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.

Vacation at the beach

This past weekend we took a much needed mini vacation to Galveston. It was interesting to see how it is doing since the hurricane. The beaches are in major need of cleaning as there was seaweed everywhere. The Strand was empty and most of the shops are still closed. There is still a lot of work to be done. Not that Galveston was all that great to begin with but it's sad to see the town so down. So on to the fun stuff. Haley had a good time at the beach. She was freaked out by seaweed but as long as we kept that away from her she was having a blast. We visited Moody Gardens on Sunday when the cold front came through. She loved the fish and birds always pointing out "bird".
Matt and I came back home on Monday to get some work done on the house and Haley is staying with Grandma the rest of the week in Galveston. Today the report was they went to the 3-D imax about dolphins and whales. Haley kept trying to touch the dolphins...too bad Matt and I missed out.
On the baby front, I had my 13 week checkup last week. The baby is doing great measuring right on track but I'm on orders to eat more and relax, apparently I have high blood pressure. The dr. wasn't too worried yet so hopefully my next appointment will go better. Guess this is a good excuse to eat whatever I want and veg out on the couch for awhile, at least until Haley comes home on Friday :)
Enjoy the pics.

Haley and Daddy at the beach (which by the way, 2 piece bathing suits are great except at the beach. I have never seen so much sand get in a swim diaper!!!)

Funny faces feading the birds in the morning

Checking out the penguin (hard to see with the reflection)

Hanging like a monkey

Ready for the beach!!!

Haley and Mommy at the beach (yes, that is all seaweed in the sand)

Dance Class

Dance class has been, well, interesting. I was able to go one day and watch but I'm pretty sure I was a big distraction. Haley wanted to show me how she can swing like a monkey from the ballet bar instead of doing her dance...oh well. The next week the report was even worse. Grandma reported she cried the entire time and didn't want to participate in anything except the scarves, and then cried when those had to be put away. So I was beginning to think my girl was going to be a gymnast instead of a ballerina. But then there was this week. While she didn't want to put on her outfit, which is another story I'll discuss later, she finally got it on. This time she did everything the teacher asked and was great! Our little angel was back. So I guess there is hope...we'll see.

So on to my other story. Haley is going through her naked phase. She is in to taking off her diaper and running crazy. Sounds funny until she took it off with a suprise in it. Luckily for us that happened at Grandma's house. Unlucky for Grandma, Haley picked the suprise off the floor and set it on her couch....GROSSSSSSS. Needless to day, getting dressed in the mornings has been a task to say the least. Our trick is to let her dress an animal too. So many of her animals, Duck, Giraffe,Tiger (we have original names for them huh?), have either a diaper on or a shirt. Whatever works.

On the baby front, I've been feeling great, just really tired which is why the blog as been suffering. Today is 12 weeks. I go back to the dr. this week to see how baby #2 is growing. No sickness yet!!

Enjoy the pics from dance class.

Pretty princess

Watch me mom!

Our little monkey

Haley's big announcements

Haley has 2 big announcements. First, she started a dance class last Friday. Grandma took her to the momma and me class (or grandma and me) at the parks and rec center. I didn't get to see it but the report was Haley did great. However, all the other little girls were dressed like ballerina's and Haley was wearing jeans and a shirt. This Friday she will be ready cause I bought her a little leotard with skirt and found her some ballet shoes that will fit her tiny feet. It is so precious! I'm going to try to sneak away from work one Friday to watch. Can't believe my little girl is old enough to dance.
And her second announcement.....Haley is going to be a big sister in November! We had our first ultrasound last Thursday and everything looks great so far. Haley doesn't understand yet but I know she will be a great big sister.

Easter Weekend

So this time I have no excuse why it took me so long to post...just been busy with life. Haley had her 18 month checkup last week and did great. For once she didn't even cry when the doctor came in. She's holding steady at 20.8 lbs, which is in the 5% now. Back to where she came into this world at. The dr. wasn't too worried though. Her height was right in the 50% and her head is still big at 75%. It'f funny because every single time they measure it twice. This time it was three times. I just keep telling the dr. her daddy has a big head...sorry Matt but you do.

On Friday we drove to San Antonio to go to Sea World. We had bought a season pass last year which was good for this year too. Haley did good watching the animals and we think she had a good time. We went late in the day Friday so we came back Saturday too. As far as Friday night, I had reserved a crib in the hotel room but when we got there the only crib they had was broken. So Haley slept with us, if you can call it that. She was so excited and spent half the night talking to us trying to wake us up my poking our eyes out. It was cute, but not too cute at 3am. We knew it was time to leave Sea World on Saturday when Haley wanted to eat her food off the floor, her diaper came apart, it started raining and Matt lost his wallet all during the Shamu show. Perhaps we should have left earlier looking back but at least Haley didn't poop on me with no diaper and Matt's wallet was returned to lost and found!

Easter Sunday we went to church and got caught in the rainstorm walking back to our car....oh well...kind of fun. We ate dinner with my family up at the lake and had a chubby bunny contest...needless to say Nathan won. I came in last as I was laughing way too hard.

Enjoy the pictures and have a good week.

Waiting patiently for the dolphin show

There's the dolphin

At the pool trying to pet the dolphins.

Feeding the birds.

Easter Sunday

Playing in the water in my Easter dress and crocs (i love those stinkin shoes, I want to wear them all the time)

Smelling the flowers with Uncle Mark

Blowing bubbles in the front yard

Chubby Bunny contest......

Nathan the winner!

Matt was 3rd