Walkin' with G-Pa

I'm way behind on my last ultrasound post, but it's coming, I promise!  I need to take another self-pic of my belly - that's what's holding me up.  In the meantime...

Oma Annie, my dad's girlfriend, sent me this photo from last Wednesday.  Trey and I enjoyed the evening with our friends at Jammin' with the Zoo while Sean hung out with Grandpa and Oma.  This is just pure cuteness....

Grandpa & Sean

A day of play

Last week...Weds, I think... Sean and I headed over to my good friend Jodi's house.  The idea was to get Sean together with his two close gal-pals, Ameila and Natalie, both of whom also recently turned two.  It was a great day to sit in the shade for us moms, and the kids had fun playing with some of Amelia's new outdoor playthings.  

It was pretty funny, though, that the girls jumped right in to the pool, walking around the grass, getting dirty and having fun.  While my prissy boy took A Long time to warm up to the idea of having any dirt or grass of any kind sticking to him.  

Sean, sporting his best cheeser, and awesome beach bod.

The girls, being adventurous, having fun, getting wet and dirty.

While Sean spends his time....giving me more big cheese, playing with Momma's things.

Aw, finally he ventures down the slide and admits that he likes it!

(Notice that he's 10x more cautious than his girl counterparts in the photo above!)

Funny Things My Kid Says

Sorry, dear readers, just haven't been much in the mood to post so far this week.  However, I'm just tickled by one of Sean's new favorite things to say.  He loves to play with Sophie these days, they are becoming best buds.  But when she's in the way...

"Beep beep, Woof Woof!"

Translation:  "Excuse me, Sophie!"

....and here she is!

Mandy sent us a phone pic of our sweet little niece this AM!  

Addison Kay, 1 day old

Mandy, Nick and Addison are all doing great!  Mandy's recouping from her surgery, Nick's mastering the swaddle (and apparently already aggravating his daughter with some foot tickling), and Baby Addison is adjusting to the new world.  Lots and lots of love going out to the St. Leger clan!

Baby Addison Is Here!

I proudly announce the arrival of our first niece, and Isabella and Sean's first first cousin!  

All I had to go on was a 4:30 a.m. phone call from Momma Kay this morning that Mandy had her baby via c-section.  Alas, a search of Mandy's friend's blogs gave me the info I've been waiting for!

Addison Kay St. Leger

Friday, July 18, 2008

1:56 a.m.

7lbs, 3oz, 20 inches long

Congratulations to Trey's sister, Mandy, and her husband, Nick - welcome to parenthood!  I hope we can make the trip to Chicago soon to meet our new family member!

(Just a note that Addison and Sean are almost exactly the same size!  Sean was the same weight, and only 1/2 an inch longer!)

Week of Birthdays

I know a ton of people with birthdays this week!  On Saturday, we were at my dad's house for his birthday.  July 12th is also my cousin Alicia's birthday, not to mention my best friend from Kindergarten (not that I talk to her regularly!).  Here are some photos from Saturday's festivities:

Isabella and Sean

My Lil Sis Jessica and Me

Me and my handsome hubby Trey

The birthday boy with his AWESOME carrot cake from Susie G's!

Great Uncle Bill, Great Aunt Audrey, GiGi

(Jessica pointed out that Uncle Bill looks like Dick Cheney!)

Aunt J, Sean and Grandpa

On Sunday, we were at the Crestwood Aquatic Center for our friend's son Blake's 6th birthday.  I have no photos to show, as we were wet and swimming most of the day, but we had a great time.  Unfortunately, I overlooked my forehead when applying sunscreen.  It's still beet red - Not Good!  And why does aloe feel so great going on, but once it dries, your skin feels worse than when you began?

Sunday was also my Aunt Jeane and Aunt Judy's birthdays - yep, one of the three sets of twins on my mom's side!  

And yesterday was my sister in law's, Mandy, birthday!  She has ten days to go till her due date with her first little one.  I think we were all kinda hoping that maybe she got the best birthday present of all....but we're still waiting!

