The Big Reveal {Sprout’s Ultrasound}

Sprout is a boy! Our ultrasound tech, Janelle, said she was 100% positive of her determination. I told her if it turns out she was wrong I would come after her. She laughed and said that was how confident she was: she is certain I will not be hunting her down come March.

Everything with Sprout looked great and right on track. Two arms and two legs; a perfect little face; a strong heart, spine, and brain; two kidneys; and adequate boy parts were all in place and functioning. I do have another ultrasound scheduled for my next visit because Janelle couldn’t quite see all of the parts of the heart or any of the bladder, and Dr. S just wants to make sure all is well.

Sprout weighs approximately 12 ounces right now, and his heartrate was 148. He didn’t move a whole lot during the ultrasound (contrary to what I’ve been feeling from him lately!), so I’m hoping he’ll be moving more in 5 weeks when I go back.

Everything with me is proceeding nicely as well. My blood pressure was great (122/70), and I have gained a total of 9 pounds so far, which Dr. S says is just fine. She wrote me another scrip for more of my headache meds (just in case), and I also got my flu shot. The fun glucose test will happen next time, so my visit on December 4 will be eventful!

Riley napped at Nola and Nopsi’s house while Kenny and I were at the doctor, so we went by there to pick him up afterwards. I got Nopsi to take some reveal pictures for me, and I made a special sign for Riley to hold in his.

  

Of course Nola had to bribe him with a cookie to get him to halfway cooperate: he really did not want to hold that piece of paper. Not even the huge grass-cutting tractor parked by the canal could entice him to stand still for a few pictures, but Nopsi did capture what I wanted in only about 15 minutes. Thank you!

Two boys. Wow. I always did picture myself as more of a boy mom than mom to a little girl, so this is a good thing. Granted, it would have been neat to have one of each, but I know I’ll love having two boys. And I’ll love that Riley has a little brother.

I hope they’ll grow to be the best of friends one day.

Filthy Dirty

I’ve never been what one would call a girly-girl, but I’m not sure I was completely prepared to have a son that is ALL boy…..

A couple of weeks ago, Kenny and I decided to commence tackling one of the bigger projects at the new house: the front garden. Well, Kenny actually started on it while I watched. That’s one of the advantages of being pregnant; I can’t really help! Although I do feel bad that everything falls on Kenny because of this, I also remember back to when we completely re-did all of the front gardens at our house in Lafayette. I was sore for days, and I certainly won’t miss that. Luckily, though, Kenny had help from Riley-bean.

The first main task was to get rid of the six big bushes in the center parts of the garden, which left a big open space of dirt once the first couple were out. Riley almost didn’t know what to do with himself. However, he quickly recovered and tramped through the dirt all morning, picking up leaves and sticks and roots and rocks. You know, helping.

But oh my goodness was he filthy dirty when it was time to go inside for lunch. He had smears of dirt everywhere, and when I pulled off his shoes (which were caked in mud) I discovered his socks had been virtually stained black.

  

Ah, the face only a mother could love.

On Sunday, Kenny finally had some time to finish working on pulling all of the old plants out to make room for the new ones we’ll eventually buy. It was an absolutely beautiful day, sunny and cool, the perfect weather to be outside.

And, once again, Riley was a big help to his daddy…..

….although he just may have gotten more dirt on himself (including in his hair, ears, and nose) than he left in the garden. However, as you saw yesterday, this was a direct result of the boy rolling in the empty garden. Wonk potatoes.

And then Kenny found something else to dirty up Riley’s hands: an earthworm.

Kenny actually uncovered lots of worms underneath the grasses he was digging up, and Riley had no qualms whatsoever about picking them up. He always returned them to a clear spot in the garden and then got down on his hands and knees to watch them burrow back into the earth. Such a curious one, my Riley-bean.

And, like I said, ALL. BOY.

We had to strip Riley down and give him a quick bath before feeding him lunch because he was so dirty, but I’m glad he enjoyed his morning of garden exploration. And, huge thanks to Kenny for working so hard on this project by yourself…..I appreciate it greatly. I know the gardens are going to look so much better once they’re finished, and it will be all because of you.

Video Monday: Rolling in the Dirt

I will have a more detailed post about this up tomorrow, but I had to post the video today. We’ve recently been working to get our front gardens the way we want them, and Riley has had a blast playing in the dirt while his daddy has pulled out all of the old plants and bushes.

Did I say playing in? I actually meant rolling in. And laying in. And even lounging in.

