12 Weeks

Well, I am nearing the end of my first trimester. . . already.  I can’t believe it because pretty much throughout the day, I forget that I’m pregnant.  This time I am so busy with an almost three year old and trying to keep up with the house (or not) that I don’t have time to dwell on this pregnancy like the first one.  I still feel pretty good most of the time.  I have to make sure that I keep something in my stomach or I do feel sick very fast.  I also feel that the moodiness is getting a little better, although maybe Brad should be the judge on that one.  I am also looking forward to my energy level returning, which it should in the coming weeks. . .hopefully.

12 weeks pregnant with Baby Cathcart #2

Neighborly Weekend

We had a great weekend that started on Friday evening when we headed back to Gowrie.  Brad had to get up bright and early on Sat. morning to ride in the annual Firecracker 40.  This is a 40 mile bike ride to all of the surrounding towns around Gowrie.  He always rides it with a group of friends that he graduated HS with and they have a lot of fun.  They have many beer stops along the way to help them stay “hydrated.”  While Brad was doing that, Jaxson and I hung out at Kris’ house while she was showing many people her flower gardens.  Gowrie was having a “Tour of the Gardens” and Kris was one of those stops.  We counted 73 people that stopped by.  After Brad got done with his ride, we hurried home so that we could get to our annual block party.  Once again we had a great turnout and a ton of fun.  We blocked off the street so that the kids could run wild and free.  We had a ton of food and a lot of fun hanging out and talking with the neighbors.  We met the new couple that just moved in three doors down and got a tour of their house that they are doing a ton of work on.  They are very cool and will fit in perfect on our street.  Brad turned in a little early, but Jaxson and I stayed up and partied until 11:30.  Needless to say, we all slept in a little bit this am.  We did get up and go to church, but then came back home for some more rest time.  This evening we were supposed to have our monthly neighborhood potluck at the park, but it turned out being an impromptu BBQ at the Cathcart house when we figured out that only three couples were going to come.  So we had the party and let the kids play in the sprinkler and enjoyed some homemade ice cream.  What a great ending to a great weekend:)

Some of Kris’ gardens

The block party

Erin did face painting again this year.

Jaxson got a sun.

Riding Miah’s big wheel.

The impromptu party at our house.  Olivia, Sophia, Miah, and Jaxson

Brad holding Amisha.  She must like him because she doesn’t go to strangers.

It’s Getting HOT HOT HOT!

Oh my goodness, where did this heat come from?!  You know it’s hot when it’s too hot to be outside in the pool.  Last night we got Jaxson’s pool out for the first time and Miah came over and they played in it from 5:30-8:00 and it was still hot outside.  This morning we went down to Jack’s house and were done outside by 11:30.  I like the warmer weather, but not this warm.

Miah’s airborn

2 cool cats

Father’s Day Weekend 2009

Happy Belated Father’s Day to all of the dad’s reading this.  Unfortunately I had to work all weekend, Fri, Sat, and Sun. nights, but the important thing is that Brad and Jaxson got to spend Father’s Day together with Steve.  Brad had a busy weekend with Bubbie.  On Saturday, he took Jaxson to Clive Fest where they got to dunk our neighbor, Matt, in the dunk tank.  Jaxson loved that.  He also got to jump in the bounce houses and all those fun things.  That night they went and saw the fireworks with the Barrons and had a good time.  On Sunday, the boys headed to Gowrie to celebrate Father’s Day.  They had brunch out at the golf course and then spent the rest of the day playing outside and in the pool.  Jaxson had such a busy weekend that Monday morning came a little too soon for him and he wasn’t too thrilled about waking up early and going to the Kid’s Room.  He cried when Brad dropped him off, which he’s never done before.  When I got him home that afternoon, I asked him why he cried and he said, "Jaxson want to stay home." 

I don’t know what it is about these two, but they always have silly pictures together.

"Check out my wheels."

A much needed bath after a LONG weekend.

Who Is This?

That’s right, you guessed it!!  We’re expecting!  I had my first appointment with the midwives today and we heard the heartbeat, which was in the 160’s.  I am 10 1/2 weeks and due on Jan. 12th, although I’m hoping for a 2009 baby.  If I had to guess, I’m guessing that this one is a girl because this pregnancy has been so different than my pregnancy with Jaxson.  I have been nauseous quite a bit, but it’s only when I get hungry.  I didn’t have any nausea with Jaxson.  My hair has also been falling out, which is the opposite with Jaxson.  I have also been very moody!!!  If you don’t believe me just ask Brad, he’ll tell you.  Jaxson might too 🙂  My appointment with my midwife, Pam, went well.  She was the one that delivered Jaxson.  We laughed about my delivery with Jaxson and she joked that she was going to take spring break very early this year so that she wouldn’t be on call when I go into labor.  We’ll see if she could be so lucky.  We are very excited about the pregnancy and Jaxson is too.  He is hoping for a baby sister.  It is so cute when you ask him what he wants. He says, "Jaxson want baby sister like Miah has Amisha."  He will be such a good brother because he loves babies and is so good with them.  So now you will have to get used to seeing belly pictures again.  With this being the second child, who knows if they’ll get a baby book and all of the documentation that Jaxson’s pregnancy did, so the blog might just be this kid’s baby book. 

