26 months old!

 So Little Man is now 26 months old...that means he's still growing, but it also means that his baby sister will be here within a week's time!  I do feel like I have been pregnant forever, but I am so blessed that this pregnancy has been healthy and that we will soon become a family of 4!

Little Man is the sweetest thing ever.  He cannot wait for baby sister to get here.  He still kisses my tummy, and he wants to hold every baby he sees.  When we put baby girl's car seat in my car a couple weeks ago, we started asking him, "Who's seat is that?" He gets really excited and answers, "Baby Sister's!"

When I was folding some of her clothes, he came over and said, "W's clothes!" and I said, "No, these are baby sister's clothes."  He picked up one of the outfits, hugged it, and said, "Awww!"

We do have our rough patches with Little Man.  He doesn't always like to listen, and we still use time out as a form of punishment.  He gets two minutes now, and it seems to work great.  We are also transitioning him into a new room.  We finally got his new room put together enough to move him in on Saturday, and it sure didn't go over as planned.  All day he was so excited about his new crib and new room.  When my husband put him down for the night, he was fine....until 30 minutes later.  He started wailing.  I went in after about 10 minutes and he said, "Old crib, old bed."  So we gave in (since it was the first night)...and let him sleep in his old room.  The next day, he went down fine for his nap in his new room and crib.  We decided to just not make a big deal over it.  Then at bedtime, the wailing started immediately after I put him down.  We decided we might be having another "cry-it-out" session...like when he was 6 months old.  He did cry off and on for about 45 minutes, but then slept great and woke up happy.  He cried about 5 minutes at naptime, and then about 10 minutes tonight...but I think the transition is going to work.  Baby girl's nursery is getting painted tomorrow, so there is no hope for him going back to his old room!  

I know he is about to experience lots more change with a real little baby entering his life...and so are we! But I am going to try and stay calm and handle everything as stress-free as possible!  Keeping up a positive attitude is my main goal!

I forgot to take pictures on the "19th" this month.  I can't believe I let it slip my mind...but I did catch some pictures today...these were right before I took him to get his haircut (which he now is terrified of if I haven't mentioned that before).  Haircuts are worse than shots!!  He hates them.  I even let him sit in my lap, and brought his favorite snack and juice.  He did cooperate some when they gave him a spray water bottle to squirt in his own face, my face, and the hairdressers face...but I have assigned "Dada" to take him for his next cut!  I do have to say he does look mighty handsome after his cut!

The next post will probably be baby girl's birth announcement, so be on the lookout!  I am 4 cm and 80% effaced as of this morning...so it really could be anytime now!

23 Month Update (a little late...)

Less than one month before my sweet little Baby W turns two!?!  I cannot believe it has been almost 2 years since he arrived.  I should say, he's never been little, and he continues to grow in height, weight, and smarts every single day.

Little (Big) Man can now identify all the letters of the alphabet, and he knows what sound each one of them makes.  I think that's his favorite thing to do.  He likes to run to the refrigerator and pull off a letter, tell me what it is and the sound it makes.  I give him a big thumbs up or clap, and he smiles really big.  He also has a bag of foam letters from a playmat that he plays with too.  I have to credit the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD for teaching him his letters.  It's a 30 minute video that costs $7.50 at Wal-Mart.  I would definitely recommend it!  

He also loves to play with any toy that is some form of transportation...trains, cars, helicopters...and identifies the differences between them when we're out driving around.  He'll say, "See the bus!  See the van!  See the car!  Fire truck!  Whoo woo!!"  He usually says, "Alligator" when he sees a motorcycle...but we're working on that :)

He loves to sing, and he's pretty good at it too!  One of his new favorite songs that he can sing all by himself is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  He also loves Jesus Loves the Little Children, and laughs when we sing it.

His vocabulary has immensely increased.  He copies pretty much everything anyone says.  If I'm in the car and want people to go, I'll yell, "Go people!"  And I hear my little parrot in the backseat yelling, "Go People!"  Sometimes he says it on his own if we're at a stoplight, and I have to laugh.

