Baby Nolen's Journey

Week 26

2012-03-08T17:21:00.003-08:00

(My little sign holder is making these pictures a little tricky.)

How Far Along: 26 weeks

How Big is Baby: Hudson is close to 15", my food comparison this week is a head of lettus. They must be referring to a large head of romaine?!?

Clothes:I tried to fit in some of my looser "regular" clothes. It wasn't pretty. Dresses were coming up extra short, the shirts extra tight. Then we had a broken zipper, followed by some tears. Pregnant dressing is getting tricky.

Exercise: I 'm still shaking it at Step aerobics. I must look like the bearded circus lady though because last week as I was bouncing over my step I kept looking up to find a audience standing, pointing, talking about me :(

Best Moment this week: Mommies officially a grownup...I turned 30 this week and I'm feeling pretty fabulous about it, life is good!

Food Cravings: Girl scout cookies, beans, pickles

Movement: Movements are getting stronger and more frequent. Soaking up every moment of this pregnancy because I know it will be over before we know it.

Gender: Still a boy

Labor Signs: Braxton hicks, but nothing too strong or frequent.

What I miss: Here goes my list of drinks again. Wine, beer, margaritas, more wine, more beer...looking forward to an ice cold beverage in my hand come June.

What I'm looking forward to:Cleaning out Hudson's closet, putting together his crib, setting up his new bedding, hanging the curtains and picking up his chair. Full on nesting mode for the nursery!

Weekly Wisdom: Always take the time to look presentable. Things like shaving your legs, applying makeup and fixing your hair. You never know when you'll walk into a surprise 30th birthday party looking like a hot mess! (Thankfully it was my closest girl friends, and there was lots of wine involved so it didn't take away from my birthday fun.)

Milestone: Last week of the 2nd trimester, whooa pregnancy, SLLoOOOWww down!

Surprise!

2012-03-03T19:28:00.004-08:00

Life lesson #324, don't throw a pregnant, hormonal lady a surprise birthday party. You may just get your head bit off in the process.

Let me take you back to Saturday. Mr. A and my mom were busy at work getting together the final touches to a surprise spa party to celebrate my big 3-0! In the meantime I get a phone call that Hudson's striped curtains are finished and ready to be picked up (1 hour away.) My mom is doing everything in her power to not let me go. Enter angry (bitchy) pregnant lady. Turns out there was a surprise party waiting at home for me. I walk in the door, still not processing what I'm seeing, still angry that I haven't been able to get my curtains yet.

Everyone: Surprise, Happy Birthday!!!
Angry Pregnant lady: (not processing whats going on) I can't stay, I'm leaving, I have curtains to pick up."
Everyone: awkward silence
Angry Pregnant lady: (oh balloons, friends, my birthday...) OMG, I'm so sorry, I'm so excited to see everyone!!!

Probably not the initial reaction everyone was expecting, but in the end a super fun night! Mr. A had gotten all my besties together and arranged an in house spa/wine night. Umm, major points on this one hubby! It was my first ever (and maybe last with that reaction) surprise party. Thank you everyone for such a fun night, love you all!!!

Sick Boy

2012-02-28T11:37:00.004-08:00

It finally happened. I prided myself on the fact that Nolen has never really been sick. A little cold here or there, but nothing too serious. I just knew that my 13 months of nursing had provided him with my super teacher immunities. Until last night that is. We were having family cuddle time on the sofa, Nolen nestled between us. He was being surprisingly still and relaxed for his 2-year old self, so we were soaking in the extra cuddles.

That's when it happened, out of nowhere, projectile vomit. All over me, all over Mr. A, all over the sofa. Oh my poor little man, it scared him as much as it scared us. We thought we were in the clear for bedtime, but 15 minutes into sleep it happened again, and again, and again, and again. Little man is officially sick.

age 2

2012-02-21T17:49:00.002-08:00

Look who's 2!

2012-02-21T07:33:00.010-08:00

February 22, 2010: Nolen Reed makes his grand debut at 7:46 pm

February 22, 2011: Nolen Reed turns 1!!!

February 22, 2012: Nolen Reed turns 2!
Nolen, I can not believe that my baby boy is already 2! The past two years have been an amazing blur. Words can't describe how much love and joy you bring to us. Honestly, I can't remember life without you little man. You make us smile everyday.

When Daddy and I got married Papa read a special song as his wish for us. Now here we are with the same wish for you...

