The Phipps

A Year Worth of Pictures

2011-07-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

So, needless to say, I was completely overwhelmed by the transition from one child to two children. Around Blayze's 1/2 birthday I felt like things began to settle down, however I still wasn't able to get the blog caught up. So here is my attempt at catching things up. There will not be long detailed posts as I used to be able to do, partly because I have so many pictures/events to add and partly because I just don't remember all the details anymore...sad, I know, but hopefully the blurbs will be telling enough to jog my memory in the future. I will post the pictures by month and do other posts by age with one post with blurbs about all of Blayze's milestones thus far, hard to believe he will be 1 in a month!! So, enjoy and keep checking back often until I am caught up :o)

Kai is 2 1/2 years old!!

2010-11-30T19:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the things Kai is saying at 2 1/2 years old:
No my stay home, you go you self mommy
No my don't or Yes my do
Yes, my am listening
My wuvs u Bwayze
You have a good sweep (sleep) Bwayze? (When he wakes up in the morning)
No, my good
My fine
Mamma mamma howd (hold) me
Good job Bwayze, good burps
Bwayzerton
Bwayze Archie
My sad
My miss u Daddy
My frustrated
No you hackin' me off Daddy (something he picked up from Greg)
My superfast
Super Why, power to read save the day (One of his favorite PBS shows right now)
In Kai's pretend play he has started to have his toys talk to each other and I overheard him saying, "That not nice you no listen my words," which is something we say to him often.
You miss you mommy? Omie miss PopPop (this was after we took my mom to the airport when she visited for Blayze's birth and I cried on the way home. We also talked about how Omie had to go home to see PopPop because she missed him.)
My need tell u sumpin'
Shut up stupid (which he picked up from a Toy Story movie, ugh)
My tan't (can't)
Come on play
Go bookstore or Go toy store
No way or Yes way
Wuv u too, so much mommy
Sucka dog (also something he picked up from Greg)
Don't say that, that not nice word
Let's do it!
That weird
Burp me mommy!
Let's play throw or Play kick

Kai talks a lot about video chatting with family members. Sometimes he will say, "My no want to video chat, my want see him!"
Kai also talks a lot about me breastfeeding Blayze. He will talk about him having milk in his boobies and daddy having milk in his boobies to feed Blayze. We have lots of conversations about how only mommies can do that :o)
When my mom was here for Blayze's birth there was one time that we talked to my dad and he was having meatballs for dinner. Ever since then Kai has wanted to call PopPop to see if he is eating meatballs for dinner, which he thinks is the funniest thing ever!
Kai will fist bump people and say "pshhh" after he does it.
Kai now sings verses of songs including Twinkle, Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider and ABCs.
He dances by stomping his feet and kicking his leg.
Kai was in Liz and Mark's wedding and still talks about going back to their "party".
We have been getting into the routine of praying at night with Kai. One night this month he prayed that he was thankful for our friend Kristen from church before saying thanks for Mommy and Daddy, it was super sweet!
Kai has been having bad dreams about dragons lately. He will wake up and call out for us and when we ask what's going on he always talks about dragons...we are not sure where this has come from.
Our friend Jason was over one night and playing with Kai he picked up the Lightning McQueen car and said, "Ker chow!" Kai corrected him quickly by saying, "No! Ka-chow!!" Jason was schooled by a 2 year old :o)

We continue to be amazed by the things Kai says and understands! It is so fun to watch him grow and we are so thankful to be his parents!!

November 2010

2010-11-30T19:14:00.000-08:00

Visit from Omie and PopPop

My parents came to visit for a weekend in November for my dad to meet Blayze for the first time and for them to celebrate Blayze's baptism with us. We did some family pictures, impromptu leaf pictures and TRIED to get some brother pictures, however those didn't go so well as you will see!

Blayze's Baptism

Blayze was baptized at our new church, Hope Chapel, on Sunday, November 21st, where we became members earlier this month. My parents and lots of friends joined us to celebrate the special day. Blayze wore, just like Kai and everyone else on my mom's side of the family, the gown which is now about 90 years old! We were also given the bowl that held the baptism water to be given to Blayze some day as a reminder of his baptism. Everyone came to our house for pizza, salad and cake afterward and enjoyed some time in the leaves out front! It was a great day!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at the Pell's again this year, but ended up with only a couple of pictures, I guess Greg didn't bring his camera! We had a great time with friends celebrating this year, especially since we had to miss out on this tradition last year!!

2 Months Old

2010-11-10T19:39:00.000-08:00

At Blayze's 2 month check up he was 13 lbs 9 oz and 24 1/2 inches long, both of which are in the 90th percentile! He had 3 shots and 1 by mouth, he cried but quickly recovered. He had his first tylenol and slept a lot! Here are the pictures of him with his first band-aids! The shirt he has on is very fitting :o)

October 2010

2010-10-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

First Outing as a Family of Four to the Transportation Museum!
Kai loved riding the train and trolley and Blayze slept through most of it!

Liz and Mark's Wedding!!
Kai was the ring bearer in our friends Liz and Mark's wedding. Liz is the one that watched Kai for us often so that we could have a date, thank you! Kai would not go down the aisle by himself at the rehearsal, so we had to figure out a way to motivate him for the day of the wedding :o) We ended up getting him the Sheriff car from Cars and told him he could have it if he made to Mommy who was sitting on the second row. He made it to me (but not all the way to the front with Liz and Mark) and got his reward. Then he sat quietly through the ceremony with candy and thankfully it was a short one! He looked super cute and it was great to get to be a part of their day in this way!!

The Pumpkin Patch
We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch this year as family of four. We enjoyed a tractor ride, a ride in the cow train and the corn bins as always!

Halloween Fun!
We carved pumpkins, made jack-o-lantern cookies (Kai ate more than he decorated :o) and trick-or-treated with the Pells! Kai chose his costume this year, an elephant, so we found a cute tiger outfit for Blayze and they were our wild animals (a somewhat fitting description of them :o) The Pells were dressing up with their kids so Greg and I joined in...he was the tiger tamer and I was the elephant trainer, it was fun!

Random Pictures
Blayze trying to lift his head and see in the mirror, hanging out with Kai, looking sweet, sleeping, chatting with the dinosaurs (he was cooing at them like crazy!) and Daddy giving Blayze his first bottle (he drank it like a champ!).

Photo Shoot with Daddy

September 2010

2010-09-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

My mom was at our house the first week of Blayze's life and then my sister joined us the 2nd week! So thankful for all their help with Kai and Blayze!! Some firsts including first photo shoot with Daddy, first matching outfit with Kai, first gift from Kai (orange dinosaur), first baths (before and after losing his umbilical cord), first stroller ride and first trip to the Science Center.

Blayze's Birth Story and More Pictures from the Hospital

2010-09-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

The night before I went into labor we spent time with our good friends, the Pells, Windsors and Duffys, eating at Natty Greene's downtown. I had a spicy sandwich and lots of pineapple for dinner. Then we took a long walk down to Center City Park, I was very ready for Blayze to arrive, so I was trying it all. I told them before we left that night that I hoped the next place they all saw us was the hospital, and it was :o) On Monday morning, Sept. 6th, I was awake from 2-3:30 am. Around 4 am is when I think my water broke, but didn't realize it at the time so slept in until 7 am. I went to the bathroom when I woke up and wondered if my water had broken. I called my doctor's office and the nurse recommended coming to hospital to check it out. So we got all of ours and Kai's things together and took Kai to Pells house. It was great because I wasn't in any pain or full labor and so we were able to take our time to get Kai settled in at their before leaving him for the day and night. We arrived at Women's Hospital about 8 a.m. At the hospital they checked me and told us, "Well, you're going to be in labor on Labor Day!" My water had broken and I was dilated to 3 cm and 70% effaced. We were then admitted but I wasn't feeling any contractions at that point so they recommended walking some to see if they would get going. So we walked the halls, I called my mom, played some games on my iPhone and had popsicles until about 1 p.m. At that point they checked and I still hadn't made any progress, so they started the pitocin. Well once that got into my system it started moving things along and by 3 p.m. I was dilated 4/5 cm and 90% effaced and 0 station. At 3:30 I asked for an epidural due to the pain. With Kai my water didn't break until I was at 10 cm and so I made it through the contractions until I was an 8 without meds, this was a totally different experience since my water was already broken, much more painful more quickly! At 4 p.m. I was dilated to 7 cm and the nurse predicted Blayze would be born by 6 p.m. The nurse was going to leave the room for awhile, however I was feeling lots of pressure and asked if she would stay, so she did, thankfully! By 4:40 p.m. I started pushing and Blayze was delivered at 5:08 p.m. Blayze was delivered by a midwife from my doctor's office, Donna, and she did an amazing job! This birth experience was very different from Kai's (pushing for 4 hours and the doctor walking in at the last minute asking us to decide about using a vacuum). Donna came in around 4 p.m. also and stayed and talked me through things along with our nurse Kim. Blayze was 21 1/2 inches long and 7 lbs 11 ounces. A little bigger than Kai, but no where as big as they predicted through most of the pregnancy (8 1/2-9 lbs!). We held Blayze for awhile and I fed him, he did great with that latching right on. At 6 p.m. they took Blayze to the nursery and Greg went with him. I was STARVING (one piece of toast for breakfast) and so I had a hospital turkey sandwich and it was the best tasting turkey sandwich I had ever had (even though I would probably never eat that there on any other day :o) We were moved to our room at 7 p.m. and the Pells brought Kai up around 7:15 p.m. and the Wulffs joined us. Kai got to see Blayze and Daddy through the nursery window and came to visit me in the room. We didn't know when Blayze would be done in the nursery and Kai was excited about a sleepover with Emma and Johnny, so they left around 8 p.m. My mom was on a plane at that point and set to arrive around midnight. She would pick Kai up after the sleepover the next morning. Blayze came to our room at 8:30 p.m. and we rested until my mom arrived at midnight. The next day several friends stopped by including the Van Patters, Williams, Windsors, Pells and friends from work. Mom went to pick up Kai that morning and brought him to the hospital to meet Blayze. Kai was very excited and so sweet! He just wanted to kiss him and hold him. We had read you should give your older child a gift from the younger child when he is born and so Blayze gave Kai the train Hiro, which he loved! Mom and Kai went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then back to the house for a nap. Blayze was circumcised around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday and had his hearing screened. He passed in his right ear, but not the left and so he would need to be screened again on Wednesday before we left. This made me a little nervous because of what I do and all that not passing could possibly mean, but the nurse reassured us lots of babies don't pass on the first try. Mom and Kai brought us all pizza for dinner and we enjoyed hanging out. Kai was excited that night to have a sleepover at our house with Omie! They watched Cars together and mom gave him some new Cars pajamas she had brought for him. I think they ended up both sleeping in our bed that night :o) Greg talked to his mom and sister that day on the phone and they were excited for all of us. Wednesday morning Blayze passed the hearing screening in his left ear and the pediatrician and my doctor cleared us all to go home. The "going home outfit" that I had picked out was way too big for Blayze, so we tried it on, got some pictures and put the second choice on which fit perfect and was just as cute! We left the hospital around 11 a.m. and were glad to get back to our house, now as a family of 4!!

