To Georgia and back.

I have LOTS of pictures to add, but right now let me just say that I am still tired.

Brian doesn't really believe me that I slept a ton there too, but I swear I have reverted back to feeling like I am about 8 weeks pregnant.....and I'll be 14 tomorrow. I'm not sure how much of it is recovering from the 14 hour drive (it is 12.5 drive time) and how much of it is hormonal, but the last 2 days have been rough. I have a ton of work to catch up on, but I can barely keep my eyes open and I've been nauseous on and off consistently. Top that off with an awesome headache right now that I can't/shouldn't medicate and you have a pretty pathetic looking pregnant lady.

Now that the venting is over...

Connor and I had a GREAT trip!

Toasted Baby Bump

I joked with my neighbor yesterday that if could get a sunburn in MARCH in MICHIGAN, then bring it on. I got a set of logos finished yesterday as well as lingerie shower designs and read a bit on the chaise lounge on our deck in the middle. Since I was in the privacy of my own deck, Connor was at school, and we were having the hottest March day in record-keeping hisory (86º)....I decided to wear a 2-piece suit and get a little sun. As I said, bring it on.

I read a bit of "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks and proceeded to flip every now and then. That was probably my last shot of getting to lay on my stomach. The chaise is a little forgiving, but I was probably pushing it a little bit. I see a bright white backside in my future. How do you prevent that when you are pregnant?!?

Anyway, it felt fabulous to get a little sun. Since I'll only wear a "bikini" on my deck and when no one else is around, my tummy will likely not see the light of day very frequently.

Let's just say it is a little pink. It really isn't bad, but at one point Brian did ask me if I was trying to bake the baby. Not so much. :)

Peroxide and other wounds...

In case you were wondering, 3.5 year olds hate peroxide just as much (or more) than adults and if they've never experienced it before, it is especially cruel.

Connor is still sporting his black eye....that we still aren't 100% sure how he got. We think he caught a rock in the face, but he swears it was an accident (thrown by a neighbor boy that is 4.5) and he never came to the driveway to tell me about it. However, a spill on his bike today (which he can now ride completely independently....getting started on his own and everything (yesterday's frustrating accomplishment)) was quite the different story. He was headed out of a driveway when he heard his mom shout sternly, "Connor" and he knew he had to turn quickly and NOT head to the clubhouse by himself. However, he happened to hit a patch of sand and took a quick spill. I was 2 houses down. I walked calmly telling him to get up and shake it off the whole time. Didn't work. He was bleeding from his knee pretty bad, but he did manage to ride back to the O'keefe's house. However, the pain must have somehow gotten worse. For the next 15 minutes, it sounded like he was dying. During that time, I continued to threaten that he either had to stop crying and play or we were going home. (We did pour some water on it and ice it a bit before I went all hard core on him.)

He finally needed a drink and that was enough for him to be willing to go home. I also really needed to spare the rest of my neighbors from the wallowing and wailing. This was on top of the fact that he got up at 6:40 this morning....I was already up trying to get some work done, but I didn't get much done. So, he was super tired also. He came home and had a little juice and Mickey Mouse and ended up falling asleep in Brian's lap.

After a good nap, a burrito for dinner, seeing firetrucks, a haircut, sucker and a quick late night bike ride it was bath time. Imagine putting a cat into a bathtub....it was kinda like that. Once I finally got him in, I basically just bathed him as quickly as possible and we counted while scrubbing his knee. He agreed to that because I told him that if we didn't clean it it would get infected and his leg would fall off. He said he wanted it to heal and allowed me to clean it. Is that logic beyond reasonable parenting boundaries? I hope not, because that is the only way I was able to get peroxide on it too. Once out of the bath I poured the peroxide on some cotton pads. Perhaps that tactic was more for me. I know as a kid as soon as I saw that dark brown bottle, the pain set in immediately. So, I tried to avoid showing him the brown bottle.

Thankfully, I had some Neosporin+Pain Relief that seemed to help a bit and he FINALLY let me put a big bandaid on it. For some reason, our child could care less about bandaids and he would rather NOT have one. I just really don't want Neosporin all over his sheets.

So, to sum it up....it looks like we beat our kid. He has a black eye, bruises all over his right leg (from frequent falls learning to start his bike by himself), and now a pretty big gash on his knee (required the largest bandaid we have). Thank goodness he still has a beautiful smile on his face and he looks less ratty with a new haircut. :)

Competition & St. Patty's Day

Helping make green pancakes and showing off his healing black eye.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY. We made green pancakes in the morning and I promise Connor wore green for most of the day. Then Brian and Chad went downtown to enjoy green beer and a beautiful Saturday with the rest of Grand Rapids. Overall, a good day.


