3 months old!...and 4 months old...

I forgot to post for Asher's 3 month old milestone, but we'll see if I can remember what he was doing a month ago!

Asher has continued to be a really easy baby, sleeping very well, eating very well, and routinely falling asleep before 8pm on the evenings when I have to tutor.  He's moved into 3-6 month clothes, and is really beginning to interact with Cadence more.  He's sleeping through the night almost every night, and aside from not really liking James if I'm not around (hence the screaming session during my "girls' day out"), he's been so great to take care of.  He had a check-up two days before he turned 3 months old, and Dr. Bigham said everything looked great--he was 13 lbs 12 oz, which is bigger than Cadence was at 4 months, so he's caught up with her pace!  He has quite the killer smile that makes it hard for people to leave him.

4 months:
Asher has unfortunately hit a little bit of a sleep regression, mostly because he just loves to grab his feet and slam his legs into the mattress when he's sleeping.  Sometimes he will wake up and fuss, but actually, he doesn't even wake up--he just grunts and seems uncomfortable.  He's growing out of lots of his 3-6 month clothes already, which is crazy!  I did an unofficial weigh-in on him and he was 16 lbs even, and 25 1/4 inches long.  He loves being tickled and having people love on him, and his reputation for being the happiest baby ever is still in tact.  He's started enjoying the exersaucer, and we tried the johnny jump-up once, but Cadence was more interested in it--and by that I mean interested in pushing him around and trying to get in it herself.  Oh Cadence!  He was also baptized on October 12, and he wore the sweetest little outfit!

Cadence has been doing great lately--she did her first solo forward roll without going off to the side, and she had a lot of fun playing with her cousins and aunts and uncles when they came to visit.  She is in love with some funny songs right now--All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor, Wagon Wheel, Shine On, 22, The Freeze Dance, and the Hello song from storytime.  She got to see a cockatoo at storytime last week, and she absolutely loves playing with the giant dollhouse in the library and seeing the water fountains outside.  Potty training has been going pretty well, but she usually has at least one accident a week when I'm busy with Asher and she just doesn't want to pull herself away from whatever she's doing.  She likes it when I let her "fly" onto the potty and when we talk to "Mr. Pee-pee" and ask him to come out.  She's getting really into taking care of her own little baby doll, and she is doing a much better job of listening and following directions.  I really want to be more intentional about expanding her French vocabulary from here on out, but it is hard to remember! She does so much everyday that is funny and entertaining, and I wish I could remember to write it all down!  One of her best stories was when she left Bible study and told me about what they learned--"Moses....God....Manna...Whoa.  Good job God!"  She is working on memorizing her second Bible verse, "Trust in the Lord and do good." Psalm 37:3.  She is such a sweet girl, and although sharing is a challenge with her other two year old friends, we'll just keep trying to make it happen! 

2 months old! and other news

Well Asher is now two months old, and he is growing like a weed!  By my unofficial weigh-in he's about 12.5 pounds now, and I'll have to try to get his length at some point just so I can see how he compares with his big sister at this age.  He has slept through the night (9:30/10-6:30) two nights in a row now, and he is still just a really easy and predictable baby.  No sleepless nights, no missed afternoon naps, and he almost always naps the same time that Cadence does in the afternoon, which makes life much more bearable!  This month he endured the start of school and the end of our summer of fun with Daddy.  He still eats every 2-3 hours, but since he's been sleeping so well at night I've been able to get a lot of milk in the freezer which has been great!  I know I will need it once my tutoring schedule gets going!  He LOVES getting his diaper changed now, and splashes up a storm during bath time.  He went a few weeks where he'd only poop once a week, but now he's back to once every day or every two days.  He's getting too big for most of his 0-3 month clothes, which makes me sad because he has some really cute things that I'll have to retire soon!  He is laughing and cooing all over the place, and really likes it when people say, "hey buddy!" to him, especially when Cadence does it and smiles at him.  They are really sweet to watch play together, although Cadence is really ready for him to be ready to wrestle with her--she has headbutted and kicked him a few times already--sorry buddy!  We try to protect you, but she's really fast!