Family Pictures by Alexa

2010-09-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

These were the family pictures we had taken by one of Greg's photographer friend Alexa in July before Blayze was born. They turned out great even though it was fitting that it was blazing hot that morning!!

Introducing Blayze Archer Phipps

2010-09-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

Born on Labor Day, September 6, 2010 at 5:08 p.m. weighing 7 lbs., 11 oz, 21 1/2 inches long with brown hair and gray eyes.

I love this picture! It is me holding my phone with a picture of Kai on it as a newborn in the exact same position as Blayze is in in my arms, awww brothers :o)

First Day of Preschool 2010

2010-09-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

Kai had his first day of preschool in the 2 year old classroom today! When I asked Kai about what he would like to have on a new shirt for the first day of school he said a dinosaur, so that's what we found :o) He has his same school bag and lunch box this year and was super excited to go to school this morning. Most of the morning Kai said to us, "Ready go?" We took pictures before we left and when we told him it was time to take a picture with mommy Kai immediately raised up his shirt for a belly picture, it was so funny! Kai's teachers are both new to the preschool this year and about half of the kids in his class were in his class last year, which is nice. He will go 3 mornings a week (M,W,F) from 9-1 this year which should be good also. He enjoys school and it will be nice for him to have somewhere fun to go 3 mornings a week and for me to have some time this fall one-on-one with Blayze after he arrives. Kai's favorite friend Everett is in his class and he looks forward to going to school to see him each day. Kai was a little hesitant entering the classroom this morning but quickly found lots of new toys and had no problem with us leaving. We had Kai's parent teacher conference after his first day and his teachers said he had a great day and really enjoyed the playdoh and playing outside. Just like last year, I typed up all the answers to the teacher's questions and added some extra things for the teachers to know about our family and Kai. Greg commented about my craziness again this year, and I told him to get used to it :o)

Here are a few of the answers from the questionnaire this year:

What is your child’s favorite thing to do?
Play trains and/or cars, go to the park, go to the toy store, go see the animals at the Natural Science Center or Zoo, watch movies

What comforts your child?
Hugs/Kisses, talking with him about what happened (acknowledging and labeling his feelings), Blue (his blanket)

About Kai-
Kai is initially shy with new people, but once he becomes comfortable he warms up and is outgoing (mom’s personality). Kai does not seem to have a problem with change, and seems to prefer it (dad’s personality). Kai is very good at communicating and very curious. We are continuing to work on helping him label his feelings when he gets upset, and problem solve other ways to handle situations. Kai loves music, playing instruments and singing, which is something we enjoy as a family. Kai is very loving and likes to give his friends, and especially babies, hugs and kisses.

We are excited to see what this year will bring for our big boy!!

Fun Pictures

2010-09-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a few fun pictures Greg has taken recently. The first one is of me having my bedtime snack and reading a book that Greg snapped of me. The other pictures are from when we do my belly pictures. Kai has learned that I always lift up my shirt for these pictures and so he has started doing the same and wanting his picture taken too. It's very cute!

False Alarm

2010-09-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Tonite we spent 3 hours at the hospital due to a false alarm. This may be too much information for some of you, but I was leaking fluid all day and I wasn't sure what it was, so I called my doctor's office (of course it was after hours) and the nurse on call told me I needed to go to the hospital to see if my water had broken. We had just made dinner, so we packed some up for Kai, put all our bags and Blayze's car seat in the car and headed out. We decided to take Kai with us since we weren't sure if my water had really broken and if we'd be staying at the hospital or coming back home. I wasn't having any contractions or other signs that I was in labor, so I didn't know what to expect. We checked in and it ended up not being my water that had broken, which I was somewhat relieved about since it would have probably taken some type of medicine or other means of getting my contractions going. On the other hand, I am ready for Blayze to arrive, so I was kind of disappointed also that I wasn't going to be having him tonite. Kai was sweet, gave me kisses and held my hand some of the time while we waited. He was also very active and wanted to touch all the cords and ran around the room, so we are thankful he has somewhere to be for when we are really in labor! So we continue to wait....

38 Weeks

2010-08-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

We had our 38 week appointment today (technically a day before 38 weeks) and everything is still going well. I had made a little progress, dilated to 2 cm and 50% effaced and Blayze's head is moving into my pelvis. My weight gain and blood pressure are still what they should be and his heart rate was about 130 today. I asked the doctor about what happens if I make it to 40 weeks and would there be a plan for induction. She said that if I make it to 39 weeks we can go ahead and plan the induction at that appointment because my cervix is "favorable" (whatever that means) and since it is my second child it is more likely to be easier to induce without the higher risk of having a C-section in the end anyway. So we scheduled our 39 week appointment for next Wednesday and if we make it to that appointment we will schedule an induction date. We will probably try to have it done on that Friday, Sept. 10th, just because it would be better for Greg's work schedule for Blayze to arrive on the weekend. So we wait...my doctor is out of town this weekend for Labor Day, camping in the mountains, she asked if I'd like to go with her :o) If Blayze comes this weekend I don't think I'll care who delivers him, I"ll just be glad he's here! Everything is ready for his arrival, and I'm trying not to wish the time away, but enjoy our last few days as a family of 3. We hope to do some fun things with Kai yet this week like go to a baseball game and then he starts preschool for this year on Friday! My mom finished Blayze's quilt this week and put it in the mail today, so it should be here soon! Here are the comparison pics for 38 weeks, Blayze on left, Kai on the right!

Kai's First Haircut

2010-08-27T19:24:00.001-07:00

Kai had his very first haircut today! We took him to the girl that cuts my hair (her studio is called Girls Cut-n-Up, which Greg particularly liked for where we got our son's first haircut :o) and Kai did a great job! While we were waiting for Kai's turn Greg and I had second thoughts about getting his hair cut (and teared up some) because we knew he would no longer look like our baby, but be our big boy. Initially Kai wasn't too sure about getting up in the chair, but he got a prize first (a two-headed blue dragon) and then was fine and played with it the entire time happily. Kai even let Marissa trim around his ears and his neck with the clippers and didn't mind! The haircut turned out super cute (we got it cut just like daddy's), but he really does look older now. Our baby is growing up and this haircut symbolizes that!

36/37 weeks: The 9th Month

2010-08-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the beginning of the 9th, and as I said with Kai, hopefully final month of this pregnancy! I'm pretty much ready for Blayze to arrive...I've gotten a cold Kai brought home from school this past week and I wasn't sleeping well anymore anyway, but it has just been miserable this last week. I had my last evaluation at work today and I should hopefully have all my paperwork caught up by the end of the week so that whenever Blayze decides to arrive I'll be ready. We had a doctor appointment today and everything is still looking good. My blood pressure was a little higher than it has been, but still in the normal range. I was measuring 35 cm which is good and the doctor is no longer concerned that Blayze is going to be a big baby. She didn't even feel like doing the ultrasound next week is necessary anymore, but said it was fine if I would be more comfortable having it, and I am, just because she was so concerned initially and it would be nice to see what he's estimating at now. So we are scheduled to go in next Monday for that. She checked my cervix and I am 1 cm dilated and it is still "long and thin" (whatever that means), which she said is good for 36 weeks and didn't feel like it meant I'd be going into labor anytime too soon.

37 weeks-We had our ultrasound today and it went well! Blayze is estimating at 7 lbs, 3 ounces, which is an ounce bigger than what Kai was born weighing. Blayze had his arm in front of his face the entire time so she wasn't able to get a very good picture this time around. The doctor felt like the weight estimate was good and projected that he will be about an 8 pound baby (give or take a pound she said) which will be good. My amniotic fluid levels are higher than usual, but not abnormally so. She said it just means that Blayze is a healthy baby (and I wonder if that's partly why my belly is so much bigger!). My weight gain and blood pressure were also good this week. She did not check me, but will do so next week at our 38 week appointment...so we continue to wait! We can't believe we are going to have another baby in 4 weeks or less...time has flown by with this pregnancy!
Here is my belly pic for 37 weeks with Blayze on the left (we missed getting during the 36th week) compared to Kai's 36 week picture on the right. We'll see if we make it to the next set of pictures :o)

Quilt in Progress

2010-08-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

My mom is once again making an amazing quilt for Blayze like she did for Kai. I found a pattern that I liked online and she is recreating it and doing a great job! It is rectangles this time, which is much easier and faster to quilt than the circles she did for Kai's quilt, which she was very happy about :o) It is the same main colors as Kai's quilt, since they will be sharing a room, except no browns and blues have been added in instead. My mom is working hard the next few weeks in hopes of getting it done in time to bring it with her when she comes out the week after Blayze is born. Here are a few pictures of the quilt in progress, I can't wait to see it when it's done!

Predictions....

2010-08-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Today we asked Kai what color eyes he things Blayze will have, he responded, "Brown." We then asked him what color hair Blayze will have and initially he said blue, but then changed his mind to red. Greg thinks Blayze will have brown hair and brown eyes and I'm guessing, as I did with Kai, blue eyes and red hair...we'll find out soon enough!!

Baby Shower

2010-08-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

My good friend Sarah asked if she could throw me a baby shower for Blayze this month. The shower was today and it was great! Everyone made and brought good breakfast foods and we enjoyed eating and catching up. It was very relaxing and nice to have some mommy time! We were blessed with lots of great things that we needed this time around, like new pacifiers, bottle nipples, crib sheets, etc. Thanks to all my friends for coming to celebrate the arrival of Blayze!!

27 Months Old

2010-08-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

These are the fun things Kai is doing and saying at 27 months old (that I can think of right now)...

One morning I had a bag of trail mix out by my purse to take as a snack to work. Kai picked it up and said, "Nuts in it." I replied that yes, there are nuts in it. He looked at me and said, "Bayze like nuts." I guess he thought that's why I was choosing that for my snack :o)

Kai will find toys around the house and bring them to me and say, "Bayze like it," and then give it to me or put it on my belly.

