32 Week Comparison

I had my 32 week check up yesterday... Everything is looking good. To my surprise, my doc said I had only gained 21 lbs. I feel like I've gained 51, and that it's all sitting on my sacrum. He did not have much sympathy for my back pain, or my desire to be induced (not NOW, but before February 18!!!) So I guess I better suck it up and plan on being pregnant for another 7 weeks!! (I can't help but think that Harper will be 3 weeks early like Brax was...)

Anyway, I pulled up my pics from when I was 32 weeks along with Brax to compare them to now. It's AMAZING how different I'm carrying Harper!!! She is up so high! The black swimsuit is Harper belly, the pink swimsuit is Brax belly....

Can you tell I was pregnant in the middle of summer with Brax!

I laid out all the time, and this time I'm like a jar of mayonnaise!!!

Christmas Recap

I am a little disappointed in my Christmas photography this year... I really didn't get many good shots of Brax (mainly because I don't have the patience or endurance to chase him down and force a photo session on him) and I never got out of my PJ's or got ready enough to warrant a family photo! I was very, very lazy the last few days. So this is all I have to chronicle Christmas 2009, which has thus far been the most fun! Brax really "got it" this year, and I SO enjoyed watching him get excited about everything. We didn't get to get out and look at Christmas lights OR go to the Christmas Eve church service due to the weather, which was very disappointing. Brax seemed to have fun, nonetheless...

Dumping out his stocking Christmas morning.

Santa always leave a few bites for Brax!

Brax and Daddy figuring out his new race track from Santa.

A new Thomas set up!

We got about 12 inches of snow, with drifts and piles waist high!
I couldn't NOT let Brax experience that much snow, so after we opened presents and ate breakfast, we spent at least 10 minutes getting bundled up to head outdoors....

He was excited when he saw Jace outside, but quickly realized that 12 inches of snow is pretty difficult to maneuver through when you're only 3 feet tall!

"Jace! Jace!!!!"

After about 6 minutes, Brax turned to me and said with his frozen mouth,

"Mommy, let's go inside."

So we brought the snow in WITH us!!

2 Yr/5 Mo Stats

HEIGHT/WEIGHT/TOOTH COUNT:
29 1/2 lbs, 37 inches tall, 18 teeth (still waiting on the upper 2nd molars).

NEW TRICKS:

• He hasn't really done anything new as far as physical development, but seems to be working on language instead. It's pretty fun to listen to him (most of the time) and hear his train of thought. His rationale for things is hilarious!! However, we are working on less whine and more big boy voice. He's also picked up, "HEY!!! That's MINE!!!!" which is silly because most of the time, there aren't other kids around to take things from him!
• He is developing his own little sense of humor. He will crack up while watching silly cartoons, or will get a chuckle out of reading some of his books.

FAVORITE FOODS:

• He has been pretty good about trying new things. He'll ask for a bite of whatever we're having, even though 90% of the time he spits it out. I'm just pleased that he'll try it.
• He likes to store food in his cheeks like a chipmunk--especially grape halves.

FAVORITE BOOKS:

• We read Christmas books all month! We'll spend the next month reading books about being a BIG BROTHER!

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES:

• Hiding, playing with flashlights, "swimming" in the bathtub (laying down).

DAILY ROUTINE:
Gets up between 7-7:30. Nap at 1, for an hour+, to bed at 8pm

FAVORITE SONGS:

• He has impressed me with his ability to memorize songs and poems! Aunt Laura sings with him a lot, and I am always surprised to hear the entire chorus of a song that I don't even know! Lately he has been singing several songs from Mary Poppins! I especially love when he attempts "Super cali fragilistic expialidocious...."

DISLIKES:

• Lately he has been very unhappy when he has to get out of the bathtub... many times it results in a pre-bedtime meltdown. Not fun.

MOMENTS I DON'T WANT TO FORGET:

• When we're laying in his bed at nite and he says he wants to "wub my face." So sweet.
• Monday, 12/14. I got home from work and he was especially happy to see me. He kept telling me, "I love you Mommy!" and he gave me a huge hug. That nite at dinner, he announced that "We fo-got to say our bwessings!" He folded his little hands and said, "God is good, let us thank him for our food. Amen."