Cadence has had a big month as well, continuing her potty training, and moving into her big girl bed.  The big girl bed went well at first, but soon she figured out that she could get up, and started leaving her room on her own every 10 minutes or so to go potty or ask for a kiss.  She's driving me crazy with this back and forth, and she doesn't usually go to bed until 9:30 or 10 when that happens, and we put her to bed at 7:30!  AHHHH!  She's still taking gymnastics, and hopefully one of these days she won't be the worst listener in her class--she loves to wander and do her own thing.  She also has been going to the CBS children's class, and learned her first Bible verse by memory last week, Matthew 28:20- I am with you always.  She can count to 10 now, knows her colors, some letters, and body parts. 

Potty Training Day 1!

I had been contemplating potty training Cadence for a long time now, and just never convinced myself it was a good time.  I've been reading about lots of different methods, and the 3 day "bare bottom" approach appealed to me most because although it sounded intense, it also seemed like we could get her trained quickly!  Last night I told James I was ready to start it this week, because I realized that although it might not be an easy task, it's not going to be any easier once school starts and I'm home alone with the kids!

So I woke up and got Cadence this morning, after talking to her last night about having no more diapers and getting to wear panties like Mommy.  I even had her go and tell James that she wanted panties and "NO MORE DIAPERS!"  This morning when I woke her up I reminded her of no more diapers, took off her overnight diaper and put her on her potty.  She went right away, so we had a little celebration, and then we went on with our day....with a naked booty.  She had one accident right after breakfast, and then went a few hours without one until James left to go to his office.  She had a couple of little accidents while climbing on top of the furniture, and two bigger ones when I was out of the room, but she seems to be catching on really well so far.  Before her nap she even went "caca" in the potty, which was a big cause for celebration.  At first I wasn't giving her any food rewards for going in the potty, but once James left and she didn't seem as interested in it, I started giving her one mini chocolate chip as a reward for using the potty, wiping, and washing her hands each time.  I'm pretty excited to see how she progresses over the next few days!

one month old!

Today Asher hit the one month mark, and boy, that month certainly flew by!  He's been such a good baby, mostly just because he's very predictable....still needing a nap after he's been awake for about 2 hours, with a long nap in the afternoon and generally going to bed for the night around 9pm.  Last night unfortunately one of his two hour awake windows fell between 1-3am, but knowing that I just have to make it through two hours makes it easier to handle without getting frustrated that he's not sleeping.  He took his first bottle a couple of days ago, and did really well!  He's still wearing 0-3 month sized clothing, and over the past week or so has started smiling for real! 

Cadence had another gymnastics class this week, and boy, does she love it!  She impressed her teachers with her bear crawl, but is still working on some of the other skills.  James and I have to laugh because she really did inherit our flexibility and coordination, but I love watching her because she really doesn't give up and tries to listen to her teachers and mimic what they do.  Her favorite song right now is "Rock Me Mama" by Darius Rucker, and some of her favorite things to do are play with balloons, play in the pool, eat cookies, and watch any sport with Daddy.  She loves to come into our room in the morning and wake me up and see Asher, and since we started her "Happy Face" chart, she's done a wonderful job of completing all of her tasks everyday.

We survived our visitors!

The past two weeks have been a flurry of activity as we have had three different sets of visitors descend on us from the North, plus the everyday stuff we normally have to do!

James's parents came first, and then two days later James's friend Steve came down to hang out with James for the day, and then two days after that his sister Missy and her family came down for five days, and the last day they were here my mom and Katrina came and stayed for two days.  Luckily after James's parents' visit we were able to keep a pretty normal routine for Cadence so that she was still able to nap and go to bed at her usual times, so I think that definitely helped her sleep better.  While my mom and Katrina were here she had another bout of constipation issues which lasted two days and was no fun for anyone.

