Zoo, Baby #2 Update..

Let's start off with the fun stuff. I have it in my mind to do all these wonderful family things with Ethan before Baby #2 arrives so we can be out and explore before I feel like we'll probably be banished to the house for a month or so while we understand how to be a family of 4 and remember what it's like to take care of a newborn. So, last weekend we decided to take advantage of the sunny, yet non-scorching weather and headed for the Brookfield Zoo. In the end, I can't decide whether Ethan really had fun watching the animals, as he kept asking about riding the Carousel and playing on the playground there. Never the less, Dave and I enjoyed the family time together and I think Ethan did enjoy seeing some of the animals. We hope to do a few more family adventures in the coming weekends as well, so hopefully the weather will cooperate with us.

Ethan and Daddy playing at the playground in the zoo. Who needs animals when there are rock walls to climb?!

In the reptile/bird house. Almost as tall as the frog.

On the way home, we like to wear our hat and make a piggy nose now.

A nice cat nap because being pulled in the wagon all morning is just exhausting work!

Hanging with Mr. Brown Bear on the couch

Ethan the excavator. He now tells me, "What I'm bigger, I'm going to drive the excavator". He likes seeing the giant excavators in the subdivision now that they're back building houses around us.

I always try to think of some new and funny things that Ethan is doing and list them out..I think I need to start writing them down because when I try to update the blog, I never seem to think of everything. I guess the biggest thing I've noticed lately is that he's definitely pushing his boundaries. I've heard that Terrible Two's runs into Terrible Three's and I wonder if we're getting there? I realize it's probably all part of the 'growing' process...but my word I sometimes wonder where my sweet little boy has gone? In the past week he's told me that he's going to 'throw me away' (note this was when he woke from his nap, so I figure he was just a bit groggy - still hurts!!), and he's stated 'get out of my room'. We refer to this as 'nasty talk' and he's been warned that this only gets him timeouts or time in his room!! On the more positive side, I just honestly can't believe how much this kid loves his tools (and Daddy's). He helped Dave put the crib back together this weekend and wanted to be there constantly helping and using daddy's tools when he was done.

Lastly, Baby #2 update. We're now on a schedule to see the specialists in Maternal Fetal Medicine once a week for an ultrasound check on the baby's kidneys. Both kidneys are larger than they should be, so they are keeping an eye on them to make sure it doesn't get worse. So far, the two ultrasounds we've had shown that they aren't growing (which would mean something is really wrong) and the amniotic fluid levels are good. So, this points to the fact that the kidneys are working properly but there is possibly a blockage in the urinary system (kidneys draining into bladder or bladder into the urethra) that is causing the kidneys to be larger than they should. The unfortunate part is that they won't know what exactly is wrong until the baby comes out and then they can ultrasound the kidneys. They talked about inducing me as early as 37 weeks when the baby is considered full term, but sounds like if they stay the same size for now, 39 weeks would be the earliest induction and maybe I'd even go naturally before that. We're going to see the pediatric urologist this week to talk about next steps after the baby is born and hopefully they can give us some more insight as to what might be the problem/corrective measure. For now, we're staying positive and enjoying seeing the baby on the ultrasound machine weekly.

No two pregnancies are the same!

Well, this pregnancy has sure proven to be an emotional roller coaster for me. Most people know that just having kids for Dave and I hasn't been the easiest of paths, but this one is definitely coming with additional challenges. It started with the 20-week ultrasound showing a low placenta, then I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes around 28-weeks. This past week I had my follow-up ultrasound for the low placenta and it showed that it had in fact moved up (so, no planned c-section), but what it also showed was that the tube draining the right kidney of the baby is enlarged. So, I'm off to a specialist for another ultrasound this coming week. The doctor assured me that if it was something major, it would've been picked up at the 20-week ultrasound, but just knowing that there is possibly something slightly wrong with this little baby breaks my heart. The doctor told me that it could possibly be nothing at all and if they do find something, there is nothing they do at this point. What they'll do if necessary is ultrasound the kidney's after the baby is born. So, I'm hoping I'll find more out at my appt on Thursday. At this point, I'm convinced this is a little girl, taking everything out of me!! :-) On the diabetes front, I've kept my levels under control for all but 2 meals, so that's at least not a problem. I go to the doctor for my 32-week appt on Wednesday and then I start going every 2 weeks. Only 8 more weeks to go for this little one!! Can't wait to meet the little angel!

