Tick-O-Teat!!!

Yup, that's how Tegan says it now. It was TOO cute listening to him practice (when prompted, of course). Tonight Brendan/Daddy took Tegan out trick-or-treating with our 2 neighbors Zach (4) and Alex (2 1/2) and their dad Scott. Us moms stayed home to hand out the candy... because we don't trust the kids to take their fair share (2 or 3 pieces)... at least that was my reasoning. Tegan decided (with our help) to dress-up as a bicyclist. He wore his yellow jersey (bought for him by Grandma Eastwood even before his arrival) and Brendan's Discovery team cycling hat. He also had his helmet on for a while, but not too long. Needless to say the "costume" was a hit and Brendan got several "I knew he'd be a biker" comments (or something along those lines) :) Hahaha!

The past week and a half or so have brought some exciting changes for us. As I posted last week, we found out the Baby Moore 2009 is actually Baby BOY Moore. Brendan is very excited and, even though I was rootin' for a girl to dress-up and all that, I'm SUPER excited for Tegan to have a little brother who is so close in age to him. Our neighbors (mentioned above) are just about the same age difference as T will be with his brother and they are such good buddies!!! Now we just have to think of a name as all the names we had were for a girl.

Additionally, Tegan has been sleeping marvelously and only been waking up 1 time a night... if at all! This has been a HUGE answer to prayers as I'm the one who gets up with him in the night if/when he wakes up because Brendan "doesn't hear Tegan crying/calling out." We laugh, because T has recognized that Mommy is the one who will come to his "rescue" so whenever he wakes up enough to call out all we hear is "Mo-om. Mo-o-om-my..." Sometimes I'll lay there and hope Brendan will take a turn, but usually it still ends up being me and my (of course) very full bladder and big belly rocking T for a few minutes to re-relax him. I really still hope that it's just the missing paci that wakes him up and not bad dreams... I know how much they have bothered me all my life (bad dreams that is.)

I'm trying to think of what else is "new" but there really isn't. Tomorrow will bring a playdate with some of my coworkers' kiddos around T's age and then we'll head down to G'ma and G'pa Moore's for the remainder of the weekend as we haven't been there in a month or longer.

One more "news" item that I thought of. I got the results of my 20 week glucose test and they came back in the "normal" range, so that's great. I still have a gut feeling that I'll develop GD but I'm fine with having that gut feeling be wrong too. :)

Here are a few pics from the past week or so... T's OBSESSED with the Little Einstein's. They are on at 7am, so perfect time for shortly before or after he wakes ups. He'll either sit on the couch or... well... right in front of the TV and just get all excited about whatever their "mission" is for the day. It's especially exciting when there are choo-choo's on Einstein's; that means his TWO favorite things! There's even an episode on occasionally with choo-choos AND ice cream. You should see the energy come out of the kid when that episode is on :) HA!!!

Hope this finds all happy and healthy!!!Love to all!

~j

Week 20 Update

Well, this week marked 20 weeks for my pregnancy... YAY! I'm 1/2 way there. Yesterday I had my 20 week check-up and the follow-up to my ultrasound and here's what I learned:
- My weight gain is good (I've gained about 10-11 pounds so far)
- I'm measuring totally normal for this point in pregnancy
- Baby's heart rate is 140bpm, so much lower than T was at this point. Brendan is super excited as he says that Baby will be ready for biking immediately. HA! :)

I also had my first non-fasting glucose test yesterday. Because I had gestational diabetes with Tegan they started testing me for GD this time at 20 weeks. I'll be tested every 4 weeks until 28 weeks. If at 28 weeks I'm still testing OK I'll be considered free and clear of Gestational Diabetes this time.

