Weekend Road Trips

Easter weekend we took the boys on a trip to San Antonio.  The main purpose of the trip was to go to Sea World but we also stopped to see the Alamo and go on a river boat cruise.  After the boat cruise we went to dinner at Mi Tierra.  Every time I have been here there has seemed to be a long wait but we lucked out and got seated right away.  Henry had been running a little bit of a fever before we left and I don’t think he was feeling well again so he fell asleep at the dinner table.  After dinner we headed to the hotel.  Checked Henry’s temperature and it was 102°.  Gave him some medicine and a bath and he was back to normal.  In fact Nolan and Henry ran around like crazy for a while after that.  Soon the room started to get really hot.  We called the front desk and they sent someone to look at it.  He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it and said he would have to send someone else.  We waited for a little bit but it was getting late (and hot!) so we called the front desk again and they said they could move us to the room next door.  It was 10:00 before we got the boys in bed!



On the River Boat



At the Alamo



Crazy in the room



The next morning we headed off to Sea World.  We were signed up for a Sesame Street character breakfast.  One of the reasons we decided to do Sea World again was due to the fact that Nolan had gone crazy over meeting them two years before.  Henry is a fan of Elmo and Cookie Monster so we thought he might enjoy doing the breakfast.  Henry was excited when they first walked in but this quickly turned to fear as they started making the rounds.  He was crying and trying to hide under the table.  Poor baby!  Nolan posed with all of the characters.  The breakfast was a little disappointing though.  They didn’t seem prepared for the group.  A lot of food wasn’t ready yet etc. 

 

Sea World!

 

See Henry hiding?!?!

  

After breakfast we headed out to the park.  Nolan rode a Shamu roller coaster several times at “Bay of Play” which is a huge play area for younger kids that is new since last time.  We also saw three shows:  a sea lion one, Azul (a little like a Cirque show), and the Shamu show.  We also stopped at all the other animal exhibits.  The boys had a good time.

After we left the park, in an attempt to see if the boys would nap, we drove to the shops at La Cantera.  They did not nap (actually Nolan fell asleep briefly) but we found a little play scape that they enjoyed playing on.  We capped off the day with dinner at Cracker Barrel!  The next morning everyone was up early so we decided to hit the road and stop at the outlets in San Marcos.  We all stopped at the brand new, huge Buccees where Nolan got a baseball cap and Henry picked out some Buccees Nuggees. They were kind of like a cheese puff but on the spicy side.  He loved them though and didn't want to share! We weren’t able to shop for long because we needed to make it back to town in time for Nolan’s best buds birthday party. 

The next weekend we drove out to Chappell Hill in hopes of finding some good bluebonnet fields.  We saw very few on the drive so I wasn’t sure what we would find.  Eventually we found the same place we went to last year.  I guess a lot of people had the same idea because the field was packed!  The boys looked cute and the field was plentiful but unfortunately they weren’t interested in taking pictures together.  I guess it was too sunny so Nolan wouldn’t open his eyes and kept covering his eyes with his arm.  We got some cute individual shots though.  Nolan even practiced taking a few pictures and he did well.  Maybe he is a budding photographer!  I can't imagine what it will be like next year trying to get three little boys to smile!  After the pictures we went to the place that claims to have the best kolaches to pick one up.  Kevin really wanted a sausage one but they were sold out.  I happily ate my cream cheese one though.  The boys shared a very large cinnamon roll. 



Family picture!



Baby #3 at 30 weeks!



2-year stats

Henry had his 2-year check up last week.  It was his first time to stand on the scale and be measured standing up.  He did pretty well during the check up but got tired of waiting on the doctor and kept leaving the room.  Whose idea was it to put handles on the doors that are easy for 2-year olds to operate?!?! 

He seems to be doing well.  His speech is really starting to pick up.  His favorite sayings are "where (mommy/daddy/NoNo) go?" or "(mommy/daddy/NoNo) where are you?"  When it is dinner time he starts saying "eat eat yumm yumm".  Nap time and bed time has been a bit of a challenge over the past few weeks.  Dr. CS did say that we really need to try to get him to nap because he is too young to drop that.  I think he sleeps at school but just doesn't want to miss anything when he is at home.  He has been waking up during the night but luckily you just have to go in there, give him a hug, say everyone is still sleeping and that he needs to sleep more and he says ok and lays down. 

Below are Nolan and Henry's 2-year stats. They are pretty close!  They are the same height, but Henry's percentage was quite a bit lower.  Not sure which is correct.  I think Nolan's probably is though because they have always been in the ~50% range.

Nolan @2:
Weight:  27lbs (50%)
Height:  33 3/4" (45%)
Head 49.5cm (80%)

Henry @2:
Weight:  27.5lbs (58%)
Height:  33.75" (24% see note above)
Head: 50cm (90%)

Coming soon...Nolan's 4-year check up!

