What a day. I spent 2 1/2 hours
entertaining a 1yr old at a construction site. Talk about
draining! I was also torn because there is so much to do at the
house and I really wanted to get a few quick things done, but
alas, that rarely happens with Lex around. I was able to get
one thing done and then we spent a lot of time outside, playing
in the leaves, chasing the neighbor’s cat and detouring Lex
back into our yard. We met a new neighbor in the last 1/2 hour.
Her and her 10-ish yr old son came over and played. He asked if
he could rake our leaves and play in them. We have a ton of
leaves. Lex loved it! The boy made a big pile and then took
turns with Lex hiding in it. It was cute. I was kicking myself
for not having the camera. I even thought about bringing it on
my way out, but was already so loaded down I decided not to
bother. I could have taken some really nice autumn photos today
:/

And, after all of that, the cable
guy never even showed up! I ended up leaving 45 minutes past
the time-frame I was given and he hadn’t called or showed up :(
Things are always complicated.

Geez… leave the men in this family alone
in the kitchen for a few hours and look at what happens!! Yes, that is the stove and
fridge in the dining room. :) I was actually amazed at how
quickly they got the whole place torn out. Poor Lex, the
littlest man, was stuck at the fabric store with the women. He
was none too pleased :)

We had an
electrician come out today to see what we need done. He’s going
to come over a few more times this week to actually do the
work. Not surprisingly, the project grows every day. We keep
reminding ourselves that it’s better to do it right now (while
the whole place is torn apart anyway) than to try and do it
right later after we’ve already moved in.

I’m so excited though. The closing went smoothly, the work
started promptly, and they are making great progress. Yay, we
have a house!

PS. When we left
the house this afternoon, Lex said “bye house.” It was so clear
and well spoken :)

Here is the first glimpse of
the newest addition to our pumpkin patch. In the second picture
baby’s near arm is lying at its side and the far hand is on
baby’s forehead. Looks pretty comfy, huh? Silly baby doesn’t
know yet that it’s gonna get pretty snug in there.

The whole appointment thing was actually kind
of annoying today. Since it was a short-notice schedule, we had
to take a 2pm appointment. I generally try to do first thing in
the morning because they aren’t running behind and Lex is well
rested. Two very good things at a doctor’s appointment. Sadly
2pm is smack in the middle of naptime and apparently quite busy
for the docs as well. The ultrasound itself went smooth enough,
and confirmed my existing due date — to the day! The midwife
was worried that their estimate was off, so she wanted this
early ultrasound to confirm. I guess the earlier the better
when you’re trying to determine conception. As the baby gets
bigger the normal size variations start to develop and it’s
harder to determine the due date. So, anyway, to the day, the
ultrasound confirmed March 25th. Which makes me (according to
the tech) 14 weeks and 3 days pregnant. How precise. The
annoying part was the follow up appointment. Alan went back to
work, so a very tired Lex and I waited (in the little examining
room, not the big comfy waiting room) for 25 minutes for the
midwife. Then she finally came in and said “Well, everything
looks fine. Any questions?” I said “no” and that was the end of
it. A 25 minute wait and a 2 minute appointment. Thankfully Lex
is an angel, even when tired. He did escape from me once at the
end when I was booking my follow-up appointments, but a
friendly nurse grabbed him and brought him back :) One other
nice thing is that I was able to schedule my next appointment
immediately following Lex’s 18 month check up in November.
Actually, I have another ultratsound (normal 18wk one) in
October, but my next, next appoinment is after his in November.
I’m hoping there are no delays with his, but it’s at 8:30 in
the morning and they are usually pretty prompt then. I always
go for the 8:00 or 8:30am appointments :)

Ok, gotta clean and get ready for another busy day. Just
two more days until we are homeowners again!!!

We went shopping yesterday and I got the
mail on the way out. In the mail we had a Craftsman catalog so,
just being silly, I handed it to Lex to read. He loved it! The
whole way to the store he was turning pages and saying “wouw”
(he throws in that extra ‘u’ a lot). At one point he had thrown
the catalog off to the side, but had some sort of pull-out
feature that he was wowing over and perusing carefully.

I also jinxed myself last week. I was telling
someone how Lex knows how to climb, but hasn’t really
discovered a love of it yet… The next day he started pushing
chairs over to the counter and climbing up to “help” me. If I’m
near a counter for more than a second he’s right there with the
chair trying to help. He also now uses the chair to get on the
table and more. Silly monkey. We’ve begun a whole new phase of
childproofing.

