A sweet surprise!

Saturday mornings are usually dedicated to cleaning the house and doing some laundry, and today was no different. I did notice though that Andrew was especially helpful and even more motivated than I was to get the bathrooms cleaned and the floors mopped. We ate lunch and laid Ryder down for a nap, and luckily Andrew convinced me to go take a shower; I had toyed with the idea of waiting until later in the day because I knew we had nothing to do. Or so I thought. Little did I know that Laura, Amy, and Kathryn were on their way to my house for a surprise baby shower! Lori had organized this little shindig but was sick and couldn't join in the festivities. :( The group showed up with food, gifts, and balloons in hand--I was amazed that all of this was planned behind my back! I looked at Andrew and asked, "You knew about this??" I was so surprised that he could keep a secret. All he could say was, "Aren't you glad you showered and got dressed?" Ha! So true! We had a great afternoon, and Ryder loved the extra people to play with (and the balloons). Thank you so much, girls! I love ALL of you!!

reading a truck magazine with Kathryn

Laura made the adorable cupcake decorations. She went with "m" since we won't tell (and aren't sure yet) what the first initial will be!

Ryder was searching for a ball that disappeared under the couch.

He knows to use his golf club to hit it out!

Ryder made Laura lie on the floor to take a nap with him and Winnie the Pooh. (Yes, Pooh has a diaper on--according to Ryder, he was "wet" this morning).

Look at Ryder's face--he was pretending to snore. :)

pointing at a balloon that was hovering above us

A heart on fire

(Warning: very text-heavy with no pictures)

I'm glad to have this past week behind me; it was definitely not a fun one for me! I received a phone call from my doctor's office letting me know that I had failed (miserably) my 1-hour glucose tolerance test. :( I can't say I was super surprised, but I really didn't want to have to go through the 3-hour test again. I'm taking the day off of work on Monday so that I can sit in the waiting room at the lab and be used as a human pin cushion; not exactly my idea of fun!
On top of that, I spent Monday and Tuesday nights either sleeping sitting up or pacing around my bedroom because of horrendous heartburn. I am one of those lucky people who has never experienced heartburn/acid reflux in my life, even when I was pregnant with Ryder. Well, Baby Girl decided to broaden my horizons and introduce me to this awfully uncomfortable experience through this pregnancy. I called my doctor's office Wednesday just to explain my symptoms and make sure they were normal since I really had nothing to compare them to. The fact that I was having pain above my shoulder blades and into my chest definitely made it something I couldn't ignore. Oh, and Tuesday night I kept having these tight feelings in my lower stomach and wasn't sure if they were Braxton-Hicks contractions because I had never had those before either. To err on the side of caution, the doctor told me to come by after work that afternoon so they could check me out and make sure everything seemed okay. After a quick exam, the doctor reassured me that I had nothing to worry about regarding the possible contractions--it could have been Braxton-Hicks or it could have been the position of the baby. She also told me it sounded like I was experiencing a bad case of acid reflux, and unfortunately she couldn't guarantee that it would get any better. :( She told me to buy some Zantac and give it a try. If that didn't work, at least I have another appointment this week where we can discuss other options. Wednesday night I proactively took Zantac, anticipating a good night's sleep in a horizontal position. Unfortunately, that was NOT the case. My heartburn felt twice as bad, and I think I had an allergic reaction to the medicine because my hands itched like crazy and my fingers were swollen the whole next day. I could not accept the fact that I might have to put up with this for the next two months, and I was determined that it must be something I was eating or drinking since it randomly started this week. I researched some "heartburn trigger foods" and finally decided on a culprit: cranberry juice. I never would have suspected it, but it's the only thing I could think of that had changed in my diet. We bought a big jug at the store the other day, and I had been having a small glass sometime between dinner and bedtime each night. It's not normally something we keep in the house. I skipped the juice and slept like a baby Thursday and Friday nights, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I solved the mystery! Avoiding cranberry juice is a small price to pay for a good night's sleep!

Ryder's first "hike"

The weather is beautiful today, so we decided to head over to a state park this morning that is literally ten minutes away from our house. Andrew and I had never been, so we had no idea what to expect. There are several hiking trails to choose from, but we just kind of wandered around near the main entrance and the playground since we wanted to make it back home in time for lunch and Ryder's nap. Our main goal was to enjoy the fresh air and let Ryder tire himself out! We will definitely go back another time with our backpack carrier and a picnic lunch so we can do an entire trail and check out the scenic river views.

stopping for a water break along one of the trails

"Let's go that way!"

