Growing...

Surprise! This post isn't about Wes. :) 

Just a few pics of our growing family.  This pregnancy has gone so fast.  Probably because I'm trying to keep up with a 2 year old, a full-time job, and still keep the house somewhat clean.  Oh and cook dinner...occasionally. 

These are professional pictures we had taken back in mid October by the amazing Blue Hollow Photography.  She did an incredible job with an almost 2 year old little boy.  I was about 24 weeks pregnant in these pics.

 

 

Here are some baby bump pics

 

Jonny's Birthday (31 weeks)

33 weeks



Only about 5 weeks until we get to meet our baby boy.  I'm ready to be done being pregnant, but not quite organized or set up for baby yet.  So...on that note, I better go pack a hospital bag!

And the moral of the story is....ready or not, here comes baby boy #2!

TWO

Well Wes is officially 2 years old.  It doesn't quite seem possible, but he definitely reminds us that he is 2 and quite independent.  We love seeing how quickly Wes grows and changes.  He learns something new everyday and his personality is really starting to "shine".

We enjoyed a small, low-key birthday party.  He had his grandparents, some cousins, and aunts and uncles come help him celebrate.  Oh, and his buddy Jackson.  The party was a "transportation" theme, as Wes is really into cars, planes, trains, trucks, etc.  We had pizza (his favorite), fruits and veggies, and of course cake and ice cream.

It was fun to watch Wes enjoy opening presents this year.  It took a while because he wanted to play with each toy rather than opening another gift.

Yo ho ho

Look out! Wes is on the road!

Can't believe he's already 2!

Still got mom's sweet tooth.

Wes at 2 years old:

• Is a talker! Some our favorite phrases: "mommy/daddy, where are you?", "you coming?", "you ok?", "I don't want it", and "I Wesley!"
• still a pretty good sleeper, but ever since daylight savings time he wakes up an hour earlier than he used to.
• is about to move to toddler bed
• not a fan of getting his diaper changed, but does like to "help" wipe
• wears 24 month or 2T clothes
• Weighs 26 pounds
• still loves baths, but is also a fan of showers
• loves music and shows that have music
• favorite shows: little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sofia the First, Jake and the Neverland Pirates
• makes frequent trips to time-out for hitting or disobeying (running from mommy when she says "come here")
• gives hugs and kisses, when he wants to
• likes to play on my iPad and impresses me with how quickly he learns how to do things
• can count to 10, with help
• is very active: loves to run, jump, climb, wrestle with/on daddy
• has mastered the "pouty" face
• developed a scowl like his mommy's
• continues to make us smile, laugh, and oh so happy

     

Thanksgiving is exhausting

serious cuteness

Wes, you continue to grow into such a sweet and ornery little boy.  We can't wait to see you as a big brother and look forward to all that the next year brings.  We love you!

Thank you, Thank you very much

Wes loved Halloween this year. 

Drew, is that you?

 Trick-or-Treat!

  He did such a good job walking door to door with his cousins, carrying his bucket.

I'm a hunk a hunk a burning love..

He also was very polite saying "thank you" after every house and even told a skeleton "hello"!

attack of the croup

2 weeks ago Wes had his first visit to the ER and his first "serious" illness.  It all started on October 15th.  I picked Wes up from daycare and thought he was being kind of whiny.  Which either means he didn't nap well or he wasn't feeling well.  I took his temperature and he had a low 99 degree temp.  I thought, "oh great, not before our family pictures that I'm already stressing out about".  Please God can we get one good picture of us?  I was wanting some family pictures of us before we grow to a family of 4 and combining those with Wes's 2 year pics and maybe a maternity pic or two.  So, we gave him some tylenol to help us get through the evening and he did awesome!!!  Put him to bed, put myself to bed and didn't think much more about his low fever.

Woke up the next day and got ready for work.  Jonny and I decided we would split the day off with Wes if he woke up with a fever.  Sure enough he had about a 100 degree fever and had an interesting cough to go with it.  So, Jonny stayed home in the morning with him and I took the afternoon shift.  On my way to work, I called my mom, who was on her way with my dad to Virginia.  He was going to hike part of the Appalachian Trail for 5 days.  I told her about Wes and his cough and gave her hard time for being gone when Wes got sick.   My mom just kind of nonchalantly mentioned, "maybe he has croup".  I, of course, had no idea what that was, so like any other mom, I googled it.  Sure seemed like croup, but I would see how the afternoon went with him...It went terrible.  He could hardly nap without waking up coughing.  So I called the doctor, who isn't open Wednesday afternoons and had a nurse call me back.  As I'm walking around holding Wes, trying to keep him from crying/coughing, I'm talking to a nurse about his symptoms, when he coughs into the phone.  "oh yeah, that sounds like croup" says the nurse.  So, she tells me to steam up the bathroom and let him sit in there for 10 minutes and then head to the ER. Say what?!  I panicked a little, but was also scared listening to my little boy struggle to breath and cough so hard.  So we we loaded up, picked up Jonny and headed to the ER.

I think we broke the record for the fastest ER trip.  I had just finished filling out the paperwork and we were called back.  Wes freaked out when they tried to touch him, but somehow they got his temp and other stuff that nurses do. :)  The doctor came in, checked him over, heard him cough/breath, and said "yep, he has croup".  He did a fantastic job of describing it and telling us the treatment for it...steroids to help lessen the inflamation of his airway to improve the "stridor".  What he forgot to mention was that my son would soon become possessed and enter into a "roid rage".  We tried to put him to bed at normal time.  That didn't work.  Crying/coughing proceeded to take place until he finally crashed at 11:00 pm.  In the mean time, Jonny was dealing with stomach issues. 

So, Wes "slept" in our bed, while jonny spent the night vomiting.  Good times were had by all.  We are pretty certain we didn't have nights that terrible even when Wes was a newborn.  Wes woke up every hour coughing, scared, crying and it just broke my heart.  I spent the night praying for my boys.  It was a long night.

Wes continued to have the barking cough and stridor all day thursday.  I called the doctor and we agreed that we would monitor him through the night, if no improvement we should bring him in on Friday.  Jonny was on duty Thursday night.  He spent the night in Wes's room.  It was a little better, but wes slept on Jonny for half the night.  At 5:30 am he wouldn't stop crying for mommy, so I took over and let Jonny sleep until I had to go to work.  Let's just say, we needed the grandparents, who were unable to help!  Jonny took him to the doctor on Friday, got another steroid and we got ready for "roid rage" round 2. 

Wes had a fever until Sunday evening, so I took Monday off.  Then we found out Wes had passed this lovely illness to his daycare.  So now that Wes was better he couldn't go to daycare since his buddy was sick.  Luckily we have awesome friends and family who took Wes for a few days so Jonny and I could work.

playing with iPad

watching daddy play a racing game

dinner of apples and popcorn

enjoyed extra snuggles

I pray we never have to go through that again.  But, I'm also so thankful for a healthy boy and think about those families who live in hospitals and see their children suffer.  And realize, if croup is the worst thing Wes has, we are very fortunate.

And the moral of the story is..."roid rage" in a 2 year old is SCARY!