30 Weeks

Only 10 more weeks to go! This week I've started to feel Cash having the hiccups, which is fun. I'm starting to get uncomfortable at night, and rarely sleep through the night anymore - even when Holden does. We're starting to "nest". We've gotten down Holden's baby stuff and are starting to sort through it. We can't wait to meet little Cash.

Mama's Got a New Ride

The Ford had been driving funny, so I asked Trey to take it to have it serviced and checked. The service technician thought the transmission seal we had fixed while it was still under warranty broke again. Only this time, the warranty was up and we would have to fit the big bill to have it fixed. Trey decided to look into getting me a new (bigger) car, rather than putting a whole bunch of money into the Ford and having that seal break again in another 20K miles. We went to look at GMC Yukons this morning. I test drove one and loved it. I asked if I could have seat heaters and memory driver seat controls (I've always wanted those!). They didn't have any 2 wheel drive 2008 models in a light color with those options, but found a white 2 wheel drive Yukon Denali at another dealer close by. It was a base Denali model and they would give it us for the same price as the optioned Yukons we were looking at. When it came we loved it, and decided to go for it! It's so luxurious, definitely the nicest car I've ever had. It feels so grown up and Mommy like. When I started having buyer's remorse after I signed the papers and drove off the lot (I always do), Trey told me to relax and go with it, I deserved it. That was the sweetest thing ever. I LOVE my new car.

Sleep, or Lack Thereof

The first week of the big boy bed was great. Holden would come out a few times when we put him down, but then would settle down and sleep through the night. Last week, all hell broke loose. He became really hard to put down to bed, and the worst part was he started waking up multiple times a night having nightmares, and walking around the house. Between being 29 weeks pregnant, uncomfortable, and waking up multiple times a night with Holden- I was a mess. This past Tuesday night I was awake with Holden from about 10:30 pm to 2:30 am. I would get him back down, would settle myself back into bed, but by the time I got comfortable enough to fall asleep Holden would be back up crying. A few times he went downstairs by himself (SCARY!) and wandered around calling for Mommy and Daddy. On Wednesday morning, my principal simply asked how I was and I burst into tears. I couldn't stop crying for like 15 minutes. That night when we put Holden to bed and he came out of his room, I immediately asked Trey to put the crib front back on. I couldn't do another night like the previous. Holden has been sleeping through the night ever since. He was not emotionally ready to be in a big boy bed - the nightmares, the reckless daytime behavior due to sleep deprivation, the dark sleepy eyes - it was all too much. I'm happy to be getting sleep again, but know in a few short months I'll be up with Baby Cash. Maybe this was God's way of reminding me what lack of sleep is going to feel like.

Trains, Planes and So Much More

Oh where do I begin there is so much to say....I guess I'll start with the travel day. On September 14th, we took the train up to Orange County, picked up the airplane, and flew it back to San Diego. Holden LOVED the train ride. The airplane ride was a big deal because he rode in the regular seat with a seat belt. He enjoyed the plane ride, and only got scared during "the bumps" (turbulence). He like watching Daddy fly, and pretended he was in Big Jet from Little Einsteins the whole time.





Ok, so while looking at those pictures you probably noticed two things: a.) Holden's really bad haircut; and b.) his bandaged chin. On September 3rd, I took Holden to get a TRIM. My directions to the hair stylist were: "We like his hair long, we just want it trimmed around his ears, the back, and trimmed out of his eyes." She translated that into cut it into short, hacked layers all over with the shortest uneven bangs as possible. Our cute little beach blonde boy came out looking like Eddie Haskal. Once of my co-workers saw him, and sweetly asked if Holden had cut his hair himself. (Yes, it's that bad!) The sad part is that I paid $20 bucks for that haircut. Our only consolation is that it's hair, and it will grow back. But you can bet your bottom dollar that I won't be going back to that salon again.

