Long Update...

Easter and Carson:
We'll start with Easter weekend. Saturday was awesome, we just spent time together as a family and I was trying to decide on a nice meal to have for the holiday, and we also purchased our new carpet and floors for the boys' rooms, kitchen and living room. Cory got started ripping up the kitchen floor that afternoon and we were well on our way to new floors!

On Easter morning we gave Carson his Easter basket (I sadly did not get any pics, my camera was in the car and Cory had already handed Carson his basket, so I didn't want to miss out on him discovering his goodies). My big plan for pictures was during his little egg hunt outside. But we never made it to that point, Carson started running a fever that afternoon, so we just focused on taking care of him.

I did get one phone pic of him eating some of his chocolate bunny:

I took him to the Dr. on Monday and his symptoms were a cough, cold and fever. They said his throat was red, but the strep test was negative. They sent us home saying it could be the start of the hand-foot-mouth virus. There is nothing you can do for that except give ibuprofen for the pain and fever.

On Wednesday he was still running a fever so I took him back and he was finally diagnosed correctly with a sinus infection. The poor thing could barely get 5 minutes of sleep at a time because he was coughing so much. So now he is on an antibiotic and they said I can give him benadryl to help with the cough while sleeping. I hope to see some improvement soon, this has been a tough week for us since no one is really getting any sleep. My mom came to town to help us with him and so we could get some more work done on the floors, it is very frustrating living in a house with half of the floor ripped up. But Cory is working as hard as he possibly can, and I am trying to help where I can but there is just not much a preggo can do when it comes to this type of stuff. But hopefully we can make some progress this weekend, and I will definitely appreciate these new floors much more after living like this for a week.

New Look:
I had my blog re-done, I am loving the new look!

COLIN:
I am now 24 weeks pregnant, which is so hard to believe. I was telling Cory the other day that its bizarre to think we will be in the 3rd trimester soon! He just looked at me with a "deer in the headlights" look.

I am so glad we started early on Colin's room b/c this pregnancy is going by very fast. The new carpet in the boys' rooms will be installed tomorrow!

We picked up the cradle last weekend and I bought some little cradle bedding for it. I also bought a moses basket stand for our bedroom. Carson did a lot of co-sleeping, and I will be fine with that for Colin as well, but I realize that each baby is different, so we will have the moses basket as a bassinet in our room if Colin wants to sleep by himself. I used it a little for Carson but didn't know that you could purchase a stand for it, so I was always moving it around trying to find the best/safe place for it, not this time!

Colin loves to tickle my uterus on the left side these days..so weird. I don't know what he is doing but it is the funniest feeling and I laugh out loud. We can see him moving from the outside now which is fun, and Cory is always asking if he is awake so he can see/feel him.

I am not sure how much I weigh now, with Carson being sick this week, I haven't really thought to weigh myself.

Don't really have any cravings....I just like having food prepared for me, whether we dine out, or whether my mom makes a good home-cooked meal for us. I just have really not felt like cooking at all during this pregnancy.

Belly:

Tuscaloosa

My blog is mainly all about Carson........not sure if many of you know I graduated from the University of Alabama in 2005. I spent 5 wonderful years of my life in Tuscaloosa, AL. I have some friends and family who still live there and seeing the footage of the tornado damage from yesterday is devastating. 15th Street (where I once worked, lived, met my husband and made so many memories with my friends) has been destroyed.

I will be donating to the Red Cross and tonight I will clean out mine, Cory's and Carson's closets and send donations to the victims there. If you would like to help, here are some ways you can:

http://www.lambertslately.com/2011/04/ways-you-can-help.html.

Monday....

Oh how I hate Mondays. Carson thought this would be a fun way to start my morning!

Most times I really dislike Sunday b/c I know what it leads too :)

We (meaning Cory) made some good progress on Colin's nursery. YES, his name is COLIN. I love it. We still have not decided on a middle name and I was just dying to announce his 1st name, so I did!

We have painted, put up the chair molding and installed new blinds. Next on the list is a few touch ups to the trim where the painters' tape took the white off (UGHHH). (side note:The lady who lived here before us thought it would be fun to paint the trim a rosy pink... in an oil base I might add)

Soon we will order the carpet and get Cory started on Carson's big boy dresser. I can't believe that in a matter of weeks, we will be in the third trimester. This is why I like starting early, we can take our time and then enjoy the nursery as sort of a "zen" room later in pregnancy.

Here is the paint job:

Carson had a fun weekend playing outside, he had his first insect encounter. A caterpillar tried to crawl on my foot and I made a high-pitched "whoo" when I saw him. So Carson and I watched him crawl around and Carson kept saying "whoo!" Hilarious. Then Da-Da joined us outside and of course picked the thing up and let Carson hold it. NOT me! I don't do well with critters! I have a long life ahead of me with all of these boys!

(I was letting him play in some water puddles and he got soaked, this is why he is in a t-shirt and diaper!)

First he said "hi" to the caterpillar:

Then he examined him for a minute:

The he fell in love! It was so cute. He didn't want to let him go, so Cory told him that the caterpillar needed to eat, then Carson told him "bye-bye". So sweet.