Last Thursday Cadence tried out the gymnastics place in Murfreesboro with a free trial class, and although I will admit that she was not the best one there, she definitely tried to follow directions and enjoyed herself even if she was a little tentative to begin with.  We were unsure if we were going to pay for her to continue classes, but we decided it's probably good for her because with us as her parents flexibility is going to be a major challenge, so we might as well try to get her to be limber early on!  I'm glad we did go ahead and sign her up, because all this week she keeps saying "Nastics fun!", jumping, and doing other little moves that they asked her to do last week.  She's definitely super cute to watch as she tries out new things and learns to take risks. 

We've also been to two Webb library storytimes, which Cadence mostly enjoys because she gets to see her little buddies.

Asher has tagged along to all these activities and been so great.  His schedule has only shifted slightly, with him usually staying awake until 9:30, waking up around 4:30, and then again around 6:30.  He usually has a good two hours of wake time in the morning, again in the afternoon around 4 or 5, and then finally right before he goes to bed for the night.  He's down to pooping only once a day usually now, which makes going out less stressful!  He started taking a pacifier at the end of last week, and this week I plan to introduce a bottle and see how he does with that.  I can't believe he will be one month old on Friday!  So crazy!

The first two weeks!

Life with two kids at times has seemed completely impossible, and at others completely manageable and peaceful.  Asher has been such an easy baby so far, or maybe it's just that James and I actually kind of know what we're doing this time around!  He still sleeps away most of the day, and generally isn't too fussy when he's awake.  He will sleep 5-6 hours straight at night, which means he only wakes up once, eats, and then sleeps again for another couple of hours.  His schedule is actually pretty perfect at the moment, since he usually falls asleep around 9:00, wakes at 3:00, and then wakes again anywhere between 5:00-7:00. 

Cadence has had a rough couple of weeks dealing with the excitement of having a brother (and thus not sleeping), the excitement of grandparents visiting (and thus not sleeping), her naptime being pushed back due to activities with the grandparents (and thus not sleeping), and dealing with a ton of bug bites--more on that later-- (and...wait for it...thus not sleeping).  Last night she was not going to sleep again after about an hour and a half of being in her crib, but I told James I would try to put her down since she was crying for Mommy, and apparently she just needed some Mommy time because she slept until 7:00.  Alleluia!  I've tried to remain very patient with her, but James struggles with it when he's up all night, and then he is not the most pleasant person the next day, so I'm glad for his sake that she had a good night last night. 

Asher had his first doctor's appointment last Tuesday and was circumcised.  This week the rest of his cord fell off and the little Plastibell cap on his penis fell off as well so he can now take real baths instead of sponge baths--hurray!  He weighed in at 8 lbs 15 oz and 21.5 inches long, so not quite up to his birth weight, but getting closer.  Dr. Bigham told me I could stop waking him up to eat once the weekend rolled around, which was awesome news to hear!

We have been blessed to have so many people make us meals since Asher's birth, and between leftovers and eating out with James's parents, I think I have made 1-2 dinners in the past two weeks. 

Re: Cadence's bug bites, we kept her inside for a few days so they could heal, but discovered that she was still being bitten, and thus the problem was an inside problem.  We called Orkin and had them fumigate our house, and $350 later I think we are finally rid of whatever was wreaking havoc on poor Cadence.  The weird thing was that she was the only one getting bitten--James and I, and obviously Asher, were completely fine.  We are so ready to have our happy, bite-free girl back!

Cadence had her first violin lesson with Mrs. Mullen yesterday, and she did a great job after some initial shyness.  We have a lot to practice, but she is catching on fairly quickly to the little things she needs to learn and is so cute to watch doing it!

