The 3 of Us at the Zoo

Tyson and Jake and the new stroller
Jake waving "hey" to the Zebras

Riding on the carousel
Lookin' for mama

The ole stump on the log and Jake

Tyson, Jake, and I enjoyed some quality family time together today. I was supposed to work the night shift all weekend, but ended up getting sick and having to miss work last night. (I also missed my work baby shower, too). :( I got some much needed rest last night and some good medicine, and I felt like a new person today. Apparently the lack of sleep from taking care of a sick child all week long + the lack of sleep from working night shift + the lack of sleep from pregnancy= a bad deal. Anyways, I hated missing work and my shower, but I definitely enjoyed my sleep and my time with my family today.

If you can't tell from the pictures, we made a quick trip to the zoo. I say "quick" because I am getting way too big and pregnant (if you can't tell from the pictures) to walk around very comfortably any more. We hit Jake's favorite spots (the giraffes, lions, tigers, zebras, and ostriches) and we even rode the carousel today. Jake loves to ride the "el-phant," which is his newest obsession these days. So cute.

Did I mention that we tried out our "new" sit-n-stand stroller today? (It's "new" to us, but I got it at a consignment sale here...isn't it awesome? I probably wouldn't have gotten neon orange if I would have bought it first-hand, though.) Anyways, I thought it was a good idea to go ahead and let Jake try it out, and it was a great idea! He was so much better than I thought about standing and riding and being able to get on and off as he needed...he's such a big boy! Now let's just see how he does when Walker is riding in the front! :)

I have a great job and work with some amazing people, but it's days like this that really make me miss my time with my family on the weekends. Hurry up maternity leave!! 6 weeks or less to go!

***Quote of the weekend...from one of my young patients, "You must be having a boy because your face is real swole." Nice.

"All Better"

If you read my previous post, you know that Jake has been battling a stomach bug this week. It's not over yet, but according to Jake, he's "all better."

More on this later. Have a great weekend!

Worst Parents Ever...

For the worst parents ever, see picture below:

Yes, Tyson and I are the worst parents ever. Really. We selfishly left our child at home with a babysitter (well, not just any babysitter...the best, Casey Rae) while we attended a fundraiser for UAB, and Jake got sick...bad sick. Let me back up, Jake woke up in the middle of the night last night with a stomach virus, but we didn't have any problems all day, so I thought we were in the clear. I thought wrong. Poor Casey Rae, she ended up having to clean up not only diarrhea, but a massive amount of throw-up. And poor Jake. I feel like the worst mom ever. At least we left Jake in really good hands, though; Casey Rae did the most amazing job ever. Thank you, Casey Rae! I owe you BIG time!

By the way, we did have a great time at the fundraiser before finding out about Jake getting sick. Somehow, though, my big ole' belly always ended up being the brunt of all the jokes. :)

This is an awful picture of me, but getting a picture of the 3 of us is a rarity. And yes, those are Christmas pajamas on Jake. Don't judge. :)

Big Boy Haircut

So in a temporary moment of insanity, I let Jake's beautiful blond locks get cut off. Tyson and I had been talking about it for a while, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it...I'm obsessed with his long hair. Anyways, Tyson had Friday afternoon off, so I told him that it was time to get Jake's hair cut. (Tyson usually always takes Jake to get his hair cut, but this time I wanted to go, too). I'm usually a control freak about most things, but I agreed to let Tyson handle everything when we got to the barber shop. We had already discussed what we wanted..a big boy hair cut with a lot off the sides and back but still some length in the front. Well, Jake gets into the chair and Tyson starts telling the man what we wanted, but he left out the part about keeping it long in the front. I just bit my tongue the whole time and hoped for the best. Not so much...his hair is so stinkin' short!

I'm slowly coming around to Jake's big boy haircut; however, I miss his long hair! He just looks way too grown-up now! And his hair is so much darker, too! I knew it would eventually get darker, but it's like everything is happening all at once. Gosh, I'm way too hormonal for all of this right now...what was I thinking? Thank God it's just hair and will grow back, right?

