18 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 18 Weeks

Size of baby: 5.5 inches long and weighs 7 ounces. She is the size of a bell pepper!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 0lbs

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing a belly band for most of my pants & all regular shirts. In that weird phase where maternity clothes are too big, but regular clothes are getting snug

Gender: GIRL!
Movement: Yes mostly in the evenings. She loves her Daddy’s voice!

Food Cravings: Chocolate Milk Shakes

What I miss: Sometimes my energy level and patience

Sleep: I'm sleeping great!

Symptoms: Some sickness in the morning, but it’s mostly because of allergies. Headaches often and exhaustion.

Best Moment this week: Trenton kissed my belly this week and said “I love my sister when is the doctor going to take her out of your belly” & When we found out it was a girl Trenton told the nurse “I told you we were having a sister, I was right first” 

What I am looking forward to: Buying girl stuff!

I feel really fat and uncomfortable this time around. I don’t think I am much bigger than I was with the boys, but I feel like I am gaining weight all over even though my weight gain is 0!

Brotherly Love

Trenton & Trace have such a cute bond as brothers. They do almost everything together and rarely does Trenton leave Trace behind! Both boys have their own power wheels, but Trace loves to ride on Trenton’s tractor. They are so sweet the way they giggle and smile as they ride around. Trenton always makes sure Trace is on securely and rarely goes too fast. As parents we have always tried to make sure the boys did things together, but we do allow Trenton his space. I think it is a good base for when they are older. Trace has the best big brother any kid could ask for!

Look how sweet they are giggling and talking about the ride!

Not sure what’s going on with them, but something on the ground must have been really interesting.

Trenton constantly checks to make sure Trace isn’t falling down and is having fun!

Oh yes, they even go in the street. It was later in the day and for the most part our street is pretty quiet.

BUT all good things must come to an end. Trace threw a HUGE fit so brother came back around and picked him back up!

Go Texan Day

Today is offically Go Texan Day!! I love that it is rodeo season and I get to wear jeans, cowboy boots and big necklaces to work!! Today the boys were to dress up for school. They both looked pretty cute even if Trace didn’t have any boots that fit! We were running super late for school/work so I snapped these pictures before we headed into school!

One day they will both look at the camera! It’s donut shop Friday in our house so they have their breakfast in their laps!

This is what I got when I said “Look at Mommy” for the millionth time! Got to love me some cowboys!

Scrimmage – Blue Claws

Trenton’s T-Ball team had their first scrimmage last night and I have to say it was hilarious! In our league the first 3 pitches come from the coach and then you get 1 opportunity off of the tee! Trenton did a great job hitting off of the coach the second time at bat! I think it’s a great combo for these kids to see a live pitch at such a young age. We have a couple more scrimmages before opening day 3/3/12!

Trenton got a little action at 3rd (and by little I mean ZIPPO!). It’s t-ball what are the chances a ball is coming for 3rd!

Look how tiny all the kids look! I love it!

Playing 3rd is a lot of work OR the mosquitoes were really bad!

In the baseball ready position.

His friend Cooper is on our team which we are pretty excited about! He looked pretty mean in all that catching gear! He takes his job very serious!

Cougar Baseball

Hallelujah baseball season has finally arrived and we had a day with NO RAIN! After church on Sunday Daddy decided to take the family to opening weekend for UH Baseball. It is so much fun to go back to UH with the boys and have them enjoy the games that Gene & I did for so many years. We took a chance with Trace because he usually naps right after church and with no nap he can be less than pleasant. Well he did surprisingly well up until about the 6th inning. He was tired, cranky and ready to leave. We headed out around the 7th, but the Coogs were up! Hopefully we will be able to get to many more games!

We grabbed a little McD’s for lunch and the boys were enjoying them in the stands! 

To take a picture of this kid is impossible! My handsome little man! 

I H-E-A-R-T this picture of Gene & Trenton. Trenton is growing up so fast and I can remember when he was Trace’s age and going to his first game!

My sweet Trenton posing like always!

Trenton has really learned a lot of the fundamentals of baseball over the last year from Daddy and playing t-ball. It was awesome to watch him watch the game and know what was going on!

 

This was my one last attempt to stay an extra inning. I bought a coke and M&M’s for $10, gave them some cars and they had a blast….for about 10 minutes!

After we got home Trace fell asleep for about 10 minutes and woke up not in a great mood. I took him in the kitchen to get a drink and he puked everywhere. So I guess maybe he didn’t feel so well at the game. Woops! Sorry buddy! He felt just fine after that. Mommy, not so much!

