Belly

Well, I'm more than 14 weeks pregnant and we're just now getting around to taking a picture of my growing belly. I should add, this picture doesn't do it justice. It is actually MUCH bigger than it appears from this front angle. Also, I thought the black and white would be more flattering especially by the ninth month.

I've gotten my energy back, but now my major complaint is I'm hungry all of the time. I wish I could just go three hours without needing a snack. Oh well, the baby needs banana pudding and chocolate milk right?

The past couple of weeks the following have made its way into my grocery shopping cart for the first time ever: pimento cheese sandwich spread, Little Debbie snack cakes, and the ingredients for banana pudding.

But my major cravings have been for --no, not chocolate, not ice cream -- but sandwiches. Any kind of cold cut will do, but primarily turkey and roast beef. Not a great craving to have since pregnant women are advised to stay away from deli meats!

So enough about food.

We've been hinting to Grant that there is a baby inside of mommy's belly. And thankfully, no questions yet. He started his new Montessori school in August and now after just over a month, his teacher informed me they had a major break through. He is talking! And not just words here and there, but telling stories and talking about his family. This may sound ridiculous to others, but Grant, who is normally an outgoing talkative kid at home, shuts down around strangers, new kids or new situations.

He now cries when I pick him up from school because he wants to stay.

I'm so proud of him.

Today

Grant saw a commercial for a 6 foot Nascar Super Speedway Race Track.

"Mommy, I want to go to Target and get that track."

"Well, you'll have to wait and get something like that for Christmas from Santa."

"But I don't want to get it from Santa. I just want it from Target."

"I want a lot of stuff at Target too, but we have enough toys and stuff."

Introducing Baby Sawyer #2

Okay, so maybe I'm jumping the gun a little early with the baby announcement. But I thought it would be cool to post the baby's first picture.

We were amazed at all of the detail you can already see at 12 weeks. The head is disproportionally large at this point, but you can already see the nose, mouth, and legs. At our first ultra-sound with Grant, he just looked like a peanut.

Grant went with us to the appointment. However, we didn't tell him what is was about. We're waiting until it is more obvious to tell him that there is a baby inside of mommy. I can just hear the questions now... "Why is there a baby in your belly?" "How did it get there?" "How does the baby get out?" "When does the baby go back to the hospital?" I need more time to come up with the appropriate answers.

Seeing the baby kick and squirm made it a reality to Danny and I... there is an actual baby... growing...and living.... inside of me!

Ultra screen tests and checks were all okay for which we are very grateful. We'll be having a fetal echocardiogram at 28 weeks to look for any heart defects. We have a 1% increase chance in having another child with Tetralogy of Fallot. It seems so small, but deep down it is very scary. I am praying everyday for a healthy baby, and I have faith that God will answer our prayers.

St. Louis

We just got back from a weekend trip to St. Louis. We headed up on Thursday. Grant did a good job in the car. But, then again, I don't know why he wouldn't. He watched his DVD player the entire time and did not sleep a wink.

We headed to the zoo on Friday. We really enjoyed it, especially the 5 baby lion cubs that were born in April, the giraffe that you could reach out and touch, and of course the train ride around the park.






















That night we had tickets to the baseball game. This was actually Grant's second MLB game. We reminisced about the his first one. He was about 9 months old and sick with a stomach bug.


I think Grant enjoyed the Build a Bear workshop at the stadium more than the game. I had it in mind to get him a FredBird, but as soon as he spotted the puppy dog, he just had to have it. We named him Louis and he's outfitted in a St. Louis Cardinal's t-shirt and hat.




















We got to bed VERY late that night. What were we thinking? Certainly a poor night's rest would not be fitting for the trip we had planned to Six Flags the following day.

Needless to say, Six Flags was kind of a bust... we hit traffic on the way and had to take an alternate route. Grant was so hot and grumpy he didn't want to ride ANYTHING. And Dale lost his very expensive phone.

Danny and Dale at least got to ride two roller coasters. I managed to get Grant on the train after a tearful protest, and we enjoyed the lazy river.

On Sunday, we stopped by Grant's farm before we headed home. This is a very neat petting/exotic animal farm which included everything from buffalo to elephants to Clydesdale's.




Grant loved feeding the goats. Note to others out there: Do not put a three foot tall kiddo with a bottle full of milk in a ring full of hungry goats. But after visiting the zoo just two days before, we were like "yeah, whatever, there's an elephant." We had a great time, but we were ready to head home.