This was taken a couple weeks ago.  I was only 8 weeks and showing already.

Eat Your Heart Out Papa and Nana Cathcart

Brady got to come spend the day with Jaxson and me again.  We always enjoy having him because he is such a good baby.  Now today he wasn’t as good as he usually is, but he does have a good excuse.  He’s got his two bottom teeth poking through and bothering him, but we still had fun.  It’s funny to look at these pictures of the boys right next to each other because they don’t even look like they are related.  Jaxson obviously has the Cathcart skin tone (thank the Lord) and Brady’s got his mom’s skin tone.  Jaxson’s got the darker hair and dark brown eyes and Brady with his blonde hair and blue eyes.  Could these boys be any different??  Oh well, we love them all the same.

Hubbard Days 2009

What a fun and fabulous weekend we had.  This weekend was the famous Hubbard Days.  We headed back to Hubbard on Friday night and had a great time at the street dance even though it rained most of the night.  The girls spent most of the night in the bar while Heath and Brad would venture out in between downpours to listen to the band.  I got to see several high school friends that I only see every few years, so that was pretty fun.  Jaxson had a blast until about 1:00 am entertaining Dru and her friends. He partied until he dropped.  The next morning we got up and got ready for the big parade. . .  starring. . . Jaxson and Heath.  My stepmom, Brenda, is the manager of the Hubbard pool, so Jaxson got to ride on the pool float and it was Heath’s 15 year class reunion, so they also rode in the parade.  After the parade we went downtown to check out all of the activites.  Jaxson and Kade enjoyed jumping in the bounce house.  Kade, Brad and Devon tried their luck at climbing the rock wall.  Jaxson had fun riding the smiley face train about four times.  Dad and Brenda entered into the lawnmower races and got disqualified because of Brenda’s erratic driving.  To give Brenda a little credit, she was blindfolded and had to drive the lawnmower through an obstacle course while Dad rode in a wagon behind the mower and gave her directions.  It was quite entertaining.   That evening we enjoyed a BBQ at Mom’s with Randy, Brenda, Grandma, and Wendy.  We had such a nice evening to sit outside on the deck.

3. . . 2. . . 1. . .

Blastoff!!!

Getting ready for the parade.

Looking good with their matching shirts.

Ready to go line up for the parade.

Devon and Brandon enjoying the parade in Brandon’s new Gator.

Jaxson’s parade debut.

Heath’s class reunion “float.”

Ready to go cruisin’ around town.

Come on Mom. . . seriously.

Kade attempting the rock wall.  He didn’t get too far.

Brad taking a stab at it.

Getting closer. . .

. . . and closer.  Almost there, only one more step to reach the button and. . .

Oh, so close.

Jaxson and Kade jumping around.

Mom and Jaxson from afar.

Somebody loves his Uncle Brandon.

Brenda running the lawnmower into the curb and Dad laughing hysterically.

