Prenatal checkup

We had a regular prenatal visit with Dr. LePore today. They listened to the heartbeat and Nathan kicked the scanner really hard and the nurse was impressed but felt sorry for me. I guess he is going to be a showoff too! He measured me and I am measuring right on for size. I only gained one pound this month! Yippee! Who would have thought with all of the holidays and candy I've been eating! I am glad for that! I start going every two weeks now. They moved my due date up to March 1st instead of the 5th. Yay! We are in the third trimester and in the homestretch! It won't be much longer! I guess I should start preparing for his arrival.

Brian's one year check up

Brian visited his pediatrician on Monday. He weighs in at 20 pounds and some ounces and 29 inches tall. He is in the 25th percentile for his weight and 50th percentile for his height. He's a lean mean climbing machine! His doctor said he looked great. His blisters on his fingers healed up just fine and the doctor said they looked great and we didn't need to continue putting cream on them. No permanent damage. In fact he was fine by the next morning. I think he forgot that he had a boo-boo the nite before. I had her check his fingernail that he got smashed in the door on Thanksgiving and she said the discoloration would probably take 6 months to a year to go away completely. He liked when she tried to listen to his heart, he thought that was funny. She gave him a book to take home and then the nurse came in to give the dreaded shots... he got two in his leg and one in his arm. She did the leg first and after the first shot he looked at her with the weirdest face. It looked like he was saying "Who the heck are you and why are you poking me!?" Then he burst into tears and made sure everyone within a 3 mile radius knew he wasn't happy! He did ok for the rest of the nite. This morning he was a little cranky boy but who knows why. So we had a good visit and the next time we will see Dr. Ballard will be when Nathan is born!

Christmas Day!

Brian was up bright and early on Christmas Day. 8 am sharp! We took him downstairs and we let him open his presents. He got a learning toolbox from Mommy and Daddy and some stocking stuffers, and Santa brought him some finger paint. Dean got a GPS, some house shoes, a new head for his electric razor and socks. I got a new photo editing program and a bed skirt we needed for our bed. After we opened our presents I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. That was a first for Brian. We relaxed for a little bit at home and watched the Disney Christmas Parade on TV. Brian absolutely loved it! He laughed at all the characters and was such a happy little boy!

After the parade ended we headed off to my moms. Brian got way to many toys from Grandma! He got a lot of noisy toys, some books, a moster truck with Elmo on it, an inflatable trampoline, some clothing and alot of other fun stuff! We got a fire escape ladder for the boys room which I am very glad to have. I'm not going to go into the other stuff but it was alot fo fun things and things we needed. The one thing I will mention is the awesome Denver Bronco blanket me and my mom made for Dean. He was so upset when I told him I made his mom one for Christmas and he wasn't going to get one this year. He was very surprised when he got one! We love it and it's very warm! After we opened presents we relaxed a bit and had some lunch and then Brian took a nap before we headed off to our next location.

Later that afternoon we headed off to my Granny and Granddaddy's house. We got to hang out with my grandparents, my Uncle Chip and his girlfriend Kristen, my Great Granny and my Mom. We had a fantastic dinner with them! In between dinner and presents we hung out and chatted and that's when it happened..... Brian, just like most kids experience at least once in their life, touched the hot oven door! I was outside bringing in the gifts and probably should ahve made sure someone had him instead of assuming someone was paying attention to him and he got curious when the turkey was coming out of the oven. I ran back in the house when I heard the screaming. I followed the sounds into the bathroom where my grandparents and my mom were running it under cool water and putting aloe on it. He was not a happy camper after that. Eventually he calmed down. We tried to open presents. That went ok. He had his happy moments and his not so happy moments. But during the not happy times we distracted him with snacks and he was fine. We got some really awesome gifts. We got a date nite movie pack with popcorn and candy, a walter filter pitcher, a George Foreman grill, a blanket and some other things. Brian got books, clothes, and a snowglobe with teddy bears in it. I know we got some other things but I put them away right away this year instead of letting them sit under the tree for weeks and now I can't remember what we got! We are very thankful tho for everything we got!

Christmas Eve!

So it took me a little while to get around to writing this but I'm finally getting there. December has proven to be a very very busy month!
I guess I will start with Christmas Eve. We spent the day at my Grandmother's house. We had a fantastic lunch, hung out with the family, and then the kids got to open there presents. Brian got alot of fun things! He got a carnival type clown that you throw the balls into, a radio controlled car that Daddy and Brian will get to play with soon, two Little People cars, a shape sorter, and Alphabet Pal. I'm sure there were other things but my brain doesn't remember everything these days. Shortly after we opened gifts we realized we really needed to get going because we were quickly losing Brian. We picked a gift from the gift exchange pile (Thanks Lisa!) and headed out! We had a good day. Brian had fun getting to play with my cousin Kyle. Kyle likes playing with him, I think we need to hire him to come and give me a hand after Nathan is born. Kyle seems to have alot of energy to keep up with him but probably not quite enough! I got a good picture of Kyle kissing Brian on the cheek. He says he wasn't kissing him but I think differently. HEHE.

After we got home Dean tried to convince me to let him open his present but I told him "NO WAY!" So we had dinner and off to bed we all went!

My baby turns 1!!!!

