Countdown is definitely on. Since it is still November, we can't say that she will be here "this month", but we are getting close and have made it to the point where we go to weekly appointments. At my 36 week appointment on Tuesday, 11/27/2012, I didn't have any progress so we are starting from zero but that means we can only go up, right?!? No talk of me being huge at this appointment and I actualy went to another doctor for a second opinion and she said that she highly doubts that she will be huge-she said probably not a 6 pounder but nothing off the charts. (We are pretty set that we are changing doctors starting next week to have a more supportive doctor for the vbac.) I'm almost fully recovered from the sickness from last week so back to feeling pretty great-I really do like being pregnant!
36 weeks with Joseph
October 31, 2010
36 weeks with Ella (it is 98% definite!)
November 26, 2012
36 weeks with Joseph
and with Ella
Can't wait to meet this little girl! Her room is almost done and I washed a ton of baby clothes this week so definitely getting ready for her!
We were supposed to spend Thanksgiving in Georgia with the Ducote crew and we were all looking forward to it. Joseph had been talking about "Aunt Katelyn's house" for weeks, Rich was planning on running in a half marathon with some of the fam, and I was hoping to get some Christmas shopping done with my mother in law and sisters in law. Unfortunately, even the best plans sometimes don't always work out. I ended up feeling pretty sick on Tuesday and by Wednesday when we were supposed to fly I felt absolutely awful. I managed to get everything packed and to pick Rich up for the airport but he took one look at me and said that there was no way that we were going. I think by that point I had tears in my eyes, couldn't swallow because it hurt so bad and hardly had a voice. I ended up going to urgent care that night and tested postive for the flu...I don't remember being this sick ever to be honest! I spent all Thursday and Friday in bed-by Saturday I was feeling a little more normal and ventured out of bed at least but not very far.
So, although it was not the Thanksgiving that we had planned and I just felt awful about being the reason why we had to cancel our trip, I am so thankful that overall we have a healthy, wonderful family and this weekend made me especially thankful for such an amazing husband, who took such great care of me as well as Joseph while I was out of commission. I am also thankful for such wonderful friends who brought us Thanksgiving dinner as well as soup (Rich didn't want to go to their home just in case either he or J had the bug, too, so they brought it to us).
Here are a few pictures as to how the boys spent the Thanksgiving holiday weekend:
Having a Thanksgiving picnic outside
They drove to Daddy's work one day to check out the bulldozers!
And they spent Sunday hanging out at a friends' home watching football to give me one more day of rest:
Last Sunday the families from our neighborhood playgroup threw us a shower for baby girl. Since it was on a Sunday afternoon and the husbands and kids came, they made it a tailgating theme so it was less "showery" and more just about getting together and celebrating, which we just loved. Everyone wore their football attire (well those of us who could fit into football shirts and had them) and we had a great time eating chili and other tailgating munchies and just hanging out together.
We are so thankful for so many wonderful friends here.
It is hard to believe that Christmas is less than 5 weeks away but with a drive around town you would think it is tomorrow. It does bother me a little that decorations are up (some before Halloween) and houses are lit before Thanksgiving but to each his own-since we follow the Ducote tradition of not setting up the tree until the Army-Navy game which this year is December 8th, I know that people will look at us like we are scrooges until we get it up. Oh well! We are having a lot of fun with the season already though as Joseph loves saying, "Merry Christmas" followed by "Ho ho ho" and will yell out "Christmas tree" or "Christmas wreath" when driving by one. If you ask him what he wants from Santa he says, "goggles." Easy enough :)
This past weekend we did begin to get into the spirit as we went to the Lighting of the Doves festival at the waterway (downtown the Woodlands.) There are 13 villages in the Woodlands and each village has 3 large doves at its entrance for the holidays so this festival kicked off the lighting of them. We went with our good friends and had a fun evening.
The walk over to the festival-we love the Woodlands downtown!
Checking out the snow! There were a ton of big kids playing in it so didn't feel comfortable letting him in but he was so happy hanging on the outside picking it up through the fence and throwing it in
Bounce house junkie!
He was mesmerized by these balls! There were some really young kids getting into these and the line was outrageous!
Joseph and his good buddie, Elsie, happy to be on the fire truck!
They sat like this for almost 10 minutes watching kids perform pieces of the Nutcracker! We were shocked that they were so enthralled!
Can you see the snow?!? Tough to see but its there!
After some delicious festival food, live music and the arrival of Santa they then put on a great fireworks show at the end of the night! We are so glad that we checked this out and will make it an annual tradition...even if it is done before Thanksgiving!
Joseph turned 23 months on November 7, 2012! Can't believe that next month he will be 2!! He continues to be such a fun little guy full of personality!
Some of our favorites right now are the following:
He says "excuse me" after he burps or "piggies" and if either Mama or Daddy does one or the other he'll say "Excuse me Mama/Daddy"
He is big into hiccups now pretending to have them throughout the day
He talks in third person almost all of the time, "Joseph ride bicycle, Joseph eat snack, Joseph take bath" I am hoping this is developmentally appropriate and will change over to first person soon but I guess I should probably check on that!