Mixed Bag

March has already been a busy month.  The month started off with me taking Nolan to a tour of the local fire station with the moms club I am part of.  He had a great time.  He got to climb on the truck and see all of the equipment that they use.

Kevin and I both took off work last week in the middle of the week to go to the livestock show and carnival at the rodeo with the boys.  We thought mid-week might be a nice quiet time to go and they have "Wacky Wednesday's" where admission and rides are discounted.  I never thought there would be so many school groups there though!  It made the livestock show a little crazy to get through.  We moved outside to the carnival for a while and these crowds were pretty light.  Nolan was excited to go on some rides.  He rode a flying elephant ride with Kevin and then did a motorcycle ride by himself.  We took a lunch break and then went back into the livestock show for a while and the crowds had died down quite a bit.  Henry loved looking at the rabbits and baby chickens.  He is our animal lover.  Nolan started begging to do more rides so we headed back out for a little while before heading home.  Nolan went down a big slide two times with Kevin and then finished with one last ride by himself.  He has no fear when it comes to these rides. He also got a new cowboy hat that is like Woody's.

Two days later Henry turned 2!  We went to dinner at La Ha in celebration.  That night he threw up all of his dinner but we think it was just due to eating so much junk that day.  Luckily that was all and it didn't ruin his party the next day.  The next morning we had a family get together for his birthday.  He was in a great mood and was running wild giving everyone hugs etc.  He wasn't super interested in opening his gifts but he did get some fun new things. 

That afternoon the boys new play set arrived!  We decided to bite the bullet and buy a play set.  Hopefully it will get many years of use.  Nolan is at an age where he can play on it with only a little supervision but Henry needs constant watching.  He loves climbing up and down the ladder.  The going up doesn't bother me, but it is a little nerve wracking when he wants to come down!  Maybe one day he will decide to climb up all the way and take the slide down!

Sadly it appears that Henry might be ending his naps soon.  Last weekend he didn't nap at all and manged to even climb out of his crib.  He has been doing a bit more crying lately too.  We think his molars are just coming in and causing him some pain.  I seem to remember Nolan going through a phase like this around the same age.  Hopefully it will pass soon.

The next two weeks should be relatively quiet.  Henry will have his 2-year check up and both boys will be going to the dentist (Henry for the first time).  At the end of the month we will be busy again with a trip to San Antonio and Sea World!

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

Our "big ultrasound" on January 31 confirmed what the guess at 12 weeks was.  Baby Brock #3 is a boy!  We are very excited about a third boy.  Yes, a girl would have been fun and a nice book end to the string of boys on my side of the family, but a boy will be extra fun with both Katherine and Kasey expecting boys so close to ours.

Baby boy was fairly stubborn during the u/s.  It appeared he was laying on his stomach so the tech could see the back and spine very well but was having a hard time seeing other things.  I did a lot of moving to my side and then back to my back.  In the end she said she was able to measure everything and we were told that all looks great!  We didn't come away with the best pictures but he did flash a peace sign (or a "V" for Villanova!) and we saw a few yawns. 

Like I did with Henry I will do an occassional pregnancy update.

How far along:  22 weeks

Size of baby:  I am pretty sure it is about the size of a Papaya right now.  On 1/31 we were told approx 14 oz.

Weight gain:  not positive, but I wouldn't share anyway!  My guess would be that I will gain similarly to my first two.  Not working out this time around do to minor early complications so hopefully it won't be more!

Maternity clothes:  yes, definitely.  I wear non-maternity work out clothes and PJ's but everything else is maternity

Gender:  another boy

Movement:  starting to pick up.  Usually after eating I will feel something but it isn't constant yet.

Sleep:  Doing pretty well. 

What I miss:  I kind of miss going to the gym during lunch.  It gave me something to do.  Now I spend obscene amounts of time at Target.  I could go back to working out again, but I canceled my gym membership when my office moved.  I will join a new one after he arrives.

Cravings:  nothing specific.  Spicy and sweet call my name though! 

Symptoms:  nothing right now really...possibly just hunger, I feel it is pretty constant.

Best moment of the week:  feeling more movement and knowing that all is going well.

 

Peace!

Poor Blog

Poor blog has been so neglected!  Here we are almost finished with the month of January and I haven't even updated how our Christmas went.

A few days before Christmas we did our annual cookie making for Santa.  Nolan was a big help and did really well.  He measured out the flour and was a great dough roller.  Henry also helped cut out a few cookies.  He tried to eat some flour so we made a bit of a mess.   

Christmas was a great day.  Nolan was excited about Santa coming and had his list of what he was hoping for.  Santa brought him everything he asked for, Buzz Lightyear, a cape, and chocolate.  He also got a Leapster computer which he has mastered using so quickly.  Henry also got some fun things.  He got a backpack with his name on it, an Elmo shirt, a few books, and some candy.  I am sure they both got more but since it was already a month ago I can't remember.

