Running, Swimming, Dancing and Riding

This weekend was an active one...Saturday started off with Rich and his friend Mike taking Joseph and Mike's two girls on a five mile run.  Rich said Joseph throughout most of the run would say "Yay Daddy, Yay Mike, Run Fast."  After their run they played at Mike's house and then all went to breakfast so I had a leisurely 3 hour Saturday morning to myself-it was such a nice treat!  Saturday afternoon we headed to swim lessons-Rich got in the pool with Joseph but Joseph was so cute as he kept looking at me through the glass and smiling saying "Hi Mama!"  After a long nap we headed to the Waterway to meet up with 3 other families for dinner, playing in the fountains and listening and dancing to the live music.  It was a great, but a busy, Saturday evening!  

The little boy in the video is the son of my good friend-he is SO good with Joseph and Joseph talks about him constantly.  I think he is doing the robot :)  

On Sunday we drove over an hour to Rich's co-worker and friends' home south of Houston.  We are still getting used to longer drives being back on the mainland.  I rarely leave the Woodlands since it has everything we need here but every once in awhile it is nice to venture out and we sure did venture out on Sunday.  They own 10 acres of land and are really in the middle of nowhere, but it sure was beautiful.  I just don't know if I could live 30 miles from a Target :)  We had a great afternoon of swimming in the pool, playing with their 6 dogs, riding their horses and having a bbq-it truly defined the stereotypical Texas afternoon!  

Future Athletes

I had a doctor's appointment last week and after reviewing my ultrasound from a few weeks before and measuring my stomach she looked at me and said, "Your baby is measuring in the 90th percentile-you are going to have a big baby!"  Rich couldn't make it to this appointment so I texted him letting him know and I just loved his text back to me, "Pro Athletes.  We are set for life." It just made me laugh and he is definitely following this idea as he and Joseph are "in training" every evening and on the weekends.  Here are a few videos of some of the most recent training sessions!

So at this point we're not sure if he'll be a wrestler or a football player but both look pretty promising.  Ha ha!  

And this picture of our future athlete just makes me laugh.  I have been going through his clothes and organizing them and came across this tank top that Aunt Lindsay gave to him and he has been wanting to wear it (it is size 0-3 months!)  Today he found it again and wore it all day underneath his shirt.  As Rich says he looks, "all bowed up" in it and is a sure sign that he is going to have some big muscles!  Pro athlete Joseph-we are banking on you!!

Enjoying today

I am pretty sure that I am not the only one who has experienced this but every time I think of having another baby I start to become emotional because of Joseph.  I just love my time with him and he really has been my little buddy for the past 21 months and although I am sure it will be just fine when his sister arrives, the thought of him having to share me in about 3 months definitely causes me to become a little sad.  For the next three months I am really just going to enjoy each day with him and relish the charms of the present.  On top of those thoughts going through my head recently, along with every time looking at Joseph thinking about how grown up he is looking and acting, this past week I saw this which I just loved and definitely brought on the tears!

Then I also read this article which really just made it so clear about how fast children grow and how precious each and every moment is with them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/devon-corneal/parenting-lasts_b_1874086.html

If you don't want to read the entire article it talks about experiencing the "lasts" with your children.  The last snuggle, the last time you play fire trucks on the floor, the last time he asks you to marry him and so on.  My friend stated it very nicely on her blog, "The 'Lasts' will come they will be replaced with new 'Firsts,' new wonderful things that mark each stage my son goes through."I couldn't agree more.

So with all of that being said here are some of my favorite pictures from the past week of our little boy who is growing up way too fast.  

On his way to swim lessons with Daddy on Saturday 09.16.2012

 Fun with fingerpaint-09.16.2012

 

 We bought Joseph two packages of underwear just to get him excited about wearing them (still aren't pushing the potty training but just exposing him to it) and he loves wearing them over his diaper!  No interest in taking the diaper off and wearing them but yesterday he did wear two pair of underwear over the diaper (and this was to church!!)  

 

This past weekend we had two birthday parties to attend to on Saturday-the first one had a fire truck stop by which all of the kids loved!  The second party had a bounce house and just about every type of car that you could imagine to drive-Joseph was in heaven!  Needless to say after a day of parties, cake and fun he slept really well Saturday night!

 Love my little buddy!

25 weeks

On September 10th, 2012 I was 25 weeks pregnant with our little girl.  I am feeling great although definitely more tired with this pregnancy, but I have a feeling that is due to our very busy toddler.  I haven't been sleeping the greatest with this pregnancy either so that is probably a factor, too-just up a lot during the night and Rich often moves upstairs because he says I snore so loud!  I don't believe it but he swears by it-he says it is clockwork that at about 11:30 every night it starts and by 1 am he can't handle it so goes upstairs.  Probably too much information, but it will be good to have for the blog book.  According to Rich I snored with Joseph, too, so that just must be one of the wonderful side effects of pregnancy.  Thankfully it stops once the baby arrives!

