It's a. . .

BOY!  I think my first reaction was shock, follow by relief.  I'm not sure where the relief came from, but I'm assuming it came from knowing, on some small level, what to do with a little boy and knowing that we don't need to buy lots of clothes or repaint the baby room/guest room (which currently has a blue accent wall).  However, as it sinks in a little more I have mixed thoughts about it.  I never saw myself as "boy mom" but I guess I never thought about it too much either way (boy mom/girl mom/both).  At any rate now we will have a house full of boys, so Loki and I will have to band together.  And Gabriel will get bunk beds when he ditches the baby furniture soon to pass down to his little brother.

Everything looked great on the ultrasound, but apparently he's measuring a little big so my due date may be off by a little bit (not that that particular date means much.  He'll come when he's ready).  He also would not stay in an ideal position for looking at everything so I'm going to have another ultrasound in about 3 weeks to get some better anatomy on the heart and lower spine.  For most of the scan he had both legs up around his head and was peeking his mouth out between his knees making cute faces.

 As far as I'm concerned I started feeling sick again this week.  I am really hoping that it's just a little viral thing, but the fact that I wasn't hungry all week and the thought of just about anything makes me sick makes me wonder otherwise.  I know some people are sick for the majority of their pregnancy, but maybe the fact that I feel better today means it was just an off week and I don't have 20 more weeks of this feeling to look forward to.  Lastly (for anyone who gets grossed out stop reading) it seems that I developed a hernia at some point when I was pregnant or delivering Gabriel.  I noticed it several weeks ago and went to the OB about it the next week.  It's very small and will hopefully go away after this baby is born as well, but there is the possibility that it could get to be more of a problem over the next few months.  They are just going to keep an eye on it.  She told me not to lift anything heavy (but that since I'm used to lifting a 30 pound toddler not to stop doing that for now - thankfully), but no other heavy lifting or strenuous abdominal stuff.  So, if you were going to ask me to help you come move in the next few months I have a good excuse to decline ;)

I am really starting to be able to feel little man kick around in there, especially in the evening before I go to bed.  I guess he's a night owl already.  Other than that everything is moving along fine!

Someone is Getting Too Big

One reason why I wish that I made time to write on here more is because Gabriel is always saying the funniest or cutest things.  I don't want to forget any of it and the fact that I will makes me a little sad.  It seems like every day he learns something new and finds some goofy way to express it.  He amazingly has started to say "yes" sometimes (thought he only knew "NO") and when you ask him something he isn't sure about he says in a very goofy voice "I don't know."  He's also a big fan of saying "I can do it myself!"  He talks constantly.

Favorite things to watch right now include Mickey Mouse, anything Pixar (especially finding Nemo or the Incredibles), Planet Earth, and most recently Star Wars.  He learns a lot from those Planet Earth DVDs.  We watched one a while ago where you see fungus growing at a sped up rate.  He was so fascinated.  At first he said "fungus is gross!"  Then I explained that I like fungus on salad so he decided it was ok.  We ate a salad the next night with mushrooms on it and he woke up the next day proclaiming "I ate a lot of fungus!!"

Gabriel is a constant bunch of energy.  Never stopping unless there is a show that he likes to watch.  He likes going to the mall (he thinks that wandering around Dick's Sporting Goods is really exciting because, in his words, "it's cool").  He also likes getting soft pretzels.  Yum.  He loves Chick-fil-a and playing in their Play Place.  It has been a long time goal of his to be able to climb to the top of the Play Place and go down the slide.  A couple weeks back he accomplished this task.  He was so proud of himself.  And it made his mommy want to cry.  He's getting too big and independent. 

All of the climbing is a lot of work. Someone had to stop and take a break

A few weeks ago Gabriel was crying in the middle of the night and it seems that he was having a bad dream (which happens sometimes).  I went in and picked him up.  He kept crying but when he finally woke up his eyes popped open, he looked straight at me and proclaimed "I want butter on my biscuits!"  I don't know why I found that to be so funny but I did.