I hope everyone had a great weekend! 7 more weekends (or less) of work for me and then I'm on maternity leave!! Oh, and I forgot to mention that we scheduled the c-section for April 20th! Woo hoo!

31.5 Weeks

Yes, Christy, I know my stomach is huge! At least I didn't wear stripes this time! :)

Walker and I had another check-up today, and everything went great! My blood pressure was great and my weight was okay; I think I've done my math wrong somewhere because my total weight gain thus far is 35 lbs, but I feel like I had already reached that. Anyways, Dr. McKee said it wasn't a big deal, that I "looked pretty." Ha! Is it just me or is that really weird coming from my OB-GYN? Love him.



On to more important matters, Walker's heartrate was 150 and he measured 35 weeks today. Dr. McKee said Walker is in a really funny position (umm...all curled up on my right side jabbing me in my ribs and bladder) so he thinks the measurement might actually be a little bigger. Either way, we discussed going ahead and scheduling my c-section for my 39th week. I don't have the exact date yet, but will let y'all know when I find out. Dr. McKee felt pretty certain I wasn't going to make it that far, but we are gonna get it on the books just in case.



It's finally all starting to seem so real! I'm in panic mode now to get everything done (sterilize bottles, wash/organize clothes, finish the nursery, install the car seat, etc). Too bad I'm so exhausted and have no energy to do these things! Such is life, right?



***There are several other posts from today, so check them out!

McWane Center

Julia, Jake, and Weston


How cute is this of Weston?

I knew these two would make great friends instantly!

Not my hubby or my child, but I am a sucker for Daddy/daughter pics!

I almost completely forgot to post these until I saw these on Mary Beth's blog...thanks again for sending me these pics, Mary Beth!

A couple of weekends ago while I was working, Tyson and Jake met up with the Smart Family at the McWane Center here in town. Julia and Weston are about a month younger than Jake, and I hear that Jake and Weston hit it off immediately! And apparently, Jake and Julia kept their distance...I know Kirby was glad about that! :)

I hate I missed the trip, but I'm so glad Jake finally got to meet the Smart twins and that Tyson got to meet up with Kirby and Mary Beth...it was a long time overdue!

Enjoy the pics!

Oh the Things He Says...

Here are some funny things Jake has said lately:

• Jake loves to get mail, so every now and then my Mom (and Dad, too, of course) will send him a card with some money in it. I always get Jake to call my mom and say thank you for the money. Anyways, I was talking to my mom the other day and Jake wanted to tell her hey, so I handed the phone over to him. It had been about a week since my mom had sent him money but Jake, as sweet as he could be, said, "Thank you money, Pa Pa!" Now, everytime he talks to my mom, he says "thank you money, Pa Pa!" Does my child know how to milk it or what?

• Monday was a rough day for Jake; he only napped for about 45 minutes that day and was having issues falling asleep that night. I finally walked into his room about an hour after we put him down and asked him what was wrong. He promptly replied, "need medicine...take tylenol." I was so caught off guard and asked, "what did you say?" He then repeated himself like I was dumb or something, "need medicine...take tylenol." Turns out he is cutting his 2 year molars and needed some Tylenol for the pain. :) Too cute!

• This morning, we got in the car to go to school, but it was dead. Turns out someone left a light on in the car. Anyways, Jake could tell something was wrong and immediately said, "Uh oh." I told him, that we needed to get out and go back in the house that the car was dead. He responded, "try Daddy's car." So smart of my lil' man! Too bad Daddy had already left for work at 5:30 this morning. :( By the way, thanks for coming to our rescue, Tyson!

Jake's just saying so many new things every day, it amazes me! He's growing up so fast! Anyways, I hope you think these are as cute as we do!

"Lil' Ball"

This is probably another one of those things that isn't very interesting some readers, but I have to document it...Jake's "lil' ball." Lil' ball came to us via a goody bag from a birthday party, and since Jake has moved to his big boy bed, he cannot sleep without lil' ball. I have no idea where this obsession with lil' ball came from, but it is quite annoying.

