That's right! Nathan is going to be a big brother around October 17th! 

This was sort of a surprise. We had difficulty (well, not as difficult as some couples) conceiving Nathan. We tried for over a year and then we were successful after 2 rounds of fertility drugs. All of that to say,  I was convinced there was no way we could conceive again without the help of fertility drugs.

Dan and I had talked several months prior and had decided to try to have another baby, knowing we would need to give it several months before we went back to fertility drugs (Also thinking this would take another year or so before we conceived again). In January, I called my OB and received a prescription for Clomid (fertility drug). I bought it and just had to wait to start my next cycle to start taking it. I was worried about taking it this time around because of the high incidence with twins, which would have made me a single mom in a hurry if I gave my husband twins!! While taking the drug previously, I had to go into the Dr's everyday for a sonogram to see when, if and how many eggs I was ovulating, thus reducing the chance of having multiples. However, this time it was going to be a logistical nightmare to make it the Dr's everyday when I am not  allowed to bring Nathan with me and without the freedom of my old job. So, my Dr. had said I did not have to have the sonograms and we could leave it up to chance (well, she did not say it like that !!). Again, all of that to say, I was not sure how I was going to tell Dan about all of this. Yes, we had discussed having a second baby and he new going back on Clomid was probable, but I had no discussed all the logistical details with him yet. I knew he would not want to chance having twins at all which would mean no Clomid without sonograms. My plan was to put off talking to him about it until I started my cycle and  i was forced to have to talk to him about it (*yep, that's me the avoider of unpleasant conversations!!)

About 5 weeks later, my cycle had not started yet, but this was not too unusual for me. I thought nothing of it. I was pretty cranky so  Ithought it would be any day. Another 2 weeks went by, again I was in total denial. I had previously had a cycle last me almost 8 weeks so  I thought that was just happening again.  I was getting anxious,  I wanted to start my cycle so I could talk to Dan about starting the Clomid.  I planned to call my OB that day to see if she would write me a prescription for Provera (a drug to induce menstruation). However, I knew from my previous 8 week cycle issue, they would make me take a pregnancy test before they prescribed it. I bought the cheapest pregnancy test, since I knew it was negative! Took the test, left it in my bathroom while it was "timing" and ended up forgetting about it because I was playing with Nathan. IT was an hour later when I remembered. Imagine my shock! Positive. What? Oh, well, I guess if I think about it.........crankiness, wanting Hot Tamales the last few days (the candy- I'm not a big candy eater), back pain, constipation, fatigue...hmmm, my symptoms sounded like I had googled early pregnancy symptoms!! Well, it all made sense in my head right then. I went from doubting there was any possible way I could be pregnant to "Wow, I'm 7 weeks pregnant". What an amazing God we serve!

I have to confess, Dan had told me several times over the past 2 weeks "your pregnant", but I just brushed him off. I hated to admit he was right all along!!

This was God's way of saying "I am in control Diana, not you". In my sin nature, I find myself doubting God, even though He reveals Himself to me ALL the time.  He had total control over the situation. All those wasted hours I spent on worrying how the logistics of getting to the sonograms everyday were going to work....God had a plan for that.

Wild Life Park

                                                    

First of all, I like the new blogger, it is much easier for me to add pictures. However, I am still pretty basic when it comes to computer and so I can't figure out how to write on top of the 1st picture. I've tried several times and it just deletes the picture. It is sad to think my son will blow me out of the water with computers and electronics in just a few years!!

It has been awhile since I updated, I feel like so much has happened! Hopefully I will get more posts out soon for all of our "goings-on"!

The pictures start with Easter. My mom and I drove down to Houston for a quick visit to my grandparents for Easter. Sadly Dan had to work. We had a small egg hunt for Nathan, not sure how putting eggs in the middle of the grass is a "hunt" but it was still cute. Of course I did not get any pictures of that ! He got a rabbit balloon from his G-Gram which he Loved! He also got some books and then his eggs where filled with goldfish and animal crackers! Hopefully next year we can do candy, because I sure like having candy in the eggs instead of goldfish!!

Here he is with his balloon!

The table was all set for Easter. We each got a few eggs with some jelly beans! I hardly ever eat jelly beans but they sure do taste good at Easter time.

