2nd trimester

Last week I officially entered my second trimester - whoot whoot! And while they say that I should start feeling more energy and less effects of things, that has yet to happen. If anything, I've entered a new phase where everything I eat has a horrible effect on my stomach. It's like I ate 3 dozen atomic hot wings, without the joy of eating the hot wings. I wish it was just heartburn, but it's more like stomach and whole body distress. Not cool at all.

We have our big ultrasound set for March 1st and hopefully baby 2.0 will cooperate. We do plan to reveal the baby's gender this time (assuming s/he cooperates), and then we can finally start thinking about names. Well, I've been doing plenty of thinking - Dave thus far has just been doing plenty of vetoing! We have some girl names we agree upon, but boys names are much, much harder. But until we know the gender for sure, Dave won't talk about names, he'll just veto everything I send his way.

Otherwise things are good here - not much else new. Same story, different day - rinse and repeat. We are anticipating some out of town guests in February which will be a nice change, and of course we are looking forward to the superbowl!! Otherwise, bring on spring!

Snow day!

Cori has been adjusting well to the new house, but day care has been a much harder adjustment. She goes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - "School" as we call it to help her feel like a big girl. The first 2 weeks of January were rough - there were lots of tears at drop off (full out sobbing when I did the drop offs, which immediately resulted in Dave taking over that task). She isn't allowed a binky at school either, which we didn't know and were kind of taken by surprise. But we're rolling with it. Cori isn't eating much there at all - she is such a picky eater - but she is doing excellent at potty training and staying try throughout the day. It will be time for big girl underwear before we know it!

This week we rounded a bend in that no more tears at drop off, and Cori saying she is looking forward to going to school. The one thing she does love is Wednesday "Gym bus" days - she does 30 minutes of tumbling on the gym bus each week and loves it! Dance classes and such look to be in our future!


Sleep has been better (knock on wood) through Cori is getting her second year molars. She is drooling a ton and chapped because of it, and she's also starting to bite through her binkys and what ever else goes in her mouth.


These are some shots from a recent snow fall where Dave took Cori sleding in our back yard. I'm so glad Dave has the energy I don't these days! Cori loves being outside no matter what the weather - I can't say the same!



Perspective of the back yard - lots of room to sled!

Introducing.....

Meet Baby Sprague 2.0 !

Wednesday's first trimester ultrasound went well. Sprague 2.0 is growing well and the gestational sac size resolved itself thankfully. The risk for Downs Syndrome (based on the blood work and measurements) is extremely low and we were able to see some major organs, 4 limbs, the baby's brain and a well formed placenta and umbilical cord.

Baby's heart rate was 156 bpm - a little slower than Cori's was all the time (I believe she was always in the 160s / 170s). It is too soon to tell the baby's gender, but we invite you to place your guess in the poll over to the left. For what it's worth, the pregnancies have been very similar in cravings, sickness, etc except I am more tired. Maybe having a toddler and a new house has something to do with that.....

Dusting off the keyboard

Happy new year! I'm managed to muster enough energy to dust off the keyboard and make an entry. My intentions have been plentiful but it's been really hectic round these parts. And in the quiet moments, I have chosen to rest instead of keep things up to date. (And who needs clean floors or laundry either?!)

Cause for exhaustion....I think everyone who reads this now knows that we're expecting an addition to our family this July. As you can see below, Cori is excited too!

We "came out" at Christmas as only our parents and siblings and a few friends had known. At this point I'm 11 weeks and while feeling fine physically, I seriously have no energy. Zero. Zip. Nada. We're cautiously excited at this point - when I was released from my specialist, the last ultrasound (at 7 weeks) showed a strong heart beat and baby growing on track, but the gestational sac that surrounds the baby was measuring behind more than they'd like to see / was normal. Nothing can be done so it's a wait and see game. I have an ultrasound on Tuesday for my 1st trimester genetic screening and we're hoping everything is "normal" then.

I owe posts and lots of pictures on Christmas (which was wonderful!) and our trip to Atlanta over Thanksgiving (wonderful too!). And Cori started her new daycare which I'd like to write about. I'm hoping I'll get to it this weekend. But that may be a stretch; right now I'm staring down the Christmas decorations that are throughout our dining room. The house may be de-Christmased, but it's all still waiting to be put away. I swear if I had the time, the first thing I'd do with my genetics degree is figure out how to clone myself and it would be like Multiplicity around here! But right now, I think I am going to nap with Cori.

