Easter 2011

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous, making for a perfect, albeit windy, Easter egg hunt in Red Oak. Derek, Steve and Matthew went early to help set up. Gloria and I followed much later after Grant had his morning nap.

Daddy and Grant during the egg hunt
Grant had to eat during the egg cracking, but his daddy did make sure he celebrated. This also meant that mama missed out on the fun of chasing down folks. I especially like getting the rookies. Part of Derek's family was there this year for the first time, so I'm sad I missed chasing them down. Karl can't be that fast - too bad he missed out on confetti in his pants! My mom made over 50 dozen confetti eggs this year. Thankfully, the wind helped with the clean up quite a bit!

Grant listening to the Bereuter Band playing Rage and sleeping on his girlfriend Susie. It was very windy and he insisted on napping in the wind.
On Easter Sunday, we played catch up around the house. I took 2 naps - I was so tired. Derek and Grant worked in a nap also:

We worked in a family trip to the grocery store, which was unnecessarily expensive because we were (a) hungry and (b) pregnant (only me - don't worry). The grocery store was a test for Grant because it's the time of day when he just wants to be held. I'm not sure who - but someone failed and I ended up carrying him around the grocery store most of the trip.

Walking

Grant has been taking steps for several weeks. Here he is perfecting his steps on April 2, 2011:



And here he is on April 24, 2011:


He now walks between things when he's cruising (rather than sit and crawl). His teacher at school said he's been walking a lot more lately. And the more he walks, the sooner he goes into the next room, so she was tempted to push him down. Yep - they let her work with children. ;) Actually I think his move date is set in stone - he starts transitioning May 16th.

They all fall down

Well - not quite all. Last weekend, we lost 2 segments of our fence after a particularly windy hail storm. We patched it up with construction fence/netting.

This weekend, we got home from the annual Easter egg hunt JUST in time Saturday evening. The rain hit just as we closed the garage. Sunday morning, we awoke to the loss of even MORE of our fence:

We are now hoping that we lose it all in the upcoming storms. If it's a total loss, our insurance will cover it (after we pay the deductible, of course). I'm not confident this plan of attack will work, but I'm hopeful that I don't have to pay the ENTIRE cost of a new fence.

Quote of the day

Almost daily (for one reason or another), a Friends quote pops into my head. I think it was the last line of the first episode. You should know the episode very well: it did, afterall, start a phenomenon.

Rachel is a runaway bride and she is forced to take a job at the coffee house to support herself. At the end of the episode, she gets her first paycheck. Monica quips, "Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You're gonna love it." That is the line that I hear in my head on an almost daily basis. Even more so now that I'm a mother.

Swim Class

Grant went to a free swim class this weekend. He LOVED it! Audrey and Brady joined us, but it was Brady's nap time. The only other child was 6 months old. In other words, Grant was by far the most active.
Grant was fascinated by the instructor. Probably because he sang silly songs.
I learned something new. Apparently, infants (and adults too) will instinctively hold their breath when they fall. Thus, to teach the babies to hold their breath under water, the babies must "fall". We had the babies "jump" off the ledge - then they also slid down the slide.
This photo sums up the entire class - Brady calm and Grant jumping out of my arms to splash around.
Looking stellar after being splashed for 30 minutes:

124 bpm

We got to see our little peanut today! And the peanut had a heart rate of 124 bpm. Baby Hicks has a due date now - December 5th. That makes me 7 weeks along. We should find out the sex the week of July 4th. Until then, we'll be placing our bets. Today, my bet would be girl. I have had more of an appetite and more nausea. I do admit that it could be in my head. And I reserve the right to change my mind - multiple times - for no reason whatsoever. You can't tell much from this sono pic. Just trust me - there's a baby in there. And FYI - YS means Yolk Sac.

Mohawk

Just wanted to share this adorable pic from bathtime tonight.

Smiles for Lola

Lola gets the best smiles. When Lola plays tug of war with Grant or runs around the house, Grant's giggles are interrupted with baby squeals. I don't think a better sound exists on Earth.

Perfect weekend

A perfect weekend goes something like this:

Friday night dinner with my sis and Andrew.
Saturday lunch with my brother and his family and my parents.
Grant's first pair of shoes. Size 4.5 wide (or extra wide, when available).

Watching Matthew's baseball game under a shade tree.


Impromptu potluck at Cat's.

Derek kidnapping Grant on Sunday to go to the auto show. I switched out his clothes to size 18 months and did other work around the house. A stark comparison to the rest of the down time at the house which included vacuuming and brusing my teeth with Grant on my hip.

Jacob's and Andrew's birthday party!!




AND Burn the Floor with Anna. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was pretty good.

In a perfect weekend, we don't have time to get groceries or cook for the week, but thankfully, we have been on a "make one, freeze one" cooking schedule, so we can just pop something out of the freezer and we are set.

