33 weeks!

So....I definitely took a bathroom picture of myself with my phone this week, but it's terrible, and thanks to Lindsay Rosenbaum, I have some MUCH better 33 week pictures. :)

This has to be my very favorite. The lighting and flowers are just perfect, and Colby is so sweet!!! He was just talking up a storm to Miss Camryn....he is going to be such a great big brother!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lindsay for capturing this sweet time in our lives- you are the BEST!!

Sunday night, our bible study girls had a "last supper" for Sally and I. It was not literally our last supper like it was for Jenn and Kinley :) but it was a great evening of laughter and trying to remember all of the newborn things that we have already forgotten. (Rachel and Jenn scooted out before we took this picture and Kim was in Dallas- more celebrating for Tucker James in the near future...) We are so blessed to have this group of friends to study the bible together and play together. Camryn and Abigail were showered with sweet gifts (including pedicures for their mommies) and of course, we plowed through 3 pizzookies at the end of the night- YUM!!!!

Other than that, not too much is new. There has been zero progress on the nursery this week....but I think we'll have LOTS of new nursery updates by next week!! (maybe??)

Fun night of fishing, food and friends

Sometimes the best nights turn out to be the ones planned at the last minute. Friday afternoon, Jeffrey called and invited us over for some steaks and mentioned that Trav and Colby should come over ahead of time and try to catch some fishies. We had NO plans and a fun Schneider night sounded fabulous. The Rosenbaums, Betts and Williams' came too, and we had so much fun fishing, eating and playing with great friends. Thank you Lindsay for capturing these sweet moments!!

ummmm.....I thought we were just coming to watch....how did we get this tangled up pole?!??

Colby, of course, was having the time of his life!

I think Trav was too

The boys played baseball and golf INSIDE the house. EEK!! Thankfully nothing was broken and the boys had tons of fun cheering each other on and running around the couch "bases."

Not sure if this is "cheeeeeeeese" or "pleeeaaase????" or just simply "look how cute we are!!!!"

Thank you for a fun Friday night, Jeffrey!!! (We missed you Hope- we'll have to do it again SOON)

Big Boy

This past week, I got to take a day off to take Colby in for a hearing test check-up, ear tube check-up and 3 year well child check. Might as well knock 'em all out at the same time, right?? Colby was an ANGEL for all 3 appointments. He was so sweet, had incredible manners, and had me laughing all morning. Sometimes he is just SO CUTE!!! (and other times I want to crawl in a hole with ear plugs and just pretend I'm in a happy place....but that's another story)

1st up was hearing test. This was the 3rd hearing test Colby has had to do. For some reason when he got his 1st set of tubes there was an initial hearing test but never a follow up. This time they did a follow up test 1 month after surgery and then they're having us come back AGAIN in 6 months. I'm glad though....better to be safe than sorry. This was the BEST hearing test experience by far. Dr. Brown was so wonderful with Colby. She let him push buttons on the machines and let him play fun games to check his hearing. Colby was PRECIOUS- I couldn't hear their whole conversation because she was in another room talking to him through the ear buds (which Colby refused to wear the previous 2 times), but I heard Colby's end which sounded a little something like this:

"sure! ok! yes, please. I do! I LOVE fire trucks!, etc"

It made my heart happy to listen to my sweet little boy. When Dr. Brown came back in, she asked if she could take Colby home. :) (I was thinking, sure!! When should I pick him up??)

At the end of our time with her, Colby asked her if she could come to the park with us, but then told her she would have to get undressed and put shorts and a tshirt on.....haha...

Luckily, we only had to wait a short time before we were called back to see Molly, who was checking Colby's tubes to make sure everything was in place and working correctly. She is GREAT and we got a perfect report- YAY!

Last on our list was Dr. Kastner. Colby LOVES him, so I knew if we made it this far, we'd be ok.

