Our Christmas Gift Came Early

As of 9:31 am on December 23rd Trey is officially a big brother! Luke Michael weighed 7lbs 2oz. He looks so much like Trey did when he was born. We were very blessed to receive our Christmas present early. Luke has been a champ: he nurses great, is very alert, and barely makes a peep (thus far). Trey is absolutely in love with him!!!! He couldn't wait to hold him. When Trey came up to the hospital, Luke had to be put under the warmer for a little while to raise his temp (he likes his hands by his face and kept unswaddling himself). We told Trey that he could hold him after Luke was warm enough. Trey was so anxious he kept insisting, "Luke warm now". Trey was a bit distraught though when he realized that "Baby Luke not talk". He must have just thought that mommy was going to pop out an instant playmate. We are looking forward to going home today (Christmas eve) so that we can enjoy tomorrow morning as a family. Merry Christmas and God bless all of you.

Well,

Life is getting crazy! It is wednesday, December 3rd, and I had a doctor's appointment today. Luke has dropped and I am progressing (which could mean absolutely nothing, but it still feels good to know that the discomfort that I have been feeling is actually doing some good). Before bed last night, Gary and I just sat and talked about how anxious we are to meet Luke and see what he is going to look like. With Trey we had an idea thanks to a 3-D ultrasound we had done. We haven't seen Luke since the 17 week mark, and I'm curious to know how different he will be from Trey. Although, even with the 3-D ultrasound I was certainly not expecting the tan little blond haired surfer-looking boy that we got. 

After a tiring Thanksgiving weekend, we have put our house up for sale. We spent all four days that we had together running around like mad people getting our house ready to go on the market. The tuesday before Thanksgiving Gary sat down with his boss and asked about the possibility of moving to Colorado and working from a home office. Without much hesitation his boss agreed, and here we are. Colorado has been in our sights for some time now as a place we would like to settle. Trey is an outdoor enthusiast, and we want to nurture that. It's hard down here though; with something constantly blooming his allergies and in turn asthma make it so that we really have to restrict his time outdoors. Plus, giving him daily medication and breathing treatments is no fun either.

I had put our Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving while Gary was on a trip, but once we put the house up for sale everything came down. So Christmas has come and gone in our house in just a few short weeks. We kept a mini Christmas tree in Trey's room because he loves Christmas trees so much. He got to see Santa yesterday at school. His teacher said that he sat in Santa's lap long enough for them to snap a picture, but he seemed uncertain the entire time. She said that once they had taken his picture he wanted down immediately. 

He cracks me up though. Even though Santa scares him, he is still enthralled by him (much like a zillion other things). All he talked about yesterday was Santa. He kept asking where he went. About three months ago at his friend Conner's birthday party, they had a man dressed up as the Chick-fil-a cow for the kids to get pictures with (the party was at Chick-fil-a in case you wondered). Trey was TERRIFIED. He clung to me and cried. He didn't even want to leave because we would have to walk past the cow to get out the door. But, all that I have heard for the past 3 months is about the "big cow". Trey wants to know, "Where'd big cow go?" Sometimes he answers for himself that "big cow go to work", and sometimes "big cow at chick -ah-a (chick-fil-a)". I'm sure we will be hearing about Santa long after Christmas has come and gone as well.

Hopefully the next post you read will contain pictures of our precious baby Luke. God bless!!!!

Nearly 35 weeks!

Hey all,

We have almost made it to the 35 week mark as we await Luke's arrival. I posted some pics for you all to see my big belly (luckily, this time that is where I managed to keep most of my weight). We are all doing fine here. I am getting a bit uncomfortable, but that's to be expected right? 

Trey is adorable as ever. He has started randomly coming up to me ad hugging me and saying, "I love you, mommy" (the sweetest words a mom could ever hear). He has also developed this strange accent. He draws out his "o"s and turns some of his "a"s into "o"s. So, he now says, "poork (park), coor (car), and hoorse (horse)". It's cute and funny, but I wonder where he got it from. He has also given up on naps, which I guess is okay by me. We still have "rest time" for 2 hours every day where he is required to stay in his room and play quietly by himself. Occasionally he will fall asleep, but that is rare. Amazingly, he seems more cranky on the days when he naps-sort of odd for a 2 year old.

Gary is done with his travel for the remainder of the year - thank you, God!!! We are just focusing on spending time together as a family before Luke comes and our family dynamic changes. We hope you all enjoy a blessed Thanksgiving! -The Haglers

Denver

Well, my husband travels so much that he just happens to have free airline tickets coming out of his ears - NOT a good thing. But, if we are going to look at the positives, Trey and I get to use those tickets to come along sometimes. This time we went to Denver for a few days.

