Happy Thanksgiving plus a trip to the zoo

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We hosted dinner at our house this year and had a small gathering. There were 7 adults, 2 kids, and a baby so it was a good amount of people (though we did have tons of leftovers still!)

 Our Thanksgiving turkey. Yum yum!

 All the food (not counting dessert)

 Matt carving the turkey

 Liam's first Thanksgiving! 

 Liv and Liam

 Isaac and Noah eating their dinner at the kid table. 

They ate all their food too!

 The boys playing while the adults eat and talk

 My overly stuffed belly after eating!

 The Ling Family

 The Black Family. Isaac would NOT sit still at all :(

 Dessert! Apple pie, pumpkin pie, and cheesecake

Up close picture of the cheesecake I made all by myself :) 

On Saturday, we were going stir crazy so we tried to think of some place to go. We didn't want to go to any stores (due to Black Friday) so we decided to go to the zoo, figuring it wouldn't be busy. We were wrong! It was PACKED! We went to the D.C. Zoo and it was huge. Here are a few pics from our trip:

 The zoo has this thing called the "O-Line" where the orangoutangs can travel from two different buildings above the zoo on ropes. It's pretty neat actually! They are also building an Elephant trail where they can also travel from one side to the other as they please 

(though that wont be done until 2013 I think). 

 Checking out the tortoises

 The meerkats were running back and forth 

and Isaac was cracking up laughing

 Checking out the Elephants

We didn't even finish seeing all the exhibits before we got hungry and decided to leave (the lines at the food places were huge so we just left and had Chic-Fil-A instead. Yum!).

And here are  few pics from last night, of Isaac watching one of his shows:

 Don't worry, we only posed him like this 

for a picture then took the seat down.

Cracking up watching his show. 

That's all for now. We don't have much plans for the weekend. I think we're going to try and straighten up the baby's room at some point though :)

Been kind of quiet..small update

Not too much has been happening here lately, which is why there was a lack of updates...and mostly there has been a lack of picture taking on my part. I did gather a few though :)

 Trying daddy's new pair of work boots

 Up close of my cutie pie

 He's obbessed with remotes now.. 

always stealing them and running off.

 Sitting in his new chair we got him from Ikea

Watching one of his shows while sitting in daddy's chair

As you can see, Isaac is doing well :) He talks up a storm and I think he learns new words every few days. He's always amazing us. He knows some shapes like triangles, rectangles, squares, circle, and stars. When he counts, he goes to "one..two..one..two" haha.. still working on that. And he knows the color blue, red, and yellow.. but doesnt always identify them correctly haha. He loves his big boy bed and if I ask him if I can sleep in it, he says "no" :(



As far as my pregnancy goes, so far so good. As of today I have 4 weeks until my due date! I had an OB appointment on Monday and they checked me and I am already 1.5cm and 50% thinned out. This doesn't really mean anything, as I can stay that way for weeks, but it's still kind of neat that I am somewhat progressed because I wasn't like this with Isaac until 39wks.
I have weekly appointments set up now from now until the week I am due.

I didn't take any pictures today, but here is pictures from last week (35wks)

And to see how much I have grown in just 5 weeks.. here are 3 side-by-side pics

 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so I should have more pics to post this weekend from that event :)

Ear infection and other random stuff

Last weekend we went to PA one last time before the baby comes. It was our nephew, Zack's, birthday party on Saturday. We knew we wouldn't be able to make it up for Thanksgiving (too close to the due date for us to be traveling 5hrs from home) and especially not for Christmas (which is after my due date), so we decided to go since we probably won't be able to go back up there until February or so.

Isaac had been fighting a bad cold the whole week before. The Tuesday and Wednesday after Halloween he had a fever, cough, and runny nose. He stayed home with me and watched TV shows and movies while I worked at the kitchen table. On Thursday and Friday he still had a cough and runny nose, but the fever was gone so he went to daycare those days. We left for PA Friday after dinner.

We got to Matt's dad's house around midnight. Isaac slept fitfully on the way there, waking up every now and again and fussing, then falling back to sleep. When we got to our final desintation for the night, he was wide awake and wanted to play (we expected this as this happens every time). Around 1, we decided to head to bed but Isaac wouldn't settle. He cried and screamed and just didn't want to sleep. We put him in bed with us and he finally crashed. We transfered him to the pack-n-play and finally went to sleep ourselves.

