Mark your calendars!

Save the date, mark your calendars....Thing 2 will be making his/her grand appearance on Wednesday October 11 at 11! Our surgery was scheduled for us yesterday and I'm a little bummed because it would work out better for our parents if it was a Friday. Now we're not sure who will be here and when, so we don't know if we'll have somebody to watch Hannah or if we need to try and find someone. Anyway, just wanted to let everybody know what we would be doing on the 11th of October!!!! So keep us in your prayers on that day.

Oh, to be free!

Recently we have started introducing Tater to potty training. Nothing to serious because I know that she is not quite ready yet, however I wanted to get the ball rolling per say. So far she loves to wear the big girl undies. In fact her favorite thing is to run around diaper free. Oh to be free, to her is such a joyous thing. Thankfully, she can't quite get her diaper off on her own without a twenty minute struggle, so usually it stays on. There are times though when we are sitting on the toilet that she will get up and run around. As soon as I tell her it's time to put our pants back on, she looks at me and says "Mommy, I potty." Then has to sit on the potty for another ten minutes. Unfortunately, she hasn't quite figured out that the potty actually is for her to go in. Case in point, two nights ago right before her bath I put her on the potty...nothing. So while I was getting her bath ready I let her run around sans diaper. After her bath we usually let her run around and air dry for a bit before forcing the diaper back on her. She decided it would be a good time to color on the floor with Daddy. I asked her to sit on the potty, she said no, so I dropped it. Not even five seconds later she had an accident on the floor. As I was cleaning it up, I took the paper towels out to the trash and smelled a really awful smell. Where is that coming from? Does our garbage smell that bad? So I flipped on the light and followed my nose over to her kitchen set where I found a nice Hannah sized terd next to her stove. OH. MY. GOSH! Is what I proclaimed and what do you think was Hubby's answer? He responded with a "What did she poop on the floor?" How did he know that? He says he did not know it but smelled the smell himself and gauged my reaction as to what it was. He also went on to clean it up in order to prove that he did not know that it was there. What a guy!
Point of the story, even though Hannah loves to be "free", I told Hubby that there will be no more running of the house without proper attire. At least until she gets a little bit better at this potty training thing.

Sunny Days, Chasing the Clouds Away

This past week we took a little road trip, ok it was more of a big road trip. A lot of driving was involved. Driving in the car with a two year old, well it's.not.fun. We first drove to my parents house in OH to drop our daughter off for two days while we went to a wedding in Cleveland. My good friend got married and had a beautiful wedding. It was quite unique, her husband is from Ethiopia, they met when she was on a missions trip however he was attending college in the US at the time. Anyway, for the rehearsal, all of us women were dressed in authentic ethiopian garb. Pretty cool. The dinner took place at an Ethiopian restaurant in Cleveland where we got to sample different types of foods and partake in different traditions.
My pictures got mixed up, so the wedding picture is down below!! During the ceremony the bride and groom recited their vows in English and Amharic (not sure on the spelling). There was also some readings in Amharic as well as the singing of the Lords Prayer. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I wish Nicole and Mesfin the best of luck! Look below to see me in my big melon dress!
After the wedding we drove to Philadelphia to take Hannah to the Sesame Place park. Overall I think that she had a great time. She was a little overwhelmed at first, she wanted to run everywhere and see everything all at once. She also did not understand the concept of lines. She thought that she should be able to run right up and hug Ernie and Bert, and was quite upset when we told her she couldn't. The same happened with the rides. She did not like to wait in line and was quite upset when her turn was over and she had to get off. That part was not fun for Mommy and Daddy!! If you notice in the picture she is crying, that is because it is after four, she is extremely tired and still wants to run around. I think that she was asleep by the time we pulled out of the parking lot. The park was fairly small and very crowded. We decided that it would not have been worth the money if we had to pay to get in. Maybe when she's older. Unfortunately, most of our pictures were taken on a water camera, so we'll have to wait until they are developed before we can post happy toddler at the theme park!

Here is big old prego mama! Thankfully back home where we now need a vacation from our vacation. I am a little worried though because I think that was our last long car trip with just one child. I can't imagine what it will be like driving up with two. YIKES!

