Weekly hello!

I know I haven't been the best at blogging. I tell myself I have nothing new to post, but there's always a new picture of a pretty cute face - and I know I have at least one reader that is not on Facebook (Hi Dad : ) So, I'm going to do my best to post at least once a week! 

Seth is growing up more each day. His personality and vocabulary are always changing and he even loves to snuggle lately - especially with my belly (which of course, he won't let me capture). He tries really hard to mimic a lot of what we say, but won't say what we think are the simplest words hahaha Tweet, stick, kitty, cheese and bubble are some of his newest words. (Stinky and Bye-Bye were added just this morning! : ) I'm not sure everyone would know that those are the words he is saying, but he is hahaha He also is pretty big into having a "conversation". I love to hear him go on and on and wish I knew what he thought he was saying! He loves to go on walks like a big boy. It takes us about 10 times longer than it normally would, stopping for each stick his eye catches, but the slow pace is good for Momma right now. He still enjoys his stories and miscellaneous other toys, but balls trump anything. It's almost time for an intervention I think. For anyone who thinks his love for balls means he needs more, he doesn't.....

Lucas is doing just as he should from what we know. I was measuring right on track at my appointment last week. We just have one more in 3 weeks and then we will be going to weekly appointments! So far, just the usual braxton hicks contractions since our last little "episode". I still think he will be arriving early, but I'm trying not to let my hopes believe that too much. He continues to love practicing his soccer moves at bedtime. Mommy's sleep is getting less and less but I'm trying to adjust to it since I know it will be the new norm for a little while! It isn't always his "fault". Sometimes Dada's nose is the culprit or sometimes heartburn gets the best of me. We are definitely anxious to see his sweet face and become a family of four! It seems super surreal that I'll be a Momma to 2 this Mother's Day! I know he doesn't truly understand what's going on, but I hope Seth loves him on the outside as much as he does on the inside right now : ) 

Jeremy is busy as always between school and college. If he isn't lesson planning, he is doing homework. And if he doesn't have any homework due he is trying to get ahead - since his final project is due on my due date! (and if he doesn't have any work to do, he is being an awesome Dada and husband) We are thankful that his professor is super understanding of our predicament and seems pretty go with the flow. He's working on the process to take some time off from work when the time comes as well. I just can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. I know at this stage of the game with Seth I was going crazy and time was creeping by slower than ever.  We have so much going on, I know it will truly be here before we know it.

My mini me...

He absolutely loves to have his back or belly 'tickled' <3

Additions

The Thomas' got a few new additions recently!

This one showed up the day after we had been in the hospital. 

What a blessing it will be! I've heard once you have a double you never go back. We will need a bigger vehicle to take it places with us, but that's been discussed for a while now anyways! For now it's camped out in our garage until our second little one arrives to pack into it!

This one was ordered after we filed our taxes : ) 

I absolutely love it. Now we don't have to have the TV on or our phones nearby to know what time it is. Piece by piece, it's all coming together!

Time flies...

This 'little' guy is 20 months today! 

I can't believe he will be TWO YEARS OLD in just 4 months. What's even crazier is that he'll be a big brother in 8 weeks or less! 

I've said it before and I'll say it forevermore, being his Mommy brings me such joy. Are all moments sunshine and rainbows? No. But the sweet moments sure outweigh and out number the not-so-sweet ones. I love hearing his vocabulary grow and watch his personality bloom. He is such a sweetheart. 

Our 2nd little nugget is cooking away! Our next checkup is on Thursday and I look forward to chatting with my doctor after this week's excitement. Lucas is FAR more active than Seth ever was and has his daily time for dance parties - right at bedtime. The other night Jeremy and I felt him jabbing elbows, knees and who knows what else out at us for a good half hour. Obviously, Seth rolled and tumbled around, but I don't ever remember him poking body parts out the way that Lucas has. The time between now and his arrival is pretty well booked and we just can't wait to get life started as a family of 4! 

Just a little excitement...

Last night at dinner I couldn't eat. I had prepared chicken so I just assumed that was the issue since I haven't loved poultry this time around. I sat down to take care of Seth and I just could not get comfortable. My stomach was incredibly tight and then the contractions started. I tried some different things to see if I could get them to go away, but after an hour and a half of them coming every 3-7 minutes, I called my mom and she agreed I should call the doctor. 

After explaining what was going on, she wanted to see me. I called a friend that lives nearby and she was willing to come sit at the house since Seth was already in bed. When we got to the hospital they took a urine sample and swabbed me. I never knew this - but I guess the baby secretes something when they are ready to come, so by swabbing me, they'd be able to tell a lot! They hooked me up and the contractions were strong enough for them to see on the monitor. The doctor came and checked me and my cervix was closed which was a great sign. They decided to start me on fluids and see how things looked after 30 minutes. They subsided a bit, but the doctor got stuck in 2 back-to-back surgeries and by the time she got out the contractions had come back even more intense and more frequent, so they gave me a shot of  Terbutaline. She wanted to see me have less than 6 contractions in an hour time. At this point we knew that the swab test had come back negative, so they were fairly confident I wasn't in labor.

Jeremy actually left at this point because we weren't prepared for this to be a long term thing and they had no idea how long it would take for things to calm down, if I'd need another dose of the shot. The doctor started talking about what our game plan would be in the morning and we weren't prepared to leave Seth for the whole night, so he took off to go relieve our babysitter and I was going to try and get some rest. Well, of course, in that first hour after they gave me the shot I only had 3 contractions so they said I could go home! I called Jeremy and he had just gotten home, so he scooped up Seth and came back for me and we all went to bed when we got home, around 1:30am. I had more contractions on the way home and before I was able to fall asleep, but so far so good this morning.  