However, Isaac woke up at around 4am crying and not settling down again and just rolling around and crying/screaming. It took probably a half hour or so for him to go back to sleep (after we gave him some pain meds.. he just wasn't acting like his usual self and we KNEW something was wrong). He woke up for the day around 6ish. Let's just say Matt and I were exhausted haha.

Around 10 (after playing outside with daddy and Grandpa Terry), Isaac came in and crawled into Grandma's Cindy's lap where he proceeded to pass out.

He slept for an hour, then we had lunch and got into the car to get to Erie for Zack's party. He slept again on the way over there.

Isaac seemed fine for a while but around 6 he was being very clingy, whiny, and crying a lot. He wanted no thing to do anything/anyone and only wanted mommy. We knew that Papa Joe would be at the party that night, so we asked him to bring his medical stuff so he could look in Isaac's ears. Turns out Isaac had an ear infection BOTH ears. Poor kid! Joe was able to call in a prescription for Isaac and we got it that night (his cousin Jimmy also had an ear infection as well and we saw Danny at the pharmacy that night). We also alternated Advil and Tylonal to help ease the pain and hoped he would sleep better.
He did slept a little better, but only because he was sleeping with me (in a twin size bed haha). By Sunday I was ready to head on home haha.

It's now the following Friday and Isaac is doing much better. He started sleeping through the night again on Sunday (when we got home, which makes me think he also wanted to be in his own bed and not a pack-n-play) and he stopped being extremely fussy and crabby during the day a few days ago. He's still taking his prescription medicine but doesn't require pain meds anymore.

Unfortunately, I have no more pictures from last weekend, aside from the one already posted. I was just exhausted and with Isaac being clingy, it was hard to do pictures anyways that night.

I do have other random pictures from throughout the week though :)

Making silly faces and playing

peek-a-boo at the dinner table

One of the nights he wasn't feeling well. 

He was watching his show and 

just laid his down on my belly.

Sleeping in his big boy bed :)

And these pictures were taken in September, but not on the regular camera we use so I forgot to upload them. They are too cute not to share.

Eating a blueberry doughnut 

That's all for now! :)

Christmas Wish List

Since we are about a month and a half away from Christmas, I figured this would be a good time to post up Isaac's Christmas Wish List. I may add to it so check back from time to time :)

Well, it's more of a "present idea" list then anything, seeing as how he is too little to really "want" anything right now (yes I know that will change within the next year or so). I really don't have any specific toys listed, just general ideas.

So here it is...

Christmas list for Isaac
Last updated 11/21/11

Bedroom stuff
Twin size sheets - flannel and regular
Twin size blankets (flannel, plush, down, thin blankets, etc. not comforters as they will just fall off the bed)

Inside toys, books, clothes, etc
Anything Mickey Mouse
Anything Bubble Guppies - I have yet to find anything for this cartoon yet
Anything Team Umizoomi- I have yet to find anything for this cartoon yet
Anything Finding Nemo
Anything Cars
Anything Toy Story/Buzz Lightyear
airplane toys suitable for 2yr-old
train toys suitable for 2yr-old
motorcycle toys suitable for 2yr-old
Coloring books/crayons
wooden puzzles
books
Etcha-sketch
Educational toys (nothing TOO loud, please!)
Plastic Bowling set

Set of 12 Disney books
Toy Story
Disney Classics
(He already has the Cars and Pixar set)

Clothes
24m or 2T tops
24m or 2T bottoms
24m or 2T jammies

Outside toys
basketball hoop

t-ball (appropriate age, 2+)

lawn mower (that blows bubbles like this Mater one)

ride on cars/toys

Movies (Blu-ray)
Dumbo
Winnie the Pooh
Despicable Me

NEW: Links to Target website for ideas

Shake n' Go cars, such as Lightening and Mater
Fischer Price Little People Wheelies Zig the Rig
Wooden Blocks or ABC Blocks
Little People Cars 2 Race Track
Explore and Learn Helicopter
Little People Lil' Movers Bus
Little People Lil' Movers Airplane
B. Wheeee-mote Control Radio-Controlled Car
Play Mat (example)
Dump Truck (example)
Melissa and Doug Sound puzzles (Farm animals. He has the one with the vehicals on it) 
Fire Truck such as Little Peoples or B. Toys
Learning Resources Jumbo Zoo Animals
Lightening McQueen Pillow Pet (pee-wee one)

Mommy and Daddy have gotten him the following:
Giant/jumbo lego's (Duplo Fire station)
Buzz doll (to go with Woody doll)
Set of 12 books (pixar)
Cars 2 movie
Two peg puzzles - one with numbers and one with animals
Kick-ball
Small things for stocking like sippie cups, snacks, small books, etc.

