Getting too big

I'm starting to think Haley is getting bigger each day. Lately we have had adventures with potty training. She loves to go potty on the chair as long as you go with her so we thought maybe it was time for some pull ups. She loves to wear them but doesn't understand the concept yet of going potty before you mess your pants. What's funny is that she asks for her Dora diapers, since they have Dora on them, yet she hasn't ever watched that show. Funny what kids pick up on. When she has a diaper on she is in the habit of taking off her diaper as soon as she poops so you can imagine the mess it makes. Last week Grandma missed the suprise Haley left her in the bathroom since it blended in with her rug and she managed to track it all over the house! Not sure if we are going to continue with the pull ups or wait a few more months to really start potty training. It would be WONDERFUL to have only one kid in diapers, both on our sanity and pocketbooks, but I'm not going to rush Haley yet.

She has started to talk a lot more and tries really hard to repeat after you, although most of her words sound the same. We'll have to capture some on camera so we can remember years from now. Last night she spent the night at Grandma's so obvisouly we didn't see her this morning. Well Grandma dropped her off at the house today and she ran in the front door saying MAMA...DADA. It was precious! These are the moments that just melt your heart. Overall it's a really fun stage, as long as she grows out of her temper tantrums soon!

On the baby front, I have an ultrasound this week at the hospital. It is my regularly scheduled baby size and measurements ultrasound where we could officially find out the sex if we want to. But, we still want it to be a suprise so hopefully the tech won't slip up. I go back to see my dr. next week and the specialist the week after so lots of dr. appts coming up this month.

And finally...we're glad to say that Matt's brother Michael is back home. He's doing much better and we hope to get to El Paso for a visit soon.

Here's some pics from Father's Day...I know...I'm behind :)

Going swimming

Haley and Daddy

Listening to the iPod. She loves music

Roller Coaster Week

What a roller coaster week we have had. I apologize now for the long post! Our journey started last week when Haley was bitten by a mosquito near her eye. The next few days her eye was almost swollen shut. It looked aweful and I could feel people staring at us as we went out in public. So by Friday when it wasn't better I called her dr. and he said to bring her in. $25 later he told me she is fine(no eye infection) and take Benedryl. On Saturday wouldn't you know her eye was back to normal...yeah! Saturday during the day we went to Kendall's (John's girlfriend) graduation party at the lake. They have a great little "beach" and Haley couldn't keep out of the water. Poor Daddy and Uncle Mark took turns out in the hot sun playing with her why I tried not to pass out from the heat. When we got back to grandma's house we went swimming some more and Haley had another accident. She was all wrapped up in her towel and tripped and BAM....mouth hit the cement. A big fat lip was the prize, luckily no broken teeth. It's all better now but poor Haley has been beat up lately.

And on to the rest of the roller coaster...on Thursday I had my check with my dr for my monthly visit. I've finally gained some weight (5 lbs since last visit) and my blood pressure was looking great again. Everything was finally back to normal. Then on Monday I got a voicemail from the Dr. asking me to call her. I knew that was never good cause usually it's the nurses calling. I called right back and she explained that our blood screen test came back positive for a Neural Tube Defect (NTD). The most common NTD is Spina Bifida. I didn't panic yet as she explained my odds came back at 1:35 which was high but that also means 34 out of 35 chance the baby is just fine. She explained I couldn't wait for the ultrasound scheduled at the hospital in a couple of weeks and I need to see a specialist this week. She arranged everything, which is good, cause the next few days where a blur as the panic set in, and so did the praying and crying. Matt and I did a lot of research on Spina Bifida and it was pretty scary. His cousin, who is an OB, gave us some good stats and told us not to panic yet either and reassured us the internet can be a devil. Luckily I was able to see the specialist this morning. She did an ultrasound and couldn't find anything wrong yet, although the baby was laying on it's back so it was not an optimal screen. But she was pretty confident that the baby didn't at least have any major lesions because those cause skull deformaties and our babies skull is perfect. At this time she couldn't rule out smaller lesions but she doesn't think they are present. She did ease our minds some and said we can choose to do an aminocentesis to get a more defenitive answer, 98% accurate. We haven't made up our minds yet on the amino but I'm feeling so much better knowing the ultrasound came back good so far. The plus side of this ultrasound was the 3D picture we got of the baby, although I have to admit it's kind of freaky looking cause the baby moved as they were taking the pic so it's almost like it has 4 eyes and 2 noses. They didn't do the entire ultrasound in 3D but instead would change it to 3D around the babies face so we could get the picture. I have a feeling this baby is going to look like me but we'll see :) Since my marker level was so high, I'm considered a high risk pregnancy now, which means I have to be monitored by my regular OB and this Fetal Maternal Specialist the entire pregnancy. Basically I'm at one of my drs. every two weeks! She explained I am at a higher risk of preeclampsia, pre-term labor, stillbirth and placenta abruption, which is why the monitor me so closely. BUT, so far everything looks perfect and there is a high chance the baby and I will be perfectly healthy with no complications. Also, we had a chance to find out the sex but stuck to our wish of not finding out, although I have a suspicion it's a boy (I've thought that all along).

And finally the end of our roller coaster, or at least we hope. Matt received news last Friday that his brother was in the hospital. While he was in ICU last week, he has been doing much better and is in a regular bed now. Hopefully he will be home soon and our roller coaster ride will come to an end. I'm not sure I can take much more :)

Now on to the fun...pictures. Our scanner is broken or I would add one of the baby, so it's all Haley...

Naken cowgirl...she loves those pink boots when she finds them

Show Day at The Little Gym

Getting her ribbon all by herself

Playing soccer in the backyard....yes, in her pink boots

Washing off in the sink after spaghetti

Hanging out with Unlce Mark at Kendall's party

Big girl

Daddy's home!

Matt returned home from a business trip to Canada today! We're glad he is home finally. Haley and I stayed with my mom most of the time so we won't be alone. Haley loves that her uncles are home from college to entertain her all day.
A story every mom has....on Tuesday we went to eat and then I wanted to go look at JC Penney for a minute. I had to go to the restroom so I pawned Haley off on my brother Nathan (or Uncle Na Na as Haley calls him). Anyways, I did some shopping too while he was watching her and decided it was time to go rescue Nate. I see him walking down the aisle and he looks at me and says...."She stinks, it's a good one Steph" It sure was, it was one of those that was dripping down her leg (she was wearing a dress so no pants to catch it). YUCK. I had to go to the car to get a diaper while grandma took her to the bathroom to get her cleaned up. Haley managed to get poop everywhere...all over grandma, on the shopping cart, on the floor, everywhere!!! We did clean it all up so don't worry next time you go to the Conroe JCP. Just might want to stay away from the shopping carts :)
On the way to the car that night we saw a yellow car parked next to ours and Haley says, "John's car". I was impressed. Uncle John does have a yellow car. I didn't even know she knew which car was John's since she has never been in it. She's getting better with her words but is still a little hard to understand at times. She tries so hard to talk. It will come one day soon!
Here are some pics from Memorial Day Weekend up in Ft Worth. We stayed with our friends from college who have a little girl a few months older then Haley. Haley had a good time having some kids her age around. Can't wait to see what she does with the little one.


In her car at home...

Yes...in only shorts and her cowboy boots! At least they match.


Kourtney and Haley going down the slide at the park


Haley, Caden and Kourtney chowing down (queso for Haley, one of her favorites). It's very hard to get 3 kids <>

Funny face going to mow the yard.