January Happenings

We have had a busy and fun January!  Here's a recap of what all we've been up to since my last update....

Daddy took Lane to the driving range one Saturday morning.   We drive by it every day on the way to Lane's school and he always says "Remember when we used to go to the driving range?  When can we go back there?"  Lane was excited to get to go with Daddy, even though the report from Kyle was that Lane hit a few balls and then was more interested in collecting broken tees than practicing his swing.

 

That afternoon Lane had another T-ball game.  This week was team picture week.  The sad part is, it was only week 2 and I don't know anyone's name, including his coach!  :-/

Lane smiled ok in the beginning....

 

Then the photographer said to say cheese and the real CHEESE came out.  Aye, aye, aye Lane!

 

Daddy/Son fun time continued after Lane's T-ball game.  Kyle got free suite tickets to the UT basketball game from his boss, so he took Lane to watch the game.  There were a few of Kyle's co-workers there with their kids, so Lane had a good time running around and playing with them.  I asked Kyle to take a picture for the blog and he said this was about as good as it was going to get!

My mom came in town for a short stay and we enjoyed her visit!  Lane has become obsessed with a new show on TV called Sheriff Callie's Wild West.  He gets so attached to a show and fully commits himself to it!  He has gone from Dino Dan, to Doc McStuffins, to Paw Patrol, and now to Sheriff Callie's Wild West.  Anyway, while she was here, he basically never took this costume off.  He got creative and asked me to get the vest out of his closet so he could use it for  a cowboy vest.  His stick horse rarely leaves his side now, and he has picked up on some major cowboy lingo from the show.  It's a pretty cute phase, I must say!

 

Sheriff Lane, posing with Mums before she left!

That night, after Mums left was Lane's last swimming lesson of the season at Emler.  We are embracing the break from swimming that he will take until summer time.  I know I've mentioned details before, but he just wasn't progressing as he should and is too scared to swim in deep water.  He still had fun, despite being afraid!

Going down the slide at the end of his last class!

He was presented with a ribbon for completing the Advanced Beginners class.  

Last week we finally got to go to San Antonio to meet my college roommate, Riley's new baby boy Carson Brooks.  Lane and I made a short day trip there and I was able to take some newborn pictures of Carson.  He is so, so cute and reminded me so much of Lane when he was a newborn.  They weighed about the same and look a lot alike to me!

Lane was pretty good while we were there, and just as he was getting a little restless, Riley's husband Brandon came home from work and saved the day.  Lane didn't want to leave after his playmate arrived!

Brandon tried to talk Lane into getting a picture with Carson and he was not having it.  After some bribery, we got one decent one.

This is what most of the rest looked like.  I sure hope he does better with tiny babies when his sister arrives!

 

Lane with his amigos

As we were leaving, Brandon stocked Lane up with a backpack full of toys and treats from his work.  He works for a school fundraising company called Fun Run and he gave Lane one of each prize the kids are able to win from their fundraisers.  Lane was most impressed with this headlamp, some fake glasses, and these little rings you put on your fingers that light up.  He kept saying it was his spy kit.  He had so much fun playing that night after we got back!

  

The next day Lane had a special day at preschool.  They were having a teddy bear parade and it was also the letter "L" show and tell day.  Each Thursday they bring an item that starts with a letter from the alphabet.  Lane has participated each time since the letter A, and gets pretty excited to pick an item to take each week.  He took his musical Lamb for L week.  When I picked him up that day he was fast asleep!  This was only the 3rd time this year that he has napped at school.  Most days he will lay down after we get home and nap, but the bear parade must have worn him out!  You can see him snuggling with his bear that he took.  (It was the one Santa brought him that he named David Murphy.)  Haha!

 

After school I had him pose with his bear and the bear hat that he made for the parade.

 

Some cold weather blew in to Austin on Friday.  So much that the streets were iced over and school was cancelled.  Even Daddy got to stay home from work that day!  We stayed in our jammies and played upstairs most of the day.  

