Swim Lessons

Last week and this week Luke has been taking swim lessons. I am in the water with him which depending on the temperature outside and the water temp can be good or bad. Overall, we are having a great time together.

It didn't start out so great though. Last Monday, our first lesson, Luke cried and screamed the entire 40 minutes because all he wanted to do was go down the slide and play. By Wednesday he had it figured out that we weren't there to play and he was enjoying the entire lesson. We have even made a new friend and they have fun splashing each other too.

Yesterday by far was our best day yet. Luke went under water several times and either held his breath or blew bubbles. It didn't bother him in the slightest and I was so proud of him! He did a great job kicking and using his arms too. Now we just need to work on combining everything.

These pictures are from Monday. Grandma and Grandpa were still here and came with us so they could watch Luke and as a bonus I got pictures.

Favorite part of lessons: jumping in the water

Working on blowing bubbles

Attempting to float on his back and kick

Getting used to having his face in the water while blowing bubbles

Ending the lesson with a few rounds of Ring around the Rosie

Weekend Catch-Up

We have had a few busy weekends lately and I haven't gotten around to posting anything about them. So we'll play a bit of catch up now.

We spent a long weekend in Kansas from June 10-14. Our first stop was KC so that Troy and I could enjoy the New Dinner Theater with my dad, stepmom, stepsister and nephew. We saw "The Odd Couple" which was quite entertaining. Luke enjoying the evening with Grammy and PawPaw.

The next morning we drove to Topeka to spend the rest of our trip with Troy's family. Saturday we spent around the house and Luke enjoying getting some goldfish for Grandpa's pond. On Sunday we drove to Leonardville, KS to help Troy's aunt and uncle celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. It was great to spend the afternoon with them and see a bunch of extended family.

After that celebration we drove to the family farm in Barnes, KS. Luke loves to see the cows and chickens and we had some homemade ice cream that he was certainly a fan of as well. It was a long day but Luke was a trooper and Grandpa even taught him how to pump his arm to get truckers to honk for him.

On Monday, Troy's brother and sister-in-law, Todd and Georgia, went with us to the Topeka zoo. It was quite hot but we managed to see a bunch of animals before we were all completely wilted. Monday evening we spent more time with extended family at Lake Shawnee enjoying a potluck dinner and celebrating Troy's uncle's birthday. Luke loved the fountain that he took a dip in after dinner to cool off. We drove home Tuesday morning.

I have to throw in here that after that weekend I was most excited to get home to find two red tomatoes to pick. Luke helped me pick them and Troy and I enjoyed them for dinner. I am very sad to say that we haven't had any more home grown tomatoes since then.

Two weekends ago other than helping Troy celebrate Father's Day we didn't do too much except hang out as a family at home. We did have to call a plumber on Saturday to clean out our main line because it was clogged with tree roots but that was our only excitement for the weekend.

This past weekend we got to see Grandma and Grandpa Johnson again. They drove here Thursday afternoon and spent the night with us. On Friday we all met Troy for lunch at Chesapeake before they headed on to Dallas to visit Troy's brother. They stopped to spend the night again last night and went to swim lessons with Luke and I this morning before heading home. It was a short visit but Luke loved entertaining them!

And next weekend is the 4th of July and we're going to Tablerock Lake to spend time with my dad, stepmom, stepsister and nephew again. Then the following weekend is Luke's 3rd birthday! CAN NOT BELIEVE LUKE WILL BE 3!!! Time flies in the summer when you're having fun.

15 Weeks

I am so excited to say that I think (knock on wood) that my "afternoon/evening" sickness is finally gone! It seemed to magically disappear overnight last Monday night. I still have to make sure that I eat regular snacks so I don't get too hungry but I have been able to eat almost normally all week. It is wonderful to crave and be able to eat fresh fruit and veggies again!

I also believe that I have felt a few flutters of movement this past week. It is early to feel movement but not unheard of and I know this baby is anxious to say hello :)

If prompted or asked, Luke will still call the baby Rudolph. Troy and I are not encouraging this name only friends and family. I'm still trying to come up with a better alternative. Luke has also started saying hi to the baby more frequently which is so much fun. Last night before bed he even gave the baby a kiss and said goodnight. He is going to be such a good big brother and a helper for me.

