Science Museum and a Baby Bump

We had a great time this weekend at the Science Museum.  Clay had been before with Pierce and some family friends and had a blast so he wanted to share the experience with me.  The place was packed!  It was a rainy Saturday and the first day of Spring Break and so everyone was there.  But we had a great time and Pierce LOVED exploring all the exhibits. 

Pierce LOVES playing with water :)

A car roller coaster

Pierce got to try out a lot of new professions...

Firefighter

Farmer!

Driving his own John Deere

Astronaut

Pilot

And Fighter Pilot

In the end he's still deciding but he has a few years to consider before he must make a serious commitment!

There were also lots of fun exhibits where he could run and climb and play!

Gymnastics

Balls and forced air

 

Obstacle course

A 2 story slide with dad!

Obstacle course fun

The only exhibit he didn't like was the animatronic dinosaurs.  We got to the entry of the exhibit and he froze and violently shook his head "no".  We tried a couple times to see if he would go in but it obviously scared him and we didn't see the point in making him do something scary.  There were too many fun things to do!

The fun only ended when a little boy said "home"!  He was a worn out kid.

Also as promised a few baby bump pics.  In these pics I'm 20 weeks and Pierce is 20 months! I think I'm already as big as I was in these pics at 23 weeks last time.

Two Goofs

A Teeny Tiny Ultrasound

We had our 18 week ultrasound of Teeny Tiny last week. There were a couple of funny moments I wanted to share.

First, you have to know a bit about Pierce.  Pierce has tell-tell signs when he's sleeping or just waking up, he sucks his thumb (always the left thumb) and rubs his head and plays with his hair.  It's super cute!  So when the ultrasound started Teeny Tiny was napping.  As the ultrasound went on Teeny Tiny started to wake up and the first big move was to suck the thumb and rub the head. Clay and I immediately knew that was our baby in there.  We totally recognized our baby waking up.  It was so cute!

Also, we have a little athlete on our hands.  Once Teeny Tiny woke up that baby was wiggly!!  In fact we decided that Teeny Tiny has been inspired by the Olympics because that kiddo spent the rest of the ultrasound practicing spring board jumping.  I think Teeny Tiny wants to be a ski jumper!

So while Pierce's ultra sound pics resulted in the traditional, posed baby-in-utero pics, Teeny Tiny was slightly less cooperative.  None the less here's a sneak peak of our latest family member!

A perfect profile shot

 

A little camera shy!

(those are Teeny Tiny's arms crossed across the face)

A sweet little face.  

I actually think Teeny Tiny has a little button nose like Pierce!

That's the best we've got folks!  Like I said, Teeny Tiny wasn't very cooperative for the photo shoot.  We do have a few more pics but they are the straight on alien face look... not so cute!

 

Itty Bitty v. Teeny Tiny

I've been thinking about how different this pregnancy is from round 1, so I thought I would document some of the differences.  I wrote several posts on my pregnancy experience with Pierce (aka Itty Bitty) and thought I would document Teeny Tiny and see how they are similar and different.  Just a fun way to remember the experience. 

Perhaps the greatest difference so far is morning sickness (or in my case evening sickness).  With Pierce I was sick as a dog and I stayed that way for 22 weeks.  Yeah that was AWFUL!  Teeny Tiny started out the same way.  In fact "morning" sickness was one of the primary drivers to swear off pregnancy FOREVER after Pierce.  For me it's horrible.  Starting around 2pm I have a downward slide until I hit my pillow and sleep it off around 7:30pm. 

For Teeny Tiny I turned the corner around 13 weeks!  Woo Hoo!!!!  I still have my moments when I get really run down but for the most part I am feeling greatly improved.  I dare say I have energy!  However, my "morning" sickness was much more severe with Teeny Tiny.  **WARNING:  TMI Ahead***  With Pierce I never vomited.  I felt awful and thought I would die but I never actually got sick.  That streak definitely ended with Teeny Tiny.  There were several evenings (especially when everyone was here at Christmas) that I spent sick as a dog in the bathroom.  So while this round of morning sickness didn't last as long I got the "full" experience as it were.

Another difference is my skin.  Some women claim they glow when they're pregnant and have great skin.  Some women break out in acne or with what's referred to as the mask of pregnancy.  With Pierce I had AWESOME skin.  No zits.  I glowed.  I thought... at least I look good if I feel like I'm going to die.  My luck has run out with Teeny Tiny.  This time around I'm having flashbacks to middle school.  Grrrr...  Oh well, I'll take a zit or two (or ten) if I don't have to spend 22 weeks with morning sickness!