The rest of the day was spent with family.  First the entire Brock clan came over to our house for brunch and more gifts and that night it was over to the Neville side for dinner and more gifts!

New Years Eve we went to our neighbors house for a little party.  There were quite a few older kids there so the boys had fun chasing them around.  We didn't stay all that late because Henry was going up and down the stairs and we couldn't really trust him to leave him alone.

Since the new year we have just been doing the daily grind.  We had a pretty good cold snap so that meant a lot of time indoors with probably too much TV.  The past week has been warmer though so we have been back outside in the evening. 

Nolan has been able to attend 2 gymnastics parties.  The first was for Julia and then for Sophie.  Sophie also had a Spiderman come to her party so Nolan was pretty excited to meet him.

Henry is still super smiley guy and is talking up a storm.  He has more and more words everyday.  He still speaks a lot of gibberish but you can tell he is trying so hard.  He still loves his Elmo too.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

December has been a fun month filled with lots of parties and trips to see Santa!  Now we are in the final countdown until the man in red comes.  Nolan is excited and asks questions about how he will get in the house, how the reindeer fly, etc.  Henry doesn't really care for Santa.  He will grab onto us when we get close.  He does say Ho! Ho! Ho! though which is cute.

We started out December 1 by having the annual picture taken with Santa at the local real estate office.  That evening we had a little cocktail party for Kevin's work group.  Nolan had fun playing with Faith, who is just 3 weeks older than he is.

The next weekend we went to a Santa party at the house of Kevin's coworker.  This was a lot of fun with a big bounce house, a gift from Santa, and lots of cupcakes and cookies.  Nolan did well with Santa once again but it took a little convincing to get him to go see him because he kept saying that he had just seen him the week before and already told him what he wanted :)

Finally we had the boys Christmas program at school this week.  Henry was supposed to have a little performance but he wanted no part in it!  Nolan's class had a snowman craft that he had fun with and then his performance.  He did really well!  The school also had Santa come so Nolan told him one more time what he wants just so he won't forget.  Henry clung close to us!

Here are some pictures from the festivities.  They aren't the clearest because I have reached my photo limit for the blog so I have had to find a way to get around it without paying for more. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving and other things

I meant to write a post about Halloween but here we are almost a month later.  Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we are starting to pull out the Christmas decorations. Where has 2012 gone?

For Halloween we went to a little neighborhood block party before TOT.  They do a little costume parade and prizes are given out for each age group.  Nolan won for his age group!  He was a boxer.  When we left the house he was wearing his Spiderman mask and said that he was a Spiderman boxer but when we got to the party he was just a plain boxer.  He won a $2 gift certificate to Baskin Robbins.  Henry was dressed as a skeleton.  It is really just a pair of PJ's but it is super easy for his age.  We only did about 2 1/2 blocks of TOT but Nolan had a blast.  He was so good about saying "Trick or treat!" and at the end he knew to say "thank you!"  Henry had no interest and stayed in the wagon.

The month of November has been pretty quiet.  With the time change we don't play outside quite as long in the evening but the boys both still love being out there and playing sports.  We have been playing a lot of blocks and cars inside.  Nolan is obsessed with Spiderman and the Avengers and constantly asks to watch them on TV.  Henry has become obsessed with Elmo and will say Elmo and over again when the TV is on hoping that he can watch and episode of Sesame Street.  Just like Nolan he really doesn't care about most of the show and only wants to see the Elmo's World portion.

Nolan has started playing so well by himself.  It is so nice that he can do some independent play!

Thanksgiving was nice.  Thursday we did the Neville side of the family.  We didn't go over there until 4 so we had a really lazy day up until that point.  Nolan and I watched the Macy's parade and then after that the exciting Texans game.  After that the craziness of all the cousins together got started.  Nolan kept up with being a bum choosing to watch a movie with Margaret and Julia instead of running around with Kyle and Wade.  Finally we forced him outside and he had fun with them.

Friday we went over to Kasey and Brian's house for Thanksgiving #2 with the Brock Brood.  We had a nice time here as well.  The boys played football outside for a while and then we had another big feast.  Nolan got to play with an old Wolverine figurine of Brian's that he loved.

Finally, on a sad note, our Molly cat died unexpectedly on Saturday morning.  I found her "sleeping" under the bassinet in our room.  She was a good, sweet cat.  She put up with the boys laying on her etc.  She was relatively young...probably about 8 years old.  Kevin and I decided to get her around Christmas time 5 years ago before there were any kids in the picture.  She was a few years old already when we got her.  Not sure if she and Seamus were friends or not.  They loved to chase each other around the house and growl at each other.  Seamus does seem a little sad that she is not around.  We explained to Nolan that she was gone.  He probably doesn't really understand but he has brought her up a few times.