We're home!!

Dog track baby!!

From Florida, that is. We decided on a last minute trip to my parent's condo in Ft. Myers. My, oh my, it was a perfect visit. We were all sick the day before we left and ended up all getting on antibiotics. I packed LJ's nebulizer, Motrin, Dallergy, steroids, teething tablets, antibiotic ear drops, and vitamins- I felt prepared, ha! Last trip to FLA we spent a good day in the ER trying to get an antibiotic, so I brought plenty of ammo since he tends to get pretty sick quickly. I could absolutely go on aand on about how wonderful this trip was. It was exactly what I needed. My OB said this was my last week to travel, and we found straight thru flights for a little more than $200. I would have done anything to go in labor there, so I would have had to stay for another few weeks. I took a ton of pics, so I'll just post away! Prom pic??? I thought it was appropriate.

Us before we lose our mind with 2 little boys running around, heeh! JK

Sloanie turned 2!

LJ learned how to smile for the camera. I think kids have a hard time grasping exactly what kind of smile looks good, but hey, this will do. As you can see his hair is getting longer and much curlier, which excites me. I've had curly hair and it's pretty managable.

I don't know if most kids go through a "Yo Gabba Gabba" phase, but we've hit it. It's a Nickelodeon show with a guy named DJ Lance and 5 crazy little animal/robot things. LJ talks about it from the second he gets up to the second he goes to bed. It's a bit annoying, but actually really cute.

I'm 35 1/2 week and feeling pretty good- just getting large. LJ has a sense baby Ray Ray is coming and we about have the Big Boy Room finished. I'll be sure to post pics. We're in search of an airplane mobile currently, and I've been a pick particular on what I want it to look like. We feel pretty ready for the baby. We just need to set up the pack and play and get the new carseats installed. I'm jacked we're having another boy. I honestly feel LJ will be a great big brother. I do hold him a lot so I'm sure that'll be a huge adjusment, but I figured it would be.

We're going to Florida soon for our one last get away!! It's supposed to be mid 70's. Can't wait to sport the bikini and get some rays on this beached whale of a body. :) Sloanie got a new bike for her birthday. We had a Mickey Mouse party for her at my sister's house and it was perfect. Just immediate family and Sloanie is a great host!! She danced the night away- I think she acts like she turned 3- she can do her alphabet and count.

Baby Sydney is doing well also. She's 4 1/2 months old and she's a chatter box!! She doesn't cry though... I think I've heard her fuss twice ever. She's so quiet that my brother and I forgot she was even in the room yesterday. Here's a pic of the May family while Sloanie was doing her Hokey Pokey Dance in her new music skirt- ADORABLE, although LJ wasn't so sure about the loud noise. He likes quiet parties, hehe!

He also liked Sloanie's new bike! He doesn't even mind it's pink!!

My mom took him to my cousin, Ella's tap class last week. LJ loved it- worries Dad, but I don't mind. Hey, he could be a tapper??!!

Pregnancy Update

I had another ultrasound today. Doc wanted to check to see if I was in danger of placenta previa. I don't think I can do that good of a job explaining it, but the baby has implanted right by the cervix and Doc was worried. He said the ultrasound looked good, but he did say that Little Ray's head is measuring 2 1/2 weeks bigger than normal- GREEAAT!!! Big heads do run in our family, especially the Meek side. My brother-in-law, Jason, has some great stories about this known gene that runs in our family. Anyway, LJ had a big noggin' too.... remember?? I pushed for 4 hours. Let's pray for a easy delivery, let's pray hard!

Too fast, well maybe not.

I was thinking this pregnancy has really been flying by. I'm 33 weeks and March is around the corner. After I thought that a few seconds went by and I remembered how much I hate being pregnant. The baby is gaining about 1 lb a week right now, and I'm gaining about 5 lbs a week. The water weight is piling on and tonight my ring finger turned purple... awesome! I truly do think being pregnant is a beautiful thing, but I also think it's natural to get a little burnt out toward the end :) The way my chest touches my belly and my belly touches my thighs when I sit down is a bit uncomfortable. Let's just say I'll be happy when I can start working out again.

Below is the only picture I got of Joey when he had some friends over to play last week. Joey's friends,Noah and Drake, came over Monday and it was such a nice time. Their moms, Lindsey and Amy, are wonderful women and it was such a blessing to have them to chat with while our toddlers acted like toddlers. Now this is my Little Joey growing up on us. Did I mention that he practices basketball from sun up to sun down?? We have 2 goals and he prefers the higher one, he dribbles several times before he shoots, he typically averages around 6/10 shots, when he misses 2 in a row he takes a 20 second time out and dribbles, and he now is starting to work on his shots for HORSE. He builds things to shoot off of and he even shoots from sitting. I know I sound like one of those crazy moms, but this is amazing!!!

