Long Time No Blog!

Wow, well..it's been a while. Life has gotten more fun, more hectic, more...everything.

I'm now 25 weeks pregnant, and we're having a girl! I'm SO excited. When we went to the scan I realized how badly I was hoping for a little girl; when they said it was a girl I cried! I am so happy and feel so fortunate to have one boy and one girl. Our family is going to be a proper little family! (And the teams will be even..!)




Reuben is now 13 1/2 months old and doing wonderfully. He's so smart and interested in everything - and INTO everything! He started walking a few weeks ago and there is no stopping him. His favorite things at the moment are pretty much anything with wheels - he loves pushing things around the room! He's really into throwing things in the trash can as well...yesterday we found one tube of diaper cream and our unopened bag of starbucks coffee. Good save.


He's also talking a little bit - says "hi" (or Hiya) and "bye" (...or By-a..which he made up.) He says mama and "aga" a lot but we aren't really sure what that means. Theory has it that "Aga" means "Adam" since I'm always shouting at Adam...hahahah.




He's hitting and exceeding milestones for his age - he plays with a ball which is a 15 month milestone (and he's been doing that for a while!), walks confidently (14 month milestone) Helps around the house (15 month milestone). He also had his first haircut, ridiculous how much hair he had at 13 months!






I'm so proud of my little man! He's still sleeping well - 7pm-about 6am, and we've just switched him to one nap a day since he's starting to go to daycare on Thursday. I've started my college courses so I need some time to get that done!

So..on the note of what I've been up to...well, like I said I've started my classes. We've also applied for Adam's visa to immigrate back to the USA. We are hoping that all will go through by July or August and we'll move back then! WAY too excited about that!!!

I've been spending a LOT of time cooking lately. We have started planning out our weekly meals every week so it makes for a much cheaper and more exciting dinner time! Lately I've made Apple Crisp (neighbor's apples), Apple & Blackberry Crumble (neighbor's apples and neighborhood blackberries!) and today I made Creamy Parsnip Soup from parsnips I grew myself! I've been having a lot of fun cooking and it's so much nicer to be organized about food. Reuben is now eating whatever we eat which is SO much easier - though I feel like he's not getting any many vegetables as he should so we're working on that one :).


I start my next maternity leave on November 30th so not too long to go before I'm off work again! Before we know it our baby girl will be here and life will be even more insane than it is now!

Well, I think that's all for now. Hopefully it won't be another 4 months before I update again..!!

Reuben: 11 months, Baby: 13 1/2 weeks :)

First photo: 11 weeks Second and Third Photos: 13 weeks





Well, the news is out! We are now expecting our second beautiful baby on January 10th, 2012. We are beyond excited (and, I won't lie, nervous!) Yes, they will be 17 months apart, and yes, it was PLANNED.

So far with baby #2 we have had two scans - the first one was the end of June when we thought I was 12 1/2 weeks, but come to find out I was only 11. I wasn't surpised at this becuase when I took the (large amount of) pregnancy tests, they kept coming back negative. Finally, I resolved that I wasn't in fact pregnant and my period was just being irregular as I'd only had one since Reuben was born, haha! Having giving up on the fact that I could be pregnant, I insisted to Adam that I would take one more test and off I went. Positive. I couldn't believe it! It was a de ja vue to last time - I had gone upstairs on my own (since I thought it would be negative!) and I was wrong. Baby number 2, on the way. I thought I found out at a late 5 1/2 weeks, which is why I agree with the scans. Either way, they sonographer couldn't get all the measurements she wanted so I was scheduled a second scan for the beginning of July where the date, Jan 10th, was confirmed. At 13 weeks, my beautiful baby was so much more clear and active than 2 weeks before - it was awesome. So amazing to already see the differences between this baby and Reuben even in a little scan.



On top of all this exciting news, I can't believe that my little boy is 11 months old. ELEVEN. This is his last month as an "under 1"! We have started planning his party, which I am soo excited about. What I'm not excited about? Saying I have a 1 year old! I just can't believe it.

The awesomest thing though about 11 months old is how quickly he is picking up new things. I am so amazed by him lately. He is cruising around on furniture and though I thought he would be walking by now, he is quite content as a VERY avid crawler/cruiser. He has started standing on his own with no prompting and he is quite stable as well. He is OBSESSED with waving - to people, animals, ...even inanimate objects. I LOVE it when he waves at strangers - it is seriously the most adorable, cutest thing ever. He is not anxious at ALL - he often reaches his arms out to be held by people in stores. He wants to be held by complete strangers, it's awesome.

