Cohen's 3-year-old pictures!

Playing in the park with his silly puppy!

Climbing the rock wall!

I love this one - a boy and his dog!

Such a handsome guy!

Will is testing out his skills as a photographer and is using Mr. Cohen as his first muse! We learned during these two photo shoots that three-year-old little boys and French bulldog puppies are not the most cooperative of subjects to photograph! Oh well! We got a few good ones! :)

30 weeks!

30 weeks and counting! I had my regular 4-week OB appointment on Tuesday afternoon and everything seems to be going just as it should. Eleanor's heartbeat was nice and strong and she's measuring "right where she should be" for how far along I am. I got a bit of a finger-shake from my doctor, though because on Sunday morning (around 4:45), I was having fairly consistent contractions and I didn't go to labor and delivery. Needless to say, if it happens again like that, I'll definitely go... :/ He offered to give me a prescription for something that would help with the contractions but would make my heart flutters worse, so I opted out of that. I'm just trying my best to stay cool and take it easy. That's going to be easier said than done in a couple of weeks, though, because school is about to start already! Yikes! Hang out in there a little longer, Eleanor. We're not quite ready for you!

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Cohen's new puppy

Cohen holding Bug while he naps!



Sleepy baby!


Napping buddies!



He's a sleepy guy!



This one is kind of blurry, but it's a testament to how these two are already the best of friends!



He loves to sleep!



Another nap together!

Alright, alright, I know what you're thinking... They got another dog?! Let me explain...and let's just take it back all the way to the beginning.

When Cohen started crawling and getting around fairly well, Wally (our golden retriever) became a little jealous. He then took his internal angst out on Clyde and so we took him to our friends in west Texas, Adam and Chelsea. He is in hog heaven being the only dog and is doing very well, thank you!

We went several months and decided we needed to try getting another dog. Enter Mugsy, a shelter dog with half a brain. Needless to say, he didn't make it two weeks with us and back go his "foster mom" he went.

In April of last year, we got Muppet the labradoodle. We thought she was the perfect fit but it took us forever to house-break her, she was a nervous pee-er, and no matter how many training classes we put her in, she just wasn't "figuring it out" - jumping, running, jumping the fence, being a complete NUT! The last straw with her was when she bit me (but would have bitten Cohen had I not put my hand down first). Muppet now lives in Austin with an older couple who have no small children at home. And from what I'm told, she loves to go and run and play in the park and has become an exceptional swimmer in Lake Austin! She's livin' the life!

This brings us back to Clyde. Good ol' reliable, trusty Clyde. Shortly after Muppet found her new home, Clyde started sleeping a lot more and then started eating a lot less - and then stopped altogether. We took him to the vet thinking something was wrong with him and $100+ later, he was diagnosed with severe depression. You see, Clyde has never been an only dog. Ever since he was a baby, he's had a four-legged companion. Our vet suggested we try adopting or buying an older dog so we were on the hunt.

We found an older Australian shepherd that we thought was a good fit, brought her home to discover she didn't like Clyde ad didn't particularly care for any of us, either. Back she went...

Then we found Crickett. He was a rescue from San Antonio Pets Alive being fostered until he found his forever home. Crickett was a half Corgi-half Westie mix and we agreed to foster him to see if he was a good fit for a few weeks. We thought he was, but then quickly came to realize that Crickett was an escape artist. He dug holes to escape and jetted out the front door to run like the wind any and every chance he got. After upwards of 30 escapes, we decided we couldn't contend with the likes of Crickett, either. He went back to his original foster mom and we are hopeful she's able to find him a home soon.

Sheesh! That brings us to last Saturday. Will and I had several conversations about what would be the best thing to do in order to keep from poor Clyde biting the dust from sheer loneliness. We decided we needed to start with another puppy - a male this time - and really work on making him fit into our family.

That's when we found Bug. A lady had bought both he and his brother but decided she didn't need both of them, so she was trying to find him a new home. Bug is a French bulldog puppy with a lot of personality and spunk. He LOVES Cohen. They have become the best of friends, I kid you not. But the best news is, Clyde likes him, too!! In fact, we haven't seen Clyde this happy and playful in years - probably since Wally. Mission accomplished! Whew!

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Summer 2013!

We went to the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort for a one-night getaway and Cohen had a blast swimming!



Handsome boy! Climbing on the playground!



I love this picture that Will got of him. It's such an in-the-moment, little boy shot!



Swimming again, this time at Gigi's house! Cohen's really become quite the little fish this summer!



Sweet sleeping boy! (Side note: I cannot believe how much he looks like his uncle Michael in this picture!)



Catching baby frogs in the backyard! (And yes, he prefers his underwear to "real" clothes any day!)



Clyde was lookin' for them, too!



Mom has good eyes, because we found (and caught) one little bitty one!

Cohen decided we needed to set it free...



Mom's birthday breakfast at Cracker Barrel!



