Bonus Blog

For the longest time, Isaiah and I have been working on his first sentence. I finally got him saying it tonight! I thought I heard it yesterday, but tonight it was confirmed. Now he's saying it non-stop. So cute!

I love you, too, Isaiah!

- becky

Not So Comfy

Now that I am past that dreaded week 30 of my pregnancy, I am beginning to experience the uncomfortable phase. It is quite difficult to sit up straight. Recliners are most comfortable for me until it's time to get up. That's when I need a shove. I was sitting with Sara (a high school youth at church) and Isaiah for the children's message at church. When it was time to go back to our pew, she nearly had to help me up off the floor.

It's like being pregnant for the first time. When I had Isaiah, I was still at that "I feel great! I could be pregnant forever!" phase. Don't get me wrong - I am in NO WAY rushing this pregnancy. I enjoy every little movement, including the hiccups that I'm feeling right now as I type this. I just enjoy the movements more when I don't have to move around.

The hiccups are hilarious. I only felt them once with Isaiah - the day he was born. It was only when I was hooked up to the monitors that I realized what they were. This baby gets them nearly every day. It feels like a very rhythmic pulsing sensation. Baby must be growing!

Tomorrow is Scrap-and-Craft at church. I have a lot of things to work on, so I am really looking forward to going. I have some miscellaneous things to get done - Isaiah's birthday thank you cards, look up a few addresses for Christmas cards, finish my first of three papers for an independent study class that I'm taking for my WI teaching license, etc. We would also like to get our Christmas tree up this week. So much to do, and it's all fun stuff. Well, except for writing three papers... What do you do? Oh, well. I made great progress this weekend and should be ready to mail off my first paper by the end of the week.

Stay safe if it's snowing where you are. I keep hearing different weather reports for us, and they get worse every time I hear a new one. First is was 1-3 inches, then 3-5 inches, and now it's 6-8 inches (along the lakeshore). With my luck, we won't even have a 2 hour delay tomorrow. What a fun, long drive it will be to work. Note the sarcasm.

- becky

Turkey Dinner

I love to cook. I especially enjoy when I have an opportunity to plan and prepare a big meal. This year, I prepared my second Thanksgiving Dinner. Tim's parents were up visiting, as you probably gathered from my previous Blog post about Black Friday. We had a very nice visit with much to be thankful for this year.

The Menu

Turkey

Baked Ham

Mashed Potatoes with Gravy

Grandma Feranec's Dressing

Sauteed Green Beans

Beer Bread

Pumpkin Pie

Sugar Free Pumpkin Pudding

Here's the Jennie-O Turkey - $0.48 per pound! We paid under $6.00 for this bird. What a deal!

Dinner's ready! We even got out the wedding china for dinner and dessert.

OK, Mom - the crock pot dressing really WAS just as good as baking it in the oven!

Gobble, gobble everyone. I hope that you were able to give thanks for your many blessings with your loved ones. If you weren't actually with all of your family and friends, I'm sure they were in your hearts, as mine were.

- becky

Black Friday

I can't believe it. I actually talked Tim into hitting the day after Thanksgiving sales with me. His parents are in town, so they were kind enough to Booper-sit Isaiah. We are very appreciative because this allowed us to be on the road towards the good deals at 6:15 this morning.

Our first stop was Toys/Babies R Us. We were going after a high chair for the new baby. Isaiah's is the Fisher Price Space Saver which converts to a booster seat, and we're looking to get the same one for the new baby. It's a great chair - adaptable for newborns on up to toddlers. Unfortunately, the high chair was all sold out. This is okay, though, because the line was absolutely ridiculous there!

Next, we walked across the parking lot to Jo Ann Fabrics. I wanted to pick-up a new paper trimmer, and there was an item (won't say in case they're reading this) for Shelby and Holly's Christmas gift from us. Speaking of which, I called Mom just as she was heading to Jo Ann's later in the day - to get them the same item! Good thing I called! Jo Ann's was definitely successful. We ran into a friend from church there who seemed to be able to find some pretty good deals herself.