We discovered on our trip this weekend
that all three of Lex’s plugs have become dangerous. The
silicon nipple started separating from the plastic base,
creating a good choking hazard. Alan and I debated last night
about what to do, and decided that today’s the day we toss the
plugs. I got them all cleaned up so Lex could give them a final
suck and he and I sat down this morning to say goodbye. I told
him he’s a big boy now (16 months today!) and too old for plugs
so we have to throw them away. We normally don’t let Lex put
things in the garbage can, so when I held up a plug and asked
him to put it in the trash, he was thrilled! He took each one
from my hand and happily threw it away. Silly boy had no idea
what he was really doing. I kept a close eye on him for the
rest of the morning, half expecting him to go over and try to
get them back again. When I put him down for a nap he cried and
asked for his plug, but I reminded him that we threw them away
and he is a big boy now. The crying lasted for just under 1/2
hour and he’s sleeping peacefully now. Yay! I think throwing
away was necessary for both of us — he knows they are gone and
I can’t be weak and give in to his crying.

This is how I
found Lex after his nap today.

The good news of the day is that there’s a
baby in there with a good strong heartbeat. The midwife is
still unsure of the due date estimate though, so I get an early
ultrasound next Wednesday. Cool, huh? It’s gonna cost me a
fortune (crappy insurance), but I’m excited to see baby a
little earlier than originally planned. This early one will
allow them to set a more precise due date, then I’ll also have
the routine one at the 18 week mark. I’m excited.

The neat (and weird) thing about this
pregnancy is that, because it follows so closely behind my
first one, I find myself a little less excited about
everything. Don’t ever tell baby two, of course! :) I remember
when we first heard Lex’s heartbeat Alan and I were so excited
and eager. This time around we knew what we were listening for
(the helicopter sound) and waited patiently. I even found
myself watching Lex to see how he’d react. I’m just as happy to
have another, but I guess the thrill of newness just isn’t
there anymore. Weird. Now the newness is how Lex will react to
everything :)

Ok, I guess I’m posting pictures by demand
now. You know what they say about the squeaky wheel :) Anyway,
many people have been asking for pictures from Grandma’s party
and I figured now enough time has passed that we can look at
photos and reminisce :) Sooo…. without further ado… photos from
Grandma’s party.

We are in the 11th week now and the weight
gain has begun. As with my first pregnancy, I lost several
pounds in the beginning, but now we’re going back up. Because
I’m overweight to begin with, they recommended I gain 25lbs
with Lex. Sadly I gained 33lbs and it was sooo much harder than
I ever expected to lose it again. This time they recommeded
15lbs. We’ll see about that :) I broke out the maternity pants
today though. The past few days I’ve been wearing my jeans
unbuttoned or some running pants I have (not that I ever run in
them). Today we are having company though, so I need to be a
little more presentable. And I need to clean the house!!

Anyway, another thing that just started
happening is that when I lay on my belly I can feel a tiny
lump. Almost like I’m lying on someting in the bed, but it’s
just baby two :) That’s a fun feeling. I was reading the baby
Zig blog to see how all of this compared to the first time
around, but turns out I didn’t start that blog until 22 weeks,
so we’ll never know.

PS>
Lex took a great nap yesterday afternoon and when we woke up
one bump was almost gone and the other much smaller. We all had
a bad night last night, but I don’t think it was head-injury
related :)

Lex gave me a good scare today. He fell of
the bed backwards, not the first time and I’m sure it won’t be
the last, but this time he got two big welts on the back of his
head. All of the other times he’s fallen (yes, he’s an active
boy) he maybe got red marks, but nothing more. This time two
quarter-sized welts popped up immediately, one purple and one
with a red line through it like it almost broke skin, but not
quite. Needless to say he screamed (which is good) and resisted
the ice pack I tried to use. Meanwhile I got right on the phone
with the pedi’s office. I was really scared and ready to take
him into the emergency room! Silly mommy. The nurse was very
nice and said that as long as he is conscience (yep) and not
vomiting (nope) then there’s no need to bring him in. She told
me a few things to watch for and suggested we watch a little TV
while he reclines on my chest (with ice pack between us). Very
smart nurse. I made up a bag of ice and he snuggled his head
right in to it for 1/2 hour of Baby Einstein. It was scary. I’m
gonna have to toughen up though, I’m sure, as he gets older and
more rambunctious I’m sure there will be many more scary
moments.