Cori update

Cori seems to be going through some sort of developmental phase because she is really clingy and cranky as of late. Right now I'm listening to her scream "MOMMY" at the top of her lungs going on 5+ minutes while Dave tries to put her to bed. We take turns each night and she is not happy right now. She is also over-tired from not sleeping well last night nor napping long today.

I think part of it is that she had her "trial run" at the new daycare on Tuesday. "School" we call it for her. They were really welcoming to her and even had a sign up on her room saying "Welcome Corinne" which I thought was adorable. I could go into details, but suffice to say she did really well they said. I initially hung out for 45 mins and watched her play; parting was tough but I think more so on me. It's amazing how that "mommy guilt" kicks in!

I was a bit worried because they do not allow binkys in the room - germs, confusion, etc. I figured she'd do well except for napping as she always seems to need it to sleep. But they said she laid right down on her cot like the other kids and went to sleep and napped well. When I picked her up later she was playing dress up with some of the other girls much to my chagrin. Things seemed fine until sleep time she she got clingy. And then she didn't sleep well. I guess it is a lot for her to process? She doesn't go back until Jan 3rd so maybe some time will help.

In her happier moments, one of the things she likes to do recently is to play ball in the foyer. This consists of one or more parents sitting on the floor (it HAS to be sitting of there are tears and tantrums) and Cori bounces the balls to us. Back and forth, back and forth. This can last up wards of an hour! I was able to capture some pictures last night.

In a totally random note, for you "Twilight" fans out there, I swear Cori looks like Rosalie (played by Nikki Reed ) in this shot! Or at least what she would look like as a kid. The pale face, the long blond hair, the red-rimmed eyes.... it kind of freaks me out!

From our house to yours....

Wishing you a Merry Christmas from our house to yours.

8 days a week

We've been here a little over 8 days and I'm happy to say that pictures are hung (all but a few) and 95% of the boxes are unpacked. Both cars now fit in the garage and the basement is even a little organized. We even decorated the outside of the house with white pine and lights - it looks really pretty but it is entirely too cold for me to venture out and snap a photo!

Here's Cori helping Daddy put the lights on the tree
Pretty soon we can start wrapping gifts and maybe even baking some Christmas cookies. It feels good to get most of this stuff done so we can focus on the holiday. Cori seems to like Santa and Frosty and Rudolph. I'd like to focus a little more on the reason for the season in "giving" and now with more time on my hands, I should be able to talk more about the true holiday spirit.


One thing still left to do is send out the holiday cards. At this point we may just wait and do New Year's cards. We'll see how it goes. I'm exhausted lately and we have yet to try and snap a good picture of our girl, let alone a decent family shot.

addt'l pictures

Here is the master bedroom. I am in love with the color - Sherwin William's "Rain"

Not sure why this one was so dark....

And here is the office area

Pictures

My dad hanging blinds in the master bedroom

The move in mess of a kitchen & family room.

Before:
After:

Dining Room

the room is really big & we hardly have anything in it

so my hutch looks super small!

Living RoomSara ironing Cori's curtains (even with her hand 1 day post surgery!)
Aunt Molly & Aunt Angie decorate Cori's room

After:
Guest Room
Cori relaxing in a very small moving box:

Lots of manual labor along the way:

The mess of our garage:

We still have lots left to do - you may have picked up on the lack of lamp shades, photos sitting on the floor and general boxes scattered about. But not too bad for not being here a week I think!

We're in

A brief post just to say we're in the house and mostly unpacked. The move went great and the weather cooperated. It was 2 long days for sure, but worth it!

Still lots of boxes around, things "missing" and trying to figure out some things. We're having a bit of a rough time in the evenings with Cori missing her Um-ma. Basically it results in a lot of limit testing and then asking where Um-ma is (since Um-ma is a softy in the discipline department).

The cat seems to think that Cori's bed is HER bed, which makes for some difficult bed time routines as Cori is falling asleep and the cat starts pawing at the door and crying to get it. Naturally it jars Cori and we're back at square one.

Tonight I finally got the security system & Internet modem to cooperate so we can get online and such. It's the little things right? Focus on the wins like this instead of how we can only park 1 car in the garage because the other half is full of scattered stuff.

Which by the way... when did we accumulate so much stuff?!?!

Pictures to come.

Buzzzzzz - busy as a bee!

