Amy's Volleyball Game

Aunt Amy was in Denton this weekend for a volleyball tournament. We headed out to spend the day helping Nana get lunch ready for Amy's whole team and then went to deliver it and watch the game later that day. Derek had been rather fussy and running a fever the past few days, but the urgent care dr said it was just a virus and to let it run it's course. As you can see, he's obviously feeling better. :) Nana's pasta salad was a HUGE hit and Derek was flirting like crazy with everyone in sight. He was in attention heaven and the girls all thought he was adorable. At one point, he put his hand on a chair, leaned forward and crossed his ankles to talk to some of the girls while they were eating lunch. I wish he'd kept the pose long enough for me to snap a picture! Amy, Mom and I were laughing so hard! We ended up spending the afternoon hanging out with Amy in the hotel lobby while we waited for the game later that evening. Derek had a blast running up and down this hallway and Amy really enjoyed finding inventive new ways to scare him as he ran by.

Running down the hallway in his new U of Arkansas shirt... well, it's supposed to be a shirt. Looked more like a smock, haha! :)

Run run run!!!

Bryce was being a punk that day and I was really uncomfortable, but Amy lent us her room key so Derek and I could take a nap on her bed. It was so nice! Both of us woke up feeling so much better (my mom noticed I wasn't nearly as pale) and ready for the game! Mitchell drove out after work to support Amy's team and Derek was really excited to see him. He kept leading him around on expeditions all over the bleachers and the unused side of the court. One time, Derek unexpectedly changed direction and started running out towards the players. Mitchell snatched him just in time but my heart felt like it froze in my chest, haha! My camera didn't have as much battery as I thought, so I only got a few pictures of the game. :(

Derek would do anything for a bag of baked cheetos - including sit still on Daddy's lap. :) 

 High five!

The girl on the left is Rini, the middle is Bailey and then Amy is on the right. Derek loooooved Rini. He climbed right up on her lap after the game and laid his head on her shoulder. Wow!

Go Boll Weevils!! 

Sillies

We had a thunderstorm roll in a few days ago and I decided to try my hand at lightning shots again. This was my first shot and the only shot that had a lightning bolt in it. Pretty sweet. Definitely need some practice with this camera though.

Lighting up Lewisville

Last Sunday, Mitchell and I were exhausted but Derek just wanted to play. So, we compromised... sleep a little, play a little and play-sleep, lol. Derek loves playing with Mitchell because he'll always wrestle with him or fix the impossible transformers. Some toys I tell Derek are "Daddy Toys" because I don't want to try to set them up for him, haha! Hot Wheels race tracks and transformers are some of the Daddy Toys. 

Remember that game we used to play growing up called "Don't Wake Daddy?" Derek wouldn't last two minutes in that game. :)

Got his pillow and a queen size comforter and they're laying on the fold out toddler couch. Whatever you can get at this point.

Only one of them is trying to sleep. Can you tell?

Tammy always says how she'll miss Derek's Sid the Sloth talking or jabbering. Well, the clip I wanted to use was too big (2:40 long) but this is a good runner up. :)

FINALLY This Kid Has a Name!!

I'm surprised it took us this long to settle on a name! Derek was named within four weeks of our gender ultrasound. This one we named the day before I hit 31 weeks and after roughly a dozen trial-run names. Anyway, drumroll please.....

BRYCE WILLIAM HEATH

will hopefully make his debut on 22 Oct 2012. I had to schedule an induction with my OB so we can be sure he'll be the one to deliver me (I need some surgery done and no other dr will attempt it, so it has to be my dr to deliver). Otherwise, I'll have to go in for general anesthesia surgery sometime after the baby is born aaaaaand I'd rather not. So please pray the epidural works!! :D

Lens of the eye, hands tucked under chin and little white lines are the umbilical cord - 16 wks 4d

Little Bryce is measuring just ahead of schedule (just like Derek did), all organs look fine (unlike Derek's kidneys), and he likes to sit right at the very bottom of my uterus... as far down as he can get. He also has a tendancy to tickle my ribs and, let me tell you, that is WEIRD. I'm sure everyone has been tickled on the outside of their ribs, but being tickled from the inside is a whole different feeling. It really feels like he's intentionally tickling. So far, he doesn't like it when I drink hot chocolate or when I scratch my stretch marks. He stops moving when Mitchell puts his hand on my belly, but we're not sure if he's just listening to the incoherent, deep voice mumbles Mitchell makes when he tries to talk through my belly (he puts his lips right on my bare belly, deepens his voice and makes all kinds of "reassuring" baby talk. It's adorable.). Maybe Bryce is just afraid of the massive hand blocking out most of his light.

