The sequel...

We are really excited for our family to grow. It is crazy how the timing of this has worked out, and how perfect things are lining up. Our little one should arrive around September 28th. That allows us to fly to Oregon to participate in the Scandinavian Festival (50th anniversary!), and Jon's 10 year reunion. Jon grew up dancing in the festival, and every year that we have not been able to go, he has been a bit bummed. I will be around 34 weeks - safe, though barely, to fly :)

We also will be able to visit my family for Christmas this year! The baby will be around 3 months old... perfect for traveling! I think my stress level will go down too after having that time to adjust to 2 little ones :)

Right now I am just making it through the pregnancy. I have been hit hard by nausea, sugar level issues, and a perpetual cold that has a pretty strong crush on me. I am hoping the cold gets the hint, and leaves soon for good.

One of the main issues Jon and I have struggled with (and it has been me who has felt the most stress :)) is our plans for the labor and birth of this child. We did not want the same hospital/doctor experience as last. We both had never considered a home birth until we met a fabulous midwife. However, after thinking through the details of the situation (she is having her first child in July, and there are no other midwives close enough to us), we found that option just to not be the one for this birth. After making some calls, and talking with people, we discovered a doctor who has midwives under him. We would give birth at the same hospital as Ezzie, but not be confined to the bed, or have pitocin pushed on us from the get-go. I am very excited about this option, and meet with one of the midwives in 2 weeks!

It has been hard to keep my spirits up - I just feel so bad. But, I am trying. I told myself I would embrace my second pregnancy even more than my first... and this is a struggle, but it is worth the work to try to keep my mind and heart focused where it needs to be, rather than wallowing in feeling blah.

Looking forward to good news in 2 weeks... hopefully all is well, and the baby's heartbeat is strong and pumping!

Our walker!!!

I know it has been a while since I last wrote. I know, Ezzie's birthday has come and gone. From Nov 18-Jan 10th our life has been crazy. All of the major special dates for our immediate family fall between those dates, not to mention Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Annette's wedding!

I wanted to share with you Ezzie's latest endeavor: walking. He began to make real strides (haha :)) on Jan 7th, and is now walking like crazy. He is definitely not a total walker, but he is taking more risks and going farther than before. Hope you enjoy this video. I had to bribe him with keys. When I first began trying to get him on film he resorted back to crawling. Even when we would pick him up to attempt to get him on his feet, he would go limp like a noodle.

It's been a while!!!

10 Months

11 Months!!!

You can barely see him! He's so fast!

These last few months have flown by! I can't believe Ezzie is 11 months today, and we are only 1 month away from him being a year old - where did the time go? Our little baby boy is turning into a big boy before our eyes!

My attempt to capture his 2 teeth! (With Jon's help, I'll get a better show later :))

Has grown 2 in the last couple of weeks, and is cruising and crawling around at warp speed. Chuck Norris can't keep up! Opening and closing doors is a common past-time of his, and I am proud to say he actually understands the words "open" and "close"! He is now eating a lot of the foods we eat, and gabs up a storm. He's at a stage right now where he stands by himself for a while and looks like he is contemplating his first step, and then he squats down and crawls instead... I imagine walking isn't too far in the future for him.

We took our very first family photos, and professional photos of Ezzie a month ago... I don't have them just yet, but if you visit my facebook account, you can see them there! Ezzie is so stinkin' cute!

One of my favorite expressions of Ezzie's is when he tilts his head to the side and smiles. When I tilt my head, Ezzie will then move his head again, and I will copy him, and we continue this little game. He has this smile, that I cannot seem to capture, that gets me everytime - and the head tilting just adds a million times more cuteness!

These few months have been fun clothing-wise, because Ezzie is able to wear a few of Jon's
outfits from when he was younger. The retro clothes sure are cute on Ezzie!

Speaking of Jon, we captured Ezzie looking at an airplane as it was flying in the air - just like his daddy :) Jon used to hear airplanes and then look for them and point, and I believe he would say "go-go" (Marla, correct me if I am off!)... Ezzie isn't quite at that level of talking yet, but this picture is priceless!

We had our traditional Halloween celebration and made family pumpkins. Last year Ezzie was in the womb, and this year he got to hold his own pumpkin - wow (atleast for me!). Ezzie was a pumpkin this year, courtesy of his Nana making him a pumpkin hat, and his auntie sending him a cute Halloween onesie! We went to a pumpkin patch with him dressed up - can you find him???

Grandma came for a visit less than a week ago. She and Ezzie had a great time together. It is so wonderful when we get visits from family! Marla (Ezzie's grandma) got him this awesome playset, called Mambo Combo... we had to convince Ezzie to crawl through the tube :) He, and his friend Sam, kept wanting to push it around, rather than crawl through and play in it!

Finally, a video to send you off!

9 Months and September!

9Months

He is growing so fast! At the beginning of the month Ezzie was beginning to his trek towards crawling forwards. About 2 weeks ago he made a great breakthrough and began going forward pretty well. Now he is gaining speed and cruising along. I am amazed! He is also beginning to try finger foods. We are still waiting for his little teeth to poke through, and then he may be able to do better with the bigger chunks of food :)

We were able to take a small trip up to Little Rock - which I might add has the most amazing park! They have tunnels and cool playground equipment. If I was a kid I would have rated this the BEST park ever! We went up there to visit a little with my cousin Christina and my Uncle Russ. We only got to spend a couple of hours together over lunch, but it was such a great visit. I'm so glad Christina is moving to Nashville and will be closer than she was before :) She is such a great cousin and friend!