One night before Greg and I went to bed, Kai was sleeping in his room and we heard him start laughing. We weren't sure if he was crying or laughing, but realized he was laughing when he said, "Funny!" and continued to laugh...Greg poked his head in the room and Kai was still asleep...he must have been having a good dream :o)

Kai is still very interested in poop in general, but hasn't gone in the potty for a while. He talks about all different kinds of animal poop and where they should and shouldn't poop and then he will say things like, "I poop on mommy's bed?" and laugh. He will go through several places he shouldn't poop and then finally talk about pooping in the potty or in his diaper.

One morning Kai and I were already up and having breakfast when we heard Greg's phone alarm going off. Kai heard it and said to me, "My get it," and ran into our room. Greg said that he ran in and grabbed the phone off the desk, put it to his ear and said, "He-whoaw? (Hello)" several times...he then took it off his ear, looked at it and said hello again...I guess no one answered because he put it back on the desk and left the room :o)

Every morning when Greg wakes up he says, "Good morning Kai." Kai has learned to say the same thing back to Greg in response but with more of a North Carolina accent...it sounds something like, "Good mounin' daddy."

Kai has learned that saying please helps get his way and so when he really wants something he has started to say please over and over in his sweetest voice to try and get what he wants. We are working on him learning that saying please does not mean he automatically gets what he wants.

One of Kai's favorite stories for us to tell him right now is the 3 Little Pigs. He has started walking around saying to us, "I blow you house down mommy (daddy)!"

Kai has really started to sing more in the past month. His favorite phrases to sing right now are "Ashes, ashes, fall down," "Happy Birthday,(insert name)" and "Rain, rain go way!"

Every night when we talk about going to bed Kai will say, "Moon go up, sun go down."

Kai's pretend play skills have also started to take off this month. We put up a baby gate on our hallway at night now that he's in a toddler bed to be sure he doesn't get up and roam the house at night. In the mornings when he's waiting for me to roll out of bed and take the gate down he will sometimes sit down at the notches part and say, "Playin' pano (piano)," and bob his head back and forth. He also pretends that his food is different things such as sailboats, fish and crabs.

As I said in the post about being done with the pacifier, Kai has asked us to start singing to him at night instead. His favorite songs for us to sing right now are the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star which he asks for every night.

In the mornings Kai is waking up earlier now and will sometimes climb into bed with us but not fall back asleep. I have told him that I will get up when my phone beeps (alarm goes off), so he now tries to wait patiently until he hears it, and then when my alarm does go off he jumps out of bed and says, "Phone beep mommy, time get up!" repeatedly until I am out of bed!

Kai has figured out that he can get out of his bed after I lay him down for a nap. Some days when he hears me doing something around the house he will walk to his door and yell out the crack, "That you mommy?" and I have to then go put him back in his bed. He will also stand at the door with Blue over his face and yell, "Hiding mommy, hiding blue!" as another distraction from taking his nap...fun!

We have all had a cold this past week and so when Greg coughs loudly and is another room than Kai and I, Kai will yell, "Okay daddy? Okay?" to check on him :o)

Since Kai has learned that green means go, in the car this past month he has started yelling at the stoplights when they are red, "Turn green light, turn green!" I hope he's not a super impatient driver like his daddy and I can be!

We frequent Chick-Fil-A often and Kai used to just call it the place with "fwides" (slides), but this month he has started calling it "Bwik-buh-way." We forgot it was Sunday when we were on vacation and told him we would go there for lunch, however it was closed and so now everytime we drive by he says, "Bwik-buh-way open!" and gets very excited when it's not closed :o)

Kai has started trying to count and we heard him count from 1 to 5 correctly the other day!

Kai's favorite shows right now are The Backyardigans which he either asks for by saying "watch hippo" (because there is a hippo on the show, or "watch Backyard" and Dora which he asks for by name, he will answer the questions Dora asks throughout the show and has been saying "Swiper no Swiping" and "Oh man" while he plays :o)

Kai will run around the house after a bath either naked or with only a diaper on yelling, "Naked baby! Naked baby!"

Big Brother Class

2010-08-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

The hospital in town where Kai was born (and all babies in town are born) has a Big Brother/Big Sister program that they offer that we took Kai to today. The class was an hour long and they did fun things like color, read a book about becoming a big brother/sister and practice diapering and swaddling their favorite stuffed animal or baby doll that they brought to the class with them...of course Kai brought Jeffrey the Giraffe to practice with. After that we took a tour of the hospital and the kids got to see a room where the baby is born and then we walked down to the waiting room to see the new babies in the nursery. We have been to the hospital several times this summer visiting friends and their new babies, so we are hoping that Kai will be familiar enough with it when Blayze arrives that he understands what is going on, we'll see :o)

34 Weeks

2010-08-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

I'm now at 34 weeks and getting much more tired and uncomfortable! I am not sleeping well at night and I wake up in the mornings with my hips hurting. I'm trying out all kinds of new pillow arrangements to help fix this! Also, I have stretch marks around my belly button this time, I didn't have any anywhere with Kai, so this is new...hopefully they'll go away as quickly as they appeared! I'm pretty tired after work too and usually need to take a nap. For the first time at work this past week I was unable to sit on the floor for the entire duration of my evaluation of a child and had to move to the couch...at least only 2 1/2 more weeks of that and then I'll just be in the office finishing up paperwork until Blayze arrives. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. My doctor is on vacation this week so I saw someone else in our practice, which I was glad about because I wanted to hear what he had to say about Blayze measuring big. My weight gain and blood pressure were good and I was measuring at 35 cm which is fine for being 34 weeks. I asked him about Blayze estimating at 4 pounds, 2 ounces at the 30 week ultrasound and he did say that is a little big. However, he said that if his weight gain stayed on track that would put him at an 8 to 8 1/2 lb baby, which made me feel much better about things. I was thinking this baby would be about that big anyway since Kai was 7 lbs, 2 ounces, and I feel like that is doable. I think my doctor must just want to be cautious with my labor history (4 hours of pushing with Kai), which is good. We go back in 2 weeks at 36 weeks gestation and then every week after that. The ultrasound will be at 37/38 weeks which will be the end of August to see what Blayze is estimating at that point. We have begun taking belly pictures every 2 weeks now just like we did with Kai. So here is this weeks comparison, Blayze on the left, Kai on the right...still looking way bigger than with Kai, which I can also tell because the shirts I was wearing the last week of Kai's pregnancy are coming very close to not fitting at this point!

Last Beach Trip as a Family of 3

2010-08-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend was our last beach trip as a family of 3! We went down early Saturday morning with our friends the Pells and spent all day at the beach. The boys set up a tent and it was a little overcast most of the day, so it was perfect! Kai was so excited to "go beach" and immediately wanted to run into the water. He just loves jumping over the waves and running from them and digging in the sand, especially with his friends Emma and Johnny. We went to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Wrightsville Beach, the Oceanic, which was great food but somewhat challenging with 3 kids that were very tired! The Pells headed home that evening and we headed to a hotel and enjoyed relaxing and sleeping in the next day. Sunday we went to the aquarium, had lunch at Mellow Mushroom and headed home with some good conversation about our plans for the future. It was a great mini-vacation and we look forward to the next time we go to the beach having Blayze experience it too!

Unexpected Gift

2010-07-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

When I arrived home after work tonite Greg and Kai had a surprise waiting for me. Greg had called this afternoon to say that they had gotten me something small, but that he thought I'd really like it. So when I got home they were waiting to give me my gift...this is the card I got first....

I didn't really know what was going on at that point, so they gave me a gift bag...the first thing I pulled out was a picture of this.....

This is the picture of the swivel rocker recliner I have been wanting since Kai was born. Our friends the Howards have this chair and it is amazing!! Ever since I first sat in it a few years ago I have been wanting one. When Kai was born we were given a glider which has been great, but I continued to wish I had a chair that I could relax in while breastfeeding, fall asleep holding a napping baby or while comforting a sick child. I had hoped to get some of type of comfortable rocker recliner this time around, but probably not this exact one because it's kind of expensive....

The next thing I pulled out of the bag were samples of fabric and wood, and at that point it clicked...Greg was buying me this chair as a gift! I had lots of questions (including how it was being paid for since I'm the budgeteer) but he said not to worry about it, it was taken care of, and that he has been planning and thinking about getting this for me for awhile now...I teared up and was of course super excited!!

It took me all night long to debate my choices and finally choose, but this is the fabric for my chair....

You can't really tell the color very well in this photo, but I chose the Beluga, which is a dark chocolate brown color and the fabric is so soft! The handle for the recliner will be espresso colored wood, like all the other furniture in our house. Greg said that it will probably take 6-8 weeks to get in, but that they are going to put a rush on it for us in hopes that it will be here by the time Blayze arrives! I can't express how excited I am about this gift or how wonderful my husband is for surprising me with it! I have such thoughtful boys and look forward to spending lots of time in my new chair with Blayze and Kai!!

Family Pictures

2010-07-28T18:10:00.001-07:00

We had family pictures taken this weekend by a photographer Greg knows and shot her wedding, Alexa. She has posted some of them on her blog and wanted to share that link. We will be getting the disk of images soon and I will put up our favorite pictures once we get that, but for now enjoy! She did a great job!

http://www.alexasphoto.blogspot.com/

Birthday Parties

2010-07-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend was full of July birthday parties! We started Friday night with celebrating Will turning 29. Before the party, as Kai was watching Greg wrapping Will's gift, Kai said, "Get Will my toy," and ran to his toy box to pick something out for him. He ended up giving Will a Ninja Turtle figure, which Will placed on his mantle, and I'm sure will enjoy as much as Kai has :o) I was very proud of Kai thinking about giving a gift and coming up with one of his toys to give away! And he was very excited to give it to Will when we got there...he continues to amaze me everyday! Sunday evening we spent at the Pell's house celebrating John, Johnny and Emma's birthdays. We got to catch up with lots of friends we haven't seen in a while and Kai really enjoyed playing with Emma, Johnny, Rhyan and Boone!

Video of Blayze Kicking

2010-07-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

Greg has been trying to capture a video of Blayze moving/kicking around in my belly for a while now and finally got it! You just have to keep watching, toward the middle and end of the video he is going crazy! Enjoy!