I really just wanted to post about Connor's "brand new shoes". The child LOVES shoes. The other day (when it was 80º in March!!) Connor desperately wanted to go to Target to get flip flops. (I kid you not.) I was concerned that they would not be comfortable for him because after a winter of wearing boots and closed-toed shoes, it even takes a couple of outings for my feet to get used to flip flops again.  He did not back down. We found some for $7.99 that were cute and had a back strap to help them stay on a bit.

He wore them out of the store, but his first time walking in them was when I got him out of the cart. That didn't go so great. C: Mom, I'm bleeding! Me: No you aren't, but you must not walk toe-heel. Put your heel down first. Connor proceeds to walk like he just had his toe nails painted....hilarious. After getting home, he wore them for another 5 minutes before taking them off again. C: Mom, I want to try again. (I put them back on him). C: I love my brand new flip flops. I promise I will try again tomorrow. (if you call them shoes he gets upset and corrects you....they are not shoes, but FLIP FLOPS)

Sure enough, he put them on the next day and has been wearing them ever since. He is now putting them on himself (about 50-50 on the correct feet) and yesterday he even ran about 1/3 of a mile straight around our little neighborhood loop.

That brings me to another point. I guess he comes by it honestly (between me and Brian), but what do you do with a child that is so competitive and must win? He creates competitions for himself....yesterday it was racing around the loop against his almost 5 year old friend, Jaxson. I'm sorry to say that I was internally very proud that my little 3.5 year old in flip flops smoked him. :) I still can't believe he ran so far. I never dreamed he would run the entire stretch. I should have known though...it was a race....he had to win. Winning is great, but I was disappointed that he didn't want to cheer on Jaxson the rest of the way. That is something we will have to work on. "But I already won."....doesn't matter kiddo, you have to be a good sport and a good friend. Next time I guess I'll have to have him race Ian and/or Liam...they are 8 & 9...

Of course I almost killed him today too. I rode bikes with Jaxson and Connor over to the clubhouse. Never again by myself. Both C & J can ride 2 wheelers, but neither one of them can get started on their own. I refuse to "push" but I will hold the bike so it doesn't fall over while they get themselves started. This presents a challenge as I can't do 2 at once. Connor insisted on being the "line leader" and J didn't seem to mind (him going too slow was part of the problem too). Connor was getting too far ahead. I find myself yelling at him to slow down, to wait for us, and finally just STOP. I know he heard me. He kept going....right into the street. Thankfully there isn't any construction going on at this stretch of the street, but I was still absolutely irate. He finally stopped. I was so torn. I couldn't leave struggling Jaxson behind to race off to get my own kid, but I also couldn't just let Connor keep going. Connor was crying by the time I got to him because he didn't want to stop. NOT THE POINT. I proceeded to be "that mom" and am not ashamed to say that I took him about 10 feet away (not sure why....didn't make much of a difference) and he got quite the spanking. Of course I talked to him about it too and explained exactly why he was in so much trouble....but he already knew. He repeated it back. Later he told me he didn't stop because he didn't want us to catch up to him & beat him. Oh my goodness, kiddo....not everything is a race. Like I said, I will NOT be taking both boys to the clubhouse again alone anytime soon.

Brian is really hoping that all of this competitive energy can be focused on baseball....sooner than later. B was very frustrated last night when C hit about 5 balls (of about 15 pitches) and then was more interested in his friends and riding his Graffiti Razor Scooter and his bike. I tried to tell Brian that it is just the age and he was excited to see his friends. I think Brian may have better luck getting him to focus if he takes him out of the neighborhood and too the park to hit balls....fewer distractions.

Anyway, we have a competitive one on our hands. Good thing he is so cute.

(To help with the visual, Connor currently has a right black eye. We aren't exactly sure how it happened, but I believe it was when he was playing under a neighbor's deck the other day. He told me that Justice (and 4.5) threw a rock and it hit his face. "It was an accident." I was in the driveway at the front of the house and he never came to me crying or even mentioned it. I just asked about it because his cheek near his eye was red. Two days later, it is not all black and blue. Although my Dad has called me "Shiner" (short for Sunshine") since I was little, I think the name might be more appropriate for him now!)

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Also...before I forget to document. Connor HATES it when you replace his middle name with a name other than "Patrick". Brian does this to him on a regular basis just to make him mad. Yesterday, Brian was calling him "Connor Peso Nealon" (Peso is a character on one of his favorite shows, "Octonauts"). After dinner last night, Connor started calling Brian, "Daddy Kwasi Nealon" (another Octonauts character). I couldn't help but laugh. Instead of getting mad, he decided to dish it back. :)

Connor has a mind like a steel trap.