Sniff...Sniff....Do You Smell Something????

Thursday night before I went to bed, I noticed a foul odor in our bedroom. My initial thought was that there was a dead mouse in the bedroom somewhere. Since the hubs still wasn't home I really didn't want to locate a dead mouse and have to dispose of it. So, I sprayed a bunch of air-freshener and went to bed. The next night when hubby got home, I told him of my suspicions. He went into the room and said he didn't smell anything, but thoroughly look under everything trying to locate the odor. Last night, still haven't found the culprit and it wasn't a strong enough smell to lead me to where the source was. I would think I was in the right spot then loose the scent. Anyway, I got down on the floor at the end of the bed to pick up some clothes Tater had drug out and the smell was really strong. I looked up and between the mattress and the footboard there it was! Not one but two stinky, dirty diapers. That's right diapers. Somewhere along the line, I'm sure with the pregnancy brain, I must have went to dispose of them got sidetracked in the bedroom and set them down on the bed. Then I imagine I forgot all about them, stumbled into bed and kicked the covers down, thus diapers lost at the foot of the bed. I am just so thankful that it wasn't a mouse that I could care less that I was sleeping with rotting diapers!


Stay tuned for the 13 day saga of "single" parenting!

Fun in the bath!! 

How to....

I am trying to figure out how to use the links option on blogger so let me know if this works!! I found some really cute stuff that I would love to have for the next baby. Take a look here and here. I'm also looking for a nice diaper bag since the dog chewed it on his first long car trip to Ohio. Oh well, gives me an excuse to get a new one.
Still going it alone, but only 2.5 days left. I am so ready for the hubs to be home. Not so much because Hannah is a "bad" toddler, because she is a relatively easy child. More so because we just get so bored. It sucks being out here with not too many friends and no family. If we were home I guarantee the two weeks would have flown by. On top of the boredom, I am feeling a little bit down lately about my weight gain. I know that I am pregnant and that I am supposed to be gaining weight, but it seems that I am gaining too much weight. I have been trying to watch what I eat and I even cut out the sweets (mostly) but I am still gaining at to fast of a rate. I am dreading going to the doctor next week and stepping on the scales. Not to mention I am in a wedding next weekend and I will look like a blimp! So if any of you have some suggestions on how to not gain weight please give them to me. Also if you feel like cheering me up you can use one of the links above to buy me a nice present:)

See Mommy....

Here is Tater, with Daddy's hat on, this was actually not taken yesterday, but she was doing the exact same thing then. Only when I got the camera out she wanted to take the hat off and "See Hannah". I know her eyes are closed, but this was the only picture I managed to get before she whipped the hat off, and she is saying cheese, what more could I ask for?

