Stat Update

The Dragon had her 10 month appointment today and weighed in at *drum roll, please* 23lbs. 4oz. the doctor also measured her this time and she is now almost 31 inches long! That's 4 pounds heavier and 3 inches longer than she was at her 7 month appointment. Big kid!

In other news: Audrey has allergies, so I'm experimenting with benadryl for the first time today. Her doctor said it can either make kids sleepy or have the reverse effect and make them wired. Guess who's in her crib making dragon noises instead of falling asleep right now? You got it. If this stuff makes Audrey any more resistant to napping than usual, I think I'd rather dab at her runny nose all day than sacrifice nap time (for both her and me)

That's all I've got. I'm surprised my head hasn't hit the keyboard yet.

p.s. Norbert is 6 weeks old and the size of a sweet pea

Happy Memorial Day/ Dragon's Pseudo Birthday

This weekend has been absolutely coo-coo-banana-crackers crazy, but that's probably to be expected. As far as three day weekends go, it's been pretty legendary.

The Moore Family has been in town for the weekend, so there's been a lot of swimming, playing and hiking going on. Sunday we had over 30 people at the house for lunch and to watch the Indy 500. Needless to say, there were epic amounts of food involved. It was glorious. And as if we weren't stuffed enough, we topped off the night by grilling ribs. It's been a weekend of euphoric food comas. And that ain't all! Tonight, we're going to another barbecue at a friends house that promises to rival any of the grilling that's been done around this place. I am obviously in pregnant, food craving lady heaven.

In Dragon News: Audrey is officially ten months old today! I'll give you the monthly run down in bullet-point form again for the sake of at least appearing to keep this from turning into a rambling post. Also: don't forget to check out the newest photos on Picasa.

The Dragon now:

• Has eight teeth! Yowza! They've been sneaking in! I'm going to miss her little two-toothed grin.
• Is trying sooo hard to talk with us. She's been working on signing milk and is trying to say it too.
• Is crawling everywhere and loves pulling up on EVERYTHING. She's getting so strong, although I don't see walking in our near future; she's much too cautious to be experimenting with that yet.
• Will finally let me feed her oatmeal again. It's hard to get enough solid foods in a kid when they insist on feeding themselves, so this is a major development.
• Swims! We took Audrey in the pool for the first time on Saturday. The water was a little cold, so she wasn't sure whether to like it or not, but we're hoping she'll be a water baby.
  
• On a side note, I haven't the foggiest notion of how much she weighs or how tall she is, but we go to the pediatrician this week, so I'll make sure to update the blog after our visit.

John and I get to go visit another newborn baby today! John's office-mate's daughter, Leah, marks the end of the Spring baby boom. Audrey's newest buddies Reagan and Henry were born earlier this month too. There's nothing like getting to hold a newborn! No wonder we've got the baby fever!

Speaking of babies, baby Schweighardt needs a good nickname. He/She is the size of an apple seed right now and is being good to mama. The little peanut mostly just makes me feel tired and hungry all the time...and occasionally turns me into the Incredible Hulk. (kind of makes me sound like a teenage boy, huh?) That reminds me--It's time for second breakfast...

Lou Ferrigno's Got Nothin' on Me

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...especially if your name starts with a "J", ends with an "ohn" and you happen to be married to me.

Now let me preface this by saying: I hate hormones--possibly more than the average person. If I saw a hormone walking down the street, I would punch it in the face and then start laughing. Unnecessary rage aside, I'm thinking pregnancy is one of the most extreme life events as far as hormones are concerned. When I was pregnant with Audrey, I remember being a little more emotional than usual; things like running out of toothpaste could make me burst into tears. I do not, however, remember getting so angry I could turn green, rip my clothes off and go on a hulk-inspired rampage. The thing is, these hysterical moments are always triggered by stupid events...like John telling me my directions to someone's house are wrong or hearing the same word repeatedly in a conversation. (dicker, anyone?)

Anyway, it's for this reason that my Mommy radar is telling me I'm having a boy. I know it's silly, but I'm feeling like maybe this odd behavior is the result of excess testosterone in my body...either that or someone's been slipping steroids into my morning coffee. We've decided to find out the sex of the baby this time (Jeff can breath a sigh of relief now), so we'll find out whether my maternal instincts are accurate sooner or later. I think Audrey's rooting for a boy too, but just because she doesn't want to have to share her room.

Audrey x2

We hadn't really intended to announce this on the blog so soon, but since most people already seem to know: John and I are expecting! ...another baby that is. And lets keep in mind that as far as technicalities go, I would consider myself barely pregnant (if there is such a thing). I'm only a bit over 4 weeks along and due probably some time in late January.

Now I at least know that the reason I've been so tired and brain dead is because there's a (cute) little parasite the size of a poppy seed draining my energy and brain juice. It seems that's the case anytime I start looking

like this:










or this:











during family events. (If you don't get the second one, look in the background)

Honestly though, I've felt exhausted since the day I gave birth to Audrey and that really hasn't changed much since, so a bit more exhaustion is really just a drop in the bucket. Nausea is another story and I'm not even going to think about it, lest my feeble stomach should take a hint and start in on some theatrics.

Anyway, I just wanted to kind of make a formal announcement on here. I won't be going to the doctor for a few weeks, but I'll make sure to update with all the news in the realm of both the Dragon and her future mini-minion...I mean, sibling. Please keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers and send some happy thoughts for a healthy nine months.

Dragon Brain

So, I've been giving it a lot of thought and have decided to blame Audrey for stealing my brain. Maybe she dissolved it with her toxic slobber or hid it under one of the couches...I don't know, but I'm definitely no longer in possession of it. That being said, I'll try to give you a coherent recap of the past few weeks.

Jeff and Kathryn came over for Mother's Day weekend and somehow got away with nary a game of Catan being played. We ended up having about twenty people at the house for dinner on Sunday and I loved every minute of it. I know technically mothers aren't supposed to do a bunch of work on Mother's Day, but entertaining is one of my favorite things to do. John spent most of the morning shoo-ing me out of the kitchen, but after much nagging, he let me at least throw a roast in the crock pot and then forced me to sit on the couch drinking coffee and eating cinnamon rolls. It was torture.

I've also decided that Mother's Day is, for all sakes and purposes, a second birthday. I got away with pretty much anything I wanted and if there was even a peep of protest, I would yell "It's Mother's Day! I can do whatever I want!" Ever gracious and demure...that's me.

Audrey is doing great. She's learning to crawl faster and faster (eeek!) and tries to excape the living room whenever possible. She loves chasing Caba and pulling up on the gate at the stairs. She also has a sixth sense for finding things she's not supposed to get into and is really trying to figure out how to get those darn plugs out of all the electrical outlets. We're working on the concept of "NO". It usually just makes Audrey laugh and continue with her mission to pull down the drapes. This kid is so spoiled.

Anyway, that's about all my poor excuse for a brain can handle right now. I'm off to go stare blankly at the wall and try not to drool.

Video Update

My brain is on hiatus. When it returns, I'll actually try to post something witty. In the mean time, I hope you love this video as much as I do.




Here's another one for good measure

*insert fart noise here*

I've added new pictures to the Picasa site.

That's pretty much all I've got. I've been super busy chasing around a crawling Dragon, trying to baby proof things that she has managed to get into and, for some reason, I've been hit with the sudden urge to do some spring cleaning today. What is my problem? I need to go take a nap.