Known presents from other family members

Pixar Cars twin bed sheets

T-ball set

Mater Pillow Pet (mini/pee-wee one)
Mater Shake N Go (Firetruck)
Lil people lil Movers Airplane

Hopefully this will help give ideas for Isaac :)

As for the baby, we are not even sure if she will be here by then or not, but if you want to get her something, you can choose from the registry:
http://www.myregistry.com/public/Kari-Black
(no more newborn sizes though. We need more 0-3 and 3month long-sleeve onsies and jammies)

As for me, gift cards to Target or Kohls will be good. I'll be needing some long-sleeve nursing tops (probably in a Medium) as well since all of my older ones were from Hawaii and it's going to be cold here when the baby comes. 

For Matt, gift cards to Home Depot, Lowes, Target, or Kohls will be good. I know he wants to build up his tool collection so anything to go towards that will be helpful. If you want to get him clothes, he generally wears a Large in tops.

 That's all for now!

New Haircut and Happy Halloween!

Isaac finally got his much needed hair cut! We went to a lady who lives just a few houses from me and has a salon in her house. I brought my laptop and put in a DVD of one of his favorite shows, Team Umizoomi.

He was a little hesitant at first... shaking his head whenever she touched his hair. But after a while, and after a sucker given to him, he finally stopped resisting as much.

Here are some pictures of the event.

 Some before pics

 An after pic

 The amount of hair cut off... seems like so much!!!

 No more curls! (dont worry...

they will grow back!)

And a random one of him eating dinner

He looks like such a big boy now.

The next day, we were planning on going to DC to see another museum but it was so windy and rainy and cold, that we decided to stay inside instead. Also, Isaac seemed to be a little lathargic that day. So we decided to carve our pumpkins instead.

 Checking out the insides. He also tried to eat some of it.

 Hanging out with Papa Bob (Marc's parents came to visit)

 Pumpkin #1 - Bubble Puppy.. a character from 

one of Isaac's favorite shows, Bubble Guppies

Pumpkin #2 - This was originally supposed to be 

Mater, but I messed up really bad on it.. 

so Matt fixed it and made it into a crazy pumpkin

On Sunday Isaac seemed to feel better. We even went outside to play with Theo for a bit.

But later that night he started getting a low grade temp and even threw up once. I kept him home with me on Monday, just in case. He started coughing and having a runny nose that day, but didn't seem too bad. It was Halloween night, so we dressed him up (with lots of layers!) and took him trick or treating (for about 45 minutes). By the time we came home, we missed all the kids coming by, so we have a TON of candy left-over (this pregnant lady is not complaining haha). 

 He is dressed up as Dexter... complete with syringe haha

 Getting him to sit still isn't easy anymore 

haha he wanted to go run around. 

 Posing with Jacoby, who is pretending 

to be Dexters next victim haha

As far as actual trick-or-treating went, Isaac caught on fairly quickly. Even though we've been prompting him to say "trick or treat" for a while now, he wouldn't say it, but he WOULD say thank you, so I guess that's good. He liked the part where he was able to grab candy from big bowls and put it in his bucket. He also wouldn't let go of his bucket. Of course, he had no idea that he was getting candy.. he just liked grabbing things and putting them in there.

As for non-Halloween news... Isaac officially has a big boy bedroom. No more dresser with a changing table; he has a brand new one. No more crib; we took it out after a week of sleeping in his big boy bed successfully. The only "baby" thing in there is the rocker. Eventually I will need to stop rocking him before bed, but that's a hard habit to break...for me and him. It's the only time he lets me hold him for more then two seconds haha

As far as pregnancy #2 goes, things are going well. Getting bigger and more uncomfortable though. I am 33 weeks today, which means only 7 more weeks until my due date! I find that rather insane... where did the time go?

Here is an updated belly picture.

That's all for now. In a few days I am going to post a Christmas list for Isaac so family members can get ideas for Christmas presents for him (if they need ideas, that is) so keep an eye out for that!