The doctor said they can never be sure what causes contractions sometimes. Since the fluids didn't work, it could not have been dehydration, or I could have just been extra behind on it. I could have overdone it that day or as my friend said, Lucas could have just wanted March to come in like a Lion : ) His nickname is now officially Lucas the Lion. Especially since he was a turd the whole time at the hospital, having a dance party and making it impossible to keep the monitor on him. He looked great though, the Doctor had no concern for him and my cervix never changed during it all.  

Jeremy was able to take the day off so we are just going to lay low and recuperate today! Thank you to everyone we reached out to who prayed for our little guy to stay inside <3 

Atlanta, Georgia

What a blessing this past weekend was. It wasn't exactly what we had anticipated, but it was such a great family trip. The aquarium lived up to it's reputation for sure. It was huge and did not disappoint with the displays that they had. The only downside was that between it being President's Day weekend and there being a cheer-leading competition in town, they had one of the busiest days they've ever had. It was hard for Seth to see anything unless he was on Jeremy's shoulders. It was frustrating as his Mommy to have older kids and adults pay no attention to a little child wanting to get close to the tank. But Jeremy took care of him and I wrestled with the stroller, which was another hassle with the millions of people that were there. But the bottom line was that Seth had a blast and loved it, which is why we went so it's all that matters. We'd love to go back again, on a week day during the summer when it might not be too busy. It's always hard to get pictures in an aquarium with the glass and tanks around, plus I was usually fighting the crowds, but I managed to get a few good shots! 

When we were leaving I heard this guy playing down the street and called Jeremy to come back. He saw us approaching and called Seth over to play with him. That smile! 

He was asleep within 5 minutes.....

Perhaps the biggest blessing of all is that my dear friend Megan happens to live about 30 minutes away from the city. She has a house and graciously offered to let us stay there. Unfortunately, she was going to be out of town so we didn't get to visit much, but she made the trip much more doable and enjoyable for us. Jeremy and I were able to have a quiet evening together and we were able to have a super long snugly morning as a family. We didn't have to worry about a noisy hotel room or trying to get Seth to sleep in the same room as us, not to mention the added cost it would have been. 

It was short, sweet and simple and we look forward to many more family trips!

Hellooooooo...

I know it's been a long time since you've heard from me, so I thought I'd pop on to fill you in on life in South Carolina with the Thomas family. Although, in all honesty there isn't too much exciting going on!

Seth was sick the past week. He randomly popped up a pretty high fever last week and after riding it out for a day, it got high enough to make me uncomfortable and I took him in. Some virus that's going around as usual (thankfully, it wasn't his ears) that caused the high fevers and his throat was COVERED in white spots. I wanted to cry when the doctor showed me. So, we kept him medicated to keep the pain level down and fought over eating and drinking for a good 36 hours before he started to come back around. Thankfully, all the scary things to doctor mentioned could happen, didn't and we have our happy boy almost completely back. Shout out to my mom who listened to a frantic Mommy after we got out of our appointment : )

I think he grows up more each and every day. His vocabulary is about to explode. He knows Mama, Dada, Ama (Grandma), Bompa (Grandpa), Woah, Ball, Basketball and is trying so hard to copy everything else we say. For the most part, it's just a point and a grunt to see what everything is in a story though - and he has the best phone conversations ever, too. If you're not friends with me on facebook and you want to see the video, just holler : )

The other day I got him up from nap and his puppy and paccy were on the floor. I made a big deal about it (jokingly) and talked to puppy about how he had to stay in bed until Mommy came. I've caught him a few times on the monitor since then pointing and talking to puppy when he first wakes up and he hasn't been on the floor again hahaha He makes me incredibly proud with how smart and well behaved he is. Jeremy and I say it to each other countless times a week. 

Speaking of Jeremy, he's been a busy guy and I couldn't be prouder of him either. He came home one day this week and showed me an email from a teacher. I said "Uh-Oh" as these are usually quite full of nonsense. But it simply said what a wonderful teacher he was and how thankful they were to have him in their child's life. I'm not surprised one bit. College classes are back in full swing for his second semester. This one has slapped us across the face. We both have said that the first one seemed so easy but this one is killing us. It's the same days and he gets home around the same time so I have no clue why, but man - is it the summer of 2018 yet? (Just kidding. I wish that time to go quickly for college, but not for babies)

We continue to get ready for Lucas to make his arrival.
We have plans to build a fence and fix our bathroom shower between now and then. I just submitted our application to request the fence being done with our HOA. Hopefully the approval goes well and Jeremy and his dad can get it done over spring break. We have our Seth plans somewhat finalized for when the time comes (although I can't talk about it without getting emotional). Everything is all set up in our room for him and other than a second camera and a wall divider, we just need to restock on the usual baby items!

With the time fast approaching we have really wanted to do something special with Seth. So, we have plans to go to Georgia this weekend. I have always wanted to go to the aquarium there and Seth loves the one we have here so much. Usually when we have time off we are headed to NY, so we are excited for a little time away. This is our first (and probably last) "vacation" just the 3 of us.

So there you have it! A little update and an exciting post about our weekend to come : ) And since no post is complete without this face!

We've finally added some wall decorations around here! 

This was a house-warming present from my parents!

Our bath decor from the past got put up...

...two cuties will be added to this display soon!

(This has been up, but gets continually "re-decorated")

"Lucas' room" is pretty much complete! 

We plan on getting a room divider to put between us and the pack n' play. Other than that we just need to get a second camera and stock back up on the miscellaneous baby supplies! 

And just because no blog is complete without this face.....

Kisses "Bye-Bye!"