Butterfly Kisses

Remember that song? The one that got overplayed on the radio and was heard at every wedding during the same era? I can't specifically remember when it came out, but I remember thinking it was pretty at first, then overplayed and not really understanding the lyrics. Although I am starting to understand them now. There is just something about a little girl and her daddy. It seems that Potato is really missing hers right now. Yesterday morning while I was getting her breakfast, she put on daddy's beach hat. This is the conversation that followed:
Her: See Mommy, Daddy's hat?
Me: Yes Hannah, you are wearing Daddy's hat.
Her: See Mommy, Daddy's hat?
Me: Yes Hannah, you look so cute with Daddy's hat on.
Her: See Mommy, Daddy's hat?
Me: Yes Hannah, I see.
Her: See Mommy, Daddy's hat?
Me: Yes Hannah.
Her: See Mommy, Daddy's hat?
Me: I see.
Her: See Mommy, Daddy's hat?
Me: Here is your breakfast, let's take the hat off now.
Fast forward through the day to late afternoon, the Tater finds Daddy's tennis shoes, slips them on and is tromping through the living room.
Her: See Mommy, Daddy's shoes?
Me: Yes Hannah, you look pretty silly in Daddy's shoes?
Her: See Mommy, Daddy's shoes?
Me: I see, aren't they a little big for your tootsies?
You can see where I'm going with this. Almost the same conversation that we had at breakfast. Now, fastforward to late evening. Hannah finds one of Daddy's t-shirts and puts it on. She looks pretty cute. Thankfully this time instead of the See Mommy conversation, she danced around the living room singing her own song. It went something like this: Daddy's shirt. Hmm, hmm, hmm. Daddy's shirt, Hmm, hmm, hmm. (Repeat over and over again) Then right before bed we had this exchange:
Me: Let's get ready for bed.
Her: No Mommy. (Takes my hand and leads me to the front door, all the while mumbling
something.)
Me: Hannah, what do you want?
Her: (Pointing to the door) Daddy?
That just about broke my heart!!!! I scooped her up, snuggled her close and reminded her that Daddy was evil. Just kidding, what kind of person do you take me for? I reminded her that Daddy had to go away on work and that we only had 7 more days to go.
*****************
On a different note. It seems that even the dog is sensitive to my hormonal pregnant needs. This morning at around 5:30 I was roused by the fresh aroma of dog dookie. That's right, the dog knows how hard it is for me to get comfortable and go to sleep, so he didn't want to wake me up to take him outside. Instead he thought he would just go and then try to hide the evidence. That's right, not only did he poop on the floor, but then he began to eat it. Luckily, the smell woke me up right away so he didn't have the chance to eat much. Crazy dog had to serve hard time for that one, I think his sentence is going to carry over for the next couple of nights. The problem is that the dog has been driving me insane. He's not so bad during the day, it's the evening that he begins to act obnoxious. About the time that Tony should be home he starts going to the door and whining like he needs to go out. So, I take him out (because we don't have a fence and he has a tendency to run off) only he doesn't go. He doesn't even attempt to go, he just kind of stands there and looks around. So, I walk him around the yard a bit and then take him back in. An hour later, he does the same thing. I'm paranoid, because we had a diarrhea incident a few weeks ago, that if I don't take him out he will have an accident and I will have to clean it. So, at first I was taking him out every time. Then I started yelling at him to go lay down, that didn't work. So, finally by day 3 I just put him in his cage for an hour or so. Regardless, last night when I took him out before bed he didn't go. I wasn't too worried because he did his duty that morning. I guess I was wrong! Nothing like waking up to that wonderful smell, thank you Dudley.

Anger Management

I really need some anger management courses right about now. I feel like breaking things, throwing things or even screaming at the top of my lungs. Unfortunately I can't right now because my sweet Tater is sleeping. The hubby is gone right now, been gone four days, will be gone 8 more. How, when he is so far away, can he make me so angry? I guess I can rack it up to male stupidity or maybe his lack of sensitivity to a raging-hormonal-pregnant wife. It's not like he did anything major, it's just the fact that he doesn't realize that what he did bothers me. Get it? Moving on.....breathe in, breathe out! Well maybe it won't be a big deal if I forget to pick him up from the airport?! Ha!!! Except, that means that I am a "single" parent even longer, so there goes that plan. Oh well, guess I don't get to get even, just have to forgive and forget and all that jolly stuff :)

24 Month Stats

Hannah had her 24 month check-up on Tuesday of this week. Not much to tell, she did get her iron level checked, which means finger prick. It is so funny to watch the nurses react to her. Since she is used to getting poked every night, she doesn't get upset for the little finger prick. The nurses, who are probably used to wrestling little kids to get them to sit still, are always so amazed by the fact that she just sits there and gives them funny looks. Then comes the band-aid saga. She hates to have band-aids on her fingers, she will not leave it alone until she gets the thing off. Put a band-aid on her leg, she'll leave it there all day. Don't know what it is. Anyway here are her stats:

Wt. 25.9 pounds, which was 25%
Ht. 30 inches, which was 3%

She is in her "big girl" bed now. We converted her crib to a toddler bed, by convert I mean we took off the front rail (pretty difficult). Anyway, we got her some "big girl" Dora sheets and she loves them. Unfortunately she is a bit of a roller and rolled out of bed twice the first night before I decided to put the rail back on. We went out to Wal-Mart and bought a little mesh rail, that says in big letters NOT FOR USE ON TODDLER BEDS. Doesn't say why though, so we broke the rule and are using it. It has been over a week and she is doing great with it. She still gets excited to see her sheets. Now if we could just convince her to get rid of the paci and use the potty. For the potty, I'm thinking buying "big girl" Dora undies will do the trick, but not sure about the paci. Whenever I talk to her about getting rid of it she says no. Any suggestions?

