Widget!

A few weeks ago we took Colin to his first "concert." The Wiggles were in town and we had the opportunity to get tickets in a suite and for half price, we were treated like royalty, and had a great time! Colin got a lot more out of it than we thought he might. He got a new Wiggles t-shirt to commemorate the day. He would point to the stage and scream "Widget!" (his word for Wiggles). It was really a great time, and one I'm kinda sad he won't remember when he gets older. At least he'll have this to help.

Pictures from the Hospital

It's a Boy!

Proud (and tired) Dada

First Kiss

First Family Photo

Going Home!

Colin's New Ride

As a "sorry you have to share the spotlight with a little brother now" gift for Colin we decided to get him a cool new car that he can drive on his own. The battery powered "TotRod." We even customized it by putting a Wiggles bumper sticker on it. He got it the day after we got home from the hospital with Lucas. Here are the pictures from the fun first ride:

The Nursery

So, I had planned to get this up BEFORE Lucas made his appearance, but well, we know how that went. It just so happened we got the monkeys strung the Tuesday night before Lucas came, so Brad and my brother were able to get them hung the day we got back, while I was napping.

So here are the pictures:

Welcome Lucas!

Rene's water broke at 3:15 AM today and we immediately rushed to the hopistal and welcomed Lucas into the world at 6:21 this morning! Baby and Momma are doing great. Lucas decided to be just like his cool big brother and come a week early. More will follow, but here's a quick shot of Momma and new Lucas Clarke.

Ice Cream and Good Friends!

A few weeks ago one of our Mommy friends, Johanna, introduced us to a new ice cream place in Arlington that serves free "baby cones" to little ones, and has some really yummy ice cream too!

Here are some pictures of Johanna and her sweet girls, twins Camden and Grayden, and Colin chowing down on some ice cream. Of course, my little guy prefers just the cone, so he took his cone, took one lick of the ice cream and turned it upside down until the ice cream fell off, then procceded to eat the cone iteslf.

Colin has known these two most of his life, and Grayden can even say Colin's name, which she does everytime she sees him. They are the best toy sharers, so my sensitive little guy really likes to play with both of them too. It's nice that he (and I) have such good friends, we are really blessed to have such a great group of mommies and babies to play with.

A special thank you to Johanna for these pictures.

36 Weeks

On Wednesday I had my weekly sonogram. Lucas is looking great, the amniotic fluid is at a good level, the umbilical cord placement isn't as off as they first thought, and he's weighing in at a healthy 6 pounds 5 ounces.

Today I had my OB appointment and his heartbeat registered at 148, and my big ol' belly measured in at 39 cm. Which equates to a 39 week belly, 3 weeks ahead. So I'm a little big, but not too bad.

The countdown is on, just 12 days to go until we get to meet our new little monkey!

I have a pretty good sonogram photo to share this week too, it's his profile, can you see it?

35 Week Checkup

I went in today for my weekly sonogram. There are two things they are monitoring right now:

1. The amniotic fluid level.
2. The blood flow in the umbilical cord.

Both looked great today! I go back again next Wednesday and I'll let you know more on him then.

Just a Little Hiccup

So Friday night I ended up heading back to Labor and Delivery at the hospital. Here's what happened:

My brother was in town staying with us, in preparation for the baby shower the next day. Brad agreed to stay home with Colin so Kenneth and I could go see a movie. As the movie began, I started having contractions. I figured they were just Braxton Hicks contractions, which tend to go away if you rest and drink water. So I drank almost a liter of water in a little over an hour and they weren't going away, they were getting worse. I started timing them and they went from 8 minutes apart to 3. At that point I told Kenneth we'd need to leave. To make matters worse, there was a pretty bad storm going on outside. On the way home, I called my doctor and was told to go to L&D. So we got home, I woke up Brad and called his parents to come sit with Colin. We got to L&D at 10:45 that evening, by then they were still 2 to 3 minutes apart. Luckily my cervix was still closed, I had no dialation. I was given a shot to make them stop, and thankfully it worked the first time. It's not a fun shot to get! So back home we headed, back in bed by 2:oo a.m.

As for hiccups, our little man is just as bad as his big brother was and gets the hiccups 3 or 4 times a day, lasting at least 10 minutes each time. While I was in L&D Friday night, they had me hooked up to a monitor to register Lucas' heart beat. While I was hooked up, he got a case of the hiccups and you could actually HEAR each hiccup on the monitor. It was really cute.

Cute Story

Colin recently learned the baby sign for "hear," and he loves to use it. Everytime he hears something now from a motorcycle going by to the cat meowing, he's letting me know he hears it. And he expects you to respond, telling him what it is he's hearing.

So last night, I ran to Target while Colin and Daddy played in the playroom. When I got back Brad told me this story:

While they were playing my husband let out a loud toot. Colin promptly made the baby sign for "hear." Brad had to admit that yes, Dada tooted, loud.

Laugh away, I know I did.