The day before Easter, My mom, grandparents and I took Nathan to the Wildlife Park in Alvin. We have been several times, and it is so fun, even if you go without children!

You pull into the gate and the animals come right up to your car for you  to feed them. My grandpa was in the front seat holding Nathan (disclaimer, we only had him out of his car seat for the less than 500 foot drive from the front of the park to the parking lot and the speed limit is 5 mph, because the animals are walking around, he goes alot faster than that when he is on the bike with his daddy!!) Anyways, this giant antelope sticks his head in the window and is inch's fro Nathans face. I could not believe it, it did not even phase him! He looked at like" oh, do you want to ride in the car with us?" I think Nathan is so used to my mom and grandparents dogs (which are treated and spoiled like family members) that he just assumed the antelope was an over sized Labrador!

One you park, you get to take a tram ride throughout the park and feed the animals. they come right up to the tram and eat out of your bucket.

Again, he was not phased in the least! He was very pensive during the tram ride, just watching all the animals. He sat still in my grandpa's lap for over 30 minutes...ummm...who is this child? He never sits still (unless your reading to him).

It was so enjoyable just to watch him and his reaction to all the animals. You could see his little brain just trying to process it all. I love watching him see new things and get exctited!

I was proud at how "brave" he was too! there was another boy on the tram and he would cry every time an animal would get to close.

Look at hose pink cheeks, he is definitely my child! Poor Nathan, you will never know what a tan looks like on you.

I love this picture! He was holding on to Papa's shirt, not for "dear life" but more for security. A boy and his Pop!

After the tram ride we got out and went to the petting zoo, where we did not stay long. It was a bunch of goats but there were animal droppings everywhere (and flies...yuk). Then he went to "hang out" with some deer! He was petting the deer like it was one of my mom's dogs!

Just a cute smile to end on!

Even though it was a quick trip it was a fun Easter, expect Dan was missing.

Coming soon......Blog on selling and buying a house!!!

1st Haircut

The 1st haircut is a sign my baby is growing up. I have been putting off cutting his hair for awhile (despite pleads from Dan, b/c he thinks Nathan was growing a mullet). I know, in 16 years I will be begging Nathan to get rid of all his extra hair, but right now he is still my baby.

I could have just cut his hair myself, but I thought going to a kids salon, where he could sit in a rocket ship or something, was just part of the experience of a baby's 1st haircut. Exactly how I thought about the prenatal class I made Dan attend with me. I knew we would not get much out of it, but it was part of the whole pregnancy and child birthing experience!

Oh, how I wish i had researched it better (umm..like the price!!!)

Here he is in his little fire truck! He loved turning the wheel and clanging the bell!

He was such a good boy! He never made peep. Both hairstylist commented on his good behaviour!

We were not in there that long. She sprayed his hair with water and then took a few snips off and he was done.

I went up to the register to pay and pulled out a $10 bill, thinking his haircut would be $8 or something.

Stylist: " That will be $18"

ME: Umm.. Excuse me, did you say $ 18?

Stylist: yes, aht is the price for the haircut.

ME: All you did was spray his head with water and make few snips, why is it so much?

Stylist: that's just the price.

I bit my tongue from saying things like" that's 1/3 the cost of my haircut and I get a head massage, Paul Mitchell shampoo and styling" or "don't expect us to be regular costumers".

I was flabbergasted!! $18!!! for a baby who hardly has any hair on his head anyways.

So here, my baby's 1st haircutting experience was ruined in my mind. From now on, he will go to "Mommy's barbershop" in our kitchen!!

despite everything, he does look very cute, and more grown up!

On a different subject, TV watching. Research all points that is best for baby's development if they don't watch TV until they are 2. I was really going to try my best to follow that rule. However, 1 day back in November, I was at the end om y rope with my sweet baby (gasp!) So, I turned on Veggie tales for 30 minutes to give myself a break to make dinner. He really like it (of course) Since then, we let him just watch a 30 minute Veggie Tale video every now and then. HE loves the music and singing on it. We have tried short kids video's but he really only likes Veggie Tales. Here is a picture of him watching it with daddy. HE just laughs ans sways to the music, it is so cute! Hopefully I am not delaying his development to much!!Nathan also loves to be outside. The weather has been nice the last few weeks (since we did not get a winter this year) so we have been outside most evenings.

