And Another One makes Four

Luke is going to be a big brother!

It's hard to believe, and I'm not sure what I've goten myself into, but we're still very excited!
Some days I'm very excited about having another baby, but then otherdays I feel more along the lines of anxious and overwhelmed about having another kid. I'm sure it will be fine; people do it all the time, but it's still hard to picture. But I do know that having another little baby to love and watch grow will be a glorious thing!

I will also say that being pregnant again is different than the first time. There are some things that are nice about it, but it's just not as exciting the second time around. I know I'll still love this baby as much as I love Luke, but pregnancy has lost a lot of its glow. Maybe it'll be more exciting when I can feel the baby move more and we know what the sex is, but for now, I find myself tired and cranky way more than I ever was with Luke. sigh....

But I am extremely lucky in the fact that it hasn't been a bad pregnancy. I really wasn't sick my first trimester, just extremely hungry all of the time. It was pretty bad and kind of annoying. I couldn't leave the house without an arsenal of things for me to eat. Now, that's under control and things have become pretty good. I do try and take a nap every day, and I just can't do too much or I'm utterly exhausted.

We'll find out the sex of this baby October 24th, so I'm really looking forward to that! I'm hoping we have smooth sailing!!

This at 15 weeks. Definitely bigger earlier this time around.

He will be an amazing brother!

I love this pic.

Fall Festival at the Arboretum

Today, Luke and I went to the arboretum with our MOPS group. They currently have all the pumpkins out for the Fall Festival. We went last year, and Luke was barely sitting up. Now, I can't get him to stay still. The arboretum was beautiful, as usual. It's nice on a normal day, but they have a lot out there for the fall festival. They do all of these elaborate set ups involving all sorts of different pumpkins and other squash varieties. They also do crafts, face painting, story time, musical presenatations, petting zoo, and more for kids during this time. 

Luke and I took part in the petting zoo. He got to pet his first sheep and goat. He was very good at being gentle.

He also had an excellent time running! He ran all over the pumpkin village. It's amazing the difference a year makes.

Here are the photos I got from our morning adventure.

Luke checking out the white pumpkins by one of the set ups. All the little girls were fascinated by the carriage.

He called this a ball and continued to throw it many times.

He would stand like this for a few seconds....

... and then he was off to find another place for the pumpkin.

He ran all around this pumpkin house.

He took a little break.

I caught him in front of one of the Chihuly exhibits. Beautiful!

Video Catch Up

There are a lot of videos we've taken that I've been really lazy about uploading. I'm going to spend some time getting those updated on here, but it won't happen all at once. Hopefully, one every few days.

This was taken 4/25/12. It shows off two of his awesome skills. Enjoy!

This one was taken 8/21/12, and he does an even more awesome trick. Love it :)

17 months

Well, honestly, Luke's growing and changing, BUT it's hard to document all the little things. He's mostly just funny now and does random things. I feel like I think of things to put on there and then when I sit down to write it, it all goes 'poof'. I'll do my best!

• I'm pretty sure he just went through a growth spurt. For one, he slept until after 7 for four days in a row which is a true miracle. Now, his 12 month shirts are way too short for him and don't quite go over his head unless you give them a good tug. He's in 16 month shirts, but he still fits fine in 12 month pants. The pants do have to be pretty generous on elastic, but they're not too tight to work. I have a feeling we'll still be in the bottom percentiles at his doctor's appointment at the end of this month, but that's the story of all of our lives.
• He's also still in size 3 diapers. I think he could move to 4's, but why push it? 
• He knows the sounds that a cow, cat, duck, sheep, and a dog. But he just grunts when you ask him what a dog says; he's consistent, but I'm not sure that's totally correct. He also calls most animals a cat. Except for owls and ducks, he knows what they are.
• He also things any mode of transportation is a car. When we go for a walk he will point out every single vehicle you see and say 'car!' So I think he literally says that word on average of 75 times a day. No lie.
• He does love boats, though. He does not confuse boats with anything else at all. He also loves to ride in boats with the wind in his hair. And he totally hates the life jacket, so we'll see how that works out next summer. For now, it wasn't pushed. He will literally squeel with delight and do his happy dance (stomping his feet) when you got for a boat ride. He LOVES it! I can't wait to stick him on a tube out behind the boat! I hope that rocks his world.
• He now loves to run. I asked him, "Do you like to run?" And he nodded his head. He must love it because he runs a lot. He runs more than he walks at this point.
• He also likes to kick balls. He'll run all around a gym kicking a ball. Maybe he'll enjoy soccer- we'll see.
• His favorite books now are ones where there are just pictures and he points to them and you tell him what he sees. We can do this for hours on end. I'm still waiting to see the payoff.
• He learned to use the slide all by himself. He can climb up the ladder and slide down feet first. The only problem is he's not that careful or balanced yet, so he's fallen off the top of the slide 3 times now. The slide has been temporarily removed. We'll revisit it in about a month or two when maybe he's learned to be more careful- or not. I'm just tired of picking up a crying baby off the floor right now.
• He just got another haircut. I think he's had 5 now.
• He's still an organizer. He closes doors, he moves things to where they belong, he puts things back- it's amazing. I don't consider myself a neat person, so maybe I can just count on him to pick things up for me. Awesome. He also doesn't like for his hands to be dirty. He asks for them to be brushed off regularly. He also doesn't like dirt between his toes. He will sit down and clean his toes about 5 times a day, maybe more. It's a little weird, but oh well.
• All in all, he's still a happy kid.  He's very entertaining on a daily basis. He is a kid who loves to say hi and bye to everyone he sees. He regularly leaves the grocery store and says, "bye", to everyone we pass. It's pretty funny. He is complemented all of the time about his wonderful personality and how laid back he is which is very true. We're pretty lucky to have such a fun, cute baby.

The pictures below are from his first day of Mother's Day Out which just happened to be a few days after his 17 month birthday. He's only been once, but he did great! He even took an hour and 15 minute nap which is nothing short of a miracle! His MDO is at our church, First Methodist. His teachers are Becky and Judy. There's 7 other babies in his class. I think he'll enjoy being there! I know I will....

Shaggy hair dude

Blurry but cute- loves his bear :)

Always reaching for a book

Loves to read

Sweet face

Best pic I got with his backpack. He moves too quickly and too much

Trying to lift his heavy backpack