BRAXISMS:

• When we are visibly frustrated or annoyed, he will instruct us to smile. I love this... it's hard to stay frustrated or annoyed when your sweet little boy is telling you to be happy! And he will keep telling us until we follow suit!
• We love the way he says "STOP!" This is usually when Daddy is messing with him, he will holler, "SOP!!!"
• He was watching a Thomas movie while we were in the car. He was trying to explain to me something that was happening in the movie (lightening had struck Percy and he couldn't get up the hill). He kept saying, "Lightening on Percy..." and so on, trying to explain himself better. Finally he said, "I don't know the word, Mommy." (He was trying to think of the word "struck.")
• He is HUGE into helping right now! Especially in the kitchen. I LOVE having him underfoot with me while I cook, as I know this won't last long. It's SO cute how he asks to help--he comes running as soon as he notices me starting something, exclaiming, "Can I help??" with his voice getting really high on the "help" part.

Next month will be the start of many big changes for Brax. I begin my maternity leave on January first, so we will have a few weeks to spend together before Harper arrives. My plan is to spend a few solid days doing Potty Boot Camp to see how he does. I at least want him to be aware of having the urge to pee, and to see what happens when you pee in big boy undies instead of a diaper. (I got him some for Christmas, along with plastic training pants to hopefully make clean up a little easier??) I am as new to this potty training thing as he is, so we'll both learn as we go. If he completely retaliates, then I will probably put it off till late spring.

Besides that, we will just sit back and wait for the newest addition to Team Hill!!!! My bet (or my hope?) is that she comes the last week of January, as Brax was 3 weeks early. We shall see!

Christmas at Aunt Kathi's

Brax got to have an early Christmas over at Aunt Kathi's the other day...

Here are just a few pics that my cousin Brooke took (she is a REAL photographer).

Aunt Kathi has all sorts of fun Christmas doo-dads!

Brax's Great Grandpa Bob.

Random Week In Review

I just had to get a few pics of Brax in these cute Christmas jammies.

He spent the better part of Sunday in them!

"Giddyup, Daddy!"

Lining up his trucks. He's so organized!

Where does he get it????

This is a pivotal moment for us. Brax has NEVER wanted to drink out of a straw,

until Saturday nite when he discovered the joy of my raspberry Crystal Lite!!

He was using the tongs to move his blocks in and out of the bowl,

but then decided it would be more fun to "ride" in the bowl himself!!

He loves this doodle thing. He says, "I'm writing a letter."

It cracks me up how he lays down on the ground and focuses so hard on his work!

WFMW-Our Favorite Christmas Books

It's WFMW--click HERE to check it out :-)

We started another "tradition" this year, since Brax is so into his books. We read stories before nap time and bed time every day, so thru the month of December we read ALL Christmas books! Here are a few of our very favorites...

The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia M. Scarry and J.P. Miller

This is a fun one--it's scratch and sniff! Brax doesn't even care about the story, he just wants to flip thru the pages and sniff them over and over. The smells are yummy (apple pie, pine tree, candy cane, hot chocolate, gingerbread, an orange) and actually pretty accurate!

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

I have an ANCIENT "vintage" copy of this book-it was my dad's when he was young! It appears that the newer editions have color pictures while ours is black and white, but it's a cute rhyming story nevertheless.

Angel! Angel! by Cheri Pless Dittmer

Grammy Sue got us this one--it is precious. You're probably familiar with the book, "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?" Well this book follows the same pattern, only with Christmas figures such as an angel, Mary, Joseph, a shepard, some animals, an innkeeper, and Baby Jesus. It is simple yet so stinking cute, and I love it because it's about the real reason behind Christmas. Brax has this one memorized!

My Merry Christmas and the Real Reason for Christmas Joy
by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Another great poem about what Christmas is truly about, with fun sparkly pictures!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess

Brax LOVES all the Dr. Suess books-I think he loves the rhymy-ness (did I make that up?) and sillyness of them. We read them so much that if I pause mid-sentence, he fills in the blank for me! Every time we read about The Grinch, he says, "He should not be mean!"

One of the things I love most about Christmas now that we have kids is creating these memories that will last a lifetime. They'll forget the presents, but I hope that when Brax (and Harper) look back on the holidays they get a warm fuzzy feeling remembering the things we did together as a family.