His favorite thing is to swing! He will just kick his legs and grin as Dan throws him around in circles. It still makes me nervous /c he comes close to the tree, but i know from high school Physics, there is no way he can hit the tree.

1 year

Wow.....that went fast! I know that is a cliche to say "the year flew by", but it really did!

This past year I have watched Nathan go from a helpless infant to a boy with personality and spunk.

Nathan has been very busy the past few months. He has learned to cruise and walk with assistance and now that is ALL he wants to do! He still does not crawl, it looks like he is just going to skip it altogether. We are going to have a physical therapist evaluate him to see if they have tips to help encourage him to crawl. I wouldn't worry or care about him not crawling except it is so important for their development to learn to crawl.

He babbles alot but still does not have any words in his vocabulary, but his babbling is so cute!

He has started to become defiant at times and can throw little tantrums. We have started using "NO" and are surprised to see how effective it is. I'm sure that won't last forever!

He is pretty happy most of the time and can really ham it up for the camera.

We had a small family birthday party for him on Sunday. He was so cute opening his presents. He received lots of new clothes for 18 months, which he will be in by the summer... he is growing so fast!! He received some new books too. He has developed a fascination with books in the last month or so. He loves to open the pages and especially loves the books that have flaps for him to lift. He has ruined several flaps in some of his favorite books, so thank goodness for double sided tape!

Of course he had to taste the wrapping paper before he opened his presents! He actually grasped the concept of "opening" a present more than he did at Christmas.

His Uncle Joseph, Aunt Lorraine and cousin Maeva sent him this piano. He loves it! Dan said he is going to return the favor by sending Maeva a set of drums for Christmas!! Audrey, his cousin, enjoyed trying to teach him how to play!

His Mimi (Dan's mom) got him a cool 4 wheeler. He doesn't quite understand how to push it with his feet yet, he would rather just stand and push it!

I did not get any pictures of him with his cake....I know, I know...bad mom. However, I did videotape it! Anyways, he hated the cake. He absolutely did not like the texture of the icing on his hands. He got really mad and started crying, and that ended the birthday cake. Maybe was just concerned about his carb and sugar intake?

Other than the cake episode, he was a good boy and enjoyed his birthday!

Just cute

Happy Monday!!!

Winter Park!!

Ski vacation!

Dan and I went to Winter Park, Colorado this past week for our annual ski trip! We take a ski trip every year, and go to the resort that offers the best deal. It is a fun way to get to ski in different places.

I must admit, I missed Nathan, but at the same time, thoroughly enjoyed the time with just Dan.

We flew into Denver on Monday then rented a car and drove to Winter Park. We stayed at a lodge and the room was exceptional. It was a full kitchen, minus the oven, it had a living room with a fire place, a separate bedroom and bathroom, plus a balcony. It was wonderful to have so much space!

We skied for 3 days and we skied hard! Dan is an advanced skier (I'm sure that is a real shock to those of you who know him...ha, Mr. can do everything!) and I can hold my own. However, I am not a huge mogul skier, but Dan has been helping me become more proficient at them over the past few years.

All of that to say, we fried our legs! We skied really hard (lots of moguls) on the first day and I was exhausted when we were done for the day. I thought we were in decent shape going into our trip, but you forget how much quadricep muscle you use nonstop! It was a great day for skiing though, it snowed most of the morning so there was a fresh layer of powder...who could resist that !!

We went into town for dinner that night and then slept for 10 hours...without having to worry about the baby monitor going off...it was great!!

We felt rested and had a good 2nd day of skiing. Sadly, Dan had a pretty bad crash and really hurt his right shoulder and ribs. Of course, that did not stop him from skiing.

ON the 3rd day they opened up the lift that went to the bowl skiing. It was the first time this season that had opened it, so everyone was chomping at the bit to get up to the top. Here was a view from the top! It was beautiful to be above the tree lines and just see mountains, clouds and sky! I love marveling at God's beautiful and creative creation!