Troy and I still have not come to a decision about whether or not we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl. We are having a definite disagreement about this because I am now leaning toward not wanting to know. I had a very vivid dream the other night about the ultrasound and finding out the gender and I was hugely disappointed in the dream (not by the gender, it was a boy, but because I knew). There really is no compromise in this situation because Troy doesn't think he can keep it a secret from me if only he found out. So, if any of you have been through this and you have a suggestion I'm all ears.

As you can see below I'm definitely starting to show more although it does still depend a bit on what I'm wearing. So far I haven't had to buy any more maternity clothes but I'm afraid that I will need more shorts at some point soon.

Baby's Name

No, I'm not revealing our name choices--we haven't even made a final decision yet and like I said before we won't be sharing them before the baby is born anyway. This is about what Luke may start calling the baby.

We were all upstairs getting Luke ready for bed and the baby came up. I started to ask Luke if he wanted a girl or a boy baby but he interrupted me.

Luke: "Mom, what do we call the baby?"

Me: "We haven't decided on a name yet."

Luke: "What do we call the baby in your tummy?"

Me: "Baby. What do you want to call the baby?"

Luke: "Rudolph!"

Troy and I both laughed out loud. I said, "You want to call the baby Rudolph?"

Luke: "Yep."

Me: "Okay, we can call the baby Rudolph if you want to I guess."

Troy: "The baby may not like that too much if it's a girl baby."

Luke: "It's okay Dad."

So, who knows if that was a random fluke or if it will stick. It will be interesting to see what happens. And I guess since this is a December baby having the nickname of Rudolph until otherwise named isn't so bad.

A Poll

A few of you have already noticed the poll on the right side of my blog here but if not please take note and vote. My only request is that you only vote once so I can get accurate results please.

As I said previously, Troy wants to find out the sex of the baby and I'm still on the fence about it. For a while I was leaning toward finding out but now I would say that I'm right back in the middle about it. Sure finding out would allow for better planning but we didn't find out last time and we did just fine. I feel like there are few true surprises in life and this is one of them. I also feel like this is the only aspect about this pregnancy that would be a surprise especially since I'll have a scheduled c-section.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Everything is looking great so far! The nurse listened to the heart beat, 159 bpm, and said it sounded very strong. The doctor also asked if we would be finding out the sex of the baby at our next appointment and ultrasound. (It's scheduled for July 18th.) I told her that Troy wanted to know but I hadn't decided yet. She smiled and said it was ultimately my decision in her opinion since I was the one carrying the baby. I like her perspective although Troy may not quite agree :)

Okay, please go vote if you haven't yet. Thanks!

12 Weeks

So, do you see it? I do--there's a definite baby bump visible now. I also gave in yesterday and tried on all of the maternity pants, shorts and capris I have. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it not very many of them fit because they were too big. Not just because I'm not very far along but because the sizes were too big. So good news, I've lost weight since before being pregnant with Luke; bad news, now I have to buy/borrow more clothes that fit me. I went shopping yesterday afternoon and bought two pairs of shorts and another dress and today I found a skirt and some capris. I'm going to leave it at that for now and hope I can make it for a couple months before I need more.

They other good news of the week is that I'm feeling SO much better. It started Monday and has gradually gotten better all week. I've been able to eat somewhat normally although sweets/sugar and anything too acidic are still off limits and not everything sounds good but it's a huge improvement and I'll take it. Troy is also thrilled because the house is looking cleaner and I've been cooking! Luke and I have also been able to get back to a more normal routine and we even went to the swimming pool on Friday afternoon.

Troy and I have discussed baby names several times throughout the week. I will tell you now though that we don't share our names. There are just way too many opinions out there. One thing I can tell you though is that if it's a girl her middle name will be Elizabeth as is mine, my mom's and my grandma's. A boy will also have a family middle name we just haven't come up with which one yet although Troy's middle name of Anthony is the current front-runner.

