Ultrasound

Dear Baby-
Here are the results of your first photo shoot. Looking good already! Everything went extremely well at our first appointment and your heart is beating strongly at 170 BPM. Your Daddy and I are in love. Again.

Love,

Mom

Emotional

Dearest Baby,
Tomorrow I will be six weeks pregnant. When I was six weeks pregnant with your brother, we had our first ultrasound and glimpse at him. This time around, I won't be going to the doctor for another three weeks and I am not sure when we will "see" you for the first time. This part of pregnancy is full of worry and I want to see you. My baby. Growing inside me healthy and happy. I have been feeling pretty lousy and tired, so I know that everything is going along how it should be, but I still want that reassurance that the doctors office brings. I have also been really emotional and have felt a roller coaster ride of feelings the past couple weeks. As a family unit, we have a lot of "things" going on with us right now and so I am sure my crazy hormones aren't helping keep us on an even keel.
Luckily, your brother and I are going home to Chicago for a nice long visit on Friday. I am sure the time will fly by and then I will be home for our next checkup. I can't wait to tell the Grandparents about your arrival. I can't wait to tell everyone, but we are waiting for a little while to spread the news. In the mean time, keep doing what your doing. Dig deep and make a nice cozy home for yourself!
I love you,
Mom

Baby B2

Dearest Baby-
It is the day after we found out that we are expecting you. Your Daddy, Owen (your big brother), and I are beyond thrilled to be expanding our family. When I was expecting your brother, I wrote a series of letters to him to record how much he was loved. I intend to do the same with you. You are loved. I know that this pregnancy is going to be different from the first and that is only natural. To be honest, I feel better prepared and less anxious for the pregnancy part. But parenting two children will be a whole different ballgame and another challenge in our lives. Let's hope your ole Mom and Dad are up for it!
Right, now I am feeling pretty good. We are all getting over a family "funk" that we caught during the holidays, so I am not sure if what I am feeling is you or just the tail end of a nasty cold. Today I went to the doctor to have a confirmation blood test and they told me your due is September 20, 2010. What a beautiful way to spend next fall! Your big brother will be almost two years old when you arrive. We hope and pray that you all will be close enough to grow up as best friends. I have already been dreaming of you and what you will become. We don't have any doctor appointments until next month and we aren't spreading the word of your arrival for a couple months. So we have you all to ourselves! In a few weeks, we are going to visit your Grandparents in Chicago so we will tell them face to face. They will be thrilled and will be almost as anxious for your arrival as we are. Your cousin Wilkin is due to be born this summer, so there will be a whole lotta baby going on! I promise to write soon, as I have time or updates to share with you. Sleep well, my baby. I love you.
Mom

Temporary Goodbye

I have been a terrible blogger of late. Unfortunately, our hearts are very heavy right now and we have some family issues that need to take top priority in our lives. Between my Father-In-Law's recent diagnosis of terminal cancer, the disappointment of trying & failing to conceive Baby B2, the holidays, and all of my other real life commitments, I hope you can understand that something has got to give. And the truth is, no matter how much I want to blog so I can share with everyone what's happening in our lives, I just can't. It's too difficult and heartbreaking to put on paper. The biggest lesson I am learning right now, is that each day is a blessing. We cannot take anything or anyone for granted. Please don't be worried about us, I know we have the strength to get through this rough patch as a family. I believe that the Lord doesn't give us more than we can handle and we will survive this test of faith. Until then, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

1 Year Stats

Quick recap of Owen's checkup:
Weight= 23 Pounds 10 Oz (6oth %)
Height=28.5 Inches (20th %)
Head= 47 Cm (70th%)
All is healthy and well. He did however, have 5 SHOTS and 2 Finger Pricks. It.was.awful. I mean, seriously sad and pitiful. I even cried. I have a lot to report about the weekend and the checkup, but it's going to have to wait until tomorrow. This mama's had a long day and the week has just begun. Night Night blogging friends!

Party Prep

Crap! Another day without a post. I guess I sorta set myself up for failure in this challenge by picking the busiest month of the year (for us) to try this out. Come to think of it, I think I set myself of failure a lot in my life in general. But that's a whole other post, I suppose!
Not much has been going on here except getting ready for Owen's first birthday party this weekend. I spent yesterday and will work all day today on getting the house cleaned. It's a lot of work since it has been neglected for a while now! My Dad, Ross, Amber, my Grandma, and my sister-in-law Kristi will all arrive at various times tomorrow. So I have tons to accomplish before noon on Friday. But I have my list and now I just have to dig deep to find the motivation to get going!
Not much else is going on here except that Owen is starting to move around more and we found him sitting up in the crib this morning! I wish we had time to snap a picture. More tomorrow once the cleaning is done and the guests have arrived....