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the last few weekends.

Dinner downtown Aurora with the Rochford side to celebrate Dave and my Dad's bday. We went to a fun Mexican place where they had musicians actually travel table by table to play music. Ethan was very interested in it all!

We traveled down to Champaign to watch my brother Adam graduate from U of I (He's off to UT-Austin this fall for grad school).

We stayed @ Dave's gradparent's house and took Ethan for a walk. He liked this field of tall grass.

Diploma in hand - Ethan was a good sport during the ceremony.

We went to MN last weekend for my cousin's wedding. Here is Ethan hanging out with Uncle Adam. His buddy for the weekend!

My 30-week picture

28 Weeks

We officially hit 28 weeks on Thursday (but we forgot to take a picture). I went to the doctor on Tuesday and I supposedly had only gained 1lb?! Although I think the real culprit was that my prior appt. was RIGHT after eating pizza for dinner, so I just weighed in higher in the previous appt. I'm up to 16 lbs total from my scale. :) Baby's heartbeat was loud and strong - I LOVE hearing that sound! On to the bad news though, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes this time (after getting my arm poked 4 times in 3 hours last week), so I'm off to talk to a dietician and a nurse educator on how i can improve my diet and how i'll have to monitor my blood-sugar levels every day with a monitor. I'm a bit bummed and almost insulted at this diagnosis. I know it just happens during pregnancy to some women, but I'm the one that eats veggies every lunch and dinner and fruit all the time. I pay attention to food labels. People at work have joked that my system just isn't used to sugar, so when I took the test, it was a shock to my system. Whatever the reason, the news did make me a bit emotional for a few hours.

Mother's Day weekend was like every other weekend...busy! Friday night Dave put up Ethan's new shades and a little car shelf in his new room. The room is definitely coming together and we're still aiming for Memorial Day weekend for his first sleep in there. Saturday we did swim classes and took Ethan to Elmo Live. Sunday Dave unfortunately went into work for 5 hours, but Ethan and I hung out and made cookies (not for me to eat, of course) and played. When Dave got home we spent time outside to enjoy the weather and after dinner we made Ethan's big boy bed with his car sheets and put his room in order. The only thing missing is a dresser to make it fully functional for him.

I have to mention, I'm so proud of Ethan with his swim classes these days. He is great at paddling his arms and kicking his feet. His paddling motion is more like when you sing the song, "The Wheels on the Bus", but he gets the point, that's for sure. We also go to the shallow end of the pool towards of the end of his class and all the kids get little rings that we practice putting under water and having them grab them. He's gotten as far as putting his mouth under to reach for the ring, which I think is just great. I try to keep him interested by teasing him with the ring while I put it under water. This weekend, he actually said he was okay with going under water.

Here are some Elmo pictures to enoy...

There's just not enough time!!

I honestly feel like there is just not enough time in the day, week, month, etc. lately to get things done. Dave's been done studying for 2 weeks and we still don't have the time to get everything done around the house it seems. We've definitely put a dent in preparing Ethan's new 'big boy' room (big shout out to Dave who sacrificed a good part of his birthday weekend, this weekend, to do the majority of the painting in there). Next weekend I'm hoping to get his new shades up and the room partially put together and then possibly move him into the room around Memorial Day (we're out of town the 15th and 22nd). Our other big task lately is trying to get quotes on putting a patio in...we've gotten such a late start on it, it seems we have to wait a couple of weeks to talk to the people, so we're just working it as much as we can. Other than that, I just try to keep up with the house chores as much as possible, although I sometimes feel that 75% of the space is a toy room (I'm hoping that Ethan's new room will house some of the toy run-over).

On to what you really check the blog for..pictures of the little man!

Mr. Fix-it

A quick pose by the tree in front of the house

Out with friends to celebrate Dave's 33rd bday....Yummy sushi!

Posing while out mushroom hunting with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Hickman and Dave's friend Tim

Walking with Grandpa in the forest preserve

Walking with Daddy

Grandma giving a piggy back ride (he walked quite a bit, but in the end, he wanted to be held, so this helped Mommy take a bit of a break)

Easter & Catch-up

I remember the days when I was so diligent EVERY weekend updating the blog with pics and commentary....hopefully once our lives get back to normal (i.e. Dave is done studying for his PE in 12 days) I will have a little more time for updating. Until then, please be patient. I'm sure once our next little one comes along I'll be lacking time as well.