Below is the side shot- he even started doing a shot from behind the goal today. Is it too much to take duct tape and make a 3 point line?

Well you aked for it. Here's a LOOOOVELY picture of me at 33 weeks- 25 lbs overweight and SWOLLEN!! I put on 40 lbs the last 10 weeks of my last pregnancy. Needless to say, let the swelling begin!!

Snow Days

Who knew how much FUN playing in the snow would be? Too bad someone that is 1 year old won't wear his gloves so we could stay outside longer!!

We finally finished LJ's chalkboard in his toyroom. Joey used chalkboard paint and crown molding for the border. Although all LJ wants to do is draw a bunch of vertical dashes, we have been working on his alphabet on the chalkboard and he can say all of the letters but "C" and "W."

Left out

I saw some pictures on my camera that were recently left out of the last few blogs. I thought you'd like these. Below is Joey with his cousin, Sloanie. Joey has now mastered all family member names with the expection of baby Sydney. He just calls her "baby." LJ can also point to my belly and say "Ray Ray." Pretty cool, huh?Below is LJ admiring his first snow while having a very tight grip on his new IU basketball. It's hilarious.... we took him to his twin cousins' b-ball game and the IU game last week, and all LJ can think about is basketball!! He wakes up and shoots around, he now dribbles a few times before he shoots, he rebounds for me when I'm too lazy to get off the couch, and he even prefers the higher goal so he actually has to shoot it (yes, we have multiple goals in our house). I think he's going to be a righty, but his form right now would portray a lefty- he keeps his left elbow in great!!!

Santa didn't fool my 22 month old niece. Enough said.

Early in the morn on our Christmas.

Joey and I had a chance to get away for a few hours the other night. My sister had her annual holiday party. My parent's neighbor, Andrea, who is a sophomore in college is home right now, so she zipped over to babysit. LJ loooooves her!!

I love December!!!

Yup, you heard me, I love December. Yea, that's me up there with two of my favorite gifts from Christmas. Let me tell you all about it. The day started off going to Nana and Grandpa Taylor's.
We ate breakfast, then Uncle Jason, Aunt Brooke, Sloane and Sydney came over. I love that cuz playing with Sloanie is so much fun! She can walk sooooooo fast! We like playing with our toys together. So, speaking of toys, thats what we did next! We got a lot of boxes with pretty paper around it. Well, if we rip off that paper, turns out there are toys inside!!!!! We got so much cool stuff, like cars and ramps and books and stickers and stuff! It was great!

Next, we packed up our stuff and drove sooooo long to Grandma and Grandpa Matis' house (haha just kidding..they live like 2 minutes away!) So, we get there and I'm pretty tired from being up all morning and playing with my new toys, but those toys you see above, yea, I got those from Grandma and Grandpa! Who cares about being tired when you can play with a new slide and tricycle. And the coolest part of all, the tricycle has the neatest bell that goes, "Ding!" So I played with my new toys for awhile, but then I needed a nap. All that playing is really really tiring!

Thank you so much for neat and fun new toys from Nana, Grandpa, Grandma and Grandpa! I love you guys so much!

But its not over yet! The next morning I woked up and had MORE TOYS!!!! Santa left toys for me at my house! Look at my new kitchen I got. This way, I can help Mommy and Daddy cook at night and make the coffee for them in the morning. I love my new kitchen!

Oh yea, I love December too because my Aunt Katie was home twice!! I love playing with my Aunt Katie. She is so much fun. We got to see her 3 times when she was home. Aunt Katie, please come home soon so we can play some more! Oh, and all of the scrapes on my face is from me falling off the slide. It's takes a while to get used to that big climb.

Oh yea, and then on the last day of December, my mommy and daddy took me down to my first IU basketball game. I was hoping for better seats, but we had to settle for 3rd row on the floor behind the IU basket. I could hear everything the players and coaches were saying...it was AWESOME!! It was so loud in there and there were so many people. A lot of people were screaming and pointing at guys on the floor wearing black and white striped shirts, so I thought I'd chime in too. I told the striped shirt guy that he was, "blind as a bat" and that he was, "missing a good game!"...I heard the guy behind say those and I thought they were really funny!

Below is a picture of me, mommy and daddy at the game. It was so much fun to go! The only problem I have with Assembly Hall is that there are sooooo many NCAA Championship Banners in the building. I'll bet they might get in someone's way trying to watch the game. I'll be it's much better to watch a game at Purdue cuz I don't think they have ANY championship banners there!

Love,

LJ