REWIND...

Here's some things that happened before Brady came into this world, that I wanted to share in a post, but didn't get time to.

Lee has taken belly pictures alot throughout this pregnancy because we have been so excited to make it through another week once we got to 32 weeks. We made it 37 1/2 weeks with this pregnancy and are thrilled that we made it that far! I got in a whole 3 days of school with the kids. My sub has now been there with the kids longer than what I have been. Do I think that those three days pushed my pregnancy along a bit. Absolutely! My body was so sore on the second day of school that I could hardly walk. If I had to go pick up the kids from PE or music, I left 5 minutes early so that I could waddle slowly down the hallway. Getting up and down and being so busy for those three days did a lot of different things to my body that it wasn't used to. I am so thankful that I am now done with that situation and can move on to feeling normal again!

2 days before Brady was born. Do I miss being pregnant??? Absolutely Not!

Tyler has really been pushing our buttons during feeding time lately. Sometimes he will not eat in his high chair so we put him on a big chair. Then there are times that he won't eat at the table at all, so we will move to the living room to finish our meal. This is really driving me nuts, but I know that he will grow out of it.--hopefully!

Tyler eating at the table in the "big boy" chair. Sometimes this works, sometimes not so much.

Last weekend we went to Sugar Grove Winery with another couple that we know from church and their two little boys. You'd think that going to a winery when you are 8 1/2 months pregnant wouldn't be much fun, but when you have a live band, good company, and dancing little kids, it's so much fun! Tyler really enjoyed dancing the night away! Tyler dancing to a live band at Sugar Grove Winery.
Dad and Tyler at Sugar Grove Winery.

Mom and Tyler at Sugar Grove Winery. The last weekend with only one child!

Grandma Mary and Great-Grandma Kriz came for a visit last weekend. They treated us to lunch and ice cream. Tyler is just starting to get the hang of eating and licking an ice cream cone. It's pretty humorous to watch! He loves "cream"!

Tyler enjoying his ice cream cone. Great-Grandma Kriz treated us to ice cream after lunch.

After bath--ready for bed.

Dad blowing raspberries on Tyler's belly. As you can see...he loves this!

"Hi Duck!" -- with a wave.

Happy Tyler in the bath. Dad makes bath time so much fun!

This video shows Tyler dancing at Sugar Grove Winery. He was non-stop. It was so funny and too cute! The video shows up really dark so you can't see it very well-sorry!

THE NEW ADDITION!

Here I am at the hospital ,on Lee's birthday, typing out a new blog about our second son who was born yesterday morning! It's been an extremely busy and fast last 40 or so hours. It all started with me not being able to sleep at 3:30 Tuesday morning. At about 5:00 am I came to terms with the fact that the reason for me not sleeping could very well be contractions and labor. I called Lee at 5:00 and told him that I was pretty sure that my contractions had started and were about 6 minutes apart. I told him that I would get into the shower, get ready, take Tyler to daycare, and go to work to get a few things done in my classroom and to talk to the sub. 6:00 am came fast and my thoughts and feelings had changed. I called Lee again at work and asked if he was able to leave right then, that they were indeed contractions and they were getting stronger and closer. "This is it, we need to go to the hospital!" Still, I was thinking that I would be fine for awhile and we could drop Tyler off at daycare, go to school, and then go to the hospital. In between daycare and school, my contractions really picked up and I gave going to school a second thought. We ended up dropping my lesson plans off at the other kindergarten teacher's house and went on to the hospital. We arrived to the hospital at 7:30, was given my epidural at 9:00 and Brady Joseph Reynolds was born at 10:41! How extremely fast that morning went! Of course I was in excrutiating pain, until my epidural--then I went to my happy place and just had to push! Lee was really hoping that I could hold off my labor until today, (8/26--Lee's b-day) however, that was impossible!

Brady is doing amazing! He looks so much like Tyler and is so little! Tyler is doing awesome with Brady! He loves to give Brady hugs and kisses!

