Soaking it in

All day I find myself being grateful, grateful for free time and for being able to give my whole attention to Colin, because these days are numbered...they'll be back but in about 4 months I'll have a newborn. I run scenarios through my head all day of what I would do with the baby. Mommy needs a shower, where will I put the baby? When Colin was a baby we had a glass shower so I could put him in his bouncy seat and he could still see me, but in this house it's a shower curtain. I spent an hour cooking and cleaning up dinner, what is the baby doing? Hopefully content to sit in his chair or swing watching his big brother play. Nighttime, I'm giving Colin a bath and reading him stories, brushing his teeth and laying in bed with him telling him nighttime stories, where is the baby? Hopefully snuggling his Daddy on the couch. We're out on a bike ride around the neighborhood, what is the baby doing? Hopefully content in his stroller or in the carrier. What if I have to run after Colin on the bike? These are the thoughts going thru my head in a daily basis. Lord please give me a "go with the flow" second baby ( along with a healthy one too of course) :)

Pumpkin Painting

Since Colin is too young still for pumpkin carving, we did some pumpkin finger painting. I saw this idea on a blog I read and thought it looked easy enough and something Colin would enjoy.
First Evan used painters tape to spell out his name on the pumpkin. Then we let Colin go to town "painting" it. After he'd gotten his fill of painting, we removed the tape and let it dry over night. I wish the finger paint colors we used had come out a little better instead of looking like a big glob of black, but overall it was a fun way for Colin to get involved with decorating. I'm sure closer to Halloween we will carve a jack o lantern but probably after Colin is in bed because I know he'd want to help carve!

21 weeks tomorrow

Colin and his new bike

At a consignment sale a few weeks ago, I found a used balance bike for Colin for $20, a steal considering I've seen them retail new for $120-$160. I don't think they had balance bikes when I was a kid, but it's basically a toddler sized bike without petals, they use their feet as pedals to build momentum and then glide, which teaches them how to balance on the bike. Colin's favorite thing is to ride his bike around the neighborhood, which he asks to do every afternoon.
Our neighborhood,Hillcrest, you guessed it has many hills, which are fun to go down, but a little challenging to go up but we've found a couple different walks that are more on the flat side. Often times Colin requests to ride to the yellow playground which is a small playground in the courtyard of a neighborhood church,so we will usually stop there half way through our walk for a little play time. I've come to enjoy these walks for the excercise for me, fun for Colin, and to just get a closer look at some of the pretty houses around here. Colin's bike skills continue to improve everyday. I hope to do these walks all year and have been brainstorming how I will continue when Colin's little brother joins us.

Pictures:
Posing on his new bike,playing ball at the yellow playground,stopping to smell some flowers, helping water flowers after our bike ride, and a little video of Colin in action.

Starting a little early

If Evan drinks a beer in front of Colin he starts whining that he wants one too. We've figured out how to fool him with his own cup of "beer" aka fruit juice. Sometimes we'll even go as far as pouring it into an empty can.

It's a boy!

There were three things that made me think this baby was a girl:
1) the Chinese calendar said I was having a girl
2) my friend did the "ring test" on me and it predicted a girl
3) Every single time Colin was asked whether he wanted a brother or sister, he'd confidently and enthusiastically reply " Sista!"
I really thought those three things were strong indicators, but alas I was wrong and the biggest indicator to me that I was indeed having another boy is that this pregnancy has been almost the exact same as Colin's....easy. No morning sickness or nausea. Just tiredness in the first trimester that has diminished significantly in my 2nd trimester. I've had many friends who get pregnant for a second time with the opposite sex and have really different pregnancies so that was the biggest thing in the back of my mind that contradicted the other 3.

One different thing about this pregnancy is that I've felt this baby kick much earlier than Colin. I started feeling little kicks at 16 weeks, with Colin it wasn't until 24 weeks. This is because my placenta was anterior with Colin, which provided a barrier to feel the kicks and now my placenta is posterior, which is common after a c section, as implantation would have been hard anteriorly again with the scar tissue on my uterus ( according to Dr. evan)

Now...to think of a name! Such a hard task!

Funny phrases

These aren't funny haha but funny to hear Colin saying these things to me, and I never want to forget his little toddler voice,

" Foll me" aka "follow me" whenever he wants you to come with him somewhere

"Scuse me" aka "excuse me" when Colin is trying to get my attention when I'm busy talking to someone else

"Bess you" aka "bless you" after you or he sneezes

"Tank you mommy" aka "thank you mommy" he says this multiple times a day and I love hearing it

" be careful mommy!" He must have heard this enough times bc if he thinks I'm about to do something risky like hang my head out the window at the ATM he'll tell me this

"Mommy!! all done sleep" when he wakes up and is ready for me to get him out of bed...he yells it from his room

Today at gymnastics class he told the teacher a couple times "watch me" when he did something. He also randomly pointed to his hair and asked her "see Colin's haircut" hilarious since his haircut is now a week and a half old not sure what made him think of that

"See, see!!" when Coljn does something he's proud of, he exclaims this while gesturing with his hands with both his palms up in the air.

"Baby sister in Colin's belly! " while lifting up his shirt. Colin is convinced he's having a sister and she's in his belly. I hope he's no too disappointed if this turns out to be a baby brother.