Parking was a nightmare, so we left the car where it was a walked across the parking lot in a different direction to the mall. We were able to finish shopping for both of Tim's sisters and brothers-in-law, neice, his dad, and a friend. Sears had the best customer service, and it was nice to see them restocking shelves as they were getting cleared out. Target's check-out line system needs a LOT of work for next year's Black Friday sales...

On the way home, we stopped by Menard's to get Isaiah a humidifier for his bedroom. We're hoping to stop his snoring and runny nose. His breathing was a little quieter at nap time today, so hopefully this will help him sleep more restful.

Lunch today was Turkey Dinner leftovers. After lunch, we stopped by Wal Mart, Kohl's, and Aldi. Wal Mart was sold out of my $4 mini-crock pot, but I found a great one at Fleet Farm later in the day.

Wow. I'm tired just thinking of all of the shopping we did today! Grandma Bette kept Isaiah during his afternoon nap, so Grandpa Darrel, Tim, and I did the quick after lunch shopping trips. Somewhere in there today we also hit Home Depot and Steve & Barry's. If anyone has not been to Steve & Barry's and they have children, we got some good 'Going Out of Business' deals on clothes for Isaiah.

The only thing I am disappointed about not getting is the high chair. Oh, well. We'll still get it eventually. We just will be paying about $13 more for it. One missed purchase is not much to complain about, though, that's for sure!

- becky

P.S. Now that it's past Thanksgiving, it's time to turn on the Christmas music! Grandma and Grandpa Seabaugh got Isaiah a Christmas CD set for his birthday, so we swapped out the lullabye CD already. Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa! The lullabyes were starting to drive me a crazy! We've listened to them one too many nights over the baby monitor.

It Has Arrived

It's supposed to be in the mid-30's later on this week, so it probably won't stick around. It sure was sticking this morning, though! Our drive to work took just over an hour, but we made it safe and sound.

Looking out the front door at 5:15 a.m. You can't tell, but it was still snowing at this point.

Remember the tree with the pretty fall colors? Click on the link to see the picture of Isaiah standing next to this tree in October.

It really was a gorgeous snow!

Yucky roads. Thank you, Briana, for driving!

- becky

Toddler!

- becky

Uncharted Territory

Uncharted territory is how we are describing this phase of my pregnancy. As of today, I am 31 4/7 weeks along. Isaiah was born at 30 1/7 weeks, so I am officially pregnant longer this time than last time. YEA!

My last appointment was this past Monday. My FFN test came back good, so their is only a 5% chance that the baby will be born sometime in the next two weeks. The heart rate was 141 beats per minute. My next appointments are during the first week of December. I will have an ultrasound, a FFN test with my doctor, and a consultation with my dietician about my gestational diabetes.

Below are some of the latest ultrasound pictures. I did the best I could with the flash on my digital camera. I hope that you can see them okay.

Ultrasound on October 31st

The baby is looking kind of stressed out with the little hand on the forehead. So adorable!

Ultrasound on October 31st - 28 3/7 weeks along

Ultrasound on November 17th - 30 6/7 weeks along

Check out the chubby cheeks! I'm thinking the baby looks a lot like Isaiah's ultrasound and baby pictures, but the chubby cheeks make me think that this baby will look more like me than Isaiah did. (Isaiah is a miniature Tim.) We shall see!

Keep praying for red hair! ;-)

- becky

Two Years Ago Today...

... your Dad and I suddenly became parents. I say suddenly because of your 10 week early arrival. Perhaps you knew that Thanksgiving is Mommy's favorite holiday, so you wanted to be here to celebrate with us.

This is you only a day or two after your birth.

Here you are on your 1st birthday.

Happy 2nd birthday, sweet cheeks.

God has truly blessed us by giving us you.