22 Weeks

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the actual birth of this baby. I had such a good dream about the perfect birth the other night. I know I can have all the plans I want, but it still won't happen the way I envision, but I will try to continue to think positively and continue to gain as much knowledge about the birth process as possible, I firmly believe that knowledge is POWER. 


I am currently still reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and am finding it pretty helpful, a lot of these birth books touch on the same subjects, much of this information I am already familiar with. I like how she explores the mind-body connection and its effects on labor, she gives helpful info on situations that can stall labor and how to get labor started back up, the husband/partner's role to help with a smoother labor, to name a few topics.


I have gained a total of 15 pounds.


We can feel the baby move on the outside now! 


We have decided on a 1st name for him, and I am hoping to decide on the middle name within the next week.


We are in full nesting mode, the nursery is painted and we will get the chair molding up in the next couple of days and then I will post a picture. This little guy enjoyed playing with the paint supplies....He rolled this paint roller around for a while like he was vacuuming, so cute!

And here is Mama at 22 weeks:

What a week!

Anybody up for a random Tuesday post?

• Hallelujah, the Masters' tournament is OVER! I know my husband enjoys working there each year but 7 days is too long for me to go without my sweet hubby and way too long for Carson not to see his Da-Da. I am so glad to have my life back to normal! Cory bought Carson some cute shirts while he was there:

• Cory and I both took the day off yesterday to spend together. We slept in, ate some yummy Mexican food, and went to Home Depot to look at paint and flooring. We purchased the paint for the new nursery and got started yesterday. We had hoped to finish painting last night, however we were derailed a little: Carson fell down some stairs at daycare and couldn't move his arm for a couple of hours without crying. We took him to an Urgent Care place, and he was back to normal by the time the Dr. examined him and the Dr. said there was no need for an x-ray. I guess he just fell on his hand/wrist/shoulder the wrong way and was in pain for a little while. Better safe than sorry though!
• Here is our progress on the paint so far, the top is green and we will add chair molding under the green and paint a sand color under that to give it a little accent:

• Things are really moving along with the planning for the new baby, my parents will take the bed from the guest bedroom soon, and we are picking up the cradle this weekend. We should be finished painting by the weekend. Then we can schedule the re-carpeting for Carson's room and the nursery. I have seen SO much cute owl stuff on etsy. This theme is going to be super easy to find decor to match.
• Carson is talking so much now, he repeats everything. After I comb his hair after his bath and get him in his PJ's, I tell him how cute and nice he looks, and he just repeats over and over the word "nice". He is obsessed with the small bouncy yellow ball that fits in his hand. He will only put it down when he eats and when he goes to daycare. The other night he took a bath with it and held on to it until he fell asleep.  So funny. He has another one just like it, but it's blue, he lets Cory and me throw the blue one, but he will NOT let go of the yellow one. He loves yellow for some reason. He has also taken to spinning in circles to make himself dizzy...never a dull moment.

Diaper Bag Material

My mother-in-law was here visiting this week and I picked out the material for baby boy's diaper bag set. I wanted something completely different from Carson's brown and blue. It was difficult, because there is SO much cute brown and blue fabric for little boys. I just want things to have a different look for this baby. The main part of the bag will be white quilted material and the accents will be the yellow with red dots fabric. The name will be monogrammed in yellow on the bag. I can't wait to see how it turns out. She will also make a duffle and a backpack for him with this material. I love having all cloth, its so easy to just through it in the washer and dryer when it needs to be cleaned.

Baby Bedding

We have a decision on the baby bedding for baby boy's nursery! I ordered it today, and we are both off of work on Monday, so we will be painting the nursery then. So excited to get the ball rolling!

Carson is 20 months!

In 4 months my baby will be 2! And will be a big brother!

He loves his wo-worm (glow worm) and in the mornings, he carries it around for about 20 minutes until he is ready to play ball.

He LOVES chocolate milk, every night and morning he asks for his “mut mulk” and when he finishes any drink, etc…he loves to say “all gone” he will say that for the next 5 minutes.

He is learning his colors, he loves the color ya-yo (yellow) and is obsessed with yellow school buses and trucks (he says cucks). His new favorite song is the “Wheels on the Bus”

He loves to feed himself (especially yogurt) and he always says “big bite” when he can get a lot on the spoon.

I always keep Capri Sun around for him now, it’s so much easier and saves some dishes from having to be washed. He loves to take the straw in and out once he has finished the juice.

He thinks it is the most awesome thing to give the dogs treats, I have no idea why!

He just learned how to hop on both feet and also catch a ball in the air. He gets so excited when we clap for him.

His happy dance starts out with a stomp and a clap, sometimes he will do this when he sees me in the window coming to pick him up at daycare, so sweet.

Whenever he loses his passy we tell him to look around for it, and he calls for it like a dog, hilarious!

He loves riding in his car:

Has known the word hot for quite some time, but more recently he loves to point out when things are cold. It has been chilly and wet outside lately and we haven’t felt like playing in the yard so we told him it was cold outside. And now when he stands by the window he says “cold out-dide”. He lets me know that every drink is cold.