Good Lord.

Happy Monday!

Twenty Weeks {Sprout}

Today marks the halfway point in my pregnancy with Sprout. Twenty weeks down; twenty to go. Riley-bean made me go an extra week, but I’m crossing my fingers that doesn’t happen again. Talk about brutal. At least if it does I won’t be suffering in the middle of the summer.

The headaches are still hanging around, unfortunately, although not quite as frequently. I have a few of the prescription pills left, but I may ask Dr. S for a refill just in case. I’m more and more convinced that the pain is a result of my cutting back on caffeine. I still don’t drink drip coffee every morning, but I did buy some bottled Starbucks Frappucinos for the other days, and that seems to be helping.

I have a touch of heartburn that seems to come on hours after I eat lunch, around 4:30 in the afternoon. Weird. And I am also having single hiccups a lot these days.

I don’t get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom anymore, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get comfortable enough to sleep well. Frustrating.

The biggest thing that has happened since the last time I posted is that I’ve started to feel movement. I noticed it as I was going to bed on October 15, and by the next day I knew I was feeling something. The strange part is, I seemed to have skipped the “fluttering” stage and instead gone straight to defined nudges. It’s pretty cool, actually, especially since I didn’t feel anything with Riley until partway into the 21st week. And Sprout’s already strong enough for Kenny to feel, too. So neat.

My ultrasound is on Tuesday afternoon, so I’ll be posting the big gender reveal sometime next week, hopefully on Wednesday. In the meantime, here’s my first official belly pic, at 20 weeks.

Ghosts in the Oaks

The three of us had a busy yet super fun day last Saturday. LSU played Texas A&M that morning at 11am, and Scott had a bunch of people over to his house for the game. Riley had fun playing with the other kids, and Kenny and I enjoyed watching the game with our friends.

We went back home during the second half so Riley could nap. Once he woke up, we were off again to meet back up with friends for a special night out. City Park in New Orleans hosts an event called Ghosts in the Oaks every year around Halloween, and this was Riley’s first time attending.

 

It’s a family-friendly, non-scary night with unlimited rides in Carousel Gardens; free music, popcorn, and face painting; and trick-or-treating in Storyland. The kids were in heaven, and all of the adults enjoyed watching them have so much fun.

We went straight to the train first, to make sure we got to ride without having to wait in a long line. This was a really good call; when I looked a couple of hours later, the line was huge. Plus, we were able to ride when it was still light out, so the kids could see more of the scenery.

After the train we went to the carousel…..

…..and then we moved on to the ferris wheel. I won’t take Riley on the wheel again until he’s older; he did not do well with how long the loading process took. He kept saying, “Wanna get down, wanna get down!” Once we got going he was fine, but the beginning mini-meltdown wasn’t worth it. Thanks to Julia for trying her best to make him feel better by telling him she did the same thing when she was his age. I had to hide a smile when she said that.

Next, while the older kids rode on the spinning paint cans, Steve, Kenny, and I found something that Riley and Jack (who happened to be dressed alike…..also, don’t you love the creepy floating hand in the first picture below? Spooky.) could ride by themselves. You would think that they’d be all about flying an airplane, but they were more fascinated with the lights in the middle of the ride.

Their next solo ride, however, did not go as well for one of them. We put them together in a silver car that went in circles around a little track. Molly and Julia started out in the backseat, but they both switched vehicles at the last minute. Perhaps if the ride hadn’t taken so long to start he would have been okay, but Riley cried throughout most of his time in the car. Poor thing. At one point, Jack, who was as cool as a cucumber, reached over and patted Riley on his back. So sweet. Too bad it didn’t help!

After that debacle we went to the big slide, which is always a hit. But Riley’s favorite ride of the night (which he did twice) was the swinging boat. He is still talking about it, days later. Big thanks to Greg for taking all of the kiddos on their second boat ride; I know Riley enjoyed it.

When it got to be close to 9pm, we decided to call it quits on the rides and head to the trick-or-treating trail in Storyland before we left. Only a portion of Storyland was open, but the kids had fun running from station to station and filling their bags with candy. Riley did a great job with saying “trick or treat!” when he approached each set of volunteers handing out the candy, so I think he’ll do great next Wednesday evening when the real thing rolls around. He was most excited that he got to walk inside of the big whale, but the sucker he got to try on our way back to the car may have just topped that.

Thanks, Ashley, for telling us about this really fun fall evening. We had a great time, and we can’t wait for next year!