Week 71.11

Dear Nathan,
You may have noticed that the title of this post has a bunch of decimals behind it. Well, remember this?

Just in case you didn't figure it out, YOU'RE GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER! According to the ultrasound that you went with me to get, I am about 11 weeks along, which means your little sister or brother will be born around the end of August, about a month before you turn 2.

This time around, I've felt pretty horrible. I'm going to publish a post that I've been saving for a few weeks that document how I've been feeling during the first trimester. but I think I will start combining any pregnancy related posts with these posts because I just don't have time to make 2 posts each week. 'Caus Ain't no body got time for dat!

Here's another new activity that we tried this week. I didn't think you would be able to do this, but after awhile, you became pretty good at putting the cheerios onto the spaghetti noodles.

This past weekend, your grandparents came to visit. We always do lots of fun things when they are in town like go hiking at Emma Long Park. This is one of Austin's few off leash parks for dogs so on the hike, we saw so many dogs running around. You totally had a blast! That afternoon you took an extra long nap.

 We also hosted super-bowl at our house. Being able to walk around and eat snack foods was fun for you and your cousin. Both of you had pretzels and fruit chunks in your hand as you wandered around with Teddy close to your heels. Here's a great picture of your grandparents and your cousins.

For lunch that day, we went to a BBQ restaurant. I ordered some fried okra and had you try some. Daddy thought that you wouldn't like it, but you ended up eating so many! I was proud.

On Monday, Grandma, your Aunt, and your cousin got to join us for Chinese class. Then, on Tuesday, we met up with your best friend at Austin's children's museum, The Thinkery. You two really just get along so well. Here are some snap shots of you guys playing.

Today was catch up laundry day. After a morning of mommy and daddy loads, it was time to wash some of your clothes. You had been kind of helping me load and unload clothes all morning so when I slid your basket of clothes up to the washing machine, you immediately started to load the clothes. Wow.

It's amazing to see how you are learning about language and how things work. You seem to be able to understand a lot of what we say and you are figuring out more ways to say things in your own way. Many of your words have been reduced to the last syllable of the word like "ish" for fish, or "bao" for "mian bao" (bread in chinese). You've also started to use more of your newly learned signs like cracker.

You are starting to learn your animals better and every day you surprise me with a new sound or animal-related word. And I really do think that the Chinese class is helping reinforce your animal vocabulary. When the weather gets warmer, we are definitely going to the zoo.

This week you are finally consistently able to go potty while sitting on your toilet seat. Since you have your hands pretty free and can move around, potty time is now also 4 times longer than it used to be. You want to play with the toilet paper holder, the toilet seat, and anything else that is in your reach. I'll try to take a potty picture this week. It's kind of cute (to me, at least).

I am sorry if Mommy's been not herself lately. I've felt constantly tired, nauseous, and certain smells, like garlic really have become sickening to me. I'm hoping that all of this will go away in a few weeks and I'll be back to myself again. Even today at Zumba class, I danced feeling like I had just eaten a turkey dinner and had bricks on my feet. I danced with an enthusiasm of a too-cool-for-middle-schooler doing the chicken dance at a toddler party.  It was pretty bad. I'm definitely praying for energy and not feeling hung over all day.

Well, until next week...

Love ,
Mommy