Grant update -10.5 months

A few notes about Grant that probably belong in his monthly stats, but I NEVER remember to include them:

Hates blueberries. Unless throwing them on the ground counts - in which case, he loves them. We've tried fresh, frozen and mashed up.

Doesn't care for bananas.

May be allergic to pears - we have laid off of them for about 3 months, so it may be ok to try again.

Had his first taste of peanut butter this weekend (thanks to Jill's yummy cookies). It was a small taste and he had no reaction. Good sign.

Hates to change clothes. HATES it. He's ok with just diaper changes because he can play with a toy. He tries to pull off his shirt when I'm putting it on. Makes for a fun daily chore.

Also hates to be strapped in. To anything. Car seat, high chair, stroller. He's fine once he is moving or has food in front of him though.

Also hates to have his face wiped. He's been pretty snotty, so there is lots of face wiping going on.

I don't want to forget these golden moments, but I seem to do so when I'm updating about him monthly.

Time to lower the crib

This morning was one of the rare perfect mornings in terms of timing. I had just finished packing up lunches and packing my car when Grant started crying. I walked into his room, and went to his crib.

But he wasn't there.

I looked all over the room. The crying was definitely coming from his room, but I couldn't find him.

Then I saw Grant's feet. His feet were in the 10-12 inches between his crib and the wall (on the same side as his mobile). Grant was under the crib.

I started thinking I would need that super-human mom strength to get him out. I thought about taking photo evidence, then the lawyer in me decided not to. I pulled him out by his feet and held him in my arms. The crying stopped immediately.

I called Derek to let him know. I thought maybe he had fallen while I was packing up my car, but now I'm not so sure. His cry was his usual "come and get me - I'm awake" cry, not the "I'm scared and hurt and trapped" cry. Plus there were no bumps or red marks on him. He had to have fallen over the side where his mobile is, which is a TINY space (10-12"). He was smiling and chasing Lola around in no time.

Which makes me think maybe he fell in the night, had his "I'm scared and hurt and trapped" cry while we slept through it, then ended up falling asleep under his crib.

I tested his legs to make sure they weren't hurt - he is still standing great and taking 4-6 steps at a time. I'm pretty sure that means nothing is broken.

A few months ago, Grant fell off of our bed and I said years later we would say "That's because we dropped you on your head when you were a baby." Well, now he's had 2 falls. Hopefully we are not stacking the deck against him.

In related news, tonight we are lowering the mattress on the crib.

A day at the farm

On April 2, we headed out to see Derek's folks and Kennedy. It was a great visit. They have taken to farm life quite well. For example, Joyce greeted us as soon as we got there with "Papa is up on the hill pullin' fence."
While the men were working, Joyce and I took a walk down their gravel road (which made for a bumpy ride, which Grant didn't mind at all - he slept the entire time). We saw a cow that had died months ago on neighboring land and Joyce did a little "rock pickin'". And to answer your question, No. We didn't walk the goats. They only walk the goats in the evening.

I saw an awful lot of this - the boy can crawl at lightening speed to follow me!

On the flip side, Grant crawled in slo-mo in the grass!

Baby Hicks - Reloaded

The blog post title is supposed to be a play on a movie sequel. The fact that I have to explain that takes away from it a bit. The real headline should be:

I'M PREGNANT!!
Fridays around our house have been known lately as "Pregnancy Test Friday". I've had TWO weeks of NOT PREGNANT results, so I was thrilled this Friday to see PREGNANT!!

We are thrilled that I am pregnant again, and it has been great sharing the news with several people in person. The truth is, this is my third pregnancy. I found out I was pregnant in January this year but had a miscarriage on February 10th when I was at 7 weeks. Last time, we kept the news under our hat (mostly), but I wanted to share our news this time in the hopes that our loved ones can say some special prayers for this baby. Babies are truly miracles and I have an even greater appreciation for that now.

We got pregnant without even trying. I never even had a "cycle" after the miscarriage. Thus, it's hard to tell exactly when I'm due. But I was NOT PREGNANT last week and I am this week, so I'm guessing I'm 5 weeks along, which would make my due date December 2nd. That would make Grant 18 months old when I'm due.

Thankfully, everyone that I know who has miscarried has gotten pregnant again when they wanted and had happy, healthy babies. Please note, 2 of my cousins had this same fate and both have (or will have) beautiful baby GIRLS. I'm not making any predictions as to gender, but it's something for the Hicks skeptics to chew on.

I wanted to share my story with my loved ones because it's not something that I'm ashamed of or feel like I need to hide. I'm not one to seek a shoulder to cry on, and in fact, I spent the entire day on February 10th with Grant. He was just what the doctor ordered - babies really do have healing powers. Probably because they talk to angels in their sleep. I just wanted to share my experience when I had some GREAT news to share too.

So now the adventure begins - doctors appointments, house remodeling (we have to merge the office and guest room into one rooom), stocking sewing (I have TWO to do before Christmas - yikes!), and all the stress joys that comes along with a new addition to the family!!