So Happy Birthday to all this week!  That should cover it if you're reading this, have a birthday this week, and I neglected to mention you!  :-)

Like Father, Like Son

It's not enough, really, that Sean adores his Daddy, worships baseball like his Daddy, loves the vroom, vroom of anything on wheels like his Daddy.  Now we can add another love that father and son share...mowing the lawn!

Super, duper, incredible thanks, again, to my friend Susie, who bought this bubble mower for Sean for his birthday.  This baby's already gotten tons of mileage.  Here's some video of Daddy and Sean sharing one of their loves together:

You can also find this video on our You Tube page.  

Week 18 - where have I been?

So, I'm actually closer to 19 weeks than 18 weeks by this point, but it's been forever since I've posted a belly pic.  Luckily, there hasn't been too much to talk about!  I've had no nausea, no spotting for four weeks, and most of my energy is back.  I am struggling to put and keep weight on (that's a first!), though, and my doc wants me to have gained five pounds by 20 weeks - it ain't happenin' right now!  What a huge difference from Sean!  

My skin is not quite the mountain range it was a few weeks ago.  What has been bad is my reaction to the heat and humidity!  Yikes, I feel for all my 3rd trimester preggo friends and family!  I'm barely pregnant, and the humidity just hits me like a brick wall.  Not fun.

And I may be crazy, but I'm already feeling...uncomfortableness...way down there!  Some days the pressure is really bad!  And the past day, I've had...Braxton Hicks already?  Maybe it's just growing pains, but they've been more pronounced and sharper than the normal aches of growing.  

Regardless, here's this week's belly pic:

Sean wanted to be in a photo, too, so here's the little monkey, right outta bed, with Momma:

Oh, and I almost forgot to add...I feel this little guy All Day, Every Day!  He's kicking me right now!  Too bad Daddy and Sean can't feel him yet, but hopefully soon. 

Happy (early) Birthday, Dad!

Happy Early Birthday, Dad!  That's right, Grandpa Phil turns 55 (!!) on Saturday, and we have a BBQ planned at his house for tomorrow afternoon and evening.  Jessica is headed to town this evening, and Great Aunt Audrey (GiGi's big sister!) is even in town from North Carolina, so it should be a good time with lots of good food!

Besides, doesn't my dad look like he knows how to have a good time?  Love you, Dad!

Big Cheeser

Aunt J must have been psychic with her comment from the Firecracker Weekend post!  Cuz Sean learned a new skill last week, that of the big, cheesy grin!  He loves to say "Cheese!" when the camera comes out, and give me a Big Cheeser!

Jessica, if you thought those 4th of July pics were cheesin', check these out!

First Cheese (yes, he's sitting on my dining room table!)

Big Time Cheese, just a few moments later

Fourth of July Cheese at the Schnied's

Celebratory Cheese at Katie's party, with a side of Doritos around the mouth

Firecracker Weekend!

We had a full weekend, celebrating the 4th!  We didn't make it to any parades, unfortunately, but we did spend the actual holiday with our best friends, Andy & Melissa, and their two boys.  We ate, drank (water for me!), and blew stuff up!  Turns out my son is a future-pyro, just like his Daddy!  While Blake and Cole were inside, safe away from the loud bangs, Sean didn't even jump when the bottle rockets, whistlers and firecrackers were going off!  In fact, he kept asking for more!  Yikes!

Daddy & Sean hanging out, waiting for dinner and fireworks.

Trey getting Sean drunk on beer.   Awesome.

Little Man Cole showing off his mad biking skillz.

On Saturday, we spent the morning and early afternoon back down in South County, this time for miss Katie's first birthday!  Katie is the daughter of our friend's Doug and Karina, and it's so amazing that's it's already been a year!  We were treated to a nice BBQ and cake and ice cream, and got to watch Katie open tons of toys.  She's so freakin' cute, and loved all the attention!

Birthday Girl Katie enjoying one of her many new toys!

Sean hanging out during the birthday party.