Last is news on the ultrasound. Just about everything looked good. Baby is very much a boy, we saw all his "parts" though we didn't get a print-out of them, which I'm fine with. It's not like you take a pic of it when they are born to prove it then. HA! The heart and brain and most other organs look great. The only thing that showed up was that the left (I think) kidney was slightly enlarged, so I'll go back for a follow-up ultrasound at 27 weeks to see if it's back to a normal size. They said this is super common among boys so they weren't surprised at all when I told them that the US revealed it's a boy...
OK, all for now. We're off to go play choo-choo's at Barnes and Noble. Happy Friday!
Love to all
~j

Ultrasound Images :)

I've got my 20 week appointment today, so I'll update this evening with stats on Baby Boy Moore and also with Tegan's latest news and events :) Love to all!

~j

4 1/2 Months 'Til Another Wild BOY Arrives

Mamas, Papas, Bikes & Choo Choos

Ok, ok... sorry to all my disgruntled blog readers who have been anxiously (and not so patiently) awaiting a post for nearly 2 weeks... we've been busy and when we haven't been busy we've been resting. I don't know if it's just this pregnancy and or if it's from being pregnancy and being tired from being a mom (i.e. waking up to find the paci at 3 am) or what, but I've been SOOOO tired this pregnancy. UGH! BTW... before you whine about no belly pics, here are 2:

7 Weeks

19 Weeks

So what have we been up to these past 2 weeks? Well, for me it's basically been school/work and trying to catch-up on sleep while being a mommy. I've also gotten 2 girls' trips in on the weekends. A week ago I went to Milwaukee, WI with my mother-in-law and 2 sisters-in-law to see the Cirque du Soleil show Saltimbanco. I have to be honest... after seeing Cirque at the Wynn hotel in Vegas this one didn't really compare, but being that it was a traveling show it was still really neat. However, I spent the whole weekend wondering what T was doing at each moment and missing him even though I had been so excited to get away. That Saturday I tried to sleep in, but instead couldn't sleep past 6:30am. On Sunday I woke up feeling VERY ill, though I did sleep until 8ish, but then got sick before heading back home. :( Oh well... it WAS nice spending time with the extended family, so that was good.

This past weekend I made the trip down/across 94 East again, but this time it was to go to Madison with some of my former roommates for another girls weekend. I'll have to be honest and say that had I not been pregnant I probably would have had a bit more fun, but I still enjoyed myself AND got some good rest in (Saturday night... was up at 6:30 again Saturday morning). I also got to see my great friends Mackenzie and Jessica, whom I haven't seen since February or March!!!

In the time that I was gone Tegan had QUITE an exciting few weekends. On the Friday that I went to Milwaukee Tegan and Papa Eastwood went to the Model Train Museum in St. Paul. From what I heard it was a HUGE hit and Papa nearly had to drag Tegan away. BUT, not without getting a souvenir T-shirt first. :) I only wish they had taken a camera. The following day was Saturday (Oct 5) and T spent it with Aunt Amanda and several of her friends at a local apple orchard. I have to laugh because in most of the pics I've seen T has the most unenthusiastic expression on his face, but Auntie A assures me that T had a blast. :)

Sunday was a rainy day (I think) so T spent it at home with G'Ma and G'Pa Eastwood... they did try to do church, but true to form, T didn't want to be in the nursery (like he's been doing at our church the past several Sundays) so he spent it in the entryway/area with Mama Eastwood until service was done.

Tegan spent this past weekend with Daddy in Rochester (at Grandma and Grandpa Moore's house). Daddy tells me that they spent tons of time playing with toys that once were his and reading books (that once were his) and... you get the picture. Some great bonding time for T and Daddy. Then on Sunday, after an episode of Little Einsteins (complete with a plot including ice cream and trains) AND an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine, the boys (Daddy and Tegan) came home and went for a nice long bike-ride to a park several miles away and up a hill... however, upon arriving at the park Daddy found Tegan only had 1 shoe on and the other was no where to be found. Apparently the little man decided he should squeeze it out of the "door" of the Burley somewhere along the ride and despite retracing their steps/pedal strokes the shoe was gone for good. I guess that's what we get for buying him camouflage "crocs". ;)

I guess that pretty much sums-up the recent weeks. Included in those weeks but not mentioned yet was a trip up for dinner from "Grama" and Papa Moore... we all ate dinner together and then the boys assembled the remainder of the bunk beds for Tegan's future big-boy room. Tegan, of course, lent a hand :) That night also welcomed the handmade maple train table from Grandpa Moore. THANK YOU!! That table has been the biggest hit at our house and gets used DAILY! :)

Tegan and his G.I. Joe action figure "Quick Kick" :) (can you guess who got that for him???)