On Saturday, September 13th, Trey didn't feel well so I took Holden to the park to play while he stayed home to rest. Holden was playing wonderfully, but then all of sudden fell down the steps of the play structure and hit his chin on the bottom step. When I checked him, he seemed fine, but then I saw the gaping cut on his chin and I just knew he was going to need stitches. I picked him up and rushed him directly to our doctor's office, who luckily sees patients for a few hours on Saturday. I was so panicked that I never even called Trey. The doctor checked Holden, and to my relief, he decided to steri-strip his chin together - no stitches needed. Holden was an absolute trooper and never even shed a tear. He cried during the intial fall, but never again after that. Trey was sure shocked when we returned home a couple of hours later. Our orders to keep his chin dry for a week didn't work to well. The steri-strips fell off by Thursday. We are now keeping scar therapy strips on it that I had left over from my fall last year.


I don't mind his hair as much with gel in it, but Trey doesn't care for it.

ISR Graduate

On September 5th, Holden finished his Infant Swimming Resource classes. We had to end them a bit early because of my work schedule. He had some bad habits to overcome, but made great progress over the four weeks (5 days each week). We will enroll him in a refresher course as soon as the new swimming season starts. Holden really resisted the float at first, but did better when it was integrated in the swim-float-swim sequence. During his last week of classes, he had to swim in clothes - first summer clothes and then winter clothes - shoes, diaper and all. Since he was such a happy and eager swimmer, I didn't think much about warning him about the whole swimming with clothes thing. He hated it. He cried and cried because it felt so different to him. He truly appreciated his float those days. The last day his dad got in with him to learn the ISR techniques. Holden was coming down with a cold so cried most of that class too because it was hard to breathe. We loved the whole experience and can't wait to return to classes in March. Cash will complete classes summer of '09.

Big Boy Bed

After sleeping in a big boy bed at the beach house, Holden got a taste of what it felt like. We returned home on Monday night, and I was torn about putting him back in his crib because he had done so well in the twin bed at the beach house. But we did. He did fine back in his crib, and wasn't fazed in the least, or so we thought. He lasted almost a whole week of great sleeping in the crib. On the following Sunday, Holden was napping while Trey worked in the garage and I went to get a pedicure before my first day of school. Trey said he was working away, and all of sudden Holden was standing at the door saying, "What choo doing, Dad?!?" He crawled out of his crib and came downstairs all by himself. He's been climbing out of his crib for 6 months or more, but only when we were in the room with him. He never had climbed out when he was by himself. We still didn't jump on changing his sleeping arrangement, but from that day on, Holden climbed out of his crib whenever he woke up.

We decided it wasn't just a faze, he was ready to be in a big boy bed, so we finally converted his crib to a toddler bed a week later on Sunday, August 31st. The first night I was a mess, and didn't sleep well at all. I kept waking up wondering if he was ok in there. At about 5 in the morning, I heard a big thump. I knew he had just fallen out of bed and I waited for the cry, but I didn't hear anything except him rustling and shifting in bed. When he came into our room an hour later, I asked him if he fell out of bed. In his happy and matter of fact manner he said, "Yeah, I fall out of bed. I get up. I get back in bed." Ok, super! We were all set with the big boy bed. Ever since, he has been going to sleep wonderfully in bed at night; the hard part has been him coming out as soon as he's awake. He's been waking up super early, like 6:00 am everyday. He loves the freedom of waking up and coming out of his room. His dad and I, on the other hand, miss the 30 minutes he would lay awake and play in his crib.

To top it all off, the white noise machine that Holden has slept with since he was two months old broke this week. He did fine without it the first night. The second night Trey decided to pull out the Pack and Play sound maker to use. The problem with that was that it only stayed on for about 30 minutes before shutting off. Holden woke up every time it went off. We had three or four appearances of Holden that night by our bedside, holding the sound machine saying, "It's off, Mom!" or another time, "I got in on by myself, Mom." He was hard to get back to sleep each time. The next night, I refused to turn that thing back on. In fact, I hid it. Nap time this weekend without the white noise was nothing short of hell. Right now, we have our clock radio set to static in there until we can buy another white noise machine. We just can't change everything at once. Baby steps, right?

