Welcome Baby Zach!

So, he's finally here and he's not a figment of our imaginations. We were beginning to wonder if he would ever arrive, as were the doctors! According to my doctors, Zach was very "buoyant" and no where near the birth canal. When they touched his head, he would float away. Thank goodness for cervadil and pitocin or Zach would most likely still be in my belly!

We had a very long day, but the end results were of course worth it. We have a healthy, beautiful baby boy that looks quite a bit like his big brother! When Zach was first born, we thought he had red hair, and then it looked like a hybrid of brown and red, and now we think that it is just brown. Yea!!! Now someone might actually say that one of my babies looks like his Mommy! His stats were 21.25 inches and 81bs 13oz. He is absolutely perfect and at the moment is totally spoiling his Mommy and Daddy. Minus our first night at home, which was pretty long, we have been getting quite a bit of sleep. He's going 4 hours at night, typically with us having to wake him up to feed.

We are enjoying our time alone with baby Zach, but we are missing our big boy Nate who is currently being spoiled in Wilmington by his Nana and Pops. He has already been out on Pops' boat and to the beach twice, rode the "up down" a.k.a "the carousel" at the mall, and today is off to Chucky Cheese for pizza and games. My parents said that when Nate was at the beach yesterday he literally laid down on his belly, hugged the sand and said, "Nate love the beach." To quote my brother, "Camp Nana and Pops is the second happiest place on earth, just behind Disney World." We were so excited and so proud of Nate when he met his baby brother. He was so sweet and so gentle. He had Mickey Mouse give him kisses and even tried to share some of his doughnut with Zach. It was hard to correct him for wanting to share, but we tried to explain that Zach only drinks milk. We'll have to keep an eye on that!

Thanks to all who have called and stopped by! We feel so blessed to have two, healthy boys and are completely in love with our sweet family!

Nope... Still no baby!

So, Zach has a deadline. 7:30 pm tomorrow night. All summer long I have seen NBC's countdown to the summer Olympics and I have always thought that Zach would be here by then. The opening ceremonies start at 7:30 Friday night and if Zach knows what's good for him, he'll be here. Doesn't he know how to obey his Mommy???

So onto the details... Zach is apparently following his big brother's lead and is way too happy inside his Mommy's belly. We went to the doctor yesterday and there is still not much happening. We had a stress test to check the baby's heartbeat and an ultrasound to measure the amount of amniotic fluid around the baby and both were good. So I will hopefully be heading to Rex tonight to start on cervadil (spelling?) which will help prepare my cervix and Friday morning they will start a pitocin drip. The hospital is supposed to call us in between 8:00 and 9:00. There is a chance that I might get "bumped" toinght if there aren't any beds available. Hopefully that won't happen and Zach will arrive by Friday night! We'll keep you updated!

Urgent Care

Well I guess it was bound to happen with our active little guy... We had our first trip to urgent care on Wednesday. As I was moving the pillows on his bed for naptime, Nate bounced from his feet to his knees and the force carried him forward where he smacked his precious little head on the headboard of his bed. He looked up and blood just started GUSHING... It was the absolutely worst thing I have ever seen!!! Daddy met us at urgent care and we had our first experience with dermabond. Nate was a real trooper and such a big boy during the procedure, which luckily was pretty quick and painless. I, on the other hand, have had a really hard time getting the image out of my head. Let's just say that Nate is no longer allowed to jump, run, climb, or bounce. He is only allowed to walk while holding his Mommy's hand for the next 16 years. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it???

Other than urgent care, we did have some fun times this week. Nate has decided to turn our ottoman and pillows into a "choo-choo tunnel" and his buddy Emmy taught him to make funny faces. Today, we went to Pullen Park and celebrated being a family of three. With Baby Zach's arrival possibly less than a week away, we wanted to have a fun family day. We fed the ducks, rode the carrousel and train, had a picnic lunch and played on the playground. What a special day we had! We love our boy so much and can't wait to see him interacting with his baby brother! Thank you God for your special blessings!!!

What a difference a week makes!!!

Wow!!! Jamie, Nate and I headed out to our new house today and totally freaked out when we saw the progress that had been made. Our house actually looks like a house instead of just a bunch of bricks! It was so much fun to walk through it and be able to tell where the kitchen, den, dining room, etc. would be. The stairs had been delivered, but they were not installed yet so we couldn't walk around upstairs. I think Jamie is most excited about the high ceilings! Check out the picture of Nate on his shoulders in the doorway. We will have 8 foot doors and 10 foot ceilings downstairs which means Nate and Zach will be able to play on their Daddy's shoulders and not have to worry about bumping their heads!!!

Our House... or at least the foundation!

Here are some pictures of our new house that is under construction. According to the timeline they have given us so far, it is supposed to be ready by October 24th. Jamie's brother Anthony took these pictures last weekend when he came for a visit. Jamie went back out to the site this week and they have since poured the concrete slab in the garage and all the "structural lumber from Trust Joist (structural lingo and company name provided by my husband)" is there and ready to be put up. It's so exciting to see our home being built!!!

