The Last Week of the Belly

So this is the last time I plan on being pregnant. Here are a few photos to remember the colossalness that was my belly.

2 Weeks and Counting...

So we've had an eventful month. Let's see if I can quickly recap...

• Influenza-like flu (Brody)
• A couple good days
• Stomach flu (me), and I mean SICK - the sickest I've been in my entire life, followed by two days in the hospital, 6 liters of fluids to rehydrate, and instructions to stay home from work for a week.
• Influenza-like flu (me and Ryan), literally on the way home from the hospital, my chest starting feeling heavy. Ry and I were down and out with a fever for 5 days - couldn't get off the couch. Thank goodness Brody is a good kid and LOVES movies! Ry's turned to pneumonia...I'm still coughing three weeks later, but we seem to be on the mend.
• Perfectly healthy (baby Jameson) - seems that none of this bothered him in the least.
• And last, but certainly not least...Everyone in our house now poops on the potty (me, Ryan, and Brody) of course Ryan and I have had this mastered for quite some time now, but we told Brody last week that it was his "job" to get his pee and poop in the potty. Apparently their is something to child psychology...telling him it is his job instead of asking him if he had to go did the trick. He's been using the potty every since. Of course the cool undies, M & M's, and new batman have played a big role in getting him back on the potty! Regardless, I am thankful that we will only have one stinky bum to change in a couple of weeks!

We're at the big two week countdown now. I just heard that another woman at work who is 34 weeks pregnant was put on bed rest. At 37 weeks with another week and a half to work, is it wrong to envy her?

I couldn't pull it together to post pictures, but we've all been pretty sick and not looking our best so you probably don't want to look at us anyway!

A long, long winter still...

It's February and that means that, in New Hampshire, we're just at the midpoint of the winter season. Brody keeps asking me when it's going to be summer. Actually, every time it snows he asks if it's Christmas again. When I say no, he asks when it's going to be Christmas and I say that it has to be summer first. So he is anxiously awaiting summer, simply so we can celebrate Christmas after...poor kid has no idea how much "winter" is really left!

So every few years we get a winter that hammers us with snow. This is apparently "the" year. January was a record-breaker (seriously, the most snow on record for the month of January in the last 100 years or something crazy like that) and we've already had a couple of February storms and another one scheduled to come tomorrow to bring us another eight inches. I don't know where we're going to put it all. Ryan has done an amazing job keeping the driveway clear, which has resulted in 10 foot (or higher I'm a bad estimator) snow mountains in our front yard. It is literally a winter wonderland out there! I'll have to take some pictures this weekend - it's impressive!

Brody is still having a blast playing in the snow. Although I think he had his first case of frozen toes the other day. It took a few minutes of him being inside before he started crying about his toes - they must have been thawing and getting feeling back! It's harder for me to play out in the snow this winter. My big belly (let's face it, it's not just my belly, my whole body is big) just doesn't fit into any of my winter gear. If I lay down to make snow angels, I'm like Ralphie's little brother in a Christmas Story - I roll from side to side yelling "I can't get up, I can't get up" as pitifully as possible until someone comes and helps me up! Thankfully Ryan loves to play in the snow too and that gives me time to sit and relax by the fire while the boys tire themselves out outside!

Since you've already seen lots of pictures of the boys playing in the snow...here are some other recent pics.

I thought you all might want to see how snuggly and sweet my first "boy" is. Little Tucker has stuck by me through four moves. He has gone from being my one and only roommate and the king of the house to being a slightly neglected "cat". He is so patient with Brody when Brody wants to "hug" him. He sleeps with Ryan and I every night...and for some reason when I'm pregnant he sleeps directly on top of my stomach. I think it's very sweet, but my stomach is heavy enough right now without a 10 pound cat on top of it! Here he is enjoying an afternoon snooze on the couch beside the fire...and what looks like a velociraptor foot!

Same couch, different day...boy those fires really knock us right out huh?! Brody snuggled up on the couch and enjoyed a snooze of his own! Don't you just want to eat him right up?!!

Brody is going through a dinosaur phase right now...which honestly is a welcome change after a 2 year car phase! We made banana muffins in a dinosaur pan. He was very excited to pose with the "long neck" and to gobble him up!

And now I'm just going to take a moment to brag about how well my child eats...sometimes anyway. Notice how much he is enjoying his lunch - and notice how his lunch includes...wait for it...a vegetable! My kid won't eat carrots. Cucumbers?...heck no, but he will devour peppers. Strange right? Some cheese and crackers, a little hummus, some avocado and it's almost a complete meal!  ps - I don't write this to make anyone feel bad. I write it to make myself feel better since my child won't eat sandwiches, soup, pizza, macaroni and cheese or anything else that normal kids eat!

Brody and Tucker - they really are buddies

Oh and I don't think I ever showed you guys Brody's response when we told him that he was going to be a big brother. The moment was priceless!  Do you think he's excited??!!

And just so you guys know I'm not just being lazy and hungry...here are some recent belly shots - not for the faint of heart. This baby will be my 4th and final (I think) "boy" that I bring into this family (in case you are scratching your heads 1-Tucker, 2-Ryan, 3-Brody, 4-new baby). Any additional family members will need to be of the female variety...and preferably 4-legged because, as you can see from these photos, pregnant is not really a good look for me!