Asher's birth story

The story begins on Tuesday, June 10, when we had our final appointment with my doctor.  At this point I was 3 days past my due date, so they required me to have a growth ultrasound and biophysical profile to make sure that the baby was doing okay.  So I had the ultrasound first, then James and I went to the library and did one quick shopping trip before heading in for my appointment.  My doctor thought that they hadn't done the BPP, so they hooked me up to a monitor and had me do a non stress test in the exam room.  The results indicated that he was non reactive, so she said we could either go to the hospital to be admitted or do the BPP and then most likely be admitted.  We decided to do the BPP because otherwise she wouldn't let us go and get dinner before going to the hospital.  It ended up not mattering since it turned out they HAD done the BPP and the baby was great, so we went to Mr Chen's for Chinese food, stopped by Aldi for some snacks, and then got to the hospital around 6:00.

Shortly after checking in we talked with Dr. Jones who said that based on the BPP we could wait to induce until the morning in the hopes that I might go into labor that evening on my own.  I had contractions about every 8-9 minutes for a couple of hours, but they went away once I decided to sleep.  I slept pretty well, but was ready to go around 4:30.  Our nurse came in to start me on pitocin at 5:30 and the contractions slowly but surely got stronger and closer together.  At 7:45 Dr. Mills came in to see how things were going, and at that point she broke my water and things really started going!  I wanted to labor for awhile on yay own before getting the epidural again, and around 8:35 I buzzed the nurse to say I was ready.  She came in with the bad news that there was only one anesthesiologist available at the time and I was sitting third in line.  I decided that I wanted to use the bathroom while I could still feel everything, so I sat on the bedside commode.  The contractions were actually easier to handle sitting there, so I stayed there for awhile.  At this point they were coming every 30 seconds or so and lasting anywhere from 1-2 minutes, with the peak of each wave going off the chart.  The worst part was that the monitor also showed contractions of another woman that my nurse was watching, and her contractions were WAY calmer than mine...I got pretty jealous that we were essentially at the same point in our labors and mine was so much worse.  Eventually the nurse came back in and asked me if I was pooping, and I said yes, and she hurriedly rushed me back onto the bad, shocked that I hadn't told her I was feeling rectal pressure and feared I was going to deliver this kid on yay own on the toilet.  She checked me and I was at about 7 cm at this point, almost 9:30. She said that the anesthesiologist would be with me soon, and luckily he was.  The only epidural process seemed to take a lot longer this time and I felt like it didn't kick in as quickly.  It was still pretty quick once he got it in, and aside from one little spot near my pelvis on my right side, I couldn't feel the contractions- I guess the catheter was leaning towards the right so my right side was much more numb than my left.  I told the nurse that even with th epidural I was feeling a lot of  pressure, so she checked me again shortly before 10 and said I was complete!

Dr . Mills came in and checked the baby's head position through a contraction and said that it was time to start pushing.  Once they got everything set up we got going, and I probably pushed for a total of  5 rounds or so before he came out quietly at 10:23 am.  The whole process seemed so much calmer than with Cadence and obviously went a lot faster, too.  I didn't feel nearly as exhausted and luckily I only had a second degree episiotomy.  Dr. Mills attempted to avoid it, but after a few rounds of pushing she decided it was necessary.  Asher seemed so small compared to what I remember with Cadence, and although he was smaller, he was still pretty big-- 9 lbs 5 ox and 21.75 inches long.  He had SO much black hair and looks just like his daddy.  We were able to keep him for about an hour before he went to the nursery, so he got to nurse right away and snuggle with both of us for a little while.

39 weeks

After getting my hopes up at my appointment nearly two weeks ago that this baby was going to show up early, I have officially resigned myself to the fact that I'll need to be induced again.  Last week I had not progressed any further, and since that appointment I haven't had nearly as many contractions as I did the week prior.  But then again, I went from 1 to 3 cm without feeling contractions, then had a lot of contractions and didn't do anything, so who knows what's going on!  I go back to the doctor on Thursday, and I assume if I make it that far they will schedule my induction sometime the next week since they don't like for anyone to go past 41 weeks.