Food aversions make another interesting study.  With Pierce I was HUNGRY.  Hungry all the time.  And for the most part it didn't matter what you fed me... but feed me NOW!  In fact I wanted big steaks and lots of protein.  I didn't have a lot of aversions but I needed food all the time just to avoid being totally non-functional with the morning sickness.

Teeny Tiny is totally different.  I've had a hard time getting an appetite with Teeny Tiny; especially when I felt ill.  The only thing that is consistently appetizing is fried eggs and typically as a breakfast sandwich.  In addition any meat product was totally avoided.  To some extent I could eat meat if it was in something (like a casserole) but I couldn't eat a steak or a piece of chicken.  Also salad was completely off the menu.  In fact most veggies, especially raw ones, were off the menu.  As I've moved past a lot of my morning sickness I can stomach veggies again but I'm still struggling to eat a lot of meat.  Oh well, bring on the breakfast sandwich!

Our birth plan is also very different last time.  With Pierce we planned a home birth and ended up with an emergency c-section.  Yeah, that was a shock!  This time a previous c-section is forcing us to make some different decisions.  While I loved the home birth experience, neither Clay nor I feel comfortable with a VBAC at home.  So we are going a more traditional medical route using the same doctor that partnered with my midwives and delivered Pierce.  We are also using a midwife again (one who attended much of my home labor process).  She will help monitor any labor at home and will act as a montrice once we have to go to the hospital.  Of course, if the tumor grows back (initial ultra sound shows it's shrunk) all bets are off and I'm likely to require a scheduled c-section.  Grrr... So here's hoping the Teeny Tiny birth story actually goes as planned!

So those are a few thoughts so far.  We have another ultra sound in a couple of weeks and will hopefully be able to put more structure to our birth plan.  I'll keep the blogging world posted!

A Christmas Story

Wow Christmas was a crazy time this year. we had a house full and had a wonderful time with the family.  Alyson, Jim, Lily, Grace and Clementine came down from Idaho.  My parents drove in from Montana.  And even my grandpa came for a couple of days from Phoenix!  At full capacity we had 11 people sleeping in the house which was a bit crowded but we made it work.  We also had guests for 12 days.  whew!  So here are a few images from our full Christmas experience!

Christmas vacation kicked off with a quick trip to Dallas for the Cowboys v. Packers game.  Clay and I bought the tickets as our gift to each other.  What a game!  The Pack pulled out a win in the last quarter.  We had a blast.  Definitely a once in a lifetime experience!

First of all, with so many people our Christmas tree was overflowing.  While Christmas is more than gift giving, with all the kiddos around it was fun to see their eyes sparkle at all the gifts!

Before my parents arrived we took the kids to see Christmas lights.  In my opinion the lights around Chesapeake's campus are AWESOME.  So we also toured the Nichols Hills area and found this beauty!

 Look out Griswalds!

My parents played Santa Clause for our church small group.  They enjoyed seeing all the kiddos!

Grace gives Santa a hug!

Lily explains what she wants for Christmas.

Clementine is happy Santa brought candy!

Pierce is like his momma... he's scared of Santa!

For a girls night out, Mom, Alyson and I went to a local Paint and Palette class to brush up on our artistic skills!

Look out art world here we come!

Finally, we had the BIG day.  Let the gift opening extravaganza begin!

Pierce is OBSESSED with shoes, so Aunt Alyson needed to make sure he had cool kicks!

Princess Grace

Sweet baby girl

Proud Gramby watching the kids play

Great Papa

Pierce helping with assembly

The "winning" gift was the Little Tykes grill.  A hit with everyone!

Grandpa Dennis got Pierce a wagon and EVERYONE fits!

 Geezer with his best buddy

And of course the big surprise gift for the whole family...

Teeny Tiny

That's right folks, baby #2 will be here sometime in July!  We are very excited and think Pierce is going to be an awesome big brother!

Summer Time, Had Me a Blast

Summer time, happened so fast...

Well it's been a while since I've blogged and boy do we have a LOT of catching up to do.  Summer 2013 was a whirlwind of family vacations and we did have a blast.  So before I forget about all of the fun, I'll capture a bit of the goings on.

First Birthday (6/27/13)

Summer kick off was Pierce's first birthday.  (Yes I realize I'm an awful parent by not blogging about this until now.)  We decided to have a simple cake get together with our friends in town since working with a 12mo old is a *bit* unpredictable.  However, Pierce played along perfectly.

We decided to go with a Lego themed birthday.  I had seen a picture of a cake that I LOVED and tried to get a local bakery to replicate it. 

Here's the cake I liked...

Unfortunately when Clay went to pick it up the bakery had screwed up and hadn't even begun making all of the little fondant Legos for the edging.  GRRRRRR... and on top of that they didn't understand that the Lego on top was the smash cake so they had made another small cake for the smash cake.  So this is what we ended up with....