Ryder loved the merry-go-round. It was fun to watch his eyes as we slowly spun him around. :)

He even tackled the tall twisty slide in the background!

playing on the outdoor amphitheater stage (literally a deck platform; very rustic)

Pregnancy update--28 weeks

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and Baby Girl's size is right on track (for now!) with how far along I am. Her heart rate was a strong 155, and I've gained two pounds since my last appointment, putting me at a total weight gain of 14 pounds. My next appointment is in two weeks; it AMAZES me that I'm far enough along in this pregnancy to be going to the doctor that frequently. It's also time for my glucose tolerance test, so I'm heading to the lab first thing tomorrow morning to get it done on a completely empty stomach. I do NOT want my levels to be "borderline" like they were with Ryder, forcing me to do the 3-hour test too. Fingers crossed!

28 weeks!

reading while running errands with Daddy :)

Ryder: 20 months

A funny Ryder story:
Occasionally when I get Ryder out of his crib in the morning, his sheet and/or pj's are a bit damp from diaper overload. This was the case the other morning, and here was our conversation:
M: Honey, you feel wet. Did you go pee pee in your bed?
R: No, rain. Wet.
M: It rained in your bed and that's how the sheet got wet?
R: Yep.
Needless to say, I cracked up laughing! He knows that when it rains, everything gets wet, so it was logical to him that it must have been the rain that got his bed wet too! A couple of days later the same thing happened, but this time he blamed it on "brown brown", his brown bear pillow that he sleeps with. Now it's kind of a joke each day, and he takes turns blaming his various stuffed animals even if his bedding is still dry. :)

someone found a fish tape in Daddy's tool collection

I asked Ryder to smile and say "cheese!", and this is what he did. :)

such a goofball!

creatively climbing the stairs

"Is someone going to drive me around, or what?"

buckling up!

Buckles, Doorknobs, Pockets, and Wheels

What do these things have in common, you might ask?  They happen to be Ryder's latest obsessions.

Buckles: (a.k.a. "bupples")
Ryder loves to fasten the plastic buckles that can be found on his changing pad, high chair, stroller, and car seat. Andrew even has an old belt with this style buckle, and it has become part of Ryder's toy collection for the time being. Luckily Ryder hasn't figured out how to unbuckle these things yet, so he will ask for help, and I'll unbuckle them at lightning speed while saying "Abracadabra!" as a way to distract him. I know if he sees me unbuckle something even once, he will catch on and I'll have to worry about him making a great escape.

Doorknobs:
Ryder closed himself in Andrew's closet the other day while playing in the bedroom. As I headed over to open the door, the doorknob jiggled back and forth a few times before the door pushed open and Ryder emerged with a huge grin on his face. What a sense of accomplishment! :) He had to play this little game about 20 more times, of course, before he got bored with it. Now he likes to try every doorknob in the house--time to child-proof all of the knobs!

Pockets:
From time to time I've put little rocks in his pockets when we're playing outside, but the other day was the first time he noticed that his shorts had pockets without me pointing them out. He put his hands in them and just walked around the house like that for a few minutes. He looked so adorable, yet so grown up at the same time! Now he'll rotate between just putting his hands in them and shoving puzzle pieces into them. I will definitely be checking his clothes more carefully now before throwing them into the washing machine!

Wheels:
It is amazing how much this little guy loves ALL things with wheels: cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, and bicycles. He has even noticed them on the bottom of his pack 'n play that is folded up in the corner of my bedroom. If we're in the driveway, he has to point out all of the wheels on our cars--and that's a lot since our driveway looks like a parking lot! I think I have a theme for his 2nd birthday party. :)

Note: I apologize for no pictures this time. I have to save something for his 20-month post on Friday!

Pregnancy update--26 weeks

It's hard for me to believe that Baby Girl's arrival is only 3 months away! I started back to work on Wednesday, and I know that once the school year gets into full swing the time will really fly by! No major changes since my last post-- I'm enjoying her "tumbling" routines that usually occur right after I eat and anytime I sit still for a period of time. So far she is definitely just as active as Ryder was during pregnancy. Now if only we could come up with a name...

26 weeks