Connor definitely got Brian's memory. Not that I am super forgetful, but oh my goodness, the child remembers EVERYTHING.

Just last night we went to eat at Culvers for "all you can eat" chicken. It was a first and pretty good, but I don't need to do it again for a long time. Anyway, it is right in front of Home Depot. The last time we were at Home Depot was in early December getting Brian's snow blower. As we are pulling into the parking lot, Connor tells us he wants to ride in a car cart. (Huh??) After asking him to repeat himself a few times, if finally occurred to me that he recognized Home Depot and remembered that they have race car shopping carts. He is amazing at brand recognition too....I think he gets that one from me. :)

About 2 weeks ago we passed the Sneen's house....as we do every single time we leave the neighborhood. But this time Connor asked me if I remembered when he went to Mason's party last year (actual correct use of the phrase "last year"....he says it even if he means last night) and he helped him open his presents and he got a Lightning McQueen car. That was in July of last year and it was Mason's 1st birthday party. We have no pictures of this event  that Connor has seen....it just obviously made a lasting impression.

He regularly points out where he goes to the doctor and the hospital where they took Mommy's blood. He also knows how to get to his school (YMCA) as well as where I would need to turn to go to the "big kid" school, even though to my knowledge he has never been there (Marshall Elementary). He also points out where he gets his haircut. As we were pulling into the neighborhood yesterday coming home from the YMCA, Connor pointed the direction of the clubhouse (opposite direction of our house) and said, "Mom, that is north." Well, I think it is actually south, but regardless.....what in the world?! Brian later told me he was telling him about directions the other day. So of course he just whips out his new knowledge. :)

After watching a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse about camping, Connor turned to me and asked if all the trailers were unlocked yet. Good thing I was able to figure out what he was talking about. When my parents were in town around New Years we stopped by the Roadtrek place (there are only 2 places to buy them in the country, and one happens to be about 2 miles from our house). Well, I don't remember the exact day that we went, but it was closed. Everything was locked. Connor was VERY disappointed not to get to go inside and has referenced this experience multiple times. "Camping in a camper is so fun, mom.".....we've never been camping.

The kid is random, and speaks of very off-the-wall topics on a regular basis. I have no clue what triggers many of the comments he makes, but they are so fun.

Oh, and he knows (and tells us randomly) that Nana & Monte D live in Georgia. Grandma & Chief live in "Ho-hi-oh". :)

And even more randomly, he calls all of his stuffed animals (primarily referencing Mickey, Donald, "Glowy" the glowworm, and "Lolly" my old baby doll his "pets". We won't tell Mitsy and Toonces (who just spent the night outside) that they've been put on the same level as Connor's life-less, stuffed companions....

He also may or may not have an imaginary friend named Jack. He's mentioned him several times, but no one named Jack goes to his school....not sure....

horribly horribly guilty

I just got pictures off my camera for the first time this YEAR. Oh my goodness, I've been HORRIBLE about pictures so far. And the ones that I've taken have been held captive on the camera for 3 months now!

Here is one from New Years....Happy New Year...in MARCH.

 And one from January 15th....Connor in a headband...HA!

Tuesday was a great day.

I'm a couple of days late with this post....but I don't really think it matters since they are only being "saved" and not published yet anyway.

Tuesday, March 13th was a great day. We'd been waiting for this day for the last 4 weeks. At my last OB appointment, Dr. Lown told us that the real test would be if the baby's heartbeat was strong enough to be heard with only a doppler.  We've waited and waited to share our wonderful news until the success of this appointment.

Although the doctor said not to panic if we were unable to hear the heartbeat with just the doppler (would do an ultrasound), I'm not a big fan of ultrasounds anymore. I'm batting about 50/50 with those being positive/negative experiences.

Through several weeks or pretty extreme nausea (that I never experienced with Connor) and some very tired days (but not as bad as Connor) the symptoms seemed to get a lot better around week 9.5. Although I was thankful for the relief, it also made me a little nervous. I have been more paranoid than I thought I would be about this pregnancy & baby. I guess that is what a miscarriage will do.

I think the part that messed with my head the most is that last time, I had no reason to think that anything was wrong. In my mind, I was 9 weeks pregnant. I'd known for approximately 5 woeeks and had those 5 weeks to experience pregnancy symptoms and let the excitement grow exponentially on a daily basis. Although my heart was telling me to have faith, my head kept going back to last time.

I guess one of my biggest reassurances this time around is that I am freaking huge.....to not even be in my second trimester. This does make me feel better.