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
And each road leads you where you want to go
And if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you

And if one door opens to another door closed
I hope you keep on walkin' til you find the window
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile
But more than anything, more than anything

My wish for you
Is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold

And while you're out there gettin' where you're gettin' to
I hope you know somebody loves you
And wants the same things too
Yeah, this is my wish

(Oh geez, this got the waterworks going, I blame pregnancy hormones.)

Week 24

2012-02-20T06:19:00.005-08:00

Today was my 24 week doctor's appointment. I was asking my doctor if it's normal for a second baby to be living so low, low down. She replied yes and went on to explain, "Think of your uterus like a hammock. The first time around the hammock is nice and tight, holding that baby up high. This time around your hammock has been stretched, so this baby is no longer sitting up so high."

Sigh. I have a stretched hammock.

How Far Along: 24 weeks
How Big is Baby: Little man Hudson is the size of a large grapefruit, 12" long. Although still little, everything is fully formed, already looking like a little bitty newborn. Mommie is up 15 pounds which is how much I put on with Nolen, the ENTIRE pregnancy, awesome.
Clothes:I heart maternity clothes. They shouldn't limit these just to pregnancy. We have a wedding coming up in march so I've been in search of a dress that fits the bump. Luckily I found one (non-maternity) that fits! (Lets just hope that's still the case in 4 weeks.)
Exercise: I have exactly 3 workout tops that fit, so we're still going strong at Step Aerobics. If anyone other pregnant ladies are looking for workout clothes I've found that the LuLuLemon shirts ROCK. They are light and airy while still fitting in that baby bump. Even better... they're not "maternity" so you can use them after. (In reality I'm just loving an excuse to buy overly priced, super cute workout wear.)
Best Moment this week: Big Brother Nolen turned 2 this week! Happy birthday!!!
Food Cravings: Chips & Dip, Pad Thai, cookies & hot sauce (sounds like a balanced diet to me!)
Movement: Hudson man has been pretty quiet during the day time hours, but come 9:00 pm, he's a dancing machine, all night, literally.
Gender: Oh boy oh Boy!

Labor Signs: Non this week, which is fine with me. He still has a lot of cooking to do!
What I miss: Wine, margaritas, cornona beer, more wine. Geez I sound like I have a drinking problem. This year teaching has been more on the stressful end of things, what I wouldn't give to come home to a glass of wine (or keep a flask in my desk drawer, kidding.)
What I'm looking forward to:Curtain maker found, navy and white fabric purchased, curtain lady sewing my dream curtains with perfect 12" stripes. I'm also a tad bit excited because I'm next in line on the birthday train. 30 years old here I come, I'm actually ready for it! I feel like I'm right where I should be in my life, so BRING it 30!
Weekly Wisdom: A humidifier wonders for a pregnant lady with a cold. The same can not be said about the pregnant ladies hair after sleeping next to the humidifier all night. Yikes, that's all I'll say.
Milestone: We had our viability week this week. That means if for some reason little man was to arrive now, he'd have a much better chance of surviving. Don't get any ideas buddy, you stay put for another 16 weeks!

Nolen's party details

2012-02-19T09:19:00.009-08:00

Printable Sesame Street Invatitaion buy Andersruff

Cupcakes by Tami at Cupcakery; Celebration, Florida

Food labels by 11cupcakes:

Water bottle Printable labels by Starlite:

Elmo cookie favors by SongBirdSweets:

Poms by (duh) SweetTeaPaper:

Signs created with love by Mommie: "Nolen Street"

Oscar's Tattoo Parlor

Bubbles with BigBird

Door sign by ManiandMe:

Partying his way to 2!

2012-02-18T18:46:00.008-08:00

Little man is turning 2! We had a Sesame Street Party to help him celebrate!

Week 22 or maybe 23...

2012-02-07T08:04:00.001-08:00

Oh dear lord, not only am I seriously lacking in the belly shots this pregnancy, I don't even know what flipping week I'm on. I should be on week 22, but at the last ultrasound I was measuring a week ahead, so that would make me 23. Let's just play it safe and call this week 22.5.

