28 weeks...12 to go!

I wanted to write an update on this pregnancy, and what better way to do so than with a picture? I like comparing this pregnancy to Micah's (which seems logical, right?) so here is me at 28 weeks with each boy.

I have been feeling pretty good lately, back to my healthier lifestyle of salads and running, and it is nice to feel a little more in control again. I was sick through 21 weeks with this pregnancy (17 with Micah) and there came a point where I wondered if I would ever feel "normal" again. Some may laugh when I say normal, because after children you never quite feel normal again, but you get the gist. A couple of weeks back, while Christian and I were at the gym and Micah was in the childcare there, I asked Christian to remind me that IF we go through this again and IF we end up being blessed with a 3rd pregnancy, that I would get to this point. I would get to a point where I'm able to work out and not just feel sick all the time. PTL!

Another inspiring update is that I passed my 1 hour glucose test with flying colors, which I did NOT do with Micah. The cut-off had to be under 130 and I was at 96 with this little boy. With Micah, I'm not sure where I was at, but know it was over that 130 because I had to endure the awful 3 hour test.

And as of late, I have been doing much research on VBACs (vaginal birth after cesarean) because that is my desire with this pregnancy, and I am wanting to be as informed/prepared as possible. I am even starting to see a chiropractor - new to me - to help prepare my body for labor and hopefully avoid any breech positioning with baby. Yes, there are risks associated with VBACs, but I am realizing there are many risks associated with repeat caesareans as well, and am choosing to go with the former if I have any say. Prayer that God's hand will be in this upcoming delivery as well as the last 12 weeks of pregnancy for protection of both baby and myself would be greatly appreciated.

I am entering full nesting mode, getting ready and anxious to set up baby's nursery (which was finally decided last weekend to take over the current guest room) while Micah's room will transition to a big-boy room...all in due time though! I can't believe we will be pulling out newborn clothes soon and that we will actually have a use for those! We are definitely excited for the changes that are about to come, but know it will also bring some craziness and chaos that we hope we are ready for:) Soon enough we will be a family of 4...

Puppet Show and Food

A couple of weeks ago we headed out to Ikea for some furniture, and came across some hand puppets in their kid section. Micah really loves Baby Einstein's puppets and we figured it would be a great addition to our collection. Can I just say it is amazing what you can get a kid to do through the talk of a puppet!! All of a sudden our boy turned into the most well behaved, obedient little guy - all at the request of puppets:) Now if only we could get that to transfer over to mom and dad requests...

Giving hugs

Blowing kisses

Giving kisses

"Oh, Dada, I just love the 'rahr' and 'oohoohaah'." (lion and monkey)

On another note, I am learning daily the changing appetites in toddlers. Micah can eat more than me one day, and then decide he wants next to nothing the next. He also very much enjoys company while eating (who doesn't really?) so if I'm feeding him breakfast while trying to clean up the kitchen from the night before, he's generally not a big fan. He proceeds to point to my chair, saying "mama?" and then will continue on with "dada's chair" and "baby" (yes, he's already identified where baby will sit). He will then point to his chair with a big smile, sometimes saying nothing, while other times saying "me." So sweet.

Yesterday was definitely a big eating day, as you can tell from his smorgasbord of food that included a banana, oatmeal, yogurt and waffle along with his milk...and that was just for breakfast!!

Little Learner

Micah's vocabulary has been exploding as of late, and it's really quite fun to be a part of! It is challenging some days, however, to figure out what he's trying to say - but what joy to watch this little boy light up once we understand.

The last week or so we've really been focusing on colors, and wow, Micah's like a sponge! Just today we were driving in the car and all of a sudden I hear, "el-low!" from the back. Sure enough, coming towards us was a bright yellow car in the midst of silvers and blacks. It was such a proud moment for me, watching my boy show off his learning. He's also really mastered blue, orange and is close behind with green and red.

Some more of his favorites right now include saying all of our friends kids names, family (even Josh, my sister's boyfriend, has made some vocabulary appearances), lots and lots of different animals, elmo, monk, yak, and saying "tchew" (two) of whatever there are two of. He's really good at understanding the meaning of two, but lacks it by holding up his one finger and saying two. Or holding up his one finger and saying "one more" over and over and over...doesn't quite get that meaning yet, but in time:)

I'm loving this parenting thing, and can't believe we're getting close to bringing another little one into our family. Micah has also taken to hugging my crazily growing belly and saying, "love you brother" or "hi baby brother". I'm interested to see how he'll respond to his baby brother actually making his appearance, but right now it's sweet to try and figure out what he understands and watch his little mind process what's to come.

Happy Birthday Dada!