We had to get going, though, because Grammy was waiting at the house for us!  We took a little siesta, then treated ourselves to some grilled steaks, Trey hit the fireworks stand, and we settled in the driveway for our own Independence Day celebration.  Trey and Sean played some ball while we waited for the sun to set, and Sean's girlfriend, Emma, headed over with her mom and dad to watch our little homemade show.  Their dog Loopy came along as well, and she was decidedly smarter than my idiot dog, Sophie, who ran at the fireworks as they were going off.  I have no photos of that, as I was too busy anticipating a visit to the emergency vet!

Daddy and our future hall of famer.

Trey giving small children sticks of fire.  Double Awesome.

Sean and Emma enjoying the show.

Emma and Sean decided the show was better if they shared a seat!

Sunday we were all a bit lazy, but did hang out in the yard a bit so Sean could show off more of his baseball and mowing skills to Grammy before she had to head home.  Sean and I both took a nice, long nap, and then we had a quiet evening at home.

Welcome Baby Firecracker!

This week turned into a Baby Girl Trifecta for three of my Playgroup friends!

Congratulations to Kari, Brian and Big Brother Nathan

on the arrival of

Audrey Josephine

Wednesday, July 2nd

5:31 p.m.

6lbs, 12oz

A concert that's not Dave Matthews!

Yesterday got exciting pretty early in the morning.  I was sitting at the computer, doing the email thing, when a message came in from my great friend Jodi about free John Mayer tickets for last night.  I emailed immediately, throwing my name in the ring.

Luckily, I was the first computer schlep to drop Jodi that line, so I was off on the quest for a sitter immediately.  If you are not yet a parent, know now that last minute plans are exponentially harder with each child.  I spent the majority of my day jockeying phone calls between potential sitters, Trey and Jodi trying to make the evening come together.  And that was just to pawn off one kid!  (I did manage to squeeze in my first prenatal massage with Annie - so awesome!)

Luckily, Joe and Ann across the street were able to take on Sean duty, and by 6pm, we were up at Westport for apps and drinks (mine a virgin raspberry margarita - not so much working for me!).  We headed over the show, and it was a nice, relaxing evening!  Of course, for the first week of July, it was a decidedly cool evening!  Not sure how the teen girls in their featherweight excuses for dresses were doing, but I was downright cold in my jeans and t!  

Colbie Calliet, while a talented singer, only sings one song - they all sound exactly the same.  I was disappointed in her overall, only because she doesn't have much range.  But she's a spitting image for Isabella's Aunt Audra, so Trey and I were entertained by that for a bit.

But John Mayer was the reason we were there - he's a guy I like, but probably wouldn't pay full price for.  Know what I mean?  I have his first two albums, plus the John Mayer Trio, but wouldn't say I know all the words or anything.  This guy puts on a good show!  He's pretty weird, but as I told Jodi, I've yet to meet a normal musician - that's why they do what they do because they're too weird to have a normal job!  

I was very excited to hear my favorite song, "Clarity," and had a mini-epiphany - Clarity is my favorite song because it's a Dave Matthews song!  Well, not in the real sense, but it's a song that Dave would write if he had, you know, written it!  It's starts off slow and mellow over here, slowly building to another level over there, John's playing acoustic instead of his normal electric guitar, he brings out the horn players.  I'm pretty sure Dave would have omitted the Woo-Hoo's that the song is known for.  At the end of the song, I lean over to Trey to tell him that I just figured out why that's my favorite - and he says "Because it sounds just like Dave!"  Does my hubby know me or what?

I don't think I was fully aware of what an awesome guitar player this kid is, either, and he really knocked our socks off with his finale, an outstanding version of "Gravity."  So in the end, we had rock star parking and potty's, thanks to Jodi's VIP passes, the seats were awesome and free, and we loved the music!  Thanks Jodi and Jason for a really fun night out!

Two concerts in One month?  We're Crazy!

Yuckies!

Funny follow up to the Gross Doesn't Describe It post.  Grandma came over yesterday late afternoon so Trey and I could run an errand while Sean was still napping.  When he woke up, Sean made a point to show Grandma the scene of the crime, going over behind his rocking chair and pointing to his "Yuckies!"  