One of my favorite things this month is that Ezzie is now playing. Ezzie, up until now, has played with other people by taking their toys, and kids taking his toys. Well, he recently began playing chase and hide-and-seek. It all began with his friend Sam. Sam, who I have mentioned before, if 5 months older than Ezzie. He is running these days. He now runs away from Ezzie, who follows him crawling. It is hilarious! It made my heart so happy to see him playing with another kid and making this huge transition. Ezzie also likes to play chase and hide-and-seek with mommy and daddy. Below is a video of him playing hide-and-seek (the short version) with me.

This update is short, but I hope you like the pics and video :)

8 months!

8 Month Photo Shoot - Discovering the Basil, taking a stand, and loving on Gerry the Giraffe

Getting his crawl on!

I love the stage Ezzie is in right now. I know, I know - I have loved them all, but it just keeps getting better! This month Ezzie has been crawling backwards, and is beginning to make his way forwards. He does an arm, arm, leg, leg, flop things, but he has moved about 2 feet forward! No matter where I put him sitting up, he keeps laying himself down and trying to move. One of my favorite moments was when he first crawled forward. Jon and I were on the couch, and Ezzie on the floor. We both called to him with a lot of enthusiasm. Ezzie was so overcome by excitement that his face lit up and he began crawling (one crawl I might add) without thinking and just trying to be near us. I hope I have his expression etched in my mind forever - it was priceless :)

One of my favorite things right now is that Ezzie giggles up a storm so much easier than before. I simply squeeze his little tummy and tickle him and he laughs so hard! I often find myself so overwhelmed with pride and joy in him. He makes my heart swell with happiness :)

Ezzie is beginning fingerfoods, and the two little teeth are beginning to surface little by little. Hopefully he will have some teethy grins by 9 months :)

The onesie, Daddy and Ezzie going to Daddy's Aero meeting

Ezzie finally can wear the onesie I made for his daddy when I found out he was coming. It says, "Don't worry, my daddy's a pilot." For those of you who know Jon well, he commonly will say, "Don't worry, I'm a pilot."

The pool, Ezzie doing what he does best - chewing on things :)

As our summer is drawing to a close, we are taking advantage of the pool Grandma got for Ezzie. He loves sitting in it and splashing. Summer run long here, so hopefully we can get another month out of it!

Speaking of summer - it is finally drawing to a close. We have had a couple of mild, non-humid days this past week which offer us promise of a beautiful fall. Ahh, changing leaves and cool, non-humid days. Something SO needed!

California and Oregon Adventures

Ezzie looking at the plane - who knows if he will be like his daddy :)

We had such a great time visiting family and friends this past week. I must say that my husband and little guy were incredible troopers! Jon had been traveling and working crazy hours for over a week straight in Oshkosh (his dream aviation conference) before we left. He actually flew home Monday and we left Tuesday really early in the morning. Ezzie, who had a lot of time in a carseat and on our laps, also did amazing. It can be so much work traveling with a little guy!

Cool dude, Looking at Burney Falls (Ezzie loved watching the water - probably thinking huge bath!)

We first went to Camp Pit. It is a campground I grew up going to with my family, my Nano and Nana, and my Aunt Debbie and her family. This year was a little different without Nana and with all of the extended family. Just writing about my Nana brings back a flood of memories. I loved her dearly, and took it really hard when she died when I was nine. It took me until I was 12 to actually cry over her death, but I showed my grief in my writings and simply thinking about her all the time. My favorite memory of her was getting up really early, wandering into her garage, and sitting with her as she did the crosswords in the paper. Ahhh, Nana.

Back to our trip. We had a great time hanging out with family and eating a lot of good food. One thing about our family is that we eat well, eat a lot, and usually have a lot left over when we are done. We seriously need a fast after we are together :) This year Dani commented that we were sympythizing with Sarah, who is pregnant :)

The red sun, A helicoptor with the water basket, Dipping the basket into the reservoir

One big event that surrounded us had to do with wild fires. There was a lot of smoke - so much that the sun was almost red. This pic doesn't even do it justice! Our campground is near a reservoir, so hellicopters were coming in and out and getting water. We went up and checked it out - and yes, I was just as interested as Jon in this one :)

My nephew Jackson has been healing really well from his burns, and was a lot of fun. Here is a video of my brother, Matt, throwing him in the air and him laughing :)

Aidan and Faith with Ezzie, Mom about to teach me how to help Ezzie swim, The lesson in progress!

The weather was cool - especially compared with Texas. We braved the cool, and took Ezzie swimming. His cousins, Faith and Aidan, surrounded him as they did every day giving him attention. Faith especially enjoyed pulling him around the pool, and squeezing his cheeks - ah, they are so kissable and squeezable! My mom also showed me how to teach Ezzie to swim at a young age. She used to do this with Sean. It is amazing how they still have their fetal swimmers legs and arms! My mom showed me how to hold him so he could do it on his own - it was amazing :)

After saying goodbye to my parents (and family), we went for a trip to Trader Joe's before hitting Oregon to see Jon's parents - I know, surprise, surprise. My favorite thing about the trip was that Ezzie was thrilled to be there! His little legs were kicking, he was laughing and talking like crazy and that smile kept on coming. Sure, maybe part of it had to do with him not being in a carseat, but I think he has a love for Trader Joe's that is so innate! :)

Grandma and Ezzie, Ezzie loving the swing!

We spent less than 24 hours in Ashland with Jon's parents. It is such a quaint, romantic, and lovely city! We visited the downtown and walked through Lithia Park. Jon and I talked about it being a great weekend getaway location. Ezzie got to swing for the first time and loved it. What doesn't he love, other than Mac N'Cheese from the jar?

Our final destination took us to Mark and Tracey's house. It was so great to catch up after not seeing her and Mark for a while. They treated us to an amazing meal, and made our last night such a relaxing evening. Thanks again!