September 10th, 2012

25 weeks with Baby Girl

 August 8th, 2010

24 weeks with Joseph

I think I am a bit rounder with this baby and I think bigger, too!  And unfortunately our Ducote wedding sign is hung above a door in our home so that is why it isn't in the pictures this time around.

I finally was able to get Joseph talking about the baby on video this past week.  We haven't officially decided on a first name but according to Joseph she is "Emma", which is at at the top of our list.  Every time he talks about the baby he refers to her by "Emma" so we may have to stick with that just so he isn't too confused when she does arrive.  The best thing about this video is that when he watches it he laughs hysterically when he watches himself press my belly button.  Sweet and funny little boy!

First Day of "School"

Joseph started his first day of "school" on Thursday, September 6th, 2012.  He (or"we" I should say) is attending a parent-child class once a week for 2 hours.  Mothers Day out programs are popular here but I just wasn't ready to give him up for a day or two by himself when I am at home with him, but I did find a parent-child program through the Great Oak School which I really liked.  We checked it out over the summer and I think it will be very beneficial for him and hey, maybe I'll learn something, too!  The 2 hours consist of free play, circle time, craft time, baking and time outdoors.  The school is based on the Waldorf philosophy which is similar to Montessori education.  A bit out of my comfort zone being a public school educator but I really like the ideas and philosophies behind it (for a younger program at least) and am excited to learn more about the philosophy and to step out of my comfort zone for a bit.  They do allow younger siblings in carriers so if we like it then the second semester is an option but we'll decide on that later.  

His very first day of school picture!!  September 6, 2012

Labor Day Get Away

For Labor day weekend we packed up and headed to Texas hill country with 3 other families.  Hill Country is between San Antonio and Austin and consists of a bunch of small towns nestled in the hills surrounded by lakes (who knew there were hills and lakes in Texas?!?)  It was a beautiful drive and the area was really beautiful as well.  

We went with the same 3 families that we vacationed with over Memorial Day and just had such a great time.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the adults but a ton of the kids (of course!) but we just all really enjoy one another's company and shared lots of laughs and good stories over the weekend.  

We all arrived on Saturday afternoon and spent the rest of the day and evening just hanging around the cabins.  There was a park and a pool at the "rv/cabin resort" where we stayed so we went to the park while 2 of the families were making dinner.  The kids just enjoyed checking out the area and the cabins  and we were happy that they were all asleep by 8 so the adults enjoyed the adult conversation and being able to sit for longer than 2 minutes for the rest of the night!

Our cabin

 Elsie was cracking open the pistachios and eating them correctly while Joseph just stuck the whole thing in his mouth!

 The kids checking out the lofts in the cabin

 Playground fun!

 More playground fun!

 Texas sunset

 Texas sunset with Rich's artistic touch

 On Sunday we were up early and after breakfast the moms went for a nice, country walk while the dads took the kids to the park again.  When we got back we loaded up and drove just 5 miles to Landa Park which was great.  We went on the train ride first around the park checking everythign out and then headed over to the natural spring swimming area.  This was great as there was a large kiddie area and an even larger adult area.  Everyone had a blast!  

Comal springs at the park

 Feeding the ducks

 Love the color of the natural spring

 Taking the train ride around the park

 Ready to give the conductor the tickets

 The slide entertained the kids and the adults for quite some time!

 He went down once with Daddy and then was good on his own

 Drinking lake water and loving every minute of it!

 Playing under the "shower" with Daddy

 Rich going down the adult slide

 Couldn't resist the rope swing

 A quick snack in the car before naptime

After naps and playing outside, it was happy hour time for the kids and adults!  The kids were exhausted after such a fun day so went to bed pretty early and the adults enjoyed Smores and lots of other desserts and a crazy game of Catch Phrase!  

On Monday after packing up we headed to a quaint and very cute town called Gruene which was just about 10 minutes from our cabins.  We roamed around the town, taking in the historic sights.  This is a dance hall that was built in 1878 that is still being used today.  They have weekly concerts and the bar is always open.  We had lunch at a beautiful restaurant called the Gristmill which unfortunately I didn't take any pictures.  It overlooked the river and the building itself is an old cotton gin.  The kids were great and the food was delicious. After a little playing in the park we all loaded up and headed back home.

Can you see Rich and Joseph?

 On our way to the Gristmill

 Norah and the onion rings as big as her!

 Gruene Hall's concert and dance area

 The bar from 1878

 Joseph didn't sleep on either car ride AT ALL!!  Both car rides were right in the middle of his nap so we thought it was a sure thing but he just talked the ENTIRE time!!  And I really mean the entire time! "Horse, tree, Daddy hair all gone, round ball, Claire, Norah, Elsie, Will, Mike (Claire and Norah's dad!), football, baseball, snack...the list goes on and on!  We turned him forwards for the trip and I just think it opened his eyes to a whole new world.  He was happy which is the most important though so not a big deal.

It was such a great weekend and we feel so thankful for such great friends here.  Looking forward to our next long weekend get-away together!