Well, there really hasn't been too much excitement around here lately. Life has been relatively quiet and I wish I could say we are all well rested and content, but my little girl has been making nights long and uncomfortable for me. The boys seem to be sleeping just fine, though =).

Last Sunday was Auntie Val's birthday and in honor of that, even though she's in California, Matthew wore his "My Aunt Rocks" shirt that she sent him for Christmas.





Matthew did get to hang out with his friend Addilyn on Monday night while her parents went out for a bit. These kids are ridiculously cute. They spent a lot of time in the toy box lid trying to fill it with water from their sippy cups. The lid was eventually confiscated because I really didn't want water all over the carpet but it was cute for a few minutes.





Just because I love this shirt and I think this picture is kind of cute.



Matthew got a haircut! I know, it's been forever and I think people were starting to wonder if we were ever going to even trim it. Well, we took him to Supercuts and he got a hair cut. We're not devastated with the loss of hair this time so that's nice. I was sad to see his long curls fall to the floor but he still has his short curls =). After his haircut, Matthew and Daddy indulged Mommy a little and we went to Babies R Us. Matthew got a couple of things and he picked out this cute shirt for his sister:



He really did pick it out. Gilbert was walking through the clothes section with him and he pulled it off the rack himself. Once we got home and everyone ate dinner Matthew spent some time playing and going back and forth between wanting to be Daddy and Batman.









Then we played a little peek-a-boo:


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Yesterday was pretty quiet, although Matthew and I were both pretty tired. After a 3 hour nap he woke up much happier and we just spent some time playing and he showed off his cuteness.









Matthew has learned how to say "Star Wars"... all on his own. You would think Daddy would have taught it to him but surprisingly he had nothing to do with it. Matthew and I went to Target on Friday and as we were passing the Star Wars aisle he started pointing and yelling "Star Wars!" over and over. It was pretty awesome and Daddy's pretty proud and impressed. That being said, here's a video of the lightsaber duel that took place in Daddy's office last night:


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Well, as I mentioned before, I'm getting a bit more uncomfortable at night. I'm a stomach sleeper so pregnancy makes it a little hard to get comfortable. On top of that I'm supposed to sleep on my left side while pregnant because it relieves pressure that the baby puts on arteries. So now I can't get comfortable, my left hip hurts from sleeping on it, my right side hurts because of sciatica, and baby girl is right on my bladder =). Are you jealous yet =)? I have my 32 week appointment this week. I can't believe we're only 8.5 weeks away from my due date and that starting 4.5 weeks from now we have to be ready to go at any moment in case she decides to follow her brother's example. We literally have nothing ready... except the playpen being downstairs. Luckily her room doesn't have to be ready right away because she'll be in our room for the first few weeks, but I'd still like to have it as completed as possible for the sake of my sanity =). I do have my baby shower this week, though. I'm looking forward to some time with my friends and the ice cream cake I was told they were bringing. Mmmm.

I couldn't decide which of these is more accurate so I'll let you be the judge. (I'm sure they don't look different to anyone but me.)

For anyone wondering why someone who carries relatively small would complain about being uncomfortable I suggest checking this out

http://pennhealth.com/health_info/animationplayer/fetal_dvlp_tool.html

My poor organs. Kind of puts the discomfort even more into perspective...

Also, according to babycenter.com I should gain somewhere between 25 - 35 lbs total. This is normal. This bums me out because as of last Friday I had already gained 23 lbs. Here's an approximate breakdown of where it all will go in someone my size:

How it breaks down

If you gained the average of range above, this is where the weight would go (totals are rounded):
Maternal:
Uterus 2.39 lbs.
Breasts 1.0 lbs.
Blood 3.09 lbs.
Water 4.15 lbs.
Fat 8.27 lbs.
Subtotal 18.89 lbs.

Fetal:
Fetus 7.5 lbs.
Placenta 1.6 lbs.
Amniotic Fluid 1.97 lbs.
Subtotal 11.07 lbs.

Total 29.96 lbs.

Less than 10 weeks to go.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! It's fairly quiet around here right now. With the exception of the thunderstorm that went through a little while ago. Matthew and I made a quick trip to the grocery store this morning and after lunch he and I indulged in some ice cream and brownies for a Valentine's Day treat. He took a 3 hour nap this afternoon, which I wish he'd do every day (more for his sake than mine). Then we ran a couple of errands and came home and I made dinner and we just spent some time together. We like to keep it simple.

Earlier this week Matthew had his first opportunity to use a spoon all on his own. He had trouble actually scooping the food up but if I helped him with that he had no trouble getting it into his mouth. We started with rice cereal and blueberries so there would be less spills to clean up. Here's a short video:


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Elijah and his dad called to say they wanted to come hang out with us on Tuesday so we took the boys to the Pearland Town Center, which for those of you in California is similar to Victoria Gardens but smaller. These pictures were taken inside Gymboree. Bruce and I were joking that it was like looking at him and Gilbert during a Celtics/Lakers game. Both boys were pretty upset when we told them it was time to leave the TV.







Then we headed over to Red Robin for lunch where the boys were pleased to discover a TV that was in just the right location for them.



Bruce had never been to Red Robin and as most of you know, this is one of our favorite restaurants so it was fun watching someone get their first taste of the gourmet burgers. Elijah seemed more interested in the mushrooms off his dad's burger than he did the fries, but Matthew made sure to help Mommy out in polishing off the fries in her basket. They really enjoy each others' company.