At 11:17am, 1 year ago, my little boy came into the world crying, weighing in at 6 pounds 14 ounces. A year later he is a happy, running, climbing, bouncing little man. He is a champion eater and will one day eat us out of house and home. At 12 months he is walking well, climbing the walls, and very strong willed. I can't believe my baby is 1 today! Happy Birthday Brian!

We had a birthday celebration today. It was a day full of fun stuff! We went and saw Santa at the mall and walked thru the Polar Express Snow Globes. After we battled the downtown traffic we headed home to eat some lunch and relax for a little bit. (Mommy was tired of walking)

I let him open his birthday present from us this afternoon. He got a TMX Elmo and 2 Sesame Street ABC books. He likes the box the Elmo came in more than the Elmo. Oh well. Maybe one day he will like it!

Once we recuperated we went to Olde Towne Portsmouth to see the Coleman's Nursery Collection. It used to be haused aat Coleman's Nursery but the buiding was torn downa few years ago and the Courthouse Galleries took over and display the collection. My mom took me to see it when I was younger and so I wanted to take Brian to see it too. He loved it!!!! His favorite thing was the train. He did a great job not touching the displays. I didn't even have to remind him. He was so aw struck that he could hardly walk. He reached out to hold my hand but wouldn't move his feet. I guess he couldn't think about walking while being so amazed. He stared at everything and it was so hard to get his attention to look at the camera. I guess he really liked it! I am still very amazed at how well he did with not touching. Even tho the little fence was only waist high to him he rarely even touched it. I think I will be taking him again next year!

When we got home I made dinner for us and then we enjoyed the rest of his birthday cake. Amazingly it was still very fresh and very moist. He seemed to like his cake again. We didn't give him nearly as much as at his party but just enough for him to try it. We had a great day today!

A year ago today....

...I was in labor with Brian. It's hard to believe that 1 year ago Dean was in Bahrain and I was sitting at home having contractions 5 minutes apart writing him emails letting him know what was happening every minute. Even tho I knew he wouldn't read them right away since he was working. I think I sent him more than 15 emails that nite. I was timing the contractions and trying to relax. the contractions hurt but not enough to go to the hospital. I remember trying to take a nap since I knew I'd be at the hopsital soon, but Brian was making that impossible. I knew it was time to go to the hospital when my contracions were 3 minutes apart. I wrote Dean one last email before I left for the hospital tellling him that I was leaving and we were having a baby soon. Little did I know I would be catching every light red between my Mom's house and Maryview Hospital at 1am! I remember seeing the lighted christmas tree on top of the hopsital coming into sight and was so exctied becasue I knew we were close....

Check back tomorrow for the rest of the story!

One year later as I sit here and write this Nathan is making his presence known and I am having contractions of a different sort. At least I won't be going into labor today!

Brian's Birthday Party

Brian had his birthday party yesterday afternoon. It was pretty hectic but fun. He got lots of much needed clothing and some toys to keep him entertained. He got a little ride on toy that Dean has enjoyed trying to teach him how to ride. He already wore the batteries out of one of his toys! He loved his little cupcake that he smashed and ate way to much of! He was spastastic after eating all of that!
The fondant cake I made turned out really well I think. I was pretty proud of it. Took me forever but it looked cool!
The only present he got that we didn't want was a nice black eye! I'm not sure how it happened just yet. I know it's not the last bump and black eye but did it have to come right before his birthday and family pictures?! Oh well! He'll live.
Brian just wanted to say Thank You to everyone who came to his party!

Brian got his first Birthday Present

Brian's first birthday present came in the mail yesterday. I let him open it even though his birthday isn't for another two weeks or so. It came from Mandi and Austin Perrin in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I met Mandi on a message board for Moms of December 07 babies. We talk all the time and her little boy is having his first birthday this weekend! Mandi and Austin sent Brian and DVD called Elmo's Christmas Countdown and some paints to play with in the bathtub! It looks like soo much fun! We already watched the movie and he loves it! Thank you Mandi and Austin!!

Thanksgiving

We had a very eventful Thanksgiving Day. I let Brian eat his breakfast in the living room, which never ever happens, so he could watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He ate his peaches and cheerios and laughed at the big balloons. He waved when the Abby Caddaby balloon and the Sesame Street float came on TV.

Then we went over to my Granny and Granddaddy's house to eat. My Great-Grandma, Mom, Uncle Chip and his girlfriend Kristen were there. Brian had a wide variety of Thanksgiving food, including turkey, lima beans, mashed potatoes, collards, sweet potatoes, and I'm sure there was other stuff. Daddy even let him sample from his dessert plate. He had apple pie and pumpkin pie. My Granny tried to squirt some whipped creme in his mouth but kept getting air instead. I had to cut her off because I was worried the baby was going to get stoned from the fumes. (probably wouldn't happen in reality) After we ate he played and we chit chatted and had a good time. (Pictures to come soon)

On Friday we had Thanksgiving again with the other set of family members. It was my grandparents (my mom's mom), all of my aunts and uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins (Baby Taylor), and my cousin's husband's family. Confused yet? Well let's just say there were alot of us! Brian again ate a lot of different stuff. Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, rolls and I'm sure more stuff. After lunch we sat and played in the living room with the family making a circle around the living room so he couldn't escape. He got it see Baby Taylor up close for the first time. Taylor is now like 3 months old. The first thing Brian did when he could see him was give him a big kiss on his head! Nobody told him to or anything he just right out and kissed him. I'm hoping someone got a picture of it. We came home and Brian slept like a baby with a full belly all nite!