All for now... I'm gonna go spend some time with my honey (Brendan). Love to all!

~j (and a SUPER active baby)

Update Tonight :) I promise

Schoo-Schoos

Well, those are one of Tegan's favorite things right now... you probably know them as Trains or Choo-Choo Trains :) We seriously thought that T was going to have a heart attack yesterday when we found that Thomas the Tank Engine show was on PBS while we were watching TV yesterday. Tegan seriously didn't know what to do with himself he was just SO excited. It was TOO funny to see.

Tonight we decided to make it a "night-out" for the family so we took T out for his first trip to...... Chucky Cheese's! Whoa! Arcade game central... but for little kids. It was nice to see very few violent games :) Tegan's favorites were the ones that he could drive, one even took your picture for you while you were riding it, so I'll have to scan in that pic... it was cute. We also had pizza, so that was fun. I was a proud Mama being that T was the only kid I saw there who ate the veggies on his pizza!

After Chucky Cheese's we went shoe shopping for Daddy, though he was unsuccessful in his search for new running shoes (that he liked). Next we were off to Barnes & Noble to play at the train table in the kids area. THAT was a huge hit, too!

Yesterday brought a funny experience. Tegan has a bit of an obsession with shoes, trying them on, moving them from one place to another, etc. Well, after a few minutes of not hearing much from T I went looking and this is what I found. :)

I'm trying to think of any other cute stories... OH, we went to some friends' house on Saturday for dinner and they happened to have just adopted a new kitten (they named him George). Well, Tegan took a liking to George and surprisingly George liked Tegan too. It was too cute to watch George sitting in Tegan's lap and letting T squeeze/hug him and kiss him and hold him, etc. We will get some pics soon, it's just that they were taken using our friends' camera.

Then there's a bit of a not so fun story from Saturday night. Tegan decided he needed to go up the basement stairs (at our friends' house) but he didn't want help and he wanted to go up like a big boy (not crawling) and not holding onto the railing... well, he didn't make it too far before I heard a huge crash. OH, and the stairs weren't carpeted. Well, Tegan got his first goose-egg. OH did I ever feel like a horrible mother and felt SO bad for my baby! There's some good pics of that in the pics from our friends' camera too. Needless to say, I rushed to the nearest Walgreen's to pick-up some Tylenol as I didn't think to bring any, but true to his character, T bounced back in minutes and was fine by the time I got home. He's still got a bit of a bump, but nothing bad and the bruising isn't too bad, either, much to my surprise. :)

OK, that's all I can think of for this week. All with Baby is going well. I can't remember if I posted the stats as of my appointment last week, but the heartbeat was a steady and STRONG at 152bpm and we've got a VERY active little one in there as it took a while for my midwife to get the heartbeat over the Doppler long enough to calculate the bpm. GREAT! HA!

Love to all!

~j

Some Recent Pics

OK, here are some recent pics as I'm sure you only "read" this blog for the pictures :) I'll just let you figure out what's going on on your own. Happy Fall (already?!)!!!

Thanks to Dana Schoppe for these last pics... they are from the last Buck Hill series race. :)Today I've got my 16 week pre-natal check-up, so I get to hear Baby's heartbeat again. YAY! I'm SO excited. Even though I've already felt a few little kicks the confirmation that something is still in there is always great :)

Love to all!

