Drake is the kind of kid that you never really know what will come out of his mouth, and the things that do we have NO idea where he get them.

You can imagine our surprise when the other day when we told Drake that he was cute and he got a look of disgust on his face and said “Drakie not cute, Drakie is CURIOUS!” We about fell over from laughing so hard and then kept saying he was cute over and over again so he would keep saying it. We are nice parents like that!

So Happy Valentine’s day from the NOT cute but curious Drake.

For the record, I think he is cute AND curious!

Time 1:45 a.m.

We wake up to Drake crying and yelling for Daddy. Very unusual as he never gets up in the night anymore. We wonder if he is sick.

Ben goes in his room to see what’s up. I can hear them talking. All of the sudden Drake starts yelling “Tow Mater!!” over and over again.

I hear Ben go downstairs.

I go see what is going on.

Ben is frantically looking through piles of toys for Tow Mater.

I tell Ben that we can’t start getting toys for Drake in the middle of the night.

Ben comes back up and tells Drake that Tow Mater is sleeping. Drake starts yelling for “Holly Shiftwell!!”

Ben says we will get her tomorrow and to go to sleep.

As he leaves the room “Thomas!!” is what Drake is yelling over and over.

Meanwhile, I’m laying in bed laughing hysterically over what little boys must dream about.

The best part is when Drake woke up the next morning the first thing he said was “I go look for Holly Shiftwell now”

I LOVE this age!!

I’m not sure how 32 weeks have come and gone so fast leaving me with only about 7 more weeks (I will be 33 weeks on Thursday) until I meet my newest son. I’m excited to see what he looks like. For some reason, I keep picturing a spitting image of Drake as a newborn, so we will see if I’m right.

This pregnancy has been a rollercoaster and has definitely been harder than my pregnancy with Drake. I’ve been dealing with awful reflux that nothing seemed to help. Thankfully my OB put me on Prilosec on Thursday and I have seen some big improvements since then.

I’ve also been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. I started to get them pretty regularly around 26 weeks, they have slowly increased in intensity and are usually strong enough now to make me stop what I’m doing.

I’ve been nesting like crazy and feel like my house is almost ready for the baby. I tend to go a little bit crazy when I clean and over-do it. Both Ben and my Mom have been very vocal about the fact that they want me to slow down and take it easy. I’ve been trying, but that is easier said than done for a person like me!

Little Brother is a pretty active baby so I’ve been enjoying feeling his kicks, rolls, and other crazy movements. I’m still finding it hard to believe that he will be here so soon!

We are already so in love with our little guy and can’t wait to meet him. I’m so looking forward to the moment that Drake gets to meet his brother for the 1st time. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

I thought I would leave you with a belly comparison picture. It looks like the further along I get the more I am carrying the same. I think my belly might be a little more out front this time, but otherwise it looks pretty much the same. Also? I look SO young in my picture with Drake!!

Hello there blog friends, it has been awhile. Sorry for the lack post lately. I don’t even have a good excuse except for the fact that I’ve been a bit lazy lately.

Anyways, here is a quick rundown of what is going on with us.

• I”m almost 33 weeks. I reached the point last night where all nervousness of having a 2nd baby has been erased because I’m thinking it is going to be so much better to have an outside baby (when the time is right) than suffer anymore of these increasingly annoying, uncomfortable, and down right miserable pregnancy symptoms.  I will update more on the pregnancy in a post this week.
• I joined the world of iPhone users. I’m in love. What are your favorite apps?
• Drake has been coming up with some pretty witty things to say lately. One of my favorites being a conversation we had in the car on the way to Target. It went something like this:

Me-Drake put your hat on.

Drake-No

Me- You have to put your hat on before we get to Target, it is really cold out.

Drake-No, it’s my head.

Yes, he truly is my son as this is so something I would say.

• Ben and I have had TWO nights out in the past week.  And both time Drakes stayed overnight with one of the sets of Grandparents. It has been refreshing and much-needed.  Here is a little proof that we actually went out.
• I threw a surprise 30th Birthday Party for Ben 2 weeks ago. It was awesome, he was surprised, and I forgot to take pictures
• Be looking out for pictures of Drake with a new haircut. I finally bit the bullet and took my shaggy little guy for a cut (his sideburns were starting to curl up) he hated it, but looks so much better! He also looks like he is four now!

So those are the highlights of the past couple of weeks. I will be back later this week with a pregnancy update, pictures of Drake and maybe even a heartfelt blog post.

I formula fed Drake and I plan to do the same with his little brother.

Here are some things I want you to know about my experience formula feeding:

• Formula works for our family. I never had a desire to breastfeed so formula feeding was an easy choice for me.
• I have never felt guilt over my choice. This has made it easy to back up my choice a well as allow me to really enjoying feeding my son.
• I know that breast milk is best. I’ve done my research. I also know if you are not fully committed to breastfeeding formula is just as good.
•  I have a OB, family physician, pediatrician, family, and friends who all support my choice, making formula feeding enjoyable and stress-free.
• I loved watching Drake take a bottle from Ben or his grandparents. I loved how they felt included in the feeding process and the special time it gave them with our little guy.
• I am proud of my choice and never try to hide the fact that I did not breastfeed. I hope that by being open and honest about my choice I can help another woman let go of her guilt of giving her baby formula.
• I think breastfeeding is great. I have no opposition to it and fully support any mother who does it.  I do not think it is gross or unnatural. I think it is the right choice for many women, just not myself.

I will leave you with this- a little something I wrote in this post right after Drake was born.

