36 Week Appointment

Yesterday I went for what I thought would be a routine exam. It was the first exam to see how the baby is positioned and to check for dilation. Jarrett debated back and forth whether he would be able to come, but finally decided he could get away from work to come to the exam. And it turned out that I was so glad he was there. 


The exam went well. I am 1 cm dilated and she is positioned head down. Right now she is measuring 38 weeks. 
The eventful part of the appointment was that her heartbeat was accelerated. The doctor checked it at the beginning of the appointment and at the end of the appointment and then calmly said, I need you to go check in at the hospital so that we can monitor her heartbeat. We weren’t too worried because she said it should be fine. I was so thankful that Jarrett had come to the appointment. And I was so thankful that my parents were able to watch Lawson for so long.

At the hospital we got checked in and hooked up to the monitors and everything turned out to be okay. It was actually nice for us to be forced to slow down for a second and just sit and talk. We have been so busy with moving, which I having blogged about, that we have had very little time to just relax.

I now realize that I really need to get her bag packed, my bag packed, the carseat in that car and a plan for someone to watch Lawson ready for while we are in the hospital.

I have a feeling Lauralyn will be here in the next week or two!!  My next appointment is November 2nd, so hopefully we will have a better idea then.

Lauralyn's Baby Shower

My friends gave me an awesome shower for Lauralyn.  We were given so many adorable outfits, blankets and precious headbands and bows.  It was so much fun to see all the PINK!!  I still can hardly believe we are having a daughter.  The table was beautiful! 

 

 The cake was delicious and gorgeous and matched the colors of her nursery perfectly. 

Some of the best friends a girl could ask for.  It's hard because with all of us having kids and working it is hard to actually hang out much, but I love each and every one of these girls. 

One of my best friends Bekah and Mikah Ann who will be about 6 weeks younger than Lauralyn!

My mom and mom-in-law, I am so blessed by both of them.

This is the sweet dress Lauralyn will come home from the hospital in.  It was mine when I was a baby!

My beautiful, talented sis-in-law, Ashley!  The shower was at her home, and she always makes it special.

I had a wonderful time and was blown away as usual with every one's generosity and love!  I'm always worried that I don't tell people enough how thankful I am for all the love and support.  It truly is a blessing to be surrounded by such amazing people.  

Labor Day Zoo Trip

The weather today was beautiful! We started off with coffee and muffins on the back porch while Lawson slept in.  Once Lawson woke up, we headed to the zoo.  It was Lawson's first trip to the zoo, so we were excited for him to see to see the animals.  Bekah, Michael and the boys and Matt Lindsay and Owen met up with us.

We started in the petting zoo.  Lawson enjoyed the petting the goats. 

Lawson just ran around loving everything.  He barely sat in his stroller, he was so busy looking at everything. 

I love this picture of him looking at the elephants.  He loves to see elephants in books and make the "elephant" noise.  So we were excited to show him realy elephants.  His expression below says it all. 

Lawson is taking a nap right now and then we are headed to have fajitas at the Carnathans.  This couldn't have been a better day to have off  for Labor Day with the cooler weather and all.

15 16 and 17 Months

These have got to be the best days of my life...so far.  Lawson is so much fun at this age, and I'm constantly amazed at him and just the little boy he is becoming.

15 Months

There are so many things I have yet to document, so I'm going to TRY to remember them and get them down so that I don't forget them.

• He loves to lay in bed with us before he goes to his room each night.  We cuddle, play and read books.  When its time for bed Jarrett picks him up and tells him it is time to go night-night.  He then starts waving at me and blows me kisses as he heads out the door. Sometimes he is even the one to say nigh-nigh when he is ready to go to bed.

• He has really started signing quite a bit, that is unless he actually says the word.  He signs please, thank you, and all done.  I tried really hard to teach him the sign for more, but my efforts produced the word more rather than the sign.  He says it more than any other word he uses.
• He thinks the sign for please will get him anything he wants!!
• He absolutely LOVES to be outside and cries to come inside even though it is over 100 degrees outside. 
• He has started loving to read books, and he knows exactly where his books are.  He points to them and wants me to get them down for him.  There are three on my bookshelf, and if I don't get all three down he get frustrated with me.  He looks at them and likes to make the animal noises, especially the monkey.  He also like to do the elephant and raise his arm like a trunk. 
• I've heard him say a ton of words, the most common are momma, dad, more, I did it, milk, belly button, book, ba (which is blanket)
• The sweetest thing is that he will lift my shirt up and hug and kiss on my belly and say baby.
• He loves to bite our toes and he tickles the bottom of our feet and says "tickle, tickle"
• He also gives us kisses and he always adds the mwah sound to it.  I guess I must do that when I kiss him.
• He does pretty good eating with a fork.  He still uses his hand, but he is getting better.
• When we are walking somewhere and he is holding one of our hands, he will reach for the other hands so that he is holding both of our hands.
• He blows raspberries on our bellies to make "tooting" noises.
• After dinner he says bath and runs to the bathtub.  I guess this is a result of how routine oriented we are!
• He climbs on everything! 