A Year In Pictures

Ocotber 10, 2008: One Month:

Two Months:

Three Months:

Four Months:

Five Months:

Six Months:

Seven Months:

Eight Months:

Nine Month Checkup:

Ten Months:

Eleven Months:

One Year Later:

Weekend Update

Shoot, I already broke my promise to myself by not updating this weekend. I will just have to try harder this week. This weekend was really busy! Every time I thought about blogging something came up to distract me. The weekend started off right, with dinner at one of our favorite Mexican places with Missy & Wes. We haven't seen them in a while and it was good to catch up. Lately, I feel like I have been a little disconnected with some of our friends. Especially those without children. We used to be part of a group that went out every Friday night. I have so many memories of the fun times and beach trips. But truth be told, I wouldn't change anything about our lifestyle right now. Our growing family has only made life more fun and exciting. But we all need our friends (and sometimes the adult beverages that come with them) and we had a blast hanging out Friday night.

On Saturday morning, I walked in the Women's Only 5K for Breast Cancer. A group from church got together (thanks to Emily and Mel for organizing) and it was awesome! Of course, I only walked, but I still had a great time. This cause has a special place in my heart. Not only do I have boobs, but my Aunt Pat died from this disease. She was only 43. Every step I took reminded me of how much I miss her. It also reminded me of how far we have come (she died in 1997) and how much further we need to go to find a cure. Hopefully it will happen in my lifetime!

After the walk, I raced home to get ready for my nephews football game. They were playing at noon in Burlington. We quickly packed up everything needed and made it there a few seconds after kick off. Jacob (my nephew) is in the 6th grade and now his football games are a lot more competitive. The game was hot and sunny which did nothing to help my killer headache which started during the walk. I spent most of the afternoon fighting off nausea and laying down in the shade instead enjoying time with the fam. Once the game was over, the whole family went back to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday. We had a great lunch, watched football, the kids went swimming, and had birthday cake. It was a great day, but I was worn out afterwards. I think I went to sleep before Owen did that night!

On Sunday, we were up early again. This time, I had to be a church early to help collect for our upcoming Rummage Sale. We are collecting items every Sunday in October for the sale in November. I had shift duty this weekend since I already know we won't be at church the middle two Sundays in October. After church, I had a drop off all the collected items to a storage unit that we are using to house the items until the sale. Once that was done, I headed home to have some lunch and take a wee nap. When Owen woke up from his nap, we decided to do a test run of his Halloween Costume. I am entering him in a contest which ends the 8th, so I needed some good pictures of him. Enjoy!

Growing Up

Once again I am faced with the task of cleaning out Owen's closet to make room for the next size up. Since it feels like he grew overnight, I thought I would examine the concept of what, exactly, "they grow so fast" means? I'll admit to not having a freaking clue how fast Owen was going to grow. In the first six months, it's entirely possible to blow through three completely cute and teeny wardrobes that your friends and relations have spent hundreds on. Newborn, 0-3 months (Yes, this is different than newborn, even though there's a ZERO in it and ZERO would indicate newly born baby (aka NEWBORN), yes?) and 3-6 months. Owen was wearing 3-6 months clothes at 2 months. Babies literally grow so stinking fast for the first six months that they will be busting out of their PJs in the morning that were only sort of tight the night before. This truly happened to us.
People will also give you a boatload of 0-6 month clothes. Mostly because they are so cute and teeny and irresistible. Knowing what I know now, even now I cannot resist the wee pink ruffly onesie or onesies with cute slogans such as "Captain Adorable" at Target in size newborn to give to my friends. My mom friends probably roll their eyes when they open gifts from me, but I don't care. WEE PINK ONESIE! CAPTAIN ADORABLE! SQUEE! My advice, buy a couple things you love in the smaller range, but focus buying in the 6-12 months range. Owen fit into this size at 5 months and he'll wear some items beyond 12 months. For us, it's definitely been the most versatile size in the first year. He has a lot of clothes that I wish I had been given/bought in this size instead of 3-6. After all, they're only a baby for a year, after that they turn into toddlers. And that my friends, is right around the corner for us.

Challenge

Since I have been such a craptastic blogger of late, I have issued a challenge to myself. Blog every day for the month of October. I know it will be hard to stay motivated and I am pretty sure that ya'll will be sick of me come Halloween, but this might be just what I need to get myself back in the spirit of things. Besides, Fall is an exciting time of year and we have lots planned for this month. So even if there is absolutely nothing going on with the Beales, you're gonna hear about. I know you're on the edge of your seat, but try to contain yourselves people. Wish me luck!