Gender speculation

I went to the doctor's office yesterday to have some blood drawn and for an ultrasound. After the ultrasound tech finished her examination I asked her if there was any way she could determine the sex of the baby since I am only 12 weeks (when I was pregnant with Cael we had an ultrasound tech tell us we were having a boy at 12 weeks). She said she would be more than happy to take a look, but made me promise I would not rush out any buy anything based on her prediction. I happily complied and waited with bated breath as she began moving the wand over my stomach. Within approximately 10 seconds she announced she was fairly certain it was a girl. It was interesting because she didn't appear to base her assumption solely on genitalia, but mentioned that there was a distinct difference (although minute) between boys and girls at 12 weeks gestation and based on her experience, our baby looked like a girl. I have been convinced we are having a boy for the last couple of weeks so having this information will make the 20 week ultrasound that much more interesting. I have another ultrasound on April 2nd so stay tuned!!

Cael at the beach

I think from the minute we arrived in Florida we have all been anticipating Cael's first trip to the beach. The weather the last couple of days hasn't exactly been beach friendly, but finally yesterday, we had blue skies, warm breezes and lots of sunshine. After Cael woke up from his nap we were off and running in our newest adventure. The minute his toes hit sand, he was in baby heaven. He would grab a handful and let it gently fall through his fingers. He threw it into the air, put it into his mouth and rolled around in it laughing and giggling like only a toddler can! He loved watching the sea gulls and would point and say 'bird' (of course it came out sounding more like 'ba', which could be anything at this point, but I prefer to think he was saying bird). He didn't like the water at first and the minute his feet touched the cold water (colder than he was used to), he would start to cry. However, after he saw Daddy out playing in the waves he grew more brave and was soon wading his way out into the water (with Mommy and Bapa's supervision of course). We played in the sand, searched for seashells and enjoyed the warm breeze in our hair. It was a great experience!! Cael had so much fun and loves the water so much, Ryan and I joked about moving to Florida, but it is not going to happen. Florida is a great place to visit, but we wouldn't want to live here :) Special thanks to Kim (Gam) for her behind the scenes work with her camera. She really captured the memories perfectly!

Destination Florida

Ryan, Cael and I flew to Florida yesterday morning to visit Dad and Kim (Gam). The flight was three hours direct from Denver to Orlando followed by an hour and a half drive to the house they are renting for the next couple of months.Cael was a little trooper despite having had no nap and barely eating anything all day (his choice, not for a lack of trying on our part). He did start to finally melt down in the car about 5 minutes before we pulled into the drive way, but a quick dip in the pool immediately erased all signs of unhappiness. He would have spent all evening in the splashing and floating in the water if things like dinner, unpacking and bedtime hadn't gotten in the way. The weather was balmy and gorgeous with the temperature registering 83 degrees on the drive from the airport to the house. Suffice it to say, we are loving it here!!!

Denver Kids Expo

I have been meaning to post this video for weeks! We went to the Denver Kids Expo about a month ago because I thought it would be fun for Cael and good for all of us to get out of the house. The advertisements made it sound like it would be fun for kids of ALL ages, but what they should have said was kids ages 2+. Regardless, we made the best of it and ended up enjoying ourselves even though it wasn't exactly what we thought it would be.

Blog updates

I have been a horrible blogger lately. Between work, which is crazy and the first trimester (feeling tired ALL the time), I have not had it in me to post anything. I just wanted to write a brief post to let everyone know what is going on in our world:

1) The pregnancy is progressing wonderfully and I feel weak anytime I complain about being tired or feeling nauseous because I know there are other women out there who have had it MUCH worse than me. Cael was a relatively easy pregnancy and I feel blessed to say that so far this one seems to be following suit. My only complaints are having to eat every 20 minutes and needing to go to bed every night at 8:00 just to feel remotely rested. Well, I have other complaints, but suffice it to say those are the only important ones related to the pregnancy!

2) I have had several people ask me about when I am going to start a blog for Baby #2. I have decided that the easiest thing to do is to turn this blog into more of a family blog rather than trying to maintain two different ones at the same time. So over time you will see some changes as I try to incorporate more about Ryan and I into things as well as discussions about the baby both now and after he/she is born!

That is it for now. I am sure I am missing something or a lot, but hopefully I will be back in the blogging mood soon!!!

Nebulizer

On Monday I took Cael into the doctor's office because he had a nasty cough and was pulling at his ears so I wanted to make sure he didn't have an ear infection. After looking at his ears and assuring me they were clear they listened to his lungs. They heard some crackling and popping and after looking at his red throat determined he had a viral infection and that therefore antibiotics wouldn't do any good in terms of making him better. They opted to try hooking him up to a nebulizer (think inhaler for toddlers), which contained a mask full of medicine that he needed to wear for 7 minutes so he would inhale the medicine. HA! Obviously, they don't realize what that means for a 14 month old and his mom. He HATED it and I swear those 7 minutes were the longest minutes of my life. However, the nebulizer was doing it's job and the second time they listened his lungs sounded more clear so they sent us home with our new toy! FUN!!We have been using it every day and he has gotten much better about letting us administer the medicine (with the help of Grandma and Grandpa who are in town visiting - they do a great job of keeping him occupied). He still has a nasty cough accompanied with a fever and a lot of drainage, but hopefully, after the weekend, he will be back to his normal self. The doctor did ask about whether or not asthma runs in the family, which it doesn't. She said that the wheezing could be an early indication and that we would need to keep a close eye on him in the future. Kind of scary, but I have a good feeling that he will remain asthma free!

Announcement

Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words:

Just a fluke?

Last night was no different than any other night. It was my turn to feed Cael so Ryan took him upstairs to get him for bed, which as most of you remember involves changing his diaper, changing him into his pajamas and singing or reading to him. Last night I opened the door to find Cael asleep in Ryan's arms as Ryan was singing to him. Ryan motioned whether or not he thought we should try just putting him in the crib to see what happened and I indicated it was worth a shot. I quietly left the room and stood outside the door waiting for what I was sure was going to be the inevitable screaming/crying once Cael realized he had been placed in his crib. To my surprise (more like shock) Cael didn't make a peep AND he slept all night. I have been overanalyzing weaning him off this last bottle since he celebrated his first birthday and once again, I was surprised by his flexibility and ease with which he transitions from one milestone to the next (i.e. I thought weaning him off of the bottle during the day was going to be really hard and it ended up being easy, same with swaddling - he is pretty adaptable to change, making it very easy on Mommy and Daddy). So, the question becomes, was it just a fluke occurrence or is it possible that weaning him off of his bedtime bottle is going to be a lot easier than I had originally thought? I guess we will see what tonight brings. *Fingers crossed*

UPDATE: It was a fluke and to honest, I am not surprised. We haven't really tried to remove the bed time bottle, but I am hoping the fact that he fell asleep without it the other night means it will be easier than we think. Thanks for the comments. The support is appreciated! Now, I understand why Babywise stresses not using the bottle as a sleep aid although, to be honest, I am not sure I would change anything. Of course, I might change my mind depending on how tough it is to get rid of :)

Picture of the week - January 26

It is time for the picture of the week!! Again, the 'picture of the week' post is meant to be a fun way to make the blog more interactive for friends and family. The idea behind it is to comment on what you think he is thinking, what you think he would say if he could talk; anything that you feel represents the picture being posted.

I particularly love how he has his little tongue sticking out on this one!!

See previous posts for directions on how to post a comment if you are unsure how to do so. Please post comments!!! I love reading them and picking a winner, but in order to pick a winner I need people to COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!