The day before we left, Trey was so excited to go on a "big plane, up in the kah-sy (sky)"! When I told him that we had to start getting ready, he said, "Oh, my backpack!" and he ran through the house finding all kinds of toys to put in his backpack. He would bring something to me and ask, "this go on big airplane up in the kah-sy?" He was so giddy with excitement.  And he did phenomenal on the plane!  We brought all kinds of things to distract him, but he barely needed any of them. He played with the window shade and his seatbelt most of the time. We hit some nasty turbulence at one point, but Trey just smiled and said, "Oh, big hill!" Every time we got off a plane, he wanted to get back on another one. Now that we are home, we have heard, "I want to sit on big airplane up in the kah-sy, okay?" about 54 times. I've tried explaining that we don't have tickets; I've tried saying that the plane is already in the sky and it's too late; I've tried saying that we will go on another plane again some other time; I've tried saying, "maybe later" and flat out saying no, but I think like "tacos" this wanting to go on airplanes fad is going to last awhile. 

The weather in Denver was chilly, but it was sort of nice to feel that brisk fall air that we had forgotten so much about. We enjoyed walking in the cold and then warming up with a hot chocolate. We went to a few parks, which Trey enjoyed. And one day while Gary worked I took Trey to the zoo. He loved it and asked to go back the next day, but he was sick and it was too cold. We were able to visit my Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Wilma in Colorado Springs, and Trey made a new friend in my cousin's daughter, Meghan (Trey calls her Meggy). The two of them sat in the hallway at the door of the coat closet (where all the toys are) and played for a good hour. Meghan was reading books and Trey was listening intently. We tried to take a picture, but it couldn't be done without being obtrusive and ruining the moment. All in all we had a nice time. Now, no more traveling until Luke comes (at least for Trey and I). 

Uh-Oh!!!!

I wasn't planning on posting again so soon, but I think that Trey's new trick deserves this. This afternoon, I put Trey down for his nap kicking and screaming. He isn't usually so bad, but  he has really started fighting me at nap time. To show him that I won't tolerate it, I put him straight to bed with no books or songs. He screamed for about 3 minutes and then calmed down. Figuring he was going to sit in his bed and play for a few minutes and then zonk out, I decided to take a rest myself. I climbed into bed and closed my eyes for about 5 minutes, and then I heard the pitter-patter of little feet. I opened my eyes to see Trey standing next to me. He looked at me, as proud as ever, and said, "I wanna go night-night in mama's bed, okay?" He then ran around to Gary's side of the bed and climbed up next to me. I buried my face in the covers, not sure if I should laugh or cry.  Knowing I couldn't give in, despite my own exhaustion, I took him back to his bed. He continued opening his door and peeking out for the next hour and a half!!! I finally had to get a pillow and blanket and lay outside his door. He would open the door a crack and see me and then close it again. He got brave at one point and stuck his little hand out and waved at me. 2 hours after nap time started he finally fell asleep-and now he's up again!!!! Please pray for our sanity as we teach our little escapee the boundaries of bed time.

We just returned home from a weekend trip to New Orleans. It certainly was eventful! I don't recommend Bourbon Street to anyone-even at 5pm before the real looneys come out. Despite the dirty stuff surrounding us, we had a good time. We ate some great food! Biegnets were my favorite!!!! We also enjoyed some delicious red beans and rice, an original muffuletta, and some chargrilled oysters-YUM!!!

We took an eventful streetcar ride up St. Charles Ave. Trey was so excited to ride the "train". But, before we even made it out of the city, we heard a loud crash. A car had turned right into the front of our streetcar!!! We didn't even budge, but the car was a mess. Trey didn't understand why we were stopped, and he kept saying, "I want to go". Luckily we didn't have to wait too long before another streetcar came to our rescue. I think between the ride on the "train" and watching the horse and carriages around town, Trey was pretty pleased. He also liked hanging out at Jackson Square and throwing pennies in the fountain in front of the cathedral. We let him sit on the edge of the fountain, and at one point he started taking his shoes off. I asked him what he was doing, and he said that he was going to put his feet in the water. Before I could stop him he already had one foot in. 

Check back next month to hear about our Denver trip; I'm sure that one will have some exciting stories as well!

Many of you have been asking for more pics of my pregnant belly, so here it is for those of you who don't get to see me on a regular basis.

Trey is still loving school. He is changing every day!!! His speech has really taken off and improved significantly. He used to say things like "bips" and now he says "chips". He also used to say "beebees" (excuse me), and now it is much more like "scuse me". There doesn't seem to be a transition; he just starts saying things correctly one day. There are some words that I know I'm really going to miss when they are gone, like "ohmer-icles" (motorcycle). Trey is also very into "the store" lately. His allergies have been bad with all the ragweed, and so we have had to keep him inside. In order to get him out of the house sometimes we go to Target and let him play with the toys. So now he asks to "go to the store" everyday. He loves to be out-anywhere! If he even thinks we might be heading home he starts whining "no home" from the backseat. 