Dad sets to work. Goodbye, Crib!

Holden wanted to help!

Trying out his new big boy bed. He was so excited!

He brought the big teddy bear in to try it out too.

First Day of School - 25 weeks

Here I am in our teacher work room on my first day of school - 25 weeks pregnant. I'll have to update again soon, my belly has sure grown in the last couple of weeks!

The Last Days of Summer

We spent our last week of summer at the beach house in Del Mar. We moved in on Wednesday, August 13th, and completely escaped from our day to day life. Lots of local friends came to visit, and Holden absolutely LOVED having friends around everyday. Anytime we would leave for a little bit, he would ask if we could go back to "the party".

The big news was that we decided not to bring a Pack and Play with us, so Holden slept in a big boy twin bed for the first time while there. He did amazingly well. There was really no adjustment period - he just did great right off the bat. Naps were a little more difficult because he wanted to still "party" with everyone else. Trey became the master nap-put-him-downer; he could get him to lay down and fall asleep within minutes.

We loved waking up to the ocean and most days were out on the beach right away. We would drag all the toys and chairs out to set up early - 18th Street is prime beach spot. Holden loved the beach and the water. He became braver in the water as the week progressed, and I became more comfortable with him being in there. He loved to jump waves, roll in the shallow water, and he even started "boogie boarding" (which means standing on the board on the beach where the water comes in) as the week progressed. Trey built large holes that the kids would flock to, they were always a big hit both for the kids and the parents. They were like giant play pens where you always knew the kids were contained and safe. We barbecued on the patio every night. Holden watched his first sunset while at the beach house. The first night we all watched the sun diappear, and it never occured to me that Holden didn't know what was going on. After the sun had set, he looked at me with a confused, puzzled look and said, "Where the sun go?" We had to explain that the sun went to sleep in the water. He was completely happy and satisfied with that answer. For the rest of the week, he would say, "Sun went night-night!"

By Sunday afternoon, Holden started asking to go home. He was tired and I think sick of the sun and constant activity. On Monday (8/18), he didn't want to go on the beach and instead just repeated that he wanted to go home. We decided to pack up and head home after dinner, so that we could get settled back at home before school started on Wednesday (8/20).

We boarded Houston at Markim Pet Resort from Wednesday to Sunday, but he got to join us for a day down there. Trey took him on the beach early in the morning before the life guards showed up so he could run and splash in the water.

Living at the beach house was such a wonderful experience for all of us, and we are so grateful for the time we get to spend in Del Mar.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, 8/13

We finally made it out to the beach around 3:00. Holden and Trey went in for a bit, and then the Sammis' came down to play. We barbecued on the patio, and watched our first sunset.

THURSDAY, 8/14

Holden and I were out on the beach early. I thought it would be fun to bring a bucket and go search for rocks and shells along the beach. We made it about two houses down and then Holden saw the seaweed tractor - our walk was over. The Cronin and Sammis families came down for the day. The kids had so much fun together. Holden and Carter played and rolled in the water for almost 30 minutes in the evening. After, we got the kids cleaned up and they headed back down to the beach to play. The Felker family joined us for appetizers and evening playtime on the beach.

FRIDAY, 8/15

The Conley family came down to play on Friday. The boys played and went in the water with their daddies and then played again in the sand. The dads thought it was hilarious that their bottoms were showing to the catered beach party that was on the beach below us.

SATURDAY, 8/16

Good morning Del Mar! The Conley's came down again but I wasn't very good about taking out my camera after our morning photos on the beach.

This is my absolute favorite picture, and I think it's worth blowing up to see my bouncing boy.



SUNDAY, 8/17

More barbecue time on the patio. Houston joins the family at the beach house.




MONDAY, 8/18

Houston and Trey head out before the lifeguards arrive (no dogs allowed on the beach before Labor Day). Houston swam and ran and loved being free after being boarded for the week.