Growing up

Gabe has recently passed two MAJOR milestones this past month. The first and most exciting, (for me anyway) is potty training. Gabe is now officially potty trained! It is still weird to me to talk about the bathroom habits of a two year old but I am just so gosh damn proud of him I am going to. He hasn't had an accident in, well I can't remember the last one. Really there have only been a handful of them since we started. Now he is an independent potty goer. It's so exciting to see him hop up from the sofa, or stop playing trains, just to walk into the bathroom and "use it" without any mention from Chris or I. Nothing says, "I'm a big kid now" like being able to handle your own crap. Ha! Being back to only one kid in diapers is pretty nice.

Enough potty talk, on to milestone number two! We have a preschooler here folks! And he loves it. And I mean LOVES IT! Almost every morning when I walk into Gabe's room the first thing he asks me is, "school today mommy?". (With the exception of this morning when he asked for ice cream which is another story. ) Gabe is going to school two days a week and is very upset in the afternoons when I pick him up. He loves to talk about his new "friends" and his favorite teachers Mrs Betty and Mrs Tonya. I just wish I could understand all the names he keeps saying. Some days I think he is saying things like Keven and Kaylee then the next it sounds like Kara and Presby. I think I'm pretty sure Kara = Sara Paige and Presby = Presley. Needless to say, he is having a ball.





In preparation for preschool I took on the challenge of making Gabe's nap mat. It turned out pretty good I think and he really likes it. He has even taken a few naps at home in it.





While I'm on the topic of projects I have to make a quick mention of the glider my mom helped me refinish. And by help I mean she did most of the work. Ha! But it turned out great!
It went from this-


To this-


And finally I can't have a blog post without my sweet Will. He is growing fast and even working on some teeth. I sure do love my little chunky monkey!

Four months

A lot has happened in the past few months. William is growing fast and is now weened and taking a bottle. We go in for his four month well visit tomorrow so we can see just how big he is. I wouldn't be surprised if he is over 16 pounds already. He also has a new favorite, his little stuffed giraffe, yet to be named.





He is also talking up a storm. His little personality is starting to shine through. He is going to be such a charmer.




Gabe is quite the big brother. He is really taking to his new roll and is very protective of Will and also very proud to show him off where ever we go.





The biggest news however is that Gabe is potty trained! We are so proud of him. We still have a few accidents every now and again but they are rare, he is only two you know. But he is in his new big boy pants all the time except while sleeping.
Gabe is also quite the swimmer. He has been taking lessons and can now swim, float, swim. This summer has been so exciting!
Here is a link to a video of his swimming.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisandbecca/6005439973/

Finally, here are photos of the boys at the same age. Gabe is the top photo, Will the bottom. Gabe seems to be a bit more cheeky but still so similar. My two cuties.

Can you tell who is who?

Gabe is the top photo, Will the bottom.
I still cant get over how much they look alike, I expected them to look a little alike, but exactly the same? Its like they are identical twins two and a half years apart.
As soon as I can catch a picture of Will smiling I will compare again.

William Reese

William Reese has arrived!
Well, about 6 weeks ago. Needless to say, we've been busy. He was born on April, 23rd at 8:55am. 7 pounds 3 ounces and 20 inches. He is wonderful, a little more high maintenance than Gabe was as a baby but just as adorable and cuddly.

I woke up that Saturday morning (the 23rd) at 5:30 am with my first contraction. I had been getting Braxton hicks contractions for weeks so I didn't know if this was the real thing or not because my water hadn't broken. After about 4 more contractions about 3 minuets apart, I woke up Chris and got Gabe ready to go and we were off to the hospital. We were quite nervous about making it to the hospital in time for an epidural because Gabe came so quickly (about 5.5 hours from water break to birth).
We arrived at Plano Presby at about 6:30 am and checked in. My sister arrived about 10 min later prepared to be our photographer for the big event. Then Chris's parents arrived and took Gabe to play while his little brother was preparing to arrive. I got my epidural pretty quickly this time, thankfully!
My doctor came in and broke my water at 8:30 and William arrived 25 minuets later after 1 push. Straight out, no head first then second push for shoulders. Just "pop!" baby! Easypeasy. Just under 3.5 hours of labor. I guess I'm pretty lucky, quick uncomplicated birth. We are very blessed.

So much to do, so little time

So much has happened, and is happening, since my last post. Where do I begin?

No more apartment!
We have moved into our fabulous new house here in McKinney. We love it and Gabe loves it. We still have a lot to do but everything is coming along nicely. If you haven't been invited over yet, please don't take it personally, we've just been swamped. Call me and come over for a visit!

Gabe turned 2 in December
He is growing like a weed and is learning so much so fast. He has turned into quite the little trickster. He loves all things trains and cars. He still calls anything with wheels a choo choo and no matter how many times I try to correct him that it is a truck or tractor, he simply looks at me like I'm crazy and says "no mommy, it's a choo choo". We'll get there.

Pregnancy
This pregnancy has turned out to be a bit of a roller coaster ride for us. First of all, moving from a house to a very small apartment then moving again into a new house, all in a matter of four and a half months, while pregnant, is insane. I don't recommend it to anyone! Talk about stress at a time that is already stressful.

We had three unfortunate trips to the doctor for emergency sonograms due to bleeding. Fortunately everything has been fine and all I needed to do was rest a little more. Which really meant no more lifting, including lifting Gabe. But, other than those three incidents, things have been pretty normal. Normal body aches, mood swings and hormones. Hopefully they haven't been too bad for my two guys at home. Lately I have just been tired all the time. Oh, the joys of the last few weeks of pregnancy.

Most exciting
In my last post we had just found out that our new little peanut is a boy. Since then we have given him a name: William Reese Thompson. We can't wait to meet him. Well, we can wait two and a half more weeks, but not much longer! Gabe was born at 37 weeks and came spontaneously so we, and my doctor, are expecting an early arrival from Will as well. With that in mind, I will have bags packed for myself and Gabe by the end of this week. Just to be prepared.

Back to the title of this post...

There is so much to do before William's arrival. Don't be surprised if the next post is all about his birth. Based on my recent dedication to posting (or lack thereof) , it might include his one month photos as well. Ha!

Say a prayer (or cross your fingers) that things go smoothly for us. We will be happy to see you all, so call us up to come meet our new little guy and see Gabe become a great big brother in just a few short weeks!