Jackson McCabe???

Tomorrow I will officially be 29 weeks along. It's hard to imagine that in 11 weeks or less we will have a new little one around here. I feel like it still hasn't hit me. I mean I'm going thru the motions...picking out a new car seat, researching baby books, planning the layout of the new nursery, but I still can't actually believe that I'm going to be cuddling a newborn again very shortly. I've been struggling a lot lately with what to name this munchkin. All of the other kids had names very early on and we never struggled as much as we are with this one. A couple weeks ago I posted on facebook asking for name suggestions. I got a pretty overwhelming list of names. Some crazy and completely not our taste and others that hit the "Hmmmmm I might like that" button. This sparked a pretty in depth talk with Burt over what this little guy's name should be. Up until that point we would just randomly throw a name out there and one of us would either say "Yea, that sounds ok" or "Noooooooooo". We briefly tried out Shane. I tried referring to him by name for almost a week but by the end of the week I just couldn't picture us having a Shane so it was tossed. After the talk we both had a pretty decent sized name list.

MY LIST
Jacob
Joseph
Kyle
Joshua
Logan
Colton
Colin
Jackson
Landon
Ryan
Owen
Noah
Domenick
Shane

BURT'S LIST
Jayden
Logan
Noah
Carter
Colin
Jackson
Nolan
Mason
Evan
Owen
Joel
Kyle
Joseph

For now the winner is Jackson. We both really like that name and all the nicknames that go along with it. Jack, Jax, and if we go with a J name like Joseph as a middle name we could also call him JJ. We're going to stick with it for awhile and see if it really sticks. We both feel like it's really growing on us. Abby and Nathan aren't really big fans of it. Luckily for us they don't have to be in "love" with it like Burt and I do. They'll have their chance at the name game one day when I'm ready to be a grandmom. For now we go with Jackson Joseph McCabe.

Thanksgiving 2011

Our countdown to Thanksgiving turkey has been completely plucked!

My handsome helper setting the table

Our thankful leaves

Thanksgiving this year was one of the most peaceful yet. I don't know what made it especially peaceful but everyone had a really nice day. As the day usually starts Abby and Nathan helped me prepare the turkey. Tom, as we so lovingly name him every year, was in the oven by 9:15. Then I had Abby peeling sweet potatoes and Nathan opening our new silverware and setting the table. All the while Alexa wandered around aimlessly making messes. The boys played video games off and on throughout the day. Abby took a nap on the couch and I relaxed and enjoyed a hot shower. What more could I ask for? Dinner was ready around 5:15. This year we added a new tradition to the mix and took turns reading what each one of us was thankful for from the leaves we had been filling out each night throughout the month of November. It was a great reminder of what Thanksgiving is really supposed to be about. The leaves provided us with things to talk and laugh about and even slowed down our eating so that we could really enjoy everything, including each others company.

November 7th- 25 weeks

Another midwives appointment under my belt and everything is well. My blood pressure was perfect at 112/80. My weight, in my book, is great. I filled them in on everything the perinatologists told me at my last ultrasound and we talked about my upcoming colposcopy. And yes, it is that time again...time for the glucose test. I was given my yummy orange flat soda and the directions to follow for my next appointment. We had a quick listen to baby boy McCabe's heartbeat and we were on our way!

Picture Catch Up

BUBBLES!

Still very obsessed with her toes

A little fun at the park on voting day

Alexa refuses to be fed. She, apparently, has decided she's a big girl now.

Our daughter needs no toys for Christmas. Just a few empty boxes & containers!

October 31st- Halloween

So again here I go with back tracking my posts. I swear I think about updating here all the time and just never take the 5 or 10 minutes to do so. I think in part it has to do with the half a keyboard I have to work with here. I'm missing letters "a" "s" "x" and the backspace key. All very important considering one of my main topics here is a little someone named Alexa.

So onto way more interesting things...Halloween started off with a bang. Literally! I had planned to head out trick or treating around 5:45 so we'd have plenty of time to meet up with our friend Linda and her rugrats. Around 4:45 I got a call from Burt. "I just got in an accident. I hit a lady's car. I totally zoned out and started to go on a red light." My 1st thoughts were for this lady (I already knew Burt was okay). She had an 8 or 9 year old child in the car. They called the police and the woman's car was towed. She said that they felt fine and all was well. I then started worrying about the inevitable phone call Burt had to make to his boss to let him know the work truck was involved in an accident. It went as I expected. Now all I had to do was wait for Burt to come home. So we waited...and waited..and waited. Finally around 6:00 he was backing into the driveway and we were on our way. The kids made out like bandits as usual. Alexa loved running from house to house. She'd do 1 house to the big kids 3 houses. By time she was 3 houses behind I'd pick her up and we'd catch up to everyone else. By the 2nd house she had the hang of this trick or treating stuff. She'd reach right into the bowls of candy and help herself. I couldn't get her to say thank you buy she did a whole lot of waving and saying "Bye Bye!" By 7:45 everyone was wiped and we piled into the car to head home. At home the big kids dove into their candy. Abby's OCD kicked in and she actually organized her candy by name. Alexa helped herself to a lolly and yelled anytime anyone came close to taking it away. Boy was this year different from last and next year will again be totally different. I can't even imagine that we'll also have an 8 month old along for the fun!