He loves animals, they make him laugh and it's so cute. He loves cheerios. He is so giggly and playful, and is so good at playing on his own. In the evenings I will often just relax while he plays with his toys in front of me for a good 40 minutes.

He says "mama"...a LOT. His current favorite thing to say though is, "ya ya ya ya ya." When I prompt him to say "byebye" he says, "bababa" which is close enough for me! He loves bathtime and being outside. I could just go on forever, he is so smart and cute and recently has become very cuddly which I obviously LOVE.

The best news of all? About a week after ten months old he started sleeping through the night. 7pm-5am. At 5 I feed him and he will usually go back down til 6. (Also, I'm still breastfeeding and have no intention of forcing him to stop anytime soon.) He now naps every morning at 9 for about 1-1 1/2 hours, and again at 2 for the same amount of time. I no longer rock him to sleep - I feed him and put him in his bed and he goes to sleep. Occasionally it takes him a few minutes, but for the most part he just goes to sleep. Even for nap times. IT's A MIRACLE. :)


Life is really good at the moment. Since sleeping through the night, Adam and I have been able to put him to bed and have people come stay here while he sleeps while we go out for a couple hours - no fear of him waking up and needing me to get him back to sleep! It has been SUCH a relief. I feel so much happier, my relationship with Adam has improved 100% because we are no longer tired/frustrated all the time. Reuben is the happiest little boy because he isn't tired all the time. And I no longer feel like a frustrated, incompetent mommy. I feel awesome and confident and I love it!!!

I will try to update more often now for baby #2 - also, August 25th we have our next scan where we will (hopefully) find out if we are having a girl or boy, I can't wait!!!!!

10 Months Old!!!

I can't believe it. I was looking at photos today of when Reuben was 6 months old. It felt like it was last week. 6 months seemed like such a milestone. He's turning into such a little boy now - I want time to slow down!

Unfortunately the run-up into the 10 month mark hasn't been great. Reuben has been sick for a week now. He's been throwing up, diarrhea, and COMPLETELY grumpy. Constantly crying and always wanting to sleep. Hardly eating and having milk alllll night long. It has been an exhausting week, to say the least. We have been to the doctor three times and each time they have said it's a virus and there isn't much we can do.

Another thing that's added to his grumpiness is...a tooth! He FINALLY has a little tooth poking through and it looks painful. He hates it when I put teething gel on it because it's so sore. I feel like we are going to have a very, very long road with this teething business. He clearly does not have a high pain tolerance. I'm sure it's the sickness as well, but he has just been crying all day every day for DAYS. He's just gone to bed and it is so peaceful to actually be sitting here by myself and not be worrying about him! I will try to get a photo of this tooth someday - but he isn't very cooperative with letting others see it!

This month has flown by and I can't really think of whats happened! We took a family trip to Wells to see Wells Cathedral which was fun. We also went swimming/on a picnic with lots of other babies last Thursday (the last good day Reuben had before he got sick!) Other than that we've been enjoying the warm weather and spending time with Daddy while we had some school vacation.

Reuben's hair is crazy. I don't really know what to do with it. I can't cut it because I am not bringing scissors near that boy's face - he is way too out of control for me to do that. It's hard enough trying to keep his finger nails short, let alone his HAIR.

Developmentally, Reuben is VERY VERY active. He is crawling very quickly, pulling himself and walking along furniture, he has clapped a few times but isn't really a fan...haha. He has MASTERED the "pincher" with his fingers and loves eating peices of cereal (and my cereal in the morning!) He says mama all the time but other than that babbles a lot. He gives kisses on occasion which is hilarious/slimy. I think the most impressive thing he has done yet though is taken a ball and put it into a little shape toy. I was reading about development and this is something that a baby can do at 11 months and he did it about 2 weeks ago, at 9 1/2 months. My smart baby!

He's still hard work but so much fun to play with now. He LOVES other kids and babies, they always make him laugh. Oh and he can stand! Though he thinks it's a game and just lets himself fall forward onto whoever is in front of him. He's such a cutie!

I think that's all I can think of for this month. More news to come soon.....:o)

What? 9 Months?!

Not only is my little boy 9 months old but we're a week late. We've entered the last single-digit month ever.

