16 weeks and Thankful

Well this is my first belly picture of this baby... time goes much more quickly now with a toddler on the loose. I am feeling better... the first trimester is over and I hope the total exhaustion that goes with it. I have also been quite nauseous this go around. I am already wearing maternity clothes because they feel so much better and it was nice to be able to expand while eating our two Thanksgiving dinners this year.

16 Weeks Baby # 3

It was sad this year to celebrate with out my daddy.. I keep thinking about last Thanksgiving. We had no idea that it would be the last. Last year, Josh, Isaac, Eli and I went up to his house and brought food because he was going to be by himself. He wasn't feeling well then.. just coughing but he was on antibiotics and taking cough medicine so we thought he would be better soon. Eli was just starting to cruise holding on to things and holding your hand and we said 'next year he will be running'. Unfortunately he wasn't here this year to see Eli running. This year we ate at Josh's parents house on Thanksgiving day and then went to my Mom's on Friday and had 2 huge meals. I am so very thankful for God's love, my family, Josh, my children, our health, our new home, our jobs, our church and my friends. I feel very blessed and am often not thankful enough.
Here are a few picture from last Thanksgiving.

Eli's first haircut

The mullet is gone

13 1/2 weeks and other happenings

Baby update: Today we had a doctor apt for the new baby. I ended up having to take Eli and Isaac with me so that was a little interesting. It definitely helped that Josh met me at my OB office..he has been to all the baby appts because he works near the office. My BP was 100/60 and the OB guessed baby's heartbeat to be around 160. We have been listening to the baby's heart beat on a doppler at home and it's been running 150-160.  I have gained 3 lbs total so far.. I was sure when I stood on that scale I had gained at least 10 so I was happily surprised.  Josh couldn't believe I had only gained 3 lbs either. I feel like all I have done is eat, eat, eat.

House update: We are getting our rough in inspection for wiring this week and they are finishing up rock work, and siding on the outside. They poured the concrete for our front porch!! Our contractor says they will start sheet rock the middle of next week!

Isaac update: Isaac went on a field trip to the "Greenway" today, he is doing 'Track Pack' at school where he is training to run a 5 K. They meet every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:30 before school starts.  He always misses Tuesday because he has Battle of the Books on Tuesday mornings at the same time. This is his week to be anchor for the WGLN announcements and I have missed it every morning.... eek! He also has Cyberkids (a robotic club) every Thursday afternoon but they have put off competitions until February, which is a good thing.. they definitely need more practice.  He is not playing any sports right now but wants to play baseball this spring.

Eli... is a wild man. His new thing is, "Daddy, DADDY, DADDY" "Come here!" "Sit down". He wants Josh to play with him in his room every evening when he gets home from work. It's pretty cute!

Halloween 2011

Eli the zebra, Isaac, and Carter as Elmo

This year Isaac decided he was too old to dress up so he helped chaperone Mr. Eli. Plus he was able to eat the candy because Eli doesn't need any yet. Eli is 19 months and decided that he did not like his costume. He was a little zebra.. one of the last costumes I found at Target the other day that would fit him.... I am so on top of things! I tried it on him a few days before Halloween just to see and he screamed every time. I even put the zebra's head on and so did Josh but nope E would not have it!  On Halloween, Audra and I went to Mom's.. we had Halloween cupcakes, apple cider, and carved two pumpkins with the boys before we took them 'trunk or treating'.  We did manage to get Eli to keep his costume on with raisins as a bribe!

The house is coming right along :)

I am still not sure what siding color to pick so if you have any suggestions let me know. I had an interior designer come out and she suggested green.. she thought I needed a contrast color. My rock is 'chocolate grey' and the windows and window trim are a dark expresso color, we also have dark grey mortar in the irregular rock around the base of the house. I had originally picked a tan brown color to pull out some of the brown in the rock but now it just doesn't look right.. the decorator thought it was too 'fleshy'.  So I don't know but I need to make a decision soon! On the inside we have almost all the plumbing, electric work, and HVAC complete.. I think we are a few weeks away from sheet rock. I am trying to get a central vac system installed before they sheet rock.. does anyone have any experience with one of these? I will try to post a picture of the back of the house later. The back porch is up!

Part of the front of the house on 10/29

Front of the house- the nursery room

Dining room bay window and building the front entrance way

The left side of the house.. with first coat of primer. Not sure about siding color

Finished rock 10/31/11!

House Progress



Front of house- putting on green board



Garage is poured!

