22 months old and 26 weeks along

I cannot believe that we are a mere two months away from celebrating my sweet boy's 2nd birthday!  He's getting so big.  I say that all the time, but it seems like the past couple of months he has grown up so much.  Ty is the ultimate copycat.  He has to do everything we do, from gestures to actions to bodily functions...lol.  He loves to help me cook.  In fact, as soon as he hears me setting up for dinner, he grabs a chair from the kitchen table and scoots it across the room to stand up next to me while I cook.  He's usually more in my way than actually being helpful, but I power through it and let him help the best I can.  So what if dinner takes a little while longer to cook or we make a little bigger mess?  His favorite is helping crack eggs and stirring.  We're buying him a kitchen for his birthday.  He's going to love it!

This is what happens when Ty helps me cook!

taking out the trash

I wish Ty loved eating at meal time as much as he likes cooking.  I seriously dread meals (especially dinner) most days.  Whether he's just not hungry or being picky, I don't know, but I'm trying to stand my ground and watch the snacks he eats during the day and make sure that what he gets on his plate during meal times is a healthy option.  The weekends are usually a crapshoot for eating well, especially if we are away from home and/or have visitors giving Ty treats, so I have to be the bad guy all the other days of the week!  He definitely has a sweet tooth and knows which foods he'd rather be eating!  His favorite is marshmallows.  He will do anything for a marshmallow.

Bobbie put marshmallows in his Easter eggs!  

The most notable improvement in the past couple of months (really the past few weeks) is Ty's speech. He has starting talking so much lately.  He's been babbling constantly since infanthood, but now he's actually using real words with us.  New words come out daily!  I love hearing his little voice.  Currently he says momma and dada all the time, and uses them in conversation well.  He gives us goodnight kisses before bed and will say our name before we receive our kisses.  He can say Laila (our dog) and Gracie (our cat), but hasn't mastered Allie (the other cat).  He also says the word more really well and still continues to sign it.  He says milk instead of signing now and says "wawa" for water, whether its for him, if one of the animals is thirsty, or if we are watering plants.  He can say trash and becomes obsessed with the trash can if you don't throw away a banana peel immediately.  He says shoes when we get dressed and reminds me that I need shoes when I'm getting dressed.  He says ball really well.  That's one of his favorite toys right now.  I must say for a 22 month old, he throws quite well too!  The word bowl sounds exactly like ball.  He says duck, fish, deer, kitty, and horsie, and can make almost any animal noise we ask him too except the rooster.  He can also say Mickey Mouse, although, unless you're me and happen to have Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV, you'd probably have no idea what he's saying there.  I know he says other words, but I'm drawing a blank.  Funny thing is, when people are around he gets incredibly shy, at least at first, and he definitely doesn't talk as much even after he warms up.  So you'll have to take my word on the talking thing!  Most special right now...he says baby sister's name!  Reveal coming soon...

Ty loves bugs.  There are plusses and minuses to this recent discovery.  I am not such a bug fan myself (I don't mind June bugs, rollie pollies and such), so the fact that I can ask my toddler to put the bug outside pleases me.  He is a little too friendly with them though and I'm afraid he's going to grab the wrong bug one day.  Today there was a spider in the living room and I wouldn't have seen it if he wasn't trying to grab it.  I showed him how we kill spiders and throw them away.  Yuck!  His Bobbie and Aunt Lindsey both got him bug boxes for Easter and he LOVES them.  Its the perfect time to be collecting June bugs!

Ty is so good at entertaining himself...unless its anywhere near nap or bedtime (and near bedtime means the last 4 hours of his day).  For the most part, throughout the morning and early afternoon, he plays amongst himself.  He bounces from his room to the living room, playing away.  Occasionally he includes me in his play or wants me to read him books.  Its nice though because that time allows me to get some of my mommy type chores done.  We recently rotated his toys around from the living room to his bedroom and vice versa.  I feel like he naturally spends more time in the living room playing, so every 3 months or so I move the bigger toys around so they all get played with and he doesn't get bored.  It really works perfect because 3 months is exactly between his birthday and Christmas, so the toys get a full rotation before new ones arrive.  We already have way too many toys!  His favorites right now are his mega blogs (he loves to build towers), anything with cars to drive (most notably the Little People race track he got for Christmas from Jer and Nicole), his Little People animals, anything that includes a ball, or his push toys (he still plays with his walking toy that he got when he was 6 months old, and he loves his shopping cart and lawn mower).  And of course he still loves puzzles...he got two new ones recently and he's already an expert at them!

Since Ty thinks he is so big we recently bought him a toy to scoot around on outside.  Poor kid pushes him mower up and down the street while the big kids blow past him on their bikes.  He got a trike for his birthday last year that we can push, but his feet don't quite reach the pedals yet and we eventually get tired of pushing him back and forth while all of the other adults are socializing on the driveway.  He can scoot his car pretty good, but we usually find him pushing it around.  He inherited a little 4 wheeler power wheels that has been passed down amongst the neighborhood little boys for the past 6 years.  We charged it up and off he went!  Due to its age though, the battery didn't last long and its currently dead in the garage again.  Sis and Rupert just gave him another trike as an early birthday present.  His feet kind of reach the pedals, but he hasn't figured out how to push them yet.  Mostly he sits on it and rings the bell.