So because Pez is very hyper and has free reign in the backyard, Matthew doesn't really get to play back there. I've thought about getting him a slide for when he gets a bit older and can play back there, but we hadn't really decided anything yet. Then Daddy had a bright idea involving the toy box lid:


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Now that we're getting down to the last 2 months of one-on-one time for me and my boy, I've been letting him fall asleep on or next to me as much as he wants. It's a great feeling and I know things will not be this calm once Elise arrives. This is what I got to enjoy on Friday morning.





Then our friend RoseAnn gave Matthew a Valentine's Day straw that whistles when you blow into it and he thought it was the funniest thing ever. He was like this for literally at least 15 minutes straight. It's kind of hard to hear the whistling in the video because he wasn't very good at it =).


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Happy Valentine's Day from our Lover Boy!





My doctor's appointment this week was fairly uneventful. I found out just how well I did on my glucose test and I was pleasantly surprised. 140 is the cutoff and my results came in at 93. Other than that, the doctor said she'll probably start monitoring me more closely starting at 35 weeks because I have a history of early deliveries. In the mean time, this little girl is definitely starting to make me uncomfortable. I think she and her brother have been secretly plotting this for a while. She decides to get into some weird positions just as Matthew decides he wants to climb all over me. I guess I should get used to it.

Well, I just finished off a bowl of Blue Bell Century Sundae ice cream with a brownie mixed into it and as I told Gilbert... that bowl of ice cream stood no chance. I've been waiting 2 weeks to make those brownies because I thought I was going to make them on my birthday but when I got home there was a surprise party and cake waiting for me. It was good.

It was another quiet week around here. Honestly, I've been appreciating it. I ended up not babysitting this week either and Gilbert was in Laredo 3 of the 5 days this week, too. Once again, it was a bit quiet in the house. The weather here was nice all week. It was in the mid 60's and sunny. This weekend is a little bit more cloudy and it's supposed to get up near 80. I had to go out and buy Matthew a new pair of shorts because he has outgrown his pair from last summer and it's going to be too warm for pants in the next couple of days. Texas weather is crazy. We seriously have to watch the forecast every morning to know what to expect.

My boy loves wearing my slippers around the house. The other morning I was doing something in the kitchen and he walked in like this.





Matthew and Daddy were being silly with Daddy's socks =)







Finger painting! It's been so long since he did this that he thought I was giving him something new to eat. He tried eating the red paint. Don't worry, it's non-toxic and he caught on quickly.







Relaxing while watching Shrek 2.





After watching Shrek 2, Daddy put in a 311 concert DVD and Matthew had a great time with it.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

As you can see, Daddy was also eating ice cream at the time. I don't know how clear it is, but you can actually hear Matthew saying "Please?" so that Daddy will share his ice cream with him.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

More dancing


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.



I would say that I've hit the nesting phase of my pregnancy. I'm not going overboard, but I find myself unable to let certain things go without being cleaned up quickly. It makes me more tired than I already was. Other than that, I'm 29 weeks pregnant today and I can't believe I only have 11 weeks left. Holy cow. We haven't done a whole lot to get ready, but I will be having my shower in 3 weeks so we'll see if we get motivated after that.



Since Matthew got a new pair of shorts yesterday, I decided that I'd get a couple of things for Elise, seeing as her closet is pretty bare. I've been eyeing this dress at Old Navy for a while and I've just been waiting for it to be available in store. I'm in love with it =). I'm hoping it'll fit her around her birthday and it might be her birthday dress.



She also got these adorable sandals



Well, that's all for now =)

Well it's been a long weekend. My boys took me out yesterday to spend some of my birthday money and that was fun. Poor Matthew was confined to his stroller or car seat for most of the day and didn't nap very well but he was a really good sport about it all. Today was a typical Sunday morning, but he did manage to stay in the nursery and he was so tired they told me he actually fell asleep while he was in there. Amazing. Then we had a birthday party to go to and wouldn't you know it... Matthew refused to take a nap. So I spent the better part of the afternoon making sure he didn't injure himself or get run over by one of the older kids. My back and feet could only take so much so we came home during the Super Bowl half time. Needless to say, Matthew went to bed early tonight.

We never did figure out what that fever was caused by last week but it broke on Tuesday and he's been pretty ok since. He did catch a bit of a cough from the boys, but he's doing ok and it's not that bad. The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. Gilbert was in Laredo for 3 days for work so it was a bit quieter than we're used to. The boys were supposed to be here 3 days last week and they ended up being here only one day. Other than that, we pretty much just hung out at home =).

This was from one of the nights he had a fever and passed out on the living room floor early.



A couple of days later in much better spirits.





This coat was given to him by a friend of Grammy's and it's size 18 months but it's still huge on him. I laughed so hard the day he wore it to walk to the mail box. I think it was about 50 degrees out that day.



Mommy was laughing so much that he knew he was being silly =)



This shirt is actually part of a pajama set, but I decided he could wear it around the house for the day. It comes with a detachable cape and everything. He even started saying "Batman" that day. It was cute.

Wearing Mommy's slippers







Well, I've officially entered the 3rd trimester and everything still looks good. I am now seeing the doctor every 2 weeks instead of every 4. Once we hit 36 weeks I'll start going every week. I also do not have diabetes. Yay!

I'm getting pretty excited about starting on Elise's room. Grandma and Grandpa bought her her bedding as her gift and Grandma will be bringing it with her when she comes out. So we're going with brown and white with some pink accents.

Here's the bedding



The matching hamper



The butterflies I bought to go on the wall. There's 20 total and they're in 4 different sizes.



The tummy