Loving Fall!

I've neglected the 22 month post, so briefly....

Carter is adding more and more words to his vocabulary daily. He's also starting to imitate what we say--so the other morning Caleb said to me "hi baby" and Carter looked at me and said "hi baby!".Haha.  He's got such a good memory, I know it will serve him well but I'm kinda scared about all he will remember and be able to tell about :). He's as busy as ever. The other day his daily report card came home checked "talkative, curious, and busy" with a handwritten comment "very!!!" next to busy :). He has started this stage where sometimes he gets frustrated because he doesn't know what he wants. He'll say he wants yogurt (wower), I'll get him yogurt and he throws it on the ground scraming "no!!!". I think it's a communication barrier, but man, it's frustrating for both of us. He's also started a little bit of whining intonation, especially with the word yes in response to questions. Oh goodness, bring on the 2s! For the most part though, he's still a very flexible, happy, busy, active little boy who loves food, trucks, songs (very into finger plays--although I have yet to get itsy bitsy spider on video, he "conducts" to the song and it cracks me up every time!), anything water, and anything outside (as long as he can explore and is not strapped into a stroller). Yep, ALL BOY and I'm loving this age.

Although this post is very much focused on Carter these days, my few blog followers may be wondering what the rest of this 'lil family is up to?

Caleb is training for another marathon, scheduled to run Dallas in December and Boston in April. He's very disciplined with his training, gets up 5-6 mornings/week (at 5 am!) to run so he can be home in time to shower and eat breakfast before Carter wakes up. We do still have breakfast together in the mornings around 6:45 am and have some "us" time before Caleb gets Carter around 7:15 or so. I'm very impressed by Caleb's work/life balance. He is doing great things at work and works very hard, but also makes it a priority to be home by 6:45 every night to have dinner and some family time. We've been doing more neighborhood walks after dinner lately which have been nice with the cooler weather. He still makes sure he watches the Horns and wears his orange every Saturday and has been to 2 games this season--both of our losses (W VA and OU...so, maybe he's not good luck?!). We're re-modeling our dining room and has taken on some projects being Mr. Handyman as well--everytime Carter goes in the dining room he STILL (3 weeks later!) points at the light fixture Caleb hung and says "wow, dada!". Caleb is an awesome Daddy and I love to turn the monitor on loud in the mornings and hear Caleb and Carter reading books, doing puzzles, and getting ready (but that's my little secret which I guess is now out of the bag..). He's also a great hubby and encourages me to rest and "take it easy", and even gives me compliments on how I look even though I feel like a whale these days :)!

I'm still working 2 days/week at CMC. I've been primarily in the NICU for the past 3 months as we opened up a new wing and the NICU caseload exploded, but thankfully a former colleague has returned and taken on the NICU so I'm back floating which I definitely prefer :). I'm actually doing a lot of training right now which is fine--keeps me on my toes but also is a little tiring having someone constantly watching my every move :). I'm enjoying MOPS every other Friday and feel so refreshed physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually after just a few hours of encouragement and talks with other Moms. I still host Bible study at our house on Wednesday nights and right now we're doing a study on the names of God by Kay Arthur--very challenging, very good. Otherwise, just loving being a wife and Mom and starting to feel the nesting instinct as we transition Carter to his big boy room to make way for baby boy in the nursery! Oh, and peeps...I'm a real city girl now. I started riding the DART light rail to work and I LOVE it! And of course, Carter thinks I'm the coolest mom in the world because I take him on the choo choo :). Yes, I drive to the park and ride, get on the train and ride to work by myself and it's some nice "me" time. After work, I ride to the downtown station which just happens to be at the doorstep of Carter's little school, I pick him up, and we ride it home. It's ah-mazing! Instead of taking 45 mins of stressful traffic with a cranky toddler in the backseat, it is 25 mins of Carter sitting in my lap, reading books, talking about what we see (yesterday he saw the light in the tunnel and insisted it was the moon; he also likes to talk about the people on the train and what they're doing...and that can get interesting, as DART breeds an interesting crowd!)! We're going on 2 weeks now, so we'll see how long it lasts...I'm hoping through December, then I'll start taking my car to work as I hit 36 weeks :).

Ok, enough chatter, onto fall pics via the iphone, so ignore the quality...

Our little conductor playing with the trains at Grandpa's house

family photo in orange

ready for first game of the season!

