Coming in August...

baby Ammon #2!
I have to apologize for not posting in over a month, but I couldn't post without spilling the beans and I wanted to wait until we saw that little baby's heartbeat on ultrasound (which we did this past Thursday). I am 9 weeks now (due August 19) and already showing...I wouldn't be able to keep it a secret much longer if I wanted to. My friend Shannon was commenting on how she looks further along with her second baby and I can feel her pain. I look like I did at 16 weeks! I had to buy some maternity clothes this week (a lot of mine are on loan to friends) just so I would be comfortable. Thank goodness I wear scrubs to work!

Being pregnant has taken up quite a bit of my energy...whatever was left over anyway after the holidays, school starting back up and taking care of Mister-almost-3-year-old. Elias' current passion (as sis-in-law Katie calls it) is Thomas the train and he begs to play with his tracks and trains every night. It's a battle to get him to come to dinner. We are trying to exploit this passion by saying he can have more trains when he pees in the potty, but so far he isn't the least bit interested. He has gone a few times at school, but only sits occasionally with MUCH encouragement here at home. He's just not ready and we are not pushing it. Believe me...at this age, it's all about minimizing the number of power struggles.

We are dealing with a lot of hitting when he gets mad and has even started this at school. Right now, we continue to place him in immediate time out, as directed by our "Incredible Years" parenting class. It can be quite frustrating, though, and it's hard for me to keep my cool sometimes. Mornings are especially tough if he decides to act out. Any tips anyone?

Christopher coming home was wonderful. Elias ran into his arms in the airport and we were all in tears. Who knew you could miss a Daddy so much? Christopher had to work the next day and then we headed to Winston-Salem to celebrate Christmas with Brian, Katie, Taylor Grace and then Grandma, followed by Grandpa and Granny K. We had lots of fun, but were terrible about taking any pictures. Speaking of pictures....Christopher has begun the laborious process to upload his Grand Canyon pics and get them on his blog. I will be sure to update when he does this so you can see them! He finally had some days off this weekend and definitely deserved the R & R. Don't we all! Today we spent the better part of the afternoon organizing our outside storage room and beginning to make room for baby.

Work has been especially trying for me. It has been very busy and I have been very tired. I haven't felt the sickness I did with Elias, but I feel like I have the flu all the time. Last week, I earned the title of "Meanie-pants" given to me by a super-mature pediatric nurse. I am trying to keep the irritability in check, but it is tough! Definitely looking forward to the second trimester.

I'll try and post some pictures soon and if I am really brave, I'll share some of me and baby. If nothing else, we'll showcase Elias singing the Thomas theme song, which ends with him saying "Thomas...he's the cheeky one!" It's quite a hoot...