We got to see Nana and Grandpa for breakfast and Cohen liked sitting in Grandpa's lap!

It's been a wonderful summer and we've had a lot of fun! It's hard to believe that in about a month, we'll go back to school, and then shortly after that, Eleanor will be here! I guess it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun!

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Update on Eleanor

26 weeks and counting!! I had my glucose screening this week to check for gestational diabetes and since I haven't heard anything, I'm assuming we are just fine - nothing to be concerned about! I'm nearing the uncomfortable-all-the-time point, and I don't remember feeling this way with Cohen quite so early.

So far in this pregnancy, Eleanor has been "a bit on the small side," but as of Monday (at 26 weeks, 2 days), she's "ahead of the curve; a good size baby" - or at least that's what my OB tells us! She must have had a growth spurt!

Hmm...not much else to report...big brother Cohen is doing well. He's getting very excited to meet his baby sister and each day that passes, I see in him a little bit more of what makes us know that he is going to be a great big brother! He is so helpful and intrigued by the thought of having Eleanor home. The hospital I'll be delivering at has a Siblings Class that provides a look at the labor and delivery process through the eyes of a child - a perfect opportunity for Cohen to feel a little bit more prepared when the time comes for Eleanor to make her grand debut! We signed up to take the class August 3rd!

That's all for now, I suppose! Stay tuned for updates!




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Father's Day 2013

Cohen getting all ready to start fishing!

The first cast of the day - you see, it's always easier when Daddy casts and Cohen reels it in!

Now, we just have to wait!

But they didn't have to wait long...

...first cast comes up with the first fish of the day! Cohen caught a crappie!

Cohen wanted to pet it before his dad "set it free."

And it wasn't too long after that that Cohen caught the second fish of the day - a decent size catfish!

I love all the thumbs up!

Gettin a worm out for the next cast!

Helping Papa fish from his line!

Going out on the paddle-boat!

Coming back...it was starting to get hot!!

All tuckered out from such a fun day!

We had made plans to go fishing with Papa (my dad) over Memorial Day weekend, but it came a huge flood and rained for several days straight that weekend, so we had to postpone it to this weekend. That was okay, and kind of perfect, because it was Father's Day. We met Papa in Gonzales at Palmetto State Park and fished, played in the water, paddle-boated and picnicked for several hours and had a blast! Cohen was a lucky guy - he caught the first two fish - while his daddy only caught two more (that we didn't get to see because we had to take a bathroom break), and his Papa didn't catch any! Oh well, that's part of it! We sure did have fun, though, and can't wait to do it again!

3D Ultrasound of Miss Eleanor

Here she is, folks...refusing to let us see her!

There's a little bit of her face. She almost looks like she could be smiling a little bit in this one...

...however in this one, she looks like she's pouting.

There's that hand again up over her forehead (color version of this shot below...)

This one makes me giggle...she's covering her face and pointing which makes me think she's saying something along the lines of, "Go away. That way would be fine!"

Left hand on her head and right hand in front of her nose/mouth.

Left hand up over her forehead again.

 

Starting to fall asleep in this one, snuggling close to that arm again.

So, I've been having this recurring dream (or, nightmare, perhaps) that we bought all this pink stuff and went all out planning for a baby girl, only to get to my delivery date and give birth to another baby boy. (Not that there would be anything wrong with that, except for the fact that Eleanor's sweet Mimmy and her super-excited Momma have *almost* filled her closet with LOTS of adorable clothes! Yikes!) Anyhow, it's been quite unsettling for me, quite frankly. In order to ease my worries, I talked my very understanding husband into letting me get a 3D ultrasound with this pregnancy.

You see, we did one with Cohen - not sure if any of you remember the blog post with these types of shots of CK - but needless to say, we were rather unimpressed. He was hard to see, mostly because he was pressed up against my belly and placenta for most of the time, and so the whole thought of having a 3D ultrasound again left a rather bad taste in our mouths, and Will swore after the last one that we wouldn't be doing that again... My bad dreams got the best of me (and him, too, I suppose) so I scheduled this one for today. Thanks, honey!

Well, after doing this whole song and dance, yet again, we learned two things: 1. 3D ultrasounds aren't all they're cracked up to be, and 2. Eleanor is a sassy little thing - ALREADY!!! She didn't want to refused to move her arm(s) away from her head for very long. The sonographer had me flip and flop from right side to left side probably 20 times trying to get her to move. We poked and prodded my belly trying to coax her into moving, and all she did was cover her face more - and pout, and turn over and face my spine. Little stinker! Cohen did a lot of "awww"-ing, though, and he was pretty excited to see his baby sister, which makes my heart smile. I hope he's that excited when she finally makes her big debut. :)

Oh, and I promised Will today, should there be a Baby #3 in the Kent family, I will NOT ask to do a 3D ultrasound - no matter how many or how bad my dreams are...