Hand over his face at 20 wks 4d

3D image at 20 wks 4d

I have developed the strangely funny habit of bracing myself whenever Derek runs over to me. Usually he tries to "color" with me (he can't say "cuddle" properly) in the mornings on the couch which involves a lot of belly guarding as Derek launches himself into my lap. A few mornings ago, he ran over to me, patted my belly, kissed my belly and said, "Ah lah yew brudda!" (translation: I love you brother!) Completely unsolicited from me, I assure you. I can't wait for these two boys to meet each other!

Derek is talking more and more and MORE! And not just jabbering but he'll have bursts of surprising clarity more frequently. He's probably up to 100-200 words if you count the ones that I have to translate, but a surprising number are becoming intelligible to other people.

His new phrases this week:

"Hey, check it out!" - said when pulling every single toy out of the toy box
"What happened?" - pretty self-explanatory
"Where'd you come from?" - usually when Mitchell comes home for lunch
"What the HECK?!" - seriously, no idea where he got his little sing-song version of this one
"So..." or "so, yeah..."- he says this pretty often before he starts into a sentance. I'm the source.

What the HECK?! 

Bryce William 31 wks 1d

We're Alive! Recap of July

Wow, the last month has been pretty ridiculous. Mitchell turned 28, I had my first tooth extraction (far worse than labor and delivery!) and Derek got a dinosaur-sized goose egg on his head. Lanae, David and Logan came to visit for a whole week, the first little girl grandbaby was born and this little baby in my belly is trying so hard to claw his way out next!

Unfortunately (and uncharacteristically) I took very few pictures this last month. I'll add what I have, but this will be a pretty short post with very little visuals.

I surprised Mitchell with a surprise birthday party for his 28th birthday. Unfortunately, my cracked tooth decided to throw in the towel two days before the party and require an oral surgeon to extract it a few hours before the party started. Stupid tooth. Mitchell had no idea that he was getting a party but he seemed to enjoy it. He and his dad BBQ'd some burgers and hot dogs, Tammy made an AWESOME strawberry creme stack cake and much of my extended family was able to come. It was supposed to be a pool party but the only one who ended up swimming was Derek. He had fun though. :) My mom, Amy and Val came out early to help me (really they ended up doing everything for me because the pain killers made me so sleepy and disoriented) but thankfully things went well and everyone had a good time. All I remember are the popsicles and potato salad I ate. Ha! Thankfully I didn't have to wear my ice pack to the party. The dr's said I had to wear an ice pack for 30 minutes once an hour. Literally, wear it. I had a big stretchy cloth bandage that circled my head to hold the ice pack to my face. Mitchell got a big kick out of the picture text I sent him at work.

Lanae, David and Logan came out to visit the first week of August. Derek had a great time! We got to watch Logan for a while so Lanae and David could go celebrate their anniversary in Dallas. Those kids crack me up! Derek kept calling David "Uncle Austin" but we've been doing some intensive review of aunts and uncles and cousins to prepare for Christmas (I know, a little early) and I think we've sorted them out. It was still cute. Liz delivered little Emeri May on July 26 and we were able to video chat with them about a week later. Lanae, David, Logan, Jeff and Tammy came out to our apartment so we could use the kinect to chat but we ended up having to scrap it the first night because of technical difficulties. We ended up watching Prince of Persia while the boys played with all the cool cars and transformers my aunt passed on to us. Tons of them! We eventually were able to video chat with Austin and Liz later in the week. Emeri is so cute with lots of dark black hair and I love her name! This brings the cousin count to six with our baby boy and Lanae's baby girl making seven and eight. Eight grandbabies for Jeff and Tammy in just over three years! This Christmas is going to be a blast!

Derek and Logan were chasing each other around upstairs and the corner wanted to play tag with Derek. Stupid corner won this round I think. Derek didn't like putting the bag of frozen corn on his face either, so we only did a few rounds of it.

Derek loves to play!! He got such a kick out of showing Logan his toys!

We love Baby Emeri!

Derek makes up songs now. They're all to the tune of  "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and he insistes on singing them at bedtime. The very first song he made up was the car song and it consists of three descending notes and one word: "car car car." I think he's developed songs for Aunt Amy, Nana, Papa's Truck and Giga so far but new ones pop up every now and then.

 Jeff and Tammy took us out to Cheesecake Factory one night. I don't remember why we were celebrating, but it sure tasted good! While we were waiting for our table to be prepared, Derek realized there were full size cars parked in the mall. This kid is OBSESSED with cars, trucks and trains. His new thing is pointing out ALL the tires on ALL the cars we see when we run errands. Here, he ran around pointing out the headlights/tail lights on this car and the matching SUV not pictured as well as other various features and trying to open the doors. Very entertaining.

Singing songs for Aunt Mary, Aunt Nancy and Aunt Val who were face-timing us from Chicago.