Christmas in Indiana

This year for Christmas we went up to Indiana to visit friends and family. It was different from most years in that we actually got to spend three days in Indianapolis with friends instead of only a half day as we passed through. We stayed with Dori and Tom and spent a lot of time with Kevin, Jen and Nolan as well as Matt and Erin, though somehow I think Matt and Erin totally escaped being photographed. Luke enjoyed playing with everyone, and it was interesting watching his bossy side come out with Nolan as you will see in this clip. (-:

We spent quite a bit of time explaining that Nolan could play with things to and that his mommy was the only person who should be taking things away from Nolan, Luke didn't need to help! (-:

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Luke was very happy to take pics with our camera and most of them got deleted right off the bat, but here are a few of his better ones....

Jen...

Nolan finding the remote....

Kevin...

Nolan's diaper bag.....

Luke's Thomas the train....

I took the one above, the boys had to play madden football!

Luke took this one of Tom and Dori...

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Luke also snagged Erin's camera and took over 300 pictures with it before Erin got it back! I think we will be looking at finding him one he can play with in the near future!

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We really had a good time in Indy with our friends, shopping, eating really good food, playing poker, etc. It went by really fast, and Monday morning we said good-bye and headed up to Goshen to Mimi and Papa's house!

I have not been as good about taking pics as I have been in the past, but Luke really enjoyed "helping" Papa get some of the Christmas present's ready for the other kids....

The cousins didn't get to Goshen until the 24th, so we had a lot of good time with the grandparents before that and then it was all Christmas celebrations until we left. Luke enjoyed playing with his cousins, but there were definitely some adjustments on all sides getting used to each other again. Luke is so tall that I think his older cousins expected a little more of him than he can understand at only 2.5 yrs old and he would get frustrated and then someone would come and say, "Um, Laura, Luke just __________". Most of the time it wasn't too serious, but there was once when he dumped out soil from a potted plant all over the floor at Greg's Aunt Glenda's! At least it wasn't fabric paint!

(I love Luke's face in this one!!!)

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All the kids with their stockings on Christmas morning!

Mimi wraps EVERYTHING, no matter how small, so when everything was done there were a ton of tiny scraps of paper everywhere!

The ladies sitting together with no kids, almost. Once we realized that the three of us were sitting and enjoying conversation with no kids we asked Mimi to take a picture and that drew Easton's attention so he got his head in the picture. Almost as soon as we were done taking that picture though it was time to open gifts so everyone else joined us as well.

Papa with the Boys!

Mimi with the Girls!

This year each kid got one big present from Mimi and Papa and here is Luke opening his, a system that lets you turn you tv into a kid friendly computer with about 10 different educational games for him to play. I think it may be a little advanced for him, but I am thinking it might be a good thing for us to utilize sometimes after the baby comes and Luke needs something special to do while the baby nurses.

Each person other than Mimi and Papa had their name drawn by someone else. We got Cassia this Mellissa and Doug cupcake set that has markers she can use to decorate the cupcakes as many times as she wants, pretty cool I thought!

We also had Isaac and he wanted the game Blokus which Greg was really excited to give him! Another gamer in the making!

Anna's big gift this year was an American Girl doll which brought back lots of good memories for me of me and all my girl cousins playing with our American Girl dolls in Grandma's basement each Christmas.

I also had Kathy's name and knitted her a pair of socks, her second pair from me.

Greg's name found the entire Die Hard series in one set on sale big time so Greg was really excited!

Cassia got her doll house and Easton got a Barn. Isaac's big gift was a Leapster (I think?) and some games to go with it.

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It is always amazing to me how much small kids love these singing bears that come out around the hollidays. Anita has several including caroling snowmen and this Valentine's bear. Luke has loved these things since he was just a baby and this year he added a really funny dance and made whoever was close by sing with the bear while he danced. Anyway, I thought his little dance was hillarious.

We had a really great time with friends and family and it was all over way too fast. Next time we see them there will be a new addition to our family!

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

quick update

So both Greg and Luke have felt the baby move several times now. We never did vote on an in-utero name but the options are all cookie related, chocolate chip, snicker doodle, macaroon, etc. Annette, my aunt, is voting for Mac, short for macaroon, but I haven't asked Greg yet if he has any preference. If any of you have a preference or other idea (there are lots of possibilities) post a comment and let us know!

Otherwise everything is going really well. The baby is moving all the time now and has gotten big enough that he is giving me heartburn almost every evening. When I hold crying babies at work he often wakes up to give them a few kicks which cracks me up, and of course any time I sit still a little while he gets really active. I love that feeling! It always makes me smile.

Right now Luke's two favorite games involve getting extra hugs and kisses from me. One he loves is to tell me he is going to work, then we go through the good-bye routine with hugs and kisses and telling each other how much we love the other person. Then he steps outside the door of the room for two seconds and comes back in to do it all over again. The other game involves me telling him it is time to go to sleep, giving hugs and kisses, etc. Then he closes his eyes tight and waits for me to wake him up with tickles and we do it all over again as many times as I am willing. He is super affectionate, I am so blessed, and he frequently comes up to me out of the blue and says, "mommy, I love you!" very sweetly. The funny part is that if I say I love him too he usually will say, "No! I love Mommy!" until I say, "Yes, I know, Luke loves mommy and I love Luke!" and he finally understands that I am not saying that he doesn't love me but that I love him too. (-;

We have been looking at lots of pictures lately, his other favorite thing to do, mostly on my blog or other people's blogs. He is really looking forward to going to see his Indiana family and I have been helping him remember how to say everyones' names which he likes to practice too. He and I both had really bad colds a couple of weeks ago and even though he has been feeling better for a week and a half now he still tries to get me to give him suck candy by fake coughing and telling me, "Mommy, I sick! I need suck candy!" He is pretty smart but I think I am still just a little ahead of him most of the time! ;-)

That's it for now!

