Babies Everywhere

Jen and baby Grant came over last week and Grant spent most of the time laughing at Polly (he thought she was hilarious) and Sean (once he realized that running around and acting like a fool could make Grant laugh). And I’m not just talking about giggling, but Grant was doing full out belly laughs, it was awesome. He’s the most adorable little guy – almost exactly a year younger than Sean – and we have a feeling that the two of them are going to have loads of fun together.

Trip to VA and MD

My college roommate Elise (who is due in May) was on the east coast earlier this month and I just had to go up to Annapolis and see her! So Sean took his own trip up to Richmond for the weekend to hang out with his Grandma and Grandaddy.  It was the longest I’d been away from John and Sean but it was so wonderful to see Elise and of course, as I’ve already mentioned, Sean is much more resilient than I give him credit for He had a great time and so did I! We can’t wait to meet Elise and Jeff’s precious little baby girl Jordan and are just thrilled that “Jordan Ward” sounds like it was meant to be  

haha, just kidding….

Walk Tall

…. even if you fall, get up!

Sean has come so far since he took his first steps a few months back. He has a whole new world to explore

Officially Under Construction

We decided that we needed to move Sean into his big boy room as soon as we were ready so he could have a chance to settle in before baby comes.  We don’t want him confusing his room with the baby’s nursery.  I wanted to make the transition fun for him but also comfortable so we kept all of his furniture (crib included – he thankfully still likes being in there) and just moved it upstairs.  Let me tell you, I’ve agonized about this for months now - worrying that he would be scared upstairs, we wouldn’t hear him if he cried at night since our room is downstairs (the fact that we have monitors never seemed to occur to me), his sleep would be all messed up, he would keep trying to go to his old room…. you name it, I was awake at night worrying about it.  Now, one could argue that I was awake because I was getting up to go to the bathroom every 2 hours, but I digress. 

So we painted the room, got Sean some new bedding, toys, pictures, etc. and once everything arrived we decided to make the big move upstairs over a weekend.  I’m happy to report that not only does Sean seem to love his new room, but he didn’t skip a beat.  One thing he’s really taught me over the last year and a half is how resilient kids are, especially compared to their parents! Sean seems to take major changes in stride while I’m in the corner in tears biting my nails – ha!  Guess I can learn a thing or two from our little guy.

Another Trip Around the Sun

Pop Pop and GG came down to visit for my birthday which was awesome! They hung out with Sean while John took me to a fabulous dinner at The Melting Pot and to a comedy show. The next night we had a delicious steak dinner topped off with birthday cake (yellow cake with chocolate icing…. my fav) and balloons that Sean picked out.  It was wild having my first “birthday party” that my son enjoyed . 

Pop Pop and GG got to go to the library with Sean for story time and GG also got to go with Sean and Emmi to his weekly visit to The Little Gym.

Our Baby

Frogs on my Toes?

Sean’s Grandma and Grandaddy sent Sean some very cool new rain boots for Valentine’s Day. Of course John and I couldn’t wait to put them on him but Sean wasn’t so sure.  Here’s the progression of the first 10 minutes he had them on…..

A Plethora, a Cornucopia, a Mass Amount of an Update

I’m delinquent in posting so here are some updates from the last few weeks.  BTW, this blog title is a shout out to all my VT friends who took Chris Neck’s Management class

Our friends Chris and Emily came over for dinner and brought their daughter Julia who is just a few months younger than Sean.  It’s been fun to see them change over the past year and a half, and will also be fun to see how they both react to having little brothers over the next few months! Whoa.

Next, Sean’s Grandma and Grandaddy came down for a few days to visit. Sean got to take his Grandma to the library and show her where he hangs out during the week. He’s turning into one busy toddler these days!

