Five Frogs!

Well hello there! :)

Yup, that's right, come October 20th there's going to be a new frog in this little family. We feel excited...and blessed...and a little anxious. Mostly excited :)

A few little facts:
- I'm estimated to be 10 weeks on Thursday

- I've already gained 4 pounds and busted out the maternity jeans. Just as well, they said I had to gain some weight before it started to "count" :$ Everything just unspools and falls the second time, even before the baby is "showing"!

-I'm ALWAYS hungry, unless I'm nauseated, but there isn't much lag in between and even nauseated I'm still hungry. I haven't been "sick" much except for a few times early on when I got a whiff of something unappealing or ate something even though it sounded gross. I re-learned that lesson quickly. I eat semi-constantly, except in the morning; even though I'm starving-hungry it's hard for me to get excited about breakfast. The biggest problem I've had? Being tired but unable to sleep at night.

- Baby D's heartbeat was 161 bpm at 8 weeks.

- This morning, just about 2 weeks after this ultrasound we saw him again and he was moving like I had just downed one of those glucose challenge drinks (all I'd had was a few grapes and water). He was kicking, swirling, flailing and twirling...he's going to be very active if this keeps up! (No pictures this time, it was just to check his heart since the doppler couldn't ping him with all his squirming. But hearing the swishes when he moved around was fun too!)

- At ~10 weeks the sac has expanded all the way to the other side of my uterus and he was stretched all the way across. They grow so fast...sniff sniff ;)

- The dark spot in his head is a good thing, that's where his brain is.

- No we don't know if Baby D is a boy or girl yet, but I don't like saying "it" and I already have one boy so it seems more natural to me. We may not find out before delivery...(grimace).

-The "official" MOPS prediction yesterday was that Baby D is a boy.

- Sam is excited, he loves babies of any kind, but it's not quite making sense to him yet. He keeps associating our baby with the baby boy of some friends we saw last week; he also thinks Baby D is sad because he doesn't have any toys. This baby is going to get bonked with Thomas the Train shortly after delivery, I can already see it.

Quirky Sam

Sam's third birthday is Monday. Wow. That went incredibly (too) fast! We are so blessed to have been able to say "we love this age!" every single day. The drippy "My baby is three!" post will come next week, with pictures I promise...but there are random silly things he does that I don't want to forget...

Every time we go to the grocery store he picks up a whole carrot in the produce section and eats it.

He's a brave eater and will usually try anything at least once...he ate a whole serving of broccoli a few days ago! (Yes there was a little bit of cheese on it...but not much.)

He strongly dislikes being spoken to or read to in a foreign language. We can't figure out why, especially since on of his favorite books is "Buenas Noches Gorila". We also can't figure out how he even recognizes the words as foreign some of the time since he calls us out even if they just get tossed in one at a time in the middle of other English words.

He has a fantastic memory. He saw his beach/pool ball the other day and started talking about how we took it to the beach and played with it with all his friends. Then about the "shows" we saw there too...he was talking about our trip to Port A last Labor Day. He can also remember people, things he has done and most especially where he may have left a particular toy. This can be several of them all at once.

His current favorite books to read are the compilations of all the Little Bear and Frog and Toad stories I got at Barnes and Noble before he was born. Last week he actually read (as in recited from memory) two of them.

Thomas the train is still his best friend, but now he doesn't go everywhere with him. Instead he must ALWAYS be parked at the "bell station". Sam also remembers down to a millimeter where on the track his train stopped and woe be upon whoever might knock it forward or backward.

He is terribly tenderhearted and very sensitive to the feelings of his friends. At playgroup a few weeks ago two of his friends were crying and upset (separately and together) and every time he would just go and sit near them trying to be a comfort. The nursery ladies at church told me that he was doing this before he was a year old. He's always very concerned if someone is crying, sick or in pain, even total strangers.

He is very much starting to enjoy painting and music. He's always asking me to play my flute and we've had several "jam sessions" where he bangs on his keyboard or drum while I sing something. (Usually "Train, Train, Train" or "Thomas, Thomas, Thomas")

His favorite toy is still the green car that Aunt Sisi and her crew got him for his first Christmas. Only now he parks it downstairs next to our cars.

He loves to cook and thinks anything having to do with the kitchen is super fun. He also loves to watch construction crews working.

He is an encourager. Often David and I will get told "Mommy you did that great!" or "Good job Dada!"

He is very laid back, just like his Daddy. (I prayed hard for that one!) If he can't get something on the first try he'll say, "It's okay we just try again." But he is very determined to get whatever it was done correctly. It is starting to backfire a bit now that he's nearly potty trained...if he has an accident he isn't penitent he just says, "It's okay, I try again."

He already knows his alphabet and numbers 1-20. There's a bit of trouble recognizing some lower case letters and numbers with more than one digit but he's so proud when he gets things right. Earlier today he had fun going through one of my schoolbooks looking for all of the letter 'n's.

Sam is a total parrot, he'll repeat anything, and remember what the word was and often use it in the right context again later. This includes BIG words like beautiful and catastrophe...the latter came from a book about cats, not events in his little life. Thank goodness!

His reasoning skills are also very good. If we say we can't go somewhere or do something he'll talk a few minutes about the ostensible reasons why not that he can think of. Or say if I'm cutting something with a knife he'll watch but not touch...while telling me that knives are sharp, only Mommy or Daddy can touch them, they give big owies when used improperly, etc.

I could go on and on...and likely I will...but that's enough for now. :)