How Far Along: 22. 5 weeks
How Big is Baby: Little man Hudson is the size of a banana, 11" long (although this is what he is suppose to be, he seems to be measuring larger then your average baby)
Weight Gain:At my 20 week appointment I was up 12 pounds, 137, oy!
Maternity clothes:Mostly in maternity, tried to rock jeans & bella band this week but it didn't go so well. Hudson is living low, low, low. Mama needs elastic waist pants, or better yet no pants at all. Dresses are my friend.
Exercise: Still keeping up with Step aerobics, crazy I know. I plan on keeping up with it as long as I can find workout clothes that fit.
Best Moment this week: Daddy finally got to feel him from the outside. Nolens' been feeling him for weeks. Every time he sits on my lap Hudson starts kicking away on his little tushy. I told Nolen that was his brother and he replied, "No, sister."
Food Cravings: Blueberry bagels with veggie cream cheese, watermelon, frozen lemonade & hot sauce (in no particular order.)
Movement: He is a dancing machine just like his brother, loves dancing in the wee hours
Gender: Boy, although Nolen may beg to differ!

Labor Signs: Besides the fact that he lives so low and feels as though he may just fall out...I've been having some braxton hicks here and there. Nothing too noteworthy at this point.
Belly Button:I'm embarrassed to say it's been out for weeks (10 weeks to be exact.) Nolen likes to push it and say "Ding Dong Hudd-sen."
What I miss: Wine, red red wine, oh sweet wine. Have a bottle waiting for me in June right beside my newest pin on Pinterest, the Beer-garita (it looks fantastic!) I sound like a lush.
What I'm looking forward to:Getting his room together & curtains up. I want to do navy/white horizontal stripe curtains. The problem is that finding the perfect wide stripes (7"or larger) is impossible. I'm looking online, I've looked in stores. No such flippin' luck.
Weekly Wisdom: Do not tell your 'almost' 2 year old that you are going to Disney world tomorrow, he does not know what the word tomorrow means
Milestone: Finally putting up the bomb diggity baby gate at the top of the stairs. I was just a regular old handy mandy, drilling it into the wall, this new gate is so secure (can I get an RRRR,rrrrr, RRRRR!)

Nolen knows something we don't

2012-02-07T07:53:00.002-08:00

They say kids have a 6th sense about certain things. I'm wondering if he knows something we don't. Every time you ask him if he's having a little brother he replies, "sister." I don't know kid, the sonogram pictures are pretty convincing. Either your having a brother, or your little sister has a p*nis. While we're on the topic of penises... remember those words that Nolen is having a little trouble with (frog, clock...) Well Saturday we found ourselves in a quaint little boutique. Light music playing in the background, shoppers admiring all the cuteness in the store. Nolen begins yelling (loudly) "CO*K, CO*K, CO*K..." Oh dear lord, at this point people are staring. Then I realize what's going on, he's spotted a large CLOCK hanging on the wall. Trying to talk (yell) as loudly as he had, I proudly announce, "Yes buddy, that is a CLOCK!"

The talk of an 'almost' 2 year old

2012-01-14T11:02:00.001-08:00

(Nolen decided 2 sleeves were overrated.)

It seems like everyday Nolen is coming up with some new words. Pointing, naming, counting... he's slowly figuring out this big world. There's a couple of words that still need a little practice. I can tell what he's trying to say, but it's coming out a little differently. We'll need to get these polished up before he goes to preschool in the fall.

Examples:

CLOCK: pronounced "Co*k"

FROG: pronounced "Fu*k" :(

Astor: pronounced "ASSter"

Daddy: pronounced "Tim" seriously. After a time out we always make Nolen say sorry. The other day we said "Nolen, you need to say sorry to Daddy." Nolen: "Sorry Tim"

17 weeks

2012-01-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing we're quick at, it's picking names (well making babies AND picking names.) We had it narrowed down before we even knew little bean was a boy. Hudson is proving to be a kung-foo fighter just like his big brother. Yesterday after a cup of coffee and some juice, he bounced around the rest of the day. Pretty strong movements considering he's only the size of a sweet potato!

I. LOVE. being. pregnant.

Ducky

2012-01-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

Ducky is our pacifier. A Wub-a-nub to be exact. For all you non-mommies, it's simply a pacifier attached to a cute little animal, in our case a duck. Around 6-7 months Nolen started loving this thing. Needing it to fall asleep for naps and night. It's been a necessity ever since. So much so, when we went to Italy we purchased a back up ducky in case we lost one in our travels. As a result we now need 2 duckies. sigh
Well there comes a time when everything has to go. Bottles at 12 months, pacis at 2. We're getting uncomfortably close to the cut-off and I'm not liking it. That's a battle I'm just not ready for, really whats the harm. I think we'll just hold off a couple of more months. Don't' be alarmed if you run into 20 year-old Nolen still rocking a "duckie."

