Maternity Pictures

About a month ago my Sister-In-Law, Danielle, was kind enough to take some maternity pictures for us. I love them and am very thankful she was able to get such great shots of us! Thank you again Danielle!

A month to go!!!

Can you believe it? I know I sure can't!

About 1 month until we get to meet our newest little family member. I am SOOOO excited. What does he look like? Who does he look like? What will his personality be like? How much will he weigh? What day will he decide to come? So many questions and so much to look forward to. There is definitely still the scariest question of all that is always in the back of my mind....will Carter like him? I hope so. Poor little guy has no idea that his world his going to be turned upside down. There is going to be this baby that takes all of Mommy's time. How ever will I be able to satisfy both babies needs? No idea. We'll just take it one little step at a time.

I am feeling good these days. After my car accident/hospital stay things have been good. I am so glad that the accident wasn't very bad and the no one was hurt. The upside to me having to be monitored for 24 hours in the hospital was that I got an ultrasound and got to peek in on the little guy. They say he is measuring a week ahead and was weighing in at 5 1/2 lbs. On average he should gain about 1/2 lb. a week. So it looks like we will have another 7 3/4 lbs. baby! I also have not gained anymore weight, I am still 11 lbs. up from my pre-pregnancy weight. I have another appointment in a week and then they will be weekly until the baby is born. To be honest, I really don't like these appointments. It seems like more often than not I am sitting in a waiting room for 30 minutes before even being seen, then once the nurse takes me back to the exam room I have to wait another 15 minutes. So 45 minutes of waiting for a 5 minute appointment. It's always the same thing, weight, blood pressure (which is always amazingly good, that I am grateful for!), measure belly, listen to heartbeat, then I am out there. Since I have had such a good pregnancy you would think they would let me continue to only go in every 2 weeks.

Other than our same boring routine not too much has been happening at home. Carter had a 16 month check up. He weighs about 25 lbs and is about 34" tall. He is a little small in the weight department (24th percentile), but very tall for his age (90th percentile). He got a couple shots, which made him mad as heck. He is learning all kinds of stuff and has become quite the chatter box. You would never be able to tell because he shuts down when around other people. He tries very hard to say new words and even have conversation with you. It's pretty funny sometimes.

Lately we have noticed that he is showing signs of potty training (Perhaps? I don't want to jinx anything, but this may be the beginning). He will tell us pee or poop when he has a dirty diaper and he will sit on his potty. We haven't had any successful eliminations in the potty, but we try to talk about it and show him what to do. We aren't forcing anything, but it's a start.

Anyway, that's the update! I will be sure to post some maternity pictures that my sister-in-law, Danielle, took for us soon! :)

8 months pregnant

Since posting monthly updates seems to be my thing lately...here we go...

I will be 32 weeks pregnant this week, which puts me at about 8 months. Only 2 more months before we get to meet our tiny man. We are excited, anxious and nervous. I, of course, have a million what ifs that run through my head daily. What if he comes early? What if he comes late? What if Carter doesn't like him? What if I go crazy trying to take care of 2 kids? I know in the end it will all be great. I just have to remind myself of that every once in a while.

My last Dr.s appt went really good. So far I am up 11lbs. I gained 5 in two weeks! I try not to let the weight gain bother me....after all...I am having a baby! It's the one time in your life when it's a good thing to gain weight, right? Next appt. is this Friday. I am sure I'll have gained another 5lbs. (Oh well) Nothing has changed so the appt. should go good. We don't get another ultra sound until around 37 weeks. The Dr. will then check to make sure the baby is head down. With Carter we had a few ultra sounds the last half of the pregnancy, but with the new Dr. we are seeing they do things a little different. If there is no medical reason for it, then you don't get one. Bummer! I want to check in on him and see how he is doing!

Last Saturday my Sister-In-Law, Sarah, threw me a baby shower. It was definitely nice to have a little celebration for the baby. It was very small, but she cooked enough yummy food to feed 50 people! :) It was all delicious. The new baby received several handmade things. Aunt Danielle made him a very cute taggie blanket, a friend, Stephanie, made him the most adorable hat and Aunt Sarah made some awesome burp clothes. He also got a few new outfits and other baby necessities.

We started painting the nursery this weekend. We are just about done, only another coat along the border, then I can put the final decorations up. I have all his clothes washed and ready to go. And his furniture is assembled and ready. There really isn't much more we need except him!

In other news...Carter is doing great. He is learning new words everyday like ouwie (as in when you get hurt), hamburger, all kinds of animal noises, and banana (he actually says nananana). He loves to point(or should I say poke)out eyes and noses. Recently every time he sees me in a picture he yells out "Mommy!". He goes crazy over balloons and Elmo. We are also teaching him what a baby is, so now every time he sees one (even on T.V.,in a magazine or on a box) he points and says "Baby". He is definitely becoming more of a little person all the time. We love that kiddo. :)

7 months pregnant!