Christian has been gone this entire week...first in London and then in LA...and we are sooooo excited for him to get home tonight! Today is his birthday (turning 34! when did we get so old?!? :)) and Micah and I woke him up with a birthday call this morning, bright and early west coast time. Micah has been working on his vocabulary, so when Christian answered the phone, he was ready. "Hap btihewor... Dada." What, you didn't get that btihewor... was birthday?? :) When Micah tries pronouncing a word he doesn't know how to say he becomes shy and embarrassed and laughs. But I'd venture to say it melted Christian's heart at his attempt.

I am so grateful for the dad and husband Christian is in our family! Weeks such as the one we have had cause me to appreciate it all the more. And I am blessed beyond measure for the family God has given me. Thank you, Christian, for providing a good home for Micah and myself. Thank you for loving us enough to be apart from us for a week so that you can provide our necessary means. Thank you for always caring about and supporting every little detail I throw at you. You are an amazing man of God who is kind and compassionate, extremely generous and giving, and I am thankful for your love. I'm looking forward to our growing family and sharing all the ups and downs with you. You're dee best, honey! Happy Birthday!!

Sleep...overrated?

Sleep begets sleep, right? I've thought about that theory a lot since having Micah. And while sometimes I don't always agree, more times than not I find myself chanting that phrase...especially in times of consistent lack of sleep in our household. Christmas vacation was a rough time for us - all of us! With 5 teeth (2 molars and 3 canines) coming in in a matter of 3 weeks, we were in for sleeping chaos. Top it off with traveling for the majority of that time, and Micah was all out of sorts. How do you recover from a downward spiral? That, I still am unsure of, but little by litter I think it's possible to dig out.

Since then, we have regained our schedule and he is doing much better, although I will say naps are still at a minimum. I am usually happy when I can get anywhere over 45 minutes of a nap. It's not much of a break during the day, but I have come to accept that Micah is not a long napper. He has always been like this, since he was a newborn, and I have to be grateful for the 11-12 hours of sleep we get at night! Prior to vacation we were getting around 1.5 hours fairly consistently, and I'm hoping we get back there before baby comes!, but I can't complain when I'm getting such solid night sleep.

That's why, when he was up for 3 hours last night, I realize all the more how grateful I am for his consistently wonderful nighttime sleep. Call it another tooth coming in, or growing pains, or a nightmare that really scared him, but whatever it was from about 1-4am, Micah was awake. I tried comforting him and laying him back down. I tried giving him a pacifier (which he doesn't usually have during nighttime sleep). I tried bringing him into our bed. All 3 were big failures. Once in our bed, he was pretty good, just not sleeping. He rolled onto his back and started practicing his vocabulary.

"Mama?" "Dada?" "Di-ddy?" "Di-ddy gone." "No Dada." "No Nana." "No Papa." "Bye-bye." "Read book?" "No hat." "Ocks, coke, oosh?" (socks, coat, shoes?) and on and on...it was actually quite endearing, but I knew if we were going to be able to function at all in the morning we both had to get some sleep! So after praying with him and singing him a few songs, I placed him back in his crib. Crying, silence, more crying, silence. Two hours later there was finally continued silence and I knew he was back in a deep sleep.

Why it took so long, I'll never know. And I'm praying for a solid night tonight so that he can be well rested tomorrow. Christian's been gone since last Saturday (poor guy - coming home late, late tonight, on his birthday no less!) and I'd love for Micah to be in a great mood for his arrival home. Regardless of what happens though, I definitely believe and value the necessity of sleep and don't at all find it overrated!! I'll know that even more in a few months when I'm up 3-4 times a night with a newborn :).

"Baby Sad"

We have noticed how Micah likes to mimic us, in many areas really, but this reference is with regards to stories we read. Whenever we see something sad in a book, we talk about baby being "sad" and say it with a really concerned and soft voice. Micah has picked this up, and no matter the context when we talk about being sad he tends to use this voice. It cracks both Christian and I up, so we tried to get a snip-it of it on video today. I'm exaggerating my reading for the effect, and clearly Micah figures out my tactics at the end, smart little boy:).

Ford Family Christmas

We took off the Tuesday after Christmas for St.Louis to spend time with my family. We were super excited to be able to meet our new (and only) nephew Luke, as well as see their parents, Jeff and Liza, and Nana Kay and Papa C. Kari was clearly missed, and I do wonder when we will be able to see her again over a Christmas celebration. :(

On the way down, Micah did a really good job in the car (as we made it to St.Louis in 4 hours and 10 minutes - with a toddler and a pregnant lady!). The video is a clip of him reading a book my friend Cass got him, Jingle Bells Aussie style.

Once there we experienced some great family time! Micah was sleeping with us in one room, next door were Mike, Deanna and Luke, across the hall was my grandma, in the master bedroom were my parents, and downstairs were Jeff, Liza, and their 9 week old puppy Luigi. What a chaotic blast! We experienced some highs and lows while there, but overall it was so fun to be with my family and made me think about the days when our kid(s) are grown and on their own and wonder what our family time will look like.