So, here are some updated pictures from around Easter...coloring eggs, enjoying nice weather @ the park, making muffins etc.

At Home Depot - the hardware store is so much more fun in a cart like this!

Conquering the 'Big Mountain' as he called it.

Once safely up the mountain, we slide down...and repeat several times!

A new way to get to the top...Mommy was a nervous wreck and besides taking this picture had her hands right below his bottom in case he fell. Of course, he had to do it "all by myself" as he told me!

Coloring Eggs for the Bunny to hide

This egg dipper can also be glasses!

While we're up on the counter, let's make some yummy banana muffins!

Celebrating Easter with friends...egg hunt, crafts, decorating cup cakes!

Just something to add...

Ethan has really been coming out of his shell these days, even friends have been telling us. All three days this week that I took him to the park, he made a point to wave and say hi to each and every kid that passed by him. And, he even tried to make conversation, like telling them he was climbing on the 'rock mountain' as he called it or the bridge, etc. He's very proud of himself when he says hi and tells me, "I said hi to the boy" or something to that effect.

Ultrasound

Well, we had Baby #2 ultrasound this past Wednesday. All went well. The baby weighed in around 14 oz (and will grow around 2 oz/week for now I guess). So, officially will be 1 lb next week. We brought Ethan thinking he might be interested, but I'm not sure what I was thinking because even as an adult, I find it hard to see just everything on the images. But, we got some nice souvenir pictures of arms/hands, face, upper half of body. We looked away while the tech measured the leg, just in case anything were to pop out at us. :-)

The only hitch is that I got a call from the doctor yesterday and apparently I have a "low lying placenta" which could very well correct itself, but if it doesn't then I will have to have a c-section. I go back in for another ultrasound between 30-32 weeks to see what the outcome is. Everything I've read says that there are very good chances as the baby grows that the placenta will rise and allow for natural birth. I know that c-section is always a chance with any birth, but I guess it was a big shock to me to think that I'd know going into having the baby??!! Anyway, fingers crossed that when I go back in 10 weeks that all will be normal and we'll have a shot at natural birth for #2.

20 Weeks

Went to the doctor this past Monday for my 20-week. I had gained 2.5 lbs and baby's heartbeat was 144bpm. We go back on St. Patty's day for our ultrasound - can't wait! Ethan's been really cute these days, whenever he sees my bare belly, he tells me he wants to kiss the 'baby belly' (although the other day he told me I had fur on my belly?! - CRACKED ME UP!!). Hopefully he'll be as loving to his future brother/sister with the kisses!!

Here are some pictures of Ethan. Last weekend we went to visit the Hughes side. Ethan had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Dennis. He ran around playing 'tag' and got lots of tickles in.

Grandpa Rochford brought over some karate pads, that Ethan took his shot at punching and kicking. I was mighty impressed with how high he could kick with good form. :-)

I swear this kid just talks more grown up every day.

*He now tells us red means 'stop' and green means 'go' when we're sitting at stoplights.

*He used the term 'ridiculous' the other day. Which I think he's heard from me at times when he's not exactly acting like a nice little boy.

*He told me this morning that he likes to smell chocolate pudding and chocolate milk and they're 'licious' (delicious).

*I brought home a teddy bear that I got from a friend's baby shower and some of his comments were. "I love my teddy bear, he's my friend", "My teddy bear is sweet", "My teddy bears is happy, he's not crying"

*He has also turned on the manners lately without prompting. He will say, 'thank you, mama' most of the time when i get him something. We still work on 'please' when asking for something, but i'm pretty impressed!

*He also likes to get down from the table during meals and give me a kiss. Who can resist THAT!!

18 Weeks

This is a picture from last week Thursday @ 18 weeks. My next appt. is Monday, March 8th and our ultrasound is on St. Patty's day (but we're not finding out the sex). :)

Cinderella

Tonight the three of us were sitting in the Living Room where our wedding quilt hangs. I was sitting on the couch that is right under the quilt. Ethan looked at it and out of the blue said, "Mama is Cinderella"! If that's not the sweetest thing he's ever said to me!! Honestly, I didn't even know he knew who Cinderella was?? Possibly from daycare with the girls always dressing up? But, we've never seen the movie at our house!! My sweet little boy! :)

16 Weeks

This past Thursday marks 16 weeks for Baby #2. I went to the doctor last Monday and I'm measuring right where I should be. I gained 4 lbs (total of 7 so far) and the baby's heartbeat was 148bpm this time. I go back for my 20 week check-up and then our 20-week ultrasound is scheduled for March 17th. We're not finding out the sex this time either, but it will be fun to get another glimpse at the little one!!