~j & Baby Moore 2

Pictures to Come

OK, so I've been bombarded with requests for an update, and I know it's over-due so it's my fault. I've just been so busy and never have my camera handy so I hated to update w/o pictures. I did manage to get some last night of T playing in his bucket on the driveway for one of the last times this year, but now I'm at school so I can't upload the pics til later. Regardless, here's what's been happening in the lives of T and Baby Moore '09 over the past week and a half.

Tegan is still forming "sentences" with 2 and sometimes 3 words, so that's fun to experience. He's becoming very possessive of things meaning that he knows who they belong to, especially when they are his or he WANTS them to be his. For example, a big word right now (other than "NO!:) is "Mine!". He also loves pointing out things that belong to Daddy... just so sweet.

As I mentioned before, Tegan loves books, especially ones that he can interact with. Jess, the book Tails (which I first experienced with you and Eli) is truly one of T's favorites. We read it every night at bedtime. Even though Brendan and I are SO sick of a few books (including Tails) it's SO neat to see Tegan interacting with them and knowing what's going to come next.

T's FAVORITE thing in the world right now is/are trains... he calls them "schoo-schoos." I wish I could have gone with them, but on Tuesday Brendan took T down to the railway by our old townhouse to look at the BIG trains and he said that even though T was very intimidated by the size and sound of them, he loved it. They even got to talk to one of the remote conductors/operaters and he blew the whistle for them and everything. Little Einsteins is Tegan's favorite TV show, as it's on at 7am... typical wake-up time. Apparently Tuesday's episode had trains (and ice cream) in it and Tegan was literally beside himself with excitement. He even needed to have his train book with him while watching! I wish I could have seen it... but I was showering and getting ready while B sat/played with/watched T. On Wednesday, T was SO disappointed that there were no "schoo-schoos" on "i-sties". Poor guy. HA!

As far as T goes... that's really about it... as far as I can remember at least.

Then we come to the future Baby M... things are going well in that area, as far as I'm aware. I haven't' been feeling well and have had to take my anti-nausea medication about once a day for the past week, which is a lot more than I had been for a good while there. I don't know if it's because I've just been so tired between working and not sleeping well (I've been having some CRAZY dreams and nightmares) but whatever it is, it's no fun! :( There's been a lot of something going on in there, I've definitely been feeling a lot of adjusting of the organs, tendons, etc... even the occasional kick :) I have my 16 week check-up on Monday, so I'll have more to report then, but I've had SEVERAL dreams that there are more than one kiddo in there so I've decided that I'm going to make my midwife search around and make sure there's only 1 little kid in there. As far as gender goes, I'm convinced this baby is a girl just because of all the differences in the 2 pregnancies. For example: With T I was sick (like this time) but at 16 weeks I was still not feeling good daily whereas this time I really started to feel better around 12 weeks, even though I'm feeling ucky again. Then there are the dreams... C-R-A-Z-Y! Last, for now, there are the cravings. When I was preggers with T all I wanted was sweet stuff, cookies, pancakes, cereal, bagels, ice cream and DQ Blizzards, etc. This time sweet stuff nearly gags me, it's really weird. We'll have to wait and see.

OK, that's really all for now. I'll get a belly pic soon and post pics of T when I get them uploaded. :) Love to all!
~j

Ok... It's Finally Here (the update, that is)!

So sorry for the delay in updating. I've just been busy, busy, busy with going back to work and then tired, tired, tired by the time I've got time to put my feet up and blog, so instead I relaxed. A lot has happend with T over the past 2 weeks, a lot of exciting stuff! Tegan is now putting words together to make 2 and 3 word phrases. Yay for T! Tegan also discovered how to make the "L" sound in words... mostly in "hello" but a few others that I can't think of just 'cause he's been saying "hello" non-stop for the past 3 days, I think because he likes the way it feels to make the "L" sound. HA!