What a year 2011

2012-01-01T04:45:00.000-08:00

2011 was a year full of growing, fun, and change. Can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us! Here's a quick recap of 2011:

January: Snow day in Augusta, GA. Something we didn't have in Florida!

February: Happy 1st birthday little man!

March: Look who's walking!

April: Happy Easter, Spring break visiting Orlando!

May: Best news ever...guess who's moving back to Florida, YIPPEE!

June: Nolen explores Paris and Italy

July: Loving this Orlando Place, 1st time (of many) to Disney!

August: One of our daily playmates with my Bff Joshua.

September: Go Noles, it's football season.

October: Look "Whoo" went trick-or-treating for the 1st time.

Novemeber: Superstar, in Parenting magazine.

Found out I'm going to be a BIG brother!

December: waiting for Santa on Christmas eve.

It's a...

2011-12-27T06:53:00.001-08:00

BOY! Nolen is having a little brother!!! I'm stoked for little man to have a little brother to hang out with. Now let the shopping and nursery decorating begin! We've got the name...but you'll have to wait a little longer to hear :) I can't believe how much these 3D pictures look like Nolens!

Merry Christmas from the Astor's

2011-12-22T09:20:00.001-08:00

I wanted to be sure everyone received our card before sharing it on here. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-16T07:23:00.001-08:00

Not such a fan of Santa this year, teary eyes :(

It's snowing (or soaping) in Celebration!

Soap angels!!!

Hollywood Studios Osborn lights, our own personal photographer.

Whole different ball game this time!

2011-12-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

This time around is a whole new ballgame, I'm talking about pregnancy with a toddler running around. When your pregnant you have the joy of a little something called the 1st trimester. A trimester full of exhaustion, nausea, food aversions, and lots of other fun things! With Nolen, these dreadful weeks lined up conveniently with summer vacation, allowing me to sleep the days away. With this little peanut the timing wasn't as nice, it was right smack dab in the beginning of the school year. Exhaustion is an understatement. I've managed to keep my eyes open at school, but am ready for bed by 4pm. The same time that Nolen is ready to run and play with his Mommie!

I'd had to get creative with our play. I've had to come up with laying down games. We have one where I sit (lay) on one side of the glass door, as he sits on the other. We send a piece of mail flying under the door back and forth (who knew mail could be so funny!)

I also like to play a little game called bridge. I lay across the carpet and pretend to be a bridge. Nolen has to walk across my back and try not to fall into the "water."

Nolen and I will both be grateful for the second trimester burst of energy!

Painting with a 1 year old

2011-12-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

A little painting on paper...

A little painting on Nolen...

"Am I allowed to do this?"

I LOVE painting...

Wooohooo!

Time for bath...

13 weeks with #2

2011-12-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

Updates on little bean #2...Growing right along, measuring right on track. I can remember when I had the NT Scan with Nolen, he was bouncing off the walls. This little one decided to sleep, not moving once. I had to ask if everything was okay because I wasn't use to such a calm ultrasound. The nurse assured me little bean was just sound asleep. Another difference is my belly. I guess things are all loosened up from last time, because it just all kind of pops back out, immediately.

I've finally been able to get some belly shots for you. Please ignore my beauty, it's been a long few months.

11 Weeks:

13 weeks: (13 weeks with Nolen)

Here's a picture of our little snoozer at 11 weeks. It's looking like mommies inutiton might be right, and Nolen may be having a brother. Although it's still to early to tell for sure, "All babies at nubs at 11 weeks," the doctor insisted. I'm going with boy, or else my daughter has a ding dong. We'll find out December 27th for sure! What are your guesses?

Nolen has some news...

2011-11-15T14:58:00.000-08:00

GQ model, Vogue

2011-11-14T15:48:00.001-08:00

A few months ago little man got to do a photo shoot with Parenting magazine. His December issue just came out, check out the cuteness on page 108!!!

Look whoo went trick or treating...

2011-10-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

2011-10-30T15:41:00.001-07:00

Someone found the Halloween candy...

I heart fall

2011-10-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

Even though we're though the first year of little mans life, we're still having firsts, and I love it! Yes, we got to take him to the pumpkin patch last year, but this is the first year that he knew he was at the pumpkin patch. He even picked out his own mini, Nolen pumpkin. He picked it up so he could throw it, but that's beside the point...