1st day of CCDC!

baking cupcakes with Mommy is fun...

...until she takes the batter away and makes me clean up!

haha, so mad

no fear in bounce houses anymore! this is one of those inflatable obstacle courses--he was by far the youngest by about 2 years, but he didn't care!

riding the "choo choo" with Daddy at the LHAECPTA (our neighborhood preschool group) back to school kick off party

first day of CCDC report

loves to throw toys down the stairs. what fun1

So, since I'm chronicling life here--this is Grandpa and Carter in the pediatrician's office, waiting to get his elbow (right) popped back into place :). Sweet boy got "nursemaid elbow" (aka, elbow pulled out of socket) but was a champ and totally fine right after it was popped back!

just love this picture--one of our outings to the Safari Park and the ball pit

sporting the longhorn scrubs for the longhorn win! these have been through the 4 boy cousins--and we'll keep for the 5th! Thanks Nana!

First trip to the State Fair of Texas--and his favorite part? The car show and "driving" cars. We even made a 2nd trip down and spent an hour "driving" trucks!

LOVED his first "ride ride" with his buddy :)

Neighborhood pumpkin painting party

While Daddy went to the game, Carter had a slumber party with grandparents and Mommy had a girl's weekend! Ali and I being silly in the hotel lobby :)

So, my pumpkin patch pics are thankfully much better on my camera than iphone--but what is fall without a trip to the Arboretum pumpkin patch?!

most fun thing to do? walk up and down the stairs of course!

oh...and swing, while Mommy prays that elbow stays in socket! (it did!)

FIRST trip on the DART to the State Fair--he was all smiles, and this is what prompted our  commuter status!

Daily wagon rides in the neighborhood

reading books with Daddy

Of course "driving trucks" and playing with Uncle Stephen--this is a friend's hummer and Carter LOVED it.

Annual OU weekend picture--this was when everyone was still smiling pregame!

And our little group :). Margaret and Baby Claire did not brave the game but we still had fun pre-game. Even though the game itself was less than entertaining, we endured the beating and stayed for the Eyes. Love that this tradition is still strong...hopefully for many years to come!

And baby makes 4!

You read that right! Although I feel like anyone who reads this blog has heard our big news in some form or fashion, I'm ready to start documenting on baby boy #2 for all of cyberspace to see!

I'm ending 23 weeks this week...which to most people would think "great! you've reached viability!". However, for my NICU working self, I think the next 10 weeks are probably going to be the hardest mentally. However, throughout this pregnancy thus far I've been reminded sooo many times that God is this baby's Creator, He is knitting him perfectly in the womb and God's timing is perfect. I pray that little man waits to make his appearance in February (Feb 12 is due date), and have no reason why he shouldn't, but am learning daily already to turn this little life over to the Lord and trust HIM.

This pregnancy has been very different than with Carter. I was more nauseous for longer--lasted about weeks 5 through 12. I'm not sure if I'm more tired this time because of pregnancy or because I'm also chasing around a 22 month old. I also had complications around 16 weeks that landed me some physical restrictions for a while, but those have been lifted. I'm not running or exercising like I did with Carter, but also feel like daily wagon rides around the block, etc give me a little exercise so I don't totally die during labor :).

We are still having daily discussions regarding little man's name. I feel like there are more rules this time (ie: no other presidents, etc). We've decided if we like a name and tell the other, instead of the other rejecting it immediately they say "I'll think about it" and let it soak a day or 2 :).

I've gotten a lot of comments regarding "was this planned?" "do you realize how hard it will be to have them so close?", etc. My favorite was at the grocery store last week when Carter was in the cart and a random lady came up to me "Darling, they sure will be close!" in a you-are-completely-crazy tone. Yes, I know they will be close, 26 months, but that's not SUPER close. I realize it will be hard. But I also think it will be so fun for them--brothers, buddies, hopefully best friends for life :).

Carter knows, but doesn't really know. It will completely rock his little world, but he'll be fine. He does kiss his baby brother goodnight every night by kissing my belly, so cute :). We also got him a little baby doll and he's very into babies--won't really touch them, just go up to them and say "hi baby!".

So, little man, we can't wait to have you join our family (we actually can...keep on cooking!) and know you will bring so much joy to this home! So glad God has blessed us with another son and now I can start publicly doting on all the things you do :).