"They will give me candy. YES they will!"

So this is what Gavin yelled at us about 7 houses in to trick or treating Thursday night. He wanted Chad to carry him, but he wouldn't, and when he started throwing a fit, I told him they wouldn't give candy to naughty boys. He says some pretty funny things these days. He talks all the time, and he's into music, so now we are always singing in the car. He's a big fan of Justin Roberts.

He's also BIG into Power Rangers suddenly. This weekend he put on some sunglasses and ran around the apartment being the Blue Ranger. It was so beautiful out this weekend - we spent some time at the park on Saturday with friends, where Gav and Caleb rode over a mile on the trail!

On the baby front, we are at 21 weeks, and this morning I realized I've never been this pregnant at work! I'm not really loving the clothing options these days, and I have to admit, I didn't go for the "sensible" shoe option this morning. I know one of these days I'll have to give in to function over fashion, but I am holding out as long as I can. Last thursday at the doctor everything still looked great, and when I go back in another 2 weeks, they will let me know what they want to do with me. I'm not sure if I'll keep seeing them at all, or perhaps just less often.

More house pics

Another Boy!

So we are going to be having another boy and I couldn't be more excited! I can't imagine our child looking any different than Gavin, so it will be interesting to see what this one looks like. Saw the high risk doctors today and everything looks great once again. This is the week where things head south (literally!) and I really didn't believe that everything would still be ok at this point, but it is!

Here are some recent pics Chad took playing with Gav. He is such a ham. He is learning so much in his new classroom at school, comes home reciting entire songs, and learning his letters. We've been very busy lately, last weekend we had a birthday party and this weekend he is going to Grandma Betsy's and then Sunday to Living History Farms to trick or treat. Next weekend we have fun night at his school and there is a free Justin Roberts concert at the mall we might go to. He is such a little jabberbox lately too. He's asking all sorts of interesting questions, like why the "little people" he saw on a commercial for "Little People Big World" are so small. He also says funny things like "Mom - did you see that funky tree?". Very entertaining these days.

The good news just keeps coming!

Doctor's appt today and things continue to look GREAT! YAY! I asked if there were still no changes in the next few weeks if that meant we were free and clear, or if the problems just get postponed. Dr Drake was pretty confident that since I have been so good about modifying my activities and not pushing it, that taking it easy will go a long way towards keeping everything looking as it should be. So I am happy with that news, although not 100% optimistic yet - as we well know when things start to go wrong for me, they tend to go fast and without warning.

For now I am just keeping my eye on mini-goals. The first one is 24 weeks, so I am hoping things will continue to look good through then. That's the # of weeks that the NICU can really help a preemie. So I will feel much better once we hit that point. Goal # 2 is 27 weeks which is when Gavin is born. He's obviously turned out great, although I'm afraid he is more of an exception than a rule in regards to how quickly he caught up and how healthy he's been. After that I'm just going to be grateful for every next week that passes. At 34 weeks we'll be really happy because some babies don't even have to stay in the NICU! And if we make to 36 weeks, we'll actually have the stitches scheduled to be removed. Imagine if we can just have a baby that gets put in our arms, rather than getting whisked away to the NICU (I was reminded of that moment last night watching Private Practice).

So for now let's keep our fingers crossed for 7 more healthy weeks. I don't say it enough, but we really appreciate everyone's love and support and good thoughts for us.

Oh! And the jury is still out on boy/girl. Little one just didn't want to show us the goods today. And before anyone begins to ask, yes we have pretty much decided on names. And no, we are not going to tell you.

Gavin and House pics

Here are some random pictures of Gavin and some Grandma Lois took of the new house in progress. This weekend we went to lunch with Lois and picked up Gamma and Dan from the airport. Other than that not much excitement! We see the high risk doctors again this Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed for nothing but good news! We are entering the "danger zone" so I am really curious to see how well this surgery works.

Ummmm...Sponge Bob macaroni and cheese!
The siding will be painted. Red.
Gav refusing to take a picture. Me "not even looking pregnant" - thanks Grandma!
This will eventually be my dream kitchen, a triangle island and corner pantry - oh my!

You are looking at the dining room and what will become the railing around the staircase to the basement.I have no idea why this picture is so small. This is the view of the corner of the living room where the fireplace will be.

Dr Visit

We have such good news from our appt today - everything looks great! I can go back to work full time next week and we'll be seeing the doctor every two weeks and evaluating my activities at each visit depending on how things look. But so far so good! We are getting close to 15 weeks - 17 - 18 weeks is kind of our danger zone where things go wrong, so I am going to be pretty anxious until we get through that time frame and see what happens then. But for now - all good things.

For all of you that keep asking - no news on the baby's sex, these ultrasounds are all business and we actually just saw the baby in passing, it was just for getting measurements of where they did the surgery and to get a heart rate on the baby. Today it was 153.

Updates

Allright, so now that I am home for a week with nothing to do, you will finally get lots of updates.

First of all Bridie had surgery Friday, and everything went well. I spent the weekend just taking it easy and laying around, and Gamma kept Gav overnight Friday and most of the day Saturday, so that really helped out a lot. Yesterday we finally told Gav he was going to be a big brother. He didn't really have much of a reaction, but he was concerned about whether the baby would take his mimi. He also kept putting his hand on my tummy and telling me he could feel the baby - I'm sure he couldn't, but it was very sweet.

Anyway, I am off this week from work, so I will finally get all our vacation pics updated (scroll down to the vacation pics post to see the rest of them). I go back to the doctors on Thursday to see how everything looks and if I can go back to work. Today is the 15th so we officially have 6 more months to go!