Sometimes Colby melts down when they ask him to take his shoes off to get on the scale. I convinced him that it would be ok because we could put them RIGHT back on afterwards, and he was good to go. (seriously, it's silly things like this that send him into a tizzy at any given moment)

Colby's 3 year weight is 31 lbs 8 oz (50th percentile)

I think I forgot what his height was .....maybe 38 inches? (just below 75th percentile)

No surprise there- this kid is tall and thin like his daddy. (We can only hope Cami will get those genes, too :))

The only MAJOR concern that I had was about potty training this kid. He has been wearing undies since August and has had maybe 3 accidents since then. He even wears undies at night and during nap time. The only obstacle we are facing is pooping in the potty. Colby. Is. TERRIFIED. I don't know what we have done to scar him, but we have tried EVERYTHING and have not had any luck. Potty chairs, seats for the big potty with handles, bribes (I'm not talking about lollipops- I'm talking swingsets, slides, motorcycles, ANYTHING)....he insists that he needs a diaper. I had decided that we would tackle this over spring break and pretty much force him to go. He was such a sweet boy and threw away all of his diapers just fine, but after 2 days of trying to get him to poop on the potty, Travis and I caved. It was ruining our spring break, Colby's birthday and campout night and definitely was NOT WORTH IT. He would SCREAM that he needed to poop and then just cry and cry and cry until he made himself sick if we tried to make him sit on the potty. Seriously some of the worst moments of my life. At one point I just broke down and had to leave- it was awful to see my baby so upset. Not sure if we did the right thing by caving in, but we did the best we knew how and I decided to at least talk with Dr. K. before putting myself in that much misery again.

Dr. Kaster actually put me at ease a little bit. He said that he would really like to see Colby fully potty trained in the next 6 months (huge burden off of my shoulders at that point). (Then when I told him I was having a baby in May, he said we'd probably want to try to get him trained before then, but I sort of ignored that part in my head.) He actually gave me a good idea that we will definitely be trying.

Take him to Wal Mart and show him a "Big Wheels" bike. Let him ride it around in the store to see how cool it is and then tell him that if he'll poop in the potty for 3 days, we can go buy one. Then only let him ride it on days that he pooped in the potty.

I really don't know if Colby will go for this or not, but maybe actually taking him and letting him fall in love with something will help instead of just talking about it....I'll keep you posted.

Since Colby was SO good all morning, we went to Lion's Park afterwards. Colby absolutely loves the park!!!

We even tried out the red park that's at the very end of Lion's Park. Colby loved it. When I saw him reaching for these hanging bars, I figured there was no way he could hold himself up, but he sure did!

We are so proud of our 3 year old boy. Although there is still alot of whining and unnecessary tantrums, I feel like 3 is still way better than 2 was. (the ear tubes may be a big part of that, too) He is just really able to convey his thoughts and feelings to us, and although he still doesn't always get the answer he wants, he is figuring out the right and wrong way to do things. We have lots of time-out sessions and apologies, but I guess that's how they learn.

Colby loves anything that has to do with helping Camryn. He LOVES the fact that he made the paint for her room and that daddy lets him help paint with him. He's going to be a super big brother.

He LOVES being outside more than anything. Playing with Buddy in the backyard, looking for rolly polies, blowing bubbles, playing with the water hose, playing baseball and soccer with daddy, going to the park.....I think those are his favorite things. (His favorite inside things are watching Caillou and Mickey Mouse, playing trucks and airplanes, "building roads," taking baths, and reading books)

Here was our first and failed attempt at throwing the diapers away....good thing I rescued them.

I love Colby's fun spirit. He is a funny, curious, silly, smart, on-the-go little boy. Although he is afraid of a lot of things (lightning, poop in the potty, nightmares, big buckets of water that pour on people's heads), he is also very adventurous and into doing big boy things like big slides and swings.

He is sweet, polite (when he wants to be), loving, caring and kind. He is a big time cuddler before and after sleeping times, and he loves his mommy and daddy very much. (he tells us often :))

I can't wait to see what's next for this little guy. He is such a blessing and makes our life a joyful adventure. Every day with him gets better and better.....I hope I can say that forever! :)

32 down, 7 to go!!

I shouldn't take pictures before 7am....I look so sleepy! :)

Spring Break was JUST what I needed to get over my aches and pains. It's amazing how great I felt by the end of last week. This week the contractions and back pains are back, so it's obviously just from being on my feet all day. Only 7 more weeks to go, though- I can do this!

Camryn is very active and she has REALLY been craving ice cream lately. Especially Blue Bell mint chocolate chip and M&M blizzards. I think I have used all of my fun money this month on ice cream trips...

Colby appreciates the cravings- this baby thing is really working in his favor.