32 Weeks

2010-07-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

We had our 32 week doctor appointment today and everything is still going well. I had gained the right amount of weight, my blood pressure was good and my belly was measuring at 31 cm. The doctor thought this was a little odd since at the ultrasound 2 weeks ago the weight estimate was big and said that maybe the ultrasound weight guess had been wrong, I hope so! I asked her about the possibility of being induced at 38 weeks (versus a C-section) if at the term ultrasound Blayze is measuring a little big and she told me that research is showing that even in the 38th week there are still things going on that are important to the baby's development and so she would not do it until 39 weeks. And even then, she said that with being induced it makes labor longer and there is an increased chance of having a C-section anyway, so that if he was already big it would be best to have the C-section. So we'll see what happens, she said again something about if he is estimating at 10 pounds from the last ultrasound, that is when we'd for sure schedule a C-section. I can't imagine at 38 weeks him measuring that big, but we'll see. I'm hoping that the estimate last time was just off and that I go into labor naturally (preferably before my due date) and everything is fine. Here is my belly pic from this week (left) compared to Kai at 32 weeks (right)! From the looks of this picture though, it looks like Blayze is going to be huge! How can I be that much bigger now at 32 weeks than I was with Kai and still be measuring correct?!?

Kai's First Visit to the Dentist

2010-07-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Kai went to the dentist for the first time today and did awesome! To prepare him for the dentist we took him to my dentist appointment a few weeks ago so he could watch what happens. He sat with Greg and watched and was very concerned that I was okay. Greg and the hygienist explained what was going on and that mommy was okay, though he still wanted to hold my hand for part of the time to be sure. He got a special prize from my dentist when we left there and we told him he'd get one when he went also. My coworker had recommended a pediatric dentist in town so we decided to try it out. It was great! The staff were all very nice and kid friendly, as was the office space. They had a train table (which Kai immediately went to and loved) and other toys in the waiting room and then they took us to the back to another toy room. The hygienist, Jessi, took Kai's picture to have for the fridge since it was his first visit, and then we went back to where he would get his teeth cleaned. She let him play with all the tools and got him smiling and laughing. We have been practicing when Kai brushes his teeth for him to say "aaahhh" and "eeee" to get him to open his mouth and let us get at all his teeth. We told Jessi about this and he did it for her also. Kai sat in Greg's lap and then laid his head in Jessi's lap so she could clean and even floss! Kai did great and let her get everything done she needed. After that he got a balloon and we went back to the play room to wait for the dentist, Dr. Mike. Kai got very comfortable with Jessi and began roaring at her like a dinosaur and when Dr. Mike came in he again was initially shy, but by the end was roaring back and forth with him :o) He again did great for Dr. Mike and we were so proud of him! He did not have any cavities, but his molars are a little discolored which just means the enamel is a little weaker on those teeth. Dr. Mike said that it is nothing we've done, but that it actually happens in utero when the teeth are developing and he's interested to see what his 2 year molars look like when they come in. He does not expect any problems with those teeth, they will just need to be watched a little closer. They also said that Kai has a little bit of an overbite, probably from the pacifier, so they were glad he is finished with that. Kai chose an orange race car as his prize and overall had a great trip! Greg said to me as we were leaving, "Our baby is growing up..." We are so glad he had a good experience and hope that in the future it will be the same. Here are some pictures from Kai's visit!

Goodbye Nuk!!

2010-07-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

On the way to school on Tuesday this week (Kai's 26 month unbirthday :o) as Kai was staring out the window of the Element, he says matter of factly to Greg, "Daddy. Trash truck comin to get Nuk (his pacifier)." Greg said "Oh really?" and he said, "Yeah. Nuk go in the trash. Trash truck come get it." Greg asked if that was what he wanted and he said "Yeah," with a sigh. Greg said, "Big boys like daddy eventually don't need their nuks. Are you ready for that?" and he said "Yeah. Trash truck come get Nuk".

Greg called me at work after he had this conversation with Kai and we talked about that if Kai wanted to throw Nuk away that we should go with it. So when I picked Kai up from school I asked him about it and his response was, "No, no trash truck get Nuk." I told him that was okay. When we pulled up to the house I said, "Are you sure about Nuk? Do you want to go get them and throw them in the trash?" He got excited and said, "Yeah!" So he ran inside and got the 2 pacifiers we could find (a third was hiding somewhere) and went outside to throw them in the trash can. We waited a little bit to see if the trash truck would come while we were outside (sometimes it comes around that time of day) but it didn't so we talked about how the trash truck would come while we took a nap. We had talked several times in the last month about how when Kai's nuks got broken they would have to go in the trash so the trash truck could take them away, but his response was always, "No trash truck, no get my nuk!" So we were very surprised when he brought this up all on his own and out of the blue. He did very well with nap and bedtime and only cried for a few minutes before falling asleep that day.

The next day at nap time I asked him to go find his Blue (blanket) and when he found it I heard him say to himself, "My Blue, my nuk-no trash truck take my nuk," and then walk into his room to take a nap like it was no big deal. That night we found the third pacifier hiding under Kai's bed and he was very excited. We asked him, "Where does that nuk need to go?" He smiled big and said, "In my bed!" and put it next to his pillow. We said, "No, remember? Where did your other nuks go?" He looked at us and said, "Trash truck get nuk." So we asked him if he wanted to throw this one in the trash, and again he got excited and said, "Yeah!" and headed to the door.

He has done extremely well with this transition and this week has not been anything like I expected! He has woken up at 6 a.m. almost every morning this week and has not yet figured out how to soothe himself back to sleep at that point like he would do with his pacifier, so it has been lots of early mornings for us. At night he has started asking me to sing to him while he lays in bed falling asleep as a way to cope with not having his pacifier, which is fine with me because I know he won't want me to sing to him forever. Every time his pacifier comes up though Kai just says, "Trash truck take nuk," and seems to be okay with it. Who knew that he would make this decision all by himself! As he says, "Me big boy." What was I worried about anyway?!?

Heading to the trash can with Nuks 1 and 2

Throwing away Nuk 3 with Daddy

26 Month Sayings...

2010-07-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the fun things Kai is saying now at 26 months old:
-'Mon Mommy, my hand play _____ (says this as he's taking us by the hand and leading us to what he wants to play with)
-Arr, matey (He says this when he puts one hand over his eye and is pretending to be a pirate)
-Let's fight (This is something he says to Greg when he wants to wrestle)
-No tired Mommy (He says this when he knows it's about time for nap or bed and he doesn't want to go)
-Is it? (For What is it?)
-My like it (When he likes something)
-He has started commenting that things are "toot," "petty," and "bootiful" (cute, pretty and beautiful)
-Daugh-der (This is how he says later)
-More minutes (We give Kai 5 minute, 3 minute and then 1 minute warnings when we are about to transition to something new...so he has learned to say this when he wants more time to play in hopes to extend his time before whatever change is about to happen)
-Wake up, dit up (This is what he will say or yell at us in the mornings when he is up and ready to play and wants one of us to wake up and get up also)
-Baby Bayze (This is how he says Blayze right now when he talks about him)
-No poops in dere (Meaning there is no poop in there, aka his diaper)
-Sing song Mommy (When he wants me to sing to him at bedtime)
-No sing Daddy (He says this to me also, but seems like mostly to Greg when he doesn't want us to sing around the house)
-Go in my mouf (mouth), down my froat (throat), in my belly (This is what he says when he is eating and telling us what is happening to his food, sometimes the food even goes down our legs and arms and into our toes :o)
-Watch Cars tractor part, Light-in Queen (Lightening McQueen) (Kai's current favorite movie is Cars and he loves the part where they go tractor tipping for some reason and always wants to start the movie at that scene)
-He has also started saying lines in movies before they are said, so with Cars at the beginning Mack the truck knocks on Lightening's door and asks, "You ready in there?" and Kai says, "Oh yeah!" right before Lightening says it in the movie!
-Not nice Renny (Henry), no knock Doedon ober (Gordon over) (I heard Kai saying this to his trains when he was playing with them)
-My sad or _____ sad (He has started labeling this emotion and we are working on others)
Kai's favorite games to play right now are:
-Got daddy's nose, eat it (He will pretend like he's grabbing the nose off of our faces and then pretend to eat it...when we take his nose he says, Give back my nose!)
-He has started to understand that the wrong answer to questions are funny, so he will say, "Red light stop, red light go, green light stop, green light go," and laugh about it
-Another question he asks and laughs about is, "Horse poop on sidewalk? Noooo! Horse poop outside. Elephant poop on sidewalk? Noooo! Elephant big poop go outside" and he will say this with any animal he can think of at the time
-He has really started more pretend play this month...he will snaps his fingers together and pretends to be a crab or pinch his first finger and thumb together and move it around saying it's a fish swimming or his choo choo driving
-Kai has also grasped the difference between big versus little and he is starting to recognize some of his shapes

He continues to amaze us and come up with new things every day!! Here are some pictures of us playing in the water in our backyard this month!

The Outfit

2010-07-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Blayze's coming home outfit is complete! It took me awhile to decide what kind of romper I wanted for him to come home in...something totally different from Kai's or something similar? I finally decided on something similar, but had a difficult time finding an outfit with a pirate ship on it. So I started searching online and finally found it on Ebay! It is very similar to Kai's outfit, stripes with a pirate ship on it. When I was trying to decide if this was the one Greg told me that if I decided to get it, I would have to again find something similar if we have other boys for when they come home from the hospital. So I guess that will be the challenge if we have more boys! Once the outfit arrived in the mail I went through Kai's baby shoes and found perfect navy blue sandals to match, all that was left was the hat. When my mom was here we started that search and ended up finding one, but it was for 6 month to 1 year olds. Thankfully, my mom is an excellent seamstress and was able to use a newborn hat of Kai's that we had as a pattern to make this one into the right size. We are very excited to meet this little guy and I'm so glad to have this ready for when he comes home!

Double Stroller

2010-07-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

Like I said, my co-workers gave us tons of gift cards at my shower and so I was very excited for us to get the double stroller we had registered for. We had never actually seen it in person, so we wanted to try it out before we bought it. It is Chicco's new front to back double stroller that fits our infant car seat we had bought for Kai. It just came out this April, so the timing was perfect! Our Babies R Us did not have the stroller in yet, so I called around to all the neighboring ones and found a store in Raleigh (hour and a half away) that had it. So Sunday after church we headed to Raleigh. We were pleased with it once we got to see it and Kai was excited to be pushed around the store in it, so we got it! We had been given enough gift cards to cover the entire cost of the stroller and only ended up having to pay the tax, $16!! What an awesome gift! We came home that night and Greg, assisted by Kai, put the stroller together. When it was done Kai wanted to go for a walk immediately, however it was like 9 p.m. so we told him it would have to wait until the next day. We tried the car seat out in both the front and back positions and told Kai that Blayze will be riding in the car seat, at least for a while. Kai seems to prefer the back seat right now, which may be because he can look into the car seat and will be able to see Blayze. Greg took Kai on a walk the next day in the stroller with the car seat and a Cabbage Patch doll in Blayze's place :o) Greg said that Kai fell asleep on the walk (which he never does anymore), so he must have really been comfortable! The stroller is really big, but seems like it will be easy to maneuver. Greg commented on how it is like a Transformer and has nicknamed it "Double Trouble." We are super excited about it and it seems to make it more of a reality that we will soon have 2 kids!! Thank you again co-workers!!!