By that night, the roads were fine, so we went to dinner at Piranha Sushi as a family.  We took Kyle's sister Sara along and she agreed to babysit Lane after dinner so Kyle and I could go see a movie.  It's been a while since we have done that and we had a good time!  We saw Dallas Buyers Club at Alamo Drafthouse and enjoyed a chocolate chip cookie sundae for dessert while we watched the show!

Lane looked quite dapper and was excited to see his Aunt Sara!

These months sure are flying by!  The coming months will be even busier and more exciting with lots of birthdays, including Lane's, Evin's, and ELLIS'S!!!!!

Pregnancy Update: 24-28 Weeks

12/23/13-1/20/14

Whew!  The last month has flown by!  It seems like just yesterday I was writing my last pregnancy update.  Now, here I am at 28 weeks along and I know the rest of this pregnancy will breeze by as well!  Before we know it, we will be holding our baby girl.

Since my last update, the only real change is the growth of my belly!  It kind of leveled off this month and wasn't quite as much of a growth as it has been in months past.  I don't have any new symptoms, and things have been going smoothly.  I am happiest to say that I am still not getting migraines!  Hooray!  I still get a little bit of acid reflux in the evenings and wake up very thirsty in the mornings.  I am loving eating lots of fruit, especially apples and oranges.  I wake up about 2 times a night to use the restroom and have been enjoying naps {almost} daily with Lane.  That was something I was doing a lot of in my first trimester, then kind of stopped, and now am back on the napping train!  I feel fortunate and a little spoiled that I am able to lay down at the same time as Lane and get a 1-2 hour nap in almost every day, but I guess I will just be thankful and enjoy it now, because I am sure those naps are numbered!  

I feel Ellis kicking often and am getting to where I can tell what type of movement I am feeling.  Most recently I have been feeling big, hard, lumpy movements right under my belly button, which must be her back/bottom, tiny little pokey movements on my lower right side, which feel like hands to me, and jabby little pokes on my upper left side which I am assuming are kicks!  

I had my glucose screening and 28 week appointment this morning and am glad it is over!  I had to be there at 8am, so Kyle took Lane to school for me.  When I got there I learned that my doctor was out AGAIN today.  That makes 3 out of my 5 prenatal appointments where she has been gone.  I had to see the nurse practitioner, which was fine, but Dr. Schneider missing over half of my appointments so far kinda bugs me!  Hopefully she will be able to catch up and be around for the most important time with me--the delivery!  I was pleased to only have gained 2 lbs since my last checkup 5 weeks ago, which makes 16 lbs total, and was happy to see that my blood pressure is still normal.  My belly measurements were right on track and baby girl had a heartbeat of 146.  I of course, had to drink the sugary drink and do the blood work before, at one hour, and again at 2 hours.  Luckily I took my laptop along and got some photography stuff done while I waited.  I will get the results back in a few days and am hoping for good results!

This time in my last pregnancy we were getting the nursery all ready, registering for gifts, planning showers, and putting together baby equipment.  I feel so different this time around!!  First of all, we already have most of the necessary gear and are borrowing a few things from Kori and Mitch.  As far as the nursery goes, we have decided to just wait on putting one together because our lease on the house is up in August, and we just can't justify decorating a nursery just to have to take everything down and move it in such a short time.  The baby will be sleeping in our room for a while after birth anyway, so we will just have to give her a pretty room after we move!  (Wherever that may be...)  It has been exciting to buy baby girl clothes and accessories, though!  I have become a Smocked Auctions stalker on Facebook and have bought a few smocked dresses for our girly girl.  I've also been stocking up on cute outfits throughout the pregnancy and picked out some items to have monogrammed with her name and initials.  There is a lady in my neighborhood that monograms and she came by on Friday to pick up some of my items.  It was so fun picking out fonts and colors and I can't wait to see the finished pieces!  In addition to the cute clothes, I have picked out a few pretty blankets, a new cover for the Boppy, a new diaper bag, and a few other baby necessities in girl colors.  I am also excited that my sister and friend Carrie are planning a little lunch with some girlfriends to celebrate Ellis Paige.  I didn't think I needed a full shower since I had a couple big ones with Lane, but am looking forward to a lunch with friends!  I am planning on having a "Sip n' See" in Mansfield once Ellis is born where people can come by and meet her.  I've never been to one before, but figured with us living out of town this will be a good way for all of our hometown friends and family to come by and meet the Little Miss.