OK, I'll back-up to nearly 2 weeks ago when we went to the fair. Here's the rundown of Tegan's menu at the state fair this year (a little more extensive than the breastmilk and ice cream of last year): cheese curds (though only small ones because I was scared he'd choke), soft pretzel (SO GOOD!), dippin' dots --> he hated the texture at first, then they started to melt and he realized it was ice cream, haha! What else? I think he tried one of Brendan's sweet potato fries, but like me he didn't really like them. Oh, and a few bites of Brendan's blizzard type treat from the dairy barn... SUPER healthy, as you can see. :) T also got to "drive" some of the John Deer tractors, which he L-O-V-E-D. OH, and he got to pet a mommy cow and her calf, which he got SO excited about, it was precious the innocence and excitement on his face!

Fast forward a few days and it was off to Maplelag for a weekend of bike racing (for Brendan) and fun for the whole family... Grandma and Grandpa Eastwood even joined us to see what we've been raving about for a few years. Brendan did pretty good, see his blog for a recap if you like, and all of us had a great time! I especially liked how T got to take his nap at a regular time on Sunday instead of having to stay awake and be somewhat crabby during Brendan's race. (races are at 1pm on Sundays and that's right around T's afternoon nap time, which if he doesn't get is bad news!)

Last week was my first week back at school, even though I was back at work for workshops the whole week before. I am SO ready to be a semi-stay-at-home mom. I don't know if I'm ready to do it full time, but I think working 1/2 time and staying home 1/2 time would be my ideal scenario right now... maybe next year after #2 arrives... we'll see. Transitioning back to daycare has gone well and I think T really enjoys his time with friends.

This weekend we went down to Rochester to visit Grandma and Grandpa Moore (B's parents) and, as always, had a fabulous time. It was also a great way for Brendan and I to catch up on some much needed sleep as we both took some pretty good naps both days we were there :) Much to our surprise, Tegan did NOT want to sit on or "drive" Grandpa's tractors. We think it's because Papa turned them on and they were so loud, but who knows. So no pics of T on the tractor again at Papa's house.

Well, I think that about catches you all up on everything. Pregnancy is going well and I think I'm finally breaking through the super exhausting phase of the first trimester. Clothes are very tight (pants at least) and I've gotten out the stuff I wore during my 2nd trimester with Tegan... maybe I'll even remember to take a belly pic sometime soon. :)

Love to all!

~j

Update Coming Soon!

Just wanted to quickly post that I'm sorry for the delay in posting an update. We/I have been busy with getting back to work and we were out of town for 4 days last week. I will do my best to get an update posted tonight :) Love to all!!!
~j

Big Brother!!!

Yes, you read that right. I was going to try to wait until next Monday to post, but I just can't. Tegan is going to be a big brother sometime around March 10, 2009! YAY! (If you're trying to do the math in your head, that puts me at about 3 months along.) We are so very excited! That will put the kiddos just over 2 years apart AND I won't have to go back to work until the fall after my maternity leave. Woohoo! I haven't decided if I'm going to start a separate blog to "journal" about the new pregnancy or combine the two... what do you think???

Eating cereal like a big boy.

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system, on to the reason you logged on. :) The past week has been a bit tough on me since it's the last week before I go back to work for the school year. I also think T is sensing my anxiety and sadness as he's been VERY cuddly. We have been able to do a few extra fun things, though, to make the end of the summer be extra special. (And it's also the last summer T will have me all to himself.)
On Saturday we decided we were sick of being home so we called up Grandpa Eastwood and decided to meet up at the Como Zoo in St. Paul. I think T was more interested in all the people and things around him rather than the animals. However, we did get to go into the butterfly exhibit they have and T seemed to really enjoy seeing the butterflies that landed on Mommy and 'Papa. One even landed on T's hat. It was cute, too, because other kids were pointing out the b'fly on T, even though he couldn't see it.