I did not write this post to be all “Pro Formula”. I wrote this because whether you are nursing your child at a restaurant or you are shaking up a bottle of formula at the mall, we are all mothers. Mothers who are feeding our babies the best way we know how to. We are mothers that love our babies…and that is what is important.

Sometimes you need a picture like this

To remind you how sweet your boy can be.

Especially when has colored on your walls with markers twice in less than 12 hours.

See NCAA® Division I Women’sBasketball action at Wells Fargo Arena March 24 & 26

The road to the FinalFour continues on Des Moines!The Regional Finals will be held March 24 & 26, 2012 at Wells Fargo Arena.This marks the first time Des Moineshas hosted an NCAA Women’s Basketball event since 2008 when it hosted the NCAAWomen’s Basketball First and Second Rounds. The regional champion will advanceto the 2012 NCAA® Women’s Final Four® in Denver, Colorado.Pairings for the Des Moines Regional will be announced Monday, March 12, at 6p.m., Central time on ESPN.

Tickets are now onsale. Prices are $45.00 (adult) and $42.00 (student/senior) forsideline seating and $25.00 (adult) and $22.00(student/senior) for end zoneseating. Only all-session tickets are available. All-session passesinclude one session Saturday at 11 a.m. and one session Monday at 6 p.m.,a total of three games.

Purchase tickets by visitingncaa.com/tickets, visiting the Wells Fargo Arena ticket office, or bycalling 866-55-DAHLS.

Groups of 10+ receive $5 off each ticket price. For more information contact Jason Evans at jevans@iowaeventscenter.comor call 515-564-8146.

Please note- I did not receive any compensation for this blog post.

I’m linking up with Blair over at Heir to Blair today for a little Friday Brain Dumping!

• I finally joined the craze and I’m reading the Hunger Games. I’m done with the first book and making good progress in the second book.  I need to finish this series ASAP so I can start paying attention to Drake again!
• 10 weeks left of this pregnancy. For some reason this pregnancy has been much more difficult than with Drake.  I remember when I hit the 30 week mark with Drake I had a serious freak-out about how close it was getting, this time I practically jumped around knowing this would all be over soon and I can meet my sweet new boy.
• I cleaned out my closet yesterday, like really cleaned it out. It felt great and also got me all excited to wear my non-maternity outfits again. I’m planning on starting Weight Watchers as soon as the little guy is born. Can’t wait!
• Whenever Kelly Clarkson’s Mr. Know It All comes on Drake wants to dance with me. He calls it “Mommy and Drakie’s song” and will dance with his head on my shoulder. I pretty much drop anything (even reading the Hunger Games) for a moment like that.
• I organized and redecorated my laundry room last weekend. I’m in love. Pictures to come soon, but think yellow walls with touches of aqua accent pieces and lots of cool subway art on the walls.
• I went to couponing class last night with my neighbor. It was interesting and I learned a lot, but also think it could become a HUGE time suck. I think I will take bits and pieces of what I learned and apply to our life. I DO know that I will be getting lots of use out of this Totally Target Blog.

Apparently Drake does not love Target as much as his Momma does.

No, he is not sleeping, just expressing his extreme frustration at the time I’m taking to look at the clearance kid clothes.

 Afterall, there are aisles of trains and cars waiting for him.

Also? My husband did an amazing job capturing this photo with his cell camera. LOVE IT!

Edited to add

After I published this post I sent this Tweet to Target:

And got this Tweet back from them:

My love for Target has just grown (even though I’m not sure that is possible) and I guarantee you that Drake’s thoughts of Target will be changing real soon when he gets to pick out something special for himself. .

Good to know that some companies still care about the customer. It is the little details that show they care, and Target just did the PERFECT little thing. I’m happy, Drake will be happy, and they got me talking about them and their awesomeness on my blog. A win for everybody!

Thanks Target!

Last night I had a truly magical moment- I experienced the love of a big brother towards his little brother for the first time.

Ben has this app download on his iPhone that allows you to use the microphone on the phone to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. It is an inexpensive app that works about 50 percent of the time. Anyways, last night I decided to try it out. I plugged the headphones in and got the phone situated on my belly. Drake saw what I was doing and wanted in on the action so I gave him one of the earpieces. The baby was kicking like crazy and that was the only sound we were hearing.

Drake heard the sound and thought his brother was talking to him.

“What Baby?” he said as though his brother just told him something.

“I tell you something…Nana and Papa” he tells his baby brother.

He listens a bit more and says “Thanks for the present Baby” (We have been talking about how Drake will be bringing a present for the baby to the hospital and the baby will have a present at the hospital for Drake)

At this point I have tears streaming down my face, thinking it could not get any better.

Drake seemed to have enough and gave the headphones back and then quickly turned around and said “I talk to baby again”

He put the earpiece back in and listened to his brother. “I play trains and I share” he tells his brother.

Again he pauses to listen and looks up at me with concern in his eyes ” Baby is sad” he says before he runs away. A second later he reappears with one of his much-loved blankets and says “Baby have blankie”

This is what make parenthood special, I think as I lock eyes with Ben who has been watching this whole exchange. 

Brothers.

These 2 boys already have a special bond that makes my heart melt and tears fall.

In that moment all my fears of being a mother to 2 fall away as I think of what a blessing my boys are to me and all of the things that are to come…as a family of 4.

* To make things even cuter Drake was not calling his little brother ‘Baby’ but rather by the name we picked out for him. The name I’m keeping secret on this blog until his arrival.