Welcome Baby August!

Baby August Gabriel arrived on Tuesday November 20th at 11:59 pm.  My mom had been in town for 5 days, and we had time to do some grocery shopping and get the house all stocked up with food.  My water broke around 4 pm on Tuesday the 20th, and I summoned Jason to come home.  We had our baby in arms before the day was through, just barely.  Timing was perfect, and we returned home with our new son on Thanksgiving Day to enjoy a nice feast prepared by mom.

August is a well-cooked butterball turkey ringing in at 8 lbs 3 ounces and 19 inches long.  He has a nice head of strawberry blond hair, and looks like he got a crew cut at the barbershop just before he was born.  So far, he's been a little cuddly bug.  Thankful!  We have our pair- 2 beautiful children; a little girl, and our sweet baby son.

Augie or Gus:  It seems there are lot of "Gus" fans out there.  I get it- it's pretty cute to call a chubby little baby "Gus."  I myself, will call him Augie, with one "g."

Isla:  Has been very sweet with August.  She tries to help by bringing him binkies.  And likes to hold her baby brother and comment on all his tiny parts.

The 1st 2 photos are from day 1; next are the professional photos taken by Nikki Loehr; Lastly, August at 1 month old- a smile I caught on Christmas Day.

Little Guy, fully cooked

A couple of weeks ago, we got another look at this little guy- it looks like he's got some full lips and chubby cheeks going on.  (Does he bear a resemblance to the sleeping baby on the right?)  The ultrasound technician commented on his full head of hair!  I'm hangin' in there as the last couple of weeks approach.  Despite his cramped quarters, baby boy is still rambunctious as ever, especially in the evenings.  I feel like my internal organs have taken a beating.  I can't wait for the indigestion to go away so I can eat like a normal person again.  If you ask my how I am doing, I will tell you, "I have felt sick to my stomach every day since Easter weekend."  As in the Easter weekend in April... 7 months ago.

Jason painted my belly with a picture of scuba baby for Halloween (does that dog head make my belly look big?).  Isla was a shark, but wasn't that into Halloween this year.  Her daily hang-ups and control issues regarding clothing selection made costume-wearing difficult.  In other news, Isla has all her shark teeth- that last 2 year molar on the top right finally made it way through.  That means, no more teething-related crabbiness!  Only regular 2 year old just-for-no-reason crabbiness.  She is very excited for baby brother to arrive and talks about how he's going to hold onto her finger with his little hand.

Reinforcements are arriving tomorrow- Grandma Lontai is coming for baby time back up.  But today, Isla and I made one last trip to the zoo, just the two of us.  She noted the tiny fishies in the hippo tank and said "they're so cute."  Which made me remember the first time she signed "fish."  Here's Isla, sitting on top of her brother.

Isla Rose, 2 and a 1/2 years old!

September 13th marked 2 and 1/2 years for Isla.  We have been trying to work through some transitions before baby brother arrives.  She is potty trained, mostly (except for pooping in diaper at nap).  We got her a new big girl bed, but after the excitement wore off, she decided the crib is still the best place to sleep.  Isla also started attending Laurel Heights Weekday School 3 mornings a week.  After the first few tearful drop-offs, she began to like school and now has lots of fun there with her teachers and friends.

Isla completed a few more sessions of Ms. Diana's swim lessons.  She was once again our little fish all summer long, and we took her swimming once, and sometimes twice a day.

This time in Isla's life is marked with a few toddler-obsessions.  Here some of the recent and ongoing fads.

Sharks:  I think she started to get into sharks because the shark scene in Finding Nemo was a little bit scary.  Isla likes to talk about sharks and requests that sharks are drawn for her.  We stopped by the Texas State Aquarium on the way home from the beach last weekend, and could have very well stood in front of the shark tank and talked about them for an hour.  Instead we tried to move on after 20 minutes or so, but Isla kept running back for more sharks.

Skunks:  Another obsession stemming from the dramatic moment when I tried to get Angel and Isla back in the house after smelling a skunk one evening.  I think I freaked Isla out a little bit on this one, because she often likes the review the fact the the skunk is "all gone" and that he can't come inside the house.

Tiny Baby:  One particularly small doll was a big time favorite for Isla.  Except, the doll had to be stripped of her little pink dress and just wear her "jammies."  After the white undergarments became grey, I asked Isla to give her tiny baby a bath in a little tub in the kitchen.  She was so funny and took the utmost care bathing her little doll.

Annie:  Jason began a bedtime ritual of whistling the "Tomorrow" song from Annie.  Then we showed her the videos of "Tomorrow" and "Hard Knock Life," then the entire movie.  She has been really into reenacting scenes, such as "Sandy, " while she drags Angel around by the collar.  I have also seen her open a door and yell out "Mrs. Hanigan!" and close it again.  

Baby Boy

Here's a little project I've been working on:

This time around it's a baby boy.  He's due November 26th.  While I didn't experience the extreme stomach-flu-like nausea this time around, 1st trimester was still a doozy.  The hallmark of this pregnancy is a mild yucky-tummy feeling that I have most days, still, while well into my second trimester.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... well... I get a baby boy?    

Here's me with baby boy half way cooked at 20 weeks.