it's a GIRL!!!

It's a girl and she's perfect! Everything measured perfectly, she has all her parts and we are so excited!!!

Preschool

I am starting to look at preschools for Ryan. With baby #2 on the way I don't want Ryan to be bored at home and I also don't want to have to drag him to doctors appointments (newborns are always at the doctors), and other baby-centric appointments. Finding a preschool seems like a simple task, but no, there are about 12 million variables you have to consider. Here are the top variables in my book:

First are their openings at the school? Duh... if you can't get in don't even look you will just be disappointed if you fall in love with it. For the ones you have a chance with, they all have different enrollment methods, most aren't like regular school where they either have space or they don't, some are ongoing enrollment, some have deadlines and some seem confused about what their policy is (red flag). One we are thinking of applying to requires you to sign up now for an August start date... so for most of the schools it isn't a decision you make one day and start the next day, you have to look far enough ahead to keep your options open.

Secondly you have to decide if you want full day, half day, and how many days a week? I think we are looking at half days either 2 or 3 days a week. Because you have to sign up so early, you have to consider what your child will like 6 months in advance and it's hard (at some places impossible) to change once you make the decision.

Third, they all have a different goal... purely academic, purely play, some mix, art based etc. He is so young that I really don't want to push him too hard down the academic route, honestly he has lots of years for that. Luckily with a part time program he isn't there all the time so whatever is lacking in a program I can try and make up for at home. You just don't want everything to be lacking so it would be a waste of his time. I want to have him at a place that will make him the most happy, now I just need to figure out what that will be.

You have to pick what is best for you child, without really knowing until you start. How will he deal when I leave him somewhere? Will he love it, will he hate it? Will he have good teachers, which is the most important thing and again you don't really know until you are there. I think I will just have to make a decision and stick to it, no looking back, if he hates it I pull him out and we try again later. Luckily with me being at home we are really flexible. So far I have toured 2, and I have appointments to tour 3 next week. Ryan LOVED the visits, he immediately walked away from me and started playing with the kids and exploring the classrooms. I had to tell him a few times that it was time to go before he would make his way to the door. It made me a lot more confident about starting the process.

Knowing me, a few deposits might be made before a decision is made :) We'll see!

Baby Kicks

I have been feeling the baby move for a few weeks now. The movements are little flutters, but completely internal, you couldn't feel anything by touching my stomach. Last night baby started kicking and we could feel it through my stomach, even Don got to feel it! This is much earlier then with Ryan (I'm at about week 18) which either means I now know what to look for with the movements so I recognize them earlier or this baby is going to be even more active then Ryan *shudder*. Either way it is very exciting!

Making Cupcakes

We decided to make cupcakes on a cold day when we were stuck inside. Ryan loved that he was able to do almost everything himself. Vanilla cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting might be his new favorite food on top of it. He decided he wanted them to be pink and green so they were certainly interesting looking but man did they taste good.

Parents are SO Embarrassing

At 20 months Ryan is already embarrassed of me. I thought for sure it wouldn't happen for a few more years but I was wrong. Today I was singing along to one of his cartoons and he comes up to me, looks me in the eye, shakes his head and says "no." Oh well, I already ruled out a career in singing so I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it....

Update: this afternoon Ryan was dancing to a song, I tried to do the same dance he was doing.. he told me "no" again. Apparently a dancing career is out also.

Snow Day!

We finally got a real snow day! Ryan loves it and apparently feels no cold because he sticks his bare hands in the snow without a problem. Luckily with much coaxing he was willing to come in and warm up before any harm came to those precious hands! Since we needed a fun activity for the time spent inside warming up, we set up a basketball hoop that Ryan received for Christmas. It was a hit, he loved to slam dunk.
Now that he is napping Dad and I are watching movies and drinking hot chocolate. Snow days are few and far between so we are taking full advantage!

Baby Update

Let's see what can I update regarding baby#2, first of all I am now at 16 weeks pregnant. They (being the vast world of the interwebs) have told me that baby is now about 4.5 inches long (they compare it to an avocado). Granted you must take it all with a grain of salt because they also tell me I should be glowing, and to put it nicely I do not feel glowy.

My weight gain hasn't started yet, but seeing what I got at the grocery store this morning today might be the day ;) Even with no weight gain I have long ago stopped fitting into any of my clothes, one of the mysteries of pregnancy.

We are finding out the sex of the baby February 17th so barring any big changes that will be likely be the next update regarding baby.

Funny Kid

One afternoon I left the living room to go upstairs, when I came back this is how I found Ryan waiting for me:
He started giggling right when I walked in the room. This kid cracks me up.