Visit from Omie and Pop Pop

2010-07-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

As I said in my previous post, my parents stayed with us for the week and Kai got lots of one-on-one Omie and Pop Pop time while Mommy and Daddy worked!! Kai's school was closed this week so I was so thankful that my parents were here to watch Kai and they did lots of fun things together! On Wednesday my parents took Kai to the Natural Science Center here in town to see the "aa-mals" as Kai says. It was a super hot day, but they were able to go outside there and see the animals and then go inside to play. They said that Kai's favorite thing was "milking" the cow and one of the horses pooped in the barn and Kai kept wanting to go back and "see it." Kai talked about how the "horse no poop inside" but should "poop outside." He's definitely into poop right now. We went for walks every night and enjoyed the arboretum here near our house that evening. On Thursday my parents took Kai to the free movie of the week here at one of the theaters which was Dog Hotel. I guess Kai wasn't too impressed since they said he sat and ate lots of popcorn before the movie started, and then once it did start Kai fell asleep on my dad's lap. That night we walked to the pizza place in our neighborhood for dinner. Friday morning they played at the park in our neighborhood and put Kai down for an early nap until I got home from work. Then we ate lunch and headed out to the pool. Kai had a great time playing in the water, and while we were there someone pooped in the pool (we had to stay out of the water for an hour) and Kai talked about that for the next few days! That evening we went to get ice cream at Ben and Jerry's and play by the fountain. Saturday my mom and I ran around looking for a hat to go with Blayze's coming home outfit while the boys went to play at the train store. We found a hat (picture of the outfit to come soon) and Pop Pop bought Kai a new Toby and James train which he was super excited about (both Kai and my dad :o) Saturday evening was my parents last night here so after dinner we went downtown to my favorite local cheesecake place and enjoyed some cheesecake and music sitting outside on their patio. It was a great week and Kai woke up the next few mornings saying, "Omie and Pop Pop sleeping" when he didn't see them right away. I had to remind him that they had driven home and he would say, "No, go Omie and Pop Pop's house too." He will be very excited when they return in a couple months when Blayze is born! Thanks for coming Omie and Pop Pop, we love you!!

Work Baby Shower

2010-07-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

My wonderful co-workers threw a baby shower for me today! There are currently 4 of us pregnant ladies in the office, three of us being on my team! Kari is due 4 weeks ahead of me in August, so we had a joint shower. She's having a little girl, Emma, and of course we're having Blayze so there was a girl and boy side. We had a breakfast shower and enjoyed good food and friends. I was just glad that they didn't make me sit in the middle of the room with a big blue arrow pointing at me that said Mama, like they did with Kai :o) We received several gifts, including the swaddle blankets we needed, blankets, books, diapers and wipes. We also got tons of gift cards to go toward our double stroller! We are very excited about this and hope to go pick the stroller up this weekend! Thanks again to all my co-workers for helping us celebrate Blayze's arrival!!

Pregnant Ladies-Heather (October), Kari (August), Me (September) and Beth (January)

My Team-Linda, Becky, Dawn, Me, Kari, Beth, Aimee, Liz and Erica

30 Week Ultrasound

2010-07-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

We had our 30 week ultrasound today to check on the position of my placenta. My placenta had moved up to the position it needs to be for a natural delivery, however they estimated that the baby weighs about 4 pounds 2 ounces right now! The doctor was concerned that if he continues to gain weight like he should we could have a 9 1/2 to 10 pound baby on our hands at term! She told me I need to eat more vegetables, cut back on the carbs and walk more. It is interesting because my weight gain has been on the exact same track as it was with Kai. Most of my friends have had their second and third babies be about a pound more than their previous ones, so I was kind of expecting an 8 to 8 1/2 pound baby this time, but definitely not 10! So we will have another ultrasound at 37/38 weeks to see what the estimate of his weight is and will have to schedule a C-section if he is really that big. I would really like to avoid a C-section if at all possible because what I've read about the recovery sounds exactly like what I went through with my appendix, which was not fun! I am going to talk to the doctor at our 32 week appointment about maybe just inducing me 2 weeks early if they think he's going to be that big by 40 weeks, we'll see what she says, but of course we'll do what's best for the two of us. We also had the ultrasound lady reconfirm for us that we are having a boy :o) We haven't officially announced the baby's name on the blog yet, so we'd like to introduce you to Blayze Archer Phipps!!

This ultrasound picture turned out amazing and we already think he looks like his big brother Kai, though we are excited to find out what color hair and eyes he will have! Here is the picture again next to a picture of Kai in a similar pose the first week of his life....what do you think?!?

4th of July at Sunset Beach

2010-07-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

We were delighted when we found out my parents were coming to spend the week of 4th of July with us, and even more excited when they wanted to go to the beach for the weekend!! We headed down to Sunset Beach (NC) on Saturday the 3rd and got to the villa for check in around 3 p.m. My parents drove in that night and arrived in time for dinner at a local restaurant. Kai was so excited to get to see Omie and Pop Pop, he could hardly contain himself. When we were unloading at the villa he kept running around in circles like a crazy man talking about them and saying, "Go beach!" "Go ocean!" When my parents got to the restaurant he was laughing and smiling and playing games with them all through dinner. Afterward we headed to the beach and Kai had to "get in water" and "throw ball in water," so we stripped him down to his diaper and he headed right in. He seemed to enjoy the sand on his feet and toes and had no hesitation about running right into the ocean this time. We stayed at an awesome villa at SeaTrail Golf resort, this was the place we stayed on Kai's first beach trip when he was 3 months old and it was as great this time as we had remembered it! We greatly enjoyed the king size bed we slept in and when we got home to our queen it felt like a mini-bed...we keep saying we need to get a king, but I think it would be especially beneficial when I'm pregnant!! Kai woke up every morning and the first thing he would say is, "Go beach" or "Go ocean!" He would get very antsy until we were actually there. We spent most of the 4th (Sunday) at the beach, though it was pretty crowded and it took a while to get on and of Sunset Beach island due to the one lane drawbridge being the only access. The weather was perfect all weekend, in the 80's and not too hot for this pregnant lady, which was great! That night we went out for dinner at a really good seafood restaurant in Calabash and Kai ate and enjoyed popcorn shrimp for the first time ever! After dinner we headed down to Cherry Grove Pier in North Myrtle Beach for the firework show. It was supposed to start around 9 or 9:30, however it didn't end up beginning until closer to 10:30. We enjoyed our neighbor's music while we waited and Kai kept wanting to run into the water until it got dark. Kai ended up falling asleep about 10 minutes into the firework show, but talked about seeing "fireworks at beach" the next few days, so he enjoyed the ones he did see! Kai also discovered how much he enjoys "my take picture" and would grab our cameras, point and shoot when we would let him...you'll see some lovely individual portraits of all of us that he snapped over the weekend. Monday morning we spent at the resort pool and I dared to sport a swimsuit showing off my belly, so enjoy those pictures :o) Greg had to head back to Greensboro Monday afternoon for work on Tuesday, but Kai and I stayed with my parents one more night at the beach, so that night we headed back to the beach and then enjoyed ice cream at a local creamery. Tuesday we drove back to Greensboro and stopped in Fayetteville, NC which is where I was born! Ever since Greg and I moved here my parents have talked about wanting to take me to Fayetteville to see the hospital I was born at and the house my parents lived in when I came home. So we stopped through and took a picture in front of the house. My parents said that it was painted differently and there were fewer trees than when they lived there. It was neat to get to see where I was born with them. My parents stayed the rest of the week with us and I'll have another post with those pictures to come...enjoy our beach pics!

Kai the Photographer

Mommy's First Night Away

2010-06-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first night I've ever spent away from Kai! Some of the girls at our new church were having a sleepover and I thought it would be a fun way to get to know some of them and nice to have some girl time. We did lots of fun things like eat lots of good food, dance, paint nails, watch movies and talk! I think being away from Kai was a bigger deal for me than him because Kai and Daddy had a camping night while I was away! Greg had considered camping in our backyard, but it was just too hot, so they set up the tent and camped in our living room instead. Greg said Kai loved it!! They watched a movie and fell asleep around 10 and Greg then moved Kai to his bed and himself to our bed. Greg said Kai would wake up about every hour and was fussy and trying to tell him something, but Greg couldn't figure it out...around 4 a.m. Greg finally understood Kai was saying he wanted to, "Sleep in tent!" So they moved back into the tent and slept until about 7 this morning...needless to say Greg didn't get much rest last night! Kai was very sad when we took the tent down this afternoon and we promised we'd camp again soon. I guess this was a good trial for me being away from Kai for a couple nights when the baby's born...though Kai will be staying with our friends the Pells and not Daddy, so we'll probably need to do a trial run of that too before the big day!

28 Weeks

2010-06-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

Here we are at 28 weeks in the pregnancy, the beginning of the 3rd trimester...where has the time gone?!? I think it must be going by faster this time around because of being busy with Kai :o) I am still feeling good, though the weather here has been awful the last week or two! Super humid and hot, the hottest June on record here I believe the weather man said! So I have been staying inside with the AC cranked or in the water when outside. People daily comment to me about looking like I could have the baby anytime now, or when then they ask when I am due, then the response is something about the heat and making it through the summer...there probably aren't too many people that have more than one baby in September is all I keep thinking! We have started attending a new church and there are 3 other girls my age that are pregnant there...2 are due in August, me in September, and the 3rd in October. It has been fun getting to know them and share pregnancy stories with back and forth! The baby is very busy moving and kicking, especially around 10 p.m., which I remember is a time when Kai was really active also. Last week I started going through all of Kai's baby clothes to find all the newborn things we will be needing again soon! It's already hard to remember when Kai was small enough to fit in all the clothes I was going through, and hard to believe we will have another little guy that small again soon! Now to reorganize Kai's room so that both he AND the baby's stuff will fit in there, it may be a challenge! I have found the baby's coming home outfit and will have a post with pictures of the outfit when it gets here :o) Kai definitely seems to understand about the baby in mommy's belly now. He will wrap his arms around my belly and try to "pick up" the baby and will also place his hand on my belly to feel the "baby kick" and will laugh when he does. We have our 30 week ultrasound the week of the 4th of July, so I hope to have good news that my placenta has moved up and the baby is already head down, and some fun new pictures! Here is my 28 week belly pic now, and with Kai (current pregnancy on the left, Kai on the right). Only 12 weeks (or maybe less) to go!!

