Happy Thanksgiving

Matthew kisses Daddy and checks out his scratchy face
Pumpkin Cheesecake... Yum!
Stickers with Mama
Eating apple pie and ice cream with Daddy - Those left hands were shoveling it in as fast as they could!
Thanksgiving Feast
Andy's new toy - the smoker. He smoked the turkey this year and it was delicious
Nana's apple pies

Matthew had a fun Thanksgiving with lots of family in town. Lori arrived on Tuesday evening and helped with the bed-time routine. Matthew came home from school and Lori was there and he said "That's mama, who are you?" I think he was confused because Lori's voice is very similiar to mine and he came around the corner thinking it was me. He warmed up to Lori right away and before long he was telling Lori when he peed in the potty and saying "look Lori" when he would do something.

Nanna, Papa, and Michael arrived on Wednesday and they dropped off Roxy at the house before going to the grocery store. Matthew came home and saw Roxy and said "Where's Papa and Nanna?" He knew they had been there. Nana and Bryan flew into DFW on Wednesday evening and Matthew was even more excited to see more family.

Matthew enjoyed watching the Macy's parade and then we ate a delicious turkey feast. The temperature dropped from 80 degrees to 40 degrees throughout the day. Lori and I took Matthew to the park in the morning with coats and gloves on. Matthew liked getting out of the house for a little bit but he was ready to get back home after the cold, windy weather.

Nanna, Papa, and Michael stayed at a nearby hotel and Matthew enjoyed swimming in the pool on Friday morning. I also enjoyed getting in the pool and actually stayed in there longer than Matthew did. We all thought the baby would come at any moment but no news so far.

Nesting: Getting ready for baby and Thanksgiving

Cool dude wearing his shades and eating grapes

Helping Daddy sweep the leaves

The baby's closet

The changing area

The photo wall

The crib - we still have nails in the wall from Matthew's name. As soon as we pick a name, we will hang new letters above the crib.

Mobile with light green, purple, and pink

Matthew's old car seat with a fresh new look

On Friday, I went the doctor and she says that I have not changed at all. She now thinks the baby will come after Thanksgiving. I was a little disappointed to hear this news because I thought for sure that the baby would be here by now. Given that news, we have relaxed somewhat and just focused on getting the house ready for Thanksgiving and doing all the projects that we know we will not have time to do once the baby is around.

The baby's room is ready with diapers and outfits ready to go. My hospital bag is packed and in the car. My coworkers are on standby and if I disappear for any length of time, people start asking if I went into labor. I told everyone goodbye on Friday as if I was not coming back for a while but in fact, I may be around the office for the next couple of weeks since I still have 2 weeks until my due date.

It was a relatively uneventful weekend. We didn't have much planned since we thought the baby would be here at any moment. I took Matthew to the YMCA pool on Sat morning while Andy worked out with his personal trainer. Andy stopped by the YMCA afterwards and played ball with Matthew in the gym and I was able to break away for a shopping trip. Matthew's swimming skills are no where near where it used to be a couple of months ago but hopefully he will pick it back up by going to the indoor pool regularly. We took our 2-hour naps on Saturday and then took a walk to the park with Rusty. We went out for pizza that evening and then stopped by the new grocery store afterwards to stock up on some Thanksgiving food.

We will have a full house for Thanksgiving: Lori, Bryan, Nana (my grandmother), Nanna, Papa, and Michael. My parents will be staying in a hotel nearby and we hope Matthew enjoys that indoor pool. On Sunday, we enjoyed the 70-degree weather and played outside most of the day. We started the morning by going to Target and stocking up on some last minute baby items, birthday presents for Matthew's friends, and light bulbs, etc... We ordered some furniture to complete our front living room, including an entry way table with baskets so we can get organized for daily routines - Matthew's school bags will go in there instead of on the floor, my purse will go in there, and Rusty's leash.

Matthew did great with the potty training during the school day but he requested diapers over the weekend and even had an accident in his underwear at home once. Since we do not have a regular schedule at home, he finds it an inconvenience to stop and go to the potty every so often. It will be interesting to see how he does after the baby arrives.

