Halloween Photo Shoot

Sorry it's been a couple of days... I don't feel like I have a lot to say since I shared our big news on Monday.  I am still feeling sick... I am wondering when the ICK will pass.  Joe wrote me this morning and said... "maybe today is the day that you start feeling better".  I thought it was so nice to hear it that way.  I need to start being positive... saying... today is the day that I am going to feel better.  Maybe mind over matter will work?  If not I have the name of a safe natural med that I am going to try!  

This morning I felt adventurous so I put Grady into his Halloween costume that Auntie JoJo got him last year on clearance.  I poured Grady into it (It's a 0-9 month costume and he just barely fits into it-to say it is snug is an understatement).  I set  him on the floor and tried to take some pictures.  Unfortunately, it is so snug on him that he couldn't really sit without falling over, so we had to head up to his room and use his crib to steady him.  

Here is one of the first pictures after he fell over.  You can see he was not amused!  

3+1= Our Happy Family

Yes, that is right!  We are expecting a baby this spring!  We are thrilled to be adding to family and giving Grady a baby brother or sister.  Of course selfishly I am hoping for a girl, but I will take either one as long as they are healthy and FULL TERM! 

We had been trying but nothing had happened so in early September, we had an appointment with our Fertility doctor and we were planning on starting the fertility process in October. Two days later, I was not feeling like myself so I took a pregnancy test and sure enough two pink lines!  I was in shock.  David was at work and it was only Grady and I at home.  The poor little guy, I must have told him 100 times that I was pregnant.  As much as I wanted to call David at work, I wanted to be able to shock him.  So, as hard as it was, I waited until I had to pick him up from work (we had one truck in the shop that day) and I told him to close his eyes.  I was holding two (because one was not enough confirmation) positive pregnancy tests.  When he opened his eyes he was shocked.  He said, "Honey, you're pregnant?" to which I answered "Yes!" He then followed it up by asking, "How did that happen?"  I had to laugh.  After 15 months of battling infertility with Grady, we were both shocked to be able to get Pregnant the "Old Fashion Way".

We have had two doctor's appointments and ultrasounds so far.  I was immediately labeled high risk after everything that happened with Grady.  I am being watched pretty closely, but the Perinatologists have assured me that odds are in our favor for a healthy and normal pregnancy.  I am trying not to worry and believing that they are right.  

I have felt terrible.  Little did I know that I would feel worse with my second one!  I really don't remember feeling this terrible with Grady, but David thinks that it might be because I was working and too busy to realize.  I am 99% sure that I did not feel this way.  I have been nauseous pretty much 24/7 for the past 12 weeks.  I am hoping that it will soon pass.  The doctors have reassured me that the sicker you are the better.  So, I guess that is a good sign.  I am trying to lay low and rest while Grady is sleeping and I have been going to bed around the same time that he goes to bed since I have been exhausted.  

I just wanted to share our wonderful news with everyone, as we have been cautious in not telling many people until we had made it through those first critical weeks.  We will be finding out the sex of the baby, which will happen a bit closer to Christmas.  But until then, David has affectionately named this baby... Baby In The Belly and that is what we will be calling this little one until we find out if it is a he or a she (I have been saying she... maybe it's mother's intuition?).  

Fall Photo Shoot

This past weekend, I was in Stamford, CT for a photography retreat.  It was two and a half days aimed at teaching me how to use my digital SLR better.  Since the weather was so nice, I decided I should go outside and try to take some pictures and see what I could do.   I am proud to say in the matter of 15 minutes I took 400 pictures.  Unfortunately, only about 10 came out.  This does not surprise or shock me.  One of the photographers at the retreat said that when she does a shoot she takes about 1000 and has about 50 that turn out.  For me, I am struggling with the light and getting crispness. What I took away from the weekend was that I need to simply just practice, practice, practice.  Here is one of the better pictures from today.  I did change it into antique using my photo editing software.   I had a hard time getting the bink away from Grady and when I finally did, he was extremely sober.  Oh well, there is always tomorrow!

Eleven Months

Where has the time gone?  Today, my precious little boy is 11 months old.  In only 31 short days he will no longer be a baby, but rather a big one year old boy!  How did this happen?  I have always said that when I had a baby I was going to shellack them at 6 weeks old, since that was my favorite age.  They were still tiny and loved to cuddle and you could just hold them and watch them sleep.  Well, at six weeks Grady was still in the hospital hooked up to monitors and four pounds.  When we brought him home at 70 days old, he weighed 5 pounds 8 ounces and I wanted to shellack him then, but David wouldn't let me.  Then he reached about 8 months of age and he started to do all these fun things and giggle from the depth of his belly and again I wanted to shellack him and keep him at that stage forever.  Reality has hit and I know I cannot shellack him at all of my favorite stages, but what I can do is enjoy him and treasure every moment that I have with him at every stage of his life!

At 11 month, Grady.....

• Weighs 18lbs 5.5 oz
• Has a ton of wild and curly blonde hair
• Has one tooth (it finally came in at 10 months and one day!)
• Loves real food!  Favorites include bananas, pancakes, pasta, chicken pot pie, and bread
• Is sleeping 12+ hours a night and has at least two naps during the day 
• Loves his blanket and pacifier
• Refuses to crawl, but rolls anywhere he needs to get to
• Is finally sitting on his own without falling back in order to lay on the floor and roll around
• Prefers standing to sitting
• Is extremely fast, he swipes Ya Ya's glasses and earrings off with one quick swipe
• Falls asleep on his own when we put him in his crib
• Loves to squeal and sing
• Plays patty-cake by himself
• Loves any music he hears
• Is growing out of his 9 month clothing and is into 12 month clothing
• Wakes up happy always!
• Easy-going.  We can take him anywhere
• Plays really well by himself
• Feeds himself finger food and would like to feed himself with the spoon (if I would let him)
• Is our joy and our everything!

More Pictures from the Weekend

Just thought I would post some more pictures of our fun weekend.  Enjoy!

Happy Fall

We had a wonderful day yesterday!  It started off meeting our friends the Pendell's for breakfast.  After that we were off to G and S Orchard out in Lincoln to pick pumpkins and apples.

What a great day we had!  The sun was shining and although it was brisk, it was a perfect fall day.

We came home with 70 some pounds of pumpkins and a bushel of apples.  We got Cortlands for me (they are crisp and tart-YUM) and Spy apples to make applesauce for us and Grady.  I don't think I have ever heard of Spy apples before, so it will be interesting to see how the applesauce turns out.  

After our adventure at the orchard, we went back to Ya Ya's house and enjoyed a lazy Sunday afternoon playing Halloween Yatzee and watching football.  We also call Mathias (Uncle Bud) in Sweden and caught up with him.  

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from yesterday.  I probably took 200 so I will post more throughout the week.  

Man Down

Hi everyone. Sorry it has been awhile since I have posted anything.  Last Wednesday while making dinner, I took a big slice out of my finger with the mandolin and I have been a bit out of commission since then.  

Of course it happened in the middle of the day, so I had to call David to come home and get Grady and I and take me to Urgent Care--which when we got there we realized that it did not open for 10 more minutes.  (Who knew that urgent care was not open 24/7).  Thankfully I was the first patient to be seen.  Since I took a chunk out of my finger and did not just cut it, they were not able to stitch it, instead they had to put a sponge in the missing part of my finger and use that to stop the bleeding.  Today I finally get to take the bandages off and see what we are dealing with.  

I did (while waiting for David to come home) manage to snap a couple of shots... but I will spare you the nasty ones!  I'll post more later as we had a fun day yesterday picking pumpkins and apples with Ya Ya.