Another serious fascination for Gabriel has become his music.  We bought him two new CDs (because his other music was getting a little old).  A compilation of Pixar songs and a Piano Guys album.  He loves both, but the Piano Guys certainly wins out.  He wants to listen to "Cello Wars" over and over and over again (which led to his interest in Star Wars, being Darth Vader, and trying to make sounds like a Wookie) as well as "Code Name Vivaldi" and "Beethoven's 5 Secrets".  He also loves to sing hymns with "Amazing Grace" being a bedtime favorite.  I was singing that to him before his nap today and when we got to his favorite verse we sang "The Lord has promised good to me. . ." and he interrupted and shouted "Oh! Like apples!  Apples are good!"

Nap time has changed over the last month.  While it still happens every day (so thankful for that!) he doesn't just drift off quietly.  He usually sit in his bed reading himself books for a while.  Sometimes I have to go in there and remind him that he needs to to go sleep, but ultimately him learning to have some quiet time each day is a great thing in my book. 

Other activities he enjoys are playing at the children's museum, storytime at the library, going to the park, and his weekly Romp and Roll class (I think that he's more fascinated by his teacher than playing there sometimes.  He adores "Miss Jessica"), 

And now for a few more random pictures:

VT baseball game

He said he was "sitting like Daddy"

Reading in the car.  Something I realize I need to
discourage because he has a tendency to get car sick.  Yuck

Playing with Play-Doh with his new "Mousekatool" Play-Doh toys.  He saw these at a store one day so I bought them for Easter.  He kept reminding me that I had bought them and that he wanted to play with them.  He remembered for a month.  I'm surprised at the things that he remembers sometimes.

Reading in the nursery at church

Not able to hold still for a picture on Easter

Baby Rollo #2

So, it has again been a while since anything has been posted here.  But we did find out about some big news about 19 weeks ago. . .

Part of me feels bad that we haven't posted things on here like we did when I was pregnant with Gabriel, but this doesn't come from a lack of excitement over the whole thing.  It's just different since we know better what to expect AND because I don't want to take a picture every week of my growing self (which seems much larger than it was at this point last time around).

The beginning of the pregnancy was harder.  I felt much sicker than I did with Gabriel, plus there isn't the opportunity to rest whenever I'm not working like I had last time around (for some reason toddlers don't understand the concept of doing nothing all morning).  Thankfully though I have felt much better the last few weeks and have a little more energy.  

We attempted to explain to Gabriel a couple months ago that another baby was coming.  His response was so cute.  He of course asked where the baby was.  We told him it was in Mommy's tummy.  So, he pulled up my shirt, looked in my belly button and said "Oh.  The baby is sleeping."  He later told me that the baby was in his pocket.  He also lifted up his shirt at church and told some girls that the baby was sleeping in HIS tummy.  Funny boy. 

Thankfully, there is nothing else too exciting to report about this.  The due date is August 28th and we find out if it's a boy or a girl in a little over a week!  

Christmas 2014

Yes, it is the middle of January, so it's time to post some Christmas memories.  Over the Christmas season I actually put a few little things in my phone that I wanted to remember about Gabriel's experience, so I really just want to get them down here so I don't forget that.  So, it will be random, but it's my attempt to remember certain things that were important to me.

It snowed a couple days before Thanksgiving.  He wasn't a big fan of being out in the wet cold.  I don't blame him

Gabriel really enjoyed Christmas this year, as I think it was the first time he could really understand that there was something "different" going on.  He loved the music especially.  He wanted to hear/sing over and over and over again Angels We Have Heard on High (especially the Piano Guys version), Silent Night, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and sometimes Away in a Manger.  One time he got a little mixed up and wanted me to sing "Jesus loves the Red Nosed Reindeer."  His favorite Christmas album was the Piano Guys Christmas though.  He often wanted to hear "Piano Guys Angels Heard on High," "Number 3," and "Number 6".  He didn't know all the names but he knew what songs he liked the best.