It's weird to think that my days with "just Cadence" are numbered, and I'm honestly a little sad thinking about all the fun things that James is going to get to do with her this summer while I'm sleep-deprived and dealing with a newborn.  I'm sure there will be days when the baby is the easy one and Cadence has some toddler moments, but she really is such a happy girl especially if she has things to do.

Her speech has really taken off lately, and she loves to repeat anything that you say to her.  Today at the park I kept asking her if she wanted to go back home, and she would say, "NO!" and then keep playing.  A few minutes later, she just walked over to me and said, "Go back home" and started heading for her stroller.  Wow, was that an easy way to leave! 

37 weeks!

Well I can't quite believe it, but I'm now 37 weeks (and 1 day)!  It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that in about 20 days I will have another little human being who needs me for everything.  I'm sure my life will change drastically once again as I attempt to balance out life with two kids. 

We've been very busy the past few weeks, as I am now tutoring 2 students every day, 2 hours each, and the last two weeks we watched Nick Chicken during the day almost every day.  I definitely found myself exhausted almost every day, and trying to figure out how I could do even one simple task like put in a load of laundry!  Cadence has been wonderfully flexible during this whole time, still taking her awesome LONG naps in the afternoon and being very independent as I get busy and need to get things done.

I had an appointment last Friday and the NP said I was dilated to 1.5 cm and 60% effaced, and the week before I was only 1 cm dilated and not effaced at all, so we're making progress--slow and steady!  Since my first appointment there has been no mention since of scheduling a C-section, and luckily my uterus is still measuring on target so they don't have any reason to go that route--other than the fact that Cadence never measured big, and well, she was!

I've been working on getting baby #2 (who does have a name now!)'s nursery in order, and with a lot of working during naptimes, I think we're getting close.  The last big thing I have to do is paint Cadence's toddler bed, but that doesn't absolutely need to be done before his arrival, so it's not a big deal. 

quite a weekend!

This past weekend seemed to be chock full of funny Cadence moments, and I think she definitely made going back to work hard on James today.  The most hilarious moment of the weekend was probably when Cadence emerged from her bedroom with one of her baby headbands on her head...except she had pulled it down so far that the skin above her eyes was all squished down, and she closely resembled Sloth from The Goonies.  James was watching basketball and didn't notice her "new look" at first, but it sure was funny when he did! 

Yesterday we went to church, and although Cadence was her normal antsy, hungry self, she did pretty well especially considering she kept asking to go play in the nursery and I was mean and made her stay in church.  Afterwards we went to Jason's Deli for lunch, and she had the best time snacking on items from the salad bar and catching glimpses of the basketball game on the screen.  After we had been there for about 30 minutes I asked her if she was finished or if there was something else she wanted to eat, and she got a huge smile on her face and quietly asked, "Cookie?"  Although they didn't have cookies, she was thrilled with a couple more of their gingerbread muffins and a few bites of my ice cream.  As we left and thanked the busboy who was so helpful to us, Cadence even gave him a sweet little "Thank you!" with a shy smile as we left. 

Our "oops" moment of the weekend came on Sunday night while I was tutoring and James was working out.  I had already put Cadence in bed at 7:45, and James went in for round two around 8:30, but then she started screaming at about 9:15.  I texted James immediately and he said he'd be home right away, so I continued tutoring.  Well, the screaming only got louder, so I got Layla started on a problem and then went back to investigate.  Our poor girl.  She had pooped, and as a result decided to take off her pajama pants, diaper, and her poop fell out of her diaper onto the bed.  She looked so distraught, but it was hard not to just laugh at the poor little poopy girl.  Always trying to be so helpful!

Third trimester!

I'm officially in the third trimester now, although it still feels like this baby is so far from being here!  Not that I don't feel big enough to be going through labor though--yeesh!  I had my glucose test and I can only assume I passed since I never got a phone call saying otherwise, so I am thrilled that I don't have to do the 3 hour test.  I think we have finally settled on a name as well, which we will once again keep to ourselves until this little guy makes his appearance.