Another belly pic!

11-28-10, 22 weeks 3 days

belly shot

So here is what my belly looks like today... not sure if it shows the difference very well or not, but no one is silently wondering if I am pregnant anymore, they can all see for themselves now.

long over due

Back at the end of August we took a short trip to Indiana to see family so we will start with a few pics from that trip. One of the most fun parts, and also the most photographed, was seeing the kids play so well together. They really had a blast together!

Playing soccer!

Searching for and eating the very last rasberries of the season...

Blowing a ton of bubbles, if Luke wasn't otherwise occupied that is what he always wanted to do!

We also went to a "farm" that had lots of wild animals that the kids could see and in some cases feed. Mimi and Papa paid for each of the kids to go on a camel and pony rides! Luke was ecstatic about the rides, but so tired he had a hard time waiting his turn and finding out that he only got one each!

We even got in one good family pic of all of us together!

Here is one token picture from Winfield. This year I went with Luke on my own. Greg had to work so he only made it down for Saturday during the day. At night I slept with my Mom in their pop-up camper, mostly just the three of us though Dad was there part of the time. During the day various friends and family helped me keep an eye on the busy little guy and at the end of the evening they helped me lug both sleeping boy and all our survival gear back to camp. It was hard, especially since I was still not feeling the best with the pregnancy, but it was also a really good year. Luke had a lot of fun playing with everyone and I enjoyed seeing a lot of people who are normally pretty far away.

Here is one belly picture taken over a month ago on October 6th, I guess I need to take another!

Here are a few of my sweet boy...

Luke and I played outside in the leaves about a week after Halloween, so here are a few pics of Luke!

He wouldn't jump in them with me but he did like to throw them in the air and say, "WHEEE!!!"

We carved pumpkins on Halloween with Amy, Derrick and Glen at their house in Derby, this is what they looked like one week later...

First Greg's (looks like he lost his teeth)....

And mine (in case you can't tell they are leaves, and they did look pretty good when I first did it).

Finally here are the pictures we got from our sono on Wednesday the 10th of November!!!

Face and hands!

The beginning of this pregnancy I was really sick, throwing up around 3x/day, even with medications. It was pretty miserable, I have to say, even though we were thrilled about expecting another baby after such a long wait.

The nausea finally passed around week 14 or 15 and I felt so much better that it seemed as though the whole world was better! Finally I had energy to be a parent again, I could walk into the kitchen without feeling sick, I could even cook again! Needless to say I wasn't the only one in my family grateful that I was feeling better again.

Because of all the nausea my entire family was positive that we were expecting a girl this time around. As you can see from the pics though, we are looking forward to a "baby broder" for Luke. I am really excited about having two boys in our house, I guess we will just have to try again for a girl later! (-;

Now my belly feels huge, even though it still doesn't look it. At my last weigh in about 3.5 weeks ago I still hadn't gotten back up to my pre-pregnancy weight but I had gained 1 whole pound from the month before so at least I have started moving in the right direction. Luke is super excited about this whole thing and says lots of cute things about the baby. I know it will be a big adjustment for him when the baby actually gets here, and I don't expect him to really like all of those changes, but for now it is fun to see him so excited and happy about everything. He loves to put his hand on my tummy to feel the baby, or lay his head on my tummy to listen to the baby. He likes to pretend to be the midwives we are seeing and use a flashlight like a Doppler at which point I am expected to make the sound of a baby's heart beat. He used to talk about having a baby in his tummy too, but I think now that my tummy is so much obviously bigger he has stopped for the most part. He often asks if the baby is going to come out and we always say not for a long time, it has to get bigger! He also loves looking at pictures of me when he was still inside my tummy and of himself when he was a brand new baby. I hope that looking at those pics and videos helps him have a little bit of a better picture of what this baby will be like when it first comes home, small and not able to play yet, but of course the videos don't show a lot of the things he will be faced with all of the sudden.

As I mentioned we are seeing a pair of nurse midwives who practice out of a free standing birth center in Yoder, KS, about a 40 minute drive if we stick to the speed limits. (-: I am really excited about the whole process and really am enjoying getting to know them. They have labor tubs and big comfy beds and they bake you a birthday cake when you deliver! They also have all the safety meds and equipment I would expect them to have and they have an excellent track record. They have a kitchen that you can cook food in after delivery and you don't stay there long, usually 6-24 hours after delivery depending on how you and baby are doing and what time of day you deliver. Then they do home visits for a little while and later another visit at the birth center.

Currently I am 20 weeks, at the halfway point. I can feel the little guy move now, occasionally even from the outside if I happen to have my hand there at just the right moment. Greg still hasn't gotten to feel him move yet, but I think Luke has. We haven't decided on a name yet, and probably won't tell anyone until after he is born anyways, but we are looking for an in-utero name and have gotten a few really good suggestions already. If you want to get one in I think we will decide officially on an in-utero name by Thanksgiving! (-; My favorite suggestion so far is Cookie, or something related to cookies, for a very strong wonderful woman I know.

Anyway, that's a quick update, long over due, from the Myers' house. Hope you all are well!