JenandKeith: Playing Catch Up!

School started and I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So needless to say, the blog gets the shaft. I switched classrooms, grade levels, and the subjects I teach this year. On top of being 5 months pregnant when school started, I'd say I'm doing good just to get through the day to day. I'm now teaching 3rd grade, self contained, which means I am now responsible for every subject. For the last 4 years I've taught 4th grade Math only. So this is a BIG shock to the ole system. Planning, grading, and prepping for all subjects every day is a bit overwhelming. I'm the one who wanted the change and in the long run I'm sure it will be great, but damn it's a ton of work!

So I'm going to catch you up on our lives with a few pictures.

We'll start with Vince.

He's getting so big. I just sit and look at him and listen to him talk in complete sentences and I can't believe he is at this point already! My baby boy is long gone. Now he's my little man. Kind of makes me sad sometimes. Maybe it's just the stupid pregnancy hormones. :)

He made the transition to his big boy bed and room a couple of weeks ago and I must say it was much easier than I anticipated. He loves it! I'm sure he's much more comfortable now than in his crib. He sleeps like a rock and hardly moves and in the crib he was constantly waking up in the middle of the night. I was really apprehensive the first night but he went down so easily. He whined a little but before we knew it he was out. The next couple of nights were perfect. Too perfect. I knew deep down that this was just too good to be true. And right when I got comfortable with it all, we had our first meltdown. Over water. That got stuck between his headboard and the mattress. He screamed like he was being beaten. Keith and I ran in to see what was going on and he was just crying, "Water, water, water." We finally figured out what he was talking about, got his water out, and put him back under the covers with his water, but it was just too late. He couldn't get over it and proceeded to cry and cry and cry. So Keith got him out of bed and he fell asleep in our bed with us. We moved him once he was asleep and he was fine. I figured the next night would be awful but he ended up being fine. We really haven't had any problems since then. Although tonight we might. He's super cranky.

We did have a meltdown tonight. He interrupted my blog time crying. :) He wouldn't eat dinner so he was hungry. We got up and ate cheerios, cheese, crackers, and yogurt. He never eats that much at a time. He is super picky with his food these days and it's driving me crazy. Forget about eating dinner. He might eat one thing off his plate and not even all of it. He won't try anything new for us either. He went through a little growth spurt a couple of months ago and would eat everything but now he's back to being Mr. Picky.

Here are some pictures I took tonight of brushing our teeth and getting in bed. This was before the meltdown.

Here are some more pics I've taken of him with my phone. Most of them are from the summer but they need to be on here too so here they are. :)

Brady, Cirstyn, and Angelina came to hang out with us one night. This is where these two hoodlums ended up. Eating popcorn in my bed! :)

Someone was super sleepy!

We took this one after church one day. It's one of my favorites.

I walked into his room one morning and found him like this. So cute!

Took this one a couple of days ago. He loves his new Rangers hat. His Longhorn hat is too small now so we had to get him something else. :) I like it better because navy goes much better with clothes than burnt orange. Sorry all you Longhorn fans! :)

Okay, now on to Maddox and I. I turned 25 weeks yesterday and I feel and look like I'm 30 weeks already. Last week I wasn't swelling at all but this week and today, I can feel it beginning. :( I'm not a happy camper. My shoes are already starting to feel tight. My carpal tunnel came back with a vengeance but mom looked up some trigger points in my body to help with it and it seems to be working most of the time. I rub my trigger points which are in my back and arm before I go to bed and I can usually get through the night without my arms and hands falling asleep which is awesome!! I still get up to pee every couple of hours but I can handle that. Just this last week, my stomach feels like it's stretched to the max. I've been putting lotion on it but it doesn't seem to be helping any. I am reminded every day that I just don't like being pregnant. But it's only for 14 more weeks and the end result is the best ever so I will survive. :) Whining the whole way, but I will survive. Keith has been really great this time around. Not that he wasn't last time but this time we have another child to care for. It hurts me to lift him or give him a bath right now so Keith has taken over in this area pretty much full time. He doesn't complain though and I love him for it. I already feel useless as it is. But by the time I've run around at school all day, when I get home, I'm done. We've been eating some interesting crappy things for dinner that I wouldn't normally cook but at this point, it's just a get something together quick mentality. And I'm okay with that. As is Keith. It's funny how women forget all the misery that goes along with being pregnant. God sure is tricky! :)

Maddox is the size of a rutabaga right now. I can't even picture what that looks like in my head but last week was an ear of corn so a rutabaga must be bigger than that. I think it's funny how from the beginning, babies are compared to food. At my last appointment I had been having contractions pretty much all day so they monitored me and checked my cervix to make sure everything was ok. It was but the whole time we were on the monitor, this little one was kicking like crazy and had the hiccups. His heart rate was pretty high the whole time too but they weren't worried about it so neither am I. Sometimes I feel him move often and sometimes I don't feel much at all. It's kind of disconcerting. And then sometimes it feels like he grabs onto an organ and won't let go. He hurts worse than Vince did. Little toot! I have a feeling he's not going to be as laid back as Vince was. And that's ok. He is his own person and I don't want to compare them to each other too much. Kind of hard to do since they are both boys.

Mom came into town a couple of weeks ago and we went baby clothes shopping. Just for a few things. :) Mom bought him his coming home outfit which is baby blue and white with an elephant on it. I love it! She also bought some other things from Carters that I had been wanting. His room will be baby blue, gray, and white. I love those colors together. Blue is very soothing to me. We're keeping all the furniture in the room and the giraffe that Grams got Vince but everything else is changing. All of Vince's wall hangings are in his new room which leaves pretty much nothing on the wall in Maddox's room. My friend Emily gave us an armoire (sp) and a night stand that we love that are in his room. They don't match the other brown colors but we don't care. They are great pieces of furniture. Today I switched out Vince's animal pictures that mom made, for Maddox's initials. We will put the pics that mom made Vince in his scrapbook.

We're working slowly on the rest. I don't have time to dwell on this one's room like I did with Vince's. I'm pretty sure Vince's room was almost done by this point when I was pregnant with him. Oh well. It'll get there.

Here are some pics of the belly. One is 21 weeks and the other is 24 weeks. I have some more but I can't locate them on my computer so these will have to do.