Trey and I were home just a few minutes later, and we headed out to dinner right away.  Once we were home, Sean was in his bedroom with Daddy, again, telling the story of his "Yuckies!"  So apparently the incident had a lasting impact on Sean (not to mention Momma!), and he couldn't wait to tell Grandma and Dad!

Gross Doesn't Describe It

This morning, I experienced the second grossest thing ever in my life with Sean.  There are no photos to go along with this post, and you can start thanking me now.   

It's a little after 10am, I was trying to get myself and Sean together so that we could go play at our friend Ana's house.  Sean was being a pistol, but he's two and that's become the norm.  I got him down on the floor, stripped his PJ bottoms and diaper off when he decided to get up and run around naked.  Really, he's cute as hell naked, so I was trying not to laugh, but wanting to get going.  This went on for a bit, me negotiating for him to get his diaper, but not wanting to start a chasing game, something that he Loves!

So I'm on his bedroom floor, quietly negotiating, praying he wouldn't pee on the carpet.  He managed to wedge himself behind his rocking chair, along his crib where his most-read books hang out.  And I hear him start to whine.  That whine I hear when he gets a blade of grass in his shoe or something like that.  But this was no blade of grass.

The kid crapped on the floor.  Repeat - Shit On The Carpet!  Running down his legs, on his blankie, his favorite book and the carpet.  He wasn't the only one whining!  Ugh, Gross, No!  Gag reflex kicks in, there's shit on the floor, my kid's quietly freaking out!  

I pick him up and carry him at arms length to the tub, and start rinsing off the poop.  At this point, Sean's outright crying, and there's crap floating in water, running down the drain, and I'm wishing that I was anywhere doing anything with anyone else at that moment!  But I get all the poop off, and Sean immediately recovers, and starts telling me the story of what just happened, in his own indicipherable words.  

I then have to go back in his bedroom and cope with the mess in there.  Luckily, the book and blankie caught most of it, so it wasn't as terrible to clean up as I initially thought.  Still have some work to do on the carpet, but it should come up.  Blankie's in the wash, and the book?  Well, anyone have an extra copy of Happy Baby Things That Go?  Cuz we need a new one!

Really, at first, I thought this was the grossest thing I've experienced with Sean.  Then I remembered the time he pissed in my mouth while changing his diaper.  Oh, and the time he pooped in my hand when I was trying to take his temp.  Forgot about that one.

This is Motherhood.  In all it's raw, ugly, grossness.  Good thing we love them so much!

The Babies are coming, the babies are coming!

Two down, one to go!  Big Congratulations to....

Vicki, Bradley and Big Brother Adam

on the arrival of

Eleanor Grace

Friday, June 27

3:51 p.m.

7lbs, 8oz, 21 inches

AND Big Congratulations to....

Susie, Mike and Big Sister Natalie

on the arrival of 

Emma Louis

Tuesday, July 1st

1:15 a.m.

7lbs, 6oz, 19 inches

Kari, good luck today!  Can't wait for the news!

Choo-Choo!

Still catching up on things we did with Isabella, and she's been gone for over a week!

On her last day here, last Sunday, we took the kids for a mini-steam engine train ride.  It was A LOT of fun, something that we did in the Fall with our neighbor and Grammy.  This time it was just us.  The Wabash, Frisco & Pacific Railroad is in West County, along the way to the trip down to Six Flags.  

The ride is a two mile ride back and forth along the same line, through woods, above the Meramec River bluffs.  It's simply a gorgeous ride, and I highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't made the venture down to Wildwood.  

Isabella, Trey & Sean

Me and Isabella

The scene from our car, riding through the woods.

The ride wasn't completely without incident.  We had to stop twice because the engine kept running out of steam, and they had to send another engine to tow us back in.  Right before we made it back to the loading area, the rescue engine derailed!  Luckily it wasn't a far walk back!

The broken down engine on the left, the derailed rescue engine on the right.  

It was an adventure!