I have to admit, I have done absolutely nothing to prepare for this baby.  I can't decide if we should buy another crib so that Cadence doesn't have to be pushed out of hers, or if we should just make do with the pack and play for the boy until she's ready to move up into another bed.  Cadence's transition to the crib was definitely really easy because we did it so early and she never really got accustomed to sleeping in a bouncy seat or other contraption that kept her upright, so I'm hoping that a pack and play to crib transition won't be a big deal since it's just one flat surface to another.  I also need to make a decision on a double stroller, and I'd like to get an ergo baby carrier maybe.

Billy Joel

Last night James and I got to see Billy Joel in concert at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and although I didn't know all the songs he played, it was still an enjoyable experience.  We had dinner at the Parthenon Grille in Murfreesboro and then even had time to test-drive some strollers at Toys R Us before heading up to Nashville.  Parking was of course a trial, as was leaving the arena, but I guess that's what you get with a Friday night concert.  Cadence spent the evening with Savannah Burchett, who brought over a big bag full of her old toys for Cadence to explore.  That was all it took for Cadence to completely lose interest in her parents, and we were able to leave quickly with no tears from anyone!  Savannah said she didn't cry once while we were gone (which seems totally unfair, because I feel like at least once an hour I have to correct her behavior and it makes her upset!)  It definitely makes going out easier when you have a great babysitter to watch your pride and joy! 

She woke up this morning so happy and excited to see us, and we continued our Mommy and Cadence Saturday morning tradition of eating pancakes (James doesn't really like pancakes all that much, so we leave him out usually.)  I let James sleep in since we didn't go to bed until 1am and Cadence was up before 7.  After he woke up we played around the house a little more, and then James went for a 5 mile run.  After his run we walked downtown to check out Daffodil Days, take Cadence to the park, and search for a little rocking chair for Cadence.  She is OBSESSED with rocking chairs, and after taking her to the coffee shop on Friday where she sat so quietly and contently in one while I visited with friends, I realized it was time to find one of her very own.  We didn't have any luck at the first 4 stores we went to--I joked with James that I felt like Goldilocks, every one we saw was either too big, too small, too wide, too narrow, too tall, too old, etc.  But as Cadence was tiring of our escapade James went ahead with her to the park while I checked out the last antique mall, and found not one, but three contenders!  I instantly knew which one James would want to get for her, a classic style all-oak chair that was a little wider so she could sit in it with her puppy...and it just happened to be on sale for $26!  That was way cheaper than a brand-new one, and it seemed sturdy and perfect, so we bought it and James carried it all the way home. 

As soon as we got home Cadence got in and out of it several times and looked so content rocking away in it with her puppy.  I made us breakfast burritos for lunch and she got a "second lunch" of eggs and 1/4 of a tortilla, after eating some bread, cheese, and strawberries at the park.  Now she's taking her nap while James and I relax and watch some conference tournament basketball!

update

Since my last post we've been pretty busy, but also pretty lazy.  It actually got COLD in Tennessee, so we had a lot of days inside playing.  We did venture to the Discovery Center one cold day for the Parents and Tots time, and we had lunch with Leslie and Ella after a trip to the library later that week.  Then Cadence and I took our big trip to Iowa for Grandma Piehl's birthday!  It snowed when we got in, but luckily we made it just a little late after our first flight out of Nashville getting canceled.  Cadence loved flying, and aside from kicking the seat in front of her, was pretty well behaved in such a confined area.  We had little rubber bands, stickers, Sky Mall, the safety card, and snacks to keep her happy---oh, and she loved pushing the button for the light above our seat.  Emma picked us up from the airport and C fell asleep in the car on our way to grab a late lunch.  Once we got to Olive Garden she was dead asleep (she had been up since 4:30 at this point!), so I laid her down in the booth while we ate. 