What's in a name?

One of the names that we like for a girl is Isabelle or Isabella. The problem is that we can't decide which way we like it better. Here is your chance to give us your opinion, just leave a comment saying which way you like it better. While you're at it, give us some middle names as well. Unfortunately the name that I liked, Grace, just doesn't sound right with our last name.

I was supposed to have my glucose test on Monday, but got to the doctor's office and they didn't have a battery that they needed for the machine. Here I was thinking it was some sort of special battery that they had to order, but after my appointment the doctor said to the receptionist, why didn't somebody just run out and buy one? Hello!!! You don't need a special battery?! Why didn't somebody run out and buy one? Get this the receptionist said that she offered, but the nurse told her not too. Apparently the nurse doesn't think my time is important enough to warrant somebody leaving the office. It's not that I was starving.....but I was pretty hungry. The main thing that bothered me was the inconvenience of it all. Tony will be in New Mexico next week, so I have to find a sitter again to come to our house (since the girl is still sleeping). The weird thing is that this just happened to my friend, only she was just 24 weeks and apparently you have to be over 24 weeks in order to get it done. So, what is with these doctors and the glucose test?

Ultrasound pictures

I could not get the pictures to upload from blogger bot, which is what I normally use for my pictures, so I had to do it as a post. It takes longer this way and can't handle the size, so I only posted two for now.
In the top picture, baby spuds is yawning. In the lower picture, notice the hand. Like the baby is saying "Get that camera out of my face!"

Boy....or Girl????

We had our second ultrasound today. Thankfully, the tech was a much friendlier lady and she did a wonderful job! We got some really cute pictures and I'm happy to say that everything was ok. The doctor said that sometimes the angle that they are scanning at can distort the image, and they were getting normal measurements for the cerebellum and surrounding areas. He also said that we have a baby who is measuring fairly large. This is one instance when I am thankful that I am having a c-section, a large baby = no fun for mama!!! Of course the title of this post is a bit of a teaser because we did not find out the sex...it was very tempting but we didn't give in. Enjoy the cute pictures.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABE!!

Today marks the day that we got married FIVE years ago. I can hardly believe that it has already been five years....although on some days it seems much, much longer than that. Time has changed us each...mainly our bodies, we are not the young kids we were back then. One of us has thinning hair, the other thickened hips!! We have also grown up together, though sometimes I wonder when you will mature. I have watched you become a father and it is so amazing to see you with our little girl. She truly holds your heart in her tiny little hands and that makes me love you all the more. Though we have both changed, our love has remained constant. I have posted a couple of pictures to give us a walk down memory lane, remember when we were so young and in love? I love you Anthony, happy anniversary my love. Here is to many more happy years to come!!
These are two of my favorite pictures from our wedding day. The top one was a candid shot taken by my step-mom. It was in between poses after the ceremony where we were stealing a moment for ourselves. The bottom is our first dance, and I could not get it out of the wedding album so I had to scan the entire page. Thus, the cruddy cropping job! I just think it is such a beautiful picture with the light behind us and the way we are looking into each others eyes.

Even though it is a "big" anniversary, we aren't doing anything too special. With me being pregnant and him already using up a bunch of vacation on weddings this summer, we are probably just doing dinner and a movie. We might splurge and do a dinner cruise, but we do not have reservations so we'll see. I guess we'll have to wait until the next "big" one to do something a little more special, oh well. All that matters is that we have made it this far, and are continuing to grow together as time passes.