We are super excited for this weekend when we get to have a 3D ultrasound!  I found a Groupon for a place in Georgetown that was a really good deal.  I remember being so excited to see Lane for the first time and am just as excited this time around.  I will post the sonogram pics as soon as we get them this weekend!  Will Ellis look like her big brother Lane??  We shall see!

Here is my 28 week picture with Sheriff Lane and his horse Sparky.  (Lane has done everything but sleep in this costume the past 4 days.)

 

And here is the comparison pic this time around...

Back to the Grind

After our long trip home for the holidays, we returned to Austin with lots to unload and unpack, and lots to catch up on at home.  We spent the first week back organizing Lane's new gifts and toys, taking down the Christmas tree, and putting away Christmas decor.   Lane started back to school, and has been surprisingly more well behaved at home than he had been the weeks before Christmas.

He was excited to start back to T-ball!  We signed him up for the winter season which goes until the end of February.  His first game was last weekend and he was so excited because he got REAL cleats!  His little foot was finally big enough and his old baseball tennis shoes had a hole in them, so I was excited to find some cleats in his size.

Can you tell he was excited to be there?!

Practicing some throws with his old man looking on.  I love how he gets that leg way up in the air before he winds back!

 

Taking some grounders before the game.  (He rarely stops the ball, but this picture makes him look like he's an all star short stop!)  Haha!

Lane Coots - #1 on the field & #1 in our hearts.  Haha!

"These cleats make me run FAST!"

An after game talk with his coach.

I took this picture in the front yard after we got home and can't get over how old he looks.  From the pose, to the full uniform, to that cheesy smile...he looks like such a big boy!  And I guess he is!  He'll be 4 in just a few short months.

More poses...

We had dinner with the Welter's one night at Fleming's Steakhouse and were brave enough to take Lane.  

He and I splurged and split a Cherry Coke that was in a fancy glass and had bout 10 cherries in it.  YUM!

Lane was really well behaved, but at the very end he got a little antsy and we whipped out the ipad and headphones to get us through the meal.

Getting back to our routine also meant the return of weekly swimming lessons.  Lane has been going to Emler Swim School in Westlake once a week since last April.  He only has 2 weeks left this session and we will be taking the spring off.  Partly because I will be having the baby, but mostly because I think our boy needs a break.  You'd think that after 8 months of lessons he'd be practically on the swim team, but it's safe to say we don't have the next Michael Phelps on our hands.  A while back he was making great strides and was comfortable in the water, swimming about 5-7 feet underwater himself.  Then something happened and he became completely scared of swimming alone.  As long as he has a kickboard or an instructor holding on to him, he does ok, but the minute he is asked to swim alone he panics.  Hopefully a nice long break before summer time will do him some good and he will be back at it when the weather warms back up.

 

After every swim class Lane and I go eat at Jason's Deli.  We've had this tradition from the beginning and I love this time with my little buddy!  We might need to continue the tradition even though swimming is over.  Especially until little Ellis arrives!

Lost Christmas Files

While clearing off my camera cards tonight in preparation for some upcoming photo shoots, I came across some pictures from Christmas break that I forgot I had taken!  They had been on my extra camera card and I'm glad I came across them!

They were all from December 23rd....the day that we baked and decorated cookies all day.

Such a cute little elf!  He wore this hat and rode around one of Mums' riding toys "delivering presents" all day.  We would find random toys on the floor all over the house where he had delivered to the different "houses."  I love his creativity at this age, as well as his Christmas spirit!

Fell asleep on the couch after skipping his normal naptime.  I love how sweet he looks while he sleeps!

 Watching Christmas music videos with Evin.

Decorating his cookies to leave for Santa the next night.

Proud of his creations!  He decorated Santa's cookies all by himself!

We let him choose a cookie to eat after dinner and he kept saying he wanted a "fancy" one.  He picked one of the cute reindeer I made!

Silly goose!