Love,

Mommy

It's Official

I think we can officially say that Isaiah is done with his crib. Just like giving up his Nuk last July, he decided he was ready. About a week ago, we told him it was time to go night-night. He led us upstairs right into his new room with his big bed. (Note that I don't call it a big BOY bed. Ugh. That phrase bugs me. I can't explain it, it just does.) We put him in the bed to see what would happen, and ever since then he's been staying in bed and putting himself to sleep. Success!!!

Isaiah taking a nap one afternoon in October - love the toys in his hands! What a cutie!

I can't believe he's going to be 2 years old next Friday. Because the new baby's due date is so close to Isaiah's due date was, I'm getting really nervous. Tim keeps telling me not to borrow trouble.

I was telling my principal about my work-out at the gym on Thursday. I could only walk 1.7 mph. If you don't realize, that is ridiculously slow. She told me not to shake anything up. :-) I've been walking in the cardio theater, so it's not too embarrassing to be walking so slowly. Plus the time flies by when I'm engrossed in a movie. I'm hooked! Between the pool, cardio theater, and ladies only work-out room our new gym can be quite motivating to go to. Add to that Isaiah loves to play there and our friends Jen and Ken are also members, and we're good to go. Jen, we should get a work-out schedule together for next week!

This weekend I hope to finish my first of three papers that I have due for my on-line class. I have to take Wisconsin Native American history to lift a stipulation on my teaching license. History has always been interesting to me, so I'm trying to make the best of the class. I just need to set aside more time to get the reading and writing done. It's an independent study class, so I have 12 months from this past September to finish 3 papers and a one hour exam. My goal is to be done by the time the baby is born.

I also have to take an independent study class on conflict resolution and an on-line class about environmental education. I hope to take one of those while I am on maternity leave and the other next summer. I have to submit my credits to the Wisconsin DPI by January of 2010, so that will allow me to finish in plenty of time.

The house is a wreck, and Tim's at church for a workshop right now. I better go and get things done. I'm going to enlist Isaiah's help in putting laundry in the laundry basket now. He likes to do that. :-)

Saturdays rule!

- becky

Last Chance Overnighter

Last Thursday evening, Tim had a wonderful idea. He suggested a night out of town - one last trip before the baby comes. (Not that we won't take trips after the baby is born. It was probably our last getaway for a while, though.)

So, we headed off to Gurnee, IL to start our Christmas shopping. We were only gone Friday night and Saturday, but we had such a relaxing time. We really needed it!

Cool dude - trying on sunglasses at Cabella's

Saturday lunch at Max & Erma's

I had the BEST salad ever, but it took nearly an hour for our food to come out. Isaiah took about 3 bites of his chicken and then fell asleep. This is his first time falling asleep at the table - it was soooo cute! He slept in his high chair through lunch. By the way, my salad was taken off the bill because of our long wait.

Isaiah likes to check out the fish at the Bass Pro Shop. He was like a little "Tim Jr." in that store. He'll have a good time fishing with his dad at Aaron's pond when we visit Missouri.

No, we do NOT own a 4 wheeler. I'm a city girl, remember?

- becky

Wish List

Hi everyone,

Mommy asked me to write the blog for tonight. Can you believe that I will be turning 2 years old soon?!?! I am growing so fast. Mommy and Daddy enjoy every minute with me. We make each other smile all the time.

I put together a wish list from Toys R Us for my birthday. Please don't feel like you have to buy me anything! We thought it would be a fun way to throw out some suggestions since some of you have been asking my parents what to buy me.

All you have to do is go to the Toys R Us web site and click on Wish Lists at the top of the page. You can search under my mommy's name as the creator or my name as the gift recipient.

It's time for me to go play toys. I hope to see you soon!

Love,
Isaiah

Election Day

Did you go and vote today?

We did, and there wasn't even a line!

- becky

Trick or Treat

Trunk or Treat

Isaiah with his best buddy Kamryn trick-or-treating in her neighborhood

Woof! Woof!

Kinda' looks like "dog on a stick" doesn't it? LOL

- becky