I may not be able to reach them easily, but I can still at least see my feet!

Hello belly button! Or more accurately, hello to the place where my belly-button used to be! What you can't tell from this picture is that the baby is saying..."hello out there! I can't wait to meet you in 8 weeks!" He also muttered something about how his mother REALLY deserves some coffee ice cream, but I'm trying not to gain 50 pounds with this baby, so while I agree that I definitely deserve the delicious, ice cold treat, please ignore his request!

That's all for now! 

Happy New Year!

OK...so I apparently never took blogging 101, which clearly states that the key to blogging is to write frequently. Let's just say that life has been a little crazy since Halloween and it's only going to get crazier!

In my defense, I do have a good reason...and so I present to you Exhibit A:

Yes folks, that is the image of a tiny fetus that (no longer so tiny) has taken up residence in my body. So you can be upset with me for not posting since Halloween or you can think to yourself...holy smokes, in what little spare time this poor working mother has, she has decided to go out and grow herself another tiny human! Call us crazy, but it was time to add to the brood.

So we are trying to enjoy the last two months of the calm before the storm...sleeping through the night most nights, enjoying family outings, playing in the snow, quiet evenings by the fire, dinner together. You know...all the things that you take for granted until you have an infant and have to pack for a week in order to simply make a trip to the grocery store.

I haven't been entirely neglectful of documenting our lives these last few months though and so I offer you quite possibly the longest photo-montage blog post to capture life on Snow Pond Road since Halloween! Enjoy!

Playing at Mimi and Pa's house with Belle and Wilder

Picking out the Christmas Tree!

We were so excited to have our first Christmas in our new house this year that we went to get our tree on Thanksgiving weekend. It was COLD! And guess who we ran into when we were picking out our tree? None other than the Jones-Riley-Hall family!

Decorating the Tree

It was quite a festive afternoon decorating the tree. As soon as we got the tree in the house we started to see big, beautiful flakes out the window - the first snow of the season. We made a fire, Brody threw on some antlers, we put on a little bing Crosby, and went to town. It was a perfect evening!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care!!

Tucker didn't help decorate, but he enjoyed snuggling on the couch by the fire.

And then he staked his claim under the tree.

Even though there wasn't much snow, Brody was so excited to go out and play in it. He wanted to make a snow angel so badly...it's  more like a dirt angel, but he had a blast.

And then is was time to snuggle by the fire and gaze at the Christmas tree!

Holiday Baking!

So after years of trying to get Brody to cook with me in the kitchen, he is finally excited to roll up his sleeves, get his hands a little dirty and bake some delicious treats. We made lots of breads and pies over the holidays. He was a big help!

Christmas with the Joneses (Desmaraises)

As any modern family knows. Christmas is not the calm, relaxing stay-at-home holiday Nat King Cole sings about.  There is no time to roast chestnuts on a open fire. The nights are not silent. I don't know anyone who gets to settle down for a long winter's nap or has their children tucked in their beds with visions of sugar plums...they are running around with a sugar high, way passed their bedtimes, while you catch-up, speed-dating style with all the relatives that you haven't seen since last Christmas.  Maybe someday when all of our children are grown up and we're not so worried about nap times and bedtimes, equal distribution of gifts, and getting home in time to leave cookies out for Santa, we'll have time to sit and REALLY enjoy the holidays without all the hustle and bustle. Until then, I will be grateful for the little time I have to see everyone - however rushed, and for the baked goods (did you guys remember I'm pregnant?)

A few pictures from Christmas Eve morning with the Joneses.

 Crazy-faced Wilder

A less enthusiastic crazy-faced Brody

Silly reindeer boys!

Bella and the super-heros

So excited about presents!

 Pa cooking breakfast

Mimi helping Wilder into his batman ski mask

 Bella and some Disney sensation singing person she was SO excited about

 (good thing we're having another boy huh?!)

Wilder and his Clone Wars helmet - all I could think of was the movie Space Balls when he put it on. His head was so big and his body so small! HILARIOUS!

Christmas Morning at home!
Yes, I realize it is still dark out. That is because 1.) it's winter in New England and it's dark for most hours of the day and night and 2.) our son is a freak of nature early bird and it up before 6am most mornings!

Ryan and I struggled to put this castle together the night before. Even though it came in about 8 pieces in a box with no instructions, we were still frustrated that we were more challenged putting together a cardboard castle than we were building our house! 

Christmas with the McCarthy Family

The morning after Christmas we headed to Milford to celebrate with the McCarthy Family. You'll notive by Brody's forced smile in this picture that he was tired of posing with his gifts - he wanted to open them already! Geez mom! 

Auntie Ev and Meghan 

 Pat & Ev

 Sharks and whales - now that's a genuine smile!

An attempt at a family picture - we all look great huh!? Someday, I'll actually hire someone to take a decent picture of the family!

 Mike and Meghan - I'm not sure who looks like they need a nap more!

 Snow Fun!
And here are some closing shots of my boys playing in the snow. This is the first winter that Brody really enjoys going out and playing in the snow - and we are loving every minute of it...especially how exhausted he is and how well he sleeps after an afternoon in the snow!

 

That's all folks! I promise I will try to be better at updating in the next couple of months...at least until this new little baby makes his appearance!