Remember me talking about the first 2 naps that Jake took in his big boy bed that caused us some trouble? Well, it was all because of that dang lil' ball; Jake kept begging for it, and I had no idea what he was talking about. Finally on day 2 of bad naps in the big boy bed, I started investigating what Jake was talking about. He kept pointing to the garage and saying "car," so I went out there and found a ball (that I swear I had never seen before) in his carseat. As soon as I pulled it out and showed it to him, his face lit up. This was the lil' ball he kept begging for:

To make a long story short, lil' ball has become part of our bedtime routine. We keep it in his sock drawer so we are sure not to lose it, but it has temporarily gone missing a few times but only to be found minutes later. Tyson told me that we need to get a back up lil' ball just in case, so I called my friend who was the giver of lil' ball in the goody bag and inquired where we might find a replacement lil' ball. (FYI, you can get an 8 pack of lil' balls at Dollar General for $1). Anyways, I've been slack and haven't gotten the back-up. We've been incredibly lucky...until today. Lil' ball went missing over the weekend under Daddy's watch; I just knew Jake was going to melt down last night and not be able to sleep without it. (He literally holds the ball the whole time in his right hand and will wake up still clutching that dang ball in his right hand!). Luckily, Jake was extrememly exhausted last night and fell asleep early without even noticing that lil' ball was missing. Long story short, I went to Dollar General today and we now have 7 replacement lil' balls just in case. Jake is sleeping well tonight with lil' ball back in his hands. :)

Silly lil' ball

And because I had the camera in his room, here is the shelf that we put up in Jake's room with all of Daddy's mini-helmets from the schools that he's coached at:

One of our friends from Georgia Southern gave me this idea; she has the full size helmets of all of the schools her husband has coached at, but those are a little pricey. Anyways, I think it's a cool way for us to remember each of the schools (even though I wasn't with Tyson until he was at Georgia), and I hope Jake and Walker will think they are pretty cool, too. Oh, and Jake's favorite helmet?...Georgia Southern. I have no idea why, but he loves it and asks to hold it all the time.

Anyone from Tifton know where I can get a TCHS mini helmet? Let me know if you do, I'd love to get it to finish off the collection! Thanks!

Washing Cars 101

Well, it was another busy weekend at work for me, but Tyson and Jake got to get outside some and enjoy the beautiful weather. I did wake up in time Saturday to help Tyson give Jake his first lesson in washing cars. He was a big helper, but his favorite part was spraying the water...as you can tell by the pictures. He actually rang the car about 75% of the time, but the other 25% of the time, he either sprayed the garage, Tyson, or even some walkers passing by. Mama was spared this time. :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sorry for the short blog...it's been a long weekend at the hospital...lots of sick kids and sad stories. :(

Trip to the Zoo

Note to self...if you feed a roaming peacock Teddy Grahams, he will stalk you and your child until you give it more. Don't feed the animals!

Kaden

Kendall and her crazy hair!

Carson
Jake trying to feed the Ostrich a Teddy Graham...didn't he learn his lesson from the peacock incident?

How precious is this of the triplets going down the steps?

This is the "Rock Fortress." The kids had a lot of fun on it, but between watching Jake and the triplets, it was stressful! Why would you make a kid's play structure made of rocks and steep steps?

My sweet angel

Jake LOVED petting the goats...

...and the sheep (even though Mollie and I were extremely freaked out by the sheep...they keep biting each other, and I knew Jake was next!)

Today, Jake and I made our first trip to the Birmingham Zoo for 2010, and we had THE BEST TIME EVER! We met Mollie and the Thompson Triplets there and spent a good 3 hours walking around the Zoo, petting the animals in the Petting Zoo, playing on the "Rock Fortress" (as I call it), and riding the Merry-Go-Round. I am completely exhausted, but it was well worth it!

Jake's favorite animals are Zoo animals; if you ask him about the animals at the Zoo, he quickly rattles off "snakes, elephants, giraffes, lion, tigers, zebras, monkeys, camels." He is so funny how he remembers all of those animals and that they all belong at the Zoo. Anyways, he was in heaven today when he woke up from his nap and I told him we were going to the Zoo. He insisted on taking his Little People elephant with him! :) I have a feeling we are going to be making lots of trips to the Zoo this year!