2010 vs. 2011 Pumpkin Carving

2010- 4 months

2011- 16 months

Linvilla. Again.

For the 3rd time this year we made a trip to Linvilla Orchards. The 1st trip was for the usual feeding the animals, pumpkin pictures, and general fall fun. The 2nd time was to do a little shopping for some fresh fruits and veggies. The 3rd time was to pick up our pumpkins. Usually we pick up a few pumpkins at Produce Junction to carve. This year waiting until the last minute proved to be the wrong idea. Slacker! Produce Junction only had itty bitty pumpkins. Luckily for us Linvilla had "All the pumpkins you can carry for $19.99". So after watching a few guys attempt to do it and learning some of their tricks we loaded Burt's pockets up with little pumpkins. Stuffed a few small pumpkins down his shirt and carefully stacked the big ones in his arms. All he had to do was walk from one tent to another and wa-lah! 19 pumpkins for $19.99. Not a bad deal!

5th and final ultrasound?

So it seems that I'm blogging about things a couple days behind when they actually happen. That doesn't matter. As long as I can keep up with the big milestones and happenings of our crazy lives I'm satisfied. On October 25th I had another ultrasound. This one was to check my cervical length and the growth of the baby. Our ultrasound tech was super friendly and actually made sure I could see the screen (that never happens without me asking). I brought Amanda along to keep an eye on Lexa. Besides, this was her 1st time seeing an ultrasound of Baby Boy. The tech checked the baby's head, heart, kidneys, stomach, bladder, arms and legs. His heart rate was 167 bpm. It seems to steadily be in the 160's. She did check the gender of the baby again and sure enough he is still a HE! She printed me out the very best profile picture that I have gotten of this little one so far. You can clearly see his little nose, lips and chin. He's so very handsome! After the ultrasound I had a brief meeting with Dr. Baxter whom I haven't seen since my last visit at Jefferson with the twins. He was happy to see me pregnant again with a very healthy baby. He said Baby Boy is weighing in at 1lb 4oz which is right on track. He was also very happy with my cervical length. In fact, he was so happy that he said there was no reason I should have to be seen by perinatology again unless something comes up and the midwives feel it's necessary. What a relief!! It's nice to be a normal pregnant person again but I will surely miss all the sneak peeks I've been getting of this little one.

Lexa's owwie is all gone!

On October 18th Lexa had what was supposed to be her 15 month check up but what was actually her 16 month check up. She weighed in at 24lbs 12.5ozs (71%) and was 32" tall ( 83%). The doctor was thrilled with her growth chart and showed me that she was running right along her curve. We talked about all the usual baby things. Sleeping- 14 hours a day Eating- plenty of veggies, meats, fruits and dairy Gross Motor Skills- Running, walking backwards, throwing balls Language skills- saying 5 words and using them correctly. Babbling tons. Everything was well within normal. At the time she had a serious case of the sniffles and a cough but ears, nose, throat, and chest looked ok. She got three shots including the flu shot and only cried for about 10 seconds. The only concern I had was that I thought she may have still had a piece of glass stuck in the bottom of her foot from 2 weeks prior. I told her how we had tried to get it out and how at first we thought we had. Then it healed up with a bump and a red mark. She sent us downstairs for x-rays. After waiting forever in outpatient registration and forever for a 2nd x-ray tech to come back from lunch (I couldn't hold Alexa on the table because I'm preggo), we finally learned that there was indeed still a 2mm piece of glass in there. I immediately scheduled an appointment with the general surgeon that her doctor referred me to at CHOP. Luckily the night before the appointment "Hero Daddy" as we so lovingly called him that night got the glass out. A little bit of pushing and squeezing and it came right out. Did this Momma's heart good!!

More nummies!!

For awhile now I've had a crazy food adversion to sauce. Spaghetti Sauce. Pizza Sauce. Even the sauce in Chef Boy R Dee's beefaroni and ravioli's. This of course makes dinner very hard to plan. Spaghetti is afterall the simplest dinner to make.

On the other end of that spectrum are the crazy cravings I've been having. The "crazy must have it right now or I'm going to throw a fit kind of cravings". I love nachos and cheese from 7-Eleven. Can't get enough of that spicy cheese! And as I sit here typing this I'm dying for a piece of crumb cake. Hopefully Burt will be home with it soon and I can scarf one down. How is it that I haven't gained any weight this pregnancy?