My little boy is getting SO BIG. He has learned so much in the last few weeks, I can barely remember him not crawling and getting into everything! Along with these new-found tricks though he has accidents pretty much every day. Today - he pulled the folded up highchair onto himself. He pulled a chair on himself last week. And he had a tendency to pull himself up onto things (sofas, coffee tables, chairs, etc.) and then just lets go. He obviously falls, though he has finally learned how to control his fall so it doesn't hurt! It's incredible watched him learn and work out how to do things. He loves watching the washing machine and helping me water my new vegetable patch!

He is so entertained by things lately; it's so much fun to play with him! He loves knocking blocks over and playing with his little basketball. He has an obsession with the vaccuum cleaner.

He's also recently got his new "big boy carseat"! It's forward facing which I love because I can now look to the back seat and he smiles at me. Speaking of which, he is SO smiley. He ADORES other children - though sometimes stares and smiles too much! haha. He also loves balloons. We went to Pizza Hut last night and he was way over-tired, but they had balloons so we were able to entertain him. He can now drink from his sippy cup (though he is lazy and wants me to hold it), and he's now chewing and able to eat pretty much anything.

I don't think it will be much longer before he's walking - he is very, very determined to. He's such a sneaky little baby, getting into things that he shouldn't (and you know because he starts LAUGHING when he's doing something he shouldnt't be.)

I love this little man. Nights are still hard but days make it worth it.

Crawling just wasn't good enough.

About 3 days after Reuben turned 8 months old, he decided that crawling didn't quite get him where he needed to go. He now climbs on everything. He is pulling himself up by the sofa and the stair gates, trying to climb the stairs, and CONSTANTLY using ME as a climbing frame. It's a little annoying. haha. He is SO cute and SO happy lately. However, I'm sure at this rate he will be walking well before 10 months. He has no fear. He pulls himself up and stands holding on by one hand to the stair gate, then just LETS GO. Needless to say he has lots of bumps and bruises already - he doesn't quite understand that he can't walk yet!!

I have about 3000 photos to upload from the last 2 weeks. He is so much fun and WAY too cute.

Oh, and last night he slept 8:30-11:30, 11:45-5:20. PERFECT. This is the second time in 2 weeks that he's "slept through the night" (Technically 12am-5am is sleeping through the night. It was a good thing too because I was beyond exhausted last night and went to bed at 11pm.

It's very strange going to get him from his crib to see him standing there wanting to be picked up.

Seriously, where did my baby go?

Happy 8 Months Reuben Matthew!

(Ok, so he was 8 months yesterday, but these photos are from yesterday!)

And to top it off, he is doing much better - last night he slept SO WELL in comparison to the last couple weeks. I only fed him twice in the night, and he slept 9-something to 1:30, and though he woke up a couple other times he slept 5-something (I didn't look at the clock) until 7:45am which is the latest he has EVER slept. I think he's just catching up on all the sleep he has missed in the last three nights. Either way, I woke up before him this morning at 7:05 wondering if I had overdosed him or something. I went and checked on him though and he was breathing sleeping happily away!

Love my little man SO much. And he's napping right now. JOY. <3

8 Months Ago Today....

...at this very moment, I was getting ready to go into the hospital. I had no idea what my future held - except that I was soon going to be a mommy! 8 months later, I am the very, very proud mommy of the most beautiful, amazing little boy I've ever met.

The last 8 months have not been easy. They have been challenging in so many respects. In fact, one of the biggest challenges yet has been in the last few days. Reuben has a bacterial infection and has been miserable for two days last night Adam and I took one-hour shifts rocking him as he dozed. I got up this morning after a night of 3 hours of broken sleep. Out of all the times I have said "I'm exhausted," nothing quite compares to how I feel right now. I dread how much sleep I am not going to get tonight. But, I am so proud and so very lucky to be taking care of my beautiful boy. What a priviledge it is.


In the last month, Reuben has changed SO much. He is now crawling ALL over the place - getting into everything, opening drawers and doors and pulling things off shelves. He is very, very giggly and ticklish which I LOVE. His hair is growing at a rapid pace, which is hilarious. He has the emo "side-sweep." hahah.

He is now eating more, feeding himself sandwiches and baby cookies. He eats most things now but isn't really as big of an eater as I had anticipated. I'm still breastfeeding and he seems to prefer milk to food at the moment, which I've just been told that all babies are different and some take a little longer to want to eat. He's not very big for his age - he was weighed last week and hes 17lbs 4oz - but the health visitor said it's because he's so active! Very understandable, he NEVER wants to sit still.