Back of house... cutting out windows

View coming up driveway



Windows are in! Bedroom # 2 downstairs



9 weeks

Today we heard Baby's heartbeat-- 164 bpm. Such a sweet little awing sound... knowing that there is a little tiny life inside. They did blood work, I got a flu shot, blood pressure and weight. Somehow I have gained a pound I guess because I feel like I constantly have to eat to keep the nausea away. It's so strange how your body works. I was sick with Isaac, not with Eli, and now I am nauseous again with this one. I feel like I am already popping out there and some of my pants are already starting to feel snug. We will go for our anatomy ultrasound on December 12th. Josh is going to find out (not me, or I would tell everyone) and come up with a neat way to tell me, and our parents on Christmas day. That's my plan at least.. we will see how it goes and if I am able to look away. I would just like a happy, healthy baby!

Expecting... AGAIN!

So it's official.. we are expecting again! Baby # 3 is due around May 12th. Eli will be a little over two when he/she gets here and Isaac will be 11! Yikes.  I am going to put it down on here that I think this baby is another boy... Josh won't comment because he says he has no clue this time. He was 100% sure Eli would be a girl so he is choosing not to guess this time. I think it would be awesomely cool not to find out but I am sooooo impatient I know that would never work. We should find out close to Christmas the gender so I am trying to think of some nifty way to tell our family; but I know that if I see the ultrasound I will be sounding the alarm right away. I found out I was pregnant on August 30th...  When Eli bumped into me and I was sore and then Josh told me I was being ill... so later on that evening so I decided to take a test. Sure enough "pregnant" popped right up! We had decided that we would start 'trying' and if it happened that would be great and if it took a while then that would be just as fine... sure enough first try and boom! We will be in our new house before this baby arrives; however I will be HUGE when we move again. I was 8 months pregnant with Eli when we moved last time!

7 week ultrasound of Baby Three - Heart beat was 140 bpm

Camden Thomas

My sweet nephew, Camden Thomas Boykin was born today. He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and was born on 9/28 at 9:28 am. He looks just like his brother, Carter. He has jet black hair and his daddy's little face and lips. He was born via c-section and swallowed some amniotic fluid so he is in the NICU. He is having trouble breathing without oxygen right now.  My sis is doing okay except for being in a lot of pain and not having her sweet baby with her. She did hold him this evening. We are hoping and praying for a very brief stay in the NICU.

18 months

Mr. Eli is 18 months old.. sniff sniff. At his well baby visit yesterday he weighed 29.5 lbs (90%) and was 34 1/2 inches (90%). He didn't have to have any shots except for the flu shot. He made an A plus on his developmental screening and is a joy to our lives.

So what can Eli do now?? Well... Josh and I tried to count his words but were unsuccessful because there are so many. We just counted the names of people he knows and had almost hit 50. He is starting to combine words such as " I see dog" and "mommys shoe" and imitates everything. He loves to read "Good Night Moon",  "Brown Bear" (he recites this one along with us), and loves to look at his first word picture book where he can name a lot of the pictures. He is starting to sing.. he gets a few words of "Jesus loves me" and "Baby Beluga". He can answer questions...says 'no' and will say "uh huh" for yes. He will say 'yes' if you ask him to but he uses "uh huh".  He names all sorts of body parts including 'eye brow' and loves to play in the bed with Mommy and Daddy in the mornings and poke Josh's eyes while saying "eyes, eyes".

 He can feed himself with a spoon, and tries to put on his shoes (unsuccessfully.. but it's so funny watching him try to stuff his feet in them). Eli runs, jumps, climbs.... even up the ladder to Isaac's top bunk (with me behind him of course). Can scribble with crayons but doesn't have much interest. He is definitely not a picky eater as you can tell from the  29 lbs.- he likes Thai, Japanese (he says "rice and chicken"), Italian... well really any type of food. I think his favorite is still spaghetti. He is doing better holding my hand when we are out places- we still have episodes where he runs and I have to chase after him. Sometimes it is just easier to strap him in the stroller.  He takes one afternoon nap usually 12-2 in the afternoon, goes to bed around 830pm and wakes around 730am. He is a much better sleeper than his older brother was. He usually gets excited that it is nap time and takes his passy, and blue silky blanket and goes to his crib waiting to be picked up and put in. Of course there are the exceptions such as yesterday when I put him down and he laid in there for an hour and wouldn't go to sleep!  He says "poo poo" when he goes but has no interest in the potty.

Here are some other little things he  has done recently.  He will go get the broom to dig a car out under the couch.  He noticed that our niece has a pair of Chacos similar to mine and that the straps were alike, so he went and put both shoes together and tried to buckle the shoes together. He saw a Buick car on vacation and started saying "Nanny, Nanny ( she drives one). He was able to navigate us from the elevator straight to our room with out making a mistake on vacation.

Ohh and he has a mullet... I just can't cut the curls yet!

We love you Eli Thomas and are enjoying watching you grow!