"Baby Cook!"

MJ is quite the little helper these days.  It's quite cute to see how eager he is to help with the laundry (clothes dub-dub as he calls it), vacuum, putting clothes in his drawers, and most of all...cooking.  "Baby cook" he exclaims!  Yes, we're still working on getting him to call himself MJ rather than baby.  :)

They way our kitchen and living room are arranged, he can always see when I'm cooking.  He used to like to pull a chair over the the counter and climb up to get a better view.  Now that's no longer good enough-he wants to actually be involved. Sometimes it's great!  Sometimes it seems to make my cooking time take twice as long.  Go figure!  Last weekend, I bought a cupcake mix and we made cupcakes together.  He thought it was quite a treat!

A few days later I was making some mostaccioli for dinner.  Mat wasn't home, so it was just MJ and I and he kept hollering "baby cook!"  It wasn't exactly a meal he could help with.  Boiling water plus toddler don't mix too well!  I tried giving him some wooden spoons and plastic bowls and measuring cups so that he could pretend.  I even tried to get him to pretend to cook on his own play kitchen.  Neither of those choices are good enough for MJ.  In his mind, it's gotta be the real deal.  He's beyond "pretending".  Ha!  Stubborn little guy! 

So, I improvised and gave him some extra noodles, four bowls of colored water, and let him "cook".  He loved it!  He used measuring cups to add water to each of the little bowls, then chose his colors and squeezed in the food coloring drops.  Then, he dropped in mostaccioli noodles and had to be patient for a few minutes (the hard part) while letting them "cook" aka dye colors.  Then, we dried them off and strung them on necklaces.  He proudly wore his necklaces for two full days. 

Loving this stage and my little helper, even when he's adamant that baby cook!

The Name Game

I never really realized how hard it was to choose a child's name.  It was always so important to Mat to have a namesake, so it was just a given that we'd have a Mathew Alan Jr. should we ever have a boy.  We (well, more like I) struggled with his nickname, but overall the name choosing process was quite simple.

Not the case this time.  There are so many names that I think are pretty, but just can't choose!!!  We have decided to keep her name a secret until birth, so I guess it's rather mean to ask for help but then not tell you what we decide on, but I'm going to do it anyways!  :) 

Soooo, here are some of the girl names we are tossing around-in no particular order:

Korryn  (pronounced coh-rin)
Michaela (means "gift from God" which is also what Mathew means which I think is rather neat)
Mackenize
Maleah (I love this one, but Mat's not so much a fan)
Klara or Klaire
Kamryn
Kaidynn
Morgan
Khloe
Noelle (fitting since she'll be born at Xmas)
Taylor
Brynn or Brynley
Iris (means rainbow, and this baby is truly a rainbow after a storm in my eyes)

Can you tell that for the most part I really like sticking with "M" or "K" names.  I like the way my first and last name now begin with the same letter, so I think it would be neat to also have my little girl's name that way.  Not a deal breaker though.  To be honest, Taylor Paige was always the name I thought I would use for a girl should I ever have one.  Taylor was my one of my great grandmother's, whom I was very close with, maiden name. Then, as I became a teacher it seemed like Taylor was such a popular name that I began thinking maybe I wouldn't.  I like names that are a bit unique, but not out there.  I don't want her to be the only child with that name or a name that's never been heard of, but I also don't want her to have a name that 3 other little girls in her class have.  Klara, or Clara actually, was my other great grandmother's first name.  I was pretty young when she passed, so I really don't have many memories of her, but yet I do really like the name.  Anyways, I could ramble on about each of the options, but I won't bore you.  I'm hoping we can narrow it down to two names we both really like and once she's born choose the one that seems the most fitting! 

Soooo, anything sound pretty?  Anything we could definitely nix?  Opinions welcome!

24 Weeks and 2 1/2 Years!

Two exciting milestones this week... 

We hit the 24 week mark for baby girl and MJ is officially 2 1/2 years old!!

I'm officially 6 months pregnant.  As slowly as the first trimester crept by, the second one seems to be moving along much more quickly.  Heartburn seems to be a bit more under control, nausea ceasing more and more, and more energy to keep me going.  Overall, this pregnancy still seems tougher and more uncomfortable than it was with MJ, but I'm thankful to be feeling better and enjoying now preparing for our baby girl! 

We had our 24 week appointment this week and the baby belly is measuring exactly at 24 centimeters, so we're right on track.  I've gained 12 pounds so far.  I'm feeling much bigger this time, but I feel like I'm carrying quite a bit differently this time.  It's strange, because I feel quite a bit bigger but yet lots of my old maternity pants are still way to big yet the tops are getting really snug! 

Although I certainly want her to stay put for MUCH longer, the beautiful thing about 24 weeks is that babies start becoming viable should something happen and cause early labor.  Never any guarantees for a healthy baby, as we unfortunately learned once already, but it's nice to feel like we're past the stage of possible miscarriage! 