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Greg being a great dad today in lots of fun ways! We started the day by sleeping in and then Greg and Kai relaxing in bed checking their email and playing games on their phones...

Next we went to church and then out to lunch at Macaroni Grill with our friends the Pells...

And we ended the day at Music in the Park with the Pells and Duffys, listening to some great music by our friend Jason's band (Songs of Water), picnicing and chasing Kai around like a madman!

Greg's Father's Day gift was a camping knife that he's been wanting, which should be here next week sometime, which he's super excited about! We are so thankful for Greg and his super Daddy powers! I am so blessed to have a husband that wants to be involved in the daily ups and downs of parenting with me!! We love you Daddy!!

25 Months Old

2010-06-13T19:03:00.001-07:00

So I definitely will not promise that I'm going to post something every month about what Kai is doing these days, but I can say I'll try. Kai is 25 months old today...this month Kai has started calling me "mom" and Greg "dad" some of the time, which seems somewhat sad...at 2 years old we're already moving away from "mommy" and "daddy" to the grown up versions of our names?!? Maybe it's just a phase...I can hope. Kai has started saying "Hoo hoo!" when he's excited about something, "Duh da!" when he's holding up something he's excited to show us, and "Miss you" which is very sweet! You'll remember that when Kai is asked, "How old are you?" he responds, "Owd" (Old). I have successfully taught him to respond to the question, "How old is Daddy?" with "Owd, bewy owd" (Old, very old) and to the question, "How old is mommy?" with "Youn" (Young). It's super funny to hear him answer these questions, and sometimes daddy gets to be young too when we ask :o) When Kai sneezes he now says, "Bless you!" We were at the park one day and someone sneezed that was walking by and he said, "Bless you. Bless you people," several times, very cute! Kai has also started trying to name letters of the alphabet when he sees them. He has started laughing at funny parts of movies, which has been fun to watch also. Currently, Kai's favorite movie is Toy Story. He has started randomly saying, "Finny on!" (To Infinity and Beyond) and raising his arms above his head as he talks about "flying" like Buzz Lightyear does in the movie. We have also realized how easily he is picking things up now, even from movies, when one night at dinner he started saying, "Stupid wow-wow!" and laughing. We weren't sure where he got this (though I have to admit I accused Greg of saying it, and later had to apologize), but one day when we were watching Toy Story I realized they say it several times to the dog in the movie...we are going to have to really start screening what he watches better! We have already spent time at the lake this summer, where Kai enjoyed swimming (or floating I should say) and he caught his first fish! Greg said he touched it and then pushed it back into the water. We have also gone to the pool, which he really loved, and I'm sure it will be something we do often this summer with it already being so hot and my stomach only getting bigger! Kai started summer camp at his preschool this past week. Due to our work schedules (as of last week Greg has bumped up to about 30 hours a week at his designer job and I need to stay full-time until the baby comes), and no family in the area, we are having to have Kai go to school Tuesday through Friday mornings, which I'm not very excited about, but they do fun stuff, including water play everyday and the ice cream truck coming on Fridays, so I know he's enjoying it. I think Kai really gets it now about the baby coming...once a day he will usually walk over and rest his head on my belly and talk about the baby or pull my shirt up and kiss the baby right on my belly button. He has felt the baby kick lots of times and will smile and laugh. Sometimes he will tell me to pull down my shirt because, "Baby cold." He is so gentle and interested in our friends' babies that it is comforting for me to think about how he will be with our baby. Kai has two of my Cabbage Patch dolls and has started wanting to change their diapers this month. When the diapers are off he will say, "No poop baby," which is funny because I don't recall ever telling Kai not to poop when we have his diaper off. I'm sure he'll be a good helper with this for the baby. Kai did put some poop in the potty just yesterday! He was in the bath and pooped there first, but when I quickly moved him to the potty he was able to finish there and he was very excited about it! When he was telling my parents and Greg about it he said, "Hoo hoo, poop flush down potty!" because he got to see it and flush it down. He is definitely more aware of his body, but still not quite ready for potty training. The transition to the big boy bed has continued to go well. Kai has only fallen out of bed one or two nights, and has just this last week started sleeping through the night!! We still wake up amazed when neither one of us have had to get out of bed to help him...he has been waking up at 6:30 or 7 a.m. though and even when we bring him into bed with us at that point he won't always go back to sleep anymore, so I guess we're starting a new schedule. At this point I'm not sleeping through the night, but at least I'm not having to get up to help Kai also, just go to the bathroom. I continue to feel good at the end of the 2nd trimester. I had a doctor's appointment last week and everything is going well, weight gain, measurements, etc. I passed the 1 hour glucose test, which is great also! We will have another ultrasound at 30 weeks to make sure my placenta has moved up from my cervix for delivery as it should. I am excited also to reconfirm that we are having another boy :o) I felt much better after we had our 2nd ultrasound for Kai confirming again that he was a boy! The 3rd trimester is one week away...time is passing very quickly this pregnancy it seems, probably because Kai keeps us busy! Only 3 months until we are a family of four!

2 Year Photo Shoot

2010-06-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Kai's 2 Year Old photo session with Daddy...he's getting so big! There were lots of lion faces and even fake smiles this time, but probably my favorite is this first "How Strong is Kai?" pose! Enjoy!

Kai's Last Day of School

2010-06-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today was Kai's last day of his first year of preschool...sniff, sniff. He has had a great year and even on his first day he was ready to jump right in to all the fun activities in the classroom without even looking back for mommy and daddy! It has been fun to see him learn the names of his friends and begin talking about them throughout the week. I can't believe he was 15 months old, signing and barely talking when he started in September and now he's using sentences to communicate! He will attend some days of the summer camps at school this summer and then start back 3 mornings a week in the fall. Here are pictures of Kai with his two teachers at his end of year party. I can't believe I caught him looking at the camera because he was ready to run and play with the trucks one last time after lunch before we left!

Kai and Ms. Jen

Kai and Ms. Josie

Big Boy Bed

2010-05-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

One of the transitions we wanted to have worked through before the baby comes is switching Kai from the crib to a toddler bed. I have been stalking Craig's List for about 3 months now looking for a bed that I liked for the right price. Well this past Friday I finally found one! It is the same espresso colored wood as the crib and even has a drawer underneath for some extra storage which is much needed because the boys will be sharing a room! We had to travel an hour and a half away (which actually ended up taking 3 hours to get there due to the holiday and race traffic), but we needed to return something to Ikea there in Charlotte anyway, so it was worth it. Kai was really excited about his new bed and once it was in the car he kept saying, "My bed!" We got home pretty late Friday night and I wanted to clean it before he slept on it, so Friday night was his last night in the crib. I had read that it is a good idea to start with naps only in the toddler bed and sleep in the crib at night, so that's what we planned on doing. On Saturday Kai helped me clean the bed and get it ready for him to sleep in. He was very excited when it was done and climbed on in to try it out! He has a new pillow and chose a Veggie Tales pillowcase that we had in the closet for it, and is still using his brown blanket that he's used in his crib since he was little. My mom is putting a soft backing on the quilt she made him at birth so that he can eventually use that in his bed, she'll bring it in July when they come to visit. Just in the last two weeks Kai has started asking to sleep with Jeffrey "Jeffie" the Giraffe and "Mommy's lamby" (Lamby was the stuffed animal that my Nana made for me at birth and I slept with growing up). He always wants them to have the "blankie on" just like he does, which has been fun. At the first nap time in the bed, Kai went right down and slept for 2 1/2 hours, which I couldn't believe since he usually only sleeps an hour and a half. That night I gave Kai the choice of sleeping in his crib or new bed and he chose the bed, so we went with it. He only woke once and needed a drink and then fell right back asleep, it was great! We figured he would get up and walk into our room or around the house, but not the first night. The second day he napped again for 2 1/2 hours and woke up twice at night. The first time he got out of bed and was standing in the middle of the living room holding his Blue with his eyes barely open when Greg came downstairs and found him. He easily went back to bed. Kai later rolled out of the bed and onto the pillow below (thankfully) and Greg helped him back to bed and he slept until the morning when he walked into our room. We bought a baby gate today for his doorway to keep him safe and so that he can't roam the house at night. The first couple of nights have made this seem like a very easy transition, I guess only time will tell! We have also decided to limit his pacifier only to nap/bedtime and will work toward only bedtime and then being done with it, hopefully in the next month...that transition I'm not sure will be so easy!

Our 8 Year Anniversary

2010-05-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

Greg and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary today (10 1/2 years together counting our dating time)! Our friend Alisa volunteered to watch Kai for the evening so we could have a date (Thank you Alisa!!). We had dinner at Print Works Bistro, dessert at Cheesecakes by Alex, coffee at Starbucks, and some great quality time and conversation! There are a lot of unknowns in our life right now, with lots of changes (and potential changes) ahead, but whatever may come, I'm looking forward to walking through it with my best friend!

The Belly

2010-05-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

I am now 24 weeks along and wanted to share some of the belly pics we have been taking along the way. We have been taking them every 4 weeks like we did with Kai so that we could compare them...I think you'll see I have gotten bigger much faster this time around and my belly button popped out much sooner than last time (I was looking at when it popped with Kai and it wasn't until about 30 or so weeks!)! I hope this doesn't mean this baby will be a lot bigger than Kai was when he's born! A few other fun milestones...I began wearing only maternity pants at 10 weeks, with Kai it was not until 14 or so weeks. I felt this baby moving beginning at 15 weeks, with Kai it was 17 weeks. Greg felt the baby move at 19 weeks, with Kai it was 20 weeks. The second trimester has been great so far! I have much more energy and the nausea is gone thankfully! A fun story....a couple weeks ago Kai was sitting on my lap before nap time and we were reading a book. Kai must have been leaning into my belly because the baby kicked him, and it was pretty hard! It surprised me and I asked Kai if he felt the baby kick. Kai responded with, "Oh, baby kick!" Kai touched the place on his back he had been kicked and then proceeded to try and kick the baby back by kicking my stomach, which of course I stopped him from. It must have really made an impression on him though because when he woke up from his nap that day the first thing Kai said to me was, "Baby kick!" and pointed to my belly. So here are the comparison pics (current pregnancy on the left, Kai's pregnancy on the right)...I guess I can see somewhat why I've had one person say to me this week, "You look like you could have that baby any day now!" Um, nope, 4 more months to go! And two people have asked if I'm sure it's not twins....who knows how big I'll be at term :o)

12 Weeks
16 Weeks
20 Weeks
24 Weeks

Elmo LIVE!!