Rusty had surgery on his ear this week where they lazered off a cyst. He has constant ear infections because of the design of his ears. The vet put him to sleep to do the surgery and they shaved off an area of his leg for the shot or iv. Matthew saw it and kissed Rusty's bobo for him. Matthew loves having Rusty around and he is always calling for Rusty to come upstairs when Rusty is downstairs. They are becoming best buds.

Matthew is Potty Trained!

We are excited to say that Matthew is potty trained! He was a little hesitant to wear the "big boy underwear" because he would have accidents. But his teacher at school insisted that he was ready for it so we brought 5 pairs of underwear and pants to school with him last Monday - Nov 8th. He had several accidents but his confidence improved throughout the week with no accidents by the end of the week.

Ms. Leah, his teacher, would take him to the potty every 30 minutes. After a couple of days, Matthew started telling Ms. Leah when he needed to go. He gets an M&M every time he goes so he is super motivated to get "M's" as he calls it. Over the weekend, Matthew continued to use the potty and wear the underwear most of the time. We were shocked and pleasantly surprised when he pooped on the potty because he usually requests to do that in a diaper away from attention.

When we would go out to restaurants over the weekend, we would take Matthew to the potty right away and then as soon as we got home. He is doing very well. We just hope that this continues after baby arrives.

On Friday, I went to my doctor and my labor is progressing. I am 2.5 cm dilated, the baby has dropped from -2 to -1 position and I am 40% effaced. The doctor still predicts that the baby will be born this week. We spent most of the weekend getting ready and doing chores that we know we will not get to afterwards. I put a pink cover on Matthew's old car seat and made sure that the safety belt was tightened for a baby. The room is ready with the exception of a name on the wall - Andy and I still haven't decided on that just yet.

Matthew had fun over the weekend. I took him to the YMCA pool on Saturday. He doesn't swim as well as he did a couple of months ago. He didn't want to wear his googles and fetch things from the bottom of the pool and he didn't want to swim on his own too much. He can still swim -it's just a confidence issue. Nonetheless, he enjoyed the pool. Afterwards, he shared one of his gummy bears with a girl in the locker room. He only had 2 left and I was surprised that he gave one away. It was a yellow one and I commented how it matched her dress. After he did it, he says "we will have to tell Daddy". We saw Andy a few minutes later and Matthew had a story to tell "Daddy, [pause] I share yellow [pause] Sophia [pause] match her dress". He had to really think about what he was saying.

He loves to sing "Happy Birthday" and imitate the pirates from the Backyardigan cartoons - "Don't ever touch the boot!" he says with a stern look. He has a grumpy face that he will imitate sometimes on demand and then we try to get him to smile by saying "Don't you smile" and he smiles really big. He also talks about the ghost cartoon where Tyrone wears a sheet and says "Boo". Andy put the blanket on and acted like a ghost and Matthew thought it was fun at first and then got scared. The other day he says "Daddy, you was a ghost and scared me". His words are getting better every day. It's so fun to hear the things that come out of his mouth.

He wanted to keep watching videos over the weekend so I tried to come up with a couple of games to entertain him. I hid easter eggs around the living room that were filled with dried cherries and raisins. He loved it! Last night, he requested to play this game again. "I play puzzle, you hide, want to?" So cute. We also played a match game with some puzzle pieces and then playdoh after that. We went to eat frozen yogurt on Sunday and Matthew was dancing and smiling.

After church, we decided to drive around the neighborhood to look at a particular house and Matthew realized we took a different turn and says "Daddy, where are we going?" He doesn't miss a beat!

Preparing for baby

On Friday, I went to the doctor and found out that my labor is progressing. Even the doctor was surprised. I am 1.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The doctor predicts that I may have the baby within the next 2 weeks! This is big news since my due date is early December and we thought we had a month before the new arrival. Matthew is talking about the baby - "baby in mama's belly". He kissed my belly the other night because he wanted to kiss baby. I talked about how baby will cry and we need to sing lullabies. He seemed onboard with this idea and kept repeating it later - "sing lullabies to baby".

