a little, or not so little, baby bump catch up.

yea, i think to say "little" here would definitely be an understatement, but let's just run with it folks. our "little" lady has got me expanding at unnatural rates as of late. and the statement "about to pop" comes to mind. and yes i'm as tired as i look in the photos. so let's just pretend for a moment that i'm all sorts of rested up, that there's no such thing as late night potty breaks and that my hip pain and nausea are a thing of the past! hip-hip-hooray!

i've been thinking a lot lately about pregnancy and woah!-has it given me eternal perspective on life. i'm trying to focus on the end goal here-holding my newborn baby will make it all worth it and i see this playing out in life too. keeping myself focused on eternity and "finishing well". HE will be my inheritance.

"forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, i strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."

-Philippians 3:14

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith."

-2 Timothy 4:7

what i'm loving about you, my 18 month old.

*your admiration of the outside world. like screaming mad fit when we make you go inside. red cheeks and all. >>little boy momma swoon. you would stay outside all. day. long. if we'd let you, just touching or "touch-y" as you would say and playing in awe of all the things around you.

*your love for your new best friend "gankie" aka "blankie".

*your little boy soul. your exploring, red-dirt-eating, pine-cone-finding, water-hose-loving little boy soul.  melts my heart.

*how quickly you learn. lately, we've been practicing the alphabet! you repeat the individual letters back to me pretty well! oh sure there are some that you don't really get or that you like to repeat as a hum with your mouth closed ("G"), but mommy and daddy are impressed.

*the games we play during diaper changes and getting dressed. it's more of a love/hate kind of thing, but even when it's annoying i can't help but have a smile on my face. i start out by luring or, in most cases, dragging you to your room where you then book it straight for the curtains-oh the glorious cloak of invisibility! annnnd the game is on! sometimes it turns into a game of "where's rylan?" other times i just wait you out. now, diaper changes are another story. since you've become interested in using the potty, you think it's fun to remove your diaper. oh what a joy it is to walk into a room and find you butt-naked saying "poopy" as i glance over to the diaper lying in the floor with a nice one in it. hey, at least you somewhat know what's going on, right? now we just need to get you to the potty BEFORE you go in your diaper!

*your love of water. bath time. pool time. water hose. washing your hands. you name it. you're in love.

*your independence. it's the cutest thing. you want to do everything on your own now. spoons at dinner time, it's a nice fun mess. coloring. playing outside. getting in your wagon, oh let's not even go there on your love of wagon rides. talk about bringing joy to your soul, those wagon rides do it! even swimming in the pool! you'd think you were invincible!

*"ta" aka flower. every time you see a flower, pointing excitedly, "ta". we extend our corrections, but to no avail. it's a "ta" in your eyes and ears i guess.

*animal sounds. "the cow says MOO, MOO, MOO, MOO. the dog says WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF...and the people they say BLAH, BLAH, BLAH"-ode to our favorite animal sounds song. your favorite animal right now is "cow cow". oh and the face you make when you're barking like a dog, it's just almost too adorable. ^^see above picture.

*your love for helping. bless your little heart. you love helping momma put things away when we get back from the grocery store and getting the laundry out of the dryer. you're too much. i'll be praying for your little servant's heart to continue to grow and mature as you do.

love you forever little man,

momma

Bloglovin'

as most of you may know, google reader is soon to be toast, but do not despair! i have good news for you people! there's still time to import the blogs you read over from google reader to bloglovin'. i just did it and it was so simple!

just click this link and follow the steps! hope to see you guys over on bloglovin'!

some things i learned over the weekend, like how to get crayon off the walls, oh and i have a toddler.

so this weekend was a little busted and filled with things that we have to do rather than what we or i would like to be doing, ie. swimming. i could spend days at the pool just swimming my little heart out, heck, i could swim these next 3 months of pregnancy away in a snap.

but duty calls and so does nesting.

we literally have only about 14 weekends left til our little lady joins us and we're still working on getting the house in order, not to mention the baby's room has turned into the "take to goodwill" storage room.

anywho, i'm supposed to be telling you guys what i learned this weekend right?

first things first, i hate having to have rules about everything with rylan. for instance, we've started coloring. sounds so simple right? wrong. i have to make up 15 rules or more just to sit down to color with him. you know like, "no running around with the crayons!" or "no you don't need to have 50 crayons in your hand at once." and my favorite "don't put that in your mouth, yucky.". blah blah blah fun ruiners is what they are.

well one of my dreaded crayon fears took place for the first time in our brand new house...ry wrote on the wall. granted it wasn't that bad, but this obsessive compulsive type momma had a slight panic attack and started googling how to remove it immediately. and thank heavens for all you "experienced" out there-i found one trick that worked like a charm!

blow dryer + liquid dish soap.

hallelujah!

you just hold the blow dryer on the marks for a few seconds to heat up the wax and it wipes right off with the liquid dish soap!

i feel so smart ;).

onward to the good stuff >>

i think it finally hit me this weekend that rylan is in pretty much full blown toddler mode. maybe it was when he took off across the parking lot and tripped and somehow managed to skid his face from nose to forehead on the pavement or maybe when he just randomly asks at dinner one night, "where's bob bob?" (aka spongebob) or maybe the recent development of him taking his diaper off and asking to go "poo poo" then sitting on his little potty and doing nada over and over again. i'm not sure, but all the signs of toddlerhood are there in all their glory.

and i can't help but feel happy and sad all at once.

it's just amazing how fast rylan has grown and changed these past 17 months. today i was watching him while he was eating his lunch and i just looked into his eyes and couldn't believe those were the same eyes i looked into the day i became a mother.

what a precious soul he is.

happy monday.

2 for 2.

have i ever mentioned how lovely and glamorous pregnancy can be sometimes?

oh, you know, like the time i was stuck in rush hour traffic in some of the most excruciating pain i've ever experienced. yes, i was driving and no, i haven't a clue how i made it home safely. this pain seriously gave birth to the word "writhe". i was writhing in pain.

when i finally made it home husband rushed me to the hospital where i proceeded to spill my guts in front of the lady checking us in. after a quick butt-shot of morphine and a trip to the potty, the diagnosis: kidney stone.

yikes.

they kept me at the hospital overnight, hooked up to an IV and monitors since the pain was causing contractions. i was probably only about 26-28 weeks along. yes, this was last time.

saturday. woke up, 24 weeks. side pain.
i know this pain.

we went to grab some breakfast at the donut shop (since we had actually lost power at the house the night before) in hopes that the pain would subside.

no such luck.

next stop, urgent care. the pain was making it uncomfortable to even sit still. and i thought i was about to pee my britches, but i knew i needed to save that for the good ol' urine sample.

alas, it was finally time to leave my mark and i had nothing to give. i downed a bottle and a half of water and left what i could. the doctor came in and said there was blood in my urine which most likely indicated what i feared: kidney stone. he prescribed some pain meds and told me to call my doctor immediately to see if i should go to the hospital.

on the ride home it hit me, the writhe. the most intense 5 minutes of horrific pain causing tears to stream down my face.

i was certain we would end up at the hospital.

but after waiting the 2 hours it took for my mom to come watch rylan, my pain level continued to drop off. once she arrived, we decided to stall out for a bit.

and call it what you want, but i'm writing this down as a miracle in my book...i must have passed the stone at home because, well, the pain went away.

and that's that.
my 2 for 2.
2 pregnancies and 2 kidney stones.

let's hope that's the end of hailey and the stones.

amen.