2010-05-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

As a continuation of Kai's 2nd birthday we decided to take him to Sesame Street Live because he really likes Big Bird and Elmo right now! We weren't sure how Kai would react to the characters since he doesn't really like the big Chick-Fil-a cow all dressed up or the Easter Bunny, but I don't think they were close enough to scare him :o) He seemed overwhelmed at first by all the lights, music and dancing, but eventually clapped along to the music and seemed to enjoy himself. At the intermission they brought out these Elmo balloons and Kai couldn't stop talking about them! Through most of the second half he was more interested in the balloons than the show. Since they were selling them for like $10 or $15, we told Kai we would get him a balloon after the show. So we headed to Party City and found the exact same balloon for half price which he is still enjoying :o) After that we stopped at Cold Stone for ice cream (Kai chose the blue ice cream with sprinkles) before heading home. It was a great finish to celebrating his 2nd birthday!!

Another Passing

2010-05-20T19:56:00.001-07:00

It has been a year of great loss in Greg's family, and this morning Greg's grandma passed away. Though we are sad, we are joyful also. Greg's grandma has been in the nursing home alone since his grandpa passed away in August and her health has been steadily declining. We are happy that she is now at peace and resting with Jesus. We will always have the wonderful memories of her, and pictures to look back on. We are thankful for the time Kai was able to spend with her also and here are some pictures of them together!

Kai turns 2!!

2010-05-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

On Kai's birthday he had preschool in the morning so we took carrot muffins and strawberries and celebrated with his friends there. That afternoon Kai and Daddy went to the fountain at Friendly Center, which had been broken for a while (and as Kai would say, "Juice broken"), but has recently been fixed. There is a Ben and Jerry's there and Greg said that when they got out to play at the fountain Kai said, "Ice keam!" So they went and got some free ice cream for his birthday! That night we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner and Kai enjoyed eating pizza, playing games and riding the rides! We finished at home with more carrot muffins and ice cream, and of course candles to blow out! On Saturday night we had people over to celebrate Kai's birthday. Greg made an awesome train cake and Kai loved it! All day he wanted to "eat choo choo cake!" Kai got lots of fun gifts including a bubble lawn mower (which didn't end up working so we took it back), a fishing game and some new movies. One of Kai's teachers gave us a Thomas the Train tent because she was getting rid of it and Kai has really enjoyed playing in it and wants us to get in with him all the time!

2 Years Old, Really?!?

2010-05-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Kai is doing amazing things these days and I can't believe he is already 2!! I haven't done a post like this in a LONG time and I feel really guilty about it because I know I have missed capturing some of his cute sayings and milestones, so I knew I'd better at least talk about all the fun things he's doing now so we can have some memories of what he was like at 2...I can already tell the next baby is going to be more difficult to keep track of, sigh...so here goes:

Fun things Kai is saying right now-
He is saying his name, his friends and families names, and has decided on "Omie" and "Pop Pop" for my parents
"Are you?" for Where are you?
"'mon mommy" for Come on Mommy
He calls all liquids "juice"
"cars comin?" When we go to cross a street and look for any cars coming
He is saying new words we didn't know he knew, like ocean and mailbox, and is repeating everything (including things he shouldn't be repeating!)
He calls all of his Thomas trains by name, his favorites are "Eeny and Dodon" (Henry and Gordon)
"elp mommy" (Help Mommy) When he started saying this about 2 months ago he dropped the last sign he was using which was "help"
When Kai doesn't understand what we say he replies, "Huh?" until we repeat it to where he does understand
"Houd jew mommy" (Hold you mommy) for when he wants to be picked up and snuggle
He now says "cars" instead of "brrmms" for cars
He still calls dogs "wow wows" and he really likes dogs now and wants to give them sticks or balls when he sees them and he will even pet them, sometimes.
He calls his pacifier "Nut" for Nuk which is the pacifier's brand name that Greg taught him to say, and his blanket "Bwue" (Blue)...we are hoping to be done with the pacifier by the end of this month...
He says "my" before something he wants to tell us about himself, such as "my eat," "my poops," "my all done"
"Hab it" for Have it, when he wants something
He is putting together up to 6 word sentences, sometimes the words are in the correct order, but most of the time they are switched
"rockin' or rock it" for when music is playing in the car or when he's playing the guitar or drums with Daddy on Rock Band
"ober da bidge" for over the bridge
When we ask, "Kai, how old are you?" His response is, "Old."
When we tell Kai we need him to "use his words" so that we can understand him he says, "Words." I don't think he quite gets that yet :o)
Kai's favorite friends at school are "Ebet" and "Wiwy" (Everett and Lily) when we ask him
He is saying "peez" (please), "tank u" (thank you), and "scuu me" (excuse me) at appropriate times
He answers questions with "yeth" (yes), "yeah" or "no"
When he really likes something Kai will say, "Mmm-hhhmm" with lots of inflection
When we ask him, "What's in Mommy's belly?" sometimes he says "baby" other times he says "no" (he also talks about the baby in his and daddy's bellies)

Some of his favorite activities right now are:
playing "hide" (hide-n-seek) and he always hides in the same couple of places
running and playing chase
making animals on the ceiling with a flashight and shining the light on his body to make it glow
running, climbing and trying to jump (still one footed), walking up and down stairs by himself
knowing and naming his colors and pointing to and naming his body parts, even the smaller ones
playing with trains, cars, trucks
watching airplanes, cranes and big trucks
throwing balls, racing his cars down the track, reading books repeatedly
seeing "ahmals" animals at the zoo and pet store
playing "lion" with daddy (Greg and Kai crawl around the house on all fours pretending to be lions)
and in the car he is learning that "green go", "red stop" and "yellow swow down" and will say this every time we are stopped at a stoplight
watching "moomies" (movies) with the "blankie on" (covered up with a blanket) sitting on the couch (see pic below)

Other things he's doing right now:
He still eats well, uses a spoon without spilling and drinks from a cup without a lid
He still sleeps in his crib, but with the baby coming we are going to transition him to a toddler bed soon.
He is still waking around midnight, 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. and needs help getting settled again, though he is staying in his crib and only comes to our bed around 6 or 7 a.m.
He goes to bed between 8 and 9 pm, wakes around 7 or 7:30 am
He falls asleep watching his toy fish tank and talks about "Nemo and turtles swimmin'"
He often wakes up some for juice at night
He can pull his socks off and helps open velcro for his shoes and tries to pull them off at the "back"
He says sorry by rubbing your cheek gently
He is still quiet when initially around new people but warms up and then starts talking and when he gets excited he pushes, throws things, and runs into people on purpose
He remembers things and talks about them later
He recognizes and talks about mommy's car and daddy's cars and recognizes Emma's car and house
He is really sweet with babies and gives them toys and gently rubs their faces
He is asking for kisses when hurt and we usually have to kiss both hands or knees, even if only one gets hurt
He moves his legs back and forth nervously like his Mommy and Pop Pop do

He has also started telling us "no way" and "away" (for "go away") when he doesn't want or like something we're doing and he has been hitting, pushing and biting some...I guess it all comes with becoming more independent! Greg and I have chosen to call this year his "Terrific Two's" and we are already experiencing a lot of it! At Kai's 2 year check up the doctor said he's doing great! He is now 33 1/4 inches tall and 26.8 pounds which puts him in the 25th percentile for height and weight and his head circumference was in the 50th percentile. Kai was nervous when we took off his clothes and wanted Daddy to sit with him and hold him, so I got a cute picture of that :o) We can't wait to see what this next year holds!

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Kai and I flew out of Missouri the afternoon of Mother's Day, so we got to have an early lunch with my mom and family before we left. This was great since all of us haven't been together (minus Greg of course) to celebrate this holiday for 6 years since we moved to North Carolina! We enjoyed a great lunch at Olive Garden before flying out. When we arrived in Greensboro Greg picked us up and we headed to Mimi's to celebrate Mother's Day again! When we got home the house was clean, Greg had bought me beautiful flowers and Kai had made me a Mother's Day card at preschool! What a great Mother's Day!!

Trip to MO

2010-05-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend some time in Missouri this week thanks to a free airline ticket I had from a trip last summer. That ticket had to be used by June, however when Kai turns 2 next week we will have to begin paying for a ticket for him, so I decided we should go before that! The flights were more challenging this time around with Kai (and being pregnant) as all he wanted to do was get down and run up and down the aisle of the plane. He always slept one of the fights though, so that was helpful. We stopped in Chicago for layovers both ways, and of course our gates were the farthest apart they could be. At times Kai would decide to sit down and not go anywhere else, to which I had to pick him up and carry him for awhile. He would also get down on all fours and pretend that he was a "lion" and crawl through some of the airport...which I didn't really mind as long as we were moving in the right direction!! We were able to play on the awesome indoor playground before boarding our second plane, which is always helpful. When we arrived in Missouri my parents picked us up at the airport. As soon as Kai saw my mom he started running to her and yelling, "Omie!!" It was really neat to see how excited he was and that he knows who my parents are even though we live far apart. The rest of the week Kai talked about all our family members by name and would ask, "Are you ___?" (for Where are you?). When Kai talked about my dad he would always say, "Pop Pop downstairs" which is where my dad spends lots of time :o) Kai got sick the 2nd night we were there with a 104 temperature and the croup, he always gets sick when we fly to Missouri. Thankfully he was feeling a little better by the end of the week and we had a great time with family and friends celebrating Kai's 2nd birthday! We traveled down to West Plains to see Aunt Mandy and Greg's grandma and pick up a few boxes for storage from their dad's house. It was nice to spend time with Mandy because she is getting ready to move to Seattle and we're not sure when we'll see her again! On Saturday we celebrated at my parents' house and they had made Kai an amazing train cake (which they said took them 6 hours to make!) and Kai loved it! He talked about his "choo choo cake" and actually ate some this year! I had Kai sit by his cake for a picture before we sang to him and cut into it and he decided to lean down and put his face in the icing and take a bite/lick! I was surprised because last year he didn't want anything to do with his cake! Kai really got into opening his presents this year also! He got lots of fun new clothes, toys and my sister made him an amazing "Quiet Book" which is something we had growing up that our Nana made for us. It has bible stories with fun activities in it for sitting through church. Our friends Angie, Reese and Aubrey, Rachel and Reed, and Sara, Braden and Norah joined us to celebrate! It was great to see them also! One day while we were there we spent time finding all the fabrics for the baby's quilt, which I'm very excited about! We had a great week and are thankful for our time in MO since we won't be traveling there probably until Christmas again due to my pregnancy!

It's a....