We went out to eat over the weekend because we know that it may be a while before we can enjoy such luxuries later. Matthew did very well. He is learning table manners at school and asks "may I please have more". We picked up a few items from Pottery Barn Kids and on the way there Matthew told me that he wanted to give me a hug and a kiss when we stopped the car. Of course, Matthew has his moments with temper tantrums but he is happy most of the time.

Happy Halloween

We had a busy week with Halloween festivities. On Tuesday night, Matthew went to the senior citizen home with me for a halloween party with the residents. I also took Rusty in costume and the seniors loved both of them. My office decorated cubicles for the kids on Thursday so Matthew came up and enjoyed getting candy there. On Friday, Matthew had a party at his school with a parade and then Andy picked him up somewhat early for a party in his office. Matthew was a pirate and he would say "Grrrrr, matey". Everyone thought it was the cutest thing.

I picked up Nana from the airport on Friday so when I came home, Matthew had a big smile when he saw her. We made Nana's fried chicken for dinner and enjoyed the home cookin'. Papa and Nanna (my parents) came into town around 10:30pm and Matthew was so excited to see them that he waited on the stairs for them to come in the door. It was way past his bedtime. He was so happy to have all the company.

Over the weekend, we spent lots of time focusing on getting the nursery ready. Papa was hanging curtains and getting closets organized in Matthew's room so I could clean out the clothes to make room for baby's. Nana and Nanna went through all of Matthew's old clothes to see if there were any gender neutral clothes to keep. Then we separated them into baskets labeled with the sizes. The baby bedding came in the mail on Friday so I was excited to open it up and get it in the room. We washed and ironed it and I have to say that it looks great. It's going to be fun to have a little girl around here.

On Sunday, we went to a halloween party in our neighborhood. Matthew jumped in the bounce house and enjoyed the swing. He saw his friend, Arden. He played some games and decorated a cookie with sprinkles. They served pizza with juice boxes. After the party, we went trick-or-treating on the street. Matthew really enjoyed it this year. It didn't take long for him to figure out how to get candy. He would say "I want trick or treat" and then when they gave him candy he would say "Grrrr". He would say "one more house" and tell me "mama, come on".

School pictures for fall

Race for the Cure

Taylor and Andy carrying the kiddos

Arden didn't like Ronald

It was another busy weekend at the Bruce household. Andy went to Washington DC for work this week so I had my hands full with Matthew and our other kid, Rusty. I was glad when Andy came back on Friday. After work on Friday, we ate dinner at Cantino Laredo and enjoyed going out to dinner because we know it will only be a matter of time when it will be more difficult with 2 kids. The Texas Rangers have been playing very well so Andy was excited to watch them on tv at the restaurant.

On Saturday, we woke up early to walk in the Komen Race for the Cure. There were 21,000 people there. Arden and Matthew rode in the stroller while Andy and Taylor took turns pushing them. It took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to walk the 5K because of the crowds. At first, Matthew and Arden didn't want to sit in the stroller but as soon as everyone started moving, they were ready for the ride. I brought a DVD video and we pulled that out when they got bored. But there was so much for them to see that they did well in the stroller for a while. They were singing songs and even playing peek a boo with each other. After the walk, we ate lunch in the mall. This restaurant was in the courtyard so Matthew and Arden could run around - they loved it. They were having so much fun together. Once we made it home, we took our 2-hour naps because everyone was exhausted.

We went out for pizza Saturday night and enjoyed watching the Rangers game at the restaurant. Matthew was in the best mood and he was so happy to just hang out with mommy and daddy.

We went to church on Sunday and he cried a little when we dropped him off at the nursery but later he told us he had fun there. We drove out to Flower Mound in the afternoon to go to a pumpkin patch with a mom's church group. But we couldn't find the group and it was crowded, hot, and dusty. Matthew was moody because he took a nap on the way out there and he wasn't quite rested when we got there. We decided to leave and head home. As soon as we came home, we all took showers and washed our dusty clothes. We drove by our old house out there since we were in the area and we talked about how we like our neighborhood much better.