Party Party

We attended more social functions last Saturday than we usually do in 3 months!
We went to Brax's friend, Noah's, 2nd birthday party at 11am, then home for nap, then off to the kids' Christmas party in downtown KC that Mike's office puts on, then home to get ready for the adults' party for Mike's work over in Missouri. It was a super fun day, but my back was not appreciative of all the hustle and bustle!

Brax LOVED every bit of it, as you will see... Noah's birthday party was at Monkey Bizness, which is a GINORMOUS play-place for kids.

It was awesome! Thank goodness Mike did all the climbing, chasing, sliding at jumping with Brax--I just stood around and took pictures!!

Family Pic

Noah's mom and my great pal, Abbey

The birthday boy!

In the bouncer, playing dodgeball!

WHOAAAAA!!!! Notice Daddy still sitting at the top.

My monkeys.

Off he goes.

Noah blowing out his candles.

Mmmmm!!


Party #2--

Mike's office really knows how to throw a kids' party!

They had Santa, personalized gifts for each child, great finger foods, and like 10 craft tables set up! We got there at the tail end of everything because of nap time, but Brax still had fun.

"Now just in case you forgot what said I wanted LAST time I saw you..."

Once again, the candy cane from Santa was his favorite part.

It was extremely difficult for me to stand by and let him enjoy this sticky red mess the entire way home. By the time we got home, his mouth looked like The Joker from Batman!

After getting Brax to his parties, it was all I could do to get ready for our grown-up function. I did get ready, make-up and all, but of course did not take a picture of Mike and I! (I'm sure he wasn't too disappointed.)

These are from Friday nite--we drove around looking at some local light displays.

This house has their entire yard (and part of their roof) covered in Christmas inflatables. You can get out and walk thru the "trail" they have made around their house. Brax got a kick out of it... I was just thankful they weren't MY neighbors!

He loves his stocking cap!

Harper's GreenPea

I have to show you the cutest thing EVER.

This is Harper's new baby doll. I have had my eye on one of these custom made dolls ever since I found out we were having a girl, and Nana Star got it for me (Harper!) for Christmas!

No two dolls are the same, and the entire thing is handmade. You choose the skin, hair, eye, lip color... even it's shape (full, thin, etc...) It's just incredible. The idea, I suppose, is that you send in a picture of your child and they create a doll that is similar. In our case, I sent a picture of Brax and told them to make a girl version but with green eyes! Hope she looks like him...

I can't wait for Harper to play with her baby doll!

Check out the websites for GreenPea Dolls:

HERE on Twitter, for lots of pics you can click on

HERE on etsy, where you can purchase one

HERE at their main website for more info

It even comes with a handmade "birth certificate!"

Sugar Scare

In celebration of the fact that I DO NOT have gestational diabetes (as my initial glucose test hinted at), I did a little research on the effects that sugar has on our bodies. I think everyone knows that "sugar is bad for you," but I had no idea just HOW BAD.

I found the following list by a PhD who wrote a book called, "Lick the Sugar Habit." (Click on the underlined text to see the site, with sources.)