So what have we done in the last month?

We...


Went to the Beach






Had our first sandwich!





Went on a picnic with our friends Laura and Amelia







And my FAVORITE: We went to Tropiquaria as a Mother's Day gift!! So much fun.










It's been a good month, and I am thoroughly enjoying spending time with my rapidly growing little boy! I am so proud of him and amazed at how quickly he learns things. He's become quite the little cling-on though, always crawling towards me and grabbing my legs. When I pick him up he gives me the biggest hug, I love it!!

7 Months Old!

7 Months. SEVEN. I'm pretty sure that once a baby turns anything past 6 months old, they are getting big. How has time gone by so quickly? Before I know it, it will be his birthday. Oh my little baby where have you gone!?




In the last month, SO many things have changed.

First off, we went to America. I tried not to get too stressed about the flight but I think that on the first journey - the way there - this was unavoidable. I was so nervous that his ears would hurt, slightly nervous that he'd scream the whole way, and scared at the thought of me not getting ANY sleep (it was an overnight flight.) It didn't go ALL bad - the most difficult part was (other than the bus ride TO the airport) the first 15 minutes before take-off. Reuben does not like sitting still and waiting! I got really frustrated/flustered at my squiggly crying baby on my lap, but once that was overwith he slept on and off the whole way with only one or two tantrums. We landed and were greeted by some wonderful friends, Jenny and Jimmy and their BEAUTIFUL little girl, Lizzy, who is 10 months old. Reuben has a lot of girlfriends and Lizzy is definitely one of them. Our friends drove us back home, to South Portland, and our "vacation" commenced. Vacation MY BUTT. The second day we were there, all of us were sick with something. Adam was throwing up, my throat was on fire and Reuben was coughing up a lung. By day 5, we took Reuben to the doctor and it was confirmed that he had bronchiolitus - a respiratory virus which lasted exactly 2 weeks. Yay. He stayed sick until the day we returned the England. Fortunately towards the end of it he was smiling a bit more and my family and friends got to see him more himself than he was in the beginning!


Reuben and Lizzy playing!



The trip as a whole - while not perfect, a lot of plans got changed or didn't happen, we were sick, and my nana ended up in the hospital (she's doing better now though), was good. I was so happy for my little boy to meet his Uncle Joe and Auntie Julie, his cousins Amelia and Andrew, his Uncle Ed and his Great Nana. He also got to meet literally about 100 of my friends. It was an insane couple of weeks but we enjoyed it as much as we possibly could.




On the way home, the flight was not NEARLY as bad. It was probably the best flight I've ever had, with or without a baby. It was really relaxed and before we got the the airport we went and visited our friends Ashley and Eric and their incredibly beautiful little girl, Addi. She's another one of Reuben's girlfriends. It was so much fun seeing them, we took pictures which you can see at http://ashsarconfess.blogspot.com. After our visit we headed for the airport and Reuben was PERFECT on the flight. All was as perfect as could be and we are so glad to be home. Only bad part of the flight was my losing my cell phone. Blah.


Ashley, Addi, Reuben and I.

Okay. That's one thing thats happened in the last month. But for Reuben, developmentally, he has changed drastically! While his sleep was destroyed by time differences and jetlag, he is doing much better. At night he doesn't need me to rock him back to sleep after I feed him. He is going to bed at his normal time (around 7pm), and his daytime naps are much more regular - which is a HUGE stress relief for me. I'm still working on getting his naps to MORE than 35-45 minutes at a time, but I know we'll get there.

Reuben can move now. He can get up on his knees and "rock", and he can crawl in a circle and backwards. That whole "moving forward" is overrated anyways (we'll get there someday!)

He is sitting up completely on his own now. He is so much more independant than he was even 3 weeks ago, which is crazy.

He is now eating anything! While we were in America I gave him some squash (yes, the VEGETABLE) and he LIKED it! It was a miracle. haha. When we got back last week, I offered him some mixed vegetables and what did he do? Ate all of it! Since then he has been having and enjoying everything. Squash, sweet potato, parsnip, peas, any fruit still, and more. He even had pureed pasta with zucchini and tomato the other day. I don't know what happened or why he all of a sudden decided to like stuff but I won't complain! So happy to have gotten through that phase without a battle.

I think that's all for now, I must get going - I'm trying to get the little nugget to take a nap. He must know that I'm saying good things about him - he's refusing to sleep.

Until next time!