He loves to pray at night and lists every name he can remember.  He loves saying, Amen, at the end of prayers, blessings, and the Andy Griffith theme song.  His favorite tv show is "Super Why!" and he definitely gets his letter practice in while watching it.  

He likes to say, "Go night night?" when he knows it's not time to sleep, so that he can hear me say, "No! No! No!"  But when it is night night time, he's pretty good about going to sleep.  He still naps from about 1:15 to 3:30 or 4, and he goes to bed between 7:15 and 8:00 and sleeps until 7 or 8 in the morning.  

His favorite stuffed animal is still Eeyore.  I needed to wash Eeyore the other day and told Little Man that Eeyore needed to take a bath.  I had to pry him out of his hands and throw him in the washer.  Little Man cried for his Eeyore and blanket.  When the wash was done, he immediately ran to it and said, "Eeyore!!"  Luckily Eeyore wasn't too wet, and I let him have him.  Now whenever I start the washer, he runs around looking for Eeyore to make sure he's "safe!"

He loves going to the ocean and the pool.  We've had a few beach trips this year, and while he was scared of getting in the pool at first (I think because of my horsefly incident), after a few minutes he warmed right up and was jumping in and not wanting us to hold him.  He likes to lay on his back and duck his head backwards under the water.

Little Man also loves to see bugs and if they are on the ground, he will either try to pick them up or step on them.  "See the bug?" Stomp!

He loves to play outside, and he has learned to run to Mama when he sees a car or truck driving by.  If it's a big bus or big truck, he runs to me and says, "Hold you?"

He loves seeing his Daddy when he comes home from work.  When he hears the door opening, he gets really excited and waves his arms and says, "Dada! Dada!"  

He's great at putting sentences together.  The first time I was really amazed was at church one night when a kid had climbed into the balcony during our Wednesday night meal.  Little Man came to me and said, "He's up there Mom!"  I couldn't believe that he had put that sentence together, and I was even more shocked that he had called me MOM!

I can't put into words the amount of love I feel for my Little Big Man.  I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with him and take care of him.  I thank God for him every day!

I am also getting excited about our little girl's arrival!  We are still trying to work on her name, but I did find the cutest "coming-home" outfit for her yesterday with my mother-in-law, and it just makes me more ready for her to get here!  I'll post pictures of the outfit later!

I am 26 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  Only 13 1/2 weeks to go!  Or maybe less... We have so much to do to get ready.  We are keeping the nursery the same, but changing out some of the colors and the bedding.  Little Man's room will be the real makeover.  

Any signs that I sell between now and when she gets here, I will be spending on all the things I need for my little girl.  So if you need any baby shower or teacher gifts, check out the shop!  The personalized teacher signs and the "Shhh...Baby Sleeping" signs have been the biggest sellers this summer.  I will be working on some holiday stuff soon too!  

Hope y'all are all doing well!! Thanks for stopping by :)

A Peek at the Baby!

 My uncle let us go to his practice in Greenville today for an early peek at the gender.  There was a girl in the waiting room who was only 12 1/2 weeks pregnant with identical twins, and they were able to tell her she was having boys...so I had lots of hope that we would find out the gender.

Unfortunately, after lots of careful looking, the ultrasound tech couldn't say for sure... she kept thinking girl, and then would say, "Wait." And then it was "I don't know."  She said if she was pushed to guess today, she would lean towards "Girl," but that's really just a guess.

We were sent home so happy though after seeing the healthy heartbeat and with lots of pictures to keep!

If you have any experience and want to venture a guess, here are the "toilet poses" as they are called.  It means you are looking up at the baby's butt as if they were sitting on the toilet.

We find out for sure on July 7th! (5 weeks away!)

Oh and if you aren't a follower of my friend Heather at It's the World I Know, go check her out and join in on the OPI Swap!  Sign up ends tonight at midnight...so hurry up! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  I'm off to my cousin's wedding tomorrow.  Can't wait to see some of my sisters and other extended family!!