Baby Spuds

Poor baby! It seems that in all of the commotion lately, I have not posted anything about my pregnancy. So here is a quick update:
Things are going good, as the days pass I am getting bigger and bigger. Not quite to the "Wow, look how big she is" stage, but past the "She looks like she's putting on a little weight" stage. I am feeling good right now aside from the constant heartburn I get every night. Why when it's getting close to time for me to sleep does the heartburn kick in? It's not like I sleep peacefully at night anyway, with the child using my bladder as a trampoline, but the heartburn is enough to through me over the edge. I can handle getting up every hour to pee, but toss in heartburn and I'm done!
The baby is moving all over the place now, I can't decide if spuds is trying to rearrange the furniture in there, or just having a good time poking me. Tony finally felt a kick a couple of nights ago. It seemed like before whenever the baby was moving around and I would tell him to feel it, the moving would instantly stop when he would put his hand on the belly. I love this part of the pregnancy, when the movements are noticeable and I'm not to the uncomfortable stage yet.
Hannah has started to kiss the baby now. She is so adorable, when asked where the baby is, she has to lift up my shirt and she always points to my belly button. I guess she thinks the baby is in that exact spot. Anyway, now when she is pointing she will sometimes kiss the baby, or just lay her head on my stomach like she is listening. Even though she does this, it is hard to say that she actually understands the meaning that the baby is eventually going to come out of mommy and live with us. I really think that she is too young to fully grasp the concept, but we talk about it anyway.
We did have our first ultrasound (finally) on June 26. I was a little disappointed with the tech that did our ultrasound. She was not a very friendly person, and lets face it when a couple is getting to see their baby for the first time, they do not want a sourpuss spoiling the moment. Most people would rather have someone with a bubbly personality that shows a little enthusiasm for their job. This lady did not even really take the time to let us look at the baby, she just went ahead with the measurements, saying simple phrases like "This is the foot." I know that I was spoiled with my ultrasound for Hannah, but come on we did not even get a profile picture!!!! Anyway, in case you are wondering, we did not find out the sex of the baby. Tempting as it was we stuck to our guns and told her we did not want to know. There was a slight abnormality on the ultrasound, there was some extra fluid around the cerebellum. I'm not really sure what that could mean, but the doctor did not seem to concerned. He said that if it was something major, he would expect to see more symptoms. Regardless, he wanted to get a second opinion, so we are going to have a level two scan done on July 20. As of right now, I am not worried about what it might or might not be. I figure why worry, when it won't change anything, and I know that I am not in control over this situation, but God is.
Anyway, since we do not know what we are having, I find it a little more difficult to pick out names. We have a couple that we like, but no middle names and nothing definate. I told hubs the other day that we needed to start getting serious about this whole name thing because before we know it time will run out. The other downside of not knowing is we can't buy a take-home outfit. I guess we could just buy two and return one!! Otherwise, I am looking forward to being in the delivery room, and hearing "It's a........."

PS I will post some ultrasound pics later, don't feel like scanning them right now 'cause it's time for bed! But, be warned, they are not the best....thanks to our wonderful tech.

Birthday Girl

Hannah 1 day old.

Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet Hannah!!! It is hard to believe that you are two already. It sems like such a short time ago that you were the baby in my tummy, and now you are my big girl! There are so many wonderful things that I want to remember about you when you are older, so I have written a few of them down.

Like how you love to sing and dance. You will make up your own music and dance around the room humming your new song. Your favorite thing is to climb up onto the fireplace and use that as your stage to dance on. Just a couple of weeks ago when we were visiting Grammy and Po's house, there was a bullfrog croaking. You found him to be very musical and started dancing to his rythm. You're favorite song right now is "Bear is Now Asleep" by the Wiggles, although the ABC song comes in a close second. You do change the words though and sing "Daddy's now asleep. Sshh, shhh, shhh." In the car you love to listen to Veggie Tunes.

Speaking of ABC's, you love to read your Pooh's ABC book and often ask for it by name saying "ABC's, ABC's!!" You are also learning to count right now. So far you have two and three down, but you often forget to say one.

Hannah 1 yr old

You are exploring the world and on your way to be a big girl. Often times you will try and dress yourself and end up with a shirt half on, or you will be wearing Mommy's shoes because you just couldn't get yours on. Jewelry is simply a must for you, wearing beads is your favorite and I often find you getting into the bottom drawer of my jewelry chest. Luckily you haven't figured out that is where I keep the stuff you are aloud to have and not my good stuff!