Bubble Blower

Who knew that $3.74 could be so well spent? We got Nate this bubble blower from Wal-Mart a few days ago and it is all he has wanted to play with. He absolutely loves it and it entertains him for quite a while - which is a great thing for Mommy!!!

PS... Happy Anniversary Nana and Pops! We love you!!!

Where do we even begin???

Oh my goodness... Since I last posted, ages and ages ago, so much has happended in our lives!!! First off, we are just over 2 weeks away from adding Baby Zach to our family (my due date is August 1st and hopefully Baby Zach won't arrive 8 days late like his big brother!). Also, we decided that since adding a child to our family wasn't enough stress we would build a new house and put our old one on the market. Well, our house sold in under 3 weeks and we have moved into a temporary apartment while our new home is under construction. It has been a hectic and crazy time of adjustment, but Mommy, Daddy and especially Nate are all doing well! Nate has been such a trooper through it all... He was a little stressed as he watched his most prized possessions being moved from his "old house" to his "little house," but once he saw his train table and his Little Einsteins poster in his room he was set! Hopefully he will adjust this well to Baby Zach's arrival, but Jamie and I aren't holding our breath... as he does enjoy being the the center of his Mommy's and Daddy's attention!

He is such a cute kid and once again I must say that he is quite brilliant (just ask his Nana and Pops)! He is still up to some of his old tricks and has added a few new ones: completely OBSESSED with the Little Einsteins, he can even tell you the name of the episode he wants to watch; he is even more OBSESSED with Little Einstein stickers and can go through a page of stickers in 10 seconds flat; he loves to play with his train table and has added dinosaurs and Little Einstein figures to his train table as obstacles for Thomas and the other choo-choos to maneuver around; his night-nights, he absolutely loves his night-nights and now must go to sleep with both night-nights, his poppi (paci), Leo, Mr. Bear and Froggie and yes, Mommy must tell each and every one of them good night and sweet dreams; his favorite number is still 8 and he talks about seeing it at Target; he can count to 15 without mistake, but then starts to add random numbers like "eleventeen," he also recognizes all the letters of the alphabet; he thinks it's funny to change the first letter of a word to a different letter and it's pretty funny to hear him pronounce the new words except for when he changes the first letter of "mam" to a "d" and then says, "yes, dam" instead of "yes, mam"; he absolutely loves the pool this summer and loves the innertube his grandma sent him... unfortunately, Nate does not understand that he can't jump off the side of the pool all by himself without Daddy there to catch him...; he's potty trained (hooray!!!) and loves to talk about how all of the big boys stand up to pee-pee... some of the guys he names are Daddy, Pops, Ry-Ry, Jack-Jack, Mr. Mike, Ty, Mr. Tim, and Mr. Chip; he also started saying that his poo-poo looks like "little fishies" in the potty (Pops really gets a kick out of that one); he still says "uh-huh, eh-hay" instead of the word "yes"; he loves his Mommy's black ankle boots and wears them around the house; and finally he has become obsessed with all of Baby Zach's gadgets. That's all I can think of for now...

We have had so many good times as a family and with our family and friends over the past few months. I can't comment on them all or this would go down in history as the longest blog ever! Instead, I'm attaching some of our favorite pictures from the past few months. Hope you enjoy!

Nana, Pops, Grandma and Grandpa

Nate loves his grandparents so much and talks about them all the time! You can't mention the beach without Nate saying, "Go, go beach with Pops." He's so cute! Apparently when he and Pops see a wave coming they say, "Here comes a big one" and then they jump it together, or so I've been told by my child repeatedly. Nate also talks about the "up, down" at the mall that he rides with his Nana. He also loves going to Nana's antique/gift shop and finding all the "animals" she has on display. He likes to count them, all of them!!! We had the best visit with them back in February and Nate had a yummy milkshake that he and Nana declared to be the best in the "whole wide world." It's so cute hearing Nate say that! It's such a Nana term!!! We were also able to make the big trip to IL in February to visit Jamie's parents. I think Grandma and Grandpa were quite amazed at all the changes in our little man. Nate had a blast playing and building a snowman in the snow with Daddy and Grandpa. And Grandma and Nate were able to bond over coloring and ice cream! Two things our little man absolutely enjoys!!!

Playing Catch Up...

Ok... So I have been a total blog slacker! I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. Well, where do I begin... I guess where I left off. Nate's 2nd birthday was a blast! We started off the day with Nana and Pops at the dinosaur exhibit at the Science Museum downtown. I guess Nate enjoyed it, but it was a little over his head... I actually think he enjoyed going up and down the escalator more so than the exhibits. We then headed home in time for a nap and his "Little Einsteins" birthday party. I love watching Nate and his buddies interact. It's so adorable to watch them play! I am so thankful for all the good friends we have here in Raleigh!!! I will say that I did have a life-threatening experience at Nate's birthday party... Never again will I sit in the middle of 10 children while helping my son open presents! Next year, it's Daddy's turn or perhaps Nate will be able to brave the mayhem solo!!! Nate's big gift from Mommy and Daddy was his tricycle. He absolutely loves it and looks like such a big boy "riding" it ("riding" it really consists of Mommy or Daddy pushing him).