2010-04-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

BOY!! Yes, we are excited to find out that we are having another boy! We of course would have loved to have a girl also, but we are excited that Kai will have a brother to play with and that we will be able to use all of our baby stuff over again! I think we will only need a few things like a double stroller, another mattress and small things like new pacifiers, bottle nipples and a small swaddle blanket, so that will be great also! Kai went with us on the visit and watched the ultrasound. As he watched he would say "baby" everyone so often, but every once and a while he would say "shishy" for fishy. The baby must have looked like a fish to him this time! Even I couldn''t tell it is a baby looking at the ultrasound sometimes! The baby was very active during the ultrasound and the sonographer said that she was having a hard time getting some of the measurements because he was moving around so much. We told her we think she said that with Kai's 18 week ultrasound, and she replied to get ready, because this one will probably be just as active as Kai! Everything looks good from the ultrasound and the baby is still measuring about 4 days bigger than my due date, but still no change in that either. My placenta is a little close to my cervix right now, though my doctor is not concerned and feels like it will move into the correct place as the baby grows. She wants me to have another ultrasound at 30 weeks though to be sure. I will be glad to have another confirmation that it's a boy at that time too, though the sonographer said that even someone new to the job could have seen that it was a boy :o) We had settled on a girl name and I figured it would proabably be a boy since we hadn't decided on a boy name yet. So now we have to work on a boy name, which should be fun :o) These are the ultrasound pictures we got this time...I don't think they turned out as good as Kai's did at this age, but they are still amazing! Enjoy! I also found these super cute brother shirts and just had to get them!

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed Easter festivities in our neighborhood and with our friends again this year. We started out by going to the Lindley Park Easter Egg Hunt and Kai and Emma really got into it this year! They both enjoyed running and picking up eggs for their basket, though their favorite part was sitting and eating the candy afterward. Kai still did not want to have anything to do with the Easter Bunny! A tradition in my family growing up was to leave your Easter basket and Easter shoes on the fireplace for the Easter Bunny to fill during the night. We would wake up to full baskets, candy in our shoes and all the furniture in our house lined with jelly beans. My sister, brother and I would then race around the room collecting as much candy as possible. We started this tradition with Kai this year, however he just wanted to stand and eat the candy, not put it in his basket. I'm sure he'll catch on as the years go by.... After we went to church (and did NOT leave eggs boiling on the stove almost burning our house down) and we then headed to the Pells for lunch, an egg hunt and egg coloring. After we went home and had a nap we spent some time in our front yard playing in the water. Kai loves helping Daddy water the yard and playing in the sprinkler. It is always nice to spend holidays here with good friends when we can't be at home!

March Happenings

2010-03-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

This month Kai has done lots of new things! One morning I told him that we were going to see Emma that day and he started saying, "Emma!" We got it on video and sent it to Sarah. She said that Emma sat and watched the video over and over that day! Lots of fun! Greg has been wanting to get Kai some fish and he LOVES "Finding Nemo" so we got him his first pet. We went to the pet store and he chose a orange and white goldfish and called him Nemo. The store clerk also recommended a white fish with creepy red eyes, so I named him Creepy or "Peepy" as Kai says. However, it turns out that goldfish are not so hearty, so we have been through 3 Nemos and Creepy also didn't make it. When they would die Greg would flush them down the toilet..when Kai remembers he will say, "Nemo died. Down the potty," with a sort of sad face. The first time it happened Greg told Kai that Nemo was in fish heaven swimming with the golden rocks now...don't think he understood that. We now have a Beta fish that is red, green and blue and his name is Rainbow. He has already made it much longer than the goldfish and Kai really enjoys watching him swim and feeding him. Another big milestone was that Kai peed in the potty for the first time!! We asked if he would like to put his pee pee in the potty before a bath one night and he wasn't able to go that time, but we he wanted to try again and was able to go. He didn't seem to know what was going on, but we were super excited for him and he got a popsicle to celebrate! He has gone about 5 other times since then and still doesn't really have control over it, but it is so cute because as he stands there he will look down at his penis and say, "Pee pee out!" We are going to let him take the lead and I don't really think he'll be potty trained by the time the baby is here, but we'll see. Kai has also started singing a lot more lately. He started out around a year old being able to put the word "Bob" in the right place when we would sing the Bob the Builder song to him. Now he has started to sing the Elmo's World theme song, just one line, "Ehmo's wowod!" and he goes up in pitch at the end of the phrase just like the song does. He also has started singing a line from the Barney theme song, "I wub you!" and repeats it several time. At first he would just sing it randomly, but lately he has started singing it when we do something he likes, so I think he is telling us that he loves us in response which is really fun! Kai has mastered all of his colors and likes to point that out when playing, and has started recognizing letters and calls them "A-B's." Whenever he sees any letters now he says, "A-B's!" and gets really excited :o) Here are a few pictures from a playdate at the Children's Museum with our friends, Sarah, Emma, Johnny, Jessica, Rhyan and Boone! And other random pictures of Kai that Greg has taken :o)

The BIG 30!!

2010-03-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

So I have been dreading turning 30 for the last few months, and it is finally here...however so far it has been much better than I could have anticipated! Greg was going to be planning what we would do for the weekend, the only thing I had mentioned was going to the beach. The weekend started out with receiving a gift in the mail from my sister, a gift certificate for a pedicure for me and a friend and a manicure kit. It was a great gift and I was already thinking about who I would take along with me for a girls day out. That night Greg wanted to take me to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner, Chili's. We had only just been seated when my sister called to ask if I'd gotten the gift and as I was talking with her on the phone she walked up to our booth! I immediately started crying and hugging her!! She and Greg has been planning this since January! What an amazing surprise for my birthday! After dinner she had already scheduled for she and I to go get the pedicure that she had sent the gift certificates for, it was very relaxing and a fun thing to be able to do with my sister! The next day we were considering going to the beach, when my parents called and offered to pay for us to stay at a hotel on the beach in Wilmington for my birthday! Needless to say we packed up the car and headed that way. We headed down to the beach as soon as we got checked in to the hotel. It was still a little chilly with the wind and the water was cold, but it was relaxing to be on the beach and Kai loved playing in the sand! The hotel had a playground and indoor swimming pool which we took advantage of that evening. The next day we got up and headed to The Oceanic, Greg and I's favorite restaurant at Wrightsville Beach, for some brunch. After brunch we spent some more time on the beach before heading to the aquarium at Fort Fisher. Kai really enjoyed seeing all the fish and animals this time! After the aquarium we headed back home. We got home about 9 that evening and hadn't had a chance to make my carrot cake birthday cake, so Tiff mixed it up and popped it in the oven. Kai had a bath and we had cake and ice cream before all heading to bed late that night! Kai enjoyed helping me blow out my candles this time too! My sister had to leave the next day, but it was such a great way to celebrate entering a new decade of my life. Thanks for coming Tiff and also to Greg for helping plan the surprise!!

Greg turns 33!!

2010-02-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Greg turning 33 by having friends over for cake, ice cream and some Rock Band. It was a fun evening and Kai enjoyed helping daddy blow out his candles. The next evening we went out to eat and then to get ice cream to celebrate! Kai enjoyed choosing M & Ms for his ice cream! We had fun celebrating another wonderful year of Greg's life!

Announcing Phipps Baby #2

2010-02-20T19:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are pregnant with baby #2! We are due September 14th and Kai will be about 2 years, 4 months old then, I am 10 weeks now. This pregnancy has already been different than Kai's. I have been much more nauseous and tired this time around, which is probably related some to running around after an almost 2 year old. Kai has also been sick a lot in the last month, so none of us have been sleeping as well as we should! Greg has been great, as always, and done most of the cooking, cleaning and taking care of Kai so that I can sleep and lay around feeling sick... At 6 weeks pregnant I had a severe pain in my lower right abdomen, and since I no longer have an appendix :o), and with my high pain tolerance, I was concerned that it could have been an ectopic pregnancy, so we went in to the doctor and had an ultrasound. Everything was fine, the baby is in the right spot and had a good heartbeat. The doctor wasn't sure what the pain was, but he wasn't concerned. A cute story, we got a picture from the ultrasound which really just looked like a blob at that point (as you'll see the first picture below), when we showed Kai the picture and asked him what it was, he looked at it for a minute and then said, "Rooaarrr!" Must have looked like a lion to him :o) We went in this past Friday for our first regularly scheduled appointment to hear the heartbeat. The doctor couldn't find the heartbeat, though she wasn't really concerned since we'd just had the other ultrasound a couple weeks before, but we went ahead and had a second one just to be sure. Again, the baby was fine, had a good heartbeat and appeared healthy. The sonogram picture this time looked more like a baby and so when we asked Kai what the picture was, this time he said, "Baby." Greg has been telling Kai that there is a baby in mommy's belly and so most of the time, we can ask him, "What's in mommy's belly?" and he'll say, "Baby," and sometimes he will kiss my belly. It's really sweet! Hopefully he'll be as smitten when the baby actually arrives and doesn't leave :o)

Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is the first Valentine's Day that Kai has been in preschool and had friends to give Valentines to! I found a cute pattern on the internet and went to work! They turned out great and Kai enjoyed giving his Valentine flowers to his friends :o) On Valentine's morning we went to Krispy Kreme and had heart shaped donuts. Kai enjoyed watching the conveyer belt, but did not want to eat any donuts, so Greg and I enjoyed :o)

More "No!" (Snow!)

2010-01-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

It snowed AGAIN in Greensboro this winter, it's definitely a record! Kai looked out the window and said, "Mo No!" translation "More Snow!!" Who knew that Kai would know what snow is living in North Carolina the first couple of years of his life?!? The first day it was pretty cold so we just sledded down the mini-hill in our front yard. The next day was warmer so we walked down the park and Kai was excited to throw "no" in the "juice" (water). It has been fun for him to be able to experience the snow this winter and he continues to wake up and look out the window for "mo no?"

Visit from Aunt Mandy

2010-01-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

Greg's sister Mandy came to visit for a week! It was really nice to have her hear since she has been living in Thailand the last year and a half and has only seen Kai twice since he was born. We enjoyed showing her around our home and catching up on life. Kai very much enjoyed getting to know and spend time with his Aunt Mandy! Thanks so much for coming!!

Johnny Comes Home!!

2010-01-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

Our good friends the Pells have been on the journey of adopting their little boy, Johnny, from Ethiopia this past year. It has been interesting to learn more about the adoption process and encouraging to see them walk through this. After a week in Ethiopia, John and Sarah returned to the Greensboro airport with their son! There was a crowd waiting to welcome them home and we were able to be a part of this awesome experience! We look forward to getting to know Johnny and watching them transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4!

Christmas in MO

2009-12-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

We spent a week in Missouri for Christmas with friends and family...here are some of the photo highlights!
College roomates and the boys

Playing Wii with Reese and loving on Aubrey

2nd Cousins Braden and Norah
Lunch with Farra