Your favorite movie is Lion King 1 1 /2, though you also love Dora and Elmo. I think that Elmo is close to being your favorite because you carry your Elmo doll all through the house. Just last night as we were doing our potty lesson, you had to involve Elmo. Problem was you put Elmo on your potty then squatted and started to potty on the floor!!

We love you so much and we are amazed at how much love and joy you bring to us. Hannah Taylor we are so thankful that God gave us such a special gift when he gave us you. Your personality is so bubbly, you are so fun to just watch. I hope as the years pass, you will understand how much we love you. Happy Birthday Tater-tots.

Special Dora cake made by Mommy

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

In ER waiting to be stitched up.

A Memorable Memorial Day

After being in Ohio for a little over a month, we are safely home and I am desperately behind in my blogs. The problem was that my family has dial-up and after being so spoiled with high-speed I could not force myself to stay on the computer any longer than necessary. Needless to say I am so far behind I will now be attempting to get caught up.
Starting with Memorial weekend. This is the weekend that it all started. We drove up to Ohio on Friday in order to attend a going away party for my brother who is leaving for Iraq. My extended family was having a little shindig at the local park complete with a cook out. Unfortunately, my daughter has no fear, so when my Aunt brought her little dog to the park she went right up to him and was petting him. All of the kids were playing with the dog and the dog is used to small children, so I was not really afraid for her. After about 15 minutes of the dog being there we were playing fetch with him, she reached down for the stick and the dog started biting her right in the face. At this point I was more concerned about my daughter then I was about the dog, so I reached down and scooped her up about the time that one of my Uncle's jumped over a picnic table to kick the dog out of the way. When I picked her up her face was just full of blood. I could not tell what had been bitten and what was just bloody. I yelled for my Mom and we took off toward the car, where my husband was so upset that he tore off the handle trying to open the door!! Anyway, the poor girl was so exhausted from all of the excitement of the day and having no nap that she fell asleep in my lap on the way there. I do not think that if I had just gotten bit in the face that I would be falling asleep, but anyway she did. We arrived at the ER and got assessed, the doc said the easiest thing to do would be to put her under in order to stitch her up, so we agreed. He also said it would take at least an hour for the sedation to wear off. Apparently he did not expect my little girl to be so strong, they gave her the sedation and she fell asleep, so I laid her on the table and left the room. My mom and husband stayed with her, but I did not think I wanted to witness this. The doc ended up having to give her four times the amount of sedative then originally planned because she was fighting it so bad. Then as soon as he was done she rolled over into my mom's arms and was awake. Overall she needed eight stitches, seven in her nose and one in the corner of her mouth. What a traumatic welcome to Ohio she had.
That's not all though, they kept the stitches in for five days and she was on an antibiotic since dogs mouths are so dirty. We went to get her stitches out on Thursday, then on Friday night she started vomiting. The first time ever for her being sick. The poor little thing. She could not keep anything down, we would give her just a tiny sip of water and five minutes later out it would come. How are you supposed to keep a baby hydrated that can't keep anything down? By Saturday it had turned into diarrhea, and Sunday (the day of my sister's graduation) she just simply had a high fever. We thought she was getting over it, so I sent her to my Aunt's house and I went to the graduation. Shortly after we got home she was vomiting again. By Monday the poor thing was so lethargic we decided to take her to the ER to get some fluids pumped in her. They put two boluses into her, which I think they said was like two bags for an adult, and she still had a dry diaper so they admitted her. Let me just tell you that I was not too pleased with the service, since we got there at seven and did not make it up to the floor until after midnight. The poor baby just wanted to go to sleep. Once we were on the floor, she slept until the next morning at about 6:30 and she still had a dry diaper! Finally at 7:30 she had a wet diaper and by 2:00 we were on our way home. She was still not herself, she didn't start getting life back into her until Thursday and boy were we glad to see her strutting around the house singing and dancing again.
Thankfully the rest of our trip was uneventful, but I will update more on that later!