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Today is January 28, 2008 and our little boy turns "2". I can't handle it!!! He is growing so quickly and developing new skills on a daily basis. Last night Daddy gave him a birthday haircut and we started his birthday celebration off this morning with Mommy's solo rendition of "Happy Birthday." Since then, Nate has been asking for the "Birthday Song" all day! We then headed downstairs and had a cup of whole milk from the last gallon of whole milk we will be buying for him... Jamie thought I was crazy, but I had to buy one last gallon of whole milk so I could take a picture of Nate with it. Call me crazy, but oh well! We watched the new episode of Nate's obsession "Little Einsteins" which happened to be about a train delivering ice cream to a birthday party and then headed off to our playgroup where we enjoyed (at least the mommies did) birthday cupcakes. The kids basically licked the icing and that was it. Oh well!!! After playgroup we headed downtown to meet Daddy for a birthday lunch. Nate loved seeing his Daddy in the middle of the day! This afternoon we'll be hitting the playground and then on to Target to get a new matchbox car with a coupon that came with one of Nate's Christmas presents. Fun, huh? Thanks to everyone who has called to wish Nate "Happy Birthday!"

PS... Here are some of Nate's new "skills/obsessions:" Little Einsteins - we litterally can't utter the words without him asking to watch an episode on the TV (thank goodness for DVR!). Colors - he is very descriptive "blue car," "purple block," "red rocket," "green coat." He loves to compare similar objects' sizes by saying "Big and Baby" for example "Big t-rex," "Baby t-rex." He repeats everything we say, thankfully the other night I uttered "Oh my goodness" and not anything else, because that was all he said for the rest of the night! He loves to count and can count objects up to the number 10. He loves his USA map puzzle we gave him for Christmas and he knows where Michigan, Florida, Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, Minnessota, and several other states are. He also knows that Uncle Anthony lives in Florida. He loves to be chased and says "chase you" a million times a day. He's really fast! He loves to play on playgrounds and has recently started climbing playground ladders all by himself. He knows where his friends live and if you make the slightest detour on your way there, he gets really upset! I'm telling you, he's brilliant!!!

Grandfather Mountain

Last weekend we visited Grandfather Mountain with my brother-in-law and his family. It was absolutely beautiful! Nate was so excited to see the white "no" aka "snow." We had great weather, just a slight snow fall... It was just enough to be pretty! Nate had a great time playing in the snow with his cousins Alyssa and Chayse and keeping up with them all weekend. He had a hard time keeping their names straight, he consistantly called Alyssa, "Chayse" and Chayse, "Alyssa." We'll say that by the time we took them back to the airport he had their names straight, but I'm not completely sure of that fact! On Sunday we took a little walk to a waterfall and took some really pretty pictures. It was so cold! Nate had on socks, his long, footed pjs, two shirts, pants, coat, hat and mittens. I'm sure he was roasting, but I was sure he would turn into a popsicle without all the layers!

Our Boy is Getting Bigger and Bigger and Bigger!!!

Oh my, what a difference a year and some change makes!!! I took some pictures recently and compared them to similar ones from when Nate was younger. Why does my baby have to get older???

Christmas... In January???

BubbleShare:

OK... So I never thought I would be blogging about our wonderful Christmas in late January, but better late than never, right? Also, I know this blog has been written from Nate's perspective, but Mommy has grown weary of trying to sound like a two-year old (as of today) boy. So from here on out I will be writing this blog as a Mommy reporting on all the amazing events that have occured in our boy's life. Of course if I reported on each of Nate's "amazing" achievements, this blog would never end as our boy is quite brilliant!!!

On to Christmas... It was a blast! My parents, Nate's Nana and Pops, came and spent several days with us and we had an absolutely wonderful time! It was so much fun to have Christmas in our home and begin our own traditions.... like making Nate pose at the top of the steps before he could come down Christmas morning and reading the Christmas Story as a family. Nana also brought Baby Jesus' birthday cake and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and Nate helped blow out the candle. On Christmas morning, Nate was so excited to see what "Santa Claus" and "Nana Claus" had brought him. He kept saying, "presents, presents" over and over again. Have I mentioned his stocking from Nana and Pops is taller than he is??? Every time he opened a gift we thought that would be the toy that he played with all day long. His excitement level definitely did not let us down!!! His favorite presents were his Little Einstein figures and his garage and cars from Nana and Pops and his dinosaurs and USA map puzzle from Mommy and Daddy. Thanks to Daddy and his obsession with dinosaurs as a child, Nate can now tell you the names of all the dinosaurs.

The best part of Christmas was our early surprise gift!!! We found out that we will be welcoming another Baby Brueggeman in August 2008. Yea!!! If you ask Nate, he's going to be a "brah-dur" aka "brother."