Hat

From the time Ryan was born until about 2 months ago he hated hats. When he was a baby and unable to get them off I could force him to wear them, but as a toddler it was impossible without somehow strapping it to his head. Well recently he has decided that he likes them. I think it's a combination of trying to be like Uncle David and Dad, and keeping his head warm/ the sun away from his face. Whatever the reason for the change I'm happy he now wears them because take a look at how cute he is with his Red Sox hat on!

Figuring it All Out

One of the best parts of being a parent of a toddler is watching them figure the world out one problem at a time. In the last week Ryan has really been on a roll, conquering obstacles in new and creative ways.

One of his biggest (and most favorite) accomplishments is his new ability to stack toys. He has always loved knocking them down and now he has figured out how to stack them so he doesn't have to depend on his parents who are astronomically slow. Everyday he is learning more about what sizes stack best, and how the placement effects balance.

My favorite creative moment happened on our way to the beach. We were in the car for a couple of hours and had set up the DVD player for him to watch but the sun was glaring on him and the screen. He didn't complain at all but you could see he was trying to get away from the heat. It finally clicked with him and he picked up his magna-doodle board and angled it in such a way that it blocked the sun both to him and the screen and he was able to enjoy his DVD in peace. I was so impressed I took a picture.

Boo to Today

Those of you have been around since the conception of this blog know that I had some blood sugar issues in my last pregnancy. For this pregnancy I decided I would take the first blood sugar test (1 hour) but if I failed which I always do I wouldn't take another.


Well I went to the doctor today and the nurse messed up and gave me the test... it is supposed to be given at 28 weeks, not 15. They didn't even test my blood sugar, they just made me drink the stupid drink for no reason and then apologized for the mistake. Now I feel crappy and wobbly... boo. Well I have decided I will not be taking that test again at 28 weeks, I obviously will not pass. Instead I will do what I did with Ryan and test my own blood at home everyday and eat well. Boo to the doctors and nurses and boo to how I feel. I honestly thought they were just testing me early because I had a problem last time and wanted to catch it earlier this time, so I guess boo to me for being naive.

Beach Weekend

We decided to take a trip to the beach for the weekend. Yes, I am aware it's January but I really wanted to get out of town and the beach is only a quick two hour car ride away. When we first planned it a few weeks ago the forecast said rainy and cold so we planned lots of indoor activities like children's museums and shopping.

We however lucked out, and the clouds parted as we arrived and the weather was sunny and between 65-70 during the days! We split our time between the beach and downtown Wilmington. Ryan loved the boats, planes, dogs, sand, shells... really everything about the trip. While at the beach Ryan decided to sort shells, he would keep the ones that made good shovels and throw the other ones away, they each got one chance with one dig. It was very cute because he was so determined! He also played chicken with the waves, he wanted to get close enough to throw sand in the water, but not so close that he got wet (luckily dad was close enough to insure he didn't end up too wet).

We all had a great time and it was nice to get out of our routine for a weekend! Enjoy the pictures (taken with my new camera)!

Birthday Party

My wonderful friends and family (Jess, Mike, Jay, Don, Mom and David) organized a birthday dinner for me! We had Thai food, which I had desperately wanted and chocolate cupcakes from Whole Foods... wow, what a great way to spend my birthday. Thanks to all of them!

My brother got me a new camera so if you start to notice a large improvement in the quality of pictures it is thanks to him. It will be really obvious when I post the pictures from our weekend trip to the beach.

Everyone minus Don who was taking the picture

jay texted "Happy Birthday Kat" to the music channel... and they posted it!

Yummy

A party can't go wrong with a cupcake like this (Jay brought a total of 14 of these fudgy, rich, delicious cupcakes... there were only 7 people at the dinner)

Today is My Birthday!

I admit I am not always a huge fan of my birthday. It isn't an age thing, maybe because I am still youngish but my age strangely doesn't even cross my mind on my birthday. This is probably exagerated by pregnancy hormones like every other emotion but whatever. I used to go out of town, but that gets hard when you have a small child so it hasn't happened the last two years. Anyway... this birthday seems to be an exception. I received chocolate covered strawberries from Rachel, donuts from Laura, some cards, countless emails, phone calls, and facebook wall posts. My mom came over and played with Ryan giving me a little more freedom and Don made me breakfast in bed, took me out to lunch (alone, while my mother watched Ryan) and made me a super great dinner. All the love has really put me in a great place mentally and so I ended up having a great, relaxing day.
So to everyone that made this birthday great, thanks!