At the appointment, I was calm and optimistic. I even took a leap of faith and went ahead and paid for our portion of the delivery! ($441 that isn't covered by our insurance) Brian was cool and calm too, but after I paid, he did ask me, "what happens if the baby dies?" Obviously the risks are very real for him too.

Once Dr. Lown came in and we chatted for a bit, it was time for the doppler. That was a really really long 30-45 seconds. It took him a while hunting around, but then we heard the most beautiful sound. My eyes lit up and filled with tears. 160 beats per minute. He let us listen for a little while. What a little miracle. Although Lown continued to say that he will feel much better after the end of the month, he also said that he is not worried about us or this baby at all. The 7 week ultrasound had the baby's heartbeat at 137 bpm. He told us on Tuesday that typically babies that have a heartbeat stronger than 120 beats per minute are able to sustain life and develop normally. With 160 bpm today we feel wonderful and are willing to share our news.

Although I felt a little foolish for even asking. I did ask Dr. Lown if it was even biologically possible for me to be able to feel the baby move. I only asked because on Monday night, I swear I felt him/her. It was a tiny flutter, but it was real and that was the first thing that popped into my head. But at only 10 weeks at 4 days how is it even possible. Dr. Lown said with a second baby and since I am rather "thin" he is quite confident that I did feel the baby. But asked me NOT to freak out if I don't feel it on a daily basis. No problem. That was just another little answered prayer....a little reassurance just when I needed it.

We are "telling" but since Connor and I are going "home" on the 24th and I am going to see a bunch of my college buddies in person, I want to save this little surprise. Our wonderful news will become offically facebook public after that.

The timing has also been wonderful because after a truly bizarre winter, we have bypassed spring. The temperatures were in the 80s on Wednesday...March 14th! Up to this point, I've been able to "hide" my growing bump beneath coats and jackets. Not after Wednesday. I had on as little clothing as possible and was thrilled to get a bit of a slight sunburn while Connor played outside with tons of neighborhood kiddos.

Fun times ahead. :)

"All By Myself"

One of Connor's favorite stories is a part of the "Little Critter" series, specifically a story called "All By Myself". This pretty much sums up his life at this point. He wants to do everything independently.

His latest BIG accomplishments include dressing himself and ZIPPING his own coats and sweatshirts. He still hasn't decided if he likes to put his head in his shirts first or his arms. Please keep in mind that although we are extremely proud of our independent, strong-willed, determined child, this process is very time consuming and is a true test of a mother's patience. Socks are also a big challenge. If we are in a rush whatsoever, I insist that he wears short socks....long ones just take too long.

If we help at all, he gets very upset and starts over....undoing whatever we did to help. He was mad at me all the way to the YMCA yesterday taking him to school because he was putting his coat on and one of his sleeves was inside out, making it very difficult for him to do himself. Without thinking, I fixed the sleeve and put the coat back on the ground for him to put on (he does the flip method most of the time). Well, that was unacceptable behavior. He did his best to get the sleeve back inside out and proceeded to whimper and whine while I insisted that he hurry or he was going to miss breakfast with his friends. He pouted all the way to school even though in the end he did it all by himself and zipped it and everything.

Another frustrating experience was at the end of seeing The Lorax on Sunday afternoon. We went as a family and it was a good movie (although I did NOT approve of the scary previews to other movies that were before the show). Once the credits rolled, Connor put his coat on, but the lights were so dim that he was having trouble zipping his coat. The theater was emptying and although the people to the left of us could have easily walked out the other side, we felt like they were waiting on us. After at least 2 minutes (which feels like forever in this circumstance) Brian ended up carrying him out of the theater with him throwing a fit. We told him we would let him do it in the hallway, but that wasn't what he wanted. With tears streaming he successfully zipped his coat in the hall, but we definitely had "that child" as we exited the theater. Thank goodness most of the people had already left.

On a very different note, he had a double ear infection about a week and a half ago. It was so sad. He'd had an inexplicable fever the Tuesday before and on Saturday night he insisted that I sleep with him and woke up asking me to kiss his ear because it was hurting. I knew to take him to the urgent care center later that morning. Thankfully, the antibiotics work great and he was back to feeling great almost immediately. We did find out his stats: 40.5" tall and 39 lbs. The kid is like a lean lead weight....not chunky at all, but weighs a ton. None of his 3T shirts or pants are long enough anymore and now the 4T pants are looking a little high-waterish. Thank goodness warmer weather is coming and shorts and t-shirts provide a little growing wiggle room. He is also comfortably wearing a size 11 shoe....with feet that big at 3.5, the kid better be tall!! :)