He had fun decorating the tree and also in the weeks after playing with the ornaments.  We tried to only let him have 1 ornament at a time, but sometime he got too excited about them and ended up with a couple

We tried to do some fun holiday things around here.  One night we went to the Inn at Virginia Tech and we looked at all of their decorated trees.  He had a good time running around pointing things out on each tree.  However, amid all of the pretty trees he ran up to a gold pole holding a restaurant menu and proclaimed "It's beautiful!"  Apparently to him that's just as pretty as a decorated and lit up tree.

Ho Ho Ho

One Sunday at church we lit the Advent candle.  As Taylor was reading the passage I was holding Gabriel and lighting the candle.  We don't really light candles in our house (for obvious reasons), so I wasn't really even sure if he knew what a candle was, but when he saw me reaching out to light it he said in a very serious voice, "It's hot! Don't touch it!"  For anyone in church that day I apologize that I don't remember the passage that was read or anything but trying not to laugh loudly.

Cupcake!

Hannah Kate's first birthday was the day before Christmas and Gabriel had so much fun at her party.  He really didn't understand though why all of the cupcakes had to sit on the table and wait to be eaten.  He kept saying "I need a cupcake!".  It was worth the wait.  He also actually sang "Happy Birthday" for the first time and he was still singing "Happy Birthday Hannah Kate" days later.  He randomly sang it again the other day.  It's apparently a great song.

Look at Hannah's presents!

Side note: I may call Hannah Kate "sweetie" too often because now when we Facetime with her Gabriel says "Hi Sweetie!" to her.

Gabriel has hot chocolate for the first time on Christmas Eve while watching "A Muppet Christmas Carol."  He had recently seen an episode of "Bear in the Big Blue House" where they have hot cocoa and seems fascinated.  I guess he didn't realize that cocoa and chocolate were the same thing because he said many times "I drink hot cocoa.  It's chocolate!"

Pop Pop is a funny guy

Every year since Taylor and I have been married we have eaten on Christmas Eve or Christmas at Waffle House.  This year when we told Gabriel that we were going to Waffle House he said "Go Waffles House?  Go Bacons House?  I eat them."

This memory has nothing to do with Christmas in particular but it happened while we were in Atlanta for Christmas.  We were eating at Panda Express (yummy) and Gabriel kept asking us about various animals.  He would say "what does the dog say?" We would respond with, "I don't know Gabriel, what does the dog say?" He would say "Ruff!"  This continued with many different animals and noises.  He finally said "what does the mommy say?"  I was scared as to what would come out of his mouth, but when I said "I don't know, what does the mommy say" he responded with "I love you!"  So sweet and such a relief that he didn't choose one of the less than ideal things that I sometimes say.

Grandma Cheryl!

While I have to say our trip to Atlanta at Christmas was one of the best trips we've had down there as a family, we could have done without Gabriel's first ER visit.  On 12/23 he tripped on a step and minorly bonked his head.  This kid hits his head on a regular basis climbing on things and I was not in the slightest concerned over this one.  However, he threw a major fit afterwards and then fell asleep on me.  When he woke up he proceeded to start with some serious vomiting (I again apologize to John and Sue for their carpet).  We started driving towards the ER and he got so pale and groggy.  He scared us.  Apparently he got a little stomach virus with some bad timing.  Part of me is glad we were in Atlanta though because CHOA is awesome.  They took good care of him and we're so thankful that he was fine by the next day.

I can almost fit this in my mouth

Gabriel thought that opening presents was super fun.  At one point he had been ripping so much paper (opening his presents and other people's who offered to let him help) that he stood up and yelled "more presents!"  He was in a ripping coma it seemed.

You can never go wrong with a book containing Jessie and Woody

I'm so glad that he had a fun time with family and didn't want to come back home (sometimes when we're gone he frequently asks to go back home).  He still talks about seeing everyone, especially the babies.  I have to say though, one of my favorite things of all was when we did my family Christmas he pulled a bell off of Stephanie's Christmas tree and led everyone in singing "Jingle Bells" and "Frosty the Snowman."  He looked so happy and proud of himself.  He's becoming such a sweet big boy.

I love my new kitchen!

Happy Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday sweet boy!  We aren't going to have cake until tomorrow, but I couldn't let the day go by without posting some of my favorite pictures (it was hard to pick!)