Ethan's still doing well in his big boy bed. I think we'll probably keep him in there until Dave's done with his test in April. Once he's done, we can get his new room all painted and decorated with trucks and tractors for him. Hopefully the fun theme will make the new room more fun.

Other Ethan updates:

*His favorite game right now is to run/chase. I'm a bit bummed, because I'm not as fun of a playmate with that, considering my growing belly. But, we do have some fun at night where I hold him and we run away from Dave chasing us. We just have to take breaks in between.

*Today he was playing with all his animals in his room and moving them in bed, then off the bed and saying, "I'm big helper". I guess us praising him for helping is going to his head? :-)

*Something funny he also does lately is play with this car. It has several buttons, some that say things or make the horn honk, make it go forward etc. There is one button, shaped like a musical note that plays music. When he hits it, he picks up the car and walks around rocking left to right, to dance (as if it's a boom box or something) - HILARIOUS!!

That's about all for now...

BIG BOY BED!!

Wasn't it just yesterday that Dave was putting together the crib for our "Baby Hickman" to sleep in?? Here we are, 2+ years later (ALREADY), and we're converting this crib into a big boy bed for Ethan William Hickman!!! My baby isn't a baby anymore!

This past Friday we decided to take the plunge and convert Ethan's crib into the daybed ('big boy bed' as it's called by Ethan). I wanted to do it at the beginning of the weekend, so if we needed to go back for any reason, we weren't trying to coordinate during the work week. Ethan liked "helping" (which means, jumping all over his mattress). I honestly can't believe what a smooth transition it was though. He uses his little step-stool to jump up in bed and is just oh so proud of himself. He even stays in there once he wakes up. I've thought about telling him the little secret that he can get out of bed once he wakes up, but I think we'll keep that a secret for now.

So many questions

This was a conversation with Ethan this past weekend after I got out of the shower.

Ethan: Are you brushing your teeth, Mama?
Me: (mumbling while brushing) Yes
Ethan: are you using toothpaste?
Me: yes
Ethan: are you using my toothpaste?
Me: no, I'm using Mama's toothpaste
Ethan: are you spitting Mama?
Me: Yes, we need to spit the toothpaste out because it's yucky to swallow
Ethan: are you putting lotion on your legs mama?
Me: Yes
Ethan: are you putting lotion on your back?
Me: Yes
Ethan: are you putting lotion on your belly?
Me: Yes, putting lotion on the baby belly
Ethan: Oh...

So, there you go...my after shower routine!

Conversation with Ethan

Ethan: Should we watch Tractor Movie, Mama?

Me: No, Ethan, we've already watched enough tv for today, maybe tomorrow

Ethan: Should we watch Tractor Movie?

Me: Ethan, what did Mama say, not today. We'll talk about it tomorrow

Ethan: Are you sure??? (sweet little voice)

Me: (chuckle, as I've never heard this question before) Yes, I'm sure

Ethan: This one's my favorite (another one I've never heard before)

Yes, this boy DOES love his tractor movies!! I guess there could be other 'trash' that he liked to sit in front of every day, but I still don't want him in front of tv for hours a day. Never the less, a funny little conversation. I've heard him describe a few things since this conversation this past weekend as "his favorite".

He has talked a lot about Dave's surgery. It's the cutest little thing when he says, 'Did daddy have surgeryyyy' (getting high pitched at the end of the word surgery). For those of you that don't know...Dave had Lasik done last week.

We're talking about converting his crib into a daybed to start the transition into a big boy bed. I want him to have time to warm up to the idea of a bed he can get in and out of by himself and then move him into a new bedroom before Baby this July. I don't want to wait until last minute and have him feel like he's just being shoved off for the new arrival. I already have my eye on some construction/tractor sheets and fun decorations to make his new room feel like he'll be king of his new bedroom!! He (hopefully) won't want to sleep in the nursery anymore once I get all the goodies to decorate. All in good time..but, hopefully sometime in Feb we might try out the daybed layout.

Nothing else really new here, Dave studies and I am busy acting as an incubator for #2. :) My 4 month appt is this next Monday - can't wait to hear the little heartbeat again!!

Here are a few pics from visiting the Rochford side last weekend.