Trey often imitates Gary and has become like his little shadow. It is so cute to watch! Today he went into his dresser and picked out a pair of football pajamas. He ran into the livingroom with them and held them up to Gary, who was watching football at the time, with a proud smile. Trey never picks those pajamas, but it was clear that he thought it would make Gary happy that he choose them. We have a "no throwing" in the house rule, and tonight while we were all cleaning up the toys, Gary threw a football to me to put into the toybox. Trey looked at me and said, "Dada throw football. Dadddy time-out". Gary took his punishment like a man and served his time-out. My boys just crack me up! They keep me on my toes and laughing :) 

   

Chattanooga Choo Choo

We went to Chattanooga for a short family trip this weekend. We had a great time! We took Trey to the aquarium (and I touched a stingray!) thinking he would enjoy it...turns out big sharks that close up can be a little scary for a 2 year old. He was interested, but very cautious at the same time. He liked the free things that we did the best (riding the free bus that took us around downtown, sitting on the toy choo choo at our hotel, and splashing in a little river area outside the aquarium). We also took him to Coolidge Park down by the riverfront, which has a carousel and a neat little area with fountains for the kiddies to play in. By the time we got there the carousel had closed for the day though. I think all in all, Trey really enjoyed our trip-and we did too! I think we could have sat and watched him splash in the water outside the aquarium all day; he was just enjoying it so much.

Rainy Days

Well, school is a hit for Trey! He seems to really like it. Whenever I pick him up, he turns into a little chatterbox! This is not the Trey we are used to. He tells me all about his day, and his good spirits usually last the rest of the day. Gary always asks me what they give him at school because he is so goofy on school days. 

It has been raining for days here, so we have been stuck inside. Amazingly enough, today has been the first day that Trey has really begged to go outside. He loves to be outdoors, but fortunately for us he has been content to hang in his PJs, play with play-doh, and watch Dora the Explorer ("Doda") and Go, Diego, Go ("Daygo")! He recently got a new toy that has kept him pretty entertained as well. We bought him a race car that comes with tools and is designed to be taken apart and put back together, and that's just what Trey does-over, and over, and over. He loves it!!!! 

Luke's nursery is coming together. We just have a few more things to do, but it feels good to be so close to done. I will post pics as soon as it is complete. Gary worked very hard on it. He did all the painting (which was no easy feat with those high ceilings), and he hung the window treatments, and put the crib together. I sewed the curtains and the bed skirt. So really, we put a lot of time and effort into what we have done so far. 

Right now, life is good, and we are just trying to enjoy the next few months before chaos reigns.

First Day of School

Trey started school today! Really, it's mother's day out, but we call it school. I didn't even cry! I came close, but luckily Jamie was there to keep me company and keep me from tears.  We prayed in the car on the way there, which helped to calm my nerves. It was easier once I realized that God was really the one in control. Trey seemed to have a good time; at least he says he wants to go back which is a good sign. Hopefully, Thursday goes as well for both of us too. Trey will be without Brandon for the day, and I will be without Jamie. We will have to tough it out. 

Finally!!!

Well, I finally decided to start a blog to keep you all abreast of what is going on in our household. You can all check in whenever you like and see pics or read about what's new. Right now, Trey is changing every single day. He is speaking in full sentences and saying some of the cutest things. The other day he looked at me and said, "I want flashlight cards, mama". This was his way of telling me that he wanted to play with flash cards. We are still working with potty training, and he is doing well.  We are also working on counting. Right now he starts with 2, and then it goes "2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1..." He is getting better with his colors. He knows brown, black, yellow, orange, and red pretty well. I can't believe that he starts school in just one week! He will be going to preschool in the mornings 2 days/week. He will be in a class with his best friend, Brandon. I'm excited, but also nervous. Who are we kidding, I'll probably cry. 

My belly is getting bigger, and Luke is becoming more active. Even those who see me on a daily basis have commented on how I have "popped" recently. It's strictly maternity clothing from here on out.  Our neighborhood mommy group just threw a baby shower for one of our mommies, Jamie. It seems as though there has been a run in pregnancies in our little group (5 in the last year!). It's nice, because we know that Luke will be surrounded by little playmates closer to his own age, just like Trey is.  

Gary is working harder than ever. He is trying to get his travel for the year over with before Luke arrives (and knowing that I am at a greater risk to deliver early, he wants to stop traveling in November). He has been trucking along, and not enjoying those hotel beds one bit. But even though my hubby is exhausted from work, he still comes home and treats me like a princess. He helps me to cook and clean, he has been working on preparing Luke's room, he plays with Trey so I can rest, and he has been massaging my back to help relieve some of the pressure from carrying this extra weight. God bless him. 

Well, that's all for now, but keep checking back to stay in the loop with the "Hagler Happenings".