Our Great Neighborhood

Have I ever told you how great our neighborhood is??  Well, if I haven’t, here it goes.  Our neighborhood is awesome!  We live on a street that turns into a cul-de-sac, so usually the only traffic on our street are people that live there and we know pretty much all of the cars that go down our street.  Our street is mostly younger families with small kids.  And luckily for me, the majority of the younger moms are stay at home moms or work part time.  We have play dates in the winter time at each other’s houses and in the summer time all we have to do is walk outside and we are bound to see someone else outside to play with.  Some of the families have an open garage policy.  This means that if our garage is open, the toys are free game to play with, even if we’re not outside.  In the evening, we enjoy sitting outside and all of the neighbors and their kids come over and visit.  Some of the young moms on my street and one block up from us have a meal swap each month.  There are seven of us that do this.  So each month, I make six freezer meals, this month I made tuna noodle casserole, and then we get together one night out of the month and swap meals.  I will also mention that the first 1 1/2 hrs we sit and eat desserts, drink wine, and chat, while the husbands are all home with the kids.  Our swap was last night and I came home with six different frozen meals, like BBQ chicken braided bread, spinach quiche, lasagna, sausage and pepper pasta bake, and beef pot pie.  It’s awesome because all we have to do is get something out of the freezer and pop it into the oven.  It also gives us a chance to try a lot of new things or things that I would have never thought to make.  Another great thing that we are starting is a babysitting co-op.  There are eight families doing this.  If anyone needs a babysitter all they have to do is find someone on the list of families that can watch their kids and we get paid with stars that equal one hour or 30 minutes.  We can then use these stars to pay a family when we need a babysitter.  This way we are all getting free babysitting and we are leaving our kids with people that we know and trust and also with other kids to play with that they also know.  It’s a win/win for everyone.  Our neighborhood is also cool since we have a celebrity.  I know that you all know by now that Shawn Johnson lives on our street.   I’ve been seeing her at least once a day.  Yesterday, Jaxson and I were hogging the sidewalk since he was on his Batmobile, so Shawn and her personal trainer had to run right around us.  It is the goal of our meal swap group to get a picture of her with our kids.  We’ll see if we can make that happen.  Oh, here’s some pics of Jack and Jaxson from last night.  Brad had double toddler duty while we were at meal swap last night. 

Much To Blog About

Well, where do I start.  This last Friday afternoon, I met Brenda in Ames to hand off Jaxson to them for the WHOLE weekend.  He had such a blast with Papa Choo Choo (as Jaxson calls him) and Grandma Brenda.  When I called on Saturday to check in with them, Dad was crawling around in the tunnels at the McDonald’s Playland with Jaxson.  I wonder who was having more fun, Dad or Jaxson?  Since Brad and I were child free for the weekend, we took advantage of it and went to a movie for the first time since Jaxson was a newborn.  We saw "The Hangover," which was absolutely hilarious and I think the funniest movie that I have ever seen.  Brad had a golf outing with the guys planned for Saturday morning, but that got cancelled because of the rain, he was pretty bummed.  On Saturday evening, Steve and Kris came down and took all of us out to eat at Granite City for my birthday.  It was so yummy!  After supper, I had to get into work for the weekend.  Saturday was pretty quiet, but we made up for it on Sunday.  I knew it wasn’t going to be quiet when I heard a tornado warning being called for Polk county when I was driving into work.  That means that we have to get all of the patients out into the hallway until it is no longer in effect.  Luckily it only lasted about 20 minutes, but that’s a lot of extra work.  A couple hours later, I found a patient of mine to be in afib. so that meant a transfer to telemetry.  All in all, it was a good weekend and everyone survived.  Then on Monday, Grandma Pam came down for a visit and spent the night with us.  Jaxson had fun while Nana was here and wanted to go home with her.  It’s too bad she had to work the next day, or I probably would have sent him with her.  We also had a new addition to the family on Monday evening.  My stepbrother, Jason, and his wife, Maggie, welcomed William Victor into the family.  Mom, baby, and big brother Connor are all doing well.  Jason is currently on active duty in Iraq and hopes to be home in August.  I’m sad to tell you that I don’t have any pics from this weekend, so you’ll just have to settle for the narrative.  Instead, I will end this post with a funny story about Jaxson.  So lately, Jaxson has started saying, "Mommy, watch this."  So I watch him and it’s always something little, like he jumps in the air, or he spins in a circle.  You know how kids want you to watch all of their "silly" moves.  This morning we were in the living room and he says, "Mommy, watch this." So once again, I watch him and he just stands still this time and says, "What the heck!"  I couldn’t help but laugh and then I asked him who he heard say that.  He says, "Jaxson says that."  OK.  So it was a few minutes later and I was doing something in the kitchen and he comes in and says in a pretty loud voice, "What the heck you doing?!"   This is when I thought to myself "Wow, he does a pretty good impression of me and thank goodness he’s saying ‘heck’ because it could always be worse." 

Enjoying The Weather

The weather has been pretty nice here lately, getting into the high 70’s and low 80’s.  With temps like that, we have to take advantage of them by being outside and playing. . . in the water usually. 

Jaxson and Miah enjoying the sprinkler.

Cooling his toosh off.

Yesterday, Jaxson and I went up to Gowrie to see Steve and Kris since Kris had the day off from work and jury duty.  We had a great time just sitting outside while Jaxson rode his Cozy Coupe car up and down the driveway and playing with all of the other trucks.  We also got to experience Papa and Nana’s park and then another motorcycle ride.  Jaxson was excited to get home to tell Daddy all about his fun day at Papa and Nana’s.

Walking to the park.

Papa showing Jaxson how to work the digger thing.

He got the hang of it.

Oh boy, here we go for another ride.

Jaxson is "doing dishes."