He continues to be very concerned about people's feelings, "Mama happy?, Mama sad?"
He loves fingerpaints, coloring, playing with shaving cream and always playing outside!! He is huge into jumping now-from just jumping on the floor to jumping off anything and everything at parks/outside. He will say, "No mama help" because he wants to jump off everything by himself.
I love how observant he is. Toddlers really are little sponges and it amazes me every day the things that he picks up on and then the things he remembers. We were at the park last week and an older boy was telling his mom that he was hungry so Joseph said, "Big boy hungry wants snack." Then yesterday as I am watching him fall asleep for his nap he is in his crib saying "big boy hungry wants snack." So random but so funny! Speaking of naps for the past approximately 2 weeks he has been spending about an hour in his crib playing and talking before falling asleep and then will fall asleep for 2 hours-he is as happy as can be prior to falling asleep and I guess just having fun by himself. However, he did climb out of the crib on Tuesday, November 13th, as he was playing. I watched him do it on the monitor and he opened his door, walked to the gate and yelled downstairs, "Mama, no nap!" Ha! He told me! We have put the mattress on the floor but still in the crib and this extra amount of space has kept him in...for now :)
He continues to love being read to-can seriously sit through so many books! He has started to sing his ABCs and loves singing Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider. He knows most of his colors and his counting to 10 is getting pretty good! He continues to LOVE giving kisses to everyone-especially his friends and dogs! Daddy just loves that!! Ha ha!
And we are working on saying his last name so here is a video of that. Rich ran in a half marathon this past weekend in San Antonio and we decided not to go with him so here is a video that we sent to him while he was there for the night.
Happy 23 months little buddy! We love you so much and just can't believe you are going to be 2 next month!!
We had our 34 week appointment today for Baby Girl Ducote. All looks great and still measuring about 3 weeks ahead of schedule...hoping this means that she'll come a little early but as my Dr said, she'll probably just be big and late! I did find out that at the ultrasound that I had at 32 weeks they estimated her then to weigh 5 lbs, 8 ozs. Yikes! And that was 2 weeks ago! I don't totally trust those though since with Joseph they said basically they same thing and based on his third trimester ultrasound I think he should have been close to 11 pounds and at ten days late he was only 8 lbs, 3.5 ozs but only time will tell. Overall, I am still feeling really good. Two of my fingers on my right hand are numb all of the time and my left wrist hurts which the dr says is from pregnancy carpal tunnel, and the wrist is also from lifting up my 30 pound toddler constantly! (And yes, he was 30.6 pounds at a drs appointment lsat week!) I am still having a lot of trouble sleeping and Rich and I are still playing musical beds between the guest room, couch and downstairs as to where I can finally fall and stay asleep and where my snoring doesn't keep him up...but other than those minor issues I am great :)
We are finishing up painting the room tomorrow night and should have her furniture by next week...getting close!!
Not great comparison pictures but you get the idea...
34 weeks with Joseph 34 weeks with baby girl
October 17, 2010 November 12, 2010
We've had some fun in the car recently...all of course while driving safely. Just wanted to share.
A little cheese...
Another cheese with mama's sunglasses
Cool dude
After Halloween still wanting to dress up as a football player
And just a little glimpse into how most of our car rides go these days-he is still pretty crazy about the "march" song-and this is pretty good example of why he loves it so much!
For Halloween 2012 the Ducote family went with the sports theme-Joseph was a football player, Mama was a cheerleader (a very pregnant one at that) and Daddy was a referee.
His tough football face
He was obsessed with the black eye makeup on his face. He kept calling it "football eyes" and saying "No touch football eyes" and asking to look in the mirror. Too cute!
Halloween started off with trick or treating wtih the church playgroup through the church offices. Joseph caught on quickly and even tried to hit the office ladies up twice for candy.
Halloween evening our friends started showing up around 5 and we had a huge and delicious potluck and a get together at our home before we headed out to trick or treat.
Some of the fun and festive treats for the kiddos.
We had 10 families witha total of 14 kids and it was such a great time! We love getting together with everyone and it actually wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be with 30 plus people in the house. Most of the adults dressed up, too, which made the night even more festive! Thankfully the weather was really nice so the kids were in the backyard for most of the time.
After a few attempts for a group picture (with not much success)...
we hit the streets ready and excited to trick or treat.
Joseph (and Daddy) had a great time running from house to house! There were a few homes where people were dressed up with masks and Joseph had no interest in going to those but as long as he could see a smiling face he was happy as could be saying "trick or treat" and "thank you."
He did take a break for awhile with Norah in the wagon.
And of course he had to break into at least one piece of candy at the end of the night (after, of course, Daddy inspected it :)
We had a very happy halloween and hope to make our halloween party an annual event!
And I just can't resist doing the Halloween comparison. Gosh, so much changes in a year but what a handsome tiger and football player!