Papa C, Nana Kay and Luke - 2 months old.

Proud Daddy and his little boy. Such a sweet boy!!

Mizzou boy...him and Micah will be in competing jerseys soon enough I think:)

We headed out to the zoo later that week (surprise, surprise) and I have to say that St.Louis is one of the prettiest zoos we've seen, and it's all free! We enjoyed it so much, we went back the next day to check out the parts of the zoo that were unexplored the day before.

After the zoo we headed just down the road to a pizza place called "Pi" and had a fabulous dinner. Anyone in the St.Louis area, check this restaurant out! Well worth it. Micah, although tired after a long day and continuing lack of sleep, enjoyed some Uncle Jeff and Aunt Liza time.

The happy family with their recent addition.


The most amazing penguin exhibit I've ever seen! Go STL zoo:)

Micah "roar"ing like a lion. He may not talk an exorbitant amount, but this boy knows the majority of his animals and their sounds:)

We ended the stay with the most worst temper tantrum we've had to date with Micah, and the only good part about the 20 minutes of crying was that it made him super sweet in the car because he was all cried out. He was seriously the perfect traveler, both there and back, and we're grateful for that! I'm looking forward to his communication developing more, because I think some of the tantrums that we are seeing are coming from his lack of speech and frustration that ensues. We'll see as he begins talking more, but I'm expecting (and hoping!) to see a scale back on the frustrations as he is able to start talking to us a bit more.

All in all, although a busy couple of weeks and we were grateful to return to some sense of normalcy, we had a great time! What could be better than spending time with both sides of the family as well as time with our immediate family? And remembering the reason for the entire season - the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, makes it all the more memorable.

Christmas at home...

Due to our early departure from Arizona, we were able to spend Christmas at home instead of flying, and I was definitely thankful to be home for Christmas.

Micah's excitement over his stocking.

Enjoying building blocks with Daddy.

And playing with his sandwich set that goes along with the kitchen he got for Christmas.

We had a great time together as a family, and are looking forward to celebrating next year with another little boy:)

Phoenix Zoo

Whenever we vacation anymore, as I'm sure those of you who follow my blog have noticed, we tend to hit up the local zoo. Arizona was no different, and we enjoyed being able to be outside in late December without any coats. It was a beautiful day, and as always, we very much enjoyed our time at the zoo.

At one area of the zoo they had a children's play place, and it was hard to pull Micah away once he discovered it. The slide was a favorite of his, and shown by the pictures below, and I know it was a great Daddy-son time as well.

Our last stop on the way out was at the children's petting zoo, and Micah was more concerned with this cone that had been tipped over than the actual horse he could pet contained in the fence with the cone. Go figure...sometimes I'd LOVE to know what's going through that brain of his!!

Even though we ended up coming up coming home 3 days early (Micah was up 3-4 consecutive hours 3 of the 4 nights we were there!) we still had a great time while we were there and look forward to getting back there one day.

Bu-Bup?

Micah LOVES to read! These pictures capture the fun that ensues while reading. He has also found a new love for "bu-bups" which are school buses. Each morning that I take him to daycare, he sees 10-12 school buses and enjoys each one. Christian visited the library before we left for vacation and found a great book all about "Bu-Bups," which he loves.

Scottsdale, AZ - here we come!

Whose bright idea was it to get free flights no matter the "cost"? Oh, right, that was me. Didn't quite seem worth it when we woke up at 3:30am to get on a 6am flight to fly out to Arizona for a family vacation. 10 hours later, with a 3 1/2 hour Denver layover, and we were finally en-route to our home for the week.

Micah was quite the little trooper, exhausted but in good spirits on the way to our resort!

That afternoon, we headed out to a train park near by that was definitely a great attraction! Well known in the area, it was quite crowded, but Micah really enjoyed his time on the carousal and riding the train around.

Later on that week, we met up with some friends who used to live in Chicago, and they suggested the train park...since we had not seen the lights when we had gone we thought it was a great idea! Micah wasn't quite sure what to make of all the characters that were there, but he seemed to really enjoy the pretty lights and kid-filled environment.

The below video is what we did in the mornings a couple of the days we were there. Determined to get back in shape, Christian and I took advantage of the decently warm weather (compared to Chicago) and went for a jog/walk with Micah in the mornings. His sleeping was anything BUT ideal, so much so that it caused us to end our vacation early, but it gave us a great opportunity to get out for some exercise. Micah seemed to want to be like mom and dad, and chose to get his own exercise in! Shown is some of his high speed running - which happens when we say "ready, set, GO!"