In the end it's just a cake and we had a great time.  Lots of friends came to celebrate and we had a glorious cake smashing.  Pierce did love the cake.  I had spread out a disposable table clothe expecting frosting and cake to cover the floor.  But once our little boy started he liked the cake so much there was not a drop on the floor.

Birthday Boy

Opening presents...

Cake smashing!

All for me?!?

Frosting is good stuff!

I added some of the blue frosting from the Lego cake to get a good messy baby shot.  I'm pleased with the results!

After the birthday fun he was so tired (he hadn't napped all day) that he passed out in his crib face down for a two hour snooze.  Happy birthday little boy.  We sure do love you!

Family Camp 2013 (week of July 4th)

Our first outing was to Yellowstone Bible Camp where we spent the week with my family - mom and dad (aka Gramby & Geezer) and Alyson, Jim, Lily, Grace and Clementine.  For simplicity both my mom and Alyson have blogged the experience here and here, just in case you want to know more!

Clay and I drove to Montana.  That's right folks, we risked a two day drive (each way) with a 12 month old.  Pierce was a trooper!  For the week Pierce loved hanging out with the family, playing in the dirt, and enjoying the sunshine!

Fishing was a favorite activity!

We also had a lot of other sillly fun!

Alyson as "Large Marge"

We celebrated Grace's 3rd birthday and Pierce's 1st birthday as a joint family celebration.  We also threw in Jim's birthday a little early.  Might as well take care of the whole gang!

A very girly birthday girl!

Pierce likes opening gifts

An early birthday for Jim!

We went into Livingston one day and met up with Papa, Uncle Don and Aunt Vicki.  It's great for Pierce to get to meet the extended family.

Cousins

Down the slide!

Papa, Dad & Don

Clementine loved the wood chips

Sliding with Great Papa

A guy at the park was practicing on a slack line and I asked if I could give it a go.

I'm a natural!

The wood balance beam in the playground was more our speed!

Showing off my new balance skills

Vicki gives it a try

Mom missed her calling as a gymnast!

 Jim, Papa, Grace, Me, Dad, Vicki, Pierce, Clay, Don, Clementine, Alyson, Lily, Mom

Finally we spent a day at Chico Hot Springs.

Our little swimmer!

Family Photo

Wyoming (last week of July)

Our next excursion took us to Green River, WY.  Family friends, Gene and Pati (who are also surrogate grandparents to Pierce) had a wedding vow renewal ceremony.  They have a fabulous tradition of renewing their vows every 10 years.  This ceremony celebrated 42 years of marriage (yes they were a couple of years late). 

Baby's first plane ride.  He enjoyed flirting with the flight attendants!

First we went for a sail.

Our little Gilligan

 Grandma Pati fed Pierce cake

While Grandpa Gene taught Pierce to sail

Our sailing trip turned into quite the ordeal.  While we were having a relaxing time Clay sighted a storm coming our way.  As luck would have it the storm resulted in head winds headed back to the dock.  So it took us nearly 2 hours to get home.  Pierce just snuggled in and took a nap for the ride home while Clay and Gene expertly manned the riggings!

Playing with the puppies

Flying with Gma Pati

Gma Pati & Gpa Gene

I didn't get any pics of the actual ceremony (they had a fabulous professional photographer).  But it was beautiful.  A sunset ceremony overlooking the Flaming Gorge.  And it was special as Gene and Pati recited all the ways their love had changed and grown through 42 years of marriage.  We were truly blessed to be a part of such a special occasion and had a wonderful time with "extended" family!

Canada (Labor Day weekend)

Our last trip of the summer was to Clay's family in the great north land.  Clay's parents had not met Pierce yet and it was important that he meet the Canadian grandparents.  We spent the week at Ally and Rick's cabin on a lake in Manitoba.  We were "roughing" it in a three bedroom cabin that's off the grid.  Honestly the only "rough" part is a lack of running water.  They have solar power and back up generators and it's a really great place to hang out.

Rhys, Pierce, Aiden & Drew

Clay, Pierce & Gpa Dennis

We stopped by Clay's dad's store and Dennis was so sweet as he proudly introduced Pierce as "Pierce DENNIS Dwyer".  Clearly grandpa is proud to pass along his name to his grandson.

Pierce and Kookam

Grandpa and his grandsons

Uncle Rick taught Pierce how to drive the boat!  That was one happy boy!

Momma and Pierce at the falls

Whew...  that was our summer.  It was a crazy amount of travel.  We were making up for last summer when we just sat around hugging our new baby and made everyone come to us.  We had a wonderful time and now we are ready to relax at home for a little while.  Hopefully I can now be more diligent about blogging!