Family Pictures

We had our family pictures re-done a few weeks ago. We originally had them done in November, but the photographer's flash wasn't working correctly so we had to re-take them.

It's A Girl

Nathan and I went to San Francisco to visit Nichole (my father-in-law's girlfriend). She is an ultrasound specialist. She scanned me and was able to say 100% positive that we are having a girl. We are very excited.

22 Months

After our trip to Spokane Bryce's sleep schedule was off and it has continued to be off ever since. He often cries before falling asleep for his naps and at night. Instead of taking an hour and a half or a two hour nap, he often sleeps for just forty-five minutes. I still leave him in his crib for at least an hour and a half so he has a chance to fall back to sleep or at least rest a little. At night sometimes he goes right to sleep, other nights he fusses for over an hour. The first two weeks we were home he was waking up in the middle of the night. It seems like every time we are away from home for more than a night his naps and night time sleep habits get messed up. His digestive system also gets messed up when we travel. Oh well, hopefully one day he will adjust better to traveling.

One of his favorite words is "two". He understands the meaning and wants two of everything. He also loves to play "two". This is a game where we count, one, two, three, go and he runs as fast as he can to us and then we tickle him. It is very cute.

He knows three colors, yellow (he say yeahlow), blue, and green (he says geen).

He is definitely starting to be more boy than baby. He is looking so grown up. He is also definitely entering into the terrible twos. He throws fits on a semi-regular basis, throws his toys when he is mad, and tries to hit me. He also tells me no and runs away from me. Just today I bought "The New Strong Willed Child" by James Dobson. Hopefully this will give me some insight into raising a strong willed little boy.

Bryce doesn't understand that I have a baby in my tummy. He points to my tummy and then to his own and says baby. Maybe as my stomach grows he will start to understand more.

Spokane

Bryce and I had a wonderful time in Spokane. For the most part we just stayed at J and Rachel's and the kids played. Samantha did really well sharing her toys with Bryce. I'm sure it was hard for her since she isn't used to having other kids in her house and a week is a long time to have to share. They each had their cranky moments and would occasionally throw fits due to conflicts over toys, but all in all they were angels. It is too bad we don't get to see them more often, especially because we want the kids to be close. But, spending a whole week together probably provides them the same amount of interaction that they'd get with one and other in 6 months if we lived in the same city.

Bryce as usual had a really tough time sleeping in a strange place. I had to sit 30 min to a hour and a half each night until he would fall asleep. At home I just put him to bed and leave the room. He would wake up each nigh between 1 and 3 and come into my bed for the rest of the night. Naps were also a bit difficult. I napped when he napped, but since we were sharing a room he wanted to cuddle with me. The first day I let him nap with me, but after that decided it wasn't a good idea to start that routine. In addition to not napping well, taking forever to go to sleep, and waking up in the middle of the night, he also got up between 6:15 and 6:30 every morning instead of his usual 7:00. This meant he was always a bit tired, as was I.

It snowed a couple of time while we were there. Thankfully Rachel had warned me about the weather forecast so we came prepared with Bryce's snow suit. He had a great time playing in the snow. Along with playing in the snow we walked to the park, went to a Gymboree class, played with play-doh, baked cookies, played in their ball-house, and played with all of Samantha's toys.

One of the funniest things the kids did was while they were taking a bath. Samantha decided that she should help wash Bryce. She soap up his hair and tried to was his bum. Bryce just sat there and let her. It was hilarious. I got that on video. It will be great to show them the video years from now.

Thanks to J, Rachel and Samantha for a great week.

21 Months

Bryce spent his 21st month birthday flying to Spokane to see his godparents. We lucked out and had our own row on the plane, even though I only paid for one seat. Bryce sat by the window and really loved looking outside. The window was a bit high for him to see out clearly, so I had to prop him up every once in a while to look. He now says airplane, although the pronunciation is a bit off. Once we got to J and Rachel's house Bryce noticed every plane that flew by and got very excited.

This past month was another month of amazing development. Once again his vocabulary has really expanded. One of my favorite new words he says is "no-meal" meaning oatmeal. Some other new words are more, please, ba berry (strawberry), and so many more.

His is also still signing, but often will say the word while he is signing if he knows both. I've taught him a few new signs recently: airplane, ball, dog, fish, shoe and sock. He picked these up really fast, but isn't using them regularly.

Naps and sleep time have remained pretty study: nap from 1:00 - 2:30 or 3:00 and bed from 7 pm to 7 am.

His music together class ended, but we've signed up for the next session. Unfortunately we'll miss the first class because of being in Spokane. He really enjoyed the first session. It is funny, in class he often appears like he isn't paying any attention and participates very little. However, when we are home he asked for his music and repeats a lot of the noises and motions from class.

Bryce's Big News

As you can see from the pictures, Bryce is going to be a big brother. We are so thrilled that we will be welcoming a new member to our family. The baby is due October 17, 2008. I'm 10 weeks pregnant.

I made the shirt for Bryce so that he could tell everyone the good news. Grammy and Gramps, along with Auntie Hannah came to my parents house about 5 weeks ago on their way back from the Cloverdale Citrus Fair. We thought it would be great to tell as much of the family together as possible. When I got Bryce up from his nap I changed him into his shirt and brought him downstairs to where the family was visiting. My mom noticed that he was in a different shirt right off the bat, but it took a minute before it sunk in. She looked at me and said, "What does that mean?" She at first just thought that yes, at some point in the future Bryce would be a big brother. That night we emailed the picture of Bryce in his shirt to his Grandpa, Auntie Em and Auntie Juli.

So far this pregnancy has been really different than with Bryce. I've been very, very sick. I've had severe nausea and have been extremely tired. It was awful from about 5.5 weeks to 8 weeks. I had to force myself to eat. Thankfully my mom has been doing my grocery shopping, Bryce and I have been eating dinner a lot at my parent's house because the thought of cooking is revolting, and the grandparents have helped out with watching Bryce. The last two weeks the nausea is not as severe, but it is still constant. Instead of gaining weight I've actually lost a few pounds. The doctor told me to eat whatever sounded good so long as I eat. He doesn't want me to loose any more weight.

We'll keep you updated as the pregnancy progresses. Your prayers for a health baby would be much appreciated.

Sorry we couldn't call you all individually to tell you the news. Between tax season and me not feeling well we thought this would be the easiest way to let you know.

20 Months

Once again Bryce's development amazes me. His vocabulary has expanded a lot over the last few weeks. Some of his new words include, Roller (the heavy equipment roller machine), cheese, Papa (Pawka) Nana (Nanny), buo (book), ball (ball and balloon), tractor, bu (bus), and others.

I successfully weened Bryce. I took him into the doctor's last month because of his digestive issues. The doctor had me take him off all dairy including breast milk. I had to quit nursing him cold turkey on his 19th month birthday. He actually did really well. Nathan put him to bed for a few nights in a row so that he wouldn't wonder why he couldn't nurse. It only took him a couple of days before he stopped asking to nurse. ---Back to the digestive issues. We aren't sure what the cause was. I took him on and off dairy three times, and it didn't seem to make a difference. Slowly his system returned to normal. I'm glad it appears he doesn't have an issue with dairy or any other allergy.

Bryce ended his 3 week nap strike a couple of weeks ago. He is back to sleeping 1 - 2 hours. Thank goodness.

The past two weeks Bryce has been really clingy to me. Some nights he won't even let Daddy put him to bed. He wants me to hold him a lot and is content to just sit with me on the couch and read books. I love the cuddles and attention he is giving me, but am sure this is just a phase.