Sean finally learned how to drink out of a straw (YIPPIE!) and has been trying to get all of his animals to do the same (thank you Great Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs for Sean’s Valentine doggie):

We also made our first trip to Chick-fil-A last week. I didn’t get any pictures but the look on Sean’s face when he saw the Cow walking around was priceless.  I was so worried that he’d take one look at the Cow, start crying hysterically, throw his food on the floor and we’d have to leave (not a good situation with a hungry pregnant mom) but much to my delight he L.O.V.E.D the Cow! He gave him high 5’s and followed him around the restaurant (along with the other 94 kids there).  Needless to say, I heart Chick-fil-A even more now and we will definitely be making more trips there in the future.

Finally, Baby Ward is busy as ever and seems to be doing just fine with his water aerobics during the day (and night, and mid-morning, and afternoon, and evening….).  He continues to give the nurses a hard time when they try to get his heartbeat because he’s usually moving around so fast.  We’re still working on his name but think we’re getting close!  “Construction” has commenced on Sean’s soon-to-be new room - we hope to move him upstairs over the next few weeks and get the nursery all setup for baby’s arrival.

Oh Brother!

As most of you know, John and I are expecting baby #2 in June. We found out last week that it’s a boy! Let me tell you, this little guy is a busy kid. I’ve been feeling him move around for about 3 weeks, much earlier than I felt Sean. And he’s up all.the.time.!! ::GASP:: We better get our sleep now. I think Sean is going to be a wonderful big brother and am looking forward to the two of them being good buddies. They’ll be almost exactly 2 years apart which should be fun (read –-->; exhausting). Here are his most recent pics:

Baby weighed in at 8 ounces so I guess that doesn’t get me off the hook for the few pounds I’ve gained already! Here is a comparison of me at 18 weeks with Sean and this little guy. Aside from the fact that I just appear a little more tired and rundown, they look a little different to me. We’ll see if that continues to be the trend as the journey continues.

Baby #2 at 18 weeks (left); Sean at 18 weeks (right)

Snow in Charlotte!

It’s not often that we get a few inches of snow and it stays cold enough for two snow days in a row, but that’s just what we have this week! How exciting to start a Monday off with a snow day. Well, for now I guess it’s exciting… when Sean has to start making up his snow days by going to school on holidays (which is the plan here) then maybe that won’t be so fun.
Since there’s not a sled to be found in the state (not to mention anything at the grocery stores) John had to get creative and make a sled out of Polly’s old dog crate (what a good dad!). In typical Sean fashion, he wasn’t too impressed (or didn’t let on that he was) with the whole thing but I think deep down inside he had fun. John even took him down our neighbor’s hill… he said Sean cracked a smile for a split second :)

Unfortunately, it’s a bit hard to fully enjoy snow days with technology because we’re expected to work from home regardless of conditions outside. Normally that would be fine but working with a 17 month old wandering around the house isn’t that easy! Sean liked to say ‘Hello’ over and over when I was on calls today and one time he came over and said ‘Pew Pew’ (meaning he had a poop in the panties) while I was in the middle of talking. It’s hard not to laugh at times like that :)

New Years 2011

We enjoyed a quiet New Year’s Eve here at home. I’m proud to say that I was able to stay up past midnight! Since Sean is horrified of noise makers (the kind you blow in and the paper rolls out… what are those called?) we made sure not to celebrate with those this year :) We were lucky to have some time to hang out at home after New Years before work started again in January. We played with all of Sean’s Christmas presents, put the Christmas decorations away and I slept pretty much every time Sean took a nap. How fabulous!

Christmas 2010

We had another wonderful Christmas this year. It was fun because Sean understood things much more and had fun opening his presents (which there were a lot of… I guess that’s what you get being the first grand kid on both sides!). He especially liked pulling tissue paper out of bags. He got clothes and PJs, cars and trucks (he loves playing with anything automobile these days), a tambourine and a frog and snowman that sing and dance! Sean’s Grandma Leigh and Grandaddy came down before Christmas (and to also stay with Sean while John and I were out of town for work – thank you!) and then we traveled up to Annapolis for a few days to see GG and Pop Pop for Christmas. Sean had his own little Christmas tree with ornaments he could play with and not get in trouble. What fun!