I can not wait to go home tomorrow and start our new normal! We are so very lucky and blessed to have another healthy little boy! This is going to be exhausting but so much fun!!!

ONE HAND AND ONE SICK LITTLE BOY!

This is a picture of me 2 weeks ago.

ONE HAND
We can now count down on one hand how many weeks we have left 'til baby arrives! I'm at 35 weeks and doing great! I am very excited to meet this baby boy and to see how Tyler handles the change. When the baby comes, Lee will take a week off right away. I'm really looking forward to the four of us home alone at the house getting used the our new "normal" as a family.
Tyler laying on Mom for 3 hours with a fever.

ONE SICK LITTLE BOY

Lee was gone again this weekend to yet another bachelor party. So, again, my mom was here to help entertain Tyler. I am so thankful that she was! The three of us went to my classroom Saturday morning to do a few small things and noticed that Tyler was acting a bit off and pretty quiet for himself. We left school to go home and tried to feed Tyler some lunch, which he didn't eat much of. So, we gave him some Tylenol and put him down for a nap. THREE hours later I went up to his room to wake him and he was steaming hot and full of sweat! He had an extremely high fever. He ended up laying on me from 3:30-6:30 on the couch, when we finally decided that he wasn't getting any better and we should take him to the ER to get checked out. I'm glad we did. It turns out he has a double ear infection and sore throat. He (and I) didn't get much sleep at all last night. He was up not feeling well and I was up with him. He's doing better today and after a couple more doses of antibiotic, he should be doing much better!

STILL BAKING AT 33 WEEKS!

Thankfully I am over a week past when I had delivered Tyler! I had a dr. appt. last Monday and he said that his big milestone for me would be to make it to 34 weeks. I've only got 4 more days and I'm there! We are really hoping that I go the full 40 this time!!! Yes, I am getting big--yes, it's getting uncomfortable--yes, I go pee ALL the time--yes, I will be so miserable when I go back to school at almost 37 weeks--but it will all be worth it! In the past week I have had a major sweet tooth. We are not ones to always have treats in the house unless we have company, so one night last week, I sent Lee and Tyler out to the store to stock up on cookies and brownies! I am now happy!

Lee was gone at a bachelor party this weekend, so my mom came Saturday night to stay and then took care of Tyler on Sunday while I went shopping at Wal-Mart for school stuff and then on to my classroom to get some things done. Every time that I leave that classroom I feel that I got a lot done, but that there is still so much more that needs to be done! Never ending at this point!

This is my last week working at KinderCare!!! The next two weeks will be spent sending Tyler out to daycare a few days and then going to school to work on my classroom. I am ready for school to start and to be on a schedule and out of the house every day again. I think that Tyler is also ready. He loves so much to go play out at his babysitter's. I will be back and in meetings starting on Aug. 13th, so there really isn't much of summer time left.

Our neighbor across the street from us came over last night and asked us to come over to her garage that she had something to show us. It turns out, about 4 years ago, she bought a motorized motorcycle at a garage sale for her neice's son. She had just got it back yesterday with Tyler in mind. It is the neatest thing and the coolest toy that you could get for free! Tyler was deathly afraid of it last night! We brought it home and kept it in our garage last night. This morning, Lee got him to sit on it and taught him how to push the pedal to make it go. It hasn't been charged for awhile so didn't have much juice in it, but that was probably a good thing--it went at a good speed for a first-timer! It is now in our garage charging and should be really ready to go by tomorrow morning. We'll see if he can wait that long to take another ride!

This video shows some of Tyler's new dance moves. He really knows how to move!!!

SOME FUN PICTURES

CHEESE!
Sitting in his chair by the window. I believe he just saw a bunny.
Following Dad around.
Hitting golf balls in the back yard.

Tyler found these socks in my drawer and loved them because they had a ball on them. So, we played with them on his feet and then hands for awhile.

It was a perfect day to sit in the swimming pool! 4th of July=Cold! 5th of July=Beatifully Warm and Perfect! Thanks, Cara, for letting me borrow the maternity swimsuit!

Sitting on Dad's lap, reading a book. Those little feet are too cute!

