact, Sam's overjoyed mix of laughing and crying at the same time because he was so happy to see me was priceless!  So nice to feel the love.

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Since returning home it's been a busy, busy 8 days!  Tuesday Morgan returned to work and I attempted to return Sam to his normal schedule.  That schedule thing took a couple days because Sam seemed to think I was going to disappear every time I went out of his sight.  Plus I had a crapload of cleaning to do.

Then Thursday I hosted the neighborhood MEGA playdate.  Meaning I had invited 5 other kids right around Sam's age to our house as a meet and greet.  Only all but 1 of the kids/mothers came down with sick or allergies. . .so it was a normal playdate.  And it was awesome.

Friday I had 3 minutes to breathe.

Saturday we had a contractor at our house all day to install ceiling fans, lights, and an attic fan.  Can I just take a moment to say how much I LOVE dimmer switches?  'Cause I do.  And our friend Zeke stopped in for a visit!

Sunday we were supposed to get a MIL visit, but she didn't feel like getting out of bed.  So yeah, Sunday was pretty damn awesome!

And that brings us to today.  Yes.  That was a lot.  Which is why I'm lounging around and pretty much doing nothing but make dinner tonight and write this during Sam's nap time.  Oh, nap time, how I love you.  I love nap time about as much as Sam loves bath time.  Which as you can see, is way much!