After hearing Ty being called a girl repeatedly (I suppose for the fluffy blonde curls on the back of his head), we bit the bullet and cut his hair.  He did so good!  I had her keep the back longer so we didn't lose all of his curls.  She cut 3 curls close to his scalp so I could save them and trimmed the rest.  His curls came back curlier though!  His hair is growing so fast now, it might be time for another haircut soon!

Ty has been sleeping in his big boy bed (crib set up as a day bed with a rail) very well.  We do bath, story time and as soon as I'm done with the book, he climbs right into bed by himself.  I read very quietly beside his bed and he usually falls asleep within a few minutes.  He recently learned to bust through the bedrail we had attached to his mattress.  I got tired of fixing it and one night we heard a blood chilling scream and we took off to his room to find that he had not only wiggled the rail out of place, but got his head stuck in the process.  No more rail after that.  Luckily the crib sits so low to the ground, we just lined the floor with a few pillows and he's never fallen out.  We have gone into his room in the mornings to find his whole bed emptied out, which means at some point he got up, but he stays in his room and goes back to bed, so that's all that is important.  I am ready to pull out the real toddler bed we have stashed away from one of our neighbors.  There's a lot of furniture rotating that has to go on first.  The crib and nursery furniture will come out of his room and go into the baby's room.  The dresser in the guest room (baby's new room) will go into Ty's room temporarily until he is ready for a twin bedroom set, and the guest bed will be moved into the office, so I had to sell my chair and ottoman that were in there.  None of that process has started yet and Cooter is gone the next 2, possibly 3 weekends.  At some point we have to prime, paint and put up crown molding and a chair rail in the baby's room.  I know we are out of town at least 1 weekend in May, 3 in June, and she should be here in mid July.  Lots to do!

Last month Ty has his first ever sick baby visit to the doctor.  He woke up one day with a pretty decent fever and slept off and on most of the day, which is very characteristic of his teething episodes.  So when the fever lingered the next day I didn't worry too much about it.  He seemed to have gained a little steam and was having an okay day.  By the third day though, I started to worry.  Usually a teething fever would've passed by then and my home remedies weren't working.  So I took him in.  I much prefer well baby visits, just FYI.  I purposely didn't redose his Tylenol before going to the doctor so we could see how his fever was.  I felt like a horrible mother though...his fever was 103.6 when we got there!  They brought him some Motrin (which I abruptly told them I was dispensing at 6hr intervals except this time).  They ended up drawing blood from his finger to check for infection...all came back clear, so they did a nasal flu test...which again came back clear.  So they wrote it off as viral and told me the fever should break in 24hrs or so since he'd had it 3 days already.  $89 later, and I took my sick kid home with nothing more than a band-aid on his finger.  Poor kid continued to run fever all weekend.  Even with a Tylenol/Motrin rotation round the clock, I could only get it down to about 100.  I slept with him for several days to help keep him hydrated since he was barely eating through all this.  In fact, when we went to the doctor he weighed just a few ounces more than he did at his 18 month appointment 3 months before.  So Monday morning I called the doctor and let them know that the symptoms were the same and the fever was persistent.  The pediatrician called me back and decided to call him in an antibiotic.  She said anything bacterial would've showed up on a blood test days before, but for good measure we would get some medicine in his system.  They guessed that whatever virus he had eventually led to a sinus infection.  The antibiotics seemed to do the trick.  Within 36hrs he was back to his old self again.  It was so wonderful to have our little boy back.

He cried during the blood draw, but was more upset about the band-aid put on his finger.  

He fell asleep in his favorite race car buggy at HEB when he was sick.

Ty was on antibiotics less than two days when I started feeling sick.  I had been having what I believed were allergy issues for a few days prior.  The yellow pollen on the pine trees was absolutely awful and my itchy watery eyes, coughing, and constant running nose all pointed to allergies.  I really don't like to take medication while I'm pregnant, but I got desperate.  It was SO hard to keep up with a toddler when I was feeling so awful.  When my teeth and upper jaw started hurting too, I caved in and went to the doctor.  Seems as if my allergies caused me to get a sinus infection as well.  A couple days on antibiotics and I was a new person too!  Mommies don't have time to be sick!