At 24 weeks she should be about one foot long and a little over a pound.  She'll begin gaining weight more rapidly now, and her brain is growing more rapidly now too as well as her taste buds developing.  So amazing and miraculous!  It will be interesting to see if her taste buds have anything to do with what I am currently eating.  Research says that what you expose your baby to in utero plays out in what they eat as babies.  I find all that quite interesting!  When I was pregnant with MJ I couldn't get enough Taco Bell or mexican food in general, and it now amazes me how he loves spicy food, especially salsas.  I wasn't big on eating meat, and neither is he now.  With this baby I don't have near the cravings, but I do have more of a sweet tooth.  I love fruits and cereals.  I wonder if there really is a correlation!  Maybe I should force more veggies down!  :)

One thing that's been frustrating is trying to obtain the medical records from my last OB in Florida.  While they turned over maternal medicine records, they dragged their feet for months on turning over any operative reports.  After several requests from both me as well as my doctor's office, they finally did send some type of operative reports but it was very minimal.  To make a long story short, my current doctor needs to know what type of internal incision was made on my uterus in order to know how to proceed with this delivery.  Hopefully we'll find out more information by the time of our next appointment and begin to make some decisions. 

In other news, MJ is now half way to three!  How did that happen?!  Three sounds so much older than 2!  While I love seeing him grow and develop, and I'm really excited to see him mature into his role as a big brother, I also still really want to keep him as my baby boy forever!  This week, he took a nap while cuddling with me on the couch.  I can only remember that happening one other time besides his days as an infant in the NICU, so it was pure heaven to just hold him and cuddle him while he slept so peacefully. 

He's talking more and more and his little conversations with himself at times.  Tonight he said "no eat home, eat bye-bye".  I think that's our bad habit of loving to eat out and his way of telling us "let's go out to eat guys!"  Too funny!  He's recognizing and saying all of his color words but has trouble with saying orange.  He's recognizing a few letters and repeats them after us as well as numbers 0-10.  We've worked on basic shapes and while he doesn't say them yet, he's able to recognize all of them. 

He seems to understand that there's a baby in mommy's belly.  I don't think he understands that the baby will come out one day, but he will point to my belly and say "mommy's baby" or try to lift my shirt and point to the belly.  He sees things around the house that are for the new baby and seems to recognize them or point them out as the baby's items. 

He continues to be a picky eater.  The only veggie he likes is corn and the only meat he'll eat is breaded chicken and even that is limited.  He still loves most carbs, dairy, and fruit.  Some favorites are soups, grilled cheese, peanut butter crackers, yogurt, applesauce, cottage cheese, crackers with hummus, chips, salsa, guacamole, blueberries, waffles, and cereal. 

He continues to LOVE cars!  I think we could take away every other toy, and he'd be perfectly content just playing with cars.  He likes to color for short periods at a time, play with stickers, torment Bubba, watch cartoons, read books, go for walks, and rough house and have tickle time! 

He continues to be a huge blessing in our lives.  On a day like today, 9/11, which is filled with grief and remembrance, we often stop to think of the ones we love and all that we are thankful for.  MJ is at the top of that list for us.  His life is such a gift to us, and I'm so thankful God entrusted me with his care.  I know that our baby girl will be just as much of a blessing and will make our family even richer. 

My Little Preschooler!

Not too many places will you find a preschool program that takes 2 year olds, but we are fortunate to have a program here that fit our schedule and needs perfectly!  MJ began his first day of 2yr. old preschool just a few weeks ago.  He only goes two mornings a week, two hours each, so it's rather minimal but just perfect for him and for us! 

I might be a bit biased, but I am just in love with this picture!  It was taken outside our front door on the way to drop him off at his first morning of preschool.  He just looks so angelic and like he's growing up sooo quickly!  Not to mention, I had to snap about 10 pics to get one of him actually looking at me and smiling.  Picture success, finally!

On his first morning, Mat and I were both able to go to drop him off.  It was a bit rough leaving him as of course he was rather upset, but being in those teacher's shoes before, I knew how important it was to give our hugs and kisses once, say goodbye, reassure him we'd be back, and then be on our way!!  We were so excited to go pick him up on his first day.  The tears were gone, and he seemed to have had fun!  We are just wrapping up his third week and it seems to be getting better and better.  He cries a bit each morning we drop him off (they actually come out to the car and get him out of his car seat for us...heaven!!), but they say he stops as soon as he gets in and gets to "work".  He's happily playing on the playground each time we pick him up now, too. 

It's great to see him flourishing.  I think he was/is really ready for more socialization, some time away from the house, and a chance to learn and explore with others his age and at his own pace.  He is attending a Montessori school, and so far I am really liking the concept and idea.  It's a great fit for him right now!  They even scheduled a parent-teacher conference for us prior to his first day, so that we could meet the teacher, discuss MJ, and learn a bit more about the classroom.  Then, after his first week we attended a Parent Academic Night where all the parents of this class were invited in to meet with the two teachers and observe what a typical morning is like for our toddlers.  Love it!  The teacher in me as well as the mama that's a bit sad to see her boy growing up is totally in love with the philosophy and the school so far. 

I hope MJ develops a love for school and spending time with his friends each week.  Yay for my little learner and explorer!