The bowl skiing was difficult. The powder was up to your waist in some areas and it was hard to control your ski's. It was steep and made me a little nervous, because people were flying down since everyone was excited it was finally open for the year.

My expert skier!

It was pretty cold while we were there and i loved it! I really wonder why I am living in Texas. I hate the heat and the fact that we never get a real winter. I loved just being outside while we were there and enjoying the cold and snow!

It was snowing when we woke up Tuesday morning! For those who do not know me well.... I LOVE the snow!

Ready to ski!

When we were packing for our trip, we found that my Scott goggles had melted, in the attic, this past summer. I guess that is not to hard to believe since we had record year for days over 100 degrees. I guess they were cheap plastic. Anyways, I needed new goggles. It is so funny how different Dan and I are. Wee both like to save and spend on completely different things! He wanted me to get a really good pair of goggles that would last me forever. I did not like the idea of spending that much for goggles when 1) I'm only going to use them once year and 2) Dan is a much better skier and he does not have expensive goggles, so why should I deserve them.

In he end, Dan won. I ended up with really nice Oakley goggles and i have to admit they are really nice. I could see so clearly, no fogging and they fit great.

This is a picture of me planking.

I am in a challenge with my running club to do a 60 second plank everyday this year. It may not sound that difficult, but just remembering to do it most days is the challenge! There have been a couple times where I have been in bed, halfway asleep and realized I had not done my plank, I had to get out of bed and do it. It is a fun challenge because it is something I can do. In years past some of hte challenges have been to far from my physical grasp (i.e adding a push up everyday so that you re doing 365 on the last day of the year and the same with sit ups!) Dan is doing the challenge with me which makes it fun!

We have a thread on facebook with our challenge group and people are always posting pictures of were they have done their plank. One girl had picture planking at a wedding in her bridesmaid dresses, some at airports etc. So that is why I am planking in my ski gear on the top of the lift!

I loved every minute of time with Dan! What a fun vacation with him!

About ot descend a very steep and long run! I was smiling before but not so much during the way down!

they had several fire pits around the resort, so we would walk around then warm up by a fire. This was the last night we were there and it was snowing buckets! they got 6 inch's in a few hours! We spent the evening sitting in chairs, outside under an awning, in front of the mountain, watching the snow cats groom the runs. It was so much fun, especially with all the snow falling around us.

I am very thankful to my mom for watching Nathan so we could enjoy some time away with each other! What a rejuvenating and fun vacation!

Helmet Free!

Congratulations Nathan!!

You made it over 3 months dealing with something constantly on your head. It started off as a rough journey but you were such a trooper. You made it through all the questions, pointing and stares of strangers (ok, mommy made it through all of that too!) with a smile on your face and drool on your chin.

It is a journey we are glad is behind us and now we can push forward to the next chapter.

I must say it was entertaining at times as to what people speculated was the purpose of the helmet. One guy honestly thought Nathan was into extreme sports already (I'm sure that day is coming). Others thought he had seizures, one man asked if he wore it because he banged his head against walls, one lady thought it was a winter hat, another thought he had brain surgery and of course someone asked if he was retarded.

Sigh....so glad that is over. I know people are just curious, and i have no problem explaining the use of the helmet I am just relieved I don't have to deal with it any more. Now people will see a cute boy instead of a helmet.

Here is the certificate for graduating from the helmet!

Your cute smile...with no helmet blocking or distracting from your face!

At his last appointment the y took a bunch of pictures so you can see the difference between the before helmet and post helmet.

They told us from the beginning, they could not guarantee huge results since he was "older" when he started the process.

However, at the last appointment they said he made excellent progress and they could tell we were 100% compliant with the helmet (as far as leaving it on ALL the time, except his 1 hour break).

They want to use his pictures to show other parents that older babies can benefit from the helmet if they are compliant! I thought that was quite a compliment to all 3 of us!

Here are the before and after shots. Before pics are on the left, after on the right.

The 2 main goals of the helmet was to correct the flatness in the back and to gain some length in his head versus width (look at his forehead).

The side shots are the most impressive, in my opinion.

You can really see how his head rounded out and how he has more even balance of his head on his neck.

Overall, the helmet was worth it for us! We made it through and now we can say "Adios helmet"!