Still nameless

The hunt is still on for the perfect name for Baby Boy McCabe. Everything I like Burt dislikes. Everything Burt likes (although he hasn't given many suggestions) I dislike. So far on my list has been Ryan, Jackson, and Jacob Joseph or JJ. The only one I'm really stuck on is Ryan but he's nowhere near agreeing to it. His suggestions so far have been Ben and Luke. No thank you! He's moving around almost all day. Quite the active little guy. His kicks and punches are getting stronger so I know he's getting bigger by the day. I'm now 22 weeks and 2 days. I'm starting to get the nesting bug, or at least the must organize this house bug. We've decided we're going to have both babies share a room once baby boy is old enough to be in the crib and out of the co sleeper. My favorite thing to daydream about these days has been the babies' room. I've decided to go with a Dr. Seuss theme. Blue, red, yellow and blue. I've found an amazing Dr. Seuss crib and toddler bedding set on Etsy. Only problem is that the two combined will run us around $450. It's just too adorable to pass up! There are fantastic Dr. Seuss quotes for the walls. I've got it mostly planned out already. So exciting!!!

Happy 16 Month Birthday Alexa!

Alexa Lynn my how you've grown! You're learning new things everyday and however exhausting keeping up with you can be your smiles me it all worth it.

~~weight 24lbs 12 oz

~~height 32 inches

~~wearing sizes 12, 18, and 24 months

~~shoe size 5

~~diaper size 4

~~says 5 words regularly "Mama", "Dada", "Gawgay" (doggie), "Nana" (banana), and "Bye Bye"

~~loves looking at and reading books

~~is totally obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba and her "bee-bo" (belly button)

~~can walk, run, walk backwards, push herself on her bus, walk up the steps holding our hands, climb up on the couch and coffee table, climb off the couch and coffee table

~~loves to color and always tilts her head to the side as she concentrates on coloring

~~will pick up anything that looks like a cell phone and put it to her ear to pretend talk (always starts by saying "Da"

~~when she's tired I ask "You wanna go nigh nights and you pick up your bink and walk to the bottom of the steps.

~~if she wants a sippy she walks to the kitchen and points to the drying rack where the sippies are

~~she will eat just about anything you put on her plate besides carrots

~~makes a really great stink face

~~when I ask her to smile for a picture she sticks out her tongue

Fun times

Since it's been a little while for an update (I'd really like to update every other day) I'm going to throw out a modge podge of things that we've been up to. Fall has brought with it perfect temperatures and a nice crisp air. Definitely my favorite time of the year!

Putt Putt

We've been trying to devote more of our weekends to family time. The weather was gorgeous and we knew we couldn't spend another minute indoors. After a bit of a rough start (Abby's terrible attitude about not getting her ball in the hole) we ended with everyone talking about how much fun they had. I think the final score was 1st place- Daddy 2nd place- Mommy 3rd place- Nathan and 4h place- Abby. I of course didn't tell them who made 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. I knew I'd rather avoid the argument and crankiness that would ensue. We wrapped the day up with a trip to the pet store for more crickets for the frogs and a steal of a deal on new cages for them.

Happy 8th Birthday Nathan & Linvilla Orchard

At 6:26pm on October 16th I gave birth to my first son. He's an amazing little boy who never ceases to amaze me with his kindness, thoughtfulness, creativity, intelligence, and humor. Although I can sometimes do without his sassiness! He of course awoke to the dining room decorated and presents to open. He's been really into sketching lately so we bought him a nice sketch book and a pack of 50 colored pencils. He enjoyed those most of all the things we bought him. It's nice to know we haven't spoiled him entirely with pricey gifts. After opening his presents we headed out the door for Linvilla Orchards. Again the weather was perfect. Alexa wore her "Candy Corn Cutie" long sleeve onesie and an orange, yellow and white tutu. Oh and of course a candy corn hairbow. She was the cutest baby cruising the pumpkin patch. We must've been stopped a million times asking where we got her outfit. Nothing like an adorable model to get new customers. We watched the magic show for a little while, fed the animals, got their faces painted, and browsed the pumpkins. Of course thrown in there were a few of our traditional linvilla picture ops. We wrapped the day up at home with a birthday cake for the birthday boy. Aunt Amanda, Juan, and Uncle Frankie of course made an appearance. A wonderful ending to a fantastic day!

Yoooooooooooo Gabba Gabba!

About 3 weeks ago I entered a giveaway for 4 tickets to go see Yo Gabba Gabba. All I had to do was leave my name and e-mail address. Imagine my surprise when I opened an e-mail that congratulated me on winning the tickets. Score! The show was at 3pm on Friday October 6th. I had Amanda pick the big kids up from school and Alexa and I went to the show with my friend Syreeta and her 3 year old son AJ. Almost immediately Alexa got into it. She started clapping her hands and waving her hands and arms around. She especially loved the "Hold Still" song. She whined and wimpered a bit about wanting a soft pretzel so we got her one and again she was happy. First concert= success!