Boo at the Zoo

In my Halloween post of last week I mentioned that the moment Jeff, Jon, Stephanie and I got to Boo at the Zoo with our little UPS man and little duck my camera died. Steph sent me these pics from the zoo to make up for my poor camera pre-planning!

24 Weeks!!

Yesterday marked a very important stage of this pregnancy and I wanted to share – our baby is now viable! If our little girl were to arrive now she’d actually have a chance at surviving (with some major medical intervention). How miraculous is that?I had always kind of wondered how true that was, but we certainly experienced it first hand this year with the arrival of Chloe Rose (Jeff’s cousin, Jamie's, baby) weighing in just over 1lb. back in May. She is miraculously home now where she belongs.

I had an OB appointment yesterday to mark the 24th week (6th month) and got all good news. My blood pressure is lower at this stage than it was with Isaac, weight gain is on track, baby measures perfectly at 24 weeks. Fab. I have discovered though that even with the easy and fairly symptom free pregnancy I am experiencing this time, pregnancy just gets to a certain point where its uncomfortable. I'm getting tired. This is a different tired than the first couple of months when I found myself letting Isaac watch Nick Jr. with some fruit snacks in the evenings so I could close my eyes for a few minutes after work. Think tired feet and back. Sore-body tired that even lying around on the couch doesn't seem to fix.

Halloween 2010

Isaac's stint as a mini-UPS man was a big hit in the neighborhood. And Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Brad all took turns playing Isaac's giant prop - a package for delivery. Even Molly joined the fun wearing her halloween pj's to the doggy costume parade (her 6th annual appearance) and scoring several treats while trick or treating. Halloween was a blast this year - Isaac really got into the whole trick or treating thing. I wish he hadn't been so good at it and collected so much darn candy though - I can't stop eating it!!

Uncle Brad - what a good sport :)

Trick or Treat

Isaac's neighbor friend, Lauren.

Too much candy ends with treat bag on head.

The weekend was made extra fun by a visit from our friends Stephanie, Jon and Jack from Milwaukee. Jack made a fabulous duck (who can resist a baby in a plush costume?!) and the boys braved our coldest STL evening yet for a trip to Boo at the Zoo (and my camera died the minute we got there). Having a baby in the house again was wonderful and reminded us what life is like before walking and talking and toddlerhood! Can't wait. Jon is a fabulous cook (I still have vivid memories of the meal he produced in our tiny townhouse kitchen to celebrate our college graduation) and made us a feast on Saturday night.

Isaac and Jack Attack first thing in the morning.

Steph and I at the doggy parade.

Dinner!

And just for fun - a look back at Halloweens past!!

What Can Brown Do For You?

A Halloween preview......

Proud to be like Papa.

Costume party at playgroup!

Apples, Trains and Friends

Last week my high school friends Lara and Kevin came down from Oshkosh with their 2 year old Annie for some fall fun. Actually, I say high school, but Kevin and I have been friends since our days in preschool together and Lara and I since the 6th grade! We spent Saturday at Eckert's family fun farm picking apples! We pretended it was fall weather - even though it was 85 degrees.

Sunday was perhaps the best day of Isaac's life thus far! We took him to see the real live Thomas the Tank Engine. This kid lives and breathes trains. He freaked.

Riding the little choo-choo waiting for our trip on Thomas.

Thomas the steam engine.

Our little engineer in all his glory.

And a couple pics of Isaac and Anne playing so nicely together all weekend.

Big Boy Room

A couple of weeks ago Isaac decided the time had come and he was no longer going to stay put in his crib. He successfully scaled the crib 7 times in the course of one Thursday night, so Friday morning we decided the crib was a thing of the past. I was afraid it was only a matter of time until he fell and split his head open attempting theses great escapes. So that Friday evening we came home from work and began the move into Isaac's big boy room. Although our crib does convert to a toddler bed, we didn't want to go that route seeing as we need the crib and nursery again in a few short months. Instead we decided to go full blown big boy bed and move him into the queen bed in our guest room! Isaac thought moving all of his things out of the nursery and into his new room was a blast. He helped move all his clothes and put them away in the drawers of his new dresser and in his new closet and move all of his beloved stuffed animals and books and pictures. He even made us move his lamp and the art on his walls that night! We took the mattress and box springs off the frame and put them on the floor so in the event of an accidental fall he wouldn't have far to go! And in an effort to make him proud of his new room we whipped out the Pottery Barn Kids choo-choo bedding I had scored big time on eBay a few weeks prior. We tucked him all into his choo-choo bed with his choo-choo pj's on and closed the door. I sat on the floor outside the door for 45 minutes just waiting....waiting for him to realized he could crawl out of bed and come on out to play. Nothing. Silence. Right to sleep. I figured this was a fluke and he was probably too scared to move and the next night would be the first of many we would fight to keep him in bed and go to sleep. Happy to report a few weeks later that we have yet to lose a moment of sleep over the transition I've been dreading for 6 months! Completely uneventful. And you've never seen a kid so proud of their big boy room!!

IT'S A GIRL!!

Big news this week - a baby sister for Isaac!! We still can't believe it! She looks perfect and right on schedule for mid-February. Enjoy her newest photos - isn't she beautiful?!