Camryn's beautiful bedding finally came in last Thursday- YAY! I wanted to hug the mailman, but I'm glad I refrained. The bedding is perfect and even cuter than I had imagined.

This is the crib that I WANT, but chances of actually getting it are shrinking. I know that a white crib is a white crib, but when you are planning on using the back as a headboard for the next 18 years, it kind of does matter what it looks like. I want a big sturdy one....not a dinky one. This crib is not in stock in the Babies R' Us "southern states warehouse". My plan for now is to check one more time tomorrow to see if they have gotten a new shipment in this week, and then I need a new plan. I have actually found other cribs I like....just not in the same price range.

After a very wishy-washy night and morning, Trav went back to the paint store last Thursday to get some other paint samples so that we could really compare and see what we liked the best. Also, Pappy came over to help Travis with the chair rail and trim work for Cami's room. It turned out GREAT, and like most things, took a little longer than expected. Hopefully all of their hard work was worth it to them!!

Since the boys were nail-gunning one room over from Colbys, we opted to try and put him down for a nap in our bed. Thankfully, he did finally fall asleep, but only for about an hour. Oh well- definitely better than nothing.

After naptime Colby and I were in charge of going to get a new gallon of paint. Austin was super sweet and let Colby come to the back with him to scan the paint bucket and push all of the buttons to make the right color. Colby was so excited that HE made baby Camryn's paint. :)

Daddy has been extremely patient letting Colby help him paint. :)

I think the bedding will really look good with the gray and white- I really like how the colors turned out and I can't wait to see it all put together!!!!! (hopefully soon!)

Great Wolf Lodge!!!!

This place is as close as you can get to Disney World without going to Disney World. Travis surprised us by booking a room for spring break. I was SO excited to take Colby after browsing the website. It was everything we imagined and MORE!!! (totally worth every penny!!)

When you arrive, it's like summer camp. The wolves greet you and let you take pictures, and then while the daddies check in, there is a huge window that overlooks that water park in the lobby for the kiddos to check out. Colby's eyes were HUGE- he couldn't wait to get down there.

Our room was ready early, so we went up to drop off all of our stuff and get into our swimsuits as fast as we could. (yes, even this 31 week pregnant momma put on a swimsuit!!)

Colby LOVED our 8th story window overlooking a little lake with a fountain. We were SO close to the airport that there were constantly planes to watch take off and land.

I have NEVER seen Colby happier or more excited. He seriously was in 3-year-old heaven in the toddler pool. There was so much for him to do and he could do all of it without much help. Water guns, jet skis, slides, forts, fountains, etc, etc, etc.....it was awesome!!

Colby wanted to go down the blue slide over and over and over and over again. I think he loved that he could do it all by himself. (they don't even let anyone taller than 42 inches go down these slides, so you just have to let your kids go on their own) Mommy was in charge of getting him to the top of the steps and Daddy was in charge of catching. (it was definitely a 2-man job!!)

This little slide was another one of his favorites- he and daddy raced at least 50 times :)

The first day, I just watched and took pictures. It was so fun to see Colby so happy. There were no tears, there was no whining, it was just PURE JOY!!

We played from 2-4, napped from 4-6, played from 6-8 and then went up to rinse off and get ready for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe!!!

Of course they sat us at a table RIGHT next to/underneath a HUGE elephant. Not only was it a huge elephant, but it was a huge elephant that MOVED and did loud elephant things every 15 minutes or so. Colby was terrified the first time, but we finally convinced him that it was a very nice elephant. He warmed up pretty quickly and LOVED it- thank goodness!!

There is no zoom here.....I took this picture on my phone....our waiter told me to watch out because he has seen the trunk hit people in the head before!! haha

Colby loved the Rainforest cafe

and I loved spending some quality time with Colby

The next day, we slept in until 9:00- YAY and then went down to play for a few hours before leaving toddler paradise.

Of course we had to stop at Bass Pro Shop. Colby loved seeing the big fish, and daddy bought him a new shirt and hat, which wore in the store and didn't even want to take off to check out. He wore it all the way home. :)

This was such a special little trip for our family. I will never forget it!! It was a great 3 year birthday celebration and a great last trip before Camryn comes. It was a weekend all about Colby and it couldn't have been any more perfect!! :)