Baby James

Ok, a little side note - I was getting ready to type, glanced over at Cadence, and realized... she is holding her bowl of strawberries, picking up every piece, saying "No, not that" and putting them aside. I wonder if she'll ever find the one she's looking for?

On to James :) We had a 4D ultrasound at the Moore Noman Tech (thanks to Kari :)), and while we didn't get great pictures of James, we did discover some things about him.

1. He has cute ears.

2. It kinda looked like he had chubby cheeks and a pointy chin. Where did he get that?!?!?!

3. He has four fingers and a thumb on this hand. Yay!

4. He has a cute profile. Just like Cadence, his mouth opened and shut the whole time we were there. Uh oh.

5. He is camera shy - just like his Daddy. We saw him about a minute, then he turned his head completely around to my spine. No more pictures for him!

6. He is also very stubborn - just like his Daddy. We jostled, we pushed, we cajoled, I rolled over a few times... he never moved again. (Until we got to the parking lot, of course.) Oh well, we enjoyed our little sneak peak anyway :)

Can't wait to meet this fellow!

Twenty-Eight Week Pictures

Is anyone else in total and complete shock that May is already almost over? Wow! I'm really hoping summer slows down and draagggss by... but I doubt it will oblige me :)

Here are twenty-eight week pictures, quickly snapped by Tony, and absolutely adorable - at least the ones with Cadence in them!

"Cadence, where's baby James?"

"Can you give baby James a kiss?"

"Can Mama have a kiss?"

And here is the growing belly *cough* *ahem* I mean, boy:

And of course, Cadence had to pose with her 'baby James' in her tummy. Don't you love her feet? They're always popping up like that.

Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?



A Lunchtime Conversation

Today at lunch Cadence started "baaa"ing like a sheep. I said "Hey! There's a sheep at my table!"

Oops. There wound up being several sheep at my table. Then there was an elephant at my table. Then along came a chomper (alligator).

After finally eating a little more of her food, she glanced out the window, giggled, and said the "Baa" was eating the trees. I told her sheep eat grass. This started a big long dicussion about what the different animals eat. Midway through she informed me she was a sheep, and she wanted to "Outside - grass" Uh. No. Thanks anyway.

By the end she was using one hand as a fish and the other as an alligator and letting the alligator chomp the fish. I gave up. Let's just say it was a fun lunch.

Thunderstorm Love

Cadence has a love/hate relationship with thunderstorms. She hates the first few minutes, whimpering every time it thunders. But she loves the rest of it...

I wonder if that love could have anything to do with getting to sit on pillows in the entryway and eat special snacks while we watch the rain and lightning, with occasional breaks to stand up and sing "Two Little Houses by the Sea Side"????

Nah.... Probably not...

Sleepy Changes

It has been so amazing to watch Cadence gradually change her sleeping habits since she weaned. We were kind of dreading the whole process, because she's very OCD, and we assumed it would be a difficult transition. Instead, she's just kind of done it on her own, relaxing more and more each night. It's been fun to go in and see, "How is she sleeping tonight?"

From basically her birth to a few weeks after she weaned, she always swaddled to sleep. She liked being very tight and cozy. We would lay her down almost asleep, and she would roll over and go to sleep.

November 2010

Here she is on her birthday, a day she was apparently to tired to even roll over.

February 27, 2011

After a bit she started unswaddling herself after we layed her down, but she still cozied up to this same corner of the crib and slept in a tight little ball - basically using the bumper pad to swaddle herself.

March 2011

About the beginning of April she stopped wanting to be swaddled at all. She still had to have her blanket (two, in fact), but she just had me drape them over her.

Then the other day I went in to get her from a nap on Sunday afternoon, and just about fell over. She was asleep on the opposite side of the crib, not pressed up against anything, neatly covered and using her tiger as a pillow. Yikes! Talk about changes! I would say she is definately more flexible about her sleep now - and hey, tigers do make the best pillows ;)

End of April, 2011

I made a scrapbook page, but didn't think you would be able to read the journaling very well :)



24 Week Pictures - Almost Two Weeks Later :)

After I took these pictures, I realized Cadence is in the background in almost every single one of them - holding her belly. Ha! I cracked up.

For this one she wanted to pose by herself. I suppose this just validates, in her mind, her firmly held belief that there is a James in her tummy too.

Happy six months along everyone! We're starting to get really excited about meeting this little boy of ours!

Stretching

A week or so ago, I figured something out. I'd been feeling kind of down and discouraged, sort of groggy physically and emotionally. I couldn't figure out a particular reason, and just assumed I was less energetic because this is my second pregnancy instead of my first. Then I realized, I'm not treating my body right like I did the first time. And if my body isn't getting treated right, my emotions are going to drag too.

So I started taking care of myself physically. I stretch every day, take my vitamins (when I remember) and exercise three or four times a week.

Sure enough, it has lifted my spirits too.

After all, how can you resist being happy when you this every day??!!

Leg stretches

Toe touches

Splits - she can go almost all the way down before she falls, I caught her midway.

Leg and lower back stretch.

More toe touching - it's one of her favorites.

Arm stretches

What can I say? It's hard to be down in the dumps when you're laughing!

End of April Pictures

This is the rose bush Gramma gave to Cadence when she was born - can you believe it's been two years?? Look how much they've grown and how beatiful they are :)

Cadence and Grace playing in the sand.

Some of these I've already posted in a seperate Easter blog, but I didn't bother to check, I just chose some of my favorites :)

Look, I found an egg!

Playing cars... "Vrrrrrmmm.... vrrrmmm...."

Her first Easter basket:

Cadence got help me make bread. It's been forever since I made bread, so it was fun for both of us. And, even though it makes a huge two loaf batch, it's already gone - I guess that's what I get for having not made it in a while.

Adding more flour to her hands.

"Push... push..." (She loves to narrate everything she's doing)

Aren't they adorable? A rare still moment - and no, neither of them are actually asleep. Cadence had just been woken up from a rough nap time and needed lots of cuddles - which Tony and I gladly gave.

Walking all over Daddy ;)