Before I get to the baby updates, I have to brag for a second.  My bestie Alaina and I recently went to see Maroon 5.  Amazing does not begin to describe the concert!  We bought the tickets back in October, so this was a very much awaited night for us.  We never go out and do anything like this, especially during the week, but we didn't feel at all guilty leaving the husbands with the kids this time!  This was the same day I went to the doctor, so I was pretty sick and couldn't stand for much of the concert because baby girl was getting so heavy, but I had a blast.  Owl City and Neon Trees opened up, and even though we only knew a handful of their songs, they were great too!   The best part of all was Adam Levine.  Yum.  We have a slight obsession with him.  We had floor seats and I'm pretty sure we convinced ourselves that we would be able to touch him.  Lol.  It was super fun and I can't wait to do it all again.  I vowed to not be sick or pregnant next time!

Baby time!  I went to the doctor today.  I am exactly 26wks and feeling every bit of it.  My second trimester energy is unfortunately gone.  But in that time I kept a super clean house, scrubbed the kitchen and hallway grout on my hands and knees, and got the flower beds cleaned out and replanted.  Now I just want to sleep.  All was well at my appointment.  I gained another 5lbs, but no one said anything about it.  Blood pressure was good and I'm measuring right on track.  Her heart rate was in the upper 160's this morning.  Baby girl is still laying transverse across my lower abdomen.  At this point Ty was head up and I could feel him up towards my ribs and down my right side, but she is completely 100% side to side, as she has been for quite some time.  I'm fairly certain he head is on my right side and feet to the left  based on where I feel movement and hiccups.  Seems like she should be running out of room to lay this way, but she shows no signs of moving anytime soon.  It actually makes walking long distances uncomfortable, so I haven't been exercising like I should.  She is SO very busy.  Seriously, Ty never moved this often.  Even at the appointment today the nurse commented how she was very active.  She laughed when I told her that mornings are not her busy time.  She is still a night owl, but does her pilates throughout the day.  She is starting to feel like she's rolling around and besides watching my belly jump from her kicks and punches, you can see it moving around like I have worms.  She is crazy when I lay down though.  Its not just a kick here or there, its constant kicking and punching, rolling and scooting.  Gymnastics might just be her thing.  She has moved up a little, more towards my belly button.  The downside to her position is that every time I bend over, I feel like I am crushing her and I can't breathe.  Seeing as most of our day is spent playing on the floor, this is creating a bit of an issue.  Its especially uncomfortable if I eat too much since she is laying on my intestines.  In fact, if I eat too much, or too much junk in one day, I will get sick again.  It makes me feel like I have morning sickness all over again.  I've thrown up 3 times in the past few weeks from such instances.  I thought I was past all of that!  I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks to take my glucose test and have some blood work done for that and to see if I'm anemic and check my rh level.  I already know I'm A- so I will just be waiting for a phone call to tell me to come back and get my rhogam shot.  Third trimester starts in one week...so 2 week appointments from here until 36wks!  I will most likely be scheduling my c-section around 32wks, if not in the next couple of appointments.  Things are getting real!

I'm pretty sure we have settled on a name and it doesn't include any of the ones mentioned in the last post.  We had it narrowed down to Elliot Leigh (call her Ellie) or Annie Marie, but then Alaina mentioned Paisley and we both perked up at that name.  So for a little while, Paisley moved to the top of the list.  Cooter was still very vague with his opinions and I needed his approval before naming her...and it was driving me mad that she didn't have a name yet!  Then one day he walked in the door and said I hope you don't get mad at me, but I don't love the name Paisley.  Fine by me, at least he finally said something.  Even better though, he said I like Ellie Renee (my middle name).  I love the name too!  No Elliot, just Ellie.  It stuck and we've been calling her that ever since.  Ty says it too.  When I point to my belly and ask him what's in there, he says baby.  If you ask her name he says Ellie. Even cuter...if you ask him where Ellie is, he lifts up his shirt and points to HIS belly!

We hosted Easter at our house this year.  It was a lot of fun having Justin and Emily here with Ty.  The kids died eggs together.  Cooter and I got up extra early to play Easter Bunny and hide eggs in the backyard and set the baskets out for the kids.  This was Ty's first egg hunt!  Ty's visit with the Easter Bunny wasn't too bad.  I expected tears, but instead he was just very uncomfortable.  Lol.  Next year Ellie will be in the pictures with him!  

                                      

Cooter was in a wedding this past weekend.  It was fun to see all of our friends in Austin again.  We definitely don't get up there enough anymore!  Here's a few pics of us all dressed up for the affair.  After the trip we went back by our property in LaGrange.  Last time we were there I was overjoyed to find a couple tiny patches of bluebonnets, but this time there were lots...enough for a mini photoshoot!  

Some of my favorite shots the past couple of months...

blowing bubbles with Aunt Nicole...he can blow them himself now!

 bubbles with Pop

 me and my boy!

 at Pop & Cici's house

 being silly on St. Patrick's Day

 how I caught him napping one day

 silly boy in his Elmo chair

 having a snack

 helping momma in the yard...he's got my Osmocote and a banana!

 on the road again...

 The piano finally made it to our house!  I was supposed to get it when we moved here 4 years ago.  Ty only knows it from Pop & Cici's house, so he was very weirded out about it being in our living room for a while!