Yep, that's right folks.....7 months! I just hit the 28 week mark today which puts me in the third trimester. So far the pregnancy has been uneventful, which is a really good thing. I am having a textbook pregnancy and I don't think it could really be going any better. Today I had a doctor appointment. At this one they test for Gestational Diabetes and Anemia. They test your glucose levels by having you drink a really sugary drink and then they draw your blood for testing an hour later. Mine was orange flavored, same as with Carter, and it was very gross, same as last time. I got to choose from a few different kinds, but tropical punch and cola didn't sound very appealing. Hopefully the results come in tomorrow and everything looks good. The doctor also said I am measuring perfect, my belly that is, and I have gained 5 pounds so far. Now we start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks for the next 2 months.

In other news, Carter is becoming a funny little character. He is very smart too, he tries to say all kinds of words. He mostly just gets the number of syllables out, but he tries really hard to get the right sounds of the word too. He also is very good at pointing out his nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, eyes, hair, toes, fingers, and ears. He is doing well with his new in home daycare, I do think he misses all the interaction with the kids he used to be around. It would be typical to have 5-10 toddlers in the same room at his old daycare, so he would have a lot of kids his age. I guess it's just something he has to adjust to.

We hope everyone is enjoying these lazy dog days of summer! Take advantage of the nice hot weather while you can! :)

6 months pregnant

I had a reality check the other day. I am 6 months pregnant and baby #2 will be here in 3.5 months! REALLY?! How is it possible that time has gone by so fast? I have definitely not been as worried this time around about having everything ready for his arrival. Maybe it's because we have most of what we need for him and don't need to buy much? Well, the reality check changed that and made me start thinking about getting it all out and fresh for him. So to start, I ordered his furniture yesterday and I am so excited for it to arrive!

Here is a picture of the crib. We decided to go with an oak finish instead of a dark cherry finish like most of our other house furniture.


I haven't decided what we are going to do about bedding yet. Since bedding sets are so useless, I was thinking of just getting a few sets of sheets. I am thinking of going with a turtles and snails theme for his room. I can't wait to start decorating! :)

I had my 24 week doctor appointment Friday and things are going well. His heart sounds good and I am measuring average. The baby is about 1.5 pounds and about 12 inches long! I have gained 2 pounds so far and the doctor seemed to be a little concerned about it. I am not all that concerned though, especially with the appetite I have had lately. I could eat ALL day long, seriously ALL day. I eat a meal and then 10 minutes later I feel like I could eat a whole other one! I thought I would have gained 10 pounds in the last month, but nope, only 2. I feel really good these days. Not nearly as tired as when I was pregnant with Carter which is weird because I am so busy chasing him around. But no complaints here, I'll take all the energy I can get! The slow, tired, achy third trimester is right around the corner and I am hoping it doesn't hit me too hard! :)

Here is a 24 week belly picture.

What's new over here....

Things over at the Martin House have been very busy lately. The house is coming along great. I actually think we might be to the point where we can start decorating and maybe even paint a little bit, just to add some color. The garden is growing really well and we are SLOWLY getting rid of some of the weeds in the yard. The dog's also love the yard, so much in fact, that they dig holes all over, eat the red wood chips and dig up the grass seed we just laid. But that's another story...

On another note, Carter has been having fun in his swim class. Last week we introduced dunking under water. He did very well! It was a little surprising for him, but in general he doesn't mind at all. I think we might have a water baby on our hands.

Last week we also changed his daycare. He has been at La Petite since he was 3 months old and we really liked it, but with the new baby coming it is too costly to have them both there (try $2100 a month, that's almost double our mortgage!). So Sarah, my Sister-In-Law, recommended someone who does in home daycare. So far it has worked out very well, but you can tell it is a huge adjustment for Carter. He has never known anything but La Petite, so it has been stressful. He does fine all day while he is there, but it's the dropping him off part that is hard. It doesn't help that he is going through an extremely clingy, to ONLY Mommy, stage. (I really don't mind, if I could spend all day holding, carrying and hugging him I would. But with my pregnant aches it has proven to be a little difficult lately.) I am sure that after another week or two it will be part of his routine and he will be more comfortable with it. At least that's what I hope for. Maybe he is just really sad to have left his daycare girl friends. He was having lots of fun kissing all the girls in his toddler class. :) He is so lovable.

The things a Mom goes through....

So I had to share with someone! It's a little graphic...sorry!

So this evening was very eventful at our house. I went to change Carter's diaper. I took it off and was letting him "air dry" for a min (Basically he was walking around naked). While he was drying he wanted to throw the diaper in the trash. So I walk over and open the trash for him to throw it away. I walk away back into the living room, thinking he was following me. I turn around and he is squatting next to the trash peeing and grunting. I run over to stop him, yeah right, he stands up to run away and a piece of poop falls out of his butt. His foot steps in the pee puddle and he slips and smacks his head into the ground. I MUST be a horrible Mom. As if all that wasn't bad enough I pick him up and carry him to the sink so I can wipe him off, turn around and Aston, the dog, is eating the poop! LOL! I didn't know what to do or think. All I could do was laugh. Oh gee...the things a Mom goes through. :)