Tyler laying on his toy chest. He climbs up and on everything!

Daddy got new shoes for work the day after Tyler got new tennis shoes. He was excited for his own new shoes, but enjoyed playing in Daddy's new shoes.

YEAH FOR 32 WEEKS AND SORE BUTT CHEEKS!

This baby has already baked 2 more days in the oven than Tyler. The competition starts already! I am now at 32 weeks. Tyler was born at this time during my pregnancy with him. It's hard to believe that I am at that stage already; this pregnancy has gone by so quickly! I know that these next, hopefully, 7-8 weeks will just fly by! We are very lucky for these progesterone shots that I am getting every week, which are also what's making a sore butt cheek every week.

Everything here is going great. We've got the nursery ready for baby and are speaking of him more and more every day so that Tyler can TRY to understand what's going on. All Tyler really understands is that baby is in Mom's belly, we can give him hugs and kisses, and we need to be nice to Mom's belly. Hey, it's a start. We've still got 2 more months of preparation.

32 Weeks!!! This picture was taken first thing in the morning, so pajamas were still being worn and no shower or make-up to be heard of quite yet.

We had a very chilly 4th of July here this year. We were actually in jackets and blankets for the parade on the 4th. Very strange. Tyler absolutely loved everything about the parade and waved his flag proudly in the air. I was able to join Lee, Tyler, and my mom for the parade but had Katie's bachelorette party in Des Moines that weekend so was in and out from home going there and back. Because of the cool weather, our boating festivities got cancelled for Saturday, but all in all, it was great to see all the girls and to hang out and tell stories.

A very chilly 4th of July morning at the parade.
Waving the flag proudly.

Tyler and his favorite---Tractors (mower)

Tyler enjoying the parade with Grandma.

The following weekend we had Lee's parents here to visit. Tyler is 4 months shy of turning 2 and is just now starting to warm up to his Grandma Reynolds. It was a great weekend with them here because he was able to play with both of his grandparents and didn't need to cling on to his mom and dad, which meant that we got some little breaks! He swam on the back deck, took walks, went to the park, and went out for ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds.

This weekend we had my dad and Josh come visit. It's so funny how Tyler calls Josh by name just as easily as saying Mom and Daddy. If he wants Josh's attention, he knows he can get it! Trying to say 'Grandma' and 'Grandpa', on the other hand, are still really hard for him. I believe that I got a 'Papa' out of him the other day, but that was just the once. And all he says when we tell him to say Grandma is 'Ma.' So, we'll see where those words go and what he ends up calling them. He swam on the back deck yesterday and got Josh and Grandpa Freese wet. He hit golf balls in the back yard with his Dad and Josh and then went for ice cream last night. Today we put the men to work so that our back deck could get finished painting. Tyler tried to help, but dipped his brush in the paint can right away, so I ended up taking him on a walk. The back deck is finished--thanks to Lee, my Dad, and Josh!!! It was another great weekend of visitors! It's so nice when people come to visit us--we love the company!

Tyler helping the men paint!

Grandpa Freese, Tyler and Josh

Tyler is wet from playing with his squirt guns and balls in the pool. He can't get enough!

Playing golf in the back yard.

SWIMMING FUN AND ANNIVERSARY

3 Years of Wedded Bliss!

Because my mom was here for the week to watch Tyler, she purchased a night out for us to go to dinner for our anniversary. We had a great time, however, the air in the steak house was not as cool as I would have liked it!
3 Years, 1 child and 1 on the way. The happy and proud family!

Dad blows bubbles, Tyler blows bubbles

Tyler wanted me in the pool with him, but in this new pool, adults don't fit well.

Loves the pool so much that after dinner we went out to play and he jumped in with his clothes on! He loves to splash using that football!

Grandma and Tyler in the pool.

What a cutie!

Suprisingly, the water on the face doesn't bother him anymore. This has also helped out in the bath department!

We decided to purchase a new swimming pool for the back deck. It has been well worth it! He now loves to swim and doesn't want to get out!