Fun in the sun

What a beautiful weekend! We had so much fun with our Covenant Group at a local park - just hanging out and letting the boys run around.

First we played on the blankets...

then we zoomed down the slides...

played with bubbles...

laughed with friends...

walked around...

and got all "tuckered-out"!

Big-Mama with Grant

Baby, ball - what's the difference?

Setting the scene: Aaron, Grant and I were in Grant's room getting him ready for the day. Grant loves designs & textures on fabrics and we were sitting on the floor while he was running his hand over the pattern on my shirt. Then, Grant began to clap and bounce excitedly while "tapping" my stomach...

Grant: Baw-baw! [clap] Baw!
Aaron: Baby! That's right, Grant! Baby!
Karen: No, Aaron - that's his word for ball.

That's right. That wasn't the last time he did that either. He is convinced that Mommy has a ball attached to her or hidden under her shirt. However, looking at me, you can't really blame the little guy for being confused - though I think it looks more like a watermelon. : )

First glimpses of little Wesley

A co-worker of Aaron's has a neat side business where she paints portraits of baby ultrasound pictures. She does a great job. She paints from both 3D and 2D ultrasound pictures.

Wesley Aaron Mayes (3D):

Here is the picture of Grant's 2D ultrasound:

Inner Child by Melissa Hickok
melissa_hickok@yahoo.com
704-614-6064
www.innerchildartstudio.com

Grant's new little-big boy room

We did it! Grant moved into his new room a week ago Friday. He loves it! We still need to paint the orange and chocolate brown band around the room and I'm going to hang some more pictures - it's a process. There is a picture of the Browns football stadium (you can guess which one of us chose to have that in Grant's room) the first day they were back in action - which was on September 12, 1999. Yep, 9 years later Grant was born... Aaron is very proud of that fact.

I feel so much better knowing that Grant is in his room and the baby room is now available for Wesley's arrival!

Our second little monkey will move into his room soon!

Update 2/15/2010

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I'll highlight just a few things:

• One-by-one we all got sick with a stomach bug - first Grant, then me, then Aaron. Fortunately it was a short-lived bug and it only took a couple of days to get back on schedule.
  
• Grant's PT has been going pretty well. It is extremely difficult and emotional seeing Grant's one-year-old friends passing him up developmentally. We are thankful that he is continuing to make progress - slowly but surely. He now walks all over holding only one of our hands and spends most of his time on his feet.
  
• Wesley is continuing to develop well (yeah!). I am now measuring full-term and Wesley is currently measuring at 35 weeks. I am fearful that I will go into labor before week 37 - I am hoping to make it to at least week 38. I am told the bad thing about the amount of amniotic fluid I create is that it tricks the uterus into thinking that Wesley is further along than what he is and could cause preterm labor - and creates a higher chance of "umbilical cord accidents" (which is what happened to Grant).
  
• My doctor appointments are getting a little more interesting. The past couple of weeks the nurse has had me lay on my left side to get Wesley's heart rate up and get my braxton hicks contractions down... however, the doctors continue to show little concern and say that Wesley's base heart rate is good. Also, I haven't been put on bed rest so all must be OK... I pray that is correct.
  
• Aaron has gotten some paint jobs on the side - what a blessing - especially with my car needing some extra TLC. : )
  
• Work is going well. I have been very been busy getting everything ready for the maternity leave but I am so very grateful to all of my co-workers who are so helpful and are more than willing to take on a portion of my job duties.

We are so grateful for all our supportive family & friends and God's continuing guidance & faithfulness.