Trace – 15 Months

I guess this post is better late than never! Trace has done quite a bit since his 12 month post! He is growing up so fast and developing his own little personality. Lately in the evenings (when we are actually home) when I am cooking dinner he SCREAMS for attention. It is hard to cook dinner and play with your 15 month old without someone getting hurt. Finally I decided to give him a spoon and a bowl and set him on the counter with me. He had a blast! I am learning how to handle his temperament and neediness. I am also learning to enjoy and embrace this age since baby #3 will be here soon and I will feel like I’m totally missing out on Trace being so little. It is one of my main goals to make sure he doesn’t get Middle Child Syndrome (unless he turns out independent and successful like his parents who are both middle children!)

Stats:

• Weight: 23 lbs
• Height: Not Sure, but growing like a weed
• Words: Dada, Trenton, Brother, Ball, Elephant, Milk, Please, Thank You, No, Stacy, Mama, Snack, Sock, Shoe, Uh Oh
• Signs: Milk, More, Please
• Loves: Putting on and taking off his shoes, being tickled upside down, eating at the big table, feeding himself, playing outside, throwing balls, hitting balls, kicking balls, anything related to a ball, Kisses, copying big brother, Pointing and showing us what you want
• Areas to grow: Temper tantrums, Running in the street, screaming in the car seat, hitting Mommy in the face

This is the Uh-Oh face when his spaghetti landed on the table!

I love my sweet, independent, strong willed little boy. He is a lot like both of his stubborn, independent and strong willed parents. We are learning how to redirect his behavior with hugs, kisses, tickles and the occasional time out!

Life as we know it

Life seems to be crazy busy right now! I have not found the time to pull out my camera, which I believe is in the console of my car so that I can “take pictures” at t-ball practice. The reality of it is, Gene is full blown into his season, it’s raining everyday and I chase Trace around the t-ball field rather than pulling out the camera to snap some shots of my little man. So what have we been up to:

Dad: Practice started at the end of January and scrimmages began the first week in February! We had ZERO rain in 2011 and it has rained everyday he has a game in 2012! Needless to say frustrations are high in the baseball world.

Trenton: Started League City Little League T-Ball this year! He is super excited to be playing. Our league is more like a coaches pitch with the T-Ball fundamentals. So far he is really enjoying himself. His team is the Blue Claws! Daddy ordered him a new blue batting helmet and backpack bat bag. He looks so grown up carrying all of his own stuff to the dugout! I cannot believe he is going to be 5 very soon. I promise I will snap a picture of him soon! We got a lot of really cool baseball pants from his “G” and since they belonged to Drew Trenton thinks they are AMAZING! Trenton is still in pre-school and they are doing the public Pre-K curriculum. We received Trenton’s mid-year progress report and he is doing incredible for his age. He is going to be ready for Kinder in no time. Trenton is very excited about being a Big Brother again! He always refers to the baby as his sister. He even asked God for a sister. We will see.

Trace: This is my middle child for sure! He is doing really well with the crazy baseball season schedule we have so far this year. He likes to watch Big Brother practice and is getting used to climbing the bleachers at Daddy’s field. Trace is really into balls. He throws them, shoots hoops, hits them with a golf club/hockey stick/bat. For the most part he is doing really well developmentally. He is starting to learn a lot of words and is getting much better with his signs. Currently he calls me “stacy” instead of Mommy. His teachers are working really hard to teach him Mommy. He has no problem saying Dada, but he is a Daddy’s boy.

Mom: Let’s see. I work at the office, I work at home, I drive to T-Ball, I support my husband at baseball games & take care of the family! Honestly, being pregnant I have learned to give up a lot of control. We hired a cleaning lady. She comes every other week and it’s amazing how much of a load has been lifted off of my shoulders. I am doing laundry during the week and planning our meals. We seem to be on a nice little schedule and things are going smoothly. This pregnancy has been hard. Probably because I chase two little ones around and it’s my busy season at work. I am at a 0 weight gain and I am now in my 17th week! I do not look that pregnant, but I feel really pregnant. We find out what we are having on 2/27/12!

We just had a great visit from Gene’s Mom this week. It was great to see her and I even had a free afternoon from work so we went shopping! She loaded the boys up with new clothes! I know she enjoyed being here and spending time with the boys. NOT A SINGLE PICTURE WAS SNAPPED. I am learning to balance everything and pictures are lagging big time.

Stay tuned for T-Ball, Easter, Family, Trace’s 1 Year and other pictures soon!