My next doctor's appointment is on the 15th and I'm so anxious to see this baby again! I know it will look more like a baby and will move around a bunch for us to see. I'm also anxious to get Luke's reaction to seeing a more human form. He's been very positive about the baby and I'm praying that this continues.

Dinosaurs

Yesterday the three of us drove to Norman to visit the OU Natural History Museum. Several people have mentioned what a good museum it is and Troy got us free tickets from work. Plus how can two geologists and a toddler fascinated with dinosaurs not like tons of dinosaur fossils!

The museum was great! We saw lots and lots of really awesome fossils and of course Luke was in awe. The three most impressive fossils were a Pentaceratops that holds the Guinness Book of World Records spot for largest dinosaur skull ever found--it's 10.5 feet tall; the Apatosaurus skeleton which is the largest of it's species ever found; and the Saurophaganax, a theropod that closely resembles a T. Rex. The other cool fact about these three fossils is that they were all discovered here in Oklahoma.

Seeing the first few fossils--Troy was probably the most excited of all of us to be there and see the exhibits!

We were also very excited to see a Pternanodon!

Looking at the Apatosaurus and Saurophaganax from the 2nd story.

Looking up at the Apatosaurus tail.

Standing next to the femur of the Apatosaurus.

The Pentaceratops with the World Record certificate on the far right.

Random Ramblings

Of Luke that is :) He has been coming up with some pretty funny/quirky stuff lately.

*The other night Troy went upstairs to tell Luke to be quiet and go to sleep and as Troy was leaving the room Luke muttered something. Troy went closer so he could hear him--Luke said, "See you later alligator." So naturally Troy said, "After while crocodile."

*Another night after the above it was my turn to go up and tell Luke to go to sleep. He asked me to rub his back for a minute which I did and as I was rubbing he muttered something I couldn't hear. He was requesting that I sing Frere Jacques. This was my favorite as a child and I like that it is Luke's as well.

*Luke has been talking a bunch about friends over the last few months. I believe it comes from MDO but also friends are mentioned frequently on "Dinosaur Train" and "Thomas." The last week or so Luke has told me several times in a whisper, "Mom, you're my friend," or "Mom, I'm your best friend." Could he be any sweeter?!?!?!

*Any time we're out driving and we go under a bridge and more specifically when we go through the shadow of the bridge, Luke says, "Who turned out the lights?" It always makes me laugh. We ask Luke who did and most often he says, "I did!"

*Another conversation that took place in the car today (Troy was driving).

Luke: "Dad you're driving crazy."

Dad: "Does Mom drive crazy?"

Luke: "No, you drive crazy!"

I love this one!

I absolutely love all the random funny things Luke says. I wish I could remember more of them to write out here. I'm sure I'd have more to add to the list by the end of the day tomorrow though :)

Good Day!

Luke and I have had a great day today :) This is very exciting for me to write because I feel like it's been a long time since we've had a good day since I haven't felt great. (The last 5 days have been a vast improvement and I'm hoping the trend continues.) Our day started out with haircuts for both of us and mine also included some new color to cover my gray hair (yes, I have a ton of it sadly). Luke did an awesome job sitting in a chair and watching "Cars" while I got my hair done. For lunch we went to Chick-Fil-A because Luke did such a good job. Then a spur of the moment decision led us to the park to eat lunch and play before coming home for nap time--again for both of us :) Luke didn't sleep too long, only an hour and 40 minutes, and we needed an afternoon activity. Luke's first thought was to play outside so out we went. It's rather warm and sticky here so I stripped Luke down to his diaper and put water in the water table and let him splash and play. That combined with playing on the swing set and watering my flowers occupied the next 2 hours of our time. It was awesome to be outside with Luke and listen to him squeal in delight at his adventures. A great day with my munchkin and it's not even over yet!

Sprinkler Fun

Monday afternoon we had our next door neighbor, Liam, come over for some sprinkler fun. It took a while but we eventually convinced the boys to touch the sprinkler when it was off. Troy would then turn on the water full blast and get the boys. It was great to listen to them scream and watch them run away only to have Troy turn off the water so they would repeat the whole process over and over. Oh, the joys of summer :)