We are just loving and enjoying every moment with him.  It is definitely going by way to fast! 

17 Months





28 Weeks

I am just about to start the final trimester.  It's gone really fast, but at the same time it still feels like forever until we get to meet our little girl.  The worst symptoms I have are pain in my heartburn at night, lower stomach, aching ankles and aching feet.  Other than that, I feel pretty good.  I've gained a little over 20 lbs.  so I am right at where I was with Lawson.  I wanted it to be less this time, but my eating habits just won't allow it!  Tomorrow I have my glucose test in the afternoon.  I'm nervous since it isn't until 3:45.  I have to watch every bite I eat.  The thing I miss the most is Diet Coke and regular coffee.  I usually allow myself a half-caf cup of coffee in the morning, but that is about it.  We are already counting down the weeks until she gets here, and I can not wait to see her sweet face and hold her.

Here is another picture of me at 28 weeks.  We actually had my parents watch Lawson and went to a surprise birthday party.  I hate leaving him, but I was glad that we did.  We had a nice relaxed evening with friends. 

Great Wolf Lodge

Before I went back to work, we headed up to Grapevine again but this time we were going to experience the indoor waterpark, Great Wolf Lodge.  Jarrett and I went up on Friday and spent the night in a hotel, ate, relaxed and hung out at Grapevine Mill mall until the next day when my parents and nephews came to join us.
 

First stop was lunch as The Rainforest Cafe.  It was a ton of fun and all three boys loved all the animals and the thunderstorms and the food was actually really good.  We sat right by a big gorilla, and Lawson was scared of it at first, but warmed up to it and started making monkey noises. 

We left there and headed to Great Wolf Lodge.  While mom checked in and the guys parked, I wrangled all three boys in a crowded lobby.  Luckily, Wolfy was there and the three boys hugged him and gave him "five".  I was surprised Lawson wasn't scared at all and he gave him "five" like the big boys.  Once we got checked into the room, we changed into our swim suits and headed to the waterpark.  It was a ton of fun and the boys had a ball. 

The boys had fun on the slides in the kid area.  Lawson even went down one of the bigger ones a couple of times.  Daredevil Asher also did two of the big tube slides with his Uncle Jarrett and Abram did these balancing lily pads that most people fell off of but he made across every time.  Lawson loved the water and wasn't scared of anything.  And I've got to admit, the adults had a great time too.  Indoor waterpark meant, no heat, no sun, no sunscreen and no worrying about sunburns!! 

That night after dinner we took the boys to story time in their pjs.  They sat with Uncle Jarrett and loved listening to the story.  After that dad (papaw), Jarrett and the big boys headed to the arcade and played for HOURS.  I'm pretty sure ALL four of them had a great time playing until after 10:00.

 Lawson inside the "kid's cabin" in our room.  The big boys enjoyed the bunk beds. 

The next morning we woke up and headed back to the waterpark.  We played and then headed in to clean up and go have breakfast/lunch.  After that we made one more fun stop at Bass Pro Shop.  Once again, the boys loved looking at the animals.  Lawson would point at all of the deer and say "dee"  That ended our trip and it was time to head home and relax. 

 

Lawson's First Haircut

Lawson had his first haircut today.  It wasn't really a planned thing, but Papaw had picked Lawson and I up to run some errands and go out to eat and suggested we take him to get a haircut.  So, we did it.  We've been putting it off for far too long.  There have been numerous comments about our little girl!  His hair was so long and curly and reached all the way down his back when it was wet. 

Before:

When we pulled into Sports Clips Lawson had fallen sound asleep in his carseat.  We debated whether or not to wake him up, but Dad and I decided to go ahead and go for it.  So I woke him up, and we headed in.  Thankfully there was no wait, and the lady cutting his hair has done tons of first haircuts.  He wouldn't sit by himself, so he sat in my lap.  He was a little upset at first, but I grabbed a couple of dum-dums before I left the house thinking that might distract him if he was upset and it worked!  He ate his dum-dum, and she cut away his precious curls.  I was so focused on keeping him happy that I didn't have a chance to get emotional about it.  He did great and looks like such a big boy now.  I miss the curls, but it was definitley time. 

After: