Doctor's visit

Quick blog entry (at least for me). We went to the doctor's on Monday. Owen weighs a whopping 15 lbs 7 oz. To put that into perspective for you, Ellie weighed 15 lbs 4 oz at 6 months old. That put Owen off the charts in weight and he is at about the 96th percentile in height. So he is proportionate, just big. Ellie weighs 23 lbs 4 oz, she is still kind of a shrimp in the weight department. Owen's shots were pretty traumatic for me. The first ones are the hardest. He didn't cry too bad at all, but he has been recovering these past 2 days. He has basically been sleeping almost non stop. Poor little guy.

Ellie helped me make brownies for FHE tonight (we forgot last night so we made up tonight -oops!). Usually making brownies or cookies means Ellie eats the batter. Wonder where she gets that from.....

Cutest Kids EVER!

Can you believe it!! We finally got a GOOD picture of Owen smiling. And I must say, he is one studly looking little man. Owen turned 2 months on Saturday so we are heading to the doctor on Monday. I am very eager to see how much he weighs. I am guessing at least 15 pounds which would put him over Ellie's weight at 6 months. He really has turned into the most fun little baby!! He smiles all the time, SO cute. He also talks a lot (coos). He reacts to our voices and follows us around with his eyes. Owen has definitely gotten into that stage where he only has eyes for his mom. I love it. His favorite place to sleep is on his dad though.

Our little Elise is looking pretty darn cute this Sunday. I am not going to lie, this little sweetheart has been testing my patience as of lately. She is usually screaming or being really cute. There is no in the middle. I still love her like crazy though. She is lucky. Ellie is learning her letters and colors. So far she knows A, B, C, Y and I. Y and I she kind of learned on her own. She knows Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and I think Brown too.

HONK! Here is Ellie honking Owen's nose and the two of them together below. Owen looks funny. What a little man!

Viva la Revolucion!

Erin bought us "Dance Dance Revolution" mats and a game right before the worst of the ice storm. Unfortunately the wireless mats she got at Fry's didn't work (guess that's why they were half off) and so we ended up getting cheaper ones on E-bay (not wireless though).

You can tell I'm fat and out of shape because I'm sweating and gasping for breath on the tutorial.
Erin justified this purchase by saying "If you get me this we can put off buying the elliptical machine." I can't even begin to tell you what's wrong with that statement.

Of course, Ellie has to play as well.

Poop Follows the Path of Least Resistance

My first day of classes was cancelled, so I've been enjoying my "ice day" today. NBC is calling it "Ice Storm '07", CBS is calling it "Winter Blast" (which, out of context, sounds more fun than it really is), ABC is calling it "The Big Chill", and I obviously have nothing to do but sit around and watch the news that has preempted the normal programming (not that the normal stuff is any better, but still). I may get another reprieve from school tomorrow, depending on how much freezing rain we get tonight. It's fun to stay home and play with the kids, but I really need to get started with the semester. Plus being at school saves me from the poop explosions (Owen's had two today). It's crazy, but we need to move him up to size 3 diapers (Ellie is in size 4). He was eight weeks old yesterday. The kid is a mammoth. And he's screaming right now, so I'm off to calm him down.

Look at Those Hams!

Hello all! It has been a fairly busy week for us. We have been running around trying to get the house in order. Yes, I know it should probably be done by now, but we are pretty slow moving. We only get a couple of things accomplished each day since we have to time certain tasks to Ellie and Owen's nap times. Once they are napping we do a mad dash to get something done.

Our biggest project this week was the garage. We managed to put everything that needed to go in the attic, in the attic (btw, it is great having an attic to store the crap). We also took pictures of the stuff we wanted to sell on Craig's list and we have some people coming to pick the stuff up sometime this week. It'll be really wonderful to be rid of that stuff, finally be able to put both cars in the garage and make a little cash while doing it.

The kids are doing really great. Elise has been introduced to her potty. We aren't going to be crazy intense about it since she is still a little young and we aren't real sure if she grasps the concept yet. I think right now she just thinks the potty is the new place to read books. But, we try to put her on it everyday for a little while and perhaps once a week I will be more vigorous about my efforts and see if that works.

Ellie and Owen have been particularly cute together lately. She loves giving him loads of kisses and rubs his head and points out all his body parts (i.e. nose, ears, hair, toes, knees, elbows, fingers, etc.). She is really cute talking to him and tries to get him to smile all the time. She usually gets one from him too! She has been a great helper with Owen. Ellie is pretty good at fetching me a burp cloth when needed and can usually find me a pacifier when I can't even find one. Her most favorite helping with is changing Owen's diaper. She even comments "EW!". I agree. Mostly she just rubs his head and tries to talk to him because he usually is crying while being changed.

Owen is such a sweetheart!!! He really is a great baby. He is waking up at midnight and 3 every night which isn't bad at all. He still is stuffed up most the time when he sleeps so he often wakes himself up and that is a little frustrating. I think that he would only wake up once at night if he had some kind of allergy medicine. I am waiting until his doctor's appointment to ask about that. Also, both kids have eczema so we need to get some medicine for that.

Just yesterday we put Owen in the exersaucer. He LOVED it! I think because it supported his butt and all around him so it was almost like he was being held. I can't believe my 7 1/2 week old baby is already using an exersaucer! His feet already touch the ground and everything. He holds up his head really well too! And will you look at those hams!!! He really does have the longest arms and legs. When he sleeps on you he almost can wrap his arms fully around you. Isn't he cute? You should see him smile, he lights up the world! He is also a little wriggly thing. I imagine he will end up being like his cousin, Kyra and just be GO GO GO!

Other happenings: The kids play room has been getting quite filled up. We brought out other baby things like the exersaucer and the jumper and such since Owen is so close to using all of it. Plus we bought Ellie her kitchen and with her car, shopping cart and horse it looks like our children might be a little spoiled... not OUR children!!

I sold all the clothes that Owen didn't even fit into when he was born. It was hard because they were all really really cute, quality clothes, but since I bought them so cheaply, I was able to sell them on ebay for a decent profit. We have been scavenging around to find the junk we don't use or want and trying to sell it. One, because we could use the money and two, because we could use the room and less clutter!

Daniel went back to school on Thursday for half a day to get things in order for next week. I suppose they are in order because he didn't go back on Friday. I think he is anxious to get back. He needs that schedule and so do I. Plus, he gets a little restless and starts driving me nuts. It has been nice having him around for setting up the house and for double teaming with the kids. He also mowed the lawn for the first time this past week.

Isn't this last picture hilarious? Owen is like, "Save me Mom!".

Our diet has been going pretty well I suppose. Basically we are hungry because we have to train our bodies to eat smaller portions. We have stopped soda and sweets--- still working on bread... don't think I can give it up, but we can move to eating more whole wheat. I just got a bread machine so I still want to use it so I will make whole wheat bread. We have also been walking around the neighborhood. Ellie and Owen like the stroller so they are pretty good on the walks. Plus, we have a good neighborhood for walking/jogging. So, hopefully we shed some weight. I am sure we will. Mostly we need to just go out and do more stuff. It is hard with two kids but we have been living like hermits so we should be able to improve the situation somewhat.

Potty Training Begins

Potty Training: Day Two: Attempt Two:

Well, I went out and bought Elise her own potty. It is good because it is easy to put her back on it when she gets off and she thinks it's a stool, so that makes her happy.

I opened up the box and she was eager to sit on the potty right away. So, I stripped her down and she sat on it for about an hour and a half. We read books and she drank her water, it was great! Except... no pee. So, we decided to take a break because I needed to start dinner. I attempted the pull-up--- that was a no go and then I attempted the panties which are way too big for her--- she thought it was a swim suit so decided to go get her other swim suit for me to put on. So, we ended up putting a diaper on her again.

Five minutes later, she wanted to sit on her potty again! Of course, I was psyched and stripped her down again only to discover that her diaper was warm and she had JUST taken a pee. Basically we missed our opportunity. The first time she goes is the key I think.

The real beginning is tomorrow when we are dedicating our whole day to toilet training. We will be spending a lot of time in the bathroom tomorrow... a lot of time.

Pictures and updates Galore!

I am trying to give the masses what they ask for: MORE PICTURES!!! I am going to try and take more pictures this year and do more with the pictures I take. This means more emailing out pictures, printing off pictures, hanging pictures around the house, getting professional pictures done regularly and putting together photo books for each child once a year. I think this is a goal I can achieve since I enjoy taking pictures and I think that Owen and Ellie (as well as subsequent children) will appreciate it!!

This first picture is of my two men! Aren't they handsome. Owen was on a smiling kick so I was trying to get a picture of it, but of course my flash takes forever so he always gets more of a constipated look rather than a smile.

This second picture is of my little sweetheart, Owen, having tummy time. I don't know if he likes it all that much, but Ellie loves it! We have a little song that we sing while he is having his tummy time. It goes like this, "tummy time, tummy time, tum-my time! Come along 'O' baby it's tummy-tummy time!" Ellie LOVES singing along and often requests tummy time by name and has even started spreading out a blanket for Owen.

This third picture is a personal favorite. I can't help but laugh when I look at it! I was trying to get a nice picture of Ellie but instead she came running after the camera. She looks like a pirate. Cute pirate.

Potty Training: Stage 1: We tried a meager attempt at potty training on Saturday. It ended abruptly after we realized Ellie was afraid to sit on the toilet. She is also afraid of her pull-up underpants and putting on her regular diaper while the fasteners are fastened (we tried to use the diaper as a pull up to see if she would transition a little better... didn't work). But she is SOOOO ready!!! Today I checked her diaper and she was clean, then she ran into the room and climbed on top of the changing table and a minute later she starts yelling, "poo! poo!" and sure enough, she needed her diaper changed, she had done her business!!! I think we just need a different strategy. Tuesday is our next attempt since we will be home all day. I just don't think I had all the materials we needed.

This fourth picture is of Ellie and Owen having tummy time again. Just thought it was cute and should include it. I am still working on getting a really good picture of the two of them together. It is seriously like pulling teeth. We took the kids to JC Penney yesterday for professional pictures and it was either one kid or the other screaming bloody murder. We ended up only getting one of them together. Oh well, I guess we will have to attempt it again soon. Ellie was mostly just scared. She is a wuss.

And lastly, this is another picture of my darling Owen. He is such a sweet baby!!! He looks pretty Weber in this picture I think. You can't really tell that he is a pudge in it either. He is so good natured. We are still working on him having alone time without someone holding him, but we are progressing in that and it has already gotten much better. He is a really noisy sleeper and eater. So much so that we decided that we need to move over to the noisy Sunday School class because we got a lot of stares in the adult class today. Well, it was a good couple of weeks in a quiet Sunday School class.

Hope everyone enjoyed the pictures. I am really going to try and be diligent about it especially since Brent and Carolee will be so far away for so long. It might even get a little annoying, so I won't feel bad if you delete my blogs. :)

New Year's Resolutions

This year I'm going to try to guilt myself into keeping my New Year's resolutions. Knowing that all of you will know when I fail may give me the push I need to get this stuff done. That said, if you don't see or hear from me again this year, you'll know why.

1. Lose 30 lbs. (Goodbye DQ and fast food)
2. Organize and backup the pictures on the computer (we have almost 4 years worth - it's a big job and continues to get bigger the longer I put it off)
3. Get something done with the research (really anything would be an improvement over last year)
4. Write a weekly blog entry (I've really been slacking lately)
5. Kiss my kids more (I need to have at least one of these that I know I'll do)

So there you have it. I'll start on Number 1 as soon as I finish off the Oreo's still in the pantry. And I think there's some brownie mixes that can't go to waste, and maybe a couple of bags of chips....

Home is Where Our Bed Is

Well, we made it home!!! While we enjoyed our Christmas vacation, it really was time for us to be back home. With so much more to do on the house, we were really getting anxious to get back.

We had a wonderful vacation. Spent lots of time with family. It was good to spend Christmas with Pat before he left on his mission. It was also good to see the McPherson side again and we enjoyed the quieter Christmas with the Webers as well. Elise received a ridiculous amount of toys, books and we are buying her a play kitchen tomorrow. So, she continues to be spoiled :). Owen didn't receive as much because he is still a newborn and we have too much junk for him to grow into. He did get a pretty good amount of clothes which he desperately needs. In the time we were in Katy for Christmas Owen moved up a diaper size and grew out of his 0-3 month clothing. I still have to return some of the things I bought for him because I had bought 0-3 months thinking he would be in them for awhile... guess I was wrong!

Being a family of four is going fairly well. Ellie is starting to slip into some terrible two habits- mostly screaming bloody murder whenever she doesn't get her way. On the flip side, she is learning faster than we can teach (which means she is picking up on all sorts of things whether we want her to learn them or not). Her vocabulary has probably doubled over the past month and she is in the process of learning her letters and colors. Owen has spent the last week and a half being held so I am going to try and break him of that. It is tough though. We have been home only mere hours and he is already wanting to be held constantly. Should be a rough transition I think. He is now smiling... which is super cute. He is very handsome and has begun cooing and making all sorts of cutie pie noises.

We have loads to do now that we are home and before Daniel goes back to school. Daniel's parents just hauled a huge truck load of stuff up for us. So, we have even more boxes that need unpacking and more stuff to put away. Plus we have doctors appointments and more shopping to do... yes I said more shopping.. it never ends with us I tell ya. I feel a little more okay with all the stuff we have to do now that we are home and can plan out what needs to be done. I am pretty excited to go to bed tonight... we have missed our new King bed. We got a new bed set and new pillows for Christmas so I am hoping for a restful sleep!

Another Weber Week

It has been a pretty good week at our house. The kids are really enjoying their new home and so are we. I must say that perhaps my favorite thing is having a garage. It is so easy to get the kids in and out of the car when I am not having to worry about Ellie running into the streeet or hiking up or down 3 flights of stairs.... it is heaven!!! Plus we don't have to deal with the cold or heat outside. It is fantastic!

The picture to the left is funny because I was taking a picture of them while Ellie was reading and then she realized I was taking a picture and leaned over for the pose.... she has learned to pose now. It is cute for the time being :). Anyways, that is why Daniel is laughing is because she leaned over for the pose.

This next picture is of Ellie playing in the yard. I try to take her out at least once a day so she can play around. We bought a ball and she enjoys fetching it (for now). Hopefully we will collect a few more outdoor toys for her to play with. We had some of her friends over last week and they all played in the backyard for about an hour and a half!! One of her friends was licking a puddle she found... Ellie didn't lick any puddles... thankfully!

We also went on a walk this week. Hopefully when Owen gets a little older to withstand the cold a little better we can go on them more often this winter. I imagine we will definitely take advantage of the neighborhood more in the Spring. There is a playground in the neighborhood but we didn't stay there long because I think we were interrupting a teenage makeout session.

This week Elise and I made a gingerbread house. I just bought a kit at HEB because it looked fun. Building a gingerbread house is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be! But, we managed. Sure our house started leaning quite a bit, but Ellie enjoyed putting on the candies. She has enjoyed eating the candies too!! The house is starting to look a little gross so I imagine we will trash it tonight when Ellie is sleeping.

Owen has been pretty good. Last night he woke up quite a bit, but I don't think he will keep doing that, I think he just has allergies or something that makes his nose stuffed up and makes it hard for him to breathe. At least Daniel and I are crossing our fingers because we really enjoy our sleep. He has been getting cuter everyday. He has really pretty eyes and holds his head up pretty well for a four week old. Plus, he is our kid, so you know he is pretty good looking! ahahha... just kidding... not really.

This last picture is really funny. We were trying to get a good picture of Elise and Owen together. So, we were trying to pose them together. We put Owen in Ellie's arms while she sat inside the boppy, but when we told her to smile, she went into "pose" mode and got all into it and poor Owen came rolling on down. That was the last one we tried of her holding him. Maybe in a few months...

Daniel is done with school for the semester. He will go back a couple times next week to do some research work, but for the most part he is done. Perhaps we will do a little more on organizing the house. We shall see. As for me, I managed to get Owen's announcements done and our Christmas letter written and ordered the picture I am putting in with the letter. So, I have been fairly productive. Hope everyone's week has been good!

Owen pictures and more...

Owen is now 2 and a half weeks old and getting cuter everyday. He has been an excellent sleeper at night. Now that he is 2 weeks old he is starting to come into his own. He enjoys being held for naps now (used to that with Ellie) and eats like a pig. Basically, whenever he is awake he wants to be eating and he feels the need to be FULL at all times and gets mad when he is not topped off completely. This picture below is of Owen having his first submersed bath. He really enjoyed it! We got some pretty cute video of him. He reminds me of Ellie in this picture (minus a few rolls). Doesn't he have pretty eyes? We took the kids to the doctors on Tuesday. Owen is now 11lbs. 3oz. and Ellie is about 22 and a half. So, I think Owen is going to catch up soon! I don't think Ellie was that weight until she was about 2 months old.

The picture directly below was taken last night. He looks pretty cute dressed in his "candy cane" pjs. While he doesn't really fit in most of his newborn clothes I think we have just a week or two left on newborn pajamas! This picture was taken on our new bed which Owen loves!! Sometimes at night he lays with us in the bed. Of course that is where he would always like to be! I have to be diligent about him sleeping in his bassinet. When I feed him in bed though, sometimes I fall asleep so he gets away with it for a couple hours.

The picture below is of Jack (Owen's friend-- also the little brother of Ally who is Ellie's play friend). Jack was born a month earlier than Owen and Owen weighs more and is bigger than him! I thought this picture was funny. We will have to see if Jack catches back up to Owen! I am not sure though the way Owen eats!

The picture below is of big sister Ellie. She really has been so great with Owen. Sure she is still a baby herself and needs one on one time from both mom and dad still, but she really has been doing surprisingly well. Elise loves to give Owen kisses and is always very concerned when he cries. She is good about giving Owen his pacifier when he needs it or doesn't need it even (and also gives it to herself occasionally!). She loves to feed him a bottle and has learned to wipe his mouth with a burp rag. Usually Owen can suck down a swallow or two before Ellie rips it out of his mouth and wipes him before reinserting.

Elise has really been enjoying more space in our new house. Things are still kind of a mess and we are not even close to being completely moved in so she has a bit more to get into, but still she loves it. She really enjoys the backyard and going outside... but we need to get her some outside toys to play with.

Today I took the kids for our first outing alone together. It went really well. We went to the park and I put Owen in the carrier and was still able to chase down Elise. Of course, I realize he won't be small for long so I will have to come up with a new solution for taking them out to the park!

I must say that having two kids is not as bad as I thought it would be. I was glad I had someone around for the last 2 weeks to allow me to heal and get a little more acclimated to having more than one child. I mean, I am way busier and am constantly doing something, but I think I will be able to handle it. That is good since they'll be sticking around for awhile!

Owen Brent Weber

Owen Brent Weber was born on Monday, November 20th. I went in for my induction at 7 and had him at 5:10 p.m. So, things moved fairly quickly. My doctor wasn't going to be on call that night so she had the nurses up the pitocin every hour to get me going. At about 2 o'clock I was 6cm and three hours later I was pushing! I started out the day thinking I would go with the contractions for as long as I could stand them and it turns out that it wasn't very long. Contractions hurt!! So, I was happy to get my epidural. Once I started pushing, it only took 3 pushes to get Owen out!! This was pretty amazing seeing as he weighed a whopping 10lbs 3oz! He is quite a large baby. I think Ellie was a month or a month and a half before she weighed in at that.

Besides flopping around on the floor from being moved too early and having no feeling in my legs and having both the veins in my hands blown out by an inept nurse, things really went well. Much quicker and easier than Elise. We were pretty anxious to get out of the hospital and left 24 hours after Owen was born.

Ellie has been really cute with Owen. She really enjoys giving him kisses and stroking his head. She also likes to give him his pacifier and help with diaper changes. She does get pretty clingy and jealous when I am feeding Owen and she wants me to hold her while she drinks her juice. She also cries when he cries and tends to be a little rough with him at times. For the most part, they are pretty cute together.

Unfortunately, Ellie has come down with a pretty bad cold the past few days. She was really in pain earlier today and has been more difficult than usual. It has made being home a little challenging. I have also been feeling a little worse the past day or so. I think I have tried doing too much and need to realize that I am still healing and take things easy. It is frustrating though because I know I can handle things normally, but when I can't handle it in the condition I am in, it can make me a little emotional. Of course, those hormone changes come with the territory and I have already had several breakdowns since being home... poor Daniel.

Daniel has loved having Owen around. They are pretty cute together, I must admit. Daniel enjoys looking into the future at Owen's lucrative football career. He is pretty certain that Owen will be a linebacker. The only question is will he play for the Cougars or the Longhorns before moving onto the NFL? Owen Weber does sound like a good athletic name.

The picture to the left is Ellie sitting in Owen's chair. She wants to be a baby again.

Last Doctor's Appointment-- Yippee!!

Well, I had my last doctor's appointment today. It is a relief that it's the last one. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any more progression, but that is okay. I have kind of accepted that Monday is the big day. I have lots of cleaning and grocery shopping to do before then anyway. Plus, we could use to do a little packing this weekend as well.

We are getting pretty excited for our new addition to come in 3 days!! We are getting out all the newborn gear and getting things ready for Owen to come. I have had almost everything for quite awhile now so it has been good to go through everything again and take note of what we have.

Elise Louise has been quite the handful the last week or so. She has kind of been a little nightmare. You can't tell it from the angelic picture that I have included but she really has been a handful. I think she knows that changes are coming because it seems like just a week or so ago a switch came on for her and she has started acting out more. Plus, waking up in the middle of the night and crying for no apparent reason. I guess we can't really blame her. I mean, with the new baby and moving things are going to be very different for her. Plus, she is just getting to that age... pre-terrible twos!!! On the sweet side, she has been quite a helper. She continues to help me with all of the household chores and has become increasingly interested in helping me out with doing the dishes. Right now it is just her standing on her stool and watching me and occasionally reaching out to touch some of the soap bubbles. I imagine it will become more involved over time.

Daniel is glad that his most busy days are past him and that he finished the last day of school before Owen comes. I think he plans on taking all of Thanksgiving week off even though he has some classes scheduled early in the week. I guess we will see if he changes his mind and wants a little peace and quiet at school :). We bought Daniel new glasses last weekend because Ellie broke 2 pairs of old ones. He really needed new ones anyway so we were lucky that he'd already gotten an eye exam. Anyway, hopefully they will be ready by tomorrow.

The new house is just waiting for us to move in!! We keep saying how much better things are going to be with more space and running room. We plan on moving some boxes over to the house over Thanksgiving.

Another pregnant week

Another week has gone by and I am still pregnant. Apparently willing yourself to have a child doesn't work. I have been feeling increasingly uncomfortable which is common in late pregnancy, but I am sure my discomfort is worse than anyone else's.

Friday's doctor's appointment was a little disappointing for me. The baby seems to be doing good (which is great), but I am not much closer to giving birth. I did dilate another 1/2 cm but that isn't really substantial, so I will likely not give birth until my induction date. I was really hoping she would change her mind and induce me early and I could give birth this weekend, but that was a no-go. Oh well, I guess I can hold out another week or so-- it just isn't fun.

I think this week I have been getting a little more worried about taking care of two kids. I just want to make sure that Ellie is still getting everything she needs and at the same time giving Owen all I can. Elise is still a baby though so I want to make sure that I am not making her grow up too fast. There is also a bunch to do before Christmas so that is probably adding a bit to my stress, but overall I think I am going to be ok with all of it.

We finished all of our Christmas shopping except for the presents for Ellie and Owen which we will probably not buy until we get to Katy. So, I feel good about that! We did our inventory for the new house so now we are just waiting to get the keys around Thanksgiving time. We are pretty excited that Ellie and Owen will have more room and that we can buy the bigger toys that we are usually avoiding.

Today we cleaned out the car, switched Ellie's car seat to the other side and hooked up Owen's seat. Since he could really come at any time we thought we should be prepared. I think Ellie doesn't mind the other side of the car but she has been giving some funny looks to Owen's car seat sitting next to her.

Daniel's busy week is over. It was stressful for both of us because he just kept telling me that he would be toast if Owen came before the week was over. So, I am glad that we were able to hold off so Dan wouldn't be too stressed out. Daniel has given me permission to have Owen now. Isn't he nice? :) Things will pick up a little bit after Thanksgiving but should be slower the rest the year. I am glad for that since Daniel will want to spend lots of time with his new son and his daughter.

Ellie is napping right now. She has been sleeping so great lately. She slept 11 1/2 hours last night!!! Plus taking about an hour to hour and a half nap. This is such a wonderful schedule that I hope she will be able to keep it through the holidays. Of course, she won't nap IN her crib. I don't know why, so we just lay her on the couch and she will snooze there. I am hoping when she moves to a real bed that she will be fine napping in her room. We shall see!!

Painful weekend

It has been an expensive day for us here in Austin. We dropped over $3000 today and have nothing to show for it!! We went to Sears in search of a washer and dryer for our new house, but ended up buying a king size mattress set instead. We decided to wait on the washer and dryer in hopes of a better sale around Thanksgiving but they were having a 50% mattresses sale that we couldn't pass up! We also signed our lease today and paid our security deposit and first month's rent. So, it was a painful day for us! We are pretty excited about moving into a bigger/better place.

Well, I am feeling huge and the measurements will attest to it. I went to the doctor's yesterday and my uterus measured 43 cm (I should have measured about 36 or 37)! This is 5 cm more than just last week!!! So, I went to get an ultrasound done to check the size of the baby. Yes, he looks fairly big and they guess he weighs about 8 lbs already. From the ultrasound they say that I am more like 39 weeks along instead of 36 or 37. There can be a lot of reasons for measuring big. Sometimes it is a big baby, or a lot of fluid or sometimes they find problems of some other kind. I probably have a combination of an excess amount of fluid and a big baby. It is the BIG BABY part that scares me. So, I am anxiously awaiting labor to start so I can get this butterball out!!


Elise is doing well. The above picture is her in the morning, posing with a little bed-head. We had a bit of a scary time earlier this week with Ellie. I had just taken her to the playground and we walked about the stairs together and I noticed that she was really whiney and was favoring her left hand. She wouldn't let me near it and cried whenever I touched it. So, it seemed like she broke it or something, but I had no idea how she did it!!! So, freaked out, I took her to the pediatrician who said she had "milk maid's elbow". Basically what it is is that she partially dislocated her forearm. She must of done it reaching for something. The doctor just turned her arm and it popped right back into place and she was instantly better. It was pretty scary for me though. I thought I had broken her. Plus, it was just another thing that was happening before all this other craziness.

Movin' on up!

We are having a baby in 2 1/2 weeks (or less), Thanksgiving is 3 weeks away and Christmas is just around the corner. So, we have decided to move the first week of December!!! Yeah, we are crazy. Here is how it happened...

When we got back from Katy this summer, we realized that our apartment is getting cramped. With another child coming, we knew that we were going to have to find a place a little bigger and with another bedroom. As I have been researching apartments with 3 bedrooms I realized that it was about the same as renting a house or a mortgage payment. So, we knew we wanted a house. Mostly because it would have more running around room, wouldn't be on the 3rd floor and would have a backyard!!! We thought about buying but realized it would be too tight and risky on our budget, plus we probably wouldn't build up much equity while we were here. We also just didn't have a good feeling about buying here. I started thinking about how we were going to have to pay a penalty for moving out early on our lease no matter when we moved out so I thought that since we would have some time off for the holidays that we could move in December.

I just kind of started looking at some prospective places and somehow got myself linked up with an agent and that same day I went out looking. We looked at a couple of potentials but they weren't real impressive. On kind of a fluke we looked at this one place that was more than we wanted to pay but it had been on the market for over 4 months so we knew that it would be negotiable. It was bigger than other houses I looked at and nicer. I loved the set up of it and so our agent talked to the seller's agent and was able to negotiate a good price for us. Daniel came and looked at it that same day. Today we got the call that it is ours (at least for the next 2 years!).

It is a 1 story brick house built in 1999 located in Pflugerville. We are psyched because we will stay in our ward. It is just over 1600 square feet and feels pretty spacious for that size. There are two living areas. The living room is a living/dining combo that we aren't sure what to do with yet. We certainly don't want to buy a whole dining room set and aren't ready to buy a new sofa for it yet either. It might be a playroom for a couple months anyway. That leads to the kitchen/breakfast area that is open to the family room. The openness of it is Daniel's favorite part about it. It has a laundry room, 2 bathrooms, 2 kids rooms and a master bedroom. The master closet is pretty big. The master bathroom is like a regular bathroom but we don't need the garden tub/separate shower thing, so it will work fine for us. We will finally be able to get a King size bed in this room. It has a cute rectangular, flat backyard that will be perfect for the kids to run around and enjoy. And, of course, it has a 2 car garage that will also have some storage space in it.

We are sooo excited! No more hiking kids up 3 flights of stairs or groceries! Can't wait!

Hallo-weenie

Today was the ward trunk or treat and we managed to coax Ellie into wearing her octopus costume. As you can see from the "before" photos, it wasn't an easy job. We tried once in the morning and she cried for about ten minutes before she got used to it. When we tried again in the afternoon, she only managed a couple of whimpers.


It was worth it though. She was easily the cutest kid there. Everybody loved her costume and commented on how cute she was. Ellie and I made a ghost out of a lollipop, which she then ate and drooled all over her costume. We got a couple pictures of her coloring her trick or treat sack and "fishing" for stuffed animals. During the actual trunk or treat, Ellie managed to steal some of the candy in her pail and shoved it in her mouth, wrapper and all. That made for some oddly shaped peanut butter cups, to say the least.


You have to admit, she makes an awfully cute octopus, even if she was scared to death at first.

What's up Doc?

Well, I went to my long awaited doctor's appointment today. They brushed me off earlier this week so I got scheduled for an appointment today. I suppose it went fairly well.

First things first, my blood pressure was great! It was like 116/70 or something like that, which is really good. I think last time was a fluke or the nurse that took my blood pressure had no clue what she was doing. I would guess the latter. The second thing is that I measured 38!! This is pretty big. Usually you measure the number of weeks you are along. I am 351/2 so I should have been between 35 and 36, but I was 38!! I thought that I had grown quite a bit these past couple of weeks and I was right. Basically this means either I am going to have a huge child or I will likely deliver early. I am hoping I can keep this kid under 9 lbs! I am dialated to 1 and 1/2 centimeters. This isn't significant or anything, but anything over 1 gives me a little hope!! Last night I was contracting quite a bit, again nothing worth counting but still gives me hope!! I have definitely gotten increasingly less comfortable after my extremely invasive check up. Sometimes they say that the checkups themselves can help get things going a little more. Basically, the doctor said this kid could come anytime and he would be perfectly ready.

Ellie Lou is doing well. She has learned to climb up her changing table so we are constantly fishing her off of that. She wants to turn the light switch on and off and she can reach it from atop the changing table. Ellie went to the doctors this week with a small eye infection. It really only looked infected one day. While we were there she got her flu shot which she wasn't thrilled about. Giving her eye drops in her eye has been a bit of a challenge but less of a struggle than I had anticipated. Tomorrow is our ward's trunk or treat. We are excited about it but a little worried about Ellie and her costume. Basically, she is scared to death of the costume. I think she is scared because she has extra legs and can't feel them when she touches them. So, we might have to come up with a back up plan.

Mission news and this week

First and foremost, my most exciting news is not even my news, it is my brother Patrick's exciting news. He has been called on a mission to serve in Fresno, California!!!! He reports to the Missionary Training Center on January 10th!!! We are all very excited because he is the first in our family to serve a mission. Daniel I guess is considered the first, but he is married in so he doesn't count :P. I had a feeling that he was going to go to California and I guess my dad had the same thought. I think it will be a great mission for Pat and I am so excited for him!!!!

This past week Ellie and I were in Katy watching the dog and keeping Evan company while my parents went to Mexico City. It was nice to go down there and be able to have them go off on a "sorta" vacation. However, it was a little difficult being 8 months pregnant and having Ells be the active toddler that she is. On top of that, I had what I am convinced was food poisoning for a couple of days while we were there. We felt a little shut in since it rained quite a bit this past week so it was nice that the weather straightened up for us by the end of the week so we could have some outside time. Daniel came down on Friday to pick us up. It was fun spending the weekend in Katy visiting with Ellie's grandparents!!

Tomorrow I have my 35 week appointment. I am pretty anxious about it because we should hopefully find out if we will have to be induced earlier (like 37 weeks) or not. Basically it all depends on my blood pressure. I am a little concerned about it because I have had pretty bad headaches the last week or so as well as a bit of swelling. 37 weeks sounds great to me because I have been really uncomfortable this last week. I have felt a lot more pressure down low and just feeling really large. Having the baby in 2 weeks doesn't really work for Daniel so he is hoping for at least a week longer. I am starting to think (and my mom thinks so too) that I will have the baby before the 20th regardless. We shall see I guess!! I have a habit of having these babies at really inconvenient times so I am sure I will have the baby while Daniel's in finals or when the Webers are in Italy-- wouldn't be one of our babies unless someone was out of the country! We will see though. 4 weeks is not far at all so I can stand to wait that long if I last until then!! I have a huge list of things I want to do before we have the baby... LOTS of cleaning and I actually need to do some Christmas shopping too. Yikes!

Ellie is doing well. She was waking up pretty early (like between 4 and 4:30) each morning we were in Katy, but by this morning she was sleeping normally. I think it will be something we will deal endlessly with Ellie, she just is not a sleeper and getting her on a schedule is a nightmare. Oh well, that's Ells. She has been reading lots of books (as always) and is picking up new words. Her latest words are "pretty, rain, Kyra, Evan, seat, ruff ruff (like a dog), meow, tomato, peas". There are probably more, but she has been learning so fast lately that it is hard to keep up. She says the words much more often when she is just playing or reading. Getting her to say a word while we prod her is another story. She has been eating a lot better since she was sick a few weeks ago, still not like a normal kid, but MUCH better for her!

This week's happenings

Ellie is sleeping and I am waiting to vacuum so I figured I would write a quick post.

Things with us are going really well. Daniel is at school. He took a test yesterday that he thinks he made lots of stupid mistakes on and will receive a bad grade, so I am sure he will make an "A" instead. He is always swearing he fails and then gets an A. Never worked for me like that. Dan is getting geared up for his week home alone. While a little quiet time is nice, I think he will be sad to have so much quiet time. Ellie and I are going to spend next week in Katy. Daniel has lined up a bunch of movies on Netflix. I actually think he is going to check out the first season of Battlestar Gallactica. Not my cup of tea so I am happy he will be watching it when I am not around. I think Daniel is also getting excited for Owen to come. It is not far off now and after next week we will only have 4 weeks until the induction. He has really fallen head over heels for Ells, so he is getting eager to see what a son would be like. Me too.

Elise is doing wonderfully as always. She had some rough nights last week and earlier on this week she was having really horrible diaper rashes which were not fun. The cream that works really well kind of stings her for a minute after so it is always really difficult to watch her squirm and cry from it. Luckily it is looking much better. I think we were lucky early on that she didn't have many diaper rashes. It seemed like she always got them when we went home for the weekend and forgot diaper cream, of course. We haven't done too much this week because of bad weather and yesterday and today we have been getting the house cleaned (which she loves doing) for when my family comes into town. She is learning a few new words but mostly she has been trying to do new things around the house. For example, she wants to switch off the light switches. This is a particularly annoying "new thing" because she wants you to pick her up to do it and she only wants to turn them off and not on so she gets mad when the switch is already in the off position. Ellie has also been increasing in her frustrations and has developed a bad little temper. She is just at the age where she wants to do everything by herself or wants you to help her in a certain way (some way that you don't know but she knows) and when it doesn't turn out like she wants she throws a little fit. Her fit is usually accompanied by biting the object, luckily no people bites yet.

I have been feeling large, but overall I have been feeling alright. I mean, at this point I am just uncomfortable but that is expected. I am starting to get more and more excited. Daniel makes fun of me because he will often catch me going through Owen's clothes and refolding them or showing them off to Ellie. I am just excited, that's all. I am looking forward to tomorrow when my family is coming in town and also my Grandpa. I only see him about once a year so it is nice to see him and he should get a kick out of Ellie and Kyra. We are planning a picnic in Zilker park but the weather is not looking great, so we might be picnicking in the apartment. I am also going to make yummy pumpkin bars which I haven't made in forever. They are the only thing that Daniel has actually requested me to make (is that a bad thing?). It is good that I will make them while everyone is here, otherwise Daniel and I would pig them all down ourselves.

Daniel and I are thinking about buying a house. It is still in preliminary stages. Meaning we really have only thought about it. We want a bigger place and it is possible that we could be here for awhile so our kids are going to be big and wild. I really want a backyard for the kids and a bigger living area. We might be better off renting a house but we are not sure at this point. This is still a ways off. But I have been doing some research and our best bet would be to buy a foreclosed or preforeclosure property. This would mean that the house would sell for cheaper and we can turn a higher profit when we sell it. --- We really have a very slim budget to work with so it makes the thought of buying a house and the risks that it would bring very scary. I have just been looking for three bedroom apartments and they are just about the same price a mortgage payment would be, so that is why we are looking into it. My guess, we will be in an apartment forever and ever and ever.

Tired Mom with an Active Helper

Well, it has been kind of a bad day for us here. As Daniel mentioned, Elise woke up at 3 in the morning. I am not sure what her deal is today but she wouldn't go down to sleep and has been particularly cranky. It is not helping out much that there are people out on the tennis court outside our apartment that are playing roller hockey or something equally as loud and annoying. Grr. It is just really hard to function when she doesn't sleep routinely. For some reason my body could get up in the middle of the night no problem when she was still a baby and when I was still nursing her, but now... forget it!! I need my sleep!!! Hopefully we will get her back on track because we can't handle this too often.

Not too much has been going on this week. Ellie and I went on a play date and also to the park. She is now really into playing in the sand at the park so I need to buy her a shovel and bucket (she has been mooching off of the other kids' sand toys). Also she has wanted to go up and down the stairs constantly. Other than that we have done a bunch of housework (the usual). Ellie is getting to be quite the helper. She helps putting toys away, throwing out garbage, unloading the dishwasher, sorting laundry, switching around laundry and folding it, washing windows, dusting. This sounds like she is a good helper, but really it is just her making my job 5 times harder than it really needs to be. But, I figure if I want her to do chores when she is older, now is the time to teach!! Plus, she loves to help.

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday. All with the baby looks good. My blood pressure is elevated a bit but at this point that isn't a huge concern. Basically I need to check it periodically to make sure it isn't too high, but that is pretty much it. At this point, it is almost good news (says the doctore--- and me) because this means I can have the baby at 37 weeks (still considered full term--- same time as I had Ellie). We shall see though. I am thinking our little Owen is not the smallest child ever so I am looking forward to having him slightly early. However, Daniel keeps saying that it would be pretty inconvenient for him if I had the baby before 38 or 39 weeks. I am not listening to him much... it is has been a little inconvenient having a bowling ball in my stomach too!!!! I think Owen will come when he is ready.

Our God is vengeful

We got to prepare for the Sabbath early this morning when Ellie woke up for the day at 3 am. I guess she figured we owed her one, as she let us sleep in until 6 on Saturday. Erin let her cry for a half an hour or so before she went in and tried to rock her back to sleep. Unfortunately, Ellie had already decided that it was time to play and that it needed to be a family activity. Erin managed to coax her into a nap around 7, so we were able to get an extra hour before we had to get up for church.

Due to our daughter's shenanigans, I didn't have time for breakfast, so I pulled one of those "I forgot to eat, so I guess I'm fasting" fasts. Lucky for me, today was our ward's Fast Sunday (In my defense, I didn't know whether they had already had their Fast Sunday or not, as I skipped two weeks ago when Ellie and I were both sick). Leave it to me to accidentally fast on Fast Sunday (though if this is some divine plan to encourage my righteousness, I'd like to make it known that waking my daughter up at 3 am Sunday morning is a very mean way to get me to fast and I don't appreciate it).

We found out today that Ellie can't go to Nursery until two weeks before she's 18 months old. Of course Owen is due around that time, so we'll basically be trading Ellie in for a baby that's less mobile. That's just fine with me - I spent Sacrament Meeting and Priesthood chasing her up and down the hall. That baby must be cheating somehow. She eats next to nothing, yet she somehow manages to find the energy to run around the church at full speed for three hours straight. But she's cute, so I guess we'll keep her.

Katy and more rambling on about us

Well, it has been a pretty decent week or so for us. Daniel and Elise have recovered from their 2 week long colds. I had a scratchy throat for a day or two but managed to dodge the sickness. So, that was good for me. I am surprised since both Daniel and I kissed Ellie's snotty little face quite a bit!!!

Unfortunately for Ells, we have spent a lot of time indoors because she has been sick. We usually do play dates, Gymboree and go to the park with friends, but couldn't do much of that the past couple of weeks so hopefully we will get back on track this week. I always feel so bad for her when we are cooped up in the apartment for several days at a time. She gets restless and so do I.

The picture that I have included is of Ellie the morning we went down to Katy this past Friday. It was a pretty good trip I think. She didn't sleep much in the car but was still fairly good, especially after we stopped for an ice cream treat. She is just like her mama and daddy and LOVES ice cream.

We spent the weekend in Katy for Kyra's first birthday. It was a lot of fun. We were able to see Grandpa Weber since he was home from Nigeria for a little bit. And Ellie got some much needed grandparent time. Ellie also enjoyed playing with all the toys Kyra got for her birthday. She especially enjoyed a riding toy that was VERY noisy and VERY annoying. So we were glad to leave that one with Kyra's mom and dad! She was a little protective of that particular toy and pushed Kyra off of it a few times. While bullying is not encouraged in this family, it really has been the first time Ellie has done something aggressive to another child. Usually she just gets beat up on by other kids or just lets others steal her toys. So, we are sorry Kyra, however, it looks like you might be beating up on Ellie here very soon!!!

When we went to the doctors when Ellie was sick she had lost weight from being sick and weighed under 20 pounds and Ellie is fairly tall so she is kinda skinny. The doctor said to really concentrate on her eating when she gets better and we have. She usually spends her days nursing a cup of milk, but we have tried to eliminate that during the day so she has actually been eating really well. I think she has packed on a couple ounces at least. (Wouldn't it be nice to count your weight gain by ounces???? I count by 10 pounders myself!!!)

Daniel has been in a mild depression since the Astros weren't able to pull through at the end. He still has the playoff beard that he was growing out. He says he is keeping it until Owen is born, but I think I can convince him to shave before then. He is starting to look like a bum.

I have been feeling alright actually. Most of my complaining is just discomfort. This last month and a half or so will be filled with it I am sure. Dan and I share a full size bed and that has been pretty tight lately. I mean, with me and my huge stomach and the pillow for my legs and for under my stomach and I need a blanket of my own since I kick it on and off all night, oh and Daniel is there too.... like I said SNUG! We already have to synchronize our nightly flips from side to side. I also just about killed myself at the grocery store. I went by myself with Ellie (my first mistake). It took a long time and I didn't realize how much I relied on Daniel for bending down and loading stuff and how difficult it is to unload your cart with a huge belly. When we checked out HEB was short staffed so they didn't have sackers so I had to sack and load my own cart. It was so tiring. I was pooped out when I got home for sure!! Don't worry, I make Daniel unload the groceries. I am not dumb, that is 3 flights of stairs!!!

Well, my next appointment is Friday. I am a little off on my weeks as far as appointments go so I am not sure what they will be doing to me this week. I will be 33 weeks. Usually one goes at 32 and then at 34 to the doctors. I am hoping they do an ultrasound because I am thinking this kid is huge already. He feels bigger than Ellie by far! So, it would be nice to get a guess on how much he weighs now. However, they will probably just listen to his heart, measure me and send me off. --- We are starting to get really excited about having Owen. We are pretty much ready. There is some cleaning and organizing I would like to do beforehand but besides that we are pretty ready. Even though Daniel originally voted for another girl, he is pretty excited about having a son. He has mentioned quite a few activities he is looking forward to doing with his son(s). I am thinking about making a video diary type thing for Owen. I think I want to do little interviews with Daniel and myself and possibly other family members. I just want to do something special with number 2. Don't want him to get jipped.