Sunday was especially nice, in my opinion, because we had NOTHING planned. No bike races, no trips, NOTHING. Just church and a beautiful afternoon for Mommy, Daddy and T to spend together. We ended up cutting down some branches and vines that were hanging quite low in the backyard, as well as a little bit of weeding and a lot of just play relaxing and fun. Tegan did learn how to knock on the windows and doors... that's how we woke Daddy up from his super long nap :) Hehehe!

Grandma Eastwood came to get her dose of T-time on Wed and Thurs this week, so T really enjoyed that as he hasn't seen her in a few weeks. Thursday was extra special because we got out of the house again and went for a walk around the Galleria in Edina to window-shop. As always, T loved seeing and saying "hi" to all the people there. We even let G'ma go into a plate store (or dishes or tableware or whatever you wanna call it) but T and I didn't stay long as 1) it's not our thing and 2) the last thing I wanted was for T to reach out and grab something only to have it and several other things come crashing to the ground. :)

Safety First!

Thursday night we went to visit some of my friends from High School. One of them even brought her little boy, Braden, who is 2 and both he and Tegan had a wonderful time. It was SO cute watching them play together... even though T basically just copied everything Braden did. HAHA!

Today I decided that T and I should have one last special breakfast together, so we went to Panera and split a strawberry smoothie and a spinach and artichoke souffle/quiche. We both enjoyed it, and even though T probably won't remember the experience, I will. He was SO excited to sit in a regular chair, drink the smoothie from the super fat straw it came with and eat the same thing as mommy... all without wearing a bib.

"Hi-eeeee!"

To finish the week, we went to St. Paul to have lunch with my sis, Amanda. T slept most of the way there, which has made this afternoon's nap very difficult, but he TRULY enjoyed all the attention he got from his Auntie Amanda and all her coworkers.

Never thought you'd see one of these, did you?! HA!

How's that for a week's recap? Hope you are all doing well and your summer is wrapping up nicely, too... even if you don't have the summers off :)

Love to all!

~jenn

18 Months Old!

Well, Tegan is now officially 18 months old, yup 1 1/2 years! I cannot believe how fast the time is flying. Geez! T had his 18mo check-up last week and here are the latest stats:

Weight: 29 lbs 2 oz = 87%tile

Height: 33.2in = 81%tile

Head Circum: 18.7in = 44%tile

I always find it funny that T's head measures smaller than average because it seems so normal to me... maybe it's because it's just not huge like a lot of kids' heads. Who knows. Regardless, I think his head is perfect. Here's a pic of how perfect his head fits in his new helmet... which he wears everywhere!

The past several days have been a bit rough on us, again, though this time we are pretty darn sure it's because of teething. Tegan now has a VERY runny nose and it constantly chewing on his fingers. I'm trying to remember to give him Tylenol, but I also don't want to give it to him if he doesn't seem like he needs it. Tylenol or not, the poor guy is having a heck of a time sleeping at night since he gets all plugged up and just has to have that darn paci in his mouth. It's tough to breathe and suck on a pacifier at the same time. I finally gave up on rocking him the other night and we came out and slept on the couch together for a while so that I could keep his head elevated and I could sleep too. That helped a bit and he did sleep all night last night w/o waking up even one time. What a big boy! I also think it's because he's given up on the paci when he just can't breathe with it in.

Last week I found a garage sale gem... a Little Tikes jungle gym for only $20! Even better was the fact that the sale was just down our street so my dad and I put it up on the top of my car and drove it home. T loves it, despite the tears in the pics (we tried to take the paci away). I also found a Little Tikes Cozy Coup at another garage sale (2 doors down) and they gave it to us for free since it was staying in the neighborhood. It's definitely seen a lot of love, but it still rolls, so that's all that T cares about; that and the door opens and closes and the steering wheel spins! :)

I'm trying to think of what else has been happening in our little world, but I really can't think of much... I guess no news is good news, right? I know there's something I've been meaning to put in here, but I can't remember right now. Sorry.

Love to all!

~j