Things have been super busy. We're in the home stretch for the home and had our final walk through this past Monday. Things look great, and now that the landscaping is in it looks really finished. I can't wait until there is grass in the spring. We didn't have our camera with us but I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures next week!

I do have a cute picture of Cori napping on Sunday. Little did we know that she was going to wake up in pain that lasted a while.

She kept saying she had a bellyache but was holding her neck behind her ears. (I've now learned that she thinks all pain = bellyache) With no other symptoms and such a quick onset, I kind of ruled out an ear infection (esp since she has never had one in 2.5 years!) and thought it might have been a pulled muscle. Sure enough as the evening wore on, she would hold her head funny when she turned to the side. She also was fine until she went to transition from laying to sitting or standing, etc. I guess from some strain. Cori is fine now thankfully but we were thisssss close to taking her to the ER just in case since we are flying out this week.

Tomorrow we leave for Atlanta to see my cousin and her family and are really excited to see them. Hopefully the TSA procedures won't be too bad and the line will be bearable with having Cori with us. But she is really excited for her first plane ride and has been talking about it for some time.

With Thanksgiving in mind, we have so very much for which to be thankful again, but especially this year. We have our families, our health, productive jobs, food on the table, and our new house on the way. We also have a lot of things that many people don't have - running water, electricity, heat and working automobiles too. Last but not least, we have wonderful friends who our in our lives in the very best of ways! We are truly blessed!

May your Thanksgiving be full of joy and thanks in lots of ways big and small!

Final Stretch

The house is a few days away from being finished. We went by this weekend to check things out and there isn't much left to do. I wasn't able to take any photos inside as the painters were there finishing up and I didn't to be in their way. But here's the outside with the stone work almost done.

They still need to add the shutters around the windows on the first level and do the landscaping, but that is about it on the outside.

We haven't started packing yet, and can't really start since we're going to Atlanta next week. When we get back it will be crazy no doubt. But I'm looking forward to it all!

Patron Saint of... firemen?

There's long been a joke about a statue near my mom's house... I noticed it about 10 years ago. I thought it HAD to be a mistake, but no, apparently that is how the owner intended it to be. Near my mom's house on the main road is a statue of St. Francis of Assisi holding baby Jesus. But St. Francis is decapitated. And baby Jesus has a fireman's helmet on.

Yeah, I know. Weird huh? Makes you wonder if the owner ordered it this way? Or if the statue originally came with a head on St. Francis and the owner took it off, and added a red fireman's helmet on Baby Jesus. And I don't know which thought seems worse!

I guess at the very least, it's one of a kind.

Happy November

November is here, and full of possibilities and happy things!

Speaking of happy, my new kitchen just makes me happier and happier every time I see it. Our appliances are in (dishwasher soon to be installed) and even our electricity is hooked up! I honestly do not regret spending the extra money on the upgraded kitchen trim & glass cabinet, and I love the eyeball recessed lights too.

The carpet is installed in full upstairs and they are soon to finish the downstairs. They were waiting for the stone to be finished around the top part of the fireplace. (I have no idea why the mantle looks off center in this picture; must be the angle.)
Wait, there is a cutie pie in our tub!

There's not too much left to do - second coat of paint, finishing work, adding the stone on the outside and finishing the yard. We are counting down the days until we close (10 AM on Nov 30th) . What I'm not looking forward to....packing?!?!

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat!

Here's our little lady bug!! This year Cori was loving her costume - what a change from last year when she wouldn't go near it. (So much so that I can't even recall what we got her for a costume.) Earlier this week we carved "Mr. Pumpkin Head" and Cori was fascinated with the "mushy gushy" insides. Thursday was Cori's party at day care. Then she got to go trick-or-treating at Olive Garden on Friday night; we were there to celebrate a family member's birthday and everyone thought Cori was just adorable in her costume. (She just HAD to wear it to dinner. Some arguments you don't even attempt with a 2 1/2 yr old). She got so much chocolate that she actually got sick on the way home that night.
Saturday brought the trick or treating for our neighborhood. We wanted to take Cori around the block here - nothing too much as she doesn't need a ton of candy.

She had a blast! She'd say "trick or treat" when she went up to the doors, and she would say "thank you" when she got candy. Then she'd look at Dave and I and say "I got candy!!" with such excitement in her voice! Here she is enjoying her loot....

Cori & Um-Ma & Mr. Pumpkin Head wish you a safe & happy Halloween!