He is still petite, in 18 month clothes, size 5 shoes and size 4 diapers.

He aks for Mama every morning when he wakes up, warms my heart.

This kid LOVES cheese, when he sees me take it out of the fridge, he shouts “my cheese!”

He is now a climber, he can climb the slide latter all by himself, and he loves to climb onto the kitchen chairs, makes me very nervous!

He has such a funny personality.

He thinks his Da-Da could rope the moon!

I can still see a baby in him sometimes:

He is always trying to make us laugh:

His favorite ball:

Picture overload, I know! But these were all so cute, I couldn't resist!

It makes me so sad to see him grow so fast, I am holding on to all the baby-ness he has left! We still rock him to sleep and let him sleep with us if he is having a rough night. I know one day he won't want to snuggle with us, so I am just holding him and snuggling as much as possible! 

As far as birthday #2 goes, I am not sure of what the theme will be yet. His interests change every so often so I will wait until probably June or so to decide. I know one thing is for sure, this party will be much more low key! 

20 weeks!

Yesterday marked the halfway point of my pregnancy!

At 20 weeks, here is what is going on:

Cravings: 

Craving and loving my seafood! For my birthday dinner, I picked up some shrimp to boil and it was SO good! We had a work lunch a few weeks ago at Pappadeaux and another one yesterday at Atlantic Seafood Co. I would love to go to the beach soon and get some Gulf seafood, YUM! And as always, I could eat Japanese every day!

Aversions: 

Every time Cory mentions chicken breasts for supper, I want to hurl. I like pork chops, but I am mostly wanting red meat these days.

Weight Gain:

+13 pounds

Gender: 

BOY! I can’t wait until the third trimester to get all of Carson’s baby stuff down to clean. Especially the tiny newborn clothes. I will probably cry thinking of Carson being so little once upon a time. Still no name. Just can’t agree on anything, so I am taking a break from searching.

Symptoms:

I get winded pretty easily: The mornings are particularly tough on me, getting Carson fed, changed and presentable for school, while also trying to get myself somewhat presentable is such a task, it is very exhausting. He is an early riser, and there is no such thing as napping at work, so by the end of the work day I am DONE. Still have heartburn, and am sure it will only get worse.

Baby Movement:

He is finally making his presence known! At 18 weeks, I was still not feeling him everyday and got a little worried. But the day before our big ultrasound, he started getting busy. Now I feel him all the time! I have only been able to feel him on the outside of my tummy once, so we are still waiting for Cory to be able to feel him.

Clothes: 

ALL maternity, it’s been that way for a while. I must say, I love maternity clothes, they are just so comfy! However, I haven’t been able to recycle everything from my 1^st pregnancy. For some reason the first time around, I thought everything had to be loose fitting, so I have a bunch of moo-moo shirts and I hate them! So I have been updating my shirts a little bit here and there to feel a little more trendy. I love visiting Motherhood Maternity store on my lunch break!

Planning:

Now that we are half way through this pregnancy and we know the baby is a boy, let the planning begin! I love having a checklist and I LOVE getting things accomplished. I want everything DONE by the time I am 30 weeks. Cory and I do everything ourselves, so we need to get things done before I get too big and uncomfortable (and useless!)

Next week:
Pick out fabric for mother- in- law to make diaper bag set.

APRIL:

• Pick out cradle bedding and crib bedding/decor. I have decided to do all new bedding for this baby and keep the farm theme for Carson until he is old enough to pick a theme for his big boy room. I want to change as little as possible for him, his life will change enough! My friend is giving me her cradle which will serve as the baby bed in the nursery, mainly for naps during the day (the baby will be co-sleeping with us for most of the time any way so we don’t need the big crib until Carson is ready for his toddler bed. His farm stuff will fit the toddler bed we have)
• Paint Nursery

APRIL/MAY:

• Replace carpet and padding in Carson’s room and nursery. We are also putting tile in kitchen and carpet in the living room. Many people would advise to get hardwood floors, but after much discussion we have decided to go with carpet, it’s just more cozy in our opinions.
• Move glider into nursery (we really don’t use this anymore with Carson), I want to get it out of his way where he has more room for playing with his toys in his room.

JUNE:
Cory will build a new dresser for Carson. We will move the baby dresser that he built and the changing table into nursery.

JULY:

• Get the final touches and decor set up in the nursery.
• Get the baby gear and clothes down from the attic and clean it all. 
• Purchase breast pump, sling/wrap, and other small necessities/toiletries.
• Take hospital tour (we will be delivering at a different hospital this go round, the one with the lowest c-section rate…YAY!)

AUGUST: PACK HOSPITAL BAG! OMG!

Oh yeah! ONE more thing….NAME THIS BABY! We just can’t agree on anything right now. L

AND….the BELLY. Here I am Large and In Charge!

Stay tuned...my big baby will be 20 months tomorrow, I will post all of cute Carson-isms next week! I hope to take some good pics of him this weekend outside to post..wish me luck!