146 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.
4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
5. Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases).
6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function, the more sugar you eat the more elasticity and function you loose.
7. Sugar reduces high density lipoproteins.
8. Sugar leads to chromium deficiency.
9 Sugar leads to cancer of the ovaries.
10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.
11. Sugar causes copper deficiency.
12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
13. Sugar can weaken eyesight.
14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract.
17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.
18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease.
19. Sugar can cause premature aging.
20. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
21. Sugar can cause tooth decay.
22. Sugar contributes to obesity
23. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.
24. Sugar can cause changes frequently found in person with gastric or duodenal ulcers.
25. Sugar can cause arthritis.
26. Sugar can cause asthma.
27. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).
28. Sugar can cause gallstones.
29. Sugar can cause heart disease.
30. Sugar can cause appendicitis.
31. Sugar can cause multiple sclerosis.
32. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.
33. Sugar can cause varicose veins.
34. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.
35. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
36. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
37. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.
38. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
39. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E (alpha-Tocopherol in the blood.
40. Sugar can decrease growth hormone.
41. Sugar can increase cholesterol.
42. Sugar can increase the systolic blood pressure.
43. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
44. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar bound non-enzymatically to protein)
45. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.
46. Sugar causes food allergies.
47. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
48. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
49. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
50. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.
51. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA
52. Sugar can change the structure of protein.
53. Sugar can make our skin age by changing the structure of collagen.
54. Sugar can cause cataracts.
55. Sugar can cause emphysema.
56. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.
57. Sugar can promote an elevation of low density lipoproteins (LDL).
58. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.
59. Sugar lowers the enzymes ability to function.
60. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease.
61. Sugar can cause a permanent altering the way the proteins act in the body.
62. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.
63. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.
64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
65. Sugar can damage the pancreas.
66. Sugar can increase the body's fluid retention.
67. Sugar is enemy #1 of the bowel movement.
68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).
69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
70. Sugar can make the tendons more brittle.
71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraine.
72. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.
73. Sugar can adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders..
74. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves.
75. Sugar can cause depression.
76. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.
77. Sugar and cause dyspepsia (indigestion).
78. Sugar can increase your risk of getting gout.
79. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates.
80. Sugar can increase the insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets.
81 High refined sugar diet reduces learning capacity.
82. Sugar can cause less effective functioning of two blood proteins, albumin, and lipoproteins, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.
83. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
84. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness.
85. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.
86. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.
87. Sugar can lead to the hypothalamus to become highly sensitive to a large variety of stimuli.
88. Sugar can lead to dizziness.
89. Diets high in sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.
90. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.
91. High sugar diet can lead to biliary tract cancer.
92. Sugar feeds cancer.
93. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
94. High sugar consumption can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration among adolescents.
95. Sugar slows food's travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.
96. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon. This can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.
97. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.
98. Sugar combines and destroys phosphatase, an enzyme, which makes the process of digestion more difficult.
99. Sugar can be a risk factor of gallbladder cancer.
100. Sugar is an addictive substance.
101. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.
102. Sugar can exacerbate PMS.
103. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.
104. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.
105. The body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.
106. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.
107. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
108. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.
109. Sugar can slow down the ability of the adrenal glands to function.
110. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.
111.. I.Vs (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to the brain.
112. High sucrose intake could be an important risk factor in lung cancer.
113. Sugar increases the risk of polio.
114. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.
115. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.
116. In Intensive Care Units, limiting sugar saves lives.
117. Sugar may induce cell death.
118. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.
119. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44% drop in antisocial behavior.
120. Sugar can lead to prostrate cancer.
121. Sugar dehydrates newborns.
122. Sugar increases the estradiol in young men.
123. Sugar can cause low birth weight babies.
124. Greater consumption of refined sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia
125. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the blood stream.
126. Sweet food items increase the risk of breast cancer.
127. Sugar is a risk factor in cancer of the small intestine.
128. Sugar may cause laryngeal cancer.
129. Sugar induces salt and water retention.
130. Sugar may contribute to mild memory loss.
131. As sugar increases in the diet of 10 years olds, there is a linear decrease in the intake of many essential nutrients.
132. Sugar can increase the total amount of food consumed.
133. Exposing a newborn to sugar results in a heightened preference for sucrose relative to water at 6 months and 2 years of age.
134. Sugar causes constipation.
135. Sugar causes varicous veins.
136. Sugar can cause brain decay in prediabetic and diabetic women.
137. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.
138. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.
139. Sugar ingestion by pregnant women increases neural tube defects in embryos.
140. Sugar can be a factor in asthma.
141. The higher the sugar consumption the more chances of getting irritable bowel syndrome.
142. Sugar could affect central reward systems.
143. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.
144. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.
145. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell carcinoma.
146. Sugar can cause liver tumors.

But my question is this: How do you AVOID sugar??? It seems that EVERYTHING has some form of sugar in it, or somehow breaks down into sugar. That is my next research topic...

Brax and Noah

Brax and I hung out with my friend Abbey and her son Noah the other day--

Got this cute one of the boys jumping on the couch.

Noah is just 6 months younger than Brax, and Abbey is having a baby girl who is due just a month before Harper!

Harper in 3D!!

Updated--

I added this picture of Brax with me during the ultrasound.

He was interested for all of 19 seconds.

We got Harper's 3D Ultrasound done today!

We did not get near as good of photos as we did with Brax because the placenta is sitting directly on her face... so they are a little blurry. But with some creative maneuvering, we managed to get a few good shots...

To compare, here are Brax's 3D pics from what seems like forever ago (June of 2007!)

They have the same little pointy chin!