Cadence had a blast playing with her cousins, especially Danica and Jared, and loved all the entertainment and snacks at Grandma and Pa's house.  She learned the word "neige" and fell in love with Pa's "tweet tweets".  She also really liked Sniffles, the little chairs that were just her size, and playing with different key chains down in the shop.  We managed to visit Grandma and Willard 3 times during our week-long visit, and brought Katrina lunch one day at school.  Other than that we didn't do a whole lot, since the warmest it got during our visit was about 19 degrees.  Brrr! 

When we got home basketball season was magically over, and it snowed in TN the next day!  We had a couple more days of cold weather, but after Iowa, even 30 degrees seemed pleasant.  James had a doctor's appointment on Valentine's Day that revealed that he was perfectly healthy after all, and we celebrated by cooking steak at home for dinner.  James was off the first weekend when we were back, so it was nice to get to spend lots of time with him.

This past week has felt really busy, in a good way, with getting to see the Swaffords for lunch on Tuesday, watching Jack on Wednesday, Bible study on Thursday, and winter break on Friday.  Friday I had my glucose test and I was supposed to get another ultrasound to see the baby's face, but my oil change took forever, so I missed that appointment. 

Today we ate breakfast and then spent the morning at the park since it has been such a nice day. 

I should probably say something about Cadence's sleeping--it's not been so good lately.  I was kind of easy on her in Iowa, where if she would wake up in the middle of the night I would just bring her into bed with me since she was in a new scary place, but that may have ruined her.  The past week whenever she wakes up, as soon as I go in to see what's happening, she jumps up and wants out of her crib.  I can rock her back to sleep quickly, but then as soon as I near her crib, she starts freaking out and screams.  James has had a little more luck with getting her back in bed, but sometimes she wakes up once in the night, and other times--3, 4, 5 times.  Last night I decided that this pattern was obviously not getting better by me going in to pick her up, so I just let her cry whenever she woke up.  She actually didn't cry for too long before falling back asleep, so hopefully we can begin to see some improvement soon.  The hardest part has really just been that I'm so pregnant now that it hurts my back to stand while holding her for too long, or to sit for too long.

#2 is a....

...BOY!

I had my 20 week ultrasound this past Tuesday, and I have to say, I was actually kind of nervous about it.  Maybe not nervous, but anxious for sure.  I knew how badly James wanted a son, and I really wanted him to get his wish.  There would obviously be many advantages to having a girl as well, and I finally decided that I thought it was a girl, but I think I have only ever been right about guessing a baby's gender twice in my life--so I didn't have much faith in my feeling.  Everyone we asked thought it was a boy, which seemed kind of odd to me.

Anyway, we went in for the ultrasound around 10am, and the ultrasound tech talked to us for a little bit about what we thought it might be, then she gelled up the little wand, put it on my stomach, and instantly proclaimed it was a boy!  We were kind of startled and surprised that she was able to tell us so quickly, since with Cadence it was one of the last things they looked for, but apparently baby boy was in the right spot at the right time and really wanted to let us know as soon as he could!  We got to see him flex his bicep for us, and wave his little hand, which was pretty sweet.  Everything else looked perfect, but we do have to have another ultrasound to see his face since he was hiding it this time.  Afterwards we went to 5 guys for lunch since it seemed to be the most manly place to eat :). 

In Cadence news, she is now 19 months old!  She definitely has her stubborn moments when she wants to do what SHE wants to do and is not very cooperative, but overall she's still pretty happy and easy-going most days.  She has struggled a little with separation anxiety lately, but she did much better at tonight's basketball game.  It's generally just when she's tired or hungry that she really does not want to leave me.  We've discovered her love for soup lately, which is nice because it's a good way to increase her vegetable intake.  She's also become obsessed with yogurt, and her word for it is some melange of the English and French (yaourt) words for it.  She's discovered the Froot Loops in the dining hall and begs for them anytime they're visible.  I've been trying to work with her on learning colors and numbers, starting with "rouge" and "un, deux", but any sort of organized lesson is usually interrupted by her finding something more exciting to read or play with.  She still loves playing with her basketball and is always begging for popcorn from the concessions stand during games.